I started playing hand bells in September. It has been difficult. I am a former music teacher so I can read music and I thought this would be fun. I have never played hand bells before but thought it can’t be that bad to learn something like this. I was wrong. I am like that…
Month: December 2016
Sloppy Joe Pizza
I started mentioning this meal to my family several day before I actually made it. No one said anything but I got “The Look.” The look that says she really has gone too far this time. I love homemade Sloppy Joes but don’t make them very often. A few days ago I really wanted to…
Super Chocolate M&M Christmas Cookies
We had our first snow day yesterday. I LOVE snow days. I like having my kids both home with me and because everything is cancelled we have this “free” day to play. Now, both kids still have things to do like emptying the dishwasher and shoveling but somehow the whole day just seems more fun…
Meatball Ravioli Soup (aka Stone Soup)
Both of my children loved the story “Stone Soup” when they were little. It is a story about making the most delicious soup from nothing more than water and a stone. The man convinces everyone in the town to bring whatever they have to add to the soup and in the end he ends up…
Christmasy Fairy Bites
Do you need a super simple cookie that tastes great and can be made in under 30 minutes? These tiny little cookies are perfect! They are tiny and offer a nice sweet bite. In February my daughter’s Girl Scout troop made Fairy Bites for one of their events. We loved these little cookie bites. So,…
New Year Blues
As we edge closer to New Year’s Eve I get a bit of the blues. I tend to be weepy as I look at my children, my life and the state of the world around me. The passage of time has always hit me hard. I swear my babies are still 3 and 6. They…
Meal Inspiration
Someone asked where I get meal ideas. They come from many different places. Cookbooks, Pinterest, and menus are some of my favorite places to find inspiration. I have been known to snap pictures or descriptions of menus and my family’s food in restaurants. Once a week my daughter and I go out to lunch/dinner. We…
Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Mozzarella Pasta
I let my daughter pick what we were having for dinner the other night. The only condition was that whatever we would make, we had to have almost all the ingredients already in the house. She looked through several things and finally settled on this dish. The only item we needed to buy was a…
Christmas Peppermint Puppy Chow
For those of you who have read my Christmas – Getting Real post on Saturday (click for link to post) the tree is up! We bought a new tree and I love it. It is 9 feet tall and fits the space so much better than the old tree. No, we did not find the…
Eggnog Pancakes
It is eggnog season. Eggnog is one of those things many either really love or really hate. As a drink, I do not like it at all. But, as a flavoring I like it. It is the nutmeg/cinnamon flavors I like. My kids love it and make the recipe from The Betty Crocker Kid’s Cookbook (click…
The Days Leading Up to Christmas
When my children were little we used to do the Advent calendars with them that had tiny pieces of chocolate hidden behind little doors that were numbered with the days leading up to Christmas so you could open one door each night. We found them one day while at a German deli and thought they…
Quaker Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies
These cookies are a favorite in our house. I use the recipe for Quaker’s Best Oatmeal Cookies from Quaker Oats.com just like my mother used to make them off the back of the oatmeal box. I almost never bake but when I do I want a recipe I know that will turn out each and…