Just for Joey

On one of my recent trip into Pinterest, I pinned this 'idea' - Coffee Ice Cubes!
Joey LOVES  Starbucks Bottled  Mocha Frappuccino Coffee Drinks - I mean LOVES them. However, being a lover of certain things Starbucks, it's not an everyday thing that I can afford. Plus, there isn't one in my sad, lost town. Even then those bottled drinks are a luxury at the local Food Lion - unless they are on sale, but still, they aren't cheap. So, he knows he has to wait. That makes it all the better. (Kinda like I have to wait to get my Pumpkin Spice Latte. That's when I know fall is here and I get my annual post card from them telling me it's time to get my free birthday drink!)  Anyways, back to Joey.
So, yesterday morning when I made my coffee, I made an entire pot, even though I only wanted a cup, to attempt the 'idea' that I pinned. First, I poured plain coffee into some extra ice cube trays and froze them til solid then moved them to a bowl in the freezer (the one with the lid in the picture). Then I added some milk and sugar to the rest and mixed it up really good and poured it in the trays again for those to freeze. (Yes, I know that is a glue stick in the back of the picture. I have no idea why one of my children put a glue stick in my freezer, I left it so I would remember to ask them.)

Once they are nice and frozen (or in my case the day after I started because Joey was running a fever last night) they are ready to be added to a glass of milk of your choice.

Joey chose 2% milk, because that is what we drink - but I am sure that you can use what you like.  In this glass there are 6 of the cubes that have milk and sugar mixed in and 2 straight coffee.  I think there was about 1/3 of glass of milk or so there before he started adding the coffee cubes. 

Once the coffee cubes begin to melt some and most of the milk was drunk, he grabbed a fork and began "stabbing" it to break it up into a cold coffee slushy. His review: "This is great. I like it better than the store bought stuff."  All I can do was smile as I walked away. Yay me!

Baked Sketty

This afternoon I attempted to make Baked Spaghetti.  I figured "How hard is it to do what I normally do to make spaghetti but then put it in a dish and cover it in cheese and then bake it?" 
Well, it wasn't that hard.  I am thinking it would make it easier for my kids when they make Spaghetti Sandwiches. Wondering what those are?  That is when my kids take the garlic bread I normally serve with spaghetti and mound the noodles and sauce on a slice then top it with another slice. It makes them happy, why would I complain. Spaghetti sauce is so very easy to hide veggies in. My kids like most veggies, but it's still fun to serve them extra ones when they aren't looking.
Here is what I did on this creation that is awaiting the rating once my kids are home from practices and games today.
Ingredients:
1 lb 85/15 ground beef
1 lb ground Italian sausage (I make my own.)
2 Jars of spaghetti sauce (Today I used Ragu, Mama's Garden Special Garden Sauce)
Handful of fresh grated Parmesan Cheese
8 oz  bag of finely shredded Mozzarella Cheese
16 oz box of Angel Hair Pasta

Cook pasta until al dente, drain, season with a little garlic, butter and Parmesan cheese to your liking
Brown ground beef and sausage. 
Add sauce to meat mixture.
Add handful of Parmesan cheese.
Spray 9 x13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.
Put noodles in casserole dish.
Add meat sauce on top of noodles.
Top with cheese.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or long enough to melt cheese, then broil to brown cheese.

Peaches & Pumpkins

Last week I took a recipe a friend shared with me and turned it in what I love now: Peachy Baked Oatmeal! Unfortunately, when I sent the recipe home I madeit in a PDF. So, I just made a pic of the recipe and posted it here.  The pic below is from my breakfast yesterday. I put what I want in a bowl, add a little milk & 'nute it until it is nice and warm then stir til it is creamy. Yummy!

Fall is my 2nd  favorite season, as Summer is the first. So, today being the Second day of Fall, I decided that I would officially welcome it with my super yummy Pumpkin Bread!  

The recipe from Allrecipes.com is the one that I use.  My only change to it is that I use pumpkin pie spice instead of the three different spices.  I would suggest that you make the big batch instead of using the converter to break it down. That way you can buy that big can of pumpkin and use all of it instead of only using part of the regular size can.

I make two regular loaves and a batch of mini loaves. The mini-loves once cooled and froze can make a wonderful quick breakfast when they are defrosted for about 10 minutes and then microwaved for about 45 seconds and then they are like they have just come out of the oven.  The regular loves are good to slice and freeze also, but it takes about 2 of those to make a decent breakfast portion!

Instagram Obsession, Memes and Greek Pasta Salad

Okay, so I've been slacking and not blogging like I should. I promise I've been cooking. I've just been a little obsessed with Instagram lately. Yep, the camera has been out and the boys and I have been having fun. I found a little site and discovered all the fun things I can do at PicMonkey.com. I collaged my Instagram food pics (an idea I saw on Pinterest) and eventually I'll get a poster size print of it and hang it in the kitchen. 

So, we officially kicked off the first day of fall yesterday with Apple Days here at Fort Riley. We had tons of fun at the festival. The boys and I rode in a Humvee, shot M4's, ate  carnival foods and spent the day with a few of our friends having lots of fun. Of course, I had lots of pictures, so I ended up doing a mini collage of our family and completed it with a screen shot pic I took of my husband from one of Skype dates.  

One of the fun things at Apple Days are the period reenactments and never know who you'll run into. We found Abe Lincoln and I couldn't keep a straight face after I informed Chris that this is the President who is on the penny. This ultimately made me reminisce about President's Day weekend when Chris swallowed honest Abe and we patiently awaited his return. So I made a Meme. Abe's expression is priceless, almost like he knew where he'd been. 

On to the food part of the blog....

A couple of weeks ago, I held a get together and one of my dear friends brought this AMAZING pasta salad. I asked for the recipe of course and it was a little of this and a little of that. I googled the ingredients she rambled off and found maybe the very recipe she used or one very close on allrecipes. This Greek pasta salad is full of fresh veggies, olives, feta cheese and a great Greek dressing. I used a bag of Wacky Mac veggie spirals, a whole English cucumber, a few grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, some green onions, and tomato basil feta cheese, but nixed the rest of the veggies called for in the original. I doubled the lemon juice, added a tablespoon each of parsley and dried minced onion to the dressing. It turned out great and maybe next time I'll add artichoke hearts and sliced grilled chicken to it as well. 

Greek Pasta Salad from Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups penne pasta 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 teaspoons dried oregano salt and pepper to taste 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

10 cherry tomatoes, halved 1 small red onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1/2 cucumber, sliced 1/2 cup sliced black olives 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the penne, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain well in a colander set in the sink.
2.	Whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Set aside. Combine pasta, tomatoes, onion, green and red peppers, cucumber, olives, and feta cheese in a large bowl. Pour vinaigrette over the pasta and mix together. Cover and chill for 3 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Found in a Magazine

     On August 25th when Em played some volleyball and we had an adventure to a covered bridge, my mom-in-law, gave me the September 2012 issue of Family Circle to have as she had already read it.  I thumbed through it and fell in love with a recipe called 'Gnocchi all'Amatriciana'.
     A week later, and I decided that is what we were going to have for dinner along with a stromboli.  The stromboli was just in case we didn't like the new recipe. The bread I made for the stromboli was actually a Pizza Crust for Bread Machine that I did with out the machine and baked it at 425 for about 20 minutes. It turned out wonderful. But that is not why we are here...so back to the Gnocchi all'Amatriciana.  
     Jamey called me at The Fresh Market and informed me he invited our parents & my nephew for dinner. No worries, just had to grab some more gnocchi since I was just going to half the recipe.  So, I make the dinner and everyone raves. Even my picky nephew.
    Tonight, I decided to make it again since the pancetta was still on sale at Food Lion, as well as the crushed tomatoes and pasta. Since gnocchi isn't sold at my local in the middle of nowhere store, I chose to make it with rotini noodles. The reviews from tonight's dinner, said it was good with the gnocchi as well as the rotini.  I too, liked it with either and am looking forward to having it for lunch tomorrow at work if I can keep the kids out of the leftovers tonight!

    The recipe makes about 8 servings and with the ingredients either on sale or already at my house (including the garlic bread in the picture), the total came out to $1.22 a serving!

Too Hot to Bake

It was just too hot to cook or bake anything on Labor Day 2012 and I wanted something sweet. So I went in search for a cooler dessert. I found what I was looking for on one of my Pintrest boards (sorry, I can't remember which one I had it on). The original posting is by Michelle Duggar and her recipe for Layered Ice Cream Cake.

This was fun to make and while drizzling the syrup, I thought this would be great to make in into like a 'banana split layered ice cream cake'. The only additions would be the fruit since it has everything else. Oh, I might just add more Butterfinger next time because that is MY favorite candy bar.

As for a picture, some unknown teen stole my batteries from my ancient camera to use in a remote of some sort, so a picture right now, isn't going to happen.  Just Google. the name of the recipe and you will see many different pics on what people have made. Maybe one day, I will add my own, cause after all, it's all butter(fingers!) people!