Gum Drop Fun

Last week at the check-out line in Trader Joe's, after about a hundred "No, we cannot get that, or that or that..." I totally caved to Drew's request to purchase a bag of gum drops. It was a small bag & they look pretty in a candy jar on the kitchen counter. Since then, it has been an easy way to say yes to the kids & let them have a little treat every now & then...and I do mean little, I usually only dole out 1 or 2 at a time. {I'm a candy scrooge like that!}

Yesterday afternoon, Jack asked to have a couple & I said yes. A couple quickly became, "Can I please have 3, a yellow, an orange & a white? I want to make a candy corn." So I said okay, and I'm glad I did. Making one "candy corn" turned into a fun little creative activity for Jack seeing what all he could make out of the gum drops. It was somewhat challenging, as well, because our package only had 4 colors: red, orange, yellow & white. {And I totally have to give Jack his props, he wasn't even doing it so that he could eat more gum drops, he gave each of the little creations to one of his siblings...spreading them out so everyone got one!}

Here's a little look at Jack's cute Gum Drop Creations...He said to me, "Mom, we should pin these on Pinterest!" {I love that kid!}

 Snowman

 Jack-o-lantern

 The candy corn that started it all!

 Ghost (because we had a lot of white gum-drops!)

 Santa's hat

And a jolly ol' gum drop Santa! 

What's for Dinner?

It's a question that I ask myself every day...What's for dinner?? I wish I was one of those super-duper meal planners who could churn out our menu several weeks in advance, but I'm a little more spontaneous when it comes to dinner. Truth be told, I'm often driven by my moods, taste buds or what I've seen most recently on Pinterest! This year though, I have tried to plan at least a day or two in advance (baby steps!) & keep a mental inventory of what we have on hand that needs to be used up. I recently purchased some lean ground beef at a good price because I thought we were out. I cooked it up one night when I was cooking something else for dinner & packaged it in 1 pound bags. When I went to put it in the freezer, turns out that I already had 3 one-pound bags of cooked ground beef waiting to be used. (So much for that mental inventory!) So, I moved dishes with ground beef to the head of my mental menu list!
I was putting something away this morning in the cabinet where I keep my crock pot & it occurred to me that I should dust that puppy off & use it for dinner tonight. The temps are already in the 80s here, so it is nice to keep the oven off if possible. (I'm thinking now that this post should be subtitled: A study into the way Melanie's brain works!)
A couple of hours later, I got around to searching "ground beef crock pot" on Pinterest. It yielded this yummy looking Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand, except for the Ranch Style Beans. A quick Internet search provided the info that Ranch Style Beans are pinto beans with extra seasonings. I had pintos on hand & decided I could wing the seasonings.
A huge plus, this crock pot recipe cooks in 2 to 2 1/2 hours on LOW! So it's essentially a quick cooking slow-cooker recipe. This is absolutely perfect for me since, despite my best efforts, there are still many days when I'm first asking myself the What's for Dinner? question mid-to-late afternoon...long past the slow-cooker time frame window. As it was, the recipe was perfect for today...the kids played outside all afternoon & I was in & out...In folding laundry & Out settling disputes or In picking up toys & Out sweeping out the garage...so even with a plan in mind, I didn't end up starting on our dinner until almost 5:00pm! Ordinarily, that would be waaaay too late for a crock pot dinner, but this one worked perfectly!

I guess you were wondering if I would ever get to it. So without further ado, here is my adaptation of the Crock Pot Enchiladas recipe...it is really a lot like a Mexican lasagna.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, browned & drained
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the ones seasoned with garlic & oregano, but the chili seasoned would be good, too.)
1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 package (approx 8 oz.) Madras Lentils (I buy these at Costco & use them for everything from chili to tacos)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
Cumin
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Chili powder
2 cups (8 oz) colby jack and/or cheddar cheese, shredded
5 large (burrito grande) flour tortillas
1 can (15 oz) red enchilada sauce

**If you are cooking your ground beef, you can add in diced onions or green pepper if you like. Since I needed to use up some frozen ground beef, I just thawed it in the microwave for 30 or so seconds.

Mix together the ground beef, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, minced garlic & Madras lentils. (I actually had made a package of the lentils a couple of nights ago to use as chili on hot dogs. I was the only one to use it, so I had almost a whole package left over. When I was getting something out of the fridge, I noticed the container & it was the perfect addition to the recipe!)

Stir in seasonings (cumin, onion powder, garlic powder & chili powder) to taste...I probably added about 1 tsp of each (probably a little less chili powder because my family isn't big on spicy dishes.)

Line bottom of crock pot with one large flour tortilla (The large burrito grande size fit my round crockpot perfectly, but you could easily use two smaller ones, overlapping.)

Spoon 1/4 of meat mixture on top of tortilla. Top with 1/4 shredded cheese.

Repeat layers 3 more times, ending with the ground beef mixture sprinkled with cheese on top.

Pour can of enchilada sauce over the top. (I also sprinkled a little more shredded cheese on top.)

Cook on low for 2-2.5 hours. (Since I started so late, I cooked it on high for about an hour & then switched to low...it worked out well because my husband came home over an hour later than normal, so it was fine to keep warm on low.)

We served it over jasmine rice, with a side of corn & it was a delicious meal! Finished it off with yogurt & fruit parfaits, sprinkled with granola.

Here is where I would show you a picture of the finished product...but this was also where life intervened...As I mentioned, Jeff was really late getting home this evening...and the kids played outside all afternoon, which is a great thing, until it is time to stop playing & clean-up & come inside for dinner...Usually Jeff helps get everyone inside & cleaned up for dinner, but I was trying to do that & finish up the side dishes. (Another reason I was thankful to have a crockpot dinner tonight, no worries that it would burn!) I finally got everyone inside & was over-seeing a couple of the kids setting the table. Drew kept pulling out toys & making messes & screaming when one of the bigger kids would try to clean them up (at my direction.) Lucy was in her high chair waiting for some dinner, but beginning to get impatient. Chaos was the word of the moment. I had taken the lid off of the crock pot to let the dish cool a bit. The kids were needing the next things for setting the table so I reached up to get some glasses down...someone was fussing & I turned to say something to one of the kids & another glass fell off of the shelf, hit my Kitchenaid stand mixer, exploded into a million-bazillion little pieces (I love IKEA, but their glasses are made of thin, cheap glass that splinters like the dickens!) A huge chunk of glass landed right smack in the middle of the crock pot! Arrrggggh! 

I was cleaning broken glass off of the counter when Jeff got home. Of course the first words out of the kids' mouths' were, "Mommy broke a glass & it landed in our dinner!!!" Everyone wanted to see, everyone wanted to ask questions. After a few tense moments, we decided the top layer of the food could be removed & the rest eaten. There was no way to tell if there might be tiny specks of glass in the top layer, but everything below was fine. So we scooped off all of the enchilada sauce, and all that meat & cheesy goodness on the top! Oh, I hate to waste food, but there was just no reason to risk ingesting glass. Regardless, the dish was still quite delicious & enjoyed by kids & parents, alike. It will go on my short list to make again sometime soon, only next time we hope to enjoy the top layer along with the rest of it!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

There is something about winter that makes me like cooking more. Even when "winter" is temps in the 50s & 60s. Actually, that's even better because it's like the best of both worlds...my kids can play outside while I work on dinner. Well, they come & go, in & out & in & out...but they are at least outside for some of the time & I can keep an eye on them through my kitchen window. But I digress, this post isn't about my kids, it is about dinner! {But in this story the children are away...anyone know what book that is??}

I love to purchase the rotisserie chicken at Costco because for $5 I can get at least two meals out of it, three if I take the time to make soup. I made chicken pot pie from half a chicken last week & I needed to use the rest. So tonight something involving chicken was on the menu.

Are you like me these days? Since the advent of Pinterest I love searching for & pinning new recipes to try. Often I will use the Pinterest app on my phone to simply pull a recipe up instead of printing out a copy. Tonight, however, I actually already had yummy recipes for the menu of Poppyseed Chicken & Sweet Potato Casserole. While I was cooking dinner, I decided I should type up these recipes so that I can pin them to my own recipe boards...kind of like a virtual recipe box!

So here are my recipes in case you are interested...the Poppyseed Chicken is always a BIG winner in our house. Tonight several of my kids asked for seconds, thirds & even fourths! Actually, Sophie asked for 5ths, but the dish was practically licked clean by that point. We rarely have a night with no left-overs, but Jeff will have to pick something else to take for lunch tomorrow. 

I hope that your family might enjoy it as much as ours. And when you are using precooked chicken, it is a snap to put together & pop in the oven.

Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

Here it is about 5 minutes after we sat down to eat dinner...sorry, I forgot to snap a photo before it was devoured.

Approx. 5 cups diced cooked chicken (I used half of a rotisserie chicken)

8 oz sour cream

1 can cream chicken soup

1 can cream celery soup

onion powder, garlic powder, ground pepper (to taste)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1-2 sleeves crushed Ritz crackers

1/2 cup butter, melted

1-2 Tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread diced chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. 

In a bowl mix sour cream & both cans of condensed soup. Add in about 1/2 Tablespoon of poppy seeds. Season with onion powder, garlic powder & ground pepper to taste. Pour mixture over the chicken.

Sprinkle shredded cheddar over the sauce mixture in dish.

 

In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, melted butter & remaining poppy seeds. Sprinkle over the chicken & sauce. 

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until top is brown & sauce is bubbly. ENJOY!

It is hearty enough to be served as a main dish & is also great over rice or pasta. 

Next, is my trusty recipe for sweet potato casserole. When we were first married, this was always on the holiday menus...and then it finally dawned on me that I should be making it year round. This is another recipe that comes together quickly & tastes SO good. I almost think it is like eating dessert for dinner!

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3 T butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

(To get mashed sweet potatoes, I peel 3-4 fresh sweet potatoes & chop them into chunks. I place them in a microwave safe dish with a little water & cover. I microwave 6-8 minutes or until soft. Then I mash them with a masher or pastry blender.)

Mix sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, milk, butter & vanilla thoroughly. Pour into greased casserole. (This makes a lot, so it also works well to pour into two dishes & freeze one!)

 

In another bowl, mix topping ingredients & spread over potato mixture. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden & bubbly! The top gets all carmelized & delicious, yum-O! 

Soup's On!

All that talk of soup (or rather no soup!) in yesterday's post, combined with my lovely friend Kim's post on a delicious soup recipe she made up this week...well, when it came time to cook dinner this evening, soup was the only choice! I used Kim's yummy recipe as a starting off point & tweaked it a bit for our family. And now I'm copying her idea to share my "made it up myself" recipe on my blog! Thanks, Kim!!
(Okay, now I'm sad that I didn't think to take a picture, but we had the normal chaos this afternoon while I was preparing dinner & then some added drama when Darcy bit her tongue while eating a piece of celery...it bled & bled...for at least a good 30 minutes while she was applying pressure with a washcloth...I was beginning to think we were going to need to go to the Urgent Care, but it finally stopped. Praise God!)
Anyway, back to the soup...the house smelled SO wonderful all afternoon as it was simmering & it tasted fantastic! I love to make soups & this one is definitely now in my top 3! Jeff & the kids gobbled it up & there was lots of laughter & merriment around the table (instead of complaints about the food) always a sign of a great meal!
So here is what I did...I'm sorry if some of the measurements are vague!

2 carrots & 2 stalks of celery, thinly chopped
*Saute the carrots & celery in a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large stock pot for several minutes
*Pour in 32 ounces of Chicken Broth AND 32 ounces of water, bring to a boil
*While the broth soup is coming to a boil, de-bone & cut-up half of a Costco rotisserie chicken
(Side Note: Have I ever told y'all how much I LOVE the $5.00 rotisserie chickens from Costco? I buy one on every trip. They are such a good size that I can get at least 2 meals from one chicken. They are great for casseroles, soups, enchiladas, chicken salad & more...anything that calls for precooked chicken. Love them!)
Anyway, back to the soup, again...
*Throw the chopped chicken into the broth. Stir in a little fresh ground black pepper & a small palm-full of poultry seasoning.
*Add in 1-2 pounds of frozen mixed vegetables
*Stir everything & simmer for an hour or so
*Add in one can of cream of celery soup & 2 soup cans of water, stir to combine
Now the soup was smelling heavenly & I think would have been a delicious chicken vegetable soup in its own right, but I have always wanted to try my hand at dumplings...the easy kind made from flour tortillas, SO...
*About 20-30 minutes or so before serving, cut about 6-8 flour tortillas into 1 or 2 inch strips.
*Place the tortilla pieces into the pot (they will cover the surface) & gently stir them around & "dunk" them a little to make sure all are in the liquid. Let them simmer on low for about 20 minutes. The tortillas will get nice & puffy & yummy!
*Pour in 1-2 cups of milk & stir, let the soup simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
*Remove from heat & enjoy!!! Bon Appetit!
Hearty, healthy, yummy...and a really easy way to enjoy home-made chicken & dumplings!
I'm already looking forward to a cool fall day when I can make this again...and next time I'll take a picture!
What are you cooking up this fall?

It's what's on the inside that counts...

It is always a bit wild coming home from church on Wednesday night & getting everyone to bed as quickly as possible so that Thursday morning isn't too rough. The kids are usually hyped up from being with their friends; Jeff & I are usually exhausted. Tonight on top of the usual stuff, I was trying to trim Darcy's hair because we are having family pictures taken tomorrow. I had trimmed both girls' hair before we left for church, but noticed I missed a few spots on Darcy. (Somehow I am never able to fit haircut appointments into the schedule the week before pictures!) 

At some point tonight in all the melee, Drew decided to be helpful. My sweet two year old got his  lunchbox out & got it all ready for tomorrow. This is what I found on the counter this evening after we got the kids to bed. (It was lying down, I did stand the lunchbox up to take a photo.)

And this is what I found when I opened it up to take a peek at what a 2 year old brain thinks makes for a good lunch...

I love that my little helper took it upon himself to pack his lunch...I'm hoping he can give lessons to the older kids...but I think we are going to have to break out the trusty food pyramid & talk about some proteins!

Okay, now I'm off to repack some lunches! 

Purplelicious!

No, not the children's story book, but a perfectly purplelicious baby shower! That's what I'm talking about! Last month, I had the joy & privilege of helping to host a baby shower for my sweet friend Jen's fourth little blessing! My friend Jenna & I put our heads together to come up with some ideas for the shower...Jen is having a baby girl & she said her favorite color was purple, so we put those together for a whole girly, fun, sugar & spice & everything nice purple, plum, lavender baby shower! Jenna scoured the web for some great inspiration & the ideas started rolling in...a purple Sugar & Spice sweets buffet for the party favors, big purple tissue pom poms & paper lanterns, sparkle & texture, all perfectly purple & perfectly fun to do! We contrasted all of the purple with a kiwi green & also used circles as part of the theme. 

The fabulous invitation that Jenna designed & hand made!

And the fabulous Mackenzie Grace banner that Jenna made for the window!

It looked so pretty with the banner, tissue flowers & paper lanterns. I made the lanterns in about 10 minutes! They are my new favorite party decoration to whip up, can't wait to make more!!

Jenna also made these adorable monogrammed napkin rings!

We used purple flowers in vases with circle slices of lime! (These smelled SO good!)

I made the purple ribbon topiary for the table centerpiece. 

It started out looking like this...

But a few spools of ribbon & some straight pens are all you need to make a beautiful topiary! I had made a red, white & silver one for Christmas a few years ago, so I just took off the Christmassy ribbon & replaced it with the purple. I also spray painted the pot silver. 

For the food we tried to the theme of purple, green & round!

We had chicken salad sandwiches on rolls; mozzarella, basil & spinach skewers; green veggies with dip served in a purple cabbage; round mini-quiches. 

There were individual glasses filled with purple fruits & topped with a dollop of whipped cream & a kiwi slice!

I even made a purple potato salad!

 Made from actual purple sweet potatoes!

 They were fantastic & SO purple in color!

They cooked up so beautifully!

Instead of a traditional cake, we did brownie bites frosted with purple frosting & topped with cute little flags!

Now for the dessert buffet, YUM!!!

Sugar & spice & everything nice...this table was loaded with sweet treats!

Look at the fancy marshmallows that Jenna dipped in candy coating & then rolled in purple sugar! TOO cute!

 Pretzels dipped in purple chocolate, Jellybeans, M&Ms, and more!

All of the lovely shower guests were able to fill up a treat bag with whatever their sweet tooth requested! 

Oh, we can't forget the punch! I absolutely L-O-V-E punch!!!

One of the reasons I enjoy hosting things like baby showers is just to have a reason to make punch! My basic recipe involves pineapple juice, ginger ale, sherbet and frozen fruit. This time I also added a can of frozen grape juice concentrate to give it a beautiful purple hue. It looked beautiful & tasted SO yummy, too!

Jenna, Jen & I (and Lucy!!)

Sophie & Jen's daughters enjoying some treats!

Present time! 

Of course, my girls were eager to help Jen with the presents!

Jen & her sweet girls, Bridget & Erin! And now she has another sweet girl to snuggle...baby Mackenzie Grace arrived this past weekend! What a joy it was to help throw this shower to welcome baby Mackenzie Grace, now I can't wait to meet her!!

Berry Fever!

I love fruit & whenever possible, I love everything about the experience of going to a farm & picking it fresh off the tree, vine or bush! In the fall we pick apples; in the summer it's peaches; and, of course, one of our most favorite spring-time activities is to go strawberry pickin'! And this year is no exception! With the early spring & warm temps, the berries ripened early this year & we have already been to the patch to pick berries three times! We have eaten our fill of their sweet, juicy goodness & I now have a freezer full of jam! And more than just fields of strawberries, our favorite berry patch has all kinds of fun for the family...take a look!

Jack & Darcy finding their way through the maze

Sophie pumping water

Rubber ducky races!

And, of course, picking beautiful red strawberries!

These pictures are from my second visit to the farm 

(I had gone earlier in the week with just Drew & Darcy to see how ripe the berries were.) 

Baskets overflowing! 

Lots of fruit!

It was the perfect day for picking (aside from a little rain shower, but we didn't melt!) and we picked almost 20 pounds of berries in about 15 minutes!

Heading back to weigh & pay for the berries

Drew's always up for playing in the dirt...

Measuring how tall!

Look, Sophie, you're this tall!

Jack measuring himself

And the best part of the day...strawberry slushies for all!

And when we got those berries home, I was excited to try my hand at jam making!

I just followed the recipe inside the Sure-Jell box & YUM it is so delicious! I'm excited that we can enjoy the taste of fresh strawberries for months to come!

Epilogue: We went back a 3rd time & I'm hoping to pick berries quickly one more time next week...I still have tons of room in the freezer for more jam!!