Laffy Taffy Pie (with a secret ingredient)

If you are looking a really fast easy versatile pie this is your huckleberry! I don't remember where I found this recipe years ago and my children renamed the pie Laffy Taffy Pie because...It tastes like a Laffy Taffy!! AND Guess what!  Its secret ingredient is unsweetened Kool-Aid!! COOL!!  

Try it! You will love it! 

This one was made with strawberry kool-aid but we have also tried grape and orange etc. (orange was divine too!! Like a creamcicle!) 

Laffy Taffy Pie

1 9 inch graham crust or you can make a homemade version

1 can of sweetened milk

1 8oz container of cool whip

1 pkg of unsweetened kool-aid

Mix sweetened condensed milk, cool whip and kool-aid together. Pour into the crust. Chill for a few hours before serving. 

LOVES

Emily

Crepes-Or Roll up pancakes

When I was a little girl my mom would make what we called "Roll Up Pancakes". 

I was much older before I discovered that the rest of the world called these tubes of goodness crepes. 

Crepe is a french word which means food that will make you think you have died and gone to heaven. 

I have passed the love of roll up pancakes/Crepes onto my kids too. They love them as much as I do!  

We have been known to eat these babies for dinner and they are occasionally requested as a birthday dinner. 

Yes. 

Seriously. 

This is one of those quadruple the recipe kinda recipes. 

The awesome thing is that they are very budget friendly and beautifully simple.  They are also a blank canvas waiting to be filled but we purest people here love just butter and powdered sugar. Its the way my mama filled them for me of course!!

Crepes

Makes 8 (but in our house we x4.)

4 eggs, lightly beaten

 1 1/3 cups milk

 2 tablespoons butter, melted

 1 cup all-purpose flour

 2 tablespoons white sugar

 1/2 teaspoon salt

In large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, melted butter, flour sugar and salt until smooth.

Heat a medium-sized skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Grease pan with a small amount of butter. spoon 1/4 to 1/3 C of crepe batter into hot pan. Cook over medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on a side, or until golden brown. Fill as desired and serve immediately.

Loves 

Emily

Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

You know what I just discovered? Quinoa breakfast cereal! Lately, I have been trying to trick myself into eating healthier without dieting. Dieting sucks. So in an effort to be more conscious of my eating I decided to try quinoa as a breakfast cereal. And guess what? It is awesome. Like truly! All those pinners are not lying. It is good with sugar or without. I like it with all kinds of fruit. With or without butter. I simply prepare it like I would prepare oatmeal. It is tasty for sure but it is also very healthy for you. Quinoa is an amazing little grain. It is full of fiber and protein. Which means that it will also keep you full until lunch. Plus it cooks up crazy quick. Faster than rice even. Give it a try peeps!

Peace out- AnneMarie

Chocolate dipped strawberries

We made some traditional chocolate dipped strawberries this weekend. I love that they are a treat and are a little bit on the healthy side too and it is so much less expensive than $3 a piece if you buy them premade! Here's what we did...

1 bag of milk chocolate 

(you can use semi if you prefer)

2 TBS canola oil

1 lb of strawberries

Melt the chocolate and the oil a double boiler over low heat. Dip the strawberries in in the chocolate and place on parchment paper or wax paper and let rest until the chocolate is dry.

 NOTE: You can actually get more like 2 lbs of strawberries out of 1 bag of chips as you can see by the marshmallow brigade. LOL! 

Caramel Bits Rice Crispy Treats

This my friends was supposed to be a beautiful pink rice crispy treat. I added the pink food color gel to the melted marshmallows and it looked a beautiful bright pink but as you see above mixed with the brown rice crispies the pink did not translate well but Hey.. it still tastes great and I love the addition of the caramel bits so I call it mostly successful. Here is what I did...

Caramel Bits Rice Crispy treats

7 C rice crispy cereal

1 Cube of butter

1 10oz bag of mini marshmallows

1 Cup of Caramel bits

food color 

Spray your 9x13 pan. Measure the cereal into a mixing bowl. Melt the butter and marshmallows over medium low heat. Add food coloring to desired color in the marshmallow mixture. Mix into the cereal until completely combine. Then add the bits and mix until incorporated. (be sure to add them last so they don't just melt into the mix. Press into your prepared pan. I like to butter the back of a spoon for the quickest and easiest way to press with not mess or fuss. Allow to cool before serving. 

Cioppino-Fastest Dinner In The West!! Low Calorie TOO!!

If you are looking for a fast, and when I say fast I mean like 10 minutes from start to finish, healthy soup recipe this one is for you! This is actually my mamas recipe so when I make it up it smells like home and reminds me of her..AWH!!! I just love it! Its called Cioppino! What is Cioppino you ask?? It is a mediterranean style fish soup. You can really put whatever fish you would like in it but this is what I did. Only approx 160 cals per serving too! 

Enjoy!! 

Cioppino

1 can of spaghetti sauce

1 29 oz can of diced tomatoes

1/2 lb of salad shrimp

2 tilipia fillets

1/2 lb immitation crab

Mix together bring to a boil and serve. (you dont even need to cut the fish...as it cooks and you stir it will flake off nicely. DELISH!! 

Orange Honey Butter

Have you ever had Indian Fry bread? Or what Utahns call scones? It is just fried dough. Like thin stretched out bread dough that has been fried to golden perfection but whatever. We love it around our house. Even the kids eat it up. There are crazy easy to make too. As a matter of fact all I do when I make them is use rhodes rolls that have been thawed. No bread dough making for me! The best thing about them is that they are a blank slate. You can use them for something more filling like navajo tacos or just sprinkle them with some powder sugar.  

For a fun twist I made some orange honey butter. Holy bananas it was delicious! 

Orange Honey Butter

1/4 C butter, thawed to room temperature

1-2 Tbsp powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp honey

6-8 drops doterra wild orange oil

1-2 tsp vanilla paste

Whip honey and butter until pale in color. Add sugar, orange oil, and vanilla paste and whip until well combined and a consistency that you like.

So all my measurements are to your taste. Some people like it more sweet, others like it less sweet. We liked it sweet. Make sure your butter is really room temperature. If it isn't room temperature the butter and honey have a hard time combining. 

Peace Out!- AnneMarie

Lets make Ranch Mix for less than 25 cents a pack!!

Hello my friends! I hope you have enjoyed your Christmas break as much as we did here at our house! The time was spent being and doing everything family and it was truly a joy! 

AND 

one of  the highlights of the season is the exciting news that our 2nd daughter Lindsay has accepted the proposal of her one and only beloved, and will be getting married on April 25 2015!!

 YAY!! 

(be on the look out for wedding posts) 

BTW we LOVE her man something fierce!! He is a wonderful fit for our family and can't wait for their union so that Matt will be an official member of the family!! When you hear people say "you are not loosing a daughter you are gaining a son" cant be more true in this case! Jason and I are very lucky that both of our girls have chosen wonderful sons for us and pray that the 3 remaining children pick some equally great people to join our family!

  WOOT WOOT!! (I am just a smidge excited!!!)

And now.... back to the blog...HAHAHA!!

As I have been reflecting on things I would like to improve in my life and "setting" resolutions for myself one thing that rings true to me is that I'd like to be a better steward of our money. Now, don't get me wrong we have very little debt and we are doing "ok" in the money dept but I would really like to save more, and be able to help more whether its our kids, friends and family when they find themselves in those situations when money can solve the problem. I hate having to say I wish there was something I could do...I would really enjoy being able to actually help. SO....I will be looking for ways to cut the budget to allow us to pad the savings account. Here is my very first money saving discovery!

 DIY Ranch mix! 

(yes we eat far too much of the stuff)

This recipe is a fraction of the price, easy to put together and is sans the preservatives and additives. Silver linings folks!

DIY DRY RANCH MIX

This is enough to equal one packet. Needless to say you can double, triple, quadruple etc it as much as you like. I like just doing one batch at a time so the seasonings are evenly distributed)

3/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dry minced onion (or 1/2 tsp onion powder)

1 pinch thyme

1/4 tsp dill weed

Mix and use as you would a dry ranch mix packet. PS I put it in little containers to avoid wasting baggies. More tiny money savings and hey...it helps the earth a little too. :)