Maple Syrup Field Trip

The kids went on a maple syrupin' field trip on Tuesday so I thought I'd put a few pictures on here really quick with the few seconds that I have available this crazy busy week!!







Here they are in front of the Maple Syrup House and then after the tour they got to have some maple syrup over ice cream!! This was at the Indian Creek Nature Center. They of course had a blast!!

Happy 8th Birthday Micah!

Here is a look back to 8 years ago. I'd like to say he was a cute little guy because he WAS cute, but he WASN'T little. At 10lbs. 4 oz. I thought I was gonna have to call the fire department in with the jaws of life to get him out. But he finally arrived!

And here he is now, 8 years old. How does that happen anyway? Did somebody push fast forward or something?


He is all about bugs and nature and the outdoors, so he wanted me to make him a butterfly cake.

It was a challenge, but it didn't turn out too bad. Beats paying $15-20 for the ones at the store! Happy Birthday Pal!

Watergate Salad

Here is a yummy green salad for those of you who like something green for St. Patrick's Day. It is so easy you can do it with your eyes closed! I recommend you keep them open though!

All you need is a small box of pistachio pudding, a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, 2 C. mini marshmallows, and an 8oz. tub of Cool Whip. Stir the first three ingredients together and then fold in the Cool Whip. Best to refrigerate overnight if you can so the marshmallows can soften.

Doesn't look very green in my picture, but it is a green salad which will be ready for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!

Orange Julius

Once in a while I just have to make Orange Julius. It's such a yummy treat!



In a blender add 1C. milk, 1C. water, 1/2 of a 12oz. can of frozen orange juice concentrate, 1/2C. sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Blend this together and then add 2C. of small ice cubes and set blender to ice crush setting to blend this in.



Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Just make sure you don't stick your finger in the blender while it is running! (don't ask me how I know this!) I didn't do it today, but have done it in the past and had stitches in my finger for something I knew better but didn't think my finger was far enough down. I was just going to tap down some ice cubes really quick and next thing my oldest child is calling my husband to come take me to the hospital for stitches! I can safely say I've never poked anything down with my finger in the blender ever since!

Salted Nut Roll Bars

O.K. ....I had to make something with nuts to keep my husband and father-in-law happy! My kids dislike it when I add nuts to recipes, but Randy and Russ like things better with nuts in it. Don't know why, they are already nutty enough aren't they??!! It's hard to please everyone, but I try!

You start with a box of yellow cake mix, then add 2/3C. melted butter and an egg. Mix well and press into a 9x13 pan.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350*. Then pour 3C. miniature marshmallows over the top.

Put back in oven for 3-5 more minutes till marshmallows puff like this:

Then you will need these ingredients:

Melt 1/2 stick of butter and 2/3C. corn syrup, then add a package of peanut butter chips.

Stir until smooth. Then add 1-2 C. salted peanuts

and 2C. Rice Krispies

Mix well

Then spread over the marshmallows in pan.

There will be one happy husband when he gets home and sees these. (and one happy father-in-law when hubby takes some to work tomorrow!)

My Favorite Toy!

I would have to say without a doubt that my KitchenAid stand mixer is like my favorite toy and best gift I have ever gotten. A couple years ago I was following the Kohls sale ads before Christmas for the best deal on one and my wonderful husband bought it for me for Christmas!
(this way he gets his chocolate chip cookies more often, right?)

Then sometime in the last year or so we bought the slicer/shredder attatchment for it. They have many different attatchments you can get (meat grinder, can opener, pasta roller,etc.)

Here I am using the shredder to make some homemade coleslaw. Figure I better post something healthy to balance out all the sweets on here! Yes, we do TRY to eat healthy. It's just that we both have a sweet tooth and I just LOVE making desserts! So I appologize if they rule the rest on here!

I just grind up some green cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrots.

Then stir them together like this:

Then decide whether to make a creamy dressing or a vinagrette dressing because they both are so good!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I think I may have finally figured out how to start a line above the top picture after about 3 or 4 months of blogging now with failure every time I tried!!! How dumb am I??!!

Preheat oven to 350*. Melt 1 stick of butter in a 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle 1C. brown sugar over the butter.

Place pineapple rings on top.

Put a marachino cherry inside of each pineapple ring.

Prepare pineapple cake mix according to package directions.

Pour on top and spread it out.

Bake for 48 minutes at 350*

Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a serving dish. (I just flipped mine into a 10x15 pan)

Let cool until your middle child (who loves pineapple) spots it. Then you have to cut into it and try it out!

Peanut Butter Pie

About a month ago I made peanut butter pie and it was okay, but I thought "this would be much better with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in it". So I made it again today with the p.b. cups in it and it is soooo gooood!! The reason I waited to make it again (if anyone remembers) was my daughters comment fom last time - "why do we put peanut butter in everything?"

Well the way I see it there are 4 food groups:

1. Chocolate and peanut butter

2. Chocolate and caramel

3. Chocolate and marshmallow

4. Chocolate and mint

As long as there is chocolate, how can one go wrong?

Homemade T.V. Dinner

Browning the patties

Adding mushrooms and beef broth

Making the gravy

Pouring it into pan to bake in the oven

Salisbury Steak from scratch! Much better than the one from Banquet in the cardboard box! I found the recipe here: http://tinamommyx3.blogspot.com/2008/08/salisbury-steak-crock-pot-style.html. If I remember right her blog is called Mommy's Kitchen. I've been checking out recipes on other cooking blogs and she has some great recipes on hers!

Hannah's Hair

Hannah absolutely HATES it when I do things with her hair! I am lucky enough if I can get it brushed, muchless styled. So when I was able to get by with putting it up in a cute little bun, I thought I better take a picture of it quick while it lasted!!!

Marshmallow Sludge Bars

I made these delicious bars for a church potluck we had yesterday and came home with an empty pan! Will definitely be making these again! I found the recipe here: http://www.cpbgallery.com/2009/01/22/marshmallow-sludge-bars/ . This blog/website is titled "The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery". I think I will be going back to look at more of her recipes!

Just one of those days!!!

I generally enjoy cooking and baking, but today it was rather cold out and I was just plain tired. Randy and I both had sore throats over the weekend, so I have been rather exhausted the last couple of days. So it's just "one of those days" where you say,"Let's just have pizza tonight"!


Then my hubby was searching for something sweet to eat, so Betty Crocker came to the rescue for that with some fudge brownies! Not the most healthiest meals, I know, but we are just going to cuddle up and enjoy each other with the extra time not spent making a meal or doing the dishes. (Praise the Lord for paper plates!)

Valentine Goodies

My kitchen has turned into a Valentine goodies factory today! Gotta spoil my husband who is my main Valentine and our 3 little "Valentines"!

(see recipes & pictures below!)