Cake, take 3

Ok.....so in the beginning of this thought process, Monkey wanted a pirate birthday. So I thought I could do something pirateish for the cake. Then my first thought was to find something that looked like a treasure chest and have coins spilling out. So I finally found something at Hobby Lobby that was perfect for that.

Then.....take 2. I thought I was going to be able to make the cake itself look like a treasure chest with fondant frosting. Well, doing this process was proving much harder than the thought process was! I made the cakes yesterday so they would have time to cool. Then I started making the frosting around 1pm today....and was trying to assemble the cakes. It is now 7pm and I just finished putting the cake together. It would have worked but the fondant kept ripping on me and after however many hours of trying to put it together, the bottom was together, so I took the top off the cake and we changed the idea back to idea 1....

But take 3...we already have the bottom piece set for the bottom of the treasure chest, so it's not quiet what my first thought was, not anything like what my second thought was...and with Plan C, we have the cake all set and ready for the party! I'm happy with how it turned out, however it is not what I really had planned. Oh well! Such is life. It's just a cake after all!

So here's the final masterpiece....


And did you know that Brown is extremely difficult to make in frosting! Mix red and green, but it turns out more of a reddish "brown" if you can even call it that. So if I knew we were going to end up with how we finished the cake, I would have chosen a different color for the frosting....otherwise it was going to be a cedar treasure chest! :)

Monkey's Birthday

Yesterday Monkey turned 6 years old! He's been soooo excited for his birthday to come ever since October when we had Bear's party. He said, "I can't wait for my party, because I've never had a real life birthday party before!" Too cute. He's also very excited about his best friend coming to the party. We just put some candles in his ice cream since we were making the cake for the party on Saturday.

He decided he wanted to do another photo shoot like we did once before...here's my top 2 favorite pictures that I took yesterday....

Fruity Chicken Stir-Fry

I have to admit the first time my Aunt made this recipe for me a long time ago...I thought it sounded gross. But much to my dismay, I love it!
It's yet again another easy recipe that you can set aside also for those hot summer days when you don't want to turn the oven on. Plus it's easy!



Fruity Chicken Stir-Fry
1 1/2 cups minute rice
3/4 cup mayo
3/4 cup orange juice
2-3 chicken breasts
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 can pineapple tidbits
1 can mandarin oranges (I don't use this ingredient)

TJ's not a fan of the mandarin oranges so I stopped putting this in the recipe.

Fry chicken and cut into small chunks. Mix mayo and orange juice in a bowl. Add mixture and rice to the pan. Stir and bring to a boil. Add green pepper and pineapple and oranges and simmer 5-10 minutes longer.

And you can always make the recipe bigger just by upping the quantity of everything, depending on how many mouths are you feeding that day.

*I've wanted to make this before but realized I didn't have any orange juice in the house so instead used mt.dew. It's "citrusy" so you couldn't really tell that much of a difference. And I've not had pineapple before too so I've used green grapes cut in half. It was good that way too! :)

Great Lyrics for every Parent/Guardian/Mentor to hear

I heard this song, and thought this is some great stuff....I think more people need to hear this....So here you go. Pass it on. :)

Somebody’s going to show him what love looks like, tell him what’s wrong and right, are you the one?
Somebody’s going to teach him about the birds and bees, drinking beer and smoking things, are you the one?
Are you the one, that’s what I ask myself, when I look at my boy, yeah I can’t help, but wonder about the world and all it’s dangers.
Are you the one, that’s going to have that talk where he turns red and your shell shocked...or will you leave it up to some stranger? Somebody is going to reach him while he’s young. Are you the one?
Somebody’s going to be the one, that she turns to, when she’s hurt and she’s confused. Are you the one?
Somebody’s going to be the first to break her heart let her down and leave a scar. Are you the one?
Are you the one, that’s what I ask myself, when I look at my girl, yeah I can’t help but wonder about the world and all it’s dangers. Are you the one that’s going to have that talk where she turns red and your shell shocked....or will you leave it up to some stranger? Somebody’s going to reach her while she is young.
Are you the one? She’ll call when she’s in trouble the one who gets there on the double when things aren't going right. Are you the one he wants to be like when he grows up, the one who always shows up at his games and plays in every big day of his life. Are you the one?
Are you the one to teach them how to pray and who to give their souls to take, or will you leave it up to some stranger? Somebody’s going to reach them while they’re young. Are you the one?

I thought this was too great to not share. I hope you enjoyed it as well.

*Music from Guy Penrod's CD titled 'Breathe Deep'

Parmesan Chicken

1/2 cup butter
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cup croutons
1/2 cup fresh parmesan
4 chicken breasts

In a pie plate or shallow bowl, combine melted butter, mustard and worestershire sauce. In a plastic bag, combine crushed croutons and parmesan cheese. Dip chicken in butter mixture, and shake in bag. Place in a deep pan. Top with remaining crouton mixture, and pour remaining butter over top. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Great served with home made mashed potatoes.

Mashed potatoes
4 lbs potatoes
4 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 cup sour cream

Beef & Biscuit Bake

I'm not really sure what possessed me to make this meal. But, for some reason I picked it to try, so I went through with it. Even though as I looked at it again before making it today, I was questioning myself, and didn't think it looked or sounded good the whole time I made it.

Now after the fact, I've gotta be honest....I'm probably not ever going to make it again. But, like I said before....It's in a cookbook, so somewhere along the line someone else made it and liked it enough to publish it.


Beef & Biscuit Bake

1 lb ground beef
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn (or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn)
1 can tomato soup
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp minced onion
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 tube buttermilk biscuits (I made homemade biscuits)
2-3 Tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal

In a large saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add the beans, corn, soup, milk, onion, chili powder and salt; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in cheese until melted. Transfer to a baking dish. Bake, uncovered at 375 for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, brush all sides of biscuits with butter; roll in cornmeal. Place over the meat mixture. Bake for 10-12 minutes more, or until the biscuits are golden.

Once again, not a winner in our book. But someone out there may like it. :) And to that I say....To each his own!

Habits

Funny how we can have habits that we don’t really think about.

For instance, when I drink a open a can of pop I turn the tab to the right. I don’t even really notice that I do this anymore.

It all started at my mom’s house. When we are ALL home...there are alot of us, and we are all usually drinking a can of pop, and then we forget which one is our can....well, long ago, I came up with this idea of twisting my tab so I and everyone else will always know which can is mine.

Now, when I open a can, it is automatic. Every once in awhile, after watching me open a can of pop, someone will ask me why I do that. I say, do what? Because I’m not thinking about it when I do it so I’m never sure what they are referencing. Funny....

There are other things that are coming up too that I realize I don’t know I do...but must do on a regular basis because my kids are mimicking me. :)

New Family Tradition

I'm so happy to say that we have a family tradition. :)

As simple as it is....we have popcorn for supper after church on Sunday nights.

Sometime it's caramel corn, sometimes it's just plain popcorn. But it's soooo yummy since I got my air popper! LOVE IT!

At our table I sit by Bear and TJ sits by Monkey.  Bear fed me a piece of caramel corn....and of course Monkey was jealous, so he asked TJ if he wanted some. TJ said no.  Bear fed me another piece, and then Monkey asked TJ again if he wanted some. hahahahahaha He was so jealous! You could see it in his eyes. He has to do whatever someone else does. So funny. :)

French Bread Pizza Loaf

Pizza is one of those things for most people that you could eat many days in a row. There are all sorts of variations and restaurants that have pizza.

For instance, pizza items I make, and pizza places I like to eat.....
Pepperoni Pockets, Pizza in a bowl, French Bread Pizza Loaf, Pizza Bagel Bites, Italian Calzones, Homemade Pizza, Meat Lovers Pizza Casserole, Nick's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Casey's Pizza, Papa Murphy's Pizza, Papa John's, Boston's, GodFather's, Uno's, California Pizza Kitchen, Pizza Ranch and I'm sure there are other's I've forgotten.

Today for lunch I needed to make something quick for us and the kids while my sister was helping me with the garage sale. So I took my french bread loaf out of the freezer to make my French Bread Pizza Loaf.



French Bread
Butter
Garlic Salt
Mozz Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Pepperoni

Cut the Bread in half. Melt some butter. Brush on the melted butter to the open side of the bread. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Top with Pepperoni and cheese. Bake at 350 to crisp the bread and melt the cheese. Bake about 6-9 minutes or until the cheese is golden to your liking. :)

Christmas Pictures

If you send me a Christmas picture....picture specifically, not just a card. I post it on my Pantry, and think of you often.



Last week, TJ told me that he thought it was time to take them down. But never fear, because I don't throw them out!

No!

I scrapbook them! All the people who send a picture for the year. Awww...I remember you for ever and ever. Makes you either want to keep me on your mailing list, or take me off right away! :)

It's been 4 months that I've looked into my kitchen and seen many or your smiling faces, and now when I look over to the kitchen all I see is a lonely, empty pantry door.

Boo-hoo.

I can't wait for Christmas cards again this year so I can fill it up again and look at all the new pictures of how you all have changed, or expanded your family, or 'whatever' this past year!

Now go get your address book and remember to add us to your Christmas card list!

Pizza in a bowl?

Have you ever had pizza in a bowl? Well, now's your chance! I normally call this Pizza Hotdish...how original, huh? Well, I didn't come up with the name or the idea, so don't knock me....but just now I thought of calling it Pizza in a bowl. I think I'm going to stick with that name. I like it better. :)

Before I could get a picture of the whole thing, untouched....they started eating. So this is the picture you are stuck with.



Pizza in a bowl.

Croutons
Pizza Sauce
Hamburger
Pepperoni
onions
green pepper
mozz cheese
cheddar cheese

First you pour the croutons on the bottom of the round casserole dish. (I used my homemade croutons.) Next you pour on the can of pizza sauce, then top with your ingredients...hamburger, pepperoni, onion, pepper, or whatever else you like on a pizza traditionally. Then top with cheese. I always like to throw a little cheddar in with the mozz for extra flavor! Of course!

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Easy meal, made in minutes. Enjoy!

Monster Cookies

These may not be monster in size...but they are Monster in Flavor! Yumm, they are soooo delicious. They make quite a few cookies though, and if you can imagine this is half of the recipe my grandma gave me. I have no idea why she ever used such a large recipe...I mean, 18 cups of oatmeal? Seriously?

I use my Kitchen-Aid Mixer and it "just" fits in there. It's pushing it, but I can get it to fit.



Grandma Friesen's Monster Cookies
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
3 cups peanut butter
6 eggs
4 tsp baking soda
9 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips
half a bag of M&M's

Mix the ingredients together in the order listed. Add chocolate chips and m&m's last after everything else is well blended together. Drop on pan and flatten a little with hand before baking. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Do not over bake.
*Best when they are almost a little undercooked. So watch them closely.

Granted I love my cookies soft.....that's why I think they are best when almost undercooked, and I think they are not good at all when they are cruchy! Especially this kind!

Preparation

In my post “Buying in Bulk”, I mentioned I buy 80 lbs of hamburger. Well, I thought I would give a helpful hint/tip about hamburger preparation. Not as in how to prepare it....but as in how to be prepared for your next meal and cut down on the cooking time. I take my hamburger and fry up 20 pounds at a time or so. Once I fry it up, I let it cool and then measure it out into a little less than a pound per bag.



I do a little less than a pound because the meat comes in 10lbs including the fat, and then when you fry it and drain the fat it’s really more like 8.5 or 9 pounds total. After it’s bagged I put it in the freezer until I’m ready to cook a meal that has hamburger in it. This comes in really handy when supper time comes. It is so easy to just pop the cooked hamburger in the microwave to thaw it a little, and if it’s going in a casserole that is getting cooked in the oven, then that is all you need to do. If I’m using it for tacos then I put it in a pan for a couple minutes or so to crisp it up a little. It is so nice to have one step already done before you get ready to cook supper.

I hope this can make supper time a little easier for you. Granted you have to spend the afternoon cooking 20 pounds of hamburger, but it beats spending supper time for 20 days cooking 1 lb of hamburger at a time. :) And especially since I’m used to this method. It makes supper time much faster. It really is a drag when I have to fry up the hamburger at the same time as preparing the meal.

Groceries and Lunch

It almost seems as though I'm starting to promote certain things...but I am not, really. Atleast they are not paying me too! :) This is just a preface.

Today we went to the grocery store. And awww nuts, I just remembered I forgot something. Ok, anyway...We've been shopping at Cash Wise, Hy-Vee and Target in town more frequently than the other place whom shall remain nameless. Even though you all know who I'm talking about. :) I love it! We go in look for the deals, and buy extras of whatever is on sale. I also love it because the people who work there are so much more friendly.

Today for instance, I was greeted by quite a few Cash Wise workers, some I know and some I don't know. But even the ones I don't know were still a genuine, How are you, or Hi there! Not a, "oh, I guess I should recognize that I just saw you" kind of a greeting. It was such a great small town feeling. Made me feel right at home. Not like that other place, who is still remaining nameless. :)

I also love the clean feeling of shopping at these places, and the kids love riding in the specialty car carts too.

On another note....while I was there I decided to pick up some deli meat and real sliced cheese. Today for lunch we had grilled Turkey and cheese with Ranch. I tried this out a few months back and decided it was delicious! Wheat bread, colby jack cheese slices, deli turkey breast, ranch dressing.... make a sandwich and crisp it up on the grill to melt the cheese. Yummmm!

Shopping

I did not get the shopping bug in the family. I've never really liked shopping. Now it's o.k., but there are other things I'd rather be doing.

Well today, I completely switched out my winter/summer clothes, and realized I need some new t-shirts. So I made a trip to Kohl's. TJ stayed home while the boys were napping, so I knew I didn't have to be in a rush. Well time really get's away from you when you're not on a limit! I was there for 1 1/2 hours! Weird. It didn't feel like I was there for very long. I don't really EVER buy things for myself, so I looked through everything, without interruptions, tried on everything, and ended up buying 5-6 shirts. All great deals of course! :)

There are a few things about Kohl's that I notice every time I'm there.

1. First of all the floor is amazingly shiny! Wow, they do a good job at that. TJ used to be a janitor at a school and had to buff the floors so he points out things like that.

2. They like to play different music for each section of the store. So when you're standing in the Jr. section, but almost to the ladies section it's really annoying because you're listening to 2 completely different songs.

3. They have this saying that they play over and over again on their radio...The more you know the more you Kohl's. That doesn't even make sense! :)

4. Lastly...I don't know why, but this gets me every time! They do not have automatic doors! For some reason it doesn't bother me when I'm going in, but every time when I'm leaving...maybe it's because I have stuff in my hands, maybe I'm just weird....but I almost run into the doors and have to jerk myself back a bit so I can reach out and open the door. Manually...ugh! :) hahaha

I mean Seriously Kohl's.....who doesn't have automatic doors besides you?! :)

I guess the main places I go have automatic doors and I'm used to holding my bags and grabbing for my keys, and making sure my kids are following...and not used to opening the door before walking through!

Oh what spoiled lives we live!

Bowtie Chicken Pasta

This is bound to be a family favorite for you just as much as it is for us. It's super easy and another one of those stovetop meals that are great to the heat of the summer to keep the house cool by keeping the oven off!

Bowtie Chicken Pasta

Bowtie noodles
1-2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup red pepper
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup peas
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
seasonings

Cook the noodles accordingly. Put in a bowl, mix in a small amount of olive oil to keep them from getting too sticky, and stir in the real grated parmesan cheese.
Cook chicken on the stove and chop into cubes. Season to your liking...I use lawry's, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper. Once chicken is completely done, turn the stove to medium, add the carrots, peas and pepper to the chicken. Cook until the veggies are tender and heated through. Add to the bowl of warm noodles. Serve warm.



I get the already cut carrots from the frozen section. And I cook the noodles and the chicken at the same time so that the noodles are not done to much earlier than the chicken mixture. Otherwise they get cold, and it is much better as a warm meal! :)

Mock Baby Ruth Bars

Mock Baby Ruth Bars

2/3 cup butter
4 cups oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white syrup
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:
6 oz chocolate chips
6 oz butterscotch chips
2/3 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together. pat into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes. Watching closely. Melt topping ingredients together and spread on top of bars. Cool to firm the chocolate.

Other people either use crunch peanut butter for the topping, or put nuts in it. I like it better without the extra nuts in it.

Skillet Chicken and Rice

This is a real simple meal. I make some Rice-a-Roni and then cook chicken with seasonings. Put them together and you have a quick and easy meal.



This one I used beef flavor rice-a-roni, but my favorite is when I use the Spanish Rice one. With that one I add a can of tomatoes with chilies. Yum.

Beans, Beans, the magical fruit

Well, we are not eating these beans, so we won’t have the aftermath that comes with that little rhyme!



I bought 4 different packages of beans. They are only $1 per bag, and the kids super LOVE playing with them. I need to get a bigger bin for them to play in so they stay more contained.



I can’t believe how long the kids will play with these. What a cheap toy!  Bear will sit there for over an hour playing with the beans. We have the little kids tupperware and they like to put them in the bowls and cups and plates and pretend it’s food.



Good times for them, and good deal for me. Because they only cost $1-$2 per bag. I can afford that!

Potatoes on the Grill

Tonight we grilled. And so I made some potatoes on the grill. I tried something different with them. Normally I just use butter and seasonings with the potatoes.

But tonight, I decided to branch out and try something else.

So...

I put butter, and chopped bacon, 1/2 a block of colby jack cheese cubed, and onion, Lawry's seasoning salt, pepper and onion powder.



They turned out yummy, if I may say so myself!

Sweet & Crispy Tortilla Chips

Today I made something new for snack time. It was pretty good.
The simple recipe is

8 flour tortillas
2 Tbsp sugar

Now the way that I made it is a little different. If you haven't noticed, I don't usually follow the recipe to a T. :)

First I made my own tortillas, which I mentioned previously in my Chicken Fajita blog. Click on the link to see it. Plus, I used cinnamon and sugar, not just sugar.
Now I'm going to go ahead and endorse something here....


This is the Pampered Chef, Flour/Sugar Shaker. It is awesome, especially in instances such as this. I also like to use it for my Cinnamon Rolls. And to fill it I use 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Now if you don't have such a thing you can do the traditional pinch it with your fingers. But I totally recommend this neat item...and it's only $6.00 :)

Now for the chips...no matter what kind of tortillas you use, cut them into strips or pizza slices...some kind of shape. Then spritz with a little water before sprinkling the sugar/cinnamon on there. That helps it stick. :) Then bake it at 400 for 10-15 minutes. Make sure to watch it, you want it to start browning, but not get too dark of a brown, so it doesn't taste burnt.

Enjoy your snack!

Cheeseburger twist

Ok, this one we gave a 6 out of 10...that means, I will make it again, sometime. Just not real soon. :) However, next time I will make a few changes. It was ok, but needed more flavor. I labeled 5 or lower as probably not ever making again, so this just made it into my cookbook. :)

1 block colby jack cheese
1/2 cup green pepper
1/4 cup onion
1/2 lb hamburger
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp flour
1 clove garlic
2 pkgs. french bread dough
1 egg white
2 Tbsp fresh grated parm cheese

First of all, I changed the cheese to the block cheese, and cubed it. I only used half of the block, but next time I’m going to use the whole thing. You can never have to much cheese. Plus I’m going to add some seasonings to my hamburger mixture along with the onion and pepper. Then I might add a little bit more ketchup and throw some mustard in there. And I used almost a full pound of hamburger. I think it would have been barren if I kept to the half a pound. Also I didn’t use the refrigerated dough, I made my own, from my pizza dough recipe.

Preheat oven to 375. Cube cheese, cut pepper and onion. Combine, cheese, onion, pepper, cooked hamburger, ketchup, flour and garlic. Mix well.
I only made one serving of pizza dough and let it raise a little bigger. Then cut it in half and rolled it out to 4-5 inches wide and approx 18 inches tall. Spoon half of the mixture down the middle of each section of bread. Pinch together from the top.

You can see the cubes of cheese in the picture...Definitely needed to be more cheese! :)

Place first loaf on pan seamside down, at an angle. Place second loaf on top making an X. Then twist the top and bottom one time each. Use a serrated knife to cut a slit revealing the filling. Lightly brush with egg white, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30-32 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into slices and serve warm. Dip in Ketchup.

Soccer Mom

I have heightened my roll in motherhood.



I am now a Soccer Mom!

Monkey had his first soccer practice tonight. We didn't know for sure how he would do, but after a little while and watching the others he figured it out a little more. Then when he really got into it he had some good kicks. I asked TJ a question even though I knew he didn't know the answer, but the lady next to me answered it. "No...First time at soccer huh?!" Hmmmm....is it that obvious? :) Oh well, there is a first time for everything. Now we know a little more what to do, what to bring, where to go, and all that jazz!

Monkey is #6. Go #6! Who-hooo!

Homemade Croutons

Croutons is something that we use quite frequently. I have a few recipes calling for it, plus they make salad so much better! A friend of mine gave me a great tip. She said she saves up all the butts of her bread in a baggie in the freezer and when there is enough she makes croutons out of it. WOW! What a great *frugalistic idea! Love it.

So I did that. I’ve been saving up the butts of my bread in the freezer for a while. I have more than enough. I have like 14 cups of crumbled bread. Could have done it long ago, plus I put some bread butts back in the freezer for another time. Anywho....

Here’s what I did....
9 cups crumbled bread
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp fresh pressed garlic
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp italian seasoning
sprinkle with real shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, toss in the pan and bake another 10 minutes. Or until crispy enough.

The second batch I did....
6 cups bread
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
little bit of onion powder, and garlic powder
sprinkle with parmesan cheese before baking. Same bake time.

This is a great frugal idea....First of all, you always have bread butts. And I usually would eat them, to make good use, but this is an even better use, because let’s face it...who really likes to eat the butt of the bread? Not many. :) Plus, if you have any extra buns left over from your hotdogs, or hamburgers that you know you are not going to be able to use before they get moldy, then put those in the freezer too, to save for your next batch of croutons.

*Frugalistic- if you couldn’t tell, I was taking the word frugal and adding the ending of fantastic to it :)

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

3 cups crushed pretzels
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1 envelope dreamwhip
2 3oz pkg strawberry jello
3 cups hot water
2 10oz frozen strawberries

Mix the crushed pretzels, 1/4 cup sugar and butter. Place in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool.
Soften the cream cheese and mix with 1 cup sugar, and 1 envelope of dreamwhip. Make sure it is soft enough to spread, and spread over the cooled pretzel layer.
Warm 3 cups of water, and mix the 2 jello mixes in until blended. Add the frozen strawberries with juices. Let harden a little bit in the bowl in the fridge before pouring overtop of the cream cheese mixture.

This is a wonderfully delicious salad, unless of course you don't like Pretzels :)

Just a word of advice though if you are going to make this. Make sure you let it harden in the pan overnight to give it enough time. And make sure you are going to eat most of it the next day. If not just make a smaller pan because it doesn't store well. Once you start eating it the pretzels will soften if it sits in the fridge another day after that. And then, quite frankly it's no good anymore. I mean, who likes mushy pretzels?! :)

Deviled Eggs

I'm going to simplify this just incase there's someone out there who knows nothing about this.
First things first, fill the pan with however many eggs you want. Than fill it with water enough to cover the eggs. Bring the water to a boil, and leave the eggs boiling for a few minutes. 10-15 minutes. The egg should quickly dry off when you pull it out. This is a quick trick to see if it's all done.

Take the shells off, and cut the eggs in half. Put the yolks in a bowl and mix together with pepper, lawry's seasoning salt, and mayo. Can also add celery salt. I used a small amount of garlic salt, but I would advise against this, because they ended up rather garlicy with only a small amount. So next time I'm going to leave this out. I just sprinkle these in a little at a time and taste it, then add more and taste it until you like it. :)



Next I put the filling in a ziplock baggie, cut the tip off and squeeze it into each egg. Much easier and faster than trying to spoon it into each egg. And it's fun. :)

Wha-la! Deviled Eggs!

Kids talking technology

I suppose they think they know what they are talking about just because these are words that mom and dad use alot, but they don’t quite get it right. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

Bear found some envelopes and said, Dad- here’s an email for you.

Monkey brought some stuff up and he’s carrying this tray with play plates and cups on it, and says, I have some cookies for sale, come on over to my website to buy some.

Bear walks up to me while I have my phone open and asks if I’m done texting yet.

Bear was in his room and asked me if I wanted to lay on the bed with him. So I went in there, but before I did he saw me grab my Ipod. So when I walked in he said, you can sit here while you’re Ipodding. And the next day he looked up at me and said what are you doing, and then right away said, oh, you’re Ipodding again. Love it when they take a noun and make it a verb by adding “ing”.

This one is the best....For Easter we were at my moms and we’re sitting around the table. My niece says something and Bear responds to which everyone laughs at him. Then he looks over at me and says, Mom you should put that on the blog!

Hilarious!

I love my kids. They make me smile every day.

Grilled Cheese with Picture

My kind of Grilled Cheese sandwiches.

I know I talked about this before. I even linked the previous post. But I did not take pictures last time, so for all you visual learners. Not that this is a hard concept, but you know.....

Slice the block cheese


About 4 pieces per sandwich (however you can never have enough cheese)


Then grill it to perfection for your oooooey, gooey, wonderfully yummy, non processed/fake, but real warm, melty, cheesey and toasted best grilled cheese sandwich ever!!!



Try it. It's highly probable that you will never want to go back to that processed version again! :)

Calorie Count

160-  2 slices of wheat bread

110-  4 medium to thin slices of colby jack block cheese

100-  1 Tablespoon of butter (total)

*370* Grand Total Calorie Intake for 1 Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I scaled it down for myself by only putting 3 slices of cheese and half a tablespoon of butter total.  This dropped my calorie intake for this sandwich down to *293*  

Random thought by Stephanie, v5

Whipping Cream

Every time I use the heavy whipping cream I have similar thoughts. First I think about elementary school and the little cartons of milk. Then I think about how hard they are to open. Why don’t they make it differently. Or at least like some of the half and half containers where they have the twist open top thingy put into the carton.

There’s got to be a better way.

Digital pictures

Don’t you just love the digital picture era?!

This past weekend was Easter, and while at my mom’s for only 3 day, I took 348 pictures. ReaLLy?!?!? Can there really be that many things to take pictures of? Of course there can. It’s not like you’re “wasting” pictures. *(Right, Nicole?)

I’ve said this before to others, but it still amazes me. Remember “back-in-the-day” when we had a 24 roll of film, and we didn’t want to have to buy too many of those, so we just settled with only 24 or 48 pictures of our whole week vacation to some great and amazing place, that we will probably never visit again. Like the smokey mountains, or the Black Hills?! This is craziness! I mean, we have 24-48 memories of a whole week in an amazing place, and now I have 248 memories of Easter weekend, which does and will happen every year!

It’s just to amazing to me how we can grow in our technology all the time. But I love it. I love having a million pictures. It helps me remember things a little better too. :)

Ok, so since you have nothing better to do, keep scrolling down and look at all 348 pictures I took this weekend.




Just kidding.

*and for the side note...a few years ago, when my sister did have a digital camera, it was Christmas time and my sister passed the camera off to her husband while opening gifts, and he was taking random pictures and not “capturing the moment” to which she replied, “Don’t waste pictures!” We all laughed. Um, you can’t waste pictures on a digital camera there sista! Too funny. We like to make fun of her for saying that whenever we can. (love ya Nicole)

Philly Sandwiches

So, I was told that this is nothing like the real Philly steak sandwiches. To which I say, I don't really care. :) I didn't create it or name it! :) I just cooked it and ate it and it was good.



1 pound of sliced roast beef from the deli
1 package provolone cheese slices
1 loaf french bread
ranch dressing
green pepper

First chop up the green pepper and cut up the sliced roast beef into smaller strips. Cook the meat, pepper and mix in the ranch on the stove to soften the pepper and heat through on the stove. Line the cheese on the open bread. Put the meat mixture on top of the cheese and bake open in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes or so. Just to melt the cheese and crunch up the bread. This is a quick and easy meal. Just remember to make it shortly after buying the ingredients.

One time I put it on the menu, and didn't make it right away, and the meat doesn't last forever, plus my bread turned moldy before I used it. However I have learned from that. I put my bread in the freezer until I'm ready to use it. That way it never molds before I get to use it. :)

Just a little tip for you, incase you've never heard of that before. There might be one of you out there.

Roto-Rooter?!?!??

Sunday we watched "Undercover Boss". It was about Roto-Rooter. Hence my inspiration for today.

Last night I was brushing my teeth and noticed that my sink in the bathroom was going very, very slow. It seems to always be a little bit slow, but this was much more noticeably slow. So I decided to do something about it myself. This morning, I found the only wire hanger I have in my house. (Which maybe I should get more for such instances as this.) Untwisted it and shoved it down the drain. I pulled up quite a bunch of hair and gunk! Ick! I thought about posting a picture for you all to see the disgustingness*, but I spared you. :) haha

So who needs Roto-Rooter. Just call me! Or not, because it's pretty disgusting. I don't envy that job, that's for sure.

*incase you didn't notice this is not a real word....so I marked it as Stephanie language. This one might not be so hard to figure out, but whenever you see this * after the word, just know it's part of the Stephanie language, and I will try to mark it at the bottom for those who don't know what it means. :)

Cheeseburger Soup

I think the rainy chilly weather made me in the mood for soup. It sounded good, so I thought I'd get one more pot of soup in before the weather is too warm for soup again.

We all love this soup. TJ really likes it because it is "hearty". Nice and thick, and chunky and not 'soupy'.


Cheeseburger Soup

1/2 lb hamburger
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
4 Tbsp butter
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/4 cup flour
2 cups cheddar
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

In a pot, saute onion, carrots, basil and parsley in 1 Tbsp butter, until veggies are tender. Add broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10-12 minutes. In a small pan melt remaining butter. Add flour, cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add cheese, milk salt and pepper. Cook and stir until cheese melts. Blend in sour cream and serve!

Desktop background

TJ likes to change the background on the desktop very frequently. He goes to this website where they are always posting new pictures.

It’s always a surprise what the picture is going to be when I open the computer. It’s really only the same for a few days at a time.

I guess my rearranging habits are rubbing off onto him. :)

"Free" Sand

Today my sisters kids came over while she is at work because they don't have school. We've been playing outside most of the morning. Rode bikes, played basketball in the backyard. Then we come up to the front yard, and yet again I look at the filthy street. There is so much sand all along the edge of the street from all the snow that we've had.

So jokingly I said, we could almost sweep up this sand, and make our own sand box. So all the kids say, Yeah! We should do that. So we spent the next hour sweeping the road, and putting the sand in a tote. They thought it was fun, so it kept them occupied.

And now we're going to have a sandbox. With "free" sand. But if you want to be technical, it's not really free because we live here and pay taxes here and those taxes go towards the street maintenance in the winter which also pays for the sand! :) haha

Frugal Stephanie. :)

No Bake Cheesecake

Super Yummy No Bake Cheesecake

If you didn’t already know. I’m somewhat of a picky eater. But, this is one of the 2 cheesecake recipes I like. They are both no bake cheesecakes. Oh So Good! I don’t even like the cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. Isn’t that awful, oh well, life goes on, right?

Oh blah-dee, Oh blah-dah life goes on, na, na-na-na, life goes on. :) Remember that show? We watched that all the time growing up, and every time I think of or hear the phrase Life goes on...I think of that tune. (just a little side track for ya)



2 pkgs. 8oz cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 8 oz container coolwhip
graham cracker pie crust

Soften the cream cheese. Then mix in the powdered sugar first, vanilla and coolwhip last. Pour into 1 pie crust for a very tall pie, or 2 crusts for 2 shorter pies. I like to make 2 pies because then the cake lasts longer. :) We also love to eat this with raspberries. Wow, this is good.

We’ve made this for our dessert for our Valentines banquet at church for the last 2 years. I think it might even become the staple valentine banquet dessert, because it’s so good, and super easy to put together.

Tooth Fairy!

Monkey lost his first tooth!

I pulled it out for him. I was kind scared at first, because I've never had to do this before. But we made it through!

It's been loose for a few days, and kept getting more and more wiggly. Then this morning, Josie flung her blanket around and it snagged on Monkey's tooth, and he started crying. So I said, lets just pull it out so it doesn't hurt anymore. He was all gung-ho and ready to do it, until we started the process. Then he wanted to stop because it hurt too much.



But never fear! I was not letting him quit. :) He's been whining about it hurting when he eats, so I said we need to end the pain.

Here's his first toothless grin! What a cutie. :)



In our house we put the tooth in a little cup of water on the kitchen windowsill. So this is where Monkey's tooth is sitting and waiting for the 'mom fairy' to visit tonight.
I sure hope she doesn't forget! :)

Oatmeal Muffins

Last month, I needed to make something for MOPS in the am, and I was reminded at 11pm the night before. So I looked through the cookbooks to find something I had the ingredients for, and ended up making something new the morning of. Oatmeal Muffins.



1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (I used sour milk)
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder

Combine egg, buttermilk, oatmeal, sugar and shortening. Then add rest of ingredient. Stir just enough to mix flour in. Mix cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle of top before baking. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

White Cake from Scratch

I’ve had a home made chocolate cake recipe for a long time, and have been looking for a good homemade white cake recipe. Not that it really matters for me, personally. I’m not the one who's going to eat it. But TJ likes cake, and I prefer to make things from scratch rather than from a box. So that's why I wanted to find a good white cake recipe.



2 1/4 cup flour
2 1/3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, unbeaten
Sift dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix or stir shortening to soften. Add dry ingredients. Add half liquid and egg. Mix until flour is damp. Add rest of liquid and egg. Blend. Beat 2 minutes on low speed. For a 9x13 pan bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Works well for strawberry shortcakes and layered cakes.

TJ has taken this to work for the last few days, with strawberries and coolwhip. He said it is a really good cake for strawberry shortcakes. He gave the cake all by itself a 7 out of 10.