Hashbrown Egg Bake

Hashbrown Egg Bake

Ingredients:
1/2 package (1 lb) frozen hash browns
1 lb breakfast sausage, browned
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (split)

Directions:
Cover greased baking dish with potatoes. Layer sausage on top of the hash browns. Sprinkle with ½ cup cheese over sausage. Mix eggs, milk, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour egg mixture over hash browns and sausage. Cover and refrigerator overnight. Bake uncovered at 350° for 60 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Once A Month Cooking 1

This is my November menu, I didn't make it until the end of the month, and I wanted to try everything before posting :)  I used the October menu from from Once a Month Mom. Great resource, great place to start.

I ended up with 23 meals, 4 for lunch and 19 for supper. Although no one like my lunches, so I turned those 4 into like 12 for just me!

Lunches - I don't think I'll make either again, as the kids wouldn't eat them with me!

• Broccoli Cheddar Biscuits – substituted turkey for broccoli so my kids would eat it
• made 2 freezer bags (6 each)
• Ham and Cheese Quesadilla
• 2 freezer bags (4 each)

Dinners

• Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
•  3 servings
• Spicy chicken Pasta
• 2 bags  
• Thaw and reheat, microwave or stovetop
• BBQs
• 2 bags
• Thaw and Reheat, microwave or stovetop
• Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf – used turkey instead, pretty mushy and not a meatloaf flavor we preferred
• Accidentally only bought 1 pound meat, so made 1 instead of 2!  
• Instructions: thaw in fridge. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese. Place the meatloaf back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving/slicing.
• Salsa Chicken
• 2 bags  
• Instructions: Dump bag contents into a slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken if desired. Stir in sour cream just before serving and heat until everything is combined. Serve over rice with shredded cheese
• Chicken Enchilada Lasagna – only used 9 tortillas, recipe said 16, ended up throwing out all 3 meals, mine turned out mushy and flavorless
• 3 meals  
• Instructions: Thaw in fridge. Bake at 425F for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and enchiladas are heated
• Mama’s Meatballs and Gravy
• My advice: Best served with spaghetti sauce, otherwise a bit to mushy/moist  
• 2 pans
• Instructions: Bake covered at 350F for 1 hour (no need to thaw). Uncover, and bake 10 minutes longer. Serve meatballs and gravy over mashed potatoes or rice.
• Ground Beef Stroganoff – I'll skip the red wine vinegar
• 2 bags  
• Instructions: Thaw. Reheat in microwave or on stovetop. Serve over hot cooked egg noodles.
• Chicken and Stuffing Bake
• 2 bags
• Instructions: Thaw in fridge. Bake uncovered at 375F for 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Breakfasts

·         Harvest Pancakes – bad texture

·         Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins – bland taste

Crossed off items are ones we will not add to our journal to eat again.

I kept a running list of what I had so I knew what was in the freezer, it worked great!

Now I need to start my next month! Our freezer is now empty!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

There are many recipes out there for Cream Cheese Frosting, but this combination has been my favorite blend!

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese
4 T butter, room temperature (softened)
1.5 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Cream together cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar.

Store in the refridgerator in airtight container, best within 3-5 days, Freeze up to a month.

I have left frosted cupcakes out on the counter all day and still ate them with no ill side effects!

Ices approximately 12 cupcakes or muffins.

Snicker Salad

My son's FAVORITE salad is Snicker Salad, my daughter doesn't like it because she doesn't like snickers....seriously, who doesn't like snickers?!?!

Snicker Salad

1 (3 oz.) pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1 c. milk
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip
3 regular size (or 9 fun size) Snicker bars  - cut into bite size pieces.
3 medium (or 4 small)  apples - cut into bite size pieces

Mix Pudding and Milk well, fold in whip cream. Add cut up apples and snickers. Enjoy!

Best served that day. Can serve 1-2 days later, however it does start to get a little runny.

Almond Bark Puffcorn

Here is the easiest recipe, and so yummy !

Almond Bark Puffcorn

Ingredients:
1 package of Almond Bark
1 BIG bag of puff popcorn
Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions:
Melt the Almond Bark, start with 30 seconds, stir, then in 15 second intervals until a smooth consistency, do not over cook.

Pour over Puff Popcorn and stir. Add sprinkles if you like (I did but my bottle was too little and included yellow, so you barely see any!)

Lay out on wax paper to dry

Once dry, break apart and put in large bowl. Enjoy!

I ate a lot of this when I was pregnant last summer :)

Lemon Cookies

Using inspiration from these Chocolate cookies from Lil Liz-bits, we made Lemon Cookies. I wasn't sure if my kids would eat the lemon, but they loved them!

Lemon Cookies

1 box of cake mix

2 eggs

3/4 cup shortening

Powdered Sugar (I only used 2-3 large spoonfuls)

Preheat Oven to 350. Mix the cake mix, shortening and eggs together

until well combined

Roll into 1" balls and roll balls in powdered sugar

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Take out and leave on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Move to wax paper and let cool

YUM!

 

Nutrion (24 cookies):

Calories: 149

Carbs: 18

Fat: 8

Protein: 1

Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

The following is a historical blog post from my first ever attempt at making homemade cupcakes:

Yum, Yum...this past week was my Dolly's 1/2 birthday, and she requested cupcakes. After rummaging through the cupboards, I realized I didn't have a box mix on hand, and would have to try cupcakes from scratch, yikes! Sounded scary to me, but was actually just as easy as a box!
my son walked in half-way through, and asked, "Where's the box mom?"  I replied, "There isn't one." Then he said, "then how did you make the cupcakes?" HA!  Shows how my cupcakes have been thus far :) Hopefully being at home now it'll improve!!

I found a recipe in my fun kiddy cookbook: "3 Books in 1: Silly Snacks, Classroom Treats, and Cookie Dough Fun"

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-2/3 c sugar
1 c milk
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites
1 c crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (about 10 cookies) - this was enough for me for the garnish, too
1 container vanilla frosting (I used cream cheese - my favorite!)

1. Preheat oven to 350, line 24 regular muffin cups with paper baking cups
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl. Stir in sugar. Add milk, butter and vanilla; beat with electric mixer at low speed 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Add egg whites; beat 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup crushed cookies.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpicks inserted into centers coue out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove to racks; cool completely
4. Frost cupcakes; garnish with additional crushed cookies

We decided to try making 12 big and 24 mini-muffins. I took the mini muffins out at 15 minutes, but it was still a touch too long. So I cut off the bottom part of the cupcake, as the top was still good. We then made sandwiches with these!

I let the kids decorate most of the cupcakes, and besides a mess, here is the "pretty" cupcakes I ended up with!

and of course I forgot to take a picture of the 1/2 birthday girl, who was mad at me because a 1/2 birthday does not equal presents and a party!

Nutrion: (24 servings)
Calories: 228
Carbs: 39
Fat: 8
Protein: 2

Cream Cheese Cookie Bars

Yum, Yum

I found this recipe at Amanda's Cookin' and it is fabulous!

Cream Cheese Cookie Bars
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened (I use fat free)
1 egg
1/2 t almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and egg until nice and frothy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla and almond extract and beat for 1 minute more.
In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat for 2 minutes. Press the dough into a large jelly roll (cookie sheet) pan. (Mine was 10.5x15.5) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let the pan cool completely.

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring or icing paste

To make the frosting, in a medium sized bowl (or your stand mixer) combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and food coloring. Mix for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Frost your pan of cookies.

Cut the cookies into bars and serve.

Don't forget to lick the frosting bowl clean.

Add sprinkles if desired, like we did for this Valentine's treat.

Enjoy!

** You may want to ignore this part of the post. I did a little math and calculated that if you cut the pan into 54 bars like I did, there are 148 calories per serving, using fat-free cream cheese. Sadly, it is easy to eat 2 or even 3 bars without blinking, oops!

Freezing
I did freeze half my bars (so I'd stop eating them!!) and when I took them out a week later they were still fabulous as if they were freshly baked that day!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

A while back I came across a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Pancakes that sounded delicious! I told my husband about them (he typically makes the kids pancakes on the weekend) and he was sold :)

Typically, this is what he does to spruce them up!

So, when the weekend came for Daddy's pancakes, he searched for the recipe without me and didn't find the same one I had found. His recipe called for flour, and it was pretty lumpy and difficult to put in the pancakes. We tried my recipe the next day, and there was too much butter and the mix was too runny!  This weekend we cut the butter WAY down, and here is what we got:

Perfect! (although a little messy this morning :) )

Here is our preferred recipe:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream Cheese Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 ounces cream cheese 

1tsp vanilla

4 Tbsp milk

We use Bisquick pancakes, I know lots of people out there make their own batter, but the Bisquick is so easy!  We tried it with frosty, and although delicious, we prefer in our house to use syrup and whip cream

or on just plain Maple Syrup :)

Yum! Enjoy :)