The next day....

Well Yesterday was Thanksgiving. We went over to Carol and Wades to eat some turkey...

Derek loved the sweet potatoes and of course Drew loved the turkey which is all he ate. ( He is a meat man).








So I made Paula Deens pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream and sweet potato pie with marshmallows. They were both good but Paula Deen won hands down



Here's one of the evil Kitty's (sorry) that make me not breathe.......





And here's the kids chasing the kitty's
We had a great Thanksgiving and we hope that everyone else did too! Now I have to get through the left overs so I can start back on my diet....

So this morning I woke up at 3 am. Went to pick up Laura at 3:30 the house was pitch black and I was tapping on the window hoping the neighbors didn't call the cops on me so I ended up going out alone on Black Friday- Laura finally woke up about 8:30!!!!
So I started at Kohls at 4 am checked out at 4:10 hmmm now what I had 50 minutes until Walmart opened. Went and sat in my car- hey its Minnesota I am not nuts people had tents and sleeping bags. Went to Walmart at 5 am checked out at 5:15 now I have 45 minutes until Office Depot opened where I could get a chance at a cheap laptop. I'm finding that if you don't have a lot to buy or know exactly what you need this is getting kinda long and boring. So I went back to my car got in line about 5:30 with about 300 people- when I finally got in of course there were no more laptops they only had 10 in the store ahhhh well. I got the other thing we wanted there but had to wait in line and talk to strangers for a hour and a half- made a couple short stops on my way home and was home about 8:30 - then a couple of hours later I took the kids and went shopping again!!!!! So fun can't wait till next year!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! Well I actually get to be home today! I usually have to work on the Holidays so this was this first year I was actually able to get it off. I have been busy busy baking and cooking. We are going over to Carols house in a little while for Thanksgiving. Wade's daughter Laura is here from California so we are looking forward to spending time with her. I have become a food network junkie and am trying out all kinds of new recipes hoping that they are good and edible. I made my first pumpkin pie and a sweet potato pie. My sweet tooth can't wait to try it. I will post the winners later! Oops there is my timer- post pics later!

My new addiction

Okay so I have a huge sweet tooth. It is one of those things that I cannot do without I heard really good things about this hungry girl cookbook so decided to get it... I have only tried a couple of things but this is my new favorite thing to eat. I just make the whole bag of ricecakes and put 4 in big ziplocks in the freezer so they are ready to go. 130 calories, 0.5g fat There is a lot of recipes on the hungry girl website also..... these are super addicting!

Ginormous Creamy Frozen Caramel Crunchcake
Ingredients
2 full-sized caramel corn rice cakes
1/4 cup Cool Whip Free
Directions ♥
Cover the top half of one rice cake evenly with the Cool Whip Free. Gently place the other rice cake on top, making a sandwich. Freeze for at least 1 hour, then enjoy!!!

YUMMMMMM!!!!!!

Currently reading : Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World By Lisa Lillien Release date: By 2008-04-29

How in the world part 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How in the world am I suppose to fit half of my garage in my house???? So I have been going though and organizing my shelves I even got a cool label maker .... so every year Steve has to bring in stuff from his painting van and put in the house so it doesn't freeze /ruin. We don't have much storage in our house the only little space we have is the storm shelter (mid west thing) so I cleared that out for him already. Found a place for all those things. So now he decides he is going to reorganize the garage and reconfigure the shelves in the garage. So instead of adding more storage he takes away and brings half a room full of stuff in the house and tells me I have to find a place to store it- ahhh. We are looking for a freezer right now to put in the garage for Deer meat cause Steve wants to start hunting (another midwest thing). I have been trying to declutter and now I am back to square one. So all these things that should be in the garage are in my kitchen- bike trailer, tricycle, coolers, tents ect..... he's driving me nuts! I am tempted to just put it all in the downstairs bathroom and lock the door- we have another bathroom we don't really need that one right? So the only other place I had for storage was a 5 tier shelf in the utility room . Well it comes apart- he took everything off stole 2 of my shelves and then brought in all of the stealthmode stuff and said that shouldn't be in the garage anymore. ( For those that don't know we have had a online business for years selling oil line kits for turbo engines- which is my 2nd job.) So I had to put all of that stuff on half the shelves they were on before and now find room for the items on the utility shelf that are now overtaking the kitchen. I'm sure he will find more stuff as soon as I get all this stuff squared away.....Now doesn't this look like it should be the
garage????

How in the World?

How in the world do I accumulate so much stuff? Well I have been sitting on call for 4 days now waiting to work. So I have been organizing- making my piles- ebay- goodwill- keep
I just dropped off 6 full bags boxes of stuff because I can't stand looking at it and I am still accumulating more things! As I was leaving my neighbor asked where I was going and I told her goodwill she asks me if I can drop off some of her stuff too that she has been putting off taking. Sure why not? So we throw her bags in the front seat and as I am driving I notice a really cute baby gap sweater size 3T on the top. Well still too big for Drew but he will be ready for it next year. Well then I pull over to look at the goodies- I notice some cute dresses from Express that still have the tags on them not my size but the ebay seller in me kicks in. So I ended up bringing half of her stuff back with me- some things for Drew next year, some things to sell and a couple of sweaters for me( hey its cold here) So hmmm maybe this is part of my problem. Same thing happened on my last goodwill trip. My other neighbor and I had a garage sale so I loaded up what was left of my stuff and told her I still had space in my car- she brings out boot loads of toys which of course I have to go through and sell - keep - give away- I did end up making $120 bucks on the stuff that I sold ( which I split with her) . So is it really that wrong to hoard? Even though I fully believe I am not a pack rat (my husband thinks I am but he has never seen a real pack rat- I have) I guess I better get busy on my ebay stuffThis is my ebay stuff- I haven't finished going through all the closets either...........it will be twice as much by the end of the day

Skating

1. We went skating tonight with Carol and Wade and a couple of our neighbors.
2. We used to go every week but we have been slacking on our weekly outing for a while now. Hopefully we can get back on it.
   

Derek crashing

Woo Hoo I finally won something!

I won a raffle! I am so excited I never win anything!
4 frontrow tickets to a Minnesota Wild game woo hoo!

Recipes Week 2

Well its getting cold here in Minnesota. I like to break out the crock pot and make comfort food.
This is a fave

Chicken And Dumplings

2 cups cooked chicken
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 soup cans water
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (8 biscuits)

Mix all ingredients, except biscuits in slow cooker

Cut biscuits into quarters and gently stir into mixture.

Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours.

Here is a favorite Dessert for Birthday partys - you got to try its delicious and no one will believe that its made of ice cream sandwiches. My mom has made this for all of Drew's birthdays and its a huge hit!

Ice Cream Sandwich cake

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

Make It

POUR fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.

ARRANGE 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

FREEZE at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.

Nickelodeon Park - MOA

Northwest had a employee appreciation weekend at the Mall of America and was giving out free wrist bands so Me and the kids and our friend Jackie and her 3 kids went to the park. I forgot my camera so only had my camera phone so most of the pics didn't come out but heres a few to share.

Recipe Week 1

I decided to post a favorite recipe once a week. The older I get the more I like to try to make new things. I do like to cook things that are quick and easy though. Post one of your favorite recipes!
I have already shared this with a few people already but I just made it again and its awesome- My kids love it.

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Ingredients

Brown Sugar, 4 tsp unpacked Chicken Breast, no skin, 12 ounces Garlic, 1 clove Butter, salted, 2 tbsp Salt, 1 tsp Pepper, black, 1 dash

Directions

This makes four servings, 3 oz per person
1. Melt the butter in a frying pan
2. Brown the garlic in the butter
3. Add chicken breasts to garlic and butter and cook thoroughly, adding salt and pepper as you like it.
4. When chicken is fully cooked add brown sugar on top of each breast
5. Allow the brown sugar to melt into the chicken (about 5 minutes)

Number of Servings: 4
Serve with veggies- YUM YUM

and for Dessert

Espresso Brownies
I got this from Giada from the food network. I took these to a jewelry party- super easy- the girls devoured them in 5 minutes probably not great for the kids but the adults likey.

Espresso Brownies

Directions

Nonstick vegetable oil cooking spray
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 (19.8-ounce) box brownie mix (recommended: Duncan Hines)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Whisk 1/3 cup of water, oil, eggs, and 2 tablespoons
espresso powder in a large bowl to blend. Add the brownie mix. Stir until well blended. Stir in the chocolate
chips. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the
brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, dissolve the remaining 2 teaspoons of espresso powder in the remaining 2 tablespoons of water in a
medium bowl. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar and butter and whisk until smooth. Pour the glaze
over the brownies. Refrigerate until the glaze is set. Cut into bite-size pieces. Arrange the brownies on a
platter and serve.

Snow

Well yesterday morning we woke up to snow. It's the 3rd snow already but this time it actually stuck on the ground for a little while. Derek made a mini snowman when he got home from school. We didn't have raisins for the eyes so we used M&M's from Halloween.