Ainsley & Ava make Shrimp Alfredo & garlic bread

Front left: pot of spagetti  Right (front) Alfredo (back) shrimp

Ainsley & Ava added shredded cheese over the
french bread spread with garlic butter

Alfredo Sauce
1 1/4cup of chicken broth whisked with 4 tsp of flour on medium heat, stir in 1/3cup of cream cheese til melted and then add 2tbsp of parmesan cheese....constantly stirring.  Season with pepper and /or  garlic powder.  Serve over pasta.
Tastes great on it's own or with:
shrimp, scallops, lobster, chicken, broccoli, mushrooms

It's a very quick and easy supper, ready in 15 mins.
My family LOVES it!

Super Yummy Salmon

Start with 2 salmon fillets..about the same size ...butter both of these with Herb & Garlic cream cheese

Fry up some (boil & drained) spinach with mushrooms

pour this fried mix over one cream cheese fillet

then put sandwich it with the other fillet (cheese side down)
then butter top side and season with a little salt & pepper
Bake at 360* for 45mins

Mmmmm it's so good

Roasted Garlic Potato Wedges

Ainsley loves taking pictures these days and helping in the kitchen so the other night she grabbed the camera and followed me step by step in making Roasted Garlic Potato Wedges.

First, she washed 6 or 8 russet potatoes for me to quarter



Then I grated 2 -3 cloves of fresh garlic over them

Then poured 1-2 tbs of veg oil over them

Then seasoned with a little salt,

and oregano

Then shook them all up



and made sure they were all covered well



Pour them into a foil lined baking dish and ake at 350* for

about an hour flippign them around 1/2 way

Ainsley's picture of her plate

Mom's plate

Busy start to the New Year

 I have always been a "busy" girl...for as long as I can remember...I almost thrive off of the chaos...ALMOST lol.
So far 2011 is starting out the same as many others busy, busy, busy.  I am juggling everyday housework with my lil's (and the extra housework they create) and a part-time job and TRYING to have somewhat of a social life  AND keep up my new found "social life" on the web through blogging.

Wayne & I had the opportunity to go 4-wheeling on Sunday with another couple and what a great day!  We left early in the a.m and head just outside of town to pick up my FIL's bike. Then from his house out to explore the back trails and logging roads.  I am the driver in our family so it was a really nice break to let Wayne have a turn while I sat on the back and watched for deer & moose tracks.  It was a beautifully mild day for January in the Maritimes.  We had a couple of spurts where it rained slush but 
overall we could not ask for better!  For hours we followed tracks, did donuts and chased (on the bikes) each other in the snow, it was so much fun and super relaxing. I cannot wait to get out again!

Monday, I had to quickly catch up on my postponed housework and grocery shopping because I had my newest client (for childcare) showing up, for their first day, at lunch time.  Once my newest young fella arrived we popped some popcorn on the stovetop and sat down to watch Beauty and the Beast {one of my favorite Disney Movies}.   Then supper, then off to work and home to check my blog where I found not 1 but 2 comments saying

Congrats!!!

I was chosen to receive the Stylish blogger award and I got to pick bloggers I thought deserved the award as well and you were one of my choices

Check it out here

I was pretty excited!  Especially since I am still very new to all of this.  But I got straight to work trying to figure out who I was going to nominate in return and how on earth I was going to write 7 things about ME...not my strong suit lol.

So today I got up early (well earlier than I have been this holiday break) and got to work on my housework  phone skills (hey, I managed to make plans for Wayne's birthday dinner so not all so bad right?)  :P  ...then made the kids some breakfast on the go, Fruit smoothies and dry cereal, and set off for a playdate...came home to do housework but got distracted by my new award and decided to finish that up while the girls painted their plaster hand prints from New Years....now I am typing away still avoiding the dishes and counting down just how many minutes I have left before HAVING to start supper and get ready for work.

If this is Holiday "break"  and I'm this "busy" I can't wait until next week when school gets back in, my new lil fella starts afterschool full-time, Ainsley goes back to Cheerleading and Ava's program is back in swing at the library....I might have to just start scouting out quiet comfy HIDDEN spots to curl up for naps.

Fruit Smoothies
* I did not measure a thing this a.m I just literally dumped stuff in the blender and hit pulse*

- 1/2 fill the blender with frozen mixed berries
- dump in some vanilla yogurt (maybe 1 -1 1/2cups??)
- pour some milk over top top
Pulse for a minute and add more milk if things are moving around much. Pulse til smooth, pour into cups (we use tupperware cups with lids & straws)

Burning the midnight oil

It's just days away from Christmas and I am averaging little to no sleep. 
Tonight I finished wrapping gifts and then tackled Ainsley's gifts for her classmates.  We had made playdoh on Halloween (orange & black cherry) and sent it in lou of candy and it was a HUGE hit!  So Ainsley thought it'd be great to make a different kind to send in as a christmas gift (candy cane & gingerbread).  So here I am up still at 2am just finishing 18 sets of playdoh...with Ainsley's help (she woke up to go pee and "couldn't go back to sleep")
For each kid we had a snowflake cellophane bag filled with a handful of playdoh and  tied with curling ribbon with a cookie cutter & a fun-foam snowman attached.

Playdoh Recipe
2cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbs veg. oil
2 cups of water mixed with kool-aid packet

Mix dry ingredients with oil then slowly add water.  Stir til combined them microwave for 3-5 minutes removing to stir at every minute until you can no longer stir.  Then roll out on counter and knead til smooth.

** I omitted the kool-aid packet for our flavours tonight.  For the candy cane I added peppermint extract at 3mins, then added glitter when I started the kneading process.
 For the gingerbread I mixed in  ginger, all spice, nutmeg & cinnamon to the dry ingredients.

RED PEPPER JELLY

For years and years my Aunt's have made red pepper jelly, it has been a staple at all family get togethers & holidays...it's never been my favorite but since Wayne has joined my family he really really enjoys it.  So this year we have adventured into the world of canning...since the elders will no longer do the work for us lol.
So far we have canned beets and green tomato chow and today I finally got around to red pepper jelly...just in time (I hope) for christmas.
It was rather simple (I think...we'll see if it sets right) and Ava loves to help, especially when there's a food processor involved.

Red Pepper Jelly
6 sm. red peppers (1 1/4 lbs.)
1 c. vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 c. granulated sugar
1 bottle liquid Certo

Chop peppers fine. Measure 2 cups pepper and juice in large pot. Add vinegar and salt. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered 10 minutes until tender. Stir in sugar, return to rolling boil and boil, uncovered and stir one minute. Remove from heat and immediately stir in Certo. Stir for 5 minutes to blend. Pour jelly into sterilized jars and seal. Serve over Philadelphia cream cheese with crackers.

Our 1st Annual Cookie Exchange

This year I decided I was going to stop waiting to be invited to a cookie exchange and just host my own.  So I Googled the "rules"and copy & pasted, edited them onto a Facebook event and invited away.

I had 7 ladies commit, that was just right!
I made 8 dozen turtle cookies to swap for 7 other recipes (and one to share at the event).  How could I go wrong?
...Only 5 actually showed up, some were  people I haven't seen in AGES, but
it was a great day full of great conversation.

We ended up with tons of loot....turtle cookies, almond fingers, chocolate & caramel pretzels, Christmas mice, snow balls and chocolate chip.   Everything was pretty tasty!

back row: Christmas Mice, Snowballs, Chocolate chip
front row: Almond fingers, turtle cookies, pretzels

Christmas Mice (pb cookies)

Caramel pretzels (with chocolate & crushed pecans)
 Chocolate pretzels (hugs melted topped with M&M's)

Turtle Cookies (sugar cookie topped with melted caramels, pecans & chocolate)

The whoel thing was a hit!  We can't wait to do it again next year!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ainsley didn't want to get her "favorite"shirt dirty so she "had"to take it off

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are a Clark Family Favorite and the girls were really excited to make them afterschool on Monday.

Here's our recipe (Company's Coming Most Loved Treats)

Hard Margarine (or butter), softened   1cup
Brown sugar, packed                          2 cups
Large eggs                                          2
Vanilla                                                 1 tsp

All purpose flour                                  2 cups
Baking powder                                    1 tsp
Baking soda                                         1/2 tsp

Quick-cooking rolled oats (not instant)  2 cups
Semi-sweet chocolate chips                  2 cups
Medium, unsweetened coconut             3/4 cup

Beat margarine and sugar in large bowl until light and creamy.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Beat.
Combine flour, baking powder and soda in a small bowl.  Add to margarine mixture.  Stir well.
Add remaining 3 ingredients.  Stir until well distributed. Drop, using 2 tbsp. for each, about 2 inches apart, onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake in 350*F oven for 8-10mins until golden. Let stand on cookie sheets for 5mins before removing to wire racks to cool.  Makes about 5 dozen :)

Salt Dough Ornaments

This year the kids have an artificial tree of their own (oh so spoiled I know...but I bought it 2nd hand for $20) to hang all of their many many holiday crafts on.
To start the season off we did salt dough ornaments on Wednesday.

They are fairly simple.  To start you need:

2 cups of flour

2/3 cup salt

3/4 cup of water

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.  Slowly stir in water until it forms a ball.  Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3mins.

Then roll out and cut shapes with cookie cutters.

Don't forget to punch holes for ribbon (to hang)

.Bake for 30mins at 300*F...Cool then paint.

Then I seal mine with clear acrylic sealer spray (do this outside or in a well ventilated area because I gagged my family out this year....ooops)

Usually I use christmas wrapping ribbon to hang these on the tree, but because I used the funnel to make my holes this year the kids were able to slide the ornaments right onto the branches of their tree.

Lasagna Roll ups ...Mmmm Mmm so good :)

I have so many things to post from this week that I couldn't decide what first...so I went with something all together different and then I'll go post crazy when the kids & Dad go to bed :)

Tonight for supper we are having one of our new family favorites!
I got this "recipe" from a friend of mine and we now love love love it.

You need :

Lasagna Noodles (NOT oven ready)

spinach (fresh or frozen)

sauce (canned or homemade)

parmesan cheese

ricotta cheese

an egg

mozzarella cheese (grated)






Boil your noodles as directed and your spinach (if fresh) then drain.

In the meantime mix ricotta cheese, 1/2cup parmesan cheese, 1cup mozzarella and egg together...later add chopped spinach...in medium bowl

Then roll out noodles flat and smear mixture on

Then roll up

Add about 1/3 of sauce to bottom of casserole dish, then put roll ups in

then pour remaining sauce over and bake at 350*F for about 20 mins....then  I put more mozzarella over top

an heat til melted