J-E-LL-O!

Groceries cost a lot. In a big family like ours groceries cost A LOT, A LOT. We rarely have fun store bought snacks in our house because of this. Sadly, I'm not really the type to bake cookies all day, every day and have them ready for after school snacks. I've tried but it's just not me.

Somedays it feels like my kids are eating me out of house and home. They are constantly eating, snacking, wanting more, snacking, eating, eating, eating. HOLY COW! And if you've seen my skinny little bean pole children you have to wonder, WHERE DO THEY PUT IT ALL. Likewise, if you've seen my skinny little bean pole children full of energy you know that it all gets burned off in 4.3 seconds.

I've had to be creative and come up with snacks that are quick, easy, COST EFFECTIVE and don't require me to be in the kitchen longer then I have to be. I thought I'd share one of our favorites after school snacks...

"Home Made" Jello Cups. The only real thing home made about this is that I make them at home. I make them all the time and we have a never ending supply of Jello because when 5 get eaten I make 5 more.

The first thing you'll have to do is purchase some reusable Gladware mini cups like these (or something similar). The size I use are the 4oz or 1/2 cup, they run around $3.50 for 8 of them. I use them so much it's well worth the price.

Line your cups up on the counter.

Get some boxes of Jello. In any flavor. You'll use 3 boxes for 15 cups.

Make Jello according to the package. I use a big soup ladle to portion it out into the individual servings. That might seem like a big fat DUH, but when I first started doing it I used to try to pour it in each cup straight from the little pot. BIG MESS! For this batch we did grape, watermelon and peach flavor. I put peach pieces in the peach flavored Jello for added variety. :)

Store in Fridge. The same thing could be done with pudding.

Doing it this way saves me a TON of money. The way I figure it a 6 pack of refrigerated Jello Cups costs around $2.79 before tax. That means that each cup costs around .46 cents + tax. I buy a regular sized box of Jello for .70 cents. (or .58 cents if I get the Walmart Great Value brand) I can get about 5 serving from each box, which makes each cup roughly .11 to .14 cents and NO TAX.

It works for us!

Oh and before I go....
I saw this snack today from Our Best Bites on Make it and Love It. I'm trying it out today!!!

Pumpkin Bread....

The other day we bought one of those instant pumpkin bread mixes at the store. Julianna and Liam were so excited to get it home and bake for me. First, Julianna got out all the supplies and ALLOWED me to hold the eggs (You know, so Liam wouldn't break them). Then she and Liam got to work making some yummy pumpkin bread for mommy.

They poured the mix out of the bag and into a big mixing bowl....

Mommy cracked the eggs. Then Chefs Julianna and Liam poured the Vegetable Oil into the mixture....





Next, "shakey stirs" and "mixy mixes" to get the mixture just right for the yummiest pumpkin bread in town...

Doesn't that mix look perfecto?!

Into the oven, out of the oven....this is where I forget to take a picture of the actual bread....



{PICTURE A YUMMY LOAF OF PUMPKIN BREAD RIGHT HERE}}





...and into my mouth...(blurry iphone pic)

We have SUCCESS! The yummiest Pumpkin Bread EVER! Thank you Chefs.

30 Meals...

I am NOT, I repeat NOT a good cook...or even a fair to midland cook...okay maybe that's going to far but seriously I just don't have the cooking gene. My family does eat, they aren't withering away but I am just not good at coming up with food on the spot and in a pinch. Dinner time is NO FUN for me. I want to enjoy it but with so many other distractions (like, ummmm, 5 kids for instance) I find it very difficult.

Today, I stumbled upon Kathryn & Melissa's blog called NANNYGOAT, which is seriously an awesome blog with tons of great ideas.

Last week they posted this little gem of an idea:
The 30 Meals Plan


Isn't that great! Along with that they also made this cute little recipe box to hang on their fridge. I.MUST.HAVE.IT (supposedly a tutorial is coming soon)


I am totally excited to start trying new things and building my 30 meals, so that I don't have to stress at dinner time anymore. I only have one dumb question...if one of those meals includes your basic everyday spaghetti and meatballs do I really have to have a recipe card for that?! Maybe I will just write SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS on an index card really big and only revert to that in times of true necessity.

P.S. As an added bonus if you are excited about the "30 Meals Project" head over to my friend Jackie's Blog at "The Combs Kitchen" where she has great recipe & menu planning ideas.

How to make Cupcakes from scratch by Chef Elise....

**recipe at the bottom



Get a Cupcake Party Set for your Birthday from Mommy & Daddy











Get all your utensils out and find a yummy, delicious recipe





Gather your ingredients and your two favorite sisters for a baking extravaganza



















Carefully line your baking pan with pretty pink baking cups









Begin to add ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl....freak out when your older sister takes a turn adding some baking soda






Promptly get over your freak out...

Crack an egg..Mix it all up...
.






















Mmmmm...
those look ready to bake!!



12 minutes and some cooling time later, frost your cupcakes with chocolate frosting










Eat & Enjoy!!!

**I noticed A LOT of people have been googling "Cupcakes from Scratch" and have been landing on this blog...so I thought I would actually put the recipe we used...cause we all know that is what you are really here for, right?! :)

3/4 Cup of flour
3/4 Teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup of milk

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper baking cups.
2. In a small bowl, use a wooden spoon to combine flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In medium bowl, mix together sugar and softened butter. Add egg and mix well with a whisk. Blend in vanilla. Add 1/2 flour mixture and mix well.
4. Spoon batter into baking cups, filling 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes and let cool.
6. Frost cupcakes with your favorite frosting (I also have a recipe for frosting from scratch if you want...leave a comment)
7. EAT & ENJOY!

Delicious Dinners by Chef Elise!

It is no secret that Elise wants to be a chef when she grows up. She spends her free time playing in her play kitchen cooking up delicious recipes, she was a chef for Halloween, she loves helping in the kitchen and one of her favorite shows is GOOD EATS on the Food Network (actually she is mesmerized by any thing on that channel!) So Monday night I was trying to decide what to make for dinner when Elise shouted "I know!" and started to randomly pull out ingredients from the fridge. So naturally I grabbed the camera! When all was finished we had an absolutely delicious Chicken Salad ala' Chef Elise. It was kinda nice to just take pictures of all the fun instead actually having to cook something myself! Funny thing is she had only seen me make this salad once before and knew every single thing she needed for it and how much! So following is the "recipe" in pictures of
"CHICKEN SALAD ALA' CHEF ELISE"

Step 1:
Place Romaine Lettuce & Baby Spinach in a large bowl, tear Spinach into small pieces


Step 2:
Next add grilled chicken breast strips, tear into smaller bite-size pieces


Step 3:
Add shredded cheese...if you are Chef Elise add LOTS of shredded cheese




Step 4:
Next add several shakes of Grated Parmesan Cheese


Step 5:
Several large squirts of Ranch dressing


Step 6:
Mix it all up together, adding more Ranch if it looks a little dry...


Step 7:
Smile & Serve!!




This was a wonderful spring dinner and everyone loved it!! YAY!