family fun night. {and an easy recipe}

The day begins with us asking the kiddos "Do you know what day it is?!" And by now, they know. The chant begins "family fun night! family fun night!" And I may or may not do a little jig while singing it. So the anticipation goes all day. Family fun night is our homemade calzones, plus root beer floats, plus family movie snuggled on the couch. Simple. But full of love.

This tradition began sometime in January for us. It happened one Friday night and it stuck. Every Friday around 4:30pm we begin making the calzones. I use the easiest recipe in the world that I found on Pinterest.

Here it is:

For the dough:
2 1/2-3 cups of flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 Tbsp of vegetable oil
1 cup of very warm water

Combine 1 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Add the warm water and oil-mix. Stir in remaining flour slowly until dough is soft but not sticky. Knead until smooth. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes before making the calzone.

(In this 30 minute period turn on "Sound of Music" station in Pandora. Really loud. And dance.)

Preheat oven to 375. While preheating, roll dough out. You can either make one gigantic one or three small ones. Or whatever size you prefer. We do three small ones. (One for me, one for Andrew, and the girls share one, and Linc eats off of ours) Roll dough so it makes a rectangle shape. Put pizza sauce down middle. Then cheese on top and whatever else you prefer. We have done sweet red onions, black olives, artichokes, mushrooms, turkey pepperoni, green peppers. Then make cuts along each side of the dough about 3/4 inch in. Then wrap it by criss-crossing each cut over the center. The girls really love doing this part. We place all three on a large cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 375.

It's a tradition that I'm sure will evolve with time as the kids grow and we want to change it up a bit. We already have plans to set up movie nights outside on a big sheet during the summer. But what I'm loving right now is that something so simple can bring us all together. Not to mention, I love not having to think about a Friday night dinner. Give it a few more weeks and the girls may be able to make calzones entirely themselves. I mean, that's really my motivation, right? To teach them so they will eventually make all the meals. [Insert evil laugh.] 

My hope is these little traditions we are instilling in our children will keep us together like holding hands. One day they may do the same tradition with their children or come back home to visit and ask to make calzones together like the old days. When they sip a root beer float memories with flood in of snuggling up on the couch watching classic movies. Some of our Friday night movies have included Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Peter Pan the Musical and Wizard of Oz.

Here I am trying to capture us in the moment, and instead I catch Naomi pinching her sister. Which is about the funniest thing ever and pretty much sums up her personality. Also, you can see Audrey could care less. Haha. 

you will want to write this one down. {yummy recipes}.

I would say I'm pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to cooking. I try hard to provide meals that are nutritious, but I don't go over the top with all organic and straight out of the dirt ingredients. I wish I was better at it, but I do feel pretty proud of myself for cooking a meal most nights of the week. And we like to have people over a lot to join us. I grew up with the door is always open attitude and I hope to continue that legacy my mama instilled on us.

This week I tried two new killer meals, that I just have to share because 1) they are absolutely delish 2) easy enough for anyone to make 3) no crazy unknown ingredients that you have to google before shopping for.

The first one is taken from allrecipes.com. It is my go-to website for recipes, seriously. I didn't make up this yummy dish, but I do want to share it with you. Here it is...

Chicken Florentine Casserole:
Olive Oil
4 boneless chicken breasts-I cut up into strips
1/4 c. butter
3 tsps. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 c. half and half (i used heavy whipping cream and milk, because that is what I had in stock)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan
2 cans of spinach drained- I used a bag of FRESH spinach leaves
4 ounces of fresh mushrooms, sliced
2/3 c. bacon bits, I used REAL bacon and cooked it
2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

I modified the directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Saute fresh spinach leaves and mushrooms in a little bit of butter, place in bottom of 13x9 baking dish.
3) Add cut chicken on top of spinach mixture.
4) In same saucepan as used for the spinach, melt the butter over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese.
5) Cover chicken with white sauce in baking dish. Top with bacon crumbs.
6) Cook at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Remove, and top with Mozzarella, bake for an additional 10 minutes.

The recipe calls it a casserole, but I put it on top of some pasta that was mixed with olive oil and Italian seasoning and it tasted fabulously! I brought this to a friend who just had a baby, and she thought it was so yummy!

The next recipe is totally awesome for lunch or a quick dinner. I found it from The Little Brown House blog.

Monte Cristo with Blackberry Dipping Sauce
(This made three sandwiches for me)
6 slices of thick white bread
Ham
Mayonnaise
Swiss Cheese
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. of Dijon mustard (I used honey mustard salad dressing because that is what was in the fridge)
1/4 c. seedless blackberry jam
1/4 c. milk
salt and pepper

 1) Mix 1/4 c. Mayonnaise with 2Tbsp. Dijon mustard with wired whisk in small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2) Spread on one side of each slice of bread. Add Swiss cheese and ham. Top with remaining bread.
3) Beat eggs with milk in shallow dish. Add salt and pepper. Dip sandwiches in mixture.
4) Cook on griddle or grill.
5) While the sandwiches are cooking, make the dip. Mix jam, 2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise, and 1 tsp. of mustard together.
6) Enjoy the sandwich hot with melted cheese and dip away! YUM!

Let me know if you get a chance to try these recipes out. Or send some recipes my way! Happy eating!

get your cook on.

Yesterday I woke up for the day and one of the first things I did was pray for grace. [Along with starting coffee, opening the curtains, and making my bed. All part of the morning routine, yo.] I knew I wouldn't be able to function without it. I was going on day three of very, very little sleep. Also known as, Naomi going through a growth spurt and eating like her life depended on it. [Oh, wait it does.]

He answered my prayers, because, somehow I managed to have a good day, despite the {major} lack of sleep.

I mean, you know, it's a good day when your kitchen looks like this.

I was getting my cook on and bake on. What's that, you ask? Well, I don't share too many recipes here. But this is a good one, I tell you. It meets all my requirements. [Easy. Inexpensive. Good for you. Recognize all the ingredients.]

I made some delish Winter Squash and White Bean Stew.

You'll want to write this one down. And probably make it tonight too. Just sayin'.

[This is not an original recipe of mine, I took it from the crock-pot cookbook Fix-It and Forget-It.]

Ingredients: 1 c. chopped onion, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. ground cumin, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 garlic clove, minced, 3 cups peeled, butternut squash, cut into cubes, 1 1/2 c. chicken broth, 19oz. can cannellini beans, drained (I used Great Northern beans because that is what I had in stock), 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained, 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions: Combine all those lovely ingredients into your slow cooker. Cover. Cook on high 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook 2-3 hours.

We enjoyed it with a dollop of sour cream on top. (You didn't think I was that healthy, did you?) And my two-year old LOVED the squash.

EASY-PEASY I tell you. (Also, do you know the trick with the onion? Put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes before you cut it and you won't shed a tear. I do this every time and it works.)

Then for dessert. I went with the classic Nestle Toll House cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chips. You can't go wrong with that recipe. The trick is, take the cookies out of the oven when they don't look quite done. They will finish baking on the cooling rack and then be oh, so soft.

Now go get your cook on. I would also love for you to share a recipe you tried recently and loved.

comfort flavor pie.

I told you about the vintage pink Pyrex pie dish I scored at a garage sale yesterday for .50, right? It was so dag'on cute that it motivated me to make something to put inside of it.

See the pretty dish.

A sugar cream pie seemed like the perfect fit for it. I never had made one before, but that's what I Naomi was craving, so you know, I had to make it.

I used this recipe for the crust. I only made one crust, so I halved the recipe. I also used butter-flavored Crisco, which I think added a delicious taste to it. The crust was so, so good. Oh, and I don't have a pastry blender, so I just used two knives and sort of just karate chopped the shortening in, and I think it worked just fine.

I used this recipe for the pie. It was really easy, but you do want to watch it when you put it in the broiler, it only took about a minute or two. Also, I let it chill in the fridge for about an hour after baking it, I think it helped settle it.

See how purty it is?

Okay, fine it doesn't look that pretty. I assure you though, it is not burnt, that is just the cinnamon on top where I may have sprinkled a little too much and it baked that way. I also assure you that the pie was mmmm, mmmm, good.

Also, I completely ignored calorie intake and being healthy here. Because, duh, it's a sugar cream pie, there isn't anything healthy about it, except maybe it makes me happy when eating it. And happy is good.

When Life Hands You a Lemon. Make Lemonade.

Literally. I have been on a lemon kick. Sometimes I feel like I am still pregnant because I get these cravings and I have to fulfill them. I bought a bag of lemons last week on sale. And I have been coming up with ways to use them. Obviously, I made a lemon bundt cake last week.

Here is the recipe for it: (I did not create it and unfortunately I don't remember where it came from, but it is soooo good, I think I got it off of some website) Oh, and this is not for those calorie watchers. :)

Ingredients: 2 1/4c. flour, 2 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2tsp. baking soda, 3 lg. eggs, 1 tbsp. lemon rind grated, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 c. butter softened, 1 sm. carton sour cream

Put all the ingredients into large mixing bowl. Blend mixture at low speed, then beat at medium speed 3 minutes. Put in greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Cool completely. Drizzle with glaze.

Lemon Glaze: 1 c. sugar, lemon juice (1-2 tbsp).

Mix powdered sugar with enough lemon juice to make glaze to drizzle.
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Last night I made Lemon-Cream Cheese Cupcakes. It is suppose to make a batch of 24. But I just could not. stop. licking. the. bowl. And I ended up with like 17. Oops.

This recipe came from a Food and Family Kraft magazine. And again, not for those calorie watchers. But it is great for those who want to be happy. Because eating one makes your very, very happy.

Ingredients: 1 pkg. white cake mix, 1 pkg (4-serving size) Jell-o Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling, 1 c. water, 4 egg whites, 2 tbsp. oil, 1 pkg. (16oz) powdered sugar, 1 pkg. cream cheese softened, 1/4 c. butter softened, 2 tbsp, lemon juice, 1 tsp. grated lemon peel plus more for garnishing if desired

Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, egg whites, and oil in large bowl on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon into 24 muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 21-24 minutes.

Cream-Cheese Icing: beat sugar, cream cheese, butter, juice, and lemon grated peel on low speed until well blended. Frost cupcakes.

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And lastly, use lemons to make...lemonade! I can't believe I had never made real lemonade before last night. It is way easy and taste terrific. It will be perfect on a day like today. I plan on sitting on the back porch and enjoying a nice glass and the 70's degree weather.

Ingredients: 2 lemons freshly squeezed, 1 c. sugar, water

Mix the lemon juice and sugar, then just add water until you like it!

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Please don't think I am this major baker or anything. Yes, I like to bake and cook. But I do not do it all the time. All of this was really just out of self-satisifaction. I had a craving. That is all. I hope one reader will enjoy at least one of these recipes!

P.S. I haven't posted in a couple of days because I felt like the last post was way lame. And I wanted to wait till I had something better to share. I mean I love label-makers, but I don't think it was blog worthy. Oh, well. I think food is always blog worthy.