Tag: Food

“Tie-Dye” Cupcakes

Recently I made a Rainbow layer cake for my son’s birthday. I had a box of cake mix leftover and thought I would try making a cupcake version of this cake.

I made the White Cake Mix and then divided it into 4 bowls, I dyed each bowl and then scooped spoonfuls into muffins cups.

I baked for 15 minutes at 350. They kids loved them. Looking back, I wish I would have swirled the colors around a little bit with a toothpick.

I did not frost them, too messy and less sugar. If you make these, share your link in the comments please, I would love to see them!

August 19, 2015
Cute and Funny American Kids Try Food from Around the World

This is adorable!!! I love funny kid videos, kids are so sweet and open! If you have kids that are like my youngest child – good luck getting them to try very many different foods.

January 13, 2015
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Do you love chocolate chips the way I love chocolate chip cookies? I love them so much that I have tried tons of recipes with variations on ingredients. Let me tell you that this is the best recipe I have ever come across. I got it years ago from my favorite recipe site allrecipes.com

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies submitted by Clarice Schweitzer
- 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup chunky peanut butter
- 2 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars; beat in peanut butter, egg and vanilla. Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute before removing to a wire rack.

ENJOY! So good dipped in milk or coffee. Will quickly become a family favorite. These are also so easy you can throw them together for potlucks, get togethers, etc.
November 17, 2014
Gem of a Steak House

One gem of steak house in Denver that you don’t want to miss out on is Westerkamps Meat Market and Restaurant, but, as you can tell by the sign this is a steak house!

If you want good food for a good price this is definitely one place to keep on your radar… err, these days it would be on your GPS. Where else can you get Mondo for $7.99? If you’re like me you’re asking what in the world is Mondo? Well, how does this sound – Steak, Bacon, Sausage, Eggs, and potatoes smothered with cheese and chili?

Now we’re talking. I’m a sucker for green chili so you know I had to taste their Huevos Rancheros and Mexican Hamburger, both were srumditilyumptious I might add. And this green chile was awarded “Best Green Chile in an Unlikely Location” by Westword!

On top of the steak choices they also have fajitas, pork chops, chimichangas and hot sandwiches. Really, they have quite the menu to choose from.

What other steak house can you go to that is seat yourself? I don’t know of one. Don’t forget, this is a meat market too and they have awesome deals on meat packages for those take it home and grill it folk! There’s a couple of old school dart boards on the wall if you want to throw some darts while your food is cooking and kids are provided with their own fresh set of play-doh and coloring sheet.

Westerkamps Huevos Rancheros smothered in chile goodness

To find this gem of a steak house is not hard if you know where to look. If you know where the Trade Mart is on I-25 and 58th ave. you’re almost there! It’s located at 5106 Washington St. in Denver, CO. so you just go east on the 58th exit to Washington, head south for about 7 blocks and you’ll see Westerkamps residing on the east side of the road.

You can checkout their menu and get more information at the official Westerkamps Meat Market and Restaurant website.

April 13, 2013
A Yummy Breakfast – Huge Hit with the Kids

**sidenote – I was looking through old drafts and found this post, love finding posts!**

Cinnamon Oatmeal, Toast Circles, Fruit Kebob

Breakfast is usually pretty casual, most mornings it is oatmeal or cereal, also yogurt and toast. One morning a week I make eggs, pancakes or waffles. One thing I love about homeschooling is giving them a good breakfast and not having to be in a hurry out the door. We can sit and chat, it is a great start to the day.

Today was no different, just wanted to share. The boys like the presentation, my nephew said, “ooo this looks good to eat”, it was so cute.

March 21, 2012
Real Moms Love to Eat, a New Book about Getting Healthy

Real Moms Love to Eat is a new book that is coming this Winter. Beth Aldrich wrote this book to help women get on track to healthy eating while still enjoying food. I am about to embark on a life change journey and get serious about being healthy. I think the timing is quite perfect. Especially with the holiday season fast approaching.

The book is broken down in 3 sections, which include a 10-part plan for moms to follow. It will help you to implement changes that will last a lifetime. It is gradual too so you not doing anything off the wall and radical right away. The next part is 21 days of meal suggestions,tips, recipes and lifestyle changes. The authors approach to healthy eating is simple and realistic especially for busy Moms who cook for the family. It is filled with facts about food and their effect on your health and your body. I am excited to use the recipes for my entire family. We can all get healthy together while we are forming good habits. My husband is even excited to check out the healthy meals.

You can read all about this new book at Momswholovetoeat.com.

Look for future posts on my progress through this new journey, maybe you would like to join me? Leave a comment!

Happy, healthy eating!

Beth also offers a Food Affairiate program for bloggers you can read about it by clicking the link. Looks like an excellent program, I will be joining.

.

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Beth Aldrich – Real Moms Love to Eat blogging program, for a chance to get 3,000 My SocialMoms Rewards points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.” (make sure you link to http://www.socialmoms.net/forum/topics/blogging-contest-real-moms-l…)

October 24, 2011
Making Art with Rice
I am always looking for fun ideas the kids. They love experiments and art. This Summer, I signed us up for the Activities Challenge at education.com. They have a sortable list of activities for kids. Arts & Crafts, Science, Games and Summer Fun are just some of the categories listed. We have done a few of the activities and the kids have really enjoyed them.

Today we chose the “Make Rice Pictures” activity. We needed:
- Rice
- Food Coloring
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Glue
- Paintbrush
- Construction Paper
The only step I added: I thinned my school glue down with a little water and let the kids apply it with a paintbrush. I only laid out the colors that matched the colored rice (that didn’t last long, lol). We ended up with a dolphin, a robot on a beach and a “fuzzy” robot.

Here in Colorado the rice only took about 2 hours to dry so we were able to do this activity in one day. The boys thought it so cool that is was colored rice. We invited a friend to join us.

Dyed Rice

Dyed Rice

the boys at work

applying some rice

This was fun and I recommend. We have a lot of rice left over so we will do it again. Might also use the rice inside an “I-SPY ” bottle. It’s pretty that is for sure!
July 7, 2011
Review: Best Soup Around! DaKind Soup in Evergreen

Soup. Really, who doesn’t love soup? I know that our family loves soup! Recently, Groupon offered a deal at DaKind Soups in Evergreen. After checking out their STELLAR reviews on Yelp, Google and Yahoo, I purchased the Groupon.

2. We ventured there after a vacation in Vail.

DaKind usually has around 8 soups available daily.

They get up at 5AM and make FRESH soup everyday. How cool is that!?!?

Cauliflower Soup, so creamy, smooth, rich and DELICIOUS!

Meat Chili – Hearty and Yummy – LOVE the cheese.

Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Sandie – Really good maybe even better with a tad less Balsamic. GOOD though!

Overall – 5 stars out of 5 – hands down – no-questions-asked.

So good!

It is right next to the HIWAN HOMESTEAD, make a day of it!

June 21, 2011
Creamy Chicken Pasta with Green Chiles

Pasta! Who doesn’t love pasta? Seriously!?

With pasta, for me, come so many memories of family occasions, and delicious recipes. One thing that seems to be everyones favorite is Spaghetti. I have a fondness for my Mom’s spaghetti, talk about bringing me back to my youth. Her spaghetti sauce is really meaty, I love it.

Everyone knows someone who has a special sauce recipe. I was thinking about the people I know who have secret recipes that are quite amazing.

1. My Sister in Law, she is Italian and her sauce with her homemade meatballs are OUT OF THIS WORLD. She cooks her sauce all day and night, the house smells so good. I could eat her meatballs for days straight, I just know it!

2. My Father in Law, not Italian but you would not know it by tasting his sauce. He also lets it simmer all day, it is savory and delicious!

3. My Brother in Law, a Swedish Chef! He concocts a culinary treat made from carrots! That’s right, he makes spaghetti with a carrot sauce and it is spectacular! I was blown away, the first time I had it!

So with all this inspiration, what is my problem? I always buy premade sauce. I just feel so intimidated making my own sauce. I looked up a “simmer all day” recipe and it called for about 25 ingredients, that was enough to scare me off for awhile. One day I will do it!!

Another thing I have yet to make, much to my husbands disappointment, is lasagna. I really need to make some a big huge pan of it someday!

Pasta is a huge regular in our house. My kids love it in all forms, and so do my husband and I. We always have buttered noodles or spaghetti on our weekly menu. My kids especially love when I toss linguine with olive oil and garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese. So delicious!

When it came time for dinner the other night I knew I wanted to make pasta because it is so quick and easy. However, I didn’t want to just do the same ole, same ole. Soooo, I surveyed available ingredients and came up with a delicious meal.

Mrs. O’s Creamy Chicken Pasta

1/2 rotisserie chicken

linguine noodles

1 1/c cups chicken broth

2 tbsp sour cream

1 cup grated mozzarella

1/4 cup milk

pepper

1/4 cup chopped green chiles

I took all the meat I could off of the chicken. Put aside.

In a skillet over med-high heat I put the stock, milk, sour cream, mozzarella cheese and green chiles. Brought it to boil, added the chicken and simmered for about 10 minutes. Add pepper and salt to taste.

I tossed it on the noodles and blended in a big bowl, served with garlic bread on the side, this was really amazingly good!

So off you go! Come back and let me know if you liked it.

My next challenge – Homemade Sauce

May 21, 2011
A Delicious, Light and Yummy Cake!

My mom makes the most delicious pineapple cake. It is my sister’s favorite and has quickly gained more followers as I have started making it. I never attempted to make it because I assumed my mom always slaved over it. Seemed complex. I don’t do cakes often. But I wanted to know how to make it.

Turns out this cake – is easy as pie! But really, it is so easy! Make it, trust me, you will love it and so will everyone who eats it. It is a super light and fluffy dessert. I asked my mom where she got the recipe and she said that my Grandpa’s sister used to make it.

Disclaimer – I have no good pictures of it! :O( Next time I make it I shall update this entry, sorry!

(IT REALLY IS PRETTY, I promise)

Pineapple Cake

about 18 servings

1 box of yellow cake mix – bake according to directions on box

1 can of pineapple chunks

1 pkg lemon instant pudding (no cook)

1 container of cool whip

Walnuts

Directions

Bake the cake and let cool completely

When cool, poke holes randomly with a fork all over the cake

Pour the juice from the pineapple over the cake

Place the pineapple chunks all over the top of the cake

Make the pudding and then fold the pudding into the Cool Whip and make sure the pudding and Cool Whip are well blended

Frost the cake and put walnuts on top

Enjoy!

May 15, 2011