Family, Stamping and FOOD!

Meal Plan Monday 1/30/12

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Last week I made a new recipe of deconstructed Cabbage Rolls. It was SO good! The littles and I loved it. My husband wouldn't touch it and the oldest wasn't home so no opinion from him. My brother and mom tasted it too and they thought it was pretty good. My brother thought it might have too much tomatoes in it, but I really like it. I followed the recipe, but only halved it so it would fit into an 8x8 pan.

I also made a pretty bridal shower cake. I'm really happy how it turned out. I'd love to do this in a wedding cake too.

At the bakery last month, we had a Cupcake Extravaganza. It was very successful so we are going to do this once a month. This Sunday we'll be offering 15 different kinds of cupcakes for $1 each. Such a steal! So if you've never been out to the Blue Eyed Daisy Bakeshop, this Sunday will be the time to venture out. In keeping with the Super Bowl, we'll be offering some of our favorite "manly" flavors like Chocolate Beer, Peanut Butter Caramel and Spiced Maple Bacon. If you're hosting a party this weekend, pop by the bakery and pick up some cupcakes to enjoy during the game.

Speaking of the Super Bowl, we'll be having my parents over to eat and watch the ~~commercials~~ game. What are some of your favorite Super Bowl foods? We usually eat chicken wings, salsa and guacamole. You can read about our other favorites on this post.

Asian Chicken Wings

Monday: Carne Guisada (Latin Beef Stew)* over rice and Southern Style "fried" Cabbage

Tuesday: Mung Bean Soup* (my cousin's recipe)

Wednesday: Mexican Breakfast Scramble*

Thursday: Working at the bakery...Crock Pot Salsa Chicken over rice with broccoli and cheese

Friday: Field Trip to the Aquarium with the Kindergarten class...Thin Crust pizza for supper

Saturday: Lunch: Baked Salmon Cakes and oven baked fries with fruit; Supper: leftovers from the week

Sunday: Lunch: Sandwiches and fruit; Supper: SUPER BOWL FOODS!!!

Have a great week!

GIVEAWAY: Publix $25 Gift Card

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:39:00 +0000

While visiting Italian Days at Publix from February 16th through February 29th, you can also enter the Taste the Tradition Italian Days Sweepstakes for a chance to be 1 of 500 shoppers that will win a $100 Publix® gift card, sponsored by General Mills.
To enter to win the Taste the Tradition Italian Days Sweepstakes and download great coupon savings and delicious recipes, look in-store or follow the instructions below:

Click – Stay up to date with the latest General Mills promotions happening at Publix, by visiting ClickCallMail.com. Once you’re registered and logged in, you can participate in any the current promotions.

Call – If you’d prefer to enter the sweepstakes and participate in other promotions via telephone, feel free to call the General Mills hotline, at 1.800.627.6059, and be sure to say that you want to enter the 2012 Italian Days Sweepstakes. Please be sure to provide your complete contact information (Full name/address/zip code/phone #).

Mail – If you prefer to participate via mail-in entry, print and mail your complete contact information (Full Name/address/zip code/phone #) to 2012 Italian Days Sweepstakes, P.O. Box 44257, Atlanta, Georgia 30336.

~~This giveaway is a $25 Publix gift card to purchase Italian yummy goodnesses! Random.org will select a winner on Friday January 27th at 9:00 p.m.,~~ so be sure to enter as quickly as you can. Please leave a comment telling me what your favorite Italian meal is. Ours has to be spaghetti with meatballs.

MyBlogSpark and General Mills provided me with a $25 gift card to Publix.

And the winner is #14 Corey Anderson! Corey has been notified. Thanks to all of you who participated!

Enjoy!

RECIPE: Stuffed Pepper and Rice Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:37:00 +0000

I sort of mixed two recipes that I thought looked good and created this conglomeration. I took the "saucy" component of Stuffed Bell Peppers and combined that with the "casserole" component of Deconstructed Stuffed Pepper Casserole.

Here's what I did:

Stuffed Pepper and Rice Casserole
1 green pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
4 dashes Tabasco
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2-1 tsp ground fennel
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp onion powder (if you like onions, just chop up 1/2 an onion and add to peppers in the beginning)
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 cup precooked rice
1/2 cup water
salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat a large dry skillet over medium high heat. Add peppers and stir around in pan until charred a little, about 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium and add tomatoes, Tabasco, pepper, fennel, Italian seasoning, onion powder and ground turkey. Cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally to break up turkey. Add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and cook another 3 minutes. Add rice and water and stir until combined. Pour mixture into an 8x8 casserole dish and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

This makes 6 servings at 323 calories, 17 grams fat, 22 carbs, 17.5 grams protein per serving.

I think this was totally yummy!!! And it reheated well in the microwave with a wet paper towel.

Enjoy!

Meal Plan Monday 1/23/12

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:18:00 +0000

We enjoyed the visit of our circuit overseer last week. Unfortunately, Boo-Boo got really sick on Wednesday night and continued with a fever through Sunday. Kindly, my husband stayed at home with him on Thursday and Saturday so I could enjoy the encouragement from the visit. However, that meant we didn't get together to make the bookmarks for the friends in Dominican Republic and Thailand. It won't be long before "J" leaves us to work in Thailand so I'm hoping to get something together soon.

I found 6 heads of garlic I bought at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to use it to make 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken this week.

Monday: 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken in Crock Pot*, Oven fries and lima beans

Tuesday: Sauteed Rice Sticks* with Boiled Chicken (Poncit Bihon) I'm going to use the recipe on the package (I'm going to use some leftover chicken from Monday night)

Wednesday: Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole* for me and whoever is adventurous and Scrambled eggs, toast and turkey sausage for the rest of the family

Thursday: Spaghetti with Salad

Friday: Thin Crust Pizza with Salad

Saturday: Pintos and Rice with Guacamole Salad

Sunday: Carne Guisada (Latin Beef Stew)* over rice

Stay tuned for a post this week for a Publix Gift Card giveaway!

Hope you have a great week!

Enjoy!

One Proud Mommy!

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:37:00 +0000

Look at my girl!

She was recognized for good citizenship and all "A" honor roll.

Sorry for the blurry pictures, but it's the best I could do from the 9th row.

I'm one proud Mommy!

Have a great day!

RECIPE: Mexican Chicken & Rice Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

A few weeks ago we ate turkey dinner for my parent's anniversary. It was a big bird, little over 20 lbs so we had quite a bit leftover. I had originally planned to make Chicken & Rice casserole using leftover turkey, but then I thought it would be too similar to the original turkey dinner. Then I had a hankering for Mexican and thought why not try to make a Mexican Chicken and Rice casserole. So I perused the recipes on SparkRecipes and found this one. We made this with a few tweaks to the original.

Here's what we did:

Mexican Chicken & Rice Casserole {so easy a 3 and 5 year old can do it!}
1 can cream of chicken soup (we used reduced calorie)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (we used reduced calorie)
1 can full of water
1 packet taco seasoning (or make your own and use about 3 Tablespoons)
1-1/2 cup brown rice, rinsed
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles (or Rotel)
2 cups precooked diced chicken (or turkey in our case)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (we used fat free cheddar)

In a bowl whisk the cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, water and taco seasoning packet.

Pour into the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish.

Add brown rice, black beans and diced tomatoes and green chiles. Mix in with a spoon.
Finish up with layering precooked chicken or turkey over the top.

(notice how Boo-Boo is eating turkey in one hand and tossing some in the pan with the other.)

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until the rice appears fulled cooked.

Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top and bake 5 minutes more until cheese is melted.

We thought the Rotel made it very spicy, almost too spicy for the kids. They barely touched it. I thought it was really tasty.

Enjoy!

Meal Plan Monday 1/16/12

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:05:00 +0000

Last week we didn't follow the plan. Things happen as they normally do and we just sort of fended for ourselves a couple of nights. My in-laws made a surprise visit into town and we ate dinner with them. they treated us (thank you again!). On Thursday I forgot to put the chicken in the crock pot for the Salsa Chicken so we had teriyaki glazed chicken breasts with Chinese 5 Spice scented rice and broccoli and peas. I poached the rest of the chicken and have it in the fridge waiting on a meal. I worked Friday night to make this groom's cake.

It turned out pretty good. (I still have trouble with the fondant.) So my husband said everyone snacked and ate sandwiches for supper.

We had pizza on Saturday night with a movie (Spy Kids) and popcorn. I did make the BBQ Cola Meatballs, which were delicious (thanks Debbi!). We ate those on Sunday night over rice.

This week we have the visit of our Circuit Overseer. I'm really excited since they are a younger couple and she loves to make cards! Yeah!!! So we have plans to invite her to my mom's house to craft while the brothers are meeting at the Hall. It was my cousin's idea so I'm hoping she's game. In the meantime, I'm planning to eat fast meals this week so it's bound to be a busy week.

Monday: Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers Casserole* for me and Lasagna Soup with Meatballs with salad for the rest who don't like the casserole

Tuesday: Smashed Pintos, Mexican Rice* with Guacamole salad

Wednesday: (Dinner at my mom's with the CO's wife) Mexican Breakfast Scramble* (trying again this week)

Thursday: Crock Pot BBQ Country Style Ribs over rice with salad

Friday: Pizza and salad

Saturday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and lima beans

Sunday: Carne Guisada (Latin Beef Stew)*

Lunches this week will be leftovers, Quinoa and Ginger Papaya Salad* and the Quinoa and 4 Bean Salad*

Breakfasts will be simple peanut butter and banana sandwiches with yogurt and egg white omelette with salsa

Hope you have a great week!

RECIPE: Sausage & Lentil Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

I found another yummy lentil recipe. And I used breakfast sausage! It was really good! I precooked the lentils for another meal so I had some in the fridge.

Here's what we did:

Lentil, Greens & Sausage Soup (adapted from epicurious)
1 lb roll breakfast sausage with sage
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
1-1/2 cup water
3-4 cups cooked lentils*
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 bunch turnip greens, cleaned and veins removed, leaves chopped (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

In Dutch oven, brown breakfast sausage, remove sausage and saute onion and garlic in the rendered fat until translucent. Add stock and water along with the precooked lentils and carrots. Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Add greens and simmer for 10 minutes until wilted and cooked through. Stir in the vinegar and serve.

It's so tasty! Even my cousin's eldest daughter loved it!

Enjoy!

*To prepare soup with uncooked lentils: Add 1-1/2 cups dried lentils to the water and broth and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Then proceed with the recipe. If the lentils absorb more broth than you anticipate, add extra water to compensate.

Meal Plan Monday 1/9/12

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:55:00 +0000

What a crazy day! We filmed a commercial today at the bakery and baked 144 cupcakes to fill the case. It was crazy and fun. And guess what? I didn't even lick the spoon! I'm going to try to go white sugar free this week. So that was a big deal! 144 cupcakes and I didn't lick the frosting or nibble at the cupcakes...it was hard but I was so proud of myself. Don't worry. I'm not going sweet free. I'm using honey as a substitute. This is really something for me to test myself out. Have you ever done that? Some people will quit drinking beer or wine for a month or so just to make sure they aren't dependent on it. I'm testing my self-control and discipline with sugar.

Here's our weekly plan:

Monday: Lasagna, Garlic crescent rolls, Salad

Tuesday: Soup Beans and Cornbread with Homemade Chow Chow (did you know you can make cornbread without milk or buttermilk??? I did it for some friends who have a milk allergy and just replaced it with water. It worked! And tasted great!)

Wednesday: Mexican Breakfast Scramble*

Thursday: Crock Pot Salsa Chicken over rice with broccoli and cheese

Friday: Meat-a-tarian Pizza with Salad

Saturday: BBQ Cola Meatballs* with rice and Salad

Sunday: Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers Casserole* with Steamed Carrots

Lunches this week: Christina's Split Pea Soup (sharing soon), 4 Bean Salad with Quinoa*, All Hail Kale*Salad

Snacks: Homemade Coconut Cream Pie Larabar, Meringue Cookies (going to try this with honey), popcorn, cheese sticks with apples and turkey

Breakfasts: cottage cheese fruit bowls with almonds and Banana Oat Muffins with peanut butter

We'll mash the leftover pinto beans and make Smashed Pintos for nachos on Saturday or Sunday for lunch. We'll eat tuna sandwiches for lunch on the other day.

I also have a wedding this weekend. I'm doing a 2-tier groom's cake with the Alabama Roll Tide hounds tooth print on the bottom tier. I found a cool sugar paper that will glide right onto the cake. They're also ordering 4 dozen cupcakes, 2 dozen each of Hot Chocolate Inspired cupcakes and Lemon Coconut cupcakes. YUM! I've ordered the fondant from an online company since they are looking for black mustaches to grace the coconut cupcakes and red fondant to cover the top tier on the groom's cake. It takes forever to mix red and black fondant by hand. And my hand just can't take it. I'll post pictures to our Blue Eyed Daisy Facebook page.

Have a great week!

Enjoy!

RECIPE: Carrot Souffle

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

We have a cafeteria style restaurant around town called Piccadilly. I love this place. I always get the veggie plate which consists of 3 vegetables and a piece of bread of your choice. I almost always get broccoli rice and cheese casserole, greens of some sort and carrot souffle. They have the best carrot souffle in my opinion. It has a lightly crunchy top from the sugar in the mixture. It's just delicious!

I finally found a similar recipe on allrecipes.com and had to try it. It didn't disappoint. I loved it!

Carrot Souffle (adapted from allrecipes)
2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add carrots. Cook until soft enough to mash, about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Drain carrots and transfer to a large mixing bowl. With electric mixer, blend and mash carrots.

Add sugar, baking powder and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour, ginger and butter and beat until smooth. Taste to see if you need to add more sugar. Now add the eggs and beat completely. Pour mixture into an 8x8 baking dish (or similar size).

Bake for 1 hour or until top is golden.

Cool slightly before serving. I found it tasted so much better after allowing to cool about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Meal Planning Monday 1/2/12

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Weekly meal plan...the new year. New goals? Yes. Eating better and continue to lose weight. I'll share more about that another day. Hopefully I can do our monthly meal plan. I really do enjoy that.

Monday: Autumn Harvest Soup with Butternut Squash, Greens & Brown Rice and French Lentil Rice Soup

Tuesday: Tacos and Mexican Rice

Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs and Sausage with Cheese Toast

Thursday: Sissy starts back to school today; Crock Pot Lasagna with Salad

Friday: Pizza Pasta with Salad

Saturday: Lunch: Sandwiches with fruit; Chili Baked Potatoes with cheese and sour cream (using leftover chili from last week from the freezer)

Sunday: Lunch: PB & J sandwiches, pickles and fruit; Tuna sandwiches, pickles and fruit; Supper: Alice Springs Chicken Casserole , mashed potatoes and peas & greens beans

Lunches this week remain to be seen. I'm thinking we might go to the dollar movie and meet friends for Chuck E Cheese one day. Maybe we'll go bowling one morning. And maybe make homemade chocolate chip cookies one afternoon. We'll see. I just feel like we got cheated with the whole winter break. Oh well. Just another reason for me to homeschool my little ones.

Enjoy!

Monthly Meal Plan: January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:59:00 +0000

WOW!!! Can you believe it's 2012? Wasn't there a movie about 2012? Anyway, we are not living like the Jetson's, yet. We pretty much have all the technology they did, except for the flying cars. And I want Rosie to come to my house to do our laundry.

So this month we're going to be trying some new soups. I went shopping with my cousin Christina and she's going to share a Mung Bean Soup recipe with me. I can't wait! She also shared her Split Pea Soup recipe (I've never had it before. I bought yellow split peas and green ones....hmmm decisions decisions!)

Here's the plan, but you know life happens and sometimes we don't get to everything...

Soups:
Kale, Sweet Potato & Chickpea Stew*
Mung Bean Soup*
Split Pea Soup*
Lentil & Sausage Soup (from last month...I loved it!) - sharing the recipe soon
Lentil Soup*
Red Lentil Curry *
Mum's Everyday Red Lentils*

Chicken Recipes:
Pesto & Cheese Stuffed Chicken*
Chicken & Mango Stir Fry over Quinoa*
Crock Pot Salsa Chicken
Sauteed Rice Sticks* with Boiled Chicken (Poncit Bihon) I'm going to use the recipe on the package

Ground Beef Recipes:
Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole*
Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers Casserole*
Carne Guisada (Latin Beef Stew)* - if I can find beef in the reduced bin
Meatloaf

Salads:
All Hail Kale*
Spring Mix Salad with Shredded Carrot, Quinoa and Roasted Corn Salsa*
Quinoa and 4 Bean Salad*

Meatballs:
Polynesian Glazed Meatballs (we ate this recently and loved it!)
BBQ Cola Meatballs*
Meatball and Spaghetti Soup* or my Lasagna Soup with Meatballs

Breakfast Ideas:
Cinnamon Quinoa*
Mexican Breakfast Scramble*
Ham & Egg Scramble*
Sausage Apple and Egg Casserole*

Pizzas:
BBQ Chicken Pizza with Pineapple
Meat-a-tarian Pizza

Keeping the Kids Busy

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:25:00 +0000

School has been out since last Thursday and I've been trying to think of ways to keep the kids busy. The weather also turned colder and so that means more inside activities.

My cousin and her daughters came over last week and the kids played tea party, decorated cupcakes, watched movies, ate soup and sandwiches, and painted their fingernails (sans Boo-Boo).

The kids dressed up in our clothes:

They also did some crayon crafts this week and learned "pointillism" art (definitely need parental supervision for this craft, thankfully there were no burned fingers in the making of this art).

My cousin and her kids went with us on a "field trip" to the Asian market. I just wish I knew what the characters meant on the packaging at H-Mart.

(aren't these ladies pretty?!?!)

(anyone know what you can do with palm sugar?)

Then we headed over to the Dekalb Farmer's Market. The kids love oohing and aahing over the fish counter and meat counter...

(right after this picture, Boo-Boo had a complete conniption fit and

thought the crabs were scary and gonna get him!)

(yes these are chicken feet...one of the highlights of the trip)

I have a last minute wedding cake and grooms cake due Saturday at 11 a.m. I hope they turn out. I really do. I'll share the end result on our Blue Eyed Daisy Facebook page. Have you "liked" us yet?

What do you do during the colder days of winter to keep the kids busy?

"Missionary" Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Some dear friends are leaving to serve as "need-greaters" in Dominican Republic and in Thailand. I wanted to make something special for them to remember where they've been and where they are going.

I found a cute idea on pinterest and figured I could make it small enough to fit in their suitcases. I also left the glass out of the frame to avoid any breakage in flight.

After searching the Dollar Tree, we found a little picture frame with 4 photo holes. I searched google for state outlines and country outlines and then shrunk them to fit into the holes.

Both girls have lived in Guatemala, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Georgia. One of the girls lived in Florida and she is planning to travel to Thailand. The other girl is traveling to D.R.

Here's what they ended up looking like:

I used a stick pin and foam to poke holes on the outline onto linen style scrapbook paper.

Then I stitched in pretty colors for the outlines following the holes I punched through previously. (Thankfully my Momma used to be an avid cross-stitcher and has lots of different colored DMC floss to choose from. Thanks Momma!)

Then you cut out little red hearts from felt and hot glue them onto the places they lived and served.

We also spent some time at Dollar Tree picking out essentials they might need for their trips. We bought tylenol (off brand), ibuprofen (off brand), cold medicine (day time and night time formula in one), facial cleansing cloths, feminine wipes, wet wipes, alcohol wipes, baking soda & vinegar (to clean the bacteria off the fruit), travel bags (to fill with clothing and vacuum out the air), granola bars, peanut butter crackers, socks (for the friends in D.R.), pony tail holders, sunscreen. Sissy made them each a card, complete with eyeglasses made out of fake silver wedding rings.

And guess what? I didn't even take a picture of them going through the box or of the tea party or of them crying over the pictures...I was lame. They took pictures so I'm hoping they'll email them to me before they leave.

They really liked everything and thought it was the "kindest thing anyone has ever done for us"...Made me cry. I'm gonna miss them girls!!! Thankfully they left their eldest sister at home so we still have someone to come over and dance with us :)

Enjoy!

RECIPE: Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Some dear friends of ours are going to be serving as "need-greaters" in Thailand and Dominican Republic in the next few weeks. They both have aversions to milk and to avoid this, they choose mostly vegan products. My momma had a little tea for them and the regular pioneer sisters. I was in charge of baking. (Go figure!)

My hubby found me a great Milk-free cookbook at a flea market several weeks ago and I'm loving it!

Here's a yummy chocolate cupcake I made for the tea party.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup hot water
2 Tablespoons coffee liqueur (like Kahlua) (or any extract you like)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.

In large mixing bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. Add brown sugar (be sure to mix well to avoid any lumps). In a separate bowl, mix oil, water and coffee liqueur together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet in. Mix together and evenly divide among the liners.

Bake mini cupcakes for 10 minutes or until done.

Bake regular cupcakes for 15 minutes or until done.

These are so soft and moist. You'd never guess they were vegan.

I made a vegan frosting using margarine (dairy free), powdered sugar, Kahlua and water.
1 cup margarine, about 4 cups powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons Kahlua and enough water to make the frosting soft enough to pipe. It turned out really delicious!

Enjoy!

Meal Plan Monday 12/26/11

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

So our weekend was a bust. Boo-boo ended up getting sick on Sunday. My husband gave a talk out of town and we were looking forward to tagging along, but with a fever-ridden child, we stayed home. We also had to turn down dinner at a friends' house because of the fever.

I made some cute gifts for our "need-greater" friends. I'll share those on Wednesday. They turned out really cute. We're also going to make some bookmarks for them to leave with the friends in their countries where they are going to be serving. I'll share those too.

My husband got his ham from work. But if you didn't get a free ham from work, you might be able to find them on sale right now. I've seen them as low as $.79/lb. These aren't the spiral cut cooked hams, so you'll have to prepare to cook them like a turkey, but it's a great price. Potatoes have been on sale like crazy too! I found a 10-pound bag of potatoes at ALDI for $1.99. The limit was 1 bag per customer. The other day when I made the Lentil Shepherds Pie, I mashed a sweet potato in with the white potatoes. It was really delicious and the color was so pretty! My husband isn't fond of sweet potatoes but I wanted to add it to see what he'd say. He didn't even blink an eye and ate 3 helpings. So I'm hoping to add a few sweet potatoes in among the white potatoes.

Monday: FFY - (fend for yourself, cereal, oatmeal, fruit...) I'm helping my momma with the tea party and then I have to work at 6 p.m. so I'll be too tired to cook.

Tuesday: Ham Dinner with Carrot Souffle (I didn't get to take this to my friends house), mashed potatoes (making enough to use in Potato Cakes and Salmon Cakes) and green beans

Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu* with leftovers from the night before, Mashed Potato Cakes

Thursday: Salmon Cakes with leftover mashed potatoes, rice and veggie

Friday: Smashed Pintos and Cheese Enchiladas, Salsa and Guacamole

Saturday: Lunch: Grilled Cheddar & Apple Sandwiches or Hot Ham & Cheese with Oven Fries and pickles; Supper: Spaghetti, Salad and bread

Sunday: Lunch: Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches or Tuna Sandwiches with leftover Oven Fries and pickles; Supper: Granny's Chili with Cornbread

Enjoy your week!

Meal Planning Monday 12/19/11

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Don't let me ever complain about traffic in my little town of two red lights. We traveled to the northside of Atlanta to attend a funeral over the weekend and was stuck in traffic for 3 hours. The trip should have taken about 1-1/2 hours. At one point, it took us 30 minutes to travel 1 mile. It was RIDICULOUS!!! Anyway, we made it the funeral late but since the family was stuck in the same traffic, they held the funeral service until after they arrived. This little adventure threw my meal plan out the window. We didn't get home in time to bake my turkey (and I'm so thankful I didn't put it in the oven in hopes of returning home at a decent time...can you say burnt turkey?!?) So we chose to eat out. So much for no-eating-out-until-we-save-enough-money-for-Bethel. Oh well...

Sunday we made some return visits out in the ministry. After the Watchtower lesson about comfort, I had written down the scripture at Psalm 147:3. I decided I would share that with someone one day. It's such a sweet verse. You can imagine my surprise when I met a woman who had lost her husband in death last year. They were married for 40 years and have 4 children. She related how he had succumbed to Alzheimer's disease at the age of 61. Too young in my opinion. I was able to share that Psalm with her and she was encouraged. It made me happy to share that with her. I'm glad I wrote it down in the back of my Bible.

In other news, Sissy has a Christmas party at school on Wednesday, so I'll be checking her out at lunch and meeting my cousin and her girls. We haven't pinned down plans exactly, so Brenda, if you're reading this, call me or expect a call from me :) Thursday is Sissy's last day of school for the holiday break. I'm so happy to be able to sleep in until 7:00. WOOHOO!!! Can't wait. 6:00 a.m. comes way too early for me!

On the food front, last week we tried Lentil Shepherd's Pie. It was okay. I didn't love it. We all thought the lentils were not as flavorful as it could've been. If I make this again, I'd definitely add more BBQ sauce and maybe some Worcestershire sauce. I also used my crockpot almost every single day last week. It was awesome to come home to dinner. So I'm going to be using it again this week too.

The weather is going to be rainy from Wednesday through the end of the weekend so this is the game plan:

Monday: Turkey Wreath (leftover turkey from last night), green beans, cranberry sauce (meeting again tonight)

Tuesday: Lentil, Kale & Sausage Soup* (using leftover pre-cooked lentils from last week's Lentil Shepherd's Pie), Rolls

Wednesday: Overnight Breakfast Casserole, oranges

Thursday: Rotisserie Chicken Breasts, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, green beans

Friday: BBQ Chicken Pizza - Thin Crusts and Regular, salad

Saturday: Lunch: Taco Soup, cornbread; Dinner: I'm going to a clothing swap so they family will eat Leftover Taco Soup over chips with cheese.

Sunday: Lunch: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, Homemade Pickles and Oven Fries; Dinner: Going to a friend's house for dinner and taking Carrot Souffle and Cashew Brittle

Hope you have a great week!

RECIPE and a Giveaway: Chex Party Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:03:00 +0000

MyBlogSpark contacted me about a giveaway for Chex Party Mix, I couldn't refuse!

They sent me some great recipes to choose from, but in the end I decided to search their site for the Chex Muddy Buddies recipe. I've heard this called "White Trash" and "Puppy Chow". I've always wanted to make this and never tried it before.

Here's what we did:

Chex Muddy Buddies (courtesy of Chex)
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 cups Chex cereal (we used Rice Chex)
1-1/2 cup powdered sugar

In large microwaveable bowl, add butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave on high for 1 minute.

Remove and stir. Return to microwave and cook on high for 30 seconds. Remove and stir until creamy. The butterscotch chips didn't melt all the way, but it worked fine. Add vanilla extract and stir until combined.

Measure 9 cups of Rice Chex mix into the melted mixture and stir until coated.

In a large paper bag, pour the powdered sugar and then pour the Rice Chex coated mixture into the bag.

Close the top and and toss and shake until well coated. Pour into a container and cool completely.

We measured out about 2 cups per 5 take out containers. We loved it! So yummy!

Now here's the best part! You can have your own Chex Party Mix. MyBlogSpark and Chex are going to send you 2 kinds of Chex cereal, 5 recipes cards to make various kinds of Chex Party Mix, 10 takeout containers and a $20 gift card to purchase the needed ingredients and decorating supplies.

If you are into Cookie Swapping, why not change it up this year and do a Chex Party Mix Swap? How fun would that be to have a big group of friends bring their favorite kind of Chex Party Mix and swap with everyone?

~~This giveaway will end Sunday December 18, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. EST. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be notified via email.~~

AND THE WINNER IS: #22 Brandy Stout. Brandy has been notified.

~~To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment and tell me which Chex Party Mix recipe is your favorite. You can browse the recipes here.~~

Hope you have a great week!

Enjoy!

“Disclosure: The Chex Party Mix-Change product, information, and giveaway have been provided by Chex through MyBlogSpark.”

Meal Plan Monday 12/12/11

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:30:00 +0000

We hosted hospitality at our house over the weekend. We ate Tex-Mex, of course! It was really yummy and we had a ton of leftovers. I made Lucia's Salsa. I'll share the recipe tomorrow. Our weekly meeting will be tonight versus Tuesday night. The Spanish congregation has their Circuit Overseer this week.

Remember last week when I said we weren't going to be eating anything ground beef? Well, my husband received an email from work with a list of products they were trying to move out of stock. They had 10 lb rolls of 90% lean ground beef for $2.42/lb. I asked him if he'd pick up some for us. We also have a free turkey in the freezer from last month. We'll eat it this week to make room for the free ham we'll get next week.

I want to make a trip to the Farmers' Market in Forest Park next week to pick up some apples. I'm missing my crunchy apples. If they don't have a good selection, I'll pick up some at Kroger since they have them on sale this week.

Here's what we're planning to eat this week:

Monday: Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup cornbread (using leftover rice from the weekend and leftover chicken from Crock Pot Salsa Chicken from last week)

Tuesday: Lentil Shepherd Pie*, Green Beans

Wednesday: Farm House Casserole, oranges

Thursday: Crock Pot Italian Chicken, rice, green beans

Friday: BBQ Chicken Pizza or here too

Saturday: Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches, Pickles, Pearsauce; Supper: Roasted Turkey dinner, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese

Sunday: Tuna Sandwiches, Oven Fries, Apples; Supper: Turkey Wreath with leftover sides.

*Lentil Shepherd Pie is new this week. I found it on pinterest. I'm really interested to see how it turns out!

Breakfasts:
Granola with yogurt, egg whites with salsa; Oatmeal with peanut butter and blueberries with egg white omelet.

Lunches: Hard boiled egg on toast with cheese stick and pears; Turkey sandwich with avocado and tomato with peaches

Snacks: almonds, yogurt and fruit; apple and peanut butter with cheese stick

I hope you have a great week!

Monthly Meal Plan December 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

So we are trying to penny-pinch and save a couple thousand dollars to go to Bethel in April. Our plan is to save $2500 for a week trip. We want to visit Brooklyn, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Patterson, Wallkill, and Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.

We're planning to drive up and back and bring most of our snacks with us. I'm hoping we can eat more fresh fruit snacks and get good deals at farmer's markets. But we'll work out the details the closer we get to April. In an effort to save money, we're going to go on a "no-eating-out-for-any-meals" plan. We've been eating out for dinner at least twice a week. So I'm trying to plan practical and healthy meals for the next month. At the encouragement from my fellow blogger and real life friend Carrie, I'm also going to try to go grocery shopping twice a month. This shouldn't be hard, but we'll see how it goes. I'm guessing I'll still need to pick up milk and fresh fruit weekly, but we'll see. You'll notice there are fewer ground beef options this month. Ground beef hasn't been on sale and I haven't found it in my reduced bin at the little grocery store, so none in the plan this month. We'll work with beans, eggs and chicken this month.

So here goes our plan

Chicken dishes (buying them at $.99/lb)
Crock Pot Salsa Chicken
Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken
Crock Pot Italian Chicken
Crock Pot Chicken Breasts - shredded for BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, chopped for Chicken Stir Fry, shredded for Tacos
Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu*

Bean dishes (buying them dried or when cans are $.60 or less)
Lentil Shepherd Pie
Lentil Vegetable Soup
Taco Soup - no meat?
Lentil Burritos
Smashed Pintos and Cheese Enchiladas

Egg dishes (always cheap protein $1.50/dz)
Crock Pot Layered Breakfast Casserole* (from Fix-It and Forget-It 5-Ingredient Favorites)
Scrambled Eggs
Overnight Breakfast Casserole (I'm going to cook it in the crock pot)
Farm House Casserole

Sandwiches
Tuna Salad
Egg Salad
Peanut Butter & Honey
Nutella
Grilled Cheddar & Apple
Hot Ham & Cheese

So I think these are going to be pretty easy fixes. And hopefully we'll reduce our grocery spending and save some money.

Have a great week!

Meal Plan Monday 12/5/11

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:49:00 +0000

What a refreshing weekend! The Circuit Assembly was really encouraging. Always the food at the proper time.

We have decided to make plans to go to Bethel in New York in the spring. We are going to avoid eating out as much as possible and start saving money for that trip. We'd also love to participate in unassigned territory in Minnesota in late July. However, we are waiting to hear about our summer District Convention dates. Then we'll make plans. So in the mean time, back to couponing and getting the deals is a priority so we can eat.

So here's the plan:

Monday - Crock Pot Pork Roast, potatoes, carrots, onions and celery

Tuesday - Pork Carnitas (leftovers) salsa and avocado

Wednesday - Scrambled eggs and turkey bacon and hash

Thursday - Crock Pot Salsa Chicken over brown rice

Friday - Pizza and Salad

Saturday - Tuna Sandwiches for lunch; Black Beans Nachos

Sunday - Peanut Butter or Nutella Sandwiches for lunch; Mexican Chicken and Brown Rice Soup and crackers

Hope you have a great week!

Enjoy!

Meal Plan Monday 11/28/11

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Last week we finally ate the Cheesy Enchilada Stack. I changed it up of course, but everyone still loved it.

This week we're going to be experiencing a little bit of snowy weather and that means soup! We are also having our circuit assembly this weekend. I couldn't find a kid's notebook so I made one. If you need one for little kids under the age of 5, email me and I'll send you the pdf. Anything to help keep the little ones paying attention.

We didn't eat the Taco Potatoes last week, so I've got it on the menu again this week. I'll probably just make up the taco meat and then put it over baked potatoes.

Here's what we're eating:

Monday - Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas*

Tuesday - Potato Soup with Turkey Bacon

Wednesday - Chipotle Shredded Chicken Tacos*

Thursday - Pollo in Potacchio*

Friday - Taco Potatoes

Saturday - Circuit Assembly "Let God's Name Be Sanctified"

Sunday - Circuit Assembly "Let God's Name Be Sanctified"

I'll be coming up with a December meal plan towards the end of the week, so be on the look out for that.

Have a great week!

Enjoy!

RECIPE: Pumpkin Sherbet

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, my husband and I traveled to North Carolina to celebrate our anniversary. While there, we stopped at a little ice cream parlor and I ate the BEST pumpkin ice cream I've ever had. It was delicious. It was so good, I had it two days in a row. Oh yes, I did!!! The first time I had pumpkin and chocolate with hot caramel sauce and pecans. The last time I had it without the chocolate. Oh my goodness it was so good. I'm sure it wasn't figure friendly. So when I saw this yummy recipe for Pumpkin Sherbet, I knew I had to try it. I wish I had an ice cream maker. But I don't. In the mean time, I figured I could make a faux Pumpkin ice cream by pouring the mixture into a Pyrex dish and freezing. It sort of worked. I forgot about it and the ice crystals got too large. Next time, I'll remember. it was really good.

So here's what I did:

Pumpkin Sherbet
2-1/4 cup fat free milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves

Bring milk, sugar and pumpkin to a boil. reduce and to simmer 1 minute. add vanilla and spices. Pour into pyrex and freeze. remember to stir every 15-30 minutes. Freeze solid. Scoop and serve.

Serving Size: 5 - 1/2 cup servings; 132 calories, 0.2 gr fat, 28.3 gr carbs, 4.4 gr protein

I removed it from the Pyrex to a plastic container with a lid.

Okay, so I drizzled a little caramel ice cream syrup and chopped walnuts over the top. It was pretty tasty! I have an idea I want to try with this. If it works, I'll share it with you.

Enjoy!

Meal Plan Monday 11/21/11

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:30:00 +0000

Last Friday Sissy came down with a serious ear infection, so we stayed in the house Saturday and Sunday. I had a couple of cake orders due at work, so I went in early Saturday and again later that day to finish up and start on one due for Sunday. You get a little stir crazy when the little ones are sick, so I was glad to get out of the house if only for a few hours.

Our small town grocery store offered 20 pound bags of potatoes for $5.99 so I bought one. So I've adjusted our meal plan from the monthly plan to accommodate the potatoes. I'll also put some in a box in the garage since it's cooler out there. They'll last longer in the dark box.

We STILL have not tried the Cheesy Enchilada Stack or the Chicken Ropa Vieja. I'm putting it back on the list again this week. We ended up eating out last week and I was pooped from long hours at work.

This week we're eating:

Monday: Shepherd's Pie with bread

Tuesday: Potato Soup with Turkey Bacon

Wednesday: Breakfast Casserole (Baked Hashbrowns)

Thursday: Chicken Ropa Vieja* over brown rice

Friday: Cheesy Enchilada Stack*

Saturday: Taco Potatoes

Sunday: Subway

I hope you all have a great week!

Enjoy!

Disney's Tangled Party

noreply@blogger.com (Candi) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:30:00 +0000

When we first saw Tangled, I knew it was a keeper. It appeals to girls and boys of all ages. Our family thoroughly enjoyed it. I immediately started planning a party for Sissy and her friends. But then life happened and it got put on the back burner. Finally, we had the party over the weekend. I pretty much cased (copied-and-stole-everything) from this blog post and this one. They had fantastic ideas and I saw no reason to change it. After all, isn't that why we blog? To share ideas with others?

So this is what we did.

We kept the decorations pretty simple.

Wooley and I created two long braids with a whole skein of yellow yarn. I hung one on the front door and one over the table from the light fixture.

Then I cut out the sun template and used a metallic gold spray paint to paint some purple pennants. Then we hung them around the rooms and around the front porch.

I tried to recreate the tower in cake form using this post. I found the orchid candy melts at Hobby Lobby and the waffle cone from Aldi. I couldn't find the oversized muffin and forgot to bring home a muffin from work so I just used a big muffin from Walmart. I ended up covering part of the muffin with the candy melts to exaggerate the roof line to mimic the actual tower in the movie. I also didn't like the idea of the pecan swirl things, because I unsure of the nut allergies of the other girls attending the party. And I wanted it to be a tower...really tall. So I baked some mini cupcakes and peeled them out of their liners and stacked them using a dowel rod. It worked pretty good.

After it was all together, I piped green ivy and leaves all over the sides. I had some old flowers from my wedding {gasp - I told you I was a horder!} and pulled them off to use on the sides of the tower. I also used the larger flowers to top the cupcakes.

As for the cupcakes, I made the cupcake picks by print screening paused scenes of the movie on youtube. I'm sure there is some sort of copyright infringement here, but I'm not selling them and used them for the kids.

We made tower fruit kabobs. Filling cast iron skillets with fruit and cheese. A cast iron skillet is a big deal in the movie.

I made braided pizza bread {reminiscent of her hair}. I found a cute picture on pinterest and figured it wouldn't be that hard. I used crescent rolls, but wished I had used puff pastry. It would've tasted much better. I served this with meatballs and marinara and a salad.

Sissy requested 'purple punch'. So I made up this crazy conglomeration of purple powerade, purple cool-aid, purple grape juice concentrate, seltzer water and ice cubes. It tasted pretty good. The girls drank the whole thing.

They colored paper lanterns with water colors and markers.

We helped them make wacky hair with pipe cleaners, tulle and silk flowers.

The girls had a great time.

Having these friends in our lives is a blessing. I've been friends with the mothers for years. And I mean literally years, like 20 years plus. So to know them and have them in our lives is truly a special gift. And I thank Jehovah God for having such true and great friends. Okay, enough of the sappy stuff :) But I really do mean it.

Hope you have a great week!

Are you planning any parties? Do you "case" ideas from other blogs? If you don't, you should. :)