Archive for the ‘Recipe’ Category

What kid doesn’t love Apple Juice or Applesauce?   It seems like at least all the kids I know like it, but there are some juices and sauces that definitely taste better than others and usually those are the home made ones or ones that are naturally sweetened like the brand Tree Top whose slogan is Real Fruit From Real People.

Please don’t tell Katie, but today Kevin was able to try Tree Top’s Naturally Sweetened Apple Sauce (which is made with 100% USA Apples!) and he liked it so much there wasn’t any left over for Katie to try and after trying to scoop enough out of the container where I could taste it, I could tell why he didn’t save her any.  

After tasting that little bit I knew the Tree Top Naturally Sweetened Apple Sauce would not only be perfect for toddlers as there weren’t any big chunks in it, but it would also be perfect for using when baking too!!  I’ve only substituted applesauce for oil once, but it worked great!  It actually made my banana muffins sweeter without the added calories!   I ended up buying some more banana’s from the store the other day and will be once again substituting applesauce for the oil again!

I’m sure there are more things you can substitute applesauce for.  I think I had heard of eggs before, but I’m not quite sure how you would do that.  In case you do know of a recipe that you could use the Tree Top Applesauce, Apple Juice or Apple Juice Frozen Concentrate in, then you should hop over to their America’s Secret Ingredient contest where you could win a trip for 2 to the Big Apple (New York) to attend the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival and the opportunity for the winning recipe to be showcased at the festival!  Just think how fun that would be!  To bad I’m not a good enough chef/cook to come up with something original, but if you are… you should give it a try!  What do you have to lose?   If you do end up winning, you don’t have to take me with you, just come back here and let me know you found about the contest here! 

Just a FYI… in case you wish you had some recipes that you could use these products in, you can also go to their website as they have an area where you can look at all their recipes!  I know I’ll be looking through them all as I love finding new things to make!    

Now don’t forget.. if you win the contest… please come back and let me know!

 “I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Tree Top and received products necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Have you ever read a recipe and thought.. ewe… that doesn’t even sound good, but still made it and was glad you did?   That’s actually what happened to me.

Mom Central along with Heinz and Ocean Spray gave me the opportunity to make their Ultimate Party Meatballs so I could blog about it.  If you know me, I love meatballs.  If I see any at a potluck, I can promise you some will end up being on my plate.  So when I read there was an opportunity to participate in this blog tour I jumped at the chance and was excited to of been picked.

I had such good intentions of making it and bringing it to our Thanksgiving dinner at my aunts, but when we all came down with a stomach bug, that idea went right out the window so Wednesday night I ended up making it for my family and I can say I was pleasantly surprised.  I don’t know about you, but I am not a cranberry lover so when the directions were to put 1 can of Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce with 1 bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce together and cook over medium-low heat and stir until smooth and then add the meatballs I was a little worried about how it would taste.   All I could remember was how I didn’t like the cranberry thing my Mom made and was nervous that I wouldn’t like this.

I got everything together and poured the Heinz Chili Sauce in the pan along with the Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce and stirred it until it was smooth and then added the meatballs.  After stirring occasionally I decided I would test one so I could make sure they were warmed all the way through, plus I was anxious to see what it would taste like.   I was honestly surprised as how sweet it tasted to me.  Not overly sweet, just perfect!  I always thought of cranberries as tasting sour, guess I was wrong!   So not only did they taste great (Paul and the kids liked them too) but they were so easy to make anyone could make them!  (Yes.. even your teenage son!)

If you are looking for something easy to make for one of the many get togethers you probably be having to go to this year, try making the Ultimate Party Meatballs.  I would honestly be surprised if you ended up bringing any home with you. Of course I don’t know if that’s bad or good because I’ve been craving them every day since I made them.

If you would like to get the Ultimate Party Meatballs recipe or even see different things you could make with them, just visit their website http://ultimatepartymeatballs.com/.     Plus right now they are having a sweepstakes where they are giving away $3000 in gift cards to get your party started and also 20 2nd place winners will win a Rival Crock-pot 4 qt slow cooker!  (Sweepstakes ends Feb 15th)   Talk about a great way to start the new year!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Heinz and Ocean Spray and received the ingredients necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

When Paul and I was on our honeymoon up in Seward, Alaska we stayed at a great Bed & Breakfast and the first morning there they made the best French Toast we had ever tasted.  I ended up asking her for the recipe and she said to get it I had to buy her church’s cookbook and I didn’t mind one bit as I thought it was well worth it.   To give the recognition, this recipe is placed in Feeding the Flock ~ A Collection of Recipes by Resurrection Bay Baptist Church in Seward, AK by Stacie Werner.  

1 Cup packed brown sugar
1/3 Cup butter or margarine
2 T. light corn syrup
12 slices of store bought bread
5 eggs
1 1/2 Cup milk
2 T powdered sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon

1. Cook Sugar, butter & corn syrup in small saucepan over medium head until butter is melted.
2. Arrange bread (double layered) on top of syrup mixture in 12 x 7 x 2-inch baking dish.
3. Beat eggs, milk & cinnamon until combined in medium mixing bowl.
4. Pour over bread
5. Cover & refrigerate 2 to 24 hours
6. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes uncovered.
7. Let stand 10 minutes before serving
8. Top with fruit or whipped cream with a cherry on top.
9. Sprinkle with powdered sugar

This is a recipe I’ve actually made about 3 times in the last month since finding it in my kraftfoods magazine.  If you don’t get this magazine you should really join now!!  It’s FREE and they have TONS of great recipes!

 8 cups thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith apples (about 4 large/2 lb.)
1/2 cup  firmly packed brown sugar, divided
2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
1/3 cup  old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup cold margarine
25   Reduced Fat NILLA Wafers, crushed (about 1 cup crumbs)
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping

After hearing from a few people saying they thought my new Meme was a good idea I’ve decided to go for it and start it! So on Tuesday’s, please come and visit and see what yummy recipe I’ve decided to post!!

Plus, I would like some more input… what do you think about my button (that is what you call it right?) Thumbs up or Thumbs Down? I’m kind of clueless when it comes to making things like this and these are the two I did and was just wondering what you thought.

Or

Of if you know of a place I could make something like this, please let me know!!

I tried a new receipe this week and didn’t know if Paul would like it since he can be a little pickier than the kids, but am happy to say he did!! So I thought I would share it here in case someone else wanted to try it. I have feeling I’ll be making my Lasagna this way more often as it’s cheaper to make since there isn’t any meat in it. What I might do next time is boil the noodles first so I don’t have to cook it as long and for sure will be adding Mushrooms.

1 lb Ricotta Cheeese
2 C shredded Mozzarella Cheese (I ended up using more)
1 egg
1 frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. oregano
4 C Spaghetti Sauce (32 oz) (I used a 26 oz jar and it was fine)
12 lasagna noodles (I ended up using 9)
1 C water

* In large bowl, mix Ricotta cheese, 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, egg, spinach, salt & oregano.
* Grease 9 x 13 inch pan.
* Layer 1 cup sauce, 3 noodles, and cheese mixture
* Repeat & top w/ remaining noodles, sauce & mixture.
* Top w/ remaining Mozzerella cheese (this is where I added more)
* Pour water around edges of pan
* Cover tight with foil
* Bake @ 350 for 1 hr 15 minutes
* Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

I’m at my parents looking through their ad’s and thought I might as well make up my grocery list for the week.  (or at least start it)   Since my Mom gets the Kraft Food & Family magazine as well, I thought I would look though there to see if anything catches my eye to make this week.  Usually we just figure out what we want that day, but I know I’ve heard you can save money by planning ahead.  Just wondering what my readers do…

Do you plan ahead and know at the beginning of the week what you’re going to have?  Or are you the type that decides last minute what to make by what’s in the house?

When I think of parties I tend to think of cakes… as you can from the kitty liter post.  Maybe it’s because the only parties I ever throw is birthday parties for the kids.  When growing up my Mom always made me a cake that looked like something and I thought that was the coolest thing.  The week of our birthday we would be able to sit down and pick whatever cake we wanted.  If we didn’t see anything we liked than we would tell her an idea and somehow she would make it. 

 Now I’m trying to do that with my kids and one website that I found that has GREAT ideas is Coolest- Birthday-Cakes.com.   You will be amazed at how many different kinds of ideas they have!  What’s great is it’s normal people like you and me that posted their ideas.  Not people who make cakes for a living because there is no way my cakes will ever turn out that good. 

So next time it’s your kids birthday and you are wondering what kind of cake to make.. just jump over to Coolest-Birthday-cakes.com!

Here are some of the cakes I’ve made so far.  Like I said.. I’m not the best at making cakes and I know you’ll be able to tell. 

It’s suppose to look like a Goldfish Cracker since he LOVED them at that time in his life.

Suppose to be a fire truck. (It was his 3rd birthday.. for some reason I don’t have one of his 2nd birthday, but it was a train)

It’s a race track w/ McQueen & Hicks from Cars racing on it. (4th birthday)

Katie’s 1st birthday.. not to original, but I couldn’t think of anything that said Katie.

Katie’s 2nd birthday ~ It’s suppose to be a monkey as she loves Curious George and also when you carry her she clings onto you like a monkey would.

What’s a party with out cake?!? So I thought I would post the cake that I made a few times for my work parties. (When I used to work outside the home) It looks yucky, but it’s quite yummy!!!

INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package German chocolate cake mix
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (12 ounce) package vanilla sandwich cookies
3 drops green food coloring
1 (12 ounce) package tootsie rolls

DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare cake mixes and bake according to package directions (any size pan).

2. Prepare pudding according to package directions and chill until ready to assemble.

3. Crumble sandwich cookies in small batches in a food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup add a few drops of green food coloring and mix.

4. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs, and the chilled pudding. You probably won’t need all of the pudding, you want the cake to be just moist, not soggy.

5. Line kitty litter box with the kitty litter liner. Put cake mixture into box.

6. Put half of the unwrapped tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until softened. Shape the ends so that they are no longer blunt, and curve the tootsie rolls slightly. Bury tootsie rolls randomly in the cake and sprinkle with half of the remaining cookie crumbs. Sprinkle a small amount of the green colored cookie crumbs lightly over the top.

7. Heat 3 or 4 of the tootsie rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with some of the green cookie crumbs. Heat the remaining tootsie rolls until pliable and shape as before. Spread all but one randomly over top of cake mixture. Sprinkle with any remaining cookie crumbs. Hang the remaining tootsie roll over side of litter box and sprinkle with a few green cookie crumbs. Serve with the pooper scooper!!  What I also do is bring newspapers and lay them down and put the litter box on top of it… just to make it look more real. 

What’s funny is all the times I’ve made it, no one will ever eat the tootsie roll that is hanging on the side of the litter box.