Cook! Create! Consume!

Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna

2012-01-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from my friend, Jen's blog, and it is seriously so good! So good, I made it every week for a month back in the summer with the cilantro from my garden!! Even Jonah (then 1 yr. old) LOVED it!

Trust me, the picture above does not do it justice! It is so good!!!!!

It is also a very forgiving recipe, I've made it different almost every time to experiment, and it always tasted good! I've doubled this recipe quite a few times, because leftovers mean I don't have to cook as often!!

Here is the recipe with a few different things I tried in parenthesis:

Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna

1. c. fresh cilantro leaves
4 scallions, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
10 oz. baby spinach (I also used a 6oz. bag once because that was on sale at the store)
8 (6 inch) tortillas (we actually use more, in fact I gave this recipe to John to make and he used the whole bag, 20!)
2 cans (15.5 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 c. prepared salsa (whatever heat you like)
8 oz. pepper jack cheese grated (about 2 c.) (I also tried different cheeses so my other kids might like it more, because they thought it was too spicy. They were all right, but pepper jack was definitely my favorite)

Preheat oven to 425. In a food processor combine cilantro, scallions, salt, pepper, and as much spinach that will fit. Pulse, add remaining spinach until all coarsely chopped.

Grease an 8 inch square baking dish. Lay 4 tortillas in bottom of dish (overlapping slightly). Layer with half of beans, salsa, spinach mixture, and cheese; repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with cheese and pressing gently.

Cover dish with foil; place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until bubbling, 25-30 minutes; remove foil, and continue baking until golden, 15-20 minutes more.

(I wasn't paying attention the first time I made it and added the salsa to the spinach mixture. So, I do that every time now. We also have more layers because we use more tortillas. If you double it, you'll use a 9x13 pan. But, I actually use the crock pot to cook it the most. The only thing with the crock pot is to not over cook it, because then it becomes way mushy. Still good, but mushy. I've also frozen it. I actually didn't try it after I froze it, buy my sister said it froze and cooked up fine.)

Super Bowl Party Appetizer

2012-01-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

Do you remember me posting the Chili's Southwestern Eggroll Recipe? Well, I made them for dinner last night as large burritos, and I tweaked the recipe some - and made me love these even more (if that's possible!). Seriously, soooo delicious.

I was thinking about it, and these would make the VERY BEST super bowl party appetizer. You should add it to your menu!

Check out the recipe with the added changes. At the end of the post I also added some ways you could make this vegetarian, and I think it would still taste great!

Enjoy! I promise you will!!!

Recipe: HERE

Pancakes

2012-01-19T06:34:00.000-08:00

There aren't many foods that I really don't like, but pancakes happen to be one of them. Everyone has always said that my dad makes the best pancakes, and they are pretty fluffy, but I'm just not a fan of pancakes, period. I mean, I'll eat them, they just aren't my favorite. If I eat them I like eating them with sausage and syrup, or a fruity syrup, you know, to hide that I'm eating pancakes... However, my son, Trevan LOVES them...

A while back, I bought a bunch of whole wheat flour on sale for .99 cents a bag, which are all now expired. I am not throwing it away! So, on Monday, John helped me make a TON of pancakes out of the wheat flour to have on hand for breakfasts. It's tons cheaper than cereal, and I like that I'll already have them handy to warm up in the mornings. We have a huge freezer bag full of pancakes in the freezer. I just love the feeling of being on top of things!!

We made some with blueberries, some with chocolate chips, and some plain. The kids didn't even say anything about them being made with wheat flour, score!

Just a tiny portion of all the crazy pancakes!

We were visiting my brother, and my sister in law made pancakes, that I actually kind of liked. So, I make her recipe now (while feeling like a traitor to my dad... oh well). It's super easy!

Mary Kathryn's Pancakes

1 1/2 c. flour
3 T sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 3/4 t. baking powder

Mix the above ingredients together. Then add the following ingredients and beat well.

1 egg
1 1/4 c. milk
3 T. melted butter

Grease up your griddle and cook those pancakes up! Add your favorite mix ins if desired!
A few things: If you want super fluffy, light pancakes like my dad makes, you just take the egg/s in your pancake recipe and beat the egg white and egg yolk separately, then fold in your egg white to the batter at the end. I'm just too lazy to do it, but it does make your pancakes lighter and fluffier. I've also used buttermilk instead of milk in this recipe but there really wasn't that huge of a difference to prefer one over the other.

No need to wonder what we're having for breakfast for the next few months... Woo Hoo!

P.S. Here is my #1 Pancake Tip with kids: Use a pizza cutter to cut up the pancakes (and french toast...)! I just don't have the patience to cut it with a knife and fork. A pizza cutter is perfect, and super duper fast and easy! You are welcome!!

Grandmommy's No Bake Cookies

2012-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to eat healthier, you know to lose my baby weight (from my almost, ahem, two year old...), so what do you do when you try to eat healthier, you add oatmeal to chocolate! Baby steps, right?

I have loved these cookies since I was a kid! My Grandmommy would make them sometimes when she would come to visit our house.

I remember helping my mom make these when I was in high school and I have been making them ever since. I think I have messed up this recipe any possible way you can mess them up. I've also had them so many other places where they have been dry, crumbly, or heaven forbid not sweet enough!

I have finally figured out how to make them perfect every time. (But, you know because I just typed that, the next time I make them they aren't going to turn out!) So, I will share the recipe with you! They aren't even dry the next day like I've made them so many other times too!

Here's the recipe in my mom's handwriting that she wrote down for me before I went to college. I have put this recipe in other places, but I like using the recipes in my mom's handwriting for some reason. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the recipes that she wrote down for me. It's fun to have memories from my mom as I cook.

In case you can't read my mom's cursive, here's the recipe in print (with my added notes):

Grandmommy's No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 stick of butter

4 T. cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt.

Mix together above ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook boiling for 2 minutes (the original recipe says 2-3 minutes, but I've found 2, or just barely over 2 makes the best consistency. If you over cook it, your cookie will be dry, if you undercook it, your cookie will not harden). Remove from heat and add:

2 1/2 - 3 cups of Quick Oatmeal (I start with 2 1/2, I rarely add 3, somewhere in the middle. Once I accidentally used not instant and it was fine too, just crunchier, but I definitely didn't use as much!)

1 cup of peanut butter

1 tsp of vanilla

Mix well and drop by spoonful on wax paper, let cool. (Though I've started to be more frugal, and if you take your wrapper from your butter and grease a cookie sheet, you can use that instead of wax paper.)

If you live in a dry climate, you need to store these in an airtight container as soon as they cool to make them stay moist longer.

Remember - for this cookie it is all about the boiling time, it will make or break your cookie. Quite literally...

I dare you to eat just one...

Enjoy!

Glitter Nails

2011-10-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

I've never been one to paint my finger nails - I just didn't like having color on my nails. My niece got some glitter polish for her birthday and we tried it, but the glitter didn't coat your nail. My 12 year old niece gave me another idea to try. So I did, and it worked! I've gotten so many comments on them I thought I would tell you how to do it.

(The pictures aren't great, I'm sorry. I took them right after I did my nails before I cleaned up around my nails, but you get the idea!)

You need:

Clear fingernail polish

Glitter (the loose kind - picture below)

(a tooth pick would be handy too, I didn't use one, but if I were to do it again I would)

Paint one finger nail with a coat of clear polish.
Sprinkle glitter over nail.
Use toothpick to move glitter away from your cuticles.
Move on to the next nail, and repeat steps 1-3.
When you are done one hand let it dry just a little, then press down on top of the glitter on your nail to make a smoother finish.
Let dry completely.
Coat with THREE or more coats of clear finger nail polish.

When you do the first coat after the glitter you need to wipe off your brush on to paper getting the excess glitter off before dipping it back in the polish. You can see in the picture below the loose glitter in the streaks of nail polish where I wiped off my brush.

Enjoy your sparkly nails!!!

Recipe Update

2011-09-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Strangers!

I just made pretzels yesterday (the recipe posted HERE), and realized when I posted the recipe before I didn't publish the right amount of yeast... oops!!! So, I've fixed it on that post.

Also, most pretzel recipes call for bread flour, but way back when I never used bread flour and just used regular flour. But, yesterday I used bread flour, and WOW what a fluffy pretzel!!! It really does make a difference! Just make sure to roll the pretzels thin, because they really rise!

Really, these are super yummy pretzels, if you love Auntie Annes - you'll love these!

Pecan Cheesecake Pie

2011-03-17T05:15:00.001-07:00

Do you like pecan pie? And cheesecake? Then you'll love this recipe!!

Here's another recipe I cut out forever ago (2007!), and I was going to make this at Thanksgiving last year, but it got cut from my bake list. I don't know if you remember or not, but I should have made this one, and none of the other ones!!!

I love it! The perfect blend of everything! I will never make a plain pecan pie again. Okay, I don't think I've actually ever made one... but now I won't have to! It's seriously is so delicious and easy!

Pecan Cheesecake Pie Recipe (From HERE)

1/2 (15 oz.) packaged refrigerated pie crusts

1 (8 oz.) cream cheese softened

4 large eggs

3/4 c. sugar, divided

2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. chopped pecans

1 c. light corn syrup

I made my own pie crust, here's the recipe:

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T. butter

3 T. cold water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in butter until particles are pea sized. Sprinkle with water, a little bit at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened. Shape dough into ball, roll out, place in pie plate. (Remember, the less you handle the dough the better & flakier)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Make pie crust, put it into 9 inch pie plate according to directions

2. Beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and salt at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth. (Don't forget to cream your cream cheese first or you get lumpys.) Pour cream cheese mixture into pie crust; sprinkle with pecans.

3. Whisk together corn syrup and remaining 3 eggs, 1/4 c. sugar,and 1 tsp. vanilla. Pour mixture over pecans.

4. Place pie on a baking sheet. Bake at 350, on the lowest rack in the oven, 50-55 minutes or until pie is set (It took mine about an hour). Cool completely on wire rack (about an hour). Server or cover and chill up to two days.

This pie could go on your Easter Dinner bake list!

Chicken and Rice Wraps

2011-03-14T06:23:00.001-07:00

As a busy mom, I love making a meal that I know we can eat on for days! This dish is one of them! This recipe goes along with my Boost from a Box series, and comes from one of my friends. She adapted this recipe from the back of a Rice-a-Roni box.

I'm pretty sure your family will love it, and you will love how easy it is!!

Chicken and Rice Wraps Recipe

2 T. butter
1 (6.8 oz) package of Rice-A-Roni Spanish Rice
1 (16 0z) jar salsa (or 2 cups of fresh tomatoes, or 1 - 14 oz. can tomatoes, undrained and chopped)
About 3 cooked chicken breasts, cut or shredded
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
Handful of fresh minced cilantro (optional)

flour tortillias
sour cream
cheddar cheese

1. In large skillet, over medium high heat, melt butter. Saute rice-vermicelli mix until vermicelli is golden brown.

2. Slowly stir in 2 cups of water, the salsa, and seasonings packet. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until rice is tender.

3. Stir in chicken, corn, beans, (and cilantro if using it). Cook until heated through.

4. Serve in tortillas with cheese and sour cream if desired.

TIPS:

1. I use 3-4 cups of diced chicken from a whole chicken I make for dinner the night before. If you use 4 cups of chicken you will definitely need to add more water (1/2 c.) and salsa or tomatoes so your mixture will have enough liquid. Really, you can use 2 cups, and use the rest of your chicken for another meal!

2. Don't try to hurry the process along, make sure your rice is cooked first, because it won't cook more after you add all the stuff to it. Crunchy rice is no good... I speak from experience.

3. I added the cilantro, and if you don't have it, don't worry about it, still very, very delicious without it!

4. This is also super yummy used as a hearty dip to eat with chips.

Yummy Meatball Recipe

2011-03-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

I tried a new recipe last week for Red Sauce and Meatballs. I loved the meatballs, but won't make the red sauce recipe again, not impressed.

I cut this recipe out in 2004, but found it online for you HERE.

The meatballs were very flavorful, I had to force myself to stop eating them when they came out of the oven! The family loved them too!

Meatball Recipe

1 1/2 lbs. extra lean ground beef

1 c. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs

1 large egg

1/2 small onion, grated

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese (I used prepared shredded - but finely grated fresh parmesan would be really yummy!)

3 garlic cloves minced

1 T. dried Basil

1 T. dried parsley

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine all ingredients. Shape mixture into about 32, 1 inch balls.

Place greased rack on a cookie sheet. Arrange meatballs on rack. (Honestly, my meat was so lean (93%), no grease even dripped onto the cookie sheet, so if you are using really lean meat, I think you can do without using a rack.)

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until meatballs are browned.

Perfect for spaghetti!

Hmmm...

2011-02-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered how to make your own Slim Jims? Yeah, I haven't either, but I can tell you how to make your own...

So, on Super Bowl Suday, John wanted little smokies. So, he puts them in the pot, asks me how to make them, I tell him to cook them till they shrink a little, and then left to go to a meeting.

I come home to find that he had over cooked them. "Honey," I said, "shrink, not shriveled..."

But, actually, I gobbled them up all last week; they just tasted like slim jims. I love beef jerky, but only buy it on long road trips, becuase you can't fall asleep while you try and chew beef jerky. Really, you should try it.

Anyhow. We used turkey little smokies, and then use any regular recipe to make them, cook them until they are good and dead (shriveled), and you've got yourself a slim jim.

Appetizing. No?

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2011-02-07T05:32:00.001-08:00

I like that my husband can cook. I guess, I don't know any woman that wouldn't like that their husband could cook.

For our Super Bowl gathering, which is really more of a feasting and game playing gathering rather than a watching the Super Bowl gathering... We sure did some feasting, and this morning I'm still not hungry. (Though, I may have indulged in some of this dip for breakfast...)

John usually gets to pick the menu for this party, and he found a recipe online that he wanted to try this year. Except when he made it, he totally made it his own, not even following the recipe. Awww... we're a match made in heaven.

You can see the original recipe HERE.

John's Buffalo Chicken Dip

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1 c. blue cheese salad dressing

1 c. ranch salad dressing

1/2 c. Frank's Red Hot Thick Cayenne Pepper Sauce

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

2 c. shredded Mozzerella cheese

2 cans (12.5 oz. each) Chunk Chicken Breast in water, drained

Put all ingredients into an electric fondue pot, and heat on low until melted. (John's one tip would be to cream the cream cheese with a mixer to make the melting go faster.) Serve with nacho chips and celery.

It's that easy! AND yummy!

This recipe could be baked as well. See original recipe for those details.

Valentine Yarn Wreath

2011-02-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be honest, this was not one of my favorite projects. Sometimes, I have ideas for things, that just don't work how I envision them working. The final product is cute, but it was a pain to make. This took me a long time to make, because I kept getting frustrated and would put it down and do a little more on it another day.

I thought I could get away with just using an old piece of cardboard, and cut it into a heart shape, instead of buying a heart shaped foam wreath... let's just say it made it a little complicated.

I'll go through the steps of what I did, and tell you what mistakes not to make if you do one...

STEP 1: Get a sturdy piece of cardboard or foam board (NOT the kind that bends, like I used...) and trace a heart, and cut it out. (Or just buy a foam heart wreath...) Then, I folded mine in half and traced the inside heart, and cut it out.

STEP 2: Take your yarn and start wrapping. This was the annoying part - the points and the curves of my shape were hard to wrap. I ended up using hot glue to aid me in my efforts. Those parts ended up being thicker, making me have to do lots of layers of yarn to even it out. If you don't mind doing that, then you might not mind this project, but I thought it was a pain. Especially, because my cardboard started bending, making the yarn not wrap evenly. You can see in the picture below, I just gave up on the bottom point, and covered it with felt roses.

STEP 3: Embellish it with your choice of embellishments. I made some felt rosettes, and hot glued them on.

STEP 4: Hang on your door, and enjoy the results of your hard work!!

Moral of the story: Use a foam wreath, or if you use sturdy cardboard be willing to do lots of layers of yarn.

Felt Valentine Garland

2011-02-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a felt heart garland for Valentine's Day last year, and like everything else in my life, never got around to it.

I had planned on making some this year, but then decided I wanted to make something different. Though, still I may make one next year...

I was perusing the Valentine isle at Hobby Lobby, and came across these little babies, and knew my garland would be made! It was actually a hard decision to narrow down to these, because they had A LOT of cute options. Felt already cut out! So simple! So cheap! So perfect! They were 30% off of 1.99, and my garland only took two bags!

I threaded my needle with fishing wire, and just took my needle through the sides and middle of the felt top of the heart. So easy!

This garland was made in a matter of minutes! So easy! I love quick projects!!

I still haven't decorated the mantle yet... but the garland sure is cute!!

Did you even notice the new wall color?

We painted over the orange! Posts on paint to come!

Tuna Romaine Salad

2011-02-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

I think this was a South Beach diet recipe that I found when I did South Beach a few years ago. It's simple, yummy, and HEALTHY!

Tuna Romaine Salad

Romaine Lettuce (fresh, or bagged)
Cooked Edamame (I've used both the steamer bags in the microwave, and cooked and shelled my own)
Canned tuna (6 oz. can per person)
Green Goddess Dressing

Dressing Recipe:
Put the following in a food processor and mix:

1/2 avocado (average sized)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
3 T. mayo
3 T. non fat plain yogurt
1 T. water
1 T. milk (I wanted to try buttermilk this past time, because I think it would taste good, or even 2 T. buttermilk instead of the water too.)
2 scallions chopped (This time I grated an onion and used 1 T of the onion and juice combined)
1 small clove garlic minced (I also grate garlic on the micro plane grater)
2 T. chopped fresh basil (1 tsp. dried)
1 T. chopped fresh parsley (1 tsp. dried)
1 T. chopped fresh tarragon (didn't use because I didn't have)
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Put tuna, edamame, and dressing over Romaine.

Enjoy!

How to make your own Ice Cream Cake

2011-01-31T05:04:00.000-08:00

I started making my own ice cream cakes about seven years ago. I've always loved ice cream cakes, but started being disappointed in the quality or taste of the ice cream cakes we were buying - so I tried my hand at making my own.

What I love about these is that you can totally make them your own way! You choose all the flavors and fillings. We let the birthday boy or girl customize their own cake!

This cake was a surprise for my neighbor's birthday, and her husband told us what flavors to use.

For this cake I used fudge ripple and chocolate ice cream with an oreo cookie layer, a fudge frosting layer, and a whipped cream topping. (or whuuped cream as my son calls it...)

FOR CAKE & FILLINGS - Depending on the size of cake you are making will determine how much ice cream you will need - usually at least two - 1.5 quarts. The one thing to think about for fillings is that whatever you use will freeze (duh...), but I've used brownies before, and when they freeze they don't thaw at the same rate as the ice cream and they are pretty hard to eat. Candy bars can be tricky as well - very hard after they freeze. We love Snickers, but they are hard to eat when they are frozen. If you use candy bars, use ones with a softer filling.

You can use any kind of mold for your ice cream cake. I make this ice cream cake to have a shape, but you can make it and leave it in a 9 x 13 pan if you'd like too. For this cake I used my Kitchen Aid bowl.

1. Set one flavor of your ice cream out to thaw.

2. Crush your fillers - In this case, oreos.

3. Line the inside of your mold with plastic wrap. Make sure to leave a lot of overhang on the outside of your mold. If you are leaving your ice cream cake inside a 9 x 13 pan, you don't have to worry about this step.

4. Scoop and press softened ice cream into the bottom of your mold. You don't want to use melted ice cream, because it changes the consistency of your ice cream. It makes your cake more icey than creamy like ice cream.

I use the ice cream around the outside, usually, because it gets softer first.

5. Top with your filler layer. Put in freezer for at least an hour. When that hour is up,set out your next flavor of ice cream to soften.

6. Put the next softened layer of ice cream on top of your filler layer. It helps to slice the softened ice cream with a knife too. It looks like the picture below at first:

Then, you spread it out, and it looks like the picture below:

7. Top with your next layer. OR - I put back in the freezer for an hour and make my chocolate frosting. My frosting has to cool a little before I add it to my ice cream or it melts. You have to be fast after you pour it and hurry it back to the freezer or it will melt like the picture below, because I had to take a picture of it.

8. Let harden another hour, then set out the ice cream for your next layer to soften. Spread on next leayer of ice cream.

9. You could make a gigantic ice cream cake with a ton of layers, but this is where this one ends. I used oreos as my last layer. When I flip the mold out, I have oreos as the bottom layer to soak up the ice cream if it melts while sitting out to cut it. You could also use a cake as the bottom layer, but it needs to be a sturdy, dense cake so it wouldn't be crushed by the weight of the ice cream.

10. Let the cake set until completely frozen. When it is frozen, you should be able to completely pull the cake out by the plastic wrap, like the photo below:

11. Place platter on top of your mold, and turn the cake out. Pull off plastic wrap.

12. Whip 2 cups of whipping cream with sugar and vanilla to taste. Spread on frozen cake. Put back in freezer. You could serve it right after you cover it, but if you freeze the whipping cream layer you can decorate that top layer with icing - writing happy birthday or whatever. If I had had enough oreos I would have covered the whole cake with them. You would have to do that before your whipping crem layer is frozen.

Before slicing let cake thaw briefly.

My whipped cream layer was not frozen. Your cake cuts nicer (looks nicer) if it is. This looks really cool when it is a sheet cake mold - just like in the store!

Enjoy!!

Heart Shaped Beignets - UPDATED POST SCRIPT ADDED

2011-01-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

Last year, I made these heart shaped doughnuts as part of my Valentine's Day breakfast post, but didn't think they were anything so wonderful. When I saw this recipe for New Orleans Beignets in February's Southern Living magazine, I knew I would try it (in heart shapes for Valentine's Day, of course). I liked this recipe much better!! Of course, I had to make a dark chocolate sauce (basically a thick fondue) to serve them with to make them more yummy.

They didn't take long to make at all! The longest part is letting them chill.

Get the recipe here.

The trickiest part for me was getting the oil temperature right. I'm too lazy to get out a thermometer (I know...), so my first few were very dark on the outside, and doughy on the inside. It took some practice getting them right.

And, that, my friends, is why it's going to take me forever to lose my baby weight!!! Enjoy!!

POST SCRIPT: I forgot to tell you that this makes a ton! They are also delicious leaving off the powdered sugar, and just eating them covered with butter and honey.... mmmmmm! John even came up with the thought that they would be perfect for Navajo Tacos! They would be! So, with this one recipe -you can make a few meals! The recipe that keeps on giving! You're welcome.

Wooden Spoon Puppets

2011-01-25T05:31:00.001-08:00

My sister gave me some wooden spoons with faces drawn on them over a year ago, and I have been wanting to make some really cute puppets with them for my kids. I also took two old, yucky looking wooden spoons out of my kitchen drawers for them to use too. Yesterday, I decided to just let them make their own, and they loved it!! Like, loved it so much it was the first thing my daughter asked for this morning when she came downstairs this morning, "Where's my puppet?" Last night, they loved playing with them!

My husband is actually pretty artsy when it comes to drawing, but he didn't do a very good job on his puppet above. I even gave my puppet some moles.

This is what my daughter, Mallary actually drew for her face, but I used the other side to put her bangs on - she told me she had to have bangs on hers. It was really cute, Mallary likes playing with my puppet, she was playing with my puppet holding Jonah's puppet. I walked in the living room earlier this morning, and her puppet and my puppet were dancing together. I try to dance with Mallary in the living room all the time, but she always tells me to stop! Trevan also had to draw arms on his and Jonah's. "They need arms to hold their light sabers!" He kept saying to John, while he would make his puppet hit John's, "Ha ha, you can't hit me back because you don't have any arms!"

The whole family! I had envisioned making such cute puppets, but the kids definitely enjoyed this more!

I think The Dollar Tree sells a pack of wooden spoons - for one dollar! Or just pull the old one's out of your kitchen drawers! Cheap and fun activity for your kids!!!

Super Easy Blackberry Cobbler

2011-01-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

I love cobblers. We had a lot of cobbler growing up. I'm used to the bready - doughy top cobbler, but this cobbler recipe is different. It has a crispy top, but the bready part is more underneath. Any cobbler is easy to make, but this cobbler recipe is by far the easiest!!

I cut this out of a magazine, but have no idea which one or when...

Easy Blackberry Cobbler Recipe

4 c. frozen blackberries (recipe calls for fresh, but I use the frozen ones we picked last summer!)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 large egg
1 c. sugar
1 c. all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. butter melted (recipe calls for 6)

For this recipe you can use an 8 inch square baking dish, I use 6 - 7oz. ramekins. This recipe mentions you could serve it in mugs too, which would be fun!

1. Preheat oven to 375. Place blackberries in a lightly greased (I forgot to do this a few times, and it was fine). Sprinkle blackberries with lemon juice. (I didn't have any lemons or lemon juice the last time I made these, and it definitely tastes better with the lemon juice, but if you don't have any on hand and want to make it, just sprinkle your blackberries with some sugar at least.)

2. Stir together egg, sugar and flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over blackberries.
3. Drizzle melted butter over topping. (I use a dessert spoon and drizzle about two of those spoonfuls over each one.)

4. Bake for 40 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve with ice cream!!

A little bit of summer sunshine in the winter!!! Enjoy!

Valentine Mail Pouch Tutorial

2011-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to make these since last year when I spotted them on my friend's sister-in-law's blog. She has a bunch of cute ideas - I love her hand made Valentine's Decorations. See her pouch and decor HERE.

I'm planning to make February a month of love at my house, and will make a mail pouch for every member of my family. I will leave a little something in every one's pouches every day, and will encourage the rest of my family to do the same. I hope this will help my kids focus on doing something nice for each other and us, rather than fighting over toys!!

I don't really have the patience to make tutorials, but since I had to make a template for myself, I thought I might as well share. I hope you don't mind my ghetto looking tutorial! :)

To make six Valentine Mail Pouches you'll need:

Card stock to make your template

Red Felt - Enough to make six hearts

White Felt - 1 1/2 yards

Embroidery Floss for the names (I used black, but I almost wish I used white, and then outlined my envelope with red thread...)

Ribbon - For each pouch you'll need two pieces about 47 inches long (but you could use felt and velcro for the straps as well)

I used a sewing machine on this, but really you could get away with just using hot glue...

First you need to measure the backs of the chairs you plan to put the envelopes on, and decide how big you want your envelopes to be. My chairs are pretty standard, and I decided to use a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper for my template.

Let's begin!

1. Start with three pieces of card stock and label them with a number 1, 2, and 3.

2. Your #1 piece is one whole piece of card stock - that is the back of your envelope. Here are the measurements for the envelope flap, #2:

3. The measurements of the pocket, #3:

4. Cut along the black lines to have your finished template.

5. You can use the discarded piece of your #2 to make your heart template:

Fold over one side, draw the sized heart you want and cut it out.

You just want to make sure your heart fits how you want it on top of your envelope piece (#2).

6. Trace your heart template on a folded piece of red felt and cut out your hearts.

7. Write the names on the hearts and embroider them. (I just roughly stitched mine, nothing fancy)

8. Next, trace all of your pouch template pieces onto white felt and cut out all of your white pieces.

9. Start with your envelope piece (#2), and pin your heart where you want it to go, and stitch around the heart, and the sides and bottom of your envelope flap. (Make sure you take note of the distance from your needle so your envelope borders can all be the same.)

Don't do the top - you make that seam when you are completing the envelope.

10. Take your #3 piece and find the middle (5.5 inches in across, and 3 inches down), and make a mark. Take your ruler from both corners to the middle and draw the lines that you will stitch over.

11. Stitch over those lines on piece #3. (Notice I don't go all the way to the corners, so they'll match up with all of the seams.)

12. Now cut your ribbon: You'll need two pieces both 47 inches long. Seal the cut pieces of your ribbon over a candle flame to prevent fraying. You'll need to figure out how your ribbon will fit on your envelope, by seeing how long of ribbon you'll need on each side to hang over your chair. I left 13 inches of ribbon on one side from the bottom, and 25 1/2 inches from the top of the envelope. Place your ribbon 1 1/4 inches from the edges of your envelope (piece #1) and pin. Do both sides.

13. Sew up both sides of both ribbons - 4 seams. Leave the tops and bottoms un-stitched, those will be stitched when finishing the envelope.

14. Place your #3 piece on top of the back of the envelope (#1), and pin. Then stitch around it. It is the bottom piece. (Please ignore my bobbin malfunction in the top right of the picture below - I was too lazy to fix it, plus no one will see it...)

15. Now put on your envelope flap piece #3. Pin and ONLY stitch the top seam connecting it to the back of the envelope (piece #1).

See how it opens? I didn't put the bottom piece all the way to the top because I wanted to leave space there so my kids didn't have to dig so much to get anything out of the pouch.

You're all done!!! Tie on your chair and enjoy!!!

Hopefully, that made sense!

I'm so excited to use these - you have no idea!!!

Asparagus Ribbon Pasta Dinner

2011-01-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here's another recipe I cut out from a magazine a long time ago. I actually didn't cut out the recipe, but just the picture of the asparagus ribbons.

I just added Alfredo sauce to chicken, pasta, and the asparagus.

Making the ribbons tips:

1. If the asparagus has been cooked too long, they don't peel, they just smash together. I had two bunches of asparagus I cooked together that were different sizes, which led to unevenly cooked asparagus.

2. I had quite a few ribbon rejects that I didn't want to serve in the dish, but were perfect for omelets and a quiche. So, plan on making a recipe for breakfast the next day using your rejects.

3. It was a little trickier making these, than I thought it would be, and don't know if it is worth it to do again. But, to make them just for garnishes would be fun.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets and French Fries

2011-01-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

My son would eat at Chick-Fil-A every day if he could... so I found a recipe to make my own BAKED chicken nuggets to make my six year old happy. I cut this recipe out of a magazine, but you can find it here.

Cornmeal Oven-fried Chicken

1/2 c. dry breadcrumbs (I just used the Italian seasoned ones because that's what I had on hand)

1/2 c. cornmeal

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

4 tsp. dried parsley flakes

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 c. buttermilk

3 to 4 pounds of chicken breast, cut up

1 T. butter, melted

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first 9 ingredients. Place buttermilk in a shallow bowl. Dip chicken in buttermilk, then add chicken to bag, a few pieces at a time, shake to coat.

Place on cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes; drizzle with butter. Bake 30 minutes longer or until juices run clear.

I also made a honey mustard dipping sauce to go along with them.

Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce

1/2 c. Djon mustard

1/4 c. mayonnaise

1/8 c. honey

Stir together all ingredients and chill.

I also made my own french fries by peeling and cutting potatoes. I then throw them in a plastic bag and pour a little olive oil to coat and then add seasoned salt. I bake them at at least 400 degrees. 450 if I'm in a hurry. The french fries in the above picture had a little too much olive oil and I like my french fries more crispy than that. (I must have been in a hurry to put dinner on the table that night.....)

This meal puts a smile on my six year olds face. Take that, Chick-Fil-A!

Handmade Christmas Ornaments

2010-12-24T06:12:00.001-08:00

I put a Christmas tree in my kids room this year, and hope to have all handmade ornaments on it next year.

I saw some cute yarn ball ornaments at JoAnn Fabric, and figured I could make some myself for cheaper than buying one ornament.

So, I made some in the colors of the tree; red, lime, and white.

I love them! And, so super easy!

I also wanted to make a fun garland, and tried to make one with yarn and buttons:

Unfortunately, the buttons are so much heavier than the yarn they just fall over and lay flat... I tried to fix a portion of it by threading wire through the buttons:

It's better, but I'm not sure how I feel about it... It was a fun concept, but I might do something else with it for next year...

We got one real tree up and three fake trees up, but the fake tree in our room didn't get decorated this year, but it's up... the tops of the dressers in our room are decorated with all the ornaments that should be on that tree... There was a section of lights out of it, and I was waiting for John to fix it before I decorated... it's still not fixed... maybe next year.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

My 2010 Top Ten Gift List

2010-12-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

I know I 'm posting this a little late, but here are my Top Ten 2010 gift picks:

#1: Trio Crock Pot sets - Why have these not been around forever? I have always thought I needed multiple crock pots... problem solved! Brilliant!

#2: Gingher Scissors: I recently realized I got my Gingher scissors in 1998, and they haven't been sharpened since. The best scissors ever. Know a crafty person that doesn't have these already? If they really are crafty (sewers), they should already have some... but, if they don't - give them a gift that will last a lifetime (or more).

#3: If I had a million dollars, I'd purchase friends art for all of my friends. Love this one HERE.

#4: Fisher Price nativity set: I wanted one of these last year, but every store was sold out. I got mine this year the day after Thanksgiving, yay!! #5: Then I saw this at my sister in laws and must have it as well... next year!!!

#6: Instead of Christmas music, you can hear this playing in my van. Music my Grandpa and I can both listen to! Love it!

#7: My new favorite! Oh my goodness, sooooooooooo delicious!!!! John bought home some for all of us.... I admit it, I ate my kids cookies too!!! No. Self. Control.

#8: My new favorite apple cider! Thanks to my sister in law, Cheryl, for introducing me! I buy it at Harris Teeter - check your local grocery store.

#9: Our favorite treat this time of year. Years ago, people didn't believe us when we told them Martinelli's sparkling cider had different flavors, but during the holidays you find different flavors, our very favorite! We haven't tried the flavor below yet though! See all the flavors here.

#10: Not a fan of salt scrubs - ouch! But I love these sugar scrubs. Makes your skin sweet and soft!

Hope Santa brings you what's on your list!!!

Crafting Christmas Gifts

2010-12-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

A friend recently hosted a "projects anonymous" crafting time at her house to help all of us get to some of our many projects we've started and not finished. I went through my unfinished alterations pile that's been around as long as I've had my work room downstairs (a long time...). I found this hat that I had bought, or my my mom had bought (I really don't remember...), but I had planned to re-do it to cover up the princess embellishment. I'm just not big on princess stuff, I guess. Anyway, that was when my daughter was very little, she's now three. So, I thought I would finally re-do it and give it to another little someone on our Christmas list this year.

I originally was going to cut off the points and round off the hat, but I think it would be too small then.

I made a felt flower with stuff I had on hand to cover up the embellishment.

Demonstrated here on Jonah. He hates stuff on his head, so I was surprised when he would keep it on his head.

I think he likes the hat, little does he know he's giving it to his cousin for Christmas. :)

Potato Gratin with Rosemary

2010-12-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

I tried another new recipe from this month's Southern Living magazine. I was very unsure how this would turn out, but I thought it was super yummy. Though, next time I'll work on a few things to make it look prettier.

It is a potato gratin with rosemary crust using gruyere cheese - see recipe and pictures HERE.

A few adjustments to the recipe:

1. It says to bake it at 450 degrees - that is just way too high - it burnt my crust. Next time I'll cook it at a lower temperature but for longer.

2. 3 pounds of potatoes did not fit in my 9 inch springform pan. I wasn't able to use one whole sweet potato.

3. I didn't microwave the cream.

4. I think this would be delicious without the crust as well, just mix the rosemary and extra cheese in with the potatoes. Even prettier if baked in a pyrex so you can see the layers to the potatoes.

I was worried there wasn't going to be enough liquid, but I stuck to the recipe and it was great.

It's like a sophisticated au gratin potatoes - love it!

Cranberry Lime Drink

2010-12-18T05:35:00.000-08:00

I love a yummy drink recipe. This is perfect for the holidays! It is a little tart, fresh, and very tasty!

I got the recipe out of Southern Living's magazine, you can see it here.

They call it a punch recipe, but I wouldn't categorize it as a punch, it's more of a lemonade-y, club soda-y kind of drink. I changed the recipe a little; not adding the alcohol and I used regular limes instead of key limes.

2 c. fresh cranberries
1 c. sugar
1 c. water

1/2 c. fresh lime juice (about 2 1/2 limes)
5-6 c. chilled club soda

Combine cranberries, sugar, and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes or until cranberries begin to pop. (Once, I actually cooked it too long and ended up getting cranberry pulp in my drink. You just want the syrup.) Pour mixture through wire-mesh strainer into a large pitcher. Cool completely. Stir in chilled club soda, and lime juice.

So yummy.

I need more.

My Christmas Oranges

2010-12-16T06:45:00.000-08:00

Did you get oranges in your stocking on Christmas day too? We always did. I'm pretty sure Santa won't be putting any in mine this year though, because I used them all on our house already!

Two years ago, the lady beside me at a craft show was making wreaths and putting fresh fruit on them. I watched her all day, envious, I wanted to be doing that! I told myself that one day I'll make me my own.

When we cut down our Christmas tree this year I asked the lady there for any clippings from trees they were going to throw away anyway. I ended up getting so much, I told her I would pay for them. She only charged me two bucks! I bought a wreath from them too, but next year I'm just going to make my own. (I didn't even use all the clippings either!)

I attached oranges to my wreath. I made swags from all the Christmas tree clippings and tried to attach oranges on those too, but it made the middle too heavy, so I used Clementines and tangerines instead. I used Douglas Fir and Virginia Pine tree clippings in my swags. Next year, I'll make them a little different and I think they will work better.

They were also pretty tricky to hang... There is one swag that doesn't hang like the others, and I'm too lazy to get back on the roof to fix it.

I love them all anyway, though! I love it when I finally get something made I've been thinking about forever!!

Now, the lights are a different story. I want all white lights, but my husband demands color. Our compromise were these light balls that we've seen around the area these past few years. I made some, and next year we'll make some more for our other tree.

For the record... It took my husband FIVE hours to hang the icicle lights... don't ask me why... It didn't even take me that long to make all the swags and light balls... Hmmmm...

Spritz Cookies

2010-12-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

For the next few days, I'll post a few foods you should make to add to your holiday table...

This is definitely one of them.

My husband introduced these to me after we got married, they are one of his family's favorites, and now they are one of mine!!

Spritz Cookie Recipe

1 c. butter

2/3 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. almond extract

2 1/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Splash of milk

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and mix. Add almond extract, and then dry ingredients. I then add just a little bit of milk to bring the dough together. NOT MUCH, just a little splash or two. (Don't you love my technical terms...) You kind of have to bring the dough together with your hands. Then you take the dough and cram it into your cookie gun, and make whatever shapes you want.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.

I color sugar with food coloring, or you could buy sprinkles. Trevan sprinkled the ones above, so he was a little heavy on the red sprinkles... We like to decorate ours with red hots. (Bake them with red hots on them) Especially the wreath shapes, to make it look like berries. A spritz cookie and a red hot equal the perfect combination!

Santa will appreciate these cookies. I promise.

First Annual Christmas Road Rally

2010-12-14T05:03:00.000-08:00

Two years ago I came up with an idea to do a Christmas party on a Monday night, where friends could bring their families and we'd just have a big Family Home Evening together. The weekends in December always seem to be busy, but who plans a party on a Monday night? ME!!

I wanted to do it two years ago, but never was able to squeeze it in. This year, I was determined to do it, and literally squeezed it in. I wrote the invitations on a Sunday morning, and handed them out that Sunday afternoon, I came up with and printed up the scavenger hunt at midnight, the night before the party, and made the crowns and put together the prize basket the afternoon of the party... it was a squeeze. It was pretty simple anyway, we had everyone bring cookies, and we supplied the hot chocolate, and marshmallows to roast. But, we pulled it off, and now I have a whole year to plan for next years! We already have some fun ideas...

However, of course I ended planning the party for the COLDEST day of the year so far, so that put a little damper on the outdoor festivities. We had planned to just have opening and closing activities outside with a bonfire and all the treats outside, but it was seriously too cold. So that made for tight quarters in our house!

Anyway, we love that we started this new tradition. You should do one with your friends too!

Here's the invite:

Come celebrate Christmas with the Hamiltons!
It’s our favorite time of year!
Bring the family, and come on over!
Let’s spread a little Christmas cheer!

Please join us on Monday, the thirteenth
For a Family Home Evening night.
And even though it’s FHE,
We hope there’ll be no fights!

It’s a Road Rally and Scavenger hunt.
Where you’ll earn points while on your race.
You’ll need a digital camera, and your car.
And more importantly, your smiling face!

Extra points if you arrive dressed festively,
Even more if you “decked” your car.
If your family comes up with a festive team name,
your family should surely go far!

Please also bring two plates of cookies –
one to give, and one to share.
If you want to bring a third for me, well…
‘Tis the season to love and care.

Extra points if you RSVP to Holly:
xxx-x zero x eight
We’ll be starting at 6:30,
You just won’t get as many points if you’re late.

If you can’t fill a car with your own family,
Feel free to invite another that will.
But if they damage your car in any way,
Please don’t send us the bill.

Don’t you love the twinkling lights?
We’ll send you on a hunt to find some,
And a nativity, and some figgy pudding…
It’s going to be a lot of fun!

If your Christmas spirit doesn’t keep you warm,
We’ll have a bonfire when you return to our home.
So, bundle up and bring a chair,
Enjoy cookies, marshmallows, and cocoa with foam.

Bring the fam, and come join the fun!
Excuses – we don’t want to hear it!
The family with the most points wins a prize!
Will your family be crowned with the most Christmas spirit?

I won't put the whole scavenger hunt on here, but here are a few of the items they had to find/do:

• Build a snowman with items found in your car.
• Find a house that has TEN or more Christmas lawn ornaments (blow up things,
reindeer, etc.) and take a picture.
• Ask a sales clerk what aisle the figgy pudding is on.
• Sing the chorus of, “We wish you a Merry Christmas” when you pull up to the drive thru and they ask if they can take your order.
• Donate spare change (any amount) to any Salvation Army ringer.
• Find strangers wearing Christmas sweaters and ask to take a picture with them (50 points per stranger). (Some people even found dogs with Christmas sweaters!)
• Stop at a Christmas Tree Stand and ask if they have any artificial trees.

One team used my camera on the hunt and these are a few of the pictures off of it:

So fun!

One of my friend's won the judges choice award for her going the extra mile for her team. Their team was the Dudolphs...

They even had shirts!

and they all had their reindeer names on the back! Here was her car:

Our neighbors were Santa, his elves, and reindeer! Too fun!

Our friends literally "decked" out their van.

I wanted to get a picture of everyone's decked out ride, but I got too busy and forgot... But I heard some had Christmas lights, and the battery candles in their car windows!

We put everyone's cookies out on the table outside, and they literally froze, so we brought everything inside!

Tight quarters in our house:

Their teams name was the Christmas Kisses; they had mistletoe on their hats and carried Hershey's kisses.

My friend, Shasta's family was crowned with the most Christmas Spirit! (I forgot about the crowns until that afternoon, and had to make them out of whatever I had, so that included some velvet bows and red tinsel (shown above))

It was so fun! We're looking forward to 2011!

Eggnog Ice Cream

2010-12-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

I love the holiday season for many reasons, but one of them is for the EGG NOG!

We would make egg nog shakes, but this is even better...

Now we make our own egg nog ice cream! Just pour the desired amount of egg nog in your ice cream maker and turn it on! So yummy! You can even do part egg nog, part half and half/cream if you want a less strong egg nog flavor.

So simple, so delicious!

** We even tried a pumpkin egg nog. It was okay, but I liked the plain egg nog better.

Recipe Wall

2010-12-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

This was the wall in my kitchen on the night before Thanksgiving:

Here's a tip for you entertainers out there that you might find helpful:

When I'm having a party, or doing any entertaining where I'll be cooking a lot, I like to have all of my recipes where I can see them, instead of stacked in a pile. I guess I like to see what I'm up against. Then, when I finish making something, I'll take that recipe down off the wall.

It's a nice visual for me so I can see what is left for me to do. This also helps when you make your grocery list as well. I find that when I have piles of recipes in my hands I always forget to write down an ingredient.

This is also helpful if you have a hard time figuring out the timing of dishes when you entertain. You can organize your recipes with what needs to be done first, or with what you need to be preparing while another recipe is in the oven.

I also add a "TO DO" list to the wall too with other items I need to do in preparation for a party or gathering, just to make sure I don't forget something. Then it's all right in front of me, and I can take it down once everything is done!!

I'm always thankful for leftovers

2010-12-01T05:22:00.001-08:00

Even if I don't host thanksgiving, I have to make a turkey to be able to enjoy leftovers!!

I was planning on trying a new recipe with them: turkey tostadas with cranberry chipotle sauce. When I showed the recipe to my brother and sister in law who were visiting with us, my brother in law saw another recipe on the same page for little turkey pies and suggested that. I had pie crust in the fridge already, so I just made up my own recipe from my leftovers.

I cut circles out of my pie crust. Then I layered stuffing, turkey, my whole berry cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes mixed with a little cream cheese. I brushed the tops with a little egg, though totally unncessary.

Pretty, right?

They were really yummy! I even made a little gravy with my leftover turkey broth to serve with them, which made them even more yummy!!

While I was making the above, I had the idea for the below: Layered Thanksgiving Dinner in a Ramekin. The layers were from bottom up, stuffing, turkey, my whole berry cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, then cover with pie crust.

Also delicious! You could even, if you wanted to, carefully scrape around the edges and flip the dinner out of the ramekin and garnish with gravy.

Sadly, my leftovers are gone.

Well, there's still the pies...

I was not thankful for pie

2010-11-29T09:52:00.000-08:00

I love trying new recipes. 'Love,' probably being an understatement.

There are about twenty pumpkin dessert recipes I had cut out of magazines and put in my 'TO TRY' cookbook, so this year I wanted to try I few... I chose six, and then narrowed it down to four. I was so excited, these pies looked so yummy. However, and unfortunately, I was unimpressed. The pies all turned out well, but I would have rather just made my normal pumpkin cheesecake.

Here is the pie rundown:

PIE #1: Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie - Recipe HERE

The only thing I did different than the recipe was cover the top with melted chocolate instead of drizzling...

Dear Martha,

I love you... but, did you even try this recipe before putting it in your magazine????

PIE #2: Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Meringue (from this years Southern Living November magazine) - Recipe HERE

Now, this pie wasn't a total loss. It tasted fine, just different. It was a lemony - sweet potato pie. However, I LOVED the meringue, and will probably substitute this meringue for any other meringue in the future.

PIE #3: Pumpkin Chiffon Pie - Similar Recipe HERE

This pie was okay too, it just didn't WOW me. I cut this recipe out in 2004 so, I couldn't find the exact recipe online. The one I posted is similar except the recipe I used wasn't low fat, mine had a cream cheese layer underneath the pumpkin chiffon layer, and I used whipping cream instead of Cool Whip.

PIE #4: Eggnog Pumpkin Pie - Recipe HERE

This recipe I cut out in 2008 from Taste of Home. I liked this pie the best. This pie also made my house smell so yummy when it was baking in the oven! This recipe won't get thrown in the trash like the chocolate, and chiffon one, but it probably won't be a Thanksgiving regular.

I do love trying new recipes, but it's so sad when they end up not meeting your expectations. But, that's okay; four recipes down, one hundred bajillion million to go.

Thanksgiving Place Card Idea

2010-11-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

I thought of this idea based off of what my friend did with her kids in their class room at school. This is a fun way to let your kids be involved on Thanksgiving.

Cut out and tape the body and face of a large turkey on the wall. You could even just have it cut out and let any kids that are at your house for Thanksgiving be coloring it while you finish dinner preparations.

Cut out feathers in different colors of construction paper or card stock. Use them as place cards at your thanksgiving table. Write your guests name on one side and leave the other side blank.

After everyone sits down, have them write on the other side something they are thankful for.

The kids are usually done eating first, and now you have an activity to keep them occupied while you finish your dinner.

Have them collect the feathers and tape them around the previously taped up turkey. They'll enjoy doing that, and it will be fun to see what everyone is thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight?

2010-11-24T05:40:00.000-08:00

How do you cook your bird?

I've been cooking mine the same way since college.

I use a Reynold's oven bag. I didn't have a roasting pan back then, so I substituted with a bag and a cookie sheet.

I have a roasting pan now, but it's stainless steel and I don't like the fact that it takes FOREVER to cook a turkey in. So, I put the turkey in a bag and put it on the rack in my roasting pan, but leave the lid off. Using a bag cuts back on the cooking time.

I'm also a turkey purist. I only season it with salt and butter.

I cook the neck and gizzards in a pot on the stove, and use the broth in my stuffing. (Though, if I'm being honest, I end up throwing it out after I've cooked it about 50% of the time, because sometimes it just gives me the heebie jeebies...)

I also don't stuff my bird. I like my stuffing cooked separately.

What's your favorite way to cook a bird?

Happy cooking, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ooey-Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake

2010-11-23T04:44:00.000-08:00

My sister in law, Cheryl, made a yummy dessert last year, and shared the recipe with me; it's from Paula Dean. It was a German Chocolate Butter Cake. It was sooo yummy. There were other variations that you could do with it as well, one of them being pumpkin. I made the pumpkin recipe yesterday. It was good, but I like the German Chocolate recipe better!!

This recipe uses a cake mix as one ingredient for the crust. I'm all about cooking from scratch, but I have a few great recipes where some ingredients are pre-made from a box. So, this is my first Boost from a Box recipe that I'm sharing with you. It's nice to be able to cut out a step in cooking sometimes!!

German Chocolate Recipe found HERE.

Pumpkin Recipe found HERE.

(I did cut out 2 Tablespoons of butter from the filling, you might even be able to get away with cutting out more...)

Annual Pumpkin Favorites

2010-11-22T04:57:00.000-08:00

John has been requesting our annual casserole baked in a pumpkin, and last week I finally delivered. It's the easiest meal ever, and Mallary loved it! My favorite is still the baked pumpkin custard cooked in a pumpkin that I made last year. Delicious!!

Healthier pumpkin bread pudding

2010-11-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

I remember watching my mom make bread pudding more than once, and I don't remember her measuring her bread. The first time I made this pumpkin bread pudding recipe, she tried to add other bread, besides the french bread that I had purchased. She didn't think I had enough bread it it. My poor mother. I gave her such a hard time about substituting and experimenting, and now I totally do it. She'd be proud. Or she could be saying, 'I told you so..." (though she was never really and 'I told you so' kind of person...)

I recently made bread pudding using all the old packages of wheat bread that were in my refrigerator. I'm not sure why I had so many packages almost empty in there, and was a little leery about using only wheat bread... but it turned out great! Really, it was quite a healthy dish, because I only buy the double fiber, high in protein, low in sugar wheat bread. So, a dish of this stuff was very filling! But, also very tasty! So I felt little guilt while eating this for breakfast. (and still lost weight the week I made and ate it...)

This is also a great dessert to bake in ramekins. (You do know of my love for things served in ramekins, right?) I did bake mine in a square pan though, and just cut out circle servings.

So, you can totally make your bread puddings healthier by not only using wheat bread, but by cutting back on the cream, and using half and half and regular milk. Mine still tasted wonderful!

A "healthier," festive treat!

Thanksgiving Place Cards

2010-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

For Christmas dinner of 2006, I put all the pine cones in my parent's yard to use, and used them for the place cards. (It even gave the grand kids an assignment, they collected them from the yard!) They would be great for Thanksgiving as well. If you have colored plates, I think they would look cool spray painted white. You could even spray paint them any color if you have white plates.

You could put the place card in the pine cone a few different ways. You can place it towards the end of the pine cone as shown in the pictures above, but you could also use the natural diagonal growth of the pine cone like the picture below.

Make sure you have clean pine cones (you can rinse the ones from your yard ahead of time) to use on the plates, or your guests will be wiping dirt off their plate before filling it with food. If you don't have store bought pine cones (those tend to be cleaner....), then just set them above the plates somewhere. I usually put place cards above the fork, to the left of your plate, since your glass should be above the knife to the right of your plate.

Just be careful... In 2006 we had place card elves (er... older brothers) that switched up all the place cards... my dad's place card ended up at the kiddie table.

Another simple place card idea is to do the tiny pumpkins at each place setting. I did this for a fall dinner in 2006. The pumpkins were also the favors. Wal Mart has bundles of tiny pumpkins in all assorted colors - my favorite!!

Scheduling Summer 2011

2010-11-15T05:49:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when my sister found this place for us to pick raspberries at the end of this past summer. I had never even seen golden raspberries before (okay, maybe once in a magazine), and now have them frozen in my freezer to make a fancy dessert for some special occasion. Are those not totally cool?!?!

Raspberry picking has officially been put on the schedule for summer 2011.

Using Bread Flour

2010-11-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

I have often substituted all purpose flour in recipes calling for bread flour, because I didn't have any on hand. I had never even tried baking with it until yesterday. OH. MY. GOODNESS. What a difference. Really! I didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but it did. Yesterday, I made sour dough bread with it; I liked the bread fine before, but now, it's FANTASTIC! Why has no one ever told me this before???? My recipe called for all purpose flour, but I thought I would see what bread flour would do, because a lot of sour dough bread recipes are made with bread flour. It was so yummy! The only downside was it was so good, and I didn't want to stop eating it... (I'm trying to get OUT of maternity clothes!)

You can learn about the difference between the two flours, HERE, and HERE.

Battle of the Corn Breads

2010-11-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

Growing up, corn bread was a staple in my house; cooked in a cast iron skillet. So, you would think I would have a recipe that I love, right? Wrong. I've made a few batches that I thought were pretty awesome, but during this past winter, I wanted to find the perfect recipe, I decided to do a battle of cornbreads.

Cornbreads can vary so much! My dad likes it dry, and my Grandpa likes white cornbread, he doesn't like yellow corn meal. Some like it pretty sweet, and sometimes people use too much baking soda, and you can taste it!

I made quite a few different recipes, and was going to blog about my findings. Let's just say some recipes that get published in cookbooks, shouldn't. I know in my cookbooks, I marked out the recipes I didn't like. The only one I remember for sure that didn't turn out were Martha Stewart's corn muffins. I was not a fan. So, she lost that battle compared to whatever other recipe I made compared to that one.

I do love Mexican corn bread! Just cornbread with pepper jack cheese, cheddar cheese, green chilies, and corn or cream of corn. Delish!!!

Do you think you have a great corn bread recipe? Do share!!!! I will try it out.

Coooking with wheat flour

2010-11-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was going to go shopping, and was looking forward to getting a pretzel at Auntie Anne's in the mall. I ended up not going shopping, and came home and made my own pretzels. (Recipe HERE.)

Well, I've been trying to eat better, and so to justify eating pretzels, I thought I'd add some wheat flour to the recipe, to make it a tad bit healthier. I substituted one cup of whole wheat flour for white flour, and the pretzels were still wonderful.

I do this often to most recipes. Even in my baked goods. Even my chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Really, you can't even tell in some recipes.

I usually start off small the first time I add wheat flour to a recipe, just to see how much it changes the taste. Then, the next time I make a recipe I can adjust accordingly.

I personally prefer white whole wheat flour. It isn't quite as dense, but still the same health benefits. The only downside is it's more expensive, so if it ever goes on sale I buy a lot. But, it rarely does.

Anyway, if you haven't already, don't be afraid to try it! The only thing I haven't liked it in was crepes! It turned crepes into pancakes.

Do you have good recipes using your whole wheat flour? Feel free to share them with me!!

Halloween Party

2010-11-08T05:36:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted to have a Halloween party. I wanted to do one this year, but considering I never even got my Halloween decorations out, there was a slim chance of one happening. A friend mentioned that she wanted to do one too, but didn't know if she had time either. I told her I would help her do one, if she could organize it. I wouldn't mind co-hosting, but I knew I couldn't wrap my head around putting a whole party together.

It was so fun, and pretty great for pulling a party together with not a ton of planning time!

Here's a run down on the party:

THE FRIENDS:

(As with almost every party, I once again only took pictures of a few people before putting my camera away. Oops. I apologize if you don't make an appearance in this post, but you made an appearance at the party...)

This is the host Meaghan.

My husband's costume was an Iphone. Really... He wanted me to be a Blackberry Curve; "...we've got blackberries, and you've got curves..." True story. You should have heard his other costume suggestions. All equally as silly...

THE FESTIVE DECOR:

Meaghan had a lot of fun decorations that I didn't get pictures of. All three levels of her house had spooky decor. I should have taken a picture of the scary man hanging over the shower rod.

One of my favorites! Candles that drip blood! She was so nice and gave me two candles to use next year!

She had this posted in her kitchen. I love it!

The only decor I had any part of were the platters and the name tags for the food. So, not a whole lot. I also was in charge of coming up with names for the food. For the place cards, I downloaded a blood dripping font and brushed the edges of the cards with my red stamp pad to make it look like smeared/splattered blood. I took little skulls, cut slits in the top and put the tags in that. If there is one thing I love about a gathering, it's fun name/food/place cards! I loved how they turned out!

THE FOOD

Meaghan and her mom did amazing food.

Tri-tip sliders

Pork carnitas

Lentil sliders

Italian Cheese Dip

Fun veggie trays

Macaroons

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Doughnuts baked in mini muffin tins, I just put the crazy eye part

on according to Meaghan's instructions.

I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and white chocolate cream cupcakes with a white chocolate spider web.

I also made caramel and chocolate covered apples. I had been wanting to try cinnamon and sugar ones for a while now, and finally did it! So yummy! They are going to be Christmas gifts this year!

With the leftover caramel from the apples I wrapped up individual caramels.

I was in charge of the drinks. I decided to go along with a witches workshop theme idea and do different punches. You can't tell in this picture, but the Rotten Eyeballs actually had peeled grapes in the Apple Cider. The Monster Mucous looked the coolest. I'll include the recipe:

Classic Sherbet Punch:

Two containers of lime sherbet (quart sized)

One large bottle of chilled pineapple juice

Two and one half liters of chilled Ginger ale

(I put my sherbet in completely frozen, I just run the container under some warm water to get it out)

I found some fun skull ice cube molds to use for the party too! You have to look really closely in the picture to even be able to tell what they are.

THE FAVORS/Treats:

Meaghan put this all together

THE FUN (games):

Meaghan organized a MAD GAB Halloween game, and did the guess how many in a jar. I came up with an game involving writing epitaph (grave stone inscription). I had everyone write four different words on four different pieces of paper and then mix all the words together. Then everyone drew four words. They had to include those four words in an epitaph. I cut out gravestone shapes and distressed them with a black ink pad, and that was what everyone wrote their epitaphs on. Then, they put them back in the basket, everyone drew one, and read their epitaph. There were some pretty funny ones. Meaghan also had some Halloween music playing in the background, and I suggested we turn it up and see who could come up with the coolest "Monster Mash" dance. Sadly, there were no volunteers...

'Til next year!

Cupcake Ghosts

2010-11-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

I had always wanted to try making these. I had some left over fondant from a cake I made and thought I would give it a try. So easy! But, honestly, not really worth the effort! I personally have never been a fan of fondant, but then I made my own from scratch, and I find it pretty tasty. It just tastes like marshmallows. Though, any fondant that has coloring in it, is pretty nasty.

So, I made some brownies and baked them in miniature cupcake pans.

Put a little bit of icing on top of the brownie to glue the marshmallow on.

Rolled out my fondant, cut a circle, and draped it over the marshmallow.

I dyed some of my icing black for the eyes and mouth.

They are totally fun, but that's a lot of fondant with just a little brownie bite... I don't really think it's worth the effort...

But, next year I think I'll make a whole cake like this!!! Now, that will be fun and a great centerpiece for a Halloween treat table!

Rice Krispy Ghosts

2010-11-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun treat for Halloween (for next year...)!

To make these spooky treats:

You need:

Rice Krispy cereal

Marshmallows

Chocolate Chips

Vanilla Chocolate Candy Coating

Fondue fork

Wax Paper

1. Make rice krispy treats according to the directions.

2. Butter your hands and grab a small handful of krispy treats and form ghost shapes. They need to be tightly packed together. Let harden in fridge.

3. Melt candy coating according to directions. You can try dipping, but it was kind of hard. To dip, you need to make sure your ghosts are FIRMLY packed together. Insert fondue stick up through the middle and dip. I ended up using a knife and spreading the coating around. The ones I dipped I touched up with a knife anyway.

4. Lay to harden on wax paper. If desired, do a second coat of chocolate. (Dipping is easier then.)

5. Stick in chocolate chip eyes while coating is still wet.

I tried to use the food writing pens, but you can see how well that worked for me...

A spooky, fun, SWEET treat!

*** You could even pipe names on the bottom of the ghost to use as place cards!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-11-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

I once asked my husband what his favorite foods were that I cook. He told me it was hard to decide, because I'll make something he likes, but won't make it again for two years because I experiment with new recipes so much.

A perfect example of that are these cookies. My mom made them often when I was in high school, but I have only made these maybe twice since I've been married (in eight years!), maybe... I just found this recipe tucked away, and I think it was my mom's. But, I'm not sure!!!

These cookies are dangerous!! They are so light and fluffy, (especially right out of the oven! I personally like them better warm.) you can eat ten before it feels like you have eaten one! Consider yourself warned!

Fluffy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c. softened butter (but not melted)

1/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

1 egg

1 c. canned pumpkin

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add egg and beat. Add pumpkin and beat. Combine dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Stir in vanilla and chips. Scoop dough with small cookie scooper onto *greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

*I was making cookies with some friends, and they had never seen someone grease their cookie sheet like I do. It's what my mom did, and honestly, I thought everyone did. Once you unwrap your butter to use in your baking, don't throw the wrapper away! You wipe your wrapper (butter side down) onto your cookie sheet. There is usually always enough butter remnants left to grease at least two cookie sheets. You can save your non stick spray for another time... plus it tastes a lot better than your non stick spray.

**Also, recently I made these and only had 1/2 c. of canned pumpkin in my fridge, and I went ahead and used that not even having a full cup and they turned out just fine!

Bring your favorite restaurant home!

2010-10-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last week, I started making sweet and sour stir fry, and then realized I had no pineapple! I didn't feel like looking up any other recipes, or making anything else. We called our favorite Chinese food restaurant and asked if they sold their sauces; we like their hot and spicy mango dish, and wanted to add that sauce to our chicken and vegetables we already had cooking.

They gave us one pint (or was it two?) for $2.50. When John picked it up, they threw in another sauce (ginger/garlic) for free. They said, "Here, try this too." Three containers of sauce all together! I didn't even use one whole sauce container for a whole skillet full of chicken and vegetables.

I love quick little fixes like that!

Some pizza places also sell you their crust for dirt cheap, you just have to roll it out and make your own pizza!

Have a favorite Italian sauce at a restaurant? Try calling them to get some, and pour it over your own noodles. You'd be surprised how inexpensive some things may be! You can feel like you're eating out at your favorite restaurant, but for a quarter of the price!!

Are there items at certain restaurants where you've tried this? Please share!

Meal Planning

2010-09-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

Not sure what to make for dinner? Here's something that may guide you in your planning. My sister sets a main ingredient for each day of the week, and then looks for a recipe that uses that main ingredient. I think it's a great idea! This is what she does:

Monday - Breakfast for dinner (I'll post a souffle she just made after I try it first!)
Tuesday - Chicken
Wednesday - Beans
Thursday - Red meat
Friday - Fish

Little sisters have good ideas sometimes too. ;)

Creamy Lemon Supreme

2010-09-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

A friend had us over for dinner and made this for dessert, and I had to have the recipe. I finally made it a few weekends ago for a family reunion picnic. The recipe is from one of her cookbooks, I'm sorry I don't know which one... My notes and changes will be italics.

CRUST
12 lemon creme-filled sandwich cookies, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
3 T. butter or margarine melted
1 lemon

(My friend used a graham cracker crust, I did the cookies. Tasted good either way. The graham cracker crust does provide a nice contrast. I would double the cookies and butter though, I didn't think 12 were enough. I LOVE the lemons on the side, it just adds a nice touch, and that is where you slice your slices. When my friend made it she just used a ready made graham cracker crust in a pie plate, so if you still want the taste without the fuss that is a good option.)

Lightly spray springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. For crust, crush cookies and mix with melted butter. Press into bottom of the pan. Cut six thin slices from lemon, cut each slice in half. Place lemon halves against inside collar of pan with cut side touching crust. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

FILLING
2 lemons
1 (2.9 oz.) pkg. of lemon cook and serve pudding and pie filling (not instant)
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. water, divided
2 egg yolks
1 T. butter or margarine (I always us butter for any baking)
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. softened cream cheese
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 container (8 oz.) frozen cool whip, thawed and divided (I never use this in any recipe either. I always sub whipping cream. So, for this I whipped 1 cup of whipping cream - which makes 2 cups needed for the recipe. But, you'll need more in addition for garnish on top)

Zest lemons to measure 1 1/2 tsp. zest. Juice lemons to measure 1/4 c. of juice. Combine pudding, sugar, 1/4 c. water and egg yolks in small saucepan; stir until blended. Stir in remaining 1 3/4 c. water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a full boil; remove from heat. Set aside 1/2 c. of the pudding; cool slightly. Whisk butter and lemon juice into remaining pudding in saucepan; cool 15 minutes, stirring twice.

In large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Whisk in reserved 1/2 c. lemon pudding and 1 tsp. lemon zest. Fold in whipped topping; spread over crust.

Stir remaining lemon pudding mixture and spoon evenly over cream cheese filling, spreading gently. Refrigerate at least 6 hours.

Run paring knife around sides of dessert; release collar from pan. Garnish with whipped topping and lemon zest.

Serves 12.

The Kid's Closet

2010-09-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

I love a clean, organized closet. But, with kids, it's next to impossible to keep their closet clean and organized! We don't have a play room - all of their toys are kept in their room, except one small basket in the living room. So, we have to squeeze a lot into a little space. Behold, their closet; both function and fun:

When I moved Mallary into Trevan's room before Jonah was born, we had to make room for girly toys, and we were needing more space. We had all these big toys that didn't fit in the toy baskets in their room. So, my husband offered to build shelves. We had an old, cheap, entertainment center that we bought when we got married that was just occupying space in our garage. My husband just tore it up and made the boards work for the shelves. I also encouraged him to do a little dumpster diving in the construction waste that is around us, and he found the wood to make the brackets for the shelves. He finished them with paint we already had. I was ready to go to the store and just buy some shelves, and my husband saved us money! They are wonderful.

(An example of my OCD: What stands out to me in this picture is Trevan's shirt on the end, not hung up in the right place... But, that's okay. At least it's hung up...)

Sourdough Bread

2010-08-31T04:40:00.000-07:00

Some people may think I have weird items on my bucket list, but one of them was to make my own sourdough bread from an actual sourdough starter. I had tried to make my own sourdough starter twice. It didn't quite turn out very well. I got a starter from my friend's mom, and brought it back across the United States in a cooler. I made it one day, and totally loved it! I had to play with the temperature some, I think due to altitude, so some of my first batches were a little dry, but I think I got it worked out. It's so exciting to knock stuff off of my bucket list! I have to admit there are a few things on my bucket list that have to do with cooking...

I think it would be great to make your own starter, and give as a gift. Make something from the starter (i.e. bread, muffins), include the starter, directions and recipes. I would love a gift like that! A gift that keeps on giving!

Book Club Recipes

2010-08-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

The real reason I would be part of any book club is just for the theme party you can build from any book, not really to discuss a book... (I know! That sounds nothing like me!!)

I tried two recipes that were in the book above. The first one was pretty good. I adapted the recipe a little bit, so if you want the exact recipe, see the book.

Mama's Wedding Cookies: (p.55)

1/2 lb. butter
1 c. sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 c. milk
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 c. flour
pinch of salt (I used salted butter, so I left this out)
5 tsp. baking powder

Cream together first three ingredients. Add extract and milk. Add flour, salt, baking powder - mix well. It says to make balls of dough with hands, but I used a cookie scooper. Back at 350 until lightly browned, about 13 minutes.

Frosting: (p.56)

I remember I made some changes to this, but I don't remember the measurements, but here is the one from the book.

1/2 box powdered sugar
2 T. unsalted butter
milk - just enough to wet the powdered sugar
1 tsp. almond flavoring
shredded coconut for dusting (I toasted mine)

Mix well and ice cookies. Dip the iced cookies in coconut. (I sprinkled)

They were good. They reminded me of a cookie I made for a Greek unit for a class in sixth grade.

The other recipe in the book was on page 8, Zia Irma's Italian Sponge Cake. Now, I've never made a sponge cake, and I don't think I've ever had one either. It was pretty similar to making an angel food cake, but you add the egg yolks. It tasted like a cross between an angel food cake and a pound cake. It was denser than an angel food cake, but fluffier and more porous than a pound cake. I personally did not like it. I would rather have an angel food cake, or a pound cake. So, I'm not going to include the recipe, but you can see what kind of texture it had in the picture below.

In season

2010-08-18T05:49:00.001-07:00

This summer we picked 15 pounds of blackberries, and seven pounds of blueberries. We'll be picking more blueberries, for sure!

I made some yummy blueberry scones, and when I pick again, I'll be making some yummy tarts!

We pick and freeze them to have all year around - they are way to expensive to buy otherwise!

Our favorite winter time uses for blueberries are; smoothies, blueberry sauce for waffles, pancakes, or crepes, blueberry pie, or my kids like to eat them as a yummy frozen treat all by itself.

Summer Slacking?

2010-08-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have only been slacking on blogging this summer... I guarantee you I have not been slacking on cooking, creating, or consuming!

I have so much stuff to post! I'll be back soon with lots of goodies!! Stay tuned!!

I'm totally consuming!

2010-05-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a four things I'm consuming lately:

1: These Twistable Crayons! No more little broken pieces. LOVE THEM.

2: These are so very, very yummy!

3: These are also very, very yummy, and addictive! And, only 100 calories. (That is, if you only eat one pack - not four packs like I did yesterday...)

4: Full panel maternity shorts and capris. Need more!!! Not pregnant anymore, but still sporting a belly. I never had full panel stuff with my other kids, but so perfect for post partum. Helps prevent muffin tops!!

Nursery Makeover

2010-05-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

Here is our nursery makeover from baby girl to baby boy:

When we had our first baby, we bought all cheap furniture because that's all we could afford, and we are still using it! Why get rid of something that works? Trevan's (our first baby) room was green. When we had Mallary, I decided to reuse all the green stuff I had, and just add pink. This bedroom is the smallest bedroom in our home, and we cram a lot into a little space! I never fully finished decorating the girl nursery how I wanted. Here it was:

I found a king sized quilt I liked, and made it into a crib sized quilt. I also made a matching bumper, but that was taken down at the time they tell you to take down bumpers (whenever that is... when your baby starts pulling themselves up???).

I also made a matching pillow for the leather recliner. (The only non-cheap furniture in this room. It was in our living room almost six years ago, and this is the only room it "fits" in now.)

I wanted add more green in my room, and dress up my basic curtains, so I added the green flowers.

The mobile - a birthday present to myself from Pottery Barn two years ago.

When I found out I was having another boy, I knew I would reuse the bedding I had when Trevan was a baby. We were going back to green.

I've decided to name all the rooms in my house, like they do in the White House or in Bed and Breakfasts, so the nursery is now the Green Room.

We started the makeover by painting over the pink stripe with a different shade of green.

I had to replace the butterfly mobile and couldn't find anything I liked, so I decided to make my own. I made it out of my fabric scraps, iron on stuff (I'm so technical), and embroidery hoops I painted. I love how it turned out.

I made a pillow cover out of the valance that hung in the nursery when Trevan was a baby for the old pillow that was there. I made a mommy and baby owl out of fabric scraps and ironed them on as well.

I covered wooden letters with scrapbook paper I had on hand as well. This is not a project for the OCD, I just couldn't get the paper perfect, but you can't tell from here. :)

I added sweet pictures of my baby.

and some art from Etsy.

Every new baby needs a piggy bank; of course I got one in green.

I made some dino sillouettes.

To complete the room I painted some wooden stars that have hangy things on them (technial wordage, once again) for towels and hats.

Easter Dinner Place Cards

2010-04-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to dye Easter eggs and have them turn out like they do in a Martha Stewart magazine. However, they never do.

This year, I wanted to try doing the monogrammed eggs. They say using vinyl cutouts are best, but I don't have a vinyl cutter, so I just used stickers I've had for years.

They turned out pretty cute. The only thing is, when you take the stickers off to dye them again, there is a sticky residue left on the egg that doesn't help with keeping clean lines.

It turned out all right though, just not perfect.

These would make great place card settings for an Easter dinner.

My other favorite Easter place card setting is to stick a place card in a Peep. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd take a picture of it for you, but you can imagine it, right?

Crock Pot Lasagna

2010-04-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

I was looking through a crock pot cookbook, and saw some recipes for crock pot lasagna. I thought I would try it out, but with my own lasagna recipe. My cut piece of lasagna picture up top doesn't look really great, and this is why: I was layering all of my lasagna in the crock pot while talking on the phone with my sister, I put the cheese on top, and all of a sudden I realized I hadn't added any of my meat yet!! So, I tried to lift up pieces, and layers, and put the meat in, but it didn't work very well in making a pretty dish... Oh well, it still tasted DELICIOUS! Husband and kids devoured it. My husband even thought I made the noodles - that's how yummy they turned out!

Really, the only difference in this lasagna and me making it the regular way is I didn't cook the noodles ahead of time to speed up the cooking time, and I didn't have to wait around for lasagna in the oven, I could turn the crock pot on and leave.

Crock Pot Lasagna:

1 lb. ground beef (browned)

1 lb. Italian sausage (browned)

15 oz. low fat ricotta cheese

12 oz. low fat cottage cheese

8 oz. Italian blend shredded cheese (or whatever kind of cheese you want to use)

1 T. dried parsley (you can use fresh to taste)

1 clove of garlic (crushed)

1 16oz. lasagna noodles (uncooked)

1 2lb 13 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu Garden Combo., or make your own)

1. Combine your browned meats. Set aside.

2. Mix together the next 5 ingredients, reserving a good handful of cheese to sprinkle over the top of the lasagna. (I have also in the past, sprinkled in basil and oregano into the cheese mixture, but I didn't do it this time for some reason. I think it just depends on how flavorful your spaghetti sauce is to what spices you add to your cheese mixture.)

3. Grease your crock pot.

4. Begin layering (But, not while you are on the phone...). Put about one cup of sauce in the bottom of your crock pot, followed by enough lasagna noodles to make one layer to cover the sauce, then spread a portion cheese mixture, then sprinkle a portion of meat mixture, then cover with a portion of sauce. Repeat, until all ingredients are used, ending with sauce on top covered with your reserved cheese.

5. Cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 5 hours, or until noodles are soft.

*** You could also add layers of mushrooms, or cooked spinach, or zucchini, and carrots if you want to make a vegetable lasagna instead of meat. Or for the ultimate lasagna, add everything!

Enjoy!!

Leftover Makeovers

2010-03-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

I try to plan out my meals at the beginning of the week. I also try to plan my meals around what I already have in my pantry and refrigerator/freezer. I try to buy what is on sale and keep my pantry/fridge stocked with staples that I can cook meals from. On weeks I am trying to save money, or I don't have a lot of money, I try to (or am forced to) cook solely from the stock in my pantry/fridge. I also try to make a few meals out of one meal. I love leftovers, but my husband gets tired of eating them, and so does my daughter. So, I plan meals so I can makeover my leftovers.

For example, dinner at my house last week (carried over into yesterday, and lunch for today and tomorrow):

Meal #1: A whole chicken in the crock pot served with vegetables I have on hand.

Meal #2: Leftover Chicken made into a Chicken Broccoli casserole

Meal #3: Leftover Chicken made into Barbecue Chicken Pizza (I was going to make chicken salad, but John requested the pizza)

Meal #4: A big ol' pot of home made Chili

Meal #5: Leftover Chili made into Chili Cheese Cornbread Bake

And, usually we have leftovers from the leftover makeover meals. Now, I know because we have a small family we can make our meals stretch a little farther, but if you have a larger family, you can still do the same thing if you plan ahead to make larger quantities for the first meal. Those are all meals I can make with the staples I have on hand, and all inexpensive meals. Figure out what your staples are and you can do the same thing based on those. Another cheap meal is spaghetti; make a large amount, and you can turn leftovers into baked spaghetti (bake your leftover spaghetti with cheese on top), or spaghetti pie (basically lasagna with spaghetti noodles). This really helps stretch my grocery budget when I need it, and makes it really easy when I am too tired to cook, and I can just throw stuff together!

Broccoli Chicken Casserole: Reserve and strain broth from your whole chicken. In a casserole dish, add about 2 c. of shredded chicken, 1 c. of reserved broth, 1 small bag of steam fresh broccoli, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1/2 - 1 c. sour cream, about 1 c. of cheddar cheese, 2 c. of rice or noodles, and a little bit of milk to make desired consistency. Cook at 350 degrees until bubbly and heated through (about 30 minutes). You could also add stuffing (Stove Top or homemade breadcrumbs, whatever you have on hand) on top if desired.

Chili Cheese Cornbread Bake: Put leftover chili in the bottom of a casserole dish (I use my cast iron skillet), sprinkle 1-2 c. shredded cheddar cheese over top. Make your favorite corn bread recipe, or if you are really tired, I guess you could use a cornbread mix, like Jiffy, or something. Pour your cornbread batter over top of your chili and cheese. Bake casserole at the same temperature and for the same length of time as your cornbread recipe. (Warning: If your cornbread recipe is baked at 350 degrees, I would use a higher temperature, especially if you are using a cast iron skillet, or it is going to take a long time to get the middle cooked.)

One of my biggest budget and time saver tips: Almost five years ago, I discovered the beauty of cooking with whole chickens. I stock up when they go on sale for 47, 59, or 69 cents a pound. When I cook them, I stick the whole chicken in the crock pot and can definitely make more than one meal with a one chicken. You really can't beat the price and the time it saves you. It's so easy, and crock pot cooked chicken is always so moist and yummy; no hard, dried up, or fatty pieces of gristle attached to your chicken in your foods!

Seersucker = Spring

2010-03-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through Martha's magazine and came across this ad that reminded me of a seersucker skirt with lace trim I made last year, so I thought I would whip up another one to put in my store.

See more HERE.

Bread Dipping Spices

2010-03-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite things I meant to include in my Gourmet Gift Basket Picks Post, but I forgot.

I love using these bread dipping spices. They are so multi-purpose, and perfect for when I feel like being a lazy cook. We love all the options we have when we are dipping our bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I usually get a few dipping bowls and we have a few of the seasonings. I also use them to season vegetables or potatoes combined with olive oil to roast in the oven. So simple, and so yummy! When I cook chicken and I don't feel like thinking about how I want to season it, I just grab my dipping seasoning container, choose a flavor combination, and sprinkle away. You can also use it to marinate your meat.

Anyway, totally one of my favorite things. There are different brands, you could buy one here (which is the kind I have now). I usually buy them at Home Goods, TJ Maxx, or Marshalls. They also sell them at Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma, but they are a bit pricier there.

Season away!!

Make ahead Breakfast Wrap up

2010-03-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

For my last post on make ahead breakfasts you can check out two other recipes from my archives that have already been posted here and here.

Make Ahead Blackberry Citrus Baked French Toast

2010-03-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

This recipe can be made totally ahead of time, or made and devoured all in the same day! I think this is my husband's new favorite breakfast item. He wanted to make it yesterday again, and came to me holding a recipe. I told him that recipe wouldn't do him any good, because this dish was my recipe. Then he asked if I had it in the green cookbook (my tried and true cookbook), and I said, "No, it's in my head." Until now, that is.

You can make this using either lemon or orange. I've done both, and they both taste good. The orange and blackberry combination was my son and husband's favorite. I might try raspberry and lemon next time, or strawberry and orange.

Blackberry Citrus Baked French Toast:

The Fruity Filling:

1 bag of frozen blackberries thawed (or any fruit you'd like to try)

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 T. corn starch

Mix together the sugar and corn starch and pour over blackberries. Heat fruit mixture over medium heat, stirring often. Use potato masher to mash down fruit. When mixture has thickened, strain it through a siv, and let cool in fridge.

The Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon zest (or orange zest)

Beat all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

The Egg Mixture:

4 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1 3/4 c. half and half

Beat all ingredients together until combined. Set aside.

The Citrus Whipped Cream:

1 c. whipping cream

2 T. sugar

1 T. fresh lemon juice (or orange juice)

1 tsp. lemon zest (or orange zest)

Whip the cream. As cream begins to get foamy add sugar. As it gets a little thicker at lemon juice and zest. Set aside.

1. Cut 1 loaf of french bread into semi-thick (about 1 inch) slices

2. Layer one layer of the bread slices in a greased pan.

3. Spread a generous amount of cream cheese filling on top of each slice.

4. Top with a large spoonful of your fruity mixture. (I save some of the fruit sauce to use as garnish)

5. Place another layer of bread slices on top of the other slices; making a sandwich.

6. Pour egg mixture evenly on top, making sure all the bread gets covered.

7. Cover and place in fridge over night. (Or if wanting to eat it the same day at least 30 minutes until almost all of the egg mixture has been absorbed.)

8. Remove from fridge and sprinkle the top with 1 T. brown sugar (if desired, not necessary - it just adds little crunchies to the top)

9. Bake at 325 degrees, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until lightly browned.

10. Serve with citrus whipped cream and remaining fruit sauce if desired.

(If that's not sweet enough for you already, and you have my buttermilk syrup recipe, you can serve it with that too. It totally doesn't need it, and I prefer not to have it together, but my husband just can't get enough sugar...)

Make ahead Biscuit Recipe

2010-03-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

Technically, this is just my regular biscuit recipe, but a few weeks ago I thought about making them the night before and baking them in the morning, and tried it and it turned out!

I grew up watching my grandma and my dad make biscuits. (Mostly, I would just watch so I could snitch the dough to eat! I would eat biscuit dough over cookie dough any day! I love it!) Even though I watched them make biscuits, getting a recipe out of them is useless. I come from a family of cooks that use the word, "handful" as a term of measurement. (This is my Grandma giving me a recipe, "put your flour in until it looks right, add your milk (no measurements mind you), mix it up until it looks right," etc. etc.) I'm like that too, but I'm really making an effort to write down all my recipes with measurements so my children won't be bugged one day when they try to cook my food.

I decided to come up with my own biscuit recipe when John and I went to make biscuits one morning and found three recipes written down from my dad, three recipes that were ALL DIFFERENT for the same biscuit! Most biscuit recipes are basically the same with a few little preference changes. I personally think mine are the most delicious, of course.

Holly's Biscuit Recipe:

2 c. flour

3/4 tsp. salt (If I use salted butter, I don't always add the salt)

6 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. butter

1 c. plus 1 T. buttermilk (do not use lowfat buttermilk; you can, but it does make a difference in the taste!)

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter until the size of oatmeal or a little larger. Make a hole in your flour mixture (or volcano as my son says) and pour in your buttermilk. (A method I learned from watching my dad.) Mix until dough comes together. You might have to knead or pull your dough together a little bit with your hands. Roll or spread out with your hands. Cut to desired sizes (Make sure they are pretty thick!) (My family often uses the tops glasses to cut biscuits). Place biscuits, touching, on greased pan. (If you are making these to bake the next day, cover and place in your fridge.)

Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

This recipe makes 10 - 12 biscuits, depending on how thick you cut out your biscuits, or how much dough you ate! :)

Make ahead crepes recipe

2010-03-10T01:29:00.000-08:00

Amongst many of my family members, nieces and nephews included, crepes is a favorite , and highly requested breakfast item. I think my son asked for crepes for breakfast or dinner for almost a week before we finally made them last week. He even pronounces them the French way, though not on purpose.

I introduced my family's crepes to John after we got married, but he has since mastered the art, and is always in charge of the crepe making while I make the fruity middle. We not only eat these for breakfast, but we make them for dessert as well filling them with milk chocolate and fresh strawberries, and nutella and banana. Or chocolate with banana, and nutella with strawberries. Or, if you are John, you combine all those things together. I've also had the lemon juice and powdered sugar way as well, though still tasty, but to me, rather bland compared with the fruity middles.

This is a recipe that you can prepare ahead of time. You can make the batter a day ahead, whip the whipping cream a day ahead, and prepare the fruity middle a day ahead. Then, you only have to warm up your fruit mixture before serving.

I could eat 10 of these crepes by myself, but I try to limit myself to three...

Yummy Crepe Recipe:

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 T. melted butter
2 eggs

For the batter: Put the dry ingredients into a blender and mix well. Add wet ingredients, blend until mixed and smooth.

We always have helpers in the kitchen...

We use our griddle to make crepes on. Grease your griddle or pan. Pour desired size batter and cook. Knowing when your crepe is ready to flip is like knowing when your pancakes are ready to flip; the very outside gets a little bubbly, and the outsides start to change color, getting a little darker like the picture shows below. Then flip. You don't want these brown, so watch carefully, and take them off the heat once they have firmed up in the middle.

For the fruit filling: (You can choose any fruit you like, my favorite to use is strawberry) In a saucepan combine one regular sized bag of frozen strawberries, 1 1/2 T. corn starch, and 1/2 c. sugar. Cook over medium heat until thick. If using whole strawberries, take a potato masher and mash through the strawberries once they are soft. Really, my husband would sweeten his strawberries even more, so sweeten the strawberries to your taste.

Top with sweetened whipped cream.

This recipe makes about 12 crepes (using about 3/4 c. batter per crepe)

John has also subbed in a portion of white wheat flour to the batter. I didn't really like it, but if you are trying to be healthier... My feelings were if I wanted a heartier crepe, we could have just made wheat pancakes.

Enjoy! These are so yummy! (We even have them for dinner sometimes...)

Make ahead bran muffin recipe

2010-03-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

I know what some of you are thinking... Bran muffins? Gross! So, not the case! Paired with a little Brummel & Brown I can't eat a ton of these things. Not to mention, your kids will eat a ton of these things!! My sister gave me this recipe a long time ago, it's a favorite of her family's and mine too!

The great thing about this recipe is they are not only good, but it makes a ton (you could half the recipe), and you store the batter in your fridge and make them at your leisure! So, on those mornings you really don't feel like doing anything; you open your fridge, take out the bowl with the muffin batter in it, scoop some in some muffin tins, and breakfast is served!!

Bran Muffins:

2 c. boiling water

2 c. All Bran

4 eggs

2 c. brown sugar

1 c. oil

5 c. flour

5 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

4 c. buttermilk

4 c. Bran flakes

1. Add All Bran to boiling water, set aside to soak.

2. Beat eggs, brown sugar, and oil. Add in soaked All Bran mixture and beat to combine.

3. Beat in remaining ingredients.

4. Preheat oven to 375.

5. Grease muffin tins or liners

6. Fill muffin tins 2/3 - 3/4 full, depending on how big you want your muffins to be.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean.

8. Store remaining batter in a covered bowl in your fridge for up to at least one week.

(This makes a very large bowl; you could totally cut the recipe in half, but I like to have the extras in my fridge! Also, my sister will sometimes use all All Bran instead of using that and Bran Flakes. You could do the same with just bran flakes as well. The All Bran way is going to give you a darker muffin, and the Bran Flake way will give you a lighter muffin. Either way, delicious!)

Rise and Shine!

2010-03-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

I love breakfast!

My mom made us a hot breakfast almost every morning when I was growing up. My dad helped occasionally too. On the mornings cereal was served, I usually ate leftovers from dinner. I've never been a huge fan of cereal. So, when my children come to my side of the bed in the morning and say they are hungry, and I say how about some biscuits, pancakes, etc., and they reply, "Cereal!" it's almost blasphemous! It's my own fault, I went on a huge breakfast making vacation, and for quite some time they only ate cereal. I've really been trying to do better, and now when I propose to my kids that we have muffins, eggs, pancakes, etc. for breakfast, my son responds with, "Cereal AND muffins!"

I don't know how my mom did it! It is hard to muster up the energy to make breakfast in the mornings. One thing that has helped me is that I've been trying to make breakfasts that I can prepare ahead of time, and either bake or warm up in the mornings.

So, this week this blog is devoted to Make Ahead Breakfast Foods, to help us all rise and shine!!

(I'll get back to the creating part of this blog when my work room is clean and organized...

almost there...)

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits Copy Cat Recipe

2010-03-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

I probably made Cheddar biscuits for the first time about seven years ago. The recipe I used to use involved using Bisquick, and I don't ever buy that, so this time I wanted to try making them using my own biscuit recipe. Turned out yummy!

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits Copy Cat Recipe:

2 c. flour
6 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. cheddar cheese

2 T. butter
1/4 tsp. dried parsley (crushed fine)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix first three ingredients together. Cut in butter using a pastry blender, fork, or knives until dough is oatmeal sized. Stir in liquid and cheese. Knead to bring together the dough (you won't have to do very much). Roll out and cut desired rounds at least 1/2 inch thick. Place on greased pan with the sides of the biscuits touching. Bake at 425 for 12 minutes until lightly browned. Melt butter, parsley, and garlic powder and brush on cooked biscuits.

If you want thick, fluffy biscuits you have to cut them thick. You also want your biscuits to be touching because it forces them to raise up instead of out.

See? No need to go to Red Lobster anymore! Enjoy!!

Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Copy Cat Recipe

2010-03-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

I thought I would try these for my husband. He loves the thin mint cookies. I personally would rather buy the cookies in the picture below, because I think they are better and you can buy them all year.

The recipe I adapted is found HERE. This recipe was pretty close. The ones that tasted most like the thin mints were the thinnest cookies. So, if you make this recipe make sure your cookies are thin. The original recipe calls for shortening, but I don't cook with that anymore and always substitute with equal amounts of butter. You can see the other adjustments I made and my tips in my italicized notes in the recipe. This was an easy recipe, the part that takes the longest is dipping the cookies in chocolate.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Copy Cat Recipe:

For the cookie wafers:

1 (18.25 oz.) package of fudge cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
3 T. butter
1/2 c. cake flour, measured then sifted
1 egg
5 T. water

For the coating:

2 (12 oz. bags) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli)

3/4 tsp. peppermint extract (I used less chocolate chips than the original recipe and still used the amount of extract it called for. If I make these again, I would add more peppermint. When the chocolate is melted, taste it, if it needs more peppermint to you, add more. Just be careful you don't end up making chocolate tasting toothpaste...)

1. Combine the cookie ingredients in a large bowl, and beat, adding the water a little bit at a time until the dough forms. (Next time I make these I'm going to add some mint to the dough too.)

2. (I added this step so I wouldn't have to roll out the dough and cut it, but if you want to do that refer to the original recipe.) Shape the dough into a rough roll and cover with saran wrap leaving extra saran wrap on either side. Roll to make a thin roll, thin enough to fit into a cardboard paper towel roll. You will have extra dough hanging out on both sides if you only use one. So, divide your dough if you have two of them. Chill for at least 2 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease cookie sheets.

4. After your dough is chilled, work with small portions of your dough at a time, to make sure the dough is cold. With a very sharp knife, slice thin slices and place them on your cookie sheet. (You may have to reshape some of your slices to circles if your dough is really soft.)

5. Bake for 10 minutes.

6. Remove the wafers from the oven and cool completely.

7. Combine chocolate chips with peppermint extract and melt over low heat in a pot on the stove, or in the microwave. Stirring often.

8. Dip cooled wafers in chocolate and let dry on wax paper. (I dipped the cookie top down, then flipped it over with a fork and shook it lightly over the pot to remove excess chocolate.)

9. I made about 60 cookies, the original recipe said it makes 108; but, mine were larger, and some of mine were thicker than they should have been. Enjoy!

Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls Copy Cat Recipe

2010-03-03T05:29:00.000-08:00

So, Chili's is not one of my favorite restaurants, but they gave me one of my favorite appetizers of all times, their southwestern egg rolls! DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! The last few times we have ordered them though, they haven't been the same, so I don't know if they changed their recipe or something... But, now I can make my own!!!

This recipe is SOOOOO YUMMY!!!!!!

You can find the recipe HERE. But, I changed it a little, of course...

This is totally a dish you can prepare ahead of time, which I love!!! Especially if you want to use them as an appetizer for a party!

Chili's Southwestern Egg rolls Copy Cat Recipe:

1 lb. cooked chicken breast shredded or diced (really, you could use chicken you've already cooked for another meal, or buy a rotisserie chicken and shred some of that to cut back on your prep time.)

1 T. olive oil

1 medium red bell pepper minced (about 10 T.)

6 minced green onions (about 10 T.)

1 can of corn

10 T. frozen spinach

4 T. canned jalapeno peppers, diced (if you like really spicy double this)

2 T. minced fresh cilantro

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

3 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese (Or you could use some pepper jack cheese too)

30 small flour tortillas (or for dinner sized burritos 15 large burrito size)

Avocado-ranch dipping sauce:

1 avocado (1/2 c. mashed)

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/2 c. sour cream

2 T. buttermilk

3 tsp. white vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh cilantro minced

1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. lime juice

dash garlic powder

dash pepper

(That was the original recipe for the sauce, but I thought it needed something else, so I added about a 1/2 tsp. of lime juice. Next time, I will add some cilantro too. The sauce is better after it sits for a while, so make sure you prepare it well ahead of the time you plan to serve it.)

Garnish:

Diced tomato

Diced green onions

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat, add red pepper and onion to the pan and saute for a couple of minutes until tender.

2. Add the spinach, jalapenos, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne pepper to the pan. Cook for a few minutes more. Stir well so that the spinach separates and is incorporated into the mixture.

4. Add the black beans, corn, and cooked chicken. Cook for another few minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the cheese.

6. Wrap the tortillas in a moist paper towel and microwave about a minute or until hot. (if you don't do this your tortillias will tear)

7. Spoon a couple of spoonfuls on the tortilla. (I put the mixture toward one end of the tortilla instead of the middle to make sure it would wrap up nicely.)

Fold in the ends and then roll the tortilla over the mixture. Roll the tortilla very tight, then pierce with a toothpick to hold together. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Arrange the egg rolls on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4 hours. Or overnight. (I made my egg rolls in the morning and froze them, and then made them for dinner that night, and it worked fine. Another reason I would quadruple this recipe, is that I could make a large batch and keep frozen what I don't want to use and have another dinner already made for me that I just have to fry.)

8. While the egg rolls freeze, combine all ingredients for dipping sauce in small bowl. (I used my small food processor.)

9. Depending on the size pot you use to fry the egg rolls; pour enough oil in your pot to cover the egg rolls. Heat your oil over medium to high heat.

10. When your oil is hot, deep fry egg rolls until golden brown. (The recipe says 12-15 minutes, but mine did not take that long.) When egg rolls are done allow to drain for a few minutes on paper towels.

11. Slice diagonally, and serve with dipping sauce. If desired, garnish the dipping sauce with tomatoes and green onions.

12. Lick your plate clean!

(Other options - you can always add more chicken to this OR make it more vegetarian by adding quinoa, lentils, or pinto beans. You can even add more spinach to the recipe too. I would actually make the dipping sauce first before starting, that way you can be sure the flavors have time to mesh together. Next time I make these, I'm going to try and make them without freezing them to see what happens... if you try it, let me know how it turns out!!)

Caramel de-Lites Girl Scout Cookie Copy Cat Recipe

2010-03-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

These are my favorite Girl Scout cookies to buy! I don't think this recipe tastes EXACTLY like them, but they are close enough I guess. I would totally make them again, but with a few changes. I did use less coconut than the original recipe anyway, I think 3 cups would have been too much. I did tell you what changes I would make next time, below, but you can compare it to the recipe that I tried HERE. The cookie by itself is delicious too, and I had to stop myself from eating too much dough!

Caramel De-Lite Girl Scout Cookie Copy Cat Recipe (formerly known as Samoas):

1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 T. milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky. The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.

Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. (MY TIP: The original recipe calls for cutting out the whole in the middle of the cookie, but I didn't bother doing that. Not worth my time to have the same cookie but with the middle missing.)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping Recipe:

2 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
4 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok, I used a Ghiradhelli semi - sweet baking bar)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. (MY TIP: So, I hate taking the time to unwrap caramels. If my son hadn't already been in bed, I would have had him do it. Next time, I may try caramel ice cream topping with 1/4-1/2 c. flour mixed in instead of the unwrapped caramels, milk, etc. I think it would produce the same results and take less time.)

Spread topping generously on cooled cookies. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with (I didn't have to do this).

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. (MY TIP: Here the original recipe calls to dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. I did that, BUT will not do it again. After you get the chocolate on the bottom and drizzle it on the top, the chocolate overpowers the cookie. The cookie and the caramel topping have a great flavor all on their own, and the chocolate doesn't even let you taste it. So, next time, I will just drizzle it over the top. If you still want to dip the bottom of the cookie in chocolate, you will need 8 oz. of chocolate instead of 4 oz.) Put your chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

Copy Cat Snuggie

2010-03-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

After my son saw his neighbor friend's Snuggie, he wanted one too. I remembered my friend had made one for her son, so I told Trevan I would make him one too.

Two weeks ago we were riding in the car, when out of the blue, Trevan asked, "How's my Snuggie coming along, Mom?" It was pretty funny coming from a five year old.

I took an old fleece throw that I've had since college, but never use anymore, and decided to use it for the copy cat Snuggie. This was an easy, thirty minute project (if that), if you can sew even a little bit.

How I did it:

STEP 1: Fold your fleece in half, putting right sides together, horiztonally, making it wide.

STEP 2: At the center top, cut a slit long enough to go over your child's head.

STEP 3: Put it over your child's head to check for fit. Pin where you will sew the sleeves and sides, leaving plenty of wiggle room.

STEP 4: Take the fleece off of your child, fold it in half vertically, and cut the shape you outlined with your pins. You are cutting both sides at one time.

STEP 5: Open up fleece, sew sleeeves and sides together. (I didn't finish any seams on this project because fleece doesn't fray. But, if I were to give one as a gift, I would probably finish the seams.)

STEP 6: Roll the opening for the neck, pin, and sew around the neck.

You could be done here, but I added a hood.

STEP 7: Take a front and back piece cut out from the side, and put right sides together, and sew pieces together making a hood.

STEP 8: Try the hood on your child, mark where you will cut it. Pin the hood to the neck of the Snuggie, and sew to attach.

STEP 9: Try on for fit, and make your child happy!

I told him he looks like a Jedi from Star Wars.

Hopefully, that makes sense...

I think I have to make one for my daughter now, because she is trying to steal Trevan's.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels Copy Cat Recipe

2010-02-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

I'm kicking off Copy Cat week with one of my favorite treats to get at the mall; Auntie Anne's Pretzels! I think what makes this recipe taste like Auntie Anne's pretzels is the baking soda bath you dip the pretzel in before baking. The recipe is super easy, doesn't take very long to make, and very delicious!!

(For some reason, I added one extra twist to my pretzel when I made them this time. It made it look like more of a peace sign than a pretzel...)

I adapted this recipe from a recipe online found HERE.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels Copy Cat Recipe:

1 1/2 c. water
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (1 pkg.)
2 T. brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3 1/2 c. flour (if you use bread flour it makes your pretzels much fluffier!)
1 c. water
1 T. baking soda
coarse salt
2 T. melted butter

1. Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve.
2. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic.
3. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.
4. Prepare the baking soda bath by dissolving 1 T. baking soda in 1 c. of water in shallow/wide bowl, stirring often.
5. After dough has risen; pinch off bits of dough and roll into long rope to desired thickness. (The recipe says the thinner the pretzel the more it tastes like Auntie Anne's, but I've done both, and I really like them thick too.) Another way I like to do it is to roll out the dough, and use a pizza slicer to get my strips and then it's easier to roll into ropes, or make pretzel sticks.

6. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. (MY TIP: Line your cookie sheets (you'll need two large cookie sheets) with aluminum foil wrapped over the edges. The baking soda on the pretzels stains our cookie sheets. It eventually comes off, but stays stained for a while. Still grease the aluminum foil.)
7. Allow pretzels to rise again. (I actually haven't ever done this step, but my pretzels are rising while I am rolling them out, etc. The only one's that don't get to rise as much are the last pretzels I make.)
8. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for about 6-8 minutes until golden colored, depending on how thick your dough is.
9. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with coarse salt if desired.

For the Cinnamon Sugar pretzels:

Mix together 1/2 c. sugar and 1 1/2 T. cinnamon in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Melt about 4 T. butter. Dip pretzels in butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar. We dipped ours in the same icing I use to put on our turnovers. For the icing: Whisk together 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1 1/2 T. milk, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla.

Enjoy!!

(TIP: This is also a great activity for your kids! I let mine shape their own dough. It keeps them busy while I shape the rest of the pretzels!)

I'm still here...

2010-02-26T11:10:00.000-08:00

I'm working on so many projects...

I wish I were able to accomplish more of them...

I'm nesting...

I'm feeling very heavy...

My camera is still part broken...

My daughter is feeling extra needy lately, therefore limiting my time on the computer...

But, I hope you are enjoying my new blog header! It was fun watching my idea come to life!

To compensate for my lack of posts this week, next week is going to be FABULOUS! (hopefully)

Next week is Copy Cat week here on Cook! Create! Consume! I'll be trying out new recipes copying certain restaurant's foods, girl scout cookies, a sewing project, and more!! Aren't you excited? I totally am! I love trying to replicate recipes for foods I normally have to pay for!

Anyway, stay tuned...

It's going to be fun!

Organizing your recipes

2010-02-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

One genetic trait I inherited from my mother was cutting out recipes to try from magazines, newspapers, etc. Okay, maybe it's not a genetic trait, but she passed it down from her mother too. I've had the same binder to collect recipes I've cut out for years, and finally had to get a new one, because the old one was broken.

This is how I organize my recipes:

I have one, basic, three ring binder that is full of recipes I want to try. Recipes I've cut out of magazines, or found on the internet, or that people have given me to try. (When my mom didn't have the energy to cook anymore, she started cutting out recipes to give me that she wanted to try but knew she wouldn't, or gave me recipes she thought I would like.)

(You can make a cuter cover than that, but I don't have the energy to do that when I printed this out...)

I use sheet protectors as my dividers, and a bonus to using those, is when you find a new recipe but don't feel like taking the time to add it to the binder, you can put it in the sheet protector on the back of the page of the divider. So, if I find a salad recipe I want to try, but there isn't a blank page to put it on, I tuck it in the sheet protector that holds the Salad divider page. Does that make sense?

I also use those sticky picture pages that have the peel back plastic cover. These are my favorite to use, and are the easiest. When I run out of these, I lightly glue the recipe to paper and slip it in a sheet protector.

Once I try a recipe, if it was bad, I throw it away, if it's good, it gets moved to my tried and true recipe binder, shown below. (which was given to me by my friend Becky to collect all of our yummy recipes)

The recipes in this binder are put in here a number of different ways. There are recipe pages, like large recipe cards. I also use the same sheet protectors and sticky picture pages as I do in the other binder, but in this binder I also use picture album pages to hold my recipe cards.

My husband looks at my Recipes To Try binder and asks, "Do you really think you're going to try all of these recipes?" Little does he know, that depending on the week, I could use up to three or four recipes out of that binder a week. This week it has only been two. But, the weeks not over...

I like having the recipes that I want to try organized and being able to flip through them like I would any cookbook. So, if you have recipes lying around, here's a simple way to keep them organized!

My friend got my tried and true binder from this Etsy store, though she doesn't have any binders in there right now; you can custom order them. See more samples of her work here.

Using your cook books

2010-02-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

I love cookbooks! That's probably even an understatement. Let's just put it this way, I have no room for any more cookbooks - I don't really have room for the one's I have. I really love reading cookbooks. I'd choose a cookbook over a novel most any day. Before I had two kids, I used to watch TV in the evenings, and read cookbooks at the same time. (Now, I just sleep on the couch with the TV on...)

A few years back, I came across a problem; I remembered seeing a recipe for a certain something I wanted to try, but couldn't remember which cookbook it was in. So, I had to search through dozens of cookbooks to find the recipe. I then came up with a solution. I started reading cookbooks with a pen and paper on hand. If I found a recipe I wanted to try, I would write down the title of the recipe and what page it could be found on. That piece of paper, with a list of recipes I wanted to try from that cookbook, was then put in the front page of the cookbook. (Really, I should tape it inside the cover - putting that on my to-do list.) Problem solved! Now, if I'm looking for something to cook, I can just browse my written lists inside the cookbooks.

I've found it really helpful. Do you have a system you use with your cook books?

Tomorrow, I'll post how I organize my recipes.

I know, you can't wait...

picture found here

Healthier Curry Chicken Recipe

2010-02-17T05:52:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of this to go along with this post, but I was just too excited to eat it every time I made it, and didn't want to stop to take a picture...

If you like Indian food, try this recipe! If you don't know if you like Indian food, try this recipe! If you know you don't like curry - don't try this recipe. (Not like you would, given the title of the recipe, but I thought I would throw that in there.)

This is a recipe I adapted from the Every Day Food magazine a few years ago. The reason I added the word, 'healthier' in the title was because it is a little healthier than eating it in an Indian restaurant, because you aren't eating the chicken broth and grease that the chicken is cooked in too. This recipe uses coconut milk, which if you are familiar with Indian food, makes the curry taste a little bit like a Korma or Kurma (depending on the restaurants spelling). It is such an easy recipe, and really delicious!

Chicken Curry Recipe:

2 lbs. chicken (whatever kind you want to use - boneless/skinless being the easiest, but you could do a whole chicken, and just use the desired amount of chicken in your sauce)

1 med-large onion diced

Put your chicken in a crockpot. Add a little water to the bottom of the crockpot. If you are using a whole chicken - no need to add water. Add your onion, and sprinkle the chicken with garlic, ginger, salt, ground curry, coriander, and cumin. Cook on high for about 4 hours, or low for about 6 hours until chicken is tender and done. Shred.

Sauce:

2 T. olive oil (or use 2 T. of your chicken broth, strained)
4 T. curry powder
2 tsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. ground cumin
4 tsp. salt
13 - 16 garlic cloves minced or pressed
2 tsp. ginger
1 LARGE onion sliced or diced (whichever you prefer)
2 (13.66 oz) cans of unsweetened coconut milk

Cilantro (if desired for garnish)

In a large saucepan, add your olive oil or chicken broth. Saute your onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add spices and coconut milk, and cook until boiling. Reduce heat, add shredded chicken, and let cook over low heat for twenty minutes or so. (Really, you could eat it immediately, but it's better to let the chicken absorb some of the spices and milk.) Serve over rice. This makes a lot, and could be halved if you don't like leftovers. But, we like leftovers at my house!

Must add to your maternity wardrobe

2010-02-16T06:29:00.000-08:00

So, I've seen these half tees featured on some blogs, and decided to give them a try.

Can I just say these are perfect for a pregnant woman tired of adjusting all the layers she is wearing?????? For some reason, the majority of maternity dresses are made with jersey knit fabric - the most unflattering fabric really. Those dresses show every line you are wearing, and undershirts and tank tops always seem to bunch up. On Sunday, I wore a half tee under my dress, and it was heaven not having to worry about an extra piece of fabric to tug on. These half tees fall right at your bra line, so you don't have to worry about showing another line somewhere. Anyway, a must have for a pregnant woman in my book. Find them HERE. (FYI: I measured myself according to their size chart, and then ordered the next size smaller, and that fit great. So, I think they might run a little bigger.)

Valentine's Day Dinner

2010-02-15T08:07:00.001-08:00

I wanted to make a special Valentine's Dinner for John and I.

Our menu:

Beef Wellington
Baked sweet potatoes
Asparagus drizzled with lemon, garlic butter
Homemade Raspberry Italian creme sodas
Molten Lava Cakes
Homemade white chocolate covered strawberries (our favorite)

I had tried Beef Wellington at a wedding about three years ago and have wanted to try and make it ever since. I finally did yesterday. I researched a lot of recipes, chose one, printed it up, and forgot to buy some of the ingredients. Some of the recipes seemed to be very heavily seasoned with thyme, and I like thyme, but didn't want just a thyme seasoning. So, this recipe ended up being my very own creation.

HOLLY'S BEEF WELLINGTON RECIPE:

2 lbs of filet mignon (okay, this is pretty pricey, so I only bought one pound of this (2 filets) and one pound of top sirlion filet (3 filets), which didn't turn out as tender, but still good, and cheaper!)

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Dijon mustard (I forgot to add this, but had seen it in one of the recieps, and had really wanted to try it. I think it would have tasted good...)

1 Box of Puff Pastry (thawed to room temp.)

1 egg

Rosemary or Thyme sprigs for garnishing (I didn't have, but would have looked great on top of the finished pastry)

Most recipes say to tie meat into a circle shape, I didn't care about that, so I didn't do it. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan and heat over medium heat. Sear filets, about three minutes on all sides. Remove from heat, and lightly smear with dijon mustard (I forgot to do), let it cool slightly, and then cover with plastic wrap and set in fridge. (I read that this is to prevent over cooking during the baking process)

Mushroom Filling Recipe (Called a Duxelles, but I don't use words I'm not sure how to pronounce.):

1 lb. of white mushrooms

2 green onions (most recipes called for shallots, but I forgot to buy some...)

1/2 tsp. dried thyme (you could use fresh, also forgot to buy...)

1 tsp. dried rosemary leaves (I was going to use fresh, and when I went to get some from my herbs outside, it didn't look very good...)

4 cloves of garlic

Peel mushrooms (don't wash, just peel outside layer off), and then put above ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely shopped. Add 1 T. butter, and 1 T. olive oil in skillet, and saute mushroom mixture for 6-8 minutes over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk one egg, to make an egg wash. Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface. Cut desired size to wrap beef in. Spread a portion of the mushroom filling onto the pastry, and top with beef. Wrap up the beef, sealing edges with egg wash, and brushing the top of the pastry with egg wash.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes until pastry is golden brown and beef registers 125 degrees on an instant read thermometer. (I know filet mignon is supposed to be served very rare, but I don't do pink, so my meat was cooked a little longer. I actually overcooked the sirlion a little to most people's standards, but not mine.) Next time, I'm going to try and make these as appetizers.

John's favorite dessert is chocolate molten lava cake. I have, and have made a ton of those recipes, but decided I would try a new one for our Valentine's dinner. Turns out it that this is my favorite molten lava cake recipe I have tried yet (and I've made a lot). It is Paula Deen's recipe, and you can find it HERE. (MY TIP: When the timer went off, my hands were full, so I just turned off the oven and left the cakes in there, and by the time I went to take them out they had burned on the edges. So, when these are done, take them out of the oven!! I also didn't add the orange flavoring that the recipe called for.) DELISH!

Hard Water Shampoo

2010-02-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

When we moved into our new house, I started noticing my hair feeling really gross. I felt like I was getting out of the shower with more product in my hair than when I got in the shower. I then figured out that we have hard water. My beauty expert friend suggested this hard water shampoo. After dealing with hard water hair for about a year, I was willing to try anything. I tried this, and was a little worried at first because it seemed like I was putting dish washing soap on my hair, but I loved it. My hair actually felt clean! If you have hard water, this is something you should try! Or, if you've heard someone complain about it, you should recommend it. You can buy it at Sally Beauty Supply.

Chicken Appetizers

2010-02-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

I tried a new appetizer recipe for the super bowl last Sunday, and we liked the results. I think I tore this recipe out of a Taste of Home magazine, but I tried to look it up, and can't find it. I adapted it a tiny bit anyway.

Chicken Bites

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1 T. grated ginger root

1 tsp. grated orange zest

1/4 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. minced garlic

not quite 2 lbs of chicken tenders

2 packages of bacon, cut in half cross ways (TIP: You won't use all of the other pack. Also, I ran out of regular bacon when making mine, and used some turkey bacon to finish. I actually liked the turkey bacon better. It was crispier, and it looks prettier, because regular bacon curls and splits, etc.)

Wooden Toothpicks (TIP: Next time I make these, I will either replace the toothpicks they are cooked with, because they get all charred, or I will take out the toothpicks they are cooked with and serve them without toothpicks and use appetizer tongs, or have a bowl of toothpicks next to the platter.)

Make Marinade: Combine first six ingredients in small bowl. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, and place in marinade in plastic bag, or shallow bowl. Mix well to coat chicken, and allow to sit in marinade for at least an hour, or overnight for more flavor.

After desired marinating time, wrap chicken pieces in the cut strips of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Place chicken bites on wire rack on baking sheet. Using the rack prevents the food from soaking up the bacon grease.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes until chicken and bacon are cooked through. Serve warm.

Tres Leches Cake

2010-02-09T05:26:00.000-08:00

I made this cake for a Mexican themed progressive dinner with friends. I've never really been a fan of the tres leches cakes I had tried, but had heard other people say they loved it. I tore this recipe out in 2006, and finally got around to trying it. I thought it was great, and both my husband and I thought it tasted better the next few days after it had sat. I do not like soggy cakes, and though this cake looks like it might be, it really isn't!!! It almost has a lighter pound cake texture.

The good thing about Southern Living Recipes are you can still look them up on the website, and I don't have to retype it here for you. See the recipe HERE.

This would be a great addition to your Cinco de Mayo party!

Organizing winter gear

2010-02-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

I love organizing, and I think it can legitimately be included under the category of creating, because sometimes you have to get a little creative when trying to figure out where to put everything in your home.

I've had a hard time trying to find a place for all of our winter hats, scarves, gloves, and mittens. I used to keep my son's gear in his room, and my daughter's gear in her room, and my husband's stuff and mine in the coat closet in a basket. The problem was, whenever we were going out, I never felt like hiking up the stairs to go get my daughter's hat. Or, when my son got home, his gloves never made it back to his room, so we would shove them in our basket in the coat closet. I didn't like the system I had. I just wanted a convenient place to put everything, and not have to dig through a basket to get it.

I finally figured it out. We always enter our house through the garage. The garage leads to a small laundry room where our coat closet is. On the inside of our coat closet door, I hung a canvas shoe rack to organize all of our winter gear. Now, Trevan can put away his own gloves, and all of our winter hats, scarves, and gloves finally have a home.

Not really rocket science, but a perfect solution for my problem.

Valentine's Day Breakfast

2010-02-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

Planning breakfast in bed for your Valentine? Here's some ideas:

I made some homemade bagels in the shape of hearts. (There are a lot of recipes online, make sure to choose one that you boil the bagels first before baking them. I read that those were the best kind.)

I made three spreads to go with the bagels.

Cinnamon Spread: Beat 4oz. cream cheese 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1 1/2 T. brown sugar.

Honey Almond Spread: Beat 1/4 c. toasted almonds minced, 4 oz. cream cheese, 1 T brown sugar, and 3 T. honey.

Raspberry Spread: Use the cream cheese filling recipe below.

My husband's favorite was the cinnamon spread.

I made doughnuts with a chocolate sauce. I tried a new recipe, but didn't love it enough to share it. You can use most doughnut recipes that you shape the dough. I rolled out the dough and used heart cookie cutters to shape them. You can make your favorite chocolate sauce recipe. I just adapted my fondue recipe to make a sauce.

Now, for my new favorite breakfast recipe! My own special creation... It has a few steps, but well worth the time it takes to make!! Let's just say my husband asked for it two days in a row.

Gourmet Stuffed French Toast

1 large loaf of french bread cut into wide slices (you could also use Texas Toast, but french bread is a sturdier bread)
Raspberries for garnish if desired

Peach Sauce:
1 bag of frozen peaches
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch
1/2 tsp. almond extract
generous pinch of nutmeg

Cut up peaches in smaller pieces. Put them in a small saucepan. Mix together sugar, corn starch, and nutmeg and pour over peaches and mix well. Add almond extract. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is to desired thickness. If you want your peaches in smaller pieces you can take a potato masher and mash the peaches in the sauce. Set aside.

Raspberry Sauce:
1 bag of frozen raspberries
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch

Put the thawed raspberries in a small saucepan. Mix together sugar and corn starch and pour over raspberries and mix well. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is to desired thickness. Strain seeds. Set aside. (You can use raspberry jam, but I prefer making my own sauces. If you use raspberry jam that has seeds, heat it so you can strain the seeds out as well.)

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 c. + 1/8 c. raspberry sauce

(You could also add 1/4 c. powdered sugar, but there is plenty of sweetness in the rest of the recipe that you don't really need it...)

Beat cream cheese and add raspberry sauce. Beat until well combined. Set aside.

Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket in the bread, and fill it with the cream cheese filling. (You could also sandwich two pieces of bread together with the cream cheese in the middle, but I think the pockets are cooler.)

Egg Wash Mixture:

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla (if you love the almond flavoring you could add 1/2 tsp. of that as well)

1/3 c. half & half (you could use milk)

dash of nutmeg

Whisk all ingredients together in a wide shallow bowl. Holding your piece of bread flat, dip each side of the bread lightly in the egg mixture, just getting the top and bottom wet, not the sides. DO NOT IMMERSE.

Cook on a greased griddle or in a greased pan until done to desired done-ness (not really a word, I know). Do not flatten with spatula as it will cause the filling to come out. On a plate, top french toast with peach sauce, and garnish with raspberry sauce, sweetened whipping cream, and fresh raspberries if desired.

TIPS: You could make all the sauces, and filling ahead of time - even two days or more ahead. All that needs to be heated up before serving is the peach sauce. You could even slice and pocket the bread the day before hand, and put it back in the bag. Also, for an added touch for Valentine's Day; when garnishing, you could pipe the raspberry sauce in shapes of hearts on the serving plate.

Valentine Gift Idea

2010-02-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

My gift to my husband this Valentine's Day is a week of love. Some people like to give fun personalized coupons for holidays, or buy those cute pre-made coupon books, but really, in my experience, no one ever cashes those in. So, instead, things or items that I would have put on a coupon, I am just going to give to my husband one day at a time for a week. It's something he can look forward to every day. His week of love from me. This is so easy, and inexpensive, but I know he'll love it. You can customize it for your significant other.

I made heart shaped envelopes, and put a heart shaped card inside. I hot glued a ribbon on the back of the card to enable him to get the card out of the envelope easier.

Ideas for your cards:

Breakfast in bed
Day off from any fatherly duties (I gave my husband a week off from doing dishes)
Favorite dessert (home made or store bought)
Foot Rub
Back Rub
Movie night of his choice
Favorite Dinner
Surprise him at work with lunch
Free reign of the remote control for a night

I plan on giving my husband his week of love cards at different times of the day to keep him on his toes.

During the week of love you can leave other love notes for him to find, and surprise him with Hershey's hugs and kisses to find in random places.

Tomorrow I will post some Valentine breakfast ideas (you could use for his breakfast in bed), including my new favorite breakfast recipe!

Valentine Pastries

2010-02-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

For family night last night, we made cherry cheese turnovers in the shape of hearts. (We talked about love). My two year old had fun playing with the scraps of puff pastry, as did my five year old. The recipe:

Cherry Cheese Turnovers

1 box of puff pastry dough
1 can of cherry pie filling

For the cream cheese filling: Beat together 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

For the glaze: Whisk together 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1 1/2 T. milk, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla.

Follow the directions on the box for the puff pastry (don't let it over thaw, then it is a little more complicated to work with, and I've found it puffs up nicer if the dough is a little firmer). Cut out desired shapes. Spread on cream cheese filling and top with cherry pie filling (stay away from the edges). Put a top layer of your dough on top and press around the edges with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees 15 - 18 minutes, until slightly browned and puffy. Drizzle with glaze. (With the left over scraps that my children didn't play with, I made funny shaped turnovers, and baked any smaller pieces of dough by itself.)

I wanted to do an open heart to show the filling, so I cut a smaller heart in the middle of my larger heart.

My husband didn't have any faith in my open heart, and thought the cherries would run everywhere, so he and my son made full covered hearts.

Here are some other fun things you can do with pastry for Valentine's Day:

I made a Blueberry Raspberry Pie, and covered it with hearts.

You could also make a chicken pot pie and do the same thing, or make individual chicken pot pies with a single heart like I did.

Lots of fun things you could do with pastry dough for Valentine's Day!

Classic Valentine's Day Flower Arrangement

2010-01-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

This is an example of my 'go to' flower arrangement or decoration for Valentine's Day. Not really original, but I always love how it looks!

picture found here

My Favorite Cookie

2010-01-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

I'm hesitant to call anything my favorite, but if I had to choose a favorite these just might be it.

One of my neighbors in college introduced me to these cookie sandwhiches, and I even served them at my wedding. (That's why I've titled these cookies, Wedding Cookies) Although, not sure about this same color, and definitely not in the shape of hearts.

If I had to describe what this cookie tastes like, I would say similar to a shortbread cookie, but a much more delicate cookie; soft and flaky, and delicious paired with the filling in the middle!

Wedding Cookie Recipe:

For the dough:

1 c. butter

1/3 c. whipping cream

2 c. flour

food coloring of your choice if desired

Cream the butter, and beat in the rest of the ingredients. (Okay, I know you'll be tempted to taste the dough, don't, it's not a very tasty dough. But, I know because I told you not to, you probably will. But, don't say I didn't warn you. And, trust me, even though the dough tastes funny, these cookie sandwhiches are divine!) Cover and chill at least one hour.

After chilled, roll out dough on VERY WELL floured surface. (This is a very sticky, delicate dough, so you will need to use a lot of flour to make the dough easier to work with.) Cut into 1/2 inch rounds. (I used a large cookie cutter, only because I didn't have a small heart to use. The smaller your cookie cutter, the easier your cookie dough will be to work with. Plus, easier to work with after it's done baking too. Just trust me.) Sprinkle sugar, and prick the dough with a fork. (I included the picture below of what your cookie will look like if it doesn't get pricked. The dough rises unevenly, and gets bubbled making one layer of the cookie getting cooked faster than the other layers.) Bake until fluffy at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

For the filling:

1/4 c. butter

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat the cream cheese and butter together, add the rest of the ingredients and beat well. When the cookies have cooled, spread the filling on the flat side of a cookie and top with another cookie. (MY TIP: If you are making these for a party, or want a nicer presentation, I would pipe the filling to the edge of the cookie to make the edges look nicer. These cookies are pretty delicate, and easy to break, so piping is a better choice if you are doing them for a party.)

Options: These cookies can go with any holiday, just add your choice of food coloring and cookie cutter shape.

A gift idea for your Valentine

2010-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, before diapers and babysitters, my husband and I used to date...

My husband and I decided not to exchange any gifts at Christmas because we got so many big ticket items before Christmas, but I still wanted to get him something. I came across this idea on the How Does She? blog.

So, for Christmas I gave John a membership to the Date of the Month Club. I did it a bit different than how they showed on the blog, but you can totally customize it to fit you.

How I did it:

I bought and wrapped up two calendars. One to use as our family calendar that stays on the fridge, and a mini calendar for John to take to work with him. I printed off two copies of twelve dates typed on mailing labels. John could then choose the day of the month to put one of the dates on. I gave him a mini calendar to take to work, so he could look forward to our dates all year at work too! We have our first date from our Date of the Month Club this Saturday!

This would make a great Valentine's Day gift as well, especially if you want to do something that is inexpensive and shows a little more thought. I love gifts of the heart.

Marshmallow Recipe

2010-01-27T12:21:00.000-08:00

This was my second time making marshmallows, but this was a new recipe.

Powdered Sugar

2 packets unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. light corn syrup

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Red food coloring, (optional)

1. Grease an 8" square baking pan. Dust HEAVILY with powdered sugar. In a mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 c. cold water, and let set 10 minutes.

2. In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/3 c. water. Bring to a boil and dissolve sugar, then boil 4 minutes more.

3. With mixer on low speed, pour hot sugar syrup into gelatin. Continue beating until completely mixed. Turn mixer on high and beat 10 -15 minutes more, until mixture has doubled in volume and is completely white. Beat in vanilla and food coloring if using. (MY TIP: It did not take me anywhere close to 10 minutes to beat this until it was done. I do have a very good, powerful mixer, so that might make a difference. I figured mine was done when the mixture got really thick and started rising on my beaters.)

4. Spread mixture in the prepared pan. Wet hands to smooth top. Let set 3 hours or overnight. (I did 3 hours) Turn onto a cutting board dusted with powdered sugar. Cut into squares with a SHARP knife. Toss with powdered sugar to coat all sticky sides. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

These are really, really yummy! If you like marshmallows, that is...

A few ideas: You can cut these out into shapes with small cookie cutters, but I would put them in a bigger pan, to make thinner marshmallows, to make cutting them into shapes easier. You would need to dip your cookie cutter in powdered sugar between cuts to help with the stickiness. These would also be fun to make for a baby shower with a pink or blue theme. Also, instead of dying these pink, leave them white, and instead of rolling them in powdered sugar roll them in fine colored sugar. I don't ever have to buy Peeps again, I can just make these and roll them in sugar!

**I think I cut this out of a Family Fun magazine, but I'm not really sure**

Valentine's Day Cards

2010-01-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

I've been cleaning out boxes in my garage and I found a Valentine one of my college roommates gave me back in the day:

If Etsy were around back then, she could have gotten me this:

found here

I love cards! Here is a fun selection I found online:

found here

My friend Becky needs this one:

found here

(This store also does custom orders, so you can fill in the, I Love You More Than ___ part.)

Here's an idea for you. Instead of you and your significant other buying each other a Valentine card, make a date of it. Go to a store and read Valentine's day cards together. Pick out one's you would buy for the other one, and just have them read the card right there in the store. If you're like me and my husband, we can never buy just one anyway.