Anyone Cook anymore?

hey guys.. as I spend time talking with friends, I'm amazed at the amount of people that don't cook dinner for their families. I guess as we began to grow up it became more important than it had been before to be involved in activities around the community and school. I think we didn't spend time with our moms in the kitchen as much, or our moms didn't spend time there and in turn it didn't run down to our generation. I have talked with so many people that have babies and as their kids grow and they begin to eat dinners as a family will say to me.. how do you know what to cook? or You made that??? How?? how did you learn to make it?? I'm no expert in the kitchen, but I do know my way around and have a few standard recipes that I think anyone can make or turn into their own. I'm going to try often to post some of them and share. Please feel free to make them your own and add or change as you need.

Last night we had twice baked potatoes. Now for my 5 year old.. we call this "mashed potatoes with hot dogs" for some reason she'll eat it that way, but only if she thinks it has hot dogs. It's really ham of course, but she doesn't know.

Here's how it goes... this recipe is demanded from lots of my friends.. I just made this up folks, so just make it up how you want it.. i'm sure it will be good.

TWICE BAKED POTATOES:

You will need potatoes. I use big baking potatoes.. one for each person that will eat a baked potato. I estimate 1/2 for my little kids.. so we use 4. Wash the skins and stab a couple of holes in them to vent while they cook. I stab my holes just down the center where I will cut them in 1/2 later. Wrap them in paper towel and cook them in the microwave for about 6-7 minutes PER potato.. so it's going to take a while to do 4. Don't underestimate your time. They take a while to cook, but will take 2 or 3 times more in the oven.

While the potatoes are cooking, put into your bowl all of the things that make a good baked potato. A big scoop of butter and sour cream for each potato you make, about 1/2 a bag of shredded cheese or more if you like. Then the best part is the diced ham. I get this in the grocery store usually with the breakfast meats (sausage, bacon, etc) but sometimes it's by the lunch meat. We use about 1/2 the package, because we like it in our omlets later and in our mac and cheese. Do however much you like. Don't leave it out it's sooo good. Don't forget the salt and pepper!

Beep Beep Beep! When they're done, cut them in 1/2, and just scoop the potatoes out with a spoon. IT WILL BE HOT> i have to do it with oven mitts. Although, I try everytime with just my hands and end up yelling. Scoop it out and into your pot and then mix it up... You can just mix with a spoon, I just prefer to use my mixer... I want the least amount of work possible. Put the peels into a pan. I use 9x13, but I have more people. The peels will fall apart a little. That's ok... who cares, they'll eat it anyway. So after you mix up your yummy mixture.. it's time to pile it back into the peels. Just lump it all in there anyway you can fit it. It's ok to pile them up high. Now for the best part of all. Stick it into your oven ON BROIL for about 5-6 minutes. The broiler gets really hot.. I mean really hot! So, watch it. This is just to brown the tops a little. When it's brown and yum .. it's ready. Enjoy!

Happy Valentines Day

Making Valentines Day fun... it's easy. Every year after holidays I try to go to walmart or target and shop the 50-75% off holiday stuff. You can easily set yourself up for a cheap and easy holiday if you're patient and can stand waiting a year. Last year I bought Valentine plates for $ .25 cents each and little heart dishes for about the same. I also bought VDay confetti and a few other cheap things. I used these things for Lucy's "I love Lucy" bday party and a few bdays in between or on sick days with the kids and now we're back to Valentine's Day.
For breakfast I made our regular breakfast (scrambled eggs, biscuits, etc..) but I put it in heart dishes and on heart plates. Take your straberries and cut the tops off and then cut a tiny triangle out of the top. Viola! you have the perfect little heart fruit. It just makes things special.
At lunch, we punched our sandwiches out with heart cookie cutters, and served red chips, red strawberries and red apples and had milk in fancy cups. It doesn't take much! Just make it pretty.

A SNOW DAY!

Feb 12, 2010 - When I say "snow day" I mean it this time! We had record snowfall today. We beat all of the records on the books today for a historic 12.5 inches in Dallas/ FW area in a 24 hour period! We may never see this again in our lifetime. Amazing.... It was a nice, fluffy, wet white snow. Perfect for building snowmen, having snowball fights and snow ice cream. When Lucy fell in the snow, you could barely see her, because it was deep. I have never seen it literally snow allllll day and not stop for a single minute and then continue for a completely new fresh blanket of 5-6 MORE inches through the night! Even adults with no kids were out in the snow playing today. We were an entire metroplex of children today! fun!