It's been a 'countdown to Halloween' lunch theme this week. There's no school on Friday, but here's Mon-Thurs lunches from this week.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Experimental Halloween Sweet Treats!
I made a tasty Halloween treat today! Candy Corn Cookie Bars! It's super simple & super tasty.
Ingredients:
-1 package of dry, sugar cookie dough mix (I used Target's brand, Market Pantry)
-1 egg
-1 stick (1/2 cup) of melted butter or margarine
-1 container of white or cream cheese frosting
Directions:
-preheat over to 375 degrees
-choose to use either a round pie dish or a square baking dish, (see below for specifics)
-mix together melted butter, cookie and egg, and mix well with electric mixer
-split the dough into 2 equal parts and separate into 2 bowls
-use red & yellow food coloring to color one bowl of dough yellow and the other orange
-Spread the yellow dough into a well greased baking dish, pressing down as you go to cover the entire area. Spread the orange dough over the yellow.
-bake for 16 minutes or until the top browns just a bit and the dough is cookie through the middle.
-allow to cool completely and then frost
-place in the fridge for 30 minutes (thus makes it easier to cut with cleaner lines)
-if you used square dish, cut into 9 equal squares, then cut each square diagonally into 2 triangle. You'll have 18 candy corn cookie bars!
-if you used a round dish, cut as you would cut a pie.
Ingredients:
-1 package of dry, sugar cookie dough mix (I used Target's brand, Market Pantry)
-1 egg
-1 stick (1/2 cup) of melted butter or margarine
-1 container of white or cream cheese frosting
Directions:
-preheat over to 375 degrees
-choose to use either a round pie dish or a square baking dish, (see below for specifics)
-mix together melted butter, cookie and egg, and mix well with electric mixer
-split the dough into 2 equal parts and separate into 2 bowls
-use red & yellow food coloring to color one bowl of dough yellow and the other orange
-Spread the yellow dough into a well greased baking dish, pressing down as you go to cover the entire area. Spread the orange dough over the yellow.
-bake for 16 minutes or until the top browns just a bit and the dough is cookie through the middle.
-allow to cool completely and then frost
-place in the fridge for 30 minutes (thus makes it easier to cut with cleaner lines)
-if you used square dish, cut into 9 equal squares, then cut each square diagonally into 2 triangle. You'll have 18 candy corn cookie bars!
-if you used a round dish, cut as you would cut a pie.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Catching Up
I've been slack about updating with pictures of lunches. Here's what I've made since the last update. Enjoy! 
Friday Family Movie Night
We started family movie night on Fridays over 2 years ago. It has been a great things for us, something to look forward to each week. We always have pizza and we always pick out a tasty sweet treat. Tonight we watched Madagascar 3, super cute! I bought it at Target for $19.99, but it came with the DVD, Blue Ray disk, digital copy and a rainbow wig! So cute. We had pizza & wings for dinner and snacked on cookies from Great American Cookie Company, (snickerdoodles & pumpkin spice!). Great night, even better tradition!
Here's a picture of today's lunch.
Here's a picture of today's lunch.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Best biscuits ever!
I just made biscuits from a recipe I found on Pinterest. They're called 7Up biscuits and they are AMAZING! I'm going to post the full recipe, but I halved it and it turned out great.
4 cups of Biscuick
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of 7Up
1/4 cup of melted butter
Cut sour cream into Bisquick, mixing well, then add the 7Up.
Use more Bisquick to dust a cutting board and roll the dough out on to it. You will have to add more Bisquick as you work with the dough as it will be sticky in the beginning. Use a juice glass or small circle cutter to cut biscuits from the dough.
Melt the butter into a round baking pan, then put the biscuits in. It's okay that they touch, they'll put apart easily when they're done.
Bake at 425° for about 15 minutes or until the tops are golden.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Saving Dough
With the Holidays quickly approaching, I'm looking at all REASONABLE money saving alternatives. I'm definitely not ready to start making my own laundry detergent, (I considered it until I realized I would need an electric paint mixer!), or making my own pet food, (more meals I'd have to prepare every day!). I did try making my own fabric refresher spray using directions I found on Pinterest but it was a bust.
I did come up with one way to save $, curb my son's gadget addiction and develop his math skills. I usually give him $4 per week if he does his chores, (basic things like tending to the animals, cleaning his room, wiping down the bathroom counter, folding & putting away laundry, etc). I decides this week he would earn iPod & Xbox minutes by doing his usual tasks. Basically, the time spent completing the chores is equal to the minutes he earns, (although he does NOT know this, as I believe he'd take an hour to scoop the litter box!). I save money, I get help with the housework and he improves his math skills by adding up his minutes! Win, win!
We have a taco night practically every week. I spend at least $3 on the kits, (seasoning, shells & sauce that we don't even use). If I buy the shells separate it's only $1. If I buy the seasoning pack separate it's about $1.29. Already saving money. If I make the seasoning with spices I already have an rarely use I save even more! (You can get great deals on seasonings at Target. They put them on clearance as they approach the 'sell by' date, just go ahead & make batches of seasoning mixes & store them in the freezer!) I gave it a try today & it worked out great! I made enough for 2 taco nights, (using 4 Tbsp each time), with this recipe:
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper (use more if you like it spicy)
Mix it up well, seal in an airtight container or bag. I put a baggie into my plastic container, and dumped the spices in, then sealed the bag & gave it a good shake to mix it all up. Then I put the sealed baggie back into the container and put the plastic lid on with a label. You will use 4 Tbsp per 1lb of beef or chicken.
Actual taco meat recipe:
-Brown 1lb of ground beef (or use 1lb of cooked, shredded chicken)
-Drain fat and return to pan
-Add 4 Tbsp of taco seasoning and 2/3 cup of water and mix well
-Bring meat mixture to a bubble, reduce heat to med-low and cook for 8 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
I did come up with one way to save $, curb my son's gadget addiction and develop his math skills. I usually give him $4 per week if he does his chores, (basic things like tending to the animals, cleaning his room, wiping down the bathroom counter, folding & putting away laundry, etc). I decides this week he would earn iPod & Xbox minutes by doing his usual tasks. Basically, the time spent completing the chores is equal to the minutes he earns, (although he does NOT know this, as I believe he'd take an hour to scoop the litter box!). I save money, I get help with the housework and he improves his math skills by adding up his minutes! Win, win!
We have a taco night practically every week. I spend at least $3 on the kits, (seasoning, shells & sauce that we don't even use). If I buy the shells separate it's only $1. If I buy the seasoning pack separate it's about $1.29. Already saving money. If I make the seasoning with spices I already have an rarely use I save even more! (You can get great deals on seasonings at Target. They put them on clearance as they approach the 'sell by' date, just go ahead & make batches of seasoning mixes & store them in the freezer!) I gave it a try today & it worked out great! I made enough for 2 taco nights, (using 4 Tbsp each time), with this recipe:
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper (use more if you like it spicy)
Mix it up well, seal in an airtight container or bag. I put a baggie into my plastic container, and dumped the spices in, then sealed the bag & gave it a good shake to mix it all up. Then I put the sealed baggie back into the container and put the plastic lid on with a label. You will use 4 Tbsp per 1lb of beef or chicken.
Actual taco meat recipe:
-Brown 1lb of ground beef (or use 1lb of cooked, shredded chicken)
-Drain fat and return to pan
-Add 4 Tbsp of taco seasoning and 2/3 cup of water and mix well
-Bring meat mixture to a bubble, reduce heat to med-low and cook for 8 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.