Cheese Potato Soup

I LOVE soup when it's cold outside....since we have lots of cold weather ahead, I thought I would share this delicious recipe with you!

Cheese Potato Soup

4 Large Potatoes, Peeled & Diced
1/2 medium Onion, diced
1 Cup carrots, diced
1 Cup celery, diced
2 Cups Water
4 Cup Chicken Broth
2 Cups (18 oz) Velveeta cheese
1 Cup Milk
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 cup of Bacon Bits
salt & pepper
4 tablespoons cornstarch
(mixed in 1/2 COLD water)

Dice Veggies, Simmer until tender.  Add everything else except cornstarch mixture.  Cook over low heat stirring frequently for 15 minutes.  Add cornstarch mixture slowly siring constantly.

Printable Recipe

The Worlds Best Hash Browns...so good!

These are a favorite at our house...my husband introduced them to me when we were first married and we have been making them ever since.  The kids love them too:)

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen diced potatoes/hash brown mixture (we like em with added chopped peppers and onions)

4 eggs

1 cup real crumbled bacon

1 cup cheese 

Directions:

1- Cook hash browns over medium heat until soft

2- Add eggs to center of mixture, fold hash browns into eggs, mix

3- Add bacon and cheese

Printable Recipe

Grilled 7-Up Chicken

This is our favorite grilled chicken recipe.  It is full of flavor and has the perfect zing flavor!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup soy sauce

1/2 Cup Horseradish

1 (12 oz) can of 7-Up or Sprite (any lemon lime flavored soda)

1/4 Cup Veg Oil

Directions:

Add all ingredients in a Ziploc bag with 4-5 chicken breasts, let marinade for at least 30 min. Grill over medium heat until cooked all the way through. 

Printable Recipe

Letter L (Lion)

Books
One Yellow Lion by Mathew Van Fleet

Craft/Art

Hand print Lion from Hand print Creations

Fun Facts

Lions can run up to 50 mph.

A lion will sleep for up to 20 hours a day.

Game/Activity

Printables

Snacks

Songs

Tips to Teaching Letter L

Teaching ABC's Idea for the Week

Theme of the Week

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (melted)
2 Cup Sugar
4 medium eggs
2 Cups mashed RIPE bananas (about 4)
4 Cups flour
1/4 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 bag of mini chocolate chips
1/2 bag of mini white chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix ingredients together and cook in greased bread pans at 350 for 1 hour. Makes 2 large loafs.

Printable Recipe

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken Ingredients:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 cup cornstarch

3 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons of ketchup

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cut chicken into bit sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Place cornstarch and beaten eggs into separate bowls.  Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture.  Place olive oil in skillet and heat over medium heat until the chicken is browned.  Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking pan.  Next prepare the sauce by mixing together the sugar, ketchup, vinegar's, soy sauce and garlic salt in a mixing bowl.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for 1 hour.

I like to serve this on rice with a side of steamed veggies! ; )

Printable Recipe

Fruit Pizza!

 We love fruit pizza at my house!  Sometimes I don't want to do as much of the cooking and measuring and I guess you could call it cheating.  Rather than making the crust, I just used store bought cookie dough as the crust and then top it with the cream and fruit.....it's still super good.  Give it a shot!  Just spread the cookie dough (I usually use chocolate chip) across a pizza pan and cook until light brown, usually 8-10 minutes.

Fruit Pizza:

To make the crust:
3 T shortening
2 T margarine
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
Cream together and then add:
1 C & 2 T flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
Cook at 375 for 6-8 minutes

To make topping:
8 oz cream cheese
1 C. powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
cream together until mixture is nice and creamy.

Spread the topping on cooled crust and then top with sliced kiwi, strawberries, grapes, mangos, bananas, pineapples, etc.

Printable Recipe

Wingers Sticky Fingers

These are a great way to spice up frozen chicken strips and they are pretty quick to make...not to mention so good!  I threw the chicken in the oven boiled some corn and by the time the corn was done so were our amazingly yummy sticky fingers.  

Yields: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

1 pkg frozen breaded chicken strips

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

6 Tbsp. Franks Hot Sauce (This is one of the few times I don't buy the off brand, Franks is the best!)

4 Tbsp. Water

Directions:

Heat sugar, hot sauce and water over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Coat chicken with sauce and cook according to package directions. 

Printable Recipe

Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2tsp soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup four
1 cup of oats

Directions:
Bake in a 9 x 13 pan 15-20 minutes at 350.  Do not overcook.  Once this has cooled spread chocolate frosting across the top. Cut into squares and enjoy.

Printable Recipe

Letter K (Kangaroo and Koala)

Books
What do Kangaroos do? by Dee Phillips

Craft/Art

Kangaroo K from Totally Tots

Fun Facts

Kangaroos carry their babies in their pouch.

Kangaroos sleep during the day and look for food at night. 

Game/Activity

Have a Kangaroo hope and jump around like kangaroos.

Printables

Snacks

Songs

Tips to Teaching Letter K

Teaching ABC's Idea for the Week

Theme of the Week

Easy French Bread

We love french bread...especially hot french bread.  My kids ask to buy this in the store and prefer it over candy.  I always thought that it was hard to make and took lots of time....not true.  This is a quick recipe, great for last minute dinners. It is soooo easy and soooo yummy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 Tbsp. dry yeast

2 tsp. sugar

3 1/4 cup flour 

2 tsp salt

Directions:

In a small bowl mix warm water with yeast and sugar. Let sit about 5 min until foam forms on top.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour and salt. Gradually add yeast mixture. Mix until the dough becomes a small ball and knead for 5 min. (I use my bosh with the dough hook)

Cut dough in half and shape into two baguettes. Place on a cookie sheet. Cover and let raise for 30 min.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. With a sharp knife make a slash down the length of each baguette (this gives it "the look") Pour water into a cookie sheet and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake bread for 15 min. About half way through brush the top of the bread with melted butter. 

Printable Recipe

Letter J (Jellyfish)

Craft/Art

Paper Bowl Jellyfish @ First Palette

Fun Facts

Jellyfish are 95% water and don't have a skeleton, head, heart or brains.

Jellyfish are know for stinging and can sting even after they die.

Game/Activity

Magnet Fun @ Making Learning Fun

Printables

Snacks

Songs
Three jelly fish,

Three jelly fish,

Three jelly fish sitting on a rock.

One jumped off!

Splash!

Two jelly fish…

One jelly fish…

No jelly fish,

No jelly fish,

No jelly fish sitting on a rock.

One climbed up!

Horray!

One jelly fish…

Two jelly fish…

Three jelly fish…

There are some cute free printables to go along with this song over at Pickle Bums.

Tips to Teaching Letter J

Teaching ABC's Idea for the Week

Theme of the Week

Decorative Yarn Balls

I LOVE creating new things!  I've always wanted these but never thought of making my own until recently. I was cleaning my boys room last week and found a huge bag full of plastic balls.  That's when I thought....huh, I bet I could use these to make some decorative yarn balls....and we did!  I really like how they turned out.

All you will need to make these is yarn, a ball (you can get Styrofoam balls at the dollar store) and a glue gun.  These are so easy......just hot glue the end to the ball to start off and wrap the yarn around the ball tightly until it is covered completely.  When you are happy with the way it looks then cut the yarn and hot glue the end.  I like to hide the end by tucking it underneath the yarn a bit.

When you are done making them, find a fun way to display them.  The pictures below show what I did.  I love the different textures and the different colors give me so many options for decorating.  I used the yellow, orange and white for Halloween and right now I've got the red, green, gray and white displayed to match my Christmas decor.  

Kahoona Burger

This is one of our family's favorite burgers...it has a big chunk of meat, juicy pineapple, gooey cheese and is topped off with a zingy sauce. This is a great grilling recipe!!

Yields: 4 good sized burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

4 buns

4 slices of your favorite cheese (we like Swiss or Colby Jack)

4 lettuce leaves

1 pineapple, sliced

2 tsp. soy sauce

Directions:

1-Mix 2 tsp of soy sauce with 1 lb ground beef and form 4 hamburger patties.

2- Warm up grill to medium temperature, cook patties for 15 min until cooked through. 

3- Cook pineapple on grill for 2 min, toast buns for two min.

4- Layer hamburger with bun, meat, cheese, pineapple, lettuce and top with special sauce. 

Special Sauce:

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C ketchup

Directions: Combine soy sauce, brown sugar and ketchup in small pan and cook over medium heat until sugar is melted.  

Printable Recipe

Framed Eggs

Super easy, and a fun way to mix up the breakfast routine.

Ingredients:
slice of bread
egg
butter
salt & pepper

Directions:
Butter a slice of bread front and back.  Cut out the center of bread slice.  Place bread in skillet on medium heat.  Break egg into the center and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook until cooked through and enjoy!
Printable Recipe

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were a family favorite growing up...our mom is famous for them.  I know everyone thinks their moms's cookies are the best but these really are the best! I remember my mom being asked for the recipe 4 different times in one day...they are so good.  

Ingredients;

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1 pkg. milk chocolate chips

2 cups shortening (don't substitute with butter or they won't be puffy)

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. vanilla

5 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Mix sugar, shortening, and eggs. Add baking soda, water, vanilla, flour and salt. Add choc chips last. Bake on cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 8-10 min. 

Once cookies have cooled, drizzle melted almond bark over top. (we use vanilla and milk chocolate almond bark) 

Printable Recipe

Crock-Pot Sprite Chicken & Rice

I am always looking for and trying to come up with good crock-pot recipes. Having something started in the crock-pot somehow makes dinner time less stressful.  Here is one of our families latest favorites.

Ingredients:
4-5 Chicken Breasts
1 (10.5 oz) Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 (12 oz) Can of Sprite or lemon lime soda
1 Cup of Minute Rice
1/4 Cup Chicken Broth

Directions:
Put chicken on bottom of slow cooker, cover with soup and soda. Cook on low for 2-3 hours. Add rice and chicken broth and cook another 2-3 hours on low.

Printable Recipe