Faith, Food and Family

A delicious twist on Jalapeno Poppers

2012-01-22T15:03:00.015-06:00

How is your January going? I hope great! I can't believe we're almost to February! Time just passes so fast!

We've not had much luck with our kitchen appliances this month. First our dishwasher went out the week before New Year's. It was replaced sometime the week after. Then our oven burner decided to catch on fire and break in two. So we we're down an oven for a few days. Our dryer also went out but my husband was able to fix it thanks to You Tube and a very helpful local appliance store. Those videos can be very helpful in learning to do something. I know I learn best by being shown instead of reading a manual. So, now that everything is working again, I hope to start cranking out some new recipes.

Speaking of new recipes....If you haven't discovered Pinterest yet, you're missing out! It's such a neat site and I have enjoyed looking for new recipes, organization tips and more on there. You do have to be invited to join. You can either be invited by someone or request one from the site. Let me know if you need an invite!

Today's recipe was found on Pinterest and it was wonderful!

Jalapeno Stuffed Crescent Bites
Ingredients:
2 8oz cans of crescent rolls
1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese
2-3 jalapenos, seeded and diced
6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll the first can of crescent rolls and you should have 8 triangles. With a pizza cutter, cut each of these triangles in half. So instead of 8 triangles, you should have 16. On each piece, place a dollop of of cream cheese, then a few pieces of jalapeno (I generally did 3 pieces but I think next time I would do a couple more), and a bit of bacon. Fold the corners over and make sure everything is sealed so that the filling won't come out. Repeat with the second can of crescent rolls. Then place on a baking sheet (I used a baking stone) and bake for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

These were really good! They were also easy to make. You could adjust things as you want, add more bacon or jalapeno, etc. I meant to take more pictures while I was assembling them but was short on time so I wasn't able to. You can find the original recipe and more pictures here. Hope you enjoy!

Happy eating!

This post is linked up at Blessed With Grace for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

New Year's eats!

2011-12-30T10:57:00.020-06:00

Hi everyone! I can't believe how fast Thanksgiving and Christmas flew by. It seems like time just goes too quickly. In this new year, I am going to be more attentive to my blog. Other things have just kept my attention away and I have missed it greatly! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus!

I know many of us entertain on New Years Eve, so I thought I would feature some of my past recipes that would be great to have for guests. Hope you enjoy!

Savory

Baked Sandwiches with Pesto

Burrito Pizza

Jalapeno Chicken Dip

Heavenly Ham Dip

Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

Mini Burgers/Sliders

Fried Pork Dumplings with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Chicken Quesadillas

Sweets
Strawberry Margarita Squares

Heath Bar Crunch Cake

Cream Cheese Bars

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

Chocolate Crescent Rolls

No Bake Cookies

Ooey Gooey German Chocolate Brownies

Blondies

I hope you enjoy these recipes and have a safe and happy New Year! God bless!

Happy eating,
Amanda

A Civil War Recipe..... Oatmeal Pie

2011-09-27T08:48:00.005-05:00

Princess came home with an assignment to to a Civil War project. There were several options but she and I always gravitate to the ones that involve cooking. So we chose to make a recipe from the Civil War time to share with her class. Can I just say how grateful I am for the internet when it comes to these school projects? We looked online and found many different recipes. I wanted one that used ingredients I already had on hand and hopefully one that would be a bit tasty.

I finally found a forum where people were sharing Civil War recipes and someone had shared one for Oatmeal Pie from Charleston, South Carolina. Apparently, during the Civil War, pecans were in short supply. So oatmeal was subbed for pecans to make a sort of mock pecan pie.

This recipe is very tasty and really easy. It does remind me of a pecan pie, but at the same time a little reminiscent of an apple crisp because of the oatmeal and the cinnamon. Very delicious! I'm hoping her class really enjoys it. She said they've mostly been bringing in Johnny cakes and hardtack so this should be a nice break from those.

Old Fashion Oatmeal Pie

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/8 to 1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal (uncooked)

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Beat eggs until frothy. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Add eggs and mix well. Add corn syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Mix oatmeal. Pour into uncooked pie shell. Bake for 45 minutes.

Happy eating!

This is being shared at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace.

Chicken Casserole

2011-08-31T22:34:00.002-05:00

Can't believe that fall will be here soon! I love fall. The colors of leaves changing, the crisp blue skies, cooler weather and yummy foods that are so nice to enjoy during that time of year. For me, that means more soups, chili's, casseroles, yummy breads and muffins. What are your favorite things about fall?

Speaking of casseroles, I am totally addicted to this yummy delicious chicken casserole! It's a great quick dinner for those nights you don't have much time if you keep cooked chicken in your freezer. Having precooked chicken and ground beef is such a help for those nights you need something fast.

To me this is pure comfort food. I usually serve it with brown rice and steamed broccoli. It would also be great with mashed potatoes or noodles. Delicious!

Chicken Casserole

2-3 cups of chicken, cooked and chopped
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2-1 cup of sour cream (I usually don't measure and this really depends on personal preference)
1 cup of shredded cheese (I like to use sharp or mild cheddar)
1 sleeve of buttery crackers, crushed
4 tbsp of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine soup, sour cream, and cheese. Add chicken to mixture and mix well. Pour into a 2-2 1/2 quart baking dish. In another bowl, combine crushed crackers with butter. Coating crackers well. Spread on top of chicken mixture and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and browned a bit on top.

Serves 4-6 You could also easily double this to feed more or have more leftover.

To make this healthier, I use healthy request cream of chicken soup, low fat sour cream, 2% shredded cheese if I have it on hand, low salt ritz crackers and I skimp on the butter since the crackers are already buttery. It still tastes great!

Happy eating!
Amanda

This is being shared at What's On Your Plate? at Good Cheap Eats and on Cooking Thursdays at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

Dill Pickle Faux-Fried Chicken

2011-08-25T05:52:00.000-05:00

I love looking at the Cooking for your Family board over at Babycenter. They have a recipe review thread where everyone reviews the recipes they made. It's a great way to find new ideas. Well, one lady posted that she had made this recipe for Dill Pickle Faux-Fried Chicken which is from A Good Appetite. I was really happy with this recipe! The kids loved it! Definitely something different to do with chicken and a good way to use up that pickle juice.

I did the recipe a bit different but not much. For the original recipe, click on the link above. Here's what I did....

Dill Pickle Faux-Fried Chicken

2-4 cups of pickle juice
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups of Pepperidge Farms Herb Seasoned Stuffing mix
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (you could use more or less if you wanted)
2 eggs

Marinate chicken breasts for at least 2 hours (I did all day) in the pickle juice.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet lined with foil and then place a greased cooling rack on top of the foil. Remove chicken from the marinade. Discard remaining marinade. Dry chicken and set aside. In a pie plate or other dish, crack two eggs and mix well. In another dish, add the stuffing mix and cheese. Mix well. Dredge chicken in the egg and then into the dry mix and place on the cooling rack/cookie sheet. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Flip over halfway through cooking to crisp both sides.

I served with mashed potatoes, corn and green beans. Very delicious!

I do want to add that you could taste the pickle taste in the chicken. Not in a bad way but in a different, good way. However, if you're not a fan of pickles you may not enjoy this recipe. If you didn't marinate it as long as I did it might not take on a strong flavor though. I let mine marinate all day.

Happy eating!

Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy

2011-08-24T08:50:00.003-05:00

I had been craving pork chops and hadn't had them in awhile. I like to get the boneless pork loins and have them sliced into chops. I can usually catch them on sale for a little under $2 a pound so that's when I get them. This time I thought I'd bake them but wanted to do something that wouldn't dry them out since they are on the leaner side. I decided to do these Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy and they were so yummy!

Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy

8 boneless pork loin chops (mine ere 1/2" thick)
1 can of healthy request cream of mushroom soup
1/2 packet of onion soup mix
1/2 cup of reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine soup, onion soup mix, sour cream and milk together. In a baking dish, arrange pork chops in a single layer. Pour soup mixture on top of the chops and spread around coating each one. Cover and bake for about 1 hour or so. I went a little over an hour. They were tender and yummy!

I served it with noodles, and mixed veggies. The gravy is absolutely delicious! You could easily do this in a crock pot as well. These definitely don't photograph well but they are tasty!

Happy eating!

Easy Almost Chicken Parmesan

2011-07-24T00:59:00.003-05:00

I say almost because this is not breaded and fried like most. I had a pack of chicken breasts in the fridge that I needed to use up and wanted to try something different. I decided to do this and it turned out very yummy!

Easy Almost Chicken Parmesan

3-5 chicken breasts depending on size (I have found this can vary greatly depending on brand)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I used Classico Fire Roasted Tomato and Garlic)
shredded cheese (I used a pizza blend that contained mozzarella, provolone, parmesean and romano)
1 box of spaghetti noodles (I used Ronzoni Garden Delight Spaghetti noodles)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer chicken in a baking dish and pour spaghetti sauce on top of the chicken breasts. Cover with foil and bake for 1 to 1.5 hours. I always check my chicken with a meat thermometer so you may be able to go on the shorter end of cooking depending on your oven.

During the last several minutes of the chicken cooking, cook noodles as directed on the package. I strained them and added some butter to help keep them moist until serving the chicken.

Plate noodles, top with a piece of chicken and some sauce over the noodles. Top with cheese. Enjoy!

You could put the cheese on the chicken/sauce mixture and let it melt there but I enjoyed letting each person decide how much cheese they wanted so it worked better for us this way. This was a very tasty different way to use chicken. You could serve with some steamed veggies or a salad and it would be wonderful!

Happy Eating!
Amanda

Strawberry Margarita Squares

2011-07-05T19:34:00.004-05:00

My mom had us over for the 4th of July to have dinner. I made a dessert to bring along to share. I had these a couple of years ago and had always meant to make them but never did. They are a very refreshing dessert for summertime. You have the salty of the pretzel crust, sourness of the 1st layer from the margarita mix. Then the sweetness of the strawberry top layer. It's a perfect combo! So delicious!

I meant to garnish these but didn't have a chance. They would look lovely with some whipped topping, sliced strawberry and maybe a small slice of lime on top.

Strawberry Margarita Squares

Crust:
2 cups pretzels (1 cup crushed)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:
2 pkgs. (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup thawed, frozen margarita mix, concentrate (non-alcoholic)
2 containers (8oz each) cool whip, thawed
1 pkg. (3oz) strawberry gelatin
1/2 cup boiling water
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen sliced strawberries in syrup
fresh strawberry slices (for garnish-optional)
lime slices (for garnish- optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crust, finely crush pretzels in small food processor. Melt butter in small bowl in the microwave. Add crushed pretzels, sugar and melted butter into a bowl and mix well. Press mixture onto bottom of 9x13 baking dish. I used a small glass to help press it into place. Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely.

2. For filling, beat cream cheese and margarita mix in a bowl with a hand mixer until well-blended. Fold in 2 cups of cool whip. Using an offset spreader, carefully spread cream cheese mixture evenly over crust. Refrigerate while preparing strawberry layer.

3. Place gelatin in a bowl. Stir in boiling water; stir until completely dissolved. Add frozen strawberries and stir until strawberries separate and gelatin is thickened (a spoon drawn through mixture will leave an impression). Whisk in 3 cups of the cool whip. Pour over cream cheese layer, spreading edges. Refrigerate 3 hours to set.

4. Cut dessert into squares. Garnish each with remaining cool whip. Top with sliced strawberries and lime slices.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Happy eating!
Amanda

Burrito Pizza

2011-06-18T23:07:00.005-05:00

I found this Burrito Pizza recipe at Good Cheap Eats. I thought it looked so different and fresh and wanted to try it right away. The results were out of this world!

I did two things differently. I bought a crust from Papa Murphy's. They only charge $2 for an unbaked pizza dough already rolled out and on a pan for baking. Not too bad IMO! The other thing I did was use jarred jalapenos instead of fresh. I happen to have them on hand and enjoy their flavor. Next time, I think I will serve the peppers separately though. I had some who felt it was too spicy and others who liked it. So I think serving them on the side would be a great idea. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

I'll let you check her site for the recipe in case you want to make homemade dough. She has a recipe for that too. Lots of yummy goodies on her site!

Happy Eating!
Amanda

Birthday Freebies

2011-02-02T22:16:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone! I am so sorry that I have disappeared for so long. It's been a rough little bit for us. We had a bad car accident right before Thanksgiving, lots of sickness and snow mixed in there as well. I've just had things going on that didn't allow me to blog like I would have liked. I've missed blogging and all of you very much!

Now on to what my post is really about. Birthdays! Tomorrow is my birthday and all week I have been receiving some wonderful coupons from different restaurants in my email. Most restaurants have some sort of email list you can join. For many of them, you actually receive a coupon for some kind of discount/free food just for joining. Most also send something on your birthday and the anniversary of the date you subscribed to their emails. Plus special email only discounts throughout the year.

I would encourage you to look up your favorite restaurants and see what you can find. These are the ones that I have signed up for. I'm also including what I received for my birthday from them. I am assuming all coupons will be the same but I'm sure it could change at any time.

Ruby Tuesday Free Handcrafted Burger and Fries
Steak 'n Shake Free Double Steakburger with Cheese and Fries
Captain D's Free choice of three meals (I think it was tilapia, shrimp or fish) or $5 off another dinner
Fazoli's Free Dessert
LongHorn Steakhouse Free Dessert with purchase of entree
O'Charley's $5 off $20 or more (they may also give you a piece of Caramel Pie, you need to check with your local restaurant)
Logan's RoadHouse Free Nutter Butter Fudgeslide with any entree
IHOP Free Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity or menu item of equal or lesser value
Chili's Free Brownie Sundae

I'm sure there are more out there. Feel free to share any that you all know of. :) It's always nice to get free food. Especially since it can be so costly to go out to eat.

Happy Eating!

God bless,
Amanda

P.S. DISCLAIMER: I was not asked by any of these companies to list them here, these opinions are mine and mine only. Just wanted to share as I enjoy eating out but it's usually just too expensive. Thanks!

Sausage and Veggie Egg Bake

2010-10-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

I love egg bakes. They are easy to throw together and feed a good amount of people. It's something different for breakfast and they are so versatile. This one was very yummy. Hope you enjoy!

Sausage and Veggie Egg Bake

10 eggs
1 can of evaporated milk
2 cups of shredded cheese
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
5 sausage patties cooked and crumbled
salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter. In a large bowl, add eggs and evaporated milk as well as salt and pepper. I also added some cumin and red chili pepper. You could do various spices that you like to add to it if you want. Whisk well. Then add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the center is set.

I let mine cook on the longer side and it got a bit more done on the bottom than I would have liked. So next time I will start checking it at 30 minutes.

Happy Eating!

Baked Sandwiches with Pesto

2010-10-06T05:00:00.000-05:00

Do you get tired of plain sandwiches? I know I do. I decided one day to make baked sandwiches. They were so yummy! I could eat one every day. This is kind of a non-recipe but more of a method.

Baked Sandwiches with Pesto

ciabatta rolls
sliced turkey
sliced ham
provolone cheese
sliced tomatoes
pesto

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Split rolls and spread a bit of pesto on each half of the bread. Layer turkey, ham, cheese and tomato on the roll. Wrap sandwich in foil and place in the oven on a cookie sheet for a few minutes until nice and toasty. About 5-10 minutes should be fine. Then enjoy!

These are so yummy! These taste just as good as something you'd get in a restaurant only much cheaper.

Happy Eating!

Heath Bar Crunch Cake

2010-10-05T05:00:00.001-05:00

Oh my, this cake is so good. It's very rich but also a refreshing change from traditionally iced cakes. The cake is moist and gooey and the crunch from the heath bars is just a great addition. If you've never tried this cake before, you really need to make it soon.

Heath Bar Crunch Cake

german chocolate cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar caramel ice cream topping
1 container of Cool Whip
3-4 Heath bars, crushed (or you can buy heath bits in the baking section)

Bake cake as directed on the box. While the cake is still a bit warm, poke holes in the cake. Pour the condensed milk over the cake and then the caramel topping. When cake has cooled top with cool whip and crushed heath bars. Refrigerate.

We ate this before it had time to get nice and cold. It was still heavenly!

This is being shared at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace.

Happy Eating!

Star Wars House Party

2010-09-22T10:37:00.003-05:00

Have you heard of House Party? It is an awesome site where you can sign up to host parties and receive free products. There's nothing to buy or sell. You just host a party and share info and products. We've been able to do a few so far and it's been a blast. You may remember my post on Guys Night Out where we got to host a Microsoft Windows 7 party.

This time we were hosts for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars house party. It was so much fun! My boys invited several of their friends and we had a great turnout. In the party box, we got 10 Star Wars action figures, tattoos, coupons, Battle Game, and more. The boys had a great time!

My boys are already huge Star Wars fans so they were very excited for this party. I made hot dogs and had everyone bring their favorite snack to share. The kids ate outside and then had ice cream sundaes. They played outside for a bit and then came inside and watched The Clone Wars Season 3 Premiere. They loved it! They also got a chance to play the Star Wars Battle game and really had fun with that. It was just a fun night.

Check out the website and sign up to host a party! They are so much fun to do!

*My opinions are my own. I was given the party pack to host the party but wasn't compensated in any way to right this blog entry. I am merely sharing how much we love the site and the opportunities it gives.

Yummy Egg Bake

2010-09-08T22:08:00.003-05:00

I was needing something to make for our Thursday Morning Coffee last week. So I went searching through some of my favorite blogs and found this Egg Bake from Finding Joy in My Kitchen. She has many yummy looking recipes. I did change her recipe up a bit based on what I had and added more egg. Not much though. Here is what I did.

Egg Bake
5 C hash browns, thawed
1 bag of 3 pepper and onion blend, thawed (frozen section)
8oz of mushrooms, sauteed
1 1/2 C extra sharp cheddar cheese
5 eggs
2/3 C milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish (I used butter).
In a non stick skillet, saute mushrooms with a bit of butter. Remove from pan and set aside. Add a bit more butter/oil and saute the pepper/onion mixture.

In a large bowl, mix together potatoes, mushrooms, and pepper/onion mixture.
Layer half of the potato mixture into the dish.
Sprinkle with half of the cheese.
Then, spread the rest of the potato mixture over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

Mix together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour over the potato mixture.
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Let the dish stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Everyone really seemed to enjoy it! I had a bit of a cold so I couldn't taste as well as I would have liked but from what I could tell it was delicious!

Happy Eating!

Oven-Baked Caramel French Toast

2010-08-27T06:33:00.001-05:00

On Thursdays, us ladies get together for Thursday Morning Coffee. Our I should say all day coffee. LOL We stay until time to pick up kids. It is a wonderful day of fellowship, yummy food and deepening of friendships. It's a time we can laugh, get advice, lean on each other and just have a good time. I love my Thursdays and couldn't imagine my week without it. I am very grateful to our most gracious host and one of my best friends, Wendy. She truly makes us feel like our home is her home. We do occasionally hold it at another house but usually it's at Wendy's.

Today I made this recipe. It was really good! I will definitely make it again and I hope you all enjoy it! I found it on AllRecipes. I did cut back on the nutmeg, cinnamon (because I used cinnamon swirl bread), eggs and milk. I don't like soggy things and this was just right for me.

Oven-Baked Caramel French Toast (As I made it)

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans, divided
16 oz loaf of cinnamon swirl bread
5 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Caramel Sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup

Cube bread and reserve in a bowl.

In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Pour sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish and sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans. Place half of the bread cubes on top of the sauce, sprinkle with the remaining pecans and cover with the remaining cubes of bread.

Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in a blender. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread cubes, cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the French toast from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until lightly brown. Drizzle sauce over the toast right before serving.

To make the Caramel Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

I didn't use a blender to mix the egg/milk mixture. I have one of those shaker cups with a lid and pour spout and used that. I just shook it up real well. This was delicious though and I'll be making it again. Hope you enjoy!

Bean Burrito Casserole

2010-08-26T05:21:00.002-05:00

This is a very yummy quick recipe. It's so easy for those busy nights and so yummy with some mexican rice along with it. I love the Birds Eye Steamfresh mexican rice if I am really running low on time. I can usually find them on sale for a $1 a bag or so.

Bean Burrito Casserole

6 frozen bean and cheese burritos
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (I've also used mexican blend)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the burritos in a row across the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a bowl, stir together the cream of chicken soup, cumin, chili powder, sour cream and chile peppers. Spread evenly over the top of the burritos. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese is slightly browned and burritos are heated through. Serve with tomato, avocado, olives and salsa.

The last time I made this (when I took the picture), I was out of diced green chiles. I decided to sub a can of rotel, drained and it worked great! I also use healthy request cream of chicken soup and low fat sour cream to help this be a bit healthier. Hope you enjoy!

This is being shared at Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As Mom.

Super Easy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

2010-08-25T05:07:00.001-05:00

This is a recipe I got from a lady at MOPS. She did a great job showing us examples of some quick healthy meals. Everything we tried was so yummy! These are especially good and pretty healthy too! I would never guess they didn't have eggs or oil in them.

Easy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

1 15oz can of pumpkin
1 box of spice cake mix
1 cup of water
1 cup of chocolate chips

In one large bowl, add all 4 ingredients and mix well. Line your muffin pan with muffin liners and fill half full or so with mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. Makes about 22-24 muffins.

I love to do these in the mini muffin pan as well! These are so yummy and my kids love them! These definitely Work for me!

Enjoy!

Let the children come to me.....

2010-08-24T07:57:00.004-05:00

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

My two oldest children were baptized on July 25th. To say I am proud, would be an understatement. I am so glad that they have decided to make Jesus Lord of their lives. My children are so precious to me and I love them so very much. I pray that they continue to learn and grow in the Lord, becoming stronger in their faith.

On the way to church that morning of their baptism, my son (Rocket Boy) kept saying how it was such a great day because now he would get to be with Jesus forever. It was so precious to see him so excited. I know Princess was excited too but she's not as vocal as him.

It was such a wonderful day and I just wanted to share with you all!

God bless,
Amanda

Cinnamon Butter YUM!

2010-08-03T14:12:00.004-05:00

We have a bakery in town that makes caramel apple bread. It is so yummy. It's also priced to where it's something I rarely ever buy. That's why I made up the Apple Butterscotch Bread. But today I decided to buy a loaf. It has probably been a year since I bought a loaf. They also sell a cinnamon butter that is just heavenly on the bread. However, it's an extra $4 to buy it. So you're looking at $10 for a loaf of very yummy bread and a package of very yummy cinnamon butter. Too much for me to spend on bread and butter so I made my own cinnamon butter at home! It's super easy and so good. Here ya go!

Cinnamon Butter

1 stick of butter (softened, I even like to microwave it just a bit to get it slightly runny, it makes it easier to blend together)
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 1/2- 2 tsp of cinnamon (depends on how strong you want it, I used closer to 2 tsp)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with an electric hand mixer until combined well. It should be nice and creamy. Store in the refrigerator but I find it's best to let it sit out for a bit to soften before each use. Enjoy!

This would be great on everything from yeast rolls, pancakes, waffles, and more! It is so good! Hope you enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Frugal Ways to Enjoy the Summer

2010-07-13T05:00:00.001-05:00

I think many of us really aren't able to take a vacation this summer. If we're not able to go anywhere, I still want to make it a summer filled with memories. There are still some great ways to make your summer awesome and spend very little. Here's some things you can do.

Go to the park. You can pack a picnic lunch to make it even more fun.

Check your local theater and see if they have any cheap summer movies. Our local theater is a Carmike Cinema and is running a great promo right now for Summer Movies. On Tuesday they have a movie for $1. It's an already on DVD movie but hey, it's only a dollar and a fun experience for kids to go to the movies. If you're like us, taking the kids to a regular priced movie is rare, even a matinee. It just is so expensive. They are also offering dollar popcorn and drinks on Tuesdays so that makes it an even better deal!

Check for restaurants that have kids eat free specials along with a craft or activity for the kids. Tuesday night (5pm-7pm) at Chick-Fil-A they have an activity for the kids and kids eat free with the purchase of an adult meal. I think it's one child's meal per adult meal. They also just had their Cow Appreciation Day where dressing like a cow got you a free meal. They run different things here and there so keep an eye out.

Fazoli's also has kids night on Tuesday night (5pm-8pm). They have an activity and all kid's meals are just .99. You can't beat that! To my knowledge you're not required to buy anything to get it for that price so it's a very economical dinner.

Steak n Shake has kids eat free on Saturday and Sunday. With each $8 you spend you get one free kid's meal.

If you like to include eating out as part of your summer, sign up on the email clubs of all your favorite places. Many times you can get coupons for signing up and get coupons throughout the year.

Local museums usually have discounted days or free days. Check you local ones and see if they have any specials.

Grill out and eat outside. You can play this up or down as much as you like.

Camp out in your own backyard. If you have a fire pit you could even roast some marshmallows! This is on my wish list to have. I think it would be so much fun!

One of our favorite things to do is to go to Sonic for Half Price drinks during happy hour (2-4pm everyday). Steak n Shake also has this special on their drinks and shakes (2-4pm weekdays). As well as, Dairy Queen (2-5pm weekdays). Check with your local locations to verify participation and times.

Go bowling at your local bowling alley. Some have specials. Ours have a bowl two get one free on Mondays. Check yours to see if they have any specials.

Go to VBS. Our kids love Vacation Bible School. This year they participated at our church as well as a friend's church. They had a blast! My friend's church even took the kids horseback riding at the end of the VBS. The kids all loved it!

Have a themed dinner night. One of our favorite dinners at Disney World when we went two years ago, was at 'Ohana. We recreated our special dinner at home. It was so much fun!

Have an ice cream social. Invite your kids' friends over and their parents too! Everyone can make their own sundaes. You could even have each guest bring their favorite topping.

Game night- This can be a board game or even using a gaming system like the Wii.

Movie night- Pop popcorn and turn off the lights. Let everyone stay up a little later and watch your favorite family movie. You could even have a movie marathon either in one day or a few days of your favorite series. Such as Narnia, Lord of the Rings, etc.

There are many more things you can do. I would love to hear what frugal ideas you all have! Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Easy Slow Cooker Stroganoff

2010-07-12T13:05:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! I didn't remember to take a picture of this but it was sooo good.

Easy Slow Cooker Stroganoff

2-3 pounds of beef stew meat (I used part beef stew meat and part stir fry strips that were marked down)
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 packet of onion soup mix
8oz beef broth
1 small jar of sliced mushrooms

Place meat in the crockpot. I mixed the soup, soup mix, broth and mushrooms in a bowl and then poured on top of the meat. I am sure you could just dump everything in as well. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or until meat is tender.

This was so yummy! It was plenty salty enough and I used the healthy request cream of mushroom soup with reduced sodium. So I wouldn't add any additional salt. Serve over noodles or rice. Delicious!!

Check out more yummy recipes at Tempt My Tummy at Blessed With Grace!

On my way to Clutter Free Living

2010-04-27T19:00:00.007-05:00

Do you suffer from CHAOS like me? That's Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome, by the way for those of you not familiar with the Flylady. I have the book Sink Reflections and can't recommend it enough for those who struggle in this area.

For me, the desire to be clutter free has always been there. I just hold on to too many things for way too long. I used to keep every single piece of clothing that my little girl wore. EVERYTHING. I finally started to really go through it and decided what to keep and sell/donate within the last 3 or so years. It was hard for me because I held an emotional attachment to those things, like many of my other things. It has been a process for me throughout the last 3 years or so that I would occasionally go through and purge items. It was something I didn't do all at once.

I have been watching those shows lately, like Hoarders, on tv. I realize I have some of those tendencies. Not to keep everything little thing, but that emotional attachment to stuff. While moving in March, I was determined to rid us of anything we don't need. I took a look at everything. Some of it was not by choice as we had a mold issue in our apartment. It was worse than we had thought and some items just had to be thrown away. But it was my opportunity to purge in a major way. Some things I donated, others I sold so that we would move with only what we truly wanted to keep.

The results were wonderful! We now have so much less clutter! It's been an amazing transformation and I am so happy about it. Even after we moved I took a second look at things and was able to come up with 10 totes worth of items to get rid of as well as a large trash bag full of stuff. I recently had a yard sale with one of my best friends, Wendy, and was able to sell everything but two totes worth! To say I was excited is an understatement!

This move was just the push I needed to be clutter free. And while, there may always be a little clutter here and there I plan on never letting it go to where I feel we just have too much stuff. It can really do a number on your mood when you just feel surrounded by stuff. I didn't think to take any before pictures but I do have a few pictures on how I have organized a few things.

I have an armoire which we are now using in the living room. I'm using it to store our family games as well as craft type items. These type of things can easily become cluttered and this is how I organized them.

Here's a closer look at my organization of the smaller things. I got several of those plastic shoebox type containers and labeled them with the contents. Now instead of digging through a drawer for 10 minutes trying to find the tape, I'll know exactly where it is.

If your kids are like mine, they'll have all of those small toys. Action figures, legos, leapsters, and so on that can really clutter a room fast. We got this cube organizer about a year ago or so and love it. I use baskets to put the toys in. This helps tremendously in their room. I got this one at Target and can't recommend it enough.

Then I have several spices and didn't want to use a cabinet for them. So I found these cute baskets at TJ Maxx and three of them contain spices, vanilla, sprinkles and things like that. Then I got one to roll up a few washcloths and hand towels for kitchen use. That way they are close at hand without having to use a drawer up for those items.

Organizing things can make such a difference with how clutter can look. Try thinking of ways you can organize your clutter and purge items you just don't need anymore. It can be a great way to earn extra money if you hold a yard sale or bless someone else with an item they may need.

I'm still hoping to get back to new recipes here very soon. Since we have still been finishing up our new place it has been things that are quick and easy. Hope you all are having a great week!

God bless!

Update

2010-03-07T20:35:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been a bit since I've blogged anything. It's been a very different few weeks. The kids were out of school (alot) for snow. Now we're moving. You probably won't hear much from me this month. However, I am so excited to get back to blogging. And hopefully that things will settle down and get back to normal. So please bear with me and more yummy recipes will be coming! Thank you all!
God bless,
Amanda

Jalapeno Chicken Dip

2010-02-03T00:24:00.002-06:00

This dip is extremely good and addictive! A friend of mine from MOPS has brought it twice to a Mom's Night Out and it disappears! So easy and so good! I highly recommend you make this soon! I made it the other night and served it with Triscuits (fire roasted tomato flavor). So yummy!

Jalapeno Chicken Dip

2 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 can of cream of chicken soup
2 cups of cooked diced chicken (could use canned)
shredded cheese (I used mexican style)
jalapeno slices (jarred)

In a sauce pot over medium heat, combine cream cheese and soup until creamy. Then add chicken and heat through. In a baking dish (I used an 8x8 dish), pour cream cheese mixture in and top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is nice and melted. Then remove from oven and top with sliced jalapeno peppers. Serve with crackers and/or chips and enjoy!

I'm all for making things healthier and lower in fat. So I used reduced fat cream cheese and healthy request cream of chicken soup with fantastic results!

This would be a great dish for your next potluck! And it's really easy too! This recipe definitely Works for Me!

Happy eating!