Summer Treat Idea: Homemade Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

My kids and I came up with a fun summer treat!  We were at the store and they wanted cookie sandwiches, but I had 7 people to buy those for and the prices were adding up at $2.00/cookie sandwich.  So we made our own.

We bought large soft cookies {$1.19 was the cost for 10 cookies!} and a carton of ice cream {both vanilla and cookie dough ice cream are yummy options}.  Optional: My kids say you can buy m & ms or sprinkles to put on the sides.

After that, you simply put a scoopful of icecream between the two cookies.  Press them together and smooth out the sides. {Note that in the above picture, the sample had been sitting for a while and was melting a little.  But they turned out yummy and great!}

See this video that my daughter put together for us:

For best results, make sure you eat right away!

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Mini Individual Cheesecakes Recipe

Ingredients:
16 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 box vanilla wafers
1/2 can cherry pie filling
2" foil midget cups

Instructions:
Soften cheese, beat in eggs, vanilla, and sugar until smooth.  Put wafers in cups flat side down.  Fill cups almost full with mixture and bake 10 minutes at 375 degrees.  When cool, top with cherry and sauce.  Yield 30.  Will keep 4 days or can be frozen and then thawed.  All you'll need to do is add the cherries!

Enjoy these yummy treats for summer, parties, or holidays.  I love that they are the perfect size for dessert and if you want to make mini cheesecakes, you can adapt by getting mini foil cups and mini vanilla wafers.  The mini versions work great for an open house or potluck where people want a sampling of many items.  They truly make a bite-size as opposed to the version I posted above that are about the size of a traditional cupcake.  At our recent neighborhood party, individual cheesecakes were the first to go!

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Homemade Granola Recipe

Granola

8 c. rolled oats (I use 14 cups of oats rather than oats/wheat)

6 c. rolled wheat (or oats)

2 c. UNTOASTED wheat germ (found by cereal products with a red lid)

2 c. coconut

1 ½ c brown sugar

2 tsp salt

 1 c. sunflower seeds (optional)

combine with

1 c. oil

1 c. water

1 c. honey

3 tsp. vanilla

4-5 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Mix all wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Put wet ingredients with dry and mix together and spread even thin layer on cookie sheet and bake at 210 degrees for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  

We store it in ziploc bags, glass jars or cereal tuppeware.  This is something even my pickiest of eaters devours!

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Au Gratin Potatoes (A.K.A Funeral Potatoes or Yummy Nummy Potatoes)

You are going to read this and after tasting, you will understand why my oldest nicknamed them Yummy Nummy Potatoes when she wasn't even 2.  But Funeral Potatoes? I know, strange.  They are fondly nicknamed this where I live because it seems that at every funeral, these are served to the family after the services.  They are an easy food to feed large groups of people and quite easy to prepare, which is probably the reason.  But regardless, that is the history!  Enjoy!

    Au Gratin Potatoes

  12-14 potatoes (peeled, boiled, and shredded) or 1 (30 oz) bag of shoestring hashbrowns

2 cans cream chicken soup

2 cups sour cream

1 cup cheddar cheese grated

½ cup margarine melted

1/3 cup onion (optional)

1 cup crushed corn flakes

4 Tbsp margarine

Put potatoes in a 9x13 pan.  Combine soup, sour cream, cheese, 1/2 cup margarine, and onions in a sauce pan on the stove to mix together evenly.  Pour sauce mixture from sauce pan over potatoes.  Mix all through the potatoes.  Combine cornflakes and 4 Tbsp. melted margarine and sprinkle evenly on top of the potatoes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This is delicious served with chicken or ham and is a regular dish at our family Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving parties. 


Don't forget to enter our giveaway before May 10 for a free family pass to the Princess Festival! 11 easy ways to enter! 

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Taco Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. extra lean ground beef( the original recipe calls for 1 lb. I prefer 1/2 lb.)

1 envelope taco seasoning (I use mild)

1 (15 ounce) can corn with juice

1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans with juice

1 can sliced olives (or buy the whole olives and slice them)

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (11.5 ounce) can tomato juice

1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes

Optional - 1 onion diced

Instructions:

Brown ground beef (with onion if desired).  Drain.  Add to other ingredients and simmer.  I have found that if I let it simmer for the afternoon, it is very well mixed.  You may need to add a little water to taste if you prefer a thinner soup.  This recipe has lots of flexibility in it to make it just the way you prefer.  Serve with grated cheese and tortilla chips.  My kids also love cornbread with Taco Soup!

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Marguerites: Peanut Butter Marshmallow Crackers Recipe

These little gems go a ways back in our family.  My grandma, who is now 90 made these for her 4 little kids growing up.  Then of course, the tradition passed on to my mom, myself and now my kids.  It is a yummy after school snack. 

The original recipe called for a large marshmallow and my grandma toasted the crackers in the oven.  As time and inventions have occurred, we have adapted to microwaves and mini marshmallows.  But they are still just as yummy!

Ingredients:

Soda Crackers

Peanut Butter

Mini Marshmallows

Directions:

Spread peanut butter on soda crackers.  Place 4-5 mini marshmallows on top of the peanut butter.  You can make 10-15 at a time on a plate.  With 10-15 crackers, place them on a microwave-safe plate in the microwave for 30 seconds.  *Note that if you make less, you will need to adjust the time accordingly.  5 crackers will probably take about 15 seconds.

My kids favorite part is watching the marshmallows expand when they come out.  And of course eating them.

Thanks grandma for a fun after school tradition!

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Marinated Grilled Chicken Recipe

Marinated Grilled Chicken

2 cups Italian Dressing

1 cup Teriyaki Sauce

Chicken

Mix all together in a ziploc bag and marinate over night (or first thing in the morning when you are grilling in the evening).

This is easily made by doing proportions 2 to 1 of Italian Dressing to Teriyaki Sauce.  I use Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce.  So if you are marinating a small amount, you could do 1 1/2 cups Italian dressing and 3/4 cup Teriyaki sauce.

When ready, grill your marinated chicken on your barbecue grill.  This makes the yummiest and tenderest grilled chicken I've found! 

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Very Easy Parmesan & Garlic Breadstick Recipe

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. warm water
2 T. yeast
3 T. sugar
1 T. salt
2 T. shortening or oil
4-5 c. flour (or more)--They should not be too sticky, but sticky enough for you to need flour on your hands

Garlic mixture:
1/4 c. margarine or butter
Garlic Salt
Dry parsley
Parmesan cheese

Mix warm water, yeast and sugar in bowl and let dissolve.  Add salt, shortening or oil.   Add some of the flour.  Stir.  Knead in the rest of the flour to get soft dough.  Do not let it get stiff.  Let rest 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease cookie sheet.  Melt butter and add garlic salt to taste.  Press dough into cookie sheet and cut into breadsticks with pizza cutter or form into long skinny breadsticks.  Let dough rest 10 minutes.  Brush breadsticks with garlic mixture; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and dry parsley.  Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.

**What I love about this recipe is that it is so QUICK.  Most breadsticks this yummy take much more preparation time and if you are like me, I sometimes forget to get started soon enough, so this is a winner!

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Kid Friendly Recipe: Oreo Pie

My kids love to help me in the kitchen. Here is a very easy dessert recipe that they love to help make. If you are in a hurry, this can be very easy if you use a ready-made pie crust and whipped cream. But with just a little bit more effort you can make your own crust and whipped cream to improve the taste.

 Ingredients:

• 1 chocolate pie crust--you can buy one at the store or make your own from crushed up chocolate cookies & butter.
• 1 large box of chocolate pudding & pie filling
• 1/2 c. whipped cream
• oreos

Instructions:

1. Prepare the pie crust. If you have a ready-made pie crust you don't need to do anything. If you decide to make your own you can do so as follows:

• Mix 1 and 1/3 c. crushed up chocolate cookies with 1/4 c. melted butter or margarine.
• Press mixture into a pie pan and bake for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees.

2. Prepare the chocolate pudding/pie filling according to package directions.

3. Pour the chocolate pie filling into the crust and let it chill for 1 hour.

4. Prepare the whipped cream. You can use ready made whipped cream or whip your own as follows:

• Put beaters and a small mixing bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes before you plan on whipping the cream.
• Mix 1/2 c. whipping cream, 1/2 t. vanilla, and 1 T powdered sugar in the chilled bowl
• Whip with beaters until peaks form.

5. Use a spatula to spread whipped cream over the chocolate pie

6. Fill a small ziplock bag with oreos and crush with a hammer. (This is my kids' favorite part!)

7. Pour crushed oreos on top of whipped cream to complete the pie!

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German Pancakes Recipe

Yes, they are supposed to look large and puffy.  It's my kid's favorite part!  This is a fun and EASY recipe that I always have ingredients for.  We frequently have breakfast for dinner as well and this gets added to the list of options. (It would be perfect for a B is for Backwards day or a late night pajama party.)  What I love even more is that my kids can make it themselves.

6 eggs

1 c. milk

1 c. flour

1 tbsp. butter

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a 9x13 pan in a 400 degree oven until completely melted.  Watch closely so it doesn't burn.  In a bowl, mix eggs, milk and flour with a wire wisk.  Stir thoroughly.  When the butter is melted, take the pan out of the oven and pour mixture from the bowl into it.  Put the pan back in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

These are best served warm and fresh from the oven. Serve with syrup, homemade jam, powdered sugar and lemon juice or however else you please.

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Easy St. Patrick's Day Breakfast and Dinner

For an easy St. Patrick's Day breakfast last year we had these "pots of gold." We used toast as our "pot" and scrambled eggs as the "gold."

A tricky little leprechaun also turned our milk green (with a few drops of green food coloring), so that added to the fun of our breakfast meal.

For St. Patrick's Day dinner, we had the traditional corned beef. I cook my corned beef in a Crock-Pot with apple juice and a little bit of water (instead of beer), and then season it with the seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef.

CROCKPOT CORNED BEEF

Ingredients:
Corned Beef Brisket +seasoning packet
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Apple juice
Water

Instructions:
1. Fill bottom of crockpot with about 1" of apple juice & water.
2. Put corned beef brisket in crockpot.
3. Top with seasoning packet that it came with, along with garlic, salt, and pepper to taste.
4. Cook on low for about 5 hours.

We did not have cabbage with our corned beef as many people do, since no one in our family likes cabbage. Instead, we just served this corned beef with mashed potatoes, some of our favorite green vegetables, and and Irish Soda Bread.

For dessert, we decorated shamrock shaped sugar cookies with green frosting and sprinkles. For more St. Patrick's Day desserts, check out some of our treat recipes here and here.

More St. Patrick's Day Ideas

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Chicken Rollups- Kid Tested, Family Approved Recipe!

This is the family's VERY favorite meal. One that I can actually get the WHOLE family to eat without complaining!  We serve it with rice and vegetables.


Chicken Rollups

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups cubed chicken (about 2 medium sized chicken breasts)
• 2 or 3 cans crescent rolls (depending on how much you fill the rolls)
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2/3 cup old-fashioned stuffing (rolled fine)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Instructions:

1. Cook and cube chicken (or use leftover chicken if you have it on hand). 

2. Prepare stuffing according to package directions. 

3. Mix cream cheese and 1/4 cup margarine, fold in chicken and pepper. 

4. Put 1/4 cup of mixture in each roll. 

5. Roll up, dip in melted butter, roll in mixture of nuts and stuffing. 

6. Let sit 1/2 hour before baking. Then bake at 325 degrees until rolls are golden brown, 15-20 minutes.

7. Heat topping made from cream of chicken soup (thinned slightly with water) and sour cream over stove.

7. Serve rolls with topping.

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Valentine Breakfast or Treat Idea: Heart-shaped Doughnuts

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone is looking forward to a fun day of celebrating with family and friends.

If you are looking for a last-minute treat for Valentine's Day you might want to try these heart-shaped doughnuts. We had leftover dough from making beignets for Mardi Gras, so I decided to cut some of the dough into heart shapes to make a Valentine treat for breakfast today.

To make these heart-shaped treats, use the recipe for beignets found here, but instead of cutting your dough into squares, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the dough into heart shapes. Then fry just the same way you would fry regular doughnuts. Serve with powdered sugar on top and enjoy!

Hint: Doughnuts are always best served fresh, so if you aren't going to eat them all in one day, save some of the dough to fry another day. And if you know you are going to be frying up doughnuts for a few days in a row as we did, be sure to save your oil to re-use it.

Check out our other valentine ideas for your fun day!

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St. Patrick's Day Craft and Treat: Leprechaun Hats and Homemade Shamrock Pretzels!

Shamrock Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 cup water
2 T. yeast
2 tsp. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup honey
4 tsp. salt
8 cups wheat flour
butter
salt

1. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup warm water, 2 T. yeast and 2 t. honey.  Stir this together and let it rise, while you do the next steps.

2. Melt a stick of butter in a large saucepan.

3. Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 t. salt and 2 1/2 cups of milk and mix together at medium heat.

4. Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir.

5. Stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 cups at a time, and add more if needed to create  dough consistency.

6. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.

7. Place it in a bowl, cover it and let it rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

8. Pull the dough of the bowl and knead it a few times to get the air out.  Pull a ball of dough, about the size of your fist.

9. Roll it into a long snake.

10. Then twist it into a traditional pretzel shape, valentine heart shape or even shamrocks!  If they don't work at first, untwist them and try again.

11. After you shape each pretzel, put them on a cookie sheet about an inch apart.  Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

12. Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan.

13. Right when you take the pretzels out of the oven, pastry brush them with butter generously.

14. Then sprinkle salt, cinnamon sugar, or colored sprinkles on them!

 

Leprechaun Hats

This craft is so super easy.
Supplies Needed:
White paper plate and white paper bowl (you want it to be paper, not coated with any plastic or decorations)
Belt cut out of black construction or cardstock paper
Buckle cut out of yellow construction or cardstock paper
Glue
Green paint and paintbrush
Optional - piece of elastic

Instructions:
1.  Paint the bowl and plate and let them dry.
2.  Cut out belt and buckle out of construction paper.
3. Glue upside down bowl to right side up plate.
4.  Glue the buckle to the belt and attach them both to the rim of the bowl.
5. Optional: You could easily attach a piece of elastic if you actually wanted to wear it, or it could just be a fun craft/decoration.


See our St. Patrick's Day section for more crafts, treats, lesson plans and activities!

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Valentines Day Dinner: Valentine Breadsticks and Pink Pasta

These are some of my kids FAVORITE bread items.  This year instead of making them into straight or twisted breadsticks, I made them into heart shapes.

Heart Breadsticks
Ingredients:
36 Rhodes Rolls
 1 cup Parmesan cheese
 McCormick Schilling Salad Supreme (Seasoning)
 1 cube (1/2 cup melted butter)

Instructions:

Thaw frozen rolls just enough that you can stretch them and work with them, but not so they are rising yet. Take each roll and roll it in your hands back and forth to make it a long cylinder shape about 6" long (like you may have with playdough growing up).  Then place two long strands together and shape in a heart shape on a greased baking sheet (11x17). Continue until you have 18 hearts made.  Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter on top of each heart-shaped breadstick.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of each breadstick.  Sprinkle Salad supreme on top of the Parmesan cheese (I've seen people do garlic salt instead, based on preference).  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.  Remove wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

For the main course we had pink pasta - another dish I can get my whole family to eat happily and I loved that it had a valentine color to it.

Pink Pasta

2 14 oz. cans of Italian Style Diced Tomatoes

2 c. Heavy Whipping Cream

1 c. Parmesan Cheese

Cook tomatoes on stove on high until liquid boils out. Make sure not to burn tomatoes, but make sure liquid is completely gone.  Turn to low and add cream and Parmesan cheese and simmer until cheese completely melts.  Toss with pasta of choice (my kids love butterfly pasta the best, but we have also done shells and rotini).  It takes about 20-25 minutes to make.

See all of our Valentine treats, games, crafts and party ideas here! 

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New Year's Day Recipe: Trifle

My parents have always made trifle for New Year's! Here's the recipe I made last year. I'm looking forward to having it again for our New Year's Eve party on Monday. It is delicious!

Ingredients:
2 small pkg strawberry jello (I used 1 large raspberry)
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 pint vanilla ice cream
3 large bananas, sliced
2 pkg raspberries with juice
2 pkg strawberries with juice (I just use a mixed frozen berries and they don’t have juice)
1 large angel food cake, broken into pieces
2 large pkg vanilla pudding
whipped cream

Instructions: 
Dissolve jello in boiling water. While hot, stir in vanilla ice cream. Add bananas and fruit. Pour into punch bowl.
Place bowl in fridge and let the jello layer set up.
Meanwhile, prepare vanilla pudding according to package directions and place in fridge to cool.
When jello is set up and vanilla pudding is cool, layer the angel food cake pieces on top of the jello layer, pour the vanilla pudding on top of the cake. Return to the fridge and allow it to set up for 12 hours. 
When ready to serve, top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Serves 25.

Notes:
It doesn't really need 12 hours to set up. Once the layers are all together you could really serve it whenever you are ready. But if you think ahead you could prepare it in the morning and have it sit 12 hours during the day.

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On the Eighth Day of Christmas--Christmas Cookie Recipes and Cookie Exchange

We love making (and eating) Christmas cookies this time of year! One of our favorite traditions with friends is an annual cookie exchange.

For a cookie exchange, a group of people each make a certain number of cookies (usually several dozen, depending on how many cookies you want to take home). If you have a small group, you can coordinate to make sure no two people bring the same type of cookie. With a larger group, people can just bring whatever type of cookies they want and you will probably have a good enough variety. Then, you get together at a party... you can have other treats or fun activities at the party as well. We have sometimes paired this with a white elephant game or a yummy Christmas breakfast. Then, before you leave, you take home as many plates of others' cookies as you brought. For example, if each person brought 6 dozen cookies, then each person takes home 6 dozen different cookies that others brought. You can keep these cookies for your family, but what we usually do is redistribute most of these cookies among plates to deliver to other friends or neighbors. (I make sure to sample at least one of every type of cookie, though!) We take our kids out and if we are brave we do a little caroling, too, as we deliver cookies. One elderly neighbor last year was blown away. "In all my years, I've never been caroled to before," she said. It was fun to see her delight at the cookies and the simple rendition of Jingle Bells that my kids sang for her.

So, below are a few of our favorite cookie recipes that we have made for our cookie exchanges and for delivering to neighbors (and eating ourselves):

Gingerbread Cookies
(You can cut these into the shapes of gingerbread men if you want!)

Ingredients:

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. molasses
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 c. softened butter

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground cloves
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground allspice

Instructions:
1. Mix brown sugar, molasses, egg and butter in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining dry ingredients. Then, add dry ingredients to the other mixing bowl and blend. Dough will be very stiff, so you may need to use your hands.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Place cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated oven.
7. If you desire, you can frost and decorate these, just as you would frost and decorate sugar cookies (see below for icing recipe).

Sugar Cookies

You can't forget our all-time favorite sugar cookies! Pull out those Christmas cookie cutters and try out this delicious and easy sugar cookie recipe.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
(Rolo cookies)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter, softened
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
30-36 Rolos
2 T. sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix together until well blended.
3. Add flour, cocoa, and baking soda, and mix well.
4. Refrigerate and chill dough for 30 minutes.
5. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place 1 Rolo in the center of each dough ball.
6. Form the dough ball around the majority of the Rolo.
7. Roll each dough ball in sugar.
8. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 7-10 minutes.
9. Let cool on pan for 1 minute then take off and place on cookie cooling rack.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Blend shortening, sugar, pumpkin, egg and vanilla.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt.
3. Add dry ingredients to blended mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees

Icing:
Boil together 3 T. melted butter, 3 T. milk, and 1/2 c. brown sugar for 2 minutes. Add enough powdered sugar to make icing easy to spread. Spread on cookies immediately.


Chocolate-dipped Oreos

Ingredients:

Oreos
Chocolate chips
Crushed candy canes

Directions:
Melt chocolate chips over a low heat, as in a fondue pot. Dip oreos in melted chocolate. Top with crushed candy canes.

Variations:
If you buy double-stuff oreos, you can put sucker sticks in the middle to make them oreo pops. You can also add different embellishments on top, such as sprinkles, or drizzled white chocolate or icing in a contrasting color.

What other types of cookies and treats do YOU like to make this time of year? I'd love to hear your comments!

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Homemade Doughnut Recipe--A Halloween Tradition!

Every year when I was growing up, one of my favorite Halloween traditions was making and eating homemade doughnuts. My mom always cooked up a huge batch of doughnuts on Halloween night and we helped her deliver plates of doughnuts to neighbors. And of course, we ate a lot ourselves! I have kept up the tradition with my own children and friends. Today we had 16 little kids over, ages 5 and under, along with their moms, to make doughnuts. I did all of the frying in my electric skillet and then let the kids and moms do their own decorating with chocolate glaze, regular glaze, sugar, and sprinkles.

Below I have shared with you our family recipe for homemade doughnuts. Some people also call these doughnuts "spud-nuts" because they have mashed potatoes in them. Just a warning, though--unless you are hosting a big party or planning on delivering these to a LOT of neighbors, do not make the whole recipe. The recipe as written below makes 100 doughnuts. The doughnuts are delicious but they don't keep well--they are best served and eaten fresh. So if I am not having a huge group over, I will usually divide the recipe in 1/4.

Homemade Doughnuts

Ingredients:

1 c. warm water

2 T. dry yeast (dissolved in 1 c. water)

1 c. shortening

6 eggs, beaten

4 t. salt

3 c. milk

1 c. sugar

2 c. mashed potatoes (my mom uses instant, I usually just make mashed potatoes for dinner the night before our doughnut party and set some of the mashed potatoes aside for the doughnuts.)

2 t. lemon juice

2 t. grated lemon rind

½ t. nutmeg

12-13 c. flour

oil (I use canola oil)

Instructions:

Combine milk, shortening, salt, sugar, and mashed potatoes. Heat to lukewarm.

Add beaten eggs and yeast that has been dissolved in water.

Add 6 c. flour and beat until well blended and smooth.

Add lemon juice, rind, and nutmeg.

Add flour to make soft, but firm dough (firm enough to roll)

Knead until smooth.

Cover and let rise until double in bulk (abt 1 hour)

Punch down and divide dough in half

Roll out ½ inch thick and cut with cutter into doughnuts shapes.

Cover, and allow to rise until double, usually 30-40 minutes.

Fry in deep fat oil at 375 degrees. (I have made this in a pan over a gas stove, monitoring the temperature with a candy thermometer, but I find that they are MUCH easier to make in an electric skillet which you can just set to a certain temperature)

Drain on paper towel and dip in prepared glaze, sugar, or chocolate.

Use chopsticks to turn.

Makes 100 doughnuts.

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Doughnut Toppings

GLAZE

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. powdered sugar

¼ c. warm water (1 T. at a time)

1 t. vanilla

¼ t. cream of tarter

1 T. karo syrup

Instructions:

Put in bowl. Dip completely. Drip above bowl

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. powdered sugar

1 T. warm water (or more)

2-3 t. cocoa

1 t. vanilla

¼ t. cream of tarter

1 T. karo syrup

Instructions:

Dip top only. Optional: add sprinkles.

SUGAR TOPPING

Instructions: Put sugar in a brown bag. Cool doughnut, drop and shake in bag (You could also do cinnamon sugar the same way, too).

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Chicken Taquito Recipe that is kid tested and approved for Cinco de Mayo!

I am always trying to find recipes that my kids will eat and love.  I will be sharing some of these in upcoming posts as I imagine there a few other mommies out there who are doing the same.  I know there are the unique families who's kids love fancy Gouda cheeses and asparagus (I have a sister who's kids do!).   But mine aren't those.  So here's a recipe we did for Cinco de Mayo that is kid tested and approved.  It sounds like a lot of ingredients, but it's actually quite easy and SO delicious.  

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (I used fajita seasoning to add variety and you could also use taco seasoning on it)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn or flour tortillas (fresh tortillas that you cook are the best!)
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds to soften. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Dip them in salsa (red or green), sour cream, guacamole or dressing. 

Makes 12-16

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A few St. Patrick's Day treats

The kids are finishing up the leprechaun traps for the evening and full of excitement... below are some of our fun St. Patrick's Day treats we made today for fun!  Go here for our past treats...

 Some of my favorites- You make these by placing pretzels on a cookie sheet.  Then place a hershey kiss on top of each pretzel.  Bake at 200 degrees for 5-6 minutes, until the chocolate is soft.  Then place a green m&m on top and squish the chocolate down.  Cool down (preferably in the fridge for about 5 minutes, longer if out of the fridge).  Yum!

These are very simple leprechauns hats. I use grasshopper cookies (girl scout cookies would work too) and reeses peanut butter cups. I took the foil off of the reeses peanut butter cups and then placed it upside down. Then you can cut a square with a hole out of it from green or gold paper to make a buckle.  I suggest you glue this onto the paper on the reeses peanut butter cup or it will fall off.

Hope you enjoy some of the fun St. Patrick's Day activities.  Look here for Rainbow activities, here for shamrock printables, and here for fun games, songs and lesson plans to celebrate the big day!