Butterfly Biscuits

We enjoyed these for dinner tonight with bacon and scrambled eggs. Breakfast for dinner, YUM!
Butterfly Biscuits
1 can Pillsbury Grands Biscuits, any flavor
3-4 T. Strawberry Jam
Grated Orange peel from one orange
Colored Sugar (optional)
Whipped cream (I used the stuff in the spray can)
Strawberries, sprinkles, licorice strings for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet w/ cooking spray. Open biscuits and carefully seperate them into two layers. Spread about 1/2 tsp. jam between layers then press back together, pinching the edges to seal. Cut biscuits in half and pinch edges to make sure they are sealed. Place two halves together on baking sheet, with rounded edges touching. Repeat with remaining biscuits. Spread a slight amount of jam on the top of each butterfly and sprinkle with orange peel and colored sugar. Bake 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool slightly then transfer to a plate where you can garnish with whipped cream "bodies", licorice "antenne", and chocolate sprinkle (or mini-chocolate chip) "eyes". Enjoy!

Sandwich Art

I found this on Family Fun and think it's awesome! We're doing it tomorrow! This would be a fun and cheap thing to do for a playdate or for any day that you want to jazz up lunch. :)

PAINTED SANDWICHES:
Paper cups
Milk
Food coloring
New paintbrushes
White bread
Toaster

1. Fill each paper cup with two tbsp. of milk. Add a few drops of food coloring to each cup.
2. Paint pictures and designs on the bread using the colored milk and new paintbrushes.
3. Toast lightly and use the slices to make crazy sandwiches.

Yummy BBQ & Crockpot Chicken!

We're big BBQ fans, I can't count the numberous yummy sauces we've tried. I recently found about this one, Country Bob's, and it's awesome! It's a tiny bit sweet and has a nice tang to it-- perfect! We give it 2 Gourmet-Mom-on-the-Go thumbs up! :)

They are sure that you'll be hooked, so they'll give you a bottle for free! That's right! How nice is that? Just register for their free newsletter and they'll send you a coupon for a free bottle of sauce. Yum!

Crockpot Orange Honey Chicken from countrybobs.com
Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup carrots, sliced
1/2 cup of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce (or may substitute Spicy Hot)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions:
Brown chicken breasts then put in crock pot. Mix juice, broth, honey, dry mustard, teriyaki sauce, and Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce. Pour over chicken in crock pot. Cook on low for 4 hours. Add vegetables and cornstarct about 1 hour before serving then cook for an additional hour and serve over rice.

Doggy Dinner

Who says cleaning out the freezer/fridge can't be fun? It's one of our favorite days around here! During the week, I throw our leftover veggies in a big ziploc baggie that I keep in the freezer. When it's full, I make a huge pot of veggie soup, using the Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli Soup recipe as the base.
Normally, this is kid-feeding suicide....LEFTOVER VEGGIES thrown in a soup?? Well, if you take about five extra minutes you can turn this into one of your kids' favorite dinners! It's all about presentation.;) Add some Doggie Biscuits, let them eat in the Dog House, and you have a winner!

What You Need:
Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli Soup (add your own veggies/whatever you have on hand)
Doggie Biscuits (recipe below)
The Dog House (instructions below)

Doggie Biscuits:
Ingredients:
Can of Refrigerator biscuits (any kind)
Directions:
Open can, seperate biscuits. Pinch off about half of biscuit and make into circle shape. Seperate the rest of biscuit into 3 or 4 pieces and roll into balls. Place around the top of the larger piece to look like a "pawprint". Bake as directed.

The Dog House:
Find some old sheets or tablecloths, cover them over your kitchen table so edges touch the ground. Print or make a Doghouse Sign (optional). Let them climb in to eat! Smile when they tell their teacher at school that their mom makes them eat in the doghouse.:)
Here's the Doghouse Sign, click to enlarge and print.

Marshmallow Ice Cream S'more Stackers

Thanks for all the recipes you've been posting on my bloggy giveaway! I was intrigued by Jennifer's recipe for ice cream s'mores, so we had to try it! I made a few modifications (we added bananas since I love chocolate/bananas and love Chiquita as you all know!) and am including the recipe for Grandma's Chocolate Sauce.

Marshmallow Ice Cream S'more Stackers
Ingredients:
2 T vanilla
2 C milk
40 large marshmallows
1 pt. whipping cream, whipped (or just use a carton of Cool Whip to cut the fat)
Hershey bars (optional)
Graham Crackers
Bananas
Grandma's Chocolate Sauce (recipe below) or your favorite chocolate syrup

Directions:
Place the marshmallows and milk in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high 2 minutes. Whisk well and microwave at 1 minute intervals until marshmallows are melted. Add the vanilla and cool.
When chilled and beginning to thicken, carefully whisk in whipped cream until thick but not stiff. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and freeze.

TIME TO STACK! When firm, cut ice cream into graham cracker sized squares. Take one graham cracker, place an ice cream square on top, and place several sliced bananas on top of the ice cream. Add pieces of hershey bar (I found that my kids didn't like them since they get so cold and hard, so I'll leave them out next time) and top with final graham cracker. Drizzle Grandma's chocolate sauce on top or provide everyone with a small bowl for dipping.

Note: I made up a whole bunch of these at the same time and wrapped the extras in wax paper, put them all in a large ziploc, and now they're ready for a quick dessert!

Grandma's Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients:
2 ½ c. white sugar
¼ c. cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder, yum!)
¾ c. corn syrup
½ c. milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 T. Vanilla extract

Add all ingredients except evaporated milk and vanilla in a large pot. Cook over medium/high heat until boiling, stirring often. Continue to boil, Cook to firm ball stage, about 252 degrees (about 7-8 minutes for those of you who don't have a candy thermometer), stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla and evaporated milk. Cool. Mixture will thicken as it cools. Store in refrigerator. WARNING: THIS IS DANGEROUS IN THE FRIDGE! MANY BANANAS HAVE DROWNED IN GRANDMA'S CHOCOLATE SAUCE! :)

Startcooking.com update

Sorry, please indulge me, I have to blog again about startcooking.com and Chiquita!!

Earlier, I mentioned that I won a Wii Fit in their recipe contest. Well, a package from FedEx arrived today with an ENTIRE Wii Bundle: a Wii console, A Wii Fit, and the Wii Sports Game! We were working out our budget to buy the Wii console, I can't believe they sent me everything!!! That's over $500!!
THANK YOU CHIQUITA!!!

Just FYI, the contest was about using their new Fruit Bites products, they're great for quick snacks! My girls also love the Chiquita Minis, it's the perfect sized banana for their little fingers. :) My snack idea hasn't gone live yet on startcooking.com, I'll let you know when it's up.

Check out this fun startcooking.com video for Rudolph's Christmas Cookies:
http://startcooking.com/video/307/Rudolfs-Christmas-Cookies

Make Your Own Colored Sugar

Oh, how we love colored sugar and sprinkles around here! A little pink sugar (I mean "fairy dust";) sprinkled on the top of oatmeal somehow makes breakfast magical!
The problem is that they are so darn expensive!! Well, it's easy to make your own, here's how. The kids will LOVE helping with this. It's amazing to watch plain sugar turn into vibrant colors!

Ingredients:
Granulated Sugar
Food Coloring
Ziploc Baggies
Airtight containers (optional)
Wax paper (optional)

Directions:
Place desired amount of sugar in ziploc baggie. Sandwich bags work fine but I prefer to use quart freezer bags just to be safe, especially when small hands are helping.:) Add a small amount of food coloring. Gel food coloring works best, but you can use liquid as well. Seal bag and smoosh, mash, and mix until coloring is completely mixed into sugar. It takes a couple minutes to really mix it in well. Add more coloring as desired or more sugar if you want to lighten the color. Store in the baggie or in an airtight container. Sugar should last several months.
NOTE: If you use liquid food coloring, spread out sugar after mixing to dry on wax paper for a few hours then store in airtight containers or baggies.

I love McCormick's liquid neon food coloring (in the spice aisle), it comes in a 4 pack and is around $2.99. The colors are great!

p.s. If you look closely at the top picture, you can see the 6 ft. tall Wowie Zowie gumball machine that sits in our living room. I bought it for Fathers Day at a garage sale for $40 a couple years ago. DH wasn't even shocked that I brought it home. Don't I have the coolest husband ever??!