Easy to Stuff Manicotti

My Family LOVES this recipe from My Family Meal Planner and it is so Easy!  

(I am not a professional photographer as you can tell :))

Easy to Stuff Manicotti

1 lb ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
1 (26 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
14 pieces string cheese
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pkg Manicotti

Cook manicotti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce. Spread half of the meat sauce into a greased 9x13 in. pan.  Drain manicotti; stuff each shell with a piece of string cheese. Place over meat sauce; top with remaining sauce. Cover and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

National Open Your Umbrella Indoors Day

March 13th is National Open Your Umbrella Indoors Day!  My boys had a blast with this and it is so simple to do.  Go grab your umbrellas and get started!  The first thing we did was pretend we were Mary Poppins and jumped off the couch holding our umbrellas!

Then we calmed down a bit and read some books under the umbrellas...

Then we put the umbrellas upside down on the ground and tried to throw balls into the umbrellas.  My older one decided that if we made it in the red one we got 40 points and 10 points for the green one.  If  you don't have little balls handy, use socks.

Like I said this is so simple, but the boys had so much fun with it.  Think outside the box and have fun!  Comment below and let me know if you come up with another game to play with your open umbrellas indoors!

Napping Day and Fill Your Stapler Day!

Monday, March 9th is National Napping Day and National Fill Your Stapler Day!

National Fill Your Stapler Day was just too funny to not tell you about it!  So please drop everything you are doing and go fill your stapler! Ha!

National Napping Day!

This can be a fun day for you and your little kids, even if they hate nap time!  

Here are some ideas to make Nap Time special!

~cuddle up with them, read a couple of books and then actually take a nap with them!

~let them sleep in their sleeping bags

~let them sleep on the couch

~let them sleep on their siblings bed or your bed

~let them watch a short cartoon before they need to fall asleep

~let them pick a special spot to sleep

~put a bunch of pillows on the floor and let them sleep on them (older kids only so that there are no suffocation fears)

~put pillows all around them on the bed (older kids only so that there are no suffocation fears)

~make a fort and let them sleep in it

~put up a tent inside and let them sleep in it

~put up a tent outside and let them sleep in it if the weather is nice

~when they wake up have balloons all over their room

Let me know what you did to make your child's nap time fun on National Napping Day!

I made 20 Meals in Less than 2 hours!

Last weekend I went to my website (www.myfamilymealplanner.com) and clicked on the My Family Meal Planner Crock Pot Only page. I scrolled to the bottom and clicked on the Month 5 grocery list. (I chose Month 5 because those meals sounded the best to me for the this upcoming month.) Then I crossed off all the ingredients I already had and headed to Aldi's. Of course I also bought things that were not on that list that we needed. Cereal, yogurt, milk, lunch meat, bread and the much needed bag of M&M's, Lol, plus lots more snack items for the kids. I also purchased some ingredients for 5 other meals. All of this and my total at check out was $199.50! That was 25 meals for less than $8 a meal. If you cook 5 meals a week, that is less than $40 per week for groceries.

Saturday morning I got up and got to work. I went to my website again and printed the preparation instructions and my labels for my Ziploc bags. I had my daughter stick the labels on the bags while I was doing the prep work. Then I started assembling the meals. I kid you not, I was done with 20 meals in less than 2 hours, plus all the clean up! Now my freezer is stocked and I will not have a messy kitchen every night. Plus I will have more time with my kids!

I Highly Recommend you do this! It is such a stress relief to know I have my freezer full of meals! If you already have a My Family Meal Planner Crock Pot Only you can click on the links on my website at the bottom of the My Family Meal Planner Crock Pot Only page.

If you do not already own the My Family Meal Planner Crock Pot Only, you can order it here: www.myfamilymealplanner.com

Use Coupon Code: FREEZERPLN and receive 25% off! This is a great deal for a planner that will save you lots of Time and Money!  Sale Ends March 11, 2015 at midnight CST.

 

National Cereal Day!

I already have dinner planned for you for Saturday, March 7th and it is Very Simple!  It is National Cereal Day, so why not confuse your family and have a cereal bar for dinner??  I know my kids will love it!

For my cereal bar, I went to Aldi's and picked out a bunch of cereal that my kids would enjoy.  If you have never tried the cereal at Aldi's, I highly suggest it.  It is around $1.79 a box and tastes just like the name brand cereal.  I also plan to include yogurt, granola and fruit for them to choose from.

Did you know there is an actual restaurant that is a cereal bar??  It is called Cereality, but sadly only has a couple of locations in the United States.  Check out their website: www.cereality.com. 

  

Enjoy!

National Oreo Cookie Day

I did not know this until this year, but March 6th could be my favorite day of the year!  It is National Oreo Cookie Day!  I LOVE Oreos!  We love to dunk Oreos at our house...

make Oreo Shakes...bake with Oreos...if there are Oreos in the recipe it has to be good, Right?!?!

I came across a recipe on KevinandAmanda.com for Red Velvet Oreo Truffle Brownies.

I made them for Valentine's Day and they were Delicious!  They were very rich with a softness to them, but still crunchy with the Oreo cookies and the chocolate chips.  I shared some with my elderly neighbors and they loved them.  She was raving about them to her friends, so I decided to make another batch so her friends could try them too.  This time my 3 year old decided we needed to use a blue velvet cake mix instead of red.  I also forgot to buy butter so we used margarine on our second batch.  Here is how they turned out.

They were a little more gooey and messy, but not quite as rich.  My two youngest kids ate their whole piece where when I made it with butter, they did not finish their piece.  All in all, we all decided they were better with the margarine instead of butter.  You can find the recipe here.

For more recipes, head here:

On this post you will find my Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!

FamilyEmbellishments.blogspot.com

We made these Oreo Cookie Balls at Christmas time.  A friend had made them and called them Reindeer Poop, so of course my kids wanted to make them!  They are delicious and only 3 ingredients!  Oreo cookies, cream cheese and chocolate bark.  You can find the recipe here on snackworks.com.

CrazyforCrust.com

SweetandSimpleLiving.com

Oreo.com has lots of recipes too!

Let me know your Favorite way to eat an Oreo!

***I am posting these posts a couple of days before the actual Holiday so that you have time to prepare for the special holiday!

Dr. Seuss Day and NEA's Read Across America Day

Monday, March 2nd is a big day in most schools across America.  I know my kids' school will be doing special activities to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day and NEA's Read Across America Day.  I thought I would do a round up of Dr. Seuss ebooks for you to listen to and some Dr. Seuss activities for you.  Enjoy!

What better way to celebrate Dr. Seuss than to read this book if you have it or listen to the book read on this video and then have Green Eggs and Ham for lunch!

Read/Listen to There's a Wocket in my Pocket and then have your kids fill out this paper and tell you What is in Their Pocket!  They could also draw what is in their pocket and slip it inside a pocket.  There is a template for a pocket at this link too.  (Thank You www.rowdyinroom300.blogspot.com for sharing this idea!)

Let your kids paint with their feet!  This is best to do outside, but if it is cold where you are, like it is here in Kansas, put some paper in the bottom of your bath tub or shower and let the kids paint with their feet.  You could even make a picture with their left foot and then their right foot, similar to this one on www.meetthedubiens.com.

This is a simple one, read/listen to Dr. Seuss' One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and then for snack have colored Goldfish crackers.

If you would like to do more activities or crafts with your kids, check out these posts: 

FamilyEmbellishments.blogspot.com

FamilyEmbellishments.blogspot.com

FamilyEmbellishments.blogspot.com

TipJunkie.com

Momendeavers.com

icanteachmychild.com

nopin="nopin"

***I am posting these posts a couple of days before the actual Holiday so that you have time to prepare for the special holiday!

Colorful Vegetable Salad

This dish is sure to be a hit at your next pot luck or tailgate party!  I am not even a fan of broccoli or cauliflower, but I love this!

1 lb Broccoli, cut into small pieces

1 lb Cauliflower, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup Miracle Whip

2 tsp vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 small bag of real bacon bits (about a 1 cup chopped bacon)

1/2 lb cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

In a large bowl combine broccoli, cauliflower and onion.  In a small bowl, mix Miracle Whip, vinegar and sugar.  Pour the mixture over the broccoli, cauliflower and onion and mix well.  Place in your refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.  Just before serving add the bacon, cheddar cheese and sunflower seeds and mix well.

Enjoy!

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

It is time to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday again!  Last year I made Lorax Nutter Butter cookies and Lorax suckers.  You can see that post here.  This year for my son's class I am making Lorax Twinkies!  He has a classmate with a nut allergy, so a friend suggested trying Twinkies instead.  I think they turned out great and the kids will love them!

Up close, I bought the candy eyes and then piped on the yellow frosting.

Simple Chip Dips

It is almost Super Bowl Sunday, so I thought I would share a couple of my favorite chip dips!  This first one couldn't be any easier.

Creamy Salsa Dip

1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of your favorite salsa

Mix ingredients together in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth.  Refrigerate.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Hamburger Cheese Dip

1 lb hamburger, browned and drained (ground turkey or sausage would work too)

1 lb Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 pkg Williams Chili Seasoning

1 can Rotel

Place all the ingredients in your crock pot and cook on high for 1 hour and then low until ready to serve, stirring often.  Serve with tortilla chips.  

Christmas Crack

My friend introduced me to this new recipe and it is a winner!  I wanted to share it with you!  I will warn you now, it is very addicting...

Christmas Crack

Approximately 50 saltine crackers

2 sticks of butter (I tried to use margarine and it was kind of sticky)

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)

1 cup of M&M's, slightly crushed

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and spray generously with cooking spray.  My pan is 13x17.  Line pan with saltine crackers.  In a medium sized pot, melt butter and sugar together.  Bring it to a rapid boil and let it boil for exactly 3 minutes, stir continuously.  Remove the pan from the heat and pour it over the crackers.  Spread the mixture the best you can.  Then pop it in the the oven for 7-8 minutes.  Then pour your 2 cups of chocolate chips over top.  Return your pan to the oven for approximately 2 minutes or until the chocolate chips have melted enough you can spread them over the crackers.  Spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers.  Sprinkle the M&M's on top.  You can also add sprinkles, Reese's piece could be good, or my friend used some Andes peppermint chips.  Place the pan in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Once it has hardened, break the pieces off the foil and enjoy!  This would be a great treat to give neighbors, friends, teachers, coworkers, etc.  Plus it is super quick and easy!!

Cottage Cheese Salad

My family LOVES this easy side dish!  In fact, this is the ONLY way my kids (and myself) will eat cottage cheese.

Cottage Cheese Salad
1 (24 oz) container cottage cheese
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
1 (3 oz) pkg Jello, unprepared (any flavor, we prefer cherry)

Mix all the ingredients together and let it set in the refrigerator until firm.

This recipe can also be found in the My Family Meal Planner #2 and Meal Planner for 2.  Simple, Easy meals planned for you for 4 days per week for an entire year!  All the recipes are included and the weekly grocery lists! www.myfamilymealplanner.com