Happy early Valentine’s Day!

As you know by now, I’m Andrea from the blog, Cooking with a Wallflower, and I’m so excited to share with you this brand new Valentine’s Day inspired rice crispy treats.

This month is all about strawberries and chocolate. At least to me, anyways. So I wanted to share a dessert that is a combination of both. Rice crispy treats are simple to make with just a few ingredients. They take little effort so it’s perfect as a snack or dessert for the holidays.

What will you be making for Valentine’s Day?

Line a 9×9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside for now.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add mini marshmallows to the pot. Use a wooden spoon or a heat resistant spatula to stir until the marshmallows have melted. Remove the pot from heat.

Pour the chocolate crispy rice cereal to the pot, one cup at a time. Stirring in between each addition until all the cereal is covered in the melted marshmallow.

Add the freeze dried strawberries. I used freeze dried strawberries for the strawberry flavor. Fresh strawberries would have been too soggy. Stir to incorporate all the ingredients.

Transfer the marshmallow cereal mixture over to the baking pan. Use the spatula or wooden spoon to smooth out the surface and press down against the pan. Press extra freeze dried strawberries over the top the rice crispy treats if desired. Press down to make them stick.

Let the rice crispy treats sit on the counter for at least a half hour before slicing into 16 bars.

Make these strawberry chocolate rice crispy treats for Valentine’s Day!

Enjoy!

Andrea

Cooking With a Wallflower

Strawberry Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats

 

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Author: Anna

Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 10 ounce mini marshmallows
• 5 cups chocolate rice crisp cereal
• 2 cups freeze dried strawberries

Instructions

1. Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside for now.
2. In a large pot, melt butter over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add mini marshmallows to the pot. Use a wooden spoon or a heat resistant spatula to stir until the marshmallows have melted. Remove the pot from heat.
3. Pour the chocolate crispy rice cereal to the pot, one cup at a time. Stirring in between each addition until all the cereal is covered in the melted marshmallow.
4. Add the freeze dried strawberries. Stir to incorporate all the ingredients.
5. Transfer the marshmallow cereal mixture over to the baking pan. Use the spatula or wooden spoon to smooth out the surface and press down against the pan. Press extra freeze dried strawberries over the top the rice crispy treats if desired. Press down to make them stick.
6. Let the rice crispy treats sit on the counter for at least a half hour before slicing into 16 bars.

3.5.3251

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In today’s post, I’m sharing a few ways to get ready for a fun and organized summer! I’ll include a few of my top summer organizing tips, ideas for things you can do together as a family, and some sunny decor ideas too. Let’s go!

7 Tips to Reduce your Energy Bill in the Summer Heat

Do you live in a part of the world where the summers can get insanely hot? If you have trouble saving money on your summer energy bills, my friend Leah is here to help you out. In this post, she shares some of the cost-cutting measures she has taken to reduce her electricity bills in hopes that whatever climate you are in, you can do some of them to see savings on YOUR bills. Read her tips here!

Organize a Summer Grab-n-Go Kit

Summer means we’ll be spending lots of time outdoors. Taking a few minutes to organize a summer grab-n-go kit means that you’ll always be ready for whatever outdoor fun the season might bring! No matter how busy your day is, you’ll always be ready to take care of your family. Find out how to make your busy summer days just a little bit easier.

Free Printable Summer Bucket List

Do you have any big plans this summer? Whether it’s time you’ll be spending at home as a family or having adventures elsewhere, you should print out this colorful summer bucket list to help you make sure you don’t miss out on any fun this season! You can’t have a fun AND organized summer without a checklist, right?! Get the printable here.

Organized Family Camping Trips

A couple of years ago, we started a new summer tradition with our kids and friends: annual family camping trips! The plan was for this to become a fun family tradition that our kids and all our friends’ kids look forward to each summer. So in this post, I’m sharing how I plan for our trips and how planning ahead for an organized camping trip is the way to go! There’s even a free printable for you.

How to Plan for an Outdoor Party and Summer Get-togethers

Now that summer is here, it’s time to start thinking about pool parties, BBQs and lots of impromptu outdoor get-togethers! In this post, I give you 8 tips on how to plan for an outdoor party, and what to always have on hand for when your friends drop by. Host the most organized party ever!

Tips & Tricks for Organizing Outdoor Toys

I don’t know about your house but here, the kids are running around enjoying summer, we’re swimming every day and filling the sidewalk with chalk drawings. I’m sharing a few tips for how to organize outdoor items from pool toys, towels, outdoor games, etc. These tips have all come from experience; I’ve tried lots of different things but these are the ones that have worked the best and stood the test of time! ?

DIY Birdhouse Wreath Tutorial

The warm spring and summer seasons bring two great things: bursts of colorful flower blooms, and chirping birds. In this short tutorial, my good friend Bev will show you how to use these timeless accents to make a DIY burlap mesh wreath for your door that will wow the neighbors! Not only is it quick to make, but it’ll last the entire summer. Here’s how to make it!

How to Get Rid of Green Pool Hair

My family lives in the pool during the hot summer months! The only downside to hanging out in the pool all summer is that being a blonde, my hair always ends up turning an off shade of green. If you’re a blonde, you know what I’m talking about. ? Last year my daughter fell in love with swimming too and I noticed her hair was doing the same thing! Instead of spending a ton of money on expensive shampoos, use this super cheap trick instead!

Kitchen Organization Ideas for an Outdoor Kitchen

After our outdoor kitchen construction was finished, I was eager to stock it and organize it. I remember ages ago, when I moved out into my first apartment, my dad took me to Walmart and helped me pick out everything I’d need in my new kitchen. I did the same thing when it was time to stock our outdoor kitchen. We were starting from scratch so I needed all the necessities, including silverware, napkins, plates, bowls, cups, scrub brushes for the dishes, etc. In this post, I share how I organized it all!

Over to You…

I hope you find all of these tips helpful for you when you’re planning your super fun and organized summer! Do you have anything big planned, like a vacation or a family (or solo!) adventure? I’d love you to let me know in the comments so we can all be excited for summer together!

The post 9 Tips for a Fun and Organized Summer appeared first on Ask Anna.

When you’ve got kids, it can be a struggle to keep the place tidy and organized. With toys left around the house, clothes to put away, and all sorts of mess to clean up, there’s a lot to do. But it doesn’t have to be difficult! You can have the place shining in no time with just a few organization tips for kids.

Without further ado, here are some of my best organization tips for kids!

Have you ever had one of those mornings when you’re late for school but you can’t find your kids’ lunchbox or sports kit? Of course you have!

Cut down on stress by choosing a particular place for every item your children need. You cook install hooks for their backpacks, a shelf in the pantry for their lunch items, and even set up a homework station with all the pens and pencils they need. See how I get everything under control.

Style them so they look nice, make sure they’re easy to understand, and, if you think your kids would be up for it, include some extra jobs they can do to earn a bit of extra pocket money.

Here’s the full tutorial on how to create a kind of chore chart “command center” like mine.

The post Quick and Easy Organization Tips for Kids appeared first on Ask Anna.

My daughter loves to craft, and although it’s totally not my thing, occasionally I’ll craft with her, especially when it’s to make something for the man we both love so much! Father’s Day is quickly approaching (how is it already June!?) so Malea and I put on our creative thinking caps and created this cute card for Matt.

I found this idea on Pinterest (of course) and since Malea loves to pretend that she knows how to do origami, she loved it.

It took us a little bit to figure out how to fold the tie, because the Pinterest image isn’t very helpful, but once we did Malea glued the tie in place.

I had to help her with the hot glue gun because it was her first time using one, but once the tie was attached to the shirt I let her go crazy with her creativity.

Things like stamps, glue and glitter give me anxiety because they’re so messy so I set a pack of my Huggies® wipes on the desk and let Malea make as much of a mess as she needed to because one thing I don’t want to do as a mom, is to let my crazy cleanliness, squelch her creativity.

The Huggies® wipes are thick so they are great for cleaning up creative messes, and turns out they’re great for cleaning the ink off stamps, hands and my desk!

Malea loved making this card for her daddy and I loved watching her come to life through her creativity. When she was done decorating the outside of the card I told her she could write whatever she wanted on the inside. When she’s older she’ll probably kill me for sharing this but it was so precious that I had to share. (Notice the picture story on the front of the card goes along with what she wrote on the inside – heart melt…)

Have you started working on your Father’s Day creations yet? It’s coming up quickly on June 19th! If your kids’ daddy wears a shirt and tie to work, like ours does, I bet he would love to get a custom shirt and tie card from your kiddos, and they will have a blast creating it.

And don’t forget, if your kids make a mess while they’re being creative, share your pictures of them, using the hashtag #HugTheMessSweepstakes on Twitter and Instagram for a chance to win one of four $2,500 prizes!!! Click HERE to enter.

Looking for more ways to surprise Dad on Father’s Day? Check out this Waffle Bar Station!

Save

The post Father’s Day Card for Kids to Make appeared first on Ask Anna.

I remember my mom spending lots of money on fancy shampoos, to try to strip the green out of our hair, but last year I was talking to my hair dresser and she gave me the best tip for how to get rid of green pool hair. She told me that the best product to use is actually a clarifying shampoo. So I headed to Target and, for about $2.00, bought Suave Clarifying Shampoo. To be honest I was a little skeptical because it seemed too good to be true but after using it all summer on Malea’s hair we never had any problems with her hair turning green!

This year, a week into summer, I noticed her hair had already started to turn green, really green! (Why does it do that!?) So I headed to Target to buy my trusty Suave Clarifying Shampoo, and within 2 days of using it, all the green was gone!

I don’t know why it works, I don’t know how it works, all I know is that it works, and it’s only $2!!! I kind of feel guilty because I know the stuff my mom bought was way more expensive, but not guilty enough.

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