chicken and biscuits

This evening I used my wonderful Deep covered baker AGAIN. I Put 4 chicken breast in the pan. Rubbed the chicken breast with olive oil and southwest seasoning. cooked it in the microwave for 12 minutes. WOW, so juicy and yummy.
The biscuits were a new recipe I got from my friend Melly. They are called Amish biscuits. They were really easy to make
2 c. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1 c. milk
1 tsp. sugar

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add remaining ingredients. Mix until smooth and drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
To look at Melly's recipe look here: http://www.proverbs31homemaking.com

pancake breakfast

Last night the girls and I helped with a pancake breakfast for american heritage girls. I am so proud of the girls. They not only had to sell tickets but they had to show up to help. The parents cooked, the older girls cleaned, faith's age wiped tables and help guest. the little ones greeted and showed people how to get food. I was really impressed with how from the beginning to the end the girls really worked hard. I really think this is due to the wonderful leadership in this group

hot cocoa

Update:
if you read this before today, i changed the amount you use, sorry, i read it wrong but it is still as goodmy friend becky gave me his recipe.
we have always bought store bought hot cocoa. last week i tried the recipe off of the hershey's cocoa and it was good but no where as good as this recipe. we made double the batch this afternoon. honestly, after my boys stood out in the cold for 3 hours selling popcorn they needed it.
so easy


hot cocoa
4 cups dry powdered milk (wow this stuff is more expensive than i realized)
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup hershey cocoa
pinch of salt
put all ingredients in blender (food processor for me) to make it more of a powder.
To drink:
add 1/3 cocoa "MIX" to 1 cup water WOW it is so good

chocolate lava cake

OOPS, forgot to take a picture
Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix, prepared according to the box directions (add eggs, oil, water)
1 can prepared chocolate/fudge icing (best with Classic Chocolate Frosting)

Follow directions for the cake mix and pour batter into Deep Covered Baker. Using the medium scoop (or a spoon), drop scoops of icing on top of cake batter. Use all the icing... and it'll almost completely cover the batter, but don’t mix with the batter—just drop on top.

This actually works covered or uncovered. Cook 10 minutes in rotating microwave on HIGH or until done. The icing melts to the bottom and the cake cooks on top. Serve directly from Baker with a Bamboo Spoon or the spoon to the Beaded Serving Set with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.
WARNING: addicting!
this was so yummy, all the frosting melts to the bottom and is so wonderful.

i recieved this recipe from my pampered chef consultant

pumpkin cake

OOOH this was yummy.
1 box white cake mix
1 large can of pumpkin
mix together (do not add anything to the cake like eggs or water)
pour in deep covered baker and bake 12-18 minutes, it took 16 in mine. serve with cool whip. this is a great breakfast treat or desert.

dishwasher soap

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
4 packs unsweetened lemonade
a dash of salt if you have hard water

I use 2 Tablespoons per load, i also use vinegar in my rinse department

I have to seay we LOVE this. we get gack (as michael calls it)in our cups and after 2 weeks of using homemade we no longer have gac. I also do not rinse my dishes as I should and very often have the kids load the dishwasher

chicken in the deep covered baker

I am loving the pampered chef deep dish baker. Last night we made a chicken in 30 minutes. So easy, I rubbed (okay, okay rob rubbed) butter on the chicken with southwest seasoning (pampered chef). put it in the microwave for 30 minutes. put the thermomenter in and it said 165. we covered and let it set for about 10 minutes. WOW, do juicy, so yummy, so amazing, so easy. The recipe did say you could add potatoes and carrots and change the cooking time to 40 minutes and I might do that next time.
The second thing we had was pumpkin pie. It is actually the extra pumpkin I had from making mini pumpkin pies last week. Then we made (i made, rob rolled) homemade pastry dough and rolled it out. it was yummy, we baked in another piece of stoneware and it was yummy. I let the kids have the left overs for breakfast.

loaded potato soup-pampered chef style

I love this new recipe. I love my new deep covered baker (DCB). So many wonderful meals I can not wait to tell you about. Tonight was the first one. Here is the recipe. It is a pampered chef recipe and you can find it on there site under Loaded Baked Potato chowder.
1. slice 3 potatoes length wise and lay in DCB, pour 1/c cup milk over potatoes
2. bake 11 minutes, rotate potatoes
3. bake 11 more minute
while baking whisk 4 ounces cream cheese, add 3 cups milk
4. pour mixture over potatoes, microwave 3-5 more minutes
5. stir in 4 oz cheddar cheese (we used a little more)
EAT, OOOH YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! so good that rob said we need to cook it for his parents when they visit. pampered chef suggest adding green onion tops and pepper but i am plain.

pampered chef

I had a pampered chef show a few weeks ago and this is most of the free stuff I got. because some is a birthday gift for my amazing birthday I did not show it. we both LOVE pampered chef. I thought it would be neat to show you the difference between my new stuff and my old stuff. We used the deep covered baker tonight to make the best potato soup ever but i will show that soon.

lemonade and apple sauce

This morning we watched Sid the Science kid. They made apple sauce so I told my kids if they helped me straighten up then we would make home made apple sauce. Then I called my neighboor to ask if she wanted to come down and make it with us. That way I was motivated to clean up. They had a good time but I have to be honest, I am not good with a knife and it took a long time to peel the apples. They even ate the lemons before we made lemonade. I let the bigger girls make lemonade and stir it, but we forgot to say use cold water, so our lemonade was warm and then i did not add sugar so it was more like lemon water. The apples were good, I did not cook them long enough to smash, but I do think I will make some next time in the crock pot and make a bunch to keep. One day I want to learn to make apple butter. OH yummy

Chocolate Frosting

I have been looking at the Pioneer Woman Blog for several months and fell in love with the pictures. Then someone sent me a reciepe from her site. So today because I am tired and resting I spent some time looking at her site and found a new frosting reciepe. And since my DH and family ate all the chocolate little debbie cakes I decided it was a great time to try it. I did not make the cupcakes but may have to try it soon. Her site is http://thepioneerwoman.com/. She used block chocolate and I used Chocolate chips and they worked great.
She has a prune cake that looks good. I wonder if snyone would know they were in there.

easter breakfast

This year we decided we were not doing Easter baskets. We have never let them believe in the Easter bunny and Santa Claus. This year we explained that we could not find anything about chocolate bunnies in the Bible. So since we were not giving out candy and junk I made a sweet breakfast. I love this reciepe. You take crescent rolls and put a hershey kiss and a few mini marshmallows in them. As they come out of the oven you sprinkle powdered sugar on them. I have done this before on Easter and know there is a story but for the life of me I could not remember the store last night. Hope had to have something healthy with her breakfast and Rob chose to have his special K for breakfast. This was a nice treat for later in the day too. I wish I had better pictures because I love these.

jumbo 3 chip cookies

My favorite cookies.



Jumbo 3 chip cookies

This is doubled



8 cups floured

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

3 cups butter

2.5 cups sugar

2.5 cups brown sugar

4 large eggs

2 TBSP vanilla

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1cup premiere white chips

2 cup chopped nuts



Honestly, I normally use whatever I have, so it is something like 2 c m&m’s, 2 cups chocolate chips, and a cup of peanut butter chips.

preheat oven to 375
combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl. Beat butter, and sugars together until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and add morsels. Drop by ¼ cup onto ungreased baking sheet. I actually use the large pampered chef scoop.
bake for 12-14 minutes or golden brown

hints:
i buy m&m's after holidays when they are on sale and freeze them. one time I found them for 18 cents a bag and it was the big bags. so the colors are always funny.

Chocolate with peanut butter frosting

both recipes came from allrecipes
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar


DIRECTIONS
Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy

the cake is http://www.recipes4cakes.com/chocolatecakes/threelayer_cake.htm

buttercream frosting

asked Faith what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. Her options were 1. I could buy one 2. I could make one or 3. she could make it herself. She got so excited to make it herself. So I set out all the ingredients for her and let her make the same chocolate cake I made last weekend. She even made the frosting from scratch, she made green icing for the chocolate cake and I made blue icing for the white cup cakes. She will ice the cakes in the morning. She is so excited and I am sure we will find food coloring all week.
Update, I took a cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby and LOVED it. The first thing you do is learn to make frosting. I will never turn back. I love buttercream icing.

buttercream icing (stiff consistency)
1c shortening
1t wilton flavoring ( i actually use 1t vanilla and 1t almond and love the taste)
2T water or milk (i used water)
1 lb powder sugar (4 cups)
1T meringue powder
pinch of salt
to make chocolate
add 3/4 c cocoa and 1 or 2 T water

Laundry soap

Okay a few weeks ago we made powdered laundry soap and I love it. I did buy different soap. I bought Yardley soap because that is what I found at the dollar tree. I have made 7 batches of the powder and last night we made the liquid.
this is the duggars reciepe
TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)



Powdered Laundry Detergent- Top load machine

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

I got this recipe from the Duggards website

fabric softner

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet
UPDATE:
when rob came home from school he picked up a shirt and commented on how wonderful they smelled. I posted this in August on my blog and 2 months we still are using the same one. This has really stretched a long way but not lost any smell or ability

thrifty shopping

8 count them 8 things of parchment paper at $1.75 a piece
6 boxes of cereal
2 boxes of cereal bars
2 boxes of cereal sticks
2 boxes of oatmeal
toothpaste
9 count them 9 things of peanut butter
3 bags of marshmallows
7 count them 7 bags of chocolate chips
2 things of tortilla shells
1 peanut butter cracker
4 waters
3 sodas
it seems like something else but I can not remember. That is 6 bags of groceries for less than 50 dollars.
I stopped at a gas station to pick up a drink for a friend and saw a discount grocery store next door so I went in. I felt like a child on Christmas morning. The lady must think I am nuts because I was so happy. If you want to visit this place it is in Gurley, maybe 20-25 minutes away. And the best part is right across the street is a AWESOME, AMAZING scrapbook/ homeschooling store. It is wonderful.

quick and easy dinners

We are constantly looking for ideas for dinner. Honestly, by the end of the day I am toast. I wish I knew where I came up with this idea but it was a HUGE hit. Take tortilla shells and put pizza sauce and whatever pizza topping you like. Bake and eat. So easy and no real clean up. The other thing we have been doing is taking tortilla shells and sprinkling with cheese and microwaving. Yes, I stole the idea from taco bell.
Okay, I decided to make donuts tonight. I buy the cheap biscuits. Fry in oil, roll in cinnamon sugar. For some reason, today the cinnamon sugar was a little too much. we have dipped them in icing before and that worked great. Normally I make all four containers of biscuits but tonight we only made one. That way we would not be tempted to eat them all. Dinner was a great success and everyone loved it.

breakfast muffins

My friend Becky gave me this reciepe. Take Grands buscuits and put in muffin pan, you will have to take a little from a couple to make 12 since only 10 biscuits come in a pack. scramble (not cook) 5 or 6 eggs, mix with half a pound of meat (we used sausage) pour the eggs and sausage over the biscuit, not quite to the top. sprinkle with cheese and bake for about 18 minutes. WOW they were good and I think they would freeze well. I will tell you I tried a second batch with the generic biscuits, you know the kind that come 4 packs together and put one biscuit in each one. It did not work, the egg was able to get to the bottom so you had to use a fork with it. my goal is things to eat on the way.

for sale $12 a dozen, sausage or ham

peanut butter cookies

So simple and so easy. The girls had a friend over last night so we made them.
The reciepe is 1cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg. we times it by 4. then just for fun added m&m's. 350 for 8-10 minutes and yummmy

homemade playdough

1 cup salt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
2 cups water
food coloring
2 tablespoons oil
mix all ingredients in a sauce pan on low heat, stirring constantly. stir until pulls away from the sides. Then I put it on a lightly dusted with flour table and knead until not sticky, If it is sticky add a little more flour. If you want it to smell good add kool aid. I store it in a air safe container and it stays for months

for sale $2 per container