Fog bubbles using dry ice

Due to the excess of dry ice from Halloween, the boys and I decided to play with some today. Having never played with dry ice before, it was time to get creative. Jerry had been filling a pitcher with it and adding boiling water to make this awesome fog. I had the idea to not only make fog, but to add some dish soap to it and see what that did. We were surprised to find that it not only made fog, but it also made huge bubbles. When the boys popped the bubbles, fog came out of it! The boys were pumped about this venture. They played for quite a while just popping bubbles, swishing the water around and enjoying the fog they made. What a cheap and fun morning!

What you will need:
Dry Ice
dish soap
a straw or something to poke the bubbles (the water is boiling in the bowl so you don't want their fingers to get hurt)
boiling water

a large bowl/pitcher

First you boil some water in a large sauce pan. Once it's boiled and ready, pour it into a fairly large bowl. (in the picture, the water looked blue. I did add food coloring thinking it would make blue bubbles... it did not, don't waste your time!)

Take the bowl outside. Set it on the ground and start adding the dry ice. (DON'T let the kiddos add the dry ice unless they have gloves on. It will BURN their fingers. You have to move quickly as it will burn YOUR fingers too!) Enjoy all the fun the kids will have popping bubbles and making their own fog!

Hamburger Steaks with Onion Gravy

This is one of Jerry's favorite recipes of mine. It's such an awesome comfort food to come home to from a long day at the office or in my case, a long day with the kids (and one that I know they will actually eat). See my note at the bottom about the gravy... Definitely consider it! I love to serve this over rice with a side of steamed veggies or with made from scratch mashed potatoes.

    1 pound ground beef
    1 egg
    1/4 cup bread crumbs
    1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
    1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
    1/2 teaspoon onion powder
    1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
    1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
    1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    1 medium onion, thinly sliced
    2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    1 cup beef/chicken broth
    1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Form into 8 balls, and flatten into patties.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties and onion in the oil until patties are nicely browned, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the beef patties to a plate, and keep warm.

Sprinkle flour over the onions and drippings in the skillet. Stir in flour with a fork, scraping bits of beef off of the bottom as you stir. Gradually mix in the broth. Season with seasoned salt. Simmer and stir over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until the gravy thickens. Turn heat to low, return patties to the gravy, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes.

**My suggestion is to make double gravy. You would take 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp seasoned salt and 2 cups broth. You will thank me :)

Sugar and Spice Pumpkin Seeds

It's that awesome time of the year when we get to carve pumpkins for Halloween and make Pumpkin Seeds! I love them. I normally prefer mine with some salt and garlic on top of them... but this year I thought I would try something a little different. I wanted to go with a sweet pumpkin seed. I think I achieved it! I hope you enjoy this recipe and try it yourself!

Pumpkin Seeds
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried (I dried mine overnight, which I think made a difference)
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (if you don't have that like I didn't, use the below recipe to make some up yourself)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted.

 

In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of white sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a spoon until the sugar melts, about 45 seconds. 

Pour seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Rice Krispy Treat Kitties

I saw this adorable recipe on ricekrispies.com and just had to make them for Halloween. This was my first time ever making rice krispy treats. I had no idea what sort of "process" making them was going to be! LOL my arms are sore this morning, but they turned out tasty and look "cute".  So here's the recipe...but decorating them is all up to you.

Chocolate Rice Krispy treats

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 package (10 oz, about 40) regular marshmallows
1/2 cup peanut butter (the recipe did not call for peanut butter, but I don't think you can have chocolate without peanut butter, so this part is optional)
6 cups chocolate rice krispies cereal
canned frosting (or make it yourself, my mom made mine)

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter until melted.
Add cereal. Stir until well coated.
Cool slightly. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, coated with cooking spray, divide warm cereal into portions and place on wax paper to cool slightly.

Using buttered hands, press each portion into a firmly packed ball. Let cool completely.
Decorate as desired.

So....they definitely didn't turn out like the picture, but they were still cute. They look more like Mice than Kitties, but they were fun to make all in all!

My favorite meatball recipe

I love these with spaghetti, but I want to try them on hoagie/sub rolls for a little Meatball Sub action! MMMM!  I also use this recipe when I am short of time... instead of making the meatballs and baking them, I just add this mixture to the skillet, cook it up and add the sauce directly to the pan. It's really really good. 

    1 pound extra lean ground beef
    1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    1 small onion, diced
    1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
    1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
    3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
    3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
    1 dash hot pepper sauce (such as Frank's RedHot)or to taste
    1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
    1/3 cup skim milk
    1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
    1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs


Preheat an oven to 400 degrees
Place the beef into a mixing bowl, and season with salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Add the milk, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Mix until evenly blended, then form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs, and place onto a baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.

Finding our imagination

Recently while sitting in the waiting room at the Dr.'s office, I found myself reading an article in a parenting magazine about the affect TV watching has on children. I will admit, my children watched way too much TV in my opinion. I always made sure the shows were educational, but in the long run, TV is TV. The article said that children who watch more than 3 hours of TV a day are a 1/3 less creative/imaginitive than children who watch no TV at all. Now, I have no idea how accurate that statistic is, but it got me thinking...So I conducted a little experiment of my own. I took TV away from my kids. They get to watch about an hour to an hour and a half of TV a day. Surprisingly, Austin took to it immediately. He started to play more by himself...inventing little guns out of blocks, chasing monsters, pretending he's a cat... etc.  He also started to take a liking to Little People. I LOVE Little People. Since before Austin and Lucas had any sort of care for them, I have been stockpiling them from the thrift store. I don't think I have ever purchased one single Little People from the store. I buy all their houses, cars, garages etc at the thrift store.  The boys have been obsessed with them. It's so cute to watch Austin act out our life. He has a mommy, daddy and Lukie Little people along with a Jamie (our babysitter and my friend), a Joey (austin's little friend from Calera) and our neighbor, Mrs. Melanie.  It hasn't been a huge adjustment for them. I just don't turn the TV on. They don't fuss about it and they find something ELSE to do with their time. It also has given me more time to get MY stuff done around the house...it's a win win for us.

I'll take my dinner...in a cup...

No, not the kind of "cup dinner" like off Wall-E...I'm referring to baking a filling (savory is my favorite) in a biscuit cup. That's right. I LOVE them. I have been super obsessed with making every main dish into a "cup dinner".  These are a few of my favorite "cup dinners"--the possibilities are endless...


Taco Cups

1 lb of meat (turkey or hamburger)
taco seasoning pack
toppings of your choice (sour cream, tomatoes, salsa, lettuce etc)
1 can of jumbo biscuits in the tube

Preheat your oven per the instructions on the biscuit tube. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside. Prepare the taco meat according to the instructions on the taco packet. Set aside to cool. Take each biscuit from the tube and press them one by one into the muffin tin making a well in the center. Spoon the taco mixture into the biscuit well and bake according to the directions on the biscuit tube until browned. Top with whatever you want.


Sloppy Joe cups (these are my favorites)


1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 lbs meat
1 cup bbq sauce
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 can of jumbo biscuits in the tube

Preheat your oven per the instructions on the biscuit tube. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside. Cook the onion in 1 tbsp oil in a nonstick skillet. Brown meat and drain. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.  Take each biscuit from the tube and press them one by one into the muffin tin making a well in the center. Spoon the sloppy joe mixture into the cups and bake as directed on the package. I like to add colby cheese at the end of the baking and let it melt/brown on top for a nice addition.

I have a few more ideas on more types of cups. I am not sure of how they taste yet but once I try them I will write them down here.
Do you have any ideas on tasty cup dinners?