Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a great New Year! Please be safe tonight and don't drink and drive.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Freezer Friday (Lasagna Roll Ups)

Lasagna Roll-Ups

1 box lasagna noodles
1 pd ground beef
15 oz container of Ricotta Cheese
8 oz of mozzarella cheese
extra mozzarella cheese for top
2 eggs

Boil lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Cool. Cut each noodle in half (across the middle) Mix cooked ground beef, both cheese's and eggs. Spread a thin layer of mixture on each noodle. Coat bottom of pan with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce and place each noodle fold side down. Cover noodles with spaghetti sauce and top with mozzarella cheese. bake at 350 for 35-45

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thrifty Thursday

I have a ton of felt scraps laying around and was getting tired of storing them. I decided to make a small Tic-Tac-Toe Board with it. It was cheap to make and my girls will love playing with it.
The pockets on each side hold the game pieces. Don't mind my dirty carpet lol.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Whatever Wednesday

I just bought a TRU 3-Crock Buffet Slow Cooker from Kohl's online. It was on sale half price for $29.99!. It should arrive any day now. Does anyone have one? I am curious how much they hold. I am thinking it will be great to use on New Years Eve for our little smokies and cheese dip.

Tasty Tuesday ( Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes) A DAY LATE

Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes
4 pork chops
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup milk
3 green onions, sliced
3 cups sliced potatoes
4 slices American Cheese
1/8 tsp. pepper

Cook pork chops in oil until brown on both sides. Drain. Add soup, milk and onions. Cook until heated through. Remove from heat. In a 8x8x2 baking dish arrange pork chops and then  half of the potatoes. Top with cheese slices and then remaining potatoes. Pour soup mixture over everything. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1 hr and 25 min. Remove foil. Bake 30 additional minutes.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Make-it Monday

I don't have a Make It Monday craft for today. We are spending time cleaning up from yesterday and opening the never ending supply of toys that are still in boxes.
 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We will getting back to normal on posting after the New Year.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Thank you Mindy

I would like to thank Mindy for keeping up the blog the last few week.  My family has been going through a rough time the last few weeks.  My youngest son when in the hospital on December 5 and was in till December 17.  We had to bring him home with Hospice care and he died yesterday at about 2:00p.m.
 
He had Duchennes muscular dystrophy and his little heart had gotten weak due to his disease and he got a virus that hurt his lungs.  His heart could not keep up with the stain the virus put on his body.

But I know with out a doubt that he is in heaven with god.  Because he stopped breathing while he was in the hospital.  When he woke up he told me and his dad that he had seen heaven and it was beautiful.  So God has a new Angel to sing on his birthday this year
.
So please keep our family in your prayers   

Freezer Friday (Chicken and Potatoes)

Easy Chicken and Potatoes

* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
* 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or mix basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, and garlic powder to equal same)
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
* 4 to 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or thick slices

Preparation:
Place chicken in bottom of Crock Pot. Sprinkle with half of the Italian dressing, spices, and the grated cheese. Put the potatoes on top or around the chicken. Sprinkle with the rest of the dressing, spices, and cheese.

Cook on low for about 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is done and potatoes are tender

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Tasty Tuesday ( Peanut Butter Tast Cake)

Peanut Butter Tasty Cake

4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
2 tsp melted butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 ( 8 oz) Hershey bar

Mix all ingredients together, except the Hershey bar. Pour into a greased and floured cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. While cake is hot, spread peanut butter over cake. Refrigerate until cool. Melt candy bar and spread over cake.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Make-it Monday

Are you looking for some ornaments tomake with your kids? salt Dough ornaments are cheap and easy to make!

1 cup cornstarch 1 cup salt 1 cup water
Cook on low in a saucepan until it resembles firm mashed potatoes. Then  take it off and let it cool. Cut into desired shapes and place them on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 200' for 3 hours. After they are done baking let them dry overnight. Then the next day you can paint them

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Thrifty Thursday

Christmas is coming quick and if you are like me you are not ready at all! Do you buy your kids teachers a present? If so here is a very simple present you can make for them! Just buy a clear picture frame, cover it with scrapbook paper and hot glue a pack of post it notes to it!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Whatever Wednesday (Pinterest)

Are you a member of Pinterest? If so come follow me and Stephanie! We do have different pages.

Mindy- http://pinterest.com/mindy525/

Stephanie-http://pinterest.com/stephanieme/

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Tasty Tuesday ( Baked Beans)

Crockpot Baked Beans
2 lg cans of Campbells baked beans
1 pd hamburger, browned
½ cup ketchup
1 tsp mustard
¼ tsp red wine vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup onion flakes

Dump into crockpot and cook until heated through.
These go great with ham at Christmas!

Make-it Monday

I am sorry this is late. Stephanie's son is still in ICU at the hospital so bear with me as I try to keep this up.
Here is a very easy way to decorate plain candles. Using a paint brush cover the candle in Mod Podge. While it is still wet roll the candle in Epson salt. Tie a pretty ribbon around it when it dries and your done!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Freezer Friday (Easy Chicken Pot Pie)

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

1 (10 oz) bag frozen vegetables
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 (12 oz) can of chunky white chicken
dash of thyme
1 box (2) Pillsbury pie crust

Line a 9 inch pie pan with one crust. In a med bowl combine soup, chicken and thyme. Pour into crust. Cover with remaining pie crust. Flute edges of pie crust. Bake at 350 for 35-40 min

Thrifty Thursday

Do you need to make a cheap gift that doesn't take a long time? Decorating a candle is perfect. For the one here in the picture shown all I did was hot glue some flowers to it. Easy, cheap and a cute gift for a teacher, bus driver, etc.

Whatever Wednesday

I am so sorry that we are behind in posts. Stephanie's son has been admitted to the hospital and I have been really busy. Today I am going to post a cute craft to make.
All you need are Hershey Bars, white paper and either baby socks or material. Decorate how ever you want and you have a great stocking stuffer. You can also make these for Halloween using green paper. They are sure to be a hit....after all who doesn't like chocolate?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Tasty Tuesday ( Buckeye Bars)

Buckeye Bars

1 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
5 Hershey candy bars

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine butter and 1 cup peanut butter. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 1 minute or until butter is melted, stirring once. Beat in sugar. Spread into a greased 12x9x92 pan. In a microwave safe bowl, melt candy bars and remaining peanut butter, stir until blended. Spread over peanut butter layer. Refrigerate until cool.

THESE ARE GREAT TO MAKE AT CHRISTMAS!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Make it monday

I everyone sorry about the lack of post this last week I have had a sick child and Mindy has been really busy.  

Today I am going to do a post about a Christmas gift I made for my 2 oldest boys last year.  My middle son likes to cook and is pretty good at it.  The oldest is getting better at it.  And there are some things that they always like for me to make.  So I wanted to give them these recipes.  A recipe book was out since they are kind of girly a recipe box might have worked.  But I was trying to think of something a little more creative.  I came up with what I think is a pretty good idea.  


I took a simple CD wallet like this one.  You can pick them up at the dollar tree.  Then you cut out circle the size of CD's from scrapbook paper or card stock.  make sure it will fit in the cd holders.  Then I used paint and stretched the oval shape into a circle and typed the ingredients in the circle.  And then typed the directions on another circle.  They look like this when it is done

Then print them on more card stock or scrapbook paper.   Then cut them out (I used decorative scissors to cut some of mine out) and glue them on the front and back of the cd size paper.  

They will look like this when you are done.  Then you simply slide them in to the Cd slots like this

If you would like you could laminate them but they seem to be holding up fine like they are.  You could also decorate the out side of the cd wallet.  Like I said these were for boys so I thought the plainer the better.  
I hope you like this idea for a gift for the guys 

Have a great day 
Stephanie  

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Tasty Tuesday (Baked Ziti with Queso Sauce)

Baked Ziti with Chicken in Queso Sauce

2 cups shredded coked chicken

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can Roel tomatoes

1 pd Velveeta, cubed

2 cups shredded cheese

1 box ziti noodles, cooked



Cook chicken and shred. Cook pasta and drain. Melt velveta in the microwave. Mix soup, rotel and melted cheese. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into a 9 x13 dish. bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Top with a sprinkling cheese and serve.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there in blog land.  I hope you all enjoy a wonderful day filled  with family ,friends, and of course great food.

Starting tomorrow we will be trying to do Christmas related post till Christmas.  

Stephanie and Mindy

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Candy Making


If you all are anything like me you will be getting ready for Christmas starting Friday morning.  We always put are tree up the Friday after thanksgiving.  That gets me in the mood to make candy.  So I am going to share a few of my favorite candy recipes with you.
Fudge


18 oz chocolate chips
1 can Eagle Brand milk
pinch of salt
3/4 cup nuts
2 tablespoons butter or margarine 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chips and Eagle Brand milk.
Remove from heat, and add remaining ingredients. Pour in 9 inch square pan.  ( I line the pan with foil so that the fudge is easier to get out. )  Chill a few hours, then cut into squares. 


 
Buckeyes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. peanut butter      1 pound confectioners' sugar


1 tsp. vanilla          1 stick butter or margarine


6 ounces chocolate chips          1 ounce paraffin wax

Directions:

Combine peanut butter, sugar and vanilla. Melt margarine and add to peanut butter mixture. Melt in double boiler, chocolate chips and paraffin.
Roll candy mixture into balls and chill. Dip in chocolate mix and lay on wax paper.


 

Bourbon Balls


Ingredients
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans
6 tbsp. bourbon
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 sticks butter less 1 inch of 1 stick
8 oz. chocolate (for melting)

Combine the nuts and bourbon. Set aside and let stand for two hours. Cream the sugar and butter until the consistency of meal.  Add the nuts. Roll into little balls then refrigerate approximately 1 hour.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler.  Dip the balls in the chocolate and place on waxed paper.  Store in covered container

 

Microwave Toffee




1/2
C
Pecans - finely chopped
1/2
C
Butter (1 stick)
1
C
Sugar
1
Tsp.
Salt
1/4
C
Water
1/2
C
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4
C
Pecans, finely chopped

Sprinkle 1/2-cup pecans in a 9" circle on a greased cookie sheet and set aside. Coat the top 2" of a 2-quart Pyrex measuring cup with butter. Add butter, sugar, salt and water - but DO NOT STIR! Microwave on high 10 -11 minutes or until the mixture just begins to turn light brown. Pour over pecans. Sprinkle with chips and let set for one minute. Spread melted chips over toffee with knife and sprinkle with 1/4-cup pecans. Chill until firm. Break up into bite-sized pieces. Store in airtight container. Yield: 1 pound.

I am planning to try lots of new candy recipes this year as I try them I will post them if they are any good.
Hope you get a chance to try these.  

Stephanie