Alphabet Soup

Starting back in the 60's (not that I was around then) the home economics department of a local electric company would put on cooking demonstrations near Christmas, and would hand out booklets with the recipes.  I can remember attending many of these with my mom and grandmother when I was in junior high and high school.  In 1993, they published a 30th anniversary cookbook with all the recipes from the past demonstrations.  It was a go-to cookbook of mine for many years, and I still use some of the recipes.  One of those is the recipe for Peanut Butter Crunch that I am sharing today.  I have actually adapted it over the years, so I'm writing out my adaptation for you.  Unfortunately, that electric company was bought out by another and they don't do the demonstrations any more.  I always thought they were fun! I know that intro was kind of boring, but I wanted to give you the history on this recipe!  I make it almost every year to hand out...

Hello, hello, hello!  I could babble on about what's been going on lately, or you could just go here and read , so I won't.  ;) Anyway, it's that time of year again, if you can believe it, to start the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies , being hosted this year by Brenda of Meal Planning Magic .  Now, we just got running water back temporarily last night, and for real this afternoon, so suffice it to say I haven't exactly had time to whip up a batch of something yummy, take pics and write up a blog post about it, so I'm going to go back in time to last year and remind everyone about one of my favorite holiday cookies, the Chewy Ginger Snaps .  I've already got a list of goodies I want to make for this year's blog hop, and in the meantime enjoy what everyone else has been working hard on!

When I was a little kid, I loved canned spaghetti.  I would even make a spaghetti sandwich out of the stuff.  I can't make this kind of story up!  What's funny is that real homemade spaghetti is actually one of the things that my mom would make, and it was good.  I just still loved the canned stuff too. Anyway, I can remember when the Munchkin was younger he would see commercials for Spaghetti O's and ask me to buy them.  In contrast to my childhood, I would never buy the canned version.  I caved and finally bought him a can so he could try it.  He took about two bites, declared mine much better, and wouldn't eat any more.  Score one for mom!  {virtual fist bump} But, you have to admit, Spaghetti O's are cute!  They just are.  Here's my take on a homemade version.  It makes a lot, be warned.  However, if you aren't feeding the entire neighborhood you can freeze it.  I tried it and it heated up quite well without ...

  I honestly don't even know how to start this post.  I've written it a thousand times in my head, and now that I'm sitting at the computer, the words won't come. Earlier this week Jennifer Perillo of In Jennie's Kitchen lost her husband suddenly.  There was no chance for a goodbye.  She has two girls, 8 and 3.  Though I've never met her in person, I follow her through her blog and on Twitter.  And even though I don't know her or her family, when I read what had happened, it brought me to tears.  On Tuesday she posted on her blog.  I don't know that I would have had the composure to do so.  This is part of what she wrote : For those asking what they can do to help my healing process, make a peanut butter pie this Friday and share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there's no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on. So I baked today, along with many others . I made our family's new favorite chocolate chi...

Do you remember when fast food french toast sticks became a hit?  You know -- those deep fried sticks of bread?  Yeah, I don't know exactly when it was, but I do remember asking my mom to take me to get some.  I thought they were wonderful!  And I have to admit, there are times when I still get a craving to run to Sonic and order some.  I will even admit to feeding them to my kids before.  However...never again.  Not after making them myself!  :) They're really not that hard to make, and the best part?  You can make them ahead of time, freeze them, and just heat them up when you're ready to eat.  The first time I made these, Munchkin and Squirt gobbled them up.  Sprout?  Well, he was too busy being...himself to eat that morning.  Although I did catch him taking a "picture" with a toy camera instead of eating.  Couldn't possibly be because I had just been taking a picture of the food myself, right?...

Hey everyone!  A few things I have to share.  First - I have a new laptop.  I am screaming from a virtual mountaintop I am so excited about this!  My old laptop officially crashed, and I just could not get this new baby set up fast enough.  With any luck, this will also mean that I can get some posts up that have been in the queue for a while...because, well, the old laptop has been giving me issues for quite some time now and was really bogging me down in all aspects of technology-related life. Second, I have a reader story up on the  What's Cooking with Kids  website.  If you haven't read What's Cooking, I encourage you to.  There is also a Facebook page where you can snag a sample of her Whole Family Cookbook.  Here's the link to my story . Ok people.  It's Friday -- have a great weekend, and if you're celebrating the Fourth of July, here's to a safe and highly enjoyable one!  :)

Every time I make sloppy joes for the family, I get the same question: “Why are they called sloppy joes?” Good question. An internet search will give you several different answers. I prefer to stick with “because they're sloppy to eat.” Awesome answer, I know. I never know if the kids will eat sloppy joes or not, even when I use a recipe that's been a hit before. This one is a slightly different twist on the traditional sloppy joes, borrowing pizza flavors. Everyone liked them, even the baby, except he didn't like the pepperoni. The zucchini fries were a slightly different story. I thought they were really good, but everyone else preferred the zucchini crisps that I usually make. My mom made the zucchini fries a few days later, using some changes that I had suggested to her and I think they turned out better. The recipe below reflects those changes. I still think it's great, and I'll try it again at my house and see what my people think. :) Pizza Joes adapted ...