Menu Plan Monday 8/8-8/14

Monday: Beef Stroganoff (This was on the menu for last week, but it somehow turned into cold cereal!)

Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Street Tacos

Wednesday: Waffles, sausage & eggs

Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs with garlic bread

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: BBQ Beef Pizza (I told you this was a new favorite! My hubby asked to have it again this week!)

Sunday: Chinese (pictured above)

Kitchen Tips and Conversions {FREE Download!}

I can't be the only one out there that is CONSTANTLY checking online to see how many teaspoons are in a yeat packet, or trying to remember the rice to water measurments! Please tell me I am not alone here! So I finally decided (after seeing a little inpiration on Pinterest) to make a few cheat sheets!

\They Print on an 81/2x11 piece of paper, and come out to be about 5x7 each. I just printed them onto cardstock, laminated them, and taped them up inside my spice cabinet! They are so fun and helpful!

Go here to DOWNLOAD

BBQ Beef Pizza

This is honestly my new FAVORTIE pizza! It was so simple too!

BBQ Beef Pizza

1 1/2 cups shredded beef

3/4 cup BBQ sauce (I used Kraft Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce and that TOTALLY made the dish!)

1/4tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4tsp (or more) Franks Red Hot Sauce

Pizza Crust (I used the recipe here)

Shredded Cheese

Shredded purple cabbage (optional)

Bake your Pizza crust about 3/4 or the way, just before it starts to brown, I'd say it was about 8-10 min.

While the crust is cooking, mix the shredded beef (mine, again, was leftover roast) BBQ sauce, onion and garlic powder, and hot sauce. Pull your crust out of the oven, and spread the beef mixture over the top. Cover with as much cheese as your family likes, and put it back into the oven to resume baking. Bake for about another 10-15 min. or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is browned. Pull the pizza out of the oven and top with the shredded cabbage.

This was REALLY good reheated the next day too! 

Quick Frame Makeover!

Frames are one of the main decor items in my house! I LOVE pictures, and naturally they need a place to go, so I have TONS of them around! When I got married, my color was black! Black word blocks, black candlesticks, black clocks... and black frames! 3 years later, I'm not so into the black anymore! So instead of going out and buying all new decor... I turned to my best friend... SPRAY PAINT!

Here is the 'before' picture. I got this frame at a yard sale for $4. STEAL! It's HEAVY and chunky, in a Decor store this would cost you at least $25-$30! It sat on my shelf a long time like this, until I went through one of my spraypainting moods and this ended up out in the garage! 2 coats later... I had this...

You can see where I got excited and stared sanding before I took the picture! Anyways, all I did was took a sheet of coarse sand paper and went to town on it! I sanded each ridge, corner, and bump until I had the worn look that I was looking for! And I LOVE it! I think it looks so much better than it did! Updated picture. A few new accesories. And VOILA!

 Refinishing old frames is a great way to update your decor! It's super cheap and makes a big difference!

I buy most of my frames at yard sales, look at elderly peoples houses, they have the best! Look for really ornate, chunky frames that have a lot of ridges on them.

My sister in law finds AWESOME frames at the DI near her house! The one by me is usually pretty picked over, but I have found a few there!

Here are a few other frames I've spray painted...

Funny story about the frame above! It's actually 2 frames that I superglued together. The top frame was the teired one, and I loved it, but it was a little too small, so I bought a plain flat frame and glued it behind it! My husband calls these (I made2) the frames of many colors! They have been black, green, maroon and white. I like white the best :)

Green Chili Beef Street Tacos

1 cup shredded beef (you could also use chicken)
2tsp taco seasoning
1 can chopped green chiles
1TBS water
6 corn tortillas
lettuce
taco sauce
cheddar cheese

In a skillet, heat precooked (I used some roast I had in the freezer) beef, add water, taco seasoning and green chiles and heat through. Spoon onto steamed corn tortillas. Top with lettuce, cheese, and taco sauce.

What I love Wednesday.

I thought I'd start a day to tell about some new (and old) favorite things of mine! I always love seeing what products people love or can't live without, so I'll follow along! :)

This weeks...

 I LOVE this vacum! I have to admit that when we got it for our wedding, I kind of wanted to return it, you knowthe whole, "if your mom didn't use it, you don't need it" thing? That's totally how I felt! But I use this every single day! I hate sweeping with a passion, but I just sweek this over the kitchen floor once/twice/3times (I have a babyboy... okay sometimes 4 times!) and it picks up everything visable! I still sweep the normal way to get all the small dust and things like that, but this thing saves my life!

This has been my go to snack all summer! I have them in the fridge all the time! It's a quick, not too sweet snack to tie me over until dinner! I am SUCH a snacker!!

I am sure you have noticed this chili sauce in a lot of my recipes recently! I have a slight addiction with it! I had never dared try it, since I dont really like hot sauce, but my husband asked me to buy it for him, and now I put it on everything! It's SO yummy!!

I'll keep it to these 3 things this week, so I have something to write about next week!

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

Mexican food is BIG at our house, and my poor husband gets tired of the same routine of tacos, taco salad, enchiladas. So I decided to be ambitious and try Chimichangas! I worked at Taco Time for YEARS and made them all the time, but I had never tried them at home! They are EASY PEASY! and If you have the meat already cooked, they are super quick!

Beef and Bean Chimis

4 flour tortillas

1 cup shredded beef (i used leftover roast)

1 TBS taco seasoning

1 can refried beans

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

vegetable oil

Toppings: sour cream, cheese, taco sauce, guacamole etc.

Warm the shredded beef in a pan with a little water, just enough to moisten the meat, you could also add a bit of beef broth. Add taco seasoning, mix well and set aside. on the tortilla, spread a spoonfull of beans across the center. Add a little cheese, and a spoonfull of the meat. Roll* up tightly, and repeat with the remaining tortillas. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil until bubbles form around a small piece or tortilla dropped in. Fry your chimis for about a minute on all 4 sides. Top with anything you'd like and enjoy!

 *I learned how to roll burritos at Taco Time, but if you don't know how, heres a simple explanation,

With your bean and meat line going ACROSS, fold the bottom of the tortilla up to the middle. then fold the sides in about an inch, and roll the whole thing up tightly! If you are still confused, there are lost of youtube demonstrations!

Menu Monday!

I'm actually doing this on a Monday this week! YAY! One of my cute friends mentioned last week about how I post a lot of meals with the 'racipe to come!' I know... it's kind of annoying! But my husband gets sick of the same meals FAST, so I cant make the same meal more than once a month or I supposedly make it, quote "ALL the time!" (don't you just love husbands;)) So bare with me and I'll get the recipes posted ASAP after I make them! Onto this week's meal plan!...

Monday: Beef Stroganoff
Tuesday: Mexican Chicken Parmesan (recipe to come!)
Wednesday: Tamale Casserole (recipe to come!)
Thursday: Egg Drop Soup (recipe to come!) and Egg Rolls
Friday: Date Night :)
Saturday: Burgers and Steak Fries
Sunday: Philly Cheesesteak Subs (recipe to come!)

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Swiss Meringue White Chocolate Frosting...with fresh Raspberries.

A cake with a name like that has to be good. 
and it's even better...


Found the Original Recipe HERE.


I modified mine a little, to make it faster and easier. 


Cake:
-2 boxes of cake mix, one yellow cake and one lemon cake, just mix together in a big bowl.
-follow each recipe on the back of the box for eggs, water, and oil. 
-3 teaspoons of poppy seeds


mix and put into cake pans. I used 4 square 8x8 pans and filled them all half way. 
bake 2 at a time for 25 minutes. perfect, yummy, delicious smelling, cake is ready!
let it cool while you make this uber intense frosting....but it's totally worth it!




Swiss Meringue White Chocolate Frosting:

-5 Egg Whites

-1 cup Sugar

-Pinch of Salt

-2 cups (4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, Softened

-1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

-8 oz. Good Quality White Chocolate, chopped

**noticed that I split the recipe in half. and it was more than enough frosting to cover all the cakes.

While the cakes are cooling, make the swiss meringue buttercream frosting. 

Place the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Melt the chocolate until completely smooth.  Take the bowl off the heat and let sit on the counter until completely cooled. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar, and salt.  Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches about 150 degrees F.

Take the bowl and attach it your mixture, fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk the egg white mixture until it reaches room temperature and stiff peaks have formed, about 5-10 minutes.  At this point the mixture will be thickened and white.  With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, 2 tablespoon as a time.  Once all the butter is added, raise the speed to medium high and mix until the mixture starts to come together.  Remove the whisk attachment and replace with the beater attachment.  Beat until the buttercream comes together fully and is smooth.  This will take time, about 5 minutes.  So don’t worry if you think you did something wrong, it will come together and create a smooth and creamy buttercream.

Once finished, mix in the vanilla.  Gradually add in the melted and cooled white chocolate.  Be careful to not let it touch the sides of the bowl because you don’t want it to harden.  Beat until the frosting is smooth.  You can also color your buttercream at this point if desired.  If the buttercream is too soft, you can place it in the freezer for about 5 minutes to let it slightly harden.  Then beat the frosting again to smooth it out and get it to the right consistency. 

**I put mine in the freezer for 5 minutes and then whipped with a whisk to get it fluffier. 

Assembling the cakes. 

I layered 2 cakes on top of each other, putting a little frosting with whole raspberries in between each cake. You then cover the cake with frosting and top it off with fresh raspberries. 

IT'S AMAZING!

they don't look perfect or pretty, by any means. but we were to much in a hurry to eat them...they are soooo yummy!

Wingers Sticky Finger Quesedilla {Copycat}

My Hubby and I LOVE Wingers! We have been going there since we stated dating, actually he started going there long before that! Him and his buddies would flirt with the waitresses to get free asphalt pie :) (He's lucky I came along:) flirting for pie... how embarrassing) Anyways he gets the same thing pretty much EVERY time we go there. the Sticky Finger Quesedilla. So when I found the recipe online and made it for him, he was on cloud 9!

(The sauce recipe is everywhere online, this was the recipe I used for reference, but I tweaked it to fit our tastes)

Wingers Sticky Finger Quesedilla

Sauce:1/3 c. +2 TBS Franks Hot Sauce

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp white vinegar (this cuts the sweetness. just do it. trust me.)

Heat the Hot sauce, brown sugar to a boil and remove from heat, it will thicken as it cools. Add vinegar last and mix well.

Quesedilla:

flour tortillas

Tyson popcorn chicken

The sauce you made :)

cheddar cheese

ranch dressing

After baking the popcorn chicken (dont microwave it, it'll be soggy) drizzle the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat. cover the tortilla with cheese, add you chicken, top with more cheese and then the other tortilla. place onto a hot griddle until cheese is melted and both sides are browned! For YUMMY dipping sauce, mix a little of the wingers sauce with ranch! DIP, and ENJOY!

Family Photos for your 72 hour Kit!

I thought it might be a good idea to go a little more in depth into what I did for our family pictures for our 72 hour kits! It was VERY simple actually! All I did was find the photos I wanted to use (family, my hubby, me, and my baby) and opened them with photoshop. Make sure they are photos that your faces are visible, these can be used for anything from photos from children to look at to pass time, to photos needed for a search party! I typed our full names underneath and printed them onto regular paper. You could also just write the names under the photos. Then I cut them out and laminated them, punched holes in the corners and tied them together with some ribbon. If you arent able to get to a laminater, you can use packing tape over both sides and then just trim it!

This was SO fast and easy! And it was cheap so I can redo the book every time we get our new family photos!

Isn't he a cutie!?

Chicken and Veggie Egg Rolls

These were SOO yummy! I have a slight addiction to egg rolls... but who doesn't? I'm not a huge fan of the baked kind, I like 'em fried up and crispy! Here's mine...

Chicken and Veggie Egg Rolls
(makes about 10)
10 egg roll wrappers
2cups finely shredded purple cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded chicken
1 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS teryaki sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp powdered ginger

In a wok, or a large skillet, saute cabbage and carrots until slightly tender. Add chicken and all of the other ingredients and cook for 5-10 min until everything has cooked down together. Lay out your egg roll wrappers and fill them with a spoonfull of filling in a line down the center of the wrapper on a diagonal. roll the wrappers (while tucking in the ends) and seal the edge with a little water to make it stick. (the package for the egg rolls should have pictures to show you how to do this) Fry in about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil on all 4 sides until golden brown. Dip in soy sauce or teryaki.

Menu Plan Monday... (on Thursday?)

I really have been planning my weekly Menus!... I just keep forgeting to post them! I'm going to TRY and do better!
I figured that mostly people just want dinner ideas from these anyways, so I'll go ahead and post the menu I made for this week, even though the week is more than 1/2 way over!

Monday: Dinner with a couple from our ward (I made Summer garden Pasta Salad)

Tuesday: Beef and Bean Chimichangas (recipe to come!)

Wednesday: French Bread Pizzas

Thursday: Meatloaf Muffins (recipe to come!) Mashed Potatoes and Zucchini

Friday: Crock Pot French Dips -shown above (had to make it an easy night... we will be getting ready for a yard sale!

Saturday: Date Night :)

Sunday: BBQ Beef Pizza (recipe to come!)

Summer Squash Pasta

We have an abundance of squash right now, which we are loving, however there are only so many ways to cook it. This recipe is one of our FAVORITES! I've seriously made this at least once a week all summer!!
It's not heavy, its light and yummy and not over filling! PERFECT summer dinner!

Summer Squash Pasta
1/2 box thin spaghetti, cooked
1/2 cup chicken cooked and cubed (optional)
2 medium squash
3 TBS Extra Virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic bread seasoning (mixture of garlic powder, parsley, etc. just use what ya' got!)
1/2 tsp siracha chili sauce
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

In a pan, saute squash in the olive oil and garlic seasoning until the squash is soft. Add the cooked spaghetti and all the other ingredients. Combine well and serve!
You could also leave out the chicken and make this a vegetarian meal!

Emergency Preparedness Kit {week-by-week}

I had REALLY been wanting to start an Emergency Kit for our family, and I finally got the ambition to do it! I broke my list down into weeks, adding up to a year. That way it's not so overwhelming (and expensive) to do all at once! You can either go by order, or pick and choose things that you find on sale, or that you have in the house. Just make sure if you do miw them up, to add the $5 + 4 quarters periodically, or you will end up putting in $70 all at once! Don't get this list confused with a Food Storage list, this has a FEW food items, but its mostly emergency supplies. Feel free to add/take away from this list to fit your family's needs!

I found a container that I had lying around and cut out some vinyl for it (because every project starts with vinyl!) Then I went through the list and found the things I had already in the house that we could spare and added them.

it isnt much... its a start!

1.       Container to hold your Kit.

2.       1 Flashlight for each person + extra batteries

3.       Current family picture and photo of each family member (More on this later :) )

4.       Can opener

5.       List of important phone #’s (laminated if possible) (I added our cell phones, all 4 of our parents cell phones, our Family Doctor, the city police, and the city fire dept.)

6.       $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

7.       4 rolls toilet paper

8.       1 bar soap

9.       1 emergency blanket per person

10.   1 roll paper towels

11.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

12.   1 box bandaids

13.   1 package wet wipes

14.   100ct multi vitamins

15.   1 pack of gum

16.   2 candles

17.   Package of matches

18.   2 decks of cards

19.   Face Masks 2 per person

20.   1 bottle Ibuprofen (add baby Tylenol if you have a baby)

21.   2 lighters

22.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

23.   1 whistle per person

24.   5 dice (to play games)

25.   Rubber gloves 2 pair per person

26.   Sunblock

27.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

28.   Gauze and medical tape

29.   3 heat pouches per person

30.   Bugspray

31.   Rope

32.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

33.   1 package garbage bags (10)

34.   Package of tums

35.   Pocket knife

36.   Thermometer

37.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

38.   Hand sanitizer

39.   2 packs instant hot coco per person

40.   5 packages garden seeds

41.   2 packs instant soup per person

42.   $5 In one dollar bills + 4 quarters

43.   10 hard candies per person (i.e. butterscotch, cinnamon etc.)

44.   4 AA batteries

45.   10 instant crystal lite packages

46.   2 instant oatmeal packs per person

47.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

48.   Notebook and pens (for journaling/notes/entertaining kids)

49.    Small pot

50.    Travel size shampoo/conditioner

51.   Bible/Book of Mormon

52.   $5 in one dollar bills + 4 quarters

I'll try and update every few months of what it looks like, as it fills! I hope this gives you the ambition to start your own!

Sausage and Pepper Casserole

This casserole was SO fast and easy! oh and I failed to mention YUMM-Y! I already had the frozen rice, and the cooked sausage in the freezer, so it literally took 10 minutes to make!
Sausage and Pepper Casserole
4 cups cooked rice
1 cup cooked sausage crumbles
1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
3 TBS sour cream

Mix everything in a bowl, and put it all into an 8x8 casserole dish. Bake at 400 until the top is browned (about 10 min)

Red Hot Chicken Po-Boy

This sandwich is SO simple... but it is SOO SOO yummy! THe sauce totally makes it, and you can add more/less hotsauce to adjust the heat level to your liking!

You need...

Cooked Popcorn Chicken (just the tyson kind, about 6-7 large peices)

1 crusty roll

shredded cabbage

lettuce

1tsp Franks Hot Sause

1TBS Miracle Whip

Mix the mayo and hot sauce in a small bowl and spread generously on the insides of the roll. Add chicken, cabbage and lettuce and DEVOUR!

Mini Egg Muffins

This is kind of a chop and toss recipe. I didn't really measure too close, so just use your best guess:)

4 Eggs

Mushrooms

Cooked crumbled sausage

chopped bell pepper

shredded chedder cheese

salt & pepper

add all ingredients into a bowl and pour into a greased (REALLY WELL) mini muffin pan (of course you can use a regular muffin pan, it will just take more time to cook) and bake at oh, I'd say 400 for about 8-10 min or until the eggs are set.

Freezer Chocolate Chip Cookies

I really love homemade cookies, but I don't love the cleanup that comes after... and I REALLY don't love eating the whole batch in 2 days because they are sitting there! So I decided to try freezing the cookie dough, and it works! It was so nice to have fresh baked cookies without all the mess! I got the recipe here (my changes are in red) and then right after I rolled the cookies, instead of baking them, I placed them on a baking sheet (making sure they weren't touching) and stuck them in the freezer for a few hours until they were frozen solid. Then I tossed them all in a gallon ziploc and threw them in the freezer! When I was ready to bake them here's what I did...

With the oven OFF, arrange how ever many cookies you want on the cookie sheet and place in the cold oven. Turn the oven onto 400 degrees and set the timer for 10 minutes. The cookies will thaw while the oven preheats, and then watch them after the 10 min. is up. Mine took about 12-14 min one time, and then the next time they took about 16 min. So just watch them for the last few minutes. Let them cool, and enjoy the yummy cookies and your CLEAN kitchen! :)

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm (I use 6 tbs butter and 6 tbs vegetable shortening so that your cookies dont end up too flat)

1 cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk (I just used 2 eggs)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I didn't add that many)

Directions:

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions.  Preheat oven 325°.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.  With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.  Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves.  Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.  Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes).  Do not overbake.

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

 

Barn Door Shelf {DIY}

I had an empty space above our bed in the Master bedroom that was driving me CRAZY ever since we moved in.

I ADORE our vaulted ceilings, but they can be a pain to decorate!

 So when I saw this tutorial, I knew I had to make one!... or rather have my husband make me one :)

Thankfully he had just gotten a new saw for christmas, so he was more than happy to test it out on my project! He also was able to find me the barn wood, and has a ton of screws in the garage... so bonus!

This project was FREE!

You will need:

4 wood boards (8x1 - 47in long)

3 2x4's 3ft long

LONG screws

Wooden board 1x10x47 (for the shelf)

Now to be totally honest, my husband did most of this. But it's pretty self explanitory! All he did, after cutting the boards is screw them all into the 2x4's from the back. Then he cut the middle 2x4 on angles at the ends to make it fit between them. Then he attatched the shelf to the bottom! 

When he was all done putting it together, I sprayed the entire thing with Rusoleum 2x Coverage in Antique White. It took a few coats, and I have to tell you that REAL barn wood does not paint easily. I was okay with that because I wanted it to look rally worn, but if you want a cleaner look, I would go with new wood. After drying, I stained it with a dark stain, and let it dry again. One last step I promise! All I did was run my sander over the whole thing a few times to get that fresh paint look off, and I was DONE! I am warning you, these things are HEAVY! And a pain to hang! If you pay attention you can see that our screws arent in all the way because by the time he had screwed all the holes and started to hang it, our drill didnt have much power left! Just another thing for the to do list :)

I LOVE how it turned out!