Cinco de Mayo Party Food and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
My family is SO busy! I have 5 kids and am coordinating 15 schedules right now. It is a lot! If things are not planned and on the calendar they are often forgotten. One of those things is Cinco de Mayo. I usually wake up that morning and think "oh no now what do I do?" Luckily I have a plan this year.
Jose Ole to the rescue! They have fun frozen snacks. When I do remember, usually a few days before, while I am at the grocery store all I need to do is grab a couple boxes of Mini Tacos and ...
Breakfast Burrito
Disclosure: I was paid to produce this post but the opinions in it are my own.
Do you ever shop at the grocery store thinking about what to make for breakfast for your house guests? Frozen and refrigerated foods are great because a lot of the hard work is done. When you are up late having fun the last thing you want to do is get up super early to make something delicious. Why not get a little help from the frozen and refrigerated sections while you sleep in just a little bit longer.
One ...
Bacon and Potato Chowder
We had a little help with the post today. Let's just say it's almost 11 weeks after Haley's surgery and things are still not back to normal. It is pretty difficult staying on top of everything. The Thanksgiving holiday was super busy for us which was more then Haley could handle. As a result we are currently working through a set back. She is crying a lot again which is not fun for anyone in the house! It is too painful to go out of the house but because I am good friends with Amazon now ...
Peanut Butter Apple Crackers (with toppings!)
The kids come home from school and want a snack right away. Does that sound familiar? Our school gets out late in the day so I do not want to give them a lot to eat or they will not eat their dinner. Of course they are hungry so a little snack to keep them content until dinner is what they need. These Peanut Butter Apple Crackers are fun because the kids can choose their toppings. What kid doesn't like to play with their food!
The first step is to wash and cut your apples. Add a splash ...
Tangy Spinach Chicken Salad
Do you ever have a night where you want something light and easy? Salads seem to fit that description in our house. We love this Tangy Spinach Chicken Salad because it seems to have little prep work. But then when I think about it the only reason it has little prep work is because we have done the cooking earlier in the day, or the day before.
We always have frozen chicken. Once thing I have learned is to defrost the chicken most of the way in the microwave. When it is still slightly firm ...
Walk The Plank Salmon
Next Thursday is "Talk Like A Pirate Day." My Little Chefs and I thought it would be fun to make a piratey menu for the day and have a piratey activity. Walk the Plank Salmon is an easy recipe. I would say it is a quick recipe except for it has 30 minutes of marinade time. If you call a recipe that can be made in 1 hour quick then this is one of those.
Submerge your cedar planks in water for 30 minutes. You will need to start with a defrosted salmon or salmon fillets. Whether you buy it ...
Cheesy Pull Apart Sourdough Bread
To continue on with our Pirate theme, yesterday we had Sun Roasted Broccoli and today we are sharing our Cheesy Pull Apart Sourdough Bread. I'm sure the bread the pirates had was not freshly made but that isn't stopping us from making something delicious today. What I love about this recipe is you are not making the bread, you get to buy a round loaf of sourdough. That saves a lot of time!
The cutting of the bread is a little tricky, your Little Chefs might need some assistance. When ...
Sun Roasted Broccoli
Next Thursday is "Talk Like A Pirate Day." We thought it would be fun to have a pirate menu and craft/activity to make it a fun filled pirate day. That is why we are sharing "Sun Roasted Broccoli" today. Those pirates are on the ship all day being roasted by the sun.
First, wash your broccoli and then chop it into bite sized pieces. Some of ours were bite sized and some were larger, it depends on the chef and how particular they are. I prefer bite sized pieces because then I do not need to ...
Orange Cream Delight
We love to make smoothies because they are hard to go wrong. The Little Chefs are able to make their own recipes, or they are able to alter others like this one. All the ingredients are added to the blender in any order, except the ice which always goes last.
For the Orange Cream Delight Little Chef D added the yogurt.
Next the peaches and banana.
Then comes the milk.
Little Chef D and A worked together to get out the orange juice concentrate. That was a hard task because it was ...
Raspberry Honey Butter
Sometimes toast needs a little something extra, a little something different then honey or jam or jelly. Cinnamon sugar is a good option. It is quick and easy to make but so is Raspberry Honey Butter.
Soften one stick of butter, add 3 ingredients, combine in a food processor and you are good to go! It is a great beginner recipe for your Little Chefs to practice measuring liquid ingredients. It only takes a few minutes so even those with shorter attention spans will be able to make it ...
Breakfast Hash
Are you ever looking for a breakfast or brunch recipe to impress? Since next Sunday is Grandparents Day we are sharing a "Brunch with Grandparents" menu this week!
While searching through a Taste of Home book I found this breakfast hash recipe that I knew would be amazing and was not let down. This is a great recipe for Little Chefs because after the prep work it is made in one skillet which means only one thing to focus on. There is some waiting time to let the hash browns lightly brown, ...
Grilled Sweet Potatoes in Foil
To continue with our Labor Day BBQ Meal today we are sharing Grilled Sweet Potatoes in Foil. We love this recipe because it is easy. You get to prep it and then leave it alone and focus on your main dish. As a recap, Monday we showed you how to store winter and summer squash, Tuesday we shared Fire Wire Beef Kabobs and Wednesday we shared Grilled Zucchini Halves.
Anything cooked on the grill in a packet is fun for my Little Chefs. Not only does it look like a present but they can ...
Grilled Zucchini Halves
This week we are sharing with you a Labor Day BBQ Meal. On Monday we showed you how to store winter and summer squash. On Tuesday we shared with you Fire Wire Beef Kabobs. Today we are sharing with you Grilled Zucchini Halves. Zucchini seems to be one of the easiest things to grow around me and everyone has more then they can eat! I love zucchini when they are about 8" long and thin. Grilled Zucchini Halves are so simple to prepare with only 4 ingredients!
Cut the ends off your zucchini ...
Strawberry Puffed Pastry Sandwich
We love quick desserts because they are great for kids to practice cooking from start to finish. A lot of times recipes are too lengthy in time so they don't make it all the way through without a lot of encouragement from me. Quick recipes are much simpler which usually means done in 15-30 minutes. The Little Chefs can see their progress and see they are close to the end when their attention starts to diminish which helps them continue on for just a few more minutes.
I first ...
Simple Chocolate Sauce
Do you ever need a last minute dessert? Every now and then while eating dinner my Little Chefs ask if we could have dessert. I usually start to panic and think what do we have already made that can be a dessert. Sometimes we have more options then others, but we always seem to have ice cream. So then the question arrives how do we embellish the ice cream? We always have sprinkles, unless Little Chef H finds the latest hiding place and eats them out of the container! A simple chocolate sauce ...
Vanilla Mixed Berry Popsicle
Popsicles are a big part of summer in our house. My Little Chefs go outside to play but then it seems almost immediately they come back in asking for a popsicle. I'm amazed at what they can do with a popsicle hanging out of their mouths! We found they molds one day while shopping and thought we could try making our own. The good part is the mixing of the ingredients is very quick. The bad part is they have a hard time waiting for four hours until they are sufficiently frozen to ...
Cilantro Lime Corn Saute
I love this time of the year when I can drive around and find fruit and vegetable stands on many different corners. This is a great recipe to use either fresh corn in the summer or frozen corn in the winter months. This recipe is a quick one for Little Chefs as well. In fact, Little Chef A thought it was very boring because she didn't need to do much.
If you are using fresh corn the first step is to cut it off the cob as described here. In a large skillet over medium high heat add the ...
Funnel Cake
My only memory of funnel cake is being at an amusement park with family and my sisters boyfriend. As I recall he loved funnel cakes and had to get one upon seeing them. My Little Chefs have never been in a location where funnel cakes were served. A friend gave us a funnel cake kit and we have had a great time using it and creating our own memories.
We describe funnel cake like a donut. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside with just enough sweetness from cinnamon and powdered sugar ...
Cinnaberry Peach Delight
We hope you are enjoying your summer. It has been so hot here we are drinking whatever we can find! Little Chef A has been asking for a long time to make up her own recipe. Well....she has done it! I let her create her very own smoothie recipe. This is her very first of many, I'm sure! How did this come about?? Well, I let her know what ingredients we had available and let her decide how much of what she wanted to include in the smoothie.
She chose 1 cup of frozen mixed berries.
1 ...
Grilled Margarita Pizza
Funny thing - if I put a traditional pepperoni pizza and Grilled Margarita Pizza next to each other - 10 times out of 10 my Little Chefs would devour the Grilled Margarita Pizza! They love this pizza and I love that it is an easy recipe. What makes this pizza so delicious and fun for the Little Chefs - when they hear that we are having Grilled Pizza for dinner, they run outside to pick fresh Roma tomatoes and basil leaves from our garden! Oh so good. And... is it terrible that as I am writing ...
How to Freeze Fresh Corn
Fresh corn on the cob is never turned away in our home. My Little Chefs will eat and eat as much of it as we allow them. A friend of mine taught me how to freeze fresh corn. I didn't know it was a simple task and an easy recipe. When we have farmer stands of corn on corners and in parking lots we stop by and get an abundance. Once we get home the work begins!
How to Freeze Fresh Corn
Supplies Needed:
Fresh corn (8 cups corn cut off cob)
Bundt pan or 9x13 pan
Knife
Sauce ...
Homemade Soft Pretzels
Welcome!
I'm so glad you are here to get this amazing SOFT PRETZELS easy recipe that you can easily make at home.
If you are like me, when you go to the mall you, and perhaps your kids, can SMELL the pretzels before you SEE them.
Do you extend your stay and buy one of those buttery breads to dunk in cheese?
OR
Do you think -- I wish I knew how to make these at home where it is more work but cheaper?
With 5 kids in tow when I walked through the mall I was always thinking pretzels ...
Fresh Strawberry Lemonade
We have been having hot 100 degree days lately. When our days are this hot we are constantly drinking anything and everything to stay hydrated. Sometimes we go for a "special drink" or make our own when my Little Chefs work hard weeding or score a goal in the soccer game. Fresh Strawberry Lemonade is a three ingredient recipe quick to whip up when you need something special. I love the use of fresh strawberries, especially from the garden. I always think when our strawberries are ripe we ...
Steak Challenge: Marinade vs Dry Rub
Summer BBQ's are in full swing!!! And Sunday night dinners, for most families have the traditional post roast and potatoes, not at our house - We prefer STEAK! We have seasoned and prepared our steaks all different ways, some turned out better than others. We wanted to find out for ourselves which way we prefer our stakes. That is when the Steak Challenge: Marinade vs Dry Rub began!
The Little Chefs started out with 2 identical steaks - well as close as identical as you can get, they ...
