Rueben Deli Sandwiches

I got inspired by the Taste of Home website when I was looking for a easy main dishes to feed my family for St. Patricks day.  It was a toss up between a Reuben Soup or a Reuben Sandwich.  With March madness of all sorts whirling around on our calendar I opted for the quickest and easiest meal plan.  We served it with oven roasted garlic rubbed cabbage and a lime/pear green jell-o.  It really hit the spot.

Knowing that my children love a good Rueben like their daddy I may just have to try the original recipe that has more of a kick to it and is made more like a chicken salad but with corn beef.   

Read more: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/reuben-deli-sandwiches/print#ixzz3UksJfB7q

Reuben Deli Sandwiches Recipe

The classic Reuben sandwich. The filling is easy to prepare and keeps well in the fridge. Add a salad and dessert, and you have a delicious meal

TOTAL TIME: Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

Wishbone Thousand Island Dressing

1 can (14 ounces) sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained

3/4-1 pound sliced deli corned beef

        Swiss cheese Deli Slices

Slices rye bread

Butter, softened

Directions

Spread Thousand Island dressing on bread like you would a mayo.  Top one slice with cheese, sauerkraut, corn beef another small piece of cheese (I like to put a small slice of cheese on both sides of meet when I made grilled sandwiches to make them hold the bread and toppings together.) top with remaining bread. Lightly butter the outsides of bread. Toast sandwiches on a hot griddle for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. 

Yield: 6-8 servings (depending on how much meat you use per sandwich)

A Bon Bon Treat (Cake Balls)

I have a friend who makes these for many special occasions. To me they are her signature treat. When I learned how easy they are to make, I decided to try it. I ended up making these little cake balls for the kids teachers and a few of my friends for Valentines Day. The cake part of it is easy and quick, but it is the dipping of them that takes time.

Cake Balls

1-Box Cake Mix, made according to package instructions (Flavor of Choice)

1-container Frosting (Flavor of Choice)

Vanilla or Chocolate Almond Bark

After the cake is baked and cooled. Crumble the cake and mix in the entire container of frosting. Space mixtures into small balls. Place on waxed paper and freeze. (This step makes it easier for me. The cake stays together better as I dip them, but it does set the chocolate faster which is a factor is your are wanting to add sprinkles.)

Melt your almond bark and dip individual balls into it, remove, and place on wax paper to set.

*I used a chocolate cake mix with a cream cheese frosting.

St. Patrick's Day Fun- Eating the Rainbow and More

I kicked off the week trying to be better at making the holidays fun for my kids. I always remember my mom decorating for each and every holiday. I on the other hand decorate very little for all the holidays except for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and CHRISTMAS and even at it's bet it is minimal. So in an effort to make St. Patrick's Day fun I helped my boys create their own little leprechaun traps. Hoping we will trap him and get loads of gold! They are so excited they are counting down like it is Christmas or something. It has just gone to prove to me that making holidays fun is a big deal to kids--I just hope they will remember it. :-) It has been a fun week trying to make up answers for all their leprechaun questions.

So today for fun we made 'Taste of Rainbow" cupcakes from familyfun.com The kids had a blast. If you enlist yourself in this project be prepared to spend some time. They are not your quick toss it in the pan cupcakes. (I doubled the cake mixes because I thought if I am going to do it I am going to make it worth my time!--Maybe that is why it took so long! ;-))

The fun part for my boys was being able to help stir each small batch of food coloring batter that I had waiting for them and seeing what color they turned into.

Here they are helping me fill the cupcake liners--by reminding me which color comes next.

Hughie just enjoyed being able to lick everything we were done with clean.

The End RESULTS: A CUTE Edible RAINBOW

Taste of Rainbow

White Cake mix (18.25 oz box)--or double it! ;-)

Food Coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)

Baking cups (White ones allow you to see the rainbow through them)

Whipping Cream (optional)

Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly into 6 bowls. place in liners in the following order (Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red).

Bake according to recipe directions. Remove the paper and wrapper, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipping cream cloud.

Food coloring

Purple -- 9 red and 6 blue drops

Blue-- 12 drops

Green--12 drops

Yellow--12 drops

Orange--12 yellow and 4 red drops

Red --18 drops

Enjoy the delight on your kids faces as they eat their way to the end of the rainbow!

Snowman Sugar Cookies

Once There was a Snowman---until we ate him up!

2009 Snowmen

We made these cut snowmen last year for Christmas and my kids couldn't wait to do it again this year. What is it about colored sugar and sprinkles that makes kids go wild every time you walk past them in the store? My kids are always begging for sprinkles. This year I have broke down and bought them at Easter and for their birthday. They love it! Decorating cookies with sprinkles and candies is something my boys wish I would do every week. I hold out for Christmas and Valentines hoping to make it more special for them.

Try out my favorite recipe for moist and delicious Sugar Cookies.

2008 Creations

These were much more elaborate then 2009. I let my nieces and nephew come over and decorate with us. They all went wild with the candies! Then when it came time to eat them they wouldn't eat the ones with all the treats on it. I questioned why they did this and my niece said, "they have too much stuff on them and its doesn't taste good with the cookies." I had to give her a hard time about this because she was the one that kept loading up each cookie. I kept telling them not to, but what do I know! Then when it came time to eat them she was the one that wanted the plain frosted ones that I wouldn't let them add stuff too. LOL!

Quin making a spider with his dough.

Cameron making a snowman

Fun Holiday Cookies

The boys and I had so much fun making these adorable cookies. A friend of mine did these on her goodie plates last year and I just fell in love with how cute they were. After creating them for our goodie plates this year, I fell in love with how quick they come together, not to mention hours of rolling, cutting, and frosting. You can make them into Ghost at Halloween. I have even had the thought come to try to make cute a snowman, but haven't done it yet. Let your imagination run wild. It was fun to make both brown nose and red nose reindeer-You can display Santa's herd of flying reindeer with Rudolph in the lead on your plates--just so cute, quick, and fun. These cookies are a Hit with our family and friends.

1 (1 lb) package Almond Bark (I used Plymouth Pantry-just what our store had)

1 package Nutter Butter Cookies

Twisted Pretzels (Regular or Large size)

Red and Brown M&M's (Plain or Peanut)

Mini Chocolate Chips

Melt the almond bark as directed on the package in the microwave. Dip the Nutter Butter cookie in melted bark and place on waxed paper. Quickly add the pretzel for antlers, M&M and mini chocolate chips. Allow Bark to harden before moving to goodie plates.

*My friend uses plain M&M's and smaller pretzel twist. I didn't know that when I bought my pretzels so instead of placing the pretzel on the front like she does I put mine on the back. I personally like the peanut M&M's better for eating! I mean for the nose ;-) so I used them and think that they make the nose stand out and are better portioned with the cookie size.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

3 Eggs

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Margarine

3 Cups Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Mix Together.

Alternately mix together sour cream and dry mixture.

1 Cup Sour Cream

5 1/2 Cups flour

1 tsp. Soda

2 tsp. Baking Powder

A Pinch of Salt

Chill at least 2 hours. Roll out evenly and cut into desired shapes--using uniform sized cookies on each cookie sheet insures no over baked goodies.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or until edges just begin to brown, on a greased sheet.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 -8oz Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Butter or Margarine

1 tsp Vanilla

7-8 Cups Powdered Sugar

Mix gently until smooth.