Another amazing Pinterest recipe and my newest Glam Bag and Birchbox items!

Hi friends! Wow where is the summer going? I guess time in general just seems to be flying by all of a sudden.

First off let me just publicly thank Pinterest for putting together a platform that provides me with so many yummy things to eat

One of my recent favorites was THIS recipe for Southwest Chicken Wraps…..

You have to try these we ate the filling for days!!!

Also here is a little overview of the fun things I got in my Birchbox….

and my Glam Bag (which I liked better this month by the way)……

If you want specific details about my opinions concerning any of these products just let me know in the comments and I would be happy to share. I will say that I have the white polish on my toes and while at first it looked a little like “white out” to me I actually really love it right now. Chat with you soon!!

Sunday morning doughnuts

So if you are like me and you don’t have a Krispy Kreme near your house you have a void that you just have to fill with something, right? So here it is my latest doughnut fix and it’s actually easy and surprisingly delicious……

You need something like this……

And you get this!!!!

Trust me these are really amazing and I have high standards because my Grandpa owned a doughnut shop when I was younger and we still make them around the holidays.

I found great directions HERE!! You won’t be sorry

I am a sucker for no bake cheesecake

This is one of those amazingly simple delicious recipes that I could eat EVERYDAY lol.

This is all it takes!

 

Fresh fruit is better but when we are in a pinch we use the canned stuff too :)

No Bake Cheesecake

1 (8oz) cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 (8oz) cool whip

**Blend the cream cheese and sugar together then gently stir in the cool whip. Spoon the mixture into the crust then chill for three hours or overnight to set up.

 

Do you have a favorite easy recipe?

Zip lock baggie Ice cream

It is finally getting warm enough around here to make a cold treat. So I decided to make my son work for it lol. Have you ever done this? I was shocked at how well it turned out.

You will need a large zip lock and a smaller one. First in the small one mix:      

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

1 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Seal the small bag well…..Now fill the large zip lock 3/4 of the way with ice and 6 Tbs of rock salt then place the smaller zip lock on top of the ice. Next seal the large bag and get your kid to start shaking the bag.

 

 

After about 15 minutes we had this and guess what it actually tasted really good! I am sure you could add all sorts of flavoring and toppings but this time around we kept it simple :)

 

 

I Linked up here!

Inside BruCrew Life

Extra Sugary Sugar Cookies

I saw this amazing idea for adding color to regular sugar at Homemade Mamas and I couldn’t wait for an excuse to mix some up.

You use regular sugar and put it in a zip lock then add a few drops of food coloring…..

Next shake it and squish it around to disperse the color…….

After the color is mixed well dump the sugar out on parchment paper to dry out….. (Did you know you could do this? I love it)

But the fun can’t end here right?! Now you have to make sugar cookies and use the sugar to decorate them.

Do you have big plans for the 4th? Well tomorrow is my birthday so I have a good excuse to eat a bunch of these cookies and be lazy lol. And then Sunday we plan to have a BBQ with our own little fire works display. Have a fun and safe weekend!

VELVEETA Cheesy Pasta Casserole

I have a new favorite recipe!! We had it last night and loved it. I actually saw a commercial for it and jumped online to find the recipe then ran to the store to get the ingredients. What can I say I love food and RO*TEL tomatoes ha ha!

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

4 cups  cooked rotini pasta

1 pkg. (1 lb.) frozen Italian-style vegetable blend, thawed, drained (I used the Birds Eye brand it worked great)

1 can  (10 oz.) RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained

3/4 lb. (12 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

 

HEAT oven to 400ºF.

COMBINE ingredients in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover.

BAKE 40 min. Let stand 5 min.; stir until sauce is well blended.

 

Time saver: If you have leftover chicken? Prepare recipe as directed, using 5 cups chopped cooked chicken and reducing the baking time to 20 to 25 min. or until VELVEETA is melted and casserole is heated through.

Rock Candy (part one)

With a little inspiration from Fun on a dime and because my family is such a big fan of Glass Candy I decided I have to give rock candy a try!!

Apparently this is quite the touchy recipe and finding the right instructions has proven to be super tricky. I will post the recipe once I know that it works lol.

My son is so excited and keep checking it like every ten seconds ha ha.

Now we wait and hope that it turns out something like this………   

Okay remember this is creative “attempts” so I plan to show you the good and the bad, but I am determined to make this work so cross your fingers :)

Robin Eggs Recycled

If you are like me you are so sick of seeing Easter candy (or at least my scale is sick of it lol). So I have been trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of extra robin eggs (or I will eat them all in one sitting) and my hottie had a fantastic idea…..

You guessed it we made the best milk shakes ever….(i am sure whoppers would be just as yummy)

 We used one cup of robin eggs, one cup of milk, and a bunch of vanilla ice cream (just depends on how thick you like them). I bet some stores have Easter candy super cheap right now. I know I know I just figured out how to get rid of them and now I want more, what can I say??!!!

Seriously the best malted milk shake!!!

Mint Chocolate Heaven

During the holiday season my friend Natalie gave our family the most delicious cookies. I begged the recipe out of her so that I could copy her brilliance for valentines day.

This is what you will need:

If you have dealt with the candy melts before and struggled like I did, Natalie also shared the dipping secret with me. We did not use a double boiler all we used was a microwave safe plastic bowl and the microwave. We put in the amount we wanted to use then micro waved for 30 seconds and gave it a stir. We continued this process until all the lumps were gone and added a few drops of peppermint oil and food coloring (yes you can buy the already colored chips but I am cheap), then dipped them like this…..

We set them on parchment to harden and later added a decorative pattern with a squeeze bottle (because that’s what Natalie did and I had to copy her heavenly cookies as closely as possible :)

I let them set up for several hours then transferred them to my cake stand. Seriously if you have the time make this project they are super easy and taste amazing.

I am glad that my Honey was around to help me with this because we got way more done together than I could have on my own (and I ate less of them during the making process because he was watching lol). And of course we gave some cookies and melted chocolate to the Little Guy so he could make his own creations (and be entertained).

 

I wish I could send some of these to all of you but since I can’t I thought the next best thing would be instructions on how to make your own. Let me know how yours turn out if you decide to make them.

Mealtime Monday: Sour Cream Enchiladas

We love to try new things and sometimes it totally flops lol. This actually was good the first time we made it but it needed a little something extra, so the second time around I topped it with homemade salsa mmmmmm so yummmo!  Here are the recipe’s for both and let me know if you try them or if you have a favorite chicken enchilada recipe!!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

Mix this together in a large bowl

In separate bowl mix

2 cups cooked chicken (cubed or shredded I used shredded)

2 cups of cheese

3 chopped green onions

1 cup on the above soup/sour cream mixture

Dip tortillas in soup/sour cream mix

place chicken filling in the tortilla and roll it up

place in greased 9x13 pan (you can fit about 8)

cover enchiladas with rest of the mixture and more cheese if you want

cover and bake at 325 for 30-45 minutes

 

Homemade Salsa

(I topped the enchiladas with this right before i served them and its great just as a dip as well)

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

1/2 can green chili’s

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp red peppers

handful chopped green onion

handful chopped cilantro

combine ingredients in a blender and pulse till it’s the consistency you like

Huckleberry Pickin'

That's right it's huckleberry season woot woot!! I know it doesn't look like we picked very many but if you have ever done this yourself you know that these are like little nuggets of gold and take forever to pick. So after 5 hours of picking this is what we came home with. We took them home and washed them and picked out all the stems and then stuck them in the freezer. We love to put them in our pancakes and waffles mmmmmmmm.

Camping Omelet

I learned such a fun new trick for cooking an omelet this weekend while we were camping. All you need is boiling water, a FREEZER Ziploc bag, eggs, and whatever else you would put in your omelet. Crack open two eggs inside your freezer bag (only two any more than that and it won't work). Add other ingredients such as peppers, onions, cheese, ham.....etc. Seal the bag and moosh together then drop it into the boiling water for 13 min (or until no longer runny). And waahlaah you have a fluffy perfect omelet. Isn't that the funnest idea? Maybe this is old news and I am just catching up with the times lol, but I couldn't wait to share. Let me know if you try this and how it turns out!!

Breadstick Love

It has been a while since I posted and even longer since I posted about food. And those of you that know me also know that I loooooove food. I know that I have mentioned this web site before but now I can say that I actually made this recipe for breadsticks twice from http://karaskitchencreations.blogspot.com/ and oh my gosh they really do taste like the pizza factory breadsticks. Go here and it will link you directly to this recipe but you should go look around at the other recipes that she has because they are worth it. Here are some pics of how mine turned out and if I could somehow arrange for the smell of them to tumble out of your speakers you wouldn't hesitate to give them a try.

Onion Straws

Ok much to my own embarrassment I messed this one up big time (excuse me while I cough and clear the smoke out of my house) but in true bloggy style I have to post the results of my latest attempt......I stumbled upon this fantastic web site called The Pioneer Woman and she has some really fun recipes with excellent tutorials. That is where I fell in love with this recipe for Onion Straws http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/03/onion-strings-oh-yeah-baby/

Onion Straws
1 large onion

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups flour

1 scant tablespoon salt

Lots of black pepper

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Canola Oil

Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk for at least one hour.Combine dry ingredients and set aside.Heat oil to 375 degrees.Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tab to shake off excess, and PLUNGE into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown.Repeat until onions are gone.

The recipe was easy so I know you are wondering "how did she mess this up"? Well, because of my small experience with hot oil (yes you can see where this is going) I cranked the heat to high and left the room for it to come to a rolling boil. Thanks to my husband walking into the room and helping me realize that was a mistake I didn't toss all of the onions in. I turned the heat down a little and put a small amount in as a test. And yep we will be smelling greasy smoke for may weeks to come.

The second attempt was soooo much better and trust me if you like yummy onions you have to give this a try. Just keep an eye on your oil temp (wink wink).

The Best Lemon squares!

I made these treats because I wanted to try another recipe out of my Bisquick recipe book and because (oddly) I actually had a couple of lemons in my fridge, and you would not believe how yummy they were. If I could offer you a bite I would or if I could somehow just transmit the smell of these to you, you would be hooked. I am still learning alot about cooking but for a first attempt at lemon bars I was sold!! They were easy and delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup Bisquick

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons firm margarine or butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon Bisquick

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (I used 2 tablespoons because I read it wrong {sigh} it was still great :)

***Glaze***

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice plus 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 Stir together 1 cup Bisquick and the powdered sugar. Cut in margarine, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Press mixture in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of ungreased square pan, 8x8x2 inches.

Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown.

Stir together remaining ingredients except Glaze; pour over baked layer.

Bake about 25 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Glaze: Stir ingredients until smooth.

While warm, loosen edges from sides of pan. Spread with Glaze; cool completely, about 1 hour. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.

Little treats

This was our test run for making Valentine's Day treats for my son and his friends at playgroup. We bought sucker sticks and melting chocolate (that comes in any color) from Michaels craft store. We learned a few things the first time around like a metal bowl stays hot and makes the chocolate too runny, and not to use candy like M&M's because they are too heavy and fall right off. I think we got it right for the big day. My son decorated a metal can as his "mailbox" to put all of his Valentines in.

We love to do little crafts just for fun and to waste time together. I think this project would be cute for something to do on St. Patrick's day. You could use green chocolate and fun sprinkles. Send me a picture if you decide to make them I would love to see how they turn out!

Impossibly Easy Chicken and Broccoli Pie

I have to say sorry to Kelly and I promise that next time I will try to take the picture before we cut into the food (wink wink). This was another Bisquick recipe that we loooooved.

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (6 ounces)
1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs


1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Grease 9-inch pie plate. Sprinkle broccoli, 1 cup of the cheese, the chicken and onion in pie plate.
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk, salt, pepper and eggs until blended. Pour into pie plate.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 1 to 2 minutes longer or just until cheese is melted. Cool 5 minutes.

Adventures in cooking

I have a made a new goal to try a new recipe every couple of weeks and I thought that I should share it with you if it works out (who am I kidding I will let everyone know how it goes either way). I got this recipe out of The Best Bisquick Recipes book (I love to cook with Bisquick). My husband bought it for me for valentines day and so far we have loved everything we have tried.

Cheesy Tomato-Beef Bake

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup cold water
2 to 3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper



1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and chili powder over medium-high heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Set aside.
2. In small bowl, mix sour cream, mayonnaise, cheese and onion; set aside.
3. In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix and cold water with fork until soft dough forms. Using fingers dipped in Bisquick mix, press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Layer beef, tomatoes and bell pepper on dough. Spoon sour cream mixture over top; spread evenly over vegetables to cover.
4. Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes or until edges of dough are light brown.

Glass Candy Recipe

I have had a couple friends ask me why I didn't add the recipe for this fun treat so here it is!!

3 3/4 Cup white sugar

1 1/2 Cup light corn syrup

1 Cup water

Combine these ingredients in a sauce pan and stir continuously over medium high heat until your candy thermometer reads hard crack (approximately 35 minutes)

Remove from heat and add 1 tsp of your favorite Loraine Flavoring

Pour into a lightly greased cookie sheet like this:

Try to keep it as even as possible so that you don't get thick pieces. Let it sit overnight and smack it all over with something like the flat side of a metal spoon. And eat all of the yummy bits till you get a tummy ache (and trust me I did).

Something so simple

Every year around Christmas we make glass candy. It is something so simple but we love it sooo much. We let our son pick the flavor and help stir all of the ingredients together. He calls this "glass of candy". Then after it cools we give him something to break it with and let him go to town. What little kid doesn't love to break things (wink wink). Eating this brings me right back to grade school when we would flock the bake sale table and fight for the best zip lock filled baggie of glass candy.