Easy Lemon Cookies

I found this wonderful baking website called Bake at 350. Flavor of the Month is at the end of every month where you show what you created using the theme of ingredient. This month was Lemon and Lime. I decided to find an EASY recipe that I could whip up. I found this recipe for Easy Lemon Cookies that looked like a winner. They turned out really good, the texture of a cookie is as important to me as the flavor and these where perfect, soft and chewy.

Easy Lemon Cookies

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
  

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Click Here to find more delicious recipes using lemon and lime.

Menu Plan Monday, 4th Week

I'm keeping it pretty simple this week. I found a website that talks about 8 foods you should eat everyday, I'm going to try and start incorporating some of them into our menu. Black Beans are one of the items so they will be the star of dinner two nights.


Monday: Breakfast for Dinner
Tuesday:Brown Rice and Black Bean Burgers
Wednesday: Tortollini Salad
Thursday: BBQ with neighbors
Friday: Date Night
Saturday:Black Bean and Veggie Quesadillas
Sunday:Monte Cristo Sandwiches

Click Here for more Menu Plan ideas.

Yeah for Swagbucks!

I've made 100 swagbucks! I'm so excited, it only took about 2 months. I'm going to get $10 Amazon gift cards with it. If you haven't started using Swagbucks as your search engine click Here.

Easy Peach Ice Cream

I love homemade ice cream, I'm so happy we got an ice cream maker for our wedding because I probably wouldn't have one right not if we didn't. But I love it! We decided to make some Peach Ice Cream, which is now the last of Peach Week because the box is empty! We finished off the peaches way faster than I expected.

This recipe is good and easy. I actually can't even take the credit because my husband was the one that made it. This also makes a lot of ice cream, only half would fit in our ice cream maker.

Peach Ice Cream
From Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

4 cups half and half, light cream, or milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 T. vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
4 cups fresh peaches, blended until nearly smooth, it should make 2 cups

In large bowl combine half and half, sugar and vanilla. Stir until sugar dissloves. stir in whipping cream. Freeze ice cream mixture in a 4 or 5 quart ice cream freezer according to manufacturer's directions.

Free Lip Balm

Eos is giving away 50,000 of these sweet mint chapstick tihings. I signed up for mine last night. I'm excited to try it! Go Here to sign up to get yours all you do is give them your address and email.

I have a separate email account for everything I sign up for which keeps everything organized. If you are going to sign up for offers you might want to create a new email address. That way you wont get more junk emails in your personal account.
Thanks Utah Deal Diva.

Photo Face

I took Addie to Thanksgiving Point Gardens yesterday for the last 2 Buck Tuesday. I like to do a big photo shoot of her every few months to see how she's growing. This picture sums them all up. I think she looked at the camera about 3 times.

Transfer Pie Crust, The EASY Way

When I was making the Peach Pie this week I discovered a really easy way to transfer the pie crust into the pan. All I did was roll out the pie dough onto Freezer Paper, shiny side up, with just a little bit of flour. Then when it was ready to move I just flipped the Freezer paper over onto the pie dish and peeled the paper off. It was so EASY! No cracking, no trying to roll it around the rolling pin. The Pie Crust recipe I used worked like a dream. You can find Freezer paper in any grocery store by the aluminum foil.

Click Here for the Peach Pie Post.
Click Here for more Works For Me Wednesday Tips.

Peach Smoothie

We love smoothies in our family. We make them with all different kinds of fruit, whatever we have on hand. I also just found out that my little toddler LOVES them. She about died waiting for this smoothie so I wasn't able to take a good picture of it. I gave her this full glass and she slurped the whole thing up in minutes.

If you like to make a lot of smoothies like our family, I Highly recommend getting a Magic Bullet blender or personal blender. It makes single serving smoothies so easy to make, you don't have the hassle of getting out your big blender and cleaning it. They actually work really well, I'm always happy with the results. Here is an easy recipe for a Peach smoothie, but don't be afraid to throw in any other fruit or some juice for extra flavor, you usually don't have to add extra sugar unless your fruit isn't very sweet. I love mine with frozen strawberries.

Peach Smoothie

• 1 large peach
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 1/4 cup sugar
  

Mix in blender. Serve immediately. Makes 1 generous serving.

Click here to buy the magic bullet.

Peach Week

I was very excited when my husband brought home this box of peaches last week. He has been very supportive and excited about me creating this blog so he suggested I call this week Peach Week. I thought it was a brilliant idea. So everyday this week I'm going to post what I've done with this box of peaches. The goal is to use them up before they go bad, and with only two adults and one toddler in our house that can be pretty hard.

Peach Pie with Very Easy Crust

I wanted to start of Peach Week with a bang so I made a Peach Pie for my husband. To tell you the truth I don't really like fruit pies so I never make them, I also find pie curst hard to deal with and not worth it in the end. That is until I found this recipe. I've tried many pie crust recipes, even recipes called No Fail, but they have alwasy failed. They taste bland, crack all over or fall apart. This Lion House recipe was amazing because is is like making a soft cookie dough instead of a pie crust. Very easy to make and Very forgiving. If you have ever had a hard time making pie crust, or have avoided it, try this recipe! The filling was also very easy to make and everyone really enjoyed eating it.


I had to make a few changes to the recipes because I didn't have a few things on hand. I left out the orange zest and used vanilla extract instead of almond. For the pie crust I used 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cup shortening.

Golden Peach Pie
From The Taste of Home Cookbook

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extracts
• 5 cups sliced peeled fresh peaches (about 5 medium)
• 2 Tablespoons butter

Method:

• Line a 9-in pie plate with bottom pastry; trim even with edge of plate. Set aside.
• In large bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and salt; stir in lemon juice, orange peel and extract. Add the peaches; toss gently. Pour into crust; dot with butter.
• Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie. Trim seal and flute edges. Brush pastry and cutouts with milk, cut vents in the crust. Cover edges loosely with foil.
  
• Bake at 400 for 40 minutes. Remove foil; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Store in refrigerator.

Lion House Pie Crust
From the Lion Hose Cookbook

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup- Butter
• 1/3 cup- Lard
• ¼ cup- Margarine
• 1/3 cup- Shortening
• 1 tablespoon- Sugar
• ½ teaspoon- Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon- Salt
• 1 tablespoon- Nonfat Dry Milk Powder
• 3 cups All-purpose flour
  
• ½ cups plus 1 tablespoon cold Water

Method:

In mixer, cream butter, lard, margarine, and shortening. In bowl, mix sugar, baking powder, salt, and dry milk powder, add to creamed butter mixture and mix briefly. Add half the flour, mix. Add rest of flour and mix slightly. Pour in water and beat again only until water is just blended in.

Divide dough into two or three balls. Roll each out on floured board. Line pie pan with dough and cut off excess dough. Flute edges. Prick holes in bottom with fork. Bake empty pie shell at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Or fill unbaked pie shell and bake according to recipe.

Makes 2 to 3 pie shells.

Menu Plan Monday, 3rd Week

The best tip I could give someone who is going to start planning a weekly meal plan is to be flexible. Every week I end up changing our menu plan because sometimes our schedule gets crazy or I just don't want to cook. If this happens I usually move that meal to the next week because I already have the ingredients.

Monday: Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Tuesday: Cub Scout Pack Meeting with BBQ

Wednesday: Bowtie Chicken Cesar Salad (leftover noodles from Monday, leftover chicken from Sunday)

Thursday: Chicken Enchiladas

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sunday: Pork chops on Potatoes

Stay tuned this week for Peach Week, all things peach!
Click Here for more Menu Plan Monday.

Chicken California

I found this recipe on a blog called Dinner Time Ideas. I got excited because I love anything wrapped in a tortilla. (These uncooked tortillas we get at Costco, are amazing) I thought they would taste bland but I was really surprised when they tasted great! We've had them several times since, it is a new family favorite. I didn't have fresh parsley, I rarely do, but it is just as good without.

CHICKEN CALIFORNIA

4 T butter
4 T flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken, cooked & shredded or cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 dozen flour tortillas
2 T chopped parsley

1) Preheat oven to 350*.

2) Measure flour, salt & pepper into small bowl.

3) Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add flour/salt/pepper all at once. Whisk until mixed well.
4) Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth & bubbly.
5) SLOWLY stir in milk, whisking constantly, and heat to boiling. Continue stirring until smooth & thickened.

6) Reserve half of sauce, set aside.
7) Put a spoonful each of chicken, cheese and sauce in each tortilla, then roll up enchilada-style. Lay side-by-side in a 9x13” pan.(I just add 1 tablespoon of sauce to each tortilla)

8) Spread remaining sauce evenly over top of rolled tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese & chopped parsley.
9) Bake uncovered at 350* for 20-25 mins.

Click Here for the original post on Dinner Time Ideas.

The Eating Shirt

For some reason bibs have never really worked for us. They would keep the front of Addie's shirt clean but she would always turn her head and get food all over her sleeve. I'm sure there are some bibs out there that would correct this problem but I have found a solution. The eating shirt. When we were eating spaghetti one night and I told my husband to find one of his old gross shirts (he has many). We just put it over Addie's clothes and Ta Da the eating shirt is born. It works like a charm! She still uses her sippy cup so we don't have to worry about liquids seeping through and it works wonderfully in repelling other food.

To keep the neck hole up around her chin I used a bobby pin I was wearing at the time. Just pull the shirt up close and clip it together.


Click Here for more Works For Me Wednesday.

Menu Plan Monday, 3rd Week

Wow time flies, I can't believe it's been a whole week already. Here's my menu plan for this week. I'm going to try to post some of the recipes for these meals as I make them. I'm really excited for these recipes, they are some of my favorites.

Monday: Chicken California
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Salmon with fresh salsa
Thursday: Ham Fried Rice with Sweet and Sour Chicken
Friday:Homemade Pizza (didn't make this last week)
Saturday:Breakfast for Dinner
Sunday: Pork Tacos

Click Here for more Menu Plan Mondays.

BBQ Chicken Salad

We had this on Monday and it was great, my husband gave it rave reviews and he doesn't usually enjoy salads. This salad is pretty easy to prepare, healthy and very filling. It's not one of those wimpy salads. Cooking the chicken takes the most time so to make it really quick you could use a rotisserie chicken from to store.

We had the leftovers the next day wrapped in a tortilla, if you want to do that make sure you leave the lettuce separate from the other ingredients and add at the last minute. It will help keep it fresher. The recipe is very vague, I just add whatever amount I have on hand or I like. For two people we only used 1 chicken breast but it didn't leave very much chicken leftover for the wraps.


BBQ Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Chicken
Roman Lettuce
Onion
Green Pepper
Tomatoes
1 Can of Black Beans
1 Can of Corn, or 1 cup frozen
Your Favorite BBQ Sauce
Ranch Dressing

Boil the chicken until done, cut up in 1 inch chunks, add BBQ sauce to chicken until coated. Prepare other ingredients by chopping into bite sized pieces. Layer toppings on lettuce with Chicken on top. Add desired about of Ranch Dressing. Enjoy!

For more Ultimate Recipe Swap recipes visit Life as Mom.

Thanksgiving Point 2 Buck Tuesday

Last week I posted about Thanksgiving Points Two Buck Tuesday. We decided to try it out yesterday, I've never been to the Museum of Ancient Life and I thought now would be a good time to go. We went around noon and found this line waiting for us. If you are going to go to the museum expect long lines and crowded, crazy inside. BUT the line did go very fast and we still enjoyed seeing the museum for $4 for our little family. The gardens and Farm Country may be less crowded because of the larger open area.

Click Here for my origianl post about this offer.
Click Here for Thanksgiving Points Website about this offer.

Earn Money by Doing What You Already Do

Have you heard about Swagbucks? I first heard about Swagbucks about a year ago but I never really got into it until last month and now I'm hooked! It is a search engine like Google or Yahoo but every now and then when you search for something you earn a swag buck. Once you have enough swag bucks you cash them in for money, gift cards or products.

It is so easy to earn the swagbucks, every time I want to search for something I log onto Swagbucks, search and sometimes get paid. I think the most used reward is a $5 gift card to Amazon for 45 swagbucks. The best part is it only took me about 3 weeks to earn 45 Swagbucks. My plan is to keep saving them up and then before Christmas cash in all of my bucks for Amazon gift cards.

Another great thing about Swagbucks is the referral program, when you refer someone and they get a swagbuck, so do you!

Click Here to join Swagbucks and start earning.

Menu Plan Monday, 2nd Week

Alright, 2nd post for Menu Plan Monday. I'm pretty excited. Last week went pretty good, although I had to change a few things because we didn't know my husband would have to work late.

Monday: BBQ Chicken Salad
Tuesday: Macho Nachos (Recipe below)
Wednesday: Pork Chops with rice and spinach
Thursday: Lagoon with the Family
Friday: Homemade Deep Dish Pizza (the best recipe, sooo good)
Saturday: Eat out with friends
Sunday: Crock pot Chicken and Spagetti

Macho Nachos
This is one of those meals that is not healthy but it's easy and quick. Plus my husband LOVES it.

Ingredients:
Tortilla Chips
Can of Chili
Cheese
Any toppings you prefer. In our family we like:
Olives
Tomatoes
Onion
Green Peppers
Banana Peppers

Arrange chips in a dish (we like to use a pie plate). Heat up Chili in microwave for a few minutes, just until hot. While the chili is heating up prepare toppings and grate cheese. Layer chili onto of chips, add cheese and toppings. Place under broiler just to melt the cheese. Enjoy.

For more Menu Plan Mondays visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

I Love Ebates, you should too.

Have you heard of Ebates? I love Ebates. Ebates is a website where you get paid to shop online. Pretty simple. You create an account, log in, and find a store where you would like to purchase something. It then redirects you to that site and you receive a percentage of the money you spend. You will receive anywhere between 1% to sometimes 25% back of your purchase.
I love this site because I can actually say that I have received a check in the mail from them. We purchased our high chair using Ebates and I cashed in a check for $7.85. It isn't a ton of money but if you shop online often you should get something back for that.
Another thing I love about ebates is the coupon codes you can find for certain stores. Just search for the store you want and see if they have any coupon codes listed.

Click here to join Ebates, plus if you click that link I will get $5 and so will you!

Frugal Friday: Reuse Baby Food Jars

I have tons of these little jars lying around my apartment waiting to be put into good use. I love these little jars and felt like it was a waste to just send them to be recycled when I could recycle them myself into something fun. This was the first idea I had. In all of my craft drawers I have small items such as buttons and brads. Why not put them all together in small jars? Easy and inexpensive.

Click Here for more Frugal Friday tips on Life as a Mom.

Command Your Home

I love this post on creating a command center in your home. I think we all need a place to put all of the random everyday items. I do have a wall hanging for mail and important papers but it has turned into a place to put everything I never want to look at again but afraid to throw out. I need to get better at cleaning it out weekly to make it functional. Some day when I don't live in an apartment, with no leftover wall space, I will try to make a command center that is easy on the eyes like this one.

Click Here to view I'm an Organizing Junkies post about this subject. She has a lot of information and products you can use to create your own command center.

Baby Toes

For more Wordless Wednesdays visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

What a Lovely Design

I want to collect antique globes now that I've seen this picture. I love her simple, clean design.

Click Here to see Lovelydesign, a wonderful blog with great pictures and a nice clean look.
Click Here to see more pictures of Sharilyn's house and read her interview by Cafe Mom.

Two-Buck Tuesdays

Thanksgiving Point in Utah is having a great deal this month. Each Tuesday in August you can visit the Museum of Ancient Life, Farm Country, and the Thanksgiving Point Gardens for $2. Each venue is $2 separately, children 2 and under are free. I'm excited about this offer, I've been wanting to go to the gardens but just haven't made it down.

Go Here for more information.
Thanks Utah Deal Diva!

Meal Planning Monday

This week is my first Menu Plan Monday on this blog. Let me just say that I LOVE planning a menu every week. I enjoy going through all my recipes or trying new ones, I love planning out and making lists, and it makes my life SO much easier. I never have to worry about what to make for dinner that night. That being said I have to say, I haven't planned a weekly menu since June so I'm definitely not perfect but I hope posting it on this blog every Monday will make me better. I'm trying to keep the kitchen as cool as possible around dinner time so most of these dishes can be cooked in advance or require the crock pot.

Monday: Thai Peanut Noodles
Tuesday: Chicken Salad in Homemade pita
Wednesday: Guiltless Fettuchine Alfredo
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Shredded Pork Tacos
Saturday: Date Night?!
Sunday: Asian Salmon

For more Meal Planning Monday please visit The Happy Housewife.

Perfectly cute pie

I saw these Pie Lollipops on Not Martha. I think they're perfect. I've never really liked pie, I love the crust but dislike the fruit filling. Strange I know. But the filling to crust ratio on these little beauties seems just about right for me; and they're small. I love small things.

Click Here for this post on Not Martha.
Click Here for Luxirare, the creator of these pies, to find more amazing photography of them.

Learn ABC's with a blanket

I think this blanket would be a really cute baby blanket. Make it with some soft fabric and change it just a little. Maybe I'll do that for our next baby.

Click Here to go to Moda Bake Shop for all of the fun sewing ideas they have.

Click Here for a tutorial on how to make this blanket.