Cocoa gravy

For years Jace and Kade, two boys I have baby sat for 6 1/2 years, have told me about their grandma's cocoa gravy. I finally decided to make it and let's just say it totally lived up to the hype!  Yummy! You can see the recipe on my food blog. 

Theme Day Thursdays

Today's theme was GIANT day! (We had already done teeny tiny....) I made them GIANT pancakes. As big as their plates, gave them all a GIANT glass to drink out of (don't worry I didn't fill them!) Yes I know there are no pictures of the boys that is because they were busy being mad about something... I can't even remember what it was. Oh I remember I took away ALL The Lego's this morning because they were fighting over A piece AGAIN! So they all got boxed up and will be sitting in the garage till further notice!

In the afternoon we went to a GIANT party at the library. (It was the end of the summer reading program party but there were more then 100 people there so that is pretty big!) It was fun and all the kids won free tickets for a meal (they used them for dinner!)After the GIANT party I made GIANT cookies. Just for perspective that is a dinner plate it is sitting on. That means that cookie is about 6 inches across. Larry got home late tonight and saw them and said, "HOLY COOKIES!" Yeah that is right! But no one at a whole cookie... although I think Ruth came the closest!

Theme day Thursdays (which we did on Friday)

Thursdays we try to have a theme and eat foods, and do crafts that go with the theme. I missed taking pictures of the teeny tiny pancakes we had but I took some last time we did this back in September. They are tiny pancakes and we eat them in a bowl like cereal with syrup and butter on them. YUM! I bought these tiny "crabby patties" for teeny tiny day. (I got a box of 8 for 98 cents!) The kids thought they were fun!
Then we did teeny tiny crafts. Brock and Amelia took an art class last summer where they got to do these and we loved it so much we wanted to do them again this summer! (minus paying for a class). I bought them all little wooden boxes (which I got for 40% off at craft warehouse so they were CHEAP) and some bake to dry sculpty clay. They make their objects to go inside the box and they paint the box, then they will each write a story about the things they made. I actually made these for Hayden... she was having a hard time (although she was still having a blast, I just wanted to play too and made these and told her she could have them. Not bad for my first time ever with sculpty clay!)Here is Brock showing our teeny tiny dinner. Larry ended up having the day off of work so we went on a spur of the moment camping trip. I had planned these lil smokies for dinner only I was going to cook them different at home. But I thought what the heck we will just roast them over our camp fire. The kids had a blast with this! (I did bring regular hot dogs to to fill our tummies more then just a teeny tiny bit!) I also brought coleslaw (aka teeny tiny pieces of food)
We attempted roasting these mini marshmallows. They just burn but it was fun trying (I did bring regular ones too though!)Hayden eating her smore!
Here is a picture of Ruth holding the Teeny tiny marshmallows before she ate a not so teeny tiny amount of them and then threw up a NOT so teeny tiny bit all over me! Ahhh memories!

Valentine's Dinner

Every year for Valentine's Day I make an all red dinner. It had become a fun little tradition in our home. I don't always do the same food, but I do try to stick to things that are more naturally red to avoid to much food coloring!

 

 

 

So this year it was stuffed shells, with marinara sauce, garlic bread, cherry Jello, beats, and 7up!

 

I die the butter pink and then make the garlic bread with it so the bread will be red/ pink as well. Some years we have had strawberry milk, this year we had cherry 7up. The kids loved this addition!
Every night at dinner we go around the table and say what our best and worst part of the day is. (This is helping my kids talk about their day, take turns and listen to each other, it has helped a ton with manners!) Anyway for Valentines I thought we would change it up to make it special. We went around the table and took turns saying something that we love about each member of our family. Ruth was totally rude and didn't say she loved anyone... but I think we know regardless! It was nice to hear each of them say nice things about each other and I think they each really liked feeling loved by all the others.

Week 12 of Summer vacation!

So week 12 we did lots of little kinds of things. One of the things was we had a "Teeny Tiny" day. This was lots of fun. We did in one other day this summer. But I did a little more for it this time then last time. I made teeny tiny pancakes, we call them Pancake cereal. We got the idea from Jim's pancakes on line. He is a pancake artist!!! Anyway you make tiny dots of pancakes, scrape them off into a bowl, and stir in a little butter and syrup and YUM! My kids love this even when it is not teeny tiny day! I also made teeny tiny chocolate chip cookies for snacks during the day. I made them with a teaspoon measure so they were LITTLE! I usually make them with a heaping TBSP! Hayden when she would ask for a cookie she would say, "can I have 5 more?" Make me laugh! Anyway it was a fun day! Brock and Leah even made teeny tiny crafts. I heard Leah say once during lunch, "since it is teeny tiny day we should use teeny tiny voices!" I love this girl! It sounded like a wonderful idea...pulling it off on the other hand....



We had teeny tiny PB&J sandwiches for lunch with teeny tiny apple slices. They even drank from teeny tiny cups. This is Brock's friend Leah. We really like her, her sisters, and her mom! Bad thing is they moved away TODAY! We will miss them all!!!


This was our dessert after dinner. We had teeny tiny smores made with Golden Grahams, mini marshmallows, and a chocolate chip. Our dinner was little smokies (teeny tiny hot dogs), Teeny tiny carrots from our garden, teeny tiny tomatoes, and my friend Shar and her girls came and had dinner with us she brought, teeny tiny broccoli, teeny tiny slices of cheese, carrots, and peppers. It was really cute and lots of fun!

Larry came home with free tickets to the State fair on Friday. (We hadn't planned on going because it is pretty spendy!) Anyways we told the kids we would take them if they promised not to ask for anything because we were NOT going to spend any money, no rides, games, or junk food. We packed a lunch and got a schedule of free things to do. (There are plenty!) The kids had a great time and it was a really nice day! We had 5 extra tickets so we offered them to some of our friends so they took their family and we all went together. It was a lot of fun!

This one is really for my dad who probably won't ever see this anyway but I love Smokey they Bear because of my dad. My dad ALWAYS would say, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!" Sometimes he would say, "Only YOU can prevent Child abuse!" Still makes me laugh. Amelia wouldn't go over to meat him though.

Ethan got to be in a magic show at the state fair. The guy did a really good job. He was really funny and we were all amazed. We had front row seats too. Ethan did a great job. His shoe was "burned up" in a box but then magically reappeared in a bag.

The other even of the week not pictured here was I took the kids to the Gilbert House on Friday. It was a lot of fun and I did take pictures but it was on the other camera and I don't know how to down load those as easy... anyway we go there often enough it isn't THAT big of a deal. But the kids had a great time and I did let them do something we usually don't do and that was play on the outside play structure. That thing freaks me out, I worry about someone sneaking off with my kids. But it wasn't crazy busy and they did a great job of staying together and letting me watch. SO it was a great day! Fun was had by all on our last week off for Summer break. All but the last day of course where we celebrated Labor day by Laboring all day long!!! We worked in the yard like CRAZY but it looks great!

Green Dinner!

Every year we have green dinner for St. Patrick's Day. It is always fun and my kids LOVE it! This year we stuck with the green wrapped hot dogs, and changed up some of the other stuff. Here is a peek!

Cravings!!!

Last year during the summer we had dinner at a friends house and she made the yummiest pork I have had! I told her then I wanted the recipe and meant it but hadn't gotten around to getting it. But as with most pregnancies I think most of us start to fixate on a food and want that food and only that food will do! Well this is the food I have been fixating on for over a week. I have wanted it like crazy!!!! So finally Monday morning before I headed out to do our bi- monthly shopping trip I call my friend Jessica to get her recipe. Good thing I did because half of it is stuff I don't have on hand all the time. I made it today (it takes all day). I have been smelling it cook all day in my crock pot just short of drooling I couldn't wait for dinner. I was sooooo happy when I took my first bite and it was just as wonderful as I remembered it!!! OOOOOOHHH I am sooo glad it makes so much so I can eat it for lunch for a few days. Usually I send left overs with Larry, and I almost never eat left overs this will be the exception! He will be lucky to get any more after tonight! I just might hog it all!! YUM!!! I thought I would share the recipe just in case I am making you drool too!
Jessica's shredded pork
4-5 lbs of Pork roast
put in crock pot in the morning 1/2 covered with water
cook for 1/2 the day (around lunch time)
drain the water and add
12 oz bottle of taco sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP ground cumin
20 oz Coke
Cook the rest of the day
About 2 hours before serving remove the lid to cook out the juices so that it isn't too runny when you serve it!
Serve with rice and beans
We like black beans I just warmed them a little bit and the rice I cooked a little "fancier" I sauteed the rice with some garlic and cilantro and then cooked regular with just a little lime juice in the water!!!
Oh and this is not complete with out the sauce!!!
Sauce
Ranch
2 tomatillos
cilantro
1/2 jalapeno
(Larry said I could have used the whole thing but I didn't want to scare the kids!)
Blend till smooth
Serve on tortilla
Enjoy till you feel like you are going to explode! Well at least I did!!!

p.s. I didn't even own a blender but wanted this so bad I had Larry buy me one! It was worth every penny!

Today...

I thought today was a good day to make Allison's prize for winning my recipe contest. I talked to her about it a few days ago and told her I had thought of making her a loaf of bread. When she told me she would have been just as excited if I had said $100 I thought "hey if my bread is worth $100 to her I will opt for the bread and still feel like a hero!!!" So today was the day I had a little help!

Don't you just love the cute aprons my girls have! Santa brought them in their stockings! They love them and put them on any time I put my grandma's old raggedy one on. (Don't worry Allison Hayden didn't make your loaf. I just let her play with a piece of dough and she is happy for hours!)

The finished product! As soon as I took this picture I wrapped a loaf and ran to to Allison's house while it was still pipping hot! One of her girls met me at the door (Janelle!) Telling me her mom wanted her to have the loaf. I'm smarter then she thinks I am though! I love how much her whole family loves my bread. It makes me feel appreciated. (It doesn't hurt that when I make bread I might as well not make dinner because that is all my kids eat too!) Oh and today I made a double batch for kind of selfish reasons. I knew I was going to be sharing some and I still wanted to have lots in our house!!! YUMMMM!

This is Hayden showing you where she puts her bread! (In her mouth! This is what she does to me every time she is telling me she ate something!)

In search of new ideas!

Every once and a while we all hit a slump in our menu. At least I think I am not alone in this. I have seen other people try having people send them recipes and they promise to try all of them and then their family picks a winner. I think it is time I give this a try! We or I am feeling like we are eating a lot of the same things to often. I love to try new recipes and like to cook. So if you email me or leave your recipe as a comment I will try it and my family will pick a winner. The winner will win a fab prize. Don't ask what it is because I haven't decided yet. While I was injured Allison brought us a wonderful Turkey thing with Cranberries and Swiss cheese! This is what brought this idea back to my mind. Anyway there are a few rules. My kids are NOT picky eaters!!! They love just about everything I make in fact people who know then know that they will beg me to buy asparagus, artichokes, and cheer when I buy broccoli! (Weird I know! In fact I saw my oldest when he was 2 push a bowl of Ice cream away to eat SALAD!!!! NOT MY KID!) Anyway The only rules are NO guts! I don't eat liver, heart, toung any of those kinds of things! And I am not a fish eater. About as far as I go with fish is a tuna noodle casserole, and MY (which is also my mom's!) clam chowder. Other then that I don't do fish. Larry and the kids love fish but they only get to eat it when I am not home or we are camping. Even then he is instructed to not cook it in the house and clean it up (throw evidence away OUT SIDE!) before I get home. So please no fish and no guts! Other then that we will try it! I do have to tell a cute story about this. I have a friend who did this and she posted the winning recipe and we tried it! It was this Thia Chicken with Spaghetti Noodles. We LOVED it! My kids were telling me that it was 100 million thumbs up they loved it then Larry said "I like the peanut butter in the sauce." The instantly told be they hated it and they didn't want to eat anymore (they were already on seconds or thirds!) So now every time I tell them I didn't put the peanut butter in it and they love it! I think they just thought it was weird that I put peanut butter in their dinner! They love peanut butter on sandwiches and celery!!! Weirdos! Anyway! I can't wait to hear your ideas and try them! Oh and don't feel like you have to only suggest "kid" food. I don't believe in that! My kids eat what ever I fix and like it, or go hungry. They are use to it and love EVERYTHING! Good luck!