Friday Eve

How did it get to be Thursday already? We have a habit in my classroom of celebrating Birthday Eve's (day before birthday), Thanksgiving Eve, Valentines Day Eve, St. Patrick's Day Eve, etc... So in my mind I'm thinking that today is Friday Eve. It's satisfying just to anticipate the event! What's more is that this could also be referred to as Leap Day Eve!! Now THAT'S exciting, it only happens every 4 years for goodness sake!!

Today's post is a salad that I love. It keeps for a long time, and it's fairly easy to make. Be sure to drain all of the cans before putting the ingredients in a large bowl for mixing.

TRASH SMASH SALAD

1 can white shoepeg corn
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can french cut green beans
1 jar sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped or sliced celery
1 cup chopped or sliced green pepper
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 jar diced pimento
1 1/2 cup raw cauliflower pieces

Heat and pour over above ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup wine vinegar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt

Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
Shake or stir occasionally to distribute dressing. D-lish!

Mah-velous Monday

Today was a day off of school, but a productive work day for me in the classroom. I finally got my handbooks and registration packets in the mail for my Fall class. My registration filled up mid January for next September - but I never seem to get the information in the mail as quickly as I would like. I had to re-do my handbook since our prices are changing next year, and we're switching our format a bit. We're trying a 5 day afternoon class to help the children with their transition to all day kindergarten. I'm excited to see how it goes.

While I was gone Maddie the lazy dog slept all day on the couch. She totally missed the big snowflakes falling from the sky like someone picked us up and shook us inside a snow globe. Now it's just a crunchy cold afternoon with the promise of 2 or 3 inches of snow this evening.

I've been thinking about making cream puffs, but they don't keep well, and with just two of us here it seems silly. Over the weekend I made banana bread, 3 chocolate cookies, & raspberry granola bars. I think I really should not bake for a day or two...we'll need some time to absorb what's here!

I will give you a recipe for a dessert that would take care of my cream puff craving if I were to make it. This is one of those things that is best made for a larger group, it doesn't keep forever. I'm sure most of you have had it at one time or another.

CREAM PUFF DESSERT

1 C water
1 stick margarine
1 C flour
4 eggs
1 lg. package instant french vanilla pudding
3 C milk
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. cool whip (use later)
chocolate syrup " "

Boil water and margarine. Add flour mixing well, then cool slightly. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Put in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 30 min. @ 400*. Cool completely. Mix pudding, milk and cream cheese; pour on puffy crust. Top with Cool Whip and drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Basketball Buddies

Today was a really wonderful day! I went to a grade school basketball tournament and spent time with my daughter, my "borrowed" daughter, and very close friends from Overland Park. Their kids have grown so much, it was a lot of fun catching up on their busy lives. With six children there is a lot going on with them.

Here is a picture of Heather, Audrey & Rissa having some girl time together. These girls certainly have a flair for drama! The big girls are Godmother's to the pint sized cutie.

They absolutely love to get together whenever possible. Aren't they cute? I'm using pink because it's Audrey's favorite color!

I decided to post a super easy snack cracker recipe. I have seen these crackers for sale at our local HyVee grocery store, and they are kind of pricey when you buy them ready made. Look for the larger oyster crackers, I find them at our bread store for a great price


RANCH CRACKERS
2 -12 to 16 oz packages plain oyster crackers
1 envelope Hidden Valley buttermilk Ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 C salad oil

Whisk together the ranch dressing powder and oil. Add the rest of the ingredients mixing well and pour over crackers; stir to coat. Place in a 250* oven for 20 minutes stirring twice during that time. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Mosta...who??

I seem to have a cold, it started Sunday and has been gaining speed ever since. I am a habitual crud getter this time of year. You would think that since I've been teaching over 15 years that I would have built up an amazing resistance, but no. I guess I should just be grateful that it didn't happen until after singing at the wedding, and that I managed to squeak through the funeral song on Tuesday. Now I have no committments for a bit, so I can cough, sneeze, and blow to my hearts content.

I'll admit that I'm a bit of a handwashing freak. I think it's being around all of those little 'boogery' fingers, etc... but I really feel a compulsion to wash frequently and use antibac when I can't do that. That is a good thing though when it comes to working with food. This morning my snack leader had a terrible cold! Was I wrong to put the hot lunch disposable gloves on her before she passed out cookies?!? They were way to big for her! My students are also trained to cough into their shoulders, not their hands. Oh Mrs. M. lighten up!

My recipe for today is a salad that I made for our church supper tonight. One of the teachers that I work with with said he could have eaten the whole bowl. I guess that's a good testimonial. So give this one a try and see what you think.

Mostaccioli Salad (Mos-ta-cho-lee) ok, so you probably already knew how to pronounce it

1 C sugar
1 C vinegar
1 C vegetable oil
1 tsp Accent seasoning
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
1 clove garlic minced
2 Tbsp. prepared mustard
2 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1-12oz. package of mostaccioli noodles
1 cucumber - sliced thin or chopped
1 large tomato rough chop or 12 cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 bunch of green onions - chopped including some of the greens for color
1-6oz can black olives - sliced in half

Cook the mostaccioli according to package directions. During that time simmer the sugar, vinegar, and oil in a sauce pan until the sugar is dissolved, just a few minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the garlic, seasonings, mustard and parsley. Set aside.

Drain the noodles and pour into a large bowl. Add the cucumber, tomato, onions, and olives. Now add the sauce and stir well. Chill this for a few hours before serving. It's goooooood! This make a large salad, so invite some friends over to help you eat it.

Get ready to....dip!

Today we are learning about President Lincoln & President Washington in our Weekly Reader. The preschool children are pretty excited after we've talked about them a bit, and then I pull out some pennies and quarters and find their pictures on real money!$$! Then we look at Mt. Rushmore and find them again! What a coincidence that is. :-)

It's really cold again, cookin' weather. We like to have some cheese, crackers and veggies around for snacking while we make dinner. It's a really good day if there happens to be dip in the fridge. There is one particular dip that is a favorite of mine, it's so simple and very few ingredients. I'll jot it down here in a minute.

The other thing I'm going to tell you about is making your own crostini. All you do is take a baguette and slice it in 1/4" thick pieces and bake it in a single layer. You'll want to brush on some olive oil or melted butter with fresh garlic before you bake it at 375* for about 15 min. Go by the color, when it's golden, it's done. These are much better than any cracker you buy. Cool them on a rack and store in a zippie bag.

BACON TOMATO DIP

1 C sour cream
1 C mayo
1 3 oz. package of Oscar Mayer real bacon bits
5-6 sun dried tomatoes - chopped

Combine all the ingredients (only 4!) and refrigerated for a couple of hours before serving. This is great with bread sticks if you don't have crostini on hand.

Sometime the easiest recipes are the best. This dip originally called for bacon that you fried, fresh tomatoes that made it to runny, etc... Just remember to change any recipe to suit you. If you don't like something about it, make it better....make it your own!

A Weddin' Day

In about an hour I am headed to a small town about 15 miles from here to sing for a wedding. I have done many weddings, I started at the age of 17 for a friend in high school. I did absolutely horrible and swore I would NEVER do it again, but with persuasion I did, again, and again, and again.... I don't know how many weddings, around a hundred I guess.

Life is ironic, I was just getting ready to tell you that after today I am never again going to sing for a wedding because it has been so stressful. I have worried myself silly these last two weeks because my voice is unpredictable. It will crack at times that are most inappropriate. You see, I have had acid reflux for many years and didn't realize it because I didn't have typical symptoms. My ENT explained to me that there are silent symptons that can show in sinus problems, which leads to coughing, which leads to a poor quality of vocal cords... yada, yada. That's my story in a nut shell.

And just as I'm typing this, the phone rings and it's my pastor asking me to sing for a funeral on Tuesday. Is God trying to tell me something? (sigh) Say a prayer for me if you read this before 4PM Saturday. I would really appreciate it.

I'm going to give you a fantastice chicken recipe today. It's one that I do repeat occasionally because we all love it so much.

PARMESAN CHICKEN

2/3 C instant mashed potato flakes
1/3 C parmesan cheese (from the dairy case)
3/4 tsp garlic salt

2 1/2 - 3 lbs. of chicken (cut up whole chicken or breasts, what ever you like)
1/3 C margarine - melted

Combine the potato flakes, cheese and garlic salt on a plate and set aside. After rinsing the chicken - dry with a paper towel and dip the chicken pieces into the melted margarine and then roll it in the potato flake mixture. Place the chicken on a baking sheet that has been coated with a nonstick spray. Bake @ 375* for 45-60 min. depending on how big your chicken pieces are.

The little crispies that stick to the pan are my favorite part, SOOOO good.

Happy Valentine's Day!

OK, it was a busy crazy day, but the evening has been wonderful!! Mike went out shopping and brought home a couple of steaks & some shrimp (surf & turf), rice and a fun appetizer. He bought some crusty bread, goat cheese and grapes. A great combination!! He sliced the bread and we spread the goat cheese on it and then ate the grapes intermittently.... yum-o! It was nice to have it all decided for me when I got home. I have to admit that I tend to cook what I feel like eating, luckily Mike is such a easy person to please when it comes to planning meals, that he is happy with whatever I pick. I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband! There are many things I didn't think of as a sweet young thing dating an "older" guy. But it's been proven once again in my life that God is truly the one in control and that I am just along for the ride. I wouldn't trade my world for anything.

Last night I made caramel corn using the already popped corn (pops?) that you buy in the chip section. Cheetos makes these pops, but so does HyVee - and it's about a buck verses three bucks. I'll bet you can guess which one I bought. The nice thing is that there's never any hulls to worry about. This was well received by the people that I gave it to for Valentines day today.

CARAMEL CORN

1 - 8 oz bag of corn pops (place in a large roasting pan)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
In a saucepan combine the margarine, corn syrup, & brown sugar. While mixing, cook for about two minutes or until bubbly around the edges, remove from heat. Add 1 tsp. baking soda to cause foaming (this will allow for proper coating of pops). Pour caramel slurry over corn pops and stir until pops are properly coated. Place in a 250* oven for approx. 45 min. stirring every 10-15 min. Remove from oven and pour onto wax paper. Break apart (before pops can cool) to desired piece size.

P.S. Originally I got this recipe from the back of a bag of Barrel O'Fun Corn Pops. They don't sell them here in our town any more, maye they have them where you live!

Happy Day

Today was a great day for Maddie. She received a package in the mail from her friend Nate. It was addressed to her c/o Mike and inside she found TWO empty peanut butter jars! Not only that, but there was a heart shaped valentine message just for her. What a lucky dog! I guess it's true, it's who you know that matters.

I'm going to post my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe today. Heather loves the monster cookies, but this is my favorite. This comes from a super hero tv food network idol who's initials are P.D. I love many of her recipes, but this one rocks! I use an ice cream scoop to measure them out and then flatten them down just a bit to help them bake more evenly. They are beautiful and good.

THREE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

1 C (2 Sticks ) Butter
1/2 C vegetable shortening (crisco)
3/4 C sugar
1 3/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 12 oz package semisweet chocolate morsels
1 C milk chocolate morsels
3 (1-oz) squares bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 C almond brickle chips

Preheat oven to 375*. Lightly grease baking sheets or use parchment paper.

With an electric mixer, beat butter and shortening at medium speed until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating well.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in chocolate morsels and almond brickle chips. Drop cookies by 1/4 cupfuls about 3 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 11 or 12 min, or until lightly browned. Let cool 2 min on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Sunday without the sun

It is very cold again today. I promise to not take for granted any future days that have sunshine, and temps over 50* for the rest of my life! Who am I to question God and his gift of a new day, even if it is cold?!?

I'd like to apologize for past, present and future spelling errors on this blog. I tend to type very quickly and my spell check does not work. It could have something to do with the fact that my iMac is really old and often the OS (operating system) doesn't jive with all of the programs I want to run. Any way, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I'm headed to our mall today for a book fair for the children in our community. Our church has a booth and I'm going to hang out for a couple of hours to see how many of my students (present and past) I can see. While I'm there, I might have to check out purses since that is another love of mine. Heather inherited that gene from her mum :-).

I looked at the past recipes and tallied how many desserts, main courses, & appetizers I had posted. Much to my surprise appetizers are dead last - and I really enjoy them! Today I will start to even things out with a recipe that you can keep in the freezer and then pop as many as you want in the oven for surpise guests, or just for yourself.

LITTLE CRABBIES

1 stick of butter
1 jar Old English cheese spread
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp mayo
1/2 tsp Accent
7 oz can crab meat
6 English muffins

Mix together butter, cheese, mayo, seasonings and crab meat. Spread this on the english muffins that have been split apart - so now you have 12 little muffins. Cut each circle into four pieces, then put them in the freezer until you are ready to bake them. Layer them with wax or parchment paper to keep them from sticking to each other.

Bake @400* for 20 min.

This recipe comes from my friend Ann, one of my card club buddies. You can't even imagine all of the fabulous food when we have cards once a month. I really think we should call it foodies anonymous.

Now this really is a bonus day, because I'm going to add a 2nd appetizer recipe. Yes, that's right..two for the price of one!

SNACK MIX

1 box Quaker oatmeal squares cereal (not the cinnamon flavor)
1 box Wheatables original crackers
1 jar dry roasted peanuts
1 bag pretzels
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
3/4 C vegetable oil

Combine the oatmeal squares, crackers, peanuts and pretzels in a large oven proof pan. Mix together the ranch powder and oil. Pour over the cereal mixture and bake in a 250* oven for 20 min. stirring a couple of times while it bakes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

This recipe always reminds me of Heather playing high school fast pitch softball, we took it to every game and shared it with our friend Dean. We probably had more fun there than she did ;)
TTFN!

COLD cold cold

This has been a true midwest winter, SO cold and a lot of snow! When I was a kid we had snow waist high and that was the norm, then we went through several years where there was hardly any snow...and we became spoiled. It's important to have other things to focus on to get through the winter meanies.

Friday at school we made a very cute art project, the children painted penguins. It's a blast to see how different they all turn out even though each child was given the same prompt. I forgot my camera in the morning, but I caught the afternoon kids in this photo. Don't you love it!?! I think that painting is one of thier very favorite projects, I really should do it more often.

Last night we went out for supper with some friends and then came home to watch a movie. Tonight we plan to support the local highschool boys basketball team that will be playing an old familiar rival. Sometime before the game I'm going to get into the kitchen and make a wonderful recipe that can be used for dessert or as a coffee cake type pastry. I've made this for more years than I care to admit, but every time I take it somewhere I always get requests for the recipe...mostly from men.

CRESCENT CREAM CHEESE BARS

2 pkg. crescent rolls (pop-n-fresh type)
2 - 8 oz. cream cheese - soften
1 egg
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon sugar (approximately 4 tsp. sugar to 1 tsp. cinnamon)
chopped nuts (pecan or walnut)

Mix the cheese, sugar, egg & vanilla with a mixer until smooth. In a greased 9x13 pan spread the first package of crescent rolls and pinch the seams together. Cover the crescent rolls with cheese mixture and top with the other package of crescent rolls.

Bake at 350* for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture and chopped nuts. Return to the oven and bake an additional 25 min. Cool completely before cutting, and store in the refrigerator.

Use your dicression when sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar, see what looks right. It needs to cover the top but doesn't have to be terribly thick. Also use the amount of nuts that you prefer.

This recipe was one I found in a church cookbook from Milwaukee. You've got to love those church cookbooks, they are the BEST!

Have a happy Saturday.

Ash Wednesday

It's really hard to believe that the season of Lent is already here. Tonight our choir at church served a supper before the service, the first of several weeks to come. There was a nice crowd...maybe 160 ish, it's always so wonderful to have visitors and fill up the pews almost to the front! After all, at our church the back rows always fill up before the front (ha-ha).

I love getting home at the end of the day and kicking my feet up. This winter has been so cold that it's very easy to become an introvert - good thing I have my blog?!?

Today at school we made coffee can ice cream. We have been learning what effect salt has on ice, and so to demonstrate it in a fun way we made ice cream. The kids were very impressed! Here is the recipe I sent home with the little people.

COFFEE CAN ICE CREAM

You will neeed two clean coffee cans with lids, one of them the 13 oz size and the bigger one the 39 oz size. I'm pretty sure on those sizes, but if I'm off a bit, you get the idea.

In the smaller can pour in:
1 cup whole milk
1 cup half & half
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
Put the lid on tightly, you may want to reinforce it with some heavy duty tape wrapped around a few times. Shake well to mix up the ingredients, and place it into the larger can and pour ice in pushing it down between the two cans almost to the top. Now add 1 cup of rock salt. Place the lid from the large can on snug as a bug and get ready to roll!

In my classroom we take turns, two kids at a time rolling the can back and forth for 2-3 minutes until you have rolled it for 20 minutes. When you take the small can out of the large can you are going to find ice cream just like Dairy Queen soft serve! It may still be a bit too soft, so just pop it in the freezer for about a half hour. It's great!

There are variables to this recipe. Some use heavy duty zipper bags and give individual ingredient amounts, some have you roll it back and forth with a blanket or large towel doing a teeter totter move, yada-yada. Just Google coffee can ice cream and you'll find more information than you ever wanted.

It's time for me to find a warm blanket and call it a day. As my friend Shannon would say, tatafornow!

Deep in thought (about eggs?)

This is one of my favorite pictures! It's my dad and my dog, both very important to me. Don't they look like they are concentrating on something important?

My parents say that they have a rent a dog, when we go places they come over and "dog sit" miss madelyn. She loves them very much, it doesn't hurt that they bring her biscuits when they visit!

My dad likes to cook, he often puts together stews, soups, etc... in the slow cooker. He is very conscious of his health and what he can and cannot have. Often when I make something that may not be good for him he'll tell me, "My Dr. tells me I don't like that." He has a lot of will power, that's for sure. I guess that's how you get to be 86 years old and stay so active.

Mom & Dad go to the "office" every day for coffee. Actually the office is Target, they have a favorite booth where their friends all know they can find them. It's such a great social spot for them, and everyone knows them there. They are also able to get in their laps with their mall walker friends. Whatever they are doing it's working! Thank you God for family.

My recipe today is a fun way to make omelets for a crowd. Each person can add whatever ingredients they like, and it's a real time saver. Check it out!

ZIPPY OMELETS

Quart size Ziploc freezer bags, permanent marker, eggs, and a variety of ingredients for your omelets like cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, tomato, hashbrowns, salsa, etc...

Have each person write their name on a bag. Crack 2 eggs (no more) into each bag and shake it up. Then add in their choice of ingredients and mush it around again. Get all of the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of water.

When finished boiling just open the bag and the omelet will roll right out. Watch out for steam. This is a great way for everyone to get their eggs at the same time exactly the way they want them, truly amazing! This originated as a camping recipe back in the day... hope you like it.

This is a PS to my earlier post. Some of you reading this will

understand this photo, if not...that's OK. We'll call this a

Kristin - Howie moment.

Three BIG days...

Sometimes there are so many things going on in one weekend, and other times there's nothing on the calendar. The last few days were full of friends and family.

Friday night we said goodbye to a wonderful family/friends - Howie, Leslie, Tim and Rachel. They are moving to Idaho and we will certainly miss them. A group of us got together to send them off, it was a really fun evening. We shared a lot of memories & stories and most of us left with a lump in our throat. We do know however, that the new home and people they are going to will be blessed beyond belief to have them in their midst.

Another bonus - the biggest one actually, was the fact that my girl Heather was home for a couple of days. We had so much fun hanging out, and she got to catch up with some friends that don't get to see her very often.

Last night was our card club night, always too many laughs to even try to remember them all. We played 10 pt pitch between practical jokes.

Today we are headed to Miles & Shannon's house for the Superbowl. It doesn't seem so super since our Packers are nt in it, but we'll make the best of it. Here is my game day pick for today's recipe.

LITTLE SMOKIES

1# package of bacon

1 package of smokies

1 C brown sugar

Wrap each smokie in a piece of bacon, I usually cut each slice into 3-4 pieces so that the bacon isn't wrapped so thick, this allows it to get crispier. Secure each one with a toothpick. Place them on a foil lined baking sheet, leaving some room in between each one. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and bake @ 375* for 35 minutes. Check on them to see if the bacon is crisp, but don't let them get too dark on the bottom. You can keep them warm in a crock pot if taking them to something like.....a superbowl party!

Have fun, whoever you are cheering for!