Our Advent activities

This year we are doing an activity advent. Each day the kids open up a little match box that I made all pretty and inside is the activity for that day.




Here's some of the fun stuff we've done so far.

On December 1st we made paper snow flakes. Aren't they pretty?

On Dec 3rd we were supposed to make a Christmas craft, but we were in Lethbridge all day watching dad play at our high school alumni  basketball tournament. But we managed to make up for it the on Sunday. We made pretty borax crystal ornaments(you can find the instructions here).

On Dec 4th we decorated our Christmas tree. So pretty.

(I'll try to get a better picture when the sun isn't shining in my window)

I'll keep you posted on the other fun stuff we'll be doing through out the month.

The best thing I have found on Pinterest

OK, this may or may not be an exaggeration...but I believe I just discovered the most amazing thing on Pinterest.

Wait for it....

DIY microwave popcorn! That's right. Popcorn in just minutes with out all the extra crud that is in each microwave popcorn bag. I haven't owned an air popper for....well I haven't ever owned one. We have always made our popcorn in a kettle on the stove, or used microwave popcorn(why, I don't know). But this, this is amazing. All you need is a brown paper bag and 1/4 cup popcorn(Squawkfox.com says to use 1/2 cup, but when I did that my brown paper lunch bag exploded and I had popcorn all over the microwave). You simple put your popcorn kernels in the brown bag, fold it over twice, and put it in your microwave for 3 minute. Just as you would any microwave popcorn, it is done when the popping has slowed to two or three pops per second. There are also suggestions on how to make your own gourmet toppings. Today we added some melted butter and then sprinkled on some cinnamon and sugar, I've never seasoned it this way, and I don't know why. It was delicious.

If you want to make your own microwave popcorn and delicious topping just click right here and you'll be on your way.

Quinoa, if you haven't tried it yet, you should do it like this.

I've heard so much about Quinoa(pronounced 'keen-wa'). But until recently I haven't tried it. I was afraid. I didn't know what to do with it. If you don't know what it is you can read about it here. You cook it just like you would rice. It is high in protein and is said to be the new super food. It can be used as a rice substitute, but that is not all, it can be used in just about any kind of dish.
Last week we made it into a kind of "oatmeal" using this recipe(I hate real oatmeal so this was brave for me). It was quite tasty, and I would absolutely eat it for breakfast like that.



But then I found this picture when I searched "quinoa" on Pinterest.

It looked absolutely yummy! So of course I pinned it and then added the ingredients to my shopping list. Tonight I made them. They. Were. Delicious. 
Everybody loved them and wanted seconds. I didn't change anything about the recipe so you can just go over to Eating Well...Living Thin and get the recipe yourself.

To go along with it we also had these deliciously sinful cheesy ranch potatoes and a very healthy green salad. The meal was delightful all around.

Now seriously, you need to go out and find yourself some quinoa and try these, you won't regret it, I promise!

My favorite meal this week

On Monday I made the bestest meal of the week. It was a hit with everyone at the table.
On the menu was ( I didn't think to take actual pictures, so you'll have to live with someone else's this time)

-Oven Fried Drumsticks(the original recipe I found on allrecipes.com but see below on how I have changed it)
-Roasted dill potatoes
-Chili Almond Asparagus (I found this recipe on Pinterest...really are you surprised?) And let me tell you this was to DIE for!!!! This kids didn't eat this, they opted for a regular side salad. But veggies are veggies so let them have the salad.
-Baked apples with sweet vanilla milk for dessert.


Oven Fried Drumsticks

• 2 cups low fat sour cream
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 chicken drumsticks
• 6 bone-in chicken breast halves, with skin
• 4 cups crushed cornflakes cereal
• 4 tablespoons crushed dried rosemary**
• 3 teaspoons dried sage**
• 3 tablespoons garlic powder**
• salt and pepper to taste
• **Instead of using separate herbs and spices I used about 6 tbsp(maybe I didn't actually measure accurately) of poultry seasoning and a little extra garlic powder.

• Directions


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place a cooling rack on top of a large cookie sheet. Spray the rack with vegetable cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together sour cream and minced garlic. In another bowl, stir together the cornflake crumbs, rosemary, sage, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Coat the chicken with the sour cream mixture, then roll in the cornflake mixture. Arrange chicken pieces on top of the cooling rack.
3. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until meat is no longer pink, and juices run clear.

This is a favorite at our house. It also makes really really yummy chicken fingers!!

The roasted potatoes are my kids favorite way of doing potatoes. Here's what I do, it's really very basic, but they are so yummy.

Roasted Dill potatoes(forgive me for no real measurements...and no picture)

6 potatoes, cut up in bite sized pieces

Splash of olive oil

Seasoning salt

Dill seasoning(I have a Pampered Chef seasoning that we love...but it is almost all gone)

Place potatoes on baking sheet. Add oil and seasonings and stir to coat. Bake in oven warmed at 400F for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. I usually stir them after about 20 minutes or so so that they get nice and toasty on all sides.

For dessert we had baked apples. I didn't have any ice cream or whip cream to go with them so instead I made some sweet vanilla milk( I just made this up on a whim but it turned out really nice)

Sweet Vanilla Milk

In a sauce pan over high heat bring 1 1/2 cups whole milk, 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup sugar to a boil, reduce hear and let simmer for 20 minutes. serve over baked apples. 

It was the perfect touch.

He loves me

I was sick with a 24 hr bug Saturday night all day Sunday. After the kids were in bed on Sunday night I was craving brownies or chocolate chip cookies something fierce, but wasn't feeling up to making them. Daniel tried to satisfy my craving with a Caramilk chocolate bar. It was good, but it just didn't have the texture I was carving to go along with the chocolate.

Monday are Daniel's day off.  He went out to run a few errands. When he came back he started acting a little funny. He was messing around in the kitchen, asking if canola oil was the same as vegetable oil and rummaging around in the cupboards. After awhile I sniffed out what he was up to. He was making brownies. For me. He never bakes. The only thing he cooks is Mr. Noodles(the girls call them "Dad's famous Noodles") and Macaroni and Cheese. While he was out he had picked up a brownie mix and a container of chocolate frosting. He tortured the girls and wouldn't let them have any when they got home from school. They just sat there on the counter in all their chocolate glory until after they had gone to bed. Then he and I sat and watched WWE Raw and ate the brownies right out of the pan.

I love it that he loves me enough to bake me brownies.

Theme for tonight's dinner "Quick and Easy"

Here is another recipe I found on Pinterest.
It's called Mama's Amazing Ziti.
ingredients

• 1 pound 95%-lean ground beef
• 2 cups shredded carrot
• 2 10 3/4 ounce cans reduced-fat and reduced-sodium condensed tomato soup
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 8 ounces dried cut ziti pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (1 ounce)

directions

1.In a 4-quart Dutch oven, cook ground beef and shredded carrot over
mediumheat until meat is brown. Drain off fat. Stir tomato soup,
the water, uncooked ziti, dried basil (if using), onion powder, and
garlic powder into meat mixture in Dutch oven.

2.Bring mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and cook about
25 minutes or until ziti is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in fresh
basil (if using) and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle individual servings
with Parmesan cheese.

It was quite yummy. The only thing I changed was to add a little bit of seasoning salt and a bit of Italian seasoning because I felt that it needed a little something. But the best part about it was how quick and easy it was to put together(especially if you have a food processor to shred the carrots and you already have ground beef browned and in the freezer). To go along with it I made some of my make shift, super easy, garlic bread sticks. I use a recipe I found in our Sommerfeldt family cook book for quick pizza crusts(it's really just a baking powder biscuit recipe).

The original recipe looks like this

4 cups flour
6 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil(I almost always use butter or margarine instead)

Mix all at one until dough leaves sides of bowl. Knead until smooth. roll out into pizza crusts.

This is more or less what I do for the garlic bread sticks. First of all I cut the recipe in half

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup milk(or just enough to make dough moist)

mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and margarine until crumbly. Add milk until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Roll out onto baking sheet as you would for pizza crust.(I have a pampered chef roller thingy that allows me to roll the dough out right on my pampered chef stone pan...LOVE both of them). Spread margarine over dough. sprinkle with garlic powder and some Garlic Plus seasoning. then sprinkle with your choice of grated cheese. Bake in oven at 425F for about 12-15 minutes. Cut into strips and serve warm.

OK, now honestly this is a really rough recipe...I'm terrible at actually measuring things. And I never set the timer for this....I just put it in the oven and pull it out when it smells done and the top is nice and toasted. The kids love this. Another note, the kids and I all preferred shredded mozza on top instead of fresh grated Parmesan.

I have a new best friend

Pinterest, I love you. I'm so glad we crossed paths.

I have been so busy the past couple of weeks finding and trying new things. I keep thinking that I should blog about each amazing recipe, craft idea or sewing project that I have found on Pinterest and then tried. But I just move on to the next project and don't make the time to blog about it. And then other things are Christmas presents for the kids and I don't want them to accidentally find a picture of their present on my blog...especially Kathryn, she has a way of reading EVERYTHING. She'll even stand behind me and read it over my shoulder as I type. That being said, I have started thinking that it might be time to start up my creative blog again. I have changed the name and URL of it. You will now find it at Sew Me More. There isn't anything new there yet, but there should be in the next few days or so.

OK, anyways, back to the purpose of this post. Yesterday I decided to write up a menu for the next two weeks so that I could write up a grocery list and have everything I need on hand. I headed on over to Pinterest and looked at some of the recipes and decided to try a few of them. Tonight I made the most amazing thing. This was what was on the menu for today...

When I saw these on Pinterest I thought they looked delicious, I pinned it on my Recipes to try board.  They did not disappoint. They were AMAZING. The girls liked the filling but weren't big on the zucchini shell. I loved everything about them and will definitely be making them again. You can find the recipe here.

For the kids, I made these..

I had some amazing cheese sauce left over from yesterday's amazing meal(also found on Pinterest) that I mixed with half a can of tomato soup and some Italian seasoning for a sauce. The kids love them and wished that I had made more.

For more recipes that I have tried and loved you can find them on my pinterest board by the name of "Recipes that I have tried and loved"