Cooking Spree

I'm on a roll! When I was on Pinterest, I found a whole treasure trove of recipes to pin. Hurray!

On Saturday, I made Snickerdoodle Apple Bread. One word: Yummy! Oh and the smell of the house while it was baking. . . . Delightful!

Snickerdoodle Apple Bread

(http://cookiesandcups.com/snickerdoodle-apple-bread/)

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 Granny Smith Apple, finely chopped

Cinnamon sugar topping
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray. Line bottoms and up the ends with a strip of parchment paper (for easy removal) and spray again. Set aside. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Set aside. In a bowl beat butter, both sugars and cinnamon for 2 minutes on medium speed with an electric mixer., scraping sides as necessary. Add in both eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth, again scraping sides as necessary. Turn mixer to low and add in flour mixture and milk alternating additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until just combined. Finally add in apples and stir until just combined and pour batter into prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for topping and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake for 50-55 minutes until bread is set and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

(I did it again! The kids can be quite distracting while cooking. I forgot to add the cinnamon to the sugar/butter mixture. Ha ha ha! I am bound to get a recipe complete right one of these days! I didn't realize it until I was typing up the recipe. That explains why I had a 1/2 tablespoon sitting on the counter unused. Ha ha ha!) 

Cooking Therapy

I accomplished one of my "self" goals for February- trying at least one new recipe that sounds good. 

I find cooking fun and relaxing, but I just have not had the time and fortitude to do much lately. There are two major reasons: 1) During the school year, we spend a lot of time in the evenings doing homework. If I wasn't a working mama, then I probably would have more time to prep for dinner before picking the kids up from school. As it is hubby much rather attempt to cook, than be stationed at the homework table. So we have been having quite a bit of fast food, hot dogs, cheese toasties, cereal, and pizza for dinner. I usually get a chance to cook on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. 2) I just celebrate 11 weeks with the "boot of doom" (aka walking boot). I found out in mid-February that the problem is that I seriously messed up two ligaments in my ankle. Thankfully no surgery, but more time in the boot. I go back to the foot doctor in about a week and a half. Maybe I will graduate from the boot, maybe I will be sentenced to more time. Hopefully once I graduate, I will have some PT to strengthen my ankle since it has be immobilized for an extended period. Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of sitting on a stool when attempting to cook in the kitchen.

Back to the food, I was looking around on Pinterest and found some yummy recipes. Last night I experimented with two new recipes: One Pan Greek Chicken and Garlic & Herb Cheese Bombs. Both turned out fairly well. I will probably tweak a few things next time I fix them, but definitely keepers. I have included the link to the original recipe, but have made my changes and notes to the recipes below.

One Pan Greek Chicken

(http://damndelicious.net/2015/05/30/one-pan-greek-chicken/) 

Ingredients 
1 1/2 pound small red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons light olive oil
Freshly ground salt & black pepper, to taste   

For the marinade:
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1/4 cup light olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon oregano
Freshly ground, salt & black pepper, to taste

Instructions
In a gallon size ziploc bag, combine chicken, oil, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Marinate for 20-60 minutes, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade. While chicken is marinading, preheat over to 400 degree F. Lightly oil backing sheet or coat with nonstick spray. Place potatoes and green beans in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and paper, to taste. Top with chicken in a single layer. Place into the oven and toast until the chicken is completely cooked through, about 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately. (Note: I had about half of the amount of green beans. Unfortunately, there was not a good selection of fresh green beans at the store. I also forgot to add the oregano to the marinade.)

Garlic & Herb Cheese Bombs

 (http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/08/garlic-herb-cheese-bombs.html)

Ingredients (20 bombs)
2- 7.5 ounce cans refrigerated biscuits
4 ounce Mozzarella cheese, cut into 20 cubes
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Separate biscuits. Place on cube of cheese in the center of each biscuit. Carefully wrap the biscuit dough about the cheese and seal. Place seam side down about an inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the cheese is melted. While the biscuits bake, mix the butter, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder together and set aside. Remove the biscuits from the oven and immediately brush with butter mixture. Serve warm. (Note: Place cheese bombs on the middle rack of the oven. The bottoms get a bit crispy if on the bottom rack while cooking the chicken recipe above. No matter how long you have been cooking, you can always learning something new. Ha ha ha!)

Have you made any new recipes lately that you would like to share? 

I Think We Can! I Think We Can!

We have been experimenting with Pumpkin and how to motivate him in regards to education. 

Poker Chip Incentive
The grounding concept of this idea came from our childhood development pediatrician.  She had used a similar idea on her ADHD son when he was in junior high and high school.  We modified it for our first grader. 

Idea:  Use poker chips as an incentive to award appropriate behavior. 

Our Goal: To teach Pumpkin to concentrate and focus while working on school work.  A subgoal is to teach Pumpkin the value of money.

What we did:  I got a bag of old poker chips from my grandma's house and gave them a bath in the sink.  I used a permanent marker and wrote "A" on 10 blue chips, "B" on 10 red chips, and "V" on 10 white chips and placed them into a baggie.  Then I made an awards chart listing how many chips are required to earn each incentive.  We told Pumpkin that every time he brings a paper home with the grade of A, B, or V (very good) he will earn a chip.  Once he earns enough chips he can trade the chips in (like money) to collect incentives.  We found a plastic jar with a lid to deposit his chips into like a bank.

Results:  He has brought home papers with higher grades.  He has finished more in-class assignments in whole instead of leaving blank answers when he forgot or got distracted.  The purpose of this is to not make him feel like he needs to get only A's or B's.  It is to make him realize that he knows the answers and can do well on his assignments if he takes the time to focus and concentrate at the task at hand.  It is perfectly fine with me if he brings a C home, I just do not want to see the D's or F's when I know that he has the answers floating around inside his head.  So far he earn his way to see the Lego Movie and trade 7 chips to earn dinner out at the restaurant that Auntie works.  I think that he wants to work on earning the Hot Wheel Mega Loop Mayhem Track next. 

Reading Rescue 1-2-3
Pumpkin continues to have issues with reading.  We have yet to fully recover from a non-family adult telling him that she would use reading as a punishment for inappropriate behavior this past summer.  I have consulted with our friendly children department librarians for help.  The head children's librarian suggested Reading Rescue 1-2-3 by Peggy Wilber.  I have found the book useful.  I have used the test to assess Pumpkin's reading level.  He is on level 1c according to their book.  The areas that we need to work on currently are reading short passages with accuracy and rhyming.  When testing him he would say an associated word instead of rhyming word.  For example when I say "bear", he would say "polar bear" instead of something like "hair". Or "red" would end up with a made up word such as "smed".  This book gives a lot of easy to use ideas and is not hard to understand for phonic challenged parents.  

The librarians also suggested that we read books to Pumpkin that he likes.  Since he likes listening to the Junie B. Jones series, they recommended the Roscoe Riley Rules series.  Pumpkin is really enjoying listening this particular series since it has a boy for the main character.  They also suggested non-fiction books about things that Pumpkin enjoys.  Today we checked out books about sharks, snakes, butterflies, and camouflage.

Educational Games

We have been trying a variety of games to help entice Pumpkin to practice and learn words.  

POP for Rhyming

 

Oh my!  Such an amazing and fun game, both Pumpkin and Princess enjoy playing this.  It has picture bubbles and a spinner.  You spin to see how many bubbles to pull out of the container.  For each bubble you say the name of the image then say a word that rhymes.  If you rhyme correctly you keep the bubble, if the word does not rhyme the bubble goes into a discard pile.  If you get a POP bubble all of your bubbles goes back into the container.  The player with 10 bubbles wins. 

POP for Sight Words

 

We also enjoy this game.  Pumpkin gets about 80% of the words correct.  This will be a great game to continue helping him to become more fluent with reading.  It is similar to the POP for Rhyming except the cards look like popcorn and you play until the container is empty.  Pumpkin was enjoying it so much that he had his Hot Wheels playing too, so he would say their cards for them.  I looked up the company's website and there is a POP for Sight Words 2.  I will have to look into purchasing that version in the future. 

Spelling Word Matching Game

Pumpkin's teacher suggested that we turn Pumpkin's spelling words into a matching game to make the learning process fun.  Every Sunday I make up a batch of matching cards for Pumpkin to practice at great grandma's house before and after school.  I make the cards out of index cards that have been cut in half.  Pumpkin plays traditional matching with them, but has came up with a new game on his own.  He has great grandma hide one set of the cards in a different room.  He takes his matching set and looks for the cards.  When he find a matching pair, he says the word and then spells the word.  Each evening at home we work on write each spelling word twice and our spelling sentence twice.

So we are trudging along and exploring what works to help Pumpkin.  Princess should be a wiz at reading before we know it since she gets roped into playing our games to help Pumpkin.  If anyone has any ideas to try on Pumpkin, we are all ears!

The last few posts have mentioned sickness.  After about two months we are almost sickness free.  Pumpkin got his pneumonia shot earlier this week.  Princess has a bit of a runny nose.  My voice has returned and I am not coughing too much now.  Of course after all this time it would be silly to believe that I would reach 100% so soon, so as fate would have it, I sprained my ankle on Thursday.  Go figure!  At least I got a nifty new ankle brace through my workplace.

One of these days I will get back to attempting to loose a few pounds.  Maybe I can tempt hubby to join in too.  I need to get myself to my quirky normal before I can attempt to even go on a leisurely walk, take a hike, or play with the kids in the yard.  I guess that I could at least start with eating more fruits and vegetables (wink, wink).  Oh and you will never guess what happened!  My sister roasted brussel sprouts the other evening, yuck!  But I tried them anyway and liked them.  So I bought fresh brussel sprouts at the store today and will try my hand at creating my sister's recipe.

Love At First Bite

Yesterday I made the most wonderful fall treat . . . . 

APPLE PIE MUDDY BUDDIES!

Oh my!!!!  How wonderful do they taste!

I found the recipe on the blog A Pumpkin and A Princess.  Ha ha ha!  Funny that the blog name is similar to the one you are currently reading.  Great minds MUST think alike!  (wink, wink)

Well without further ado . . . . Here is the wonderful recipe.  It includes my modifications & short cuts.

 

Apple Pie Muddy Buddies

Ingredients
1- 13.8 oz box Apple Cinnamon Chex cereal
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 + cup unsalted butter
generous sprinkle of cinnamon sugar
generous sprinkle of nutmeg

Directions
1) Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave as directed by the chocolate chip package.  I also mixed in the cinnamon sugar and nutmeg at this time.  (This was my first attempt and the melted chocolate had a consistency of whipped cream cheese.  I used Ghirardelli Classic White Chip, maybe next time I will try different chips to see if it makes a difference.  So I added an additional 2 Tablespoons of butter to thin it out. )  2)  Mix the cereal and melted chocolate in a large stock pot until well coated.  I mixed the chocolate in 1/3 of a batch at a time.  3)  Put powdered sugar in a gallon sized ziplock bag and add cereal.  Seal and shake to coat cereal.  4) Spread on a wax paper covered cookie sheet to let cereal set.  5)  Enjoy and share with friends and family!

Oh What A Delight!

I just realized that I forgot to post the new cookie recipe that we tried during the Christmas season.  Oh what a delight it is to eat!  Besides Christmas, it would also be great for Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Chip- Almond- Cherry Cups

(recipe from Pillsbury cookbook)
 

Ingredients
1 roll (16 ox.) refrigerated chocolate chip cookies
1/2 cup almond paste, crumbled
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 jar cherry preserves
1 cup powdered sugar (plus a tad-bit extra for dusting)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
4 to 5 teaspoons milk

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.    Grease 48 miniature muffin cups with shortening; lightly flour.  In large bowl, break up cookie dough.  With hands, knead in almond paste and dried cherries.  

Divide dough into 48 pieces. (I pressed the dough flat into bowl and cut into 8 sections, then made 6 balls per section)  Shape each piece into ball; place in muffin cup.  With thumb, make indentation in center of each.  (If you have a large thumb like me, use your pointer finger)  

Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are golden borwn.  Cool in pan on cooling rack 5 minutes.  Run knife around edge of cookie to loosen; cool 1 to 2 minutes longer.  Remove from muffin cups; place on cooling rack to cool.  

Spoon 1/2 teaspoon preserves into each cooled cup.  

In small bowl, mix powdered sugar, almond extract and enough milk for desired drizzling consistency; blend until smooth.  (I think I'll forgo the almost extract next time, was a bit too strong)  Drizzle over cookies; let stand until set, about 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Capsicum-Free Chicken Stir Fry

I concocted a new recipe this evening and it is ALL GONE!  As a side note: Neither of my children would touch this, but they are not fond of trying new foods.  And my hubby and I probably should not of ate it all, but oh it was so good!

Anyway, I switched doctors and yesterday afternoon I was talking with the physicians assistant that I now see.  She mentioned stir fry while we were talking and the wheels started turning in my head.  Hmmmm. . . . stir fry sounds good, how can I make it without peppers and capsicum laced products?

I did some internet research and concocted the below recipe.  Enjoy!!!

Capsicum-Free Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients
4 teaspoons cornstarch
2/3 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce ( I used San-J Tamari Soy Sauce, reduced sodium)
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 container fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 floret broccoli, cut into small chunks
1/4 head cauliflower, cut into small chunks
8 baby carrots, cut into short slivers
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups hot cooked wild rice (I used Rice Select Royal Blend Rice)

Directions
Make stir-fry sauce by whisking together first six ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Prepare the chicken and vegetables as instructed in ingredient list.  Start cooking in the rice according to packaging instructions (takes 20 minutes, but great flavor).  Now to the actually cooking . . . . Cook chicken in a large skillet with about 2 tablespoons canola oil on medium-high heat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add vegetables and stir-fry sauce, cover until stir-fry sauce comes to a boil stirring occasionally.  After sauce comes to a boil remove lid and stir occasionally until the sauce is thicken and the vegetables are to preference (crunchy or a touch softened).  Serve the stir-fry over the warm wild rice.

Nothing Says Fall Like . . .

. . . Acorn squash.

So to celebrate fall we are having apple stuffed acorn squash, peas, and ham steak for supper tonight.  Oh, we can't forget the chocolate chip banana bread (see recipe archive page above) for dessert.  Yummy!

Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 large acorn squash
2 medium red apples, diced
1 handful pecans
2 large spoonfuls of brown sugar (sorry did not measure)
1/4 cup melted stick butter

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Clean the outside of the squash.  Carefully cut the squash in half length-wise.  Scoop out the seeds and strings, discard.  Place the two squash halves cut side up in a 9x13 baking dish with about 1/4 inch of water in the dish.  Bake for 30 minutes.  

While squash is cooking prepare apple stuffing in a bowl.  At the 30 minute mark pull the squash out of the oven and fill with the delicious stuffing.  Pop it back into the oven for another 30 minutes or until tender.  Pull it out of the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes to cool.  Enjoy!!!! 

Additional Notes:
To hurry the acorn squash along in the cook process (before you bake in the oven).  You can cook both halves face down in a skillet with water over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  Keep a careful eye on the acorn squash and make sure that the skillet does not boil dry.  (Burnt acorn squash in skillet is NOT fun to clean out.  Hence, I do not alway use this step.)  If you use this method, you will have to play around with the cooking times mentioned above.

It's Hot! Hot! Hot!

Whew, it is still hot!  The temperatures today was forecasted to reach 103 Fahrenheit (39.4 Celsius).  I really am not sure how hot it got, but it was toasty!  Thankfully we are suppose to get a reprieve starting tomorrow.  Maybe we will even be lucky enough to receive some rain, but alas it will come too late as local water restrictions started this week.  The crops look terrible, the ground cover in the deciduous forest look terrible, and lawns are brown.  Not a typical summer around here.

On a lighter, we have been having a very busy summer.  Tomorrow night we will be finishing the summer reading program.  Yay!  Each of the kids will get a paperback book as a reward for completing the summer program. I cannot wait to see what type of book they may choose.

I meant to keep on top of things and post the books I read and the favorites of my kiddos, but it just did not happen.  Well, there is always next summer!  

Oh, I tried a new recipe earlier this week: Zucchini Cheddar Biscuits.  They were pretty good.  I might tweak the recipe a little here and a little there.  We had them with left over cold ham and fresh hot green beans.

We have a few more projects in the works, but those will have to wait for another time.  Time to round up the kiddos and get them settled for the night.

I Have Re-Discovered . . .

. . . cold food! 

This summer has been HOT!  The temperatures have been setting records.  Earlier today it was 105 degrees on our outdoor thermometer (40.5 degrees Celsius).  Needless to say we have spend most of the day in the house.  Which lead this story to the kitchen, unfortunately none of the windows in the kitchen have window coverings.  In recent days our kitchen has been over 90 degrees with the air conditioning run.  Yuck!  Hot!  Not even going to turn the oven on!  So grandma came over today with a thick length of cloth that we folded over and pinned to cover the south facing window.  It is much better in the kitchen this evening.  

Last night I made a tomato-basil salad and this evening I tried something new with the cucumbers that grandma brought over.  I have eaten cucumber and I am definitely not a fan.  I enjoy pickles which are made from cucumbers, but I think I found a non-pickle way to fix them that makes them more tolerable.  Thankfully the quick topping I used is the same dip that I make for sugar snap peas.  Yummy!!

Tomato-Basil Salad

Ingredients

2 medium ripe tomatoes

2 green onions

Handful of fresh basil leaves

salt

pepper

Greek vinaigrette

Instructions

Slice tomatoes into medium-thin slices and arrange on a plate.  Slice green onions into thin strips and sprinkle over tomatoes.  Chop fresh basil leaves and sprinkle over tomatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Lightly sprinkle with Greek vinaigrette. Serve immediately.

Cucumber Dill Rounds

Ingredients

Cucumber

Cream cheese

Dill

Garlic Salt

Instructions

Scoop out a few spoonfuls of cream cheese into a bowl.  Sprinkle with dill and garlic salt to taste.  Mix well.  Cut cucumbers into medium-thin slices and top with the cream cheese mixture.

Yummy In The Tummy

In honor of the 4th, here are some recipes that we have cooked up the last few months.  Have a happy & safe holiday!

Pumpkin Blossoms

Ingredients

pumpkin blossoms         2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp. water                  salt

pepper                           1 cup bread crumbs

cooking oil for frying

Instructions

Remove center stem of pumpkin blossoms.  Wash blossoms gently in large basin of salted water.  Pat dry on paper towel.  Beat together egg, water, salt and pepper.  Place bread crumbs in separate bowl.  Dip blossoms in to egg mixture and then into bread crumbs.  Saute in hot oil until golden, turning once.

Simple Personal Pizzas

Capsaicin Free Potato Salad

  

Ingredients

3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

3/4 cup Hellmann's mayo

1 tsp Plochman's yellow mustard

6 cups cubed cooked red potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Mix mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper in large bowl.  Add celery, peas, and onions, mix.  Then add potatoes and eggs and mix lightly.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Grilled Reuben Sandwich

Ingredients

4 slices rye bread

1/2 lb. corned beef, sliced

1/2 cup sauerkraut, well drained

2 slices swiss cheese, halved

1/4 cup thousand island dressing

4 tsp. butter, softened

Instructions

Cover 2 slices of bread with layers of corned beef, sauerkraut, cheese and dressing; top with second bread slice.  Spread both sides of the bread with butter.  Cook in skillet on medium heat for 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown on both sides.

Stay cool & enjoy!!!!!!

The Morel Of The Story

A spring delicacy. . . . morel mushrooms!

Growing up, with step-dad number one, we lived out in the country.  So every spring we would have morel mushrooms to eat, and if we were lucky more than once each season.  My sister's dad would take us into the woods in search of these delicious fungi.  He would tell us that we could not make a sound or the morels would pop back under the ground.  Of course years later in the field mycology class I took, I learned that his story was very untrue.  But I guess it was his way of keeping my brother and I quiet on these mushroom forays.  Then when we got home, mom would soak them overnight in salt water.  Then next day she would salt and flour the morels and  fry them up in hot oil.

A few weeks ago, my baby sister went mushroom hunting.  She shared part of her haul with us.

The mushrooms my sister brought home sure were tasty!  It had been several years since we had morels, so it was an unexpected but delightful treat.  A big thanks to my sis!

Life & Such

Life appears to be plateauing out for the time being.  

Dad was discharged from the hospital Thursday evening.  Hooray!  My fingers are crossed that he does not have to be hospitalized again until his bone marrow transplant.  I've talked to him three times yesterday and once today, and he sounds great so far.  Hoping to drop by his house for a visit tomorrow afternoon, before he starts his chemo pills on Monday.

Last weekend we celebrated Daddy's birthday.  Pumpkin & Princess assisted with making the dump cake for the celebration.  I would of posted sooner, but alas we did not have internet last weekend and I have been away from home in the evenings once the router was replaced.

Dump Cake

1 pkg cake mix

20 oz can crushed pineapple in syrup, undrained

21 oz can pie filling

1 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup stick butter, cut in thin slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease 9x13x2 inch pan.  Dump the undrained pineapple into pan.  Dump in pie filling and spread into an even layer. Dump dry cake mix onto the pie filling and spread evenly.  Sprinkle nuts over cake mix.  Place butter slices over top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.  Serve warm or cooled.

Today has been a lazy day.  Princess woke me up at 7:00 a.m. and we snuggled for a while.  

Pumpkin slept in until about 8:45 a.m.  We had cereal and milk for breakfast and the kiddos watched some cartoons.  I worked on the grocery list after I figured out the dinner plan for the week.

Tonight: Pizza, salad, and pie crust bunnies

Sunday: Pot roast (with carrots, onions, and potatoes),  hawaiian sweet rolls and pudding with fruit

Monday: Fresh asparagus, creamy lemon chicken pasta, and strawberries

Tuesday: Family dinner night at grandma's house.  Yay!!!!!!

Wednesday: Cheese toasties, soup, and jello

Thursday: Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and apples

Friday: RAID THE PANTRY. . . maybe, just maybe if it is warm enough grill out. 

I did pretty good getting everything on my shopping list.  I did forget to get romaine for tonight's dinner.  I was sidetracked by celery for Pumpkin.  The kids had a great lunch today.  Pumpkin had celery with peanut butter and Princess had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.   I have some tomato soup cooling off on the stove.

So far the day has been going well.  Happy to have at least one stress-free day and hope that it becomes a trend instead of a rarity. ;-) I have been thinking about spring, which is right around the corner.  I cannot wait for the spring wildflowers!  My favorite one to search for is jack-in-the-pulpit. 

Wishing a lovely weekend to all!

Warm Up Those Winter Blues

When it is nippy outside I enjoy cooking in the oven.  I do this for two reasons: One- for yummy delicious food, Two- to warm the kitchen and surrounding rooms.  This evening we had Ham & Cheese Pot Pie, Grandma’s Sugar Pie and cutie oranges.  Princess was just interested in the oranges and would giggle in delight when I added more to her plate.  Pumpkin turned up his nose to it all.  He is one tough cookie to crack.  Of course, hubby and I chowed down on the pot pie and oranges.  So what happened to Grandma's Sugar Pie?  Read below to find out.

Ham & Cheese Pot Pie

(modified from Ham & Cheese Pot Pie- Kraft Foods)

 

Ingredients:

1 ham steak, warmed & chopped

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

½ a bunch of fresh broccoli florets, chopped

½ a head of fresh cauliflower florets, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 tub Chive & Onion Cream Cheese

1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust

1 egg

1 Tbsp. water

Instructions:

Heat oven to 400ºF.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a 2 quart casserole dish. Microwave cream cheese spread in microwaveable bowl on 1 min. or until completely melted, stirring every 15 sec. Add to ham mixture; mix well. Beat egg and water until well blended; brush onto top edge of casserole dish. Unroll pie crust and press around edge of casserole dish (May need to pre-stretch to fit dish); brush lightly with egg wash. Discard any remaining egg wash. Cut slits in crusts to vent. Bake 30 to 32 min. or until golden brown.

Grandma’s Sugar Pie

Take the extra pie crust trimmings.  Ball up dough in the hands and place on a cookie sheet.  Use the fingertips to knead the dough into a thin layer.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake until golden brown in a 400ºF oven. 

I remember my maternal grandma making these yummy treats when she had extra pie crust when I was growing up.  Mmmmm. . . . do I have to share?????  Nope, I snuck it all and did not share.  Guess we will just have to make some more. (wink, wink)

We Are Having WHAT For Lunch?

Oh, Pumpkin!  How I do love you!  

Today has been full of adventures.  Pumpkin and Princess chilled out in front of PBS kids this morning while I made pancakes for breakfast.  Pumpkin decided that he wanted his two pancakes cut into four pieces with syrup in bowl for dunking.  Princess decided she wanted her two pancakes whole with nothing on them.  Pumpkin pretty much downed his, but Princess just nibbed on hers.  Sometimes I think that they have an unspoken food pact going.  You never know from day to day what and how much they will eat.

Our next adventure led us to the grocery store.  We just got my car back last night.  We were originally going to replace it, but Pumpkin will be having a second set of ear tubes and his adenoids taken out later this month so we had to go with the option that did not include a monthly car payment.  We went over the great grandma's house and picked her up for our Saturday morning shopping trip.  

At the store, we picked up the necessities and I got the supplies to try a new recipe: Baked Shrimp Scampi posted by Dinner at Cheshire Farm.  The two little monkeys did a great job at the store, so we each got our Saturday morning donut. As soon as we get home from the store, we take our coats and shoes off.  Then before we can get our donuts we have to wash our hands.  Thankfully for me, that delays them long enough to get their donuts onto their plates.  

After donut time, I forced the kids into service.  They actually had to pick up their toys in the sunroom.  What a mean mommy I am! (wink, wink)   Pumpkin absolutely hates it when I vacuum.  Instead of trying to pick his toys up faster so the vacuum will not eat them, he is occupied with trying to stop me from vacuuming.  I vacuum under the dinner table, under both couches, the tv stand, and the lazy boy.  I am hoping that my back won't be angry at me later.

Next it was time for lunch.  Since it had only been an hour since donut time, I decided to try something different.  I told Pumpkin that today was fruit and vegetable lunch day.  I got a loud, "EWWWWW!  I don't want fruits or vegetables!"  So I allowed him to chose which ones he would eat.  Lunch choices included: apples, bananas, raspberries, strawberries, cutie oranges, celery, or romaine.  

Pumpkin decided that he wanted a green apple with peanut butter.  

Princess was excited about the choice and decided on strawberries.  She was even brave enough to try an orange slice.  Which of course squirted her in the eye, but thankfully she was not deterred and ate two orange slices.

I ended up having a bowl of strawberries, raspberries, and cutie orange slices.

The kids are off in their bedrooms now for quiet/ nap time.  I plan to work on some more cleaning and organizing.  I am really looking forward to supper time to try out the new recipe and I made sure to pick up a loaf of crusty bread just for the occasion.