Dr Suess Birthday Ideas

As most of us who work with young children know Dr Seuss's birthday is Saturday March 2nd.  We are talking about Dr.Seuss all this week.  And reading lots of his books.  I was even able to find some really cool games for us to play.  All I did was go on google and search for Dr Seuss craft ideas and I ended up at about.com the has links to lots of stuff.  Here are a few pictures of the games I found.

a maze

 cat in the hat tic tac toe

the lorax dominoes

green eggs and ham tic tac toe

I had my older child in childcare here color the ones that needed to be colored.  Then I cut them out and laminated them and re cut them out so that they would last more than a few day.  I may put velcro on the tic tac toe games. 

There are also links to more mazes and find the difference pages. So if you are looking for fun simple Dr Seuss ideas check these out.
Stephanie

chicken and dumplings

Chicken and dumplings

I made chicken and dumplings for dinner the other night and I wanted to share how easy it is with everyone.
Ingredients
3 boneless chicken breast
5 chicken Bouillon cubes
Bisquick
Corn starch

I just took 3 frozen boneless chicken breast and put them in a pot with about  8 cups of water and 5 chicken Bouillon  cubes. Place on the stove and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Let the chicken boil till it is cooked all the way through. Then remove the chicken from the water and chop up fine.

Remove about 2 cups of chicken water.  Add chicken back to the rest of the water.  Then use the drop biscuit recipe on the Bisquick box to make dumplings using the water you got out of the pan for the liquid in the recipe.

 Then turn burner up to high and drop the dumplings by spoonful into the pan with the chicken . They will go all the way to the bottom but will rise back to the top as they cook.  The dumpling take only a couple of minutes to cook. If you are unsure if they are done simply scoop 1 out and try it.

My sauce was not very thick when the dumplings where done so I thickened it up by mixing 4 TBL of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water together in a cup and stirring it in to the chicken and dumplings while burner was still on high the whole time.   This thickened it right up.

Everyone liked them even my next door neighbors who had some the next day because I had so much left over.  This would probably make a good freezer meal.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or email us

Stephanie

Freezer Friday (Marvelous Italian Mini Meatloaves)

I have a index box full of recipes that I have copied from various places ( books, magazines etc). Every once in awhile I go through it to find something new to make. I came across this recipe and decided to try it. I am not a big meatloaf fan at all so it was kind of surprising that I made it. I am glad I did though because we all loved it! It was easy to make and you can freeze them with no problem!

1 pd ground beef
1 pkg Stove Top Stuffing Mix
1 cup water
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3/4 cup spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375. mix meat, stuffing mix, 1 cup water and 1 tsp Italian seasoning until well blended

Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray; make an indentation in the center of each with a spoon.

Spoon spaghetti sauce into center of each meatloaf.

Bake 30 minutes.
Top with cheese, bake 5 minutes

Make-It-Monday ( Girl Scout Thinking Day)

I know I have mentioned before that my oldest daughter is in Girl Scouts and yesterday was Thinking Day. Thinking Day is where Girl Scouts all over the world get together and celebrate the different countries. Troops pick a country and do research on it and then make a big poster board of information about it. Most troops will also serve food from that country.
Our troop did 2 countries this year, Belgium and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We made our boards, fixed some food and made swaps for the girls to collect. When the girls arrive at Thinking Day they get a "passport" and a pencil. The "passport" has 5 questions about each countries and the girls go around from booth to booth answering questions, getting their passports stamped and trying new foods.
Everyone has a good time and the girls really learn a lot!

Belgium Booth

U.S. Virgin Islands Booth

Swap for Virgin Islands

Other side of swap

Swap for Belgium

Other side of swap

Postcards we had traded with other girl scout troops in different states

Parade of flags

I will post the 2 recipes we made later this week ( mango salsa and cucumber soup). They were a huge hit and I am sure you will enjoy them to!

Tasty Tuesday ( Golden Baked Chicken)

I tried this recipe for the first time the other night. Everyone in my family seemed to enjoy it. It was easy to make and since it bakes for so long, it kept my house warm on a cold day!
~Mindy

Golden Baked Chicken

2 cups mashed potato flakes
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tbsp paprika ( I didn't have any so I left it out)
3/4 tsp garlic salt
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
Chicken- I used boneless skinless chicken breasts but you can use whatever you want
1 cup butter, melted

In a bowl, combine potato flakes, parmesan cheese, parsley, paprika, garlic salt, onion powder and pepper

Dip chicken into butter, then into potato flake mixture. Place on a greased pan and bake at 375 for 50-60 min.

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This serves 12 people. I am unsure where I got the recipe from. I had it written down on a index card

Make-It-Monday (Cookie Costumes)

It has been quite some time since either Stephanie or I posted anything. So much has happened over these last couple of weeks that neither one of us has had time to be on the computer very  much.
Last Saturday we lost a great friend and neighbor to lung cancer. We knew Carol only had a short time left with us but it happened so quick and took all us by surprise.She was a special lady and we are going to miss her more than words can express. Stephanie and I both made it to the viewing and I made it to the funeral.  As hard as it was to see her like that, we know she is in a much better place.
My oldest daughter Emily has been sick lately and missed a week of school and then I found out that they are pretty sure my mom had a stroke last Thursday. She has a MRI this Wednesday to confirm it. Lucky for her it was mild but at this point she can't drive and is having a hard time writing. I am sure she will recover well but it is hard to know something like this has happened. This is not how any of us wanted to start out 2013!
I am sure most of you know that it is cookie time again. My daughter is in Brownies so this year we came up with the idea of making some cookie costumes. I think they turned out really cute and we got lots of compliments on them.

My daughter is the one wearing the thin mint. We did get some more of the cookies made but I don't have pictures of them on my computer right now. I made the 2 of these out of felt. I am sure you can figure it out on your own but if you want detailed instructions just let me know!
~Mindy

thrifty Thursday

Hey guys I had a great time at goodwill this weekend.  Here the first Saturday of the month everything is half price in the whole store.  Also we have rewards cards for the stores in and around Indianapolis that gets you 20% off  if you spend $20.00 or more.  So I had a really good time finding some really good deals.  Look at all the stuff I scored for $28.81.

a wine bottle holder for storage in carft room and a thread spool holder

 

10 books 1 set of wings and a halloween craft foam kit

 

2 clocks, a purdue glass, a dog water bowl,star molds, a liter glass pitcher, and a metal candle holder. 

2 lazy susans and 1 two tiered lazy susan, 1 set of 3 spring draw organizers, a gift bag holder, a holder for craft stuff that has detatchable boxes to take on the go with you. and a glass canister with a lid.

 

These last three pictures are close ups of some of my better finds.

 

I am going to have to take one of the clocks back because it doesnt work.  But that does happen some times.

Happy Thrifting to you all.

Stephanie

Whatever Wednesday (Pineapple Cake)

I am not a big baker but for some reason I was on the mood to bake something today. I went through my recipes and found this one for a pineapple cake. I am not sure where it came from as I had just written it on a index card. I am glad I tried it though, it came out wonderful!

Pineapple Cake

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts, optional
1 lg can crushed pineapple, with juice

Combine flour, sugar and baking soda.

Mix pineapple with eggs and vanilla.

Gradually add flour mixture and nuts.

Bake in a greased 13x9 pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

Tasty Tuesday~Taco Salad

I love taco salad! It is one of my very favorite foods. We make it a couple of different ones but the one I am going to blog about is made with Fritos. It is so simple it doesn't even need a recipe.

First you need to brown your ground beef and then add the taco seasoning ( just like you do for tacos)
Cut your tomatoes up. On a plate layer fritos, ground beef, shredded cheese ( we like to use mexican style) and top with tomatoes.
Of course you can add whatever toppings you want but this is a very yummy way to eat it!

ladder blanket holder.

 

As you know I run a daycare in my home.  The children I have now like to cuddle up with blankets on the couch.  I don't mind at all except for the fact that I end up with blankets all over my living room.  So I was scrolling thur pinterest the other day and saw that someone had used a old wooden ladder to hold blankets.  Well I didn't have a old ladder but I loved the idea. So I showed the idea to my wonderful husband Scott and asked if the could make me one.  So after a little debate we decided to use the 2X2's we had in the garage.  He used a whole 6 foot 2X2 for each of the up and down rails then he decided to cut the 2X2 in half making it a 2X1 to do the rungs on the ladder.  You can make your rungs as short or wide as you like.  These are 1 foot wide and spaced half a foot apart.  I am going to have him make me another one for are bedroom and the rungs will be at least 16 inches wide.  As you can tell from the picture above it works great.

now I just need to decide between painting it or staining it.  Any suggestions

 

Stephanie