Rainbow Craft

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, we have just been busy the last week. We have been spending a lot of time at the pool and not any time doing crafts. I love summer and I love enjoying being outside. I hope everyone is having a great summer so far.

We have had some storms the last 2 days and afterwards we have had some beautiful rainbows. So I decided to do a rainbow craft. It is easy and yummy. I think this would also make a good Sunday school craft.

You will need : fruit cereal, glue, paper, cotton balls and markers.

Ice Cream Sundae Cake - Yum!

For Caity's Birthday we made a yummy Ice Cream Sundae cake. It was terrific.

You will need:
1 box of yellow cake and whatever ingredients the box calls for like eggs, oil and water.
2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened
2 bananas, sliced
12 maraschino cherries, with stems
1 cup pineapple topping
1 cup hot fudge topping

1. Bake cake as directed in 13x9 in. pan. Cool completely.
2. Spread softened ice cream on top of cooled cake. Freeze 2 hours or overnight.
3. Just before serving, top with sliced bananas and cherries, drizzle with toppings. Store in freezer.


Happy 7 th Birthday Caity!!!!!!!!!
We Love You Very Much !!!!!

Easy Home-Made Slushees

This is one of my kids favorite recipes. It is easy, fun, cheap and can be healthy. It is home made slushees.

You will need: 1 large resealable baggie, 1 smaller resealable baggie, rock salt or kosher salt, and a drink of choice. We have used all kinds of fruit juices, lemonade, and sodas (I know soda is not the best choice.)

Fill the large bag with crushed ice and about 3 tablespoons of salt.Exact measurements are not required. Fill the smaller bags with a drink.

Put the smalled bag into the larger bag and shake for about 3 minutes. Give or take a minute.

When frozen put in a bowl and serve.

This is the orange juice.

This is the fruit juice

This is a great treat, I hope you enjoy.

Kid Cooked- Berry Stuffed French Toast

This is one of my favorite recipes, whether I make it or the kids make it. It is so very yummy in my tummy. It is great for breakfast and dinner. I also like it can be made with strawberries, raspberries or blueberries. We serve it with scrambled eggs with ham and cheese.

French Toast
1 package of (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
18 slices sourdough bread ( I used regular white bread)
1/2 cup preserves (strawberry, raspberry or blueberry)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
1/4 cup half and half (I used milk)
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Confectioners' sugar and additional fruit optional



In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sour cream.







Spread about 3 tablespoons on each slice of bread.









Combine preserves and vanilla.













Spread preserve mixture over cream cheese mixture on 9 slices.
Top with remaining bread,cream cheese side down, to make a sandwich.











In a shallow bowl, combine the eggs, cream and cinnamon. Dip both sides of bread into egg mixture.

Cook on hot greased griddle for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and garnish with fruit.



To make syrup:

2 cups unsweetened fruit (Strawberries, raspberries or blueberries)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Syrup: combine fruit, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, for 5-7 minutes or until syrup consistency. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve over French toast.

This is a recipe really worth trying. I hope you all enjoy.

Works For Me Wednesday

If you are like me, by the time I put dinner on the table I am full because of all the tasting I have done during preparation. So I have started chewing gum while cooking, so I do not do so much taste tasting and snacking before dinner.




Another tip is if you want to start drinking diet soda but do not like the taste, add a few drops of lemon juice to it. It takes away the after taste and makes it taste more like regular soda.


Hopefully these tips will make you look more like this. It hasn't for me yet, but I can dream.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!!!!

For other tips go to Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer.

Recycled Totes

These were cool recycled tote bags we made. If you are like me and have a ton of extra plastic groceries bags, then this is the craft for you. This craft is definitely for older kids because you need to use an iron to fuse the bags together. But they make good bags to take to the pool or beach because they are waterproof.

They were made from plastic grocery bags and Duct tape. For directions go to here at Family Fun. They explain it a lot better than I could.

This silver one is made with Wal mart bags and a silver treat or treat bag and black duct tape.

This one is made with Wal mart bags and a yellow Dollar General bag and black duct tape.

Cooking With My Kids

I have decided I am going to teach my kids to cook. By doing this maybe in a few years each one will be able to cook a meal a night, leaving only 3 nights for me to cook (I can dream can't I ?).
I know there are a lot of kid cookbooks out there, but I wonder how many are really written by moms. I am going to be trying out recipes and show you what my kids really do to help. I will also tell you why I think it is an easy kid recipe.
I am hoping to have yummy recipes that my kids can really help do.

Tonight Caity and I made baked spaghetti, yummy ranch cheese bread and a spinach salad.
Baked Spaghetti ingredients:
One 8 oz pack of spaghetti, 2 tablespoon butter or margarine, 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 lbs of turkey sausage or ground beef, 28 oz of spaghetti sauce and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese shredded and spices you like to add to the sauce.
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9x13x2 in baking pan with non-stick spray.
2. Cook spaghetti, Caity broke up the noodles and put them in the pot to cook.
3. After the spaghetti was cooked and drained, I put the noodles in the 13x9 pan and she stirred the butter in the noodles until it was melted.







Then she sprinkled 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese in with the noodles.







I cooked the meat until it was done and drained it. She added the pasta sauce and added spices like garlic powder, pepper flakes, basil and Italian seasoning.









I spooned the meat sauce over the pasta. She added the rest of the Parmesan cheese.








And she sprinkled on the mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes covered and another 15 minutes uncovered.
Let stand for about 10 minutes and serve.

This make a lot, so I freeze half and recook for another meal.







The Ranch Cheese bread is sooooooo good and easy.
Ingredients: 1 cup Ranch dressing, 2 cups Cheddar cheese, 1 loaf French bread

Stir together cheese and dressing. Cut bread in half lengthwise. Spread cheese mixture evenly on the bread.
Broil until lightly brown.










Baked Spaghetti









Ranch Cheese Bread







This was a really good meal that Caity was proud she helped with.

Happy Father's Day, Quinn !!!!!!!!!!!

Our Dad is the best because:

He built us this (this weekend):

He planted a garden with us:

He takes us fishing:
He takes us camping and hiking:
He catches snakes:
He plays video games with us:
He lets us drive the lawn mower:

He watches cartoons with us:
He is the best, we love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!