Baker Dozen Bow Give Away

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greek salad. {meatless dinner}

-4 artichoke hearts, cut in half
-half a bag of bowtie pasta, cooked
-4 spoonfuls of feta cheese, less or more..however desired
-about 7 or 8 grape tomatoes, sliced in half
-a handful of olives, cut up

dressing: equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil and a
dash of oregano and pepper, mix together.

put pasta in bowl, add artichokes olives tomatoes, and feta. add dresssing and toss. ENJOY.
we ate ours with a baguette and olive oil/balsamic vinegar.

Potato and Bacon Salad.

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 4 slices bacon
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, or to taste
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 stalks celery, minced
• 2 pounds small potatoes
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the potatoes in a pot with enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cool.
2. Meanwhile, place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, and place in a bowl of cold water to cool.
3. Peel the eggs, and place 3 of them into a large bowl. Reserve the rest for later. Mash the eggs in the bowl with a fork. Stir in the mustard, mayonnaise, celery, salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. Cook bacon slices in the microwave for about 4 minutes, until crisp, or fry in a skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble 2 of the bacon slices into the mayonnaise mixture. Reserve the rest for garnish.
5. Peel and chop the potatoes, and stir into the bowl until evenly coated. Slice the 2 remaining eggs, and place on top of the salad. Crumble the remaining bacon over the eggs, then sprinkle parsley over the top.

it's delicious! {i didn't get a picture in cause of a time crunch..but it's just as pretty as it is good.}




via all recipes.

no soliciting, vinyl style.

Vinyl is the cure for anything isn't it? at least in my house it is :)
This was super fast and easy to do!
and it looks WAY less tacky than those black plastic signs you buy at home depot!
I just measured my window, cut the vinyl on my cricut and stuck it to the outside!
If you don't have the entryway windows, you can do it on the bottom corner or the window closest to your front door, or even directly on your front door!

Bacon and Artickoke Chicken

2 chicken breasts

4 strips of cooked bacon (I used turkey bacon)

1/2 cup marinated artichokes

1TBS miracle whip

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

garlic powder

Marinate chicken breasts for about an hour in a plastic bag with enough of the artichoke oil to cover them, and a little garlic powder.

After chicken has marinated, cook in a skillet until just barely done, make sure you dont overcook!

in a small food processor, or blender, add the artichoke hearts, cheese and miracle whip and process until well mixed. top chicken with a small dollop of the artichoke mixture, then a slice of bacon, more of the artichoke mixture, a little mozzarella cheese and place under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and the artichokes are warm.

This chicken is SOOO yummy! It's become a regular at our house!

Fajita Chicken Salad

Fajita Chicken Salad

(makes 2 salads)

1 cup slices onion

1 cup sliced bell pepper (any color)

1 cup shredded chicken

1 TBS taco seasoning

1 TBS vegetable oil

salad greens

kidney beans

sliced olives

tortilla chips

taco sauce

ranch dressing

In a saute pan heat oil to a ripple and add peppers and onions. Cook until caramelized and then add chicken. Add taco seasoning and a little water just to help the seasoning distribute evenly.

Start with a bed of greens, add kidney beans, olives, ranch, taco sauce and your fajita mixture. crush tortilla chips and add to the top.

One FREE Nursing Cover!

Hey all you Moms, right now you can go to UdderCovers.com and get One FREE Nursing Cover!! Awesome right?! All you have to do is pay shipping costs, which are 9.95, enter the code "valpak" in the promo/coupon box at checkout, and Walla!!  The cover is yours!

Get yours today, not sure how long this awesome deal will last!

Thanks Udder Covers!!

Snickerdoodle Bars

dare I say... these are better than the cookies :) 

Snickerdoodle Bars
1/2 c. room temp. butter
1 c. sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour
2 Tbs sugar + 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add all other ingredients and beat until smooth. Spread batter into a greased 8x8 baking dish and bake for 30 min or until the edges are light golden brown.

Buffalo Chicken Street Tacos

These are SO SO yummy! and actually really easy too! This will definetly be a new dinner staple at our house!

Buffalo Chicken Street Tacos
(makes 6 small tacos)

2 cups Shredded Chicken
1/2 cup louisiana hot sauce (franks hot sauce)
2TBS butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
6 corn tortillas
vegtable oil
lettuce
mozzerella cheese
Ranch or bleu cheese dressing

In a saucepan, melt butter, add hot sauce and galic powder. Allow to simmer for a minute or two, then add the shredded chicken. Turn on to low, cover, and allow chicken to soak up sauce. In another large skillet heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, dip each tortilla for a few (10-15) seconds on each side until it becomes pliable, then lay on a paper towel to drain. blot off the excess oil and fill with chicken, cheese, lettuce and dip in ranch :)
These are spicy! But really good! :)

homemade frozen pizzas

I am NOT a fan of frozen pizza. My husband on the other hand... can't get enough. I however do love the convenience of it, so after seeing this idea a few places online, I decided to try it for myself! and guess what... IT WORKS! like REALLY well! Here's what I did-

Crust:
I used this pizza dough recipe 3 times, making 6 crusts, but Im sure you can use whatever recipe you want and it would work fine. I split the dough into 6 balls, let 'em rise, and stretched them into a pizza shape. Then I baked them on a pizza stone at 450 degrees for 3 minutes. NO longer! It wont look done, it will be doughy, but thats OK! then I layed that one out on a towel to cool and proceeded with the next dough ball. Once the par-baked crust had cooled, I double wrapped it in plastic wrap and placed it flat in the freezer to freeze solid.

Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 TBS garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1TB tomato paste

1 32-ounce can pureed tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 TBS italian seasoning
Add the olive oil to a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic powder and crushed pepper, then add the tomato paste, cook for a minute, then stir in the crushed tomatoes. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cook on LOW for about an hour and a half , it will get think and sweet and yummy!

After I let the sauce cool down, pour 1 cup portions into baggies, seal and lay flat to freeze.

 

When a night comes along that you are in need of a quick dinner, heat your oven to 450 degrees and take out a crust and sauce. Unwrap you crust and put it on your pizza stone. Remove your sauce, place in a bowl and thaw. Spread the sauce over the frozen crust, top with cheese and toppings. Bake at 450 for about 15 min or until the crust is golden brown.

 

I always keep pizza toppings on hand, here's what I have...

in the freezer- pepperoni, diced bell pepper, diced ham, shredded chicken, crumbled bacon and mozzarella cheese.

in the pantry- olives, pineapple (get the lunch packs they work GREAT!) and BBQ sauce.

This is a SUPER quick easy and yummy meal! It will save you in a pinch!

Freedom isnt Free

Ok! So, July is coming up and I was looking on one of my FAVORITE all time blog sites, howdoesshe.com
and was looking at the summer stuff when I came across a cute flag made out of plywood. I made myself one first to make sure it turned out cute.. and it did!!! So I made one for both my mother in Laws and my brother in law and his wife. I mainly made them because my brother in law is getting deployed to Iraq for a year. So, I wanted to share it with you in case maybe you wanted to make one as well.. just because the 4th is coming up in a few months!!

You will need: 
4..17x3 in. long pieces
1 7x7 in bloc
1 6x6 in block (this is the star.)
2 12 x 2 in long pieces. (These 2 pieces get glued to the back of the flag to hold it together)
Wood glue or staple gun
                       
Paper:  
1 sheet of red paper
1 sheet of white paper
1 sheet of blue for the star            
1 sheet of any other color you want for the 7x7 block.

You will have to cut the sheets of paper to measure with the wood. I had to cut mine, and tear it to make it look old, then I mod podged the paper onto my wood, sanded the edges, I also took a brown stamp pad and rubbed it on the paper to make it "old" looking. I then used wood glue to glue the 2 12 inch to the back of the 4 long flag pieces to hold them all together. Then I glued the 7x7 block onto the flag, cut my star out and glued that on top of the 7x7 block. I made the little note that says Freedom isnt Free because I felt like it needed a little something else. If you want more details about how to make the flag go to www.howdoesshe.com and look under celebrate the seasons and click on july 4th. They give you step by step instructions!!! HAPPY FLAG MAKING!!!!!

Cheers, Tasha

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

I REALLY wish I had a picture for this recipe! It looks SO yummy, but sadly I dont, so you just get the recipe. But this is a really super yummy casserole, try it!

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

2 cups Stove top stuffing + 2 TBS

2 TBS melted margarine

2 cups frozen vegtables (I usually use peas and brocolli, but you could do corn, carrots or whatever you have!)

1 cup (or more) shredded or cubed chicken

2 1/2 cups of chicken broth

4 eggs

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix dry stuffing, frozen veggies, chicken and cheese. In a seperate bowl, beat chicken broth, and eggs together and then add to the other mixture. In another bowl, mix melted margarine and 2 TBS stuffing. Pour casserole into a greased baking dish, and top with the butter/stuffing mixture.

Bake for 25-30 min.

Dinner Groups

I've never posted anything on here before, so here I go.
My mom, myself, my sister in law, and her sister have started a dinner group. Each of us choose 2 different meals to make for the month. We then quadruple the recipe to cover the 4 different families involved (including ourselves). This sounds like a lot of work but it totally isn't. You're already cooking so you might as well quadruple it! We then get together at the first of the month and swap.
Last week when I did my meals it took me 2 hours start to finish which included thawing hamburger, letting bread dough rise, etc.
The meals must be assembled and ready to eat pretty much. We've had a few where you add crumbs to the top or something but otherwise, it is your main course ready to pop in the oven.
Because they're frozen, we take them out the day before in order to let them thaw out. Then the day of you simply cook it as if it were fresh.
We put our dinners in 9x13's or a ziploc bag in cases such as soup or a pasta or something else applicable. The name of the meal and cooking instructions are written on top.
This is such a huge time and stress saver. I spend a lot of time worrying over what I'm going to make for dinner and this greatly helps me out! Our family consists of my husband, myself, my 2 year old Grahm and 1 year old Kenna, so many of these meals are actually 2 meals for our family. I get more like 12 dinners out of this.
The catch is that you must like how everyone in your group cooks. We are family so obviously we all know what everyone likes (basically). We also have agreed to tell each other if we don't like a recipe and that we can't take offense. Afterall, its only a recipe.
We've had Rigatoni, Lasagna, Stroganoff, Soup, Homemade Pizza, Chicken Enchiladas, Beef Enchiladas, Tattor Tot Casserole, etc. You can freeze just about anything although sometimes a little extra sauce or cheese or something is needed so the meal isn't too dry.
I highly recommend dinner groups. I'm in love.