What's up Wednesday--cheerios treat

 This little treat has been a family favorite since 2004 when Miss O had them as a preschool treat.  My dear friend Angie made them, and Miss O loved them!  I got the recipe and the rest is history.  They are usually requested by Mr J when he is in charge of treats for our weekly family night.  They are super easy to make and extra yummy.  Kind of like a rice krispie treat but with peanut butter and cheerios instead.  Okay, not really like a rice krispie treat at all, but really good just the same!!!

Cheerios Treats

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups peanut butter, you can use either creamy or crunchy

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup light corn syrup

3/4 tsp vanilla

4 cups Cheerios

Heat sugar and syrup in pan until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat; blend in peanut butter.  Add vanilla and salt.  Fold in cereal.  Grease a 9x13 pan and press into pan.  Cool and cut into bars, or just start eating it as soon as you put it into the pan like we do so half the pan is eaten before it is cooled and cut into bars :)

2014 Blue Jeans Week 7

We had a nice week.  Busy first few days with parent teacher conferences, then the kids had off Thursday and Friday.  Ben took off also so we could all take off for a fun weekend in the city.  Here is a look at our week. . .

Sunday afternoon--everyone was busy making their Valentine's for the week.  Love all the creativity going on around here!

Our house in winter.  I try and remember to get a picture of it in each of the seasons.  

Our Valentine's Day sugar cooking baking extravaganza for school parties, work, friends, and just to eat.  Recipe in the previous post.  Yum!  It wouldn't be Valentine's at our house without sugar cookies!

Finally got in a little bit of sledding--or tried to anyway.  Mr J didn't quite make it down on this run :)

The kids exploring the park in the winter--the little stream is a lot more fun when it is frozen.  Who doesn't love to walk on ice and make snow angels?  

 We went up to the city Thursday for a belated 16th birthday celebration for Miss A.  We went out to dinner, went swimming in the hotel pool and enjoyed watching the Olympics that night.  

The next day we did some shopping and went ice skating to celebrate Valentine's Day.  It was cold!  But we had a lot of fun!!!

Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon!

I am linking up with The Mom Creative.

What's up Wednesday--sugar cookies

I have made a lot of sugar cookies in my time.  Valentine's Day is the ultimate sugar cookie holiday for us.  I normally don't make sugar cookies at Christmas, but they are a necessity on Valentine's Day.

Here is the batch I made yesterday for school parties, Ben to take to work, the girls to give to friends, and for us to just eat.  Yum!  These are good to eat plain.  I put the unfrosted leftovers in my freezer, and they disappear very quickly.  

But frosted they are absolutely divine!  This dough is pretty dry and stiff which is a good thing because it allows you to not have to refrigerate the dough before you roll it like many sugar cookies recipes.  That is one reason I love this recipe--you can make it and cut it right after--no waiting.  Because sugar cookies honestly take enough time without refrigerating the dough to get it hard enough to roll and cut.  That being said, you need a stand mixer to make these and be sure and mix them long enough that the dough comes together into a big dough ball.  My daughter was making these and called to me, "something is wrong!"  The dough was all crumbly in the mixer.  I told her she just hadn't mixed it enough.  She turned the mixer back on and in a few more minutes is was perfect.  The cookie recipe is my mom's from when I was growing up.  The frosting recipe is supposedly from the New York Magnolia Bakery, but I can't verify that.  I can verify it is very good.  The key to it is beating it a long time after each addition of powdered sugar.  With both of these recipes, you can easily double them.  The top picture of cookies is 2 recipes of  sugar cookies, and I doubled the frosting to frost all of them.  Happy Sugar Cookies!  Enjoy!

Perfect Sugar Cookies (*makes 24-30 cookies depending upon your cookie cutter size)

1 cup butter, soft

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

4 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

4 tsp baking powder

Preheat over to 375.  In a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together.  Add egg and mix well.  Add all other ingredients and mix until forms a stiff dough ball.  Roll out on floured surface to 1/4 inch thick--these are best rolled thick!  Then place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 5-6 minutes.  Do not over bake.  These are much better underdone than overdone.  Cool before frosting.

Best Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter, soft

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until smooth.  Add 2 cups powdered sugar and mix--this will be dry and crumbly, then add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.  Add in 1 cup of additional powdered sugar at a time beating really well after each cup until it is thick enough to frost. 

2014 Blue Jeans Week 6

It was a pretty slow week because of snow and sickness.  Those would not have been my first choices of ways to slow down, but they do work.  Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. we got a call school was canceled because of snow.  When I woke up later Tuesday morning I had a sore throat that turned into some yuck that knocked me out for a week.  I left the house 2 times from Tuesday to Sunday last week.  Once to take the kids to school Thursday because they started 2 hours later and once Friday to see the doctor and get something to finally get better today.  Yeah!  So here is a look at our slow week :)

Family night.  We have a religious lesson, sing songs, play a game, eat treats.  Mr J was in charge of games and he picked Twister.  We actually got this game as a wedding gift over 18 years ago.  Still in good shape and pretty fun after all those years :) 

Miss A was in charge of a service project at school the beginning of the week.  They were doing bingo as a fundraiser for a charity.  She did a great job!  They raised quite a bit of money, and she had fun calling out the bingo numbers.

Tuesday.  This was why school was canceled, but Miss E and Mr J had fun trying to make a snow fort in the blizzard.

Wednesday--school canceled again because of snow, cold, wind and drifts.  The kids went out in it for a minute, but it was a little too cold for them.

Mr J and his after school snack and reading time.  Jelly beans make the perfect reading snack!

With the cold and snow we have enjoyed the time to stay home and watch the Olympics this weekend!

And then we got our family Valentine's box done beginning of the month but didn't get a picture yet.

This is an important tradition at our house.  Every beginning of February we decorate a family Valentine's box.  We put valentines in it just for our family.  On Valentines' day we open it and pass out the home made Valentines we all did for each other.  It is a fun tradition that they kids love.  

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!  Wednesday I will be sharing our favorite sugar cookie and frosting recipe which we have made lots lately for Valentine's Day.  Hope to see you back!

I am linking up with The Mom Creative.

Friday thoughts

What a week.  It didn't go as I had planned, but that really isn't unusual :)

This was my bathroom mirror inspiring quote this week.  Love it.   

And this is what was going on outside this week.  

And this is what was going on inside.  Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. we got a call that school was canceled.  Tuesday afternoon I was out for the count.  I had the flu, and I did get a flu shot in November.  I was so sick.  This trend continued to Wednesday--no school, me sick, and also onto Thursday--school started 2 hours late and I was still sick.  So while my kids were doing things--like trying to make a snow fort in a blizzard and taking pictures of their sick mom on the couch--I was totally out of it.  Good thing my kids are older and can take care of themselves for a few days.  Don't they know mom's aren't supposed to get sick??  Come on!  Especially not on snow days when school is canceled!  Geez!

But on a happier note, I did read this book this past week.  Brandon Sanderson is probably one of my favorite authors now.  I read his Steelheart book a few weeks ago and loved it.  I didn't think I would like this one or 'get it' at first, but I really enjoyed it.  It is a book that really makes you think.  Sanderson is an extremely talented writer.  If you haven't ever read anything by him, I would highly suggest starting with his book Elantris.  That is one of my all-time favorites.  

Have a good weekend and stay warm and healthy!  We are going to try and do that here too!!

What's up Wednesday--hello snow and calico beans edition

Hello snow!  We are on our 2nd no school day because of snow here.  So because it is really cold outside, you need something yummy and warm inside, so may I suggest . . .

Calico beans?  They are yummy!  It is a really thick, sweet chili.  You can make it in the crock pot or on the stove.  It basically just has to warm up to be ready to eat, but cooking on low for a while really makes the flavors blend well.  I always double the below recipe for our family because we love this and love having the leftovers!  Enjoy and hope you are keeping warm in your neck of the woods!

Calico Beans

1 lb hamburger

8 slices of bacon, diced

1 onion, diced

Cook the above together in a large frying pan then drain and set aside.

In a crock pot or large pan stir together--

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 can pork and beans--do not drain

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can butter beans, drained

Mix both the meat and bean mixture together and keep on low until ready to serve or warm on stove until ready to serve.  I let it set on low for several hours.  Enjoy!

2014 Blue Jeans Week 5

 What a week, what a week.  Had lots of fun playing games with family and friends.  Had our state's birthday party and a flashback.  Mr J won the pinewood derby!!! Woohoo!  And we had a big ice storm for the weekend that canceled all activities and church, so we didn't leave the house for 2 days, and sometimes that is nice! Here is a look at our week. . . 

One of Ben's many talents--he can juggle.  He had to learn for a class in college.  I remember him trying to learn and dropping things all.the.time.  The kids were impressed with his skill.  

Played Settlers of Catan for family night.  That is a favorite game of ours.  

Then I got together with some girlfriends to teach them how to play Settlers of Catan.  Sharing the love.

Flashback moment---We always celebrate our state's birthday.  We have a state themed dinner and always a sunflower cake for dessert.  This picture is our first celebration with a sunflower cake from 2005.  Man how these kids have grown!  Mr J wasn't even born yet.  Below is this year's celebration.  We had the missionaries over for dinner that night too.  Miss E was going for the tough girl look :)

Pinewood Derby and Mr J's car won!  It was fast--super fast--like one second faster than the next guy fast.  He was excited!

Had a fun family dinner and game night at the school.  I enjoyed it with Mr J and his friend.  

Love this shot of Mr J running to the car after school.  He is excited to be done for the weekend!

And this was what our weekend was like--ice covered and cold.  No one goes anywhere when everything is covered like this--especially the roads.  It was a nice quiet weekend to stay home and warm by the fire!

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great week!  I am linking up with The Mom Creative.

Come back soon!  I post Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays.