Play Dough

This is my mom's play dough recipe.  I've never found another one that compares.  

Play Dough

2-1/2 cups flour

½ cup salt

1 Tbl. Alum (found with the spices)

3 Tbl. Oil

2 cups water

            Place in a heavy bottom pan and cook at medium or medium/high heat.  Stir until hard to stir.  Knead by hand.  You can add food coloring when you knead it. Store in an airtight container.

 I doubled it this time so it looks like a lot.  It is easier to stir when you don't double it.

Chicken Pot Pie

Another recipe from my childhood.  My love for Chicken Pot Pies stemmed from the fact that my mom made them individual sized.  I loved that.  I was also in charge of cutting the tops in any way I wanted.  This time we played with cookie cutters.

Chicken Pot Pie

Pastry for single-crust pie

½ c. chopped onion (one medium)

1 12 oz. Can evaporated milk

¼ c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. water

1 tsp. Instant chicken bouillon granules

½ tsp. Dried sage, marjoram, or thyme, crushed

1/8 tsp. Pepper

1 10-ounce package frozen peas and carrots or peas

1 ½ c. chopped cooked chicken or turkey

        On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands.  Roll pastry to a 13x 9-inch rectangle.  Cover pastry and set aside.

        Spray a cold medium saucepan with nonstick coating.  Add the onion.  Cook and stir over medium heat about four minutes or until the onion is tender but not brown.

        Meanwhile, reserve 1 T. of the milk.  Set aside.  In a small mixing bowl gradually stir the remaining milk into the flour until smooth.  Stir into vegetable mixture in the saucepan.  Stir in the water; bouillon granules; sage, marjoram, or thyme; and pepper.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in the frozen peas and carrots or peas and chicken or turkey. 

        Transfer mixture to a 12x 8x 2-inch baking dish or 8 ramekins. Place pastry over chicken mixture.  Fold under edges.  Crimp edges of pastry with a fork.  Brush pastry with reserved milk. 

        Bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or until the chicken mixture is heated thoroughly and the pastry is golden brown.  Makes five servings.  

Laundry Soap

A while ago a friend told me she makes her own laundry soap so I decided to try it.  My kids have really sensitive skin so it helps them and it is a lot cheaper than store bought stuff. 

Ingredients:
1 Bar of Soap (I have used just generic stuff with no scents or colors and I have used Fels-Naptha.)
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax

 (You should be able to find all of this in the laundry soap section of most stores or on Amazon.

I chop the bar of soap up and throw it and all of the rest of the ingredients in my blender.  Then I dump in an old ice cream bucket.  Don't breath in the dust and make sure the container is airtight.  It only takes 1 Tbsp. per load.

If you prefer you can also just cook it on low heat with some water to make it liquid laundry soap.  You are done when the soap is dissolved into the mixture.  

Fox Blanket

Made this for a baby shower.  Pattern to come soon.

Filled Oatmeal Bars

My friend gave me these cookies after I had my first baby and they were mind blowing.  I think that was mostly in part to post labor starvation, but they are still good today.

Somehow my kids ate all the cookies before I got a picture of them.

Chocolate Filled Bars:

    Melt and mix together...

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

12oz pkg. milk chocolate chips (or whatever kind you like)

3 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup nuts (optional)

Cream together...

1 c. butter

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

3 c. oats

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

Press 2/3 of the dough into bottom of 9x13 pan. Pour chocolate or butterscotch mixture on   top.

Sprinkle with remaining dough.

Bake @ 350 for 20-25 min. 

Pigs in a Blanket

Every week I ask my family what they want for dinner and every week my five-year-old says, "Hot Dogs."  Sometimes I tell him to come up with something else and sometimes I just let him have hot dogs.  This week we did Pigs in a Blanket to spice things up and it allowed him to help.

I used my favorite bread stick recipe for the dough:

Bread Sticks

1 Tbl. Yeast

1 Tbl. Sugar

1 tsp. salt

1-1/2 cups water

3-1/2 cups flour

I mix this all in my bread machine.  Let rise 30 minutes.  Roll into sticks and cover till they rise some more.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  

First roll the bread stick dough into balls and let sit while you prep everything else.

I sprayed a little Pam on my counter so it would be easier for my son to roll out the dough. 

Then he just rolled and sometimes we added cheese or mustard before rolling the dough and hot dog up.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Adapted from: Tyler’s Ultimate Chicken Cordon Bleu on the Food Network.

4 chicken breasts skinless and boneless
4 slices of ham (I use just sandwich meat ham)
4 slices of Swiss Cheese
1/4 cup flour

salt and pepper
1 cup Panko bread crumbs (Find these and use them! They make all the difference. They are just by the normal bread crumbs in a box. I'm in love!)

1 tsp. Thymne
1 clove garlic minced
2 tablespoons margarine or butter melted
2 eggs
Extra-virgin olive oil

First off, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.


Lay out some plastic wrap about 6 inches by 5 inches. I put four down so I could just work with the chicken and not have to get the box out again with yucky hands.

Pound the chicken breasts as thin as you can get it with a meat mallet and if you are desperate cut the chicken breast in half width-wise. I did both to get it really thin.  If they are slightly frozen they don't splatter as much.

Put some ham on the chicken breast and a slice of swiss cheese. Then roll it up into a jelly-rollish shape and wrap up in the plastic wrap to keep it all together or secure with a toothpick.  Repeat.  At this point if you are working with fresh meet you could roll the chicken in foil and freeze for later use.  Don't refreeze chicken that was frozen and then thawed.

Then lay out three pans that you can use to dip the chicken in. Also get out a sheet and put some olive oil on it.

Put flour in one dish and mix some salt and pepper into it.

In the second dish mix the bread crumbs, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and melted butter. In the third dish beat eggs and season with salt and pepper. (Do you detect a theme here?)

Remove plastic wrap and dust the chicken with the flour. Then dip it in the egg and then coat it with the bread crumbs. In my opinion, the more the better.

Place on the sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

 For the sauce I got this from one of my favorite recipe blogs...http://mmmcafe.blogspot.com/

Ingredients: 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (I made my own from scratch this time!)

1/4 cup Mayonnaise

3 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Brown mustard or Whole Grain Mustard (I just used normal)

1/2 tsp paprika (optional)

3 Tbs Milk

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and heat thru, add milk to reach the consistency that you desire. Serve the sauce hot with Chicken Cordon Bleu.

All together it is the best stuff!