Mac & Cheese Pot Pie

I found this recipe online and made it for my kids and they absolutely loved it!    Click on the picture to watch the video.  It's definitely worth trying.

Quick Tip: Break the Yolk

When making scrambled eggs or adding eggs to a recipe, break the yolk of the eggs with your fork first.  It will make whisking them easier and combining them with other ingredients, faster. 

Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Pork Chops

A dinner my mom used to make for us that has only a few ingredients and is not only easy but fast to make is Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Pork Chops.  Campbell's actually has a very similar recipe on their website called Tasty 2-Step Pork Chops.  This is how I make it:


Ingredients

• 4 Pork Chops
• 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
• olive oil
• 1-2 garlic cloves or garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup milk (or water)

Directions

1. Brown garlic in oil then remove garlic.
2. Put pork chops in same pan.  Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper (and garlic powder if you didn't have garlic).  Brown on each side.  Then remove pork chops.
3. Add cream of mushroom soup and milk to pan.  Cook as directed on can using a whisk to include all the delicious pork chop flavor from the pan. 
4. Return pork chops to pan with soup and continue to cook until pork chops are done.
5. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Super Simple Chili

A new favorite in my house this winter is chili!  I like to use the McCormick Chili Seasoning Mix.  I base my chili recipe on the McCormick recipe but I add a few things.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. McCormick® Chili Seasoning Mix
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 can (14 ½ oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (15 to 16 oz.) kidney beans, undrained
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 2 c. cooked rice
• shredded cheese

Directions

1. Brown beef in medium pot on medium-high heat.
2. Stir in McCormick Seasoning Mix, diced tomatoes sauce and kidney beans. Bring to boil; cover. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Serve over rice and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

*Sometimes I serve the chili as a soup and let the kids scoop it up with Ritz crackers or add Goldfish crackers.  They like to have a part in making their dinner. 

Corn Dog Muffins

While making Jiffy's corn muffins, my oldest son gave me an idea.  He said, "I wish you were making corn dogs instead."  I then realized, with the left over hot dogs in the fridge, I could make corn dogs.  Well, I could make corn dog muffins. 

Ingredients

• 1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
• 1/3 c. milk
• 1 egg
• 3 hot dogs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Mix Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, milk and egg in a bowl.
3. Cut each hot dog down the middle, length-wise.  Then slice into small pieces.
4. Add hot dog pieces into muffin mix.
5. Fill 8 lined or greased muffin tins about 2/3 full.
6. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until muffins are light brown.  Let cool and serve.

I served these delicious Corn Dog Muffins with a small bowl of soup.  It's a new family favorite meal!  The kids are already asking when I will make them again.

This is a great recipe for make ahead meals for kids parties, lunch boxes and to freeze for another day.

Have "Family Fun" This 4th of July

Having three kids, every holiday is a great opportunity to have some fun with food and crafts.  Disney's Family Fun magazine is one of my favorite websites.  So, I went there and wasn't pleasantly pleased with the simple, kid-friendly recipes they have to help your family celebrate 4th of July.  Here are my favorites:

Family Fun 4th of July Recipes

• Revolutionary Berries
• Spangled Sandwich Pops
• Rocket Dogs
• Patriotic Drink
• Watermelon Pop Stars
• Crispy Cheese Stars

Check out my Patriotic Coloring Pages for an Independence Day activity.  Have a fun and safe 4th of July!

Toy Story Party Cookies

A great dessert idea for a Toy Story party are these cute pig cookies that look like Ham from the Toy Story movies.  The idea is from Taste of Home and you can find the recipe for their Cute Pig Cookies by clicking here. 

You can make it a little easier on yourself by up buying ready-to-bake cookies and then decorate them as directed in the recipe.  These cookies are also a great idea for a farm themed party.  Any way you make them and whatever you choose to make them for, they are tons of fun and the kids will love them!  

*Find more Toy Story party ideas here.

Easy Veggie Pasta Dish

I have recently decided to get more healthy with our dinners, whether my kids and husband, like it or not.  My first attempt at incorporating more veggies into our dinners was a very easy Veggie Pasta Dish I made last night.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Box of Barilla's Mini Pene Pasta
• 1 Handful of Grape Tomatoes
• 1/2 Asparagus Bunch
• 1 Handful of Black Olives
• Balsamic Vinegar
• 3-4 Cloves of Garlic
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil
• Butter
• Grated/Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions

1. Cook pasta as directed, saving a couple of ladle fulls of pasta water.
2. While pasta is cooking, coat a large skillet with olive oil and tab of butter and heat on medium to medium-high.
3. Add crushed garlic cloves to skillet.
4. Wash and cut tomatoes, asparagus and black olives.  Then add to skillet.
5. Add herbs, spices and Balsamic vinegar to your liking.
6. Once pasta is done at to skillet.  Add pasta water as needed.
7. Before removing from skillet, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Easter Brunch Menu Ideas

There's been a change of plans.  We will be having an Easter brunch (instead of dinner) after church on Sunday with my sister and brothers.  So, I hit the net again for some menu ideas for a simple Easter brunch. 

If you plan to have an Easter day celebration for you kids and maybe a few of their friends, you can Host an Easter Brunch for Kids.  Parents magazine puts together a fun collection of Easter crafts, recipes ideas and even instructions on how to make your own Easter brunch invitations.  (For more Easter crafts see my Easter Crafts for Everyone post.)

I myself will be trying to make as much as I can ahead of time, since I'm sure we will all be starving after church and eager to eat when we get home.  So, I'll be making a few recipes from the Make-Ahead Easter Brunch article by Taste of Home.

But there are plenty more ideas for Easter brunch recipes and here are a few: 

• Easter Entertaining: 4 Brunch Menus
• Dazzling Easter Brunch Recipes
• Affordable Easter Brunch Recipes

Easter Dinner Menu Ideas

Ever year we celebrate Easter with my parents or my in-laws.  But this year is different...it's our first Easter at home.  So, the dinner is all on me!  Although I have celebrated over 30 Easters, for some reason I cannot think of a single recipe for a dinner menu.  I know it's silly to stress about a dinner with just my husband and kids but, it's our very first Easter at home and I want it to be special.

So I hit the keyboard and began my quest for Easter dinner menu ideas and these are my top contenders:

• Best-Ever Easter Dinner
• A Glorious Easter Dinner Menu  
• An  Easter Dinner Menu

Here are more great ideas for a fabulous Easter meal with your family:

• 7 Easter Dinner Menus
• Top 10 Easter Dinner Recipes

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large cooked chicken breast
• 1 heaping tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 celery stick
• 1 tsp dill weed

Directions

1. Cube the cooked chicken breast and put in a mixing bowl.
2. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of your favorite mayonnaise.
3. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of dill weed and mix ingredients.
4. Dice one celery stick and add to bowl.  Fold into mixture.

Tips

• Replace celery with halved red grapes.
• Try it in a pita with a leaf of lettuce. 
• My kids like it on Hawaiian sweet rolls.  

Homemade Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 2 split fryer chicken breasts
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery sticks
• 4-6 medium potatoes
• 1-2 bay leaves
• parsley
• sage
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

Directions

1. Remove skin from split fryer chicken breasts and place them in a soup pot.  Fill pot with water up to 1 inch above chicken.
2. Bring chicken to a boil.  Then add bay leaves, 1-2 pinches each of parsley, sage, and thyme.  Add salt and pepper.  (You can always add more herbs and spices later.  So, don't put too much in now.)
3. Lower heat to medium/medium low and continue to cook chicken for 30-40 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the center. 
4. Then remove chicken from the pot and let cool.
5. Wash and cube potatoes and slice carrots and celery.  Add vegetables to the pot as you finish cutting them.
6. The chicken should be cool by the time you finish adding the veggies.  Store one chicken breast in the fridge to use for another recipe (like Chicken Quesadillas or Chicken Salad).  Cube the second breasts and add to soup. 
7. Add more herbs and spices if desired.  Continue to cook soup for 20 minutes or until vegetables have softened. 

Super Simple Baked BBQ Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• BBQ sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cut chicken breasts in half length-wise to make 4 thinner chicken breasts.
3. Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with non-stick spray.
4. Lay chicken breasts in baking dish and completely cover with your favorite BBQ sauce.
5. Bake fore 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. 

*Serve with corn bread and a vegetable.

Pokemon Pokeball Cupcakes

There's no need for fancy cakes at a kids birthday party.  Cupcakes are much more fun anyway, especially these.  For my son's Pokemon birthday party, we made cupcakes that looked like Pokeballs.  My kids and I had tons of fun making them.  We hope you have just as much fun.

Ingredients

• Your favorite cake mix and it's needed ingredients
• white frosting
• red food coloring
• black writing/cookie icing in tube
• M&Ms

Directions

1. Make cupcakes as directed on box and let cool.
2. Put half of the white frosting in a bowl and stir in red food coloring to make red icing.
3. Frost one half of cupcake red and the other white.
4. With the black icing outline the cupcake and draw a line through the middle to separate the white side from the red.
5. Place a M&M in the center of the black line and you're done.  

* You can jazz up your cupcakes by adding red, crystal sprinkles to the red side of the Pokeball cupcake.  

Phineas and Ferb Party Ideas

Inspirational Cake Made by Pros

For my oldest son's birthday this past fall, he had a Phineas and Ferb birthday party.  When we were preparing for his party there weren't many ideas and options for decorating and games related to the theme.  I got creative and made Phineas and Ferb Cupcake Toppers for his class and a homemade Phineas and Ferb Birthday Cake for his party at home. 

Now, I plan to throw a Phineas and Ferb beach party to kick off the summer with my kids this year, so I searched again.  I was pleased to find that since my last search there are a lot more ideas for Phineas and Ferb parties out there.  Here are some great resources to help you plan your next Phineas and Ferb party:  

Party Ideas

• Phineas and Ferb Birthday Party Ideas for the Ultimate at Home Party
• Phineas and Ferb Birthday Party

Cakes and Cake Toppers

• Phineas and Ferb Cupcake Toppers
• Phineas and Ferb Birthday Cake 
• Coolest Phineas and Ferb Photos and How-To Tips
• Phineas and Ferb Roller Coaster Cake

Fun Easter Recipes

To help celebrate the Easter holiday, why not create something special to eat.  Whether it's for a party or just something fun to do with the kids, there are a lot of great ways to make food an Easter celebration. 

Recipes

• Easter Sweets and Treats
• Kid-Friendly Easter Recipes
• DLTK's Easter Recipes
• Recipe4Living - Our Top 10 Easter Recipes for Kids

Pillsbury's Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-Ups

Last night I was strapped for time and needed to get dinner on the table quick.  I had some Pillsbury crescent rolls in the fridge and thought I'd check their website for recipes that I might be able to use.  Right away I found the Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-Ups.  They only required 3 ingredients (which I had) and about 15-20 minutes.  It was super simple to make and my family loved them.  It was an instant favorite and my kids even asked if I could make it again!  This will definitely be a regular dinner on our table. 

Simple Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs

For some reason it seemed like my kids were the only ones that didn't like the spaghetti and meat sauce dinner that I grew up with.  I tried to to change it without meat and a different kind of sauce but, they still didn't like it. 

Well, one day I decided I was in the mood for some spaghetti and meatballs.  So, I made it for dinner expecting my kids to hate it and refuse to eat it.  However, to my surprise they loved it!  They even ask me to make it "every day" but, I'll stick to once every week or so.  So here's my simple recipe for spaghetti and homemade meatballs:

Ingredients

• ground chuck hamburger meat
• 1 egg
• Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• Italian seasoning
• garlic salt
• pepper
• Prego Traditional Italian Sauce
• spaghetti (cooked and drained)

Directions

1. Put hamburger and egg into a bowl.  Fold the egg into the hamburger with your hands.
2. Add bread crumbs and spices to taste and mix into meat.
3. Form equally sized meatballs with hands by rolling gently.  Then put aside on a sheet of wax paper.  Spray deep non-stick frying pan with non-stick spray and add desired amount of meatballs.  *Keep extras on wax paper for freezing.
4. Cook on medium to medium-high heat uncovered.  Be sure to turn frequently to cook thoroughly.
5. Once meatballs are cooked, add Prego sauce.  Lower heat to low/medium-low and continue to cook for 10 more minutes.
6. Pour meatballs and Prego sauce over spaghetti and serve. 

Tips

• I like to serve it with garlic bread and green beans. 
• Do not press firmly when making the meatballs or they will not cook evenly.
• Flash freeze extra meatballs on wax paper lined cookie sheet for 10 minutes.  Transfer to freezer bags to enjoy this meal again with less work.  Just thaw in the refrigerator the night before cooking.

Simple Recipes from Prego

• Easy Meatball Parm Hero (good idea for extras)
• Easy Skillet Chicken Parm
• Quick Spaghetti and Meatballs

Candied Sweet Potatoes/Yams with Marshmallows

Here is a great recipe for the holiday season!  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 (29 ounce) can sweet potatoes/yams
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
• cinnamon (to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Drain sweet potatoes and then put in a medium baking dish.  Coarsely chop or mash if you like.  Then distribute butter pieces evenly over the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Top with a layer of miniature marshmallows.
3. Cover with aluminum foil sprayed with non-stick spray and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Uncover and cook for another 5 minutes to brown marshmallows.

Stretch Your Grocery Money

Now here is a mom who knows what she is talking about.  Gina is a stay-at-home-mom with three young children (including a set of twins).  She has created a blog, Moneywise Moms, where she shares all her money saving ideas.  She has tons of great advice to offer.  However, since my favorite ways to save money are at the grocery store my top three favorite posts on Moneywise Moms are:

1. Cook Once, Eat 10 Times
2. Cook Once, Eat 10 Times (Chicken Edition)
3. Saving Money on Groceries (with NO Coupons)

Thank you Gina for taking the time from your busy schedule to share your wonderful money saving ideas with the rest of us.  I look forward to your future posts.