APRIL FOOLS ....

So it was nice to do April Fools Day this year.  With Dennis being sick last year and all that - we didn't do it.  Actually - I think we were all literally sick last year cuz we had planned on doing it.

Of course having a bunch of kids with Sensory Processing Disorders ... LOL.... we ended up eating most of it ourselves.  Well I didn't - but Cal and Dennis did - and Kaedyn liked the "hamburgers" ...

The "Magic Drinks" or "Deviation Drinks" came off of Pinterest ...    But basically - you are suppose to paint some food coloring on the bottom of clear cups and let it dry (thin layer of food coloring) ... and then cover up the evidence with ice.  Well, our "food coloring" hadn't dried yet and when I put the ice cubes in you could see the food coloring on the bottom a bit.  So we tried to distract the kids from noticing and it worked pretty well....

 We called the kids over individually and they were all amazed - "How'd you do that?" and I'd just say ... "Magic" ...  LOL...   it was cute.

 Cal got a light green, Kaedyn the darker green, Noah the blue and Nathan the red (was supposed to be pink) ...  All the kids drank theirs except for Nathan, he avoids red foods and doesn't like 7-UP ... but he thought it was cool.   I thought there was a chance he *might* drink it since it was pink - but it came out more red... he called it red...

Divinations Class Drink (inspired by Harry Potter)

To create this activity, you'll need:

• clear cups (plastic or glass)
• food coloring
• ice
• clear liquid (we used 7-UP)
• a sign describing what each color predicts. (which we didn't do)

The process is simple.  Well ahead of when you want to do it, paint a smudge of food coloring (I used reg food coloring, and that may have been our mistake, it's suggested that you use Americolor gel food colorings) on the bottom of each cup and let dry.

When the time comes that you want to use it, fill a cup with some ice (to cover the smudge of food coloring) and place it in a child's outstretched hands.  Show them how to hold their hands out on front of themselves.  

It feels strange and mystical, and is the perfect misdirection to prevent them from having any chance of seeing the food coloring on the bottom of the cup.  I suppose you could use an opaque cup, but then the end result wouldn't be nearly as dramatic.

Have the child concentrate on her future, then add the clear liquid.

The wonder and delightment is the best part.... 

You can see the original recipe and pictures at Tradewind Tiara's Blog ....

Funny story with the "Cups of Dirt" ...  or "Dirt Cakes" ... Nathan wanted nothing to do with them, again, go figure.  Noah and Kaedyn were very convinced that they were - infact - cups of dirt.  Dennis did them, and he was supposed to use chocolate pudding, but he didn't think of that ... regardless I tried to hand Kaedyn a cup and asked him

"Do you want to try some dirt?"

He shook his head.

"But it's really good...." and I took the spoon I was holding and dipped it in the top of it... pulled some out ... mostly the "dirt" ...  "Are you sure you don't want to try some?"

He shakes his head followed by a "NO!"

"Are you sure?" and I pushed the spoon towards him.  I kept getting shaking of his head and no's ... so I said I would eat it and pushed the spoon towards my mouth and acted like I was scared to eat it.  Pushed it back towards him and asked "Are you sure you don't want to try it first?"   He shakes his head again.  "Should I try it first?"

"Yes, Momma" ...

I acted all hesitant and then ate it.  His eyes got super big ....  asked him again, and he still said No....  so I said "What if I told you it was cookie dirt and pudding?"

So after a little hesitation he tried it and was all NUM ... lol....  then he went around the rest of the night talking about cookie dirt.

Noah was watching the whole thing.... LOL.... he was shocked too but after Kaedyn was NUM ... he figured it was safe enough and ate some.

We found this recipe on All Recipes...

CUPS OF DIRT

Ingredients

• 1 (20 ounce) package chocolate sandwich cookies
•  1/2 cup butter, melted
   2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
   3 cups milk
   1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
   1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
  
  

Directions

Original recipe makes 1 - 9x13 inch pan

Using a blender or food processor, crush 2/3 of the cookies. Stir in the melted butter, then press into a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together instant pudding and milk. chill in freezer until thickened. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese into the pudding. Fold the dessert topping into the pudding mixture by hand.

Spread over the prepared crust. Crush the remaining cookies in the blender, and sprinkle over the top of the pudding layer. chill for at least 4 hours or until serving time.

Again ... if I had picked stuff up - I wouldn't have gotten gum drops with the sugar on the outside.... and I would have uses frosting or something do make the ketchup and mustard - or something...  and we didn't do the sesame seeds on top... nor did we "bake" them...

And again, this recipe was found on All Recipes ....

Ingredients

•  4 drops green food coloring
   1/2 teaspoon water
   1/4 cup flaked coconut
   48 vanilla wafers
   24 chocolate covered thin mints
   1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions

Original recipe makes 2 dozen

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, combine food coloring with a few drops of water. Add coconut and cover the container, shake until coconut is tinted. Set aside.
3. Place 1/2 of the vanilla wafers, flat side up, in an ungreased cookie sheet. Top each wafer with a peppermint patty. Place in the oven about 1 minute or just until chocolate begins to soften.
4. Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle each mint with 1/2 teaspoon coconut (for lettuce). Place another vanilla wafer on top and press gentle. With a clean paint brush, brush the top of each hamburger with just enough water to moisten so that the sesame seeds will stick when sprinkled on top of each cookie. NOTE: You can use canned chocolate frosting in place of peppermint patty, then eliminate the baking.

Creative Leftovers ....

We had pasta the other night.  The sauce was super good ... I added some zucchini and onions ... yum!  I love to add more veggies to Prego Garden Style Sauce...   Well the noodles got eaten ... but we had some left over sauce - so of course I threw it in the fridge.  A couple days later I tossed some chicken in the crock pot and tossed the sauce in there with it.  It was pretty good. 

So - after dinner when I was putting the left overs away the chicken had all fallen apart - so it was like shredded chicken in sauce. 

A few days later we had noodles and sauce again....  and I should add that another thing we love is to fry up pepperoni and put some on top of our spaghetti ...

So I took the left over chicken, cut up some onions, some sweet peppers ... put them in a sauce pan.... here it is before adding two jars of sauce.......

 Fried up some pepperoni .....

 Noodles are cookin ....

 Lil Chef is helping ..... 

 This is what it turned out as ...... and oh my gosh the sauce was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G .......

It was a great way to utilize the left overs TWICE! 

The BEST Banana Bread Ever!

Around the same time I got the recipe for CAKE MIX COOKIES .... I found this super easy "dump" recipe for banana bread.  I was all about easy baking.  I don't have the effortless knack for it that a lot of people seem to.  It's called a "dump" recipe, because you can basically dump it all together and then mix it up ....  I honestly don't use any other recipe, and I panic when I think I've lost it. 

I usually triple the batch when I make banana bread.  And I usually add more bananas then what the recipe calls for.  For example, I usually put in 3 bananas when the recipe calls for 2 ... (for a single batch) ...  so I usually use 9 bananas for a triple batch .... or anything between 6 and 9 ...

So ....... first.... I dump all the ingredients together ...  I usually start with the wet stuff: bananas, butter, eggs, vanilla, milk....   I should add that I usually pop the butter (I use stick butter) in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. 

Bananas in the bowl, the boys unwrapping the butter and putting it in a bowl to soften it up in the microwave

Funny story... tonight when I was unwrapping the vanilla out of the box and stuff...  Noah sees it and I donno his thought process .. but he yells "Mom, what is that?" and I don't answer him right away.  Noah isn't one for patients at anything.... so he immediately breaks into this panic.  "Is that POISON!?!" 

I can see the resemblance, can't you?  LOL!   So I'm amused by this.  Being the horrible mother that I am, I went "Yep" just to feed into his little panic.  He screams "DENNIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Mom's trying to poison us!" and he says "Yeah, it makes it taste good."   Poor Noah.  And then, when he asked me again.  He says "What's it called?"  Apparently he wanted to know what I was going to poison him with.  So I told him.  "Vanilla."  He suddenly calms down.  "Oh, okay."  Everything was fine then. 

So after putting in the wet ingredients ...  I dump in the dry ones... sugar, flour, baking powder, and the baking soda.  Then I put the mixer in there ...  and get those bad boys mixing.   And then after a little time........ the house smells AMAZING and you can sit back and enjoy these!

 Banana Bread Muffins & Loaf

Let me know if you try it out and if you like it :)

BANANA BREAD
1/2 cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Sugar
2 cups Flour
2 Bananas (or 3)
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Tbsp Baking Soda

350 Degrees ...  start checking the Loaf after 35 minutes, check muffins at 15.  Cooking times vary depending on the altitude ...  When we lived in Wisconsin it was about ten minutes longer then it is here in Washington. 

RECIPE: Bacon Wrapped Lime-Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

I cannot emphasize how AMAZING these are...   I was searching the web for some new recipes one day and happened across this one.... it's from The Wicked Noodle ...  all credit goes there :)  I'm just sharing ...

When starting out the recipe, you put oil, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, lime juice, honey and garlic in a blender and and it is originally all separated like this ... lol..

Then you marinate the chicken in it.

 You roast the jalapeno peppers in the oven

 This is the cream cheese & cilantro mix  (Chef Dennis added a little honey to this mix and a couple habanero peppers chopped finely... he said the honey made it a little slicker to deal with then usual though.)

 Here are the jalapeno's cut in half... 

 being stuffed....

 then we wrapped the marinated chicken around the pepper and then the bacon around the chicken...

 Here is the finished product...

I can eat a ton of these and it doesn't raise my blood sugar much!!  YAY!

Here is the recipe:

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Jalapeno Poppers Recipe

• 1 – 1 1/2 pound package of boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 cup Saucy Mama’s Lime-Chipotle Marinade – or see marinade recipe below
• 6 – 8 jalapenos
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 6 – 8 slices bacon, sliced in half crosswise

Marinade:

• 3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• the juice of two limes
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tbsp Honey
• 3/4 cup Vegetable oil

Puree all ingredients – that’s it :-)


Preheat oven to 375 F.

Place a chicken breast between two heavy-duty sheets of plastic wrap and pound to 1/8 inch thick. Place chicken in a resealable plastic bag with Saucy Mama’s Lime Chipotle Marinade; marinate for thirty minutes.

Meanwhile, roast jalapenos for ten minutes. Remove from oven, and when cool enough to handle, slice in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Combine cream cheese and cilantro; fill jalapeno halves with cream cheese mixture.

Slice chicken crosswise into pieces the same size as your jalapenos (or slightly smaller, as in photo above). Wrap jalapenos with chicken, seam side down. Wrap bacon around chicken, seam side on top, then spear with a toothpick to hold it all together. Place on a baking sheet.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Turn on the broiler the last few minutes to crisp the bacon, if desired. Remove from oven and remove toothpicks. Serve and enjoy! :-)

I HOPE YOU ALL TRY IT AND ENJOY IT!!!

Recipe: Cheeseburger Pie

So as a family of six we really like easy recipes that don't cost a lot to make and are really tasty.  Especially if the little kids will eat it without a problem.  One of the things we make that fits all this is a Cheeseburger Pie recipe.  Now, it's a Betty Crocker recipe that can be found  HERE.   But I'll post the recipe here, just wanted to give credit where credit is due.  But it has a lot prettier picture ....  I have to say.

So ...  first off, this time when we made it ....  we added some jalapeno peppers in with the onions,and then sweated them... 

And Chef Dennis added beef stock to make it a little tastier ... he just reduced it and added it...

the finished product ...

IMPOSSIBLY EASY CHEESEBURGER PIE RECIPE

This recipe has been on the Bisquick® mix box for years, and it is still one of the most-requested Impossibly Easy Pie recipes.

Ingredients:

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

1/2  cup Original Bisquick® mix

1 cup milk

2 eggs

STEP 1:  Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.

STEP 2:  In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in salt. Spread in pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese.

STEP 3:  In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.

STEP 4:  Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Expert Tips

Top off a slice of this delicious pie just like you would a cheeseburger. Some favorites are barbecue sauce, bacon, ketchup, salsa and sliced tomato. Or go wild with pineapple slices or avocado!

Dr. Pepper Pot Roast ...

So, I've read about "Cola Pot Roast" or "Dr. Pepper Pot Roast" ... actually, the Dr. Pepper one I had was Pulled-Pork. 

So I thought it was for roast.... whoops... 

So I started a search, and I came across two recipes .. printed them both off ...  and my husband looked at them, and went ... "Phhhhhh, I'll do it my way," .... :::insert panic here:::  Just kidding... he is a trained chef! LOL... 

Yes, that's right ....... my husband cooks, and I don't ...... it is a LOVELY thing....

So the recipes I printed were as follows:

DR PEPPER POT ROAST


Ingredients:
4-5 pound pot roast
10 red new potatoes
2 cups baby carrots
1 can Dr. Pepper
2 Tb minced garlic
Big slosh of soy sauce
white pepper


Optional Ingredients: 
liquid smoke
chopped onion
worchestershire sauce
dash of dry mustard


Instructions: Place your pot roast in the bottom of your slow cooker and add the liquids and seasonings.  Cook on HIGH for one hour, then add the new potatoes (cut in half).  Cook for another hour and then add the carrots.  Cook only until the meat is done and falls apart and the veggies are fork tender, about 4-5 hours total. 

Then I saw this one.......


SUPER-EASY SLOW COOKER DR PEPPER POT ROAST


Ingredients:
3-4 lbs Pot Roast
1 package dry onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Dr. Pepper


Optional Ingredients:
2 chopped carrots
2 stalks celery
1 chopped onion


Mix all together, put in slow cooker/crock pot.  Cook 6-8 hours. 

I totally forgot to take a picture of the pot roast in the crock pot .... but dayum doesn't it look nice and juicey???   It was ...  trust me....  and I had already eaten my carrots....

So....  what did Dennis the Chef do???

First off - we usually do throw potatoes in the crock pot when we make roast, but we didn't this time.  So he made Garlic Mash ...  after he browned off the roast, he threw it in the crock pot with some Italian seasoning ... a little Garlic Powder... some onions, and salt and pepper ... of course with a can of Dr. Pepper ....along with a bag of baby carrots...   and cooked it most the day.   That's it. 

So - that's our adventure with Dr. Pepper Pot Roast!!  It was definitely a different taste then what I'm use to but it was good... 

Recipe: Ham & Cheese Wrap ...

Back in Highschool I was in Home Economics with some good friends and I remembered a few days ago this little recipe that we made and really liked.   It was simple and easy to make...

You take a tortilla shell and spread some cream cheese on it (thin or think to your liking) ...  then you layer some ham .... I added 2 slices of sliced cheese to the middle of ours this time .... and then you just roll it up.  You can serve it cold, or throw them in the microwave for a few to warm it up slightly ....

Super Simple, Super Easy and you can do a TON of variations to it ....  the sky is the limit with this one!  I know my kids were up at the table helping with this one too.  It's a good chance to add some good veggies to it also ... FUN FUN FUN .... 

Recipe: Crunchy Ranch Chicken

So Dennis wanted to make this easy dish ....  CRISPY RANCH CHICKEN...

Crispy isn't in reference to the skin, no ... it involves Rice Crispies Cereal ...

 (prior to cooking)

Prep Time: 10 minutes  ... Bake Time: 20-25 minutes 

Ingredients:  (Serves 4)
2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 envelope (1 oz) Ranch Salad Dressing mix
2 egg whites, beaten
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 5oz each)

Directions: 

1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the rice cereal. Parmesan and ranch salad dressing mix in a large bowl.

2: Place beaten egg whites in a medium bowl.  Dip each chicken thighs in the egg whites and then in the cereal mixture to coat evenly.

3: Arrange the coated chicken on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake until golden juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife.  20-25 minutes

Serve Hot.... 

Doesn't it look tasty???

Other Ideas:
* For a different texture and flavor in the coating, substitute crushed corn flakes for the rice cereal in Step 1.
* For a buttery taste, drizzle 1/4 cup melted butter over chicken before baking.

(Nutritional Info: Per Serving:  calories 331, fat 15.4g (sat fat 5.4g), carbs 12g)

Pizza Cups

So awhile back a friend of mine posted on her facebook that they made "Pizza Cupcakes"  ...  I was all, "what the heck is pizza cupcakes??"  ...  so she messages me back and said "it's little pizza things made in cupcake tins" ...  eh... interesting.

She sent me the recipe, I printed it out and gave it to Dennis ....  he made the initial "what the heck...." comment but then did the same thing I did.... huh ... interesting.... 

So .... after that, I have no clue what happened to the recipe and I couldn't just reprint it off because it didn't go in my FB email, it was just a message ....  so there was no record of it!  BUGGER right!?

Well, when I decided to "Meal Plan" ...  I was looking for easy amazing recipes that would be easy to make the kids for lunch.  I mean, I still have about a month of making daily lunch for the kids (before school starts) and just wanted to make things interesting....  hot dogs, peanut butter, etc... it gets boring after awhile, even for me.... 

So I just happened to come across another recipe for the same type of thing, only this one was just called "Pizza Cups" ...

What it is - is - biscuit dough, in a muffin pan, shaped around the muffin tin, filled with pizza sauce, cheese, a little basil , and pepperoni ....  easy enough right?   And it was so good!!!   So I'll share the recipe, and then share the little things I did or would do differently ... 

What You Need:

* Muffin Tin 

* Cooking Spray

* Kitchen Sissors

* 1 Tube of refrigerated biscuit dough (I used Grands)

* Pizza Sauce

* Mozzarella Cheese, diced or shredded

* Pepperoni Slices (reg. or turkey) 

* Parmesan Cheese, shredded

* Dried Basil and/or Oregano

Instructions:

* Preheat oven to 375 degrees ... and spray the muffin tin with cooking spray

* After opening the biscuits, one is to thick for this, so you take your kitchen scissors and you clip around the middle of the biscuit until you have it cut in half.

* You take your twin biscuit halves and you press it around a muffin tin.  (I found that sometimes the middle was a little thin, so you have to press out and re-form the dough a little to get the right consistency in the middle - at the bottom of the muffin tin area -)...  repeat until the muffin tin is full (or you run out of dough)

* Once you have your dough in each of your muffin tins, you then start to put some sauce in the bottom. 

* Then you add some cheese (mozzarella)

* Add your pepperoni

* Sprinkle a little more cheese on top (Parm) and then sprinkle a little bit of Basil and/or Oregano...

* Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Here is my picture of different steps ...   The first row is done until the pepperoni, the second row until the first layer of cheese, and the other two have just the sauce in the bottom...

 This one has the cheese on top, I sprinkled the basil under the pepperoni ....

 Here is a lovely finished product. 

Now I didn't use Mozzarella or Parm... I just used a shredded cheese blend, because I forgot to specifically get Mozz and Parm....  Which was good, but next time, I definitely want to get Mozz and Parm... specifically ... 

The other problem that I ran into, was that I put about a quarter sized puddle of sauce in the bottom, but I don't think that was enough, so next time, I'll use a little more.  It'll mean when the kids bite into it, it'll be messer ... but I will take that chance.  It just wasn't saucy enough for me, but different people like different amounts of sauce, so ...  experiment a little.  I just know I'm not going to be afraid to use a little more sauce (or cheese for that matter) next time... 

The last bit of advice is that my first batch (15 minutes) was over cooked.  I got busy with my kids and next thing I knew the timer was going off so I asked my oldest to get it out while I finished doing what I was doing....  when I got into the kitchen, I saw them a little more then golden brown and only moments from being burnt.  So the next batch, I put them in for 12 minutes and they came out PERFECT!!  So be sure to watch your first batch through the last few minutes of cooking time to figure out the perfect cooking time for your oven. 

Other then that! ENJOY!!!  Please let me know if you try it and what you think!