Hot Dog Mummies

Abbott has been excited for Halloween for months! Abbott really is a strange kid, he was obsessed with James Bond and would play the theme song for himself every day as I drove him to preschool. When he was 3 he beat all the James Bond video games... no exaggeration! Now he's moved on to scary movies, he even had a spooky themed birthday party in September. So I made this creep-tacular lunch for him, the hot dog mummies were really good (and SUPER easy)! ...I get so tired of normal hot dogs, I am going to make these more often!

Ingredients
1 can (11 ounce) Pillsbury refrigerated breadsticks (12 breadsticks)
12 beef hot dogs
Cooking Spray
Mustard or ketchup, if desired

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll dough; separate at perforations into 12 breadsticks. With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each breadstick lengthwise and crosswise into 4 pieces, making a total of 48 pieces of dough.
Wrap 4 pieces of dough around each hot dog to look like "bandages", stretch dough to completely cover hot dog. About 1/2 inch from one end of each hot dog, separate "bandages" so hot dog shows through for "face". Place wrapped hot dogs on greased cookie sheet; spray dough lightly with cooking spray.
Bake at 375 degrees for 13-17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard, draw "eyes".

I also made Monster Apple Mouths as a fun side to the hot dog mummies.... the boys thought they were really creepy! Ingredients
1 large Apple of choice
Peanut Butter
Marshmallows cut in 1/2

Directions
Cut out a small wedge on the skin side of the apple. Blot inside with a paper towel then spread lightly with creamy peanut butter. Cut marshmallows in half and place over peanut butter to make the teeth.

Sausage Oven Pancake

I love McDonald's McGriddles, the combination of sweet and savory is delicious! However, the McGriddle has 560 calories and 32 grams of fat, holy cow! I saw this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen's Blog and thought it looked like the perfect alternative to the McDonald's McGriddle! To cut calories/fat even more I didn't use real sausage, I used MorningStar Farms Veggie Sausage Patties... it was fantastic!! Seriously, we loved this breakfast and it really did satisfy that McGriddle craving!

These are the ingredients/directions for my modified version of Real Mom Kitchen's Sausage Oven Pancake, you should check out her original recipe though. I am sure real sausage would taste better but I don't want the extra calories/fat so I will stick to my veggie patties ,-)

Ingredients
1 package of MorningStar Farms Veggie Sausage Patties
3/4 cup Velveeta cheese shreds
3/4 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup water
1 egg
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions
Spray a round 8-inch pan (or pie plate) with non-stick spray. Lay the frozen veggie sausage patties in the pan. Sprinkle cheese over the sausage. In a bowl stir together the pancake mix, water, egg, and maple syrup and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown. Cut and serve, I drizzled a little more maple syrup on top of mine!

Reuben Sandwich

My father and uncle both suffer from Polycystic Kidney Disease, eventually their kidney function gets so low that they need a transplant. My uncle had a successful kidney transplant last week (woohoo), he got a kidney from my aunt. My mom also gave a kidney to my dad and later my cousin did too! Well, this spurred an interesting conversion between Justin and I. We seem to have identical brains, no kidding it's like we're the same person! I just know our organs wouldn't be compatible though, our bodies are so different! If I get a cold in my throat he will get it in his stomach. I think something tastes spicy and he thinks it tastes sweet. I just have this feeling that our organs would be exact opposite!
Another way our bodies are different is that Justin can eat the same thing day after day. He's had a waffle for breakfast and a lunch meat sandwich for lunch every day for 4 years! If I eat the same thing 2 days in a row I am bored, especially with lunch meat sandwiches! That's why I like Reubens! I can eat a cold corned beef sandwich for lunch and come home and eat a Reuben for dinner, it doesn't feel like I'm eating the same thing... not to mention they're delicious!

Ingredients
Butter
Sliced rye bread
Deli sliced corned beef (around 4 slices per sandwich)
Sliced Swiss cheese
Sauerkraut, drained (around a tablespoon per sandwich)
Thousand Island dressing (around a teaspoon per sandwich)

Directions
Preheat a large skillet or griddle on medium heat. Lightly butter one side of rye bread. Spread the non-buttered side with Thousand Island dressing. Now add on the sauerkraut, corned beef, and Swiss cheese. Top with a bread slice, buttered sides out. Grill the sandwich until the bread is golden brown, and then flip and grill the other side until golden brown. It will take around 15 minutes, make sure you serve hot (put it in the microwave for 20 seconds if you need to warm it up again).

Easy Noodle Soup

This is my go-to recipe in the fall! We are so busy with sports, academics, work, and *cough* fall TV shows that I don't have the energy to spend more than 20 minutes in the kitchen. Sure, you can add shredded chicken, celery, and carrots but we think it's perfect just like this! Ingredients
24 ounces Reames Egg Noodles (I get these in the freezer section of my groccery store)
5 Knorr chicken flavor bouillon cubes (I get these in the his Hispanic section of my groccery store, the box says 9.3 OZ)
10 cups of water

Directions
Put the water and Knorr bouillon cubes in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the frozen Reames egg noodles and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes.

That's it, after 20 minutes of cooking it's ready to serve and delicious! It's as easy as a frozen pizza, but better.... it's hearty and warm, perfect for my little football player! He even has cheerleaders! Here's a video of Abbott getting the flags off of the receiver (it's like tackling for little guys)!

No Bake Cookies

Justin LOVES chocolate and peanut butter, his favorite desserts are... Peanut Butter Cups, Puppy Chow, and these No Bake Cookies!

Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 pinch salt
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
In a saucepan bring sugar, cocoa, margarine, milk, and salt to a rapid boil for 1 minute. Add quick cooking oats, peanut butter, and vanilla; mix well. Working quickly, drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper, and let cool.

Last week was Abbott's birthday! Last year he had a yummy Dirt Cake but this year I just bought treats at the store, they always seem to like the store bought treats better anyways. Abbott's kid party was spooky themed this year, complete with cobweb cupcake cake! For Abbott's family party he got a foam mattress pad (it's what he really wanted) wrapped like a birthday candle and a dug up a treasure box filled with change. How creative are his grandparents?!
Abby had fun hiding in the wrapping paper! Abbott finished the night with a small SpongeBob cake, which was adorable!

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Long time, no post, right?! Well... I have been so busy at work I can't even find time to go to the groccery store! Now, with all the quick fast food dinners my rear no longer fits in my pants, Ay Yi Yi!
It was time for gluten-free, sugar-free, low calorie cooking intervention! This recipe came from Paula Deen and I decided to use Splenda instead of sugar in hopes of fitting into my pants again this week... big mistake. The Splenda aftertaste was overwhelming (which is a nice way of saying "gross")!
Peanut Butter cookies are Justin's favorite, and these are soft and chewy and very peanut buttery...is that even a word?! You could probably get away with a low fat peanut butter, but I have to admit, Justin is a peanut butter snob. Only Peter Pan Creamy for him! I can't wait to try them again using sugar instead of Splenda!

Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar (I used Splenda, but will use sugar in the future)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Mix the above ingredients in a mixing box until fully incorporated. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Press crisscross pattern on cookie dough ball with tongs of a fork. Place in oven at 325 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

Ham and Bean Soup

I work with a wonderful man named Terry who turned 63 last week! Terry is one of those teachers I just watch in awe, the effect he has on kids is like magic! Terry reminds me of my grandpa, who I miss so much! Since I met Terry he's called me "Care Bear", I love that! I told Terry I would bring soup in for his birthday and asked what soup was his favorite. He said "Ham and Beans"... ham and beans?! I'd never made it before but it was actually really easy and cheap! The soup was ok on it's own but it was awesome with crumbled cornbread!

Ingredients
2 ham hocks
2 cups great northern beans, washed, sorted, and soaked overnight
8 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
1 bay leaf
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions
Wash beans with water and soak them overnight. Drain the soaked beans and combine beans, ham bone, water, garlic, bay leaf, and onion in slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour. Turn to LOW and cook 8 to 10 hours longer, until beans are tender. Season with lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper, to taste. Remove ham bone; chop meat and return to crockpot. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

I am down to one post a week, yikes! These first couple weeks of school are so time consuming and draining! For the sake of my starving family I hope to be back to regularly cooking/posting very soon! The highlight of my week was Shalee's birthday! Shalee is our wonderful school registrar who mentioned last year that her favorite dessert is cheesecake! I saw these cheesecake cupcakes in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes over the summer and thought it would be the perfect birthday dessert for Shalee... the cheesecake loving gal who "cowbell dives" into our box of chocolates throughout the day :-)

Martha Stewart's Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes Recipe
Makes 30 Cupcakes

Ingredients
42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese (32 ounces), room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.
With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.
Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.
Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Egg Salad Sandwich

I love egg salad sandwiches! There is just something about an egg salad sandwich for lunch on a sunny day, it makes me want to start a new book! That's right... most women want the beach and a margarita but I'll take a book and an egg salad sandwich any day (Justin says I am a 60-year-old woman trapped in a 28-year-old's body)!
There is a wonderful documentary I saw a couple years ago called "The Teachings of Jon". I've never seen it on TV since so I finally broke down and bought a copy. It's about Jon, a man with down syndrome who LOVES egg sandwiches. Ok... the documentary isn't just about egg sandwiches, here's the trailer. It's a wonderful documentary, I can learn a lot from Jon... not to mention he has great taste in sandwiches ;-)

Ingredients
6 eggs
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon relish
pepper (to taste, optional)
lettuce (optional)
6 slices whole wheat bread

Directions
To hard boil eggs – Gently place eggs into a single layer in a sauce pan. Add just enough water to cover the eggs completely. Put on the stove and bring the water to a boil. Just as the water reaches a rapid boil remove from heat and tightly cover with a lid. Let the pan site for 17 minutes. Transfer eggs into a bowl with cold water. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes and peel.
Finely chop hard boiled eggs. Place chopped eggs in a medium bowl. Mix in mayo, 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix in mustard, relish and pepper. Put egg salad onto bread slices, top with lettuce. (Makes 3 Sandwiches)

BBQ Ribs

I've never made ribs before today. We live in a city known for it's BBQ so if we want to eat ribs we just drive down the road, there are tons of BBQ joints to pick from! Andrew is a rib eating fool and Abbott has recently started liking ribs too so I thought I would give it a try. It wasn't very difficult and they turned out really good!! The meat pulled right off the bone and the sauce made the ribs sticky and delicious! I marinated them overnight and put them in the oven during breakfast, by lunch time we had more ribs than we could eat! Then we had a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon (they said I needed a break from 17 Again), it was a fantastic Sunday!

Ingredients
4 pounds pork ribs (I used pork back ribs)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 cups favorite BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

Directions
You are supposed to peel off the tough membrane that covers the bony side of the ribs, but I couldn't figure it out... so I left it on and all was a-ok (if you're like me and can't figure it out, no worries). Mix together sugar and spices to make the dry rub. Apply the rub and lay the ribs on 2 layers of foil, bony side down. Now squirt a little of the BBQ sauce on top of the ribs (maybe a cup of sauce total). Lay 2 layers of foil on top of ribs and roll and crimp edges tightly, edges facing up and seal. Now put them in the fridge and let them marinade in the rub and sauce for at least 4-6 hours (I marinated them overnight). When their done marinating place the foiled ribs on a baking sheet or baking dish, in case the foil leaks you may want to put a 2nd pan in the rack below your ribs to catch drips (I had a couple drips). Bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours. Take them out of the oven and uncover the top of the ribs. They don't look very appetizing right now. You need to baste on some more BBQ sauce (around a cup of sauce), leave the foil off, and put them back in the oven and set to broil. Broil the sauced ribs for for 5 minutes, the sauce will sizzle and caramelize under the broiler, so it sticks to the ribs!

Chad's Sesame Ginger Grilled Chicken Salad

** Remember to click on the pictures for full screen view ;-)
My brother-in-law Chad is a really good chef (for further proof check out Chad's Steak). I am a good cook, I can follow a recipe like it's nobodies business. Chad creates his own recipes though, it's craziness! Justin has similar skills he just isn't allowed to use them... he tries to taste and add ingredients (I discourage this because he makes everything spicy)! So, last week Justin got a text picture from Chad, it was this beautiful salad! Justin actually thought they went out to eat without us and were rubbing it in! I should have known... Chad made the salad, it was just a recipe he thought up! We made it tonight and it was amazing!! It was fairly healthy too, with only a few tablespoons of dressing and cheese! It fed the four of us without any side dishes, I can't wait to make it again!

Ingredients
Corn Pico de Gallo
3/4 can of whole kernel sweet corn
1 1/2 medium size Jalapeño peppers
2 romano tomatoes chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I didn't have any so I omitted it)
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (I only had white-wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder

Sesame Ginger Grilled Chicken
1 pound boneless chicken breast
Lawry’s Sesame Ginger Marinade (I couldn't find this particular marinade so I used Lawry's Baja Chipotle)

Salad Mix
Do Not Use Iceberg Lettuce in bags!!!!
1 head of fresh green lettuce, chopped
1 head of fresh romaine lettuce, chopped
4 tablespoons Kraft Parmesan Romano Dressing (I couldn't find this either so I got Kraft Caesar dressing)
Shredded Colby cheese and Parmesan Cheese

Directions
Prepare Pico in a medium bowl; combine the corn, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley, orange juice, vinegar, cumin, and chili powder. Stir well then chill for 30 min.

Marinade the chicken for 45 min., meanwhile start charcoal in grill. Make sure when you grill you position charcoal to one side of grill so that you have a hot side and a cool side. When top part of coals get white hot put chicken on cool side of grill; cook and flip chicken every 5 min. for about 20 min. (depending on how hot you have your grill.) Make sure chicken is white in the middle, but be careful you don’t overcook!

Mix Salad and dressing together, add about 1/2 a cup of Colby cheese, then top with chopped grilled chicken, add 1/2 cup of pico mixture, then top the salad off with shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Abbott's Spaghetti Tacos

Abbott loves the Nickelodeon TV show iCarly and on the TV show Carly's favorite dinner is spaghetti tacos. So Abbott's been asking for them for awhile now, I finally gave in. Justin and I had a lot of trepidation but they were actually pretty good! In fact... Justin's sitting beside me and when he saw the spaghetti taco pictures he went "Mmm... those were good"!
If your serving dinner to an elementary school child who watches Nickelodeon then surprise him/her with spaghetti tacos, you won't be sorry!

Ingredients (is this really necessary?)
Spaghetti Noodles, cooked
Spaghetti Sauce
Taco Shells (I got the white corn shells)

Directions
Mix the spaghetti noodles and sauce in a big bowl. With a fork twirl the noodles and put them into the taco shells. We cooked our taco shells but I don't know if it really made a difference. I know photo directions aren't needed for this recipe but watching Abbott eat his spaghetti taco just made me smile. I love him so much it hurts! This is my first animated GIF of Abbott eating his taco (for email readers, I think this will only work on my website).
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Andrew's First Concert Pie

This pie is a little overdue. We took Andrew to see Green Day at the Sprint Center on August 12th (the day before school started... we are officially the most irresponsible parents ever). Justin and I have been listening to Green Day since we were Andrew's age and Andrew has grown up listening to their new cd's as well as our old cd's. The concert was amazing! I mean really jaw dropping, dancing like a crazy person, singing at the top of your lungs amazing! No one can captivate an audience like Billie Joe Armstrong! I am so glad we got to experience this with Andrew!

I knew we had to make a pie for Andrew. I mean your first concert is almost as eventful as your first kiss! I needed something green, for Green Day... but more importantly I needed something that tastes like a first concert! Something with a little bite, something new and unusual, yet exciting! Key Lime Pie, perfect!

Ingredients
A pre-made (or bought) graham cracker crust
4 large egg yolks
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes or 10 key limes)
1 teaspoon Lime Zest
Whipped Cream (I dyed my whipped cream green and piped spikes)

Directions
Beat the egg yolks and lime zest at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the remaining juice, again mixing until it is blended. Bake the pie for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour. Serve with whipped cream and garnish with lime zest or lime wedges.