U still have time!

It's is not quite time for panic just yet, you still have a couple days so don't freak out.

I love making goodies to give away this time of the year and this year has been no different. I haven't fished all my goody making just yet, gotta make a couple other things like those all important cookies for Santa, that will be done maybe tomorrow. Wyatt's school xmas party was Friday so I had to get some of the stuff done so I could put together a little basket for his teacher and her TA, both of which we LOVE.

Abby was my little helper last week during the treat making.

First we made these cute little chocolate jollies, recipe was courtesy of Southern Plate

Super Easy and super cheap! especially if you buy the chocolate chips and dried cranberries on sale and with coupons:)


Once the chocolate chips are melted (in the microwave) dump in a bag of dried cranberries and stir it up. Drop spoonfuls into cupcake papers and let sit til dry-I mean seriously could it be easier?


bag them up tie with a ribbon-BAM you are done!

there are lots of different ways to make these and she gives some other ideas, I may try some with milk chocolate and something else.

Then I made some peanut brittle, I didn't let her help with this one cause truthfully I was worried about some serious burns from it, but she did watch. I take that back I think she dumped in the vanilla but that was it, well until it needed to be dipped in chocolate.

I found this recipe a couple years ago on Kraft Foods it is also a super easy one. Just need to be a bit careful with the molten lava that is the sugar and corn syrup when it comes from the microwave:)

once it sits and gets hard I break it up into bite size pieces then dip it into chocolate. Yes chocolate makes everything better!

here's Abby my helper in the chocolate department. The recipe I have tells you to put some creamy peanut butter into the melted chocolate.


then dip away and yes you must wear your super cute apron that is courtesy of Aunt Michele

set them on wax paper and let it dry

I put some tissue paper down into little chinese take out looking boxes that I bought from Target $1 spot, very cute and once again easy and cheap.

now the next one is also easy. Buy some pretzel sticks they can be big or small what ever you like. I went with these medium size ones this year. Dip the ends into melted chocolate-yes chocolate again, I told you it makes everything better! Then the possibilities are endless. Crush some Oreo cookies (I used the Christmas ones with red filling), any type of cookie sprinkles, chop some peanuts, or drizzle white chocolate over dark chocolate.

it is messy and fun! you will have sprinkles sticking to your feet for days!


also wrap these up into some of those clear treat bags (I have tons because I buy them on clearance after the season because I use them so much).

Still to make:
Your run of the mill fun Christmas sugar cookies-I mean what is Santa gonna eat if I don't make these?
and these ball cookies that I make every year. It is just a roll of sugar cookie dough, cocoa powder mixed together. Then roll into balls, dip into powdered sugar and bake. While baking throw some red and green sugar into the powdered sugar. When they come out cool for just a bit then roll into the sugar mix again.

I always get lots of compliments on all of this and everything is so easy and cheap. Great last minute gifts or if you just wanna make yourself some goodies.

Rain, Rain go away!

So what do you do when it will NOT stop raining outside and you have a couple of rotting bananas on the counter?

You make Banana bread that is what! Especially when you have two adorable helpers.

I had two helpers Wednesday because Wyatt had gotten out of school early for some teacher meeting.

What to do first. Make sure you have all the ingredients needed to make the oh so yummy banana bread. Um Houston we have a problem. No flour, and you have to have flour to make bread. So I call up my trusty neighbor, see we have established a give and take relationship. We like to refer to ourselves as the needy neighbors.

Now to convince Wyatt to go get it, see she is not next door but behind us and when I say behind I mean across the back 40. He agrees when I tell him the rain has pretty much stopped and he can just ride his 4wheeler. Only thing is the rain started again the minute he left and then I felt like a bad mother sending her son out in the rain just so I could have flour to ease my craving for banana bread.

Good thing I have a great neighbor who rewarded him with Reece's cups

So ok now back to that ingredient list.
1 3/4c all purpose flour-she had self rising, I had never used it before in this but it worked just fine I just omitted the next ingredient
3/4t baking soda
1/2t salt
3/4c sugar
1 1/4t cream of tartar
2 eggs
1/2c veg oil
2 bananas make sure they are black and yucky
1/8t vanilla
cinnamon-how ever much you like
Nuts-sometimes we do and sometimes we don't

So remember the neighbor? She had also given us some fresh from the "farm" eggs, ok so it is not a farm but more like a back yard, anyways they have chickens and they have started laying eggs, much to our delight they have shared them with us.


First you mix the dry ingredients, trying to keep them in the bowl.

Then you stop & entertain the baby

Then in a separate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients. Slowly start adding the dry to the wet, be sure to scrape the bowl down.

Stop and remove the baby from the kitchen (yet again) and away from the blinds that are her new fascination. I guess they are funner than the 3,000 toys she has laying in my living room floor

Pour into a loaf pan, I like my stone one. Then and in my house this is a must, but if you prefer you can leave this out, I highly recommend you not do so. You mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over the top. Trust me


Then you bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Your house will be filled with yummy smells and you will once again seal the deal with your kids that you are in fact the best mommy in the entire world.


We like it warm with a bit of butter. This bread can serve many purposes-Breakfast, snack, or dessert:) So if my kids eats something for breakfast that they also consider dessert is that a bad thing?

The last piece was eaten by Wyatt this a.m. for breakfast. I am pretty sure I only got 1 piece! Mommy is always the one that misses out.

Weekend of fun

Well it's Monday again and time for my weekend wrapup and back to reality of kids, kids, and more kids.

So my weekend got off to an early start when I had the Friday off. I dropped Wyatt at nature camp and arranged for him to go home with a friend to swim afterwards. Then went to hubs work and dropped Abby and suddenly found myself kidless!! So what's a girl to do when she doesn't have any kids? Why go to the Dr of course, yea that Dr.

Um yea not what kind of day off I was looking forward to, but the day did get better. After picking up some lunch I headed out shopping to kill some time until my appointment for my massage!!!

Yep remember me telling you about the massage I got as a birthday gift way back in October? I finally went and got it. It was really good although I did think I was gonna have to stop her a few different times because it was a bit ticklish in spots:)

Saturday we headed up the interstate with a friend to a local community center outdoor pool area. It was a ton of fun we spent about 5 hrs there the kids were exhausted but still didn't want to leave.


Yesterday we woke up left hubs in the bed to sleep in (even though there was NO sleeping in for mommy on my day but whatever). We made a yummy breakfast of Monkey bread, bacon and eggs.

The kids loved making the bread, Wyatt is a pro at it since he makes it alot with his Gram, but this was just my 2nd time making it. I have to brag a bit and tell ya it came out super yummy.


We added nuts to ours

Thanks to Good and Crazy for sharing this recipe that she found from A Southern Fairytale

Then we headed to his dad's house for some fun in the sun. My kids are like little fish and love the water. Abby has been jumping off the side since last year but yesterday graduated to jumping off the diving board!! Wyatt was perfecting his cannon balls and getting thrown in the air by Shane.

We were pretty waterlogged after the weekend of water and today we are just staying inside and enjoying the AC. It is crazy hot out there.

Fun with Sherbert

What do you get when you combine Sherbert, Orange juice, and Sprite?


Two very happy kiddos that may just go back to their room and happily (and quietly I might ad) watch a movie so that mommy and daddy can watch Clint Eastwood in "Gran Torino". Which I highly recommend BTW.

This recipe was brought to you by "Your Big Backyard" magazine. Which I also recommend for the little ones. Wyatt has been getting it since I guess last summer, thanks to Pa. He really enjoys it and it always has fun little projects and recipes in it. Be sure to click on the link and visit their site it has some fun things to do and printable coloring pages.

We saw this recipe the other night and they had to try it out. The original recipe was: Rainbow Sherbert (we used orange sherbert), Ginger ale (Sprite here), and Orange Juice. I think they called it a tall giraffe.

Anyways it is a fun and super easy treat to make for the kiddos and who knows maybe you will get to sit down and watch yourself a movie.

This is also brought to you in part by GoodNCrazy, see she is on a mission to find fun things to keep her and her kiddos sane this summer and I have to jump in also. Be sure to check her out she has some good ones on there already.

It's whats for dinner III

The other day while grocery shopping I sampled this Apron's meal from Publix and I was sold on it. I only needed a couple things to make it so I wasn't suckered into it.

With it being Cinco De Mayo I thought this recipe would fit right in.

Yesterday of course my sous chef was Abby.

Here she is helping out with the corn salad:


It is simple:
Corn-I used frozen that I cut off the cob
one can of black beans, drained
diced up tomato
diced up onion
1T honey
1/2 cup Mojo liquid marinade

Mix it all together and set in fridge

Then onto the main course.
Brown ground beef it says to add some onion but I didn't. Add taco seasoning I also used more than 1T, add water and taco rice mix (I used Knorr), cover it and cook til the water is gone. Then put some chips on top, pour taco sauce over, then sprinkle it with cheese. I then threw it in the oven for a few minutes to warm the chips.

And tada this is what you get:

Yep there is an area with no cheese because my son who if it wasn't for him being a spitting image of his daddy I would think was switched at birth because get this he doesn't like cheese! WTH who doesn't like warm ooey, gooey melted cheese?

It was a hit with the family they all ate it right up Wyatt asked for seconds of the meat stuff not the corn salsa and Abby loved eating the salsa on chips. So this will be entered into our rotation of meals that my entire family will actually eat.

Want more dinner ideas?
Slow cooker Tex Mex Chicken
Slow cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yes we have a Mexican theme thing going on but hey I do what works!

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and an apron giveaway!

We have developed a new love of aprons here-mostly for Abby since I currently don't have an oh so cute one to wear, and also thanks to the wonderful Aunt M for making 2 of them for Abby.

So when Mama Kat announced an apron giveaway I was in. After all if Abby is gonna have a cute one shouldn't mommy?

Yesterday we decided to break in Abby's newest apron that she received over the weekend from Aunt M and make some cookies.

First I had to figure out what kind to make, then I quickly realized this would be easy when I found one of those jar mixes in my pantry that had been there for a questionable amount of time, I had what I needed to make them so it was a go.

Abby loved being my assistant and I loved having an excuse to use my new stand mixer


and since peanut butter chips weren't enough I had to add some chocolate for good measure so I cut up a Hershey bar and also threw in some Dove dark chocolate!!


Then you have to taste it to make sure they are acceptable.


and what's the point with being an assistant if you don't get to lick the beaters?


OK so they taste good now spoon them out onto the very well used baking stone


After a few minutes in the oven you will be rewarded with the yummy goodness of these,


let's just hope that I can control myself enough not to eat every last one!

It's what's for dinner II

If you missed the last edition of "It's whats for dinner" staring Abigail you can find it here, We had Slow Cooker Tex Mex Chicken.

For this edition my sous chef will once again be Abby. She will be preparing Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla soup. Anyone seeing a trend beginning to start? You can find the full recipe here

The list of ingredients is a bit overwhelming but trust me nothing is crazy about them and I had everything in my pantry but enchilada sauce and green chilies. I did fool around with the recipe just a bit and added a can of Black beans with sauce, and omitted the Cilantro.

Also instead of cooking the chicken then shredding it and adding it to the crock pot, I just threw in whole frozen chicken breasts. About 4 or so hrs later I pulled them out and shredded them with a fork, it was super easy to do.

Add the water, frozen chicken and a bay leaf then dump some enchilada sauce in


Then that can of black beans I mentioned before that was not in the recipe

Dump everything else in (it starts to get pretty full by this point) and end with the seasonings. Next time I may take a bit of the water out since my beans had sauce in them.


Then of course you must stir it


I served tortilla chips with it, which everyone crumbled into the soup. I also sprinkled a bit of cheese into mine. It was so good everyone loved it and everyone got clean bowl award for eating all their dinner!

It's what's for dinner

Or should I say was for dinner as in last night's dinner.

Slow Cooker Tex-Mex BTW click the name and you will find the recipe.

So I have to admit that this "whats for dinner" idea and the actual dinner was taken from a certain blogger that shall we say I have a bit of an obsession with (even if she didn't draw my name for the free vacuum giveaway she had over there on her blog). She has done quite a few recipes and always has her little chefs help out. I have also tried the Southwest Stuffed Burgers and the Chicken Caesar Lasagna both were also very yummy.

So I would like to introduce my little chef's assistant... Abigail, Abby, Little Evil what ever is easiest at the time. She loves princess movies, dancing, watching her big brother play baseball oh and sucking her thumb (yea yea I know we are working on it)

First you dump some chicken in

Then some flour and taco seasoning

Then the corn, green bell pepper, and salsa

Stir it all up and throw it on low for about 6hrs I served mine on Taco shells with some cheese, no one really likes rice which is what it said to serve it on. It was very yummy and believe it or not EVERYONE ate it!!! WOOHOO that makes it a winner in my house.
Oh I got scolded for taking this picture it was hubs plate and he wanted to eat.

Here is a great video I took