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..

Mini cupcake omelette recipe

I LOVE NEW RECIPES!!.

Sometimes, I am not even wanting to find anything and I get bored and got to Pintrest.. And then "BAM" all these cool recipes or things to do with the kids pop up! I am so addicted to Pintrest!!

I am not sure why it is, but men seem to be major creatures of habits. They can eat pizza 5 nights a week. They can have the same lunch 4 days a week.. to me that is BORING!! So, I try to jazz it up for my boyfriend. The sad thing is he is in construction like field and they have no microwaves, so he has to eat it cold or sandwiches. Since he has been working out, he like hard boiled eggs with toast or some starch of some sort. The last week he has been working so much that he has not been working out, so I am changing up his breakfast. He eats after he has been to work for a couple of hours. Also this week, my daily routine is off, because both girls are out of town & so my Sunday ritual got messed up! That is when I boil all my eggs, go grocery shopping, etc.. I usually boil 25-30 eggs and instead I just bought the bare minimum I had to on Sunday. So I got an 18 pack of eggs. Monday-Wednesday I made breakfast burritos for him.. Nothing special, so it was eggs and cheese. Guess what? I ran out of tortillas so now I had to think of something else.

I remember seeing muffin egg breakfasts online, so I decided to bake them last night at 11 pm. 

I changed the recipe up a little, from several I saw online..

I fried up 2 pieces of bacon, set it aside.  

Scrambled 3 eggs, with chopped green onions, added seasoning..

I added shredded cheese as well- I used the mexican mix.

I then used scissors (one of my major utensils I use all the time, much easier than a knife and quicker) to cut up the bacon and put it into the mini muffin tins. I then poured the scrambled egg mixture into the wells of the tin. REMINDER: only fill 3/4 of the way up!! It needs room to expand. I did not do this on all of them, because my eggs got crazy and starting spilling a little all over. :)

I must say they turned out delicious!!  350* for 25 min. Just watch it and then pull it out when you are ready. If you are going to heat them up again, I would under bake them by 5 min.

There you go! Already for breakfast in the morning!! 

Reprimand my 7 year old....

I have a sassy 7 year old, who tests the limits every day with me. Her dad & I split up about 4 years ago. She never pushes the limits with her dad!  I have asked her why, and her exact words to me are, "Dads are mean & Scary"... I am not mean? "No, Mom you are easy!" How so? I put you in time out, I take things away, I send you to your room- Your dad does not do that because you do not pull the same things with him as you do with me. So, now a situation came up last night for me & I was not thinking clearly on the "right" reprimand to do. So in a way I had a brain fart! It happens to the best of us! After 15 min, it dawns on me that I should have turned off her TV. DUH!! I know, I know... The only thing I had said to her was that she was NOT getting dessert tomorrow.. Whop-pie, right?! So now I am scouring the web to find out different reprimands to have on hand, so I do not have another lapse. I like the Super Nanny & her "Rules" that are listed up in the kitchen. So, I am going to search for things like that..
.....STAY TUNED, to see what I come up with......

Reorganizing the Medicine Cabinet

I got this idea from a similar medicine cabinet:

I LOVE all her stuff!! She had menu plans, storage solutions, learn to organize, etc...
My medicine cabinet is a shelf in my bathroom closet, not the whole shelf. I live in an old house, that has hardly in space for anything. I am about to turn my hall jacket closet into a pantry, because of the 2 shelving units holding food in my kitchen. That is another story all on it's own! A different time for that.

                                                                           BEFORE:

I think I saw on Pintrest pails for your medicine. I went to Michaels and in the dollar bins, I found these cool black board clips for only $1. Then the buckets were all on sale 1/2 price, so those were only $2.50 each. LOVE the colors!! I bought a pen to write on the little clips, and I matched the color with the pails. I usually keep the vitamins in the kitchen, but I may change that up to. But, for now it is fine.  

                                                          AFTER in the Cabinet:










My labels are Pain Relief, Children, Sleep Aid, and Cold & Allergy. I also kept that basket for band*aids, heel lotions, inhaler, etc.. kind of Misc stuff. I actually had a clip I could use that I wrote Misc on! I love it! Now no one has to ask me if we have this or that.. You can clearly see it!