Sunday, September 30, 2012

Muffin Pancakes~


When your up early making the hubby's lunch, trying to get your 7 year old ready for school {begging her to just pick an outfit already!}, along with getting yourself ready for the day, it's hard to be "on top of your game" every morning! {Might just be me, but I hope not!} Anything to make my morning a bit easier is more than welcome! These little babies do just that!!

I was getting out all the goods for breakfast {pancakes, eggs and sausage} and my daughter was talking about how she likes to dip her bacon and sausage in syrup. Hmmmm....I do too....
Instead of making the traditional pancakes, I preheated the oven!!
I cooked the sausage in a skillet, drained the oil and set aside. I mixed the Bisquick for pancakes exactly like it said on the box and then added a splash more of milk. (My thought was they might dry out a bit in the oven.) I poured the mix into muffin tins and topped each  with the cooked sausage.


I placed them in the preheated convection oven {350} for 12 minutes.
That was perfect timing {for my oven}!!

We needed to do a taste testing {of course!!}, so we topped with a bit of butter n' syrup and ate up!!

 
Now back to making my mornings easier...
 


I let these cool, put them in a gallon zip lock and popped them in the freezer!
We took 2 out this morning and in less than 1 minute in the microwave they were ready to eat!! Nice!!! Oh, and still quite tasty!! This will save me quite a bit of time in the morning!! LOVE IT!
Mark your calendars!!!!
 


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Love that Frosting~




Well, this past weekend was Kiley Jo's cupcake fundraiser at the store. It was a huge success bringing her an extra $302.00 to put towards the Run Of Hope!! Her goal is $1500, but she's at $1267 and as far as I'm concerned she's exceeded her goal! I seriously couldn't be more proud of her for all her efforts this year!! I'm a beaming mama!!


 Now, I'm usually a "buy the frosting" kinda gal, but since these were super special cupcakes, I decided to browse through all of those wonderful "Pins" and find a tasty, yet easy frosting recipe. Yes, I was determined to make it myself!! SCORE!!!...I found the perfect one over at The Girl Who Ate Everything!! This was so easy, yet so tasty!! {Good thing! I had to make 3 batches!}


Here's what you'll need:

2 sticks of butter (1 Cup), softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons Half n' Half  (can use up to 4 Tablespoons and it can be milk or heavy cream as well)
{Her recipe is a bit different. I didn't follow it to the letter}
 
How to whip it up:
 
Beat softened butter for a few minutes in a mixing bowl on medium. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar  (one at a time) and mix on low/medium until all mixed up.  Add add vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of half and half, then mix completely.  Add last 2 cups of sugar (one at a time) and continue to mix. I added my last Tablespoon of half n' half here to thin it out just a skosh. Mixed it one last time and it was ready to go!!
{She's got tips to thicken or thin it out on her blog as well!}
 
If I can whip this up, ANYONE can!! My husband even gave it the thumbs up!!
 
Since we were serving these to the public we wanted to make it easy to hand out and keep every one's little mitts off 'em.... In came the punch cup and lid!... Another perfect match!!
{Next time I'll find a cute little ladybug sticker for the top!!}
 

I love passing on tried 'n true recipes and this one is definitely a keeper! For more sweet tooth recipes and great everyday meals, bounce over to Christy's blog. There's a world of Belly Rubbin' Recipes over there!!!

Monday, September 24, 2012

GFC Blog Hoppin'~


Soooo EXCITED for today!! I'm joining a wonderful group of ladies to co-host the GFC Blog Hop!!
Buzz over and visit the others that are co-hosting {along with others that link up}...you won't be disappointed!!
Get-ta Hoppin'!!!!
 
It's Tuesday again which means it's time for the GFC Blog Hop!

When I want to follow a blog the first thing I look for is GFC (Google Friend Connect), it's so easy and  nice to be able to go and see all of the blogs you follow in one spot. It's really a great tool to have. 

One side note- Did you know you can follow through GFC using your Twitter Account? TRUE, it's definitely an option!

If you are interested in co-hosting the next GFC Blog Hop send me an email at melissa@thelifeofanotsoordinarywife.com

Ok, so let's get to the party, shall we?

RULES are simple:

1. Follow your host via GFC
The First link below

2. Follow your co-hosts via GFC
The Next 8 links below

3. Link up below using your main blog url not a specific post.

4. Make sure to visit some of the blogs in the link up and follow them via GFC 
and if you want to leave them a comment, I'm sure they'd appreciate that as well.

5. Tweet about this blog hop

6. Share about this blog hop by grabbing a button and putting it on your sidebar!



Sunday, September 16, 2012

Keeping Keepsakes~


I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a beautiful sunny and relaxing one! I also managed to get some crafty tinkering in with my daughter, woo hoo!! Being the little sensitive bean that she is, she wanted something to keep her "keepsakes" in. I wondered if that meant like a hope chest or what??...After a lil' chatting, she wanted something small to put her movie tickets in, special pictures, vacation receipts...ya know those kind of things! Ahhh...how sweet!!
We found this little box in the craft room and it was exactly what we needed!! Kiley picked fabric instead of paper and we went to work!!
It started as a boring little lonely wooden box. We took the hardware off and painted it a light tan.
With some spray adhesive and modge podge we added fabric, a few buttons and ribbon! The final touch was a little rub-on. It turned out to be the perfect little keepsake box for what she wanted! The Best part is that she helped make it!! I love that she's crafty!!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Pic Monkey

Thanks to a fellow blogger, I've discovered PicMonkey!!
What a fun place! I have Ultimate Paint Shop Pro on my computer, but it's not near as easy to use as PicMonkey {nor was it FREE}!!
I may be the only one on the planet {or just in Blog Land} to recently find it, but I'm sure glad I did! What a super fun way to tinker with your pics, add text and make collages!!
                 
                          For Example: Here's the picture I took in it's original form...
 
Here it is with PicMonkey revision #1:
 
Revision #2:
There are a crazy amount of quick click modifications to use!!
How did I not know about this place??!!!??
What else am I missing out on out there??? 

Bloomin' Onion Bread~ Oh yeah...


via source 

Get ready for belly rubbin goodness! This is so incredibly simple, but tastes likes it should have taken forever!! I've used it as the appetizer of choice at my M-I-L's the past 2 times now! I'll be doing it with company coming this weekend too!



Line a cookie sheet with foil, after cutting the bread place it on it...then continue....

Ingredients:
Sourdough Round: Use a serrated knife to cut it {it's very giving!}, but make sure not to cut through the bottom {see picture above}
Monterrey Jack cheese ~I used a block and took think slices off of it, but I wonder if you could use shredded!?~I bet it would work just as good!! Place it between all the cuts
Green Onions ~ 1/2 Cup thinly sliced {I mixed these in the butter after I melted it}
Butter ~ I used 1 1/2 cups (this can vary~ I liked the bottom of the sourdough to be gooey all the way to the very bottom! {Just like our "bottom" will feel it!}
Pour it all over the bread, poke the onions between the cuts a bit and then it's ready to pop in the oven.
Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 15-20

There ya have it!! Super simple and so good!!!



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Women's Dress to kids~


Finally!! I never thought I'd get back here! Kiley went back to school last week and it's been a great time to get other things caught up! She's an only child and with me all the time, so it's been soooo quiet! I think it's harder for me than it is for her!
I didn't realize how seriously far behind I was getting on "work stuff"! It was more important to me to keep our family busy, but now I see some late work nights in my future for the next few weeks!!...{Along with some linking up!!!}

A lot of family time also means a lot of cooking! I've tried some great recipes {some not so great too!}, that I'd love to share! I've also started several projects, that my husband has so nicely added his input and said, "you seriously need to finish all those before you start something else!"... and others that I've tackled and conquered!! {whoot! whoot!}
I bought paint...that for me is like a little kid on Christmas morning staring at an amazingly wrapped present that I can't wait to rip open!!  I've actually bought gallons and spray!! It's crazy how much I love paint!!
Bottom line, I have sooooo much that I want to share!!!!

Since I started this post with my daughter, I'll end it the same...
Here's a dress that she found at a friends garage sale. She loved the pattern, but it's was a women's size 10! Uh, sorry Jo, it's too big...far cry from your kids size 8!! She's definitely my daughter...she says, "mom, you can up-do it!" Ahhh, she knows how to get me! Of course I can!!! {Or give it my all tryin'!}
So, here it is....

 I cut the top of the dress off, but left the "serious" stitching that held the bottom part together! I folded it over and sewed  leaving an opening for the elastic to be pulled through. How quick and easy for me!!!