Homemade Nutella

This tastes even better than the grocery store product. You will not be disappointed.

Stonyfield Farm Boston Brown Bread

A hearty spicy loaf or if you double the recipe, like I did, 2 loaves and 12 muffins.

Peanut Butter Blondies

Tomorrow for breakfast the kids will try these treats. I used whole wheat flour instead of the all purpose flour and I used white chocolate chips instead of the peanut butter chips.

Nigella's Mozzarella in Carroza

I found this recipe in one of Nigella's cookbooks. I can not remember what the cookbook title was, because i borrowed it from the library. I found the recipe on the net here.

Creamy Bow Tie Pasta

I saw this recipe in the newest Taste of Home magazine. I had all of the ingredients on hand so I figured i would try this recipe. I switched the pasta to shells and i doubled the ingredients. Tasty quick dish.

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

First spray a 9"X13' pan with cooking spray.

In a food processor pulse into fine crumbs 22 Oreo cookies. Add 1/3 c melted butter and pulse a few times.

Pat down cookie crumbs into pan. Spread 1/2 gallon softened ice cream of your choice ( I used vanilla) on top of cookie crumbs. Freeze for 30 minutes. Heat slightly 1 jar of hot fudge. Spread on top and freeze for 30 more minutes. Cut into squares and serve with whipped topping. I also served Chocolate Peanut butter Fudge Sauce( on the stovetop: combine 3/4 c heavy cream, 1/4 C semi sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 C smooth peanut butter, 3 T sugar and 3 t water. Bring to a boil and turn down heat to simmer for 5 minutes, serve) and sprinkles.

easy Party Hats

Here is a great crafting website. She gives a very descript tutorial on how to make these easy party hats. the Martha stewart bone is very useful for this craft.

Hearts of Palm Dip

To celebrate Palm Sunday I made this delicious dip. If you like artichoke dip you will really love this dip. The dip was flavorful and not overly rich. I sprinkled parsley on the dip prior to baking.

Slow Cooker Spare Ribs

Excellent Slow cooker recipe. The ribs were tender as could be! This recipe is a real keeper.

Palm Sunday

today marks the beginning of Holy Week. Here is a website for making Palm Crosses (the website is non Catholic) Here is a brief article on Blessed Palms in the House:

The procession at Mass with the palms was a public display of homage and loyalty to Christ our King and Redeemer. Christ is the King of our home, so we should incorporate the blessed palms and a family prayer service as part of this day.
Palm trees aren't readily available in some vicinities, there are other plants like olive branches, box, yew, spruce, willows and pussy-willows that are blessed and used the same way as palms for Passion Sunday.

Reverence for Blessed Palms Because the palms are blessed, they are now sacramentals, which "are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare [us] to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1667). Sacramentals should be treated with respect and never be thrown away. Palms may only be burned or buried.

Palms and olive branches are kept in the home as a witness to faith in Jesus Christ, the messianic king, and in his Paschal Victory."Palm Crosses Family members can gather the palms from Mass and make little palm crosses, one for each member of the family and one for each room in the house. There are a variety of ways to make the cross. The simplest is to take two small pieces, one a little longer than the other, crisscross the pieces in shape of a cross and staple at the middle. Another way is to make two small slits near the top (where the crossbeam would be) in the longer piece of palm and slide the cross beam through the slits. This could be a challenging project for the family members to try various methods.
Each person is given a palm cross to wear on their coats or clothing throughout Holy Week, to remind us to carry our cross patiently so we may share Christ's Easter glory.

Easter Nests

2T butter

3 C miniature marshmallows

Coconut

4C Fruity Pebbles

In a pot melt butter and add marshmallows. Remove from heat and stir in the cereal. Place mix in 12 buttered muffin tins. Form cereal to make nests with buttered fingers. In a gallon ziploc bag place desired amount of coconut with 4-6 drops of green food coloring, shake until the coconut is all tinted. Place coconut in each nest for your grass and add either jelly beans, bunnies or another type of candy.

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

I made a few changes to this recipe: I used double the amount of carrots, I cooked the soup for 2-21/2 hours for a thicker soup and I omitted the croutons. Excellent, simple recipe.

Red Lobster Maryland Crabcakes

I really liked these crab cakes. The only change i made was omitting the celery and i used celery salt in place of.

Ingredients:1/2 tsp. garlic minced 1 tbsp. onion minced 1 tbsp. celery diced 2 tbsp. mayonnaise 1 whole egg 1/8 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. black pepper 1 tsp. Dijon mustard 1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning 1/4 cup bread crumbs 1 pound lump crab meat 2 tbsp. oil for sauteing Maryland Crab Cakes Preparation:In a large stainless-steel bowl, combine all ingredients except crab meat and bread crumbs. Using gloved hands, gently mix in crab meat, then add bread crumbs. Spread a thin layer of plain bread crumbs on your work surface. Form crab mixture into equal balls, approximately two inches in diameter. Place on crumbs. Gently flatten the ball of crab mixture and round the edges. Form cakes about one-half inch thick and three inches round.Refrigerate. In a saute pan, melt 2 tbsp. of oil until hot. Gently slide in crabcakes 2 at a time. Brown on one side approximately two-to-three minutes. Turn and brown on the other side. Turn down heat to simmer and cook crabcakes another 5-8 minutes. Chef's Tip:While you may be tempted to increase the amount of bread crumbs used, you'll receive the best sauté results with the thin layer as described above.

This recipe is from :www.recipesecrets.net

Artisan German Hard Rolls

Each recipe I have tried from the website and the book has been amazing! These small hard rolls were pretty easy and tasted fantastic.

Peanut Butter Muffins

These muffins were delicious, not too sweet. Some of the muffins i sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Emeril's Chili

This was an excellent chili recipe. I wanted to try something a little different from our normal chili recipe and we all were very pleased.

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin with Beer & Veggies

I used Honey Brown beer for this recipe. Ther recipe turned out great and was enjoyed by all.

Monkey Lover's Shake

The kids made this for dessert. It was not a hit! The kids want to go back ro plain vanilla or chocolate milk shakes. Here is the recipe.

Creamy Chicken Enchilada

Creamy, quick recipe.

Whole Grain Date & Nut Bars

In a large mixing bowl combine:

1 1/2 C cheerios cereal

3/4 C crispy rice cereal

1/3 C sliced almonds

3 T dry milk powder

1/2 C pitted dates, coarsely chopped

1/4 C coarsely chopped dried apricots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

On the stove top combine: 1/3 C honey and 1/4 C natural salted peanut butter. Heat for 5 minutes until mixture is combined and easy to stir. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to combine. Place in a 8"X8" baking pan lined with parchment paper and then sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 10-12 minutes of just until the bars are beginning to brown. Let cool completely in pan for at least 2 hours. Remove from pan and cut into bars.

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

In a Dutch oven place; 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 carrots chopped, 2 ribs celery chopped, 1 medium onion chopped, 4 bouillon cubes and about 6 C water. Let cook for 6 hours on high. Remove the chicken, shred and place back into the pot. Bring to a boil.In a medium bowl combine 1 egg , 3T water, 1/2 tsp. salt and 2 T vegetable oil. Whisk in 1 C all purpose flour. mix until well blended and elastic. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to use. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll very thin, approximately 1/16". Cut into small squares with a pizza cutter. Add dumplings a few at a time to pot Cook 3-5 minutes. Add 2T butter, cut up and 1/4 c heavy cream. Serve with cut up hard boiled eggs. I also added frozen peas toward the end because i love peas.

Silk Dyed Eggs

Today we made Martha Stewart's Silk Dyed eggs. Be sure and wrap your eggs really tight or the colors will not transfer.

Hot Fudge Sundae

Delicious hot fudge sauce recipe, I did not make the carmel, maybe next time.

Oven Fried Fish & Tartar Sauce

For the tartar sauce mix and blend: 1 C mayonnaise, 1 C sour cream, 4 T sweet pickle relish, 4 T dehydrated onion, 4 T fresh minced parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. For the fish: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F . In a shallow dish combine 1/1/2 C finely crushed butter crackers, salt and pepper, a dash or so of granulated garlic, a dash of dried parsley, 1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tsp. finely grated red pepper. In another shallow dish place 1 1/2 C flour and a third dish place 1 C buttermilk. Take a cookie cooling rack and wrap with foil, spray with cooking spray and place on a jelly roll pan. First dip fish in the flour, then buttermilk and last the crumb mixture. Place on the covered cookie sheet. Bake fish for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily and is cooked thoroughly.

Lillies

A few lilies for tomorrow's Feast of the Annunciation.

The Lily in Christian art is a well known symbol of chastity, innocence and purity.In pictures of the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel is sometimes depicted holding a Lily branch, or Mary herself is clasping a Lily, or there is a Lily in the vicinity.
" Hail Mary fairest flower O Lily glistening white and stainless !I greet you at this time with Gabriel's words sublime,Ave O maid so highly favoured!"
There is an old tradition that the Lily sprang from the repentant tears of Eve as she went forth from paradise. Here Mary can be seen as the New Eve, the Mother of life, who bore the fruit that redeemed us all from sin and every fall.The Lily in the language of flowers means, "Majesty". The Lily as we know it today is a trumpet like flower, stately and noble. Its large petals open and surrender to the light. It exudes a beautiful perfume, and bears a high pollen yield. The white Lily when it is full open resembles a star. It is a flower of great beauty and it is easy to see why artists have so often placed it within pictures of the Holy Virgin.

Hershey's Roses

I have always wanted to make these roses and today we finally did. Very easy.

Candy Vase

For this project you need 2 vases ( large for outer and small for inner) jelly beans and I used Peeps candies. Place the smaller vase inside the larger vase and layer the candies. Carefully pour water into the small inner vase with a water pitcher, place flowers in and you are done. You can use any candy for this.

"Painted" Toast

For each color place 1T heavy cream and 2 drops of food coloring. Have the children use a q-tip and color their piece of bread. Place in the toaster and top with butter and the kids sprinkled on cinnamon sugar. The colors really seem to pop out after the bread is toasted.

Asian Ginger Dressing

1/4 C. vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. minced ginger

1 Tbsp. chopped celery

1 Tbsp. mishroom soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp. tomato paste

1 1/2 tsp. sugar1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

pepper to taste

1 dash of granulated garlic
Combine all ingredients in a blender. Process until almost smooth. Any unused portions may be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Famous Pork Chops

Breaded pork chop recipe from allrecipes.com, not out of the ordinary but tasty!