Wreck~ it Ralph Sugar Cookie Heart Medal

We love Wreck~it Ralph!!!! It was such a great movie and we watch it over and over. The kids wanted to make either the car or the medal cookie and I took the easiest road....the medal! Plus, I totally went with items we had at home and made not one thing from scratch! Lol, I couldn't handle scratch made cookies AND the left over clean up from letting little ones use frosting and sprinkles. Here is what you need to recreate these fun cookies at home.



Ingredients are all in  the pic above. To pipe we just put frosting in a sandwich bag and snipped off the tip. To make the teal icing, we simply put in 3 blue drops of food coloring and 2 green drops of food coloring in to approximately 1/2 cup of white store bought vanilla frosting.



Roll out the cookie dough and hand cut or use a large heart cookie cutter for the heart shape.

I thought they came out cute!

Plus the kids had fun making them!

But they had even more fun eating them!



They used a different kid of candy for their necklace part



Hope you guys try these!!!!

Patriotic Jello Treat

Well today is Memorial Day and I thought I would whip up a fun little treat for my family. I made Jello that is awesome to take to a gathering because it remains firm and doesn't melt. PLUS it is so much fun for the kids to create with once it is made. Once it is set and firm, you can put some in front of your kids and let them go to town with some festive cookie cutters...they will have a yummy blast! What is also cool is that we used the small boxes of Jello so it set up real fast!

Here is what you will need:

1 box of Red Jello~  add one 3 oz Jello pack, 1 cup of boiling water and 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin, mix until completely and thoroughly dissolved (*optional, add 3 tbsp of whipping cream after boiling water has cooled) Pour into a small 2 cup capacity container and place in fridge until set. Should be a couple of hours or so.

1 box of Blue Jello~ add one 3 oz pack of blue Jello, 1 cup of boiling water and 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin. (*optional, add 3 tbsp. of whipping cream after boiling water has cooled) Pour into a small 2 cup capacity container and place in fridge until set. Should be a coupe of hours or so.

For White Jello~ Add 2 packets of unflavored gelatin to 1/2 cup of cold water and mix till gelatin has absorbed all the water. Mixture will look grainy. Now add 1/2 cup of boiling water to the gelatin and mix until well combined. Mixture should no longer be grainy. Now add the entire contents of 1~ 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk to the gelatin mixture . Mix well and incorporate thoroughly. Now place 1 cup of white gelatin mixture into a 2 cup capacity container. Now place in fridge until set. Should be a couple of hours or so.

*The thing is to try and use containers to set the Jello that will make them all level in size.
*Using the cream will make it so there is a more opaque Jello color on the top and the bottom will maintain its transparency.

Here are all the ingredients I used.

Red Jello is so bright and pretty! We used strawberry.

Here is where you get to be creative! Let those juices flow! Let your inner Martha Stewart come out to play!!! Toss some cookie cutters at your kids and let them do the same.

Look at what I created with my total amateur skills....but guess what???? I had fun! We all had fun eating it and I think it looks kinda cute.

FUN, FUN, FUN!!!!

The MOST awesome thing about this Jello is that there is a rainbow of colors out there to use and create with! There are also an endless array of cookie cutters and shapes that you can use for ANY holiday!!! The possibilities ARE TRULY ENDLESS!!!!

Magic Pot Monday~ 4 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

Magic Pot Monday~ 4 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

I have been telling you about the awesome powers of my Magic Pot, aka the Deep Dish Baker from the world of Pampered Chef. When I hosted a party several years ago, I was introduced to this little powerhouse and it's ability to transform your microwave into a "real" oven! I have cooked a whole chicken in there in a mere 30 minutes!!! I have also made pork ribs in it and they only took 20 minutes!!! However today, I made something sweet in it AND it only took a whopping 4 minutes!!!!

In this recipe you will need one can of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls the large tube.

Here are the Cinnamon Rolls laid out before being put into the pot.



Here is the pot with the Cinnamon Rolls inside after taking their 4 minute spin in my microwave. The girls are verrry eager to give them a try!!! Can you tell?

Here is what they looked like. They were super fluffy.

The Cinnamon Roll is getting ready to be dressed in a luscious layer of sweet icing!

The original recipe on the package would have you heat your oven up to around 350 degrees or so....(I don't remember) and then cook for 25 minutes! We only waited 4 minutes!!! Crazy huh! I AM NOT GOING TO SAY THEY ARE  BEST TASTING CINNAMON ROLLS I HAVE EVER HAD. It WAS interesting thing to try though! I prefer them from the TRUE OVEN so the smell of cinnamon can take over the house. I also like the texture of them cooked in the oven way better! I will however keep this method in mind if our family is ever in a time crunch and we want to fill our hungry bellies in record time!!!

Restaurant Style Thai Iced Tea

My husband and son L*O*V*E Thai Ice Tea. I do not share their LOVE for this drink, I do however love THEM!!! So, when you love someone you do stuff that makes them happy...que no??? So, I checked stuff out on YouTube and came across a recipe to try. The YouTube channel is called CookingThaiFood. Here is the link to her page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUTlvsnyXGc ....let's see if I can get this right!!! My husband found the Thai Tea at the 99Cent Ranch Market (an Asian grocery chain in our area) and here is what the box looked like. They were individually packed tea bags, and the lady used 1 WHOLE cup of Thai Tea, so I cut open 1 cup worth of those individual tea bags. It ended up being the entire contents of the 2 boxes that he purchased. Here is what you are going to need:

 1 Cup Thai Tea Leaves
 2 Cups of Sugar
 8 Cups of water
 2 Ounces of evaporated milk

Directions: Bring 8 cups of water to a vigorous boil. When water reaches a boil, pour in Thai Tea Leaves and 2 cups of sugar. Reduce heat to a low simmer and keep at that temperature for 2 minutes. When 2 minutes have elapsed, remove from heat and let tea come to room temperature. Pour Tea through a sieve or strainer of some kind. Make sure you use something that will remove all particles of tea leaves so that all sediment is removed. I am hoping my French Press will do the job!

Here is the brand of tea we bought. As I mentioned, I cut each individual tea bag open and poured its contents in to a measuring cup. I used two whole boxes and that equaled 1 whole cup of loose Thai Tea leaves.

Here is what the individual tea packet looked like unopened.

Here is the pot with the tea and sugar in the 8 cups of water AFTER it came to a boil and was simmered for 2 minutes. It is cooling.

Here is the Thai Tea, it was cooled in the fridge and then I poured it in to the ice filled glass. I then topped about the last 1/3 of the cup with evaporated milk.

It looks so cool as the evaporated milk mixes in with the dark colored tea and swirls all around! Beautiful!

***THIS WAS JUST AS GOOD AS WE HAVE HAD AT ANY RESTAURANT***

My husband and son LOVED IT!!!!!! I have had it when we have gone to restaurants so I recognize the flavors and they were ALL THERE!!! YAY!!!

Top 10 Reasons My Eye Is Twitching

Top 10 reasons my eye is twitching, David Letterman style, except WAY LESS CONCISE AND TO THE POINT.

So my eye has been twitching for the better part of a week! Just when I thought it was going to stop, both eyes started to twitch...lol! Freaking hilarious, uber (that's my husbands favorite word...just ask him...lol. No, I would never do that to you! DON'T ASK HIM...I REPEAT FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, DON'T ASK HIM! He would actually blow a gasket if he knew I was using it. LOL) irritating. So here are the reasons that my stress is manifesting itself in some wackadoo eye twitches....

1. I have a 17 yr old AND a 13 yr old. I ALSO have a 6 yr old who acts like said 17 yr old and a 4 yr old who acts as said 13 yr old. Note to self, in next life, please have children closer together to minimize these issues. Not sure that would help, since once my son became a teen my husband reverted to being a 17 yr old. There are no shortage of fart jokes or farts themselves for that matter! The use of the word "balls" in any context results in more jokes and well...Lord help me!

    2. My fridge is too small. It is bursting at the seams! Trying to buy groceries for a family of 6, with fresh produce for smoothies and stuff is near impossible. Solution? Get another fridge, tried that! Do you know how much it costs to run an extra fridge in the garage...well lets say our budget ain't havin it! I dread grocery shopping and trying to arrange them in the fridge so things don't come spilling out! UGH!!!!!

 
   3. SpiderMEN/ have taken up residence in my home and are constantly climbing the tiny hallway which is also the entrance to my bedroom. To make matters worse, my older son also installed a pull up bar in my doorway, so these SpiderMEN now climb the walls and then use this pull up bar to launch themselves in a gymnastic like fashion INTO my room. Mind you my four year old has been keeping her eye on this behavior and tried her Spiderwoman skills, but thanks be to God that her little legs are not quite long enough or strong enough to get her to the top. (people with the spider gene in my home are my 2 sons and my older daughter) I am trying to repress further development of my youngest daughters spidey gene!)

   4. In an effort to delay my inevitable admission to the loony bin, I have taken to buying 2 of everything. So, there are probably 3-4 hair brushes in this house (I have my own, the kids have theirs), 2 hairsprays, 2 bottles of lotion, 2 toothpastes.....and so on and so forth. YET for some reason when I go to use "my stuff" it is GONE!!!! Why, oh why!!!

  5. Termites, I have them (actually I birthed them)! I have a severe case of them! They are worse than any you have ever encountered! One of them weighs a healthy 55 lbs and the other weighs in at....oh, say 35 lbs....you can tell where they have been, as they leave their trail of consumed destruction from room to room. I hear them...their little munches and crunches of prohibited snacks and treats. They are very cunning little creatures, these termites of mine. They shun their traditional diet of wooden structures and instead opt for Cheetos and Oreos. So this is how it goes down, one of them comes into the kitchen late at night and they conceal their little termite body behind the makeshift pantry door that is a curtain. Under this cloak they fill their hands full of forbidden snacks and scurry away. In the light of day is when empty packages are found, still laying where they were so carefully placed. Lesson learned, hide "special" items from the reach of termites, or your cravings for any "treat" will be unfulfilled.

   6. My bank account is bulimic. It keeps spitting my money out through my ATM card. Just when it starts to heal after some serious therapy (cut backs) some sort of relapse occurs in the form of say filling the car tank of an SUV and a monster truck....lol. OR maybe we just bought the kids some pants because they needed some without holes in the knees. Of course though, this is when Mother Nature in her recent display of constant bi~polarism has decided to stop taking her meds and all of a sudden rainy days turn into scorching days of weather in the high 90's and therefore a summer wardrobe is needed!!!!!


    7. I am wayyyy behind on my 2013 bucket list! So behind, that....OMG, I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM GOING TO ADMIT THIS...okay...don't tell anyone because I am rather ashamed...I haven't even completed ONE task. This Hypothyroidism, anemia and the GI issues are wrecking my goals! Screw you health issues!!! You are not welcome here!


  8. On a very pleasant afternoon last week, the door bell rang and there stood the UPS Man in his brown UPS shorts with a box, a rather large box....for ME!!!! Yay! It was from my oh so sweet mother in law. I get the box inside and tear it open! Inside the box, lay MORE boxes, 7 to be exact. The termites took quite an interest in the beautiful, shiny, glittery gold boxes. So, I enter the restroom a few short hours later and see the light switch covered in brown....goo? I call them into the bathroom where ONE has brown stuff on the side of their termite face. I say, were you getting into the gold boxes???? No, no Mommy (says the termite). More sternly I say, WERE YOU GETTING INTO THE GOLD BOXES???? The termite hangs their head and says, yes Mommy it was me. Thank GOD it was just chocolate on the bathroom wall and light switch from the little termite trying to cover their termite tracks!!! For a second I was scared!

     9. I am tired

 

    10. And I need a nap...........GOOD NIGHT!

 

Thank you, you have been a great audience! Can't believe this is my life, I love my life, I love laundry, I love dishes, I love tempermental teens, I love it, I love it, I SAID I LOVE IT, CUZ I DOOOOOO....can somebody please pass the Xanax....just kidding, I didn't say that last part! #motherhoodisbliss #hastagsdontworkhere #gohomechiquitalatinayouwishyouweredrunkrightaboutnow ........take it easy, these are jokes people! No one was hurt during the writing of this blog. I am out!

 

Magic Pot Monday ~ Grilled Chicken Penne Al Fresco

Magic Pot Monday (On Tuesday) ~ Grilled Chicken Penne Al Fresco

Okay, so this little "Magic Pot" I have been using for the past 3 weeks, is my newest BFF in the cocina (kitchen). I love not turning on the oven and how quick these recipes are. It is a Pampered Chef product, one of the many, many, many that I own. I don't sell the products, but I am thinking that maybe I should! Lol! I love of their products! It is a love affair that began years ago. I remember the first Pampered Chef party I hosted at my apartment while my oldest daughter was still taking up residence inside my tummy. I have been a MAJOR PC fan for the better part of 13 1/2 years. I will share some of my favorite old school PC recipes soon! YOU WILL LOVE THEM! Today, I made the Grilled Penne Al Fresco, with a few twists. That is the wonderful thing about cooking, you can almost always adjust things here and there according to your tastes and dietary needs. So the first change I made was using quinoa pasta, as I try to cook gluten free as much as possible. Next thing was, I had to use dried basil instead of fresh and I had no Chardonnay, so that part was completely omitted. Last, I didn't grill my chicken, I just cooked it up all regular in my sauté pan. Oh, well! I do have to say though, that despite these changes, I was really happy with the flavors of the dish and LOVED the fact that it was done in a flash!!!! The full ORIGINAL recipe is below, sans my changes. Hope you like it!



Grilled Chicken Penne Al Fresco

4 peeled garlic cloves
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
3 cups uncooked mezze penne pasta
3 cups chicken broth
¾ cup Chardonnay
½ tsp each salt and ground pepper
1 ¼ cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, divided
¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups diced grilled chicken breasts

Spray Deep Covered Baker with olive oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Slice garlic into baker using Garlic Slicer. Add tomatoes. Cover; microwave on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to burst, stirring after 2 minutes. Crush tomatoes using Mix 'N Chop. Add pasta, broth, wine, salt and black pepper.

Return baker to microwave; cover and microwave on HIGH 10 minutes. Stir and microwave on HIGH 7 more minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop basil with Chef's Knife. Reserve 2 tbsp for garnish.

Carefully remove baker from microwave and remove lid, lifting away from you. Add remaining basil, cheese and chicken to baker; mix well. Garnish with reserved 2 tbsp basil, additional Parmesan cheese and black pepper if desired.

Yield 8 servings: Calories 240, Total Fat 2.5g, Saturated Fat .5g, Cholesterol 25 mg, Carbohydrate 35 g, Protein 17 g, Sodium 450 mg, Fiber 2 g.

 

So the first thing I did was used my PC Garlic Press and used it to crush the garlic. Then I put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and removed it so I could crush the tomatoes using the Mix n Chop.

So , this is one of my most used kitchen tools, the PC Mix N Chop. I normally use it when cooking ground beef to break it up into small chunks. Using it in this recipe was an utter disaster!!! Tomato juice and seeds are all over the sweater I was wearing. I recommend just chopping the tomatoes before putting them in the microwave to avoid this disaster!

Okay so this next step calls for adding the chicken broth and pasta, wine, salt and pepper. I added some dried basil at this point.

Here are my cooked chicken breasts which I sliced and added to the finished pasta.

The last part is to add the chicken, parmesan and fresh basil...which I will for sure be using next time, along with the Chardonnay. I will add it to the dish and then directly to my glass! ;) Anyways, mix it and enjoy!



This really was a wonderful dish and took a total of about 25 minutes!!!!

I am trying to figure out how to add fonts and backgrounds and stuff to make my pics look all cute and fancy......so far, all I have to use is my iPhone...lol. I need to read a blogging for dummies book or something!

Sriracha and Pickled Jalapeño Deviled Eggs

Sriracha and Pickled Jalapeno deviled eggs~ a new spin on an old classic.

Who likes deviled eggs? Maybe I should ask.....WHO DOESN'T??? Did you raise your hand to the no? If you did....go sit in the corner....goooooooo! Lol, shame on you! You are in time out! Okay, fine, I will let you out, but the least you can do is make these for friends or family that DO like them! Okay, let me say....my pics are not great. I am beginning to think that I am going to have to invest in a "real" camera. I have been using my iPhone. I was happy, until I committed a crime against myself....comparing my pics to other bloggers pics. Well, at least I am not comparing my body to that of a Victoria's Secret model....the result would be me slipping into the deep dark recesses of a MAJOR depression....lol. YOU try having 4 kids Adriana Lima! I feel the darkness encroaching...ahhhh! Okay, changing the subject.... I have a small Canon Powershot 16 megapixels....maybe I should start using that and mastering it before I move to the fancy schmancy Canon EOS Digital SLR (that is all a foreign language to me). Oh right, you are here for a recipe! Lol, okay well lets getter done then!

Major players featured in the photo above. You will need one dozen eggs, yes one is missing. I was hungry...sorry! Okay so lets begin with some boiled eggs, half them and place the yolks in a separate bowl.

In the bowl with the yolks, add 1/2 cup of mayo, 1tbsp of Sriracha, 1/2tsp salt, 1tsp Dijon Mustard, and 1/3 cup of pickled jalapenos (make sure you place them on a few napkins to fully drain them so your mixture isn't to watery) Chop the jalapenos in a fine dice.

Here are my empty egg halves.

Dice the jalapenos into a fine dice. I used my food chopper.

Here are all the ingredients ready to be all mixed up n stuff.

Here they are....looking kinda sad still huh.

Dress up those huevos with a little paprika and a little cilantro and they are ready for the pinche pari! Tu sabes!

Banana Pudding

******NOT****** PAULA DEENS BANANA PUDDING*****************

Okay, so I had been ogling this recipe in hopes that it would expand my dessert palate and repitoire. I have never made a banana~y dessert. I am more of a berry kind of girl. Strawberries? Yes PLEASE! Blueberries, yes, raspberries, blackberries, yes and yes! :) Also, I am not into pudding. I don't like the loose texture. I was however able to cultivate an irresistible affinity for Crème Brulee. Go figure! I didn't always like it, but it finally hooked me when my hubby ordered it at a restaurant where the dish was more shallow than average. It was just the right ratio of custard to the bruleed sugar coating....OMG! So, I don't make puddings, custards or anything like that. I do like bananas, just not banana flavored stuff. My hubby likes banana flavored things, custards and puddings.....so this one was for him. Love you Babe! ;) HEEE LOVED it! The banana flavor was too strong for me. So if you are a banana fan....maybe you will love it too! That would make me happy because then it wouldn't be a complete failure. I say it was a fail because in my eagerness to make this I bought banana cream pudding and it should have been vanilla pudding. Also, I got this recipe from a blogger and she had it listed as Paula Deen's recipe. I guess this is where reading skills come into play. I skimmed the recipe and missed the part where she says that she tweaked hers a little bit. I thought the ONLY tweak she had made was the cookies. I should have just gone to Paula Deen's website, but I liked that she used Nilla Wafers instead of those expensive chessman cookies. In Paula's recipe, she calls for one less cup of milk and I think that is why I wasn't as happy with the texture as I could have been. There is always next time! I am gonna recommend that if you make this, you use the vanilla flavored pudding and use one less cup of milk and lastly refrigerate until ready to serve. The cookies do soften when refrigerated for a long time, so try to eat it soon if you like crunchy cookies.

                                                     Here are the ingredients above; ~1 box Nilla Wafers, ~4-6 bananas,  ~2 cups of milk, ~1 block cream cheese, ~ 12 oz tub of whipped topping, ~14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk, ~5oz box of French vanilla pudding..

Line a 9x13 pan with Nilla Wafers.

Chop your bananas and place them over the Nilla Wafers.

Use an electric hand mixer to combine block of cream cheese and can of sweetened condensed milk until smooth texture is achieved.

Mix Vanilla pudding and 2 cups of milk.

Slowly mix in tub of whipped topping into the sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese mixture.

Now add the whipped topping, sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese mixture to the pudding and mix.........

and mix, until well incorporated.

Now pour the entire mixture over the bananas.

Place more cookies over the pudding. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Here is what it looked like served.

What the rest looked like after a serving was taken.

And this is what it looked like just minutes after I served it. This is why I think using less milk would make it set up way better and not be as likely to kinda get all melty.....which is NOT pretty. Oh and if you have really read this far....here is a link to Paula's recipe so you can check hers out if you like!