The Artful Year - My Autumn Crafts EBook!

Have you seen or heard of The Artful Parent's - My Autumn Crafts EBook!?! If you haven't you're really missing out on something special this fall. 

I've seen and heard this trickling around a few places now, but it hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it on Momma Harvey's page where she mentioned it here and here, then today while rummaging through Facebook, I found a wealth of information, but more on that in a sec.

This book is stuffed full of wonderful arts & crafts you can do with your kiddo's.  The bonus? It's all combined into one little place, so it's great to come back to reference for future years to come.  How fantastic! 

You wouldn't think it couldn't possibly get any better than that, right?  Well...you'd be wrong!

Today, through October 22, 2012, Jean Van't Hul, The Artful Parent, is having "A Pay What You Can Sale".  Say Whaaa???  Is she MAD?!?!!  *Shugs Shoulders* Must be! ;)

All I can say, is take full advantage of this sale while it lasts, and  please be truthful about what you can and can't provide.  This ebook is absolutely beautiful, and I promise you when I say "You won't be disappointed" that you won't be! 

To sum things up, take advantage of this fantastic offer.  Otherwise, you'll be regretting it when the kids are coped up, stir crazy, in the house, driving you mad, and all you want is a little peace & quite, and for them to "Turn that TV down!"

Not that I'd know from experience of anything... ;)

SO...what are you waiting for?

Game Day Sliders

Good Mornin'.  The weather is awesome here today!

To start the mornin' off right, I wanted to share with you an awesome "Go To" Game Day recipe.  Game Day Sliders.  Oh.Yum...

My husband flips over these, and I'm willing to bet, your guys will too!!

You'll Need:
1# Ground Beef with all the fixin's
Sliced Cheese
Spoon/Mellon Baller

Combine your hamburger meat with all the fixin's you like in your typical hamburgers.  We throw in breadcrumbs, worshey sauce, green onions, sometimes liquid smoke, and Webster's "Gourmet Hamburger Seasoning".  It's Yummy!

Before you get too messy, go ahead and turn a large skillet to Medium Heat on your stove.

With your hands, combine all your ingredients.

 

Using a 1" melon baller, start dishing up your patties. (You can easily use your hands or a spoon here, if you don't have a melon baller.  Don't let the technicalities throw you off here.:)) Then put them in the hot pan.

After they're cooked on one side (about 3-5 min's depending on thickness) flip them over, and press down with your spatula to get more of the hamburger look.

Once they're finished on this side, add your cheese

Place on your skillet lid for quick melting

Remove after 20 seconds and witness some pretty miraculous cheesy sliders.

Add to a dinner roll for a bun (we used yeast rolls). 

Top with condiments and take a bite outta crime. I mean prime.  Hehe ;)

Kids Halloween Craft - Pumpkins for my Punkin'

Per tradition, we started on a fun Halloween Craft the other night.

My 2 year old, had so much fun!  You could tell she had such a sense of self accomplishment completing these all by herself (with supervision).

She really seems to enjoy creating different things, so this was a fun outlet for her to create whatever she wanted, and it can be for your kiddo's too!

The great thing about this project is you can literally use whatever you have on hand to make these.  Construction paper, poster board, you name it.  Just let the kiddos have fun with it, and trust me, you'll be the one reaping the rewards! :)

So let's get started shall we?

You'll Need:
A surface.  We used foam pumpkins
White School Glue
Googly Eyes
Pom Pom's
Whatever you've got in your craft stash - Get creative!

I like to start our activities by laying out various items that she can easily handle, and allow her to reach for whatever she wants to add to the pumpkin.

We used Googly eyes and Pom Pom's. She was in heaven.

I can't tell you how PROUD she was of her creations!

What kinds of crafts do you and your children like to create for Halloween?  I'd love to hear your traditions!

Kid Approved Egg Pizza!

Do you have a hard time getting your child to eat breakfast in the morning?  If so, these Egg Pizza's are sure you become a winner in your household!  Mom's Happy.  Kids are Happy.  I love when it all comes together like that!

To start;

You'll Need:
2 eggs
veggies of choice *Optional
salt
half n' half or milk
ham (or other meat) *Optional
Shredded Cheese

To begin, crack your eggs, add salt, and a splash of milk or half n' half, like you normally would for scrambled eggs.

 Whisk together, pour into skillet that has been warmed on Medium heat, and add your vegetables.  We just added scallions.

 Top with ham to cover the surface.

 Allow the eggs to cook until set.  See below, how I can easily grab the egg with my spatula?

 Flip to cook on opposite side for just a minute.  Doesn't take long.  Then cut into "pizza's" with a pizza cutter and serve with fruit and/or yogurt. 

They'll gobble it up!

Cowboy Elmo's Mac & Cheese

My husband has had to take a couple business trips over the last few months, so it's just been me and the kiddo to fend for ourselves at dinnertime.  Are you with me when I say it seems harder to cook for 2?  Word.

Anywho...My daughter got a Sesame Street Cookbook several weeks back, and I swear she will just sit there, and stare, looking at this thing for literally hours.  So...I decided it was time to make something out of it.  Can you guess what we found in there?

Cowboy Elmo's Mac & Cheese...

Elmo? Win.  Mac & Cheese? Win. 

To top it off, it only called for a few ingredients, so it was perfect!

You'll Need:
12 oz of Elbow Macaroni
8 slices of American Cheese
1/4c. Milk
2 Tbsp of Butter/Margarine
Salt

Boil your water, as you normally would.  Add pasta, stir, and cook per the directions on your box, stirring occasionally.   Not to promote companies all the time, but American Beauty has a new 3 minute pasta.  Yep - It's awesome.  Check it out.

While the pasta is cooking, I quartered my cheese.

When the pasta timer chimes; Drain the water, and place your pan back on the stove.
Add butter.

Add cheese and stir until fully melted.  FYI:  I did mine in batches.

Spoon it up for your sweets, and ENJOY!

I have to say, it was actually really good with the addition of salt.

It heated up really well too, if you add a tiny touch of milk.  This was was surprising to me, because our household typically doesn't "DO" leftover mac n' cheese...

La-la-la-la, La-la-la-la, Elmo's World.... ;)

Pistachio Fudge

Morning, Sweets!

Today I'm going to share a fudge recipe with you, but not any ol' fudge recipe.  Pistachio Fudge!
This recipe is great for fudge lovers who like creamy fudge.  It melts in your mouth!

I will say that to me, and one other person, we debated while consuming about 5 pieces of fudge each, as to whether or not it resembled a true pistachio taste.  Maybe it was because I didn't have almond extract, so subbed vanilla, but to about 10 other people, they thought this recipe was GREAT!  Some even asked to take some home to pack it in their lunch!! 

So...if you're a fudge lover...let's dive on in...

You'll Need:
1lb of white chocolate chips
8oz of cream cheese, softened
3c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/8 tsp. green food coloring
1/2c. chopped pistachios

To begin, lets go ahead and line our 8" pan with foil.  Make sure the foil hangs over the sides of the pan for easy transfer later on.

Spray the foil/pan with cooking spray, so the foil doesn't stick.

In a medium bowl, melt your white chocolate to the direction on your package.  I microwave 30 seconds at a time, and stir well in between each 30 second interval. Once chocolate is melted.  Sit aside.

After 30 seconds

After 1 minute, 15 seconds. Just keep stiring instead of re-heating.  You'll see it makes a difference.

Set up your mixer, and mix cream cheese until smooth. 

Once smooth, you'll slowly add in your sugar until its well combined. Make sure you scrap the sides of your bowl to incorporate all that sugar :)

Add chocolate, extracts, food coloring, and mix well. With a spoon, fold in your pistachios.

Then spread into your foil ready pan, and chill overnight.
When it comes out.  It should look like this:

To remove the fudge, grab the foil "handles" and transfer onto a cutting board.  I flipped mine upside down, so I would have a flat surface to cut on, then wiped the excess cooking spray off with a paper towel.

With a large, sharp knife, cut the fudge into the desired size pieces.  The original recipe calls for something like 16 pieces.  I was able to cut about 42.  I wanted ours bite size, which with the thickness, still ended up being 2-3 bitters.

So...can you settle our debate?  Was it pistachio enough for you??

Crock Pot Cube Steak and Gravy

When the weather starts to put off a nice chill, one of the 1st things I do is dig out my crock pot.

My crock pot and I, have always had a love/hate relationship.  I love the ease, but despise the clean up!  That is, until I found the infamous crock pot liners!!  Ever heard of them? 

This is not a paid advertisement, but it should be! These babies are fantastic!!  They cost about $3-4 (in my area), for 3 (maybe 4?) liners, and they are worth every penny!! 
 
So today, I'm going to show you a quick and easy recipe to get the spirit of fall rolling through your veins.

1st up - Cube Steak and Gravy.  Which I found over at The Post-It Place. The gravy in this recipe is soooo good.  We served over mashed potatoes to sop it all up, but I can see this being just as good over rice!

When the dinner bell rings, this is what you'll be serving:

 Are you hungry yet?  Thought so! ;)  Let's get started!

You'll Need:
2-3lbs of cube steak
2 cans of cream of soup (I used mushroom with roasted garlic)
1 envelope of onion soup mix
3/4c. water
salt/pepper to taste

For those of you that buy your meat at the grocery store, you'll be able to skip this step.
We buy from a local farmer, and the steaks are put into the package as a large steak. As you'll see below, cutting is an absolute cinch.  FYI: I prefer to cut up the steaks prior to cooking.

My kitchen sheers and I have a love-love relationship.  I use them for everything from opening vegetables packages, to snipping fresh herbs, to cutting meats.  If you don't have a pair.  Buy some.  TODAY!

Once your meat is cut, toss everything into the crock pot.

Cook on low for 6-8 hrs, or on high for 4.

Crock Potting It, Makes Me Happy!!!