Homemade Mozzarella Cheese Sticks!!

One of my many guilty pleasures is MOZZARELLA STICKS!!

On Wednesdays and Fridays I have ZERO children with me from 9:15 till 2:15. All I can say is those 10 hours tend to go pretty quickly!!!

Once in awhile I would stop by Sonic and order their Mozzarella sticks and a Strawberry Limeade, GUILT FREE!!!

I don't think I will be indulging like that anymore when I can make a whole bowl full for the same price as five of theirs!! I found this recipe over at THECONFIDENTMOM.

Broccoli & Cheese Chowder

Broccoli and Cheese Chowder is pretty much the only 'soup' that I make. Everyone in my family eats it right up. So why should I
 bother with anything else?

Exciting Review To Come!!

Does anyone else have a flat screen tv on their Santa List??  Well I do!! and if Santa follows through, I'm going to be needing a couple of TV stands for flat screens !!!

One of these would be awesome!!

Special Birthday Dinner (Beef Burgundy)



This is my 'Go-To' recipe for a Special Dinner.
My mom got this recipe from her really good friend Cheryl R. a long, long time ago!! (Sorry ladies, it is what it is!! )

Yummy Rice!!

This rice really doesn't have a name as far as I know, but when I talked to the lady who passed it onto my mom, that's what she asked if I made. 'That yummy rice'

Christmas Tic-Tac-Ho Cookies

  What would Christmas be without a game of Tic-Tac-Toe?

Well, it would still be Christmas but who wouldn't enjoy a game of Tic-Tac-Toe or should I say

Tic-Tac-HO?

I found this cookie idea over at CountryLiving's website.

I just couldn't pass up something so cute to take to my daughter's Christmas Party

at school, even if they were a bit of a pain challenge to make!

 

Christmas Gifts for my Girls' Teachers

I know that I have mentioned before how Thankful I am for the Teacher's that my daughter's have had. I can only hope that they continue to have GREAT Teacher's in the coming years and that my younger two also

Teacher Gift Part 2 (Santa Hats)

Santa Chow!!!

I don't remember exactly how I found THIS post, but when I saw it, I KNEW I HAD to make them!!!

Her  How-To called for the candy melts, but I used almond bark and tinted it because that's what I had

(If you know me and there is an option of buying something or being a tight-wad  frugal, I tend to lean on the cheaper side!)

Teacher Gift Part 1 (Puppy Chow)

I'm pretty sure just about everyone knows how to make Puppy Chow or Muddy Buddies is the Chex recipe.

But I thought I would go ahead and share it on here since this is what we ALWAYS end up munching

on around here at Christmas time!!

Sean tells me he doesn't care for peanut butter and chocolate mixed together, but I CANNOT tell

you how many times I have caught that man with his hand in the bowl getting 'just one more bite'!!

The ingredients are pretty basic.

I usually have everything except the most important part, the cereal!!

Public Service Announcement!!!

This evening I was trying to fix supper before I had to take M and T to gymnastics.

I didn't plan on having it done so we could eat before we left, but I wanted it to be ready

for us when we got back!

I was rushing a little bit and I'm sure I'm probably the only one who happens to make ALOT of

mistakes when I'm rushing!!

I had heated up the oil for PW's Buttermilk Chicken Tenders (which brings me to the fact that I didn't

even get pictures of our meal because of the events that happened next!!)

I reached into the cabinet to grab the season salt and do you know what happened????

My season salt tried to commit suicide!!!!

It jumped right out of the cabinet and landed in the pan of HOT OIL!!!!

It took me about 2 seconds to realize what was going on!!

The oil splashed ALL OVER THE STOVE!!!

Thankfully none of my kiddos were in the kitchen at the time and surprisingly it only splashed onto my shirt!!

My first thought was that there was going to be some sort of fire, and then the plastic bottle started to

Birthday Cookies!!!

Looking back over the past 5 years since my girls have started school, we have been very Blessed

by the Teachers that my girls have had!

M attended Pre-K and Kindergarten at the same school I went to for 10 years and had a Wonderful

Teacher who just happened to be a close family friend also. Every get together we had was pretty

much like a parent-teacher conference and I really enjoyed that.

We moved away after Christmas of M's Kinder year and I finished out that year by homeschooling her.

She had a wonderful first grade teacher and public school was not as scary as I thought it was going to be!!

Next we moved here to Texas and M started second grade and T started Kinder.

AMAZING TEACHERS!!!

I just love the elementary that my girls are going to! and it is because of the teachers!!! They care!!

I was not disappointed by M's third grade teacher or T's first grade teacher either!

and this year???

AMAZING also!!

Which brings me to some BIRTHDAY COOKIES!!!!

T came home from school last week and told me that her teacher's birthday was coming up. T really wanted

to get her something and I asked her what she was thinking.

She wasn't sure at first, but then she told me that Ms. B wanted COOKIES!!

(now this is how I heard it from a second grader, and I probably should have used GOOGLE first, but

I ALWAYS believe my T even when I probably shouldn't)

T started out by telling me Ms. B wanted cookies that were her favorite colors.

I asked what her favorite colors are and had her write them down for me because I was

pretty confidant in myself that I WOULD forget!!

T told me to make the cookies YELLOW, PURPLE AND GREEN because those are LSU's colors.

AND EVERYONE at school knows that is Ms. B's College!

and since making said cookies and checking out what LSU's colors are......they are officially GOLD AND PURPLE so I'm sure Ms. B thinks I'm even looney-er then she first thought!!

and just as a side note........

when did I get old enough that some of my daughters teacher's have been/are younger then me??

any whoot!   I layered these little jewels between wax paper!

and wrapped them up with plastic wrap, a cute purple ribbon and a Happy Birthday wish!!

all after 9pm.

Because apparently that's the only time I like to bake!!!

and I know you are wondering which Sugar Cookie recipe I used, right?

and I'm sure you won't be surprised when I say it's PW's

One of these days I'll post the actual recipe but for now you'll just have to click HERE!!!

Thanksgiving 2010 came and went

Almost five days after Turkey-Day and I'm finally getting my food pictures up! Using the word of a very dear friend, I have been quite the 'slacker'!! I do have good reason's for this taking so long!! I promise!!

As I mentioned before, my husbands family was in town Wednesday evening until Sunday morning.

As soon as they all started back to Missouri, I started laundry, sweeping the floors and just small things in general to get the house back to six people living in it instead of THIRTEEN!!

We get to do this all over again in five weeks and honestly, I can't wait! I love having company and cooking for everyone!

Alrighty, so, reigning myself back to what this post is really about.....

Our Thanksgiving Dinner we had on Friday!!!!

Doesn't that just look DELICIOUS!!!! I could go for another big-o plate of that now!!

Thanksgiving Take 1

I hope everyone has/is enjoying their Thanksgiving!!

We have had Sean's family in since Wednesday night, so it's been pretty crazy  busy

around here! I realized this weekend why I decided to stop with four kiddos

instead of six!! Feeding and cleaning up after everybody, even with my SIL and MIL's help

is quite an undertaking!!

Tomorrow they will all head back to Missouri. I know there will be lots of tears

shed by my girls, but we will do it all over again in a little over four weeks!!

The better part of tomorrow will probably be spent cleaning up the house, doing laundry

and unspoiling my children!!

Next week I will be posting LOTS of pictures!! We had TONS of food on Friday

and I fixed breakfast and dinner each day while everyone was here!

Us girls (MIL, SIL and I) spent the afternoon shopping, while the guys 'watched'

the kids. (I'm pretty sure it was the other way around!)

We went to that SALEPLACE I talked about a couple posts ago. I think my SIL

died and went to craft heaven!! She seemed to be as Excited as I was the first time I

went there!!

And then.....we went to not one, BUT TWO GOODWILL stores!! JACK-POT baby!!

I feel like I got some major steals, but my SIL ended up one-upping me!!

She found some Frogg-Toggs. These puppies are NOT cheap!

They still had the tags on them!! The price said $9 and some change, she went up

to the counter to pay and THEY WERE ON SALE!!! She ended up paying $5 bucks

for them!! Crazy-sweet deal!! Oh yeah, she got the Cherry ones.

I guess I better finish cleaning up the dishes and sweep the spaghetti bits up off my floor!!

Did I mention I've been running my dishwasher at least 2 times a day??? A couple of days it's even

been THREE!! How do some of you do this daily? I'm pooped!!

Thanksgiving Meal

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK!!!

I think I have finally decided what we will be having! This morning I was still tweaking

my Menu, but I'm pretty sure this is what I am sticking with!

Dinner

Turkey, of course!

PW's Green Bean Casserole

Cream Cheese Corn Casserole

PW's Mashed Potatoes

PW's Thanksgiving Stuffing

Southern Seven Layer Salad
Cake Mix Dinner Rolls
Cranberry Orange Sauce


Desserts
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
with  Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce
Chocolate Pie


Is that enough?? Oh, wait!! I forgot our drinks!!
Sweet Tea
Party Punch


My in-laws are coming down to visit for Thanksgiving and the weekend.
My FIL, BIL, nephew and husband are all going to the Cowboy's Game on Thursday.
So we will actually be having our Dinner on Friday.
I have decided that Thursday morning we are going to have PW's Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast
and us girls are going to have her Enchiladas for lunch that day.
The Jury is still out on what we will have for dinner!?!?

I guess I need to get started on making the pie crusts, cinnamon rolls and cornbread. I'm afraid
I'm going to run out of time!!

*My plan is to update this post with pictures as soon as I finish making each dish!

Pumpkin Pie Baby!!!

I have fresh pumpkin puree. Now what to do with it?

Oh, yeah! Make a pumpkin pie!!

pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk,

evaporated milk, unbaked pie shell 

Here I combined the pumpkin and eggs

Just looking at this picture I can smell the cinammon, sugar and nutmeg.

evaporated milk

milk

mix everything well

and pour it into your perfect pie crust

a certain somebody (Sean!!!)

thought he could try and taste it before I got the picture take!!

So Yummy!! I couldn't even wait for the Cool Whip!!

Recipe for My Favorite Pumpkin Pie

4 eggs

2 cups pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/3 cup milk

1 (13 oz) can evaporated milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shells

Combine eggs and pumpkin. Blend sugars, salt and spices. Add milk and mix well.

Pour into pastry shells. Bake at 375* F for 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway

 between center and outer edge comes out clean. Cool. Serve with Cool Whip.

*This recipe can be found in the Trinity Lutheran Church, Freistatt, Missouri Cook book.

It was originally submitted by Lincoln Voskamp.

Don't Let Them Just Sit There and ROT!!!

~Just a little heads up~  LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF PICTURES!!!!

WE HAVE PUMPKINS!!!!

The girls acquired pumpkins from their schools  back before Halloween.

I had every intention of carving them with the girls but I just didn't make it happen.

Even though I was bummed that we didn't carve pumpkins this year, I was able

to do something else with my girls!

 

The girls were disappointed that we didn't pull out the carving patterns

and tools but they did enjoy using markers!



I know I can't keep them Happy all the time, but my girls are pretty good

at quickly getting over their disappointment and being Happy again!

T thought it was GREAT to pull the 'guts and seeds' out of the pumpkin!!

D, not so much! after this picture she asked if she had to keep doing it!

M is quite the trooper too! She pulled Every last one of those seeds out of there!

The after-math almost looked like it was straight out of a movie!



pumpkin seeds and 'gut strings' were EVERYWHERE!!

I cut the pumpkins into a BUNCH of chunks!!

(and yes, I did use both pie pumpkins and jack o' lantern pumpkins) 

I started baking the pumpkin chunks and then ended up boiling two batches

because I was becoming very impatient!

Personally, I preferred how the boiled pumpkin turned out better then the baked.

Fried pumpkin anyone? I didn't have anywhere else to set my skillet.

We had pumpkin EVERYWHERE!!

Here comes the Puree!!!

please excuse the spotted mess all over the counter! 

You'd think a pumpkin blew up or something!!

M helped me out by writing on the bags for me.

I put five - 2 cup bags and one - 1 cup bag in the freezer.

Tina over at Mommy's Kitchen has a Great Pumpkin Puree Tutorial.

Now it's time to use up those seeds!!

The girls each mixed up their own batch of Pumpkin Seeds!!

T's batch was mixed with oil, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg with a

brown sugar crusty glaze.

D's batch was oil and Garlic Salt.

M's batch was oil, garlic salt and crushed red pepper.

Ready for a taste?

Pumpkin seed recipes:

Sugar & Cinnamon

1 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed and patted dry

2 Tblsp. oil

2 Tblsp. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

2 Tblsp. Brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350*F. Mix first five ingredients together. Spread out on a foil covered

baking sheet sprayed with Cooking Spray. Bake for about one hour. Stir the seeds about every

10 minutes. After 30 minutes of baking, sprinkle the Brown Sugar over the seeds and continue

to bake until crispy!

Let cool and place in an air tight container!

For the other two flavors just mix your seeds and ingredients together and following the

baking directions above.

There are limitless possibilities of what flavors you can make your seeds!

*I'm sure some of you are wondering where #4 was after the first couple of pictures!

She did NOT want to have anything to do with the INSIDE of the pumpkins!



Onion Strings

Last night we had a craving for onion rings. I have to be honest,

I haven't made onion rings in a long time!

Sean and I had already decided we were going to use Pioneer Woman's Recipe for

Homemade Buttermilk Chicken Strips and just adapt it to suit our needs!

But, we didn't even have to do that!!

I started looking through my Pioneer Woman Cookbook because I thought

the Chicken Strip Recipe was in there......instead I found Ree's recipe for Onion Strings!!!!

BINGO!!!

Since Ree gives you the 'How To' on her Blog, I'm just going to show you

what mine looked like when they were finished!!

Ta-Da!!

These little do-dads are just as delicious as Ree says!!

I almost couldn't fry them up fast enough. Everyone kept grabbing

them as soon as I put a batch on the plate!

I also decided I'm going to remake these to use on my Green Bean Casserole

for Thanksgiving!

I also got to thinking, How can we eat these delicious onion strings without

the spicy dipping sauce, like what you would get at Cheddars?

I found a recipe on Allrecipes .com to use for the dipping sauce.

It turned out very good!

Golden Pancakes

I love making Pancakes from Scratch!! I can't remember the last time I
 havehad 'store bought' pancake mix in the house. Don't get me wrong, I love

store bought, but here lately, my budget doesn't.

This little recipe can be whipped up in a jiff!! By the time you get all of your

ingredients out and measured your griddle will be nice n' hot!

oil, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs



T sifting the dry ingredients into the bowl

 M taking a turn at sifting

 The beaten egg!

T carefully pouring in the oil and milk mixture

These babies are ready to flip!!

Just a few seconds on the other side!



They really are GOLDEN!!!!

Smear a little butter on each pancake, drizzle some hot syrup over the top

and why not add a glob of cool whip?

Mm-Yummy!!

Golden Pancakes Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

3 1/2 tsp. baking powder

6 Tblsp. sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup oil

Sift together dry ingredients. Add eggs and 1 cup milk; mix well.

Then add remaining milk and oil; beat well. Bake on hot skillet until golden brown.

Any leftover pancakes may be frozen and reheated in toaster for a quick breakfast!



• This recipe is in a cookbook that I hold very dear to my heart! I will go into more detail about this later. ALOT of the recipes I will be sharing will be coming from this cook book! I can't wait to share all of these yummy treats!!