Corny Little Covers!!!

I decided that I needed to do another blog with all the covers that I have done so far. The link is http://cornylittlecovers.blogspot.com. Hopefully it will help you to see what I have and if you don't like anything you see, I would be happy to get what you want. So go and check out the new blog. You can link from this blog.

Corny Little Covers

Art Smocks

So today Averi was home from school because she has Strep Throat, Briggs was at school, and maggie was taking a nap. She said that she wanted to do something fun, because all we do is nothing. I remember seeing this cute little art smock made out of a pillow case. We made them this morning and it was a lot of fun. I just thought I would give you the address which is http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12060 because it may take me awhile to get the pictures back. I just used white pillow cases and we did orange, yellow and green buttons on Briggs. Averi wanted hers to be red and white. The only thing that we did different was to put a ribbon on the top of the pocket. We sewed it on before we turned it up. They turned out really cute.

Conference Casserole

I made this casserole for Maggie's blessing and now we are going to make it for Young Womens this week. They will come on Wednesday, make them and freeze them. I have never frozen them before. I hope it works okay. Then bake them for their families on Saturday or Sunday morning. I think they are really good. They do not have soggy bread in them. I made a couple of them and some I made with ham and the others I made with Jimmy Dean Maple sausage. So if you have a big group coming over make one of each.

8 frozen shredded hashbrown patties (my mother in law just used hashbrowns and it worked good)
4c. shredded Cheddar cheese
1 lb. cooked ham cubed or 1 lb. of jimmy dean maple sausage (cook before adding to casserole)
7 eggs
1c. milk
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt

Arrange hashbrown patties in a singel alyer in a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with cheese and ham or cooked sausage; set aside. Blend together eggs, milk, mustard adn salt in a bowl; pour over ham. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings.

Bug Cake

This is a picture of Briggs birthday cake. I didn't have a lot of time and his birthday was in April, so I am just a little behind on posting this. Anyway, it is a 9x13 cake and then I baked a cake in a pyrex bowl and placed it on the one end. I covered it with frosting and then sprinkled it with crushed up oreo cookies. It looked like real dirt. Then we placed the bugs on the cake. It turned out cute.

Just do it!

I've been in an organizing mood lately. I am constantly on the quest to organize my life and home! I think it will be a life long challenge, I just can't seem to get it under control. This time of year definitely gets me in to mood, with going back to school and getting back on schedule. I have been reading different books and have been on the computer late into the night! I'm obsessed. Mean while, my house continues to get worse and worse!! I ran across this blog called clutterbuggs. I read the post and first thing I saw was Just do it!! I think I finally hit me. I NEED TO GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND OFF MY BUTT AND...JUST DO IT!! If there is anyone reading this that has organizing issues (also known as Cleaning ADD) I would love your advice! I may not see your post for a while because I have to get off the computer and JUST DO IT!

Lemon Supreme Cake

This recipe is from my sister-in-law Kelli. It is awesome!

1 pkg. Lemon Supreme cake mix
1/3 cup flour
1 pkg. lemon instant pudding mix (small box, 4 serving size)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 ¼ cup water
4 eggs

Blend all the ingredients in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake in a greased and floured Bundt pan at 375 for 40 – 45 minutes. Cool cake right side up for 25 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate and glaze.

Glaze: Blend 1 cup powdered sugar with 2 Tablespoons milk or lemon juice. (I like lemon juice best.) Drizzle over warm cake. Cake can be put in the freezer to keep it moist longer.

Free printables

21 Free Kitchen, household and crafty printables. I found this websight when I was looking for a template for labeling and organizing. It had some fun stuff on it! Check it out!

Strawberry Shortcake for kids

This is a treat Max loves to make and it's one that I grew up eating. It is so easy and something kids can make themselves. It makes it even better with homemade freezer jam.

All you need is:
rolling pin
butter knife
slice of bread
jam

Just cut the crust off the bread, and roll it out flat like a pancake.

Spread the jam on the bread.

Roll it up and eat it!

I am addicted

I am totally addicted to this bread. Averi is loving it too. We have been eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is very easy to make it just takes some time so you might need to start around noon if you want to have it for dinner. This is definately a new favorite. I even bought a new rosemary plant, so I can make it anytime I want. I got it from one of lindsay's favorite web sites.
Here it is.

Rosemary Bread Recipe
1 packet dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp)
2 c. warm water
1 T. sugar
2 tsp salt
4 c. flour
1-2 tsp. fresh Rosemary plus more for topping
Olive Oil, Corn meal, Melted butter and salt

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and sugar. (I like to buy yeast in a large package and then store it in a plastic container and keep in the freezer. It lasts forever. OR if you don’t make bread that often, just buy the yeast packets.) Add flour, salt, and 1-2 tsp Rosemary and stir until blended, do not Knead!! Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size. If you have a Bosch Mixer, I keep the dough right in there with the top lid on, it’s nice and moist in there. Or simply keep it in the mixer bowl and cover with a moist cloth to raise.

Remove dough. It will be sticky. I like to put shortening or oil on my hands for taking out the dough and shaping it. I think it works better than flour hands. Place it in 2 rounds on a cookie sheet lightly coated in oil and sprinkled with corn meal. OR you can place it on your silicone baking mat with no oil. Cover with a towel or greased plastic wrap. Then let it rise another hour.

Brush each round with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with more Rosemary and salt, I used this great Sea Salt grinder from Costco. Bake @ 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 for 15 minutes more.

Cool slightly, then cut into nice size bits or rip it apart and dip in a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This bread can’t be beat! It is soooo delicious and a really easy bread recipe. If you’ve never made bread before, Rosemary Bread is a great one to start with.

Sugar Crystals

About a month or so ago, Brayden and I decided to do a science experiment. We were going to make sugar crystals. It's pretty easy. I remember making salt crystals grow on coal when I was a kid. I'm not sure what we did for that, but I would like to find out and do that with Brayden some time too. We just did this to see if it would actually work--it does.

Directions:

1 cup boiling water

3-4 cups sugar

food color-what ever color you want the crystals to be

quart jar

pencil

string

washer or paper clip (we used a 1 inch washer)

1. Dissolve sugar in boiling water--this takes a while. Add sugar slowly, bits at a time, wait for it to dissolve, then add more. Again, this takes a while.

2. Add food color and pour into quart jar

3. Tie string around paper clip/washer

4. Put washer into jar with sugar--you do not want it to touch the sides or the bottom of the jar.

5. When you know what that lenghth is, tie it to the pencil and lay pencil across quart jar.

6. Let sit for 24 hours, undisturbed- you should see crystals appear (We did not see crystals this soon, it seemed we had to wait for at least a week, and even at that they were very small.)

We left our string in for month or even a little longer--it grew into quite a big crystal (about a 2 inch ball size)--Brayden is quite proud. DO NOT EAT CRYSTAL if on washer or paper clip-something about lead, I think. I've seen people do it on a dowel, instead of string and paper clip--that would be edible.

Finger puppets

Last year we had a family get together at our cabin, and made some little crafts. It's been almost a year but I thought I'd at least post a picture of what we made. These are both my moms great ideas. (She hasn't quite gotten the blogging thing down yet) We made cute little finger puppets out of winter gloves, pom poms, googly eyes and felt. This idea was something she found in her file from the 70's. I think they turned out so cute. We made Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The Billy Goats Gruff(we didn't mean for the goats to be green...it makes them cuter, don't you think?) I'm sorry the pictures are sideways, but I don't know how to rotate them. We just used a hot glue gun to glue them together.

Sponge boats

This idea for these boats came from one of my favorite blogs.. makeandtakes.com...I can't take credit. Max and his friend Nicholas had a great time making these and pushing them in the water. It was not warm enough to swim, so they just let their boats do that. All you need is:
1 sponge(I cut a large sponge in half )
straw
foam paper sheets, cut into a triangle shape
scissors
All you do is cut a triangle shape out of the foam for your sail and poke two holes in it for your straw. Poke a hole in the sponge and put your straw through it. (I cut the straws a little shorter to take off the bendy part) They had a fun time, they make for great bath toys too.

Parachute Men

Well with school being out we are coming up with all types of things to do. Brayden saw in a book, some parachute guys--we altered it a bit to work with what we had. These do not last a long time, but entertained the boys for an afternoon. They do get tangled--so be prepared.

What you need:

pipe cleaners-any color you want

String

Plastic bag

Directions

1. Shape pipe cleaners into guys

2. We then wrapped more pipe cleaners around the body to look like clothes

3. Cut bag into a 14x14 square

4. Tie a 14" string to each corner of the square bag.

5. Bring all the strings together and tie in a knot.

6. Attach the strings to the pipe cleaner body (we just tied it to the head of our guy)

7. Throw them up and have a great time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know we all have a chocolate chip cookie recipe. But this one is so good. A gal here made them to thank all the men for taking primary on Mother's Day. She made them really big--I think she said her scoop was 1/4 cup. They are one of our favorite's now. It's not a typo that there is no vanilla.

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup nuts (optional--I don't add these)
1 pkg chocolate chips (I like the semi-sweet ones)

Cook 9-12 minutes, til they are just barely brown. (I found 9 was good for me) 375*.
I actually think these are better the second day when they are not hot at all--seems funny, but true.

Creamy Chicken & Chile Enchiladas

Someone brought these to an elder's quarom party. I was a little worried that the sauce was green, but they were SO GOOD!! I had to come home and make them a couple days after the party.

1 lb uncooked chicken breast strips (I just cooked and shredded mine)
1- 8oz pkg cream cheese, cut in cubes
1 can (4.5 oz) chpped green chilis
1 pkg flour tortillas ( 6 inch)
2 cans (10 oz each) green chile enchilda sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheee

Heat oven to 400*. Lightly grease 9x13 pan. Heat skillet- cook chicken over medium heat until done, add cream cheese and chilis until blended and cream cheese is melted. Spoon mixure into tortillas, place seam side down in pan. Pour enchilada sauce over top, sprinkle with cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted. Yummy!!

I made a pan of 8 enchiladas--although, I noticed after the recipe says this will make 12.

Ultimate Chicken Fingers

These are awesome! They are a quick dinner, I got the recipe off the Bisquick box. I ate them too fast to get a picture, so I'll post one next time we have these for dinner.

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb), cut into 1/2" strips or pkg chicken tenders
2/3 cup Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 450*. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray. In 1 gal ziploc bag, mix Bisquick mix, cheese, salt and paprika.
Dip half the chicken strips into egg; place in bag of Bisquick mixture. Seal bag; shake to coat. Place chicken on cookie sheet. Repeat to use up remaining chicken. Drizzle butter over chicken.
Bake 12-14 min, turning halfway through bake time with pancake turner, until no longer pink in center.
4 servings

Pet Rocks

The other day I was looking for something to keep Max and his friends busy. We decided to make pet rocks. I had the boys go outside to collect some rocks. We came in a washed the rocks and divided them out. We had no idea what we were going to make. We just tried to use our imaginations. Max made a big yellow dog, Brock made a brown bear and Nicholas made a tiny green turtle. I made a lady bug for "Sadie Bug". I also ended up making a pig and a little duck (he reminds me of the one on Word World) It was a lot of fun. We just painted the rocks and glued them with the hot glue gun and used googly eyes and pipe cleaner for tails.

Travel Activity Book

We're going on a cruise in a few weeks and I wanted to make something to keep the kids busy on the plane to Florida. I got this great idea from Brad's Aunt Lynda. She made something like this years ago for her grandkids. I just kind of made it up from the way she described it. They turned out really cute. The total cost was probably $10 each.
Placemat
6-8 gallon Ziploc Freezer bags with the plastic quick zip things
1-2 yards 1" ribbon
Toys from the dollar store ( ex.- chalk board/chalk, toy cars, plastic bugs, coloring books, crayons, stickers, card games, travel games, alphabet magnets, etc.)
I started out with a placemat that I found at Target. It was fabric with a plastic coating that you could wipe clean. I figured that would work great. I set the placemat lengthwise and face down and folded up the bottom about 2 1/2-3". Just enough to fit a coloring book in that spot. I sewed both sides up on the 3" part.Next, I turned the placemat right side up and sewed some ribbon along the length of the placemat down the center for the ties to keep the book closed. I left about 12-14" on each side to so I could tie. I just used tape rather than pins to hold the ribbon in place as I sewed the ribbon in place. I used a zigzag stitch just for fun.Next, I turned the placemat wrong side up and set the ziploc bags down so I could sew them down the center with a ribbon to keep them in place. The gallon bags are a little too long so when you lay them down, the seam end will overlap a few inches. I just made sure the zip end was about 1" away from the outside edge of the placemat. I set one bag on the left side and then the next on the right side, alternating and making sure the zip end was on the outer edge and the zipper was at the top of the book. (I hope this is making sense) I used tape to hold each bag in place .When that was done, I set the ribbon down the center of the bags. I cut the length of the ribbon about an inch longer than the book and tucked the raw edge between the ziploc bags and the placemat. I sewed down the center with zigzag stitch.It is done! From this point I just removed all my tape and filled the bags with items I purchased at the dollar store. I also found some cute things from Target's dollar section. I couldn't believe how much stuff I could fit in these books.
I made one for Max(3) and one for Sadie(14 mos). It was really easy to find stuff to fill Max's book. I'm having a hard time filling Sadie's. If you have any ideas on what could keep babies busy let me know. The only items I could think of were a cheerios, toys, books, mirror...let me know if you have any more ideas!

I'm Domestic

Ok, I'm officially domestic. I made my very own croutons yesterday. You heard me right, I made my own. I was out and I was making a salad and didn't want to go to the store. They turned out SOOOO good. Can you tell I'm proud of myself. Very simple, and very good. Way better than store bought. Here's the recipe.

Dill Croutons
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp dill
1/8 tsp. garlic powder or onion powder
8 slices french bread cut in 1/2 "slices then cut in 3/4" cubes.

Melt butter, add seasonings. Mix. Add cut up bread. Mix until bread is coated. Put on cookie sheet, spread them apart. Place in 300 degree oven for 10 minutes, stir then cook for an additional 5 minutes. Cool.

I had a dill seasoning mix from pampered chef that I used. It had dill, onion, and garlic in it, so I used 1/2 tsp + 1/8 tsp of the mix instead of the dill and powder. It turned out great.

You can also use parmessean cheese instead of dill for cheese croutons.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup is way good. My mom brought me a pot of it and it went down quick! It has a lot of ingredients that you probably have in your pantry.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 med. carrots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 cups chicken broth
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup mild picante sauce
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen whole kernal corn
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Tortilla chips, sliced avacados, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over med. heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic. Cook until onion is tender, about 6 min.
2. Increase heat to high and add broth, tomatoes, picante sauce, beans, corn and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 min. Add chicken and cilantro. Cook until thourghly heated.
3. Ladle into soup bowls and top with tortilla chips, sliced avacados, cheese, and sour cream, if desired. Serves 6
(If not eating immediately, add the cilantro at serving time for peak flavor.)

Crockpot Chile Verde

This is a great recipe with just a few ingredients. I just tried it for the first time the other night. It was really good and really easy!

Small Pork Roast (2-3 lbs?)
I 16 oz. jar Green Salsa Verde( I used mild La Victoria, I like it a little bit spicy so next time I think I will try medium)
1 16 oz. jar of your favorite salsa
1 tsp. cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste

Put the pork roast in the crockpot. Salt and pepper the roast. Poke holes in the roast, using a fork. Pour the jar of green salsa verde over top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Remove pork from the crock pot and shred. Add the salsa and cumin to the remaining juices in the crockpot. Mix together. Add shredded pork to the mixture, combine together.
Serve chile verde mixture in warm tortillas with cheese and sour cream. Enjoy!

italian dinner

Well, I finally made dinner after going out 4 days this last week and it was a good dinner. I decided since Jeff and Ashlee were coming I better make something.
I made this really good cheese bread.
Mix equal portions of Mayonaise, butter/marg., and parmesan cheese ( in the green bottle that you put over spagetti) and spread it on a loaf of french bread cut in half. If you want to add more calories sprinkle some grated cheese on top and then broil it until golden brown. I did 1/2 cup of each and it would probably do two loaves of bread.

Then we had penne pasta with chicken and mushrooms.
Boil the penne pasta and set aside (I did 12 0z of dry pasta)
Melt some butter 1/4 cup or so in a pan and saute some minced garlic, (I did about 1 1/2 tsp.)
Then add a couple of chicken breasts cut up in small pieces and cook until done.
Then add a package of sliced mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are tender.
Add chicken, and mushrooms to the pasta
Pour a bottle of Bertollie alfredo sauce over that and stir.
Pour into a 9x13 pan and sprinkle with italian blend of cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes @ 350.

To top this meal off we made Death by chocolate
It was a good night of eating.

Job Charts

I have been going a little crazy with all that needs to be done at our house and Todd said that the kids need to have more responsibility. So I have been searching the internet for Free Chore Charts. I found a few that I would like to share. I just made my kids their own chart with what they wanted on it. It is nothing special but it is theirs. The website is www.dltk-cards.com. It looks like you can do more than just chore charts. You can make certificates, coupons, cards, etc. Hope you enjoy it.
Mom also told me about another web site and I was up till all hours of the night looking at what they had for YW. I thought it was a wonderful site www.theideadoor.com. There are even some chore charts on that, but for now you cannot download them.

Felt Food

OK, I was just looking around on blogs and a friend of mine had this blog linked on hers. I thought it was so cute. It had so many cute ideas. I especially loved the felt food. I think Averi and Sadie (in a bit) would get the biggest kick out of this. It wouldn't fall apart and it would seem pretty real. I thought it was so cute. I also loved the burp cloths and the button flower card. Take a look. Great ideas. The site is http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/ She also had some really cute ornaments on it, and a couple recipes. Go check it out now!!

Grass Head Guys

This is an idea that I got from the Family Fun Magazine. I haven't had a chance to make them with my kids but it looks like a fun idea!

CRAFT MATERIALS: 2 tablespoons grass seed Nylon stocking foot 1 cup potting soil Plastic yogurt container Water 2 googly eyes Permanent marker Double-sided tape Card stock, craft foam, and so on, for clothing Time needed: About 1 Hour 1. Spoon the grass seed into the stocking foot, and the potting soil on top of the seed. Tie a knot in the stocking, leaving the excess fabric hanging. Fill a yogurt container halfway with water and place the stocking head on top with the nylon tail in the water to serve as a wick. Attach googly eyes to the head and draw on a mouth with permanent marker. To decorate the yogurt container, tape on clothing made from card stock or other materials. TIP: Be sure to check the water level in the yogurt container every day, keeping it at least half full. (Sorry there is so much space under this post...I'm not sure why)

Mexican Sausage Dip

This is one of my all time favorite dips. It is so easy, and SOOOO good. It's looks kind of weird, but it is delicious!! You will love it. Great for New Years, Superbowl, or just anytime.

1 lb. Ground sausage (I love the maple flavored one)
2 bricks cream cheese
1 can rotel tomatoes

Brown the sausage, then add the cream cheese, and tomatoes. Keep on the heat until it all just melts together. Serve warm with tortilla chips. Easy & delicious