I Ain't Just Whistling Dixie

Yesterday was a holiday - no school for the kids - and it poured rain all day. A perfect pajamas & tent, don't leave the house kind of day!

The girls and I had so much fun together! We played dance class, hair salon and playdoh. We made 2 kinds of jello and gingerbread cookies. We used a lot of dixie cups!

In the morning, my kitchen looked something like this*

After having two kitchen helpers all afternoon, and making two dinners (tonight: casserole, recipe below and tomorrow: enchiladas) my kitchen looked like this...

Wait for it....

I actually took the photos in reverse, as I didn't know in the morning that my kitchen would end up like this. :)

Okay, now about the Dixie Cups...

If you don't use dixie cups, you are missing out. I use these bad boys all.the.time. Today I took a photo every time I used a dixie cup. What can I say, I am easily entertained!

In one day, these are all of the things we used dixie cups for...

Crafts: I typically use a dixie cup for my daughters water paint cup. Today we also used it when she played with her clay.

Condiments: ketchup in a cup, to go with string cheese. Much easier than cleaning it off a plate.

Snacks: fill it with pretzels for a 1 point Weight Watchers snack. The kids like 'em too!

Drinking: 'nuff said

Cooking: I measure ingredients for the kids to pour in. Saves time and mess.

Yes, I'm the bubba gump of the dixie cups. :)

Lastly, here's the recipe for tonight's casserole.

Recipe
Stuffing Crusted Creamy Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
1-2/3 c hot water
1 pkgs (6oz) stove top stuffing
6 sm boneless skinless chx breasts (I diced and cooked mine first)
garlic salt, pepper
1 bag (16oz) frozen veggies. I used broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix (thawed and drained)
1 can (14.75oz) cream style corn
1/4 c ranch dressing (reduced fat)

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 425
2. add hot water to stuffing mix and stir until moistened, set aside
3. place chicken in 9x13 pan and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper, top with veggies
4. mix together corn and dressing. Pour over chicken.
5. top with stuffing and cover with foil
6. bake 30 minutes. uncover and bake additional 10-15 minutes.

Reindeer Food

I was introduced to Reindeer food yesterday and decided to try to make a batch today. It was fairly easy, albeit a tad messy. My only complaint is that they taste sooo good, it was really hard to control myself!



How to make Reindeer food:


What you need:
1 lb white chocolate (melt slowly in saucepan)
2 cups cheerios cereal
2 cups rice chex cereal or chex mix
2 cups pretzels
2 cups salted peanuts
1 12oz package of plain m&m's






What to do:


1. Melt white chocolate in pot on low






2. mix all ingredients together, inside pot with melted chocolate




3. Spread on wax paper to cool. Once partially cool, break into pieces and put in refrigerator to cool more.

check out my little one sneakin a bite!

Notes:
1. I spread mine a little too thick (typical!). I think you are supposed to spread it pretty thin.


2. This batch makes enough for 6-10 goodie bags, depending on how full you make them (and how much you eat!)



3. In February, you can put red and pink m&m's in it to make "Cupid's Food"



My daughter decided to make her own chocolate covered pretzels with the leftover white chocolate and chocolate chips. They were surprisingly good!!!

Porcupine Meatballs

Don't worry, they aren't actually made from porcupines. :)

I thought I'd share our family's favorite recipe... porcupine meatballs. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine!

Here's what you need:

1 pkg beef flavored rice-a-roni

1 egg

1 lb ground beef

3 cups water

large bowl

large pan with lid

1. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, egg and rice-a-roni (don't put the seasoning packet in yet). The best way to do this is with your hands. Gross, but true. Mix it really good (not pictured) because you need the egg all throughout so they don't fall apart).

2. Make small meatballs and put in large pan to brown.

3. Once meatballs are browned on all sides, mix seasoning packet with 3 cups water & pour over meatballs (it should completely cover meatballs)

4. Cover and cook on Low-Med for 50-60 minutes. Check it after a half hour because if it looks like the water has been dried up, you'll need to add more.


Tips:

• I typically double the recipe so that we have lots of leftovers
• I have tried it with ground turkey, but they aren't as good. However, I doubled it tonight and used 1lb gr turkey and 1lb gr beef and they were great
• We usually serve it with either mashed potatoes (or mashed cauliflower) or drop biscuits, and broccoli

Here's my little one helping make biscuits. Note: if you have kids help you, little dixie cups are a huge help!! You can measure out what they are in charge of and pour it in dixie cups. It's way easier and less messy than measuring spoons.

Tonight we served it with drop biscuits with a recipe I found on all recipes (below). They were g00000000d!

Do you like my cheesy country Christmas plates?