Crafty Halloween Treats!

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to share some Halloween treats that I found online and made up last minute this week. Check them out!

(Yes that's right ... Thing's I've pinned and actually gotten accomplished!! Woot woot!)

Project #1 - Witch Hat Cookies!

Nice and simple ... Hershey Kisses and Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies (upside down)

Can I take credit for this? Nope .. I pinned it here and made them myself for the kids!

Project #2 - S'more Halloween Fun Bags!
Ziploc sandwich baggies, graham crackers, Hersheys bars and Ghost Peeps!
I can't take credit for this one either... I pinned it here

They had a free printable on this site so I just stapled it to the top of the Ziploc full of the goodies!

One for each of the daycare kids ... (and their siblings)

 This poor little ghost didn't stand a chance ;)

Project # 3 - Goodie Bags!
Mom came up with these. These baggies said all sorts of Halloween words like ghost, goul, pumpkin etc.. and we filled them with suckers and fruit snacks. Each of them had a Avery label with the kids name and a little Halloween sticker. They turned out great!

 Project #4 - Pumpkin cupcakes (I didn't realize I had FOUR projects for this post! woo hoo!)

Inspired by these pumpkin cupcakes, I made my own. You might be able to see the creases of the pumpkin sides ... you might notice the cute pretzel pumpkin stem .. and you might also LOVE these cute little cupcake toppers my mom grabbed at the store. I LOVE them. They totally made them even better than I had planned.

Plastic pumpkin cupcake toppers are awesome because we can wash them and put them away for next year!

Frankenstien, Mummy, Bat, Witch, Vampire and Ghost are wishing you all a Happy Halloween!

I loved the Ghost the best.

This is what I had intended on making ... aren't they SO much better with the little pumpkin cupcake toppers?!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Tara

Crazy, Stupid Love

Has anyone seen this movie?

I saw it last weekend with a few girlfriends at the (cheap) movie theater.. Jeff was gone hunting so we thought we needed a girls night. This was the perfect movie for a girls night out!

Check it out! I think it comes out on DVD November 1st. It was the perfect amounts of funny, cute, romantic and serious... But I wouldn't see it with your mom ;)

Enjoy!

Four Cheese Stuffed Shells

Anyone interested in learning how to make this? 

4 Cheese Stuffed Shells!

Looks hard. Looks intimidating. Tastes great. SUPER easy to make. 

I promise!

Great to make for someone you want to impress ;)

I'm telling you it's pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

 Start with Mozzerella, ricotta, parmesan and asiago cheeses.

I used around 8 oz. mosserella, 25(ish) oz. of the ricotta, 2-3 handfuls of Parmesan, 5oz. Asiago and stir.

 My lovely mom made this sauce and put it in the crock pot all day .. boy was it good. She just doctored up a jar of spaghetti sauce which makes it ohhh so much better - but really, use whatever sauce you want.

 Boil the jumbo shells (I used 1 box of Barilla jumbo shells) - this was somewhere between 30 and 40 shells. Cook to the "pre bake" directions .. on this box it was 9 mins. The shells aren't quite done, that's okay!

Stuff the shells with the cheese mixture that you have stirred together.  

Tip: I found that it was easiest to open the shell if you pinch the short ends to open it up :)

 Place enough of the sauce you have chosen on the bottom of the casserole dish to cover it. Then put your stuffed shells in the casserole dish with the seam side down.

 At the end I had this much left over .. don't panic! We won't be wasting that stuff.

Cover the tops of the shells again with the sauce ... 

 Mix whatever amount you want of mozzarella and asiago. I used about 3 handfuls of each and mixed ..

 Added the cheese to the top of the sauce / shells. I also put the left over cheese mixture from the inside of the shells .. on top - why not?

Baked in the oven ... now I did 450 for 10 mins and it wasn't as hot as I wanted. I would do 350 for 30 mins next time :)

Enjoy! 

If you make this let me know how it goes - I would love to hear from you!

Jack-O-Lantern Time!

Halloween is almost here! Do you know how you can tell? I begged like a 6 year old asked Jeff to take me to the store to buy pumpkins! (Kroger = Buy one get one FREE)


Here is our front porch before:
( Please excuse the baby gate)

Here is our front porch after:

Much more festive with the Jack-O-Lantern's right? Right.
I taught the kids what a Jack-O-Lantern was and so we walked around the neighborhood investigating which neighbors had "Jack-O-Lanterns" and which "just had pumpkins" they are too funny "Thats just a pumpkin because it doesn't have a face!".. so now I feel like I can't just call them pumpkins anymore!



Here's all the tough work that went into those bad boys:

Yea, we carve the tops with power tools ... that's just how we roll. Last year Jeff and I carved pumpkins at a friends house (super fun) and we only had little 4 inch hand saws ..

Reality check: not everyone rolls like my dad.

Made quite a mess

Scooping all the guts

We had our traditional singing of "greasy grimy gopher guts" of course ... I'm starting to think everyone doesn't carve pumpkins like we do...

Used Mom's CutCo knives ...(see the whole block 2 pics above)

Light 'em up!

Me and my guys after a long night of pumpkin work ...

Note: This creepy mask in my dad's hand is a sick joke .. he hides that thing all around the house for me to find (in my bed, in the refridgerater, anywhere) and scream ... over and over...

October 2011

Pistachio Bread!

Fall is here .. and I've officially started baking.

This is an awesome thing for my mind ... and a terrible thing for my waist ;)

Here are some pics of my pistachio bread ... and the receipe! Feel free to try it and let me know how it goes .. it's SUPER easy and SUPER delicious!

Fresh out of the oven ...

Ready to eat!

Recipe:

 1 pkg Butter recipe cake mix (Hines has one)
4 eggs
8oz (1 cup) sour cream
1/4 c. Water

Mix all ingredients and then add in 1 large instant pistachio pudding.
Set aside.

In a separate small bowl mix:
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Chopped walnuts (I use pecans instead)
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

I make mine in a bunt pan ..

Grease pan, sprinkle 1/2 sugar mix on the bottom of the pan. Pour batter in the pan and then sprinkle the remaining 1/2 of the sugar mixture on the top of the batter.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 mins (keep checking until firm ... mine took a little longer than this)

Enjoy ;)
Let me know what you think! :)
T
 

Weekly Meal Plan for The Week Of October 3rd

Hey people!

I've decided to publish our meal plans! 

First reason: so that I remember what we have had .. 

Secondly: to maybe help someone else who's in a dinner slump! Don't be ashamed if this is you! I'm happy to help!

If you need the recipes just send me a message or leave a comment! :) I'm all about sharing!

 A few things first:

-Usually I choose what we will have for the next week on Thursday. This gives me time to get all the stuff in the house (grocery store trip ...)

-I only plan out our dinners. Lunches are usually left overs or sandwiches.

-I only plan Monday through Thursday so that Friday we can go out to eat and have left overs on the weekend.

-We always have a vegetable. I won't lie: I never think about that ahead. We keep the following in at all times: carrots, frozen green beans, frozen broccoli, frozen corn, frozen potato of some variety ... so I have plenty to choose from.

- I keep the list on our white board by the back door. Nice and simple, everyone can see it, I won't forget about it.

Here we go:

Monday - Chilli dogs

Tuesday - Chicken, broccoli and stuffing casserole

Wednesday - French toast, sausage & bacon

Thursday - Chicken and dumplings

Friday - Go Out!