Kinda Homemade Doughnuts

The General Conference after Daniel and I were married, Daniel teased me and said that Elder Nelson's wife always makes them Spudnuts while they are gone at Priesthood Session. So I decided that I would always have a delicious dessert waiting for him when he got home so we could sit and he could tell me about the Priesthood session. Since we've been in Washington I've made these Kinda Homemade Doughnuts, he doesn't know how easy they are and I'm going to keep it that way as long as I can. Here is the recipe:

1 pkg of Pilsbury Biscuits
Oil
Fill frying pan half way with oil and set to medium heat. With the top of a water bottle or bottle with a skinny neck make the doughnut holes in the biscuits. Fry the biscuits on medium until a golden color. Let the doughnuts sit on a paper towel to collect extra grease and then glaze while they are still warm.

We tried a chocolate glaze this time and it was delicious!! You can add sprinkles or whatever you want on your doughnuts.

Chocolate Glaze
1 C. powdered sugar
1/4 t. vanilla
1 T. milk
2 T. cocoa powder
Mix well, apply immediately.

Valentine Fun

We had the missionaries over for Valentines Dinner. I didn't go all out with craziness, but I did try to find things that were pink, red or white for dinner. Below is our Menu, links to any recipes and one extra little goodie.

Appetizer

Yummy Oreo Truffles by bakerella. Go here to see the recipe! I went a little larger though and used pink frosting and sprinkles on the tops! Then I just did small balls for the little kiddos.





Dinner



White Chicken & Pink Garlic Roasted Shrimp
I just cut the chicken in cubes and marinated in a small bit of oil and garlic Salt.
Shrimp I put in a zip lock baggie with about 1/2 Tbsp of oil and some garlic Salt.
both roasted on a pan at about 375 for approx 20 minutes. The shrimp will cook a lot faster than the chicken so if you want them to finish at the same time just start with the chicken then add the shrimp after about 10 minutes.



Red Roasted Potatoes
Similar to the chicken and Shrimp I just cube, throw into a gallon zip lock baggie, about 1 Tbsp of oil for about 5 potatoes and I also added about 1/2 Tbsp of Oregano. Potatoes I roast same as the chicken about 375-400 for 20-30 minutes.

Cauliflower & Red Pepper Hearts with pink ranch dip



If you cut the peppers right, put two of them together and it looks like a heart! It was about the only veggie I could think of to totally get creative with! My favorite ranch dip is light sour cream, hidden valley ranch packet and this time of course we added pink food coloring! Just recently at my moms I added a little extra minced onion and garlic to the ranch and it was wonderful!

Goodie Bag Treats!

this was the fun part! I got a few little party favors from wal-mart...super cheap and very entertaining....but then their treats were Peppermint heart Lollipops! You make these from your leftover mini candy canes and white chocolate. I found many variations online but here is mine.



Line your pan with foil then lay two mini candy canes to make a heart shape. Place a sucker stick inbetween the bottoms. Fill with melted white Chocolate and sprinkle! Let cool completely but not in the refrigerator or the candy canes will sweat and get sticky!

Melting white chocolate in a zip lock:
I only used about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips for the 2 lollipops that I made and it was more than enough. I didn't make more as I already had used the rest of my candy canes. Place chips in the zip lock and microwave for 30 seconds. Moosh around then zap for another 30 seconds. Moosh again and continue until chocolate is melted. Careful not to overcook you chocolate or it gets icky! Cut a small hole at the corner of your baggie and just squeeze into the centers of your candy canes!

A few places I found some candy cane treats

http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2009/02/candy-cane-heart-suckers.html

http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-suckers-and-heart-candies.html

http://www.megacrafty.com/2010/02/chocolate-candy-cane-hearts.html

Fairy Dust Lollipops

So, gotta go over here and check out this!

We made some really fun lollipops you just gotta check out at my blog. I posted basic directions, but if you needed more specific info feel free to ask! Or buy the book here for less than $5.00 (just on your first one) and free shipping! Just search for Barbara Beery and you will find all 6 of her darling books!

Lasagna Spinach Soup

So this soup is SO dang yummy I have made it twice this week! I found it on the website that I sited before Kitchen Parade. But I specifically found this recipe on her Veggie Venture blog. With her recipe she has it listed as 3 weight watcher points. I LOVED the broth and Spinach so much I altered it a bit and the way I have the recipe listed here is only 2 Weight Watcher points.

Ingredients

1/4-1/3 pound ground Turkey orhamburger (I prefer it with less, but she used 1 lb. I also used the 95% lean hamburger)

1 large chopped Onion
2 Tbsp minced Garlic
2 tsp basil
2 tsp Oregano
1 tsp anise seed
Salt & Pepper to Taste

15 oz can diced tomatoes
15 oz canned tomato sauce

(Today I actually just used 2 Heaping Tbsp of an italian seasoning mix since i wasn't about to spend the $7 for that tiny bottle of anise! NOt to mention that was much easier!)


6 Cups chicken Broth (I used Boullion)
3 OZ Lasagna (About 3 long strips)
Lots of Fresh Spinach! (about 12 ounces?)


In a large Pan or POt cook your hamburger until done. Add all seasonings and the onion. Cook thoroughly. Add the tomatoes, Sauce and Broth and bring to boil. Pretty much at this point you can add the lasagna, but just remember the longer it's in there the soggier it gets so if you aren't serving for awhile I would wait to add it. But...let's say we are ready to serve soon! Add the noodles and cook medium for about 15-20 minutes. Just before serving add the spinach for 1-2 miutes then serve. Today I just dished up my soup without the spinach, then added my own HUGE handful on the top, stirred then let sit in my bowl for a few minutes.


The original recipe suggests chopping the spinach, but I LOVE it so much It doesn't matter to me! Changes I also made from the original:

2 cups more broth, 1 oz more pasta, and lots more spinach. HEr recipe is also for 8 1 cup servings at 3 points each. Today I split mine into 6 servings (obviously more than 1 cup becuase I used more broth) and it was only 2 points per serving. You could certainly go for 8 servings and it would only be about 1 point as my 2 point figureation was actually rounded up!

Enjoy and sorry I blab so much!

Contest Giveaway

I just had to get on here and share with you about a fabulous new website I just found! Great Recipes, healthy and tasty! But first I'm posting about a Giveaway they are having! I am a Weight Watchers fan, love their products, but mostly love the program, so when I saw I could win a WW scale I had to enter! SEe the contest here
the Kitchen Parade has all kinds of recipes and tips and suggestions and I SUGGEST you go there! But don't forget to peek over here too.

Oregano Chicken

We made this the other night, kinda just whipped it up as I went along, but it turned out yummy so I wanted to share.



Ingredients:

1 TBSP Canola Oil
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Oregan
3 chicken Breast cut into small pieces
1 Carrot
1 Celery stick
3-4 Brocoli Pieces
3-4 Cauliflower Pieces

Brush the oil in skillet, sprinkle garlic and oregano on bottom, then add chicken. Cook thoroughly. Finely chop all veggies and add to chicken until cooked. That's it! EAt!

Kinda like a stirfry, but the tiny veggies were super yummy, I cooked mine till they were a bit crispy, but having it smaller seemed to make them easier for my kids to eat. We had Salad that more fresh veggies with Ranch dip with it, but you could even add this over some pasta tossed with a little oil and more garlic and oregano. Very healthy and VERY tasty.

Pig Cake

I just had my sons 2nd birthday and we had a farm birthday party. I made a pig cake and again, I'm not posting an actual recipe but more just some ideas of what I did.

1. Chocolate Cake with STrawberry Icing. Totally yummy flavors together! NEver did it before, loved it and would probably make really yummy cake balls! Also I didn't put any oil in the mix, added a Sugar Free Choco pudding mix to it. Came out of the pan great, tasted great....thus you DO NOT need oil! Yay for less fat and calories
2. For the nose I was out of cake batter and wanted something wide and remember seeing often on CAke boss them use rice crispy treat. I didn't have rice crispies but I did have Chex, so I mixed some marshmallows, butter and crushed chex, and it was perfect!
3. I used pre-made fondant for the ears and just cut out the shapes by hand, no cutters. Although the stuff tastes awful it worked good. It's even a year old and I just had to put it in a little baggie with a few drops of water, warmed up in the micro for 15 seconds and it was really easy to work with.
4. Smoothing the frosting. Someone once mentioned using a blow dryer...didn't work as well. Tried it on the cupcakes, but went back to my old method for the cake. After the cake with frosting sitting in the freezer for about 15 minutes you use a tiny bit of water on your fingers to smooth out. I use warm water, but I don't know that it matters. Then you could use the dryer after to help make it shiny again, but I forgot to do that before I put the dryer away.

Other things....I used chocolate chips for the eyes, black sugar sprinkles for the nostrils and more fondant for the border. On the cupcakes I just made animal picks from my cricut. If I had some black licorice string I would have done a little smile at the bottom.