Easter Subway Art!

I recently started my own Etsy. So far I am selling subway art for the different holidays. I hope to start selling a lot more on there, but I know it will take some time to be known and share my stuff. Please help me out by visiting my etsy store and taking a look.

Any critique would be greatly appreciated!

Here is my Easter Subway Art that I just posted:

You can find that here!

I am also willing to customize anything!

Alfredo Chicken Pizza

We love Alfredo Chicken Pizza, so I wanted to try a recipe out for this type of pizza. It worked out pretty well and we really liked it!

 Try it out and let me know what you think:

Pizza Crust (recipe here)

1/2 cup Alfredo Sauce (recipe here)

1/4 cup Kirkland Signature Crumbled Bacon

1-2 chicken breasts (cubed and cooked)

1/2 cup Shredded Cheese (more or less according to taste)

Prepare your pizza crust. When the dough is almost ready to shape, start making your Alfredo sauce. Once your sauce is made cook your chicken.

I usually like to warm up my bacon with the chicken for a minute.

When the crust is shaped and on the pan, spread desired amount of Alfredo sauce on the crust.

Then sprinkle chicken and bacon on.

Top with desired amount of cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. If you want the crust to be more crispy then I would suggest cooking it straight on the oven rack.

ENJOY!!

Easy Pizza Dough

I really like this pizza dough recipe. It just takes a little bit of time to rise.

Here is the recipe for that:

1/2 c warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c water (room temperate)
2 T extra-virgin olive oil

Measure warm water into 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Mix yeast into this water. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, mix flour and salt briefly. Mix room temperature water with the yeast mixture. Turn on mixer to low speed. Add yeast mixture and olive oil to the flour. Mix until a cohesive dough has formed. At this time switch to dough hook and knead on low speed until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes), adding flour if too sticky.
Cover bowl with clean towel or plastic wrap and let rise until it has doubled in size-around 1 1/2-2 hours.

Press down on the dough to deflate. Divide the dough. Shape each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball (I you want to freeze the dough now it the time). Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes.

Now you can shape your dough and put on your pan. I like to put a little bit of cornmeal on my pan to keep the pizza from sticking.

I also like to roll the edges so that they look "cool"

Top as desired. Bake at 375 degrees until the crust is golden brown for about 15 minutes.

Yield: 2 Medium Pizzas


Here is an example of a pizza that we LOVE. It's called Alfredo Chicken Pizza and you can find the recipe here.

Cinnamon Sugar Scones

Yet another scone recipe! I used this scone recipe to experiment with making a sweet scone!

Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Sugar Recipe

2 T cinnamon

1 c sugar

scones

Mix cinnamon and sugar together (you might want to add a little more of one or the other to make it the mixture that you want). Put half the mixture on a plate and leave the other half in a bowl.

Make scones (recipe here) and roll each one of them in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Use the mixture from the bowl to sprinkle over both sides. Place on paper towels. Enjoy!

Another recipe that you could try with these scones is Navajo Tacos, found here.

What are some things that you like to have on your scones??

Navajo Tacos

I just barely did the post about the scone dough recipe, so here is the recipe for Navajo Tacos. This is such a simple meal, but oh so delicious and surprisingly filling!

Navajo Tacos

1 lb ground beef

1 can refried beans

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Guacamole

Salsa/Hot Sauce

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Brown the ground beef (can add taco seasoning if desired). Warm the beans in a pan on the stove. Prepare all other ingredients. Top your scone (recipe found here) with desired ingredients and enjoy!

Is that easy enough for you??

Sometimes to save a little more time I will just warm up a can of Chili, but I like it better with the ground beef and beans!

Quick Scone Dough

I love scones for many reasons-the main being Navajo Tacos! You can also put honey, cinnamon sugar, jam, honey-butter, and much more on these for a delicious treat.

This is my go-to recipe for scone dough.

It takes very little time and you don't have to wait for the dough to rise.

Scone Dough

2 cups flour

1 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

oil/shortening for frying

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the milk and mix until the dough comes together. Add flour if needed. Knead for about 5 minutes until dough forms a ball and is smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a medium-large skillet. Break off pieces of the dough in desired size and then roll out flat or stretch with your hands. Make the middle a little bit thinner than the outsides.

I doubled the recipe this time and got about 12 scones!

Fry in the oil until brown on both sides (you'll have to flip them to get both sides brown). Let drain on paper towels. This recipe makes about 5-6 scones.

There you have it! An easy Scone Dough recipe

Let me know what you think!

Be sure to check out the post about Navajo Tacos here and the Cinnamon Sugar Scones here!

Stuff to Scrap!

Hey Everyone, I recently found this AMAZING Scrapbooking Forum. It is called Stuff to Scrap and you can find it here. You have to create an account for the forum and then you will access to the fun community. Their store is also amazing, and they have great deals on digital scrapbooking kits. You can find the store here!

One of the fun things in the forum is the Speed Scraps that happen many times a month. A designer gives 7 steps in 60 minutes for you to create a layout. Lots of fun! Check out next week's Speed Scrap:


Triple J Designs is hosting a Speed Scrap on Monday August 26th 

and check out this Participation Prize!

Hope to see you there :)

Crockpot Ranch Potatoes

I love these ranch potatoes! You throw them in the crockpot for 6 hours and yummy!! I like to make a lot and then freeze them.

The ingredients:

 Plus 5 lbs red potatoes cut up:

This recipe makes enough for around 8 people, so feel free to half it or make this amount and freeze the leftover!

Crockpot Ranch Potatoes

5 lbs red potatoes, cut up

2 can cream of chicken soup

16 oz sour cream

2 ranch packets

Mix everything but potatoes in a bowl. Throw potatoes in and stir until well coated. Throw into the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.

Before cooking

After Cooking!

If Freezing: Let cool and put in a plastic container, freeze. When ready to eat, reheat in the microwave.

This one is so easy, and a great side dish to whatever meat you want to cook up!

Beef Stroganoff (Freezer Meal)

This is the first time that I have tried a Beef Stroganoff recipe. It was an easy freezer recipe, and now all we have to do to finish making it is throw it in the crockpot for 6-8 hours.

Beef Stroganoff

1/4 c minced onion (I used onion flakes)

1/4 c butter-softened

1 lb. stew beef

3/4 cup sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 (4 oz) cream cheese block-softened

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

In a bowl mix onion, butter, sour cream, mushroom soup, cream cheese, salt and pepper. Then add the Stew beef to the mixture and stir until well coated. Add all ingredients to a large freezer bag and freeze.

To Serve: Place ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over hot noodles or rice.

These are the onions that I used, they are from Costco.

I got three pounds of stew beef from the grocery store and was able to make 3 beef stroganoffs from that.

This is what it looks like in the bag:

Enjoy!!

Sheree's Chili

This is by far the best Chili that I have ever tasted. I finally attempted to make my mother-in-law's chili so that I could freeze it to have after our baby is born. I think I did pretty good, but it's never as good as when we go to their house to eat the chili during the football games!

Sheree's Chili

Soak 2 lbs (about 4 cups) small red kidney beans overnight in 4 quarts water and 2 TB baking soda in a very large stock pot (6 quarts at less). Drain in the morning.

Add more water to cover the beans. Simmer at a low boil for 1 1/2-2 hours. You may need to add more water as it cooks down but not too much.

Then add:

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion, chopped (or 2-3 TB dried onion flakes)

2-3 cans tomato sauce

44 oz bottle ketchup

2-3 TB chili powder (depending on how spicy you want it)

salt and pepper to taste

Then simmer one more hour. If too thick, add more water.

If Freezing: Put in plastic container when cooled and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw and reheat in the microwave.

Bacon wrapped Chicken

You know when you go to Toucanos and they bring the turkey wrapped in bacon around? Yeah..that's my favorite one! This recipe is for chicken, but it is equally as good! It is so simple, yet so delicious!

Bacon wrapped Chicken

2 Chicken Tenders (or chicken breasts)

1/2 package of Bacon

Defrost the chicken and cut in half chunks (or small chunks if using chicken breasts). Defrost the bacon. Then wrap the bacon around the chicken and place on a tinfoil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.

Tell me what you think about this recipe..how do you cook your bacon wrapped chicken. Anyone have any yummy dipping sauces that would go good with these?

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

We are a Macaroni and Cheese loving family (well mostly me), but when it comes to this recipe my husband would eat it whenever. It is so easy, it's baked and I know what is in it. I always feel weird eating the boxed mac and cheeses-even though they are super convenient and I still eat them-because I don't know what's in them. With this recipe it's a real cheese sauce that is just DELICIOUS!

Boil 1 1/2 cups macaroni until tender

Cheese Sauce: Melt 3 TB butter in saucepan Add 3 TB flour, 1/2 tsp salt mix Slowly add 1 1/2 cup milk Stir with a wire whip Heat until it comes to a boil. Take off heat and add ½ cup grated cheese.

Pour over cooked macaroni and mix.  Before the oven Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes, sprinkle ½ cup grated cheese on top. Let cool for just a few minutes and then scoop up and ENJOY! We like to eat it as a side dish to anything.

Chicken Carbonara

Alfredo sauce and chicken equals delicious! But what about when you add bacon and peas?? So good! This is my version of Chicken Carbonara.

Chicken Carbonara

Alfredo sauce (recipe here)

1-2 chicken breasts, cut up

1/2 onion, cut up

1/2 cup Bacon Bits (either already cooked or cook your own)

1/2 c frozen peas

Noodles

Defrost chicken, cut into cubes, cook in medium skillet pan until slightly pink. Then add peas, bacon bits, and onion and fry until warm.

Now add the Alfredo sauce to the chicken mixture and heat until warm.

Serve over the top of your choice of noodles (we like spaghetti, fettuccine, or bow ties).

We like to eat some cheese-toast with this, that or garlic bread.

Tell me what you think about this recipe! It is definitely a family favorite here.

Spaghetti Braid

We really enjoy this Spaghetti Braid. It's a fun twist on Spaghetti and breadsticks...just all in one thing!

Spaghetti Braid

12 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed to room temperature

6 oz spaghetti, cooked

1 cup spaghetti sauce

8 oz mozzarella cheese shredded

1 egg white

Parmesan cheese

Parsley flakes

Combine dinner rolls into one loaf. Let rest for 5 minutes. Then roll out loaf, on parchment paper, into a rectangle (about 12x6inches). Cover with moist towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package instructions, then drain and let cool. Mix your spaghetti sauce into your noodles and then lay it in a lengthwise strip across the dough. Top that with cheese.

Now cut 1 1/2 strips from the filling to the edge of the dough, on both sides. Now start on one side of the dough and alternate pulling the strips on top of the toppings-creating a braid look. Finish the braid by tucking the last strip underneath the braid.

Lift braid to a sprayed cookie sheet. Brush the top of the braid with the egg white and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese and parsley flakes. Now bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until dough is golden brown. Let cool slightly and then slice to serve.

We love eating this spaghetti braid with green beans.

Does anyone have any other braid recipes? Please share!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

I never really liked ginger cookies until I tried this recipe from my Mom. These cookies are soft, chewy and just plain addicting!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

2 1/4 c flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c butter

1 c sugar

1 egg

1/4 c molasses

2 T sugar

Mix sugar with butter until fluffy, and then add spices, soda and salt. Next add the egg and mix well. Add molasses and then flour. Shape into balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Who else is addicted to cookie recipes??

Crockpot Taco Soup

Taco Soup has always been one of my favorites. I remember multiple years on my birthday asking my dad to make that soup for my birthday dinner. This particular recipe is from my mother-in-law Sheree, and it can either be made in the crockpot or on the stove.

Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef

1 medium-sized onion, diced

2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans

1 (15 1/2-ounce) can red kidney beans

1 (15 1/4-ounce) can shoe-peg corn, drained

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles

2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles

1 can black olives, drained and sliced

1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix

1 package ranch salad dressing mix

Tortilla chips, for serving

Sour cream (garnish)

Grated (garnish)

Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add all cans, taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix. Cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for 1 hour in a pot on the stove.

Top each bowl with sour cream and cheese. Serve with chips.

I love how easy it is to throw this soup together. All you need are all of the cans and you can just dump them in, stir and then leave it until you are ready to eat. Enjoy!

What do you like about this recipe?

Easy Alfredo Sauce

This is by far my favorite Alfredo sauce recipe. It can be used for noodles, pizza, and so much more. This recipe is adapted from here.

Alfredo Sauce

1/4 c butter

1 c heavy cream

1 tsp garlic (crushed)

1 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add cream and heat to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes. Then add garlic and cheese. Whisk quickly until cheese is melted and mixed in. Heat all the way through. Serve.

Tissue Pom-Poms!

Want to make an easy decoration for a party? Tissue pom-poms are super easy,

and I think they are really cute. Here's what mine looked like at the end.

Step 1: Cut 6 pieces of tissue paper into a rectangle 10" by 20". Line them up on top of one another.

Step 2: Start to accordion fold the tissue paper in 1 1/2" wide folds. 

Step 3: When you have the whole sheet folded up, tie a string around the center of the folded tissue paper. You then want to cut the edges of the paper into the shape that you want. Rounded edges or pointy edges look cool for these; I did rounded edges for mine.

I also did this part backwards...you want to tie the string

around the center so the folds stay together.

Step 4: Spread the folds out like so...

Step 5: Start to carefully separate the layers of tissue paper away from each other; 

pulling towards the middle.

This is with one side finished.

Step 6: Adjust the tissue paper to make the pom-pom exactly how you want it.

There you have it! Originally I made one where the tissue paper was 20"x30", but it was huge...and looked way too big in my dining room. So I then tried the 10"x20" size and thought that one was perfect. So you can definitely play with different sizes to figure out which size is best for you.

I even made some little ones (I think I used tissue paper 5"x15") and I used two different colors. So when I stacked the tissue paper, I alternated the two colors-blue, green, blue, green, etc. Here's how those ones turned out...

Good luck! Let me know how yours turn out!