Freezer Meals

One of my goals of my spring break is to find and try recipes that can be made ahead of time. Baseball season just started and dinner, more often than not, is take out those nights. I do not want to go that route AGAIN this year.

I found a super great food blog overall, really. But what I like the best is her LONG list of YUMMY make ahead meals.

Joelen, of What's Cookin Chicago has AH-MAZING recipes.

Her post Freezer Friendly Make Ahead Meals has like 40 recipes! I have personally tried her baked shrimp scampi, best ever beef dip sandwiches, cheddar and cracker chicken, chili rubbed pork spar ribs and swiss mac n' cheese. They were delicious! We have only tried the pork chop recipe after being froze though. And I have to recommend that if you have little ones, you may want to cut down the amount of chili powder or red pepper.

Joelen has a million more tasty posts. I can't wait to tackle more of her recipes. I think it's well worth all of you taking a look, if you already haven't seen her blog :)

Playing with food

My kids love to cook! Especially Miss Bee. Tanner loves to eat :) Which is a big change from the awfully picky toddler he was. So today we experimented in the kitchen. . . ALL DAY!!!

Unfortunately, I was having too much fun and forgot to take pictures.

I woke the kiddos up with a pancake buffet. All the pancakes were fun shapes like mouse/bear, the first letter of their name, hearts, etc. The buffet was set up with a variety of cut up fruit, peanut butter, nutella, chocolate chips, whip cream, syrup, strawberry topping, jam and chocolate sauce. Of course, I supervised how many sweets were put on those pancakes :) My sweet boy had soo much fun making his own concoctions, he ended up eating four pancakes!!!

We were very full from the pancake smorgasbord, so we all cuddled on the couch and watched Disney's Ratatouille. 

For snack, we made peanut butter celery sticks with a twist. I saw this snack a while ago on Better Homes and Gardens. I knew the kids would have fun making and eating these! I used the left over fruit from breakfast too!

After snack we made the two desserts I planned to bring to Easter dinner. Both recipes I found via Pinterest.

Reese's No Bake Dessert

This dessert is so delishous, but it is very rich! I decided to leave out the powered sugar.

Strawberry No Bake Cheese Cake

Mmmhm, this cheese cake is delish and super easy! We topped it with the extra strawberry topping also left over from that morning!

My little chef's had a few too many tastes of these sweet treats.

We needed a healthy lunch, STAT! We had homemade lunchables, grapes, and a Blueberry smoothie.

Blue Berry Smoothie

1/2 cup of blueberries

1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of ice

Blend the ice, banana, honey, and blueberries on a high speed. I topped each glass with a few whole blueberries and a strawberry.

For mid afternoon snack, we had good old fashioned air popped popcorn. My kiddos LOVE watching our popcorn maker LOL

For dinner we made KABOBS!!! They kids totally enjoyed putting all the cut up veggies and pineapple on the kabobs. I put on all the raw meat, which they were a little sad about. But watching dad cook the kabobs over a flame was exciting :)

The kids were pooped out on cooking and still may have had a little too much sweets from baking earlier so we skipped out on dessert after dinner.

We had so much fun. I will defiantly be inviting my kiddos into the kitchen more often!

Meeting the Lorax + Printable

Today, the hubs and I took the kiddos to Dr. Suess' The Lorax. It was a cute movie. I still however, prefer the book, but Danny DeVito was excellent as the Lorax.

source

The kids LOVED it. Our families all time favorite kids movie is Despicable Me, and the same team did a great job on The Lorax. (by the way, a number 2 Despicable Me is in the works, due out sometime in 2013 eek! love Steve Carell) The Lorax's  has a good message to SAVE THE TREES and a greener planet. I think they did a much better job at getting the healthier environment point across to the kids than Wall-e and Happy Feet.

Prior to the movie, I made up some Lorax mustaches. I thought it would be cute to wear at the movie. My kiddos so kindly pointed out immediately that the color was wrong. 

Bumble Bee and T-Bird did love their mustaches though. They played with them through out the night.

 In case you need one I made stencil below :)

Lorax Mustache Template

After getting home we made cupcakes! They turned out pretty cute if I don't say so myself. Tanner wasn't really interested in making them, but Brooklyn is always reading to bake. I can see her becoming a baker :) The cupcakes were chocolate with vanilla frosting. We used paper straws and cotton candy for the tree's. Tanner joined in, when it was time to eat.

We started some gardening after we filled our bellies with sweets. I felt it was a fitting way to end the fun day. Brooklyn and Tanner really enjoy gardening. . . okay, well they really enjoy digging in the garden for worms, but its better than nothing. 

The Drive In's

T-Bird has been awesome at school lately (20 days in a row on perfect behavior!!) He totally deserved a celebration. He asked to invite his cousins over for a movie and treats. I thought that was a perfect idea, but I just had to add a little PIZAZZ to the event. And that is when I came up with a Drive In Movie Party!

When the kiddos got to our house, we all sat down at the table and decorated License Plates. One of the boys did his in hieroglyphics LOL It was a great activity to calm down from the excitement of a party. 

(after the cars were all decorated)

After taping their finished license plate to the back of their car, we decorated large boxes (I have to admit, it was hard to find four large boxes for free) like cars, while watching an episode of Spongebob learning to drive.

After their cars were done, I gave each child a driver's license; a rectangle sugar cookie with a mock driver's license iced on it (I spaced taking a picture). Giving the kids permission to drive to the movies and park :)

As the kids got settled into their cars, we watched Cars, and I cooked nachos. Perfect Drive Ins food.

They all were still hungry after nachos, of course. So as I put in Cars 2, I passed out cute paper popcorn bags overflowing with popcorn and licorice just like the drive ins.

The kids had soo much fun and just loved their cars. All four little ones stayed in their boxes for almost every minute of the nearly five hours.

J won Best Car! Look at the killer flames down the side ;)

Easy Potato Soup Racipe

Potato soup in fresh bread bowls, yum. Not only does the hub like it, the kids love it too (plus the neighbors). It is super easy to make and only takes 4-5 hours in the crock pot.

8 or so potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 10 3/4 oz cans cream of celery soup

2 10 3/4 oz cans cream of chicken soup

2 1/2 cups of water

6 cups of milk

8 oz of instant potato flakes

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 teaspoon of salt

In a slow cooker, add potatoes, soups and water. Cover and cook on high until potatoes are tender, about 2 hours. Stir in milk, salt and pepper. Add potato flakes to desired consistency, stirring constantly. Continue to cook covered on high for an additional 2 to 3 hours. Serve in bread bowls. Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, green onions, bacon crumbles, or sour cream. 

To cook bread bowls preheat oven to broil. Cut top off at angle, like upside down cone. Cut top flat. Tear out bread inside bowl and set aside. Spread thin coat of butter on top and sides. Coat with favorite seasoning salt, ours in Johnny's. Broil for a couple minutes until crisp.

Serves 8-10

Great for leftovers or freezing.

A quick hellooo

I am uber busy with all the holiday festivities. I have been dying, all day, to share my cupcakes I whipped up this morning. I gave myself permission to quickly post them just in case there is  still someone out there who is in need of  an idea, something EASY, YUMMY and FAST.  So here ya are copy away..........

Free Gooseberry Patch CHILI Cookbook EXPIRED

update: EXPIRED!
Yessss! Gooseberry Patch has a digital copy of a Chili cookbook on Amazon for FREE!

Get a taste of Gooseberry Patch in this collection of over 20 favorite chili recipes. Grab a spoon and dig in! Warm, hearty and oh-so-delicious, we've included plenty of recipes for your one-pot family favorite in our Chili cookbook. Try southwestern chili casserole, Grandpa's favorite chili and oh-so-cheesy chili dip.

 mmm mhm Can't wait to try out some of these. My BumbleBee lives and breathes on Chili!