Pumpkin Spice Bread

I do not have any pictures of the bread or anybody eating the bread, but I can safely say that this is one of the best tasting bread that I have ever made. I made mini-loaves for some people as holiday presents and I got positive feedback. The recipe is from The taste of home Baking Book. It is not difficult and taste very comforting. Enjoy.

Grade:A

Ingredients
3 C sugar
1 c vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
3.5 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground allspice
½ C water
1. Ina large bowl, combine the sugar, oil and eggs. Add pumpkin and mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, cloves and allspice; add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with water, beating well after each addition.
2. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Chicken with Creamy Corn and Potatoes

Jen found this recipe on Kraft.com and it was extremely good! It was not that difficult to make and the girls ate almost as much as Jen and I did. It looks like something you might find on the side of the road. It looks so bad because I burned the potatoes and chicken a little and did not remove it from the skillet before adding the cream cheese. The girls' favorite part was squirting the lime over their food.

Grade: A-


What You Need
1/2 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1 lb. baking potatoes (about 2), cubed
1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 can (15-1/4 oz.) corn, drained
1 cup chicken broth
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Make It
HEAT dressing in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and potatoes; cover. Cook 15 to 18 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF), turning occasionally. Remove chicken from skillet; cover to keep warm.

ADD onions and peppers to skillet; cook 5 min., stirring occasionally. Add corn and broth. Bring to boil; cover. Simmer 3 min. or until potatoes are tender. Stir in cream cheese; cook 2 min. or until melted, stirring occasionally.

TOP with shredded cheese and cilantro. Serve with chicken and lime wedges.

Emily after the second lime wedge!

Anna excited there isn't anything too "weird"

Minnie Mouse (Sarah) with a piece of chicken.

Waffles

Well, I got a new 4-waffle-iron for Christmas from my mom because it was taking way too long to make waffles for our family with the small 1-waffle-iron Jen and I got for our wedding. So as soon as we got home from our travels over the holiday week, I busted it out to make breakfast for dinner. Our family loves breakfast and I know that we will love having the updated waffle iron. I did not just use the "just add water" mix from a box. Instead I made the waffles from scratch and the combination of the new iron and amazing mix made these one of the best waffles I have ever eaten. I am not kidding! I also made scrambled eggs and sausage, but the waffles were the hit of dinner tonight for all of us.

Grade: A+

Waffles:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 3/4 c milk

1/2 c cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

2. In another medium bowl beat eggs slightly; stir in milk, oil, and vanilla. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be slightly lumpy).

3. Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cups of batter onto grids of a preheated, lightly greased waffle baker. Close lid quickly; do not open until done. Bake according to manufacturer's directions. When done, use a fork to lift waffle off grid. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm.

Lucy eating some eggs.

Sarah (we are potty training and that is why she doesn't have pants)

Emily is happy to be home!

Anna actually eating dinner without a fight!

Kids Are Gross

I know that I have not been posting lately, but this is how a lot of our meals have been. On the girls plates there was a hot dog in a bun, some yogurt, and grapes, and all of the girls combined the yogurt with grapes and hot dogs. They are nasty little girls!

Ghouls-in-the-Graveyard

This dinner looked like a cute idea, but the girls did eat the macaroni because it stuck together, but they did eat the hotdogs. In the end I thought it looked like "male-parts" sticking up out of the macaroni rather than ghouls. Also, you need to put the hotdogs close together or you don't stand a chance to transport the section with the hotdog still sticking up. I don't have any pictures, but trust me, they didn't eat any of the mac&cheese and couldn't get up fast enough. And the picture above is the picture that came with the recipe on Kraft.

Grades:
Idea: B+
taste: C
Kid's like it: D-

What You Need2 pkg. (7-1/4 oz. each) KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner 1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 2 eggs, beaten 1 pkg. (16 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Wieners, cut crosswise in half 1 tsp. yellow mustard Make ItHEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE Dinners in large saucepan as directed on package. Stir in mozzarella and eggs.

SPOON into foil-lined 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Stand wieners, in 4 rows of 5 wieners each, in Dinner mixture for the ghouls.

BAKE 20 min.; cool 5 min. Add small dabs of mustard to wieners for the ghouls' eyes.

Why Does McDonalds Tea Come in Non-Recylable Styrofoam Cups?

Why Does McDonalds Tea Come in Non-Recylable Styrofoam Cups?

This was an article that I found when I was searching about McDonalds styrofoam cups. The cups have a recycling symbol, but will they actually recycle it. Interesting read.

Beer Can Chicken and Corn on the Cob

Our little chicken fresh out of the grill. Adorable

I have scene/heard of beer can chicken and everything that I have heard about it was how good it was. I was a little sceptical, but thought it was worth a try. Let me tell you one thing about the chicken, besides how cute it looked sitting up, it was not hard and very good. The meat was juicy and it had nice flavor to it. The recipe that I used was from Guy Fieri (Food Network), but I made a few changes to the recipe. First, I cooked it on the grill instead of the oven. I had the grill on medium heat (375ish) and cooked it until it was 165 (about 1.5 hours). The other thing that I did not do was the bacon and the chicken was pretty good without it.
The girls loved it! We had a friend over, so a total of 7 people for dinner, and out of a 4.5 lb chicken, there is only a small handful left. Sarah kept on shoveling it in. All of the pictures have the girls eating corn on the cob, but trust me, the chicken was a hit too.
Enjoy!

Grade: A+ (And for those of you that notice the grades, I am a tough grader!)

Ingredients
1 (2 to 3-pound) whole chicken
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 (12-ounce) can beer
1/2 pound bacon
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Wash chicken with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Mix dry ingredients in small bowl. Rub 1/2 of the ingredients on inside cavity of chicken. Gently peel skin away from chicken and rub mixture into meat of chicken. Open beer can pour out about 1/2 cup. Drop the garlic cloves into the beer can. Place chicken, open end down, over the beer can to insert the beer into the cavity. Place chicken, standing up, in large saute pan. Place 1/3 of the bacon in the top cavity of the chicken and drape the remaining 2/3 of the bacon down the outside of the chicken. Pierce the bacon to the chicken with toothpicks.

Place chicken in the oven for 10 minutes and then lower temperature to 325 degrees F and cook for another 1 hour, or until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.





My "School-Wife" was over for dinner.

Anna looks like she drank the other half of the beer!

Emily clapping for herself between bites.

Lucy digging into the corn like a harmonica.

Sarah before she discovered the chicken.