Fort!!

Supplies:
Big box
Christmas lights
Drill

We just drilled holes in the top of the box (but feel free to use any utensil to poke holes) - then put the lights in the holes and put some comfy stuff in there - and BAM - FORT :)

St. Patty's Feast - Pot O' Gold & Rainbow of Fruit

You all know that I LOVE holidays - so I had to come up with some Brody friendly food but still festive...and here it was!!!  So cute :)

Pot O' Gold

Rainbow of Fruit

Shamrock Quesadillas

St. Patty's Day is here!!!  Time to celebrate with an all green/festive meal!!!  :)

Ingredients:
Shamrock cookie cutter
Garden spinach and herb tortillas
Chicken breast
Olive Oil
1 tomato
Sour cream
Shredded Cheese
1 avocado

Cut out shamrocks - cook chicken breast - cut veggies!

Put a little olive oil in a frying pan - then put tortilla shamrocks in, top with chicken, tomato, cheese, avocado - put a shamrock top and flip.  Once they are brown or a little crispy - remove (they will stay together if they are done).

Then spread some sour cream on those bad boys - and YUMMY!!!

Moon Dough

We are a little anxious for spring around here...SO we are bringing the SAND inside!  I have been looking for an activity for B to do indoors that is stimulating or development for him....this was awesome!  I didn't think it would last long, but he actually played with this for about 45 minutes!  It was messy -- but easy to clean!

Supplies
8 cups flour
1 cup baby oil (or veggie oil)

Just mix up the two until you get the consistency you want and then play away!!  :)

Lasagna Rollups

YAY cookbook is back!!!!  We had a group of 10 originally, but "life" happened and there was only 4 of us that were able to make it!  We still had a great time, and the menu was insane!!  These were SO easy to make, looked SO cute (yup, cute) to serve, and tasted SO yummy.

Ingredients:

9 cooked lasagna noodles
10oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
15oz ricotta cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste
32oz spaghetti sauce
9 tablespoons grated mozzarella cheese

Cook lasagna noodles.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Spread out the cooked lasagna noodles on a large piece of wax paper and let them dry.

Mix the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, and egg with some salt and pepper.

Spread about 1 cup of spaghetti sauce over the bottom of a 9×12 baking dish.  Evenly spread 1/3 cup of the ricotta mixture down the whole length of each noodle.

Roll each noodle, and place them all seam-side down into the baking dish.  Ladle the rest of the spaghetti sauce over the noodles, and top each roll with 1 tablespoon mozzarella.  Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

Garlic Bread

We are so FANCY!  We made homemade garlic bread!  A perk - you can make this and freeze it, and then just take it out and bake!  AND it was delicious!!!

Our Best Bites

Ingredients:
Leftover Italian or French bread or rolls
Your favorite garlic butter (like this, or Garlic Bread Seasoning, or mix 2-3 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of dry parsley, and 1 stick of softened butter together)

If your bread isn’t pre-sliced, slice it in half. Then spread each side with the garlic butter. If you’d like, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Tightly wrap each piece of bread in aluminum foil and then place each wrapped loaf in a Ziploc bag and label it with the date, unless you’re doing a whole baguette or loaf of french bread–then just wrap it in plastic wrap to try and keep it from freezer burning.

When you’re ready to serve it, take out as many pieces as you need. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and pop the wrapped loaves in there (you don’t even have to wait for it to preheat). Check on it after 20 minutes or so and place it back in the oven if it needs a little more time. If you’d like to toast it just a little, you can place the halves, buttered-side-up under the broiler during the last few minutes. Remove from oven and carefully cut it however you want to.

Creamy Jalapeno-Lime Butter

Y-U-M-M-Y!  We used this on the Garlic Bread we made!  So good!  Gave it a little kick, but wasn't like uber spicy!  Brody really liked it :)

Recipe by Our Best Bites

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) real butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese (low fat is fine, avoid fat free), at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon finely minced garlic
zest from one large lime
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice (more to taste, if desired)
1-2 teaspoons finely minced jalapeno
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Beat butter and cream cheese together until well blended and light and fluffy.  Add in garlic, lime zest, lime juice, jalapeño, and cilantro.  Mix until everything is well distributed.   Spread on bread or corn bread.

When not in use, store in fridge and bring to room temperature before serving again.

Caesar Salad

Yes, I realize you can just buy salad in a bag....BUT it doesn't taste NEARLY as yummy as this -- and actually, this was really easy to make AND it was fresh :)

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
3 romaine hearts, separated into whole leaves
Garlic Croutons
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire
5 tablespoon pure olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano Reggiano), plus extra for sprinkling.

Make your Garlic Croutons

Place lettuce leaves in a large bowl.

Whisk lemon juice, mayonnaise, half the reserved garlic, and Worcestershire in a small bowl.

Drizzle lettuce with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and toss lightly and carefully. (Clean hands work well.)  Drizzle lemon mixture over lettuce; toss again.  Sprinkle Parmesan over greens; toss again.  Sprinkle croutons over the salad; toss and serve, sprinkling each portion with a little more Parmesan cheese.

Garlic Croutons

Chef Rogers doing up homemade Garlic Croutons!!  These were SO great!  I could have just ate them plain...hehe.  BUT we made these for our Caesar Salad.

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic
A generous 1/4 cup pure olive oil
2 packed cups 3/4″ bread cubes, cut from a good-quality baguette or Italian loaf
Large pinch of salt

Heat a 10-inch skillet over low heat. With motor running, drop garlic cloves through feeder tube of a food processor fitted with the steel blade to mince. (A blender works as well.) Scrape down sides of bowl and add olive oil through feeder tube as well. Continue to process so that garlic releases its flavor into the oil, about 30 seconds. Strain garlic from oil through a fine-mesh strainer; reserve half of the garlic for dressing.

Increase skillet heat to medium. Place bread cubes in medium bowl. Drizzle garlic oil evenly over bread, along with big pinch of salt; toss to coat.

Add bread cubes to hot skillet and toast, turning the cubes and shaking the pan often, until crisp and golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

Fishing Themed Baby Shower

YAY!!!  Nicole is prego - and I'm so excited to be hosting her baby shower!!!  Her nursery theme is "fishing, crabs, whales"...SO me and my helpers (Tami and Tiff!) got busy!!!

 

INVITES/THANK YOU CARDS

(ignore the Bopit...I just had to cover up some confidential info...hehe):

 

DECORATIONS

Every party needs tissue balls...(How to make)

 

especially ones shaped like a WHALE!...

CRAB....

AND FISH!

Need some banners...

(How to make onesies...HERE)

 

Centerpieces...

Diaper cake...(How to make)

GAMES

We did a Memory Game - always a HUGE hit

 

We played Price is Right - see game details HERE

 

We had "messages in a bottle" for Baby Cropp!

 

PARTY FAVORS

 

and the best part - FOOD!!!

The spread...

Yolk Boats Recipe

Fish Food

Minnows

Lily Pads

"Crab" Sandwiches - aka cream cheese with cucumbers...looking like crabs!  Recipe

Bait Salad: Recipe

Fishing Rods

The Cake!!!

Ocean & Lake Water: Recipe

 Ahhh yes...I had to tie LIFESAVERS to the glasses!!

Blue Punch

I hosted Nicole's baby shower - and we had a "fishing, crab, whale" themed party...SO I made up this yummy "ocean water" punch to go with the theme!!!

 

 

Ingredients:

1 package of Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid
1 can of Minute Maid Frozen Lemonade
2 Liter bottle of Sprite

First mix the Kool-aid and Lemonade, add water (a little less than you would add if you were making the lemonade) then add the sprite.  Add water to taste. 

Cream Cheese and Cucumber Sandwiches

I hosted Nicole's baby shower - and we had a "fishing, crab, whale" themed party...SO I made up these cutie sandwiches to look like "crabs"!!  They turned out great - and were the perfect sandwich for the momma to be (who can't eat sandwich meat!)

 

Serves 12

Ingredients:
1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion salt
Dash Worcestershire sauce
12 Croissants

Place cucumber slices between 2 paper towels set in a colander. Allow liquid to drain, about 10 minutes.

 

Mix cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic powder, onion salt, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl until smooth.

 

Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on one side of each croissant.  Divide cucumber slices over half of the croissant; and stack the other half of the croissant with spread sides down over the cucumber slices to make sandwiches.