Wednesday Recipe

I haven't seen any signs of life on Darla's or Heather's blogs so I will just post a couple of recipes that I have used recently:

Lemonade Pie

What you need:

1 8oz. container of Cool Whip
1 Keebler Graham Cracker pie crust
1 14oz. can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 6oz. can Lemonade Thawed
What you do:

In medium sized bowl mix milk and Lemonade. Carefully fold in the Cool Whip. After blending well, add mixture to pie crust and freeze.

We made these at work with lemonade and limeade and served them at our annual steak luncheon. We had lots of positive comments. I made 2 more pies last night at home using orange juice. The kids really like it. I thought it would also be good with raspberry lemonade or some of the other fruity flavors of frozen concentrate.

I am making these to freeze for the beach next week:

Enchiladas

1 - 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup(mushroom, potato, etc)
1 - 26 oz can spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce (whatever is handy)
1 package dry enchilada seasoning mix
Combine these ingredients in a saucepan and heat until warm - stir to combine

1 lb ground beef - browned and drained
1 lb cheese sliced or shredded - cheddar, Monterrey Jack - whatever is in the frig
flour or corn tortillas - whatever your family likes best

Coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with the sauce mix. Warm the tortillas in the microwave until they are pliable - 20 seconds or so on high. Put a couple of tablespoons of ground beef in a tortilla, add a couple tablespoons of sauce and top with cheese. Roll up the tortilla and put in pan - seam down. Fill the pan with the enchiladas - if you run out of ground beef - make a couple of all cheese ones. Top the rolled enchiladas with cheese and pour the remaining sauce over the top. Bake in 350 oven about 30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and enchiladas are heated through.
I have also used shredded chicken, turkey, TVP mixed with the gr beef, black beans mixed with gr beef and refried beans mixed with gr beef as a filling for the enchiladas. Experiment and use up leftovers. With the sauce and the cheese - chances are no one will notice a partial substitution!!! I had been mixing TVP in meatloaf, enchiladas, lasagna, spaghetti for months before Rod happened to see me reconstituting it one night and figured out what I had been doing!

Here is one of my favorite cream soup substitutions:

4 cups powdered milk
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
4 tsp dried onion flakes
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp basil - crushed dried
1 tsp pepper

Measure all ingredients into Ziploc bag - shake well.

To Use:
1/3 cup mix
1 cup water
Cook over low/medium heat until thickened.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup minced or chopped*
*Choose One: Onions, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, celery, cooked chicken, diced potatoes, tomato, etc.

Use as you would in any Cream of "Anything" Recipe

Tuesday Musings

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort. -Herm Albright
Hmm...very thought provoking!!!

Count down to the beach is on - 4 more days. The kids are getting excited. This year we are going to Newport, OR. So if anyone knows of some cool stuff to see and do around Newport - let us know.
I've been thinking that I need to get back into the swing of planning out meals and doing freezer sessions. I just sent for Shaleen Wilding's cookbook - here is her website: Wilding Family
I don't think I will ever be on the same level as she is - but it would be nice to get a month's worth of meals in the freezer again. Actually, I should probably start out with a pantry challenge and see how long I can go by just using what is in the freezer & cupboards. I think there are some things in the bottom of the freezer that are older than our children!!! This should be fun!!!LOL!!!

New PJ's & Ice Cream!

Quite the way to wrap up a fun filled weekend - new jammies and ice cream cones!!! I hit the semi-annual sale at Disneyshopping.com and got new jammies for the crew. Love those sales!
We had a great weekend. We went camping with Marjie, Paul, Jenni, Wade and Erika at Potholes State Park. It isn't far away but that really doesn't matter - all that matters is that we have the tent, a campfire and room to play. Jason, Jacob, Helen, Dean, Callie & Blissa joined us for dinner Saturday night. We even met up with one of Marjie's best friends from her school days - Deanna. She and her grand kids where at the park for an outdoor church weekend. It was good to see her. We had fun making smores and playing with flaming marshmallows.
Emma just went with the flow - didn't seem fazed by sleeping outside in the tent. I often wonder what goes through her mind - like "Who are these crazy people - sleeping outside when they have a perfectly good house."
I was a bad mom and didn't take any pictures while we were camping - I asked Jenni to download and send her pictures to me - so will put some up when I get them!

Busy Week

Last week we had Emma's first appointment with the Pediatric Ophthalmologist. Dr. Nye was very nice. She said that she didn't see any sign of Amblyopia and that Emma's Nystagmus is very mild. Emma's optic nerve looks very healthy and her vision is between 20/30 & 20/40. The only thing really affecting her vision is a slight astigmatism. Not a big deal at all! She may need glasses but they want to wait until she understands things a little better. Definitely good news!
Monday we had Ben and Ethan's annual cleft appointments at Children's Hospital in Seattle. We also took Aunt Judy to her Dr. appointment at the U of W hospital. It was quite a trip! On the trip to Seattle Ben decided that everything Grandma said was hilarious. I don't know how many times we heard - "That's a good one Grandma!" The cleft appointments went well. They think that Ben's bone graft will be next year. Ethan's will probably be a year after that.

Trying to Get Back in the Swing!

I am going to try and be better about posting updates. I am going to join Darla and Heather and start a Wednesday Recipe post. Today they posted bread so here is my contribution:

Cinnabon Rolls
ROLLS:
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages dry yeast
2 Tbl. sugar
3 1/2 oz. pkg. vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup margarine; melted
2 eggs
1 teas. salt
6 cups flour

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
1 teas. vanilla
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tbl. milk

To make frosting, mix all ingredients until smooth.

In a bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside.
In large bowl, take pudding mix and prepare according to package
directions. Add margarine, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast
mixture. Blend.
Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Place in a greased
bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down dough and let rise again.
Then roll out on floured board to 34 x 21" size. Take 1
cup soft butter and spread over surface. In bowl, mix 2 cups brown sugar
and 4 teas. cinnamon. Sprinkle over top. Roll up very tightly.
With knife, put a notch every 2". Cut with thread or knife.
Place on lightly greased cookie sheet 2" apart.
Take hand and lightly press down on each roll.
Cover and let rise until double
again. Bake at 350 15 or 20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden.
DON'T OVER BAKE.
Frost warm rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 20 very large rolls

-It's been a couple of years since I made these - may have to make some to take camping this weekend!

Weekend Update!

This was Lind's big weekend. We started out the festivities by visiting the evening medical clinic in Ritzville Thursday night!!! Didn't require stitches - just some super glue and a tetanus shot - oh and it wasn't one of the kids - it was Janice! I hit my foot on an evergreen root that was sticking up - got a pretty good puncture that took about 5 minutes to get it to stop bleeding. Almost didn't go to the clinic but the last tetanus shot I had was when I got gored by a bull at the U of I rodeo in 1989! Probably was about due!
Friday we took the kids to the car demolition derby. Emma did alot of whining - I think everything is still overwhelming to her. We sat next to Darla Mast and her family - it was good to see them. There were a few exciting moments. At the very end, one of the cars went up over another car and landed on its side. The boys thought it was AWESOME!!
Saturday we went to the parade. Emma didn't really get the whole pick up the candy until about 1/2 way through the parade. Then she got into the spirit wholeheartedly. There were alot of people in town on Saturday. The line for the BBQ stretched from the park almost back to town. We didn't stay for the BBQ or go to the Combine Derby - decided it would be more fun to go to Pasco and see Sashi, Grandma & Judy! Rod went by during the Derby and said he had never seen so many cars there. Hope they had a record crowd - I think there was something like 4,000 last year. Quite a feat for a town of 500!
Sunday we went to the coaster car races. They are like the old soapbox derby cars and they race them down the hill by the school. The boys told Rod that they definitely want to do that next year! Guess Rod better get busy and get some plans and parts coming.

Well Done Weekend

Saturday the kids and I took off for the Tri-Cities. Emma got real excited when we pulled into Marjie's driveway. She loves our Sashi!!! I think we wore Grandma out - we left the kids with her to take a nap and took Judy out to buy a new computer! It was really cool to look at all the new computers - would love one of those 22 inches LCD screens!!!! We got home late so slept in a little this morning - had to hurry a little to make it to Warden for breakfast with Aunt Helen & Papa John. My niece Cherie was visiting from Southern Idaho with her family. The kids had fun playing together - we found a pool in the shed and they had hoses running most of the afternoon. Emma loved the pool and the water. Probably having a small pool was less threatening than the big ones we tried out at the hotels. I am starting to think that swimming lessons might not be a bust after all! Everyone but Rod took naps on the way home - good thing since he was driving!!
When we got home, we found the pool that Grandpa Dennis gave us. It didn't take long to set up and then Emma was Queen of the Pool. They should all sleep well tonight - they certainly ate well. Emma had 2 hotdogs, 2 large helpings of noodles, a bowl full of strawberries and 2 pieces of corn on the cob! I am really getting worried about those teenage years!!!