Ducks helping to wash car

My husband was washing the car this morning and he was surprised by six ducks playing in the water that was pooling at the end of the driveway.

Here they are hanging out as the car is washed.

You could tell they were very comfortable being around people. 

We could get really close and they did not run away.

 They would even come closer if you encouraged them.

They got a treat for helping to wash the car. 

They were fun to watch.  We think they wandered over to our yard from the condo complex behind our house that has ponds. My husband said they are fun until they start messing on the driveway. Haha!!

Quick and Easy Dessert - Strawberry Shortcake

I love this dessert because it is easy to make and you can be creative if you like.

Cut up strawberries (make sure to make at least two cuts on each berry) and sprinkle sugar over to coat every berry.  Let sit on counter for about an hour or place in refrigerator overnight. The result will be strawberries with a delicious sweet syrup. You can also do this with peaches!

Next cut angel food cake or a pound cake into the size chunks as you desire for your dessert. Place the cake on the plate or bowl, top with fruit and syrup, add another chunk of cake, then more fruit and top with whipped cream.

To be creative, you can add blueberries, bananas for raspberries to strawberries right before serving. If you use store bought cakes and Cool Whip, this dessert is so quick and simple along with delicious for your family or guests!

 

Enjoy!

Yummy Salad for Dinner or Picnics

This salad was not only beautiful but extremely tasty.  It was easy to make and perfect for picnics. I used bagged Italian greens by Dole and I made sure I drained the oranges thoroughly and towel dried the strawberries before added to the salad. I also think blueberries would have been a delicious addition.  I will add them next time. 

 

 

Salad with Fruit and Gorgonzola
Lettuce - Bag of Dole Italian Blend or a mixture of your favorite lettuces
2-3 oz Gorgonzola Cheese
6 oz mandarin oranges (Dole has best flavor and the segments are whole)
1-2 cups strawberries, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
Kraft Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing

Prepare sugared walnuts:
Place sugar and walnuts in small skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar melts and coats nuts. Place on wax paper to cool.

Assemble salad:
Place lettuce in bowl and toss with half of the fruit and cheese. If you are going to eat salad immediately, you can toss in some of the dressing. Top salad with remaining fruit and cheese along with the walnuts. Drizzle on additional dressing.  If salad is to be eaten at a later time, dressing can be added upon serving, it is still delicious.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese with Chicken

I love Baylee's posts! She has done a great job and I hope she will add future posts! PLEASE ENCOURAGE HER!!!  She is also on me to take more pictures as I cook.  I get into cooking and completely forget about the camera. Also I can be accident prone, like last night, I dropped the camera into a bowl of chicken and noodles!! Baylee helped make the noodles so she did take lots of pictures. That recipe will be coming soon!

To honor Baylee, I am doing today's post on one of Baylee's favorite macaroni and cheese dishes.  She is all the time asking if I posted it yet.   Here you go Baylee!!!

First off we love macaroni and cheese and as the kids got older, I was able to start to add in onion, bacon, different types of cheeses, or even vegetables, but I have always been in search of super creamy with super taste.  I cannot tell you how often I made mac and cheese and it was bland, looked curded, or was dry! I came across a recipe in a magazine that was for Smoky, Creamy Mac and Cheese. It had bacon, cheddar cheese, Philadelphia Chive & Onion Cream Cheese, and Velveeta in it so I thought how can it not be creamy with all of these cheeses.  I did have to adapt the recipe since I did not have all of the ingredients and I was looking for a dish that I could use as a main entree. I replaced the bacon with chicken breast and I was incredibly pleased with the outcome.  It was super creamy and cheesy along with being addictive!!  I think we all had seconds. This original recipe was the side dish winner in a Philadelphia Cheese recipe contest.  Just based on the creamy cheesiness of the dish, I can see why it won!! 

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese with Chicken
2 cups of uncooked pasta  ( I used fusilli as it holds the cheese better)
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
4 oz Velveeta, cut into cubes
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
1 cup of chicken, cooked and cut up (I used a large breast and season it well with chicken seasoning)
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup Panko crumbs
2 tsp butter, melted

Cook pasta according to package directions.
In a large saucepan melt butter and stir in flour until smooth.  Gradually add milk and bring to boil. Cook and stir for 1 -2 minutes as sauce thickens. Stir in the cream cheese, Velveeta and cheddar cheese.  Make sure the heat from stove is turned down to ensure that cheese melts well into the sauce. Add in the chicken and transfer to a greased 8 inch square baking dish. Combine the Panko crumbs with the melted butter and sprinkle over top.  Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Pasta Gnocchi with Sausage & Tomato

Baylee here againn!

Tonight for dinner, we made gnocchi, but this time we used frozen gnocchi instead of making our own. (Last time we tried making our own out of potatoes but it tasted awful) The frozen gnocchi is much much better. We just used the store brand. Nothing special.

(NOTE: Instead of pecorino cheese, we just used Parmesan cheese)

Pasta Gnocchi with Sausage and Tomato

PreparationTime: 15 minutes
Total Cooking Time: 20 Minutes
Serves 4-6

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pasta gnocchi
2 tablespoons olive oil
400 g (14 oz) thin Italian sausages
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic gloves, finely chopped
800 g (1 lb 2 oz) tinned chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar
35 g (1 1/2 oz) basil, torn
45 g (1 1/2 oz/1/2 cup) grated pecorino cheese

1. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well and return to the pan to keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large frying pan. Add the sausages and cook, turning, for 5 minutes, or until well browned and cooked through. Drain on paper towels, then slice when they have cooled enough to touch. Keep warm.

3. Wipe clean the frying pan and heat the remaining oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until the onion has softened. Add the tomato, sugar and 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) water and season with ground black pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer for 12 minutes or until thickened and reduced a little.

4. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir through the sausage, then the basil and half of the cheese. Serve with the extra cheese.

______________________________________________________________

This recipe is from 30 Minutes Meals: A Common Sense Guide.

I kinda like this book. It really does tell you everything. And the pictures in the book are actually accurate.

Before every chapter there are informative pictures. Like before the pasta chapter, there are pictures of all the different types of pasta and their names. Before the chicken chapter, it tells you how to store chicken , what to look for when buying... anyways basically everything you ever need to know about rice, noodles, pasta, chicken, seafood, lamb, pork, and beef.

HAVE FUN MAKING YOUR GNOCCHI!! :)

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

This is Baylee again.

Today, I decided I'd take over the blog again!

Well, this time I ACTUALLY cooked!

I was flippin' through this Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale Cookbook and I found a recipe for "Cinnamon Roll Cookies"

Little did I know that I obviously did not inherit the cooking gene from my mother...

Here's how it went...

        

           Alright so... I got all my ingredients out and reread the recipe (because I usually end up leaving something out or mixing it all together at once instead of reading directions)

(Full recipe @ bottom)

Ingredients

Cinnamon Mixture:

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cookie Dough:

1 cup Butter Flavor CRISCO* all-vegetable shortening or 1 Butter Flavor CRISCO* Stick

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

First off, combine cinnamon mixture in a small bowl.Set aside.

(Pretty self-explanatory..just make cinnamon)

In a larger bowl, combine shortening and brown sugar. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until blended well. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, ground cinnamon, and baking powder. Then add to creamed mixture. 

Here's my mistake but I don't really think it matters..  

 

I read it wrong and didn't add the flour so I mixed in the salt, cinnamon, and baking powder without the flour and I just added the flour separately later.

It looked fine to me.

Turn dough onto sheet of waxed paper. Spread dough into 9x6-inch rectangle using rubber spatula. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons cinnamon mixture to within 1 inch from edge. 

(I failed to read the 1-inch part too. Does it really make a difference?? I guess I'll find out..) 

Roll-up jelly-roll style into log. Dust log with remaining cinnamon mixture. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Mine looks like this so far... I hope it's normal. The book did say it would crack easily.

I have some advice: when you roll the dough, it tends to stick the wax paper (or at least mine did) so I used a spatula to scoop it up so it wouldn't tear.

Ehhhh..... I managed to fix most of the cracks but there is still one. I guess it gives it character.

4 Hours Later...

What's weird is that the rest of the recipe has two different temperatures for baking.

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray cookie sheets with CRISCO* No-stick cooking spray. 

Slice dough 1/4 inch thick. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes. Or until lighting browned on top. Cool on cookie sheets for 4 minutes; transfer to cooling racks. Makes about 5 dozen.

I ended up baking it at 350 for 14 minutes because I cut mine too thick. My dad told me to burn some because he likes crunchy cookies but, they are already extremely crunchy cookies. So, if you're the type who likes gooey melt-in-your-mouth cookies...these are not for you.

Alright well here's how my cookies turned out!

(For the icing, I just used powdered sugar mixed with water)

The cookies in the book must be fake.

No one can make them look that perfect.

 

Also, next time I make something, I'll try to not pick a recipe that requires rolling the dough. Remember Palmiers?

More Cookies we've made from this cookbook:
Dishpan Cookies
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Ingredients

Cinnamon Mixture:

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cookie Dough:

1 cup Butter Flavor CRISCO* all-vegetable shortening or 1 Butter Flavor CRISCO* Stick

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. For cinnamon mixture, combine granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon in small bowl; mix well. Set aside.

2. For cookie dough, combine 1 cup shortening and brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well blended. 

3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in small bowl. Add to creamed mixture; mix well.  

4. Turn dough onto sheet of waxed paper. Spread dough into 9x6-inch rectangle using rubber spatula. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons cinnamon mixture to within 1 inch from edge. Roll-up jelly-roll style into log. Dust log with remaining cinnamon mixture. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

5. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray cookie sheets with CRISCO* No-stick cooking spray. 

6. Slice dough 1/4 inch thick. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes. Or until lighting browned on top. Cool on cookie sheets for 4 minutes; transfer to cooling racks. Makes about 5 dozen.