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Saturday, October 9, 2010

MOM'S Potatoes

Cheesy, creamy, delicious potatoes with little bit of crunch. My mom has made this recipe for years (I believe we found it on a box or on the back of a bag somewhere along the line, it was actually typed in my very first cookbook from years ago), it's nothing new and fancy, but boy is it delicious. I think some of our family might just show up at our parties just to eat these YUMMY potatoes. Any BBQ, get-together, or family function these potatoes are the number one requested item. So, here is the delicious potato recipe for you to try and now that this recipe is published here on my blog, my mother will not have to type and re-type over and over again every time someone requests this AWESOME recipe.

This is a page from my Second Cookbook; A Collection of Family Recipes that I made into a
scrapbook/cookbook using Storybook Creator Plus 3.0
Also posted at FOODIE FRIDAY

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Monster Cookies (NO Peanut Butter) and "COOKIE Scavenger Hunt"

Today is my BLOG'S ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY.... I am so glad I started this adventure and I can't wait to see where it brings me. I am having so much fun and meeting great people along the way. Onto BLOGGING now! ENJOY!

We are finally at the last recipe from my Twin Daughters 17th Birthday Party that we threw last month! It's taken me weeks to report to all of you the yummy recipes we had.

Cookies in a Jar (we used as party favors)
and of course 2 Delicious Cakes

The day party and evening party was full of family, friends and good times. And until next years party.... here is the last recipe! We did an awesome TWIST on this recipe and we had a scavenger hunt. Yes, a scavenger cookie hunt. It was incredible and all of the teenage girls had a blast running from neighbor to neighbor trying to find all the ingredients to make "Monster Cookies".  First we had to find the PERFECT Monster Cookie Recipe (and it was hard trying to find Monster Cookies with NO PEANUT BUTTER, one of the guests is allergic). But we found the perfect recipe over at Allrecipes.


The Scavenger Hunt part of this recipe was very interesting.

We divided up the girls into two teams and gave them the list of ingredients (they were only allowed to get 2 items from each house). That part was easy. The measuring and mixing of the ingredients was the hard part. One teams cookies (came out very salty, then they remembered that the nice neighbor lady just gave them a small baggie filled of salt and they just threw it into the mix without measuring it first), the other teams came out PERFECT (this is their photo of the cookies above). I had given them large plastic baggies and measuring cups (some used these and some did not). All of the houses the girls went to were very helpful and thought this was such a CUTE idea. The great thing about MONSTER COOKIES is that you can collect a variety of different ingredient fillers (Raisins, Marshmallows, M&M's , Chocolate Chips, different kinds of nuts and so much more) and the cookies still come out yummy!

After collecting all the ingredients (I had extra ingredients at home just in case they didn't find everything), all the girls came back and I had the kitchen table all set up for them to mix together their cookies and bake them. It was a little bit of a race, but it was so close, the only prize was the bragging rights as to who's cookie came out better (which was obvious because of the extra salt in the one batch).
So, lets just say this was so much fun! and what a great twist on a Scavenger Hunt. (Click on the images below to print the scavenger hunt (and/or recipe) to have your very own "COOKIE SCAVENGER HUNT"

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

SHRINKVIVOR Challenge (Week 3, Down 2.4 lbs More)

Well, it happened! I celebrated my 39th birthday this last weekend! One year ago on my 38th birthday I joined a She Rocks Boot Camp and was ready once and for all to GET-FIT! I am here to say, I've come a long way in one year, but I am not finished yet!

The number ONE thing that has happened to me this year is realizing what healthy food is and what fast food has done to my body (and my stomach)! My twin daughters (17 years old) have come along with me on this journey and I can say with out a doubt that we have learned some very valuable LIFE-LESSONS that we will take with us forever! I am so thankful for all the learning and growing we have done over this past year. And as a mother I am SO grateful that I was able to teach them these lessons before they left home.

Now on to the challenge and MY TEAM... we did AWESOME once again! The 5 of us that are left are ALL GO-GETTERS and I am so happy to be on a team with all of them! (Check out their blogs and journey's here).


We are into week 3 now and the scale was definitely my friend this morning and I couldn't be happier. I was less-focused on exercising this week and more focused on food choices and it paid off after last weeks low weight loss I was SO happy to see that new number this morning.

WATER - WATER - WATER.... The challenge from week 1 continues and it has become second nature and it's SO easy now to drink 6 bottles of water a day! And I can tell you that from all the things I've been doing to help me loose weight this has been key. I had one diet coke this week (my first in 3 weeks) and it tasted like pure syrup, I couldn't even finish it GROSS. (I am sure my boot camp trainer would be happy to here that!)
NO FAST FOOD: enough said. I DID IT (AGAIN)!
FRUITS & VEGGIES: I have been doing SO well with my eating all day (and as you all know this is a food blog and YES I do eat almost everything I post, with very few exceptions). You are all watching what I am eating and I am STILL loosing weight. It has to do with healthy breakfast, healthy snacks, healthy lunch and sensible dinner. I snack on carrots, apples, grapes, cucumbers, oranges, I try NO carbs all day. Lunch is turkey (NO bread) or a Salad and dinner is whatever I make (NO SECONDS, no matter how good it is). If it's that good, I save the left overs for the next day's dinner. And I eat one protein bar a day, right before my workout. And that's it....it's successful and I am loosing weight!!
The SHRINKVIVIOR CHALLENGE is a 7 week challenge and we are in week 3. I am so looking forward to the next 4 weeks and seeing where it takes me. The NEW challenge will be announced tomorrow and I can't wait to get right on it. This challenged has PUSHED ME and helped me exactly where I needed it the most, and I am forever grateful. I know the next few weeks are going to get harder and harder as I am coming onto my "plato" weight between 150-155. Every time I get down that low, I just stay there forever and ever. So, I am gonna have to push HARDER then I ever have before and be MORE DEDICATED then I ever have before. And I know I WILL GET PAST THIS... I WILL SUCCEED. 
 First Week’s Weight:
164.4
Today’s Weight:
157.8

this week LOSS:
2.40 lbs
Challenge
150.0
Ultimate goal weight:
139.0

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 6.60 lbs 

the blank photo spots are for my NEW 40 YEAR OLD SELF on October 2, 2011; Wish me LUCK!!!


LIFE-TIME Goal would be to be in the 130’s, and yes I don’t even care if it’s 139. I am posting my weight here (because on The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans they say Coming to terms with the number on the scale can aid you in your weight-loss”)
Here's to 4 more weeks to go on this ULTIMATE SHRINKVIVOR CHALLENGE!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

BBQ Pizza



BBQ Pizza (at the birthday party). Here is another recipe from my girls birthday party! (I made so MUCH food it's taken me two weeks to get you all the recipes). This was our FIRST attempt at BBQ Pizza's and it won't be our last. It was a lot of fun and they turned out FABULOUS!!!

For this first attempt we purchased pre-made pizza dough at a local market called Fresh n' Easy. We let the dough get to room temperature and then split the dough in fourths (this way we'd have small dough for more individual sized pizza's). But actually even splitting them in fourths (they could have been shared by two people).

We made a homemade pizza sauce, but store bought could be used too. I also set out Pesto and Alfredo sauce to make a specialty pizza. We cooked up the toppings that need to be cooked ahead of time and had them all set out for the girls to create their own master piece pizza.


I had five recipes that I had cut out (yes, really five) plus the help of my good friend who had made them once before. I read all the recipes and came up with a combination of all of them together. I will be making these again soon and doing some more experimenting along the way (maybe even trying homemade dough next time). And, of course I will post all about it!

BBQ PIZZA

1. Leave dough on the counter to bring to room temperature.Toss dough with your hands until you have it at the desired size and thickness. (this is best done with dough that is not fresh out of the refrigerator. ) They don't exact come out perfectly round, but none the less they are fun fun fun!
2. Sprinkle a cookie sheet with olive oil and a little bit of spices (basil, red pepper or whatever you wish). Brush and/or Dip each pizza dough in the olive oil mixture. You will need to keep adding more after each dough depending on how many you make. (Do not add too much olive oil because they are too hard to BBQ)
3. Heat the BBQ to medium heat or lower. It may need to be turned down so that the crust does not burn while cooking. The trick here is to cook ONE side of the dough completely and then turn the dough over and cook only for a minute or two, just so that the dough is no longer sticky. (Reason being, is that after you add the topping's on the COMPLETELY done side, the UN-DONE side will be the side you lay back down on the BBQ to finish cooking and to melt the cheese)
4. Once pizza doughs are finished the assembly line can begin. (The doughs can be BBQ'd hours before a party, which will save you alot of time after your guests arrive). We layed everything out in the kitchen and gave each person a pizza dough on a cookie sheet and let them create their very own pizza masterpiece. (Remembering they need to load up the COMPLETELY DONE side of the dough, so that when they take it back to the BBQ the NOT-SO-DONE side will then be layed onto the BBQ to finish cooking.) Once they were ready they walked their pizza out to the BBQ CHEF (which in this case was me... and I am NOT the usual BBQ'er). We placed all the pizza's on the BBQ the dough finishes cooking and the toppings are hot and the cheese melts. Out comes a "PERFECT BBQ PIZZA"

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