Spaghetti Tacos

We have this weird thing that we do in our house...we love spaghetti tacos.

What?!  You've never heard of such a thing!

Do you live under a rock?

Just kidding!  I know it sounds bizarre.  But it is oh so yummy!

We really enjoy watching iCarly.  On the show, Spencer makes these bizarro things.  The kiddos thought it might be fun to make them.  So, how hard can it be, right?  It's spaghetti tacos...spaghetti and tacos. 

So, we tried it and you know what?!  They are really very good and my kids LOVE them!  They eat them very well!

So, how do you make spaghetti tacos?

1. Make spaghetti.

2. Make tacos.

3.  Get out your cheese.

4.  Load the spaghetti and cheese into the tacos. 

Yep, that's it.  We usually have hamburger in our spaghetti.  But Lil' sis had basketball practice and it would have taken a lot longer to cook...so it was a veggie spaghetti taco tonight.

Try it!  Really and let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you again soon.



My new addiction

So, for those of you that don't know me personally, I spent the majority of Thanksgiving week with my BIL and his wife in Roswell, NM.  It was a really nice time, but man, that drive is a killer.  12 hours in the car with your children is not my idea of a good time.

Anyway, my SIL made this wonderful dinner for us on Thanksgiving and the only recipe that she had made before were these incredible green beans with bacon and chili sauce...don't knock it til you try it!  But everything else that she made, she got the recipes from this site called Recipezaar. 

Now, I thought that I had ran across a few recipe sites in my times, but never this one.  I checked it out and have been trying all kinds of recipes!  I even mentioned it to my friend, Aimus, and she is the conicere of recipes and cookbooks and had never heard of it either.  Wow!  Well, I turned her onto it, and she likes it as well. 

You don't have to join to use the site, but if you join, you can make menus, detailed grocery lists (my biggest pet peeve of the menu planning), check out over 300,000 recipes from all over the world and you can specify an ingredient and they will bring up recipes for it.  (I live in the boonies and we have venison; deer, in our freezer and I never know what to do with it).

So for the past three nights, I have made dishes from this site and they have gone over very well.  Last night, CX didn't care for it half-way thru it, but Lil sis inhaled hers!  They have a place where you can filter if you want a kid pleasing meal as well.  Seriously, I am hooked.  Check it out here if you need a recipe.  You will be amazed and possibly overloaded.

Yum Yum!

So after a flop of a dinner last night, I decided that I needed to make something that the whole family would like.  Well, I have been trying to make a dinner menu for the week and I came across this recipe for Beef & Broccoli Lo Mein.  I was going to make it as the recipe instructed, but instead of using the beef, I decided to put shrimp in it.  The kids loved it!  Which, if they like it, then it is a huge success.  I will definitely be making it again.  Try it out, it is easy and yum yum!

Challenge, week 1

Okay, so I mentioned in a post earlier that one of the blogs I follow is hosting a recipe challenge.  Well, I tried one the last night, the Maple-Walnut Chicken.  Okay, I didn't follow the recipe exactly as instructed.  I am not a big one for cooked spinach, unless it is in a casserole or something similar, so I nixed that right off of the bat.  I made the chicken as directed, with a side of french style green beans and mushroom rice.  The dinner looked very pretty and smelled pretty good.....BUT it wasn't all that great.  My kids ate it, but with ketchup and country Bob's sauce.  Lil sis said that it even was spicy, really?!  So, I am not that impressed with it.  You can try it and might like it.  It really wasn't that hard to make at all or that expensive.  I had the majority of the ingredients in my pantry, except for the fresh thyme leaves.  I think that I am going to try the Banana Sour-Cream Cake.  I should have listened to my gut and gone with my first pick.  I think that it will be yummy.  I'll keep you updated.

A challenge

One of the blogs that I follow is starting a new challenge for the month of November.  And since I have nothing else to do with my time, yeah right, I am going to join in on this challenge. 

If you are interested it is a recipe challenge.  You visit this blog site and she has three different recipes for you to try out.  You can try one, two or all three of them, but she wants to know how you liked them.  If you liked them and if there was any difficulties or what-nots. 

I checked out the first set of recipes and they looked pretty yummy, so I am going to join in.  If you are interested in it, check it out here.  The blog is called somewhat simple and the recipes look just that, somewhat simple.  I think I am going to try the banana sour cream cake.  It looks yummy.  Let me know if you check it out and if you try a recipe.  And while you're there, grab a button as well.

Home Made Gummies!!!

I found this really cute idea and easy recipe to make homemade gummies.  Yes, you read that correct, it is easy!  I found it here and it turned out so great.  The kiddos had a blast helping me out and we found some really cool ice cube molds at the dollar store to make the gummies even cooler for the holiday season.  What you see in the picture is skulls, pumpkins and eye balls!  Yum-O!  Want to make some?  Here is how I did it.....

 

Here is what you need...

• 
  
  one 3 oz. box of Jell-O (any flavor will do....it is whatever you desire)
  
  
  
• 
  
  3 packets of Knox Gelatin (Find it on the top shelf of the Jell-O isle)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Candy molds or ice cube trays (again, whatever you desire)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Glass measuring cup (This will come into play later)
  
  
  
• 
  
  1/3 to 2/3 Cup of water (depending on how gummie or chewey you want them)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Double-boiler or big pot of water
  
  
  

First, I mixed 2/3 cup of water in the glass measuring cup with the packet of jello, then each packet of gelatin.  After adding one packet I would make sure to mix well before adding another packet.  After you have mixed all the Jell-O and gelatin together cover the measuring cup and wait for 10 minutes.  While you are waiting....start your water to boil.  (I don't have a double boiler, so I just got my big pot going!)

  

After 10 minutes, it should look something like this.  Seriously, this works....stay with me on this!

Then you want to take the glass measuring cup and set it inside the simmering pot of water and SLOWLY melt the mixture.  You want to get a nice smooth consistancy.  You will have a soft layer of foam on the top once it has completely melted, but that is all good....It is just a lighter color of the gummie mixture. 

Next, you want to take your candy molds or ice cube trays and pour away.  See....the glass measuring cup was handy with the boiling water and now even more handy with the little spout on it!  See, there is a little method to the madness! 

These are the ice cube trays that I bought at the dollar store. 

Stick the trays into the freezer or fridge for 10 minutes or so and...Viola!  Home made gummies!  They shouldn't stick to the molds because they are gelatin, so no need to spray the molds.  Also, I made my first batch with orange jell-o and only a little over 1/3 cup of water and they turned out really chewey!!!  So the berry blue batch I tried with 2/3 cup of water and they turned out a much better texture.  More like gummies you buy at the store! 

Don't forget, store them in an airtight container so that they won't dry out and get crusty!

Have fun and let me know if you make any!  I would love to know how they turned out!

Homemade suckers!!!

Okay, so I found this really cool and easy way to make suckers out of "Jolly Ranchers". They turned out super cute and they really are super easy to make. Anyone can do it! I promise!

First, I just bought a pound bag of regular "Jolly Ranchers", I have also made these with lifesavers and they work pretty good also. You will also need popsicle or sucker sticks.


Next, you pick three candies to melt together. I chose to make mine with stripes, but you can do them all the same flavor if you like.


Unwrap the candies! Sorry, I need to put that, sometimes the obvious gets ignored.


Next, lay the candies onto a foil covered cookie sheet. I would recommend only putting 4 or 6 suckers per sheet at a time into the oven.

Heat your oven to 275 degrees. Once oven is warm, place cookie sheet into the oven for 6 minutes. The candies will melt into one another and form some pretty funky shapes.
As soon as you remove the cookie sheet you need to stick the sticks into the melted candy. Make sure to roll the stick to cover it with the melted candy.

Let it cool to room temperature then you can wrap it and it is ready to go. I found this recipe
here http://chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/search/label/hard%20candy. And apparently, after re-reading the blog, I over cooked my suckers. That didn't seem to stop anyone from eating them. I kind of like the funky shapes anyway! Enjoy!