Oven Fried Broccoli

I really do NOT like broccoli, but I know it is good for me, so I keep trying it.  I am okay with in stir fry or fresh and dipped in ranch dressing, but I can not eat it steamed as a side dish.  Yuck!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.  There was no direct link to the recipe, it was just listed under the picture.  The pinner claimed that her husband would rather have this oven fried broccoli instead of french fries.  I thought there was no way it could be that good.  I am happy to report that it is that good!  It really doesn't taste too much like broccoli and it has a crunch to it.

Oven Fried Broccoli

1 bunch of broccoli

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt & pepper (just a few shakes of each)

olive oil(I use a few tablespoons, just enough that when you shake the bag there is some on each piece of broccoli, but not so much that you have olive oil puddled in the bottom of your bag)

Cut your broccoli into little pieces and put them in a Ziploc bag.  Add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Seal the Ziploc bag and shake until all the pieces are coated with olive oil and the garlic is spread about the broccoli.  Pour it out on a pan (I use my Pampered Chef stone) and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes.  

I like to add carrots to the mixture too.  The finished product has a garlic taste and the broccoli is crunchy.  My 3 year old even asks for seconds!

  

Gymnastic Medals/Trophies Display

I am so excited!  We finally finished my daughter's shelf for all of her gymnastics medals.  I wanted something that was easy to add more medals to and we were also able to set trophies on top.  I searched Pinterest and put a few ideas together and came up with this.

I had my handy husband make it for me and then I painted it and added the vinyl lettering that I cut out with my Silhouette machine.  It is comparable to a quilt rack.  The bar the medals are hanging on is similar to a paper towel holder.  You just slip it out of one side, add your medal and slip it back in the hole.  

This could work for any sport!  My son is already asking for one for all of his soccer medals.

Monster Cookie Bars

We are loving these Monster Cookie Bars!  Best part is the recipe makes two 9x13 inch pans or one 11x17 inch pan.  I like to make one for our family and give one to a friend.  (The dough is really good too, but eat with caution because there are raw eggs in it.)

Monster Cookie Bars

Cream together:

1/2 c. margarine (you can use 1 cup to make them chewier)

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar 

Mix in:

1 c. peanut butter

3 eggs

Add:

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 c flour

2 1/4 c quick oats

and then add:

1 c. M&Ms (or Reeses Pieces)

1-2 c. chocolate chips

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Use an 11x17 inch pan or two 9x13 inch pans.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

This Saturday is Dr. Seuss' Birthday. To celebrate, this Friday, my son's second grade class will be reading Dr. Seuss books and having Dr. Seuss inspired treats. I thought I would share with you what I am taking. I went for the Lorax theme and will be taking Nutter Butter Lorax cookies and suckers with the Lorax's mustache on them.

 

 

The cookies were very quick and easy!  I purchased a package of Nutter Butter cookies and 1 container of white frosting.  I made yellow and black frosting, but each one in a freezer Ziploc bag and snipped a very small hole in the corner of the bag.  I then just piped the frosting on the cookies.

 

 

 

For the suckers, I was lucky enough to be able to use my mom's Silhouette machine and cut the mustaches out of yellow cardstock.  If you do not have a Silhouette, you can just print the mustaches on yellow cardstock and cut them yourself.  Click HERE for the printable mustaches.  Put your mustaches on your suckers and you are set.  You could also use these on a bendy straw!

 

 

I hope you can celebrate Dr. Seuss in some way this week!

 

 

 



 



Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

I have seen the Oreo Stuffed Cookies on Pinterest, but heard about this muffin on Facebook and thought I would give it a try.  They were delicious!

 

First we found our favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that is found in the My Family Meal Planner #2 and made a batch of dough.  (The dough I think is even better than the cookies!)  This can easily be done with store bought Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter, softened

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup Crisco shortening

3 ½ cups flour

1-2 cups chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Mix everything together except the flour and chocolate chips.  When mixed thoroughly, blend in flour and then fold in the desired amount of chocolate chips.  Bake for 10 minutes if you are just making chocolate chip cookies, not Oreo stuffed.

 

After the dough was made, we lined our muffin tin with liners and sprayed the liners with cooking spray.  I then used my handy Pampered Chef scoops.

 

I used the small one and put a scoop of cookie dough in the liner.

 

I added an Oreo on top of that and pushed is down a little.

 



 

Then I topped the Oreo with another scoop of cookie dough using my medium sized Pampered Chef scoop.

 

 

I decided to push the cookie dough down with my hand so that the Oreo would for sure be covered with the Chocolate Chip Cookie.

 

 

I then baked them at 375 for 10-15 minutes, making sure the chocolate chip cookie was golden.

 

 

The inside of the Oreo was warm and gooey.  They were awesome!  We even dunked them in milk!  (Yes, I still have Halloween Oreos.  I got them the day after Halloween for 50% off and store them in my freezer.  I had to stock up at that price!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st Place Valentine's Box!

My daughter's 4th grade class had a contest for the best Valentine's Box and my daughter won 1st Place!  We decided that we would make hers look like a Redbox DVD Rental machine.  I realize I am posting this after Valentine's Day, but she did not want me to share her idea with anyone before the contest.

 

 

Sorry, I don't have a tutorial for you, but here is an up close picture of the box.

(Her name is Andi, so that is why we called it Andi Box.)

 

 

 

 

Spinach Smoothie

My family and I decided to do a fitness/health challenge this year that we started back in January.  We are following the Six Sisters Stuff Weight Loss/Get Healthy Challenge.  You can find it HERE.  You receive points for eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, no sweets, not eating after 9 pm and so on.  It has been great for our family and extremely hard!  I realized just how much junk food I was eating throughout the day.  I decided to try and knock out a fruit and vegetable right away in the morning and try a spinach smoothie.  Much to my surprise, it was GREAT!  What is even more amazing is that ALL of my KIDS will drink it too!  It tastes like a strawberry banana smoothie.  You can't even taste the spinach. 

 

Spinach Smoothie

1 banana

4-5 frozen strawberries

1 cup vanilla yogurt or 1 (6 oz) container (you can use plain, strawberry or greek yogurt too)

1 cup milk

1 handful of fresh baby spinach

2 cups ice chips

 

 

 

Put your banana, strawberries, yogurt and milk in the blender and mix until smooth and creamy.

 

Next add a handful of spinach. Stir it up if necessary so that all the leaves get chopped really well.  Mix with your blender until the mixture is smooth.

 

Add in your two cups of ice chips.  (You can use ice cubes, I just find it chops better if they are already ice chips.)  Mix it with your blender until it is smooth.

 

 

Here is the finished product.

 

 

Like I said, my KIDS LOVE IT!  We have had them every day for the past 4 weeks.  We have also added in blueberries some days and don't tell my kids, but now I am adding in milled flax seed for more fiber.  If you have a really great blender, you may be able to just throw it all in at once and mix it one time.  I just want to make sure it is smooth so I do it in steps.  Also, if you are afraid your kids won't drink it because it is green, add lots of blueberries or introduce it around St. Patricks Day!