yummy father's day cake

For Father's Day this year the kids and I made the most delicious ice cream cake ever.  It was yum,  yum,  yummy!!!   Of course I have a big weakness for ice cream cakes.  I have been known in the past to go buy them to celebrate a "wednesday",  I could always find a reason.

Now I have this recipe,  I won't have to buy as many.  Click here to go to The Kraft Food & Family site and get it.  Also,  take the time to sign up for their FREE Food & Family magazine.  I love it,  many great cooking plans!  

Here is the cake after Kaya decorated it.  

Happy Fathers Day,  Mattie!!!


Look at the inside.......I mean can you go wrong with ice cream sandwiches,  pudding,  oreos, and cool whip?

feel better soon cupcakes

The first day after the kids' doctor's diagnosis,  I felt so terrible for them.  They were so weak and helpless.  So I thought I should make them some cupcakes and should have a get-well-soon party.  That was Day 1 of staying at home sick.....not sure I'm that nice now on Day 6.  

We did have fun, however.   The kids even enjoying decorating some too.

Here is their finished products....not too shabby, I say!

thanksgiving treats

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I'm sitting here on Thanksgiving morning,  sipping my coffee with one of my best friends,  getting enough energy to start cooking for the day.

But I've been happily busy baking all week.  Here are a few of our treats for our special day.

To set the atmosphere,  I made this fall display on the island.  

The pinecone jar was simple to make.  Place some pinecones in a mason jar,  tie with a fall ribbon, and tada!  Instant decoration.  (You could do the same with Christmas ribbon)
Here are my Double Chocolate Chip cookies.  I used a standard Chocolate Chip recipe and doubled the number of chips.....just half of the doubled chips were White Chocolate.....yum!
One of our cutest snacks is the turkey cupcakes.  I just baked the cupcakes,  frosted with chocolate icing and decorated with candy corn, mini chocolate chips, and orange icing for the nose.  The kids loved helping with this!

Here is Zander helping with the pumpkin pie he has been begging for, for two weeks.  I wondered why he wanted pumpkin pie so much,  since we never eat it, and then saw this recipe on Noggin.  So now I know why pumpkin pie seems so exciting!  I hope he enjoys it as much to eat as he has been anticipating. 

We are very thankful to have our friends,  The Nelsons,  with us today.  I hope all of you have a special day!

easy chicken and potatoes

Due to my very generous friends and dear family, I haven't had to worry about dinner-time for a long time now. This week, I'm easing back into my "real life" again and doing things like cooking. Which I have missed, a lot. There is something soothing and comforting about planning my family meals and preparing them each day.

Although I've missed it, I'm also not crazy. So for the next few weeks I'll be making easy meals. I'm making one of my old, favorite, easy meals right now in the crockpot. I thought I'd share it with you--

Crockpot Italian Chicken and Potatoes

Cut up 3-4 cups of potatoes (skin on or off, your preference) and put in bottom of crockpot. Top with one package of chicken breasts (3-4 pieces). The breasts can be fresh or frozen.....no need to cook, just throw in there! Pour in one small bottle of Italian flavored salad dressing. My favorite is Kraft Seven Seas Viva Italian. Add 4-5 shakes of Grated Parmesan cheese. Cook on low all day. It is finished when potatoes are tender, almost mushy, and chicken can shred easily with spoon or fork.

This is so easy and only takes a few minute of prep time......enjoy! Complete the meal with a side salad or your favorite green veggie.

crockpot cooking

I admit it, I'm guilty.
I'm guilty of lurking around sites and blogs to find great crockpot recipes for my menu this week. Each day I've prepared dinner in the crockpot and tada!!! I'm done! I may use this menu plan several times this year.

A couple of the recipes I've used for a while. I've used Salsa Chicken since we've been married. It is extremely simple, makes your house smell great, and is delicious. Just add 3-4 chicken breasts (can be frozen), a can of black beans, a drained can of corn, and a medium size jar of salsa to the crockpot and cook on low all day. We love this on rice or in tortillas as a wrap.

The BBQ Pork sandwiches are easy too. Just add a pound or two of pork to the crockpot with your favorite bottle of barbecue sauce. I have found the cheaper cuts of pork actually taste better. Start this one early in the day on low so your pork will just shred when you cut it with a fork.

You can find the other recipes by clicking below. I found them at Crockpot 365, of course!

Chinese Tofu with Veggies

Eggplant "Parmesan" with Feta

Macaroni and Cheese


I've enjoyed all of the meals but I am especially proud of the Crappie & Veggie Soup. I created this recipe myself! I have made up recipes before but was rather nervous about this one. I wasn't even sure if I'd ever actually eaten a fish soup (not counting chowders) much less made one. So here it is. You can use any white fish if you aren't lucky enough to get crappie from your dad that came out of Lake Cumberland.

Crappie & Veggie Soup

Lightly oil bottom of crockpot with olive oil. Put about 2 pounds fish in crockpot (can be frozen). Cook on low for an hour or so. Be sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't cook to fast.

When the fish will flake when you cut with a fork, add the following ingredients:
half of a red onion (chopped)
half jar of roasted red peppers
cup of baby carrots
handful of chopped kale
2 cups of new potatoes
4 cups of vegetable broth
a dash of italian seasoning
a dash of Old Bay seasoning

Let soup cook on low for 2-3 hours.

Add salt and Pepper right before serving or let family members/guests do that themselves. The kids and I added feta cheese as a topping to our soups. Matt added oyster crackers. We all loved this light, healthy meal!

10 foods, 40 recipes

When I found this article in the May issue of Women's Health magazine, I was ecstatic!



It actually has 10 foods you can buy (without your pantry staples, which WOW, I had them all already) and 40 scrumptious recipes. It also tells you how each food is beneficial to your overall well-being.....which is great to make you feel better when you scoop out seconds, or thirds, on your plate. The only bad thing is once you buy these foods you keep changing your mind about what to fix. I'll try my best to follow my weekly menu though. My menu consists of recipes from this article (with the exception of my 2 crockpot recipes leftover from last week).

this week's menu

This week I am gathering my recipes from All Recipes. This site is one of my favorite cooking resources. You can sign up for The Daily Dish which is an email recipe each day. When I see a recipe that I think sounds interesting, I add it to my online recipe box.

The cool thing about this site is its ease of use. Yesterday I went into my online recipe box, selected some recipes for the week, and the site made a shopping list for me automatically to use this week.

Now that is an easy timesaver......I may be using this more often that some of my cookbooks when my time is slipping away.

a new way to cook

Once again my friend Kara gave me some great info that further inspired me-if I'm ever ridiculously rich, I'm gonna pay her to be my personal advisor for her knowledge. She told me about this site, Crockpot365, with is a woman's blog about making something in the slow cooker every day of the year. Some of the recipes seemed fun to try and some I'll never fix. But what a fun thing to do!

So I've been inspired to do something similar on a much smaller scale. Each week I plan my menu while sorting through my 34 (yes, 34) cookbooks, many cooking magazines, online cooking sites, & box of recipe cards.

Now, I'm not complaining. I actually do enjoy it. Honestly, planning my menu is probably one of my favorite times of the week. I am , however, wasting a lot of time that I could use playing with the kiddos, cleaning, or crafting.

So to simplify I'm going to pick one cookbook each week to choose my recipes from.





This week I'm using one of my oldies but goodies, Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2005.
I'm especially looking forward to the following meals:
Eggplant Stew over Couscous
Peppery Chicken Pasta Salad
Mac & Cheese Florentine
Frittata with Mushrooms, Linguine, and Basil

I'll be sure to let you know if I cook some fun things out of cookbooks or sites in the future.
One last question though...
How much time am I saving if I'm blogging to you about it?


On a side note.....

Happy Birthday to one of my most faithful readers!!! I know you're reading this, Kim!