Lemon Mousse

Here is another Easy recipe that Cole made last night, I actually go this in an E-mail from McCormicks and Cole made is all by himself, even made it look pretty in the glasses we served it in! although he would not let me garnish with a mint leaf or a rasberry to make it look smashing ! I have had a blast with the boys in the kitchen these past few days, teaching them tricks such as how to make real whipped cream, EVOO, Deglazing pans, and how to turn fresh garlic into a paste, no garlic was used in this recipe :) They are so proud of their creations and can't wait for Matt to come home at night to try them. Speaking of I need to go search the pantry and see what they can make tonight!


Here is McCormick's recipe, BTW I used Light Cream Cheese and it tasted just fine!

Makes 6 (1/2-cup) servings.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract
1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1. Beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar in large bowl until smooth and creamy.

2. Beat heavy cream, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice and extracts in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Add 1/2 of the whipped cream mixture to cream cheese mixture; stir until well blended. Gently stir in remaining whipped cream mixture. Cover.

3. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Spoon or pipe into dessert dishes to serve. Garnish with lemon slices, fresh berries and mint leaves, if desired

Cole's Cheesy Biscuits...Better than Red Lobsters!

Yes,I said it! Cole made Cheesy Biscuits better than Red Lobsters! and they were so yummy and did not come from a can, which is how my family prefers their biscuits, sad, but true.

So since I have been spending more time in the kitchen those boys have been right by my side wanting to cook as well.. I am so happy, they will be able to cook more than hot dogs and Mexican casserole for their wives and enjoy doing it, I'm not knocking Matt, don't get me wrong, he just does not care to be in the kitchen and besides he is much better behind a camera than I ever could be :)

Anywho, these Biscuits are super easy to make, even a 9 year old can make them!

1 pack buttermilk biscuit mix (I used Bisquick, about 1 1/2cups)
1 1/2cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oregano
3/4 tsp garlic salt1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray cooking sheet with non-stick spray.

2. Put biscuit mix, cheese and milk in a bowl and mix well to form a sticky dough.

3. Using spoon, drop lumps of dough onto cookie sheets 1.5in apart. Bake for 10min.

4. In a bowl, melt butter and mix with oregano and garlic salt.

5. When the timer goes off, take them out and brush with butter mixture and bake 5min at 400F and another 5-6min at 350F.


6. Remove immediately and serve hot!

MMMMMMM.....Cinnaminamy Frenchalicious Muffins

Muffins..yes, I may not be crafting but I was determined to try to make some muffins that were better than donuts, my all time favorite food. These were so simple to make and yes, they almost melted in my mouth. OKAY so they are not a plain glazed donut, but they are fewer calories, not by much, but hey every little bit helps. I am going to keep working on these recipes to try to make them lower in fat and calories, when I just get scared to exchange sugar for Splenda when baking, because if it is not good then I have wasted all the ingredients, but these were so easy and had so few ingredients this will be my perfect victim.

Here are the boys enjoying the muffins with a nice cup of Coffee!


We will call these: Cinnaminamy Frenchalicious Muffins, because well it makes them sound more extravagant! Anyways, eat them warm, they are so much better when they are warm! YUM!

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. AP flour ( self rising flour works well also, then you do not need the salt or baking powder)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium-large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined, but still a bit lumpy. Don't overmix. Scoop batter into muffin tins that have sprayed with cooking spray. I got 10 muffins out of this batter. Bake for 20-25 muffins, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar.

I disappeared again!

Yes, I did disappear again, and it is summer! This school thing is kicking my Butt. But I do know it will all be over in October, I have to just keep telling myself that and then hopefully I can get a job next school year helping out all these special needs kids, instead of tethered to one classroom or at least away from the principal I tend to clash with. SO some things I have been working on is helping my friend with raising money for her Susan G. Komen race for the Cure. I have been making her booby Cards and some collections cans like this one, although this is a crappy picture and not the best can I made. In between studying and doing this I think I lost my crafty Mojo this summer because I felt like I was ignoring my family so I would up taking a few weeks off from everything to give it all to my family, but the boys go to Children's camp on Aug 3rd so I plan to take a couple of days to use my new stamps and create for me before I go back to making Booby cards.

OH yes, I did sign up to sell Stamping Up stuff, but not for a profit really just so I can get my supplies in a timely manner if if I make a few extra bucks from people then OK, I am planning to do a Christmas card swap and maybe just a crafty get together, that way if people want to buy they can but there is no pressure , I am so not the salesperson, I hate being pressured, thus I do not pressure myself.

On another note, I always love to cook, but since the craftiness has taken a break the cookingness has gotten larger and I have tried new techniques in the kitchen so maybe I will post a few of those and recipes. Enjoy!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Time for another round of Teacher Appreciation gifts. Although Teacher Appreciation was last week, all the schools were out due to the Swine Flu, which is good because I spent the earlier part of last week Spring cleaning, not crafting, so on Wednesday when I decided to start crafting, i got the call that instead of getting the entire week off as earlier stated, we were having to go back on Thursday so I began these gifts but was too tired Thursday and Friday to finish them, as well as having to do my lectures as well, so I figured I would finish them this weekend, WELL that was also a bust since I threw my back out, so I drug myself to my craft room last night and finished them, well not everything, I wanted to do a couple of other things, but it hurts to sit, so I will just get by with these. The boys took them to school today and they said the teachers loved them. I hope so.

I had a bunch of the plain cardboard boxes i had gotten for free from FREECYCLE.ORG ( the best place in the world to get craft supplies, glassware to paint or frames to alter for FREE! The Matt can't complain that i was spending money on it,e specially if I turn around and sell it.) So anyway, I had these boxes lying around so I decopuaged them and then made coordinating accessories. I made altered binder clips in matching papers, if you wonder what to do with those you can use them to display a photo on you desk or hold notecards or whatever. Then I made bookmarks out of altering a paperclip, with some flowers cut out of papers and then I made a paper matchbook to display them in, what fun! These may be my new addiction next to making glass bead magnets, which I also made them. These are both so easy to do and you can make a bunch quicly, for instant gratification!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. That is all I have for tonight, I have to get Peyton into bed and begin my lectures for this week, JOY!

BOOBIE CARDS!

Well I have to say, these have been an instant success. I made a few of these to send to the women in my family and have since had several orders for these. In fact the thing I am most excited about is it looks like I will be making a bunch of these for the Breast Cancer Walk in the Fall as a fundraiser for them. I am very excited that my work can go for something so good! I plan on trying to make a few of these with bloomers as well as the thing panties, but I think testing those out might just have to wait until schools out because I promised Peyton I would finish the mural in his room first, pics will follow of course :)

Anyway I hope you enjoy!

Altered Canvas

So my Sister in law had this altered canvas that she had done because she had seen them at Canton but did not want to pay a ton of money for it, she used some scrap book paper, ribbon and big wooden block letters to spell out Family, it was VERY cute. Then My sister went and did one too that was tres chic so I thought, I needed to do one and I had been trying to think of something cute or some way to put up the word CREATE in my brand new craft room and VIOLA! This is what I came up with. It is not perfect and I wish I had a bought a couple of sheets of the same paper to have more continuity to the sign, but hey, for a first timer it is not bad. I definately got the bug and want to do another and actually have an idea to alter a larger canvas and add a nice family photo to it and the word Family or some scripture about Family, if you have a good Scripture, let me know, I have not really looked yet. I plan to do it all in browns and print my family pic in Sepia tones. Not sure if I will use an existing picture I have or get Matt to take another one of us at the park soon.

Sorry if some of you have seen these on my Facebook, I won't publish all my things on Facebook, I will reserve a few for here only, it has just been easier since I was in school to post there because then I do not write a book :)