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. :)

How to Kick a Cold Fast

With it being cold and flu season, again. I thought I would post how I kick a cold with some over the counter vitamins and the good old hot toddy.

The first day I started to feel crummy was on a Sunday. That day I just kind of took it easy. On Monday I knew this was becoming a serious cold, but not just a head cold. My throat was feeling scratchy, too. Before I had my coffee, I mixed up my cup of E-mergancy-C. This stuff is a fizzy drink mix packed full of vitamin C, vitamin B, and lots more. It helps boost your system with vitamins and the B-vitamins give you some extra energy. I went to work and came home worn out. This is when I knew I would have to do something before bed.

Just before bedtime, I made myself a hot toddy. There are many variations to this recipe, I use hot black tea, whiskey, honey, and lemon juice(when I have it). To make: fill a coffee cup half way with water and heat. Add about a shot of whiskey and two tablespoons of honey. If you have it, add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Drink it up while it's hot and go to bed with an extra blanket. The whiskey helps you sleep and sweat. The honey sooths the throat, and the lemon is packed with antioxidants. I did this ritual of E-mergancy-C in the morning and hot toddies before bed through Wednesday. I also tried to rest as much as I could. With work and two young children the rest isn't easy. On Wednesday I felt so much better. I wasn't overly tired; I felt like I could accomplish something.

So if you are feeling like a cold is coming on, try drinking a hot toddy before bed. Hey if it was good enough for my grandma, it's good enough for me. Happy Holidays!

Summer Bucket List Final Update

With summer coming to a close, I thought I should give a final update on our bucket list. We didn't get to all the things on the list, but summer was a blast!

Original List:

1. Have a sleep over with friends.
2. Make a back yard splash pad.
3. Plant a garden
4. Run a lemonade stand
5. Short stay-cation
6. Go to local carnival
7. See the animatronic dinosaurs at the zoo
8. Go hiking
9. Have a picnic at the park
10. Visit friends

What we accomplished:

1. Sleep over
2. Back yard water mattress instead of splash pad
3. Garden
4 Went to 2 carnivals (We love Carnivals!)
5. Visited friends
6. Had several picnics in the back yard.
7. Short stay-cation

Our stay-cation was the most expensive item on this list. I would like to share with you how we did it on a budget. We went to Chicago for 2 nights and 3 days. Initially we were going to stay in a friend's condo, but we had to change the date at the last minute and stayed in a hotel. I used hotels.com to book our room. I highly recommend this site for booking hotels. We stayed in the Best Western at Grant Park. We went to the aquarium, the Willis Tower, the beach, Buckingham Fountain, and Lincoln Park Zoo. As you can see we crammed a lot into a few days, but the beach and Zoo were free (you pay to park at the zoo). I prepaid our tickets to be able to bypass the ticket lines at the Willis Tower and aquarium. I didn't think Bubba would do well standing in long lines.

As for food, it is difficult to find a inexpensive hotel in the city that offers any kind of breakfast, so we brought our own. I also packed the individual drink mix packs and water bottles for the kids. This saved on drink costs. Whenever possible, we (the adults) would share a meal with the kids. We did have one nice meal out with friends at Gino's East. Our very generous friends paid. A big thanks to them for that fun dinner. I did splurge on Starbucks coffee since there isn't one where I live. I was in heaven for a few minutes everyday.

Whenever we could, we walked to our destinations, however, that isn't always feasible with two small kids. We did take a taxi three times. The kids thought that the taxi was so cool because they didn't have to sit in car seats!

For all this fun we paid just under $1000.00. This price in includes everything from gas to my Starbucks. However, the best part was all the fun we had together.  

Zucchini Lasagna - They Will Eat It

Every summer my parents grow a wonderfully large garden. Since it is just the two of them, they always have extra vegetable to share with family and friends. I love getting free stuff, so I am always happy to reduce my grocery bill by taking some extra veggies off their hands. However, I don't always know what to do with veggies like zucchini. My kids are little, so they are hit or miss when it comes to food. My husband thinks he might just die if he (knowingly) eats a vegetable, and I think zucchini bread is disgusting.

I turned to the Internet to see what people do with this vegetable. I found several posts on how to make zucchini lasagna. Everyone in this house likes lasagna - well actually if red sauce is put on it we will eat it. After reading about four recipes, I chose the one that seemed the easiest and began making the delicious dinner.

I used this recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/zucchini-lasagna.html , but changed it to fit with what I had in my pantry because I wasn't about to run to the store.

Here's what you need with my changes to the recipe:

• 1 lb 93% lean beef                                                                 (I used venison.)
• 3 cloves garlic                                                                        (minced garlic)
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tsp olive oil                                                                         (vegetable oil)
• salt and pepper
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes                                                   (Jar of Ragu)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil                                                     (Didn't use )                                                    
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick                                     (1 large)
• 15 oz part-skim ricotta
• 16 oz part- mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup Parmigiana Reggiano                                                 (store brand)
• 1 egg

Steps:

1. Slice the Zucchini and sprinkle it with salt. This will dehydrate the zucchini some so it won't be so watery.
2. Brown the meat with the garlic and onion drain the fat.
3. Put the meat and the sauce back in the pan and warm it.
4. In another skillet, place 1 TBS olive oil and heat up. Place the zucchini in the hot oil 2 minutes on each side.
5. Once all the zucchini is seared,  mix together the ricotta, reggiano, and egg,
6. Place a layer of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Then layer with zucchini and ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Repeat till you run out of ingredients and top with shredded cheese.
7. Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
8. Freeze left overs.

I hope your family likes it as much as mine!

Easy Dinner From: Kroger Deli Review

Recently, as a BzzAgent, I was able to try Kroger's Deli fried chicken with my family. I was glad to get this campaign because, I am always looking for tasty quick dinners for that one night a week we have activities.
After receiving my BzzKit, I checked the calendar to see when I could use this meal to benefit my busy families schedule. I saw that there was a Friday night that we were traveling home for a busy weekend with family. This was the perfect opportunity to try Kroger's Deli Fried Chicken because not only my family could see what it was all about, but so could my parents. When we arrived, I picked up the chicken right from the Kroger Deli. It was hot and ready! My daughter said in the car, "Mom, what smells so good?" I told her that it was dinner. She was very happy with that answer. At my parent's house, we paired the 8 piece chicken with potato salad and carrots. The meals was quick, inexpensive, and very good. My daughter ate two pieces for dinner and asked for another as a snack.
I will definitely keep the Kroger Deli Chicken in mind as an option for busy night dinners.

Disclosure* As a BzzAgent I assure you that the above opinions are my own, and I didn't receive compensation for this review.

Homemade Ice Cream Cake

My husband isn't much of a desert eater, but he loves ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen. So this Father's Day, instead of buying one I thought I would give it a go at making my own. The only way I was going to even attempt this is if I could find a recipe for the crunchy part in the middle. Lucky for me, I found one and to my surprise it only had two ingredients!

I bought all the ingredients and set forth to create this yummy, cute cake. Now, I have to fill you in on some helpful hints to make this easier for all of you; if you choose to make your own cake.

1. If one of your ice cream layers is chocolate, put it as the bottom layer so the ice cream doesn't melt and mix with the frosting.
2. Freeze the cake after each frosting layer. This makes it easier to smooth the frosting and make a pretty cake.

Okay so lets get on with this:

What you need:

1. 2 flavors of ice cream
2. Something for a base: ie: brownies, cake, pie crust
3. Magic Shell
4. Oreos (I used store brand)
5. Frosting
6. Pan (I used a round pan)
7. Plastic wrap

Here's what your do!

Line the pan with plastic wrap. Put the base of your cake in first.

I used a marble cake that was frozen from Bubba's birthday.

Take out the first layer of ice cream and let ti thaw out.

When the ice cream is the consistency of frosting, spread it on top of the base.

Then gently fold the plastic wrap over the ice cream layer and put it in the

freezer till frozen.

To make the awesome crunchy layer:

Take 2 rows of the cookies and smash them up very small.

I did this in a food processor. If you do not have one, put

the cookies in a baggie and smash them with a rolling pin or soup can.

 

 

Once the cookies are all smashed add the entire bottle of magic shell and mix.

It should look something like this. I know it looks yucky,

but it is so good!

Add the cookie layer on top of the first layer of ice cream and put it back in the freezer for 20 minutes. Now put the final layer of ice cream on top. Then put the cake back in the freezer to set. When it has set, spread the icing on top and decorate.

*** Sorry the rest of the pictures were deleted from my computer and camera.