Cupcakes, and Traditions!

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I love love love traditions, all kinds for all occasions! Yea I know they are corny, and sometimes it's just plain hard to work on whatever the tradition is. This for example, what a crazy day for me on the first day of school, I'm not kidding when I say I had maybe 1 hour max of free time this year.....I completely overbooked myself. However EVERY year on the first day of school I always make my kids cupcakes! HMMMM......I really wanted to sit and eat lunch my free hour that day, but of course I made the cupcakes instead! (Paul said not to worry that the kids wouldn't even remember that I skipped one year, or that they didn't even remember that I make them)

Well I am so glad I did, Susie got off the bus first and came in and the first thing out of her mouth was...."Hey mom there is a new girl on the bus today, and she was really nervous, so I sat with her, and then I told her all about how I would have cupcakes at my house if she want's to come try one, and I told her you make the best cupcakes ever, so can she please please come over????" I'm so glad my sweet girl took the time to make someone feel a little better when she was nervous, and believe it or not I think the cupcakes helped!

Anyways that's me ranting for the day about how grateful that I actually made cupcakes on the first day of school!

Glazed Chicken Wings!

Okay so here's another one of my non recipes, but I promise it's so easy you don't need a recipe! All you do is throw a cup of apricot preserves, 1/2 cup ketchup , 1/4 cup of soy sauce, and a couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce (not too much, just about 2 quick dashes) in a saucepan, bring to a boil, pour over your wings, and bake for about 40 min. Easy right? ANNNNND they are good! Perfect little snack for my man, as he sits on the couch watching baseball NON-Stop! Seriously baseball is on our t.v. constantly....it's like the spring/summer version of football season!

We are little crazy about these fun "can cakes"

 

 

Happy Birthday sweet Aubrey!

Fall off the bone ribs

My sweet husband seems to be traveling a lot this summer.We always try to have a good dinner made, and a mini celebration for him when he comes home.This time we made these ribs, and he loved them! It's the first time I made them, but I have a feeling I will be making them again! If you live near a Whole Foods pick up some of this teriyaki sauce, it really is the best I've ever had!

5 pounds baby back ribssalt & pepper1 cup Teriyaki Sauce

1 cup ketchup 

1. Preheat oven to 275.  Season both sides of ribs with salt and pepper. (of course I always use garlic salt)
2. Place the ribs in a roasting pan, cover with double thickness of tin foil.
3. Roast for 4 hours or so. Discard foil. Use a wide, flat spatula to carefully lift the ribs onto a baking sheet. Spread the sauce generously over the ribs.
4. Place oven rack near the top of the oven. Turn broiler on and broil the ribs for 3-5 minutes, or until the sauce begins to caramelize. Make sure you don't burn the sauce, so keep a close eye on the ribs.

Back to School Party!

I recently decorated these tables for a luncheon that my church has every year. We host this luncheon to send off all the little ones headed to Kindergarten. I feel so blessed to be able to be part of it every year, and even more blessed to be part of such a great church, which truly loves my babies!!!!

Homemade Parmesan Meatballs

I have been married for almost 11 years, and in those 11 years the one thing you can count on is that we have spaghetti at least once every other week. My husband loves it when I cook spaghetti, and I love to please him, therefore I make spaghetti! However..........I recently just found out that my hubby like meatballs instead of meat sauce. I can't believe I didn't know this??????? In all these years I never knew that!!!!! Well of course once I hear this news, I need to try to come up with the best meatballs that I can :)!!!!!!!!! This is the one that I came up with, and I'm not bragging or anything, but these were the best I've ever had. They were so good, and my husband loved them so much he took a meatball sub to work the next day! Here is the recipe that I kinda came up with.......

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (a mixture of 1 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound ground sausage is what I used) 1 large egg, slightly beaten 1cup grated fresh parmesan cheese 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (or use enough to hold the meat together, 1 -2 tablespoon fresh minced garlic (or use 2 tablespoon garlic powder or to taste) 1 -2 teaspoon salt (or to taste, I use 2 teaspoons seasoned salt) 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon basil, 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 2 tablespoons dried parsley) Directions: 1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. 2. Shape into meatballs (we like them large) 3. bake the meatballs at 350 degrees  for 25 minutes or until cooked through

Cheaters Whoopee Pies

This is how I cheat, when I need to make a treat for the many many teenagers who come and go through my house.......a cake mix can make cookies! Yea that's right, I always have a cake mix in my pantry! This week I decided that I wanted to make whoopee pies, but I didn't want to go to the store. SO.... I made chocolate cake mix cookies, let them cool and sandwiched them with 1 jar of marshmallow cream mixed with one can of vanilla frosting...yep that's all (besides sprinkling them with powdered sugar to make them look fancy)! It was really easy and the kids loved them. Here is my cake mix cookie recipe, trust me you need to remember this because you can add lots of variations to cookies.

• 2 eggs
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package cake mix
• 1/2 cup veg oil

1. Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl.
2. Make little balls with the dough and set on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake at 350 degrees 8 - 10 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes

I find myself making more trips than usual to the Farmers Market this summer. I think that maybe it's because my little ones are getting bigger, and they actually like going, or maybe I really can tell the difference in the quality, or maybe just because it's summer! This week we bought some sweet potatoes, and I thought I would try making them a little different than usual.

We loved them so much it will be really hard to just have a plain ole baked sweet potato again....looks like this will be a regular in our house!

6 large bright orange sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick of butter
2 teaspoons of salt

 

Wash and peel potatoes. Chunk potatoes into 2 inch disks. Put potatoes in a pan and cover with water. Add all ingredients to the potatoes and water. Cover. boil/simmer until potatoes are fork tender (approximately 30 minutes). 

Creativity

I love that being  a creative person doesn't mean that its an inherited trait. I love that it's learned! I have learned this through my daughters. They have their own sense of creativity and style, and I love it. I have tried really hard to encourage them and help them with their creativity, and now that they are getting older it shows. Now that I have a 17 year old I realize more and more each day that she really is watching me, and what kind of woman an person that I am.

This is an example of one of the things Taylor created! Coming up with something creative to give to your 16 and 17 year old friends is not an easy task, but she accomplished with this cute gift she made for one of friends birthday! It's a cake made out of Red Bulls! My mind is already swarming with great ideas of other drinks I can use, and how I can recreate this cake! I think my dad needs one made out of Pepsi this year for his birthday!!!!

One of my favorite summer dinner ideas is to grill chicken with some squash and zucchini, and after I take it off the grill mix it in a bowl with some steam veggies broccoli, tomatoes, red peppers....etc...whatever extra veggies I have, and some bow tie pasta. I toss it all together with a cup of homemade pesto (or store bought) and some fresh Parmesan cheese. It's such a simple dinner but it is so good!

Super Moist Zucchini Bread

• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup  applesauce
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat an oven to 325 degrees Grease 2 8x4-inch loaf pans or 2 12-cup muffin pans.
2. Place the zucchini in a strainer and set aside to drain into a bowl or sink.
3.   Mixthe flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Combine the applesauce, vanilla, eggs, butter, , and drained zucchini  Mix until all ingredients are combined into a batter; pour into the loaf pans.
4. Bake the loaves in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour for loaves or 25 minutes for muffins******I chop my zucchini with my small electric chopper

What to do......

What do you do all summer when your 10 year old daughter has a big pink cast on her leg?????? Crafts, and more crafts, and more...... here is one that turned out really cute! We bought some plain white tennis shoes (fake Keds) from Walmart for only $5, and a basic tye dye kit. Mix all the dye and blot on your shoes with cotton balls! Unfortunately no pic of Susie's because she can only wear one for now....but in 4 weeks she can wear both!!!

Sauce For Pork Chops

It is so hot here in Texas, I'm doing everything I can to not heat my kitchen. Unfortunately grilled pork chops, steak, and chicken can get really boring! Last night I came up with this quick sauce that gave our pork chops a really good flavor! My kids loved it so much I think it will be a regular in our house. The best part is that it isn't even a recipe. All I did was mix 1 cup of orange marmalade with about two tablespoons of soy sauce, heat it in the microwave for 1 minute, and brush it on the meat that I already cooked.