Christmas Crafts

I haven't really done too many crafts lately with the kids so since it is Christmas time, I figured it was a good time to do a couple.  The first thing we did was make salt dough ornaments.  It's something I'd done with my students in the past and thought it would be fun to do with my kids.  I also wanted something to remember how sweet and little their hands were.

1 C flour
1/2 C salt
1/2 C water

Mix it together with your hands until the dough forms.  I had to add just a tad more flour to get it to the right consistency.  Then just roll it out and press your hand into the dough.  Once I put the hand on the parchment paper on the cookie sheet, I used a straw to poke a hole at the top so that we can add a string to hang it from later.  Then bake in the oven for a couple hours at 250.  I started checking them after 2 hours to see if they were hard enough.  I think they actually baked for about 2 hours and 15-20 minutes.  We waited until the next day to paint them.  We just painted Santa for all three hands.  They turned out pretty cute!

The next thing we made was a canvas painting. Alex and Abby's hands made the tree and their thumbs made the ornaments.  Then each kiddo made a snowman using their foot.  I really love how this project turned out.

We also made some Christmas cookies.  I used a new recipe and thought the cookies turned out great.  They have cream cheese and almond extract to make them extra tasty.  They frosting turned out well, too.  I've never made frosting like this before, and I liked how it turned out.  You can see the recipe here.  Instead of painting with food coloring, like the recipe suggests, we just decorated with what we had on hand.  The kids were proud of their cookies!

Bunco

My friend Amy and I started a bunco group almost 3 years ago.  We both invited some friends and we have had a wonderful time making new friendships and having a fun girls night!  We play once a month and each month a different girl hosts.  I really look forward to bunco every month!

This was my month to host.  Usually I host in October, but that's not going to work out this year because my due date is a week after we are supposed to play and with my other kids coming early, I didn't want to have to worry about hosting with a 1-2 week old baby should this baby come early, too!  One of the other girls was sweet and traded months with me so I didn't have to stress!

I wanted to serve cool food since it's June and hot!  I decided to go super simple and just do sandwiches.  I got some rolls and had turkey and ham, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and pickles.  I made a pasta salad straight from the box, Suddenly Salad by Betty Crocker.  I also made a fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, and honeydew.   I made the snickers apple salad I made for a BBQ a few weeks ago, and some very easy fudge that Brad saw a recipe for.  Seriously, easy!

1.5 bags of chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
optional nuts (I used about 2/3 C of pecans)

Throw it all in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, stir, repeat until smooth.  Pour in a foil lined 8x8 pan and chill until ready to serve.  I used a pizza cutter to cut into small squares.  Easy and too good!

Probably my favorite thing  I served was the punch. Click here for the recipe.  I put a bottle of vodka next to it and those that added it said it was super tasty!

Our bunco group is the best!  I'm so happy to be a part of it and get to hang out with such an amazing group of women each month!

Italian Turkey Burgers

Need a healthier alternative to cheeseburgers?  I've been using this recipe for a couple of years and it is delicious!  I found it in a cookbook I have and it is a family favorite.  Everyone eats all of it each time it's made!  I didn't get a picture of it, but trust me, it's wonderful!  (kid and husband friendly)

Italian Turkey Burgers

1 pound ground turkey
1 box frozen spinach
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
Provolone cheese
Buns

Squeeze all the water from the frozen spinach and add to a large mixing bowl.
Drain as much liquid as possible from diced tomatoes.  (I usually use a small strainer and a spoon to press out the liquid.) Add to the bowl.
Add the ground turkey and the seasonings to the bowl.
Mix well...your hands work great!
Form into patties.  I usually make 3 large and 3 small patties for my family.
Add a small amount of olive oil to a grill pan or skillet and cook the patties.  I've not tried it on the outside grill because I'm afraid they wouldn't stay together.  In the grill pan they do well.  Cook on each side until done.  I usually cook for about 7 minutes on each side just to make sure.
Put it on a bun and top with a slice of provolone.

These burgers are so moist and you don't need any condiments to make them taste better.  I served the burgers with corn on the cob this time, but any side will work!

Snickers Apple Salad

We were invited to a BBQ and I knew I had to bring the Snickers Apple Salad I'd seen on Pinterest.  It just sounded too delicious.  It was easy to make and even easier to eat, though it was pretty rich!

10 Granny Smith apples
about 3/4 of a giant bag of mini Snickers
small box of instant vanilla pudding
small container of Cool Whip

Make the pudding and put in the fridge to chill.
Put some almost frozen Snickers in a Zip Lock bag and take a meat mallet to them to chop up.  I thought this would be easier and faster than cutting/chopping, and it was more fun.
Chop apples into bite size pieces.
Fold Cool Whip into set up pudding.

Layer your ingredients.  I started with apples, then did Snickers, and then the pudding mix.

I get pretty lucky with new recipes.  For some reason I always seem to try out new recipes when I'm making something for a group.  Why I don't try things out on my family first, I don't know.  Watch out Bunco Babes, I may be using you as guinea pigs in June!  

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

It's no secret that I've been having cravings for almost everything lately, especially sweet things.  I love most anything that has pumpkin in it and last fall I came across a most delicious recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies.  They were easy to make, and tasted wonderful.  The kids ate a ton of them, too.  I think I will have to make these this weekend for sure! (Luckily,  I already have all the ingredients on hand! These are my pictures from last October.)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

This spin on the classic snickerdoodle are kicked up a notch with the addition of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. If you love regular snickerdoodles, you’ll flip for this delicious version!

YIELD: 4 dozen

COOK TIME: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Adjust the oven racks to the upper-and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg and beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the pumpkin puree and beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.
Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon for rolling in a shallow bowl. Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a 1½-inch ball, roll the ball in the sugar mixture, and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart.  (I have found refrigerated dough workds best and sticks less to your hands.)
Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and just beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets about 5 minutes; using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Recipe Notes:
The dough can be made through step 3 and either covered tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen.
To freeze the cookie dough, portion into individual balls, roll in the cinnamon and sugar, and freeze on a parchment- or wax-paper-lined plate (don't let them touch or they will fuse together) until completely firm, 2 to 3 hours. When ready to bake, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and increase the baking time to 17 to 22 minutes.

Spiderman Jello

One of the things I made for Alex's birthday party with family was Spiderman Jello.  Really, it was just blue and red layered jello, but calling it Spiderman makes it much more fun!  If you make this, make sure you plan to be home for a while because it takes about 30 minutes per layer!  I've done this before with rainbow colors and it ended up being a 12 layer jello.  It took about 7 hours!  But look how fun it is!

Ingredients:

Jello (I used 3 boxes of red and 3 boxes of blue)
Sour Cream (you'll need 1/3 cup per box of jello, so I used 2 cups)
Time!!!!

I made the rainbow jello in a 9x13, but wanted to make sure I had enough for everyone and make it easy to serve, so I used little clear cups for the Spiderman jello.  It made 20 of the clear cups.

1.  Pour 1 C boiling water over jello and stir until dissolved.
2.  Take 1/2 C out and put in a separate bowl.
3.  Whisk in 1/3C sour cream into one of the bowls.
4.  Pour sour cream mixture into cup or pan, which ever you're using.
5.  Refrigerate.
6.  Leave remaining jello on counter and add 3T of ice cold water.
7.  After jello sets up, about 25-30 minutes, take out of fridge and pour remaining jello on top.
8.  Refrigerate.
9.  Wait another 25-30 minutes and repeat with a new color.
10. Top with Cool Whip and sprinkles.  Fun!!!

Here are the kids devouring their jello!  The adults gobbled it right up, too.  It's a nice, light, and refreshing dessert, especially if you use sugar free jello and fat free sour cream, just don't tell my husband that or he won't think it's delicious anymore! :)

Fish Tacos

For about two years now I've been hearing people talk about fish tacos.  I wasn't quite sure about the idea of it.  I like crispy beef tacos!  I'm also not one to order something new off the menu at a restaurant.  If I find something I like once, I always order it.  (boring!!!!)  At book club one night, a couple of the girls were going to order fish tacos.  I closed my menu and just went for it!  They were pretty wonderful!  I've since ordered them 3 more times, which is huge for me at a Mexican place because I love cheese enchiladas and crispy tacos!

I convinced Brad to try them.  He likes tacos, he likes fish, what's not to like?  So I called my brother to see how he makes them.  He gave me a super simple recipe and I kind of have made it my own now that we've made them a few times at home.  The first couple of times we made them, we used tilapia from the fish counter at the grocery store.  We just sauteed it olive oil and added some chili powder to it.  The next time we grilled some shrimp and also sauteed some shrimp using the same chili powder.  Both were so delicious!  And Brad approves! :)

A mixing bowl full of coleslaw, I used the premade bag kind
Purple onion to taste, I used about 1/4-1/3 of a medium onion
A drizzle of olive oil
The juice of one large lime
A carton of cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the above ingredients and cover it and let it sit in the fridge while you cook your seafood.

Add cooked seafood and slaw mixture to a soft tortilla.  We have added cheese, and that's good, but it's also good without.  Enjoy!

Pączki Day

My family on my dad's side came to the United States from Poland, so that makes me 50% Polish.  My dad has always tried to teach us different Polish traditions growing up, and especially now that we have families of our own.  Most of the tradtions that we know and love are centered around food.  Today, I got to learn about a new tradition, Paczki (POHNCH-kee) Day, which is the Polish Mardi Gras.  It is the last day to indulge before Lent begins!  

In Poland, the cooks would use up all the meat and meat byproducts, such as dairy and eggs, before the Lenten season started.  They would make Paczki, which are similar to a jelly filled doughnut.  Paczki are made in the morning and enjoyed the same day, as they do not keep.  Today we enjoyed them filled with Blackberry jelly.  

My dad did all the prep work before we got to his house.  He made the dough and let it rise and when we arrived, he deep fried them, cooled them, filled with jelly, and dusted with powdered sugar.  They were so delicious!  

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 3-6 minutes
2 rises: 3 hours
Yield: 2 dozen Paczki 

1 1/2 C warm milk
2 packages of active dry yeast
1/2 C sugar
1 stick of room temperature butter
1 large room temperature egg
3 large room temperature egg yolks
1T brandy or rum
1t salt
4 1/2-5 C flour
1 gallon of oil for deep frying
powder sugar
fruit filling of choice

1. Add yeast to warm milk, stir to dissolve and set aside. In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, brandy and salt until well-incorporated.
2. Still using the paddle attachment, add 4 1/2 cups flour alternately with the milk-yeast mixture and beat for 5 or more minutes by machine and longer by hand until smooth. My grandmother used to beat the dough with a wooden spoon until it blistered. Dough will be very slack. If too soft, add remaining 1/2 cup flour, but no more.
3. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch down and let rise again.
4. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Pat or roll to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut rounds with 3-inch biscuit cutter. Remove scraps, and re-roll and re-cut. Cover and let rounds rise until doubled in bulk, 30 minutes or longer.
5. Heat oil to 350 degrees in large skillet or Dutch oven. Place pączki top-side down (the dry side) in the oil a few at a time and fry 2 to 3 minutes or until bottom is golden brown. Flip them over and fry another 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure the oil doesn't get too hot so the exterior doesn't brown before the interior is done. Test a cool one to make sure it's cooked through. Adjust cooking time and oil heat accordingly.
6. Drain pączki on paper towels or brown paper bags.  Add fruit filling with a pastry filler.  (We used a cookie press today, but a pastry bag would work too.)
7. Pączki don't keep well, so gobble them up the same day you make them or freeze.

Dad with his Paczki!

Alex didn't want blackberry jelly, so his was plain then he dipped it in honey.  

Abby had a few bites too!

Spinach Chicken Tortellini

Tonight was one of those nights that I just threw together whatever I had on hand to make dinner. Surprisingly, it turned out great and the whole family liked it, which doesn't happen often!  (You moms of young kids know what I'm talking about!)  It was super easy and I didn't measure anything, so forgive me if my ingredient list is a bit vague.

Olive oil
1/4 yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 chicken breasts, cubed
Italian seasoning
Italian diced tomatoes
Package of frozen spinach
Jar of favorite sauce (I used red sauce with garlic and onions)
Refrigerated Tortellini (I used green and white cheese filled tortellini)

1.  Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.  It smells so good!
2.  Add chicken and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.  (just eyeball it)
3.  Add jar of sauce and can of Italian diced tomatoes and simmer covered, or else your entire stove will have red splashes all over it!
4.  Squeeze water out of spinach and add it to red sauce while tortellini is boiling.
5.  Boil tortellini.
6.  Drain tortellini and serve with red sauce.

Delicious!  We ate ours with garlic bread.  I usually serve a salad with pasta, but didn't want to run to the store, so that's why I added spinach to the sauce.  Enjoy!  

Black Eyed Pea Soup

I like to follow the old tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day to bring good luck for the coming year.  We love black eyed peas and although I'm not superstitious, I think it's fun to follow these kind of traditions.  However,  I failed to remember to get the peas for when we returned from our Disney World vacation.  We got home on the afternoon of New Year's Day, so after being up for almost 12 hours by the time we walked in the door, going to the store was not top on my list.  We ended up going to my Dad's for dinner, which was wonderful.  He made some delicious cabbage rolls, also a New Year's Day tradition, so we did get to eat some "good luck" food after all.  

I decided to do our New Year's Day meal the next day after a good night's rest and a ridiculously huge trip to the store.  My friend Staci made the best black eyed pea soup for bunco last month, and I thought it would be perfect for our meal.  She was gracious enough to share her recipe and we had the soup and left over cabbage rolls from my dad for dinner.  With two good luck foods at one meal, our 2013 has got to turn out awesome, right?!  

Here is the recipe:  (thanks, Staci :) )

8 slices of bacon

1 onion diced

a couple cloves of garlic

1 jalepeno pepper

6 cups of beef broth

1 large can of tomatoes

6 cans of black eyed peas - washed and drained

 

Cut bacon into 1" slices and saute in a skillet with the jalepeno and garlic.  Bacon will not be crispy, just cook till it looks "done".  In a large pan combine all ingredients and bring to a boil and then let it simmer for about 30 minutes or so.  Serve with pepper jack cheese.

This recipe gets a two thumbs up!  Brad loved it because it has a lot of bacon flavor.  Yum!