Monkey Munch (aka Puppy Chow)

Courtesy of Jon and Kate plus 8! And for the record I think Monkey Munch sounds much better than Puppy Chow!

1 box Chex mix (any flavor, I did Rice)
2- 2 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

12 oz of Chocolate Chips
1 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter

Place those three items in microwavable bowl and melt (approx 2 minutes)

In a large bowl to mix everything, put entire box of Chex mix in. When p.butter, chocolate chips and butter are all melted and mixed well, pour over cereal and mix to coat well.

In a large Ziploc bag (or you can use a large paper bag) place 1 1/2 cups of powder sugar, spoon in cereal mix, place another 1/2 cup of sugar on top, seal bag and then mix to coat cereal with powdered sugar, if you need more add another 1/2 cup.

When it is all well coated, dump on wax paper to harden up, enjoy!

*My kids love this show and when they saw the kids help making it the other day they started begging me to make it.

Punch

1 46oz bottle Pineapple Juice
5 smashed bananas
1 Large (12 oz) can of frozen Orange Juice
1 Large can of frozen Lemonade

Boil:
6 cups water
1 cup sugar and add to the above mixture. Mix well and then when cooled you can freeze in portions of Gallon Ziploc bags. When ready to use take out 1 bag from freezer, let sit at room temp for approx 30 minutes and then add with 2 bottles of room temperature Sprite.

Carmel Popcorn

1/4 cup butter/margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 15 oz can of condensed milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla
5 qt of popped PLAIN popcorn

Combine sugar, butter and corn syrup in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in milk and simmer until mixture comes to a soft ball stage, stir in vanilla and poor over popcorn. You can then form into balls if you want.

Banana Bread

1 cup butter
2 cup sugar
6-7 smashed bananas
4 eggs- well beaten
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk + 3 tsp vinegar (combine in a small dish)
Chopped Walnuts (Opt)

Cream butter and sugar together, blend in bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Mix together flour, salt and soda and add to the mixture, alternating with milk. Add chopped nuts if you want. Makes 2 loaves. Bake at 325 for 1 hour 20 minutes or if glass dishes bake 300 for 50-55 minutes.

Buckwheat Pancakes (Jeff's favorite)

1 pkg active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups cold water
2 cups Buckwheat flour
1 cup Gold Medal Flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter-melted
1 Tbs molassas
1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in a 1/2 cup HOT water

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add cold water. Blend in flours and salt, stir in. Beat vigorously until smooth. Cover and refridgerate overnight (at least 8 hours +). In morning stir in butter, molassas, and soda dissolved in the HOT water. Let stand at room temp for 30 minutes and bake on your griddle.

7 Layer Bean Dip

Refried Beans
3 avocados- smashed with a small amount of lemon juice

Combine:
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 envelope taco seasoning

Cheese
Tomatoes- diced
Green onion- chopped
Sliced Olives

In a 9x13 pan, layer beans, avocados, cream mixture, cheese, tomatoes, green onion, olives. Chill until needed and serve with tortilla chips.

Chicken Rolls

2 packages crescent rolls (8 ct)
6 oz cream cheese- softened
3/4 cup butter- room temp
1 bundle green onion chopped
1 lb. cooked chicken- shredded

Combine cream cheese and butter in a bowl, add green onion and chicken, set aside. On a floured surface take a crescent roll and slightly roll out, add a spoonful or two to the bigger end and then fold roll around it and pinch closed. Place in a greased 9x13 pan, do to all rolls lining up in pan. Top with some melted butter or margarine and crushed croutons if you want. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

There is a sauce for these, but we like it just like this, and I have never used the sauce and don't have the recipe for that.

Olive Garden's Alfredo Sauce

I got this recipe from a copy cat website and it tastes just the same, although the cheeses can be a bit expensive, BUT you can freeze them to make them last, just make sure you freeze them in the amount you need them for this recipe. This is Jeff's favorite dish out and so I made it for our anniversary one year.



1/2 Tbs Garlic Puree
1 cup Butter
1 qt. heavy whipping cream

4oz of whole or 2% milk

1/2 a pound of Parmesan Cheese (fresh if possible)
2 oz of Fontina cheese (found in the specialty cheese area)

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp of Pepper




In a saucepan brown Garlic Puree in some of the butter, add rest of butter and melt. Then add the Heavy Cream, milk, both cheeses, and salt and pepper. Stir on Med/High until cheeses melt and sauce starts to thicken (about 10 minutes). Turn heat to low and continue to stir occasionally, sauce will thicken more over the next 10 minutes or so. As it is simmering I like to add some steamed broccoli and cooked shrimp or chicken and then serve over fettuccine.

FHE

The Plan of Salvation

Lesson: This Site. It has some cutouts to print off and cut out, and I have some clear contact paper that I am going to use and a magnet roll so they will all get magnets on them so we can do it on our front door/fridge/or I will pull out a cookie sheet or something.

Activities: For older children a story and using scriptures for younger children a coloring page.

Snack: Since we are short on time we will probably go and get something from Sonic or just do brownies.

Love IT!

Some things I found and want to try over the next couple of weeks, and some things that will help with keeping the kiddo's busy this summer. I will also be making up some bibs and burp cloths and hope to get some pics and put up a tutorial of it over the next couple of weeks so watch out for that!

• Rubber Duck Washcloth


• Men's Shirt= Toddler Dress


• Superhero Capes- maybe not this exact one, but something along these lines


• Chore Chart/ Reward System (sooo will be doing this for the summer!) or here is another one from Andrea
• Cute Apron Pattern (thinking this may make a fabulous gift!)
• Schoolwork pages (It is free to sign up for)

Pasta Salad (Chicken or Tuna can be added)

This salad can be made with Tuna or Chicken, but I like it without so I have never made it with either one.

Box of bowtie pasta (cook the pasta as directed)
1 can chicken, drianed and flaked (or tuna Optional!)
2 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
Grape or Chrry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup sliced green onions
Add cooked, cooled pasta to the veggies and chicken.

In a small bowl, blend:
1 cup Italian dressing
1/2 cup mayo
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp salt
some black pepper
Add to salad mixture, toss to coat, cover and chill.

Thanks to my sister in law Melanie for this yummy salad!

Chicken and Broccoli

I have heard of this called Chicken Divan also, but this is my own variation of it to what my family likes.

Chicken-cooked and shredded
Broccoli- 4 cups cooked
2 Tbs Butter/Margarine
Basil Seasoning
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can of water
1/2 cup Mayo
Shredded Cheese (I use colby jack or whatever I have on hand)
Cooked Rice

Cook Broccoli and put in a greased 9x13 pan, then put cooked and shredded chicken on top of that. Take your 2 tbs of margarine (or butter) melt it and add some Basil seasoning (I usually add about a Tbs or so) mix and drizzle over the chicken and broccoli. In a separate bowl mix up Cream of Chicken Soup, 1 can of Water (if I boiled chicken I will use the water that I used for that for some extra flavor) and the mayo, mix together and pour over Chicken. (Now we all hate the little pieces of Chicken from the soup mix so I run it through a strainer to eliminate that). Top with some shredded cheese if you have it and want it. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until sauce is bubbling. Cook up some rice and put the chicken mixture over the top of it and enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti

Yummy twist on an old favorite!

Noodles- Cooked

1 egg
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Sauce- Favorite kind, for us I just brown up 1/2 lb of ground hamburger and add the Prego meat spaghetti sauce.

In a bowl combine egg and both kinds of cheese and mix, when noodles done cooking and drained put in bowl (while still hot) and mix and let cheese melt. In a greased 9X13 pan put noodle mixture then top with sauce and some more shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, until cheese is melted.

I came up with this when Jeff and Corbin complained about not liking plain spaghetti, Corbin wouldn't eat it because it was saucy and he didn't like that, so I decided to try this out and see how they liked it. The noodles absorb some of the sauce, and it gets thick just like with Lasagna, but easier to make!

FHE

Tonights lesson is on Keeping the Love in our Home.

Lesson Idea from: HERE

Prep: I am making my own flower (pettles, stem, grass, etc. out of construction paper and the petals will be the hearts).

Lesson: We will talk about all the ways we can keep the love in our home, and ways that disrupt that love.

Scriptures: Mosiah 4: 14 & 15

Activities: Making the flower in the lesson, and these coloring pages: Family Having fun in Park or Happy Family posing for Picture/Hidden Number Puzzle

Treats: Heart Shaped Rice Krispie Treats or Heart Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookies.

FHE

Tonight's FHE is on Baptism. I got the lesson from HERE. Since our son Corbin will be baptized later this year I thought this would be a great lesson geared for him.

Activity: Saved a clip art picture from HERE for each of my boys to color.

Treat: Root beer floats, no real tie in here, they have just been asking for them.

Brownie, Strawberry Trifle

K this recipe I kinda just winged but here is what I did:

2 boxes of brownie mix, mixed and baked (you probably won't need all of these for the dessert, but better safe than sorry). Once you have baked, and they have cooled, cut into bite size pieces.

Strawberries (I used 2 pts.), washed, sliced and sprinkled with a little sugar.
Chocolate Sauce
Whipped Cream *check bottom of post for this recipe*

In a trifle bowl I took my bite sized brownie pieces and put a layer across the bottom, then a layer of strawberries, sprayed on some Chocolate Sauce, then a layer of whipped cream. Then start the process all over, top with the rest of the whipped cream and if you have strawberries left decorate the top. Keep refrigerated until you serve.

Home made whipped cream: (I did a double batch)
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Put ingredients in a bowl and beat on medium until stiff peaks start to form (this will take a good 5 minutes or so), refrigerate until you use. (makes 2 cups of whipped cream).

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 Tbs Butter
Chopped Celery
1/4 Onion Chopped
Chicken, cooked and shredded
4 cans Chicken Broth
1 can Vegetable Broth
1 1/2 cup Egg Noodles
Chopped Carrots
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

I did this in my Crock Pot, so I threw the chicken in frozen and cooked on high for approx 3 hours (I did about 7 or 8 tenderloins), then shred. On stove top, saute Onion and Celery in Butter, while sauteing, in crock pot add the rest of the ingredients and then add the onion and celery. Cook on high until noodles are tender (about another 3 hours).

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Combine:
2 cups strawberries (mashed or blended) We started out by mashing them with a potato masher and then pulsing them a bit, I hate big blobs of strawberries.
4 cups sugar

*Stir together and let sit for 10 minutes.

Bring to a boil:
3/4 cup water
1 package Sure-Jell (stir while boiling one minute)

*Add the Sure-Jell mixture to the strawberries and stir for 3 minutes.

Pour into containers, put on lids, and let sit out for 24 hours. Then freeze.

This is my favorite thing my Grandma J use to make for us. I called her one year to get her "recipe" and she laughed at me and told me "whatever is on the inside of the Sure-Jell box!" So thanks for Grandma J in inspiring me to try this and for all the great memories it holds!

Sandwiches

Just a way to jazz up that normal hum drum sandwich. Sandwiches for lunch are a staple for me everyday, but especially on the weekend (or Sunday really) for Jeff and I. So just sharing the yummy way I made it this weekend, if you like Quizno's you will probably like this.

I was at the local Fresh N' Easy and discovered they have Ciabatta rolls there. So I got them and some other fixin's for sandwiches for us. Jeff had the Smoked Turkey and Provolone, I stick with Ham and cheese, but no cheese (plain I know!)

Cut the Ciabatta rolls in half. On one half put your cheese and meat. Then stick both half's on a cookie sheet and stick under the broiler in your oven. Watch so it doesn't burn, but give the top bun a nice toasting and the meat on the other side as well . Pull out and put on whatever toppings you want. It was super easy and yummy.

**Eta- Fry's and some Walmarts now have ciabatta bread. I will usually look for it on sale, just picked up a bunch from Fry's for 99 cents for 4 and then freeze them.

FHE

This weeks Lesson is on: Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life

Scriptures: 1 Nephi 8:2-35

Lesson point: In Lehi's dream, he saw a tree with fruit that was delicious above all others, signifying God's.

Discussion Questions:

• Where did Lehi see the tree of life?
• What else did he see in his vision?
• Is it easy to follow the strait and narrow path when it feels the world is laughing at you?

Activities: Coloring Page, Lesson Clipart help/Coloring, Game for Older kids (needs prep time!), Scriptures/match game (scroll down to Lehi's Vision!) Flannel Story Board from Deseret Book

Treats: We are having Carmel Apples since my kids have been asking for them forever, but you could do fruit salad, or anything with fruit.

Need another FHE idea? Go HERE