Food Friday - Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert

Peanut Butter Chocolate Desseret
adapted from Key Ingredient

 This dessert was a Ten!  For real!  Wow!  I'm a huge fan of the Chocolate pudding dessert with the layer of cream cheese goodness topped with chocolate pudding but this variation is even better.  The cool whip folded into each layer adds a lightness to it but the peanut butter, peanut butter cups and pudding mix add a richness that cannot be beat.  It is a top favorite in this house - even the boys loved it and they are not huge sweet eaters (they even licked the bowl after each layer ;-) ) 

 

Ingredients

20

chocolate cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, divided

2

tablespoons butter, softened

1

package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

½

cup peanut butter

1-½

cups confectioners' sugar, divided

1

carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

15

miniature peanut butter cups, chopped

1

cup cold milk

1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate fudge pudding mix Directions Crush 16 cookies; toss with the butter. Press into an ungreased 9-in. square dish; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups. In another large bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining confectioners' sugar on low speed for 2 minutes Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in remaining whipped topping. Spread over peanut butter cups. Crush remaining cookies; sprinkle over the top. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Weekly Menu

I think that maybe fall is finally here.  Not that we won't have a few more warm "Indian Summer" days but I think the 90 and humid days may be gone.  We did have lasagna last week and it was good BUT I made it last Saturday before the humid air returned.  Tuesday, a record breaking heat day, we ate fast food at home - no cooking!!

With the change the seasons, I also update my menu plan a little.  During the summer my cooking is different - easy meals, grilling, and, well, eating out more due to the heat.  Now though, I like to have an organized plan :-)

So this is my plan for now:
Friday - Tacos, Rice and Beans.  I have a few different Taco recipes - beef, chicken and even a fish taco recipe or two to try.  Oh, and a baked taco recipe that I was going to try a month or so ago but it got to hot out :-)

Saturday - Anything goes :-)

Sunday - Some weeks we are at my parents but other weeks we'll have "Church Dinners" after church (like a roast or ham or pork loin that cooks for hours . .. or KFC HA) and then either have Sloppy Joes or Pizza in the evening.

Monday - Soup and Bread.  This way, I'll have left over soup to eat for my lunch during the week.

Tuesday - Chicken or Pork - any one of my numerous recipes.

Wednesday - Breakfast.  It is usually just the boys and I so this is an easy meal to cook.  Plus the boys like a lot of breakfast foods.

Thursday - Beef or Seafood.  Nope, I don't have a ton of Seafood recipes but I do have a few that we love PLUS a TON of beef recipes :-)

I want to work through my recipe book again this year which just means making a recipe, deciding if we love it, and, if we don't, that recipe is getting thrown out :-)

So, what is on the plan for this coming week?

Friday - Tacos, of course!  Today will be good old fashioned beef tacos with Spanish Rice (I'm trying a new recipe from The Pioneer Woman . .. I usually have good results with her recipes!) and beans.

Saturday -We really want to hit the beach one last time (well, unless we get an indian summer then we WILL go again) so even though it will be cool, we are heading to the lakeshore.  I'm thinking a small picnic is in order with some chicken from Popeye's before we play on the beach for a few hours or more . . .then I know we'll stop and get Bernie O's Pizza before we leave.  As a side note, we may just eat brunch before we leave and take some snacks - I haven't decided for sure yet.

Sunday-  I'm going to make a Stuffed Flank steak, Sweet and Sour Bean Salad, Mac and Cheese, and "The Bread" from Pioneer Woman.  Then, I'm planning Frozen pizza for dinner

Monday - Tortellini Soup with Sausage and homemade bread

Tuesday -Monte Cristo Stuffed Chicken Cutlets - this is a recipe I saw on the Rachel Ray show back in February and have never made.  I remember thinking it would be really good so here's hoping it is! Oven Baked Mac and Cheese, Sauteed Cabbage w/ bacon and Biscuits. (On a side note, one reason I tend to serve some sort of bread with so many meals is because that is one thing my kids are sure to eat!)

Wednesday - The boys have haircuts today at 4:30 so . . by the time that is done and we get back to town, we'll just run through the drive through today and grab dinner.

Thursday - Hamburgs on the grill and homemade french fries.

A few extra things this week - for breakfast I'm going to try Pioneer Woman's recipe for Cinnamon Toast.  Yes a recipe for real.  Then Brown Sugar Oatmeal cookies for lunch and an Apple Pie for dessert for the week.  I'm not big at making pies so we'll see how this turns out :-) 

A Day To Remember

September 11, 2001.  A day none of us will every forget.

It doesn't matter how many years pass, the horror of that event resonates through so many of us.  I did not know any one personally who died that day but a close friend of one of my brothers lost a brother that day who was working high up in the World Trade Center.  The question that is still asked when that day is talked about is, "Where were you when the world stopped turning" - a great song by Alan Jackson.

Too Cute Not To Toot

Now that it is past Labor Day I feel like I can post Halloween and Fall ideas without apoligizing.  This first idea I've posted several times but I highly dislike searching back through years of posts to find it.  I really want to do this idea on my front porch - it is only a photo from Pinterest but I think it is pretty self explanatory.

I'd love to do this idea from Parents.com on my front door.  Or even on our slider - how fun would that be!

And that's all I have.   Slow week - I think everyone is busy with back to school stuff :-)

Pre-K and K-4 - Round two

On Tuesday we started our second round of 6 weeks of school but this time Nate and the munchkin started class with Josh too.  It did not go off without a hitch - I figured some things out very quickly on Tuesday that would and would not work and made the needed changes on Wednesday.  We also ended up with a very "short" week.  Thursday the Water Softener guys showed up just moments before we were going to start class and that took all focus for the boys.  I didn't push it because I knew that their attention would be elsewhere.

 I was totally lame when Josh started class back in June and never took a "first day" photo so we did that on Tuesday. 

 We started the day with our notebooks.  I was about ready to claw my eyes out by the time we got through each section and knew that we could not start the day with these ever again HA!  Wow.  By the time we finished our morning things like the Pledge, our verse and calendar plus did the Notebooks we had already been doing school for an hour and I had lost the two younger ones.  There may or may not have been one of us in tears but I'll never tell who ;-)  Oh, and have you ever tried to say the Pledge of Allegiance one word at a time?  Not so easy - I need it written out from now on!!!

 Now that all three boys are in school we have started our Bible Lessons.  I picked up More! Instant Bible Lessons for Preschoolers; God Helps Me from the Christian Book Store and I am very happy with it already.  It is simple and has great activities that allow us to review the story over 4-7 days before moving on to something else.

 We even used Fruit Loops as counters and that was a big hit.

 Once Bible was done, we worked on our daily work.  The little's got to use blocks to build on top of an A.  Josh thought it was pretty cool so he made his own A so he could use blocks too.  This taught me another lesson.  Josh wants to do what the others are doing so by the second day I had copies for him to do of many of the same pages he could do after he finished his work.  That made for a much happier boy.

All three boys made great bracelets to wear with the basics that they were working on this week.

 The magnificant $1.00 magnetic cookie sheets were well loved this week for puzzles and games.

 Lots of cutting practice and no one cut off any fingers :-)

 Josh enjoyed doing some math.

 We used clear plastic counting pieces for fine motor control by placing them on the dots on the paper.

This week we also started Friday School.  The boys were so excited and did really well in their classes.

I did not get great photos at Friday School - between things I had to get done for the board, carrying a baby around for awhile, and just the crazy first day stuff - well, this is as good as it gets.  I hope to maybe get some better photos next week. 

As I mentioned earlier, I quickly learned that doing the daily notebook first was not going to work so on Tuesday, the very first thing we did was Bible.  Then we practiced our verse, did our basic calendar things and then got right to work on daily work.  It went 100% better.  Later in the day the boys asked to do their notebooks and I just let them do what they wanted in them.  I'm kinda giving the notebook concept a week or so break and then I will bring them back in the afternoon as part of our activity later in the day and see how that works. 

Other than Bible, the rest of our curriculum comes from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Goals and My September List

Hello!  I feel like the past week or so has been a whirlwind.  With meetings, a reunion, Football starting, Preschool/K-4 homeschool starting back up, Friday School Starting and, yes, even trying to do a little canning this fall. I finally sat down several days into September and made my lists for the month - something I had meant to do in the last few days of August . .. which flew by!

From the inspiration of a friend, I created a list of 30 projects I wanted to get done in September.  This is a brainstormed list - some are simple items, some more complex but all that need to be done.  They are in no real order, I just have to pick one (or more) each day to complete

1. Clean the insides of all the windows
2. Clean the outsides of all the windows and wash the screens (a husband helping job)
3. Organize the truck glove box with a folder for important papers (something I've wanted to do for like 10 years and just never have completed it)
4. Clean the inside of the kitchen cupboards and starighten them up
5. Do touch up paint on the kitchen cabinets
6. Do touch up paint in the dining room
7. Put away the stuff in the basement "need to put away" bin
8. Go through bookshelves in the basement, clean them out and take books to Baker
9. Find a home for all of my music
10. Put closet doors back up in the playroom
11. Go through my scrapbooking stuff and set up projects - specifically for upcoming scrapbook weekend
12. Go through master closet and clean out
13. Go through master dresser and clean out
14.  Measure/move the boys closet system into our room
15. Move our closet system into the boys rooms
16. Go through boys clothes for fall/winter and pick up needed items
17. Move desk into downstairs room (former playroom)
18. Get rid of Dishwasher/brush pile and old chair (we have a friend who will take all of this for us)
19.  List all of my things to sell on e-bay
20. Clean the washer/inside and out
21. Clean out dryer vent
22. Spray for spiders - we are being overrun!
23. Replace all burnt out light bulbs inside and out
24. Clean up the garage so I can park inside it again
25. Put a new lock on the door in the garage.  (Don't worry, it's locked -just in a red neck sort of way)
26. Fix the curtain in the playroom
27. Take out A/C units (this will be an end of the month task most likely depending on the weather)
28. Get our screen door fixed OR get a new one depending on whether it can be fixed and the cost.
29. Time to clean out and fill candle holders - it is that time of year!!!
30. Put together a "parents house" bag - we are going there a lot more since they have an awesome church so I want to have stuff we leave at their house :-)

I also have a few goals to accomplish this month too.  The main one is the Birthday Board for the week stuff since Josh's birthday month is October.  I want to get a fall wreath up (which means I have to make it!) and get a flag for the front of the house.  Added to that is outdoor work to prep for winter which includes getting the plants I want for the side of the house and moving the stepping stones that went to the old deck so we are ready to plant some fun stuff in the spring.   Other things on my radar or Halloween Costumes, making reservations for Josh's birthday weekend, and yes, Christmas.

Now that we are past the rush of the beginning of September . . .I'm sure I can buckle down and get some of these things done.

Things my Kids Say

* Nate has lots of friends.  Like Johnny, Kaylen, Kylie, Jason . . . I hear him calling for them all over the house.  Some days they are missing, some days they are at work and some days they play with him. Oh, and I can't forget Kate.  Kate often eats dinner with us.  Mac and Cheese to be exact.  Of all of the friends, there is only one I know - Kate.  Kate is the boys cousin, whom they adore, so even when she isn't here, she is here in their minds HA!

* Josh is very independent (and stubborn and strong willed . .. you get the idea).  Recently he was trying to unzip a toy that holds all the dinosaurs and was super frustrated.  I asked him if he wanted help.  His response, "Don't look at me mom" (except said through gritted teeth).  Apparently looking at him is equivalent to giving him help, which he does not want.  He did has his brother to help him, which is a big step, but his brother refused. :-)

* At night, we lay down with the boys at bedtime for a little time of songs and stories.  We end the time with something the boys call "Littlebys".  What are Littlebys . . .see if this rings a bell.  "Lullaby and Good night, Go to sleep . . ." :-)  Every night Darryl and I make up words to the song based on the events of the day and sing it - the boys love it :-)

* Laying in bed tonight with Nate he said, "Mom, I love to Cuddle with you before I sleep"  How sweet is that???

*One day, while we were out, Josh was trying to talk to Darryl and I, but we were already having a conversation so we continued to talk. Then Josh said, 'You just don't even know I'm here". hahahaha We laughed so hard at that one!!! The kid has a sense of humor, let me tell you. Then, we were at a little fair and he got to ride a pony. As he rode around the ring, he bounced up and down and said, "I'm on a bumpy road, I'm a bumpy road". What a kid. 

*So Josh was playing the "guess what" game. He said, "Mom, Guess What?" I said, "What", He said, "I'm going to pull out your hair so you then you will look like dad with no hair" hahahahahahahaha THAT is classic!

* One night, while laying with Nate at bedtime, he asked me to sing songs (which is normal).  He started pointing towards the ceiling, moving his finger around like he was figuring something out . . then he would point and say, "sing this one mom" and tell me what to sing.  It wasn't until I told my husband this cute little action that we figured out what he was doing - he was using Papa's Ipad and moving the screen around to find what he wanted . . .all in his minds eye :-)