It's (almost) summer!

I have never seen two boys so excited for summer! Jacob still has four days of school left, including an "around the city" field trip tomorrow. Seth has been out of school for about two weeks now, and is already stir crazy! Sarah, however, is loving it that Seth is home all day with her. She gets to beat up on her big brother :)

I have some projects I'm doing around the house. Both are things I've found on Pinterest (surprise, surprise)! Here's one of them:

Who knew I would have so much fun spray-painting! My favorites are the silver ones! They turned out so pretty! We've lived in our home for three years now and we haven't done much to it. I just weeded that part of the garden two days ago! The mail-man keeps stepping in that section, so I changed it so he couldn't! 

Seth says I have to write and say what kinds of things we are doing this summer. This kid knows what he wants! So this is his list for you all to read:

           1. Go to the beach in the middle of Battle Creek.

           2. Go to the water-park (boys received free passes for reading at school, Seth also won a very big                           green bike. He won't fit that sucker for at least three years.)

           3. Go to the big beach by the big water. (Lake Michigan)

           4. Go to the zoo a hundred times. (I'm thinking not so many, but I guess we'll see.)

           5. Go to the store. (that's quite doable)

Pecan Pie

I love to cook...when I have time, money and energy! My family....loves yo eat! So, every year for birthdays we do the same ole same ole...cake, ice cream, presents. This year I decided that for my mom's birthday, she's had way too much cake for her 50+ years, so I'm going to make her a pecan pie! Her birthday is November 1, so I still have a few weeks to go. However, I decided to make a "lets see if I can actually do this" pie, and it turned out great! So, here is the recipe I used for Pecan Pie!

Pecan Pie

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Bake Time: 60-70 minutes
Cool Time: 2 Hours
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 cup Karo Dark Corn Syrup

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons margarine, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans

1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell/deep dish pie crust

STEP ONE

Preheat oven to 350 F

STEP TWO

Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla extract using a spoon. Stir in pecans.

STEP THREE

Pour filling into pie crust

 

STEP FOUR
Bake in the center of the rack for 60-70 minutes. Then cool for 2 hours before enjoying! 

Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

3 weeks ago today I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl in the world! Sarah Ann-Elizabeth! She was 7lbs, 11oz, 20 inches long after 36 hours of labor. I thought for sure my third baby would go by so quickly! She was welcomed by her two big brothers with open arms and they are in absolute love with her.

Anyway, one of the desserts that they served in the hospital was angel food cake with strawberries and whip topping. I so loved it! Strawberries ended up being on sale this week at our local grocery store so I picked up a few batches...especially since my youngest son loves to eat them like they're candy! I tried to recreate it! 

Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

Ingredients

2 lbs strawberries

sugar

angel food cake - bought from store (I cheated on this, oops)

whip topping

STEP ONE

Wash strawberries then de-stem them. Cut them in fours or as small or as big as you want them.

STEP TWO

Add a cup or so of sugar, all depending on how sweet you want it. Set the bowl of strawberries aside for about an hour at room temperature. The sugar will help draw out the juices inside the strawberry which will cause the yummy juice. (I ended up smooshing them with a mashed potato masher just to bring out more juice).

STEP THREE

Arrange your angel food cake, put strawberry goodness on top then cool whip! THEN ENJOY!

Mine

Hubby's

Peanut Butter Fudge

So, I am by no means a baker. Like, at all. In fact, I could probably look at already made cookies and they would suddenly burn to a crisp! One day last week I non-nonchalantly mentioned something about how we had so much peanut butter that I should try my hand at fudge. Big mistake! Hubby was all gung-ho about it (which by the way is an amazing movie starring Michael Keaton). I was pretty pleased when I found a really easy recipe on Pinterest! So, here it is...

Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup peanut butter

Extra Needs

Pot to boil sugar/milk

9 x 9 pan to pour fudge in

STEP ONE

Get a pan and bring sugar and milk to a boil. Once it boils, boil it 2 1/2 minutes, then remove from heat.

STEP TWO

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until nice and creamy

STEP THREE

Pour into 9 x 9 pan. BE CAREFUL, IT'S HOT! 

STEP FOUR

HARDEST STEP OF ALL......let it cool! Ugh, worst wait ever! I waited two hours or so before cutting into it!

I was pleasantly surprised I didn't mess this recipe up! Yummy yummy! I'm also surprised there are still some left considering my boys love them! Hubby now insists that I make some for his entire work line, he even bought me two large bags of sugar....crazy boy! He works in a factory here in town that makes radiators for cars, so about 15 people, and what, like a zillion pieces of fudge per person? Good thing I still have patience and a bunch of peanut butter!

Easy Peasy Crock-Pot Chicken

So I've been on the hunt to find simple, easy recipes for my crock-pot. Thanks to my mom who always leaves things at my house, I now have two of them, so it's like double the fun when it comes to cooking. I'm 35 weeks pregnant and just do not have the energy I once had. Not to mention, I have picky little eaters who like either chicken, mashed potatoes or pizza rolls at this moment! So, when I found this recipe, I was like...jackpot! This recipe was of course found on Pinterest and here's the URL for the original recipe: http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/14790173/simple-crock-pot-chicken/
Since I have a tendency to mostly follow the recipe, here's my own recipe for the crock-pot chicken! Not to mention, the pretty picture to show the yumminess that ensued!

Easy Peasey Crock-Pot Chicken

Ingredients

Crock-Pot

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

32 oz low sodium Swanson Chicken Broth

Gravy - after chicken is done cooking

2 cups Chicken Broth (when chicken is done cooking)

1 package chicken gravy  mix

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup milk

salt and pepper

Potatoes

1 box creamy butter instant mashed potatoes (I love instant!)

STEP ONE

- in your choice of awesome Crock-Pot, place your chicken breasts and the chicken broth. Set on high for 4-5 hours. (bonus----your house smells amazing as it cooks.) Chicken is done when it falls apart with the use of a fork!

STEP TWO

- begin instructions for your boxed potatoes or peel and make your own mashed potatoes! You can finish these as soon as your gravy is finished!

STEP THREE

GRAVY TIME! 

- place 2 cups of cooked chicken broth in a pan

- empty packet of chicken gravy and whisk

- put in 1/4 cup flour and 1/3 cup milk and continue to whisk until flour particles are gone! Whisk, whisk, whisk! Gravy will start to thicken as it gets warmer.

- if you wish, you may add salt and pepper. Ours was salty enough though.

STEP FOUR

- cook your choice of vegetable! We chose green beans and to help the boys eat them we added cheese....we love cheese!

Yummy Goodness!

This recipe was made for four people, including leftovers for husband to take for work! It was so amazing!

Awesomely Easy Potato Salad

Growing up my dad would always be the potato salad master! Memorial Day, 4th of July, Family Reunions, you name it, we wanted and had potato salad. I always thought it took so many different things to make it, and being young I was probably right, not to mention it had the icky vegetables that I just did not want to eat!

It's been many, many years since I've had my dad's potato salad and I decided that I would try and make it from memory and scratch for a church potluck instead of buying it from the store. I ended up breaking down and called my mom to make sure I had the right stuff late at night because I just couldn't sleep and my grocery list looked crazy.

So, here it is! My recipe for my dad's Awesomely Easy Potato Salad! Not quite sure how many this feeds because I just played it by eye, but it was easily 10-15 people with leftovers to spare!

Ingredients

8 lb bag of potatoes

1 jar Miracle Whip (30 Fl Oz)

1 Cucumber

1 Green Pepper

1 Red Pepper

1 Onion

Salt and Pepper for Taste

Optional

You can also use any vegetable you wish to use. My dad's called for Radishes but the store had them in a huge bunch and we wouldn't eat them otherwise, so we left them out.

Also eggs and paprika as well...I'll include these steps in this recipe just for you!

STEP ONE: 

- Peel and cut potatoes in small cubes. Then boil in water until completely cooked, about 30 minutes or so.

- Let potatoes completely cool before going onto the next step. I cooked mine the night before and cooled them overnight in the fridge in an air-tight container.

*optional*: Boil eggs as well, as many as you would like to add to the top of your potato salad. Also let them cool down before you use them later.

STEP TWO:

- Chop up Vegetables and place them in a large bowl.

See how colorful it looks! My mom was telling me that adding color is everything! Just think, if you had radishes, you'd have purple and if you had yellow peppers, you'd have yellow! Not to mention, you can sneak part of a cucumber here and there to "make sure" they taste okay! Mmm, yummy.

STEP THREE:

- add potatoes to veggie mixture. Add Miracle Whip. Add as much as it takes to cover everything! I used about 2/3's of my jar. 

- add salt and pepper for taste and then add some on top for looks. Here is what my potato salad looked like.

*optional*: Cut up eggs the long way so you have the cooked white and cooked yolk and place the eggs on top, adorning the potato salad to add more color. You could also add paprika for a little bit of more color.

So there it is! Awesomely Easy Potato Salad! 

Feel free to add, change and experiment!

Slacker

So I have been severely slacking in the pinterest cooking department! I have a few on my plate that I want to try, but it's getting the energy and participation of my two favorite helpers! If any of you have suggestions, find us on Facebook under this URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/440599245970427/

It's a small group so far but we would love to see what you are making and what you would love to share!