Homemade Hot Cocoa

This is the recipe for my FAVORITE hot cocoa! It's yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder

1/4 cup HOT water

Dash of salt

4 Cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Optional: 1 tablespoon of vanilla ice cream

Mix sugar, cocoa & salt together with wisk. (dry mix) Add HOT water and continue to wisk.

Bring to a boil over medium/high heat.

CONTINUE stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.

Pour in milk and vanilla.

Make sure to keep stirring occassionally so not to burn the milk.

Keep on stove until hot.

Pour into cups. For children, to cool it to the perfect temperature, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla ice cream and stir until melted. Test it first, but this usually takes it to the perfect warm temp and adds to the richness! Yummy for adults, too!!!!

enjoy!

I've been falling down on the job! LOL

Sorry, girls! I know I haven't posted lately. I've been so busy with everything else that I haven't even had a chance! So, here's a new recipe for you gals! (or guys)

Taquito Pie (easy beef enchiladas!)

Ingredients:
Package of frozen Beef Steak Taquitos (not the flour kind...the corn ones.)
1 Can chili with no beans
1 Large can refried beans (traditional)

Place frozen taquitos in a casserole dish. For a fam. of 4, I use nearly all of the taquitos in a 9x13 dish. Don't stack them. Just side by side all over the dish. Some will have to go sideways to fill in.

Spread refried beans over taquitos.

Spread Chili on top of beans.

Bake on 350 for approximately 25 minutes. Sprinkle top with shredded cheddar or mexi-blend cheese. Turn up the temp to 450 and bake until cheese melts.

Serve with tortilla chips! Delicious & EASY! Tastes like beef enchiladas!

Sarah helping make muffins!

We made muffins on Tuesday morning! She helped! So sweet!

Her hair was crazy because we had just gotten up and started cooking. I love these photos because of her wild hair!

I thought these were too cute not to share!

"Help" in the Kitchen!

Today, I hired some help in the kitchen! No, not actually...but I did utilize a great way to get dinner cooked AND keep Sarah entertained at the same time! Moms...listen up! Sometimes, we don't even think because we are sooooo busy trying to put dinner on the table and clean the house (or myspace, etc!) but this is the EASIEST and CHEAPEST entertainment I have found for my little "helper" that keeps her happy and helps me by keeping her out from under my feet as I cook. I give her a bowl, a wire whisk and about a cup of flour in the bowl. Then I give her a cup of water and she just stands there mixing it all up and sometimes will ask for a little more water, or flour, etc. I give it to her! She makes what she thinks is "gravy" and I get things done, myself! You can see from the photos how happy it makes her to think she is helping mommy cook! She is my little angel and loves helping out. Jason loves to set the table. That is his helping hands thing. I used to ask him to set the table and now, he asks ME if he can do it! It's great! Tonight, I cooked homemade lasagna, seasoned green beans, a fresh salad and spinach & cheese flatbread. It was YUMMY!

MOMMY'S SPINACH FLATBREAD RECIPE

1 thin crispy pre-made pizza crust

Butter or margarine

Mozarella Cheese

Parmesean Cheese

Chopped fresh spinach

Italian Seasoning

Spread butter or margarine on pizza crust. Sprinkle top with remaining ingredients and bake at 450 directly on the rack. Cut into squares and serve with salad or main course! Or both!

Mexican Chicken & Potato Packets!!!

These are AWESOME and delicious! My whole family loved them and they can be customized to each person's individual taste!

Ingredients & Items Needed:

Large squares of aluminum foil (however many you are making)
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Red Potatoes (sliced thinly)
Sour Cream
Taco Seasoning
Salsa
Cilantro
Cheese (shredded)

Directions:

Coat the chicken with taco seasoning and sprinkle on potatoes.
Place one whole sliced potato on each foil piece.
Place cheese on potatoes.
Place a chicken breast on top of cheese & potatoes.
Scoop a dallop of sour cream in center of chicken.
Scoop salsa over sour cream and chicken.
Sprinkle with cheese. Top with pinch of Cilantro leaves.
Fold into a foil packet.
Bake on 400 for about 45 minutes - 1 hour.
Take out of oven.

Let cool for a few minutes and then open packets. Be careful for the steam.
Slide each packet onto a plate.

Serve with side dish such as corn if desired!

Enjoy!!!!

Sharon's Homemade from SCRATCH Banana Pudding...

This is melt in your mouth like your grandma used to make banana pudding! Yummy!

Melt 1/2 cup butter in saucepan. (medium/high heat)

Add 1 cup of flour gradually while whisking.

The mixture will get very thick.

Begin adding milk (about 1/2 cup) until desired pudding like consistency.

Add 2 egg yolks.........save the whites...you'll need them in a minute! Make sure NONE of the yolks is in the whites.

Whisk together until you have pudding thickness, then add 1 capfull of vanilla extract.

*You can add milk or flour as needed when making this. Every time, it seems the amount used changes because of the way it cooks, but if you need it thicker, add more flour, thinner...add more milk as needed. Make sure it is not too thin when finished. It should be the consistency of jell-0 pudding.

Cut 4 bananas into slices in a baking dish. I use a round 9 inch cake pan with tall sides. Add in about 1/2 box of nilla wafers. I made the one pictured with full size wafers, but I love to use the miniature ones when I can find them! Stir together wafers and bananas and then pour pudding mixture on top. I like to stir this all up a bit to make sure every banana and wafer is surrounded by pudding.

Now to make the meringe topping...

In large bowl, pour in 2 egg whites. Beat on medium speed with hand mixer until peaks form. Be patient.....this takes several minutes. Mixture will be SOLID white and really fluffy. Gradually begin to add 1/4 c. sugar to egg white mixture. Continue beating on medium-high with mixer until you have solid peaks forming. (By pulling a spoon or beaters out of mixture, it will make little points....these are peaks....see photo!) Garnish top with extra wafers.

Once you have finished the meringue topping, scoop onto top of finished banana pudding. Bake until peaks get golden on the edges at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Yummy EASY Chicken Salad....NO COOKING REQUIRED!

Okay, this chicken salad recipe is a work of sheer genius! I must admit.....I have adapted it from friends' recipes and added and changed it until I have what I think is the easiest and best chicken salad I may have ever tasted......excited? You should be....here you go!

Sharon's Chicken Salad

1 bag pre-cooked chicken fajita meat (I get this at wal-mart in the meat section and it's $2.73/pkg)
3/4 cup mayo (I use low-fat and it doesn't change the taste at all!)
1 small package of slivered almonds
2 celery stalks chopped into fine pieces
1 small can crushed pineapple DRAINED well
3 tsp. of garlic powder (or to taste desired)
Salt & Pepper

Tear chicken apart into fine shreds using your hands or a food processor. For "chunkier" salad....tear with hands or use knife and chop up to desired consistency. Mix in all ingredients. Stir. Chill. Serve on croissants, bread, tortillas or is great in a pita with fresh lettuce! Everyone that has tried this has loved it.