New Snacks to Try

Posted by Lori:

Here are some Pinterest-found snacks I want to try.  I'm not sure of the original origin of these recipes, but am listing a site where I think it might have come from:

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies: http://veryculinary.com/2011/03/22/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Frozen Yogurt Bites: http://www.simplesavingsecrets.net/2012/03/recipe-frozen-yogurt-bites.html

What new things are you trying? 

Have a great weekend!

Mexican Food Leftovers - Quick Idea for Baked Quesadillas

Posted by Lori:

Bringing home leftovers from Mexican food from a restaurant may not be something you're accustomed to doing, but here's an idea that might make you rethink leaving what's on your plate.  Or maybe you are ordering takeout from the restaurant.  What it typically eaten by one person at the restaurant, can most often be made into two plates of food at home.  Some of that is due to huge portions, but also some place seem to send more home in the to-go boxes.  Not a bad thing at all when you're feeding your family!

For our family of six, I have made quesadillas with the Mexican food leftovers.  If the restaurant serves homemade tortillas this is especially great!  The photo above is an uncooked flour tortillas I got at Walmart.  You just cook them yourself and they are great! Sorry I can't remember the name of the company that makes them.  But, back to the quesadillas!

Basically, I take whatever is left - rice, beans, beef and chicken enchiladas, cheese sauce, and sometimes fajita meat, and heat it up.  The I spread that mixture onto flour tortillas.  Add cheddar cheese, more beans, if needed (Ranch Style beans add flavor and juice), top with another tortilla and bake/broil.  After the top tortillas are browned, I flip the quesadilla and butter the other side, allowing it to bake/broil until browned.  I bake the quesadillas because, for our family, it would take a long time to cook them all, individually.  Bake at 400 degrees and then, if desired, turn it up to broil and watch closely until the desired browning is achieved.  Repeat with the bottom side (after flipping).  Turn the oven back to 400, allow the quesadillas to cook, then broil a little bit until browned.

My family things these "restaurant leftover quesadillas" are great!  I hope you enjoy trying them yourself.

3,2,1 Cake

Posted by Donna:


A very close friend of mine sent this to me a few weeks ago. I forwarded it on to another mutual friend. Today, I heard back from her and she said she had made this with her granddaughters----and said it was a huge hit!!!!!


3,2,1 Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Angel food Cake Mix
1 box Cake Mix--any flavor

Directions:

In a ziploc bag, combine the two cake mixes together and mix well. For each individual cake serving, take out 3 Tablespoons of the cake mix combination and mix it with 2 Tablespoons of water in a small microwave-safe container. Microwave on high for 1 minute, and you have your own instant individual little cake!

Keep remaining cake mixture stored in the ziploc bag and use whenever you feel like a treat. You can top each cake with a dollop of fat free whipped topping and /or some fresh fruit.

This recipe is called 3,2,1 Cake because all you need to remember is:

3 T. mix
2 T. water
1 minute in the microwave



I don't know where this recipe originated, but I'm so glad I have it to share with others.

Burlap Trimmed Lampshade

Posted by Lori:

This ivory lamp shade was dirty and plain.  My husband had picked up some burlap sacks from a farm supply store (They were on sale for 99 cents!!!) so I could use a few for decorating.  These trims were made with the seam parts of the bag.  I just cut the bottom or sides of the bag into about 2 inch strips, turned them over to the inside of the seam side, frayed the edges of the bigger, underneath piece, and hot-glued the trip on.  For the top trim, I made it ruffled by scrunching it up some as I glued.

The flower is a new addition to the scrapbooking section at Hobby Lobby.  The burlap flower is hotglued on and the organza/muslin ivory flower is a sticker.  What a quick "fix up" for this less-than-new lampshade!

Grammy's Hamburger Pie

Hi, I'm Lauren, the daughter of the second cherry coke, which should make me the fourth cherry coke. I've been wanting to share a special recipe for a long time. It is my Grammy's hamburger pie. Almost every time I go to her house with some friends she makes this meal. I think it's great!

Hamburger:

2 pounds of browned hamburger meat (she browns hers with 5 T. butter, and 1/2 cup finely chopped onions, 1 teas. salt, 1 teas. accent, and  2 T. flour to thicken)

 Crust:

2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup milk

Roll out crust and place in two 14in. pizza pans. Spread hamburger mixture into the pizza pans. After meat is spread over crust, cover each with fine shreeded cheedar cheese.

Top with mixture of 1 container of sour cream and 2 eggs mixed together. Spread this mixture over cheese.  Bake until crust is browned on the edges and top at 350.

 Enjoy!!!  :)

Melted Chocolate Hearts/Shapes

Posted by Lori:

Melted chocolate can be piped into various shapes and add a sweet decoration to the top of your special desserts.

First, place desired amount of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips in a glass measuring container or a small glass bowl.

Fill a medium saucepan half way full with water and heat over medium heat, while glass container holding chocolate rests in the water.  Stir chips until melted.  Don't allow water to boil.  

Spoon melted chocolate into piping/decorator bag with small round tip.

Line baking sheet with waxed paper.  Draw desired shapes on the waxed paper.

Allow chocolate shapes to cool and harden.

Use the shapes to decorate your desserts as desired.

Babe's - Yum!

While my husband and three boys enjoyed a weekend in Amarillo, TX, playing golf (and my husband preached for a small congregation, too), my daughter and I headed to Arlington, TX, for a girls' getaway.  Our GPS lady, we fondly named "Betsy", wasn't cooperating in the Dallas metroplex, we managed to find where we were wanting to go ourselves, for the most part.

On the way to worship Sunday morning, we spotted a "Babe's" restaurant (www.babeschicken.com) in downtown Arlington.  Not sure why this cool bus was parked out front, but I snapped a picture of it because of its uniqueness.

This show marquee was right by Babe's.  If you're visiting Arlington, this might be something fun to check out!

We'd heard of Babe's, famous for their chicken and in many different locations around Dallas.  So, later on that afternoon we decided to go try it out ourselves.  

WOW!  We were impressed!

 Great food and huge portions! Fun atmosphere, too!  (You might want to learn the words to "The Hokey Pokey"!)

 This is just my filled plate.  The actual food comes out on platters and in bowls.  You pass it around your table, family style. (Mom has a recipe on here for Creamed Corn that she says is similar to the corn at Babe's!)

We quickly realized why people kept walking out with little "doggy bags" of chicken and/or biscuits!  We soon knew why and carried our own baggies out!

I can't wait to introduce my husband and three boys to Babe's.  I did notice that some of the restaurants have fewer meat selections.  The one in Arlington has six different meats to choose from.  We had the regular fried chicken and the chicken tenders.  Wonderful and worth a trip to Arlington!

Weeds or Flowers

Posted by Donna:

This field of beauty is just behind my house in an open field. It is just beautiful. I've been so taken with this view; however, everytime I comment to Larry about how pretty it is, he says, "They're weeds!!!!" Nevertheless, I just had to share it with you.

Black, White and Hot Pink Baby Shower

Posted by Lori:

Last night we had a baby shower before our regular monthly singing night with our church family.  I thought I would share the pictures with you.  This hanging chandelier turned out great hanging from the ceiling.  I first saw this idea on Pinterest, hanging from a tree.  I'm planning to make one for my daughter's room.  To make, get a hula hoop, a strand of icicle lights and I used tulle rolls to cut in pieces to attach the lights to the hoop.

A friend bought these black and white checked tablecloths last year.  We've already used theme numerous times for showers and events!

Pure yumminess from the bakery!

A is for baby Annalyn!  This plate is a friends.  I didn't realize I threaded the ribbon wrong on the right side in one place until during the shower.  Oh, well.....

The entry table with newborn baby pictures.

A cute black and white banner found at Hobby Lobby.  Milk jar/crate from Michael's.

Paper cones hanging on each side of the banner were also Hobby Lobby finds.

Now on to the next shower in a few weeks!  How funny that of the four showers we have had or will have this year (so far), all four are girls!  On the other hand, I found out yesterday that I would be having another great nephew in August.  Thank you, God, for babies!

Corn Casserole

Posted by Lori:

I made this Corn Casserole last week.  It was supposed to go along with our meal, but I got it started late and ended up not having it ready until we were done.  So.......not everyone tried it, but those of us who did, thought it was great!  I look forward to making it again soon!

Corn Casserole

1 stick butter
1 (17 oz.) can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 (16 1/2 oz.) can cream style corn, undrained
1 (8 oz.) container sour cream
1 (8 1/2 oz.) box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 c. cheese, grated

Melt butter in a pan. Add whole kernel corn, cream style corn, sour cream, and cornbread mix. Stir until blended. Place in baking dish that has been sprayed with a non-stick vegetable spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Add grated cheese to top and bake for 30 additional minutes.

Cleaning and other Tidbits

Posted by Donna:

I've been falling down on my posts lately. I have had absolutely nothing to post the last two weeks.

Lori suggested, about a year ago, that I tell you about this book. Out of deperation last night, I decided I needed to do that. I first became acquainted with this book about seven or eight years ago while watching the author on some TV show. I ran (drove) to Hastings and found the book. I went ahead and bought two more to put in Lori's and Kimberly's stockings at Christmas.

The book, "Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean" by Linda Cobb, has so many useful tips for just about everything we ladies deal with on a day to day basis.

I use her recipe for cleaning my tile floor and our vinyl floors in our laundry room and one of the bathrooms. Kimberly uses the recipe for cleaning an oven---and has even gotten her mother-in-law using it. My aunt called a couple of years ago and wanted to know what the book suggested for cleaning up nail polish on the carpet.

This is a very, very useful book to have on hand.

I hope you decide to check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Fish, Buzzard, and High Heeled Shoe Cupcakes

Posted by Lori:

I bought the neatest cookbook at Sam's Club on Monday (not that I needed another one at all!).  It had all sorts of ideas for cupcakes, cookies, and rice krispie treats made into different things.  Here are a few my daughter made tonight.

Fish:  Red hot lips, M & M's for scales, and fruit roll ups for fins. Eyes were bought at a cake supply place (Michaels maybe?? Can't remember!)

Buzzard Cupcake:  Cupcake body with a small chocolate donut towards the front for the mid-body part.

Head is a round donut.  She used carrots for beak/feet, but the recipe said banana shaped yellow candies.  The eyes are the same mentioned above.

Now, these high heeled shoe cupcakes are really cute, but she needs to practice more and get the right consistency on the icing for the heel part.  She used a pretzel rod.  Recipe suggested a cinnamon stick.  After iced, roll in colored sugar to coat. (She didn't do because it was getting too late.)

The blue bow is gum!

Thanks, daughter!  Looking forward to seeing more of your creations using that new cookbook!

Sweet French Bread

Posted by Lori for Kimberly :).

Kim sent this recipe today via email.  She said it is very good!  I think probably a friend made it for them recently and she asked for the recipe so that we could share it with you.

Sound good, huh??  Any sweet yeast bread would be good in my opinion.  Yum!

SWEET FRENCH BREAD

2 ½ C. WARM WATER

2 T. SUGAR

2 T. YEAST

Combine in warm bowl.  Let yeast activate, when bubbly add:

1 T. salt

2 T. oil

3 c. flour

Stir vigorously with wooden spoon. 

Add 2 ½ - 3 c. more flour.

Stir.  Set in warm place, covered.  Let rise 10 min. Stir down.  Repeat 2 more times.  Turn on floured board.  Divide into 2 loaves. Place in greased loaf pan. Let rise 30 minutes.  Bake 20-22 minutes, 400 degrees or until inside shows 200 degrees on instant read thermometer.

Notes:   I usually substitute 1 c. whole wheat flour for regular flour.

             To make bread sticks, pat out ½ dough on counter, cut into strip, place on greased

              jelly roll pan.  Melt ¼ stick butter, pour over bread and sprinkle with garlic

              seasoning.  Bake 12-16 minutes.  Repeat with remaining dough.

If the house is too cool for rising, I place bowl or pans on heating pad.

Ladybug Appetizers

Posted by Lori:

Aren't these little Ladybug Appetizers cute???  I can imagine them being served at a ladybug themed birthday party or baby shower (a shower I've been thinking would sure be fun to decorate for!).

I saw this picture on Pinterest and found the recipe at Taste of Home.  Click HERE for the link.