Homemade Cheez Its - AKA "YUMMY"!

Today we made Homemade Cheez it Crackers. They are oh so yummy!

I found the on Pinterest. I love Cheez It cracker and this recipe only called for six ingredients. That's very do-able for me. :)

My kids were very excited to help.

No, it didn't bother me at all that they weren't all uniform. :)

Tell me those don't look delicious! They were. It will be a struggle to leave some for the officer to taste.

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Cheez-Its:

• 2 Cups Sharp Cheddar, shredded.
• 3/4 Cup flour, plus more for dusting
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces (I used salted butter, but if you would like to use unsalted use 1 teaspoon salt instead)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and pepper in 5-second pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and process until the dough forms a ball, which takes about 10 seconds.

On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 13×7 inch rectangle that is about 1/16″ thick. I used a serrated fondant cutter to trim off the sides and make the serrated edges of the crackers.

Next cut the dough into 1×1 inch squares. Transfer the crackers, carefully, to a parchment-lined large cookie sheet. Using the dulled end of a skewer make a hole in each cracker and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Bake the crackers on the middle rack for 15 minutes, or until the ends are barely browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool thoroughly on the cookie sheet. (Tip: remove crackers when they are still light as they will darken when cooling on the cookie sheet.)

Even though I didn't have a food processor, it worked out just fine. I just had to get my hands in there and knead the dough.

Wild Kratts

Back in October, we went to visit family in Texas. On the way home, we surprised the kids with a one night stay at Great Wolf Lodge. It is there that my children discovered Wild Kratts. It's on PBS. When we got home, it took us a couple of weeks to figure out what time it came on.

My kids love this show. It's very educational. They play Wild Kratts all the time. Even though the two main characters are men, my daughter plays along.

On the way home tonight from church, my son asked me if we could play "What animal am I?" He thinks of an animal and we ask him a gazillion questions to find out what animal he has in mind.

This used to be a fairly easy game. My son often had a leprechaun (yes, I know a leprechaun isn't an animal, it just what he always thought of) in mind and my daughter always picked something easy like an elephant or Nemo.

Those days are gone.

Now, largely due to Wild Kratts, we are picking animals like....

the proboscis monkey

and the emu

and lastly the flying dragon lizard

Oh well, at least it makes it interesting. I'm sure next season we'll have new and interesting animal in the "What animal am I?" game.

It's Heeeeeerrrreee!

It's Here!!!!!My passport came in the mail today. It came in a regular priority mail envelope. It was addressed to me from the U.S. Government. It almost looked like junk mail.

I ripped open the envelope and out slide my passport. I said, "My passport came, MY passport came in the mail!!"

My daughter ran to me to look at it with me. I opened the first page with all the info and the mugshot on it. My daughter immediately said, "What's wrong with you, you look like a bad guy?!!!" She is obviously possesses the same sweet heart as her brother.

My excitement did not lesson. I called 3 people in less than two minutes (my two sisters and mom) to let them know I had gotten it.

Okay that's it. Just keeping you updated on the latest.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

My friend, Mrs. Heather, told me about a quick easy recipe I wanted to try. Her recipe had only two ingredients. I can't remember if she said she got it from Pinterest or not. I added one extra ingredient.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 can of pumpkin
1 bag of chocolate chip muffins (this is the ingredient I added) :)

Mix all ingredients together. That's right - no egg, no oil, or water!

Bake according to package. I made muffins so 350 degrees at about 18 minutes.

They were delicious!

It's a done deal!

It's a done deal.

The tickets have been purchased for our Korea trip. We will depart May 24 and return on June 5.

13 days.

I'm a little giddy with excitement! :)

I am unsure what the officer and the kids will do when I am gone. I am sure they will be on 'vacation' from school - haha.

That's all. Just wanted to share this with ... everyone!

YIPEE!!!

Reece's Cheesecake Brownies

Last week I was trying to decide what dessert I was going to make from Pinterest. The dessert I chose to make this week was the Reece's Cheesecake Brownies. I only had the cream cheese in my frig, but I really figured I couldn't mess this up. Just looking at the ingredients, you know it's fat free. :)

I mean what could be bad about a recipe that called for this:

I can count on half a hand how many times I've actually used a hand mixer.

I knew this was probably going to be too rich for my blood when I put the cream cheese, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and 12 oz. of Reeces Pieces in the bowl.

I baked the brownie batter and cheesecake portion together. Then, I melted the chocolate chips and whipping cream together and topped the brownie/cheesecake mixture. I cut up the Reeces Peanut Butter Cups and topped the chocolate chip layer. CRAZY!

Now this is what Pip and Ebby's picture looked like:

It looks pretty good right? This is what mine looked like:

Their picture is much nicer looking. I could only eat about 4 bites (big ones though) of this before it was too much for me. It is so sweet and rich. I did it though. I think next week I will try an appetizer recipe. I am hosting a Created for Purity study at my house and I think I'll try out a Pinterest appetizer recipe on my guests.

So, I don't think I would make this again, only because it is just too sweet for me. I was wondering if I could have not used the Reeces Pieces in it. I will be delivering this dessert to a few friends and maybe I can get their feedback about the Reeces Pieces.

And if you are not quite sure if your friends will like your treat, cute packaging never hurts! :)

I'll let you know what appetizer I make next week. Here is a printable version of the Reece's Cheesecake Brownies if you are interested.

Wanted

I threw away my extra passport pictures last night. Remember I had said they resembled mugshots. Well I wasn't kidding. Still not posting them.

However, this morning my son came in to my bedroom and said, "Mommy, why are you throwing this away?" He had my passport picture in his hand. Then he said, "It's a good picture of you." Bless his sweet heart.

1) I really don't have anywhere but up to go as far as good pictures goes according to my son.

2) Apparently he doesn't mind digging in the trash for trash.

When I told him I threw it away because I didn't need it and that I thought it looked like a mugshot (I then had to tell him what a mugshot was), he said, "Great. I am going to write "WANTED" on it put it up on the frig!"

See? Sweet heart.

Note to self: Ask the officer to take out the trash.

Hold me to it

My mom joined Pinterest. I am a little shocked. She asked for an invite, so I sent her one. I don't know why I'm shocked. She got onto Facebook after I did and now she has over 700 friends from all over the world. I only have 146. It doesn't bother me that I have 146, in fact, I would probably like even less. However way back when, I never thought my mom would get on Facebook and have more than 4 times the friends that I have. It's perfectly understandable though because she's awesome.

Anywho, I was on Pinterest and looking at my "Food I have to Try" board. I have a "Food I've Made From Pinterest" and a "Food I have to Try" board. I think it's about time to try one of these more complicated (and when I say more complicated I mean more than 4 ingredients and 15 minutes prep time) dessert recipes.

I am thinking maybe this.....

Better than Twix Bars

or maybe this......

Reece's Cheesecake Brownies

or this....

Oreo Truffle Brownies

What do you think?

I am not sure yet. They all sound so good. If you want the recipe to them, you can click on the names below the pictures and it will take you to the original blog post with the recipe.

Okay I am going to do it. Whether it turns out incredible delicious or absolutely horrendous, I will blog about my adventure. Mostly like I will choose one that I don't think I can mess up or that I already have most of the ingredients for.

If anyone want to bake a spectacular treat themselves and swap treats with me this week, leave a comment and we'll do it.

Good luck.

Wish me good luck!

Planning, Planning

Tuesday night we had our first meeting to plan some details for our Korea trip. My mom and I met at my sister house. We called my other sister, Gina, who lives out of town.

I think we finally nailed down a date for departure. We were going to go in late June/early July. However, my mom informed us it's monsoon season. It's hot and humid in June, July & August. We decided to move it to late May/early June.

As we were chatting, the topic of shots was brought up. What???? I might have to have shots??? No one told me this. Turns out I might need a typhoid shot but nothing else. Anyone else have any other info on this you would like to share with me from your travels abroad?

We plan to land in Seoul and spend a couple of days there. We will most likely go to Pusan and spend a couple of days there. It is supposed to be very pretty there. The last place we will go is to Kunsan where the orphanage that my sister and I were adopted from. I am looking forward to all of it. I'm sure it be a roller coaster of emotions for me.

I did a little internet reading last night. Apparently, I will need take deodorant. They say it's not as readily available as it is here. I will also need to bring my own toilet paper for public restroom use. There were pictures of some public restrooms - let me just say it looks like it could be an adventure. I will take my own rolls!

I am a little nervous about the food. I have mentioned I don't like any seafood. I have adverse reactions to any kind of raw meat (seeing it, hearing it, feeling it). I am pretty sure my sister, Mistie, and I will pack a suitcase of food to eat, just in case. We can use it on the way back home for our souvenirs. :)

My son has requested for me to bring back some kind of tae kwon do thing. He asked for a samurai sword. Not sure if that will make it through customs. I will be wanting to get my daughter a hanbok, a girl's traditional Korean dress. Maybe I'll find a Korean motor officer to take a picture by for the officer. Who knows.

With each little step, I get a little more excited and a little more nervous. The last time I was out of the United States, except for lunch in Mexico, was when I was born. So to say this is a special trip is an understatement.

Alright no more boring trip details ... for now! :)

Passports

I sent off for my passport today. I've mentioned before about my upcoming trip to Korea. I had downloaded and completed the form for the passport back in November, but because of the holidays I had not sent it off.

I went to the bank to get my naturalization papers. I went to CVS to get my passport picture taken. This is the last passport picture I had taken when I came to the United States.

I kind of look like a boy and I'm not sure what's up with my hair. It seems to be shaved. Sadly, this picture is still cuter than the one I had taken today. And.. no it will not be posted here. The lady taking my picture said, they are very picky and they do not want you to smile very much in the picture. So I didn't smile and it looks like a mugshot.

I went to the passport office and turned in all the papers. It was easy. I hadn't expected it to be so easy. That's why I decided to do all the passport errands today. If there was something I messed up or something else I had to bring, I could come back and have it taken care of by the end of the week. However, it was a breeze.

My mom met us at the passport office to renew her passport. Then she treated us to lunch at Pei Wei. Yum!

I'm getting excited. We have a conference call scheduled tomorrow night to discuss more details of the trip. Yeah!

That's it. I'm sure when I get my actual passport I'll be blogging about that too (with no picture). :)

Finally started cooking

Blog friends, I turn 40 this year.

4. 0.

40.

I figured it's about time I put on my big girl pants and put together a cookbook. I have a few cookbooks. They look too complicated for me. For a single recipe they have 15 ingredients and say things like, al dente, water bath, and parboil. However, I also have a family cookbook, Taste of Home Cookbooks, and Taste of Home magazines I like to use. Many times in the magazines or in the newspaper I would find a recipe I would like to try and I would tear it out. Only to put it some place to never be found again. That's one of the reasons I like Pinterest. I keep all the recipes I like on one board.

Anywho, Last fall I attended a bible study, Called to be a Keeper. One of the videos was about cooking. I cannot remember who was speaking on the video, but I loved one of her ideas. She had many cookbooks, but she had two three-ring binders she used for most of her cooking. She used dividers and had page protectors. One binder was a "tried it and love it" cookbook. The other was a "recipes I would love to try" cookbook. I copied straight from her.

Here are my cookbooks.

I purchase 2 Avery three-ring binders with the see through covers. I used some of my scrapbook paper I had on hand to make covers for each of them. I made categories like appetizers, side dishes, soups & casseroles, main dishes, & desserts. I went through many of my magazines, calendars and torn out recipes and filed them away in one of the two cookbooks.

I made notes on some of recipes about things I changed when I made it or if someone in our family didn't like it. That will be nice for when the officer isn't home I can make a recipe the kids and I enjoyed.

I know cooking isn't rocket science, but I have just never felt remotely adequate in the kitchen. Not that I do now. I just feel more organized. I would love to be able to have a cookbook full of great recipes to hand down to my daughter (or son) when she gets older.

So 2012 begins the year of my education in cooking. I'm starting with 4-5 ingredient recipes from Pinterest and will progress from there. :) You'll be seeing more and more posts from recipes our family has loved. Feel free to share any fabulous recipes you have with me too!

It was a ball!

When I asked my daughter what kind of birthday party she wanted to have, she replied, "stuffed animals". I don't know how to do a "stuffed animal" party, so my daughter settled on a soccer theme. Since my daughter has played this past year, this would not be hard to do.

I made cupcakes and topped them with a soccer ball. You can purchase soccer ball toppers but it was cheaper to print them out, cute them and glue them onto toothpicks! We also had some of her favorite snacks for guests to munch on.

For decoration I taped her two soccer jerseys on the wall along with a sign that said, "The 7th (her name) Cup!" I used a soccer goal my daughter had for table decoration. I used her soccer pictures and trophies too.

The officer took an 8x10 picture of my daughter kicking the ball and taped it to cardboard. He used an Exacto knife to cut the picture out to make a silhouette. It was exactly what I wanted.

I purchased a red soccer ball and let all the guest sign their birthday wishes on the ball.

For party favors, I filled clear cellophane bags with soccer erasers, soccer magnets, soccer pencils, and candy.

I had taped a grass tablecloth on the coffee table and used masking tape to make a soccer field. I thought the kids could play soccer on it, but they opted to go outside and play soccer for real! We were so excited the weather was actually nice (at least for December). It's usually too cold to go out side by the time her birthday rolls around. However, we were able to let all the kids go outside. Everyone had fun playing soccer together.

My daughter was very excited about getting her: American Girl wheelchair for her doll, Lilly. Her brother had tried to make her a wheelchair out of Tinkertoys, but it didn't quite hold up together.


The officer got my daughter her birthday roses. One for each year God has blessed us with her.

Happy Birthday Girly!!! We love you!

Valentine's Day treat holder

Okay obviously I am not one of those bloggers who can come up with fancy, cute, titles for their blog posts. I just tell it like I see it.

This past week I went to Target and shopped their Christmas clearance. Since many stores already have Valentine's Day stuff out, it was on my mind. As I shopped the clearance, I found red and white felt heart ornaments. They came in a set of three and they were 70% off, which made them .30! Score!

I had no idea how I was going to use them, but I purchased nine of each color. I was pinning the other day and saw these cute felt envelopes used to hold treats for Valentine's Day. I have a lot of embroidery thread and felt left over from making my daughter felt food.

So I made my version of the treat envelope. I stitched the hearts onto the front (or is that actually the back?) of the envelope. I stitched up the sides and sewed on a button. Since I don't have anything to make a button hole, I just used sewed on a piece of string that will wrap around the button. On the back I stitched my children's name.

I don't know why I am starting so early on this. Probably because if I don't do it now, I will forget about it. Now I just have to put these some place where I won't lose them and where I won't forget where I put them. Tricky, Tricky!

Ninja Time!

I am behind on my birthday posts! Since my son got his black belt this year, he decided for his 9th birthday he wanted a ninja party. When I started researching ideas for birthday party ideas for ninja parties, there wasn't as much information as I usually find for parties. I did find some ideas on Pinterest. I didn't have a lot of decorations either, so I used my son's LEGO Ninjago sets as decorations.

I have decided that I like having cupcakes for birthday parties. It's cheaper than purchasing a cake. It's easier to serve at the party. You can also make any kind of topper for your cupcakes to match your theme. I just found a little ninja on Google I could use as a topper. I laminated the little ninjas so they didn't wilt.

My friend, Mrs. C., make some ninja cookies for me.
I found a couple of cute ideas on Pinterest. I purchase small water bottles, took the labels off and wrapped it in black duct tape. I added a mask and drew some eyes on the mask. Voila, spy water.

I also found the rice crispy sushi treats. I purchased the prepackaged Rice Krispy snacks. I used Fruit Roll-up tape to wrap the rice crispy treats and Mike & Ikes in the middle.

I purchased a ninja mold on Amazon.com to make some candy ninjas. Nevermind the Red Dye #40.

I made some origami bowls to hold rice crackers and Chinese noodles.

For games, the boys had to complete their ninja training.

First, they had to open the ninja pinata. I purchased a soccer ball pinata and spray painted it black. I added a ninja mask. They used a sword to to break open the pinata. I found some ninja bags at a novelty store in the mall. I put chopsticks, chopstick holders, sword pens, ninja stars, ninja pencils, and candy inside the favor bags.

Second, I made some origami ninja stars so they could throw them into different size bowls. Each bowl was worth a different amount of points.

Lastly, they had make their way through the laser beam hallway. I taped crepe paper all over the hallway. They had to make their way through the "lasers" without breaking any of the paper.

It was lot of fun. We ended up having two different parties, one for family and one with friends. We didn't get around to playing games with the family. We make some origami animals, but I wish we would have played a few of the games with the family.

Cannot believe he's 9. I can't believe he's almost a decade old. Yikes!

Happy Birthday, Son!

Crockpot Potato Soup

I made my first crockpot potato soup today (from Pinterest). I'm loving my crockpot more and more. In this recipe you can use frozen hash browns, but I used real potatoes. I didn't peel them, just cut them up into bite size pieces.

The link for the original recipe is here.

Crockpot Potato Soup

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns {I used Ore Ida}

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {don’t use fat free. It WON’T melt!!!}

Bacon, shredded cheese, sliced green onions, & sour cream (whatever toppings you would like)

In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese.

Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat.

About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted.

Memory Jar

I was on fire last night with the blogging. It was nice. Once I sat down the blog, it was easy. I guess it's just finding the time to do it. When I started I knew I would write the Randomness post, but had no idea what else I would write about. I looked back at my memory card in my camera and saw pictures from November and I started to remember the things I wanted to write about.

Last night, I also spent a little time making a Memory Jar. I found the idea on Pinterest. Yeah, just get used to hearing about Pinterest. They had a plain mason jar filled with paper.

I wanted to add a little to my jar so I went to Hobby Lobby, armed with my 40% off coupon, and purchased a jar, stickers and matching ribbons. The jar only cost around $2.49. The stickers $1.99 (they are 40% this week at Hobby Lobby). The ribbon was the most expensive at $4.99.

Throughout this year, 2012, we will write down any great memories on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. I hope to continue to do this for a couple of years at least. I think it will be a lot of fun to read them at the end of the year and remember all the fun times we've had together.

I'm sure the officer will put a memory slip in for today. He's excited because when he left for work this morning, he found the Three Stooges on tv. He used to watch it every Friday night with the kids, but for some reason they stopped airing it. The kids loved watching it with him. I don't enjoy slapstick comedy like that, so it's just something the officer and the kids do together. The officer started recording Three Stooges before he left for work and it's still going. That's about 4 hours of Three Stooges recorded so far. That's about 3 hours and 58 minutes too long for me! :)

Good times.