One Step at a Time

A New Tradition

2012-01-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

My Family has a Tradition of getting together on New Year's Day and having Breakfast together, each of my siblings and their family brings a dish. There are old favorites that everyone insists on being brought, and new dishes that we all can't wait to try!

This is one of the many things that I miss about living close to my Family, it's been a few years since we have been able to be at this event. So this year I resolved to carry on this Tradition in my own little family. We would have our own New Year's Day Breakfast feast! One of the dishes I made is Peaches and Cream French Toast, this has become a big favorite at our house. As a savory dish to go with that I made a yummy Hashbrown Bake, bacon and sliced oranges. I got out the nice dishes, fancy cups (we had OJ with 7up) and we all sat down to a tasty breakfast.

While I still missed being at my parents house and enjoying the company of everyone there, spending this morning with my sweet Family was a great start to a New Year. Cheers!

The recipe that I use for the French Toast I got from MyRecipes.com, I always change it up a little so here is my version-

Peaches and Cream French Toast

Ingredients

1 8-oz. loaf French bread, sliced
8 large eggs
2 cups half n half
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 15-oz. cans sliced peaches packed in juice, drained
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup heavy cream

Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and a 8x8 inch baking dish. Arrange bread in a tight, flat layer in both dishes.

Whisk eggs with half n half, sugar and almond extract until blended; pour over bread, using 3/4 of the mixture in the bigger pan and the rest in the smaller pan. Arrange peaches on top and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. I always do it the night before.

Remove baking dishes from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake, uncovered, until casserole is lightly browned on top and just cooked through, 45 to 55 minutes. I have always baked it for the full 55 min, and have never had it dry out. I serve it with a jar of cream so that it can be drizzled over top if they want.

Hashbrown 'n Egg Bake

Ingred.

4 c. thawed, frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes
1/4c. minced onion
1T. minced parsley
1t. onion powder
salt and pepper
1/2c. melted butter
1/2c. sour cream
1/2c. shredded cheddar cheese

1/2c. bacon bits/ or cubed ham.
6 eggs
1c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. I used a buttered, lg round dish for this but I think a 9x13 pan would work fine. Mix together the potatoes, onion, parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper, butter, sour cream and 1/2c. shredded cheese. Spread mixture evenly into your pan. Make 6 indentations for your eggs. Place covered in the oven for 30 min. Remove from oven, crack each egg into it's own little indentation, sprinkle with salt and pepper, sprinkle the bacon/ham over the whole top. Cover and returned to the oven for 45 min. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the remaining
1 c. cheese over top and return, uncovered to the oven for 10 minutes more.

Challenge #12!!!

2011-05-08T23:59:00.001-07:00

This is the last Challenge, woo hoo!! They were so fun, even though I didn't do them all. Next year I will, maybe, lol.

My Pink Stampers challenge #12-

Make a scrapbook page or card with a kids theme-

So I used some adorable monkey paper I have been saving to make a cute page with my little monkey on it. She couldn't have been older than 2 in this picture, she used to climb everything!!

Again THANK YOU to My Pink Stamper for all the fun!!!

Challenge # 11

2011-05-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

So I skipped ahead to Challenge #11, I am still hoping to get number 10 done I am still working on it . The contest is over tomorrow night and I don't know if I will be able to finish it tomorrow. We will see :)

My Pink Stampers # 11 Challenge is-

Make a project using pink, black and green-

I can't believe my Baby is 6 now :(
When did she get so big???
It's seems like she was this size just yesterday.

Challenge #9

2011-05-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

My Pink Stampers #9 Challenge-

Use glitz, glam and glitter on your project-

To Glitz up my page I used sparkly paper from DCWV, Pink Distressed Stickles and Red Stickles, and little pink jewels from Heidi Swap, the cherries are cut from the Hello Kitty Cart.

Challenge #8

2011-05-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here is My Pink Stampers #8 Challenge-

Make a summer themed project-

I get to help plan fun activities for 8-12 year old girls from our church, one of our activities coming up in June is a Daddy/Daughter hike and bbq. So I came up with this for the invitation, good thing I have a month to make 24 more of them! :)

Challenge #7

2011-05-08T23:31:00.000-07:00

If you make cards, crafts or scrapbook you need to check out My Pink Stampers blog, she has
a ton of great videos and ideas!!

Okay, here is my entry for Challenge #7-

The Challenge for #7 is, Make a scrapbook page! I think this was my favorite challenge and favorite entry :)

I promised Miss K that her pictures will go on these pages, she loved them.
The paper is from DCWV, told ya I loved their paper (I have a ton :) The shaped paper was cut using the Elegant Edges Cart, ( THANK YOU Robin for sharing) the cupcake was cut using the Doodlecharms Cart.

Challenge #6

2011-05-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

Here is My Pink Stampers #6 Challenge-

Incorporate a tag into your project.

I had to prop it up against the Beautiful roses I got from my sweet girls for Mothers Day, the book totally matches them :)

I made this mini book for one of the kids Teachers, I can't wait to give it to her!!

I used the cardboard from a cereal box and covered it with paper from DCWV. It has 6 pages in it, complete with photo and journaling mats.
I <3 my kids Teachers, they are Wonderful :)

Challenge #5

2011-05-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here is the second challenge that I participated in from My Pink Stampers National Scrapbook Day Challenges, I skipped ahead to #5 :)

This is for Challenge #5-

Challenge #5 was to make something 3-D

I am hoping this qualifies- I made a Narnia charm bracelet using pictures,
wood charms and beads.

I have a couple more to share that I made about a month ago and wanted to share them because they turned out so cute :) -

My Pink Stamper Challenge #1

2011-05-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day and I got to spend some time scrapping with my friend Robin. We were following along with My Pink Stampers Challenges and made some fun pages and projects :)

Here is my Project for Challenge #1-

The challenge was anything cupcake, I made a cupcake birthday card-

I used my Doodlecharms Cricut cart. for the cupcake, and the paper is
from DCWV. Love their paper packs :)
Thanks to My Pink Stamper for hosting such an awesome scrapbook day, and for all the great prizes!

Wintertime Crafting Fever

2010-12-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

When it's cold outside it puts me in the mood for making things, so I dusted off my crochet hooks, and crafting cupboard and got to work.
The day after Thanksgiving the girls and I made charm bracelets-

Miss B has become somewhat of a Harry Potter Fanatic
so hers featured her two favorite people in the world
(the world of pretend anyway)
Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.

Miss K likes all things Big Sister likes, so along the same theme
hers was of her favorite HP character Hermione.

Very distinctly having a mind of her own on all things, Miss M wanted hers
made with Olivia the Pig, which has become one of her favorite shows.
She LOVES Olivia, and I have to admit the theme song is pretty catchy.

Some cute little crocheted baby boots for my newest niece.

A fun Turkey hair clip for Miss M to wear on Thanksgiving.

A little Ballerina Bear Ami for my Niece.

I wanted to display the kids art work so I came up with this fun project,
it has their picture, name, and a list of their favorite things.

Flowers for Miss M's hair/headbands, this are very quick,
easy and addictive to make, kind of like chocolate.

She wanted to see how many she could get on her
headband, silly girl :)

A place was then needed to put all the newly crafted hair lovelys.

Since it is winter I thought a few new hats were appropriate-

Miss M's Sock Monkey Hat
I love sock monkeys <3

Miss B's hat, she is to "old" for silly hats :P

Miss K's Sleepy Owl hat-

And seeing how the Boy is in his first year of middle school,
I thought it best to not to torture him with a cute new winter hat ;)

Miss B's birthday gift for one of her HP Fanatical friends,
it's nice that there is someone other than me that she can discuss all
things Harry Potter with. My ears get tired.

So that's what I have been up too, that and trying to figure out a good menu system. If any of you have one that you use and love I need tips.

On a more serious note, my Husband is doing well, great actually, he is now officially considered in remission for this episode. And is feeling pretty good most of the time. Thank you all so much for your kind words, thoughts and prayers, they are much appreciated. We are getting things figured out now, and it's starting to feel like we know a bit more what to expect, which helps alot.

Life really does go on-

2010-10-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have written and erased this post many times in the last few weeks, it's not an easy one to write. The last few months feel a bit blurry and I am just now moving forward and feeling like Life does really go on. It may be enormously different, but it keeps going on.
About a month ago my Husband was officially diagnosed with MS, he has been having symptoms for over 3 years but several months ago things started to get really bad and he finally agreed to see a Dr. And after a few months of Dr's visits and testing they told us that is was for sure MS, everything else had been ruled out. This news was devastating to us, we were on the home stretch of a long journey and all of a sudden this huge ugly road block was dropped in our path.
My Husband is a grad student and we were hoping that after 3 more quick years we would finally be able to settle down somewhere, he'd get an amazing job, we'd buy a house and give our kids the kind of life we really want them to have. And now we are not sure how that will all work out.
The feeling that I spent most of the last month fighting off was anger, the kind of gut wrenching anger that makes you want to pound and smash things, while crying so hard you can't breathe. I am getting over that, slowly, but if I let myself think about it all too much it's hard to keep from crying. Our lives are going to be much different than we planned.
Being the wife of a grad student with 4 children is hard enough, when you throw an illness like MS into the mix you know things are definitely not going to get easier anytime soon.
It hasn't been all gloom and doom though, we have been very blessed. His testing and diagnosis took a very short time compared to a lot of the stories we have heard, he has 2 wonderful Dr's and some great nurses. They have been very helpful, and supportive. We have had some great and wonderful support from our friends at church, and the Professors at the University, we have been given so much help and support from all that we have had contact with this past month.
I have never been even tempted to feel angry at God, he has laid such a HUGE supporting ground work for this new direction in our life. So many changes in the last few years that were made because they seemed right are now making sense. The jobs my husband held in the past, he would never have been able to continue as his MS progresses. At least with his Bio-Chemistry degree he will still have some good options. We have met people in the last year and a half, after our move, that have experience with MS and are able to give us some great suggestions, and helpful information. As hard as this is we have been given SO much help in dealing with and understanding it.
I know things will be ok, and I feel a bit like I am coming out of a long dark tunnel and am beginning to see that there is light on the other side. So I think I am coming to terms with it. Life really is one crazy ride isn't it.

Gluten-Free Goodies

2010-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

This post is for my friend Serena, her youngest is allergic to almost every food on the planet, poor kid :(
So I turned my cornbread recipe into a gluten-free one for her, then I went one step further and made them into corndog muffins.
I got the recipe for corndog muffins from Monica's Blog- Lick The Bowl Good. She has a ton of really wonderful recipes, and gorgeous pictures. Here is a link to her recipe- LINKY.
And here is my cornbread recipe-

Gluten-Free Cornbread
Ingred;
1/2c. butter
1/4c. sugar
1/4c. honey
2 eggs
1/2t. salt
2c. corn flour
1c. corn meal
1/2t. b. powder
1c. milk
1c. corn
1t. dried parsley- optional
1/4t. chili powder- optional

Oven 400
Beat together the butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt. Mix in the flour, cornmeal and b. powder. Once that's combined mix in milk and corn. Bake in 2 greased muffin tins, for 15-20 minutes. Or you can go over to Monica's Blog and turn them into corn dog muffins :)

This got 7 thumbs up, 4 from the Kiddos, and 3 thumbs up from my Hubby- how he got 3 thumbs is beyond me. But it seemed to be a hit :)

(Serena when you make this you can substitute egg replacer for the eggs,
I hope you guys like it :)

B is for Banana

2010-08-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

On my counter this morning sat a pile of ripe banana's, once they start to age a bit nobody in my house will touch them. So I found myself browsing some online recipes for bananas, usually I just make banana bread but that takes an hour to bake and I didn't want to be heating up the house for that long. I found a recipe on AR for Banana chocolate chip cookies that had pretty good reviews, people had made some various changes to it though. The link for the original recipe is there, I changed the ingredients up a bit and this is what I ended up with-

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingred;
3c. whole wheat flour
1t. b powder
1/2t. salt
1/4t. b. soda
1/4c. sugar
1/4c. brown sugar
1/2c. butter
2 eggs
1t. vanilla
2 mashed bananas
1c. chocolate chips

Oven 375
Beat together the butter and sugars, add in the eggs, mix well.
Then beat in the bananas and vanilla. With the mixer running, add in the b.powder, b. soda, and salt, mix well. Add in the flour, mix until well combine and then add in the chocolate chips.
Scoop out by spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet, bake for 5-10 minutes.
This got 4 thumbs up from the Kiddos and is going to be made again at my house :)

I used 2 of the remaining bananas to let the Kiddos make an afternoon snack-
I melted some chocolate chips for them to dip them in, then they rolled them in graham cracker crumbs and froze them for about 2 hours. It's a semi-healthy snack, I suppose there are worse things :)

No cooking for me

2010-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Make that no eating for me, because I am still cooking for the rest of my family, just not cooking anything new that I would'nt be able to try.
About 3 weeks ago I had my wisdom teeth pulled, (pulled I say, not removed because I was wide awake in the dentists office).You expect pain for the first, oh I don't know, week maybe? But at the end of week 2 I was still having quite a bit of pain. And since the holes were just wide open and not stitched shut I was being very careful to leave them alone. But after 2 weeks there was still pain and with that I had begun feeling something stabbing me in the cheek everytime I moved my mouth. So I stuck my tongue back there and sure enough! There was something poking out behind where they pulled my tooth!I guess bone fragments are not an uncommon thing when you have your W. teeth removed, but I had never heard of them. Since that first one about a week ago I have had 2 more come up, not far enough for the dentist to be able to pull them but far enough to cause pain, aching, and to stab me in the cheek in 3 different spots.So long story long, I am still on a mostly liquid-slash-mush diet (not a big fan of mush) because it hurts to chew. And can't eat much, so I have no recipes or pictures to share with you all.
The good news in all this, being on a liquid diet for 3 weeks, I lost 20 lbs :) Almost makes it worth it, almost :)

I have been doing quite a lot of sewing this summer so I have a few pictures of that to share, if anyone wants instructions on any of them holler and I will try to explain.

A tutu I made and stitched onto my nieces onesie. 2$

Pocket purses, I made each of my girls one, and also 1 for each of my nieces.
These were pockets from pants that the kiddos wore out, or grew out of.

This was an adults size sweatshirt I found for 2$, I took off the sleeves,
trimmed up the sides,and re-sewed them, so it would fit her better,
then stitched on the hood from a different sweatshirt.

This is a little sundress I made from a men's t-shirt- 1$

Sundress and matching leggings- I used 3 t-shirts to make this little outfit
(leggings too) total cost- 2$.

Capri's made from a womens dress shirt- 1 $

Sorry about the sideways pictures, I may have this new computer working but I don't have the new photo program anywhere near figured out!

I hope you are all having a great summer!!!

Back for some more

2010-08-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been MIA for awhile, my computer crashed and I have spent the last several months pouting and refusing to get used to a new one. Until about a week ago I gave in and decided to give it a try.
I don't have much to share with you all, just a quick HELLO, and I hope everyone's summer is going well. I have lots of catching up to do so I am cutting this short. I am going to leave you with some pictures I took of the kids Birthday treats, 3 of my kiddo's celebrated their birthdays since I have been on here and we also had a baptism to celebrate.
Hopefully I will have some things to post soon!!

My new lifestyle has some great food choices

2010-03-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here area couple things I have been eating lately.

I make up a batch of very lowfat, low carb, soup once a week, then save it in the fridge to reheat for dinners or lunches. The trick for me is having it in the fridge ready to heat whenever I am hungry, that keeps me from eating other stuff that's on hand here :)

Another thing I have been enjoying is Sesame Cabbage Salad. I thinly chop a head of cabbage, could use a head of lettuce instead, and keep it in the fridge in a gallon zip baggie. It will keep well for at least a week or longer. Then I have containers of minced red onion and carrots in my fridge. I mix up a batch of my own sesame dressing, I always double it at least so I have enough for the week at least. With those all in my fridge this salad take just a minutes toss together. I love topping mine with some, dry roasted, chopped almonds and some sunflower seeds.

A few weeks ago I watched Alton Brown on FN talk about how he lost 50 lbs, it was really neat. I liked his system, he divided foods into eat every day, eat once a week, eat once a month and eat never. 1 thing that totally stuck with me is that Fast Food is on the list of foods that you should NEVER eat. I don't think I had been out for fast food for at least 2 months before I started losing weight and haven't been since. The link is here to his show on this if you are interested.

Lissaloo's Low-Carb Asian Salad Dressing
Ingred;
1/4c. olive oil
1/4c. sesame oil
1/2c. rice wine vinegar
1t. onion powder
1/2t. pepper
1t. ground ginger

Put all ingred in a bottle and shake together, store in the fridge. This recipe doubles well and stores in the fridge for a couple weeks just fine, you will need to shake before using.

Lissaloo's Low-Carb Soup
Ingred;
1/2c. cubed steak meat
1/2c. chopped carrots
1/2c. chopped onions
2T. olive oil
1c. chopped celery
1c. chopped mushrooms
2c. chopped spinach
4c. water
4c. V8 juice
salt and pepper

Heat a large pot, saute the meat, carrots, onions, celery and mushrooms with the olive oil.
When the meat is cooked through stir in the water and V8, bring to a boil and simmer for about 25 minutes, stir in the spinach and cook another 5 minutes, or until all the veggies are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Keeps well in the fridge for 1 week.

So I give in to a little Obsession once in a while....

2010-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

That's perfectly normal right???

My Mother-In-Law asked my a couple weeks ago if I knew how to crochet the top to those hanging dishtowels, I don't know what their politically correct name is, and I had no idea but I knew they didn't look to hard. So with the help of Google I came up with these tutorials

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/towel_toppers.php

and with their help I became obsessed with making these fun, and totally functional, little beauties.

Now after I had made a few of these I began to wonder if I could do this in the bathroom, some how my bathroom hand towels are always on the floor.

And it did!!! Now as to whether they keep the hand towels off the floor we will have to just wait and see. Hand towels aren't my only obsession, did you notice the monkeys in my bathroom?? Yep, they are all over the house :)
While in my search I also came across these-

which I also had to make :)
Here is an awesome tutorial for these, it made the whole process Easy Peasy Lemon Squeazzeee as Miss M likes to say-

http://treyandlucy.blogspot.com/2009/12/hanging-dishtowel.html

Talk about your perfect 10 minute gift :)

A top of the mornin to ya!

2010-03-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you All!!

This is the day where I can play with food coloring and celebrate my Irish Heritage to its fullest :)
I am making Green Oat Pancakes with green syrup and green applesauce for breakfast,

and Irish Stew, and Irish Soda Bread for dinner.

For Dessert we are having Irish Cream Cheesecake, yum.

The kids made some fun stuff yesterday to take to school, green sparkle wands and Irish potato candy.

And of course got all dressed up for the Day-

Irish Stew

Ingred;
3T. butter
2c. stew meat, I am allergic to lamb so I used beef
1/2c. minced onion
1/2c. chopped carrots
2c. peeled, cubed potatoes
1/2c. peeled cubed parsnips
1/2c. peeled, cubed turnips
2T. vegetable soup bouillon
1 small handful crushed, dried parsley
Salt and pepper
enough Water to cover the vegies.

I sauteed my butter and meat together until it was almost cooked through, stir in about 1/2t. pepper, 1t. salt. Then add in the onions and carrots until the onions became translucent. Then I tossed in the potatoes, parsnips and turnips. I added enough hot water to cover the vegie's with about 1/2 inch extra.
I stirred in the vegie bouillon, then added in my parsley and brought to a boil. I let this simmer covered until the vegies are tender.
I don't how traditional it is but it was sure tasty :)

May luck be our companion
May friends stand by our side
May history remind us all
Of Ireland's faith and pride.
May God bless us with happiness
May love and faith abide.
~Irish Blessing

Crockpots+ Chicken= Awesome Easy Dinners

2010-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

A very sweet Friend sent me some chicken crock pot recipes, they are simple, easy, and quick three of my favorite things :)
I have a picture of the Chicken Stroganoff, we had it over some Spaetzle noodles and I added some Mushrooms to the recipe. I can't seem to make stroganoff without mushrooms, it just doesn't seem right :)

Then we tried the Honey Chicken recipe, and it was yummy.
I added in 1/2c. shredded carrots to it when I added the sauce in.

Quick and Easy Crock Pot
Chicken Recipes

From Jenn B.

Basic Recipe: Start with 2 lbs frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts (4 breasts). Cook in the crock pot on high for at least 4 hours (no pink in the middle). I like to cook 1 diced onion and 1/8 c of minced garlic along with the chicken breasts. Adjust the amount of chicken and other ingredients according to the size and taste of your family. Four chicken breasts serves 6-8, depending! After cooking and preparing the chicken, stir in any of the following combinations of ingredients and change the crock pot setting to low for a few hours until serving.

Taco Chicken: Shred chicken breast. Stir in ½c taco seasoning and 1c water. If you prefer, you can add the taco seasoning with the frozen breasts. You can also add into prepared beans 1-2 cans (15 oz) (pinto, refried, kidney, black) and/or salsa, chopped green chile peppers. Serve as you would taco meat.

Honey Chicken: Shred chicken breast. Stir in 1c honey, ½c butter, ½c French’s mustard, 2tsp curry powder. Serve over rice.

Teriyaki Chicken: Chop chicken. Mix in a bowl: ¾c soy sauce, ¾c sugar, 2Tbs. red wine vinegar, 3tsp vegetable oil, ½-1tsp ground ginger; stir in with chicken in crock pot. Serve over rice.

Spaghetti Chicken: Leave chicken breast whole or chop to desired size. Add premade spaghetti sauce (approx 9c) or your family’s favorite spaghetti sauce ingredients. Serve over noodles. You can also put the sauce in with the frozen breasts.

Chicken Taco Soup: Reserve 2 breasts. Chop or shred chicken. Stir in ¼c taco seasoning, ¼c salsa, 2-3 cans of beans (15oz) (black, pinto, kidney), 1 can (15oz) chopped tomatoes, 1 can chopped green chile peppers, cilantro and 4-6c liquid as desired (water, tomato sauce, or chicken broth). Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, and fresh diced avocados if you like!

White Chicken Chili: Reserve 2 breasts. Chop or shred chicken. Stir in 1 can diced green chile peppers, 2tsp ground cumin, 1tsp dried oregano, ½-1tsp cayenne pepper, 3 (14oz) cans chicken broth, 3 cans white beans. Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream, if desired.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches: Shred chicken. Stir in one bottle of BBQ sauce (approx. 3c) of your choice or use your favorite recipe. Serve on buns.

Chicken Stroganoff: Add ¼c butter and 2 (.7 oz) packages dry Italian style salad dressing mix, with the frozen chicken breasts. After chicken is cooked, cube chicken, add 16oz cubed cream cheese and 2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup, stir. Cook on LOW for 2 hours or HIGH for 1 hour. Serve over noodles.

More Amigurmi Fun

2010-03-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here are another batch of Ami's-

I had to make a monkey, I <3 href="http://www.crochetme.com/media/p/88885.aspx">CrochetMe

Better Homes and Gardens

Free Ami Patterns

Ami List

Needle Arts

Woman's Day

WolfDreamer

Gourmet Amigurumi

These are a few of the sites where you can find free patterns for Ami's :)

Dinner Time!

2010-03-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

We made this for dinner the other night and it was a big hit. I got the recipe from an old Taste of Home Magazine that my sister gave me. Add a salad and Wahlaaaa! It's Dinner Time :)

Enchilada Dip

Ingred;
2 lbs of hamburger
1 can of chili with beans
2 cans of pinto beans, drained
1 can of enchilada sauce
1 16 oz can tomato sauce
1c. corn chips
2c. shredded cheddar cheese
olives
sour cream
tortilla chips

Oven 375
Brown up the hamburger, add in the chili, beans, enchilada sauce, tomato sauce. Cook till bubbly, stir in the corn chips, pour into an 9x13 pan, top with the shredded cheese and olives.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve with sour cream and chips for dipping.

I don't have any pictures of this, is was really yummy, but not very pretty and I was lazy that day :)

See Spring is here! I think.....

2010-03-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

You can tell that it's spring

when the kids start wearing rings or their toes-

Or Something like that :)

Snickerdoodles are SO much better as a bar cookie

2010-03-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

In fact they should always be made as a bar cookie, I have never liked Snicker Doodles because they are a crisper, dryer cookie than I like.
This Bar Cookie recipe is really, really good. They are cinnamon-y and chew-y and perfect-y :)

I am giving you the link so that you can print out the recipe, because you NEED to make these, they are that wonderful. Thank you to Heidi at Tried-and-True cooking with Heidi for this wonderful recipe :)

Have to share

2010-03-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

My daughter cracks me up, I was so proud of the valentine box she made, I just had to share it with you all.
She is so creative and has such a great sense of humor and this showed it so well.

Her Valentine Box is a Pink Dog-

That ate her Homework-

Isn't that too cute?

Who doesn't LOVE Bread Pudding?

2010-03-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Make that Chocolate Bread Pudding.

Now I personally would have thought it impossible for someone to not like chocolate, but my very own Brother-in-Law is an anti-chocolate man. How that very strange phenomenon happened I do not know.

I have had this recipe for bread pudding bookmarked for quite some time, last week I made Challah bread and decided that it would be the perfect way to use it up. I changed it a little, I didn't add the chocolate chips, instead I added about 1/2c. cocoa powder to the custard batter. I baked it in a 8x8 pan and it turned out PERFECTLY.

The kiddos and the Hubby who are all, thankfully, chocolate people, thought so too :)

Need a baby shower gift?

2010-03-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I found this cute little burp rag idea on a craft blog called How Does She.....
Both of my Sister in Laws are expecting, there are a few women from church and one of my Hubby's co-workers that I wanted to make something for.
I cheated and bought a couple packages of Utility Towels that were on sale at Shopko to make these. I had some flannel that I bought on sale a few years ago, so my total cost for 5 of these was only 4 $, I am cheap like that :)

I laid the towels on the flannel and cut them to the same size, laid them right sides together and sergered them, leaving a hole so that I could turn them right side out.

I used my sewing machine to top stitch then all the way around. Then I rolled them up and tied with a piece of fabric cut into rickrack ribbons with my new, very first ever, pair of pinking shears :)
See how cute they turned out-

I am going to add some other cute homemade baby goodies to these, once I figure out what else to make, there are too many cute things out there :)

Breakfast anyone?

2010-03-08T08:00:00.001-08:00

Thank you all the great comments! It's really motivating to have such great support :)

I have a wonderful recipe for you, we made these last weekend and they were soooooo yummy! I think that it will be my main waffle recipe from now on. Do you remember this post? And this one?
About Mochi and Mochiko flour? These waffles are made with half mochiko rice flour and half reg. flour, and they have no butter or oil in them. Not only were they amazing when they were hot, crispy and chewy, but they were wonderful just plain the next day too!
I sliced up some strawberries and mango to go on them and whipped up some Rum Whipped cream to go on top, it was a tropical experience :)

Mochi Waffles
Ingred;
2c. flour
2c. mochiko, rice flour
1/2t. salt
1/4c. sugar
2T. baking powder
3c. milk
3 eggs
2t. vanilla

Stir together the dry ingred. Make a well in the center, add in the wet ingred. and whisk together. Make sure you spray your waffle iron well so they don't stick.

Rum Whipped Cream
Ingred
2c. whipping cream
1/4c. sugar
1t. rum extract

Whip these together in a chilled mixing bowl until stiff peaks form.

I am still alive

2010-03-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

I have just been in a different mod, 1 that hasn't allowed for much online time. My treadmill is by the computer and I have been composing blogs, in my head, while walking. But then my free time is gone and I didn't get to spend any of it in BlogLand :(

On a very happy note though, I am ecstatic to announce that since January 1st I have gone from a size 22 to a size 16, a snug 16 but a 16 none the less!!!!! And I am down on top too! From a 3x to an XL!!! I haven't been this size is 5 years!!!! Even my feet have shrunk, lol.

I am needing some advice from my runner friends-
I need to go get some new tennis shoes, what should I be looking for?
Also I have been getting shin splints, very bad shin splints, for the last two weeks. Is there anything I can do to prevent them? Make them better? I have been iceing them after walking and jogging because they hurt so bad. I really don't want them to be slowing me down so if there is something I can be doing that would be great.
I will hopefully be back on here later I have some great crafts and some yummy recipes to share with you all, I hope your day is wonderful!!!!

And the Krafting continues

2010-02-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

I am hopping on quick to put up a picture of Miss M's latest T-shirt dress.
I used the top of a cute t-shirt that she had out grown, I added a couple pieces to make it longer and trimmed off the sleeves and added a ruffle- and Wahla!

She has been dancing around in it all day :)

I am also adding a picture of Miss K's robot

and robot's friends Momma Bird and Baby Bird

and my favorite- Mr. Turtle

I have been crafting and sewing like crazy, it's awesome.
I did find some time to do a bit of cooking also, here is a picture of my go-to rolls-

This recipe can be found here- at AR. It calls for a bread machine to make the dough but I just use my Kitchen Aid. This is my favorite roll recipe, I have used this one a lot.

Last week I tried my hand at making Pretzel Baguettes-
Aren't they pretty?!? They were so much fun, they tasted and smelled fabulous, there are a lot of steps but they are really simple to make I got the recipe from HERE.

And onto Dessert, I saved the best for last-

Flourless Chocolate Cake with ganache and raspberry whipped cream.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingred;
4oz good chocolate broken into pieces (I used an extra dark chocolate)
1/2c. butter
3/4c. sugar
1/2c. powdered cocoa
3 eggs beaten
1t. extract of your choice (I used raspberry, but vanilla would be fine)

Heat oven to 300.
Prepare an 8 inch spring form pan, cut a wax paper circle for the bottom and grease the bottom and sides.
In a med. sized glass bowl melt together the chocolate and the butter.
Whisk in the sugar, cocoa and vanilla, when it has cooled a bit whisk in your eggs.
Pour into your prepared spring form pan.
Bake for exactly 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes then remove the pans sides and cool completely .

Ganache-
1c. dark chocolate chips
1/2c. half n half (or cream)
1/2t. vanilla

Put the chocolate in a glass bowl.
Heat the cream in the microwave just to the point of boiling.
Pour the half n half over your chocolate.
Let set for 3-5 minutes, whisk together, whisk in the vanilla.

I let this cool in the fridge until barely warm then spread over the top of my cake.

Raspberry Whipped Cream-
1c. whipping cream
4T. sugar
1t. raspberry extract
1/4c. raspberrries

Whip together the cream, sugar and extract until solid peaks form. Stir in the raspberries and serve over your cake.

This is the first time I have ever had flourless chocolate cake, it was wonderful. When I was looking for recipes there seemed to be 2 ways to make it. This recipe follows the quicker method. I am going to try the longer more involved method next time to see how they compare.

A quick Hello-

2010-01-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hi all!!
I have been trying to keep up with what you guys are all up too, but I know I missed a post or two, sorry about that.
I have been getting back into exercising and am happy to say that I am down 1 pant size!!!
I am pretty excited about that :) :) :)

I have been cooking quite a bit also and have some great recipes to share as soon as I get a chance-

Red Velvet Cake- Courtesy of Monica from Lick the Bowl Good
Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake with Ganache and Raspberry Whipped Cream
PW's Sesame Noodles
And Pretzel Baguettes- Courtesy of Kim from Stirring the Pot

I hope everyones week is going wonderful!!!! :)

Minestrone Soup, Festive Herb Spirals and the Perfect Bribe

2010-01-20T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hi all!
Sorry I haven't been reading and commenting lately.
The weather here has been gorgeous this week and Miss M and I have been taking advantage of it by spending our days outside. I haven't driven my car once this week we have just been walking everywhere, it's been pretty awesome.

For dinner last night I made a beautiful Minestrone Soup-
I use half V-8 juice, half water and add in whatever vegies I can find, this time we had a great mixture-

carrots, yellow pepper, onion, kidney beans, cilantro, parsley, spinach, corn, green beans and ditalini noodles. Yummy.

To go with the soup I made some Festive Herb Spirals, these would also make great appetizers-

Festive Herb Spirals
Ingred;
1 pkg crescent roll dough
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4c. minced fresh herbs- I used cilantro and parsley
1/2t. greek seasoning
1t. onion powder
3 minced green onions

I ran everything except for the dough through my food processor.
Unroll the crescent roll dough and seal the edges.
Spread with the herbed cream cheese and roll up.
Slice in 1 inch slices and place on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Now if you kids are like mine and you tried the usual pleading, or threats to get them to eat their dinner and that hasn't worked I have the perfect Bribe, er um reward. I am totally not above bribing, um rewarding my kiddos to get them to do what I ask. Everyone loves a reward right?

This was the one I offered my little ones for dessert after they finished their dinner-

That is my kind of reward, yum.

Chocolate Mousse Bars
Ingred;
1 pkg Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix + the ingred it calls for
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1c. whipping cream, whipped
1c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2c. cream

Oven 350.
Prepare cookie mix and spread into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.
Bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely.
Beat the cream cheese, melt 1c. of the chocolate chips in the microwave, beat into the cream cheese. Fold in the whipped cream.
Spread over the cookie layer.
Melt the remaining 1c. of chocolate chips, whisk together with the 1/2c. cream.
Spread over the mousse layer and refridgerate for a couple hours.

I was told by the kiddos that they wanted me to make this everyday, because it was the BEST thing they have ever had, and that I am the BEST cook ever.
Anyone else think they were trying to butter me up for something????
A second piece maybe?????

Sparse and Few Between

2010-01-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

I may be slow at posting for awhile I have a few things that I am trying to get straightened out, that are cutting in to my blog time, darn real life world!
Mainly car trouble, make that 'cars' trouble, also I am getting signed up to go back to college next fall when Miss M starts kindergarten. So I am getting all my paper work figured out and trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up, no matter what Peter Pan says I guess we all DO eventually have to :)

I have also been getting back into crafting and that is taking up a lot of my time, but I won't complain about that because I am enjoying it. I made the girls some t-shirt gauchos , skirts,& hair bows-

And I have also become addicted to making these little guys-

Amigurumi Pig -AKA- Pinky

Amigurumi Hippo -Aka Baby Hippo

Which are starting to take over my house, they are so cute. I will try to get some tutorials on here for these guys, maybe when I finishes the other 4 I am working on.
So between the crafting joy, and the craziness of my life right now I may not be on the computer as much. I hope everyone is having a great week, I am soooo glad tomorrow is Friday cause I am ready for a little break :)

This is me being brave

2010-01-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer-
If you are one of those people on a diet do not, I repeat DO NOT
read further because the Diet Train has been derailed here
and ALL passengers got off.

See I can be brave I can conquer my fear, my fear of frying that is.
Yep frying, NOT flying. That's a fear that will never be conquered.
If you are wondering what brought this on you can go here, see she frys EVERYTHING, and I was dying to try several of her recipes.
But as you may or may not Know (if not read here) but I don't do frying. I usually end of catching things on fire.
BUT if I was going to make some of these lovelies I needed to conquer my fear, Be brave little rabbit, be brave. I gathered inspiration from one of the kids favorite movies, this one-

My kiddos are always in tears at the end of this movie, they are so cute :)

On we go, to get over my frying phobia I made these-

ok, ok so the mushrooms aren't fried but the others are! I made these for an appetizer night with some friends. And.... they..... were.... YUMMY, and even better I didn't catch a single thing on fire. Nothing even burned (if we don't count my thumb that is) how good was that!

Wontons
Ingred;
1/2 pkg cream cheese
3 sliced green onions
1/4t. ginger
1/2t. soy sauce
1/4c. crab
wonton wrappers
mushroom caps

Put the cream cheese, onions, ginger and soy sauce in the Food Processor, mix until well blended. Blend in the crab, use as a filling for wontons or in mushrooms.

I placed the mushrooms upside down on a baking sheet and drizzled with olive oil then baked at 375 for about 15 minutes, then turned them over and stuffed with this mixture and put a small cube of mozzarella on top and baked at 375 for about 20 minutes. Very good.

These mushrooms were started the same way but instead of the filling I put a small scallop in each one and wrapped a 1/4 of a piece of bacon around each one. I had never had scallops before and I have to say this was my favorite of these all.

For the mozzarella slices I got my inspiration from the frying link I gave you up above, I used her recipe although not exactly. She has great pictures and instructions so you really need to go check her blog out. There is a lot of great stuff over there.

I sliced the mozzarella into about 1/2 inch slices, layed them on a plate and drizzled with a mixture of olive oil, garlic salt and minced basil. I let this set in the fridge for about 15 minutes while I assembled the other ingred.
I put 1 egg in a flat bowl, 1/2c. flour in another and a mixture of bread crumbs and panko crumbs in another bowl.
I dipped the sliced in the flour first, then the egg, then the crumbs and fried on the stove for about 1-1/2 minutes on each side. These were the BEST I have ever had, EVER I tell you.

And I didn't catch ANYTHING on fire, I was very proud of myself :) :) :)

It's Time-

2010-01-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

To let you know who won my 200th post give-away.

And the winner is- Donna- at My Tasty Treasures!

Congrats Donna!

Please E-mail me at kbkmsmom@yahoo.com and let me know which books you want and get your address so that I can send you your prize!

Thank you to all of you who responded to my giveaway, and also a

GREAT
BIG
THANK YOU!

To those of you who read and comment regularly it makes my day :)

Comments are turned off, you can jump over to Donna's blog to congratulate her over there, I hope you all had a Wonderful Weekend :)

Bananas may be edible after all

2010-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well as long as there is chocolate involved.
We had some Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie at a friends house last week and I was wanting to make it for Hubby, because he missed out. OK and because it was really really yummy. My friend gave me some basic instructions for it that seemed pretty simple.
She had told me to use vanilla wafers, instant vanilla pudding, banana's and chocolate, easy peasy right?
Well, I had a box of vanilla wafers stashed away and all the other required ingred, or so I thought. So this morning I went to get the goods out to make it and what did I find???
No Vanilla Wafers!!! Somebody ate my cookies, and no it wasn't me I don't eat those things, they have no chocolate in them.
So I had to settle for some chocolate chip cookies instead. I also couldn't find Instant Vanilla pudding mix in my cupboard, I had 3 others odd flavors, go figure.
So I was slowed down temporarily but it didn't stop me, I had just to be a little inventive-

This is why I don't these shots, someone is always missing!
Pretend you see some bananas,and butter in there, k :)
And I don't know why my vanilla pudding- that is what is in the red bowl-looks so odd.
Very Strange.

I missed a step, I am a bad camera person, bad, bad slacker.
Here is after I melted the chocolate chips in the microwave.
The whole pan goes in so you need to use glass, or do it in the oven :)

Look! There are my bananas!

They were MIA for a short time, now they're back and perfect- just barely ripe.

Here I am spreading the cool whip mixture over my perfect bananas :)

Does anyone know how to fix my picture?? I tried everything, then gave up, oh well.

Here are my cookies pre-crumb, it looks fine- just tilt your head to the right :)

Sprinkle the yummy crumbs over top, and make 'er pretty

Black-Bottomed Banana Cream Pie My Way

Ingred;
1 pkg chocolate chip cookies
1 reg sized container cool whip
1 small pkg cook and serve vanilla pudding mix
1c. milk
3T. butter, melted
1c. mini chocolate chips
2 bananas

Prepare the pudding as the box instructs but only use 1c. of milk instead of the 2 it calls for. Chill in the fridge until cooled, fold together with the cool whip, save a little cool whip to decorate with. Place half of the cookies in the food processor and turn into fine crumbs. Spread in the bottom of a 8x8 glass pan. Mix with the melted butter and pat down to make crust. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the crust, place in microwave and heat for 30 sec. to 1 minute. Until the chocolate starts to melt. Slice bananas and place over the chocolate layer, save a few slices. Spread you cool whip mixture over that. Saving out half a cookie, make the rest into fine crumbs and sprinkle over the top. Decorate with the reserved cool whip, banana and crumbled cookie, a few chocolate chips won't hurt either. Chill for at least an hour.

Beef, it's what's for Dinner

2010-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

We have been having some pretty cold weather here so it seemed like a stew day yesterday, I saw a stew recipe a while back that had red potatoes in it. They looked so pretty, and they were totally my inspiration for this simple stew.
Also when I went to get the meat for this I had an interesting talk with one of the butchers, apparently if you buy your stew meat already all cut up instead of a piece of steak and doing it yourself it's a least a dollar extra. I never really thought about it before to wonder if I was paying more, sometimes I grab them all ready cut, usually I just buy what's on sale or in bulk and divide it and cut it myself. I don't think I will ever buy it pre-sliced again, while 1$ isn't a huge amount it is 1$ spent on nothing.

Beautifully Simple Beef Stew
Ingred;
1 lb beef stew meat
2T.olive oil
2T. onion powder
1/2t. pepper
1t. salt
2 qts of water
4c. quartered red potatoes
2c. sliced carrots
1 can corn, drained
1T. dried parsley
1/2t. celery salt
1pkt onion gravy mix
1pkt brown gravy mix

Heat the oil in a large pot, add and brown the beef seasoning with the salt, pepper and onion powder. Add in the water, then the vegetables. Sprinkle in the parsley and celery salt. Cook until the vegies are tender. Mix the gravy mixes together with 1/2c. cold water, then stir into the soup. Simmer, stirring often for about 10 minutes. (If you want it thicker add another gravy pkt).

I would have liked this to be a tiny bit thicker, but when I mess with that too much I always end up with it too thick and this was darn near close to perfect. Hubby and the kids gobbled it down and declared it delicious.

From T-shirt to Pants in 30 Minutes or Less

2010-01-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

I found this cute idea, how to make gaucho pants from a t-shirt on 2 different blogs-
Live Journal
and
Lil Blue Boo

Their instructions are a bit different from each other but the basic idea is the same. I used a serger sewing machine to make mine, it makes things so easy. My Mommer gave me hers, THANK YOU MOMMER!
It makes this project super super easy, it took me less than 30 minutes to make these-

Here we have our T-shirt, it's an Adult size x-small.
It turned into size 5/6 child pants

I have the sleeves and neck cut off

Then fold it in half and cut down the middle of the shirt.

Open them up, place right side together and match up your edges.
Stitch the V in the middle, that will be the crotch of the pants.

I opened it up flat so you could see what it looked like, it's always at this point where I have to look at what I'm sewing and wonder what I did wrong, so far nothing- it just looked weird.

Now right here at this point, if I was smart, I would have added the extra piece to the waist band. Cut 2- 4 to 6 inch wide strips, the length needs to match the paints waistband, match right sides together and sew to the waist of the paints Like this next picture-

Sorry, that one is out of order, but if you do it earlier than I did it will make it a lot easier.

Turn inside out and match up and pin your leg seams, the inside seams will be intact from the t-shirt, stitch the outside leg seams.

Here they are right side out

If you use a serger you need to trim all the ends and use some fray check glue,
so the seams don't unravel. Now you need to fold back the waist about 1/2 inch and sew it so that you can run some elastic, ribbon or cord through the waist to hold the pants up. I used the bottom of another t-shirt for my waistband so it was already finished and I was able to cut a hole in the existing hem then run my ribbon through there.

Here they are, all done and turned inside out so you can see all the seams.

And here we have our little Gaucho Pants model-

I can't wait to make more of these, they were so easy and so cute. I got the t-shirt at Goodwill for 1$, I found quite a few t-shirts that I am going to be re-purposing, we are saving the Planet here 1 t-shirt at a time :)

Layered Italian Spread

2010-01-07T11:35:00.000-08:00

I needed an appetizer to take to a gathering the other night, so I shuffled through some recipes I had saved trying to find something I could make with what I already had because I didn't want to go to the store. I found this one at the Pillsbury site. I changed this up quite a bit and can't really tell you how the original one would be, it was very inspirational though.

Layered Italian Spread
Ingred;
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1pkt of Italian dressing mix
1c. chopped marinated artichoke hearts
1c. Parmesan cheese
1c. chopped Genoa salami
2c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4c. sliced green olives
1/4c. sliced black olives

Heat oven to 375

Process the beans, 1/4c. parm cheese, and 1T. of the dressing mix in food processor until smooth.
Spread in the bottom of a 4c. baking dish.
Sprinkle 1/4c. parm cheese over that.
Layer on the artichokes, then the salami.
Sprinkle with the remaining parm cheese, then the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle 1T. of the dressing mix over the top.
Bake uncovered for 25 min. turn oven down to 350 and continue baking for 10 more minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle the 2 kinds of olives on top. Serve hot with baguette slices.

This was pretty thick so I don't think the wonton chips would have cut it. But it was TASTY, everyone loved it and I know I will be making it again.

Now for a good dose of chocolate, I got the recipe for these brownies over on My Tasty Treasures. These quick easy from scratch brownies, were so GOOD, I will never use a box mix again, EVER. I changed them up by adding mint flavoring instead of vanilla then drizzled with a green mint glaze. If you want the recipe you need to go over the Donna's Blog, she has it. And trust me when I tell you that you really need to make these, they are the perfect brownie.

Need another Blog to Follow?

2010-01-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

I keep finding more and more really neat blogs, I follow quite a few and then I have quite a few bookmarked that I like to check in with every now and then.
And I thought I would share them with you.

Cooking Blogs-

Contemporary Confections

Confessions of a Tart

No Lemon Juice

La Fuji Mama

Cook the Books

Joy the Baker

My Own Sweet Thyme

Mermaid Sweets

Tex-Mex Recipes

A Year of Slow Cooking

Fun Snacks 4 Kids

Food Gourmand

Sourbonk's Cookbook

The Sisters' Cafe

Domestication in Progress

Chicago's Cookbook

A Fork and Spoon

Krista's Kitchen

Vanilla Sugar

Picky Cook

cookies and cups

Crafting Blogs-

Creative Holiday Gift Ideas

A Little Space of My Own

Today's Creative Blog

Living with Lindsay

Mad Maggie Designs

Sew, Mama, Sew!

The Homespun Heart

Krafty Katrina

Just For Fun

Family, Friends, and Fun!

Be Different..... Act Normal

Beyond The Picket Fence

Misc. great reading Blogs-

Funky Junk Interiors

mommy holly

Serene is my name, Not my life!

A CHELSEA MORNING

Jane's Garden

by the hair of my chinny chin chin

Primm Pages

Hairstyles for Girls

The Princess and The Frog Blog

Serenity Now

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

The Round Robin Photo Challenges

Site/Blogs for help with blogging-

Mama of 3 Munchkins

The Cutest Blog on the Block

Its 200!!!!!!

2010-01-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

This is my 200th post, I am pretty excited about that :) :) :)
I have been blogging for over a year now and have done 200 posts in that time, Woo hoo!!

So for my 200th post giveaway I have decided to give-

1- 7x7 Christmas (or Holiday of your choice) mini Scrapbook
1- 7x7 Themed mini Scrapbook of your choice
And a pkg of 5 assorted homemade Birthday Cards

All homemade by me, so-
To enter my giveaway please leave me a comment telling me how you first found my blog and, if you can remember, the first post you read on it. Thanks to all of you for following, commenting and for being such great blog Buddies. You have all made it wonderful :)
I will have 1 of the Kiddos draw a Winner on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010.

I am sharing my very first blog post with you, I received exactly 0 comments on it so that shouldn't be hard to top should it :) :) :)

Some of my Favorite Quotes- November 18, 2008

Dont cry because its over. smile because it happened -- Dr. Seuss

"You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."C.S. Lewis quote

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."C.S. Lewis quote

"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."C.S. Lewis quote

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.

Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.

If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.

Jane Austen

"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." -Robert Fulghum

"Remember this - that very little is needed to make a happy life." -Marcus Aurelius

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. Dr. Seuss

Pizza Pizza who wants some Pizza

2009-12-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

We have a family tradition of Pizza for dinner on Friday nights, sometimes it's take out, some times it's from frozen. But our favorite is the homemade kind, over 5 years ago my Sister-In_Law introduced us to Valentino's Pizza Crust and the online site where it was located, All Recipes. Which I fell in love with, you can find a recipe for pretty much anything there and then save recipes you want to try in a recipe box. Mine now has a total of..... 432 in it, that wasn't as bad as I thought :)
Hubby is our resident pizza maker, he and the kiddos really enjoy making pizza together. And ever since we were introduced to this recipe it's the only one we use.

Valentino's Pizza Crust
Ingred;

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Stir water, sugar and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil and the salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
Pat dough into pan or on to a pizza stone using fingers dipped in olive oil. If desired sprinkle basil, thyme or other seasonings on crust. Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.

When we make this I always double the recipe. It also makes great mini pizza's, we have used this recipe at more birthday parties than I can remember. If you have never baked with yeast before this recipe is perfect for you (LB:)
It is quick easy and delicious :)

From me to you

2009-12-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

Thank you for following and commenting on my little Blog.

I appreciate each and everyone of you.

Thank you for all of the Holiday Wishes.

I want wish you all a very-

Merry Christmas!!!

It just wouldn't be Christmas without....

2009-12-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

Cookies (lots and lots of cookies)-

Fudge (Hubby's favorite)-

And Gingerbread (my favorite)-

With the kiddos on break I thought we better make some fun cookies, these Melt-Away Peppermint Wreaths are great, especially if you have little ones who want to help you bake. The recipe is from AR and definitely needs to be doubled. A very yummy cookie, it tastes just like you would assume from the name. And as you can see my girls had a great time helping me roll balls, and snowmen and flowers and stick people. What can I say they ARE girls, it was a little hard to keep them on task but it was fun.

The Layered Mint Chocolate Fudge recipe is also from AR, I didn't change it but am wishing I had. It needs a little change, I didn't have time to check the review for it or I suppose I would have known that. It was a bit dry, and didn't quite fill the pan size it called for, but still pretty tasty, it's chocolate right? ;)

The Gingerbread, ahhhh the gingerbread, it makes things smell like Christmas :) Once again the recipe is from AR Favorite Old Fashioned Gingerbread, I got all 3 of these from my recipe box where they have been saving for some time. Sadly this was not the perfect gingerbread recipe, I have had better. It was pretty good topped with some whip cream but the search for the perfect gingerbread recipe will go on.

So, of all these goodies the cookies were my favorite, which was completely unexpected.

Award AND Winning a Giveaway how did I get so Lucky?!?!

2009-12-21T16:01:00.000-08:00

Look- My very first ever Blog Giveaway that I won!

This is from Monica over at Lick the bowl good.

See how pretty she wrapped it-

I thought about saving it for Christmas but I couldn't wait!!

Thank you so so much Monica, this really made my week :)

Lee over at the Queen over at HH&H
very sweetly handed out this award-

Thank you Lee, you are definitely the sweetest Queen ever :)

I have been baking some yummy stuff today, with the help of my slaves.
I will give you the details tomorrow.
I hope everyone had a great Monday!

Fun with Artichokes

2009-12-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have a couple more artichoke recipes that turned out to be keepers-

The first one is from AR, the only change I made was to add in some diced green olives.

Artichoke Salsa

Pretty good stuff, I think next time I will top it with some shredded cheese.

This next one is very versatile, it could be used as a cold pate.

Or topped with shredded mozzarella and baked as a dip.

Or used to stuff Mushrooms, it was yummy all 3 ways.

Artichoke Crab Spread
Ingred;
1/2c. marinated artichoke hearts
1/2c. crab meat
4 oz cream cheese
1/4c. parmesan cheese
1 green garlic stuffed olive
1/2t. salt

Blend all together in a food processor. If baking- bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Next time I make this I think I will add 1/2c. shredded mozzarella into the mix. This is a recipe that I will be making for game night for sure.

Miss M was cooking right alongside me, she made 2 beautiful little tea cakes and a scarecrow cookie.

She told me the recipe is a secret though, so I am unable to share it with you, sorry : )

Veggie Beef Lentil Soup

2009-12-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Veggie Beef Lentil Soup
Ingred;
1-14oz pkg lean smoked beef kielbasa
1-1/2c. dry lentils
1c. chopped carrots
1c. chopped onions
1/2c. chopped celery
4c. beef broth
2c. water
1 29 oz can tomato sauce
1c. quartered mushrooms
1 can corn
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1t. each dried parsley and basil

In a large pot bring the broth, water and tomato sauce to a boil.
Stir in the lentils.
Add in the remaining ingredients and and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender.

I have been looking for lentil recipes and this is a version of one I found on AR, the recipe I started with is here. I ended up changing it quite a bit so I posted what I did and am giving you the link if you want to check out the original. This was really good, I am looking forward to eating the leftovers that's for sure :)

Pierogi Madness

2009-12-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

I seem to be afflicted with Pierogi madness.

First we had the Homemade Pierogi's, from Donna at My Tasty Treasures.

Then we had Pierogi Lasagna, also from Donna, (maybe she has the madness too.)

Then I found a recipe for Pierogi Chowder on a blog called- A Thousand Soups, yummy.

I did a Google search of soup blogs and I found this great blog- A Thousand Soups.

I had to make this, it was WONDERFUL. And it got 4 kid thumb ups from the critics. I am posting the recipe, then at the end I will tell you what I did because I tweaked it just a wee bit.

Pierogi Chowder
Ingred;
2T. vegetable oil
2c. chopped onion
8c. water
3c. diced potatoes
2c. instant potato flakes
2c. milk
1/2lb American cheese, shredded or cubed
6oz wide egg noodles, cooked until tender
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add oil. Toss in onion and cook until translucent.
2. Add water and diced potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. When potatoes are tender, mash until broken up.
4. Add potato flakes and stir well.
5. Pour in milk and stir until smooth.
6. Stir in American cheese and mix until cheese is melted.
7. Blend in drained noodles and add salt and pepper to taste.

I used 2T. butter and 1T. olive oil instead of the vegetable oil. I used 4c. water 4c. chicken stock. For my instant potato flakes I used Betty Crockers Four Cheese Instant Potatoes. I had some cream that needed used up so I used that instead of milk and I never have American cheese so I used shredded Cheddar cheese. I also used white pepper instead of regular, because Miss M always complains if there is pepper speaks in her soup.

The soup was very very good and will be made many more times in my house. If you are a soup person you definitely need to go check out that soup blog she has many many great looking recipes, there are several there that I can't wait to try.

I am going to enter this in the Souper Sunday Soups, that is another great place to go look if you are wanting some new soup recipes to try out.

Antipasto Gratin

2009-12-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

I have been experimenting on new dishes for a Game night we are having over the Holiday break. This recipe is one that I thought turned out really yummy :)

Antipasto Gratin
Ingred;
1/2c. marinated artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1/2c. quartered reg. raw mushrooms
1/4c. sliced garlic stuffed green olives
1/2c. shredded mozzerella cheese
1/4c. french fried onions

Oven 425

Stir together the artichokes, mushrooms, and olives. Place in small 2 c. baking dish, bake for 10 minutes. Top with the shredded cheese and cook for 10 more minutes. Turn off oven, sprinkle on the french fried onions and leave in the oven for 3 minutes or less. Serve hot.

I made this in 4 small ramekins, I baked one and saved the others in the fridge for later. I don't know how well it would reheat and since I am the only one who lives here that would eat this I thought that might be the best way to go. I will top then off with cheese right before I get ready to cook them.

Wheew that's over

2009-12-17T17:15:00.001-08:00

My crazy week is coming to an end, the kids last day of school before the break is tomorrow.
We just finished making 28 of these-

Chocolate Marshmallow Snowmen

and 28 baggies of this-

Parmesan Ranch Chex Mix
Ingred;
10c. Chex cereal
2c. pretzels
2c. cheese crackers
3T. butter, melted
1/2c. parmesan cheese
1 pkg ranch dressing mix

In a big bowl mix together the cereal, pretzels and crackers, pour the butter over top and mix until coated. Sprinkle over the cheese and ranch mix, stir until coated, heat in the microwave for 3 minutes. Spread out on a cookie sheet to cool.

Those are for Miss K's class. I am off the hook for Miss B's party because we took treats for Halloween. And K had his party today and all I had to do was send Root Beer for floats. Teachers gifts have been handed out, all my Christmas goodies are handed (I am on my way to deliver the very last one).
All my gifts are bought and hidden (we are Christmas Eve Wrappers around here) Pkgs and cards are in the mail.
I am ready to just sit back, relax and enjoy a break, NOT, with 4 + children, a puppy and a dog running around my house I don't see much relaxing in my future. But I AM ready for Christmas at least.

Do you have enough Christmas Goodies at your house yet?

2009-12-16T17:26:00.000-08:00

I do, I finished my Christmas goodie baking and such this morning.

And I ask you, what is cuter than a button sized cookie?

Maybe a bowl of button size cookies, what do ya think :)

Peanut Butter Buttons
Ingred;
3/4c. creamy pb
1/2c. shortening
1/3c. sugar
1/3c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
3T. milk
1t. vanilla
1-1/2c. flour
1/2t. baking soda
1/2t. salt

sugar for rolling
chocolate chips

Oven 350
Beat PB and shortening, beat in the 2 sugars. Add the milk, egg and vanilla, beat until fluffy. Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt, let dough chill for 10 minutes, or overnight.
using a 1/4 t. scoop and roll balls of dough, roll into reg. sugar then place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes, remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate chip into each cookie.

I also made a few of these-

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
Ingred;
1/2c. butter, softened
3/4c. packed brown sugar
1t. vanilla
2c. flour
1-14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2c. mini chocolate chips
1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl beat together the butter and brown sugar, beat in the vanilla. Gradually add in the milk then the flour, stir in the mini chips. Form dough into 1 in balls and chill until your chocolate is melted.
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in a glass bowl stir after each 30 second interval until melted. Dip each ball into the chocolate and place on wax paper to dry. Store in the fridge.

And for Teacher gifts, along with a shopping gift card I gave them Cinnamon Pancake mixes. Which I have no picture of, sorry, but here is the recipe-

Cinnamon Pancake Mix

Ingred;
3c. flour
2T. sugar
2T. baking powder
4t. cinnamon
1-1/2t. salt

Mix all together and store in an airtight container.
To use the mix you-
Combine in a Medium bowl- 3/4c. milk, 1 egg, 2 T. oil and 1-1/3c, mix.
Mix until moistened and cook on a hot lightly greased griddle.

I need to bag up and give out a few more bags of these goodies and I am done with that. I hope you are all having a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Let's see if we can clear up the confusion

2009-12-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

About?

Why Vegan's of course. Now I claim to know VERY LITTLE, so I probably shouldn't be doing this post BUT I wanted to do it :) SO I am sharing my list of Vegan Blogs with you all so that you can check them out.

I like meat, mostly, so I don't claim to be a Vegan or Vegetarian. I do like to be conscious of what my family is eating and what the effect of those things have on the world.

When you read about how many animals are raised and treated so cruelly it really curbs your want for meat. And you hear about all the weird crazy stuff that they are feeding animals now to get them to grow faster or bigger and it's scary to think that all that is finding it's way into your childrens stomachs. So we limit our meat intake, and make sure that it is local and not fed unhealthy stuff (and by we I mean I).

We eat very little meat at my house and what we do use is ALWAYS local farm raised, which is a perk of living where it is possible to get that for very close to the same price as other.

Growing up my parents had anywhere from 2-5 cows, they kept the females for milk and breeding and the steers (males) were butchered and stored. We knew what they ate and they were loved and well taken care of. And we had the chickens, gag- (remember the chickens?) Anyone who has had to raise, clean up after or butcher their own chickens, gag, will eat less chicken, remind me sometime to tell you the story of when my parents had over 10 roosters and we had to butcher them (my two younger then teen sisters were probably scarred for life). We didn't eat our chickens usually, they were kept mostly for eggs- and they were/are my Dad's pets.

So off the soapbox I get :)

Here is a list of Vegan Blogs I like to check out-

What the hell does a vegan eat
The Lazy Vegetarian
eat drink and be vegan
Andrea's easy vegan cooking
The Post Punk Kitchen

I looked up a definition for Vegan-

Veganism is a diet and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind. The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral conviction concerning animal rights or welfare, the environment, human health, and spiritual or religious concerns.

For my Friend it is part of her culture, being from India that is the way they live and also, If I'm right, part of their religion.
Remember when I told you she was a big fan of chocolate??? Being a Vegan doesn't exclude you from liking or enjoying sweet things, it does make it a little harder to make those things. But there are a lot of places to look for recipes.

If you know someone who is allergic to eggs or milk products and you still want to cook things for them go online and check out some popular Vegan recipe sites and you will find TONS of great egg and milk free recipes. My favorite chocolate cake recipe is a vegan one.

I hope this cleared up things a little, if not sorry, remember I did claim to know very little :)

Diamonds may be a Girls Best Friend BUT-

2009-12-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

What about the friend who gives you diamonds????
That makes her BETTER than diamonds!!!
Thank you Christi!
I <3 you more than Diamonds, you are one Wonderful Blog Buddie!
I received this award from Christi- Who has the Thyme?

I am passing this along to-

Kys- Stir Fry Awesomeness

Miss M has a little friend (she's 7) who's Christmas list only has 2 things on it-
Diamonds
A Horse
Her mother is wondering how disappointed she will be this Christmas when neither one of those makes an appearance. Maybe I should I send this to her as well :)

I made these for breakfast and thought I would share-

Everybody grab a muffin and some OJ.

I hope there were enough to go around, if not- here is the recipe- you may have to go make your own :)

Brownie Muffins
Ingred;

1 pkg brownie mix
2c. flour
1t. baking soda
2t. baking powder
1c. milk
2/3c. oil
2 eggs

Oven 375-
Mix together the brownie mix, flour, baking soda, baking powder.
In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, oil and eggs.
Then fold together the two mixtures,
spoon into a muffin pan and bake for 30 min.

I used a family size Betty Crocker Brownie mix and they were a little dry, so I will be using a reg. size mix next time. Also I added in 1/4c. wheat germ and 1/8c. ground flax to my flour to make it 2c. And I used olive oil as my oil.
I baked them in a regular size muffin pan and it only took about 20 min. maybe a little less.

Me Like Cookies

2009-12-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of Cookie Monster, seriously how could you not like a Cookie Loving Monster?

This recipe is one I found a few years ago when I was looking for a Vegan Cookie recipe. I liked to bake and send cookies with Hubby to the Lab he worked in and there was a girl he worked with who was from India, she is a Vegan. So whenever I sent in treats I would have Hubby calling me asking what was in them because she wanted to eat them but wasn't sure if they met her dietary requirements. This girl is also a big fan of chocolate, so I went online and googled chocolate vegan recipes. I found this recipe- Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. I baked up a batch of them and a batch of regular chocolate chip cookies and sent them to work with Hubby. He told me that the Vegan ones disappeared almost as a soon as he set them out, they were the favorite hands down.

This is probably my families favorite cookie and we make them pretty often. I like to make them without the chocolate chips in them, but everyone else here always out-votes me. We have made them with reg. chocolate chips, white and peanut butter ones. The first pkg of chips I grabbed today happened to be Peanut Butter Chips so that's what I went with.
So, being Vegan, these are completely egg and dairy free- no animal products. The cookie is a dense, chewy, brownie like cookie. Be careful not to over-bake these.

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingred;
3/4c. canola oil (I use olive oil)
2c. sugar
2t. vanilla

1T + 1t. ground flax seed
1/2c. soy milk (If don't care about them being non-vegan you can use reg. milk)

2c. flour
3/4. c. cocoa powder
1t. baking soda
1/2t. salt
1c. chocolate chips

Oven 350.

Blend together the flax seed and milk, set aside. Beat together the sugar and oil, add in the flax/milk, stir, add in the vanilla.

Beat in the cocoa powder, then the salt and baking soda. Stir in the flour, it makes a pretty stiff dough. Stir in your chocolate chips. Place by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for exactly 10 min.

How long to you keep Leftover Turkey?

2009-12-02T13:04:00.000-08:00

I was given strict orders to leave the leftover turkey alone, no cooking it up into casseroles or soups. Hubby insists that leftover turkey needs to be eaten slowly over the course of the next 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS!?!?! I don't think so, I told him he had ONE week to get his fill in then I was using it up, he has one more day. And as long as no one tells him I will let you all in on a little secret- I used some of his leftover turkey to make this-

I have been wanting to try this, I had actually been planning on making it with chicken but then remembered I had LOTS of leftover ready-to-go turkey in my fridge, begging to be used. And what Hubby doesn't know, won't hurt him :)

Turkey Basil Pate

Ingred;
1c. cubed white turkey meat/ or chicken
1/2c. mayo
1t. Mrs. Dash onion and herb seasoning
1t. onion powder
1/4t. each- salt & pepper
1t. minced basil

Put all into a food processor and blend until smooth. Line a small bowl with plastic wrap, press the mixture into the bowl, wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Tip it out of the bowl onto your serving dish and remove the plastic wrap, serve with crackers or toast points.

You can definitely trade out the turkey for chicken and all the seasonings are optional, you can sub other things or use only the salt and pepper. This was very quick, easy, super good and our little secret ;)

How long do you keep leftover Turkey around? What about leftovers in general?

Fabulous Giveaways!

2009-12-01T16:52:00.001-08:00

There are a few blogs I follow that are having, or frequently have some wonderful giveaways, or post about others giveaways, like A Nut in a Nutshell , if you are interested. They are-

A Nut in a Nutshell

Menopausal New Mom

The Mother Load

I need do better about posting about the great giveaways you all do, I will do better, I Promise, Cross my Heart :)

Also my 200th post is coming up and it will be time for a giveaway here! I have been trying to decide what would be a good one??? Any suggestions?? What have been some good giveaways that you have seen in BlogLand?

Here are my pictures from Thanksgiving, the only ones I got, the recipe links are HERE.

Banana Cream Pie

Coconut Cream Pie

This is my Grama's Fluff Recipe, we turned it orange, it tastes like a dreamcicle :)

Grama's Fluff

Ingred;
1-12oz can evap milk
1-6oz pkg jello
1/4c. lemon juice
1-3/4c. boiling water
1c. sugar
2c. graham cracker crumbs

Chill the can of milk in the refrigerator overnight. Dissolve jello in the hot water and chill until partially set,like thick syrup. (about an hour)

(This is the part where I forget that I am making something and my jello sets completely, after doing this 3 TIMES the day before Thanksgiving I finally put my 3rd batch of completely set jello in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1-1/2 minute and it got to the right consistency, hurray!)
(I think I need my own cooking show -Cooking with the Idiot- move over Rachel Ray!)

Whip your syrupy jello until it's light and fluffy, stir in the lemon juice and sugar, set aside. Whip the milk until it forms peaks, fold in the jello mixture. Spread half of the crumbs in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, pour the fluff over that and top with the remaining crumbs. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

This a Holiday Traditional Recipe for my Family, it's not a Holiday Dinner without this for dessert.

Reviewed, Awarded, Googled, Pleased and Frustrated

2009-12-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

I have been honored with a review by the Blog Brew Review.
How cool is that! You need to check it out, I have already found a couple of great new blogs to follow :) The link to read my review is HERE, I hope you will go check it out- like I said, very Cool.

I received 2 new awards this one is from 5th Sister -

Thanks you 5th Sister! I want to pass this on to-

Menopausal New Mom

Holly- from In the Kitchen with Holly, her blog The Tipsy Cook is also Hot :)

Erin- from The Mother Load

I received this award-

From Holly at 504 Main, Thank you Holly!!

With this award I need to tell you 10- I think it was 10, random things about me- so here is me being random :)

1-I learned to bake bread and rolls when I was about 9 or 10, I took yeast breads in 4-H and got a blue ribbon at the fair for my loaf of bread :)

2-I hate chickens, I don't even enjoy eating chicken. Growing up we had to help clean out the chicken house, gag, gag, even the memory makes me gag. Chickens are just nasty, they poop everywhere, leave their lice filled feathers everywhere and even bite- or should that be peck- people. Nasty.

3-I HATE conflict, I can't do it, I am a run away and hide person. Unless my children are involved and then I am the mother bear.

4-I like things to be even, symmetrical, matching, I have issues- it's probably stems from having to clean out the chicken house :)

5-I can't stand clutter, it drives me nuts- I like everything to be neatly in it's place- I guess that goes along with #4- Dang those Chickens!

6-I LOVE to read, I can read a good size-200/300 page novel in a day or 2 if it's good. I will stay up all night if I have to :)

7-I cook when I am antsy or frustrated, so if you come over and my cookie jar is overflowing- Watch Out!

8-I carved my first pumpkin this year, ever since I was a small child the smell of raw pumpkin has made me very ill- no clue why. So usually when Hubby and the kids carve pumpkins I go shopping. This year I braved it and helped out- I had a migraine for a couple days but I survived and it was kind of fun- in a gross, slimy sort of way.

9-I LOVE the smell of Coffee, it reminds me of my Grandpa. I like to stroll slowly down the coffee isle at the Grocery Store and I get my Coffee fix that way :)

10-Blogging has turned out to be so much more fun that I could ever have thought, I never would have thought I could do this- I am hopeless with the computer- but I figured it out as I went and am still learning new things. Blogging is Awesome :):):):)

I am passing this onto some Sweet Blogs-

1-Kim- Stirring the Pot

2-Kys - Stir-fry Awesomness

3-Bashful Toast

4-Nut in a Nutshell

5-Monica- Lick the bowl Good

6-Donna- My Tasty Treasures

7-Chicago Mom- What's for Dinner?

8-5th Sister

9- Willougby- This stop Willoughby

10- Raouly's Girl- Who has the Thyme?

5th Sister posted a fun one this morning- at least I think it was this morning, my day has been a bit crazy today.

Anyway what you do is Google your first name and "needs". Then type the 1st 15 headings as your "needs".

1-Lissaloo needs Loopy Knitters

2-Lissaloo needs a Spunky Monkey Profile (that's scary)

3-Lissaloo needs Krafting with Kids

4-Lissaloo needs Help! I need to immigrate! (lol, nice)

5-Lissaloo needs a fencing contractor

Thanks 5th Sister that was a blast!

I only did 5 this post is already on the longish- (my Pooh Bear word of the day)- side :)

Onto the rest of my "intriguing" post title description- I am pleased with all the Great awards and the Cool review.

BUT I am frustrated with my little Miss M, frustrated may be putting it a bit light, she is driving me downright crazy!!!!! I can't remember when the last time she slept in her own bed all night was, and getting her to take a bath has become a daily battle. Screaming, crying battle.

You may need a little background info, Miss M has SI- Sensory Integration Disorder, it's a form of Autism.
When she was a baby I knew there was something different about her, but when I brought it up with her pediatrician she just told me it was fine, it's just colic or teething or general crabbiness. But her being my 4th child I wasn't buying that, we had been through all of those things and this didn't fit.

When my phone would ring- she would cry hysterically, when the door bell rang- she would cry hysterically, when I tried to bath her- she would cry hysterically, when sweet little old ladies in the grocery store would smile at her- yeah you got it- she would cry hysterically.

I couldn't vacuum the floor or listen to music, it was crazy. When Miss M was about 1 her pediatrician moved and we went to a new one, who knew right off the bat what I was talking about, because her 9 year old son has the same thing. While there is nothing to be done except teach her that things are ok and not get frustrated with her- um yeah- but there definitely is an issue.

She has gotten over the fear of strangers and is now too the extreme the other way where everyone is her friend. She still hides from the vacuum, won't let me get farther than a room away after I put her to bed, and is now insisting the bathtub drain is going to get her.

During the day when it's just me and her at home she is my shadow and never lets me out of eyesight. But if we are out shopping and she is little Miss Free Spirit. I am at my wits end.

On the other hand she is extremely bright, she started talking before she was a year old, by 1-1/2 she was stringing together sentences and by 2 it was all old hat. Somedays I can only wish for silence. The child is super smart, her favorite game in the car is Spelling, I give her a 3 letter word and she spells it.

Anyhow I guess I will just have to take the good, with the crazy. Sorry for being a complainer, I got it off my chest though and now I'm better.

Oh yeah, I have been wondering- some of you have blog names/fake names and sometimes your real names pop up and I never know how you feel about other people using your real names but I wanted to ask. If you have feeling one way or another please let me know.

I am cordially yours-
Lissaloo ( which is one of my nick names in real life- sad huh? ) Or just plain Lissa :)

What is cute and fluffy and white all over?

2009-11-22T15:17:00.001-08:00

The newest member of our Family!

Meet Princess Sophie-

See, she is Cute (would I let anything not cute chew on my camera strap?!?!?!?)-

And she is Fluffy (she is non-shedding so that means lots of brushing)-

And she is White all over (blends in with the snow, note to self- do NOT let puppy out in snow storms)-

Princess Sophie is a Bichon Frise, she is 8 weeks old and very sweet. She was a gift to the kiddos from their Grandma, and Auntie.
How can you tell that she's a Princess you might ask? - For the simple fact that her servants -Minions- CARRY her everywhere.

Minion #1

Minion #2

(Minions #3 and #4 haven't been photographed in the act yet)

She is adorable and we are loving her bunches, I'm glad that she came just in time for Thanksgiving break so the kiddos can enjoy her lots before going back to the daily school grind.

We are sending out a great big THANK YOU to Grandma L and Aunt J!!!!!

I also want to send out a HELLO to my new Followers, and old of course, you guys Rock :)
I am always surprised at how small the blog world is, and it's full of so many great people and great stuff! I love it :)

I try to follow those who follow my Blog and I will comment on blogs that leave comments on mine. Sometime I can't get to or find a blog when a new person follows me, I think that is what happened with this great Blog-

Our Journey-
But I found you now! Super cute blog :)

The Mother Load-
Who is having a really great Giveaway right now!

A Nut in a Nutshell-
Fun to read and has lots of great book deals!

Menopausal New Mom-
Who makes me laugh, very fun :)

And Wishmaster-
Whom I don't know much about except I do know they have a New Moon preview on their side bar so that works for me!

I hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, Okay I know I am a little bit early. But I just got my turkey into the fridge to thaw and I got all excited!!!! The kids are out of school for the next week and I don't really think I am going to get anything else posted until after Thanksgiving. Soooooo I thought I would post my Thanksgiving Menu and recipes and ask for a little teeny weeny bit of help. First the recipes, then the help k?

Crockpot Wassail

I am making Turkey (duh, of course), I really wanted to try brining (spelled?) it but I don't think I am brave enough, maybe next year. I am however going to make a Rosemary, Sage Butter to stick under the skin and rub all over my Turkey- Yum :)

Stuffing, Stove Top, I am not a big stuffing fan or I would mess with it more I guess. Hubby is the stuffing fan and He likes Stove Top so that's how we roll around here.

Fluffy Whipped Mashed Potatoes

Turkey and Onion Gravy

Green Bean Casserole- still undecided if this is happening.

Veggie Platter

Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingred;
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, quartered
1/4c. butter
1/4c. cream
1t. vanilla
1/2t. cinnamon
1T. brown sugar

Topping;
1/2c. pecans
1/2c. brown sugar
1/2t. cinnamon

Oven 350
Boil sweet potatoes until soft, drain, whip with remaining ingredients. Spread into and 8x8 baking dish. Sprinkle with the topping ingredients in the order given. Bake for about 20 min. Turn oven to broil, watch it closely I think I cooked it about 3 minutes on broil. Serve hot.

Rolls- my favorite recipe is here at AR.

My Gram's Lemon Fluff recipe- turned blue :) (I will post this later with a picture)

Pumpkin Pie

Banana Cream Pie- AR

Old Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie- AR

Eggnog Creme Brulee

Raspberry Tiramisu

For appetizers- or game time later that evening-
I am making my Salmon cheeseball
and the Green olive Artichoke Dip- with leftover rolls.

Just posting all that made me feel stuffed!
Now I know I went a little crazy with the desserts but it's my favorite part :)
I was looking over my Menu and realized there was something missing............ Did you notice? Go look again, I will wait.............. Yes, you're right CHOCOLATE!!!!! How could I have forgotten the Chocolate!!!
I really can't decide what to make though, I already have 3 pies and I don't really feel like a cake would work. So I am asking all of you for help, pretty pretty please :) With Vanilla Sugar on top???
I need an amazing chocolate recipe to round out my Menu and I am counting on YOU.

Thank you all and if I don't post again until after the Big Day-

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cookies, Cookies and more COOKIES-

2009-11-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

So remember yesterday when I said I was off to make cookies?? I made cookies alright, it's been awhile so I went a little overboard, I wanted to have them for Thanksgiving and to try out some new ones to practice for Christmas cookies. The result? LOTS of cookies!! :)
Not that anyone is complaining around here :)

This first cookie is a variation of a cookie my Gram used to make, it's her recipe.

We always went to my Grandparents house for Thanksgiving and the cookie jar was ALWAYS full. As my Grandparents got older sometimes there would be store bought cookies in it and my Gram would joke and say that Grandpa made the cookies, because he was the one who did the shopping.
When she made cookies it was always a huge batch and when it got to the end of the stirring she would call Grandpa in to help her stir. They are the sweetest couple in the world, they were definitely made for each other.
They, very conservatively, had only 2 children, a girl and a boy, who then went on to give them 17 grandchildren, lol. As for Great-Grandchildren I am making a guess of 30 + 2 on the way. They had no idea it would happen that way :)
My Wonderful Grandpa passed away last year and he is very much missed. The holidays last year were really hard, I thought this year might be easier but I know he is still missed much by all. He had a long battle with Parkinsons, cancer and heart problems so I know he is no longer in pain, but I still miss him very much.

Cookies, back to the cookies, this cookie is my favorite of hers. I have many happy memories of making these with her-

Thumbprints

Ingred;
1-1/4c. flour
3T. sugar
1/2c. butter

Oven 325
Stir together the flour and sugar- cut in the butter- if dough is too dry add in a little water.
Roll into balls, place on greased cookies sheet and make thumbprint in them. Bake for 15-18 minutes. When done immediately fill with jam or jelly.

I added green food coloring and mint flavoring to the dough. Then I made a chocolate mint ganache for the filling-
1/4c. chocolate mint coffee cream
3/4c. chocolate chips.
Then topped them with andes mints.

These are called Monkey Peanut Butter Bars I got the recipe for AR, they turned out pretty good, the peanut butter frosting needs to be doubled though. The recipe is HERE.

Then I made an old favorite from AR- Big Soft Ginger Cookies. These are Awesome. Recipe is HERE.

And last, and my childrens favorite of the bunch, Andes Creme De Menthe Chunk Cookies, from Donna's- My Tasty Treasures- Thank You Donna! The only thing I did different, I didn't chill the dough like I was suppose to, I just went ahead and baked it. No patience, remember? :)

The result of my crazed baking?

COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!!!!!

Tagged and Pinned

2009-11-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

No recipes today just a few special awards and a Tag :) :)

I received this Tag from my friend over at Who has the Thyme?
She very sweetly passed it on to me, the rules to this are pretty simple-
If you are tagged you must list five things that make you a
true, authentic mom, and then pass along the tag to five other deserving moms.

My list of five reason why I think I am The True Authentic Mom are-

1- I have said the dreaded- "because I'M the MOM that's why!!!" phrase more than I can count.

2- When I am given free time away from my darling monsters, in the back of my mind I am STILL obsessing and worrying about what they are doing, and if they are OK.

3- I can talk on the phone, help 3 kids with homework, make dinner, find a missing shoe, bake cookies for the bake sale, and yell at the dog all at the same time.

4- I know where to find everything that everyone is missing. Now if only I could find my OWN stuff, or brain, or SANITY!

5-I dread the day when my youngest turns 18 and leaves my nest. When I will no longer be needed to find a lost shoe, or give a healing hug/kiss, or help with homework. When I have no little sticky hand to hold or face to wash. When my Babies are all grown-up I don't know what I will do with myself. I have been a mother my entire adult life, from the time I was 18 so it will be quite a new phase in my life.

Now I was out of the loop when this was being given out so if you have already received this award I apologize. I am passing this on to 5 THETA Moms who inspire me :)

1- Betty- who guides her son with a gentle loving hand, I am learning from her that I need to not hold on too tightly to my children, I need to let them grow and stretch, try and fail, live and learn- Thank you Betty.

2-Chicago Mom- her daughter is her number one concern and her life revolves around her, she has such a sweet giving spirit, it shines through each and every post she writes- Thank you CM.

3-Donna- My Tasty Treasures- for her amazing juggling abilities, she juggle all those kids, cooking, blogging, working AND keeping her love life hot at all times. I have gotten TONS of great new favorite recipes from her wonderful blog- Thank you Donna.

4-Kys- Stir fry Awesomeness- I don't know how you do all you do, you are a great inspiration to me, also I have no clue what I would do with 2 crazy boys :) Plus she always finds time to leave me sweet comments- Thank you Kys.

5-Willoughby- she and her children seem so close, and they have so much fun together I love that. Her blog always has something beautiful going on and she taught me that its OK to laugh at myself because soon it will be only a funny memory- Thank You Willoughby.

I was gifted these 2 awards by 5th Sister, Thank you!
She is another Blogging Mother that I look up to.

The rules for this one are-

- put the lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- link the nominees within your post.
- let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I am passing this on to-

1-Holly at 504 Main- Her attitude, like her blog, is always beautiful.

2-Gracey- A dash of life- Always posts with such a great attitude, no matter what life has thrown her way.

3-Bashful Toast- she is just such a sweetie. there is always fun stuff on her blog- which I am still having problems getting too!

4-Holly- In the kitchen with Holly- Always has a sweet attitude.

5-Monica- Lick the Bowl Clean- her posts, pictures and comments are always so thoughtful and kind, plus she bakes cake for everyone! I wish I lived closer :)

6-Deb- Menopausal new Mom- a new friend that I am getting to know, she seems to take whatever life is throwing at her in stride with a happy attitude.

7-Lee- Headaches, Hotflashes, & Hormones- Her humorous attitude towards life always makes my day brighter.

8-RaoulysGirl- Her passionate attitude always get me fired up.

9-LB- Muddy Runner- always motivates and inspires me whether it's in the kitchen, being healthier or the amazing job he does with his daughters. I also like to think of him as my Blogging Mentor, he inspired me to start blogging.

10-RMax- good things come to those who blog- Her quirky, fun, New Zealand turned American humor is always fun.

This last one goes out to you all! 5th Sister said it so well on her blog, All of the blogs I follow and that follow me blog from their hearts, you are all AMAZING! Thank you all for making my blogging experience so Wonderful :) :)

Alrighty then, I am off to bake some cookies- yummy! :) :) :)

Bloggity Blogged Down

2009-11-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all I am back. I have been back for a little over a week actually, I have just been bogged down with all the catching up I needed to do and with the things coming up and with the emotions I have been dealing with.

My trip was wonderful, I got to see all my SISTERS, and catch up with some great FRIENDS, but most of all I got to spend time and visit with my Gram :)
She hasn't been doing very well and I had been feeling for weeks that I needed to go and see her. I have SO many great and wonderful memories of my WONDERFUL Gram, she is one of those people who knows how to make you feel like you are the most special person in the whole world. Several of my Thanks giving recipes are from her so I will post more about that later.

I have 2 recipes for you, the first one my Cousin and I came up with while I was visiting. She is another special Lady that I couldn't do without :)

Hot and Mel's Artichoke Olive Dip

Ingred;
1 pkg Knorr spring vegetable recipe mix
1c. chopped, marinated artichokes hearts
1/2c. chopped garlic stuffed green olives
1/2c. mayo
1c. sour cream
1c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Bread or crackers for dipping

Oven 350
Stir together all the ingred except the bread ( of course :) and spread into a small baking dish. Cook for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

We had this with bread, chips and crackers it was delicious on all three. It's a new favorite for us :)

The other recipe I have is an old favorite of mine. A friend introduced me to pesto about 7 years ago, fresh, homemade pesto. I have never been able to bring myself to buy pesto since then, have you seen what passes off as pesto in the grocery stores???? ewwww.

Perfect Pesto

Ingred;
1c. basil leaves
1/4c. pine nuts
1/4c. parmesan cheese
1/2t. salt
1/4c. olive oil

Place all but the olive oil into a food processor, pulse until all is finely ground, drizzle in the olive oil while pulsing until all is combined.
Store in the fridge or you can freeze in ice cube trays for adding to soups and sauces later.

I am having mine over some chicken and pasta tonight, of course I had to try it right? :)

Perfect :) :) :)

I have received some very special awards from some very special Blog Friends that I will be posting sometime later this week.
Thank You All for the wonderful comments you left me.

October Challenge and a short absence

2009-10-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Rach's October Baking Challenge was something Halloweenie that is baked so here we go-
This was going to be a Green cake with a cute little orange pumpkin on top, Miss M last minute decided she wanted a blue cake with a pink pumpkin so there you go-

Pear Butter (with pears from my pear tree) I peel and cube the pears add sugar brown sugar and spices and bake on 300 for about 1-1/2 hours then blend- yummy.

Our Chili with spiders from this post-

And Miss B's MummyDogs-

I am going traveling for a couple weeks and may or may not be able to post and I may or may not be able to keep up and comment with all of your great Blogs, but I am going to try!
I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Gourmet Popcorn Remix

2009-10-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

I received 2 more awards, I am such a lucky girl :)
There is this one-From Holly at 504 Main she also has a wedding design blog that is Wonderful if any one is looking for ideas.
And this one-
Also from Holly and from 5th Sister who's Wonderful Blog never fails to uplift and inspire me.

I am passing these on to, again, all of my commenters who I hope grabbed that last one from the previous post as well! I am going to list you all just to be safe :)
Kys- from Stir-fry Awesomeness
5th Sister
Kim- from Stirring the Pot
RG- from Who's got the Thyme?
Betty- who no longer is posting about her Corgi :(
Holly- from 504 Main
Purple Hoodie Chick- from Bashful Toast
Willoughby- from This Stop Willoughby
Holly- from In the Kitchen with Holly
Nonna- from Mom's Loot
Chicago Mom- from What's for Dinner?
Lee- from HHH
Kristina- from Pulsipher Predilections
Monica- from Lick the Bowl Good
Donna -from My Tasty Treasures

Thank you ALL for your support and kindness to me, you are all such Wonderful Blog Friends :)

Today I did a remix (make) of my Gourmet Popcorn and 5th Sister this one is for you :)

Gourmet Andes
Chocolate Mint Popcorn
Ingred;
Andes mints- about 1c. before melting
1/2c. white almond bark
green food coloring
4c. popped corn

Here we go-

Folks , the arm is just a decoration, not a missing ingredient so please disregard.
Enlist a helper or 2 to unwrap all the mints- make sure you watch them though to keep pilfering to a minimum.

How many of these do you think ended up in her mouth?

I'm not sure, I looked away for a minute, my bad.
Melt your Andes Mints first, pour over the popcorn while stirring. Spread out onto wax paper. Melt the almond bark and color it with your coloring, now the almond bark doesn't pour, it blops. So I put it into a small baggie, snipped off the end and squiggled it over my popcorn.
There you go, very VERY tasty and beautiful too and it took me less than 10 minutes.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to go pick the popcorn hulls out of my teeth.

Late I'm late

2009-10-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me so long to post this, I didn't forget I'm just late :)

I was passed this award-

By 2 very sweet blog friends-
Raouly's Girl at Who has the Thyme?
and
The Fifth Sister

I'm not really clear on the rules for this award But I want to pass it on to all of my commenting readers. Thank you all for your thoughtful and beautiful comments this award is for you guys.

Also wanted to mention that I am not getting updates on some of the blog I'm following-
In the Kitchen with Holly and Bashful Toast are 2 of them that I know of, I feel badly and don't want you to think I'm ignoring your blogs I just can't get to them!

I probably clicked something I shouldn't have, i don't know. I am trying to get it figured out though.

Some great recipe finds

2009-10-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

I needed a of couple recipes yesterday so I went on a recipe hunt on AR.
I came across these 2-
Banana Crumb Muffins
Danish Pastry Apple Bars

Both were WONDERFUL, I only tweaked the muffin one and it was a tiny tweak :) :) :)

Danish Pastry Apple Bars
Ingred;
2-1/2c. flour
1c. shortening
1 egg, separated
1/2c. milk
10 apples, peeled, sliced thin
1/2c. brown sugar
1/4c. white sugar
1/2t. cinnamon
1/4t. nutmeg

Heat oven to 375
In a large bowl combine the flour and salt, cut in the shortening.
Beat the egg yolk in a 1 c. measuring cup, add in the milk till mixture reaches 2/3c.
Mix into the flour mixture.
Divide dough in half.
Using wax paper under and on top roll out half of the dough and place on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Combine the apples, sugars and spices, spread out evenly over the dough.
Roll remaining crust and place on top, seal edges.
Cut slits in the top brush with the beaten egg white.
Bake fore 50 minutes.

Banana Crumb Muffins
Ingred;
1-1/2c. flour
1t. baking soda
1t. baking powder
1/2t. salt
3 banana's mashed
3/4c. white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3c. butter, melted
1T. vanilla
1/2c. brown sugar
1/4c. flour
2T. butter

Oven 375
Mix together the banana's, white sugar, egg, butter and vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt,baking powder and soda, mix into the banana mixture.
Place into you muffin cups- makes 12 regular- Mix together the remaining ingredients to make your crumb topping and sprinkle on top of the muffins.
Bake for 18-20 minutes.

I also wanted to share with you one of my favorite kitchen tools-

The Apple Peeler Corer Slicer

I got mine from Pampered Chef but I have seen them in other places. This handy dandy tool helped me peel,core and slice 10 apples in under 5 minutes. I have had this for about 8 years I think and it gets a lot of use around here :)

Gourmet Popcorn the Easy way

2009-10-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Miss M and I went to a craft fair the other day and suffice it to say that I spent WAY more money than I should have! In my defense there was a lot of really neat things so see, and touch and smell and eat. I didn't expect to see so many food type things, and we were hungry, not a good combo :)
One thing that we tried that I thought I could make myself was some Gourmet Popcorn. There were lots of different flavors but my favorite one was a Peppermint popcorn, which was very odd because I don't like white chocolate or peppermint flavored things. But I LOVED this. So later that afternoon I picked up some ingred. from the grocery store and begin my experimenting :)
Here we have our ingredients-

I used half a pkg of almond bark, it melted down to about 1 c.- I melted it in the microwave. and used about 1-1/2c. of peppermint candies and ran them through the food processor until they were a powder.

I cheated for the popcorn because I hate how the kernels get stuck in you teeth and hey this is an experiment remember??

So I mixed about 1/2c. powdered peppermint candies into the 1c. melted white almond bark and divided 6 cups of my (fake) popcorn into 2 gallon zip baggies. I poured in half the chocolate mixture into each and shook and gently smooshed each one around until it was mixed.
Then I dumped them both onto a cookie sheet and spread out to dry.

This was YUMMY, I think it would be better with regular popcorn, this had a really strong butter flavor that was a little odd, but not bad. I can't wait to experiment with this further : )

Does it get any better???

2009-10-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Than Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Pretzels?
I saw a recipe for these tasty little goodies on a blog a few months ago, but of course last night when I went to look for it..... POOF! It was no where to be found, and I can't for the life of me think of where I found it, soooooooo if any of you remember seeing them or posting about them I would love to know. I made up my own filling for them but am really wanting to know what the original filling for them has in it. Ugh, you all know who I blame my memory loss on right??

No, not Aliens!!! Geezzzzz.

I blame it on my kids, have you ever noticed that kids NEVER forget anything?!?! Unless it pertains to chores or homework, but I am convinced that is voluntary forgetfulness. But say you tell them- Sure, I will wash your blue and white striped shirt for you to wear tomorrow, and you forget (big surprise) and they remember right before they are heading out the door next day for school!!! And the only reason they remember is because the little stinkers took YOUR memory and are hoarding it all!!!!!
Anyway the only help for Memory loss is Chocolate of course. So a few of these little treasures ought to fix me right up, for a little while anyway :)

Chocolate PB Pretzel Bites
Ingred;
1 bag Pretzel Butter Snaps
1/2c. chocolate chips
2c. peanut butter
1/2c. graham crackers
1/2c. saltines crackers
2c. powdered sugar
2t. vanilla

Run the crackers through a food processor until they are finely ground, then mix them together with the peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Place chocolate chips in a glass bowl and heat in the microwave in 30 sec. intervals until melted. Roll the peanut butter mixture into small balls and press in between 2 pretzel squares. Then dip one end in the chocolate and place on wax paper till dry.

All of my Halloween Goodie Secrets are out of the Bag

2009-10-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

A few of you have asked where I find all the idea's for my fun Halloween treats and food. So I am posting some links for you to some of the sites I really like. I have gotten ideas from lots of places, blogs, cooking sites, magazine sites, magazines, cook books, my daughter :)

So here we go-

For some awesome Halloween crafts and other great stuff I am hooking you up with a link to- Lee's I want to make that- Blog

This one has Halloween crafts, food and treats recipes, also games and costumes- Family Fun

And of course Ms. Martha has some wonderful ideas, she even has some that are easy enough for me to make :)

There are some great crafts here at Fave Crafts.

Of course Kraft Foods has some great recipes

Family Corner has a little bit of everything.

Halloween Central is a great place to find TONS of good stuff.

Everyone needs a few good brain recipes-
Igors's pickled brain
pumpkin nook
Fingers and brains
Some creepy food recipes
Great cake and cupcake ideas
Fun decorating ideas
Halloween Online Magazine

And of course there is Halloween.com

There you know all of my Halloween cooking and crafting secrets : ) :) : )

Welcome! Come on in and Enjoy...

2009-10-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

a nice slice of my Mommers Apple Bread. She didn't make this loaf, sadly, but I used her recipe which is as good as I get with her being a few states away from me now :(

Last weekend the kiddos, some friends and I went apple picking

and came home with these-

Some beautiful Rome and Yellow Delicious Apples, that are frankly- Delicious. I had no idea Yellow delicious apples could be sooo good. These look (taste) nothing like the ones in the store!
OK, on to the recipe :) :) :)

Mommer's Apple Bread

1c. oil
3 eggs
2c. sugar
1t. vanilla

Mix these together than add in-

3c. flour
1t. cinnamon
1t. soda
1t. salt

When this is all mixed together stir in 3c. of diced apples, pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for about 1 hour.

I also want to say Welcome to anyone joining me from Willoughby's Cocktail Party, and a big Hello and Thank you to all my regular Blogging Buddies- you guys are wonderful :) :)

My first Guest Blogger-

2009-10-13T15:33:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to have my first guest blogger! It's someone you all know, and it's someone I like (love) a lot! It's Miss B! My very own little mini-me! We like a lot of the same things and I thought she might like to guest blog, when I asked she very excitedly said yes! So here you go Miss B-

We made Frankensteins! They were yummy. First you take a pretzel stick and squish a marshmallow on top. And then you dip it in melted white chocolate with green food coloring. And put two bigger chocolate chips for the side things. And two small chocolate chips for the eyes. Then you put it on a cookie sheet and leave it there for 10 minutes until the chocolate hardens. And then my favorite part.....EAT 'EM!!!!

This is me and my sister making the frankensteins....

Miss K used a butter knife to spread the chocolate on her's, I didn't.....

K only made one but Me and Miss K made LOTS....

This is Miss M and her's named chocolate Frankin.......

This is me and mine named Frankie....

This is Frankie up close, isn't he cute?
We had fun, Bye!

Thank you Miss B for being my Guest Blogger!
These were a lot of fun to make, I used white almond bark and melted it in the microwave. Then I stirred in some green food coloring and Miss B took over the project, she did an awesome job :)

BBQ Worm Sandwiches

2009-10-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

We couldn't call these by their name or even mention the word -WORM- while eating them because it grossed Miss K out, K got quite a kick out of until I made him stop teasing her.

They were quick, easy and Worm-a-licious!

BBQ Worm Sandwiches
Ingred;
1 pkg hot dogs
1 pkg hamburger buns
sliced cheese
1c. bbq sauce
1/2c. ketchup

Slice all the hot dogs in half length-wise then cute those pieces in half length-wise so you have 4 strips per hotdog, put them in a pan over med high heat until they start to curl up, pour the ketchup and BBQ sauce over top, stir and heat through.
Serve with a slice of cheese in a bun.
You can use all bbq sauce and no ketchup if you like it spicier, Miss M doesn't do spicy so we always tone stuff down around here :)

Also my sweet friend Nonna crowned me yesterday :) :) :) I am now a-

Coupon Princess

Yay! Thank you Nonna! My girls and I are loving that :) :) :)

Coupon Craze

2009-10-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to figure out the whole couponing business, there are people out there who make it look so easy. I was super excited when I was looking through the food ads and remembered I had some coupons that matched with the sale items! So I had to post about, this is my first Great couponing experience & I can't wait for more :)
Safeway was having a sale on Classico Pasta Sauce+ were offering 2 free pkgs of pasta when you buy 2 jars of the sauce. I also had coupons for the sauce and the pasta- double whammies :)
The soups were on sale 3/$5 and I had 2 coupons for $1.10 off when you buy three. Cookie mix- on sale + coupon. Milk I had a coupon and was needing it. So-

I bought 18 Items for $16.23!

Isn't that awesome?!?! That equals out to each item costing .90 cents! Can you tell I'm a little excited? A family size can of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix for .90 cents! So cool :)

This one wasn't quite as exciting but I still did pretty good-
1o Items for $8.28- It equals out to about .80 cents an item.

My biggest inspiration for all this has been Nonna over at Mom's Loot, she has helped me figure out all the lingo, and posts such awesome deals, so I wanted to give her a big Thank you :)

Ghostly "Ghoul"losh

2009-10-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

The kiddos really got a kick out of this one, Miss B thought her ghost was so cute I almost couldn't get her to eat it. I had to threaten to put him in the garbage disposal before she reluctantly ate her little friend.
Remember when I told you she made me a list of Halloween foods to make?? Well here is a picture of it-

111 things!!!!!
It would take me 3 or 4 months at least! Little stinker :)

Ghostly Ghoulash
Ingred;
1 lb extra lean ground beef
5c. mashed potatoes
1 can each corn, peas and green beans
1 lg can cream of chicken
1t. onions powder
salt and pepper
1c. shredded cheese

Cook the beef, add in the onion powder and salt & pepper. Add in the corn, beans and peas- reserve a few peas for eyes, and the soup. Mix well. Heat oven to 350. Spread a layer of potatoes in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, top with the beef mixture.Sprinkle with the cheese. Using a zip baggie pipe potatoes around the edges and pipe on your Ghosts. Press in their pea eyes. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Krafting with Miss K (and the girls)

2009-10-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

We found this craft on Martha's website,
Super easy, Super cute. I got all my supplies at the dollar store, a pkg of balloons and a pkg of glow sticks.
Blow up the balloons- white works best- let the air out. Get your glow sticks glowing- we used 2 per balloon but I think that more would be great! Blow up the balloon again and slid in the glow sticks, tie shut, draw a face on your balloon and there you go-

Oh wait, I forgot to turn off the flash, hahahha......... OK-

Excuse the blurriness, it took the camera a long time to process the picture and the girls got antsy.

BOO!!

Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater

2009-10-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

OK, OK! I admit it I am a cheater.
But I couldn't help myself, Donna's Pierogi Lasagna looked SOOOO good, and I had to have some. Even if it meant cheating, I only cheated a little- by using instant potatoes...... and not cooking onions in the butter......... OK!!! I cheated on the whole thing!
Am I sorry? NO, it was DELICIOUS! It probably would have been even better had I made the potatoes from scratch and sauteed the onions in butter, but I only had instant potatoes and no onions and I was desperate I tell you!
So here is a link to the real version, (be warned her blog is a little risque, but full of yummy recipes) Thank You Thank You Thank You Donna for sharing this recipe, it is amazing :)
As for my total cheater short-cut version, here it is-

Pierogi Lasagna

Ingred;
1 box- (2pkg) Betty Crocker 4 cheese instant potatoes- prepared as instructed
1c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 box lasagna noodles
1c. butter- real butter- melted

Cook the noodles and drain, heat oven to 350.
Stir the cheese into the prepared mashed potatoes.
Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam, lay 3 noodles across the bottom of the pan,
spread on a layer of the potatoes, repeat 2 or 3 more times.
Finish with 3 noodles, carefully pour the melted butter over top of it all.
Cover with tin foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
ENJOY, and you will because it's AWESOME :)

Black Bean Soup with Mummy Dogs

2009-10-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Another fun Halloween dinner here, did I mention Miss B made me a 2 mile long list of Halloween food she wants us to make??? I need to take a picture of her list, it's 2 pages long and she has teeny tiny handwriting, I would need to make like 4 things a day at least to get through it by Halloween! Any how this was one of her things, the Mummy Dogs, she made them by herself while I made the Black Bean Soup. If you want the instructions for them they are posted on my kid krafting blog.

I am entering this soup in the-

Which has LOTS of yummy soup entries posted every Sunday, I have gotten a LOT of great soup recipes and inspiration over there :)

Fast, Simple Black Bean Soup
Ingred;
2c. chicken broth
1c. drained, rinsed black beans
1/2 c. regular refried beans
1c. nacho cheese sauce
1 pkg microwave steamer corn

Place the broth, beans and cheese in the blender and blend until smooth, pour into a med sauce pan and heat slowly- while soup is heating start your corn cooking in the microwave. Stir soup often until bubbly- place a layer of corn in the bottom of your bowl then ladle the soup on top.
I put a dollop of sour cream on top of mine and I bet some cilantro would have been pretty but I didn't have any :)

Spaghetti & Eyeballs

2009-10-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

Come on now, who wouldn't want a big plate of Spaghetti topped with eyeballs-
See they're even looking at you!

Another one of our Halloween favorites :) :) :)

Eyeballs
Ingred;
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1/2c. bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2t. sage
1/2t. oregano
1/2t. salt
1t. onion powder

Mix all ingred. together and form into 1 inch balls,
Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.
Add to your pasta and enjoy!

Miss M's Birthday Cupcakes

2009-10-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today my baby turns 5!!!
I have had memories of the day she was born floating around my head since last night, it was a very special day for us :)

For her birthday she wanted to make rainbow cupcakes, so here we have her mixing the cake mix-

And adding in the layers-

Ready for the oven-

Here we are decorating them, I cheated and used the frosting in a can- very easy and mess free :) She picked out these raspberry and blackberry candies to go on top-very interesting we have never had them before but they are pretty tasty. I think she got more in her mouth then on the cupcakes :)

And there you have it Miss M's Rainbow Birthday Cupcakes-

Happy Birthday Baby!

A wonderfully sweet award

2009-10-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

I have some wonderful blog buddies, I feel like we are old friends who are reconnecting and it has helped so much. This last move was really hard on me but knowing that I was taking all of you with me helped immensely. Thank you Willoughby and 5th Sister for this sweet award, you are both wonderful! And another Thank You to all of my Blog Buddies, you make this Blogging experience such a strong, positive, and happy boost in my crazy, sometimes frustrating Life, Thank You :) : ) :)

Where is your cell phone? pocket

Your hair? colored ;)
Your mother?quiet
Your father? best
Your favorite food? salty
Your dream last night? none
Your favorite drink? water
Your dream/goal? quiet
What room are you in? family
Your hobby? messing
Your fear? everything
Where do you want to be in 6 years? permanent
Where were you last night? Home
Something you aren't? tall
Muffins? chocolate
Wish list item? lg food processor
Where did you grow up? boonies
Last thing you did? blinked
What are you wearing? jeans
Your TV? dusty
Your pets? Mr. R
Your friends? Rock
Your life? crazy
Your mood? happy
Missing someone? yes
Vehicle? mom van
Something you're not wearing? socks
Your favorite store? book
Your favorite color? green
When was the last time you laughed? today
Last time you cried? down
Your best friend? love
One place that I go over and over? computer :)
One person who emails me regularly? SIL
Favorite place to eat? home

This was really fun, I enjoyed doing it and reading everyone's answers :) I don't know how many people I am suppose to pass this on to so I am passing it on to all of my Blog Buddies. I know a lot of you already have it, but for those of you who don't I want to pass on this award- And I am looking forward to reading your answers!

Chilly Day Chili with a Halloween twist

2009-10-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

We have finally gotten some cooler weather here which has been really nice, I love Fall. It would probably be my favorite Season, the only reason it beats out Spring is because of all the mud then, with all of the cooler weather I have been making soup, almost every night :)
So I decided that for dinner I needed to take a break from soup and make..... CHILI! Lol, big change huh?
My kiddos are Chili fans, and to go with our Chili the girls made some creepy Halloween Spider Bread Sticks, I have directions on how to make those on my other blog.

Chilly Day Chili
Ingred;
1 lb ground burger
1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans
1 can of corn
1-1/2t. chili powder
1-1/2t. cumin
1/2t. oregano powder
1T. onion powder
1t. garlic salt/ or minced garlic

Brown the burger in a large pot, stir in the seasonings. Add in the remaining ingredients, simmer on low for 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve with cornbread or bread sticks.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

2009-09-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Since today is October 1st and October first in Homemade Cookie Day I decided to try out a recipe for a yummy Fall treat-

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
Cookie Sandwiches
Ingred;
1/3c. olive oil
7.5 oz (about 3/4c.) pumpkin
1 egg
3/4c. sugar
2t. vanilla
3c. flour
1t. baking soda
1t. baking powder
1/2t. salt
1c. mini chocolate chips :)

Cream Cheese Frosting- I got my recipe from here- What's for Dinner?

Heat oven to 375.
Mix together oil, pumpkin, egg, sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Using a large scoop put scoopfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool.
Spread cream cheese frosting onto the flat surface of one cookie top with the flat surface of another. Enjoy :)

Reading Time!

2009-09-30T08:59:00.001-07:00

I am Co-Author of a brand new online book club! One of the other Authors is a great Blog Buddy of ours- Chicago Mom from What's for Dinner?
We are starting it this October, it's all set up and ready go!
As I have probably mentioned before I LOVE to READ! I might even love to read more than I love to cook, it's a pretty close tie :)
I know that some of my Blog Buddies are also book lovers so I wanted to invite all of you who would like to join us to come on over and read at-
One Book at a Time

Rach's Baking Challenge- CHOCOLATE

2009-09-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

This had to be the best baking challenge so far, how can you go wrong when the ingredient is chocolate??? I swear the hardest thing about this challenge was deciding what to post!
I finally decided on an old favorite with a new topping, Cherry Chocolate Cake from Allrecipes.com topped with Chocolate Almond Whipped Cream. Which is MUCH better than frosting folks :)

I have entered in Rach's Baking Challenge twice now and it is so much fun! If any of you are bakers, beginning or advanced you need to check it out. It's very easy to enter so go check it out!

Cherry Chocolate Cake

Ingred;
1/2c. butter
1-1/2c. sugar
2 eggs
1t. almond extract
1/2c. cocoa powder
1-3/4c. flour
1-1/4t baking soda
1t. salt
1 (21oz) can cherry pie filling

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and extract, beat well. Add in the cocoa powder.
Stir in the cake flour and baking soda. Gently stir in the pie filling. Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Chocolate Almond Whip Cream

Ingred;
1c. cream
1T. cocoa powder
1T. brown sugar
1/2t. Almond extract

Whip all together until fluffy.

What happens when you are a Forgetful Fool

2009-09-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

So Yesterday I decided to make bread, I got out all the ingredients, mixed it all together. I was thinking to myself how quick and easy it was. How the dough turned out perfect, not too sticky not too dry. I put my dough in a bowl to rise and started cleaning up, I was wiping the counter when I noticed a carton of eggs sitting on the counter, eggs? hmmm why are those out? Did my recipe call for eggs? Did I put eggs in it?
So I grabbed the recipe, which was sitting on the eggs, yep called for 1 egg, nope I didn't put an egg in it. Dang! What now? Should I try to mix in an egg?? Ummmm no probably not a good plan. Should I toss it or just cook it anyway?
I decided to cook it anyway to see if it would work, then I mixed up another batch of dough. You know, so that I could do the whole scientific thing and compare the 2. Cause apparently I wanted to spend all day in the kitchen, I am such a goof.

So here is my eggless bread-

Here is my follow-the-recipe bread-

They look pretty similar, they taste very similar too! The one without the egg is a bit crumblier, and I decided that next time (this recipe is a work in progress) I will be adding a little more sugar and 1 or 2 more eggs- if I remember them that is!
But if you wanted to make eggless bread, because of allergies or you want to make bread and have no eggs ( been there) this recipe will work! Yay! :)

Easy Homemade Bread
Ingred;
2c. milk
1/2c. butter
1-1/2t. salt
1/4c. sugar
2 1/2T. yeast
2/3c. warm water
1 egg
7c. flour

Place milk in a heat proof bowl, microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stir in the sugar, salt and butter. Let set until butter is melted in. Mix together the water and yeast, let set until creamy.
Mix the yeast and egg into the milk mixture.
Place the flour in your mixer bowl, turn on the mixer, slowly pour in the milk mixture. Mix until well combined, let the mixer continue to knead the dough for a few minutes. Turn dough into an oiled bowl, cover and set somewhere warm, let it rise until doubled- about 30 min.
Heat oven to 350. Shape loaves, place in oiled bread pans and let rise until dough reaches the top of the pans.
Bake about 30-40 minutes.

While we are on the subject of eggs, or the lack of, this morning for breakfast Mr K and I tried a new recipe for eggs, it was a big hit! I'm sure we will be making this one a lot :)

Shirred Eggs
Ingred;
eggs
butter
cream
salt and pepper
shredded cheese

Butter each small ramekin, place about 1T.cream in the bottom of each one. Place on egg in each. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cheese (if you want cheese, they do cook about 5 minutes quicker without the cheese).
Place in oven, 350, for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy.

Baked Crab Rangoon

2009-09-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

What a strange name, I am never sure if I am saying it right, lol. This is my favorite appetizer to get at our little local Chinese food restaurant, I found a recipe on the Kraft web site and decided to give them a try. I made them to take to a Girls Night Out that I went to. It was a lot of fun, and they turned out pretty good :)

Baked Crab Rangoon
Ingred;
6oz crab meat
4 oz cream cheese
2 green onions sliced
1/4c. mayo
12 wonton wrappers

Heat oven to 350. Mix first 4 ingred. Spray 12 muffin cups with pam, line each with a wonton wrapper. Fill with the crab mixture. Bake 18-20 minutes until wontons are golden and filling is heated through.

I used my mini muffin pan, to mix the ingred. I put them all in a lg zip baggie, with a little asian seasoning, then squished it all together. Then a cut off a corner of the baggie and squeezed the filling into my cups. Clean up was easy :)
I wanted to sprinkle a little Mrs. Dash on these but I'm either all out or it's hiding in my cupboard somewhere, oh well :) :) :)

More Mochi, More 'Shrooms and 5 Words from Willoughby

2009-09-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

I made a Pumpkin Mochi Cake, I got the recipe from Allrecipes, there are quite a few Mochi recipes on there. Just type Mochi in the search box and check them all out! The picture isn't all that great but it was definitely a hit here at my house.

Pumpkin Mochi

Ingred;
2-1/2c. mochiko
2t. baking powder
2c. sugar
4 eggs
1- 30 oz can pumpkin
1- 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1c. melted butter
2t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan.
Sift together the mochiko, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Mix together the eggs, pumpkin, milk, butter and vanilla. Stir this mixture into the dry mixture. Pour into the pan.
Bake for 1 hour, cool before serving.

I enjoy pumpkin desserts, and I really liked this but I think the Lemon Mochi is my favorite still :) :) :)

I made some 'shrooms tonight, they got a little overdone but were still tasty. I used the Parmesan puff filling I had leftover from yesterday in them, it worked really well. I wouldn't have overbaked them, they smelled so yummy I knew they were done, but I was distracted by a giant spider in my kiddos game cupboard. Yuck.

I received 5 words from Willoughby to play along in a Game.
If anyone else wants to play let me know and I can give you five words.

#1-Cold, I like the cold, not freezing cold exactly just chilly cold. My Mom has always called me a heater, because from the time I was really small I was always very, very warm blooded. As a Teen my family always made me keep my bedroom door closed because I liked to keep my windows open year round, even in winter. I grew up in Montana remember so it got pretty chilly in there at times.

#2-Light, I am a big fan of natural lighting. I like to leave the lights in my house off until it's almost too dark to see because I don't like the fake light. Hubby thinks I'm strange, so I tell him it only looks so dark because he is getting old, lol.

#3-Painting, I wish I could paint. Landscapes, Seascapes ( anything with escape in it sounds good to me :) I even took painting classes once a week for almost a year. And I still can't paint, I gave up the day I realized Miss B's paintings looked better than mine.

#4-Change, as most of you know I am not a big fan of change. I would like it if things stayed the same, and never changed :)

#5-Inspire, My children are my biggest inspiration. Everyday they inspire me to be better, I am constantly amazed by how giving and sweet they are to each other and those around them. They Inspire me everyday.

A beautiful Lemon Dessert and a Duo of Beautiful Awards

2009-09-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

I have had this recipe stuck to my fridge for at least 2 months, I don't know why it took me so long to make it was actually pretty quick and easy. Which makes it a perfect one for me, I am going to use this as my base and see how many different flavors I can turn it into : )

Lemon Pots de Creme
Ingred;
2c. cream
1 whole egg
3 egg yolks
1/3c. sugar
2t. lemon extract

Heat oven to 350, place a 9x13 pan in the oven to heat. Start a tea pot up to get some water boiling.
Place cream in a heat proof bowl, microwave for 4-5 minutes until it starts to boil. While that is heating whisk together the all the eggs and the sugar, when the cream is ready whisk in a small amount to temper your eggs. Then whisk the eggs into the hot cream. Whisk in the extract.
Pour into 6 small ramekins, place in your heated 9x13 pan and set in the oven. Pour the boiling water into the 9x13 pan until the water reaches half way of the sides of your ramekins. Cover loosely with tin foil. Bake for 30 min. remove from pan, cool, chill in the fridge overnight. Sprinkle with powder sugar before serving.

Purple Hoodie Chick very sweetly awarded a couple of awards the first one is the
BINGO Award.I got the B for beautiful and I for Informative, Thanks P H Chick!
This award was started by Bookin With BINGO and
here are the rules: This "B-I-N-G-O" BEAUTIFUL BLOG AWARD
means that this blog is...

B: Beautiful - Goes to Willoughby, she always has such beautiful thoughts and pictures. She is such a genuinely beautiful person inside and out :) And because I know Willoughby has already recieved this award I also want to give this to Holly- because she leaves me such beautiful comments :) This stop Willoughby
What are we going to Eat?
I: Informative -Here I had a tie, I hopes that's ok, Luis and 5th Sister always post such great info, I always come away from their blogs a little bit more informed :) Muddy Runner 5th Sister

N: Neighborly - Betty always leaves me such sweet neighborly comments, I feel like I could walk out my front door walk across the street and tell her all my woes and she would take care of me :) A Corgi in Southern California

G: Gorgeous - Goes to Monica and Brandi for the absolutely gorgeous Cakes and Desserts they post :) Lick the Bowl Good Cakes-a-nonymous

O: Outstanding - Chicago Mom is such an outstanding on the ball Gal, she always has a great menu planned out every week. Recipes too! I always know where to look when I am trying to figure out what to make for dinner :) What's for Dinner?

This reward I have had before so I am going to link you to my other post Honestly Me

And I want to pass this award to-
1-Chicago Mom
2-Lee at I want to make that!
3- Mini Baker
4-Stephanie
5-kyslp
6-Betty
7- My Hubby

The rules can be found on my previous post along with my 7 things about me!

Thanks again Purple Hoodie Chick!

Parmesan Puffs and Focaccia

2009-09-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to use some of the recipes from my Allrecipe collection that I keep adding to, every time I go on there I end adding at least 2! I will never get caught up at this rate :)

The two I just tried are-
Parmesan Puffs
Easiest Focaccia Recipe

Tonight I am making a pizza casserole recipe from there, that will make my total for today 3 I am slowly making headway, I will keep you posted on that one :)

So here is the Focaccia Bread, it didn't brown up very well but it was pretty good. I think next time I will double the sugar and add a little salt to the dough, we'll see what that does. Because as the recipe stated it's "Extremely easy, fast and cheap" see it's right up my alley :)

Easiest Focaccia Recipe

Ingred;
1t. sugar
2-1/2T. yeast
2/3c. warm water
2c. flour
olive oil
salt
toppings

Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water, let stand until creamy. Mix in the flour, stir until well combined. Knead for a few minutes, I let my Kitchen Aid do that for me :)
Place dough in a bowl that has been lightly oiled and let raise for about 30 min. Heat oven to 475, pat dough in to a rectangle drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your topping. I used chopped green and black olives. Bake for 10 minutes for chewy bread or let bake 20 min for a bit crisper bread.

Now this next recipe I altered a bit and came up with a couple of tasty appetizers.

Parmesan Puffs

Ingred;
1/2c. water
1/4c. butter
1/2c. flour
2 eggs
3/4c. parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375, lightly grease a baking sheet.
Bring the water and butter to a boil, whisk in the flour until it forms a ball. Remove from heat and dump into your mixing bowl, beat in the eggs one by one. Then beat in the cheese. Scrape sides, using a small scoop- scoop into small balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 15 min. until puffed and golden brown.

Now there are a few things you can do with these, the original recipe suggest dipping in marinara sauce. I made a butter garlic sauce to dip them in while they were warm, which was tasty. Then I dipped the tops of the remaining puffs in the butter and let cool then I filled them with a yummy cream cheese crab mixture-

Parm Puff Filling

Ingred;
4oz cream cheese
1/4c. immatation crab
1/4c. chopped olives
1/2t. salt

Blend all together with a food processor and pipe into the center of the puffs, refridgerate any leftovers.

Now mine are a little big because I haven't been able to find my small scoop since we moved, so I had to use a big one. But with the small one these would be such cute little appetizers! They were very tasty : )

I just got a Letter.....

2009-09-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

Actually it was more of a package really, a package full of treasures! When I went out to get my mail today there it was in my box, the girls and I opened it up and look, LOOK at my treasures!

These are from my Sweet big Sister B,
Candied French Violets
Candied Rose Petals
lots of Lavender

I am so excited! I will have to find something special to make with these, any ideas?

I have a recipe that I begged Sister B for all week, it requires the use of these-

aren't they pretty?

Here look again-

They look wonderful, don't they.......
Well, as we all know, looks can be deceiving! These little fuzzy fibbers were half brown on the inside! I was totally disgusted. So instead of making 2 pies we only made one, cause that's all I got out of them.

Aunt B's Vanilla Custard Peach Pie
Ingred;
1 deep dish pie crust
5 med. peaches
8 oz sour cream
3 large egg yolks
1c. sugar
1/4c. flour
2t. vanilla or buttershots

1/4c. butter
1/2c. flour
1/4c. sugar

Peel & slice peaches, arrange in the bottom of pie shell. In medium pan whisk together the next 5 ingredient until smooth & pour over peaches. Bake at 425 for 30 min.
Prepare the remaining ingredient. as a struesal topping, sprinkle over pie and return to the oven at 400 for another 30 min.
Garnish with unpeeled peach slices and a sprig of mint.

Now I couldn't garnish mine because of the peach shortage, so I gave my girls each a piece of the leftover pie dough and they made me some cute leaves to decorate the center.

Thank you Aunt B for the sweet gifts and for a wonderful recipe!

Volcanos and Scrubs

2009-09-23T12:03:00.001-07:00

Body scrubs not the show Scrubs, I have never watched it.
Today I made a couple of scrubs for my Lil' Sisters B-day present, a Lemon hand/body scrub and a Peppermint Foot scrub. They both smell yummy yummy yummy!

So here we go-

Lemon Hand Scrub
1/4c. coconut oil
1/4c. almond oil
1t. liquid lanolin
1t. vitamin E oil
15 drops lemon oil
about 1c. epsom salts

Put the salt in your container, once again I am thanking Goodwill
for my 2 cute containers. Melt the coconut oil in a heat proof glass bowl or cup. I love my glass Pyrex measuring cups for this. When that is melted stir the remaining ingred. Pour slowly over the top of your salt, I used a fork to stir mine in. It's what I had handy and it worked pretty darn well :)
Close it up and label.

Peppermint Foot Scrub
1/2c. coconut oil
1/2c. almond oil
1t. liquid lanolin
1t. vitamin E oil
15 drops peppermint oil
1-1/2c. epsom salts

Follow the instructions from above. You could use all Almond oil or all Coconut oil, you could even use Olive oil ( but I hear it smells funny after a bit). You don't REALLY need the Lanolin, it's just an extra bonus for extra softness :)
You don't even need the Vitamin E oil, it does help to preserve this so it keeps longer. But if you are making small amounts or are sure it won't last long, couple weeks, I wouldn't bother with it.

I received a sweet award from Lee over at I want to Make that! Seeing all the fun things she's been making always inspires me to get crafting! Thank You Lee!For after school snack today we tried something different, it's a volcano pancake. I have never made one frankly they kind of scared me, what if it doesn't rise???? What then?
Well I finally made one and hurray! It rose just fine, I did have some tense moments early on in the cooking time but waited it out :)
I got my basic recipe from Allrecipes it's here- Volcano Pancake.
But I did a little altering (big surprise) and here is my version-

Volcano Pancake with Strawberry Sauce

Ingred;
3 eggs
1/2c. milk
1/2c.flour
pinch of salt
2T. butter
1t. rum extract

4T.strawberry preserves
4T. o.j.
1t. lime juice

Heat oven to 400, put butter in a 8x8 pan and set in oven until butter melts.
Beat together by hand the eggs, milk, flour, salt and extract.
Pour over top of the melted butter and return to the oven for 30-35 min. While its baking, whisk together the preserves, and juices. After the pancake is done cooking, let it cool a couple minutes then drizzle with the sauce and serve warm.

This was delicious, this is definately a keeper, and it has so many possible ways to change up the flavor! Good Stuff :) :) :)