What do you make when it's too HOT to cook?????

Salsa & Guacamole!!!!
The perfect summer night dinner ;)

I rounded up ingred. for a picture, then after I started mixing things I realized that there were a few things missing, dang it. Anyhow they are listed in the ingred. they just missed the photo opt, the slackers.

My Big Sisters Salsa
Ingred;
3 Roma Tomatoes
1/4c. Onion
1T. Lemon Juice
1 Clove Garlic
1/2t. Salt
1/4t. Cumin
1/4t. Chili Powder

I love my Salsa, non-chunky, so I throw everything in my food processor and pulse until it's really blended, however you can pulse it to whatever consistency you prefer.


Creamy Dreamy Guacamole
Ingred;
2 Avocados
1/4c. Onions
1 Clove Garlic
1/4c. Sour Cream
1/4t. Salt

Run the Onion, and Garlic in the food processor until finely minced. Add the remaining ingred. and pulse until completely blended.

Now I sprinkled chopped cilantro on top of both of both of these, but you could also add it into either of these when you are mixing them.

Add a bowl of Tortilla Chips into the plan and you have one tasty summer dinner/snack. There is a recipe on AllRecipes for Guac. that I wanted to try, it called for cream cheese which I didn't have on hand so it will have to wait for next time.

Great Finish

After a long, and crazy week I treated myself to a few hours of free-time spent with my sister. We wandered around the Saturday Farmers and Peoples Markets Downtown. I enjoy taking the kids and felt a little guilty for going without them this time, so as a treat I bought them these-

Which were yum yummy (I had to taste one), my sister found the sweetest little handmade leather shoes for her baby, I will have to see if I can swipe a picture and post it, they are so adorable & soft. Next week I plan on buying some herb plants & I will take the kiddo's, but for today it was a soooo relaxing to be without them. It was definitely a Great Finish to my week.

I got the shoe pictures, here is one cute shoe-


To go with one cute baby!!

Candy Crazy!!!

I was totally excited when I checked out Monica's post on
Candy Cakes
Hers is beautiful you can check it out here -> ->->
She even did a step by step post on making one yourself, which is wonderful.
The reason this got me all excited, is that all Miss K asks for her Birthday or Christmas is gum, candy, & mints. How perfect of a Birthday Cake would this be for her!?!? So I did a picture search to see what other ones I could find, these were my favorites -

























































How much fun are these!! :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is the first time I have made this, so I will need to do a bit of tinkering I think. It was pretty good, not quite perfect yet though. I am entering this in the Souper Sunday over at Kahakai Kitchen. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingred;
8c.chicken stock
3c. shredded chicken
3c. corn
2 cans black beans, drained
1 large jar of salsa
1/2c. diced onion
1/2c. diced carrots
2 cloves minced garlic
2T. tomato paste
3T. corn starch+ 1/4c. cold water
cumin
chili powder
salt & pepper
minced cilantro
sour cream
tortilla chips shredded cheese

Saute onions and garlic in 1T. olive oil, add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and add chicken, beans, corn, carrots, salsa, & tomato paste. Simmer for at least an hour, season to taste. Stir in the cornstarch/water and simmer 30 min.
Place some crushed tortilla strips in the bottom of your bowls, ladle soup over. Serve garnished with cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips and shredded cheese.

Graduation Fun

Graduation was Wonderful, the BBQ was a bunch of fun, AND we found a house, whew- big sigh of relief. Now I just have to pack up our 5 bedroom, 2 story house in 2 weeks, no biggie, cause I'm super mom ;)

I actually have a lot of the packing done already, so there isn't too much left, I have a few fun pictures to share.


Also three quick recipes-
BBQ Shredded Chicken
This is just the crockpot bbq chicken recipe I have posted here.

Parmesan Garlic Orzo with Grilled Chicken
The recipe for the Orzo is on allrecipes, I topped it with grilled chicken.

Garlic Chicken Marinade
1T. white vinegar
2T. olive oil
1T. minced garlic
1T. Johnny's garlic spread mix
1/2c. warm water

Mix all together and marinate chicken for 4-12 hours.



Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingred;
3c. flour
1/2c. sugar
4t. baking soda
1t. baking soda
1t.cinnamon
3T. oil
2 eggs
1/2c. pumpkin
1 1/2c. milk

Whisk together the dry ingred. Slowly incorporate the wet ingred. Cook on a hot griddle :)

Happy Thursday!! :) :) :)

Wonderfully Busy Weekend

This week was Finals week for my Hubby, And Tomorrow is Graduation!!! Hip-Hip-Hurray!!!
We are so excited :) :) :) :) :) :)

I am taking the weekend off & probably won't have time to even look at my computer. We are having a big graduation party for him tomorrow (all day and into the night :) So tonight, with the help of my lovely cousin, I will be cooking up a storm. I will try to remember to take pictures so I can share them with you all next week. Then Sunday afternoon Hubby & I are taking a trip to his new University so he can meet with some of the Prof's and we can sign papers on a place to live. So I should be back Wednesday. I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!!!!!!!! :)

In the Mood for some Bakin'

There are SO many cooking/baking/food blogs out there, it's too much fun :) I have googled several things like baking blogspot and cooking blogspot ect..... I'm sure you get the picture, and now have a pile of recipes tagged to try- It's almost worst than my All Recipes recipe box, Almost ;)
Anyway one that I have come across a couple times and always catches my eye is called
The Sisters' Cafe

Part of my fascination with this blog is the wish that I could get all my sisters to do a cooking blog with me, how fun would that be!!! I love the idea & will begin asking/begging them right away :) The other part would be, of course, the FOOD! They have tons of great recipes and pictures, Yum, Yumm, Yummy!! I actually made 2 of theirs today, I have been going through cooking/baking withdrawal. And my poor family is having a hard time remembering what a home-made treat/dinner tastes like! While I have been down my Hubby has mostly done instant or fast food- although one night he did make a pretty good Goulash- Kudos to my Honey.

Anyway I thought I would surprise the Kiddos with some Pumpkin Bars as an after-school treat. Shepherds Pie for Dinner, and for Breakfast tomorrow- Home Made Cinnamon Rolls. That should hold them for awhile.


















So here we have the Link for the Pumpkin Bars Recipe. And here is the link to the
Cinnamon Rolls Recipe. The Shepherds Pie one is in my head, I will try to post it for you, although I'm pretty sure most of you probably already have your standard go to recipe for that :) :)

Shepherds Pie
Ingred;
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 can each corn, peas, beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup-(shhhhh... this is a secret from my Family, they are not mushroom fans)
2 pkts brown gravy mix- equal to making 2 cups gravy
1-1/2c. cool water
3c. mashed potatoes
1c. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown your beef, when cooked through add vegies, & soup, whisk together the water & gravy mix & add to the rest. Cook until thick & bubbly. Pour into a 9x13 pan, spread the potatoes over top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 min.
This is my families favorite variation of Shepherds Pie, so there ya go.
Happy Wednesday All!!!

Tasty Soup & Wontons

I felt good enough to make up a yummy batch of soup this afternoon, I had a some spinach that needed using up.

Tortellini Soup

ingred.
8c. chicken broth
1pkg frozen cheese tortellinis
1/2c. chopped spinach
2T. minced basil
1/4c. each- diced celery & carrots

Bring the broth to a boil, add all remaining ingred. Simmer for about 30 min, until carrots and celery are cooked.


Now these little wonton cigars were fun and easy I am going to be working on different fillings for them, this time I made them with plain cream cheese and dipped them in sweet & sour sauce. I threw some in the freezer to see how well they hold up & rebake later. I hope this all made sense cause I'm still loopy :)

Midnight Babbles

I woke up between pills half way lucid & played on the computer for a bit, the painkillers are making me kinda loopy. The Hubby is enjoying it though because he says they make me a lot more mellow, & that I should keep taking them on a permanent basis- ha ha ha hunny. Between my Hubby,Sister & sweet Kiddos I have been well takin care of, it's almost enough to make me want to do it again- NOT :) I am so tired of sitting/laying/resting I am about to go batty, I get really faint & dizzy if I'm up for longer than about 5 min. So I suppose I will still have to take it some what easy, I did swipe a pen & paper pad last time I was up & have been making lists of things that need done. That has helped me feel a little bit less like a slug :)
I hope all you Mom's had a wonderful day :) :) :)

HOME SWEET HOME

Just a quick blog to let you all now that I'm Home and all is going well. The surgery went fine, my surgeon said she didn't now how I waited so long it was pretty bad. I did go into the ER 2 months ago with really bad pain & they sent me home telling me that they thought I had a chest inflammation. It took 2 months to get a diagnose and have things figured out. I had a wonderful surgeon, who too great care of me. The whole thing has been fine except for a small incident at home when one of my incisions squirted blood all over me and the bathroom. Once we got that under control things have been fine. I'm pretty sore still, and they won't let me do much. My Hubby & Kiddos are taking great care of me. Poor Miss M is going through snuggle withdrawal, I didn't realize how much I still carry her around. All in All things are good & I am one spoiled Mama :) I hope all of you are having a great weekend :)

Takin' a T

As my youngest calls it, when I asked what she thought that meant she thought for a moment and said, A break? So ya that works for me :)
Thursday morning I am scheduled for Gallbladder surgery, they are removing my gallbladder first than checking to see if I have passed any stones. If so I will have to stay overnight & have a second surgery on Friday. So I am taking a break for a few days, I don't know how long I will be out of things.
So I will try to catch up with all your blogs next week sometime, to all you Mom's (and Future Mom's)- Have a Wonderful Mother's Day! :) :) :)

Yummy Treats

I have been wanting to try this since I saw a picture in a magazine, it's a mixture between
Zambaglione & Champagne Cream. I wanted the texture of the Zambaglione using Champagne instead of Marsala. So I combined a couple recipes & this is what I came up with-
Didn't it turn out pretty :) :) :)

Champagne Cream

Ingred;
6 eggs yolks
1/2c. sugar
3/4c. champagne- I used Andre's Strawberry Champagne.
1c. heavy cream
2T. sugar
1/2t. vanilla
1c. fresh berries of your choice

Start a pot of water to boil on the stove & place a glass bowl in the freezer.
Whisk together the egg yolks & sugar in a metal bowl, slowly whisk in the champagne (it will foam up quite a bit). Place metal bowl over top of a pan of boiling water, whisk mixture until it's nice & thick (all the foam will disappear). This takes about 10-15 min. Take your chilled bowl out of the freezer and pour your custard into it, place into the fridge to cool.
Chill another mixing bowl, once your custard is cooled, whip the cream, sugar & vanilla in the chilled bowl until firm peaks form. Reserve 1/2 a cup of the whipped cream. Gently fold the custard into the remaining whipped cream. To serve layer with your berries into individual serving dishes, garnish with reserved cream and berries.

This was so light & airy, if you are looking for a impressive,beautiful, easy, make ahead dessert this would be perfect, it was wonderful :)

The grocery store had shrimp on sale so I decided to make wonton wrapped shrimp, & bacon wrapped shrimp.

Wonton Wrapped Shrimp

Ingred;
Wonton wrappers
lg cooked, peeled deveined shrimp
cream cheese
cocktail sauce

Wipe both sides of the wonton wrappers with olive oil, place a 1/2t. cream cheese in the center of each wonton. Place a shrimp on top and fold in the corners to make a square, bake at 425 for 15-30 min. until the wontons are crispy. Serve hot with cocktail sauce.


The Bacon Wrapped Shrimp I cooked at 425 for about 15 min. than broiled for about 5 min until the bacon was crispy :)

One more picture for the road-

Dinner, Dinner, what's for Dinner.......

I have been slacking in the dinner making department lately, in fact I think they might have fired me if they had that option. I haven't had a lot of desire or enthusiasm to make much of anything. But today, after a trip to the grocery store, I decided to make a soup that I have had on my mind for awhile.

Chicken & Orzo Soup

Here is our line-up of suspects-
Here I have my kitchen slaves pulling the stems off of the spinach, muhahahaha!

(See how scared the little one is, she knows I mean business)And while they did that I took a break and ate some of these, the bottle was already almost empty when I started, I swear.
Now surprisingly the Kiddo's all gave this a thumbs up, I did suspect I might have a bit of a fight what with the spinach floating in their soup, but they all ate it right up. I must say bribing them with fortune cookies probably helped ;)

My only problem with this soup was that there were no leftovers for my lunch tomorrow :(


Chicken & Orzo Soup

Ingred.-
8c. chicken broth
1c. orzo, uncooked
1/4c. minced fresh parsley
1c. cooked diced chicken
1c. chopped spinach

Bring your chicken broth to a boil, add in the remaining ingred. and simmer for 15 min.
Enjoy, this served my Family of 6 perfectly.

Award Time :)

I was lucky enough to receive a couple of awards from my Bloggy Friends the first one is the-

Passionate Blogger Award, Which I received from Katie and also from Raouly- Thank You Ladies :)

The Rules for this Award are-

1. Put the logo in your blog
2. Write five things you are passionate about apart from blogging
3. Tag 5 people on your lists and let them know you tagged them.

Five Things?????hmmmmm......

Well number one would definitely have to be---

1- My Family
My Children, Husband, Parents, Siblings, Grandparents- the list goes on & on. I adore my children with all my heart, they make every day special. Plus they keep me laughing :) I love my Hubby, we are going on 11 years this year. I don't know what I would do without my Sisters, they keep me sane, somewhat :) I have such a wonderful extended family that I can't even tell you how blessed I am, I am one lucky Girl :) And yes I said Girl, I haven't hit the big 30 yet :)

2- Crafting
I love to create things, whether it be scrapbooking, sewing, painting, crafts with the Kids, whatever I love it.

3-Cooking
Which is just another way of creating, I love it when my house is full of yummy smells. My Cousin and I have been getting together to make fancy appetizers, I love to make cute little desserts and appetizers :) And soup, Soup would have to be my most favorite thing to make, any kind, Soup is the best.

4-Montana
I can see my Hubby cringing as he reads this, sorry Hunny, I love my State. I love the Mountains and the People. I love being so close to nature that is visits your backyard, I love to see all the green in summer & all the white in the winter. I don't enjoy being too warm so the climate is perfect for me.

5-Reading
There is nothing like a GOOD book, & it's sad that there are so few out there. You know one, that sucks you in- makes you laugh, cry, and never want to put it down or for it to end. I have always wanted to write a book, it's on my Some Day List :)

So now I get to pass this on to 5 bloggers, sorry if you have already received this, it just means you're extra passionate! lol.

1- Raouly- for her passion for politics, & news, thanks for keeping me informed!
Who Has The Thyme?
2-Willoughby- for her passion for Life, I so enjoy reading her posts they never fail to brighten my day.
This Stop Willoughby
3-Lynn- for her passion for saving, thanks for all the great tips!!
Mom's Loot
4-Monica- for all her passion for beautiful food, I have gotten so many WONDERFUL recipes from her!
Lick The Bowl Good
5- Gracey- for her passion for her country, she writes such beautiful posts that you feel that you are there visiting it with her!
A Dash Of Life



The 2nd Award is the meme award-Given to me by Willoughby, Thank you Lady :)

The rules for this one are as follows-

I must post the award on my blog
List seven personality traits of mine
Pass the award to seven other bloggers


1- Neat Freak-
I HATE having things out of place, I drive my family bonkers I'm sure. If my house isn't clean and organized it drives ME bonkers. I feel that everything has a place and that's where it ought to be, lol.

2-Wishy-Washy-
If I don't have a particular thing in mind I can't decide. Like what to eat, cook, wear, buy. I will pick up and put down the same thing about 4 times before I can decide it's ok. I will often buy something get it home and decide it really wasn't the right choice and take it back. Driving with me is a lot of fun at times as well :)

3-Peacemaker-
I want everyone to be happy and get along, I HATE confrontations. I will bend over backwards to keep the peace.

4- Stubborn-
It's that inner 2 year old I talk about, I like to do things my way & usually by MYSELF! lol

5-Happy-
I am a pretty happy person.

6-Shy-
I have Social anxiety, I have a really hard time meeting new people and going to new places. Very Stressful.
Blogger: One Step at a Time - Edit Post "Award Time :)"
7-Optomistic-
I like to think the best of things, because really, how does it help to not???
There ya go 7 of my goofy personality traits.

The 7 people that I would like to pass this to are-

1-Luis- Muddy Runner
2-Erica- A Dramaqueens's Guide To Life
3-Crystal- Don't Try Her
4-R Max- Good Things Come To Those Who Blog
5-Tammy- Ponderosa Jr.
6- PurpleHoodieChick
7-Lisa- Frugal Momma

Now I gotta go sort through some boxes, moving day is coming ya know :)

Thank You

Thank You to Willoughby, Katie, Raouly for honoring me with those awards :) I will post on them next week :) :) :)

These past 2 weeks have been insanely busy & CRAZY. We had K's birthday than Miss K's birthday, I found out I need to have my Gall bladder removed, Graduation is in 2 weeks and we are moving in 1 month. I have been trying to find the perfect house to rent, I guess maybe I need to be less picky. The kids & I made an quick trip (5 hours) to go look at a place that sounded perfect, & it was! So keep your fingers crossed for me! So to get to the point, hopefully tomorrow or Monday, once we are home, and things are settled down a bit I can get a good post written. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!! :)