Midnight lighting

This morning was rough. Two needy children and a tired mommy, can lead to bad things. Thankfully when I find myself with one of those days I find some time to create.
Nothing can change a mood like making something.
So this morning, after I put one child down for a nap and and gave the other some food. I sat and made some lovely lights for my patio.
For this project you need some old cleaned out wine bottles. You can leave leave the labels on or take them off. Then using some thicker gauged wire you will need to wrap (the tighter the better) around the neck just under the lip of the bottle, make sure you leave a loop in order to hang your bottles up. Or you could also leave them as stand alone lamps. After you have prepared your lamps holder you will need to gently force in some lights. I like to collect lights after Christmas, cheap and lots available.
Here's a trick for getting the lights in the bottles. If you have four bottles form four groups of lights on your one string. Take the middle of one group fold in half and start to feed into the bottles. Make sure you leave some space between bottles so you can hang them up.
I'm hoping that my husband will be able to bring some large clear bottles so that I can make some bedside lamps!

Tasty Tattors

I don't do this often, partly because why try to make my own recipe when there are so many left untried? And partly because I hate to waste food, but if it was a waste due to my "experimenting" then it's really annoying.
But this was an experiment that went well.  I modified it from a good friends own experiment.
So You take some red potatoes. And cut those suckers up. Toss them in a bowl with lemon pepper. Spray a baking dish down. And depending on your size of family you are feeding will tell you what size dish to use and how many tators to use. I did half a bag, or 8. And then an 8x8 pan.
after that you will sprinkle (generously) Parmesan cheese over them suckers. Place in the oven at 400* for 30 min, or until they are tender and easily cut.
I have no idea how long that was, I was not actually home to check them. But when I got home they were nice and tender. After you pull them out you can sprinkle some or alot of cheese over the top. Let the potatoes melt the cheese with their heat. Or to speed it up use the oven.
Enjoy! let me know what you think of the recipe that I made up! 

Where has this been?!?!

I enjoy cupcakes, but frosting cupcakes is a bit annoying. Instead of one big mess on one cake lets have 24 little messes on 24 little cakes. That's why with my son's 2nd birthday coming up, a party to do, and cupcakes to make, when I found this wonderful idea on Pinterest, I decided to give it a whirl. And it was a trip that I do not regret! 

I started with devil's food cake mix and five mins before they are done cooking you place a marsh mellow on each cupcake. It worked brilliantly, my only tip is to be ready with a non-melt-able spoon. The marshmellows get hot and kinda get a mind of their own. Slipping of the cupcake tops and taking a trip. So I just used the spoon to coax it back into place then pressed down gently on top. Keeps them in place.
They were very tasty and I am looking forward to all the different combinations that I can make. Think of all the flavors that they now have out there, of cakes and marshmellows!  

Used them for my son's birthday as privously stated. It saved me long hours, okay slight exaggeration, but still saved me alot of time. Big hit at the party, other then I didn't let them sit out long enough to dry, they became very sticky, but still good.  

Thinking that doing a square cake would be fun! Think yellow cake mix, chocolate chips over the cake and then the marshmellows. Sounds divine to me! 

http://tonispilsbury.com/skip-frosting-cupcakes/

Tasty Lemon Bars

We have all seen the latest craze on Pinterest, right? If you are still in the dark check out the picture below. 

Yes, know you remember! Its the pictures of the two ingredient recipes. And you look at them and think, "Can it really be that simple?" Well I have been slowly trying some of these that I come across. This one I was pretty excited about. I love Angel Food cake, use to request it for my birthday cake. The best part is the crust, mmm. And I like fruit things. How could these two items result in anything but delicious-ness?
This Recipe comes from "Living Practical" (see site link at the bottom of post.)

You mix the two things together. When I first started I didn't think they would mix well, or that there would be enough moist for all that mix. But some how it mixed. Kinda foamed out almost, very interesting to see. 

Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake it. 350* for about 20 min. 

This was my "helper" while I was trying to cook this desert (I was also trying to warm up the house with out turning on the heat.) No he wasn't sick, he's just a goof. And thought that I needed a speed bump in my tiny kitchen. 

You cook the dish till it's a light golden brown, once you take it out you can sprinkle powder sugar over it. I really enjoyed eating it, more pieces then I should eat at one time. And my bible study group enjoyed it to. I have to say that keeping two items around that you can throw together quickly, brilliance. But of course you should always test drive the recipe, after all, you wouldn't wanna take credit for a nasty dish. 

http://livingpractically.blogspot.com/2011/04/two-ingredient-lemon-bars.html#comment-form

Quick and Easy rice

I'm very much in love with my crockpots. Yes I have two. I have a larger one for roast and larger meals and then I have a smaller one that I use for stews and smaller meals. Don't be judging. I have found them both to be useful in their separate posts and they have gotten alot of use over the years.
But if you were to ask me if I am satisfied with two crockpots, the answer would be no. I love coming home from church to a meal that is cooked, hot and ready to eat. One that required very little effort on my part. But the thing that drives me crazy is having to wait 15 more min to be able to eat. The meal is ready, the table is ready, the rice is not. I would like to add to my stash of crockpots a rice cooker. But until then I was thinking I had no choice but to do it the old fashion way, or did I?

So I tried en experiment and this secret I will share with you. Before I leave in the morning I set the rice out and let it soak in water while we are gone. Cuts the cooking process down, alot. So the same amount of rice that cooks in 15 mins now takes about five.
Rice is easy to make what ever amount to rice you have you want twice the water. I like to keep it simple, 1 cup rice and 2 cup water. I leave them mingling in my small sauce pan. Then when I get home I turn that sucker all the way up to a boil, reduce to a simmer. With a lid on, partway. Helps to cook it faster and keep it nice moist.
So in alot less time I can have the same result. This will tied me over till I can either find a good deal on a rice cooker, or I get sick of still having to wait when we get home. I do after all have children and in them are my genes. My genes that can make life unbearable for others if I have not been feed. 

Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Crockpot style

Another day, another dinner. I would love to say that it's getting warmer but lately it's been a little crazy on the weather. Monday as a 91* heat wave, yesterday and today are cold. Now myself, I'm not a fan of the heat, but I'm REALLY not a fan of the cold. Not so for my husband and as I found out my son. Monday was not pleasant, not for the heat. I can deal with the heat, what was not pleasant was the grumpy-indecisive-whiny son I had that day. So with that in mind I am on a quest. A Crockpot Quest. I'm looking to find easy, simple and TASTY recipes that I can cook in my crockpot. I am also looking for ways to make some of my "staple" recipes work in a crockpot.
So made a recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook. Its Creamy Chicken Soup. Just kidding, from the title you know what I made.

Now you can make your own meatballs. But for the work I will gladly go to Winco and spend the $2 for pre-made meatballs, my time is worth $2. So here is the recipe from the book...

meatballs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 can (13 oz) pineapple chunks (un-drained)

1/3 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 small green pepper- I don't always do the pepper

So you cook the meatballs, drain the fat then mix brown sugar and cornstarch in skillet, stir in pineapple (juice and all) vinegar and soy sauce. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and Add meat balls. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally. 10 min. Stir in green pepper. Cover and simmer until crisp- tender, 5 min.
So that is the Betty Crocker recipe. And now for the Mollie twist.
I mixed everything in the crockpot then added the meatballs -frozen, straight from the freezer. And I left it cooking on low for 5 hours.
When we got home from church the meat balls where ready to eat and in barely anytime at all the rice was ready too. Want my secret to quick cooking rice? Check out the rice post.
There is something about meat. It will almost always hit the spot. And the crockpot made the pineapple nice and tender, even my husband could eat it. (Insert Gasp here.)