Sticky Rice and Mangoes Recipe

Thailand is special to our family because my husband spent time as a missionary over there. While there, he picked up a few good recipes. On our very first date, he made me this simple and delicious dessert. It is a favorite of ours! He has graciously helped put together this tutorial.

Sticky Rice and Mangoes

Ingredients

• 3-4 cups sticky (glutinous) rice
• 1 15 oz. can of coconut milk
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 t. cornstarch
• 4 mangoes

Instructions

• Rinse sticky rice with a bowl of water and drain water. Repeat three times.
• Fill bowl with enough water to generously cover the rice and soak for four hours.
• Drain water and place rice in traditional Thai rice steaming basket.

Sticky Rice Steamer Pot and Basket

• Boil water in pot and then place basket of rice with a lid over it on top of the pot and steam for for 15 minutes*
• Flip rice over and steam an additional 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

• Meanwhile, heat coconut milk and sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes it to a boil; then remove it from the heat.
• Mix half of coconut milk/sugar mixture with the steamed rice in a serving bowl.
• Add 1 t. cornstarch to the remaining coconut milk mixture and return it to the stove,  cooking on low heat for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove sauce from heat.
• Peel and dice mangoes.
• Serve dessert with sticky rice on the bottom, diced mangoes in the middle, and coconut milk sauce drizzled on top.

Valentine Treat: Heart-shaped Mini Cheesecakes

Remember these delicious mini cheese cakes we shared earlier? Last year I adapted this treat for our Valentine's dinner by turning them into heart shaped cheesecakes.

To do this, I rolled up balls of tin foil and placed one outside each baking cup as in the picture below.

Then, I baked the cheese cakes normally and they came out in heart shapes.

With or without this trick to create heart shapes, these mini cheese cakes definitely make a delicious Valentine's dessert. Find the recipe for these mini cheese cakes here.

You can also use this little trick to turn regular cupcakes or muffins into heart-shaped treats. If you have a set of marbles, those would also work instead of foil balls to create the indentation for heart shapes.

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Christmas Breakfast Traditions - Sticky Buns {AKA Caramel Bundt Rolls or Monkey Bread} and Papa's Eggs

Every year for Christmas morning, my kids look forward to these recipes.  What I love is that you can prepare them mostly the night before and it takes very little time the day of.  Although we enjoy them for Christmas, they are great any day of the year.  So enjoy!

Caramel Bundt Rolls {Often called Monkey Bread as well!}

18-20 Frozen Rhodes Rolls
1 3 oz. pkg. butterscotch pudding (NOT INSTANT)
1/2 c. margarine
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Optional - pecans or walnuts (add first at the bottom of pan before rolls)

Grease Bundt Pan.  Put in rolls.  Sprinkle with pudding mix (dry).  In a sauce pan, melt margarine and add sugar and cinnamon. Pour this mixture over pudding and rolls.  Set out on the counter overnight (uncovered).  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  When finished, turn the bundt rolls upside down on a large platter.  Cinnamon topping will drizzle down for perfect deliciousness!

Papa's Eggs
1 lb Jimmy Dean Regular Sausage
16 oz. hasbhrowns
2 1/2 c. cheese
12 eggs
Thaw out ingredients.

In a tuppeware, put in hashbrowns, eggs,  and cheese.  Add a little salt/pepper to taste.  Brown sausage in a frying pan while breaking it into small pieces.  After sausage has cooked and cooled, pour sausage in bowl with hashbrowns, cheese and eggs.  Leave in tuppeware overnight.  Cook on the stove in the morning until eggs are fully cooked.

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Peppermint Dessert

Today, I share with you my husband's absolute favorite dessert!  This a great dessert year round, but seems to be served in our house most over the holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentines. It's great for large parties, baby showers, and wedding showers because it's light and you can make it go far if you need to.  Happy December!

 

Peppermint Dessert

1 pkg Nab famous choc. wafers (I usually buy these at Harmons Grocery Stores, if you have one)

½ c. margarine

1 pint whipping cream 
1/2 cup powdered sugar

½ c. peppermint candy (crushed)

¼ c. optional nuts (chopped) 

8 oz. mini marshmallows

4-5 drops red food coloring (mix until it looks like cotton candy)

3 drops peppermint flavoring

Crush wafers and melt margarine.  Combine to form crust (reserving 1/3 cup crumbs for the top).  Press into 9x13 pan.  Whip cream until stiff, add powdered sugar.  Fold in flavoring and food coloring then candy, marshmallows and optional nuts.  Pour marshmallow mix over the cookie crust.  Sprinkle reserve crumbs on top.  Refrigerate.

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Green Bean Casserole Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving! Here is a simple, classic green bean casserole that we love to eat around this time of year:

Ingredients:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp soy sauce
dash pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans (1 bag frozen beans or 2 cans*)
1 1/3 cups French's French Fried Onions

Instructions:
Mix soup, milk, soy sauce, pepper, beans, and 2/3 cup onions and put in casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining onions. Bake 5 more minutes.

*I've never made it with canned green beans--only frozen or fresh, which I think taste better, but canned green beans are an option.

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Thanksgiving Eve

Did you know the holiday exists?  No it isn't official, but it's been an unofficial tradition for our family and with Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, I wanted to share a few fun Thanksgiving Traditions.

Whether  you have lots of family in town or just your own little family, this is still a fun way to kick off the holiday.  On Wednesday evening when school is out and the family is all gathered, we always have a yummy evening of soup and rolls.  For us, it is usually Clam Chowder and He-Man Soup {fondly named by my Grandma in a way to convince the little boy cousins to eat it so they could be strong like He-Man!}.  We gather with cousins {although last year it was just our own little family and we still loved it} and play board games or our favorite card game, Rook .  An epic Rook Tournament takes place each Thanksgiving Eve. My sweet grandma always made her infamous chocolate chip cookies and my Aunt Leah had ice cream with HER infamous chocolate sauce.  The evening usually rolled into watching a movie and as much family time as possible.

Some other fun weekend traditions were renting an entire rollerskating rink with all of our cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles; going to a movie every Thanksgiving weekend; Our Annual Turkey Bowl (Football Game) at the park; A trip to the local penny candy store {That over the years creeped up to more than a penny}, and shopping with the girls.  This year, my heart strings have been tugged a little as I am missing grandmas and aunts who have passed on. But the traditions live on, luckily.

I hope you are gearing up for some great family time this week.  Please share your traditions back in a comment!  We'd love to hear. And in the meantime - here are the recipes for some of your favorite "Thanksgiving Eve" foods.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Clam Chowder
2 cans minced clams
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely diced celery
2 cups finely diced potatoes
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
1 quart milk or half and half
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Dash pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar

Chop vegetables.  Drain clams and put juice over vegetables plus enough water to cover and cook in liquid.  Simmer about 20 minutes.  Make white sauce by melting butter and adding flour.  Then add milk and stir until hot and thick.  Add vegetables with liquid, clams, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Don't let it boil after it's all together.

He-Man Soup
Break up 1 lb. extra lean ground beef (raw) into little chunks and put into 2 quarts boiling water.  Add 1 large can tomato or vegetable juice; 1 pkg dry onion soup mix; 1 bay leaf; and ome savory, vegetable spice, or Mrs. Dash.  Add sliced carrots, potato cubes, and chopped onion.  May also add 1 pkg frozen mixed vegetables and 1 cup frozen peas.  Cook until vegetables are done.  Optional: Add 2 cans Campbells minestrone soup.

Grandma's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields 3 dozen
3 c. flour
1 TB soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups chocolate chips
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups coconut
2 cups nuts (Optional)
1 TB baking powder
1 TB cinnamon
1 1/2 cups soft butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 TB vanilla

Mix together.  Use hands to mix chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.  Mix until dough is stiff.
Bake in 350 degree oven approximately 15 minutes.


Hot Fudge Sauce
1 cube margaine
1/2 pkg semi sweet chocolate chips
1 can evaporated milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix first 4 ingredients in sauce pan and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes.  Add vanilla and serve.

Check out our Thankful Turkey and Gratitude Tree for other fun Thanksgiving Ideas!

Game Day Appetizer: Homemade Chili Cheese Queso

One of my husband's favorite things to do is sit and watch football on a lazy Saturday with his boys, friends or family.  His favorite game day appetizer is Homemade Chili Cheese Queso.  It's very popular from adults down to kids.  It's very easy.  And it goes far.  So here's our family favorite appetizer recipe:

1 Box Velveeta Cheese (16 oz.)

1 Can Cattle Drive Chili with Beans

1 Can Ro Tel Mild Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies

1+ Bag of Tortilla Chips

Cut Velveeta Cheese into cubes to make it easier to melt.  Place in sauce pan on medium and stir until melted.  Add 1 can of Cattle Drive Chili with Beans (other Chili may work as well) and 1 can of Ro Tel Mild Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies to the sauce pan.  Mix together until warm in temperature.  Serve with tortilla or corn chips! Yum!

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Gluten Free Dessert: Apple Crisp and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

I recently was making dinner for a family that needed gluten free food.  I decided to make marinated chicken  and rice, served with salad and fresh cut watermelon.  A great gluten free dessert I decided to make was apple crisp and homemade vanilla ice cream. Here are my dessert recipes:

Apple Crisp

Ingredients

7 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup oats (rolled or quick)

1/2 cup butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, combine apples, lemon juice and vanilla.
2. Mix together.

3. Layer apples (in slices or cubes) in a 9x12 inch baking dish.

4. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and oatmeal in a bowl.
5. Cut butter into the mix.
6. Sprinkle sugar mixture over the apples in the baking dish.

7. Bake 45 minutes or until topping looks crunch and apples are tender.
8. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

(You can make this individually in plastic bags like we did at preschool if you want to involve the kids in the process, or follow the recipe below in an ice cream maker)

Ingredients

2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

2 cups whipping cream (or half and half)

2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

Mix completely until sugar is dissolved.  Pour in icecream maker and follow instructions of machine.  You can double the recipe if it is not enough.

See our other fun Fall and Halloween Activities and Recipes!

Pumpkin Stew Recipe for Halloween

As mentioned in my Halloween Treat Ideas post, we love having homemade soup each Halloween.  I enjoy having 2 options because my kids LOVE taco soup as a tradition, but I grew up with my mom's homemade pumpkin stew and homemade donuts!  I love fall - so happy it has arrived!

Ingredients
Pumpkin
Chopped onion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½- 2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 oz can mushrooms (drained)
Cream of chicken soup
1 ½ cups cooked rice
1 can sliced water chestnuts (drained)

Instructions
 Cut off top of pumpkin. Clean out pumpkin. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sautee onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, soup. Simmer 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into clean pumpkin. Replace pumpkin top and put pumpkin on baking sheet. Bake 1 hour (or until the inside of the pumpkin is tender)

Check out our other Halloween Recipes, Halloween party ideas or our year round recipes!  Thanks for stopping by...

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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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Homemade Taco Seasoning

We love tacos and taco soup around our house. I used to buy packets of taco seasoning at the store, but one day I wanted to make some tacos and we were all out of seasoning packets. So it was time to experiment and use some spices I had in the cupboard. The tacos turned out great. Later, I found this delicious recipe for taco seasoning that has since become my go-to recipe for seasoning many different taco dishes. I have never since bought a packet of prepared seasoning because this is so simple to make with spices that I keep on hand.

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper.

This recipe prepares enough taco seasoning to season about a pound of meat. It is about equivalent to your typical 1 oz. package of prepared taco seasoning that you can buy at the store. Depending on how strongly you like your food seasoned, though, you can put it with more or less meat. I usually just mix up the seasoning on the spot when we are cooking a dish, but I sometimes save the seasoning in an airtight container for the next time I cook.

Not only is this seasoning delicious, but I think it is cheaper and easier in the long run. We buy our spices in the bulk section at Sprouts Farmer's Market for considerably less than what bottled spices cost, and we always seem to have what we need on hand for mixing up a delicious seasoning.

Also, don't forget to check out our homemade salsa that goes hand in hand with any taco dish!

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Homemade Blueberry Muffins

These homemade blueberry muffins are always sure to be a hit around our house!

Homemade Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries 

Topping: 

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

Instructions: 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Grease or line muffin cups.
• Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
• Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.
• Mix wet mixture with dry ingredients.
• Fold in the blueberries and fill muffin cups.
• Mix together crumb topping ingredients and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until done.

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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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Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and Tips

Sometimes we all can get overwhelmed with the wealth of ideas online available for activities with kids. I love  doing crafts and educational activities with my kids, but sometimes the most simple things--like making chocolate chip cookies--are the best experiences. Our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is this simple recipe from the back of the bag of Tollhouse Chocolate Chips:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c. butter
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 large eggs
2 c. chocolate chips

Instructions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake for about 9 minutes or until golden brown.

Variations: We have also substituted other items for the chocolate chips--my kids love it when we have m & m cookies--the same recipe as above except with m &m's instead of chocolate chips.

A few tips I use for making perfect chocolate chip cookies are as follows:

• Don't let the butter get too soft--that can create cookies that are too flat.
• Don't overmix the dough--that can create cookies that are too hard.
• Don't overbake--I actually usually bake my cookies for about 8 minutes, then I pull them out of the oven and let them just continue baking for a minute or two on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.

For those perfectionists out there, you could also check out this amazing article about making the perfect chocolate chip cookie. But my kids and I are usually happy enough even if our cookies aren't perfect--it is still a fun experience mixing, baking, and eating fresh chocolate chip cookies!

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Patriotic Food for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, or Presidents' Day

It's fun to get in the spirit of patriotic holidays by having red, white, and blue foods. Here are a few patriotic foods we've tried and enjoyed:

Patriotic Pancakes

One of our favorite foods is pancakes, so an easy patriotic breakfast that we like to make is red, white, and blue pancakes. I just divide up the batter and add food coloring paste to the mix before baking on the griddle. Here's our favorite pancake recipe.

Homemade Raspberry Ice Cream

Top raspberry ice cream with whipped cream and blueberries to complete a trio of patriotic colors. My favorite raspberry ice cream recipe is here.

Fruit Pizza Flag

The fruit pizza I made above was not for a patriotic holiday--so I didn't use red, white, and blue fruits. But many people have adapted this fruit pizza dessert into a cute American flag for patriotic holidays. Just choose the appropriate red and blue fruits to top the dessert to make it patriotic (see the cake below for an example of how to arrange the fruit to look like an American flag)

Instructions:

For the pizza "dough" use your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Here's our all-time favorite! Flatten out the dough to create one extra large cookie that fills an entire pan. Bake the cookie dough crust in an oven until it is lightly browned, according to the instructions for your chosen cookie dough.

You could use a round pizza pan to make it more like a "pizza," or use a rectangular cookie sheet to make it a flag shape.

Then, once the cookie dough crust is baked, add a topping. You could add your favorite whipped or cream cheese frosting. I like to do a frosting that is a mixture of whipped/cream cheese.

Fruit Pizza Topping:

12 oz. cream cheese
1/3 c. sugar
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. vanilla
1 c. frozen whipped topping
fruit (i.e., strawberries, blueberries, etc.)

Blend together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Fold in frozen whipped topping. Top with desired fruit. To make the fruit pizza patriotic, use red and blue fruits such as strawberries and blueberries. If you want, lay out the fruits in a flag design with a rectangle of blueberries in the upper left-hand corner and stripes of strawberries throughout the rest of the fruit pizza.

Cake with Patriotic Fruit Topping

This is similar to the fruit pizza above but instead of using a cookie dough crust, we used a white cake as the base. Then we just added frosting and fruit topping to create an American flag!

Ingredients:

White Box Cake
8 oz. cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 pint whipping cream (whipped)
2 boxes of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1 package Danish Dessert Topping
1 package blueberries

Instructions:

1. Cook white cake according to instructions.
2. Whip cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy.
3. Combine cream cheese mixture with whipping cream.
4. Make Danish dessert and use juice from the strawberries for liquid. Add strawberries to Danish Dessert.
5. Top Cake with creamy mix
6. Make stripes on the flag with strawberry mixture as shown above.
7. Make "star" corner of the flag by making rows of blueberries as show above.
8. Refrigerate. Best if served cold!

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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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Homemade Salsa--Perfect for Cinco de Mayo

This Sunday is Cinco de Mayo, so I thought I'd share our favorite salsa recipe. This recipe originally came from my sister-in-law, and now it has become my husband's favorite thing to make. We have cherry tomato plants in our yard and we love picking the fresh tomatoes and turning them into salsa. This recipe is somewhat approximate as we are always experimenting with ingredients and amounts--our salsa never turns out quite the same, but it is always delicious!

Ingredients:
2 cloves fresh garlic minced (bottled just doesn't do it)
2 cayenne peppers (dried)crushed or(fresh)minced*
1/2 cup finely chopped SWEET onion
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1/2 tsp. salt
2 limes freshly squeezed

Instructions:
Chop the tomatoes in a food processor (you can leave the tomatoes somewhat chunky as we like to or you could chop them more finely).
Mix in remaining ingredients
Serve with tortilla chips

Notes:
*I've tried all kinds of peppers and some make it spicier or better, but we don't know the names of all of them, so experiment with some small chili peppers from your local mexican market.
*I vary the amount of tomatoes and onions and cilantro according to how I'm feeling that day. But the more lime juice, the better and the more garlic, the hotter.

For a fun Cinco de Mayo meal with kids, you could also pair this salsa with these yummy taquitos we shared last year.

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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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Delicious and Easy Sugar Cookies Recipe

I came across this recipe a few years ago, and it has become my all-time favorite recipe for sugar cookies. These turn out so soft and delicious and they only take a few basic ingredients. My kids love rolling these sugar cookies into their favorite shapes. We make these for nearly every holiday and whenever else we need a fun activity.

WORLD'S BEST SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; then add dry ingredients and mix well. Cover dough and chill in refrigerator (at least 30 minutes or overnight if you wish). After dough is chilled, roll out dough onto a floured surface and cut out desired shapes.

Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees.

POWDERED SUGAR ICING

(This is a thin icing that is nice because it hardens up and makes it easy to store or transport these cookies. If you are having your kids decorate and eat the cookies right away, you could use a different type of frosting such as buttercream frosting.)

Ingredients:
1 c. powdered sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1 T. milk + a little more milk to reach desired consistency
a few drops of food coloring (if desired)

Instructions:
Stir together powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until icing reaches your desired consistency. Mix in food coloring if desired.

Variations:
For chocolate powdered sugar icing, prepare as above, except add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powdered to the powdered sugar and only use milk, not orange juice.

Also, as you can see from the picture above, beautiful frosting is not my focus (we usually just make these as an activity for the kids, so it doesn't matter if the frosting looks good or not--what matters is that we are having fun!)--but if you want to make cookies that look professional, check out the great tutorial here.

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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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