Meatball Stew

It has been awhile since we have posted. The holidays have made everything crazy. I made this for dinner tonight and it is always good. If you are getting a bunch of snow like we are here in Indiana this is a great dinner to warm you up. You can also cook in the crockpot all day on high if you prefer.

Here is a great winter dish. It can be made in the crockpot or in the oven. I hope you enjoy!

Meatball Stew
1 pd hamburger
1 egg
Onion flakes
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1½ can tomato sauce-divided
¼ cup bread crumbs
Carrots-peeled and chopped into small pieces
Potatoes-peeled and chopped into small pieces

Mix hamburger, egg, onion flakes ,bread crumbs, ½ cup of tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Make into meatballs.

 Brown and drain fat off. Transfer to casserole dish (or crock pot) and add carrots, potatoes, 1 cup of water and 1 ½ cans tomato sauce.

 Bake at 350 for 1 ½ hours.

Happy Holidays

Stephanie and I hope that you and your families had a very Merry Christmas. If you are like us you will be spending today cleaning everything up from yesterday lol. We live in Indiana and are in the middle of a blizzard right now so we won't be out shopping and getting any good deals!

Whatever Wednesday ( Baked Ziti with Chicken in Queso Sauce)

Baked Ziti with Chicken in Queso Sauce

2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 pd Velveeta, cubed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 box ziti noodles

Cook chicken and shred.

Cook pasta and drain.

 Melt velveeta in the microwave.

Mix soup, rotel and melted cheese.

Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into a 9x13 dish.

Bake at 35o for 45 minutes.

Tasty Tuesday Beaded Serving spoon and fork

Hello Everyone

Sorry No recipe tonight.  But I got a little craft/Christmas gift for you tonight.  Mindy told me about these a few weeks ago.  And I finally got around to making them.  These are for a friend for Christmas.  They are very easy and really cutie.

I went to the dollar tree and got this serving spoon and fork.

I already had beads and wire from making jewelry so all I spent was $2.00 but it would not cost very much for the supplies.

All you have to do is cut about a arms length of wire and start wrapping it around the serving items.  I start at the back.  Then add beads as I get to the front. And keep wrapping down as far as you want the beads to go.  I think next time I will go farther down.   

when you get as far down as you want to go work you way back up to the top the same way you did.
Next tuck the wire ends in so there is no sharp edges.  So simple and I think a nice gift. 
Now the big question should I make a set for Mindy or should I let her figure out how to make them herself?  HA HA

Hope you guys like this idea if you have any questions please feel free to ask.


 

Dipped Cherry Cookies

I really meant to post this recipe last week but my youngest got sick with bronchitis and I got busy with her and just forgot. I made these cookies for the first time this year. They are really easy to make. I got the recipe from Taste of Home.

Dipped Cherry Cookies

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Imperial Sugar® / Dixie Crystals® Granulated Sugar, divided
• 1 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup finely chopped maraschino cherries, patted dry
• 12 ounces white baking chocolate, finely chopped, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons shortening
• Coarse sugar and red edible glitter

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine flour and 1/2 cup sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Knead in the cherries, 2/3 cup white chocolate and extract until dough forms a ball.
• Shape into 3/4-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a glass dipped in remaining sugar. Bake at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
• In a microwave, melt shortening and remaining white chocolate; stir until smooth.
• Dip half of each cookie into chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; sprinkle with coarse sugar and edible glitter. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: about 4 dozen.

buckeyes Yum

I usually make the buckeyes with rice krispies.  Scott does not like them at all so this year I was looking through my candy recipes and found a recipe for buckeyes with no rice krispies so thought I would try them.  So I made these and had him try them.  He said they were good.  Then a few days later I saw him eating another one.  Well let me tell you him eating them again really means a lot.  So I thought I would share the recipe on here.   Hope you try them there really good.

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

 
Kids will have a ball making these rich treats. Although the centers are traditionally creamy, you can add graham crackers to the mix if you prefer crunchy.

Makes about 7 dozen buckeyes.

1 1/2 cups peanut butter 6 cups confectioners' sugar 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 6 whole graham crackers, pulverized into crumbs (optional) 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1
Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper; set it aside. Using a wooden spoon, mix together the peanut butter, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and graham crackers, if desired, in a large bowl. (The dough will look dry.)

Step 2
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Set them on the prepared cookie sheet and insert a toothpick into each ball. Chill them in the freezer until hard, about 30 minutes.

Step 3
Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set atop a pot of simmering water over medium-high heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat. Using the toothpick as a handle, dip the balls into the melted chocolate, leaving a small circle at the top uncovered. Place the dipped candies back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Tasty Tuesady Fudge in the Microwave

Since Mindy made all those cookies Saturday I decided to make candy on Sunday I did not get as much done as her but I did get some made. 

Today I am going to share with you a idea a saw on pinterest it was for fudge in the microwave.  I went to the sight and realized it was the same recipe I use just made in the microwave.  So much easier.  And just as good.   Here is the recipe

 

Fudge

18 oz chocolate chips
1 can sweet condensed 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, butter, and sweet condensed milk. Stirring the whole time. Remove from heat, and add remaining ingredients. Pour in 9 inch square pan. Chill a few hours, then cut into squares.
Variation: White Fudge: Use 1 1/2 pounds white confectionery candy coating instead of chocolate chips

Now to make it in the microwave simply put choc chips, sweet condensed milk and butter in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Remove for microwave and stir till everything is melted add rest of ingredients and follow rest of directions. 

I am so glad I found this recipe I hated the stirring part of the original recipe.

Hint I line my 9 inch pan with aluminum foil to make it easier to remove the fudge

Stephanie

Make-It-Monday Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

I spent all day Saturday making cookies with my mom, aunt and brother. We ended up making 70 dozen cookies. I know it sounds crazy but we split them up between all of us and we use them as gifts or to share with our family and friends. I am going to post numerous recipes over the next couple of days and Stephanie will be posting some candy ones. The one I am posting today is called Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies. I had made them once before and loved them! They are a little time consuming but well worth the effort. I got the recipe from Taste of Home.
Taste of Home
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 48 maraschino cherries, blotted dry
• FROSTING:
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 to 3 teaspoons maraschino cherry juice

• In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla.
• Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture (batter will be very firm). Shape into 48 balls, about 1 in. round, and place on ungreased baking sheets. Push one cherry halfway into each ball.
• For frosting, melt chocolate chips in milk in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; add cherry juice and stir until smooth. Spoon 1 teaspoon of frosting over each cherry (the frosting will spread over cookie during baking).

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Yield: 4 dozen.

Cool Whip Cookies

I decided to start on my baking for the year and made some cookies today. I had came across a recipe for cool whip cookies and they looked really easy so I decided to try something new this year. At first I didn't think they were going to turn out, the dough is very dry and hard to form into balls. It is worth the effort though because they came out tasting really yummy!

Cool Whip Cookies

• 1 package (18.25 Oz. Box) Cake Mix
• 1 cup Cool Whip
• 1 whole Large Egg
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar

 Set oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients, except powdered sugar.

 Roll a spoonful of dough in powdered sugar.

 Place on a cookie sheet and bake for about 12  minutes

The best thing about these cookies are you can use any flavor cake mix that you want. I only had white cake mix on hand so that is what I used but they tasted great!


Don't forget about the giveaways we are doing this week. Leave a comment to this post if you would like to win any of the following items!

This adorable baby doll dress

These pretty earrings

A menu board

Minnie Mouse Purse

Adorable snowman earrings

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan with Pasta ( and another giveaway!!)

I am always looking for a easy crockpot recipe. I use it several times a week and like to mix it up a little bit with what I make. Yesterday I made Chicken Parmesan and it was so yummy! Here is the recipe that I used.

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan with Pasta

1 egg ( I ended up using 3)
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese
cooked pasta

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray or use slow liner bag ( I love these things!!)
In a small shallow bowl, beat egg until foamy.

In another shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

Dip chicken in egg, then coat evenly with bread crumb mixture.

Place chicken in slow cooker and top evenly with spaghetti sauce

Cover and cook on low 5 to 6 hours. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top and cook on low heat for 10 more minutes. Meanwhile cook pasta.

 Serve chicken with pasta.

And now for another giveaway! Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win

this adorable baby doll dress ( doll not included) This dress will fit most 18 inch baby dolls

childrens christmas trees day one and a give away

Hey everyone here is a cute kids craft and another give away.
Monday we made these really fun Christmas trees. 

you will need green construction paper
green pipe cleaners
large beads
markers crayons and anything else you want to use to decorate your tree.  As you can see we uses the dots we were using on our Christmas cards last week.





First you need to gather 3 different size round object to trace on to green construction paper

then you cut out your different size circles.

next had them over to your younger kids and let them decorate the circles. 

Then you punch a hole in the middle.

then fold the end of a pipe cleaner up a couple of times it should look like this

next you slide a bead on to the pipe cleaner then slide you biggest tree circle

then add 2 beads and the next size circle.then 2 more beads and the last circle then we added a gold bead to the top.  Then twist the pipe cleaner around its self right above the gold bead so that you have a loop for hanging .

this is what ours looked like when we were all done
 

 Here is my give away for today. beaded bobby pins

 If you would like a chance to win it just leave a comment

we are also having a sell on our etsy Shop  50% off just enter the code Merry Christmas