Mod Podge Some Birthday Cake

I have been working on making homemade Warm Delights with a box cake mix. (recipe here) I thought it would be fun to give as birthday gifts for friends, neighbors and co-workers. So I put this mix in a jar. To make the gift wrapping fun and to re-use what I have I grabbed small jars. You can use half pint or pint depending on recipe size.

Cut a 2 1/2 inch circle out of scrap scrapbook paper. Mod Podged onto a used, but washed canning lid.

I just Mod Podged the edge.

Then covered the top in Mod Podge. (Let's see how many times I can use the words Mod Podge in this post.)

Tie a ribbon with a candle. Include directions on tag.

Microwave cake right in jar.

Let cake cool before adding candle.

Here are a couple of other Mod Podge posts for this month. Click on photo for full post. (The bread box post is one of my favorites. Be sure to check it out if you are new to my blog.)




Be sure to check out other Mod Podging nuts at Xazmin's Mod Podge Mainia @ This Is The Year.

Best Bread Sticks

I found this bread stick recipe a couple of months ago on another blog. I have tried to find what blog I got it from and I just can't seem to find the right one. However, I found numerous blogs with the same recipe. I thought it might be fun to include a couple of links:

Farm Chick Kitchen (I recognized Lisa in the follower list. She is also a follower here on Bloggin' it. What fun.)

Real Mom Kitchen

Both of these gals had the same recipe. As for me. I have made a few changes. I don't want to just repeat what other blogs do. So here goes.

Pizza Hut Style Bread Sticks

1 1/2 cup hot water

2T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup non fat dry milk (I omit dry milk and use skim milk in place of water.)

1 T yeast (I use SAF)

3 Cups flour

1/3 cup melted butter

Topping:

2 T dry Parmesan cheese

1 T garlic powder

1-2 tsp salt

1 T oregano

And/Or

Sugar and Cinnamon blend

Dissolve sugar, salt and dry milk in hot water or in hot milk. I dissolve it in 1 cup hot milk and then add 1/2 cold milk to cool the mixture. Add enough flour (1 cup) to make a thin mixture. When the it has cooled till warm add the yeast and stir well. Add the rest of the flour. You may need to add a bit more until the dough is no longer sticky, but not stiff. Knead until smooth.

Press dough into rectangle on a greased baking sheet. ( I use butter flavored crisco for extra butter flavor and cut down on the amount of melted butter or you can just use half of your melted butter to coat the bottom of the pan.)

Cut with pizza cutter. Don't worry about cutting though the edges all the way. (I use a baking stone that is smaller than a cookie sheet.)

Let rise 10-15 minutes.

Sprinkle with topping. Okay, so this is my creative part of the recipe. Non of the others use Cinnamon and Sugar. Plus, I do some of both in one batch.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Serve with warm marinara and frosting. I use the basic water and powdered sugar frosting.

This recipe is so quick and easy. I love to serve it with homemade freezer soup.

Eatin' Asphalt

We like Winger's Asphalt pie. We just don't like paying for it or taking the wild monkeys in and having people stare at our totally awesome kids just because they are excited to be there.

Here is my version. You will need:

Oreos

Mint ice cream ( I suggest using a different brand than I did.)

Oreo pie crust

Chocolate sauce

Carmel sauce

Cream ( Use the kind in a can. It looks better.)

Microwave ice cream for 30 Seconds. Spoon ice cream into shell pressing firmly. Freeze for at least 2 hours.
Slice and top with cream, sauces and crushed Oreos.

Eat like a love starved Momma.

Easy as pie

This honestly is the easiest pie to make and it's the perfect dessert to cool down your hot days.

You will need:

1 can frozen juice, almost thawed (my favorite is limeade)

1 lrg. Cool Whip, almost thawed (you can use reg., light or even fat free)

1 can sweetened condensed milk (you can use fat free)

2 graham cracker crusts

Mix together first 3 ingredients.
Pour into shell.


Cover and freeze until firm.

Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Eat fast so you can have seconds.

S'more ideas

I was inspired a long time go by Lisa @ OneGirlieGirl. She had posted about her gourmet s'more. Instead of chocolate she used Andies Candies. So of course I had to try. Except I used Dove Chocolates. Carmel and Peanut Butter. I think the Ghirardelli squares would be perfect. I am going to have to try the mint as soon as I can get a hold of some.

Why is it some pictures look completely normal in the file, but as soon as they are saved to a post they end up sideways?

I just used the broiler. I placed 4 Marshmallows on 4 crackers and broiled them for about 1 minute. (just until slightly toasted) The I added the crackers with chocolate on top. Next time I will use two chocolates per s'more. Broil with Marsh mellows 30 sec. or so.

Place the two halves together and well you know what to do.


I will be back later today with my Trash to Treasure for this fine Tuesday.

Freezing in August

Quite some time ago, I participated in a frozen meal club. It was so much fun to come home with 9 other meals. However, for me, it was just too stressful to continue. I began to do the whole 30 meals in one day thing. That was fantastic. I could make exactly what my family would eat and there was no chance of ending up with 3 of the same meal unless I planned it that way. Still, it is hard to plan that many meals, shop and find a whole day to cook without kid involvement.

Lately I have needed to find a way to incorporate freezer meals back into my cooking practices. I also want to find a way to bring back the joy of eating something I didn't have to do all of the work for.

Keeping in mind some of the rules from the freezer club I went to Wal Mart in search of freezer meals. The rules: $80 10 meals, must feed 6 (for us we only have 2 of us it will eat it some times and the other 3 count as only 1 1/2 people. So I was aiming for feeding fewer but maybe a couple more meals.) Luck would have it that the store was full of straight from the freezer to a heat source to plate meals.

Each meal shown below was $5-$6. So I spent about $40 on 7 meals. Not too bad. I also compared how much they cost and how many they would feed to the Schwan man prices. Wal Mart of course beat those prices by a large margin.

We have tried the following 2 meals.

The frozen beans tasted just like frozen beans. What a shocker. We like it though. We absolutely love these stuffed breasts. The Artichoke stuffed breast is the best. These were more of a splurge at $5 dollars for two breasts, but I love them.

I will still be making some of my own freezer meals, but having these bad boys on hand will make it a bit easier for now.

Beary good

It doesn't take much to turn a simple ball dough into a fun edible friend. I used Rhodes Roll dough, which is so easy, oh so easy! With just a few pinches and a little manipulation you can give your kids a tasty pal to eat with their dinner.

Hmmmm, reminds me of my own tummy, which oddly enough also rises on a warm day.

Now your little carnivores can bite the head off of their lovable friend.

Easiest Dinner E V E R

My friend Suzy gave me this recipe a couple of years ago. All you need is: 1 package of frozen burritos(you can do as many as you want at a time)

1 can of enchilada sauce (size of cans depends on how many burritos you do at once. You can use any kind of burrito.Choose a good brand, if you buy inferior burritos, it will taste inferior. Place frozen burrito in bottom of pan. You can do 10 in a 13x9 pan. I chose a smaller pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with your favorite toppings, onions, sliced olives, cheese, sour cream, etc. I keep dried chives on hand just to jazz up my enchiladas.

Serve and enjoy. So cheap. So Easy.

Food Face

Parents Magazine featured these plates in their June Magazine. I absolutely love them. My kids would have a blast and it would keep them at the table longer. Kids who stay at the table eat more too. So if you have a little one who takes a bite and wants to leave the table you might want to try Food Face. Here is the link: http://www.popdeluxe.net/

My kids love the Gerber raviolis. They cost about $1.25 for a very small serving. I love them too, because they do not have sauce on them and usually contain a vegetable. I found this bag of cheese tortellini for $5.50 at Wal Mart. If you boil them in water seasoned with chicken bullion they are very similar to the Gerber ravioli. What a savings and you store them in the freezer so they are ready to go.