Mexican Spice

Here's something you can mix up for your own pantry, or turn into a cute gift.

I found a recipe for a taco seasoning mix that is really yummy and so much cheaper than the spice packets I used to buy. I mixed up a bunch, packaged it in snack size baggies with a little label I made on the computer, and put it in a gift bag with canned tomatoes and canned salsa from this summer. These will be my kiddos teacher gifts this year, along with instructions for cooking up a "mexican night". My theory it anything simple can be jazzed up to look cute, with a gift tag or label. I'm all about making practical, useful gifts, look more fun!

Recipe for the taco seasoning found here: (I usually times it by 4 and it makes a small jar-full for my cupboard) http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Seasoning-I/Detail.aspx

Another great mix idea is hot chocolate. My friend Ashley shared a recipe, which is simple:

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup brown sugar

whisk together in a bowl and add a pinch of cayenne for kick if desired (I left it out)

Use 2 tbs./ mug of WARM milk, stir to dissolve. She uses soy milk and it works wonderfully, as well.

This is a rich and creamy hot chocolate, myself and my kids love it. Would make a cute gift in a jar or baggie along with candy canes and those cute vanilla flavored snowman shaped marshmallows. Have you seen those? Love 'em.

Perfect cold weather treat!

Moose Lips

Do you like peanut butter and apples? We do!

Next time you have the hankering for some, try jazzing them up a bit and turning them into "Moose Lips".

1. Cut an apple into wedges and smear a big glob of pb on one.

2. Press another apple wedge on top and decorate with raisins, mini-marsh mellows or even chocolate chips (as the "teeth), I used golden raisins for the ones below.

3. Present them to your children and watch them gobble up this healthy and filling snack (after they pretend like they are their own lips!)

Fun Summer Activity #4: Beach Camping

Along with clam digging, bike rides, and eating scones around the campfire, not much beats the beauty of the coast. My parents camped next to us and we had a blast. It was over way too soon!

Here's the gang in Cannon Beach right after a tasty lunch at Mo's!

We stopped to play at Hug Point and my mom and I couldn't get over how much this lady looked like her dog. Not a great picture, as I was trying to be discreet. But it still makes me laugh.
Wyatt loves those waves, and being silly.


And mom has a tradition of making scones on the fire in lieu of s'mores. All you need is a store bought scone mix, these handy sandwich/scone makers, butter, and her incredible raspberry jam, and you get....



This! Can you say yummy?

The worlds easiest cookie recipe

My friend, McKenzie called me to share this recipe a few weeks back. I finally remembered to buy a can of pumpkin, and had stocked up on $.59 cake mixes from Safeway this week. So I tried it and they turned out pretty good.

1 boxed cake mix

1 small can (15oz) pumpkin

That's all!

Beat together with mixer and drop by tablespoons on greased cookie sheet or Silpat. Bake at 375 for about 9-10 minutes.

I used a yellow cake mix and added chocolate chunks. I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand but I had a bunch of mini chocolate bars from Halloween that I chopped up and threw in. Which could very well make them not only the easiest cookies but the cheapest, too. I think they'd be good without the chocolate and with a generous shaking of cinnamon. Or use a chocolate cake mix to disguise the pumpkin from your kids.

My kids gobbled them down. Wyatt loved them so much he named them "Dream Cookies" so I guess that's what they will be called around here. I justify "Dream Cookies" as a good way to get your veggies. Or wait, I think pumpkin is a fruit. Oh, well.

They made my house smell good!

Pita Bread

The rising stage

Almost done (hey I think these might actually turn out!)
And they did.....a yummy, soft pita waiting the filling of my choice.

Growing up on of my most favorite sandwiches was tuna on pita with sprouts, sunflower seeds and couple of my Dad's homemade sweet pickles on the side. But I can never seem to find pita bread at the discount grocery store in our neck of the woods, so I have not had it for quite some time. A month or two ago I got to thinking about how yummy pita bread sounded. I looked up a recipe online and printed it off to try sometime. Well, this week over at Home Sanctuary one of our "small things" was to make something from scratch. The first thing I thought of was that pita bread recipe I've had clipped to my fridge for a couple months now. So I decided to give it a go!

I was so pleased (and surprised) with the results! They were soft and delicious. After cooling, Wyatt and I broke one up and ate it on the spot. He commented, "this is good bread, mom". I served them lat night with Picnic Chicken Pita Filling and they were a hit for dinner.

I'll be baking another batch, soon!