Are you all set for Halloween?  I think we have our costumes in order.  The two older boys are both going to be Nija’s;  Dane, a transformer – Octimus Prime; and Annika a Fairy (???  I think that is what it is supposed to be..). 

Our church does Trunk O’ Treat next Sunday evening.  We are in a rural area, so all the church members come with their trunks decorated and the kids trick o’ treat to each person’s trunk.  Then we have a bonfire & some yummy food.  It always is a good time!  But at any rate, that means I have to have everyone’s costumes ready a bit early. 

We also have 4 medium sized pumpkins sitting out front that we have had for a few weeks.  We picked those up at the Farmer’s Market awhile back.  The kids are now BEGGING to carve them.  Blah… that always makes such a mess, but it makes good memories, so I guess that makes it worth it!  We bought one of those “kid friendly” knife kits at Wal-Mart the other day so maybe they will be able to help a bit more this year.  If only I wasn’t the one that has to get all the icky stuff out…  

Next comes the yummy food & I have some fun things for you to try out.  Here are some great Kids Halloween Recipes your kids are sure to enjoy!

C-

Last night we were invited to a bonfire / hayride fall party!  Nothing says fall quite like that!  Which got me to thinking….

What happens when our family gets invited to a party? 

Here’s what I do:
- Check to make sure the calendar is clear
- Add it to the calendar
- Remind husband a couple days before the event
- Remind husband the day of event
- Remind husband an hour before the event
- Remind husband 5 minutes before event
- Make the food to share
- Make sure everyone is dressed properly
- Make sure we all have jackets in the car
- Make sure we have lawn chairs
- Make sure the diaper bag is stocked & in the car
- Have all the boys go to the bathroom / change Annika’s diaper
- Make sure I don’t have smeared boogers, food etc. all over me
- Get all the kids buckled into the car
- Grab last minute things – drinks, stroller, the food, a stray shoe

Here’s what Matt does:
- Gets into the car (& asks me what is taking so long)

Just Sayin’…

Anyway, here is the recipe for the Peanut Butter Brownie Pizza I took to the party.  My friend Holly brought this to a football game the other day and I immediately told here I NEEDED the recipe.  Here is a word of warning though…  Make this for a party!  DO NOT make this just for your family unless you are very skinny and need to gain some weight.  Because.. seriously… you will eat the entire thing in a day – it is that good…  (only that wouldn’t be good…) 

Peanut Butter Brownie Pizza

1 package brownie mix
1 package (8oz) cream cheese
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 packages peanut butter cups
1/4 cup peanuts (chopped)
chocolate syrup

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions.
Place parchment paper on 15-inch round baking stone.  (do not bake without parchment paper or batter will run off stone while baking) 
Pour brownie mix on paper and spread into a 14-inch circle.
Bake  @ 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until set
cool completely
Mix cream cheese, sugar, & peanut butter until smooth
spread over cooled brownie crust
chop candy and peanuts and sprinkle over peanut butter mixture. (I left the peanuts off – accidentally… & it was good that way too.) 
drizzle chocolate over pizza
cut
refrigerate

Oh, and here is another funny story.  So, I went to the store and bought all the ingredients to make 2 of these.  One for the before mentioned party, and one to take to the mission fest at our church today.  The next day I was talking to Holly and I let her know I bought everything.  Somehow we ended up talking about the peanut butter cups & I think I asked her if she uses the miniature sized cups or the regular sized.  I said I had bought packages of the regular sized because I figured they would be easier to chop up.  She said “Yes, that’s what I use too – 4 of those regular sized ones – you know two packages..”  I was like WHAT?  I bought two BAGS thinking that was what you meant by 2 packages.  I almost put on who knows how many peanut butter cups…  probably 40!  LOL  So two packages means two regular size, like you get at the check-out stand, packages.  Not BAGS…  although I would say maybe 3 packages would make it even better.  I personally used six peanut butter cups per pizza. 

C-

How is it that every night I say I am going to bed by 10:30 p.m. and every night I end up in bed around 12:30 or 1:00 a.m.  HMMM  Too much to do I guess!  This evening I have been working on a custom menu for a client. 

At any rate, I was going to blog about our popcorn today.  We tried a “new” old-fashioned way of doing popcorn today – on the stove…. and it was good!  It was gone before I hardly had a chance to grab a 2nd handful. 

Put 3 tsp. of Canola/Vegetable Oil in a 3 qt. saucepan

Add 3 kernels of popcorn, cover.

Place on medium high heat and wait for those 3 kernels to pop.

When they have popped, remove from heat and add 1/3 cup of kernels.  Cover.  Count to 30.

Return pan to burner and when popcorn begins popping vent lid a tad and move it around (this was the hard part for me ,with a flat top stove, I didn’t want to scratch it!)  Remove when there are a few seconds between each pop.

Dump into a large bowl

Add 1/2 stick of butter to the warm pan & melt.  Pour over popcorn.  Salt & Enjoy!

This leaves very few “granny seeds” and makes nice yummy old-fashioned popcorn.  Much better than the microwave type, and really not that hard!  Give it a try! 

C-

Hey, if you ever visit my The Menu Mom Blog, would you please do me a HUGE favor?  I have a survey posted there and I would greatly appreciate you answering it for me.  Thanks so much!

C-

So I had a house full of 9 year olds the last two days.  It was fun, it was good!  They were much less rambunctious than I actually expected them to be.  They didn’t sleep much last night  (or maybe not al all??? – story depends on who you ask..)  but a good time was had.  And… I even convinced all of them to take a 3 hour nap this afternoon before football practice!  I think I deserve an award for that feat! 

At any rate…  a big part of any party (kids or otherwise) is of course the food!  Ryan had a few requests, and then I threw in a couple of my ideas as well.  One of my ideas was homemade soft pretzels.  I had some at a party a couple weeks ago and they were so so so good!  So… we tried two recipes:

Soft Giant Pretzels & Hot Buttered Pretzels (the recipe from the party I went to) 

I made the dough from the Soft Giant Pretzels, but I followed the baking soda bath & baking instructions from the Hot Buttered Pretzels – for both recipes.  They were both pretty good, but the kids decided they liked the Hot Buttered Pretzels best.  I didn’t think they tasted quite as good as the ones I tasted at the party though – who knows what I did differently…  It was my first try at making homemade pretzels, but I think they will probably be requested again in the future – they were a yummy treat! 

Do you have a favorite homemade pretzel recipe?   If so, post it in the comments for us all to enjoy!

C- 

Okay, if you have kids, you are going to to know what I am talking about here.  If you do have kids and can’t relate, please don’t tell me.. because I want to believe that ALL moms have these kind of days periodically. 

So all I can say is… What the heck is up with my kids today?  Okay, let’s start with the baby – at least I know what is wrong with her.  She has a new tooth coming in that is making her oh so very crabby.  At least she has an excuse, I can ride with that. 

It’s the 3 boys… all I can say is they are in sooooo much trouble today!  Is it the HOT humid weather that makes us all go crazy?  Am I just crabby because I am adding a year on to my age tomorrow?  Or maybe we can just chalk it up to a horrible, no good, very bad day. 

So the day started with fighting – lots and lots of pointless arguing, pushing, punching mayhem.  One cries then the next cries and on it goes.  Make It STOP!  So, I decided they must need something constructive to do – laundry sorting is prescribed.  And they are off – to sort laundry.  Of course every couple minutes my quiet bliss is interrupted with “Mom, which pile does this go in?”  “Mom, this has light and dark on it, now what?”  But hey, they were working together – all is good.

A few minutes later I decided to go check on them at which point I find the grocery bags full of groceries that I had sent down with them last night to put into the FREEZER.  Yes, you read that correctly LAST NIGHT, GROCERIES, FREEZER, FLOOR.  That is correct, my groceries are on the floor not in the freezer…   At this point the amount of money spent on said groceries is tallied up and deducted from my darling son’s allowance accounts.  (Too bad for them a lot of it was those Dippin Dots type of ice-cream – that they LOVE – that I only buy once a year when it goes on sale and there was like 20 containers of that – destroyed.)

Moving on – we headed to town on what was supposed to be a fun trip to the local Cherry Street Art Festival.  The actual festival was not too exciting – but we got out of the house and partook in some yummy non-healthy food in the 90 degree 75% humidity weather.  Of course what did they do in the car?  Fight.

We got home and Dane very nicely asked his brothers over and over and over again to play Wii with him.  They very rudely responded no, no, no.  So I asked them to go play Wii with him and the whining continued – “we don’t want to! blah blah blah”.  So, I decided to give them a gift.  They don’t have to play Wii at all for the next week! (since it is such punishment to do so!)  And then the wailing began…  WHAT!?!  I was granting their wish… they didn’t want to play Wii…. 

At this point I go downstairs to do some laundry (and play some Wii with Dane) where I found the laundry half-sorted.  Apparently after the freezer incident they decided they didn’t have to finish the laundry job?  So back down they came… They stood and stared as I took clothes out of the dryer, put them into a laundry basket and turned around and looked at them and said “These are clean – do not sort these.”  I left, came back 5 minutes later… and guess what they decided to sort first?  Yup… my clean clothes.  Seriously???  I said (in a very annoyed voice) “what happened, I told you these are clean!”  Their response? “Oh, we thought you said they were dirty..”  HUH?  “Why would I be taking clean clothes out of the dryer?  You stood there and watched me do that and I told you they were clean.”  At which point Dane says “It wasn’t me… it was them…(pointing his finger at his brothers)”  LOL  Of course it was no one’s fault!

We had a make-shift dinner – I had had it at this point.  They were (fairly healthily) fed – all is well.  Matt gets home, and he is still in a good mood because he has been gone all day.. So he offers to set-up the sprinkler for them to play in since it is so hot.  (the boys had begged earlier to do this and I had said no.) Dane is excited – goes and tells his brothers who say “We don’t WANT to…”  At this point Matt MAKES them go out and play in the sprinkler.  I KNOW… such child abuse. 

They are now downstairs (probably playing Wii)  LOL  But I did catch one great moment of the day!  My two youngest playing together – NICELY!

C-

My goodness, I have had a lot of you asking to see these pictures! Glad you are excited! It was really fun and the flyer… turned out BEAUTIFUL! Here are the top 3 of each taken by Studio Rebekah. And here’s her fun blog!

Glazed Pork Kabobs

And here’s the recipe:

Glazed Pork Kabobs
Makes 8 servings

4 carrots large, pared and cut into 1-inch thick slices
1/2 c apricot preserves
1/2 c tomato sauce
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs lemon juice fresh
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs onions minced
2 lb boneless pork shoulder cut into 1-inch cubes
Fresh pineapple chunks
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. In a small saucepan, cook carrots in a small amount of water until crisp-tender, about 15 minutes. Drain carrots and set aside.

2. Combine apricot preserves, tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, oil, and onion. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Thread carrots, pork, and pineapple chunks onto 8 skewers; season with salt and pepper. Grill over medium coals (or gas grill), turning and brushing frequently with sauce, about 15 to 20 minutes or until done.

Crunchy Cheese Potatoes

And the recipe:

Crunchy Cheese Potatoes
Makes 8 servings

1 c (8 ounces) sour cream
1/2 c milk
1 tbs minced chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 c (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 c finely crushed cornflakes
Additional minced chives, optional

1. In a large bowl, combine sour cream, milk, chives, salt and pepper. Add potatoes and mix thoroughly.

2. Spread in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.

3. Combine cheese and cornflakes; sprinkle over potatoes.

4. Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

5. Sprinkle with additional chives if desired.

The company choose the first picture in each batch as the ones to use in their flyer. So there you have it! I survived my first food photo shoot!

C-

Thank you all for your well wishes for my dear friend. She is at the hospital today, so do please keep her in your prayers! It is going to be a hard day.

On a lighter note, I found a couple great recipes this week that I wanted to share with you.

MckPancakes
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/05/mckpancakes.html

Pitas
http://www.momadvice.com/blog/2009/06/play-it-again-momma-making-your-own.htm

The sleepover went pretty well. The boys played GREAT! Bedtime was a bit more complicated, but I think they all did eventually sleep. The ticking of our clock was driving one little guy bonkers, so we got the battery out of that. Then we had a big thunderstorm, so we had another little guy climb into bed with us (too cute!). It was the first sleepover for all of them, so considering that, I think they did great!

I’m off to finish up laundry and get packing!

Take Care!

C-

Has spring sprung at your house? It is typical midwest weather here – nice for a couple days, cold for a couple days. This weekend is looking very promising though! I’m going to have to get out into the garden once the rain stops and I don’t sink into the mud.

Our cat accidentally got locked in the garage last night, and when we woke up there were 5 cats in there! She had her kittens overnight. 1 solid white (which we’ve never had) and 3 black. She is a first time mom, and I don’t think she was quite sure what to do at first but I think she is getting the hang of it now.

This is the third week in a row that I have gotten to take a meal to another family. The first two times were for happy occasions – a family moving and a family that had a baby. This week is not under such happy circumstances, but I’m just glad to be able to help out in a small way. All three times I have made a variation of this:

Meatball Hashbrown Bake
Makes 8 servings

2 eggs
3/4 c crushed saltine crackers
6 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp salt divided
1 1/2 tsp pepper divided
1 lb ground beef
1 can cream of chicken soup undiluted
1 c sour cream
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 large onion chopped
1 pkg frozen shredded hash brown potatoes thawed

1.In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs.Stir in the cracker crumbs, garlic, 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. papper.Crumble beef over mixture and mix well.Shape into 1″ balls.

2.In a covered skillet over low heat, cook meatballs in a small amount of water until browned; drain.In a bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, cheese, onion, and remaining salt and pepper.With paper towels, pat hash browns dry.Stir into the soup mixture.

3.Transfer to a greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ baking dish.Arrange meatballs over top, pressing lightly into mixture.Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until meat is no longer pink and potatoes are tender.

The first time I made it As Is. The second time (and this week) I am going to make it with pork chops on top instead of meatballs. (just brown them a bit and layer them on top of the potatoes – then cook as per instructions) It is a great dish to make as you can prepare it in advance and have it all ready for someone to pop into the oven when needed.

Annika is busy crawling EVERYWHERE. She is getting pretty fast too – keeping this mama very busy!

This weekend I am taking some stuff to a friend’s house for a garage sale. I have way more stuff than she’ll have room for, but it is a start! I love being able to take stuff to sell at other people’s garage sales, and not having to run the sale myself! So nice! I’m grateful to have friends who let me do that!

Finally, here are some family pictures from the last couple months: http://www.pastorsfamily.com/Jan-Apr2009/

Christine

Glazed Baked Ham
6 lb fully cooked bone-in ham
Brown Sugar-Orange Glaze – Recipe Below
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tbs orange juice or pineapple juice
1/2 tsp ground dry mustard

1. Heat oven to 325°. Place ham on rack in shallow roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer in thickest part of ham. Bake uncovered 1 hour 30 minutes or until thermometer reads 135° to 140°.

2. Make glaze. Brush glaze over ham during last 45 minutes of baking. (Also see Recommended Meat Doneness)

3. Remove ham from oven, cover with tent with aluminum foil and let stand 10 to 15 minutes for easier carving.

Brown Sugar-Orange Glaze
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons orange or pineapple juice
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
Mix all ingredients.

Frosted Fruit Salad
1 small package lemon jello
2 c boiling water
1 1/2 c cold water
1 small can crushed pineapple (reserve juice)
2 diced bananas
1/2 package miniature marshmallow
1 egg beaten
2 tbs flour
2 tbs butter
1/2 c sugar
1 c cool whip

1. Empty both packages of Jello into a bowl and add boiling water. Once jello is disolved add cold water and pour into a 9×13 pan.

2. Let cool, but not set and add pineapple (save juice) bananas, and marshmellows

3. After jello is set combine in a small saucepan egg, flour, butter, sugar and pinapple juice. Cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, stir in Cool Whip and frost Salad. Refrigerate until cold and serve.

Family Favorite Stuffing
Makes 8 servings

1 bag Peppridge Farms Herb seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 c butter
1 – 1 1/2 can chicken broth
2 stalk celery chopped
1 medium onion chopped

1. Melt the butter, add the onion and celery. Saute for a short time until onions and celery are tender-crisp.

2. Add the above to the stuffing mix and mix. Gradually stir in the chicken broth. You want it to be somewhat but not real mushy.

3. Cook at 375 degrees, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes.

Corn Casserole
1 stick butter
1 (15.25-oz) can corn, drained
1 (14.75-oz) can cream-style corn
1 (7-oz) pkg corn bread and muffin mix
2 eggs, beaten
8 oz sour cream

Melt butter in a 13″ x 9″ baking dish in a 350 degree oven. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. When margarine is melted, remove baking dish from oven. Pour corn mixture directly into baking dish with the butter; combine thoroughly. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls - Found in the freezer section of the grocery store