Grilled Ham, Egg, n Cheese

Yummy breakfast sandwich!  Just like grilled cheese, but with ham and egg. 
Scramble egg first, then make your sandwich.  Grill with a little butter in pan on medium heat.
Eat with a fork!  =)

Burgers!

We had hamburgers and deerburgers tonight.   I'm sure you know how to make burgers, so here's a picture, no recipe.  =)  I will add that deer has virtually no grease and doesn't draw up as much as hamburger.
The deerburgers were from the deer that JohnDavid got a couple of months ago.  I love deer stew and deer in vegetable soup, but I just can't get used to the taste of deerburger.  I tried, I really did.  I ate them a couple of times, but decided I wasn't going to be able to acquire a taste for it.  But the kids love it!  =)
The oven potatoes were made with garlic salt and Italian seasoning.

Garlic Pizza Pockets

• ½ stick of butter, more if for dipping
• ½ t. garlic powder,more if for dipping
• 1 t. parsley flakes
• ¼ t. oregano
• 6 slices of ham
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• ¼ c. chopped onion
• 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough, not thin crust (prevents tearing)
• 2 - 4 T. pizza sauce (optional), plus extra for dipping.  I would probably only use 2 T. since I'm also using the garlic butter.     I don't want it to run off the edge.  =)

►In microwavable mixing bowl, melt ½ stick of butter.  Add ½ t. garlic powder, parsley flakes, and oregano.  Stir together.
Cut the ham into small squares with pizza cutter and add to mixing bowl.  Add mozzarella cheese, onions, and pizza sauce.  Stir together until you can see the parsley (or sauce if you used it) is evenly distributed throughout.
I made mine without sauce this time.  It wasn't dry because of the butter and melted cheese.
►Spray cookie sheet, and lightly spray plastic cutting board if you have one.  Unroll pizza dough onto cutting board (easier to handle if cold), stretching slightly.  With pizza cutter, cut into eight pieces.
►Spoon 1/3 - 1/2 c. mixture onto each piece in center, making sure none is near the side edges.  Pick up the dough by the thickest end and stretch slightly as you fold it over to the other end.  Press edges together with fork, being careful not to puncture the dough.  Carefully place on greased cookie sheet.
►Bake at 425º for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.
Makes eight.
Great with salad!
►Serve with pizza sauce or garlic butter (1 stick butter to 1 t. garlic powder).

JohnDavid even liked it without pizza sauce in it.  =)

It was a success!!!

Super Bowl

I'm finally feeling well enough to post.  Been "under the weather." 
No recipe, but here's a picture of my sister-in-law's chili beans staying hot on the wood stove!
We all went to my father-in-law's Sunday night after church.  He had the TV set up in his building, and with heat from the wood stove, we were plenty warm.  It's just like the stove we had in our home while I was growing up.  =)
Everyone brought different things, and it was chaotic and fun.  I printed football and Colts coloring sheets for the younger kids, and football bingo for the older ones.  They marked off plays as they happened.  Bethany won!

As for what we had planned to post here, things did not work out the way we'd planned.  The girls and their cousin were going to make a Super Bowl cake with fondant, iced yardage lines, and logos of both teams.
We got snowed in.  Well, on this hill we live on, it does not take much!
Their cousin had the cake mixes, icing tips, and the right pan they needed.  We had the stuff to make fondant.
We just couldn't get it together. 

But there was plenty to eat.  Chili beans, tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream... hamburgers and hot dogs w/ homemade chili... brownies, homemade strawberry cake with yummy strawberry icing...  3-cheese seasoned tortillas... and more!  Hope everyone had a great time with family and friends, and I'll have more recipes soon.  =)

Diaper Cake!

Well, this cake is not edible. 
It's a diaper cake! Beautiful isn't it? 
My mother-in-law and I made it.  I can't remember how many diapers we used - it was over six years ago, but I'll explain it the best I can.
~We used white diapers, not patterned.
~I know we used size 2 diapers.  That way the mother could wait a little while before taking it apart.
~We opened the diapers and wound them around length-ways.  I used a piece of masking tape to attach one overlapping diaper to the next, since I didn't think that would stick to the diaper as much and ruin it.  Seems like I stuck the tape to my skirt first to reduce the stickiness.  We did this until the last layer, where the tape would be seen, then I think we used a loop of inside-out tape under the edge of the diapers.  Prob only 4 or 5 diapers on that last row.
~We used ribbon on the top and bottom edges on the bottom and middle levels, and this helped the last layer of diapers stay put.

Here's what we used as decorations:

• about 3 dozen rosebuds (different shades) already fastened to thin wire.  These we bent the sharp ends over and pushed between the last 2 layers of diapers on each level, and bunched 3 together at the top.
• Small strings of beads, looped over the rosebuds, and hung in a U shape
• Beaded, lacy ribbon around the top and bottom edges of each level.  This helped the hanging beads stay in place.  I'm sure we used tiny bits of tape here under the ribbon, too.
• Extra lace that was wider, that we pushed under the edge of the bottom level, and affixed to the pan it was on with small pieces of tape
• pair of black shiny shoes
• comb and brush set tied with ribbon
• $1.00 wrapped in ribbon
• lacy socks
• pink toothbrush tied with ribbon
• fork and spoon set tied with ribbon
• translucent pale pink teether
• several light pink hairbows at the base of the top level
• tiny doll for the topper

~In the top level of the cake, we folded the diapers in half length-ways, because the regular width of the diaper was too tall.
We started with the bottom level, and kept wrapping until we got it nearly the size of the pan.  It's a silver pizza pan, and you can barely see it under the edge of the lace.
Then we did the middle until we got it to size, then the top.
~It's good if you have a slim dowel rod or something to go down through the middle to keep the levels lined up, and so the top ones won't fall off. 
~We just positioned the doll topper and shoes as the main accessories, then filled in the other pieces by carefully pushing between the layers of diapers.
We probably used a little tape to keep the socks, shoes, and the doll topper in place.
~Remember, your accessories need to have a little color.  The white socks have a little dark mauve in the lace.  You can have everything lacy and dainty, or go more colorful, or more boyish. 
The Mom-to-be that received it said she was going to have a hard time taking it apart!
This was definitely not a quick project, but it was worth it.
I just L♥VE this picture! ♥♥

Super Bowl Snacks!

A couple of years ago, we made football-shaped chocolate rice crispies.
Last year we made football brownies!

This is Rebekah putting on the laces.
I got the idea from the Betty Crocker website. Of course, ours don't look quite as perfect as theirs, and the pics were made w/ my fuzzy cell phone, but my kids had a good time decorating them.
We also had salsa and chips - shown here in our football-shaped serving dish. Heat the salsa and add sour cream.... de-LISH!
My mother-in-law bought all of us these cool
football cups. :o)
We also had Totino's pizza rolls (on sale for .50 per box!), and veggies and dip -- finger food! Perfect for a football game. :o)

New plan for this year... hope it ends up well.  Stay tuned. =)

Chicken, Broccoli, & Rice

 Large recipe!

• 4 chicken breast halves, cubed
• 3 cloves garlic, mashed/chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded, cut into chunks
• 2 large onions, cut into chunks
• 32 oz. bag frozen broccoli florets
• 3 T. olive oil
• ¼ t. oregano
• 1 t. basil
• 1 t. parsley
• ½ -1 c. chicken broth or water

In large pan, (I use a large 4 qt pan - the one I used for the deer stew) slightly boil frozen chicken just enough so you can cut it into cubes.  Discard all but 1 c. broth.  Heat oil in pan, add chicken, garlic, and other spices.  Lightly salt chicken.
While chicken is browning, cut up red peppers and onions.  Add to pan.  When chicken is brown enough, add at least 1/2 c. broth or water, and pour 32 oz bag of broccoli into pan.  Stir, pushing broccoli to the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to medium to cook broccoli for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until broccoli is tender.
Serve over white or brown rice, with rolls brushed with garlic butter.
Of course I had to make oven potatoes for those who didn't want rice.  =)

Homemade Vegetable Soup

This recipe has been moved.
Find it here!  =)