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Funky Snowflakes Holiday

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Super Easy White Bread

I'm not sure if I am crazy or what, but this last time I went grocery shopping, I decided that I wasn't going to buy bread (I know, crazy right?). So I did some searching on the good ol' internet and found this recipe. This was the first time I had made it and I am happy to say that it turned out and also tasted good. So here is the recipe so that you can try it. I am also happy to say that I didn't have to go to the store to buy anything, I all ready had the ingredients on hand, so it didn't really cost anything to make!

White Bread

(For sandwiches)

2 cups warm water

2/3 cup sugar

1 ½ TBSP. yeast

1 ½ tsp. salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

6 cups bread flour

In bowl of stand mixer, add water and sugar. Let dissolve, then sprinkle with yeast and stir with fork. Let yeast mixture sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast starts to foam.

Add salt and oil to yeast mixture.  Attach dough hook and slowly add in flour 1cup at a time.  Knead with dough hook for 2 minutes or until the dough looks smooth.  Place in a well oiled bowl and cover with a wet cloth or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Let raise for 1 hour, or until doubled.

Punch down dough, and knead for 2 minutes and divided dough in half. Place in well oiled 5x9 bread pans. Rise until dough rises 1” above the pan. (I had to wait about another hour)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, and then remove. Let cool 20 -30 minutes before slicing (If you can wait!!).

Mud Pie

Sorry for my absences.  Trying to sell a house and keep crafting/blogging is harder than I though.  I finally remembered to take photos of a recipe I made.  Hopefully you will all enjoy!  It's perfect for warm nights or cool nights wrapped up in a blanket.

Mud Pie

Crust:

2 rows of Oreo cookies

1/4 cup butter melted

Put the Oreos into a food processor and process until it is fine crumbs.  Stir in melted butter and then press into a lightly greased 13x9 inch pan.  Then I like to heat up some Hershey's Hot Fudge and pour over top of the crust.

Ice Cream:

We like Mint Chocolate Chip, but you can use whatever kind you like.  Cookie Dough, Chocolate Chip, Cookies and Cream, whatever.

Let the ice cream sit out for just a little bit so it will be easy to cut.  Cut the packaging off and then with a large knife cut the ice cream into 1/2 - 1 inch thick slices.  Place on top of the crust.

Then cover with foil or a lid if your pan has one.  Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.  To serve cut into squares and top with whip cream and carmel topping.  Yummy!  

I remember helping my mom make this when I was a little kid.  So many memories!  Hope you all like it.

A Birthday Dinner or Breakfast

 Yesterday was my baby's birthday, only he isn't a baby anymore, he turned 5! On my kids' birthday, they get to choose their favorite meal for me to fix. And Sammy chose breakfast. At first he wanted waffles, but then decided that he liked German Pancakes better. Well, this also happens to be my 7 year old's favorite meal as well, so I thought that maybe I should share since the 2 pickiest eaters in my house love these. I was thinking it was just the syrup, but who knows.

German Pancakes

¼ c. butter                                                        1/3 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. milk                                                         3 eggs

¾ c. flour (unsifted)                                          ¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put butter in 9 inch pie plate (or 8x8 square pan), and put in preheated oven until butter melts and is bubbling and golden (about 5 min).  Add the rest of the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Mix on medium speed until smooth. Remove pan from oven and immediately pour in mixture all at once. Return to oven and bake for 20 min at 450. After 20 min, lower heat to 350, and bake for 8-10 minutes more until edges are puffed and browned. A well will form in the middle.

Enjoy with maple syrup and powdered sugar!

What's For Dinner Tonight?

So, the hub-ster is out of town and I wasn't in the mood to make a fancy dinner. But I wanted some good comfort food. So I think...I got plenty of pasta and plenty of cheese. Well, you guessed it...Homemade Mac & Cheese. SO YUMMY!

 Homemade Mac and Cheese

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 cup chicken broth

3 cups milk (about, you may need more or less depending on

 how thick you like your sauce)

2-3 cups grated, sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup grated, Swiss or Gruyere cheese

½ tsp. ground mustard powder

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. chives

½ tsp. tarragon

½ tsp. thyme

1 box elbow macaroni, cooked al dente in chicken broth

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add flour. Add mustard and nutmeg and let cook for 3 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth and milk; whisk until smooth and thickened. Then add salt, pepper, mustard powder, chives, tarragon, and thyme, let cook for another 1-2 minutes. Then add cheeses, slowly. Make sure the sauce is NOT boiling when you add the cheese or it will lump up and not be good. (Make sure you taste everything together to be sure it has enough seasoning) Add in the cooked macaroni noodles and stir to coat. Then pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish or 9x13 pan. Cook at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

*you can also add a breadcrumb topping to add a little extra flavor and crunch. I use about

 ¾ cup seasoned breadcrumbs, 3 TBSP. grated parmesan cheese and 3TBSP. olive oil. Stir together and sprinkle on top of Mac and cheese.

{I will totally admit that I didn’t have chicken broth and used water and chicken bouillon cubes. I also was totally out of breadcrumbs and I used a little extra cheese to top off the dish and baked it until the cheese has melted and the sides were bubbly.}

CHICKEN TAQUITOS

I made these last night for dinner, and they were a winner with my family!! I was totally shocked, because I have 2 really picky eaters. One of my boys can make himself throw up sick if he even thinks he is eating something weird (by his standards). The other morning, I teasingly told him I put raisins in his chocolate chip pancakes, and he wouldn't eat them and was gagging. GEEZ!! So, needless to say even Mr. Uber picky ate these. :)

Chicken Taquitos

1 ½-2 cups shredded chicken

1 8oz. package 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

2/3 c. salsa Verde

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. onion powder

1 c. grated cheese, any

16 count package fajita sized tortillas

Olive oil spray or regular old Olive oil

Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a medium bowl, mix together the first 6 ingredients.  Take a tortilla and place 2 or 3 heaping tablespoonful of mixture                 and place off set on tortilla and roll tightly. Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Spray with Olive oil spray or brush lightly with Olive oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt.  Bake for 15-25 minutes or until the edges are a golden brown.

*We used a ranch dipping sauce for these, but they are good by themselves or would even be good dipped in more Salsa Verde or just regular salsa.

Multi-Grain Bread

Ok, I know it is late, but as promised, here is the bread recipe. 

Multigrain Bread

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup 5-10 grain hot cereal mix

2 ½ cups boiling water

3 cups all-purpose flour (not bread flour)

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

¼ cup honey

4 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled

2 ½ tsp. rapid rise yeast

1 tbsp. salt

Directions:

Place cereal mix in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook and pour boiling water over it; let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools and resembles porridge, about 1 hour. Whisk flours together in a separate bowl.

Once grain mixture has cooled, add honey, butter, and yeast and mix on low speed until combined. Add salt and flour mixture ½ cup at a time until all is incorporated and dough comes away from the sides.  Knead dough for 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl and let raise for 45-60 minutes, or until nearly doubled.

Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and cut dough into 2 equal parts. Roll in to oblong loafs. Lightly sprinkle oats on surface and roll dough over them to cover.  Place loaves in pans and let raise again for 30-40 minutes.

While dough is raising, preheat oven to 375 degrees and place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Bake loaves for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes and then remove to let cool to room temp. {if you can wait that long!}

Extras:

*you can also add ¼ cup unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds to mixture, but add just before you knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Storage:

**You can store this bread for 3 days at room temp or for 1 month In the freezer. Just make sure you wrap in plastic wrap and then foil for the freezer; just plastic for room temp.

Are you impressed that I even got a picture up too?!? Me and S had some serious coloring to do today, so sorry this is posted way later than I had planned.

The Best New Thing I Could Ever Ask For!

 So, the hubs and I went out just "looking" at new washers and dryers on Saturday. You know, just comparing prices (tee hee!). But, we stumbled on to a deal we just couldn't pass up at the Home Depot. We found our my dream washer and dryer. 

They were on sale to begin with, then on top of that they had a promotion going on that you could get extra money off of that, PLUS up to 6 months of free laundry soap (Tide to be exact). I was sold right as we got there and saw they were on sale. Luckily we had an awesome salesman that also convinced my hubby that it was a good deal too. :)  (They also have the glass lids so you can watch, that sold the hubby too.)

What kind of washer/dryers do you have and enjoy??

St. Patty's Day Banner

This weekend I decided to make a St. Patty's Day Banner to spice up my house for the next little "holiday". 

I do have a Cricut, so it made this little project a little simpler than if I didn't. But you don't have to use the same shapes that I did, play around with it and make it fun. If you don't have a Cricut or some sort of cutting machine, just use scissors or your handy dandy paper cutter.

 I started out with this cute flag design, it ended up being 3"x4". Then the squares I used were 2.5"x2.5". The letters were in Celtic Hand fond and 2" tall. 

 Glue (with a glue stick or with glue dots, whatever you prefer) your letters to the green squares...

 It will look like this...

 Then glue your green squares to your cute patterned paper, but make sure you leave a little extra room at the top for some holes...

 Use whatever tool you have to punch 2 holes at the top of the flags, just enough to stick some string through (I think I went in a half inch and down just a quarter inch).

Then, string all of your pieces, and hang on a mantle, wall or anywhere else you'd like to have spiffed up for St. Patty's Day. 

 This was a super easy craft and only took 1 hour to do. The patterned paper is by Echo Park, but check out your local paper store to see what other cute papers they have (I do recommend cardstock over regular paper). Please follow us on Facebook and upload your pictures so that we can all see your creativeness!! You can also leave us a link to your web pages in the comments below. We would love to hear from all of our blogging friends!

Awesome Giveaway!

Check out this website for an awesome Hair Straightener Giveaway! I entered so I wouldn't have to share mine with a teenager anymore!

Brownies to DIE for!!!

So... I guess it is dessert week!!!  I have made these brownies a couple of times.  They were inspired by Cutler's Marshmallow Brownie Cookies.  If you have never had one ummm, you should!  They are very delish and oh so memorable.  I had a recipe for a cream cheese chocolate brownie, there isn't a lot of cream cheese in it but just enough to make the brownie really dense and soft.  I would normally just frost them with chocolate frosting and try not to eat the whole pan by myself.  I decided to put marshmallows on top of the brownies once I pulled them out of the oven, let them melt and then spread the marshmallow goodness around and then top with frosting.  The marshmallows seemed a little bit too chewy for my liking.  Then one day while I was in the baking isle in the grocery story I spotted the solution...Jet Puff Marshmallow Creme!!!  What the what!?!!!  I normally only use this stuff for making fudge, but HELLO...perfect!

The only bad thing is that if you keep your brownies out the marshmallow fluff will ooze out.  I solved the problem by keeping them in the fridge until about 5-10 minutes before you want to eat one.  Cut you a square (I prefer a rectangle, don't judge me please)  and bask in the chocolate marshmallow yummy-ness!!!  
Here is the recipe for the Cream Cheese Brownie:
1 cup butter softened
1 pkg. 3 oz. cream cheese softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder


Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease bottom of a 13x9 inch pan.  Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar ina  large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Gradually add to butter mixture until well blended.  Spread batter into prepared pan.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan.  Set on a rack to cool.
Spread marshmallow fluff over the warm brownies.  Wait until completely cooled to frost with chocolate frosting.  Enjoy!!!

Super Yummy Desserts

I have to share these yummy desserts with you! I made these for Super Bowl and they were the first things to go!

Light and Fluffy Chocolate Cookies

1 (8oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 (18 oz.) package moist chocolate cake mix

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Then add the cake mix, and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. Then roll into tablespoon sized balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Cool completely before eating…If you can!!

 Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars

1 ½ c. peanut butter

1 ½ cup butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1 ¾ c. brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 ¼  c.  flour

3 ½ c. rolled oats

In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add peanut butter, eggs and vanilla, mix well. Add all dry ingredients until well combined. Lightly grease 2 jelly roll pans and spread dough evenly between both pans. (It’s ok if it looks a little thin, they will cook up and be fluffy). Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and spread with a layer of peanut butter. Let cool completely, then frost with your favorite chocolate frosting.

Lasagna Roll Ups

If you haven't tried these yet, you should.  They are easy to make and can be made ahead of time.  I like to make mine while my little nugget takes a nap.  I just put it in the fridge until it's time to cook it.


Make the sauce of your choice Alfredo or tomato.
Then boil the water for the lasagna noodles.  Cook the noodles according to their package.
Once they are done drain and start the roll up process.  
Lay out all the noodles on your counter.  On each noodle place ricotta cheese or cottage cheese, which ever you prefer.  Then sprinkle with parsley.   Layer on mozzarella cheese.  

Then you start to roll them up.  

Place them in a greased baking pan.  Pour the sauce over top.  I like to add a little meat, so I browned some hamburger with onions, garlic, italian seasoning, and a dash of allspice.  Oh, don't forget to season with some salt and pepper too.  Place the meat on top of the noodles and then add the sauce.  Top it off with shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.  

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.  

Hope you enjoy them.  I like to serve it with a garden salad and french bread. Yummy!!!

Quick and Easy Dinner

Asparagus and Tomato Frittata

1 bunch Asparagus cut in 1” pieces

3 Roma tomatoes, diced

½ of a medium white onion

2 cloves garlic, minced or grated

8-10 eggs

4 oz. Fontina cheese, cubed (could sub with Swiss cheese)

3 TBSP. milk

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

In a large skillet pan, Saute onion, garlic, and asparagus in olive oil {enough to coat the bottom of the pan} about 5 minutes. Then add the diced tomatoes and only cook 3 minutes. 

Then add the eggs that have been whisked together with the milk, salt, and pepper. Stir eggs around and try not to scramble. 

Then sprinkle with the cubed cheese and put the whole pan under the broiler on high for about 5-7 minutes or until the top is browned and bubbly. Cut into wedges like a pie or a cake.

**this is also very good the next day warmed for breakfast.

***you could also substitute the tomato and asparagus with your favorite veggies.

A Quick and Easy Valentines Placemat

I don't know if I have shown these to you, but I will show them again, because I love them!

These are my super simple placemats that I made last year for my family. 

All it took was 1- 12x12 paper (polka dots)

1/2 of an 8.5x11 paper (pink, cut in half lengthwise) 

a cute cut out of a design (blue)

and a cut out heart (red)

I cut my 12x12 paper to 11x12 and then glued the pink that was 4.25x11 with a small overlap to the 11x12 paper. 

Then take your cut out and position it where ever looks to you, and then glue the heart on top of that.

 It is really simple!! 

Then I took them to my local copy store and had them laminate them with the heaviest lamination that they have. 

Cut them out and they are ready to use!! 

We always do fondue on Valentine's. 

First it's the yummy cheese then we do chocolate for dessert. 

 **JUST A NOTE** You can also make these for any holiday, party, or season. They are super easy and cheap to make!!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Remember a while back I posted the BEST pizza crust recipe?? Well, here is what I made with that delicious concoction!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe
1/2 ripe, cored, and peeled pineapple
1 chicken breast, grilled
1/4 of a medium onion, cut in thin strips
1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 cups Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out the dough as suggested in recipe.
Then spread on BBQ sauce.
Next add chicken, pineapple, and onion.
Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Slacker

Ok, I have the best sister in the World.  I have been a slacker lately and haven't done a post since we started this new site.  I just wanted everyone to know that Alisa is the BOMB!!!  Hope to have a post for you all soon.  Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday!!!

Easy Valentine's Wreath

I was looking through my Martha Stewart Magazine last week and saw this cute wreath they had made out of really cute flowers and they were made with tissue paper! I wasn't sure if I had the patience to make the ENTIRE wreath out of flowers, but I could try a few. So, I followed the instructions....some what. I didn't know what a pom-pom kit was, so, I decided to make my own. I took some pink and red tissue paper and cut it into 6"x6", and 4"x4" squares and layered them 4-6 pieces per flower and accordian folded them (like the fans you would make in grade school). Then I took a piece of floral wire about 6 inches long and wrapped it around the paper and twist and the bottom 4 or 5 times. Then trim the ends in a semi-circle. Like this...

 Then, you open up the fans a little (this is a top view)

 Then layer by layer, pull gently up to the middle of the flower. Like this...

 This is what it will look like when you have done both sides! Cute huh?!

 Then I took an old grapevine wreath I had laying around,

 And attached the flowers to it with the extra wire hanging from the back. Pretty simple and cheap. I didn't have to buy anything, but I think I picked up the tissue at Dollar Tree, and the wreath is from Michael's. This was super fun to learn how to do and it turned out pretty cute too!!