Crafting is another passion of mine.  I love sewing and making jewelry.  Lately, my new favorite activity is making bowl cozies.  Have you heard of them?  They are becoming very popular.  I received one from my bonus mom Dianne a couple years ago for Christmas and now we can't live without them.  It's a pot holder that fits around your bowl.  You are able to microwave your bowl with it on and it keeps your hands from burning when you take out a hot bowl of soup.  I learned how to make them, and they are so much fun to sew!  I've had a few requests for me to make some for friends, so I've really enjoyed creating them according to their home decor and personalizing.  Something about sewing relaxes me, especially when it's an easy project and I don't have to spend too much time focusing on stitches and can just go with the flow.  

Here is the latest set I created: 

Walmart has pioneer woman fabric, which has become very popular.  

If you have a sewing machine and have never sewn or afraid to use it, you should get it out and just start practicing with straight stitching.  Go slow and maybe create a pillow at first.  Super easy, and then you can start on something a little bit more complicated as you get that down.  I'm thinking about making a video on how to sew some easy projects.  What do you think?  

Here are some cute fabrics you can find on Amazon: 

Cute Coffee print -https://amzn.to/3CxxIWE

Cute baking print - https://amzn.to/3IvczAn

Hamburgers & hotdogs - https://amzn.to/3GQjQtc

Microwave safe 100% cotton batting- https://amzn.to/3IyR1CY

Birthday Cookie Cakes

One of my favorite things to do is make handmade cookie cakes for birthdays.  Starting with Jane's second birthday I have made a cookie cake for each year along with the theme of the party.  Jane and Luke really enjoy helping me and it's fun to see the progress each year.  Luke loves M&M's so in his one year I added those along with the chocolate chips.  Jane wanted white chocolate chips in hers.  It makes the birthday special and they are so much fun to make!  For the frosting I get store bought and add food coloring and add to piping bags for designs.  I'll share the cookie cake recipe I use in the desserts section.  

Don't be afraid to try the designs with frosting.  As you can see, my first one verses my latest one has greatly improved.  Practicing helps when it comes to the lettering.  You can get a piece of parchment paper and write on it with the frosting until you feel comfortable writing on the cake.  Also, wait until the cake is cooled before adding any frosting or it could melt on the cake and look runny.  You'll definitely want a spring form pan to bake it in the oven, that way when its cooled you can take off the sides without destroying the cake.

Jane's Baby shark Cake with chocolate chips - Vanilla frosting 

Luke's Uno fiesta party with chocolate chips - Vanilla frosting 

Jane's Genie cake from Aladdin with chocolate chips - Vanilla frosting 

Luke's dinosaur cake with m&m's inside and on top - Chocolate frosting 

Luke's train cake with chocolate chips - Vanilla and chocolate frosting 

Grandma Jan's birthday cake with chocolate chips and white chocolate - Vanilla and chocolate frosting 

Jane's Foxy cake with white chocolate chips - vanilla and chocolate frosting 

Cousin Troy's (Boo nickname) football cake with cream cheese and chocolate frosting and chocolate chips 

Happy 2023!

 Hello friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  Our family enjoyed the winter break we got to spend with our daughter out of school.  We had family here and also family from out of town visiting.  It was so much fun to spend time together.  The kids are still young and I really enjoy seeing their faces light up on Christmas morning.  For Dinner, David made his famous bacon wrapped turkey courtesy of Gordon Ramsey.  It turned out so amazing.  I made mashed potatoes with deviled eggs, Mimi made cornbread casserole with Mac and cheese, and Grandma made creamed peas with cranberry sauce.  We were all so stuffed.  Our favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, so we had to watch that afterwards.  It was a wonderful Christmas!    

Every year, we get together with the girls of the family on my husband's side to bake Christmas cookies.  I believe this was my 14th year baking with them!  This year I decided to make S'mores cookies, and sugar cookies with white chocolate chips and sprinkles.  I think my favorite was the sugar cookies.  I ran out of time and just bought Pillsbury sugar cookie mix and added the white chocolate chips and sprinkles, but wow they were really good.  It was easy and delicious!  The kids really liked rolling the cookie dough in the sprinkles and we found white chocolate red and green Christmas trees/ stockings which made it even more fun.  

This year, I decided to made fudge.  I searched for a really recipe that didn't use a candy thermometer, and it turned out nicely.  This recipe included marshmallows, evaporated milk, chocolate chips, and vanilla.   I decided to make with nuts and without nuts for those that have allergies.  Both were delightful.  

One thing I really enjoyed over the holiday was trying out my new air fryer.  Have you ever tried one or seen one before?  I had heard of them, but really didn't know exactly how they worked.  I thought it really fried the food somehow but definitely was curious to see how it did it with air.  The air fryer is like a broiler, but instead of only getting the top of the food crisp and then needing to flip it, it circulates air all around the food to crisp every side.  Its really neat and does it in a short amount of time.  My new favorite recipe is a sandwich crisp wrap.  It has turkey, salami, mayonnaise, banana peppers, spinach, mozzarella cheese on a tortilla and then gets crisped in the air fryer.  SO GOOD!

My next favorite is my instantpot.  I've had this for a couple of years now and I absolutely love it and can't live without it now.  If you are a mom, its a LIFESAVER!  It has helped me to prepare meals in about 15 min or even shorter.  It's amazing and I feel like the food turns out even better cooked in the instantpot verses the slow cooker.  If you do have one and haven't tried it yet, you should bring it out!  Find a soup recipe and just try it.  You'll be glad you did.  The only thing I wish is that mine was bigger, but I could always upgrade one day.  I have several recipes to share with you!  Stay tuned! 

What are some of your favorite kitchen gadgets?  What do you feel like you can't live without?  

I have two favorite kitchen gadgets that I gifted to my husband David this year.  One was a lunch box that he can take with him to work and it will actually heat up his food for him in the car!  It comes with a plug made for your vehicle and also a regular plug if he is working inside a house for handyman projects.  I can pack him leftovers and he can plug it in when he's ready to eat it and it will warm it up a little bit like a small slow cooker.  So neat!  He's trying it out today, so I'll let you know what he thinks.  You can check it out on Amazon on the right side of my page.  This is the exact one I bought for him.  

**Update- David tried out this portable heated lunch box and loved it.  He said he plugged it in and went about his work and came back to a hot lunch.  It was a little too hot, but he left it in for about 35 min and the instructions say ready in 20, so next time he will set a timer and then unplug.  He thought it was awesome and is excited that he can heat his lunch up on the go-  He messaged me today 1/5 and said "I really love this lunch warmer, it's better than the microwave.  Tastes just as good as last night!"

The next gadget was a guacamole keeper.  David makes a lot of guacamole and it always turns brown quickly before we are able to eat it all.  I found a guacamole keeper that gets all of the air out and keeps it green.   

  

Tasty chicken pot pie casserole

With two young children, I'm always on the lookout for make healthy and simple dinners. I love cooking something new, but can get in a rut of cooking the same dishes.  Yesterday, I found a new recipe on a whim and decided to give it a try.  I'm so glad I did, because the entire family loved it and it might just be a new favorite!  I found a simple chicken pot pie casserole with hash browns and cheese.  The flavors were definitely comforting just like a real chicken pot pie, but way less work.  Gotta love that!  I'm all about easy, when I've got two tikes keeping me on my toes and my daughter likes to help me.  (Daughter's blog coming soon).  

For this recipe I just bought everything from Aldi.  A cooked roasted turkey breast, a can of mixed vegetables, 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, some half and half, a cup of shredded cheddar cheese, has brown patties, 1/2 stick of butter, and more cheese on top.  

With fall just around the corner, this recipe is sure to be a favorite.  I love comfort food on a cold day.  Enjoy! 

Hello everyone!  It's been a while since I've shared a recipe with you.  My baby Jane keeps me busy, but I'm going to try my best to keep this updated!  I have several new recipes I would like to share.  I've been cooking one of our favorite chicken recipes today and thought I should update this blog so you could try it too.

This is one of David's new favorites.  I've made it twice now, but I think it's going to have to be on the dinner rotation list!

Spinach & Artichoke Cheesy Chicken with Cauliflower!  MMMMMMmmmmm!  It's so amazing.  Cheesy deliciousness with an almond/ parmesan crust.

First you pound out the chicken and then make the cream cheese/ spinach/ artichoke mixture and spread out onto the chicken.

Next you roll up the chicken and dip in egg and then almond flour mixture (You can also use Panko bread crumbs). 

Heat the stove to medium high and add oil to your pan.  Brown all of the edges.

The chicken will need to finish in the oven.  Add to an oven safe dish and place on middle rack for an additional 22 minutes until center of chicken reaches 165 degrees.  

I'll put the recipe in the dinner recipe's section.  Scroll down to the bottom to view.

I am cooking right now and about to share this awesome recipe with all of you!  I''ll give you a hint.... it has artichokes :)

It's been way too long!  I have a few other recipes that I can share as well.  Coming soon.

Newest recipes added are Melt in your mouth slow cooker brisket and Fish tacos.  I've added these recipes to the Dinner section at the bottom of the page.  Also Philly cheese steak egg rolls that I added to appetizers.  Pictures are coming soon.  Our favorite was the brisket recipe.  The key ingredient is the liquid smoke, which makes it taste like it's from a smoker, but super tender from the slow cooker.  Loved it!  Enjoy!