~Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas~

I've been in a cooking rut.

I got my cookbook out the other day and pulled out some old favorites.  This is one of them!

I don't add all the liquid... like maybe half of the cream.  It can get mushy with too much sauce.

Everyone loves these!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

~Applesauce~

I did not get around to planting a vegetable garden this year.  I did, however, really want to make applesauce.  I would have never gotten around to buying the apples... thankfully, friends of ours had a whole trailer of apples to share.

They smelled and looked so good!

I had the kids working in shifts... from big to little, they had to take turns!

These were two of my cutest helpers :-)

This guy would make sure no apple touched the floor.  He like them raw, cooked, hot, mushy... it didn't matter!

~Artisan Bread~

I have had this book for awhile... like Dec 2011.  I just haven't gotten a chance to try it out.  I finally did and can't believe I waited so long!  Wow, yummy stuff!

My first batch didn't turn out right, it was too wet.  But the second batch was the best bread ever!

~Stromboli Night~

Trying to have fun with some of the mundane parts of my day... like dinner.  We haven't had a "Make Your Own Stromboli Night" for awhile.  Gregg is never home to make them (I normally have one of the kids make one for him.) and Christmas vacation seemed like a good time to make them again.

I had everyone's dough and all the fillings laid out on the counter.

they had to prepare their dough...

 ...and fill it. Arms and hands were everywhere!

holes in the dough... no problem!

 The finished product.

Yumm-O

~Baking Day~

Friday was baking day for me.  I tried to have fun with the kids in the kitchen but they were much  more interested in playing today.  That suited me well... I got everything done and cleaned up.

Cinnamon Rolls to start off Christmas week

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Orange Macaroons

Chocolate Swirls (they kinda lost the swirl but they taste great!)

All baked and iced... yumm-o!

After supper I also made some ginger cookies... and folded 3 loads of wash and matched a gazillion socks... that is what everyone does for fun on a Friday night right?!?!

~New Favorite Recipe~

Yummo!  This is my new favorite "healthy" treat...

Mix the ingredients in a blender and pour into cupcake liners or a silicon pan and refrigerate (or freeze if you are in a hurry to each chocolate)

Pop out of mold and serve... but eat quickly because these melt fast! This was one batch... it only makes 10 regular sized cupcakes treats but 24 mini cupcakes!

If  you want to take them somewhere I'd put them in cupcake wrappers... that way they won't melt in your hands.  I leave them as is for enjoying at home with a fork.

I've tried peanut butter and almond butter.  If you use real peanut butter (like the grocery store sugary kind) they taste REALLY good... but if you use natural almond butter they are still delicious... maybe just a little bit healthier taste. I prefer the natural almond butter to the natural peanut butter but any kind of nut butter would work.

~Food~

I haven't talked about food in awhile... it is a huge part of our life here... It seems like there is never enough or at least not often enough!

Would you believe we grilled 20 hamburgers yesterday... and that there are only 3 left!  Yep, I am in the kitchen a lot!  My guys like the normal burgers, tacos, pizza kind of menu.  I try to throw in some variety.

I tried this Zebra cake yesterday...

and these Chicken Gyros last week... wow, put these on your menu for next week!

I also cooked up 10 lbs of venison bbq and a big pot of bear stew for our church's Sportsman's Dinner.  Just under 300 men and boys were served!  My guys were gone from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm!  But that is info for another post!

It is birthday week here again, so I'm sure the food will be flying!

~March Meals~

Here are most of the dishes I tried this month...

• Tomatillo Creamy Cafe Rio Dressing - YUM! You will want to eat salad just so you can have this dressing. It tastes wonderful on tacos too! It is just really, really runny! (I have a plan to fix this... working on my own version!)




• Crock Pot Ranch Potatoes - no opinions




• Chicken Artichoke Dip - Good, but not great




• Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies- um, no... not even covered in chocolate. ick.




• No Bake Energy Bites - YUMMY! I could eat these every day!




• Sugar free hot cocoa - 3 cups milk warmed, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup honey - it tasted real! Even Gregg liked it cold in place of chocolate milk. If you add one cup coffee you have a yummy mocha!




• German-Chocolate Fudge Bites - YUMMY!




• Baked Broccoli - I really liked it... mixed opinion for most of the boys




• Chocolate Avocado Banana Pudding - this is fluffier than my other pudding... but I did need to add 1/4 cup honey My other pudding is much better.




• Easy Salt & Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas - um, no... maybe I didn't cook them long enough?




• Three cheese Chicken Alfredo Bake - They loved it.




• Thick & Rich Pizza Sauce - A keeper! This is thick and tasty! We dipped our pizza quesadillas in it! I can't wait to try it on a pizza!




• Honey Sauced Chicken - A little sweet but so easy and yummy over noodles




• 5 Layer Greek Dip - The boys liked the hummus part but said I put too many veggies and feta on top




• Protein Ranch Dressing - really good! keep it thick for dip or thin it for dressing. I had to make all my own dressings this month to keep away from sugar

Does anyone have a winning recipie I should try in April?

~Bear Stew~

This is not a normal item in my kitchen...

Our church hosts a Sportmans Dinner for the men and boys in our area. They have a great turn out every year and I always try to provide something. The church was given a lot of bear meat this year. My job was to turn it into stew.

Bear "pork" loin on the left... and roast on the right.

I had 6 packages... two pounds each... to cut up for the stew. It smelled yucky and I really dislike raw meat. It took me over an hour but cut it all up. I was soooo glad to be done with that part. I spent the rest of the day cooking stew.

Looks good! I doubled the amount of meat I normally use and cut back on the veggies. I got 3 crock pots full!

The main meal this year is venison meatloaf. We are also serving rabbit stew (which my boys always rave about) something with oysters and bear chops.

~Yummy, Healthy Avocados~

1 1/2 Avocados fully or overripe

1/2 cup honey

Blend

add 1/2 cup cocoa or carob powder

I used to use the blender but so much chocolaty goodness got stuck inside the blender and I couldn't lick it out:-) Now I just use a hand mixer.

~Busy Week~

We had special services at church all week. I felt like I was on fast forward... trying to get everything done before supper that normally takes me til bedtime to finish.

The speaker was very good... a Marine. We have heard him speak before and were looking forward to hearing him again. There were several great messages but his first one on anger was my favorite. It was a "Family Conference" so he spoke on communication in the home, Husbands role, wives role etc.

We purchased some new music Cd's and some Patch the Pirate for the kids.

We have had playmobile (mess) out for a few weeks so I finally packed that away for a few months. They love to play with it and it works best to put it away for a little while.

Nathan has been building wonderful towers with books. He often builds one and wants it to remain standing til Dad gets home to show him... it isn't always still standing, but we try to protect it as much as possible!

I have tried several new recipes lately. Two were really yucky. My family was very gracious.

This one was excellent! Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls...


Kiersten did make the week a little more interesting. I was talking to someone after church and left her in an empty classroom to play. I came back to get her and she was choking with a red face... I could smell hand sanitizer. She had pulled over a chair and climbed to get the bottle. She put some on several plates (she was having a little tea party) and ate a spoonful. It must not have tasted good. Anyway, we called poison control (again!) and they said it happens all the time not to worry. It would have done damage if it was in her eyes but to just eat a spoonful was ok.

Tomorrow I take my girl out for some shopping and lunch... wonder how that is going to go!?!!??!

~My Helper~

I was making deviled eggs today... Kiersten wanted to help me.

Can you guess which two eggs she peeled?

~Wacky Weekend~

Our weekend started early because Gregg took a day off on Friday! It was beautiful... but a little cool. I did a bunch of grocery shopping but did have a few minutes to relax. Kiersten needed some outside time so I took her to see Ginger. She grabs and apple and runs out the door to see our neighbor's horse!

We had a fall fellowship at church. I took my camera but didn't take any pictures! Jordan drove our golf cart and pulled a wagon for some "hay rides." Some played Frisbee football while others stayed indoors and played games. I chose to stay inside and chat!

I made a pumpkin dessert for our annual cook off. Despite my best attempt, I didn't win. But these are super good anyway! Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake (I used an oreo instead of the graham cracker crumbs)

Poor Eric got hurt at the very end of the night. I was already home and in bed when the guys got home. Gregg woke me to check Eric's head. He had a big gash in it from the trailer gate falling on his head. I thought he looked ok and we all went to bed around midnight.

We woke to snow! Unbelievable. I remember it snowing twice before thanksgiving but snowing in October is a real surprise!

It was our week to clean the church so we did that early in case the roads got bad.

We went out for Chinese afterwards:-)

Gregg enjoyed making rooster tails of all the slushiness. The boys loved watching the slush fly. We stopped at the farm for milk and found the front of our van covered in snow/slush/ice! Nathan was really funny. He was so happy to see snow! He got really excited when he noticed that the sky was even white!

We woke to this beautiful sight this morning.

Our neighbors were trying to bring in all their cauliflower on Friday. I guess the soybeans will be ok because no one brought them in before the storm.

Church was canceled for the morning so we had our own devotions and went outside.

~Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte~

Over the weekend I realized Turkey Hill would soon be offering their incredibly yummy Pumpkin Spice Latte. It is a bit thick and rich for me... not to mention all the caffeine... or the price. I try to splurge once every fall on this delicious treat.

BUT WAIT!

Amy Clark over at The Motherload posted a homemade version. I tried it yesterday... yum-o!

Perfect for a rainy day... now I just need to bake something to go with it!

~Tea Pot Cake~

Just in case I need this for future reference (I foresee some fun tea parties in our future!)... this is how I made the tea pot cake for Kiersten's birthday...

I doubled a pound cake recipe. The cake needs to be dense to be able to hold itself up. I made six large cupcakes for the teacups. I used a pyrex 1.5 liter glass mixing bowl for the cake.

Here is one cake cooked and one cake ready to go in.

I cut out paper in shape of the handles and spout and used toothpicks to keep them in place. The only other thing I added was a lollipop for the handle. I did buy some smarties and other candy to decorate the pot but I liked it just the way it was (meaning... I was running out of time).

I used this icing because it stiffens when it cools and I thought it might hold up better.

Chocolate Icing

Mix 1 cup sugar and 3 heaping spoons corn starch

Add 1 cup water and 1 1/2 oz baking chocolate (I use semi sweet)

Boil and cook til thick

Take off burner and add walnut size chunk of butter and 1 tsp vanilla

This icing is great when you are in a hurry... you can actually ice your hot cake!

~New Favorite Pizza~

Chicken Bacon Ranch!


It is so yummy, I made it two nights in a row!

~Half Eaten~

If the boys are still hungry after a meal... I usually offer an apple. Kiersten has gotten into the habit of following whatever brother happened to be extra hungry to the kitchen for her apple.

She eats about half of it. It is really cute and she does a great job... I'm just getting tired of eating half eaten apples so they aren't wasted:0)

~A New Soup~

Gregg travels for work... and therefore, gets to eat at lots of different places. On one of his trips, he enjoyed Pepper Jack Tomato Soup. He found a recipe online and we tried it Sunday for lunch.

I really changed the recipe so I'll just share what I used...

Pepper Jack Tomato Soup

50 oz Tomato Soup undiluted
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
8 oz cream cheese, cubed
8 oz pepper jack cheese, cubed

Mix soup, milk and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cream cheese and pepper jack cheese until melted.

Serve immediately.

It was just a tad spicy for the little guys but so yummy! I'm sure you could use half regular jack and half pepper jack if you wanted. I can't wait to try it in a bread bowl!!!

I didn't get any photos but it is a nice thick soup that puts a new twist on a regular bowl of tomato soup! Topped with croutons it is a winner!

~Yum~

We sure have been eating well around here. Thursday night we celebrated the Chinese New Year with some Sweet & Sour Mango Chicken and fried rice! The chicken was frozen stuff that I got at the discount grocer. It was really yummy! I made the fried rice;0) I also hung up some paper lanterns.

We had Chicken and Bacon Quesadillas Friday night. One of our family favorites. I love them smothered in guacamole!

I also made a huge batch of venison chili for our church's Sportsman's Dinner yesterday. I used 11 pounds of ground meat! I filled my roaster oven before I added the peppers so I'll be eating a bunch of those this week!
I'm anxious to make a batch of Beef Veggie Stew this week!