Pinned and Tried: Cauliflower Chowder

The Rundown: a little creamy, delicious. Very similar to potato soup but very low carb. It was a hit, everyone liked it (especially with bacon!) 

Original recipe found HERE.

Late Night Crafting and a bit of Easter Decor

Kids are in bed, husband's at a meeting, two nights before Easter, what better to do than some late night crafting! I made this little burlap banner tonight with some burlap scraps, ribbon, letter stencils, white paint and hot glue. {Inspiration from here.}

I thought I'd share it with you and show a few pics of our Easter decor before the holiday is over! Just some super simple quick pictures....

I got this chalkboard idea {from Dear Lillie Blog}

Here is our Easter tree that the kids decorate. As I took this picture I thought it looked more like a "minimalist Easter tree", kinda boring. It needs the grass and village all around it... maybe when the kids are older. 

{The coffee table tray} filled with kids Easter books and my tulips from Hobby Lobby.

And I just couldn't resist this cute shot of our Velveteen Rabbit who keeps{ our comfy chair }cozy.

We are headed to an Easter Egg hunt tomorrow morning! Watch out for that crazy bunny! Have a very Happy Easter!

Grace's Corn Dogs {Kid Friendly, and Baked not Fried}

I just realized I've been doing a lot of recipes lately.  I dunno, I guess that's just what I've been up to. This weekend, my two oldest decided they would pick a new recipe from their kid's cookbook and make it this week (with mommy supervising, of course). First up: Corn Dogs.

We've never made these before. The recipe called for Grand's Corn Biscuits which we could not find at the store so I searched online for homemade batter. I ended up combining a few different recipes and then modifying it to fit what we wanted, ie: baked, not fried, no fancy ingredients, simple enough for a kid to do, etc.

This is what we came up with and 4 out of 6 taste testers thought they were delicious.

Grace's Corn Dogs

popsicle sticks

16 hot dogs (2 packages)

Combine 1 cup cornmeal, 2 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 cup sugar, and 4 teaspoons baking powder. Stir in 1 egg and 1 cup milk.

Put some flour in a small bowl and roll dogs in flour to lightly coat (it helps the batter stick). Insert sticks into dogs and twist in batter, coating well. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes at 350'. Serve with ketchup and mustard. Makes 16 corn dogs.

I think it would also be fun to cut the dogs into bite size pieces and dip in batter for appetizers.

It was fun having my daughter make these and seeing how proud she was when (mostly) everyone gobbled them up!

By the way, have you ever heard this song? (It keeps going through my head) "Corn dogs, corn dogs, they are so good to me! Corn dogs, corn dogs, they are so good to me! Good when they're hot! Good when they're cold! Good when they're fresh! Good when they're old! Corn dogs, corn dogs, they are so good to me!"

Have a great week!

April Teacher Appreciation {Thanks For Helping Our Students Grow!}

I originally got this idea off pinterest where someone put a live flower in a pot with this phrase. I thought it would be perfect for a Spring teacher appreciation gift. I happened upon these juice glasses at a store called Gordman's on super duper clearance - they ended up being about $1.35 for a 6 pack! Major score! Since I have to supply enough for a staff of 36-38, anything I see less than a dollar is what I try to find, that's about 23 cents a piece. Then I bought tulips at the Dollar Tree, each bunch had about 6-7, so that's about 14 cents per flower, and I also bought the clear bags in the party section, 50 for $2, so that's 4 cents a piece. I bought Easter colored M&M's and Jelly Beans (just in case someone doesn't like chocolate?!?!) and used measuring cups to fill the glasses. Then I printed the phrase on green cardstock and cut them into leaf shapes and attached them to the tulip stems with floral  tape. 

Happy Spring, teachers!

We Are In Love With These Healthy Cookies! {Pinned and Tried: Guilt Free Oatmeal Cookies}

I pinned this recipe last week and have really been wanting homemade healthy snacks so I tried it out today. These are not "no bake" but they are just as easy and require no fancy equipment. I just used a fork to mash the bananas and mixed everything by hand with a bowl and spatula. The only thing I would add to the recipe is to mention to flatten them a little since they don't spread. (I always use my cookie scoop, thus the "mound" shape). Also I used a random bag of leftover white chips instead of chocolate or raisins.

So here it is:

Guilt Free Oatmeal Cookies

made with bananas and applesauce, no butter, sugar, flour or eggs.

3 ripe bananas, 1/3 c applesauce, 2 c oats, 3 tb milk, 1tsp vanilla, 1tsp cinnamon, 1/2 c raisins or choc chips.

Preheat oven to 360', combine all ingredients well, put on greased cookie sheet, bake 15-20 min. Made 2 dozen.

And just to prove their goodness, here are a few shots of us stuffing our faces with them!

original recipe found here:

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2014/01/guilt-free-oatmeal-cookies.html