Homemade Turtles

A friend of mine talked about these just the other day. Then I tried them at a family member's house just a few days later. Oh my! How delicious! And super easy.

- 20 pretzels
- 20 rolo chocolates
- 20 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 300. Arrange pretzels on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place one rolo chocolate on each pretzel. Bake for about 4 minutes. While chocolate is still warm, press pecan half onto each chocolate covered pretzel. Cool completely and store in an air tight container. You've gotta try it!

Pizza Surprise

This is oh so yummy! One of my favorite things to make for a party. Serve with crackers or raw vegetables.
- 8 oz package cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup chili sauce
- chopped tomato, peppers, green onions (as much as you like)
- shredded cheese to cover

Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, mayo. Spread onto pan/dish. Cover with chili sauce, then add tomatoes, peppers, green onions and shredded cheese.

Can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.

toddler take on chicken soup

In a toddler lunch rut, so I decided to make soup for the 'gents today. Soup seems to always take a long time, but this one was quick, made within an hour including toddler interruptions :)

I took this recipe and made some changes to suit my fridge contents:

1/4 of a small onion, chopped

2/3 c. chopped baby carrots

2 cloves garlic, crushed

tbsp of olive oil

light salt and pepper to taste

Saute in pot, med high heat until carrots start to soften, 5 mins

1/2 yellow/orange or red pepper, whatever you have

Add to pot, saute for a few more mins

Add:

2 cups low sodium veg or chicken stock

1 cup water (or more, to your desired consistency)

1 packet low sodium chicken stock (powder)

1 tbsp dried thyme

I used veg stock, so I added a packet of chicken stock to the water.

Simmer with lid on pot for 20 minutes or so.

Add 2/3 cup crushed egg noodles (I crushed them so they wouldn't be monstrous noodles for the kids to spoon in).

Simmer til noodles are soft.

Enjoy.

Delicious Carrots

I tried these for the first time the other day. Loved them! Of course you need to be a lover of sauteed onions to appreciate these.
- 1 chicken oxo cube
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- dash of pepper
- cooked carrots

Cook the amount of carrots needed for your family. Dissolve the chicken oxo in the boiling water. Separately saute the onion in the margarine. Mix flour, salt and pepper and add to onions. Then add oxo mixture. Mix well and pour over cooked carrots.

Whoopie Cookies

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup cocoa
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sour milk

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Cool several hours. Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups Crisco
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Cookies can still be warm when putting filling on.

Florentine Spaghetti Bake

• 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
• 1 lb bulk Italian sausage
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce
• 1 can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion and garlic over medium heat until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce ad mushrooms. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15 minutes. Drain the pasta.

In a bowl, combine the egg, cottage cheese, spinach, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Spread 1 cup sausage mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.

Top with spaghetti and remaining sausage mixture. Layer with spinach mixture and mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake at 375 F for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until lightly browned and heated through. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting. Yield: 9 servings

Play Dough

With the cooler weather setting in, it's time to find some indoor things to keep the kiddos busy! Dillon has been hauling out his play dough stuff and has spent quite a bit of time with it. But the (bought) play dough was a little old, so I thought I'd whip him up some fresh play dough. I have many memories of my Mom making play dough for me and my two brothers as we were growing up.
By the looks of the photo I should have probably kneaded the food coloring in a bit more.

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar
• food coloring

Mix and warm first five ingredients in a pot on the stove. Keep stirring and working it (your arm will feel like it wants to fall off) for a few minutes. Once it no longer sticks to the side of the pot, it's done. Add food coloring to divided pieces. I kneaded the coloring in on a plate, as I didn't want to stain my counter count. Store in the fridge in a bag, to keep it fresh.