Easy Meatball Subs

Some days I am super busy and the last thing I want to do is stand over the stove cooking for a long time. I just want to get something hot and easy at the table asap. This meatball sub dinner idea is super fast and tasty!


Ingredients:

1 small bag frozen meatballs
1 24oz Jar Prego (or other pasta sauce)
1 8oz pk Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
1 pk deli style buns
Parmesean Cheese for sprinkling.


Directions:

Heat meatballs according to package. While meatballs are cooking, melt mozzarella in sauce over a medium low heat. When meatballs are finished baking, pour into sauce mixture. Scoop out the balls onto the deli buns. Sprinkle tops with parmesean cheese and serve.

Sweet Treats- Make Your Own Doll Food!

My daughters received a few American Girl Dolls that their cousins outgrew a few years ago. They were super thrilled and immediately started badgering me for the accessories, mostly play food. We got online to start pricing these things, and I was shocked at how much they were charging for doll food! Thankfully I had just read an article in Family Fun or one of those similar magazines on how to make your own doll food. While I took a ceramics class in high school and played with clay a bit way back then, I am no artist when it comes to creating things out of clay from scratch! However, I did find that once you get the hang of twisting and shaping the clay, it's actually pretty easy! Here is a tutorial on making a few sweet treats of your own. Mine aren't perfect, by my kids don't seem to mind. They actually take all the food we made together and show it off to their friends!


What you will need:

Polymer Clay in assorted colors
A damp paper towel
Wooden Bamboo Skewer

First we went to Michael's Craft store and bought an assortment of 2oz polymer clay packets. They carry serveral different brands from Sculpy to Premo, but I don't think brand matters.

These usually retail for about $2 each, but they are often on sale. I just got these for $1.25 each.

First we will start with a lollypop. Break off a small chunk of the clay in the color of your choosing. Squeeze and roll it between your palms for a few minuites to get it warmed up and ready to be molded. Once it's pliant, roll it between your palms to get a strand about 8 inches long. Repeat this process with a seperate color of your choosing.

Next, wrap the two colors around each other, pinching the ends together once you are done. Roll the strand between your palms or a flat surface until the two pieces have molded together and there are no cracks or spaces between the colors.

Lay the strand on a flat surface and curl it around, pressing the end of the rope together where it meets the curl.

I broke off a small bit of wooden bamboo skewer and inserted it into the base of the lollipop.

If you see any cracks of finger prints, gently rub the damp paper towel over it until it blends to a smooth finish.

Now we will make a doughnut. Break off a small chunck of the clay in donut color of your choosing. Roll the clay into a tight ball, about 1 inch in diameter.

Next, poke a hole through the center of the ball. (I just used the skewer). Insert your finger into the center of the ball, pinching and shaping the ball with your finger and thumb until it is donut shaped. You will have to press down on the top of the ball to flaten it also.

Break off another tiny bit of another color of your choosing for the frosting. Roll it into a small ball, then flatten it with your fingers until it is very thin. Pull the edges out around the flattened bit to make it more like a frosting shape. Lay your frosting over the doughtnut and press gently to have the 2 pieces stick together. Poke a hole through the center of your frosting and press excess frosting to the insides of the doughnut. Repeat with the outer layers. *You can also top with different color sprinkles for a decorated look*

For an ice cream cone, break off some brown clay and shape into a cone base, about 1 1/2 inches in length. If you feel creative, draw some lines through the cone to make it have a waffle cone appearance.

Roll another colored clay ball, about an inch in diameter. Scoop out a small section on the top of the cone for your ice cream ball to sit. Gently press together. Repeat with as many different colored scoops as you like. Top with a small cherry.

To make peanut butter cookies, roll a small tan colored ball of clay about an inch in diameter. Flatten to cookie shape on a flat surface. Using a rounded tool (Again, I just used the leftover skewer) press lines into the top of the cookie.

Finally, we'll make a candy cane. Repeat the first 3 steps as you did with the lollipop, using red and white clay. *The red clay bleeds onto hands very easy, so I would shape the white strand first!* Bend top to shape into a candycane.

Now, place all your candy onto a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 225 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes. Do not over bake or you will get scorch marks on your candy. It can also cause cracks. Remove from oven and let cool. I usually don't let the kids play with them until the next day when I know they are fully set and hardend.

*Note* Any kitchen items used while making your clay projects should no longer be used in cooking with real human food. The clay leaves a residue on the surface of these items.

Wordless Wednesday- So Long Pepper Mintstick (Our Elf on the Shelf)

One thing we are really missing about Christmas is playing with Pepper Mintstick, our Elf on the Shelf. Who knew that such an ugly little guy would create so much joy with my kids? Here are a few of our favorite places and jokes he played during his stay with us this year.

Allison was concerned for days about how was he going to the bathroom if he didn't move during the day. That night he left her a little present.

His final day. He got them a farewell present. 2 necklaces to remember him by, until he comes again next year.

Are your kids tired of their holiday toys already? Mine too!

As an early New Years Resolution, I have decided the finally print off all my digital photos. I am the WORST at taking them, but I never get around to printing them off. I have years worth stored on my computer, always intending to get around to them, never really doing it though. I figured with all the photo printing deals that come around after Christmas, this is the time to get them done and save money while doing it. As I was sorting through the pictures, one theme kept popping up that grabbed my attention. My kid’s love of boxes and baskets. It seems year after year, this is one plaything that never seems to go out of style and the kids never get bored with it.

Even the dogs have more fun with the boxes than their toys! Below Rocky is like "What????" when I told him to get out of my laundry basket!

This here is Adrian who dumped all her toys out to play with her toy bucket on the stairs.

I could have been saving so much money over the years if I had only realized this sooner. You can get boxes free all over town! But, since the kids do like to open real presents, next year I will remember to throw out the toys and save the boxes.

Butterfinger Cake

I don't bake a lot of cakes, but since my husband's bithday is on the 18th, my daughter's is the 19th, and mine on the 23rd, buying a cake for everyone would get quite expensive, so we only get the fancy, decorated, store bought cakes for my daughter. However, I am one who believes everyone deserves a cake on their birthday, I decided to bake one for Jason this year. Butterfingers are one of his favorite candy bars and I found this recipe in my "to make" pile. It's been sitting there for 4 or so years, so I figured I'd dust it off and give it a whirl this year. I had my doubts on this one, but to my surprise, it was DELICIOUS!

 


Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) box German chocolate cake mix
1 container Cool Whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag Butterfinger candy bars, crushed
1 jar caramel ice cream topping


Directions:

Bake cake in a 13 x 9-inch cake pan or 2 8 inch round cake pans as directed on box. While cake is still warm, poke holes in cake and pour all the sweetened condensed milk into holes. Pour caramel sauce over cake and let cool.

Spread Cool Whip over cake and sprinkle crushed Butterfingers over the top of cake. Keep refrigerated.

*Side note-I used a little less than a full can of the condensed milk. It can get soupy otherwise*

Pardon how unpretty it turned out. I'm not on the Ace of Cakes level when it comes to decorating baked goods. Besides, in our house, it only matters how it tastes, and this one tasted pretty darn good.

Wordless Wednesday Hanging w/ Holiday Heavyweights!

One of my favorite things about the holidays is taking the kids to see the Christmas characters. How excited they get meeting their favorites from the shows they adore on tv! I admit, I love seeing them too! I am a little bummed we didn't find a Frosty the Snowman this year, but we sure loved visiting the other guys!

Kid Fun~ Reindeer Food! Don't Forget to Feed Them Too!

When my daughter Mariah was in Kindergarten 6 years ago, her teacher sent the cutest note home with a bag of "Reindeer Food" to feed those little sleigh pullers also. Why should Santa be the only one who gets fed? Sure, he's got to go down the chimney and put presents under the tree, but those reindeer do a lot of work also pulling him all over the world in one night! They deserve a little treat too, don't you think?

No other teacher has ever sent anything like this home, not even with my younger daughter, so I am glad that Mariah brought it home when she did. Feeding the reindeer has become one of our fun traditions to do every year, and the kids have just as much fun doing it as they do leaving out milk and cookies for Santa.

What you need:

Dry Oatmeal
Glitter (preferably red, green, silver, and gold)
Ziptop baggie (or something similar to hold the food in)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in ziptop baggie. Sprinkle on the ground outside.

It is said that the sparkles from the glitter will help the reindeer see your house better and they will be attracted to the smell of the oats!

I found a cute little card you can print out and tape or staple to the baggie:

Kroger’s The Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookie Review

Recently I was sent 2 packages of Kroger's The Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies from Bzz Agent to try out. I buy store branded items often, but I usually stick with national brands on packaged cookies. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with Kroger's The Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies. The cookies were actually pretty big, and had large chocolate chips in them. As for the taste, I think they didn’t taste any different than one of the leading national brands. I’m more of a soft batch cookie eater , but there are times I like a nice, crisp cookie, like these, to dunk in milk.

I’ve made a list of what I like and don’t like about these cookies.

Pros:

-Size. These are pretty big. Almost twice the size of any other packaged cookie on store shelves.

-The Chocolate Chips are huge! You get a nice chocolate mouthful with each bite.

-Taste- Just as good as national brands

-Ingredients- They are made with REAL BUTTER and no preservatives!

Cons:

-You only get 8 cookies in a package. Yes, the cookies are big, but I am a 2 cookie eater at each sitting, no matter how big they are. That means those calories are adding up quick and the package disappears quick also!

-Cost. The package is only 7.2 oz with a suggested retail value of $2.79. National brands run about the same here or cheaper on sale and have 10 to 15 oz per package.

Overall, this is a great cookie to have stocked in the pantry for when you’ve got to satisfy your sweet tooth. I’ll definitely be purchasing these again in the future.

Delicious Not Too Hot Chili

I've been on a quest to find a great chili recipe for a long time. My friend Sean brings his chili to our house once a year at Halloween, and it is the best chili ever! Unfortunately, Sean is one of those recipe hoarders, so once a year is all I get of his yummy chili. I've tried many recipes trying to find something similar, and though this isn't quite as good as Seans, it's a keeper recipe in our house. Since I can't handle hot or spicy foods, I tweaked this Boilermaker Tailgate Chili Recipe from Allrecipes.com to come up with this chili recipe.


Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
4 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon bacon bits
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (10.5 ounce) bag corn chips such as Fritos®
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese


Directions
Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.
Pour in the chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.
To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

It's true, your idols are never as glamorous in person!

Love Rudolph. About peed my pants when I heard he was in town. Sadly, Rudolph was really “Randall” who gave me the impression he was an offspring of Bill or Ted when he broke the rule of no costume character speaking and told me my Rudolpf headband was “most excellent.” On top of that, I learned Jason is a crappy picture taker. My Christmas cheer has been knocked down by a few points :(

What is it about grown men and Christmas lights?

We bought our first home a little over 3 years ago. Up until then we lived in an apartment, so decorating for Christmas was limited to a few strands of lights, a couple of bows, and a sprinkling of tinsel. Had I known that homeownership turns a perfectly sane man into a competitive lunatic at Christmastime, I would have seriously considered staying in that apartment. Yes, I’ve seen those holiday movies- National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Deck the Halls, and so on where the men are crack head addict crazy when it comes to their light displays. Unfortunately, there is truth to those comedies, and my husband is turning out to be just as nuts as they are. The sad part about it, it’s not just my husband either. This is a recent conversation I overheard between my husband and a coworker:

Jason- “I just got done putting up 4000 lights.”

Ben- “Yeah, I’m putting up 5000 this weekend.”

Jason- “Really? Good luck with that, it took me forever to get mine up.”

Then Jason calls me on his way home from work. “l’m going to be a little late. I’m stopping at Home Depot to get a few more lights on the way home.”

How can 2 men (who don’t even live in the same neighborhood!) turn something as joyous as holiday decorating into a pissing match? I would let this bother me, but we do get a lot of compliments from the neighbors. One asked when we were planning on putting ours up so the rest of the neighborhood could be put to shame and another even sent us this photo and said they were doing the same on their house this year:

Another told us last year she had a visitor from Pakistan and when they turned down our street she started clapping and squealing with delight. She had never seen Christmas lights before and we really made her day. My husband only uses LED lights, so it is massively bright, and at times, I feel a little embarrassed at our “Looky Me! Looky Me!” house. But, it makes him happy, it seems to make the neighbors happy, and it really makes the kids happy (as well as the electric company), so I’ll just silently mumble under my breath from now on when I get at least one more phone call this year telling me to start dinner a little late because we need more lights. And pray home depot loses my husbands email next year when they start advertising they've got lights in stock. Wish this pic did the brightness justice, but you get the idea.

Wordless Wednesday- What an $800 Vet Bill Looks Like

Wrigley is almost 10. She thinks she can play like her boxer sibling puppies and not get hurt. She recently hopped in the middle of their play and either got a tooth or a toe nail in her eye. This is what an $800 vet bill looks like (no pun intended lol).

Meijer Photo Canvas Review

I’ve had this blank space on one of my upstairs hallway walls ever since we moved in 3 years ago. It’s always bugged me that there should be something there, I just had a hard time finding that right “something” to put there. It’s a spot that is the first thing that is seen as one is coming down the hall, so I didn’t want to put just anything there. I wanted something that I would enjoy looking at and wouldn’t look like I just slapped something up there to fill a space. So, I was really excited when I got invited to the buzz campaign (http://www.bzzagent.com/) to try an 11 x 14 wall canvas from Meijer's photo department.

The photo canvas is just like an artists canvas, but you get to upload your own photo onto it. I’ll admit, I was pretty nervous because I had to go into the store and upload a photo onto one of their photo machines. I have never used one before. I am more of an upload, crop, and order online then pick up in the store or have them shipped to me. I thought I would be there all day trying to figure it out. I was pleasantly surprised though at how simple it was to use, and that the entire process took less than 5 minutes to submit my order!

This is how it went down:

From home I uploaded one of my photo’s onto a USB drive. Took it to Meijer and popped it into the machine. I selected the canvas photo options, hit 11 x 14 size, selected the photo I wanted. Next it gave me the option to edit and crop. Then, you submit your order. You get your printed order ticket and bring it back the next day to get your finished order.

The 11 x 14 runs about $27.99 + tax at my Meijer store. There are larger sizes to chose from and pricing goes up according to size. *UPDATE! This week 12/4 to 12/10 Meijer has their photo canvases 20% off!  Here is my finished photo:

*One minor setback did occur though. I had originally picked out a different picture of my dog Rocky, but the top of his head would have been wrapped around the top side of the canvas. Any picture you choose, make sure there is sufficient room to allow for the edges to wrap about an inch around the sides of the canvas. Here’s what I mean:

I love the way my photo canvas turned out. I think it is the perfect item I have been looking for to stick in that blank space. These would make a wonderful holiday/ birthday gift. Not just for a woman either! My husband loved it so much he’s already pointed out 2 more spots in our house he would like these! And if your walls are already full, my Meijer had a nice table display of other photo gifts they offer- blankets (really cool!) mugs, jewelry, ect. You're sure to find something you’ll love!

*Disclaimer. I am a member of http://www.bzzagent.com/ and received a coupon to try the product for free in exchange for a review. The opinions are mine and have not been swayed by an incentive.