DIY Powdered Sugar

I Yesterday I decided to make cookies with the kids. I had read the directions for these cream cheese cookies and thought I had everything. I rarely check to make sure I have enough of each ingrident. Hence all my substitutes for recipes. 

Misses and I are just plugging along mixing dry ingriedents. When I realized we were 1/2 a cup sort on powdered sugar. I instantly searched the handy dandy internet to see if there was a substitute for powdered sugar. Do you know what I found?! Powdered sugar is just ground up sugar. What? Who knew? I sure didn't but it makes complete sense.

Here is how you make powdered sugar if you find yourself in a pinch.

Put the amount of sugar you need in a blender, food processor, or coffee girder and turn it on the highest setting. Let it grind until you get a nice powdery sugar. That's it! Now, my powdered sugar wasn't the exact same consistency as the store bought, but it did the job. 

Simple Crock Pot Freezer Meals

Life is hectic. It is especially hectic for families with children. Often we find ourselves rushing from here to there and eating as we go. This scenario is not yet the case for my family, but my children are still pretty young. However, Tuesday nights are busy for us because Misses has dance class. On many of Tuesday nights, I find myself serving up less than healthy meals. These fast tasteless meals needed a pick me up.

Freezer meals have gained popularity in the past year or so, maybe longer, I sometimes fall out of touch with trends. Lets be honest, I have no idea what's trending. I don't know how to work Twitter. But a friend of mine, started hosting freezer parties. As a woman, I know that when something goes to the home party circuit it's a trend. This particular trend is here to stay, I believe. Such as in the instance of my friend, her business has taken off, and she now has a store front in her town. You can check out information on her freezer party business here https://www.facebook.com/PrepFreezeCook
I recommend you check it out. All the hard work is done for you. All the shopping and chopping are done by her. All you have to do is show up with your form of payment and a laundry basket ready to have some good conversation and assemble the meals into the storage containers. Sounds like a good time to me!

I have not been able to attend a party, and I have a picky eater. No the picky eater is not one of my children. It is my husband. He will not touch a cooked vegetable. So I went on a search for meals that would suit my family. I halved almost all of the recipes. I am feeding two adults and two small children, so a 4lb roast will leave too many left overs. It never fails that my kids will like it one day and hate it the next. Does anyone else have this problem?

Here are the recipes:

Garlic Beef Stew  
http://everydaypaleo.com/garlic-beef-stew-and-savory-cauliflower-mash/?_

Slow Cooker Balsamic Shredded Beef
http://www.shugarysweets.com/2013/05/slow-cooker-balsamic-shredded-beef

Slow Cooker French Dip Sammies
http://www.shugarysweets.com/2011/10/slow-cooker-french-dip-sammies

Orange Chicken
4 Chicken Breast
3/4 c. Sweet Orange Marmalade
3/4 c. Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
2 tbs. Soy Sauce

All of these recipes can be paired with a vegetable and/or salad to make it a balanced meal. It was easy to get this done, but it would have been more fun with friends, without the shopping, and without the chopping. :)