From Inmates to Playdates

Posts Tagged ‘Cooking’

To: My Two Sweet Babies

From: Your Mom

Date: March 8, 2010

RE: Just So You Know

Dear Boys,

So much has happened in the past two weeks that I wanted to get it all down while the information is still fresh in my mind. You boys are the light of my life and even though I say it all the time, I am so thankful to be your mama. You are both growing up so quickly and with everything in me I would love to stop time. This season in our lives is so very special and I am trying to take it all in because I know it will pass so quickly.  

Like today when the two of you climbed up on my lap. As I hugged you and kissed both of you on the top of your sweet little heads, I inhaled because I wanted to remember the smell. I wanted to feel your short stubbly hair on my cheek. I wanted to remember the moment forever. I love those moments. The moments when the two of you climb up on my lap or into my bed and we talk and laugh and act silly. Sweet babies, those times are precious to me and I want to remember them always.

Love, Mommy

——

Dear Stevie,

We were told when you were two years old, that you needed glasses. I cried on the way home from that appointment. Not so much because you needed glasses, but more so because I wanted your eyes to be okay. While your right eye is normal, you are far-sighted in your left eye and have been for five years. During our visit to your eye Doctor last week, she was pleasantly surprised that your left eye is getting better. So much better in fact that your Doctor reported that in six months you may not have to wear glasses any longer. She also reported that in small children where there is such a drastic difference in the eyes, they rarely ever get better to the point where a child no longer needs glasses.

I say glory!

Your glasses are a sort of trademark now and I can’t hardly imagine you without glasses. We will leave it in the Lord’s hands and pray about it.

This has been an exciting month for you.

For the father/son Scout cookoff, you and daddy prepared a Beach Cake….

And YOU were so excited when they called your name and presented you with a 2nd place trophy…

Sweet boy, I was so proud of you (and Daddy) because I can certainly tell you that you did NOT get those cooking skills from your mama. So yes, winning an award for your baking is a pretty big deal. You were so very proud of your trophy and are still talking about it.

After a couple of weeks of practice, you have finally mastered the art of tying your shoes! You want to be the best at everything you do and that motivates you to be better, and faster.

You are such a joy, Stevie. You are kind, and funny, and cute, and loving. And on top of that you are a great big brother.

I love you!

Mommy

——

Dear Alex,

One day a week or so ago, Stevie and I were practicing his memory verses for the Pioneer Club Youth Service. The same verses that you have – time and time again – refused to practice with me. After reciting his verses perfectly, I was so surprised and proud to hear you recite those verses without prompting and with a beautiful, big smile on your face. Daddy and I are so proud of you for learning Psalm 119:105, Hebrews 12:2 and the Pioneer Club aim (that we may glorify the Lord Jesus) sweet boy. Way to go!

I love your smile, your giggle, and your sweet hugs. I can always count on you to give me a hug for absolutely no reason whatsoever and my favorite thing is when you ask me to rock you. I know those opportunities are going to be few and far between now that you are four, but sweet boy, I will rock you any ole time you ask me. Gladly.

Last week, both of your Sunday School teachers (independantly) made a point to report to us that you were kind to a little boy who was having a very bad day and crying in class. They both mentioned how patient you were andtold us what a good friend you were to him. My heart leaped with joy and I would love to have been secretly hiding in the room to see it for myself. For a little boy who has two speeds (wide open and asleep) it is great to know that you have a caring way about you.

You have learned to fasten your seat belt on your own. One of the funniest things about you is how much care you take in matching your socks and shirts. My OCD appreciates that so much and more often than not, you match them nicely. You are also really good about picking your toys up and putting them away after playing.

Oh, and you were thrilled to be star of the week at school a few weeks ago.

Sweet boy, you are a bright shining star and we are so proud of you!

Love, Mommy

This week’s You Capture challenge is  – work.

I had a whole bunch of choices even though I no longer am on anyone’s payroll. If I still worked, this week’s post would include various pictures from the jail where I worked before hanging up my handcuffs to be a stay at home mommy. Metal bars, the office I shared with three other people, the booking department, or the holding cells.

Instead of publishing that craziness on the world wide web because I am no longer employed there, I had to be real creative.

For some reason, I have to work real hard to keep this countertop cleared off which is really weird because as you can see, the contents cluttering the countertop are for the most part NOT MINE. Oh, and if you’re wondering why there is a big bowl of popcorn there, it’s because Stevie was counting out 100 pieces to place in the little brown bag for the 100th day of school.

Next, this gal, Candice Jolly (who is absolutely gorgeous by the way)

Works real hard competing against a field of men driving this big rascal, Monster Mutt. Like I always say, GO BIG, OR GO HOME! You go girl!

And finally, this bad boy works real hard all day long to cook something great for my family! On this day, it was vegetable soup.

There’s a lot of work that goes on around here. For other work-related posts, you can head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Let me start by saying, June Cleaver, I am not.

Nor am I Martha Stewart (gasp!)

So, you can bet your bottom dollar (and your pearls) that if I’m doing a post about some sort of activity in the kitchen, it’s worth listening to.

I made this dessert a year or so ago, and have tried both the vanilla and chocolate version of it. I have heard it called Chocolate Sin, Chocolate Delight and Baskin Robbins Pie. You can call it what you want. I call it yummy! I also tweaked the first layer to better fit my family because my four year old is allergic to nuts. Instead of the listed ingredients, I simply use a graham cracker crust. (Oh, and apparently I was so wrapped up in the thought of the chocolate and the sin that I forgot to add the milk in this group of ingredients!)

FIRST LAYER – CRUST - Mix together until it looks like pie crust. It will be coarse. Put in 9×13 or 8×8 pan depending on how much you want to eat!  Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool.

1 stick margarine

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped pecans

SECOND LAYER - FILLING - Mix these ingredients and spread on crust

8 oz. cream cheese

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 13 oz. Cool whip

THIRD – TOPPING – Mix and put on cream cheese filling

2 small boxes of chocolate instant pudding

3 cups milk

Top with cool whip. Shave chocolate or sprinkle nuts on top of cool whip.

Substitute: Lemon, butterscotch or coconut instant pudding.  If you use coconut pudding, sprinkle coconut and pecans on top.

Refrigerate.

Enjoy.

Before you head over to We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me! Wednesday posts, head over to my Reviews page, leave a comment and be entered to win a HP Mini Notebook.

Let me start by saying, June Cleaver, I am not.

Nor am I Martha Stewart (ahem!)

So, you can bet your bottom dollar (and your pearls) that if I’m doing a post about some sort of activity in the kitchen, you can bet it’s worth listening to.

Because I have three requirements for anything that happens in my kitchen.

• Quick
• Easy
• Failproof

And, because of that, I have something wonderful to show you.

Revolutionary?

Probably not.

But helpful for sure!

Head over to my NEW REVIEW PAGE to get the scoop about what really works for me!

It’s been two weeks since I’ve done a “What I Learned This Week” post. That means, that for the past two weeks, I’ve been jotting down notes and trying to remember all the things I’ve learned. Hopefully something I’ve learned, will be a help to one (or all eight of you!).

1. Google, as it turns out, is a verb according to Merriam Webster. Who knew?

2. The real Gunslinger Monster Truck, has a red, orange and yellow paint job. The Gunslinger Monster truck that is sold on the Monster Jam web-site, for some idiotic reason, is simply red. A difference that will be noticeable immediately to a four and seven year old.

3. Once you Google ‘Monster Jam’ and the ‘Gunslinger’ and discover that your four year old is in fact, correct in his assessment of The Gunslinger and its paint scheme, you will be livid because after all, you were doing Santa’s work and The Gunslinger was not available within a 40-mile radius of your home.

4. When you are making a new soup recipe, you should not attempt to swarp clean out a cabinet because if you do, you may end up scorching the soup (ahem!)

5. If you four year old has eye surgery with stitches that disintegrate, it is completely normal for the stitches to come out by way of the nose into a tissue. (Sick, but true.)

6. Regardless of what you are told, the last stitch might hang out in the eye for two months.

7. While the Longaberger hamper looks much nicer with a lid, it will not hold as much as the mound of clothing that can pile up on the hamper without the lid. In other words, if the mound of clothes will bug the snot out of you, you will need to 1) wash clothes more often, or 2) purchase another hamper.

8. If you set a plastic grocery bag on a hot glass stove top, you should know that it will take you just under an hour, a can of WD 40 and a razor blade to remove the melted bag from the stove top.

9. If you spend the better part of three days swarping and you drop a very large box of junk at the Goodwill, it is probably a good idea to let the gentleman unloading the box know that the box contains quite a few glass items, otherwise, he may hurl the box into a bin and you will know without a doubt that not one single glass piece in the box survived.

10. Mirena = Aggravation.

11. When purchasing Hot Chocolate from the Biscuit place down the road from the McResidence, one should wait a full thirty-nine minutes before attempting to drink it or else you will scald your tongue.

12. I learned how make a custom ring-tone on my beloved iPhone from iTunes. (Not a free service, of course!) You can only create a ring-tone (as far as I know) from a song that you purchased on the iTunes.

13. I also learned that you can now purchase something called an answer tune which is a custom ring that your callers will hear instead of the normal ring.

14. While looking for some old-school extravaganza on iTunes, I searched for Love Bites and Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard. My search resulted in various groups singing Def Leppard’s hits, but no actual Def Leppard. A visit to my friend Google, (which by the way do you remember is a verb?) explained that Def Leppard (along with countless other groups) will not allow their songs to be sold on the iTunes.

Dang. So much for that.

15. I found a really cool camera APP for the iPhone called Camera Plus. I also learned that its probably a good idea to get comfortable with the APP before taking a picture of your son making a foul shot.

16. I’ve learned that the older I get, the less I like the cold and the snow and the wind.

Told you the list was long.

Head over to Musings Of A Housewife for more things people learned this week!

We’ve had an exhausting, albeit fun-filled week here at the McResidence.

There is a seemingly endless stack of CARS memorabilia and can you believe that Alex received TWO MORE STINKIN’ LIGHTNING MCQUEENS THAT HE DID NOT ALREADY HAVE?

I would have bet the ranch that he had every Lightning McQueen known to man, but, hark, those very sneaky people at Disney added a green ‘tree like’ streak to the side of one of the boogers and called it Christmas McQueen. Also, they added a black streak to him and called him Burnt McQueen.

Genius, I tell you.

They pull innocent kids right into proverbial their trap because for some reason, these kids Alex think he actually NEEDS every Lightning McQueen known to man.

Transformers have replaced Thomas the Train in the Christmas loot this year. Just when I learned the names of Thomas and all of his rowdy friends, I have a whole host of Autobots and Deceptacons to learn. 

Sheesh. It’s enough to make one crazy crazier! 

But it was not me! who Googled the words remove & plastic & bag & from & stove & top on Christmas Eve.

No way was that me because surely to goodness I have more sense than to place a plastic grocery bag on a hot stove top that had not completely cooled.

And since it wasn’t me who typed all of that in, there is no way that I read the information and quickly summoned McDaddy to fetch some WD40 and a razor blade from his lair garage.

Thirty-six minutes later there is no way I was still using the razor blade to scrape plastic bag off of the stove top because me and the patience are not real close friends.

I can assure you that if I had put that stupid bag on the stove top that I could say with 100% certainty that I WILL NEVER make a dumb mistake like that again because the task of scraping that stove top is ridiculous.

Trust me!

That’s it for this week, folks.

Head over to MckMama’s place for more things that people didn’t do!

I thought about saving this post for Wednesday.

But it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe a few of you might be wanting to know the outcome of my cookie exchange and whether or not my cookie earned me the cookie crown at the 2009 Cookie Exchange hosted by my BFF, Becky.

First, meet my cookie, which by the way is a really good cookie.

And here are it’s ingredients, minus the egg and the butter because apparently I forgot to add them to the picture.

OATMEAL CINNAMON COOKIES

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups of butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, beat 1 1/4 cups of butter with 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Stir in the remaining contents.

Drop cookies by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

And now for the things I learned…

1. As you may recall, the first lesson I learned was to insure I have ALL ingredients on hand before beginning the baking process.

2. If the recipe calls for a wire rack, you should by all means understand that the wire rack is indeed an important step. Otherwise, you will be scraping the cookie and its crumbs off of the cookie sheet. At that minute, you will kick yourself for not following the stupid directions.

3. There is a big difference between Quick oats and Old Fashioned Oats. Not that I have any idea what the difference is, I just heard from my daddy that there is a difference. After my great baking saga of 2009, I also discovered there is a difference in the instant packets of oats, too!

4. You can make three different batches of cookies and they will all look completely differernt.

5. This is a really good cookie. Unfortunately for me, the first batch, the stupid test batch was the best batch.

6. It is never a good idea to make a new cookie recipe while trying a new recipe for dinner.

7. When ten women are vying for a cookie crown, anything [and by anything I mean, bribery, high-pressure tactics, and threats] goes.

8. Presentation of your cookies in a Longaberger basket will not have any effect on voting. But it should because do you see that Longaberger basket on the table? That happens to be the first Longaberger basket I ever bought.

9. Your seven-year old will be confused when you tell him there was not a 2nd and 3rd place finish.

10. You will feel half-sick after sampling all of the yumminess.

See. Lots of awesomeness.

And don’t you love this cute little presentation? 

 And now for the winner. 

Meet Megan (sister of my BFF, Becky) who brought some sort of double delight peanut butter 2009 Pillsbury bake-off winner as her entry.

Shouldn’t that be against some sort of cookie exchange law?

Yes, I think so.

But next year I am totally Googling the Pillsbury bake-off winner before submitting my cookie recipe.

And working on my high-pressure tactics.

Be sure to visit Musings Of A Housewife for more Things People Learned this week!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! A place where we can share things that we did not do with people that we do not know!

Or something like that.

First, it was not me who actually had to write out twelve times seven on a piece of paper to figure up how many cookies I needed for the cookie exchange tonight. Because anyone with any sense whatsoever would know their multiplication facts without having to figurem’ up.

Whatever. I stink at math.

Next, it wasn’t me who called my mama and daddy to ask if indeed I could substitute Country Crock for ‘butter’ in my second batch of cookies because I figured up the wrong amount of sticks of butter and only had enough for the first batch.

Seriously, the whole ’stick of butter measuring thing’ is goofy anyway!

It also wasn’t me who dumped three packets of instant oatmeal into the second batch of cookies after realizing that I HAD RUN OUT OF OATS FOR HEAVENS SAKE because who runs out of oats in the middle of a cookie-fest?

Obviously someone who is not so great at math.

I wasn’t the one shaking her head in disbelief when the second batch of cookies came out of the oven looking very different from the first batch. Especially seeing as though they pretty much taste the same. 

I’ll never know if its the Country Crock butter’s fault of the instant oatmeal’s fault. Dang. It’s no wonder I don’t spend much time in the kitchen!

And finally, it’s not me who secretly hopes she wins the cookie crown even though she is a culinary dork because who doesn’t like to win?

I’m off to clean my kitchen.

Which is something that I can do because it does not require math.

Enjoy your Monday, y’all!

And head over to MckMama’s place for other Not Me! Monday posts.

If you’ve been with me from the beginning of this gig here at From Inmates To Playdates, you might have heard this a time or two. It’s so good though, it’s worth repeating.  First, let me apologize for the photography. Please keep in mind this is a recipe post and not a photography one.

Kristen over at We Are That Family has asked us to share our favorite holiday/entertaining/celebration tip this week. [I love the holiday WFMW button!]

With the holidays just around the corner, I scanned my brain for my best tip. I have a December birthday. Stevie has a December birthday. There is always a Christmas play at church in December and there are countless shopping trips. Throw in various holiday parties and Christmas dinners and you have a month that I barely remember when its all said and done.

You can pull this little tip out of your proverbial Thanksgiving or Christmas hat when you discover you have company coming and your cupboards are bare. [It's important to note that I would never use the words cupboards *IRL. Instead I would say cabinets.]

*In Real Life

 Warning: My culinary expertise may surprise you.

 Because while it is obvious from all appearances that I have a love for all things sweet, it is a well-known fact that I am not known for my mad skillz in the kitchen. For that reason, when I find something that works, and I mean really works, especially in the kitchen, I feel the need to share it.

And, for something to really work for me in the kitchen it must meet the following criteria.

•  fast
• easy
• fail proof

What can I say? I am a simple girl who knows very little about the kitchen.

So, without further ado, may I present Julie’s Fabulous Fudge.

Actually, I didn’t invent the recipe, but if you’re copying it over to a fancy little recipe card, I’d love for you to think of me when you make it. Otherwise, you can call it Libby’s Peanut Butter Fudge. Libby is my neighbor and she also happens to be the source of this sweet little goldmine.

Truth be known it’s real name is probably ‘No Fail Fudge’ or ‘Five Minute Fudge’ or ‘The Quickest Fudge In The World’.

You can call it what you want.

 Whatever it’s called It Works For Me! You can visit the link to find other things that may work for you too!

JULIE’S FABULOUS FUDGE

1 tub of vanilla frosting

 18 ounce jar of JIFFY Peanut Butter

 Peel the seal off of a tub of vanilla frosting. Microwave it for 20 seconds. Mix vanilla frosting and jar of peanut butter in a microwavable container and microwave for two minutes.

Stir and pour mixture into an 8X8 {Longaberger} Baking Dish.

Allow fudge to harden.

Enjoy.

 See, I told you it was quick and easy.

*For Variation: You can use chocolate frosting or add your favorite nut to the end mixture.

Head over to Kristen’s place for more holiday/entertaining/celebrating tips!

This week’s You Capture challenge is food.

And as one might imagine, it has also been one of the easiest weeks for me because I love me some good food. Sadly, my photography skills do not match my ability to eat.

I’ll kick this thing off with a few pictures of the easiest peanut butter fudge on the planet. You can find the recipe here and you can thank me later.

(I’d love to have the know-how to do a fancy collage like Beth does but I have yet to figure out how to round the corners and put the pictures in a side-by-side formation.)

Can you see the awesomeness?

I can smell the peanut butter from here.

———

This next picture makes me smile.

I make Martha Stewart proud.

In case you are wondering, those are toaster strudels decorated with my loving touch.

————

I tried to go and get all artsy when I took this next picture.

Unfortunately, it did not turn out the way I had hoped.

You can just imagine the heart-burn this mess caused. ahem!

———-

I wonder if y’all know the secret of the broiler? Seems the same day I picked these suckers up at the grocery store, our grill decided to show itself. While talking to my sister-in-law on the phone, she suggested I use the broiler.

Since I haven’t used the broiler EVER, I wasn’t sure what to do or how long to do it.

So, I GOOGLIZED broiler + steak + time.

In case you are wondering, it took less than 20 minutes to cook these slabs of meat (medium). YUM! As it turns out, the broiler is wonderful way to prepare meat.

Sadly, I snapped this next picture before the camera had time to focus.

What can I say?

When a plate of food like this is before me, it is hard to focus on anything else.

And for dessert?

A mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream-sugar-cone.

My favorite.

Okay.

That’s all.

Thanks for stopping by my bloggy buffet. I’m hungry now!

Visit I Should Be Folding Laundry for some of the best lookin’ food you can imagine.

NEXT WEEK’S CHALLENGE – Old Signs?