7 layer bars ... heavenly!!

I have heard of these 7 layer bars (or seven layer bars) ... and thought I'd try it out last week. 

They were gone in a day and a half.  My family LOVED this recipe!  Not to mention super easy to make.

Actually, for me, it's a 6 layer bar.  I didn't add nuts to it.  I'm not fond of nuts in my food.  Separate?  Yes.  In my food?  No.

Here is the recipe (from Eagle Brand)

1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs

1/2 c butter/margarine

1 can sweeten condensed milk

1 c chocolate chips

1 c butterscotch chips

1 1/3 c coconut

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt the margarine/butter and then mix it with the crumbs.  Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam, and then add the crumb mixture, pressing down.  Pour half of the sweetened condensed milk over the crumbs.  Add the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and coconut (nuts too... if you wish).  Finally, pour the rest of the milk over the top, and then back for 25 minutes or until light brown on top.

Let it sit for 10 minutes, and then take a knife and lightly make indentions on where you want the bars to be cut.  Let sit for another 10 minutes, then place in the fridge.  Cutting it will be much easier when it is cold and hardened.
I also took pictures!!  (surprise surprise!)

Yummm.... look at it up close!

Spreading the rest of the milk on top.

What it looks like when it comes out of the oven!

Wait about 10 minutes after pulling from the oven.  Then, lightly cut into squares (I managed to get 35 bars).  Let it sit for a bit longer, then place in the fridge for a few hours.  You'll be able to cut into bars MUCH easier when it's cold since it has already been cut.

making mistletoe cookies!

A few years ago a dear neighbor brought me these green cookies shaped as a wreath with red hots as the ornaments.  I loved them.  Over a year ago, another friend brought these same cookies to a church activity, and I remembered that I loved them.

So this year, the girls and I decided to make them on Christmas Eve.  Only .... the wreath part didn't happen (the circle part).  It just was too messy to make them into circles.  So we just plopped them down on the wax paper ... and I called them Christmas Blobs.

When we took the cookies to a dinner on Christmas at a friend's house, one of the husbands said "hey, these look like mistletoes!" so we renamed them Mistletoe Cookies!

We love them!  Here is the recipe (I got it from allrecipes)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 tsp green food coloring
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups cornflake cereal
• 1 package cinnamon red hot candies

1. Microwave marshmallows and butter on High for 2 minutes. Stir, then microwave on High for 2 minutes more. Stir. 
2. Add and mix quickly the coloring, extracts, then cornflakes. Drop by spoonfuls in clumps on greased wax paper and decorate with 3 red hots each.                
3. Once cool, transfer to lightly greased serving/storage tray with lightly greased fingers.               

The Green Monster Smoothie attacks!!

So .... I'm totally into Pinterest.  I've tried several recipes I've seen floating around Pinterest.  Some were definitely keepers, and some ... not so much!  I've tried a few craft ideas.... one my mom made fun of, and one my mom "oohed" over.

Just for the record Mom.... frugal is in!  Yes, I'm cheap!  Yes, I did take some paint chip samples and make bookmarks!  Yes, they are TOTALLY awesome..... and YES!  I did modge podge our initial "N" onto our pumpkin and tied a ribbon on the stem!  I.Am.Freaking.AWESOME!  I can craft again!
However... I saw a pin for "Green Monster Smoothies".  It had... spinach... in it.  Spinach?  In a smoothie?  Now, we are a total smoothie loving family.  But this one.. I had to try!  Last week I added spinach to our regular smoothies, and gave it to the family.  No one even noticed!!  They were SHOCKED when I told them spinach was added to it!


Luckily I had a pineapple on hand ... and a pear ... and spinach... and bananas.  Yesterday I made it.  It was delicious!  I'm sure chockful of sugar as well b/c of the orange juice... but man was it awesome!  Only one person in the family didn't touch it.  Mike.  Maybe the color turned him off?  I dunno, but the girls and I are in LUV!

Here is the recipe from Annie-Eats (who got it from Une-Deux Senses): 

Yield: 2-3 servings

Ingredients:

1 banana (frozen or not), cut into chunks

1 cup chopped frozen pineapple

1 pear, coarsely chopped

1½ cups orange juice

2½ cups baby spinach leaves, rinsed and dried

1-2 tbsp. honey

3 tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional)

Directions:  Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until completely smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness with additional honey, if desired. Serve immediately.

Watch Katie as she drinks her yummy concoction...

Here is the Green Monster Smoothie....

Watch as she drinks....

gulp

gulp

See Mike as he glances at us and wonders

"what in the heck is my wife doing taking pictures of Katie at 7 a.m. drinking a smoothie?

Hmmm.... she's thinking about it....

thinking...

thinking....

By golly... SHE LIKES IT!

You can't see it, but she's giving a thumbs up!

If anyone needs an invite to Pinterest... let me know. :)

Coconut Lime Banana Zucchini Bread

Last week I saw a recipe that I HAD to try out!  Thanks to Facebook ... I was able to ask a friend of a friend (thanks Jen & Cynthia!) for a recipe they were talking about -- and was able to try it out today!

It is literally a flavor explosion in your mouth!  If you like lime, coconut (I probably lost about half of you right there....), banana and zucchini, then this recipe is for YOU!!

Just go to my recipe blog here ... and read it and try it out!

our newest favorite cupcake

A few weeks ago I found this amazing recipe on Amanda & Kevin's blog and I knew I had to try it out.

Chocolate cupcake.

Chocolate Mousse inside chocolate cupcake.

Chocolate frosting on top of chocolate cupcake with chocolate mousse inside.

Chocolate candy on top of chocolate cupcake with chocolate mousse inside with chocolate frosting on top.

I mean... what's there not to love about this cupcake?  It's a recipe that was created JUST FOR ME!!

So, I made these for Katie's birthday.  Let me say... it was divine!!  and time consuming.....

Here is the recipe: 

List of Ingredients:

1 box Devils Food Cake Mix

1 small box Jello Chocolate Fudge instant pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

1 cup sour cream

Chocolate Mousse Filling

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups milk chocolate chips

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 stick softened butter

2 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup of boiling water

1 bag mini Snickers (I used Reese's Peanut Butter cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake tins with liners. To prepare the cupcakes, place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, milk and sour cream into stand mixer. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Scoop the batter evenly into the cupcake liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cupcakes are cooked through and a toothpick comes clean from center. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let cool.

2. To prepare the mousse, melt the milk chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream with a stand or electric mixer until it looks like whipped cream and stiff peaks form. Fold melted chocolate chips into whipped cream until well combined, then transfer batches into a piping bag. When cupcakes have cooled, press the tip of the piping bag into the center of the cupcake, about 1 inch deep. Squeeze the mousse into the cupcake while pulling the tip out. It doesn’t take much, just one firm squeeze is perfect. Continue filling all the cupcakes.

3. To prepare the frosting, beat the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla & hot water until well combined and a nice frosting consistency. Spread over cupcakes then top with chopped Snickers (or other candy).

Makes 24 cupcakes.  (actually, for me, it made 33)

While I loved Amanda's directions and beautiful pictures on her blog that went well with the recipe, I found that I had a few more steps that I needed to do. 

• First of all, chill the chocolate mousse!!  After you get done making it, put it in the fridge for a bit to harden up. 
• Let your cupcakes TOTALLY cool (like, for several hours!) before you pipe it inside the cupcake. 
• If you do the Reese's PB Cups, buy like 3-4 of the packages of candy (I'm talking about the individual sized that has 8 in a package?... like for $1 each?  I bought only 1 package, and it only covered 8 cupcakes).
• and finally, Amanda didn't have anything liquid for her frosting, and I used this recipe that came out of my Better Homes & Garden cookbook (it's the no-cook Fudge frosting), but it calls for boiling water... butter, vanilla, cocoa powder & confectioners sugar is NOT going to make frosting, something liquid needs to be added, so start w/ 1/4 cup of boiling water and go from there).

This recipe is MOST definitely a keeper for our family!  I think I'm going to try a French Vanilla cake mix next to see how that would taste w/ chocolate mousse!!



::drooling::

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

One final picture??

I've been in the kitchen!

I've been in the kitchen a few times in the past few weeks learning & whipping up yummy stuff!

Come on over and check out what I've been doing!

Pepper Jelly & Texas Caviar is SO delicious!

...yummy treats!

A few years ago, I found this recipe, and it was so incredibly easy, that I put my then little kids to work on helping me make these yummy treats. Since then, my girls have made these every year. It's a family favorite (OK, it's a favorite b/c I don't have to bake or slave over a stove... they can do it all!).

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Place a bunch of square pretzels on a cookie sheet. Line then up as close as possible.
(note to myself: comb Maddie's hair before pictures are taken! EEKS!)

This is where your kids come in handy! Make them unwrap a bunch of Hershey kisses. It'll take a while. Trust me. Oh, and buy a few bags of kisses b/c chances are, they all won't make it to the cookie sheet.

Place the Hershey kisses on top of the pretzel.

Place in the oven and leave for 4-6 minutes. I had to leave for 7 minutes b/c my chocolate was still too hard by 6 minutes.

Dump some M&M's on the table.

When you pull out the cookie sheet, immediately have your kids put one M&M on top of each kiss, squooshing it down.

Tada! Place in fridge for about 10 minutes to harden up!

....cookies with maddie rose

Miss Maddie came up to me this afternoon after church... begging to make cookies. How could I resist such an opportunity?! I couldn't! However, I didn't have any chocolate chips, in which case I would've made chocolate chip cookies. I had just gotten in a magazine from Betty Crocker called "Cookies & Bars". I had "voted" on the cover months ago, and for my participation, I got this amazing magazine! So, both Maddie & I went to work trying to find the "perfect" cookie to make today. Most of the ones she wanted to make, I had to say "sorry charlie... nope!" simply b/c I didn't have an ingredient on hand.

What DID catch my eye, was the Caribbean Lime Coolers cookies! Oh.My.HEAVENS! These are OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Here are some pictures to document this wonderful occasion for Maddie & I as we set out to try our hand at this recipe. I just happened to have all ingredients on hand, which was hilarious in itself: coconut, lime juice, limes, Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix (from Christmas 1 1/2 years ago, bought in a huge box @ Sam's but never used). I mean, who has all those ingredients at once?!

yes, I'm a little crazy for letting her put them in the oven by herself, but she wanted to!

I said "OK, you've gotta start sometimes!"

Caribbean Lime Coolers

(makes 2 1/2 dozen)

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 c coconut

1 tbsp grated lime peel (about 1 lime)

3 tablespoons lime juice (or about 2 limes)

6 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

1/4 c powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, coconut, lime juice, lime peel, butter & egg until soft dough forms.

2. On ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment paper), drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart (or do like Maddie did to get 4 dozen: make them really really tiny)

3. Bake 9-13 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

4. With small strainer, sift powdered sugar over cooled cookies. Store covered @ room temperature.

Notes to add: if you let your 7 year old place powdered sugar on it, WATCH! Otherwise she'll put about an inch of sugar on it, and then proceed to sneeze while holding a cookie to eat, which'll send sugar ALL over her mother. And the floor. What a mess.....

{blueberry streusel scones}

Wanna try this recipe? You know you want to!

Check my recipe blog for the details!

just click on the link and it'll take you there!

{introducing....}

Delicious Memories of Mine!!

....a place where I will add all my tried & true recipes

(just in case if fire or destruction will wipe out all my recipes)

{death by chocolate}

A friend of mine (Mandi) recently celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago. Another friend baked one of the most divine cakes I've ever tasted in my life. She said "you have to try this cake!" So I did, and fell in LOVE! I asked Mandi if she had the recipe, and said she didn't. So.... I did what any brave woman would do when they just HAVE to have a certain recipe. I asked our other friend if I could WATCH her make the cake the next time she made it. Yep, I was too chicken to flat out ask her for the recipe.

So, we made a date, and I learned.

I learned SOOO many amazing tips! I'm so glad I learned how to make this recipe, not to mention all the tips I picked up from my friend Leisa!

So.... jealous that I have this huge cake sitting on my kitchen ledge?

You should be. It's to DIE for!! It is SO incredibly rich. For a chocolaholic like myself, I can't even get through a thin slice of this cake!! It takes me a good 15 minutes!

I think I'm going to start a food blog of all my recipes, and I'm going to post this recipe over there. {{whenever I find the time to start it....}} THAT way, in case of fire or disaster, my recipes will always have a place and I will be able to get to them anytime, anywhere. Stay tuned for when that happens....

{Texas Sized Cinnamon Rolls}

OK... these probably aren't "Texas sized", but they were the largest cinnamon rolls I've made so far. My friend Lisa has 11 kids: 9 boys & 2 girls ~ surely she can make good rolls, right? I had her cinnamon rolls last week, and I truly thought she bought them from the store. Imagine my surprise to see her super large pan filled w/ this amazing treat. Yes, she made them! From scratch! (I sometimes make my cinnamon rolls from frozen bread). So, I told her the next time she made the rolls, to let me know.

Sure enough, Friday afternoon comes around and she's calling me on the phone! "Amy!! I'm making my rolls!" I said "OK, be there in 5 minutes!". So away I went, w/ a huge bowl in my hand, to learn all the secrets of cinnamon roll making (and I learned a lot!).

Cinnamon Rolls

makes 4 dozen

2 c milk + 1 stick butter

melt in the microwave, let cool a bit

Mix:

2 pkg yeast (that's under 1 tbsp x 2, so under 2 tbsp)

3 1/2 c flour

1/2 c sugar

salt (1/2 tsp - 2 tsp)... says recipe calls for 2 tsp but she likes sweeter rolls,

so she uses about 1/2 tsp

Mix milk & flour stuff

Add 1 egg & beat

Add about 3 cups more flour

Knead for 10 minutes & rise for 1 hour or double in size (punch)

Roll out into rectable, and sprinkle cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar, etc.

Do all that extra stuff you love, and let rise again, bake at 350 for about 14 minutes or until done.

Now, we did not use a mixer, we used our HANDS (and a whisk & wooden spoon)! Let me tell you, I am very grateful for my Kitchenaid mixer.... but I did learn that we can use our own hands for this, and it turns out just fine! I did also learn that when we roll it out, it should NOT stick to our rolling pin! Mine was always sticking.

Thanks Lisa for the great tuturial! My first batch (I had to bake them all in 3 pans) was undercooked (ugh), but my 2nd pan was a little overdone. One of these days I'll get it. Why does everyone else's rolls always turn out better than mine? After you pull them out of the oven, drizzle the frosting over it immediately.

Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla (or almond extract)

{My dreams are dashed....}

Long long time ago, when I was a preteen (even a teenager), my mom tried in vain to pull me into the kitchen and together create wonderful memories of cooking & baking. After many tries, and no interest from me, she gave up ..... I did have a love of baking, and I remember one time I made chocolate frosting from scratch, I made it so runny that the frosting just poured all over my cake, and onto the counter where it finally landed on the floor. Apparently I added too much water, my mom said.

Then came the time I made chicken stirfry. It called for red pepper..... I couldn't find "red pepper" so I used cayenne pepper. That night as I proudly served my mom, dad & brother their dinner, they pretty much choked on their food. It was a "it's FIRE" hot. Apparently the red pepper is the VEGETABLE red pepper, not the spice. {{how was I supposed to know?}}

Sorry Mom for not paying enough attention in the kitchen growing up. I severely paid for that when I got married..... poor poor Mike!

So, here Katie is 11 years old .... old enough for her to hopefully have some interest in the kitchen. She does have interest, every now & then. She loves to bake, but sadly my patience wears thin, so she's often not invited back in the kitchen for a while (yes, it's my problem, I know that).

Well, tonight for dinner we are having meatloaf. I hate mixing that up with my bare hands. Who else better to help than KATIE! So, I asked Katie if she'd like to help, and she shrugged her shoulders and said "uh.... ok". So I grab my cookbook off the shelf, open it up and show her the receipe. First thing it calls for is ground beef, which is on my counter, thawing out.

I want to teach her how to read a recipe (she knows, but I always think I have to reteach her b/c she just doesn't retain the information, it seems). Here is our conversation in the beginning:

ME: Katie, grab the ground beef.

KATIE: OK... where would I find that? The pantry?

ME: Are you kidding me? {{I stare at her as if she grew an extra head}}

KATIE: No.

ME: Do you know what ground beef is? {{gasping... what have I done to my daughter?! I thought she was pretty smart!}}

KATIE: No.

ME: The other term for ground beef is hamburger.

KATIE: oh.

From there, she (and I mean we) managed to make a wonderful looking mean dish of meatloaf. I think I need to invite her back into the kitchen some more....

Enjoy my meatloaf recipe!

MEATLOAF

2 lbs ground beef (aka hamburger if Katie reads this)

2 eggs, beaten

1 c oats

1/2 c ketchup

1/2 c chopped onion

1/4 c chopped green pepper

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp basil

Mix all together by hand and place in a loaf pan. Cook for 1 hour at 350 degrees, or until done.

{Sweet & Spice}

I have been dying to try my friend Calli's recipe of Chicken Tortilla Soup. I finally gathered all the ingredients for this soup, and after serving it to my family, it is a WINNER! Enjoy this recipe that will for sure keep you warm! Couple it up with my recipe for sweet cornbread, and you'll be in heaven!

Cindy's Famous Tortilla Soup

2 Chicken Breasts
5 Cloves of Garlic
1 Large Can (I think I used 3 normal sized cans) of Green Enchilada Sauce
3 (8oz) Cans of Tomato Sauce (I used 2-15 oz cans)
2 Cans of Corn (drained)
2 Cans of Sliced Olives (drained)
1/2 Teaspoon of Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

Cook the chicken breasts in enough water to cover along with the garlic, cumin, and salt. Take breasts out, cool, and shred. To the chicken water, add all the other ingredients. Bring to a slight boil, then turn down to medium and add chicken. Cook on med-low for about 10 minutes, or until chicken has had a chance to reheat. Put in a bowl and serve with cheese, sour cream, and shredded tortilla chips. I also didn't use sliced olives... I used chopped olives, but it still turned out very yummy!

Golden Sweet Cornbread

1 c flour

1 c yellow cornmeal

2/3 c white sugar

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 c milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x9 pan w/ Pam. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeals, sugar, salt & baking powder. Stir in egg, milk & oil until well combined. Pour batter in pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

This is fantastic with butter & honey (or honeybutter!).

{A new fab recipe}

Last night Mike's work had their Christmas party. I had to bring a meat dish. I asked around for recipes, and my SIL Tiffany had this recipe to try. Coincidentally this is the same recipe that is posted on various websites online. So, it MUST be good, right?

Well, it was!

Here it is. So easy, only 3 ingredients. Eat your hearts out girls!

Sweet 'n Spicy Pulled Pork

1 1/2 c salsa (I used Pace Picante, medium)

1 1/2 c brown sugar

3-4 lbs pork roast

Mix the salsa & brown sugar together. Sit the pork roast in a crockpot, pour mixture over top of roast. Cook on high for 6-7 hours. It will shred by itself. I helped it along by shredding some more and pulling all the fat out at the end. No need to add water as the water will come out of the pork roast.

I don't eat pork... didn't grow up on it, so it's not something I buy, much to Mike's happiness. I don't know my pork parts either. My SIL said "pork roast". But my grocery store didn't have "pork roast". They had "pork boston butt roast" (what the heck is that? Is it a pork that hails its butt from Boston?), or "pork for BBQ carnitas". I had to sadly call up Tiff and ask "umm... what's the difference?", then spotted a meat guy, who helped me along. Apparently, pork for carnitas doesn't shred, so stay away from that. Man, I need a dummies guide to a pig, apparently.

Last night I got SO many compliments on this recipe! It was so yummy, so moist, and yet sweet but a little spicy! I took those mini rolls from Sam's so we ate it like a sandwich. Mike wants me to add a habanera pepper next time. Yikes!

{My new favorite salad}

My favorite salad in this entire world.... I tried this at my friend Mandi's house a few weeks ago, and mentioned in my last 2 posts that I would upload the picture and recipe for it.

Add lettuce (the above was butter lettuce, which I'm not sure what that is, but I guess any kind of nice green lettuce will work), slice up some strawberries. We had bought the small mozzarella balls and sliced those up, but I think those mozzarella sticks will work good too. Then, crush up some candied pecans (we loved the glazed Pecan Pie flavored Pecans). Add those three ingredients to the lettuce.

Then, mix up these ingredients for the poppy seed dressing:

1/3 c red wine vinegar

1 tsp yellow mustard

3/4 c oil

1/3 c sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp poppy seeds

Normally, one would add 1 tsp finely chopped red onion, but I had forgotten it, and it was still delicious! I did not pour all of the dressing over it, maybe about 1/4 cup. I saved the rest in one of my new "oh so cute" mason jars that I am meaning to save for my brown sugar scrubs (still need to get on that!). I have managed to make this salad a few more times, and every time I eat it, I just am "mmmmm-ing" all over again!

Enjoy!

{family: our DSL connection will be here on Wednesday, so I will be able to upload Halloween pictures soon! Stay tuned!}

{Political Perspective from a 6 year old}

Madison came home yesterday showing her paperwork from school. Included in her paperwork was a Scholastic News for Kids, and on it had a picture of Obama & McCain. Inside the paper was three things about each person, and what they liked. McCain loves Mexican food, the book King Arthur and loves to hike. Obama loves chili, the book Harry Potter and he loves basketball.

Maddie’s conversation with me went like this:

Madison: Mommy… we learned about John McCain and Barack Ohana (not Obama, ohana, like “family” in Hawaiian)… and they both want to be presidents!
Mommy: Wow, well, what did you learn about them?
Madison: Well, if it were me to pick, I like John McCain because he likes Mexican food, and I LOVE Mexican food (said with the typical Maddie expression of widening her eyes big), and my favorite book is King Arthur and when we go camping, we always hike, so I LOVE hiking too!
Mommy: When did you read King Arthur?
Madison: in school
Mommy: When do you go hiking when we camp? We haven’t camped in a long LONG time.
Madison: MOMMY! I love to hike!
Mommy: OK …. OK.

So, according to the political perspective of a 6 year old, John McCain is the way to go if you like Mexican food, King Arthur and long hikes.

On the Katie update: her “surgery” went well. The dentist has a cool plasma TV playing Disney movies up on the ceiling, so Katie watched Enchanted the whole time. We went home, and from there she bled for about 9 hours. Her large tooth wouldn’t stop bleeding, but was clotting like crazy, and that was good news, apparently (I did call the dentists’ office again like a concerned mother). Last night she put a towel down over her pillow to catch any blood that may come out, b/c she is a total drooler in her sleep. Madison was VERY concerned about possibly getting blood on HER, so she kept claiming “I don’t want to sleep w/ Katie!” (remember her puking over the sight of blood?) After giving her the choice of the floor or the bed, she made a good choice and stuck w/ the bed. Here are a few pictures so you can see the girl(s) for yourself.... sorry if you get grossed out, but this morning it looked 100% better than it did last night. :)

Other exciting news today, we found our first baby lizard in the house! Yes! We didn’t scream like little girls, but I did trap him in a glass and Mike took him outside (I’m assuming it’s a him). In fact, he showed Katie, but teased her and acted like he was going to throw it at her, and she freaked BAD, and fell over a few things. ::giggling::

In honor of Katie losing her three teeth (4 if you count the night before), here is her favorite soup recipe, which we had last night.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 c chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 (16 oz) pkg broccoli florets
2 ½ c milk
1/3 c flour
¼ tsp pepper
8 oz Velveeta
Heat large saucepan coated w/ cooking spray over medium high heat. Add onio & garlic, saute for 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Combine milk & flour, stirring until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat, add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Place 1/3 of soup in a blender or food processor (or hand blender) and blend until smooth. Yield: 6 servings (1 1/3 cup each).
Both of my girls eat this…. and one of them HATES vegetables (Katie). VERY yummy with fresh bread or rolls on the side.

{Hungry for cake?}

I saw this on a message board I frequent, and I tried it out yesterday for an after school snack for the girls, and it was WELL received!

Know those Warm Delights by Betty Crocker? Those tiny little bowls of cake mix that you add water too, and put it in the microwave? But they're SO costly? Well, here's a fast way to make something similar, w/o breaking the bank or even breaking your diet (if you stick to one!)

Take a cake mix, and dip out 1/4 c of the cake mix. Put it in a bowl, and add 2 T of water. If you want to add some chocolate chips or syrup (caramel, chocolate, etc), go ahead. Mix it all up (or pour the syrup on top), and microwave it for one minute.

VERY easy, and goes well with a glass of milk!

{Knock off Manwich Recipe}

Last night I went to our food storage to find our Manwich cans for sloppy joes... and since Mike was the one who unloaded our food storage and arranged it, I couldn't find it (either we're out or we're missing a few boxes still). I went online and tried to find a recipe so I could use in a flash, and found the BEST recipe that is perfect for Sloppy Joes!!

Basically you still brown your hamburger meat, adding onions and green peppers if you want (I didn't b/c I thought we had Manwich). Add:

one 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1/4 tsp dry mustard

2 Tbsp honey

1 tsp Worchestire sauce (or however you spell it)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Let simmer for about 5 minutes or so, and it's DONE! The mixture is enough for a pound of hamburger, so double accordingly if you have a huge family. I love this moreso than Manwich itself, which is almost too sweet in a way. This was a little sweet, but not overbearingly sweet. Definitely a LOT cheaper than buying Manwich!

{Homemade Banana Ice Cream}

Using my family's basic recipe for homemade ice cream, we tweaked it a little last night and instead of making butterfinger ice cream (which is Mike's favorite of all), we made banana ice cream (I had 6 small bananas that needed to be disposed of, and fast!)

It was OUT OF THIS WORLD! and worthy of its own post. :) Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Banana Ice Cream

2 cups sugar
6 eggs
6 bananas (we froze for an hour)
1 tsp of vanilla (or a little more if you like vanilla)
2 quarts of half & half
a little bit of milk if needed to fill the canister (which we didn't)

We took a blender and blended up 3 eggs, 3 bananas, 1 c sugar and some half & half then poured it in the ice cream maker container. Then we did it again w/ the rest of the ingredients. Freeze as directed according to your ice cream maker. FANTABULOUS!!

When we make butterfinger ice cream, we use 6 butterfinger bars, crushed, and lessen the sugar to 1 3/4 cup.