Peanut Noodles (Lisa's)

2 large boneless chickens seasoned with salt and pepper.  Cook on medium high heat in olive oil till brown, set aside then cut into bite-sized pieces.

1 red pepper, in strips

2 cups broccoli, chopped

Saute peppers and broccoli in 1 tsp. olive oil for 3 minutes, set aside.

1 (16 oz.) package fettuccine noodles (cook according to package, rinse and drain)

3 green onions thinly sliced (set aside to put on noodles just before serving)

Sauce:

¼ cup peanut butter

¼ cup soy sauce

2 T. honey

2 tsp. ginger, grated

2 tsp. garlic, chopped

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

¾ cup chicken broth

Cook the sauce ingredients in a regular pan on medium heat while whisking, then let simmer for 2 minutes until thick and shiny.  Add all of the first ingredients and then pour the sauce mixture over and toss and sprinkle peanuts on top.

Maple Crusted Chicken

 Maple Crusted Chicken

Shopping List

1 pound chicken breasts

3/4 cup Bisquick mix

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

1 egg beaten

4 tablespoons maple syrup (plus a little more to drizzle at the end)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In one shallow dish (I used a pie plate), combine Bisquick and pepper.  In a second shallow dish, beat your one egg. Take each chicken breast and pour one tablespoon of syrup on each one, coating both sides.  Then dip it first in the Bisquick mix, coating well, then dip it in the egg mix coating both sides, then dip it one more time back in the Bisquick mix.

Place chicken on foil lined cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Brush half of your melted butter over the tops of the chicken and bake 8 minutes. Flip chicken over and brush remaining half of your melted butter on opposite side and finish cooking another 8 minutes. Your chicken should be brown and kind of crispy with the juices running clear.

Serve each chicken breast with a drizzle of syrup.

(i got this from mixandmatchmama.blogspot.com)

Korean Beef

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (depending on how spicy you like it)

salt and pepper

1 bunch green onions, diced

Rice, cooked

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions. 

Add some angel hair pasta noodles soaked in chicken broth, ginger and garlic and a side salad and call it a meal.  Lanning is reminded of his mission and just can't get enough!

Banana cream pie from scratch

this is what Lann requested instead of cake for his birthday. It was the first time i'd made one from scratch.  It took awhile but boy was it thrilling when it all came together nicely:)

ingredients:

8 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs, slightly beaten

4 cups cold milk

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 pinch salt

3 bananas, sliced diagonally

Directions:

ingredients for 10" BAKED pie shell.

MIX cornstarch, sugar, salt.

ADD to COLD milk in a medium size saucepan.

STIR to dissolve.

Cook mixture over MEDIUM heat (Stir constantly to prevent scorching) until bubbly.

Pour 1/4 of the hot mixture into beaten eggs.

Mix thoroughly.

Return mixture to the saucepan.

Continue cooking until mixture comes back to"bubbling" and is thick.

Blend in butter and vanilla.

Pour half of the mixture into 10" baked pie shell.

Cover the top with sliced bananas.

Pour remainder of the mixture on top of the bananas.

Let the filling cool-- then refrigerate until firm.

Top the pie with sweetened whipped cream and serve!

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 Cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
• 3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 oz bag chocolate chips
• 1 bag Oreo Cookies, I used the double stuff 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.
2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Serve with a tall glass of milk, enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE Cookies 

Liff's Chicken Sesame Pasta

This is one of my favorite recipes. I have it jotted down on a worn out 3x5 card and it keeps getting lost.  Recently i've been looking for it for over a week and finally it turned up inside the kid's "goodnight gorilla" book.  So i think it's about time i jot it down somewhere it's easier to find....

-3 or 4 chicken breasts sauteed in oil, sprinkle with lemon pepper and slice in diagonal strips.
-1 pkg (12 oz) wide egg or bowtie noodles
-1 bunch of spinach
-chopped red, yellow, green peppers
-1/4 cup diced sugared almonds
dressing:  1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 T sugar
Mix dressing ingredients well in blender and pour over salad and refrigerate. Add spinach and almonds just before serving.

Slime

The girls and I had fun making slime.

Here are the directions:

1. Empty an entire 8 ounce bottle of Elmer's glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water, but the lid on then shake. Pour the water mixture into the mixing bowl and use a spoon to mix well.
2. Add a drop or two of food coloring.
3. Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into a plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution.
4. While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. When firm enough mix with your hands, keep adding the Borax to the glue and don't stop mixing until you get slime. The more you add the more firm it will get, make it as stringy or as firm as you like.
We put all of the Borax and water in, but may not add so much next time. The girls had fun with this stuff for hours. It keeps in a plastic bag for days.

Christmas cookie puzzle

I found this on the internet (somewhere?) and i can't wait to give a try with the little ones:)

Christmas Cookie Puzzle

This is a fun gift or activity for the child (or child-like person) in your life. An edible puzzle, to be decorated to your heart’s content and then eaten afterwards. Who says you can’t play with your food?

These are a lot of fun to make and after snapping the above photo, I let my son have at ‘er. He had a blast smearing the frosting and mixing all the colours together into an unappealing grey mass. It may not have looked very appetizing but he had so much fun and after scraping off an inch of frosting, it was still very edible. :)

You can make these as intricate or as simple as you like. It’s all left up to your imagination… or time.

The process is simple:

• Roll cookie dough into a rectangle (you’ll want it to be a little thicker then normal for stability). Lay desired cookie cutters on top of the rolled out dough to figure out placement. Press cookie cutters into the dough, then press walnut, pecan or almond halves into the dough to create handles. Remove cookie cutters and bake according to recipe instructions.
• Once baked, immediately re-cut the shapes with appropriate cookie cutters. Allow to cool completely before carefully removing them (it’s best to roll these out and bake them on the same piece of parchment paper so that you can pop the pieces out easier).
• Once removed, decorate all pieces with frosting (recipe below) and allow to dry before putting the puzzle back together, to avoid smudging. Package up in cellophane to give away or eat and enjoy. :)

The frosting I used is perfect for kids. It can be made thick enough to spread or watered down just a tad more so you can put it into resealable plastic bags and pipe it on. It also dries nice and hard so you don’t have to worry about any of the pieces smudging if you are wanting to gift it. But of course, you can use royal icing if you prefer.

Sugar Cookie Frosting

7 tablespoons of milk will give you a frosting thick enough to spread, add additional milk to reach your desired consistency.

• 5 cups icing sugar (confectioners sugar), sifted
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 7 + tablespoons milk

Mix together all ingredients until smooth, adding more milk as necessary to get desired consistency.

Tip: If piping onto cookies check the consistency by doing the 10 second ribbon test. Drag a knife through the frosting and lift to make a ribbon. It should smooth out in 5-10 seconds. If the icing comes together before 5 seconds, add more sugar. If it comes together after 10 seconds, add more liquid. This will ensure that it is firm enough to pipe but still loose enough to flood the cookie.

Hummus

Hummus

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans (or about 5 oz. of dried chickpeans or garbanzo beans which have been soaked overnight and cooked for)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (typically olive oil is used)

2 tablespoons fresh parsley or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 whole scallion

2 garlic cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1 Blend all ingredients except for beans in a food processor.

2 Add beans and process until it resembles a chunky dip; not completely smooth.

3 Enjoy!

Asian Ramen Noodles

Ok, so we were craving asian food and this is what Lanning came up with. Brilliant! 

First:  Make top ramen according to package directions....add the seasoning packet then

drain most of the broth but leaving enough so the noodles are moist and the seasonings are diluted

Then: add cooked chicken and cooked(or raw) vegetables. We added spinach but it would be 

yummy with anything. 

Finally: eat as is! So good. Or if you want to add your own spices that is yummy too. Our favorite is the curry powder or the cumin. If you like it hot, crushed red pepper is a hit. 

Banana Cake

ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk (i just put 1/2 cup regular milk mixed with 1/2 T vinegar let sit for 5 min)
1/2 cup shortening(i used 1/2 cup butter)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt....add bananas, buttermilk, shortening, eggs, and vanilla....beat on low til combined than beat on medium for 3 minutes
Bake 30-35 minutes in greased pan or in two round pans at 350 degrees.  I just used a white frosting with butter, milk, vanilla and powder sugar...but i'm sure it'd be good with a cream cheese frosting too.

meat loaf

from my friend Gina Larson

2 lbs ground beef
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. sage

combine all ingredients, mix well. Place in 9x6 pan or 8 inch square.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Remove from oven, pour off excess juices. Spoon enough meatloaf sauce to cover top. Reserve additional sauce for passing. Return to oven and bake for 20 more minutes or until done.
(sometimes I add a chopped up green or red pepper, if I have one)


meatloaf Sauce:
2 cups ketchup
1 cup brown sugar

mix and heat in microwave.

*and you have to serve meatloaf with green beans and a backed potato! yummy.

power smoothie

Julia was a little skeptical of the spinach smoothie, but she ended up wanting seconds!
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 cup orange juice (preferably the good stuff, like the not-from-concentrate orange juice)
3 tablespoons oat groats or 2 tablespoons steel cut oats (optional…kind of…)*
3/4 cup fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt (make sure it’s Greek and not Greek-style)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
3 cups baby spinach leaves
1 1/2 cups crushed ice

*To help your blender out, you can soak the oak groats in the orange juice overnight (either in the jar of your blender or in in a glass). This will make it easier to blend and will also eliminate a lot of the grittiness from the oats.

Combine ingredients in the jar of your blender and blend. You may (read: probably will) need to run it through twice. Serve immediately. Makes 1 giant smoothie, 2 smaller smoothies, or 3 snack-sized smoothies.

Pigs in a Blanket

Mix Together:

2 cups flour

1 T sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Then add:

4 T butter cut in pieces mix til cumbly

Then stir in:

1/2 cup grated cheese

make a well then pour in:

3/4 cup buttermilk (i use regular milk w/ almost 1T vinegar added to make buttermilk)

Let sit for 3 minutes then roll out and cut in triangles. Wrap around hot dog (we cut the hot dogs in half to make a better meat/bun ratio:)

Bake on cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12-13 minutes. It is a really yummy dough recipe.

BBQ Chicken pizza

Pizza crust:
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup cold water

dissolve yeast in warm water and let stand for 10 min. in mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, olive oil, honey and cold water. Add yeast mixture knead with dough hook (or by hand) for 5 min. form into a ball and place in oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour.

Roll out dough and put on a cookie sheet. Prebake crust for 10 min at 450 degrees before adding toppings. After topping pizza back again for 10 to 12 min.

BBQ pizza:
1 pizza crust
3 chicken breasts
2 or 3 cups cups barbecue sauce, divided
6 oz provolone cheese grated
6 oz Gouda cheese (or mozzarella) grated
1/4 a red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a ziploc bag, combine chicken and 2/3 cup of barbecue sauce. Marinate in fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

To cook, place chicken and marinade in small baking dish and bake for 30 min at 325 degrees. let chicken cool, then slice into thin pieces.

Sprinkle half of the grated cheese over crust, Spoon barbecue sauce over cheese; cover with chicken and onion. Sprinkle on remaining cheese. Bake for 10 to 12 min at 450 degrees. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Cabbage salad

2 chicken breasts cooked and sliced
1/2 head of cabbage
1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 green onions chopped
1 pkg. chicken Ramen noodles (broken in small pieces)
1 cup frozen peas

Dressing:
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 pkg. Top Ramen seasoning mix

yummy!

Graham Crackers and Milk

These two little girls love graham crackers and milk as a bedtime snake, especially Ruby. She's always asking for graham crackers and milk. It reminds me of when I was little and would eat graham crackers with milk at the kitchen table.

Crock Pot Breakfast

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 8 hrs 15 mins
• Servings: 10

About This Recipe

"Load up the crock pot the night before and wake up to an easy breakfast."

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 1 (32 ounce) bags frozen hash brown potatoes
• 1 lb bacon, cut into small pieces -cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup onions, diced
• 3/4 lb shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Layer the ingredients in your crock pot in this order-.
2. 1/2 of the potatoes- on the bottom.
3. 1/2 of the bacon.
4. 1/2 of the onions.
5. 1/2 of the cheese.
6. potatoes.
7. bacon.
8. onions.
9. cheese.
10. Beat the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper together. Pour this over the whole mixture. Cook on low for ten to twelve hours.

Mom's Lasagna

Cook one 1 lb. ground beef, drain grease and add half a chopped onion. Add 1 jar of Prego sauce and heat.

Mix one carton of cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.

In a 9 x 13 pan place lasagna noodles on the bottom (the regular noodles- not the no cook kind)
layer with half of your meat mixture followed by
half of your cottage cheese/ Parmesan mixture
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
another layer of noodles
the other half of the cottage cheese mixture
one cup of mozzarella
and end with the other half of your meat on top.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

*This lasagna is super easy to make and it tastes divine! I am normally not a lasagna lover but this recipe tastes so good. For a wonderful dinner add a piece of french bread, and a green salad. Yummy! Even Julia and Ruby love this dinner.