Tuscan Summer Chicken...

I made this for the first time last week. Oh my!!! Delish.

Tuscan Summer Chicken
25 min
Makes:
4 servings
What You Need

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup pesto
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup KRAFT Finely Shredded Italian* Five Cheese Blend
Make It

HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cover skillet with lid. Cook 5 to 7 min. on each side or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF). Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.
REDUCE heat to medium. Add cream cheese, water, pesto and tomatoes to skillet. Cook, uncovered, 2 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.
RETURN chicken to skillet. Cook and stir 1 min. or until chicken is coated and heated through. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.

As you can tell...this recipe is from Kraft. Oh so good. OF COURSE....I did things a little differently. :D

I used low fat cream cheese, I didn't use shredded cheese at all...it's too expensive here and I used shredded chicken...much cheaper than chicken breast. Enjoy!!!

How Cool is This???

I just found this on one of my FAV cooking websites, gourmetmomonthego.com

She hallowed out half a watermelon then set her jello inside and poked chocolate chips in the half set jello.  How adorable?  I usually don't mess with food for kids that takes too much time...but with this I would get ALL the watermelon and they could have ALL the jello.

SWEET!

Speaking of sweet...it's been raining this afternoon with deliberate crackles and pops of thunder, LOVE IT!

So I had to bake something.  I made cinnamon rolls, actually sticky buns.  You know where you don't frost them but let them simmer in a caramel sauce and the flip them over so the sauce seeps into every nook and cranny and slides down the sides.  

Yeah...I made those.

This time I used maple syrup, butter, sweetened condensed milk, Karo syrup and....hazelnut coffee creamer.

Can you say "Zouzers?"

My best yet...great way to end the day.

Shawna's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies...

So tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary of our life here in beautiful, crazy, full of trials and blessings, Costa Rica.

I can't believe it. An entire year? Are you sure?

Then again I think..."It's only been a YEAR?!?!?! Are you sure?!??!"

I would love to post a traditional Costa Rican recipe today. I have 1 that I love made with Chiotte. (I've spelled that all wrong I know) It's made with that funny green squash that looks like a crinkly grandma face. Well I love the dish but my kids do not, so I'm not going to waste your time and post it. Even though it would make for a great post.

In it's place I'm going to post the recipe that made us feel like a family even venturing through this strange land.

It's my FAMOUS {in my own mind} Chocolate Chip Cookies.
This recipe means so much to me. If you can bare with me, I'll explain. If not, just skip down to the end of this post and get the recipe.

My mother, whom I adore, always made the PERFECT Chocolate chip cookies. They were thick and chunky. The kind that you would love to sink your teeth into just out of the oven. The kind that made us pass on cookies that others made because we had already had the best!

They were that good.

My mom used this talent to start a tradition in our family when my oldest was young. On New Years day she would come over and teach her grandchildren to make her cookies. They had so much fun making more of a mess than cookies. It was a moment in time when, as a mother, you watch your mother let your kids get away with things you were never aloud to!! I LOVED it!

Now my mother has returned to her Father in Heaven. She left 3 years ago. I, of course miss her so and even now as I type this the lump in my throat grows and I'm typing through my tears.

ANYWHO!!

I have tried to duplicate her recipe and it's a hit and miss. Mostly miss. Even when I follow her directions EXACTLY!

So I have worked hard to create this recipe that works for me 99.9% of the time. It is a great hit everywhere I take them. One of my traditions with my kids is that if it rains they get homemade chocolate chip cookies. When they are at school and it rains...they love to look forward to coming home to gooey cookies. So fun!

In California it wasn't too difficult to follow through on this...but Costa Rica has dropped more rain from it's sky in one week then we got all year. This tradition of home baked cookies has brought our family closer together. It was one of the few things that we brought with us from the states. Living here has raised my gratitude level for family traditions. You can bring them with you no matter where your family beds down at night.

So here it is.
Enjoy.

Shawna’s Best, Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
¾ cup butter (NOT softened)
1 egg yolk
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 ¾ cups milk chocolate chips

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in dry ingredients until just blended by hand {very important you do this by hand}. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Scoop cookie dough with a large cookie scoop and place 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Enjoy!!!

I scoop these with a large cookie scoop. I also double the recipe. ☺

Another trick I LOVE...
Double or triple your batch, then scoop the cookies and place them in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Then when you are in the mood...put out exactly how many you need. Pop them into the oven and presto...you are the homemaking QUEEN!

You can also FREEZE the cookie. Then set it out on the counter for a few minutes to thaw just a tad. It's like eating cookie dough and a cookie. The best of both worlds.

You aren't left with tons of dough/cookies to temp you!! And your kids and SWEETHEART want to kiss the ground you walk on. Win win situation.
I have to give mi amiga Christine B. credit for this. Good job Christine! High five!

{Dang-it, now that High-Five kid's show is stuck in my head!! Oh well, better just go with it.}

Contest tomorrow!! See you then!

BBQ Sauce...

I always double or triple this recipe just to make sure I have it on hand. I pour it in the crockpot with chicken or ribs and let it simmer all day. Sometimes I use it to create BBQ baked beans.

"I need a napkin...my mouth is watering!"
I forgot...I'm the mother...that means I've got to get my own napkin. Excuse me a moment...

O.K. that's better.

Without further aduo... (no idea how to spell that)

Big Al's K.C. Bar-B-Q Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups ketchup
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 4 teaspoons hickory-flavored liquid smoke
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, wine vinegar, molasses, liquid smoke and butter. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper.
2. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for up to 20 minutes. For thicker sauce, simmer longer, and for thinner, less time is needed. Sauce can also be thinned using a bit of water if necessary. Brush sauce onto any kind of meat during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

I'm back...(want to make sure you know it's me speaking and not Big Al)

So here in Costa Rica I have yet to find Molasses so I don't add that to mine and it still turns out mouthwateringly delicious. So enjoy...

Love ~ME

Crisp-and-Creamy Baked Chicken

Oh so divine!

{and easy} Which makes it more divine.

I got this from my FREE Kraft magazine. {www.kraftfoods.com)" Did you know that if you go online you can signup for a FREE magazine sent out every 3 months and packed full of easy recipes with beautiful pictures?

Did I mention it's FREE? I think this would be a great {FREE} gift to any new bride or college student just leaving home.

Just my personal opinion. :)

O.K. ready for the recipe?

Crisp-and-Creamy Baked Chicken

Prep: 10 minutes Total time 35 minutes.

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
6 T of Shake N Bake Extra Crispy Seasoned Coating Mix (I just use seasoned bread crumbs)
2 cups of instant rice, uncooked
2/3 cup (1/2 of a 10 oz can) cream of celery soup ( I used 1 cup of low fat sour cream mixed with powdered ranch dressing, YUM)
1/4 cup of milk (if using sour cream use less milk)
1 cup shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack Cheese (I use whatever cheese is cheapest here)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat chicken with coating mix as directed on package. (I dipped my chicken in milk and then the seasoned breadcrumbs) Place in greased 13x9 baking dish.

BAKE: 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, cook rice as directed on package.

BEAT: soup and milk with wire whisk until well blended. Pour evenly over chicken; sprinkle with cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is milted and sauce is bubbly. Serve with the rice.

Disneyland's {opps can't say that!} Cornbread...

This could be titled "Corn Bread Cup Cakes" because they are so sweet and yummy. I don't cook them in a skillet, but in a 9x9 pan or muffin pan. Do whatever you are most comfortable with, but you have to try these! I figure most of you still have some cold weather left in your month {I saw your weather report} so enjoy.

Amusement Park Cornbread {you can print it here}

SUBMITTED BY: Trish
"A delicious cornbread that will transport you to a magic kingdom of flavor. This recipe can also be used for cornbread muffins."

INGREDIENTS

* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup butter, softened
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 3/4 cup cornmeal
* 1 1/3 cups milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8 inch skillet.
2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, salt, butter and vanilla until creamy. Stir in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and cornmeal. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with the milk. Beat well until blended.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

These deserve a little honey butter...don't forget to mix some up.

Strawberry Cream Pie...

I know I've raved about every recipe so far but watch out...this will knock your socks off. That is if you like fruit tarts. It's kind of my version of the tarts we had for my girlfriend's bridal shower {"Hi Nikkinunu!"} oh, maybe 15 years ago {March 18th}. Happy anniversary by the way. :)

Oh, so yummy!

I've put together a few recipes to make this.

First, use my {I mean Ruth's Grandma's} homemade pie recipe. Really easy I promise!!! Go on, you can do it!
***Cut the recipe in 1/2, you only need a bottom crust here.

Ruth's Grandma's Pie Crust

Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups shortening
3 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, shortening, sugar, and salt. Blend together with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, mix egg with water. Blend into flour mixture. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.
Now you need to bake the crust:
Roll out the crust to fit in your pie pan. Cut the edges off. Put aluminum foil on top and fill with dry beans or rice. {this will keep the crust from bubbling up} Bake @ 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until toasted and baked.

Now for the insides...oh this is yummy! I'm not a fan of vanilla ANYTHING! I can't believe anyone can stand at an ice cream store and order vanilla ice cream.

Really, someone does that?

But I needed a filling for my "tart pie" and found this delicious concoction.

*** this recipe you need to double.
Old-Fashioned Vanilla Pudding

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup evaporated milk

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat.
2. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolk; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat. Gently stir in butter and vanilla.
3. Cool for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
After this has cooled {I don't wait an hour} pour into your baked pie crust. {Of course you have removed the foil and beans/rice} I use beans because they can be used for meals still. The rice can not be used again. Sorry.

Now you can cover the top with your favorite sliced fresh fruit. But this is what I do...

I take half my strawberries and make a pie filling with them. (Those of you in the states can just buy the can if you'd like) Then I spread that on top of most of the pudding filling. I then take the other half of the fresh sliced strawberries and toss them on top of that. {My mouth is watering} Then for color I add about 5-10 slices of kiwi.

Not only does this pie/tart {whatever you want to call it} look gorgeous, it's like creamy summer for your tongue.

Who doesn't like that?

Last week my son accidentally dropped the last piece of pie out of the refrigerator onto the floor. The entire house went silent! My husband was mortified!!!

Let's just say that I hadn't mopped in a few days, but every last drop was cleaned up and went into waiting tummies.

Yeah, this is eat off the floor, don't let anything go to waste, GOOD!

Meatball Sandwiches...

O.K. here it is, Tuesday night and I´m finally getting around to posting my (awesome recipe that is going to change your life). I can dream can´t I

Well, I have an excuse, our internet has been out for 3 days. Do you see how devoted I am...I´m sitting here at a internet cafe, it´s almost 10 pm, just so I can follow through on my promise. (I´m listening to Bryan Adams in Spanish...how funny)

So here goes.


Hearty Meatball Sandwich


Ready In: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Servings: 6
"A cross between meatloaf and meatballs, this sandwich promises to hold together without being messy."
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup marinara sauce (I use 2 cups of sauce)
3 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper, garlic powder, and half of the mozzarella cheese. Form the mixture into a log, and place it into an 8x8 inch baking dish.
3. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the center is no longer pink. Let stand for 5 minutes, then slice into 1/2 inch slices. Place a few slices onto each hoagie roll, cover with marinara sauce, and sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over.
4. Wrap each sandwich with aluminum foil, and return to the oven for 15 minutes, until bread is lightly toasted and cheese is melted. Let stand 15 minutes before eating. Each sandwich serves 2.

So make sure you use the Marinara sauce recipe I posted last week.

Now, I always have to do something different...this time it wasn´t much...I just rolled the meat mixture into balls and cooked them in a sauce pan until no longer pink. They hold together so well.

Oh, and I toast my rolls first, not a fan of soggy bread.

These are so good...I think this will show up at our dinner table tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Bourbon Chicken...without the Bourbon!

Bourbon Chicken
adapted from Blog Chef

Ingredients:
2lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 tablespoons oil (for pan-frying)
cornstarch (for dusting)

Sauce:
1 garlic clove (minced)
¼ teaspoon ginger (I used ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes ( I use Cheyenne pepper and 1/2 what it calls for )
¼ cup apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoon of your favorite jam ( I use raspberry)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
½ cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, and if you choose lightly dust with cornstarch. Heat oil in your wok (or saucepan) and fry chicken bits in batches until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients. Pour into wok and bring to a boil. Add chicken bits back to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

That's it!! So yummy and very, very easy! This is one of my top 10, delish. Always turns out.

Enjoy!

Homemade Pancakes...

I've had this recipe for a few years. Cooking from scratch can save so much money {in most cases}.

The title is "Fluffy Pancakes, but no matter how many times I made them, although good, they were NEVER fluffy! I tinkered and tinkered with the recipe, adding more baking powder, more salt, then less salt. Nothing worked.

Until now! {I'm so excited} Doesn't take much for me, huh?

It was the butter! Too much.

So here it is, Shawna's Famous Fluffy Panckaes

{I can call them mine because I changed the recipe so much, RIGHT?}

2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons of butter, melted

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In separate small bowl melt butter. Then combine the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. If the batter seems too thick, add a little milk. You want them on the thick side...don't make them runny.

Pour batter by 1/2 cupful onto a greased hot pan. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes; cook until the second side is golden brown.


On a similar note...I've decided to start posting some of my favorite recipes. I've collected some knockouts! Watch out "Rachel Ray"!

Here in beautiful Costa Rica...I can't run to the grocery store and get everything I've been used too in the states. So I run to my computer and look up how to make it. I've made homemade marshmallows, enchilada sauce, peanut butter, frosting, cake batter, buttermilk, condensed cream of mushroom soup, butter, noodles; all with the help of the Internet. I try various recipes and then "fix" them to make them just perfect.

So now (after 11 months) you can imagine how many "from" scratch recipes I have. In the states I was spending about $1,300 a month on groceries. Don't freak out, remember I have 7 mouths to feed, 1 bum to diaper and that included my make-up, cleaning supplies, soaps, shampoos and such.

Our first 3 months here we got it down to $950 per month. Now it's at $675 per month and we are eating BETTER than we EVER have. If I could get stores here to take coupons that would be much lower, but that isn't a tradition that has made it here yet. :)

So meet me on here every Tuesday for a new recipe that you can trust is "yummy". I have about 55, so that will last us at least a year.

In Case You Need This...

Sugar Cookies for Valentine's Day...
I added red food coloring to give a pink swirl look to them. {Swirl meaning I was too lazy to mix it all in}




The best Sugar Cookie Recipe on Earth!!! Even if you overcook them {burn them} they will still bend softly in your mouth. I'm not telling you how I know this.

So in case you need the perfect sugar cookie recipe by the end of this week, here you go. {I've posted this before}

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies
Submitted by: Jill Saunders {thank you Jill!!!}
Rated: 4 out of 5 by 2333 members Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 8 Minutes Ready In: 3 Hours
Yields: 60 servings

"Whenever you make these cookies for someone, be sure to bring along several copies of the recipe! You will be asked for it, I promise!!!"

INGREDIENTS: 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt DIRECTIONS: 1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). 2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. 3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

One more tip from Shawna, remember when you roll your cookie dough out, don't use flour but powdered sugar to keep the dough from sticking.

All I Can Say is "Yummy!!!"

I'll call these "Shawna's Apple Banana Crumb Bakery Muffins" How's that?

I'm sorry that many of you {including me} are striving to lose weight right about now. So to keep the playing field level...I'm going to give you this AWESOME muffin recipe!! That way I won't be the only one struggling not to make them.

See how great I am? :)

These are just plain fantastic. I found them as basic banana muffin recipe and added my magic. So here goes. Your mouth and stomach will thank me for these; so will your kids and husband. However your thighs won't.

Did I mention they have a cinnamon-and-brown-sugar streusel topping?

Shawna's Apple Banana Crumb Bakery Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup of apple, chopped small, leave peel on.
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 9 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers. {Keep this batter to 9 muffins, don't use all 12. Fill the muffin cups to the top, that way they create those wonderful bakery style muffins.}
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, slightly beat the egg. Then add sugar, egg and melted butter. Fold in banana and apple. Now stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.


Con mucho gusto! {You are welcome!}

So I tried to find a picture of a bakery muffin that looked as good as this one does...no luck! I guess I'm going to have to make them again tonight so I can take a picture for you all.

Shucks. What I do for my blogger friends. :)

You are Going to Love me For This One...

this recipes is AMAZING and incredibly easy.

It just can't be this easy and that good...but those of you that trust me and make this one will sing my praises forever.

Actually you should be singing "mi amiga" Mehgan's praises, it's her recipe.

But I am the messenger. That should count for something.

So {drum roll please} here goes:

I will call them Mehgan's Magic Miracles, what do you think?

3/4 cup Butter
1 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup approximately of chocolate chips
Saltine Crackers.


Place tinfoil on a cookie sheet, lay the crackers down evenly with the salt facing down. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a sauce pot, add sugar stir briskly until it boils. Continue stirring rapidly as the mixture congeals and gets thicker, approx 5 minutes. You want it to stay a golden colour. Pour over the crackers, then sprinkle chocolate chips on top and place in the oven until the mix starts to boil through the crackers. Let them cool.

That's it.

They are delish. Sorry I don't have a picture. In the end they will look like a thin piece of chocolate covered English toffee.

Enjoy!

Cute (freaky) Snowmen..

I saw this over at skiptomylou.org . Candy corn for noses and candy eyes for...eyes. Put them on small white powdered doughnut and you are the domestic queen!

Wouldn't this be adorable for Christmas morning?

Cookie Exchange and Saving Money...

Kelly from www.2passthetorch.com had this idea to share:

How to host the perfect Cookie Exchange Party
1. The husbands and kids went to one house, with snacks to share and beverages.
2. The wives went to a house directly across the street, with beverage and six dozen cookies, in half-dozen packages (so each woman arrived with 12 small bags containing six cookies each.)
3. We put our cookies on the table and opened one package as a sampler. This left 11 bags of half-dozen cookies to be exchanged.
4. We enjoyed conversation, drinks and snacks and when the hostess rang the bell, we each chose three baggies from the table. About 10 minutes and lots of laughter later, she rang the bell again. We each chose three more baggies. And so it went until most the cookies were gone.

There were probably 15-20 women at the gathering and we stayed for about three hours. But the system would work no matter how many women attended. Thanks to my very smart neighbors for creating such a perfect and fun way to host a cookie exchange!

So here is the money saving idea:

Check this out...tons of promotion codes for shopping online or in the store. Very cool! Don't ever shop online without a code! Please.
www.retailmenot.com

14 days left!!

In The Mood for Chocolate Pudding...

here's a little tip.

Of course you are using the Jello brand that you cook.  I know none of my friends would stoop to the instant pudding.  

Right?

So when you are adding the milk, use half canned condensed milk and half regular milk.  Oh, you'll never go back.  It's so much thicker and creamier and if you put it in the fridge to get cold, it won't separate and get watery like it does with 100% regular milk.

Just a little tip from little ol' domestic me.  :)

Enjoy!

It's Family Night...

Tonight is our "service" family home evening.

{For those of you who don't know, every Monday night we make sure not to plan anything so we can be together as a family, hence the title, Family Night or Family Home Evening.} If you want a great place to get more family night ideas you can go HERE or my FAVORITE place LDS Living Magazine. I love LDS Living Magazine because they not only have great lessons, but they have a scripture, thought, object lesson, story and directions for dessert. Does it get easier than that?

So tonight we're having our "service" family night. We are making these DELISH homemade doughnuts and then delivering them to some of the families here.


I believe I have posted this before but I'm going to give you my FAMOUS {in my own mind} doughnut recipe.

First for the dough you can either buy a pre-made biscuit dough, use your favorite bread dough recipe or use mine.

Shawna's Homemade Bread Dough

in your bread machine pan add the following:
1 cup of warm water
2 teaspoons of yeast
3 tablespoons of sugar

Stir a few times and let sit for 10 minutes.

Now add
3 cups of flour
1/4 cup of oil
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Now push the dough setting on your breadmaker and in 1.5 hours, it's done.

How's that for easy?

Now flour the counter slightly and roll the dough out to about an inch think. Dip your large cup into flour and cut out the doughnut shape. Now find a smaller size to cut out the doughnut hole. (I used a lid from a container in my bathroom {which I washed thoroughly!}

Lay them out on a cookie sheet and let them rise for 15 minute in a slightly warm oven. (only if you use bread dough)

Heat oil in a small pot on your stove, about 4 inches high. My burner goes from 1-6 and I cook between 4-5) Carefully place your doughnut in the hot oil and rotate from front to back until dark golden. Then place on your cookie rack {that is on top of your cookie sheet}

Now, what makes these doughnuts so YUMMY is the topping. I got this from Pioneer Women Cooks, it's her recipes for her homemade brownie topping.


Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 3/4 cup powdered sugar
{here I add a little less powdered sugar than it calls for, you want the topping to easily adhear to the doughnut without being too watery that it doesn't stick}

Stir together then dip doughnuts into topping. Put sprinkles or chopped nuts on top if you'd like and ENJOY!!

Happy Family Night!!!!

Corn Dogs from the Fair...

Last night I was trying to stretch our dinner dollar and I made these. Oh, boy were they yummy!!!! Not low fat by any means, but yummy. I used fat free turkey dogs, which helped a little. I also used low-fat margarine instead of butter. And I didn't use the 2 tbsn of bacon grease either, I mean are you serious!!! I used 2 tbsn of oil and added some flavored salt. But with the frying, there was nothing I could do there. They were such a hit with my kids and honey I thought I'd pass the recipe along to you. I didn't have popsicle sticks so I just stuck a metal skewer in them to dip in the batter, than slid them off into the oil.

I hope you enjoy.

I don't know why but all of a sudden the link isn't working. Go to allrecipes.com and look up "a plus fair corn dogs", they are easy and yummy!

Cowabunga!!!

I have to post another "back to school" recipe. This is so EASY, really. The original name was "creepy crawlers" but I've decided it was named incorrectly. Besides, most of my friends wouldn't even try it with a name like that. Then I do have a few friends that would try it because of it's name. So, I guess you can choose your "title". The best way to describe this dish is a thick crepe. It literally climbs up out of the 13x9 pan. The kids will like to watch it grow in the oven. It looks more like high ocean waves to me. {that's why it deserved a proper name}
We spread butter and syrup or powdered sugar on it. You can spread cream cheese and top with fruit if you'd like. Yummy!
Creepy Crawlers breakfast

This is a fun recipe for the kids. It actually crawls up the side of the pan.
The kids will sit in front of my oven for the entire 20 minutes just to watch it crawl!



6 eggs

1 C. flour

1 C. milk

1/2 tsp. salt



Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a 9x13 pan. Pour batter over butter. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Serve with strawberries and cool whip or syrup.

Over Night Peach French Toast

I know this isn't a "recipe blog" but hey, this is really good and I have to share with my buddies.

I got it from here at yummyfood4all

I am a strong believer in a healthy, homemade, preferably hot, breakfast. This can be thrown together the night before and sit in your fridge until morning comes. Or if you are like me and don't have much room in your fridge, you can make it right then and it still comes out delish!

I even have {bad lighting} pictures to show.

Over Night Peach French Toast

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter or margarine

2 tbs. water

Sliced peaches

French bread

5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

1 tbs. vanilla



Melt butter; add water and brown sugar.Boil till mixture foams.Pour into a 9x13 pan and cool 10 minutes. Line the pan with the sliced peaches, covering all the caramel mixture. Slice bread 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick.Place on top of peaches.Mix eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour over bread completely covering it. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.Bake at 350o for 45-60 minutes or until golden brown.

 Bake uncovered, let cool for a few minutes then flip the french toast over and spoon caramel and peaches on top.. serve with whip creme.