Dr. Seuss Read Across America

Not to worry, I didn't use a Sharpie on The Cat In the Hat face!  I found edible markers to use. 😜!

The hat is made with my favorite sugar cookie. 

Ants weren't Gone

I've been busy eating crow and freaking out the last few days.  My last entry said my ants were gone. Yippee!  NO!  NEIT! NEIN! NOPE! NADA! H.E. TO THE DOUBLE L NO! 

My last post about the ants saying they were gone was a big fat lie.  Yes, I super cleaned my kitchen.  I used all the natural ingredients on Google & Pinterest I could read about. 

*I cleaned...and cleaned, and cleaned

*Bleached

*Squirted lemons since they don't like the smell 

*Used Dawn dish soap for the film it leaves behind. 

*I rubbed bay leaves all over my kitchen

*I chalked my kitchen until it looked like a crack house 

*I even put out Raid ant traps...  Misgrudgingly of course.  Hubby insisted these traps are all the same.  Ooooohhhhhh no! They most definitely aren't. 

Screaming and yelling at my hubby (poor hubby, I was hysterical) to get what I asked for and nothing else. He finally got the Terro Ant Liquid Baits.  I don't drive.  Sorry Hubby!

Gross!  Yes!  But, at least I'm not waking up to ants all over my kitchen but just around the 2 baits out of the 8 put around the kitchen.  

The Raid baits did nothing.  They are now getting more action than they did throughout the past 3 days. 

I'll keep you posted, but the take-a-way  is don't use the o'natural way.  Get the baits!

Argh! Why do colored pencils ALWAYS break!

I mean we invent computers, cure diseases, and are able to make soufflés.  Why can't we invent a pencil that won't break while it's sharpened!!!!!

Tastes like Mom's Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I've tried all the gourmet and expensive kinds of sauces from Batali's to Lidia's and Rao's but this has been my favorite go to sauce.  Nostalgic.  It reminds me of my youth and dinners with my family growing up.  Plus, I don't have to be stuck over a saucepan all day. Yeah!

Ants on the Kitchen Counter... Oh No!

This morning I awoke to a swarm of ants on my kitchen counter.  Yikes!  What to do?  My family doesn't like to use harsh chemicals if we don't have to... Hence, the photo of a lemon, chalk, and bay leaves.  I'm not a extremist, though.  If this doesn't work then the bleach and spray can of chemicals needs to come out!

Today, the first day, I washed the counters down well.  I also washed the walls and kitchen floor, too.   Then I used a damp paper towel and covered it with lemon juice.  Ants supposedly hate lemons & bay leaves.  Well, then I strategically placed bits of bay leaves around the counter.  Next will be chalk rubbed into all the edges and crevices. 

So, stay in touch and see how my journey to get rid of these horrid ants goes.  Oh my!

Pesky Mosquito Bites

    If you're like me and you are plagued with mosquito bites during the summer. You'll want to consider reading this post.  The constant itching and red splotches over your body make summer very uncomfortable.  I go through a tube of After Bite every 3 weeks or so to help relieve the itching.  

   The other week I thought if an aspirin helps the redness in zits it may help these bites.  So, I dissolved one tablet in a couple of drops of water and placed the granules on the bite.  But this left too much leftover aspirin. 

   Instead, I found it works best to run water over the aspirin and then rub it on the bite.

My red and itchy mosquito bite.

Aspirin granules on bite.  Continue to rub aspirin onto bite with a wet finger until it is dissolved.

My bite an hour later.  I haven't had to reapply the aspirin to any of my bites. 

I'm doing a happy dance now that I can enjoy the summer!

Summer Nectarine Breakfast

So, looking for something new to eat for breakfast?  I guess there's a reason why they say necessity is the mother of invention.  

Having only these few ingredients at hand, I think I found a new special breakfast treat.  Fruit "pie" for breakfast.  No pie crust.  Use your leftover bread as the crust instead.

Broil it one knotch down from broiler with:

Fruit which is sprinkled with brown sugar and a tiny pat of butter. 

Bread with butter 

Broil 2 minutes 

Then sprinkle bread & fruit with cinnamon and put bread on plate.  I didn't want the cinnamon to burn so this is why I put the cinnamon on both bread and fruit in the middle of making it. Now put the fruit back into the broiler and finish until soft.  My nectarine took 4 more minutes. 

Little Cutie-Pie likes cream cheese so why not? 

Mine was classic and I dipped the bread in the fruit juice before assembling the "pie."

As you can see, it turned out beautiful and it also tastes great.  The extra bonus is that it smells like fruit pie in your house.  Yum!

Mommy' finished breakfast

Little Cutie-Pie's fruit "pie" breakfast

Lightly broil one knotch down from top for two minutes then sprinkle with cinnamon and take rolls/bread and plate them.  Place fruit back under broiler. 

After 2 minutes under broiler

Fruit broiled for 6 minutes

Yummy fruit juice from broiler

Ingredients:

Fruit

Brown Sugar

Butter

Bread/Rolls

Cinnamon

**Optional, Cream Cheese

Broiler

Prep & Broil Time: approximately 10 minutes

Leftover Ground Beef Tacos made into Taco Pasta

I'm writing this from my phone app for the first time, so I apologize if there are a lot of mistakes.  I'm, also, making dinner as I type.  

So, you're here because you're curious about how I used my taco leftovers.  Perhaps a taco omelette?  No. Maybe tacos part deux?  No.  Well, I'll tell you... Taco Pasta!  Two of my favorite dishes mashed together to make one yummy leftover dinner.  I hope it ends up as tasty as it sounds!

Here's a lovely picture of my cold beef taco.  My gourmet version from your normal fast 30 minute dinner.  You know, when we just dump the pre-pack mix and sauce and throw on the toppings. Yesterday's late afternoon was used to cut up red, green, and jalapeño peppers, a white onion, plum tomatoes, cilantro, and a juicy lime.  All to accomplish the above picture.  The beef taco and homemade salsa/ pico de gallo. Yum!

To my chagrin, the avocados weren't ripe enough to use so I bought the closest to homemade I could.  It was tasty. It didn't have too much garlic which ruins most "freshly" packaged Mexican items. This guacamole had all the promise of homemade, but it had that chemical citrus taste of the asorbic acid. Boo!  Cutie-pie enjoyed it so that was good. 

1.   On goes the water for the pasta.  We like it al dente. 

2. Warm up the taco mixture in microwave

4. Chop the fresh cilantro. It's optional to use lettuce so chop that now if you'd like.

5.  Crush some Toritilla chips and/or tacos. 

6.  As you can see, the meat, fresh veggies, and tomatoes make a nice broth.  If I had bought chicken broth I'd use a little of it in this recipe and I'd warm it up in with the meat in the microwave. 

7.  Let my pasta (mixed with taco mixture) sit a bit.  I do around 5-10 minutes.  My logic is the same as cooked meat. It lets all the juices and flavor settle into to pasta dish. 

Yummy if I do say so myself. My tab for these two dinners was around $30. This did not include the chicken broth or the jarred salsa ( to add to the meat and fresh veggies & fresh pico de gallo.).   Yes a bit pricy but for a 3 person family with 2 lbs of ground beef but the fresh taste is worth it and 

Little  Cutie-pie loves to help out in the kitchen more and more. He's 6 so this is a great dinner for him "make."  He builds his tacos and now he can "build" his pasta, too

Of course, The Little One does not take the cilantro. Oh well, maybe next time?  He says, "my plate, your plate, Mommy."  LOL!

Enjoy!

Easter Eggs & Fun Pancakes

Oliver's Super Hero

"Spark"

Rainbow Jello Cups Birthday Treat

Rainbow Jello Cups

So what does one do when you have a classroom of peanut allergy kids… How about a cup of whipped cream and jello?  Who doesn't like the colorful sugary treat?  Looks beautiful but be warned,  it'll shimmy away a whole day to create this bright and cheery treat.  It took me from 9:30am -6:00pm without a break.

Items needed:

29 Cups = 9 fl oz plastic cups

Jello in rainbow colors

3 (3oz boxes) Cherry Red = 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Orange 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Lemon Yellow = 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Lime Green = 3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Berry Blue =3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Berry Blue + Black Cherry = Purple =3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

 2 Quarts Heavy Cream

Powder Sugar

Patience & 9 hours

*Optional*

Vanilla Pudding Jello Mix

Granulated Sugar

Viola.  Yum.

I made my cups for my little kindergartener.  He needed 24 cups so I made extra just in case of a mess.  29 total rainbow cups were made in 8-1/2 hours.  To say it was time consuming is an understatement.  However, it went over well and the kids with peanut allergies could eat them, too.  That made the Cutie-Pie happy and me.  It was nice and a privilege that the peanut allergy kids' parents allowed their kids to enjoy the treat.

1.  In a bowl mix the 2 boxes Blue Berry + 2 boxes Black Cherry jello to make the color PURPLE.  Separate 3 heaping TBLS of the mix into a smaller bowl.  Then put 2 heaping TBLS into a bag for a rainy day.  (Each 3 oz jello box = 6 TBLS of mix) This makes the PURPLE layers equal to the other bottom colors in flavor.

2.  Boil 2/3 Cup water and then add 3 TBLS Jello (from small bowl)  Mix and set aside for 20 minutes.

3.  Make homemade whip cream.   (1 pint heavy cream =  2 TBLS of powder sugar)  I normally make my whip cream with a 1/2 pint cream + 1 tbls powder sugar + 1 capful vanilla  + 1 tbls white sugar.  This recipe was too sweet.    With a classroom of kids I did not use vanilla extract.  THE POWDER SUGAR IS TO KEEP THE WHIP CREAM STABLE.  You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla pudding if you want to keep the vanilla flavor.  Not a problem if you don't want to make homemade whip cream, the original recipe uses cool whip.  Crazy me, I used a hand mixer since mine broke at Christmas time making cookies.  It took me 20 minutes to whip each quart of heavy cream.  If you whip 2 quarts of cream together, use an extra large bowl.

4.  Pour cooled PURPLE JELLO liquid into 4 C measuring cup.  Add 1/3 cup tap water.  Mix thoroughly then add whipped cream until you reach 3 cups.  Mixture should be slightly runny to pour into your cups.

5.  Refrigerate cream for 30 minutes

6.  Rinse out measuring cups.  Make PURPLE jello mixture.  Boil 2 cups water and pour into large bowl with jello.  Stir.  Let cool for 40 min.  Pour into 4 C measuring cup.  Add enough tap water to make 3 cups jello mixture.  Stir.  The tap water cools down the liquid enough to pour into cups.  DO NOT RUSH THE COOLING PART.  You'll have a layer of the cream mixture sitting on top of your jello layer… won't be pretty!

7.  Refrigerate jello layer 20 minutes

8.  Repeat steps 2-5 for all colors.

9.  Rinse out measuring cups and start BLUE whipped cream layer.   Boil 2/3 C water add 3 TBLS cool 20 min.  Add 1/3 C tap water stir.  Move to larger measuring cup (I do this because mine's plastic) add whipped cream.  Continue until you reach the color YELLOW and then make 4 cups.  (1/3 C water +1 TBLS jello = 1 Cup tinted cream mix)

10.  I realize the jello mix does not increase with the increase amount of water for colors: YELLOW, ORANGE, AND RED which use 4 cups of the jello liquid.  This is fine.  Boil 2 cups water pour into bowl with jello mix.  Cool for 40 minutes.  Add tap water until it measures 4 cups.  If you want, add an extra box to these colors.  I did not taste a difference in flavor with the same 3 boxes.

11.  Keep refrigerated and covered after all the layers have cooled.  I used mine the next day.  

12.  I also cleaned out fridge and put fresh baking soda boxes into fridge the day before I made the cups.  I didn't want the cups to smell of anything except yummy fruit flavors.  It worked.  Also, I made sure the bottom of refrigerator was level by testing water a few cups before I put all 29 cups in.

Good luck and enjoy!  

Christmas Cookie Life Saver

My Favorite Item of the Week:

During Christmas I made a ton of cookies for the family and for hubby's work.  These pre-cut parchment baking sheets saved me so much time.  No more guessing how big to cut each sheet.  Yes, the sheets were a tad big but all I needed to do is keep them folded in quarters (as packaged) and then cut 3/8 off along the edges.  Viola!  Genius.  Thank you Reynolds for making my holiday baking marathon less stressful than it already was!

Garden Woes

So, every year I plant tomatoes.  Small cherry ones to big sandwich size ones.  Every year the cherry tomatoes bloom but… my large tomatoes never start showing up until late September.  Yes, I do the what is my zone and when to plant.  Tried seeds, and tried seedlings but neither help in the success of getting tomatoes during the summer.  Hmm, I mean the NJ farms can do it so why can't I?  

Could it be that my lazy gardening has caught up with me?  I like to plant, water, and take off the dead leaves.  Nope, no fertilizers except the occasional crushed egg shells.  But, really?  My grandpa would get hundreds of tomatoes without any extra fertilization in the eastern PA area.  There must be trick!

Gorgeous plant filled with an abundance of fruit… but, right in the middle of October!

So, my not too shabby carrots, prolific flat leaf parsley, cucumbers & green beans both which aren't pictured.  Not bad?!.  All in the height of summer.

October Bounty

Still getting red at the end of December.  The taste is not bad and very similar to the chain grocery stores.  Oh, how I long for my grandpa's summer garden!

Favorite Things: My new slow cooker from Hamilton Beach

Dinner made like Mom

My youth was spent at the dinner table eating overcooked… everything.  My mom loved her slow cooker.  She'd say it herself, cooking was definitely not her forté. We'd often have bbq / sloppy joe ground beef or sweet & sour chicken cooked so much it shredded into oblivion.  Thanks to our grandma the pot roast never made an appearance in the slow cooker.  Thank you Grandma for your monthly meals around your table that were tasty, slow, and filled with wonderful memories!  Now that I'm a mom myself, I understand the value of the slow cooker and Mom.  Unlike my mother, I love to cook when I'm not forced to make daily fast, quick, scheduled, boring dinners.  

I'm hoping the slow cooker has come a long way since the 70's and 80's.  One can only hope spring's eternal.  After a long time of wanting one, a generous Santa Claus sent me a Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6-QT Oval Programmable Slow Cooker. I must have been very good this year with my hostess skills!   If you follow me, all my end results are due to this brand and so far the results have been tasty and promising. 

Love the outcome so far.  Pretty.  But, a bit more labor intensive than I thought.  Need to brown meat & vegetables before adding to slow Hamilton Beach 6 QT slow cooker.

End result is a delicious tasty chuck roast with a  yummy broth.

Um, apparently I am #old. I can't get my #tweet to come up on #google+

Um, apparently I am #old. I can't get my #tweet to come up on #google+

— Pennies & Cutie Pies (@PenniesCutiePie) December 13, 2014

from Twitter http://ift.tt/1zNZfMO



December 13, 2014 at 04:18PM

via IFTTT

Ok, I can get a handle on this #socialmedia networking stuff. I mean, geez, I'm not that #old. Am I?

Ok, I can get a handle on this #socialmedia networking stuff. I mean, geez, I'm not that #old. Am I?

— Pennies & Cutie Pies (@PenniesCutiePie) December 13, 2014

from Twitter http://ift.tt/1zNZfMO



December 13, 2014 at 04:15PM

via IFTTT

Favorite Find of the Week: Palmolive eco+

So... the store didn't have my favorite dishwasher detergent and I wasn't going to wash dishes all day after a play date.  I begrudgingly bought Palmolive eco+ and I have found I really like it.  It works even with all the eco friendly slogan's on the bottle.  I use to be a big eco friendly cleaning products junky but I found they never worked well for me.  However, this was 8 years ago.  This product has definitely made me rethink about going back to being eco friendly.  My favorite was the Meyer's brand but even they had a terrible glass cleaner that streaked.  I never really felt like my home was clean even though it smelled great and I spent a fortune to 'clean' it.  Although, I realize that this isn't totally eco friendly it's a good start for our household.  Plus, it smells nice and doesn't over power the dishes when they come out of the dishwasher.

Fixing a Noisy Ceiling Fan

Favorite Find of the Week is a home DIY YouTube sight, because I have a noisy ceiling fan I need to fix to get any sleep.  I dug around and found my WD-40 and I'm ready to fix the noise.  Ahh, but I decide to look online first to see how before I go charging up to the fan.  I found this great youtube sight that I now love and it showed me exactly how to fix the noise and told me I was completely wrong on how to go about it.  So, off goes the WD-40 back into the cavernous hole it came from for another day of DIY and out comes my screwdriver.

HowToWith GEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQlqwo6rL0&list=HL1392991398

Fixing a noisy ceiling fan.

Thanks Geo!  Now onto the terrible water bubble in the ceiling.

Kitchen Tip #1: Use Salt & Pepper Shakers for any seasoning.

My family loves a little kick to their food so I add cayenne on a regular basis.  However, the packaging it came in would always dump out too much, so I'd end up using my fingers.  This left me with washing my hands which would add to my rough dry winter skin.  Argh!   Seems silly, but when you want nice young hands and want to get super done quickly, every little thing counts.  I realized if I put the cayenne in an old salt shaker I wouldn't have any problems and the right amount would usually take mere seconds to come out.

After this revelation, I started thinking about what other spices I used on a regular basis to put into salt shakers...

Put spices into salt shakers for a quick boost to your taste buds.

Teddy Bear Picnic Cupcakes

So, I was asked to be a 'Room Mom' for my son's pre-school class.  I asked Cutie-Pie and he loved the idea!

My first endeavor was cupcakes for the Teddy Bear Picnic outside.  I got a little too adventurous and decided to make devil's food marshmallow stuffed cupcakes. Yummy... right?  Well, half the cupcakes had the marshmallow float up to the top of the cupcake and disintegrate during baking.  Argh.  The other half had the marshmallow completely melt in the cupcake and have soft yummy middle but... not exactly what I was hoping for.  Luckily, icing can fix almost anything.

Ingredients:

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees

Pillsbury Box Devil's Food Mix
Room Temperature Eggs (Add 1 extra egg from box instructions)
Sub Milk for Water
Sub melted butter for oil
1/2 cut jumbo marshmallows (Freeze)
1 TBLS Confectioner's sugar
2 Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting cups
Softened Cream Cheese
Softened Butter
Sprinkles
Gummy Bear
*No cupcake liners needed
Spray Oil


Instructions:

1. Freeze Marshmallows day before baking in a sealed tight bag with 1 tablespoon of confectioners sugar Shake and coat well so marshmallows don't stick together
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
3. Place racks in middle of oven
4. Oil cupcake pans
5. Add all room temperature wet ingredients into your mixer.  Mix until bubbly and 'fluffy'
6. Add dry ingredients and mix 1 extra minute from instructions
7. Spoon small amount of cake mix into cupcake pan and add 1/2 marshmallow and then top with rest of cake mix.  Fill each cupcake over 3/4 full
8. I had just enough mix for 24 cupcakes but I had to scrape to the very end for the last 2
9. Place cupcakes side by side in oven 
10. Turn down oven to 325 degrees
11. Change pan placements half way through baking.
12. Check with toothpick (remember the marshmallow will cause a gooey filling inside.)
13. Take out of oven and let cool only until you can touch to take out pan and put on cooling racks.
14. ***If you are not using in the next 2 days freeze and then decorate on the day of use.***
15. Start icing
16. Place 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2 a block of cream cheese in mixer and whip on high
17. Add 2 bought icing mix and whip until thick and fluffy
18. Place in Ziploc / Plastic bag and place in refrigerator
19. Cool icing about 1 hour which allows cupcakes to cool completely
20. Now is the time to assembly the 'game boxes' for transport if you don't have a proper cupcake container.
21. Find game box high enough for the icing and decorations. 
22. Line with aluminum foil.  Tape on places needing to be secured... foil to foil and not on the box.
23. Assembling Cupcakes
24. Cut tiny whole at corner of ziploc bag
25. Take a cupcake and place a little icing on bottom and place on plate.
26. In a circular motion start from the outside and go around the cupcake swirling to center.  Pile as high as you would like.  You have 2 containers of icing you'll have enough for 24 cupcakes.  So go crazy!
27. Place in box with foil and sprinkle and place gummy bear on top.  
28. Continue until all cupcakes are done
29. Line box with foil and cover completely.
30. DO NOT REFRIGERATE!  It will dry out cupcakes. 
31. Use next 2 days.
32. **Added freezing marshmallows in sugar after pictures.  This will make the marshmallows stay put.

Marshmallow stuffed Devil's Food Cupcake

Marshmallow 'stuffed' Devil's Food Cupcake with disintegrated center.  Boo.  I should have put less cake mix at bottom before marshmallow.

Devil's Food Marshmallow Stuffed Cupcake with the trimmings for Teddy Bear Picnic.

Game box with correct height for cupcakes

Line with foil for 24 cupcakes

Foil and tape to secure

Ready for Pre-School Teddy Bear Picnic