Fresh Lemon in Ice Cubes

I found tons of ideas about lemons.. My neighbor gave me a bunch of lemons from his tree. I first made lemon crock pot chicken with rice- which turned out ok.. I wish it was more lemony..
Anyhow, I had so many lemons left over and I love Ice water with lemons.. So I got my mini muffin pan out and chopped up some lemons in pieces and added water and froze them!
Easy to come out.. some popped out and some I had to run Hot water on the underneath and just fell out..
Love this idea!!

Mommy's Memory Book

This is a Mommy Scrapbook! I am making Danika her own grades in a smaller SMASH book, and I found these bigger ones- LOVE IT!!

So I printed up a small 8.5x11 things I like and glued it to the cover of my book! This will be great to fill with the things that Danika makes in school or draws for me during the days.. I just figured where am I putting all the things I want to keep from her..AND here you go...

Pudding Pops

• What you need 
• 1-1/3 cups 
  water
• 1 pkg. 
  JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin
• 1 pkg. 
  JELL-O Berry Blue Flavor Gelatin
• 1 pkg. 
  JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
• 2 cups 
  milk
• • How to make it 
  • Add 2/3 cup boiling water to each flavor gelatin mix in separate small bowls; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Pour each flavor gelatin into separate 8x4-inch loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
  • Unmold gelatins; cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Beat pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Add gelatin cubes; stir gently.
  • Spoon into 8 (5-oz.) paper cups. Insert wooden popstick into center of each. Freeze 4 hours or until firm. Peel off cups before serving.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    ~Everything went really smooth! I only had certain colors because I had used the others for the 3 layer jello shots. So this one I used grape (purple) and orange.. The Only thing is, when they finally froze up- we started to eat them and lick them and they tasted really really weird!! They had some kind of powder to it. I thought maybe it was the dixie cups, but then I really think it is the pudding powder. Maybe it did not dissolve as well..
    I hate to say, the girls threw away what they were eating and I ended up throwing the rest of the pops away about 3-4 days later.. #epicFail   

FOURTH of JULY 2013

Sorry this is a little bit late getting up, but I have been a little busy!! NON ALCOHOLIC Jell-O Shots
                                                    4th of July Fire Cracker Shots!!

Ingredients:

1-1/3 cups boiling water, divided

1 pkg.  (3 oz.) JELL-O Berry Blue Flavor Gelatin

1 pkg.  (3 oz.) JELL-O Cherry Flavor Gelatin

1 env.  KNOX Unflavored Gelatine

1 cup  milk, divided

3 Tbsp.  sugar

½ tsp.  vanilla

20  maraschino cherries with stems, well drained, patted dry

Directions:

Add 2/3 cup boiling water to berry gelatin mix in small bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Repeat with cherry gelatin mix. Cool.

Meanwhile, sprinkle unflavored gelatine over 1/4 cup milk in medium bowl; let stand 5 min. Bring remaining milk to boil in saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in sugar and vanilla. Add to plain gelatine mixture; stir until gelatine is completely dissolved. Cool 10 min.

Spoon berry gelatin into 20 (1-oz.) plastic shot glasses sprayed lightly with cooking spray, adding about 2 tsp. to each. Refrigerate 15 min. or until set but not firm.

Top with unflavored gelatine mixture, adding about 2 tsp. to each cup. Refrigerate 10 min. Insert cherry, stem end up, into white gelatine layer in each cup. Refrigerate 2 min.

Cover with cherry gelatin, adding about 2 tsp. to each cup. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Remove from cups before serving.

I bought the shot glasses at the dollar store!

Kids loved these!! Gone in no time!

~4th of JULY Fire Cracker Bundt Cake~

I just used the funfetti cake mix- follow instructions on box. Then seperate in to 3 bowls- make a red cake mix, blue cake mix and leave the other white. Then Layer in bundt pan after spraying it with PAM. I did red first and then white and then blue. I usually make my own icing, but since I was making all these different things, I decided to buy it in the jug. I bought 2 things of white and added food coloring and just had my daughter help me and BAM!! Layered the colors...

Breakfast Bread Pudding

Suppose to be cinnamon baked french toast:

I followed the recipe that I actually was sent an a newsletter- and I knew I should have jazzed it up with my own spin on it! It calls for 1 loaf of stale bread ( I used buns, without seeds) 8 whole eggs, 2 cups milk, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, 3/4 cups sugar, 2 TBL vanilla, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 stick cold butter-cubed!

directions:

1. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Tear French bread into chunks, or cut into cubes,  and evenly place in the pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Pour evenly over bread. Cover pan with saran wrap and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter pieces and cut into the dry mixture using a fork or your hands. Combine until the mixture resembles sand with a few pea sized chunks. Cover and store mixture in the refrigerator.

4. When you’re ready to bake the French toast, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove casserole from refrigerator  and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the French toast is set and golden brown.

5. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.

Recipe adapted by: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/05/cinnamon-baked-french-toast/

~I think it turned out more like bread pudding- which was ok but not that great.. I even warmed it up for the kids and added syrup on the bottom of the plate and 1 liked it, but the other did not. For myself and my man, I did not add syrup!~

Making your own Ice Cube Pops

This one is easy, but it was something to get the girls mind off the heat! So, we had left over Kool Aid from the cream pies, so I used that. We also used Crystal Light.. Any juice or soda or anything.. Just add to ice cube tray and then I put a small sheet of saran wrap over the top so that the toothpicks can stick straight up. I am not looking in the fridge every 20 min to see if it is stiff enough to put the stick in it or now it is to stiff to add the toothpick in it! They came out good, but you know with any ice cube, you suck it and all the juice comes out and so the last 1/4 of it is just really ice!
The girls got to take one in the morning before camp..  It was already 70 degrees out at 7:15 am..

No Bake Cream Pies

It has been so hot this last wee, that I think it gets everyone a little more anxious! So, my girls seem to play together and then get on each other's nerves.. So I had seen this recipe online and I just said, HEY girls let's go to the store. WHY? Because I said! I have a project to do, usually they get excited because I always try and do different things with them to keep their minds off wanting to mess with each other. So for under $12 we made 12 mini cream pies. They both got to pick their own flavors.
Here are the ingredients you need:

Cool whip

Condensed milk

2 packs of 6 mini graham cracker crust

You usually only need 1 full Kool Aid packet, but I did half and half..

Hailey made Peach Mango

Danika made Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade

The recipe I found said to put it all together and Kool Aid is first, but since I have to totally different girls, I made the batch and then split it in 1/2. Then had to split the Kool Aid pack in 1/2... Then they got to stir!

Fill Pie shells with your mixture!

And Now it is done! It was so hot, that we had added Redi Whip to the top and added it to the fridge and 2 hours later, when they were done the whip cream had melted, so we added more Redi Whip on top.

They were really good, but also really sweet!!

Cheesy Orzo Pasta Recipe

I have been looking for recipes for my Orzo I have had in my cabinet, literally for years. The container is 1/2 full and staring at me to do something with it!

I have looked up recipes, after recipes and was going to make soup out of it, but it is now Summer time and soup is not this seasons top thing! I was up late one night thinking of different ideas, and so I baked at 11 pm at night to get ready for the next day.. I found a cheesy recipe for Orzo and I did that, and added some vegetables to it.  I found this recipe on my mobile- Tasty Recipe.com

I doubled the recipe so I can have lunch and a side dish for dinner. Plus, I did not realize it but that finished up the Orzo and I got to throw the container away.. 

I did change somethings up from the recipe because I do not have Chicken stock, I have Better Than Bullion and Knorr Stock. So that is what I used! 

24 oz. Water with 1 Knorr Stock & I added to taste the Chicken Bullion

2 cups Orzo

1 cup Shredded Mexican Cheese

1/4-1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste or any other seasoning you like

* Boil Water/Broth in pan

* Add Pasta. Cover & cook for 15 min

* Stirring occasionally so it does not stick to the bottom

* If too much liquid has evaporated add more

* Once liquid is absorbed, and pasta is tender

* Add your cheeses and seasoning

~~ALL DONE!!~~

I sauteed some veggies to add on top of mine for my lunch..