Kids In the Kitchen

I am getting really BAD at blogging lately I'm sorry. Hopping that you will all bear with me for the time being. Combined with a little morning sickness, ALOT of tiredness, and a cold :( I have been off my game AGAIN this week. Florida has been having hot and cold weather like crazy which is causing a little bit of a bug.
So this week I have decided to link some of my past favorite Kids In the Kitchen Recipes ... I hope you enjoy looking back. I plan to do next week what I had planned for this week.

This Pizza Bake we made was delish, so much infact that I made an Alfredo Bake to "spin off" of it and its become a staple ... YUM
I think these Blondies are yum, never made them before this, they are great alone or with some ice cream :)
One of my hubby's favorites is our Tator Tot Casserole it is good!
One of Lu's favorites was these Popcorn Balls

We've made many many things over the course of our "Kids In the Kitchen" posts, most of which have been new to us, alot that have been fun and exciting and some that have been "bloopers" which is not often shown :) I do have fun getting into the Kitchen with Lu and will continue to posts about it. I hope you all stick around to see what we have in the future and for more great ideas from all of you.

Please don't forget to Link up!

MTM-Orange

Today for MTM the theme is Orange and we chose to do snack after school today.

Lu had "Orange" frosting with graham crackers, cheese slices, and nectarines

What a yummy snack!!! Hop on over to Muffin Tin Mom for more great MTM ideas!!

Kids in The Kitchen-Apple Strudel Muffins

Here's the question: what do you do when you know your out of cereal and don't want to run to the store? Why you make muffins the night before of course, doesn't that seem easier? Stores haven't been my strong suit lately. I'd rather be home, but I guess I have to go sometime. Lu and I made Apple Strudel Muffins, sounds great huh?

Notice her face while peeling the apples .. to funny! Then she measured them.

measured butter and threw in salt

greased muffin pan and then I took over filling them up.

And here ya have it all done, this pic did not turn out super great, but you get the idea right? They were not bad however I am such a big fan of the Banana/walnut ones we make much better!
Heres the How to's:
2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup butter 1, cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla, 1 1/2 cups chopped apples
1/3 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.

Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!
Don't forget to link all your goodies up to Mr. Linky

Muffin Tin Monday-RED

Okay, not only did I do Muffin Tin Monday on time yesterday but we did it at lunch because it was President's day and there was no school, but have you know my stinkin computer crashed :( It was out of commision for a whole day and using my husband's comp was like being a fish outta water. Thank goodness his IT guy showed him how to fix it and quick :)! So I know I am late posting, but better late than never!

The theme of MTM this week was RED! And Lu had "red" iceing with pretzels, bow tie pasta with "red" sauce, red strawberries, and red raspberry applesauce! Good lunch! Sorry I'm so late!

Valentines Day Bag

As you may have read in an earlier post this week had been a bit "off" for us, I didn't do much crafts with Lu but earlier in the week I did take her to Michael's craft night.

And she made this cute little bag, she loved it and insisted it would be perfect to tote her valentines cards home from school for the valentine exchange/party.

She's so goofy :) playing around with googly eyes! Can't beat a 1 hour filled with fun for only 78 CENTS yes, just the cost of the bag, they supplied everything else, even helped her do it. Happy Valentines day :)
Linked up to Round Robin & Ramblings Of a Crazy Woman

A Little more on a Personal Note ...

I know this should be a Kids in The Kitchen Post ... but sadly this week I have nothing for you! We have had a whirl wind of a week really 2-3 weeks over at my house! I haven't ever blogged about it, I don't know if I have ever felt the need, or If I just wanted some aspects to be "private" It all started over a year ago when Josh and I started "trying for a baby"several several months went by with much  frustration, until 6 months ago we started seeking ferility "treatments" after months of testing they suggest that Josh needed a surgery, explained why and we agreed because we had a feeling he had "issues" because of past surgeries. He had the surgery 2 weeks ago today, man was that a rough night. It was suppose to be a outpatient treatment lasting about 5 hours total from start to finish, pre-op and all. The surgery ALONE ended up being that long itself, then we had to stay overnight and it was exhausting. Well over 2 weeks period time i've been awfully tired, and a little sick, but 'we' only thought it was because there was alot going on for us emotionally and otherwise, however when I was up at 3 am Monday night sick we knew that I was pregnant, and I am. 4-5 weeks and Due October 17!!! We couldn't be more blessed, and excited, happy, so many emotions! So it turns out we didn't need the surgery after all .. I feel bad for my husband! But God is GOOD!
This past year has been a long journey for us, for me, it has been a rewarding, yet humbling experience, teaching me to hold on to what I have, and be happy for that, and not at all times was that easy, infact there were very many 'down' moments!We are praying for a happy, healthy pregnancy and are super excited!
My waking up at 3 everymorning *notice the time stamp 2:02 am* just didn't make me wanna get in the kitchen for anything extra special ... but I promise next week we will have something for you. In fact Lu went to bed last night and she said "OH NOO mom we forgot baking Wednesdays" My heart dropped as I promised her Thursday! So there you have it ... a more personal side of our lives! I am sorry for the no "Kids In The Kitchen" today but we will be back next week! For now I am gonna try to watch TIVO and fall asleep =)

Lissy's Birthday Party!

Sunday was my neice's Birthday! We all celebrated by having a party at Gymboryee. Such cousinly love pictured above =)

Birthday girl with beautiful smiles and blowing out 4 candles, yes already 4 years old!!

They were having a blast rolling and tubbling in the barrel so I got in on the action too!

Of course no birthday party is complete without bubbles, eating yummy cupcakes, and decorating art work!

And there you have it ... half of my silly family ... being goofy!!! Good Birthday!!!

Muffin Tin Monday

                  Today's MTM was a no themer so I decided to do dinner

Top row: 1/2 of a hamburger slider, fries *with ketschup mayo combo*
Bottom row: Strawberries and the other 1/2 of the hamburger slider
And yes that is Lu's quirky little smile with her mouth full LOL! But she ate it all and them some more! it was YUM! I got this new recipe for Homemade White Castle Sliders ... the whole fam thought they were yummy so that recipe's a keeper!

*One day last week I was walking through Ross when out of the corner of my eye on the clearance table I spoted them cute Muffin Cups for $3 bucks, couldn't pass them up, and certainly not something I would expect to find at Ross =) Muffin Cups can be found anywhere I guess! YAY*

Littlest Pet Shop Bag

Little Lu LOVES to take a toy to wherever we go, weather it be the store, the movies, dinner, whatever she "needs" to bring along a toy, I usually only let her take one small one so her hands are not full and ALL the time she grabs a littlest pet shop figurine ... well my neice also likes pet shops, it is her birthday today *Happy Birthday Lis* Lu picked her out a toy from the store, a box full of 6 pet shop dogs,cats, birds ect ect..  All I could think about while buying them is it would be great to make a small bag for her to tote them around town ...

so I bought some little pet shop fabric, and sewed a little drawstring bag, complete with satin ribbon.

Lu was grumpy bc I have not made her one yet *but I am getting there* but I let her play with it put her pets in it ....

and she tied it up, now I guess I am off to make more ... next time I am gonna put seperate puches on the inside for each pet to have their own space!

Happy Sewing
*sorry my post have been all about "sewing" lately, I've actually been just whipping up small projects, I have been working on a "babyshower" can't wait to show you all the pics it was awsome so stay tuned for that next week*
Linked up to Ramblings of A Crazy Woman

Who needs Girl Scout Cookies when you have these???

Yup thats right ... I made my own tag-a-longs! Hey I know its girl scout season, but the cookies aren't getting to my door step fast enough!!! They taste just as good *I think better* Go ahead try them out! Don't you wish you could taste things from your computer?
Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter *whatever kind you like, we like Peter Pan*
1 roll Ritz crackers
1/2 bar chocolate bark *I use Almond bark, chocolate falvored*
Waxed paper

Make alot of peanut butter sandwhiched crackers ... mmm those are good by themselves!
Melt your chocolate according to packaged directions ... and start dipping ... keep dipping ... yes dip some more!!! I think 2 forks work best ... then put them in the fridge to get nice and solid .. or you could just start eating .... either way .... they are delish!
Linked up to Round Robin & Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Kids in The Kitchen - Pizza Bake

Welcome to Kids in the Kitchen! Lu and I are back to making dinner this week. We are trying to cut down on desserts ... but I have you know that If I don't make em' I just buy em'! =( Besides this week I will be baked since I am throwing a Milk and Cookies themed baby shower, I am baking 10 dozen cookies! Thank goodness I've enlisted some friends to help =) So thats why I am not featuring baked goods, And I am sure I will only eat 1/2 a dozen while baking them all hehehe!

SO for dinner a few Nights ago we had Pizza Sausage Bake *soooo goood, I wish I would have snapped more pictures!

I went to go get a shot of the finished product *after dinner bc I had forgot to before dinner* and it was GONE! So atleast I knew they liked it! It is a really good/simple meal, with a great little Kid Friendly twist .. every kid loves pizza and every kid loves noodles, combined them together and you do have a delishous meal! Heres the Ingredients:
1 lb of Sausage cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups of and small shelled pasta
1 (14 ounce) jar pizza sauce
2 cup shredded mozzerela, divided in half

How To's:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook sausage until browned. In large saucepan, cook macaroni according to package directions, drain. In 9-inch square baking pan, combine sausage, macaroni, pizza sauce,1 cup cheese. Sprinkle remaining cheese over sausage mixture. Cover and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until sausage is fully cooked.


So Simple and So good, if you haven't made it before you should try it!
Please don't forget to Link up your Kids in the Kitchen Stuff! And if you like what you see make sure to Follow!

Crayon Wallet!!

Today I sewed a crayon roll for my neice, her birthday is this coming weekend. I got the tutorial from here but I changed a few things ... as always in Sherry fashion!

I guess I should have flipped it to the other side so you could see the stitching oops, ohwell!

The only 2 things I did different than the tutorial was to make 6 crayon slots instead of 4 *I wanted her to have more choices* and at the top I made a "bigger" pouch for a notebook. I did it the same size as the piece that holds the crayons 3 1/2x6, so she can whip out her little notebook from the pouch and start coloring, would be great on a car ride or in a resturant!!
Happy Sewing!
Linked up to Ramblings of a Crazy Woman! and Round Robin