I really can't believe it's been six months since I posted on this silly thing. I'm not sure how some people do it! I create stuff all the time, but don't post it. Why can't I be Super Woman/Mom/Wife??? :)
Last time I posted, I had 35 pounds to get rid of. I lost 36! Do you know that's like 7 tubs of Crisco!!!
Well in the chance that some actually reads this, here's another oatmeal recipe. I eat this oatmeal everyday and don't get tired of it. I credit my little creation to a lot of my success on the Weight Watcher program. If you don't eat breakfast, you need to. Your furnace isn't going to fire up until you fuel it.
Choco Banana Oatmeal
3/4 cup cooked oatmeal (I use old fashioned oats)
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 T. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 banana sliced up
This is 5 Points Plus on Weight Watchers. No kidding. It feels me up until 10ish. I use to eat a bowl of frosted mini wheats every morning and was starving by the time I got to work practically. It tastes so good. I feel like I'm eating dessert for breakfast. :)
I've had a fun time making Valentine projects. Crafting/baking is really a good stress reliever. If only I had someone to pick up after me. The following are this year's Valentine projects. Enjoy and maybe you could tweak them for St. Pat's day. :)
Grandma Ruby's Famous Sugar Cookies - Project 1 of 4
I really like this sugar cookie recipe for many reasons. Mostly because it's my Grandma's. She's a great cook and baker. I also like it because it's a quick and easy recipe and it makes a lot of cookies. It's definitely not low calorie with two sticks of butter and a cup of oil...but nothing with sugary goodness is low calorie. I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do.
2 sticks of butter
2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
1 cup oil (I used canola)
1 t. butter flavoring (I ran out and didn't use any in my last batch and they tasted fine. I do like them with though.)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
5 cups flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cream of tartar (this gives them a little bite, kind of like a snickerdoodle)
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, oil and salt. Then add flavorings. Combine dry ingredients and add to other mixture. Mix well. Chill if you'd like, but not necessary.
Make dough into small balls (I used the med. Pampered Chef cookie scoop). Roll in granulated sugar. Flatten with small glass on your cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Less time for a soft cookie, more time for a crisp cookie.
Make approx. 6 dozen cookies.
Milk Cartons and Holder - Project 2 of 4
I found this project on my favorite blog Inking Idaho awhile back. I bought the tutorial for $3.95. All of her tutorials are well worth the money. These cartons are mini versions of her design that I designed. I got all four cartons out of one piece of 8.5x11 cardstock! I am stingy with my Stampin Up! paper. I put jelly beans in them for my Secret Sister.
Candy Matchbooks - Project 3 of 4
Most of my projects I find on other people's blogs. Couldn't tell you exactly where I found this one, but I know I've seen it several places. Sizes vary depending on what kind of candy that you're using.
Cut paper 3 1/4 x 7 1/8"
Score at 3/4, 4, and 4 1/4"
I made these for my fifth grade daughter's class. I really enjoy making my girls special things that nobody else will have. I hope it makes them feel special.
Gum Holder - Project 4 of 4
This cute little project is from the blog Impressions by Rochelle. She has a lot of gift ideas on her site that are easy to make. I used her directions except in place of her word window punch, I used the scallop border punch. I only did this because I don't have a word window punch. The scallop punch worked great and it was a nice decorative touch.
These were for my husband's class. He is taking courses to become an x-ray tech. He printed off the clipart for me as I didn't have any medical themed stamps (Although I think I have almost everything else under the sun. :)
I found five stick packs of Trident at Dollar General for about $1 for a four pack.
Hope you've enjoyed my Valentine's projects and I hope you take some time to create this weekend. God Bless you and your family.
Jennifer
Winter is the perfect time to cook up a pot of your favorite soup. I came across a recipe for black bean soup, doctored it up a bit and thought I'd share. I liked it so much, I made two batches this weekend!
Dump the following ingredients into your slow cooker. Cook 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups chunky salsa
1 tsp. garlic powder
Top with one or more of the following: cheese, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, etc.
If you're a child of the midwest you've probably enjoyed a bierock at some point in your life. I make a point to enjoy them as often as I can which meant that I needed to find a recipe to make them. Enter my mom's friend Wanda Jane and we have a DELICIOUS bierock recipe that is too good not to share with the world or at least my sister who reads my blog. So, enjoy.
Tupperware Bread
(This is a to die for bread recipe. Easy and yummy!)
375 degree oven, bake time approx. 16-20 minutes for rolls or bierocks
9c. flour
1 1/2 c. warm milk (scalded and cooled by adding the next ingredient...water)
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
4 eggs
2 sticks butter or margarine
2 pkgs. yeast
Put flour into large tupperware bowl. Make a "well" in the center of the flour. In separate bowl, beat the eggs ans set aside. In a small bowl, place 1/2 c. sugar and add the 2 packages of yeast. Mix gently, set aside. Scald the milk, and add water to cool.
In the bowl with the eggs, add the scalded milk (now cooled). Add salt and mix with fork. To this add the sugar and yeast mix, stir with fork. Pour this mixture into the flour well. Do not mix or stir!! Seal, burp (the bowl, not yourself, unless you feel the need) and set bowl into a sink of warm water for about 30 minutes. The seal should pop off when it's ready.
After 30 minutes, add 2 sticks of melted butter. Now mix the entire bowl of ingredients. Once again, seal, burp and set bowl in a sink of warm water for about 30 minutes. Once again the seal should pop off.
On a floured counter top, knead the dough lightly...roll out and make what you'd like. Proceed as you normally would for any yeast bread recipe...make, let rise, bake and eat!
Bierock Meat
4 lbs. hamburger
4 c. cabbage, chopped
1 c. onion chopped
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper (I like a lot more pepper in mine, so taste test your meat to see if you need more pepper)
Cook hamburger, onion, cabbage, salt and pepper until browned, and cabbage is limp. Roll out dough and cut into large squares. Put 1/2 c. meat mixture in center of dough. Pinch closed. Bake until browned, approx. 16 minutes at 375 degrees. Brush tops of bierocks with melted butter right out of the oven.
For those of you, like me, that need extra directions. Here you go. For the dough...
Divide the dough in half once it's all mixed. This makes it much easier to work with.
Roll the dough into an appox. 16 -24 in square. (or as much of square as you can get, mine generally look like the state of Texas)
The dough needs to be about an 1/8 of an inch thick, maybe even a tad thinner. You don't want it so thin that you can see through it or that it break when you construct your bierocks.
Cut dough into about 4" squares with a pizza cutter.
For the filling...
We put about a 1/2 cup of filling in ours. We used the large cookie scoop from Pampered Chef.
Put the filling into the middle of dough square.
Pull the opposite corners of the square together and pinch the dough together. Do this again for the other corners.
Pinch the seams shut. It should look like a big X on the back.
Put the seam side down on the greased cookie sheet.
Repeat this process for the remaining squares.
Storage and reheating
For easy storage, we place each bierock in a sandwich size Ziploc bag, then place six bierocks in a gallon size bag and into the freezer they go. When you want to enjoy bierock goodness, take a bierock out of the freezer and wrap in a damp paper towel. Place in the microwave oven for about 1 minute depending on your microwave oven.
When we make bierocks, we usually make a lot so we can freeze them. Our latest batch consisted of 3 1/2 batches of bread which made....drum roll please...9 dozen bierocks!!! There was three of working on the project, so we each got three dozen to take home.
Let me know if you make any and how you like them! For even more yummy goodness, we use this same bread recipe for cinnamon rolls.
I was never one for hot tea until I visited my sister in England earlier this year. Since then, I've had several tea parties and learned to love the English treat with a little sugar and milk. Though Chai Tea is probably not necessarily English, it still has tea as an ingredient and it's very yummy. The following is the recipe that my mom and I used for Christmas gifts this year and it won't let your taste buds down.
Instant Chai Tea Mix
1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1 cup French vanilla-flavored, powdered nondairy creamer
2 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoons cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom (we made one batch without, but I do like it better with cardamom)
Mix all ingredients except spices in large bowl. Stir in spices and mix well. In blender or food processor, blend 1 cup of the mixture at a time until well blended. Do not skip this step. It gives the tea a great consistency and it dissolves well in water.
To make a cup of tea, place 3 heaping teaspoons into an eight ounce mug of hot water.
Calories approx. 80 per cup.
The following are pictures of how I packaged it as gifts.
