July 2, 2009

It has been a LONG time since I joined in on Things I Love Thursday. So long, in fact, that I can't remember the last one I did.

So todays TILT is all about the holidays. I just LOVE holidays. Actually, any day that involves family getting together and food. This year we are heading out to Michaels parents' house for a BBQ and fireworks. I am taking Firework Shrimp, Pink Lemonade cupcakes, Baked Potato Dip and BCT salad. I am posting the links to each of the recipes so just click on the dish to find it.

BCT salad is pretty easy to make. My kids just LOVE it! It is probably the most requested side salad in our house. the ingredients are pretty simple.

Box of pasta (we use farfalle or fiori)

Bacon (chopped small)

Cheese (cut into small cubes. Like pencil eraser small)

Cucumber (cut to the same size as the cheese)

Tomato (also cut small)

Ranch

Simply cook your pasta, drain and set in large bowl. Add ingredients. Mix well. You can add as much or as little ranch as you like. We like our pasta coated but not dripping.

March 1, 2009

The other night I made calzones for dinner. They were extremely easy to make and the kids loved them.

They had just the right amount of mozzarella to make them fun. And just a little messy.
To make them I just cut some refrigerated pizza crust into 2x6 rectangles. I added pizza sauce, pepperoni slices and 1/2 a stick of string cheese to one half. Then I folded the plain side over the top and crimped the edges. I placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them until they were browned. About 9 minutes.

Quick, easy and tasty! The perfect dinner!

Thanksgiving was a big success. We had about twenty people over for dinner. Which I had started preparing for on Monday. I let each of the the kids make their own dish. Devon and Regan each made a pudding pie in a graham cracker crust and Ryan made a jello salad. I made the mashed potatoes on Wednesday and had them warming in the crockpot Thursday morning. That was a huge timesaver! This was also my first year where I made the turkey and ham by myself. We usually buy a spiral cut ham from the store but this year I made one of the hams we had from the pig we had butchered this summer. There wasn't a big difference in the cooking time and it tasted great.

I was a little nervous having that many people over thinking it would be too crowded but I thought a lot about where to set up tables and it worked out really well. There was plenty of room for the guys to watch the Cowboys/Seahawks game (that was just sad) and for people to visit.

So now its on to Christmas and the New Year.

Today is Uncle Buddys' birthday. In honor of this very special occasion I am going to post the recipe for his favorite cake. Bake and enjoy!

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Chocolate Cake

3 c. all purpose flour

2 c. sugar

2/3 c. cocoa

2 eggs, well beaten

1 t. baking soda

2 c. liquid sour cream, buttermilk or water

1 1/4 t. baking powder

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

1.2 c. shortening or butter

Sift, then measure flour. Sift again with cocoa, soda, baking powder and salt. Add shortening and work with spoon until soft. Add gradually the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and blend well. Add sifted flour mixture alternately with liquid and vanilla. Pour batter into well greased 8 or 9 inch layer pans. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool and frost.

Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting

3 c. sugar

1 t.vanilla

1 c. milk

2 heaping T. peanut butter

1 heaping T. cocoa

Cook to 230 degrees on candy thermometer the first three ingredients. Add PB and cocoa. Cool and beat until spreading consistency. Frost cake.

Fourth of July Weekend

We spent our weekend visiting family and eating. Does it get any better than that?

We had Danyelle with us this weekend. Isn't that the cutest picture of her with

Payton? I just love it. Danyelle got to go out to Jake and Octavias house on Friday.

We had a BBQ and set fireworks off as soon as it got dark. Oh wait. Michael and

Jake started playing with some of them as soon as they finished eating but the

main fireworks were saved for darkness.

On Saturday we all headed out to Lonnie and Cindys house for more BBQ and lots

of visiting. Their Pastor is a licensed Pirotechnitian and was putting off the towns

fireworks display that night. I have got to say that fireworks show was the best I

have ever seen! They had some DC Talk and other old school christian music

playing in the background. We parked on the edge of a field and let the kids dance

around in front of us. It was a pretty great weekend.

The last few days have been so nice and sunny that we have been spending a LOT of time outside. The kids have been playing with Jack (our new puppy) and I have been mowing, weed whacking and raking. Sounds like loads of fun, right?

My Mom and I have been getting a small garden planted. So far we only have tomatoes and cucumbers but will hopefully be getting a few more things planted in the next week or so. I am going to let the kids try growing some herbs. Maybe some cilantro and parsley.

Regan has been working her way through this cookbook for the past year or so. Her latest work, the Rock and Roll Smoothies, was a big hit! If you are looking for a cookbook for kids I highly recommend this one. It has pages full of tips on food safety, setting the table and measuring as well as great illustrations.

Last night she and Ryan helped me with a recipe that I found on Pioneer Woman Cooks! It called for two ingredients. Refrigerated cookie dough and candy. I would love to show you a picture of how they turned out but Michael came home and saw them. So they are no more.

I tried another recipe from P.W. It was called Crash Hot Potatoes.
They turned out good but I think next time I'll try adding some garlic.

Two Years

I can't believe I missed it! Saturday (the 3rd) was the two year anniversary of me starting this blog! I was planning on doing a big commemorative post but my creative juices have evaporated. So in place of something witty I will take a trip down memory lane and relive some of the past two years. We lived at the pool for about six months while the kids had swimming lessons.
We took a vacation that was so much fun we still talk about it.
We had,oh, maybe 300 dr. visits.
Because Regan needed surgery to remove a bone tumor.And Michael needed sinus surgery.
We had some major flooding in our region.

Grandma went home to be with Jesus.
It snowed.
We had some awesome holidays!


A HUGE family reunion.Some good eats.
And best of all we had a new baby join our family.

What a great two years we've had. Hopefully the next two will be just as good.
Well, minus the surgeries.

Sunday Evening and All Is Quiet

I realize I have been rather flaky in my posting but honestly, sometimes life gets really busy and I forget stuff. Or, more accurately, sometimes I remember things. And right now the kids are asleep, its very quiet and I finally remembered, "Oh yeah! I have a blog."

So let's see...what have I been doing? Hmmm.. Tonight I watched a movie called Mr. Bean with Devon. I know some of you are absolutely shocked by that. Well, let me say that I am too. I just can't stand dumb movies. Spoofs are the worst. Which is unfortunate since those seem to be Michaels favorite. Luckily, the kids love them. Regan goes around quoting Men in Tights all the time. ALL THE TIME. And singing 'We are the men' (Bobs up and down) 'Men, Men'. She really reminds me of Marianna the way she remembers the lines of movies.

Oh, I'm not sure why I thought this was such a great idea but I have decided to rearrange three different rooms at the same time. I have this problem of not being able to fall asleep at night. So I just lay there in bed thinking. Of things to do. Like rearranging rooms. Someone get me some Ambien!

My new favorite meal is Chicken Yakisoba. Oh yum! Just thinking about it makes me want to jump in the van and go get some. Unfortunately, in this town everything closes at 10. Maybe tomorrow.

One of the rooms I changed around was the schoolroom. I moved my sewing and scrapbooking stuff in there so I could have more room to work. It seemed a little silly to have an entire room for doing schoolwork with the kids when we always end up at the dining room table or curled up on the sofa. (Sofa means couch)

Whenever I am talking and say 'sofa' Michael always announces 'Sofa means couch' so everyone is sure to understand me. He does it when I say soda too. Here in backwards Washington it's called 'Pop.'

About the picture. Ryan tells me he can now climb the apple tree. Apparently when you are four years old hugging the lowest branch translates into climbing. Anyone want to guess how many times he is going to fall out of said apple tree this summer?