Best French Fries!

For our anniversary we didn't have time or money to do anything fancy, but I just had to get away from home! So we packed up the girls and we all drove to Nephi to get some of the best french fries!! haha! Not your typical anniversary date, but it was great to get away.

 Growing up my family used to always stop at Frosty Freeze in Nephi on the way home from camping or family reunions. It was tradition. So when Bill and I were first married we were bored one night and we just started driving (WOW! that sounds like a complete dream now. haha!) When we  had been driving for a bit it was dark and we started wondering where our destination was and so it became Frosty Freeze. Bill had never been and I wanted him to have a taste of our tradition. So we ended up in Nephi and were sad to find out that Frosty Freeze was out of business. 

 Well, we were still hungry and started looking for some food even though we were disappointed, we were hungry.. just a few buildings down we found REED'S Drive-in and we gave it a try. We ordered our burgers and then we ordered a large order of fries, little did we know that an order of fries came with each hamburger... So when we got a couple of boxes and a brown bag of food we were amazed!! and we opened them up.. So many fries!! And of course the best part.. the fry sauce was included! We ate and ate and then had some left overs. But now we are hooked. So long story short,  our Anniversary, I wanted to get away, remembering blessed mistake = happy taste buds, full tummy and a NEW family tradition. And by the way if you ever get to stop in at REED'S you defiantly need to try their Western Burger... I'm just saying.. it's good.

 Here are some more pictures to prove that it really exists and that we really went.

See how much they love their fries?!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

So easy and yummy. I just mixed up some Krusteaz pancake mix and added about 1/2 Cup pumpkin puree and some chocolate chips. Mix all together and now you're ready to cook! Makes a yummy Halloween breakfast! (makes about 7-8 pancakes if you're making more pancakes just add more pumpkin and chocolate chips) And for an even more fallish taste I'm sure they would taste great with a little bit of cinnamon mixed in with everything.

Candy Land Birthday Cake!

I finally talked my little one into having a Candy Land birthday because I really wanted to make the Wilton Castle cake with it.. it would have been great, but I didn't get to use that because when I went to Walmart to buy it they had just stopped carrying it. Oh well I guess, less money spent. So this cake was the best my little cake making talents can do so far. I was happy with how it turned out and also happy with new things I learned about cakes. Like frosting it with a crumb layer... I never knew! Such a good thing to know! Basic, but still grateful I learned it. Just frosting it with a thin layer all over before "really" frosting it to keep all the crumbs out of your frosting! Very helpful.

 So this is how it turned out and my little one was very pleased. She was even showing it off to her friends when there was only one piece left and you couldn't even tell what it was by then. :) I'm so glad she liked it!

"Glass of Water, Crust of Bread"...

For anyone who has seen Disney's Beauty and the Beast... I had the line "Glass of water, crust of bread" from the movie going through my head for a week and I kept saying it at random times just because it was roaming around inside my head. So one morning when Bill was off to school I came out to eat and there on the counter was a glass of water and a crust of bread with this little note... what a funny funny guy! I really did laugh out loud! The water is not pictured because... well.. I was thirsty and couldn't wait... :)

Honey Mustard Chicken

I did this the same way as the BBQ Chicken. Just put about 4 frozen chicken breasts in to the crock pot and pour a bottle of honey mustard on top and cooked on low for 4-6 hours. (mine cooked in about 5). Then just shred chicken while still it's in the crock pot and then serve over rice. So tasty!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Time for fall cooking!! I found this recipe courtesy of pintrest.com (again, I'm sure you will see a lot of my pintrest finds here).  I bought a donut pan and have been dying to use it and this was a great recipe to try it out on. They are yummy! Sweet, but not too sweet. And they have just the right amount of spice. ( I even made my own homemade pumpkin pie spice for this too. Also courtesy of pintrest.com. haha)

So click HERE for the Baked Pumpkin Donuts recipe. And click HERE if you are interested in making your own pumpkin pie spice! Definitely keepers!!

Shredded BBQ Chicken

I know that my Mom makes this sometimes, but I saw a recipe for this online and I forgot how easy this is! It reminded me of how much I LOVE my crockpot and how much I LOVE to eat chicken cooked in the crock pot. This is a two ingredient recipe! So Simple.

4-6 Boneless Chicken Breasts ( Mine were frozen too. First time I have ever just put it in and walked away!)

1 bottle of BBQ Sauce

Put the chicken into the crockpot and pour BBQ sauce over. Then cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Then shred chicken when still in the crockpot so it will be well coated with sauce.  Serve over rice or make into a delicious BBQ chicken sandwich.

Salsa?!

 I made baked potatoes the other night and didn't have very many toppings on hand. I looked through my recipe book and one of the toppings it suggested was salsa. I never thought of that and it sounded a little ... well.. a little weird. But, we tried it, because that is what we had. And.... It was great! We topped out baked potatoes with salsa, cheese and sour cream. We gobbled them right up and one of our little ones even ate some, which is saying something because she doesn't really like potatoes! Yay! another dinner down!

French Bread Pizza

So this one is for those nights that you really have nothing to pull from. So easy!

Just cut the loaf in half length wise and add tomato sauce cheese and toppings. cook in 350' oven for 10-15 minutes or so and there you have it! Your pizza is ready to slice and serve!



Pizza is ready to go into the oven in 5 minutes. So fast!

 One topping that I learned from my sister-in-law was to cut up lunch meat. Yummy and great for when you don't have any pepperoni on hand.

Having The Right Tools Helps!

 So yes, this is more proof to me that having the right tools really does make a difference! I tried using paper muffin molds before to work with chocolate, but it just didn't really work out so well. We found these awesome silicups at Bill's work and WAHOO!! Now the possibilities are endless.

 The Silicups are just reusable silicone muffin molds, but they are self standing and can be frozen, chilled, and everything just pops right out!
 Keep in mind that the picture is not the best and this was the first try (with help from one of my cute little helpers). But needless to say it worked! We made our own chocolates some with carmel in the middle (oh and I only had ice cream carmel on hand... it was a little messy), some with peanut butter and powdered sugar mixed in the middle, and some with peanut butter and carmel mixed in the middle. ( I know.. that might sound gross, but please try it first and then tell me what you think because mixed with the chocolate..... it was GREAT!

Dinner With a Twist

I found this recipe on my new found love pinterest.com and made them that night. They were great! The girl's site I found this on made her husband a complete meal with them. Plain for an appetizer, cheese and jalapenos for main course and cinnamon sugar for dessert. I liked the idea of making a dinner out of a soft pretzel... having worked at the skating rink for a little bit and perfecting mine there (as perfect as a skating rink quality soft pretzel can get!) 

 So having liked the idea, but not being a fan of jalapenos, I made ours with cheese baked on top and then we topped them with chili and sour cream.. crazy, I know. But delicious! It was a fun and easy recipe to try. I am sure you can let your minds go wild with topping ideas! To go to her recipe click HERE.

Oh and I did have to hury and take this picture before it was eaten!

Easy Peanut Butter Graham Balls

I was really wanting some peanut butter and chocolate. I had made some kind of peanut butter chocolate balls a long time ago and that sounded like it would hit craving spot. I had no idea what recipe I used so I searched online and came up with  THIS Easy Peanut Butter Graham Balls recipe. Very yummy. And in the words of a family member... Dangerous. It's hard to stop eating them, so beware, you might end up with a sugar buzz.  :)

quick fixins

So tonight was a rushed dinner, but I was SO hungry so I just threw some stuff together and it was delicious! I am sure you can add in many more things, but this is what I had for my quick dinner tonight.

So..

  I started with a package of crunched up Ramen Noodles without the seasoning and cooked them for a minute or 2 in just a little bit of water, enough to make them soft. ( I don't even know if this step was necessary, but I just wanted to make sure the noodles were soft.) Then I had some cooked left over chicken in the fridge and I cut it up into bite size pieces. (1/4 chicken breast) and then I put the chicken into a frying pan and poured a little Soy Vey over it. The BEST sauce EVER! Next I chopped one stalk of celery and 1/2 of a carrot. Then I just put everything in the frying pan with the chicken and cooked it till warm and tender. Mmmm. it hit the spot tonight. Not anything super amazing, but I thought I would share. :)

Just For Fun...

This is what happens to an extra large marshmallow when put into the microwave... if you were wondering.

We had fun!

Campfire favorites

Some of our favorite things to eat at a campfire are :

                                    

Keebler Fudge Stripes Cookies. Forget the graham crackers and chocolate bar. Just use the cookies! Their faster, and less expensive and SO much better! And I am sure that any of the Keebler cookies would taste great as a smore. I can't wait to try the Coconut Dreams, Peanut Butter Filled, and Deluxe Grahams!

And...

Ball Park Beef or Angus Franks. So much tastier than regular hot dogs!

Brownie Volcanoes!

We used the smallest loaf pan in this pic

Bill came up with this for my birthday last year. Since I turned 22 on the 22nd he did something special and/or fun for me every day leading up to my birthday. He called it the 22 days of Carli. This one he did  on the 7th day because the Kasatochi volcano of Alaska erupted on August 7, 2008. (some days he had to be more creative than others with things to do.) So we made BROWNIE VOLCANOES! Tasty! we were originally going to make the brownies in a bunt cake pan and put the ice cream in the middle of that, but we didn't have one. So we made the brownies using 4 small loaf pans and sculpted each of them into volcanoes. Then we put our ice cream in the middle and drizzled it all with Chocolate syrup! Mmmmm! SO GOOD!

 This was just our first time making them. So next time we make them we just might put on lava sprinkles, escaping gummy bears, pieces of candy bar rocks.. so many possibilities!

Dream Dinners!



Crispy Coconut Chicken with Jasmine Rice



    I have discovered a wonderful little place called Dream Dinners located just east of Maceys in Orem. I signed up at the Freedom Festival to go in and make 1 free freezer meal... and I loved it!

  So what they are is a business that is set up for you to go in and make quick, hassle free freezer meals. You go in and choose some meals to make from their menu while you try some yummy samples. When you have picked out what you like you start putting together your meals. I only made one trial meal while there but one meal took me only 2 minutes to assemble! They do their meals in 3 servings or 6 servings. It is restaurant quality food, so it is even tastier. The catch is that when you go in to make your meals you have to make at least 36 servings of food. So if you make 12  3 serving meals then you're good. It is a little pricey. The meals range from like 10- 33ish dollars/meal and their menu changes every month.

  When I got home and made my meal.. From frozen to on the table.. It took me about 35 minutes and I only dirtied 2 cooking dishes! It was so yummy! And such a fun experience!

 You can also do baby showers or parties there where everyone makes one or more meals then buys it and gives it as a gift to the expecting mother. That is the best idea EVER!! I love it! Dream Dinners is definitely somewhere to go for fast, healthy and delicious food. I just had to share it will you all!

Oven Pancakes

Mmmm! Oven pancakes! My mom used to make these for us. Now I make them all the time for my family. They only take about a half hour to mix and bake. We love to watch them in the oven as they get puffier and puffier!

6 Tbs Butter placed in 450' oven to melt in glass 9x13 pan

8 Eggs

1/2 tsp. Salt (and add just a pinch more)

1 1/3 Cups Flour

1 1/3 Cups Milk

Beat eggs till well mixed. Add flour and salt. Beat till smooth. stir in milk. Pour batter in pan. Bake at 450' for 15 min. Reduce temp. to 350' and bake 5-10 minutes more.

Toppings: sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with syrup.

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

I love this recipe! I got this one from a local elementary recipe book. Just a bunch of families put together their favorites.. now this is one of our favorites too. The book also had a yummy cake recipe that I will post soon. This recipe though is so nice because it doesn't take very long. You only have to let them rise for 10 minutes!
 DOUGH                                                    FILLING
1/3 Cup Sugar                                       1/2 Cup Brown sugar
2 Tbs. Yeast                                          1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/4 Cups warm water                          2 Tbs. Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Butter (softened)                         FROSTING
3 Eggs                                                  2 Cups Powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt                                          1/4 Cup Milk
5 Cups Flour                                        4 Tbs. Butter
                                                            1 tsp. Vanilla

In bowl combine first four ingredients. Cover and let set for 15 min. Add 3 eggs and 1/2 tsp. salt, stir together. Add 5 cups of flour. Knead for 5 min. Roll out and spread butter on dough. Combine brown sugar, sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on buttered dough. Roll up and use unflavored dental floss to cut ( or you can use a knife). Set for 10 min. Bake at 400' for 10 min. Combine remaining ingredients and drizzle on warm rolls.

For the frosting you can also make a cream cheese frosting. I have always liked that better myself, but the frosting in this recipe is fast and yummy too.

Taco Soup

This is super fast to make, really yummy and filling.

1  can of Kidney beans
1  can of Corn
1  can of Chili con carne with beans
1  can of  French cut green beans

Open all of the cans and dump into a med. sauce pan. Cook over med. heat till warm. Before putting soup into bowls crunch up some Tortilla chips and put in the bottom of bowls. Now just serve and add toppings!

Toppings: grated cheese, sliced olives and sour cream.

Ideas for sides:Corn bread

Chicken Bundles

This is one of our favorites. When I first started making it, I made it all the time. It got to where my Mom thought that it was one of the only things I made for dinner. She would call and ask what I was making and I would tell her... Chicken Bundles... and she would say "again?". So you could say we like them.

1.Mix together:

 3-4  chicken breast halves cooked and shredded

1/4  tsp. Pepper
1/2  tsp. salt
1  8 oz. package cream cheese
1/4  c.milk

2. Unroll  and lay out 2 cans of crescent roll dough.  Seal every 2 triangles together to make 8 rectangle.
Distribute the chicken mixture evenly between each rectangle. then bring all the sides together and pinch together at the top.

3. brush lightly with butter ( I use about 1 Tbs.) and sprinkle dry stuffing on top.

4.Cook at 350' for 20-25 minutes.

5. Mix up 2 packages of chicken gravy on stove.

6. Serve each bundle with a little gravy on top.

IDEAS FOR SIDES: We like to have sides of steamed broccoli, green beans and mashed potatoes with this dish.