Buckeyes

 1 lb butter (softened)
 2 lbs peanut butter
 3 lbs powdered sugar
 Chocolate Almond Bark (or chocolate chips)

 Directions:
 Mix together and shape into balls.  Refrigerate for a couple hours. Dip in melted chocolate and cool.


Seems as though a lot of Christmas cookies are rolled and dipped!
Makes you tire of it after awhile. :)

Delicious Dessert

 This is similar to my Charlie Brown Dessert.  

But with a twist.  Try it out.

Crust:
Crunched graham crackers
1/2 cup butter
mix together and press into a 9x13 pan

2nd layer:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups cool whip
beat together and line the crust

3rd layer:
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
1 pkg chocolate instant pudding
3 cups milk
Mix together, layer on top of the 2nd layer and let set in the frig.

4th Layer
Top with Cool Whip!


Make in one 9x13 pan, or you could make in two pie pans.

Creamy Chicken Casserole

2 cans cream chicken
1 can cream of celery
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup milk
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 chicken breasts cooked and diced
3 cups egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste

Cook egg noodles.  Cook chicken with garlic flavoring in olive oil.  Mix everything else together in a bowl.  Line a 9x13 pan with the cooked egg noodles.  Mix the cooked chicken in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients, and pour over the noodles.  Bake at 350 for 30 to heat through.

Hot Chicken Dip

12 oz cream cheese
12 oz sour cream
2 cups mild cheddar cheese
2 cans chicken breast
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
1/2 or 1 tsp garlic salt (however much you prefer to taste)
hot sauce (According to your likeness)

Cook in a crockpot until heated through.  Serve with cut up bagels bites for dipping.

I'm gonna be honest.  This tastes awesome but kinda stinks, especially as seconds. :) hahaha

Pumpkin Pie

This makes 2 pies to go with the 2 pie crust recipe.

1 large can pumpkin pie filling
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix all together and pour evenly into 2 pie crusts.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425.  Then lower the heat to 350 and bake another 40-50 minutes longer.

Pie Crust

This recipe makes 2 pie crusts.

2/3 cup butter flavored crisco
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4-6 tsp water

Mix together crisco and  half the flour and salt using a fork or a pastry blender.  Slowly add the rest of the flour and water until it gets to a dough consistency.   Roll out in between 2 pieces of wax paper.  This way you don't have to use flour risking ruining the consistency of the dough.

Dipped Pretzels #2

Long stick pretzels
chocolate almond bark
crunched up toffee or peppermint, or crunched up candy bars of your choice

To easily dip the long pretzel melt the chocolate and then pour into a tall skinny glass.  Dip in the pretzel 3/4 of the way.  Roll into the crunched up candy of your choice.
Let cool on wax paper.  Can individually wrap in saran wrap, or little baggies to make a great gift.

Dipped Pretzels #1

An easy treat!

White or chocolate almond bark
pretzels of any shape and size.

Melt the chocolate, dip in pretzels and lay on wax paper to cool.
Can sprinkle with chopped candies, or cookie toppings.

Wolf Christmas Eve Tradition

We (being my mom, sisters and their families....the Wolf family)
started this tradition on Christmas Eve a long time ago.

Fried foods.  

Don't worry we also include fruit and veggies to make it a little healthier. :)

Here's a listing of our food.

Pickle Wraps

Cheese curds

onion rings

Hot Chicken Dip and bagels

Chicken Drummies

Shrimp

Teriaki Chicken Nuggets

Buffalo Chicken Wings

Apples

Kiwi

Clementines

Broccoli

Carrots

Cucumbers

Veggie dip

Green pepper

Humus and chips

Cream Cheese Jalepeno Poppers

And of course a million and a half cookies of all different varieties! :)

Doesn't that sound like a fun Christmas Eve supper?!

Greasy yet delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 pounds milk chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, milk, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Shape into 1 in. balls; place on wax-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours of until firm.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate, stirring often until smooth. Dip balls in chocolate; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Drizzle with more melted chocolate if desired for an extra touch!

Pickle Wraps

baby dill pickles
cream cheese
dried beef

Wash the dried beef. Spread cream cheese over. Roll up a pickle and stick with a toothpick to make an easier delivery for those eating. :)

Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours!

If you didn't receive it via snail mail, here is my card and letter.

Merry Christmas to all!
    This year started out with an Adoption party as we celebrated the signing of the paperwork for the boys to “officially” become part of our family!  We are so blessed to have them, and we couldn’t love them more than we already do!
    We got to do a few more firsts with the boys, like take them bowling, or go to the Mall of America, celebrate Easter, celebrate our birthday’s as parents, celebrate Monkey's birthday!  He was beyond excited to get to have a real birthday party for the “first” time. We went to a bounce house, Monkey played soccer, and lost his first tooth!  I celebrated my first Mother’s day with them actually living here and not just visiting! :)  And then the even more exciting part is after we hit June we started doing everything again.  They really liked that we could say, remember when we did that last year?
    We took an awesome vacation out to Tennessee, and brought Grandma Shirley with us.  We visited the Creation Museum on the way there, picnicked in the Smokey Mountains, visited some tourist attractions in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, headed down to Chattanooga, and then Coca-Cola World in Atlanta.  The boys love talking about Coca-Cola World the most.  Probably because at the end of the museum you got to test out pop from all over the world so we drank a lot of pop!
    We got a new pool this summer, and it was the perfect summer for it!  We spent a lot of time out there cooling off.  The boys couldn’t get enough swim time in.  Bear learned to swim by himself any everything.
    This fall we started homeschooling.  I think we have all been having a good time with it.  We like to take lots of field trips and see things first hand.  Some of those trips have included historical landmarks, train tracks and train cars, the MN Orchestra, the Children’s Theater, nature walks, the zoo, an apple orchard, etc.
    TJ and I have kept up our paperwork to continue foster care with the possibility of adopting again.  We are ready, just waiting for a call from a social worker when Lord’s timing is right on all the details that go into that. In the mean time we are doing regular foster care/respite care.
    TJ is still employed at Sage Electrochromics in Faribault.  They are a wonderful company that is expanding!  Praise the Lord for that!
    I am doing some part time work typing appraisals from home, working on the MOPS board, and working on what may become a Photography business of some sorts. We will see where that leads.
        Wishing you all a blessed Christmas.  May you find joy in the Lord, who is your strength!
                

                     -The Wright's

How Many Kings

In Honor of the season of Christmas....Yes CHRISTmas...

Could I emphasize Christ enough?! I don't think so! 
It's not about presents, it's not about......dare I say it?!?!?...Santa......
It's all about CHRIST!  Yes it's in the name.  
Please leave it there so others know what you are celebrating!

I want to share a song with you.  This is such an amazing time of year when you really think about what truly took place.  And the words to this song sing it wonderfully, how the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, came down and gave up everything to be born as a fragile little baby.
Click on the title of the song and press play on the second song listed shown to listen to the whole song.  Or you could just read the lyrics below.  

DOWNHERE LYRICS – How Many Kings

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me
All for me
All for you
All for me
All for you

Poor Man's Candy

 Poor Man's Candy

1 column saltine crackers
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 pkg chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with foil.  Place single layer of crackers on foil.  Boil butter and sugar for 3 minutes. Pour mixture over crackers.  Bake at 400 for 7 minutes. (Watching carefully)  Remove from oven.  Spread chocolate chips over top of baked crackers with back of a spoon.  Don't let cool at all before spreading the chocolate chips.   Can top with sprinkles, or other chopped up candies or decorate with dazzling white chocolate swirls!

Rice Krispy Wreaths

Rice Krispy Wreaths

3 Tbsp butter
1 pkg marshmallows
1 tsp green food coloring
6 cups Rice Krispies
red hot candies

Melt butter and marshmallows in microwave, mix together and mix in food coloring.  Stir in rice krispies cereal.  Stir until well blended.  Pull apart and form a wreath shape on wax paper, add red hots for decoration.  Let cool to harden.

Hershey Pretzel Treats

Hershey Pretzel Treats

Pretzels
Hershey Hugs candies (or regular Hershey Kisses)
m&m's

Line a pan with wax paper and pretzels.  Unwrap and place Hershey candies on the pretzel.  Put in a warm oven (only approx 170) to melt the chocolate, watching to not over bake the chocolate.  Once the chocolate is soft enough to press flat with a wooden spoon, press it down with an m&m.  Let stand to cool and re-harden the chocolate.

*You can use regular pretzel shapes, or circles.  I think it forms to the regular shape better to keep it together instead of using a circle.  Just my thoughts on that.

Christmas Tree Craft

In lieu of the season, we made a Christmas Tree craft with Popsicle sticks.  I cut a couple of them so they would get smaller as they went up.  The boys colored them green, and the bottom one brown.  Glued it to paper to make it whatever size they wanted the tree, and then we decorated it with leftover jewels we had.  They thought it was awesome.

Their completed trees.

  

Simple idea, yet they loved it!

Cinnamon Sticky Buns

I made a small batch of sticky buns for me and the boys for breakfast.  They loved them.  This is a little different than the original sticky buns that I posted.  I made my regular dough that I use for cinnamon rolls, but I only did half a batch of dough.

3/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp yeast
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
 
Mix all together to form dough.  Use a bundt pan, or a angel food pan.  Pour 1 stick of melted butter in the bottom of pan.  Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar to the butter.  Pull the dough apart into 1 inch balls.  Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a bowl, use another bowl with 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon mixed together.  Drop the dough balls first in the butter, then in the sugar bowl.  Then place in the pan.  Repeat for each ball.  Let sit over night with a towel over the pan to let the dough rise.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Cheddar Corn Chowder

Cheddar Corn Chowder

2 cans whole kernel corn
2 cans creamy corn
4 cups milk
4 cups cheddar
5-6 red potatoes
dash of paprika
pinch of cayenne
onion to taste
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Cut up potatoes.  Peeled or unpeeled is up to you.  I chose unpeeled.  Mix all but the cheese in the crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high.  Add the cheese 20 minutes before you're ready to serve.


TJ gave this an 8 out of 10

Dipped Peanut Butter Ritz

Ritz Crackers
Peanut Butter
Chocolate Almond Bark

 Take your regular Ritz Crackers.  Make sure they are plain.  I don't think these would taste very good if you accidentally grabbed box of the flavored crackers. :)

 Simply but peanut butter between 2 crackers. 

Dip in melted chocolate and let cool on wax paper.

ENJOY! :)

Kitchen Tips v11-Cake and Cookie Decorating

I've mentioned this before, and showed it a little in Bear's Birthday post.

But I thought I'd post it individually.

Here are a couple more pictures on how I use the ziploc baggie trick for cakes and cookies.

First grab a quart size baggie.

Then use a cup like shape.  And point one of the corners down, with the baggie folded over the edge.

Next fill it with your frosting.

Next fold the sides up and squeeze it to one corner only.

Cut a very small tip off the corner.  The smaller the finer the detail in your decorating

Repeat with other frosting colors. :)  Decorate your cookies, or whatever.

Again.....my christmas cutout cookies.  I think this is so much simpler and faster, and fun! :)

Russian Tea Cakes

Some also call these Mexican Wedding Cakes....whichever name you prefer is up to you. :)

1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Hershey Kisses

Mix the softened butter, powdered sugar, flour and salt until well blended.  Chop the pecans.  Add as much as is to your liking.  Mix together.  Form a ball, push the Hershey kiss in the middle and continue forming the dough ball around Hershey kiss.  Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes.  Don't bake too long or the chocolate in the middle can be too hard from over baking.  Roll in powdered sugar after baking.

Kringla

 Roll just a little bigger than a pencil.

 Form a pretzel, ribbon, or whatever.

Dip in powdered sugar after baking.

Kringla

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup thick buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour

Mix together and chill for 2 hours.  Bake at 370 for 5-9 minutes.  Dip in powdered sugar after baking.  Let cool.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.


TJ super loves these! :)

Mint Chocolate Fudge

1 pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
Andes mint baking chips

Melt all together little by little, in the microwave, stirring in between.  Add the mint baking chips last.  Pour into a wax paper, lined pan.  Sprinkle a few more mint chips on top and let cool to harden.

Cut into small bite size pieces to enjoy.

The picture show a double batch so it is spread out in a larger jelly roll pan.

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

1 can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz white chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 a bag (5 oz) Andes peppermint crunch baking chips.

Melt chocolate with vanilla and sweetened condensed milk in the microwave, a little at a time.  Mix together once melted and mixed thoroughly, stir in the peppermint baking chips.
Pour into a flat pan lined with wax paper.  Let cool to harden.  Cut into small pieces.

Whipping Cream Caramels

3 cups white sugar
3 cups corn syrup
1 quart whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt

Cook sugar, syrup, salt and 2 cups of the whipping cream to 240 degrees.  Add 1 cup of cream slowly and cook to 240 degrees again.  Add the rest of the cream and cook to 246 degrees.  Pour into a BUTTERED pan.  Let stand until hardened and cut into squares.  Wrap in wax paper to make individuals.

 Make sure you are using a candy thermometer.  Just a regular meat thermometer is not going to work.  And learn from my mistake.....and make sure there is plenty of butter on the pan or the wax paper.  I did not do that this time and it stuck to the wax paper so it took me much longer than necessary because I had to cut off the wax paper.  Believe me, that is not fun.

Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

2 cups cooked wild rice (about 2/3 cup raw)
1 large onion, finely diced
1 carrot, shredded
1 rib celery, finely diced
1 1/2 cup cooked chicken (or turkey, we used left over turkey instead of chicken)
1/2 cup butter
4 Tbsp flour
8 cups chicken broth
herb seasoning
salt and pepper
1 cup light cream or half and half

Prepare wild rice according to package directions.  Saute onion, carrot, celery and chicken(turkey) in butter in large saucepan about 3 minutes or until vegetables have softened slightly.  Stir in flour, a bit at a time, stirring and cooking until flour is well blended., but do not let brown.  Slowly add chicken broth, stirring until flour-vegetable mixture is blended well.  Add wild rice, herb seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.  Heat thoroughly.  Add cream and reheat gently, but do not boil.  Yields 12 servings.

Menu-3

Sunday
Lunch- Chicken Gourmandise
Supper- PopCorn

Monday
Lunch- Grilled Cheese
Supper- Bowtie Pasta

Tuesday
Lunch- Sloppy Jos
Supper- Chicken Chili Cheese Dip

Wednesday
Lunch- Peanut Butter & Jelly
Supper- Crockpot Mac & Cheese

Thursday
Lunch- Pepperoni Pockets
Supper- Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Friday
Lunch- Chicken Quesadillas
Supper- Pizza in a Bowl

Saturday
Lunch- Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Supper- Seven Layer Rigatoni


Remember the best part of a menu is....even if you don't feel like having that specific thing on that specific day, you at least know you have all the ingredients to make all those meals.

Blender Jell-O

1 pkg dream whip
1 pkg jello (your flavor choice) I used raspberry this time.
1 pkg cream cheese
1 large can of pears

Drain the pear juice into a measuring bowl.  Add just enough water to get it to be 2 cups.  Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Put the juice and jello pkg in the blender.  Mix together.  Add the dream whip pkg and blend together.  Add the softened cream cheese and blend.  Add the pears last and blend together.  Pour into a 9x13 glass or tupperware container.  Chill overnight to set.

Easy Chili

1 large can tomato juice
1 lb hamburger
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup green pepper
1/2 cup onion
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
pinch of basil
3/4 cup sour cream
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chili beans

Fry Hamburger with green pepper and onion.  Leave grease if there is just a small amount.  Add the rest of the ingredients except the sour cream.   Let simmer stirring occasionally.   Add the sour cream 10 minutes before serving.  Stir until blended in.  Serve with crackers and cheese.

Christmas Wish List

I'm pretty sure all our Christmas gifts have already been purchased.  So really, maybe the title of this blog should be homeschool wish list.  But in light of the season we'll stick with Christmas Wish List.  A few of my other homeschool blogging friends are doing this and I thought I'd share with you some things we'd like and some great learning hands on fun things that the kids would love to do and have!

A lot of these are by a great company that I'm newly finding out about myself.  

 Guidecraft.

3D Feel and Find.

Thread Heads Family

Rainbow Block set

Alphabet Lacing Kit

Magnetic Color Cubes

Sort & Match Animal Train

There's so many more things I could add to this list, but I'll stop there for now.

 :)  Maybe I'll put some more ideas on here some other time just to show you what I come across that's an awesome learning toy/game.