Redneck Tips from the Kitchen....or Laundry Room

Posted by Lori:

Last weekend I was making a cake.  The recipe said to beat eggs with an electric mixer for three minutes.  That is a LONG time to stand and hold the mixer when you've got lots of other things to be doing, isn't it?  Well, I came up with a solution - a stand mixer!  But, it's not the nice stand mixers some of you may have.  This standing mixer creation is straight from a redneck, as you can see!  But, you know what?  It worked!

I realized I might have forgotten to share another redneck idea with you.  This was from a family trip last year.  We were staying at a hotel in Arlington, TX and had great Mexican food leftovers from Pappasitos.  The hotel room had a refrigerator, but no microwave....SOOOOOOO, I improvised and heated the food on the next best thing - an iron!  And guess what???!!  It worked, too!

And since this is mostly a humorous post about redneck tips (although they really do work!), I thought I'd share one more funny picture.  I found this funny looking carrot one day as I was peeling carrots.  It looked like a person!  My daughter gave it some eyes and we kept him around a few days.  He aged really fast.....got all wrinkled up and shriveled.....but we sure had some laughs while he was around!

Edible Eagles

Posted by Lori:
I decided to repost this, since July 4th will be here soon!  These are so cute! A friend told me about these last year and I posted them then - after the 4th.

  The recipe is from FamilyFun.com. THIS PHOTO IS FROM FAMILYFUN.COM, ALSO!

EDIBLE EAGLES

1/4 cup of white chocolate chips
6 large marshmallows
Finely shredded coconut
Chocolate sandwich cookie (we used a chocolate-covered Oreo)
6 Cashews
Black decorators' gel

Melt 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips according to the package directions. For each bird, drop a large marshmallow into the melted chocolate, using a spatula to coat it well. Remove the marshmallow from the chocolate and roll it in finely shredded coconut, leaving one end uncovered. Immediately set the marshmallow, coconut free end down, atop a chocolate sandwich cookie.

Let the chocolate set a bit, then use a toothpick to make a hole in the side of the marshmallow and insert a cashew for a beak. Finally, add black decorators' gel eyes.

Single Ingredient Ice Cream

Posted by Lori:

I've heard variations on this recipe several times, lately, but this one seems to be the best because it begins with an unfrozen banana.  Then either it the "cream" as is or freeze it to make it cold "ice cream".

Single Ingredient Ice Cream
from The Kitchn (at www.thekitchn.com)

4 bananas, just slightly overripe (brown spots good, completely black not so good)
2 tbsps creamy peanut butter (optional – thus 2 ingredient ice cream)
2 tsps cocoa powder (Dutch process), (optional – thus 2 or 3 ingredient ice cream depending on peanut butter)

DO NOT FREEZE THE WHOLE BANANA, you’ll have a hard time blending it frozen.

Peel the bananas and slice them up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick disks. Place the banana slices in the freezer for about an hour or until they are frozen solid. Put the frozen slices in a food processor and pulse. First they will start to resemble gravel, but keep going. The bananas will soon turn into a frozen mush – at this point, start scraping the sides down (you will do this a lot). Or you could add a dash of milk since the liquid will help the blending. I’m lactose-intolerant, so after a few minutes of stopping to scrape the sides down, the banana begins to blend into a creamy texture. When the bananas look like whipped ice cream, you can add your mix-ins like peanut butter and/or cocoa powder, chocolate chips, toffee, raspberries, anything goes! Straight out of the food processor, the ice cream is like soft serve. You can also freeze it for a firmer texture. I find it’s pretty hard (and therefore, brittle) when I scoop it immediately after removing it from the freezer. Just give it a minute or two to soften up. Makes a pint.

Coconut Cake #2

Posted by Lori:

My mom told me about this cake today.  She said it's great, and I look forward to making it this week to take to a family reunion! The recipe was given to her by a friend.

Because there is already a Coconut Cake recipe on our blog, I put #2 after the name.

Coconut Cake #2

1 white cake mix
1 can cream of coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk (Such as Eagle Brand)
Medium container of whipped topping (Such as Cool Whip)
1 can angel flaked coconut

• Bake cake mix as directed, using a 9 X 13 pan. While cake is baking, mix Eagle Brand milk and cream of coconut together in a medium bowl. After cake is done, allow it to cool 5-10 minutes. Poke holes in cake and pour the cream of coconut/sweetened condensed milk mixture over the cake very slowly, letting it soak down into the cake.  Allow cake to cool for about 20 minutes.  Spread Cool Whip over cake and sprinkle with coconut.  Refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight. 
• 

Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

Posted by Lori:


I'm posting this because my father-in-law was the BEST cinnamon roll maker in our family.  He passed away last Thursday and so I made these for the family.  They're not homemade and can in NO WAY compare to his, but they're a pretty good substitute.....and a lot less work, for sure.  (To read my devotional blog post about Charlie, please read HERE.)

Our traditional Sunday morning breakfast (for the kids, anyway) is cinnamon rolls. However, up until this point they've been the canned variety. It's just a quick breakfast before we head out the door for Bible class and worship. This recipe for "Yummy Cinnamon Rolls" was sent to me by Mom several months ago. She got it in an email from a friend. I forgot about the recipe until a few days ago when I was cleaning out my email inbox and found it. I decided to try them and they were great! In fact, we may say "good-bye" to canned cinnamon rolls forever!

YUMMY CINNAMON ROLLS

1 package Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls (discard icing or find another use for it...maybe just eat it - ha ha!)
1 stick of real butter
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
Nuts, if desired

Combine butter, ice cream, sugar and brown sugar in pan and bring to a boil. Let cool. Put cinnamon rolls in 9 X 13 baking pan and pour mixture over the rolls. Put in cold oven overnight and let rise. In the morning preheat oven to 325 degrees (remove rolls before preheating!) Bake for 30 minutes. Serve from pan or invert on serving tray.

I've made homemade cinnamon rolls, but only do it a few times a year. My father-in-law is the cinnamon roll expert in my family! I'm grateful for this new Sunday morning YUMMY CINNAMON ROLL recipe. It's easy and delicious!

Breakfast Pizza

Posted by Lori:
Breakfast pizza is one of my kid's favorite breakfast dishes. It's quick and easy, but very filling.

BREAKFAST PIZZA

1 can Grands biscuits
1 t. butter or margarine
8 eggs 
1/4 cup milk
Salt, if desired
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I like to use the already cooked bacon slices for this recipe because it's so convenient)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Grease 15 inch pizza pan. Flatten each biscuit and place on pizza pan, sealing the seams to create the pizza crust. Melt butter in skillet with medium-high heat. Scramble eggs with milk and salt (I do one "shake" per 2 eggs) until done. Spread eggs evenly on top of biscuit crust. Top with crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese. Cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until edge of crust is slightly browned.

This recipe can easily be adapted according to what your family likes. You and your family might like adding green chilies or onions to the eggs while cooking. Maybe you would like mushrooms or bell peppers as a topping. My kiddos like it fairly plain.

I usually use bacon as the meat topping, but you can use ham or sausage. I take this pizza to the teachers and school staff during Teacher Appreciation Week and on the first day of school breakfast our PTO serves each year. It's interesting that the bacon pizza is consistantly the most popular each time. 

Flavored Sugar

Posted by Lori:

I found this great recipe for flavored sugar that can be added to tea.  It's a full sugar recipe, but the recipe could be adapted to sugar free by using a sugar substitute and sugar free flavored drink mixes.  I have to add some sweet flavoring to my tea.  I don't like it at all just plain!  Apparently that's the way it is in the south.  My husband was in Georgia in April and he said that unsweetened tea wasn't even an option on the menu!  Unfortunately, unsweet is the only way he likes it, so his beverage selection was always water.

I hope you enjoy making your tea even tastier with this recipe!

Flavored Sugar

1 cup sugar
1 package (0.23 ounces) unsweetened lemon, cherry, or strawberry (or your preferred flavor) flavored soft drink mix

In a small bowl, combine sugar and soft drink mix.  To serve, stir 2 teaspoons flavored sugar into 6 ounces of hot or cold tea.

Making a Plaster Mold from a Chocolate Mold

Posted by Lori:

When I was asked to make the centerpieces for our school's Junior-Senior banquet, I was excited!  I wanted to make the centerpieces look nicer than some of the plastic ones I had seen on Prom/Banquet websites, so went to work trying to come up with something.  Our centerpieces were going to be shared with another school and since their event was being held a month earlier than ours, they had a lot of input into what they wanted in the decor.

The other school wanted a film reel and an Oscar.  They showed us an example from one of the online sites I had seen.  All I could see was that the centerpieces were all plastic.  I didn't want that!  I searched online for an "Oscar" mold so that I could make my own replica of the gold statue.  I finally found a chocolate mold for an Oscar-looking guy and bought it through eBay from overseas.  It came really quickly and I was excited about trying the project!

Unsure of how to go about making the chocolate mold work with Plaster, I searched online.  I found a site that had GREAT instructions (click HERE) and followed them exactly. 

I made 19 Oscars plus a few more that broke.  I was soooooo tired of that man by the time I was done!!! :)   I used Pottery Plaster from Hobby Lobby.

The site I linked will tell you how to smooth out the edges of the middle where the molds come together.  I used the sand paper and also a knife in some places.

I needed the mold to stand upside down, so tried a few different ways to accomplish this.  The first way was to set it inside a large vase.  That worked for a while, but then seemed to slip.

The final way I used seemed to work the best.  It was just a clear plastic, disposable cup.  The sides could be squeezed to fit the upside down mold perfectly.  The plaster only had to dry an hour or so before being set.  (It was actually ready sooner, but I found waiting an hour worked best and caused less frequent breaking).  After drying for at least 24 hours, the Oscars were painted metallic gold.  Then the centerpieces were ready to be assembled!

The plaster Oscar had a dowel stick in the bottom, which stuck out about an inch and a half.  I placed it in the plaster while it was still wet, leaving the 1 1/2 inch end exposed. The dowel was stuck into REAL movie reels (also bought on eBay and came in a cool Hollywood Film Studio official box!) that I painted black, and also stuck into a wooden square that was actually a base of a gold foil Christmas tree I got at Hobby Lobby on clearance. (I thought I might use the metal pole that stuck out and formed the tree, but it didn't work.  Thankfully the bases worked perfectly!)  

Woven through the reel was real film strip.  I bought wide film from www.hollywoodmegastore.com and thin film strip wrapped with gold star wire garland.  The thin film was sent by the guy who sold me the film reels (He generously gave me the film strip because I was using it for the school event.  He even forgot to send it the first time and sent it later!  Isn't that neat??!)

The centerpieces were finished out by using red and gold pics - some with stars.  The pics were trimmed and stuck into holes in the film reel.  We were pleased with the way the centerpieces turned out and so was the other school.

I really enjoyed learning how to make a chocolate mold into a plaster mold.  That opens up many possibilities of creating new things at a lower cost.  I hope that you enjoy knowing this "tip", as well!  And if you need an Oscar mold.....let me know.  I assure you, I won't be making any more plaster Oscars - at least for a very, very long time!

Fiery Furnace S'More Snack Craft

Posted by Lori:

If you're looking for a VBS or Bible class snack craft for the "Fiery Furnace" Bible story (Daniel 3), this one is GREAT!  I found it online, but can't remember where right now (maybe Danielle's Place??).   For VBS, I bought a small toaster oven so that I could make the snacks in the classroom.  The students thought it was great making them and eating them, of course!

Here's what is needed for each snack:

1 graham cracker square

Approximately 10 chocolate chips

8 small marshmallows

4 Teddy Grahams (leave one off when cooking)

On top of graham cracker square, put the chocolate chips, marshmallows, and 3 Teddy Grahams.  Toast in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes, or until marshmallows are browned.  The Teddy Grahams should not burn......making them just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the Fiery Furnace story.

One more person was in the fiery furnace and it looked like an "angel" or a "son of God".  When the s'more is done, remove the snack to a plate and place the 4th Teddy Graham on top.  This is the 4th person from the story (sent by God) and the one who saved the men from being burned. 

Daniel in the Lions' Den Snack

Posted by Lori:

When one of the Vacation Bible School lessons is Daniel in the Lions' Den, you must have a lion snack, right?  Of course!  

Food crafts help create lasting memories of the story in the minds of children, so that is the main reason I like to do them.  The children are always ready for a little snack after the lesson and activities, anyway.

For this lion use the following ingredients:

1 round cracker

Peanut butter ( if allergic, just leave off)

Chow mein noodles (they had a choice of these or pretzel sticks)

Reeses Pieces (or if allergic used chocolate chips)

Chocolate licorice for whiskers and ears

Enjoy!

Crustless Quiche

Posted by Donna:

I went for a haircut the other day, and my hairstylist and I started talking about "food." She and her family eat very healthy, but very well. They don't eat bread, potatoes, except sweet occassionally, or sugar (she said they might fudge once in a while and have a little sugar). It's strictly vegetables, lean meat, fish, chicken, and fruit. She also said this quiche is one of their favorites, and that they eat it a couple of times a week.

 I fixed it for Larry and me the next day, and he loved it and kept commenting on it. It's so simple. This is the amount I did for Larry and me.

Crustless Quiche 

1/2 lb. hamburger meat, browned and rinsed to get the grease off
chopped onion
chopped green bell pepper
five eggs
salt and pepper

Brown the meat and rinse under hot water to get the excess grease off. Spread the meat in a greased casserole dish. Layer about a half cup chopped onion on top of the meat--followed by about a half cup of chopped bell pepper. Whisk the eggs and add salt and pepper to the them. Pour on top of the layers.

I added some shredded cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 - 30 minutes.

My hairstylist does hers this way:

1 lb. meat
Enough vegetables to make 2 cups ( onions, green or red bell peppers, chopped spinach, squash, jarred red peppers)
She said she changed it up from time to time with the veggies
7 eggs
Shredded cheese

Larry ate almost the whole dish in one setting. He said he wanted the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I knew he would like it because of the peppers and onions.

Chicken Crescent Casserole

Posted by Lori:

I received this recipe from my friend, Renee, yesterday and wanted to share it with you.  Since school is out and VBS is over, I should be baking and cooking new recipes soon - or at least that is my plan!  I've missed it!  My family probably has, too!  

Have a good weekend!

Chicken Crescent Casserole

1 can crescent rolls
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (I used grilled & ready Tyson canned chicken)
10 3/4 oz. cream of chicken soup 
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 T. Butter, softened
1 c. whipping cream or half and half
2 pkg cheddar cheese
onion flakes
Salt and Pepper

Combine softened cream cheese, butter, chicken, a dash of onion flakes, and a couple of tablespoons of whipping cream, salt and pepper and half a package of cheese. This is the filling.

Next, on stovetop, combine soup, the other half of of package of cheese and remaining whipping cream. Leave on stovetop until cheese has melted and is warm.

Place a heaping spoonful of chicken mixture in crescent roll and roll up the best you can and place in a greased 9x13. Continue until all crescents are used. If you have extra filling, place it around crescents in the pan. 

Pour the soup mixture over the top covering all the crescents. Top with however much cheese you would like. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Enjoy!

Note from Renee:  "I have also done this with ground beef, and cream of mushroom soup. It was good too!"