Food Friday - Nutella Dip

Nutella Dip
adapted from Cooking Classy

 
Every once in awhile, I cook a little piece of heaven and this is one of those times.  I've never been a big, hooked-on fan of Nutella until I found little snack packs with cracker sticks at Wal-mart.  YUM!  When I saw this recipe I just had to try it and it so did not disappoint.  This is a "eat it with a spoon, standing by the fridge, in the middle of the night" kinda goodness.  I think you could take this dip and put it in a graham cracker crust to serve it as a cheesecake.  For real.  So fantastic it is hard to put it into words! :-)


Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
• 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup Nutella
• 
  

Directions

• In a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. In a separate mixing bowl, whip cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Add nutella and blend until well combined. Add half of the whipped cream and gently fold mixture until nearly blended then add remaining whipped cream and gently fold mixture until well blended.Serve with strawberries or graham crackers. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

Weekly Menu

I totally 100% missed a post yesterday - oops.  Had one on the list, never wrote it, forgot that I didn't write it so I guess I had a one day break :-)

This past weeks menu did not go as planned.   We had a vehicle break down so we ended up eating out a few nights as we shuttled back and forth.  One night I did not cook we just all picked what we wanted when we were home (since we weren't all home at the same time!) and I did not even make good food to take to the Ladies Meeting - I backed up some "break and bake" cookies at the last minute.  Some weeks just roll like that, right?

Then, I prepped the next weeks recipes and just as I was getting ready to start the menu/grocery list I realized that it was NOT Memorial Day weekend this weekend so I needed to start over HA!  At least I'm ready for next week too!

This is the plan for this week

Friday - Brats, Corn on the Cob and Mac and Cheese

Saturday - Biscuits and Gravy and a nice Fruit Salad

Sunday -  I'm hoping to make it to the Kite Festival that is at Lake Michigan so I planned a picnic - Chick-Fil-Lay Nuggets, Potato Salad, Fruit Salad, Chips and Salsa and Brushetta

Monday - Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Rice and Corn

Tuesday - This is normally Taco Day but tacos are on the plan for lunch so we will have Sloppy Joes and Seven Layered Salad.

Wednesday - Chicken Scallopini, Rice, and Roasted Green Beans

Thursday - Ham and Cheese Quiche and Easy Banana Bread.

Maybe I can stay on track a little more this week !!

Too Cute Not To Toot!

I know that by the time this posts, Mother's Day is done but this idea from in lieu of preschool was too cute to pass up.

These adorable bookmarks from I heart Naptime are great.  I have been looking for something small to be able to stick in cards and these would be perfect.

 A Short post this week :-)  Happy Crafty!

The Summer Version of Preschool Posts

Well, summer hit.  Wow.  Actually, we are having PERFECT summer days - not too hot, no humidity, blue skies.  The kids are outside before 8:00 AM and are out most of the day.  I'm not about to stop a 3 and 4 year old from playing outside to work on worksheets :-) (Uummm we did have some snow flurries on Sunday but that is also perfect weather for me HA)

So, here is my plan:

1) I'm going to print some theme units/letter units and file them in order I want to do them; we can use these on rainy days and really hot days.  The curriculum I've picked for the fall for each of the boys will totally build on and review what we have done this past semester.

2) Prepping art projects and other activities to do on rainy and hot days (or when they are bored!!).  These will be fairly simple but I will have all of the supplies ready, cut, etc so I can just grab the container and we can do the activity.

3)  I also will be prepping some fun outdoor stuff too - like obstacle courses, canvas painting and more.  My goal is to do at least one purposeful activity with the boys each week.  It might be learning a new outside game, playing with bubbles, shooting big squirt guns - anything to just add something new each week.

4) Prep for our "next year".  I'm trying to work towards being in a more set calendar next year so we can get used to that for Kindergarten.  With that said, I want to plan our calender with days off - I may try to do the 6 weeks on/1 week off rotation for my sanity sake but we'll see how that works out .

5) Finally, I want to get our "office" set up - it will be a place for me to do my crafts/scrapbooking as well as prep everything for home school and, sometimes we can do work at my desk in that room.  Plus my husband has requested a space in that room too so I will make sure he gets a space as well :-)

I plan on still posting on Mondays but the posts will contain the fun stuff we did as well as my prep stuff; sometimes it might just be photos of our week!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  We are spending the day as a family . . .my husband has a concert :-)

The Great Smoothie "Debate"

One of the meals I struggle with most is . . .breakfast.  I'm not a morning person so the thought of cooking breakfast is not something I enjoy unless I can cook it at like . . .noon :-)  With summer coming I thought I would try a few different smoothie options.  Things that are quick, easy and COLD!  Eating Cream of Wheat (which I do love) is not that enticing when you wake up to 80 degree temps at 6:00 am :-/  So, I've tried out three different options:

1) Yoplait Smoothies - These are found in your grocers freezer.  Of the three I tried, these are my least favorite but that isn't to say they aren't good.  The directions call for just adding 1 cup of milk - I usually add at least a cup and half or it doesn't even come out of the blender and I still have to eat it with a spoon.  I've tried the chocolate banana, Strawberry banana and Blueberry Pomegranate.  The reason these fall third is their "texture".  I find them really creamy and not as cold as I would like.  It's like I need to add ice to make them colder.  I want something that I "crave" and I don't crave these at all.

2)  Dole Shakers - These are also found in your grocers freezer.  I love these.  First of all, you don't need a blender - you add the liquid to the canister and shake!  The directions call for adding juice but I also added Coconut Water.  The juice makes it taste the best, in my opinion, but the Coconut water was good, just not as sweet.  These I crave.  Not only do I end up having one in the morning, sometimes I make one in the afternoon for a snack. So far I've just used regular Orange Juice but I think I will try these with "Trop 50" which will make them more "Weight Watchers" friendly . .. granted I don't really care to drink Trop 50 "straight-up" it reminds me of Tang!! 

3) A Homemade Recipe  -The recipe that I use is for a Tropical Green Smoothie from Skinny Taste.Com and I really love it.  It's cold and not too creamy, which is good.  I do cut the recipe in half and it still makes a full cup and a half of smoothie which is alot :-)  Click on the link above to find the recipe :-).  This is without a doubt the healthiest of the three options with the greek yogurt and spinach involved.  :-) I've used both fresh and canned pineapple and they both work perfectly.  I also still throw a whole banana into the blender since the half wouldn't keep well :-)

To be truthful, the one I still crave the most is . . .. the Dole Shakers!  I think I will keep those around for a treat in the summer.  The one I would eat for a healthier breakfast would be the Homemade Recipe.  (Can you guess which one I won't buy again??? - I still have one in my freezer that I really don't even want to use . . . )

I think I now need to venture out and try some more homemade smoothies and see if I can find a few others that I like. 

*I have no association with any company related to these smoothies - I'm just stating my opinion :-) 

Food Friday - Buttermilk Waffles

Buttermilk Waffles
adapted from . . my sister-in-law, Lynnette McMaster

This is my "go to" waffle recipe that I've used for years.  It started about 20 years ago when I would stay with my sister-in-law if my brother was out of town.  She would always make waffles and serve them with Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream for dessert while we watched movies HA!  They are so easy and have the perfect flavor.  Yum! 

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

a splash of vanilla (optional) 

Beat eggs well.  Sift flour.  Add remaining ingredients;  Stir until mixed.

Pour into waffle maker, following manufacturer’s directions