Homemade Mozzarella Sticks

I love Mozzarella Sticks. It's one of those appetizers that if it's on a menu I always debate getting them because they are soooo good! I've seen some recipes on Pinterest for fried mozzarella balls that were baked but after reading some comments the general consensus seemed to be that they ended up flat instead of in balls. So I thought why not try doing a whole mozzarella stick? I also decided that I was going to fry them instead of bake them. Sure, they are not as healthy I guess but I only made two so I felt a little better about it. (I only had 2 mozzarella sticks but I think I may need to make a trip to get some more because they turned out so good!!!)

So here is what you need:
Mozzarella string cheese
FEB for frying (Flour, egg, breadcrumbs - I used a combo of Panko and Italian seasoned)
oil for frying (I used vegetable oil but I would also use peanut oil in my deep fryer)
Sauce for dipping


Directions:
On the stove top fill a skillet part way with oil. Turn it on medium high. I didn't use a thermometer,  I just tested my oil by putting the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil and when it bubbles at the handle it's ready. I also have a deep fryer with peanut oil but these seriously take about 2-3 minutes to fry. That also means that they kept their shape too!

Dip the sticks in the flour and shake off the excess.
Then dip in egg and then into the breadcrumbs. I double dipped in the egg and breadcrumbs to make them extra crunchy.

When they are golden brown on all sides take them out and enjoy! Mine turned out so good and the cheese was oooey gooey just like I wanted them!

Muffin Tin Monday: Make Your Own Pizza

It's Muffin Tin Monday...and we seriously need to do our grocery shopping. We hardly have anything for lunches (and I just don't want to make mac and cheese every day), and for breakfast we are getting a little sick of toast as well. I hate not having fresh fruit in the house! My husband does the grocery shopping and he was going to go Saturday. Well on Saturday he said about going Sunday. Then yesterday he didn't really feel like it and I was thinking - Oh NO! I  had strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, cheese, etc all on the list because we love them but also because I wanted to make Alexandra a Red, White, and Blue muffin tin lunch. 

So today I tried to make due and since I had some pizza dough that I was going to use for some stromboli I thought she could make some star pizzas. She loved that idea! She loves cooking, loves pizza...AND as I type she has eaten the pizzas and is now finishing the leftover sauce with a spoon. She is definitely my daughter because I would do the same! And especially because I LOVE my pizza sauce - it's Chef Boy-ar-dee  and the "Chef" was actually from my hometown. The Chef-Boy-ar-dee factory is there and a few of my relatives work there, which means that I can get cases of that stuff for cheap!! (way below store cost!)

But anyways, what I did was I had her roll out the dough with my help and then she cut the stars out with a cookie cutter. I baked them and I was planning on having her add her toppings and pop it back in the oven to melt (especially since the bag of cheese was in the freezer!) but she had other plans. She made the pizzas and started eating them and said "I love frozen cheese". Ok. Whatever. It doesn't matter to me! 

For more ideas visit Muffin Tin Mom 

Pina Colada Pops

Last week when we were having our 80 degree weather I wanted to make something that would make it feel even more like summer so I decided to make these Pina Colada Pops. I love coconut (and I plan on making some coconut eggs for Easter today!) so I thought these pops would be delicious. And they are. Alexandra loves them too! I got this recipe from All Recipes.

They are super easy to make too, even for my 3 year old helper who loves being in the kitchen.

Ingredients/Supplies:

Blender

Popcicle molds and sticks.  I have two sets of plastic popcicle molds and some push pop ice cream molds as well but you can do the same thing by making your own molds with Dixie cups and popcicle sticks. 

1 can of crused pineapple, with juice

1 banana

1 can of Coconut milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

Open, Dump, and Pour the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Dump into molds and freeze until firm. And there you have it, 5 hours later or so you have a yummy pop for dessert! 

We're in the Kitchen Wednesday: Popcorn in a Brown Paper Bag

Alexandra and I love popcorn! The girl and I ate almost an entire box at a Phillies game before and so I usually always have some of those 100 calorie mini bags around the house. But then I saw that you could pop corn kernels in a brown paper bag and in the microwave which is an added bonus. I like that I can put on just a pinch of salt and maybe a dash of olive oil and you have a healthy snack in just about 2 minutes! 

I found the idea on The Frugal Girls website and decided to give it a try. It is definitely cheaper to make than the bags you buy at the store. 

All you need is:

1/4 cup popcorn kernels

A brown paper lunch bag

any seasonings you want to put on the popcorn (I have tried salt and ranch seasoning so far!)

All we did was measure out the kernels, put them in a paper bag, fold it down, and then place it in the microwave for about 2 minutes (I listened for the pops to be a couple seconds apart so the time could vary on microwaves)

 My Little Helper 

 She measured 1/4 cup of the kernels (and thankfully none fell on the floor because Camden would be all over it!)

 Alexandra was checking out the kernels in the bag

I sprinkled her popcorn with a dash of salt and then for mine I sprinkled some Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning because I have been on a ranch kick lately

I can't wait to try some other flavor combos! 

Homemade Frosty and Tortillas

I know it's a weird combination...Frosty's and tortillas. I had all intentions of going to Wendy's to get a Frosty after preschool pickup with Alexandra but she fell asleep on the way home and Camden got a little cranky so I decided it was best to just go home. When I got home and woke Alex up I knew she was going to ask if we were going to Wendy's. I had a plan in mind. I knew I had a recipe pinned on Pinterest that I wanted to try so I told her we were going to make HOMEMADE Frosty's...and stressed HOMEMADE as if that would make it way more exciting. Well she was happy with that (and I was too!) so we made them. And boy did they turn out good!!!!! I should have doubled the batch!

Check out the recipe for the Frosty I used here. There are a few different recipes out there but I used this one because I had all of the ingredients on hand. I'm glad I chose this one because it was a good one!

Next up, I made tortillas because I wanted to make cheeseburger wraps, another recipe I found on Pinterest and for those you needed tortillas. I usually always have them on hand but this day I only had 2 so I decided to make some of my own!

It was actually pretty easy. I mixed up some dough in my mixer, rolled it out, and fried it. It was that easy.

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of flour

1 cup very hot water

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup shortening

Mix the flour and salt together and then add to the mixer. Then add in the shortening. The dough will be crumby but when you add the water it should pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and should form a ball. (I added even a little more water than the recipe called for until it DID pull away)

 Once it's mixed up divide the dough into balls. I wanted to make 5 fajita sized tortillas so I made them a little bigger. 

 Heat up your skillet on medium low heat. I used my cast iron skillet with a little bit of oil on the bottom. The dough seemed to not stick anyways because of the shortening in it but I wanted to be safe. 

 Take the dough balls and flatten them out with your hand and then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough as thin as you like. I probably could have rolled my dough even thinner. My dough wasn't really that perfect of a circle. I used a glass bowl turned upside down and a pizza cutter to  make them circles so that they would fit in the skillet.

Fry the dough in the skillet and look for bubbles to form...

 Here's a closer look at the bubbles

 Flip the dough over and then fry for another minute or so

Then they are ready to eat! It took a few tortillas before I got the timing down on how brown I wanted them to get. I was wondering if my husband would like them. I didn't tell him I made them homemade. Instead I just made the cheeseburger wraps and then afterwards he told me the wraps were really good. I had to then show him the recipe and the extra tortillas so he would believe me. His next comment was that we didn't have to buy store bought tortillas anymore. Well, I don't think I want to make them homemade every time we need them but at least if we are out of them I have a go to recipe!

We Were In The Kitchen Wednesday

So it's Friday but on Wednesday we were in the kitchen but I just didn't find a spare moment to post about it. We made one of our favorite snacks and those snacks are...Granola Balls! I wanted to make a healthy (or somewhat healthy snack) and, well, oats are in them so they are healthy right?? True, the gobs of peanut butter hold them together, but at least you can get some protein!

To make the Granola Balls you will need:

Oats (I used regular and not quick oats because I like them to be a little chunkier)

Peanut Butter

honey

chocolate chips

Nutella

Oh, and this is one of my "dump and mix" recipes meaning I just dump in the ingredients and eyeball it without measuring them. Then, I stir it together and when it looks good I stop! It's not rocket science if my 3 year old can make them. 

After mixing the ingredients together form them into balls. I do like to put on some cooking spray on my hands because it makes it a lot easier to roll without half of the mixture ending up on my hands. Store them in a plastic bag so that they stay fresh. 

Ice Cream in a Bag

We've been a little MIA for the last week because Alexandra and Camden both got sick. And that meant nothing was really getting done in our house! But today we are back (or yesterday rather) in the kitchen!

Since it was the last week in January I thought that we would do some activities with penguins and make a cold treat. Well we didn't end up doing the penguin activities because we just ran out of time before Camden got up from his nap -and once he's up - I need to be having a close eye on him. He's pulling up, cruising, and well just into everything! No longer are the days when  can lay him on the floor and be sure that he won't move!

Plus, yesterday in PA oddly, on the first of February it was 65 degrees outside! We ended up going to the park instead of staying inside, but we did make homemade ice cream in a baggie as a treat!

I found this recipe on 2 Little Hooligans which I found through Pinterest. I have a nice electric Cuisinart ice cream maker which doesn't even require salt but I thought it would be fun for Alex to make her own homemade ice cream!

All you need is:
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup of light cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coarse salt (I used actual salt that you use for ice cream makers that require it, but next time I may try sea salt or kosher salt)**
enough ice to fill a half a gallon ziploc bag
1 gallon Ziploc bag
1 sandwich bag

All you do is mix the sugar, cream, and vanilla together in a bowl and transfer it to the small sandwich bag. Make sure it seals tightly!! Then fill the gallon bag halfway full with ice cubes. Squish the small bag down into the ice cubes and then pour the salt over the ice and then shake, shake, shake (over the sink!) for 5 minutes or more, depending on how thick you want your ice cream. Let me just say that I shook for 5 minutes and I feel like I got a mini arm workout!!! ** The reason I would use a different kind of salt is that this salt was a little too coarse and poked tiny holes in my small bag. A lot didn't leak out but next time I'll use a name brand stronger bag or use kosher salt.

After the 5 minutes is up check to see if you like the consistency.

We ate the ice cream right after making it and it sure was yummy! Not bad for 5 minutes...but don't eat it too fast or you will get brain freeze!!!!!

 Measuring out the sugar

 Pouring the cream

 Whisk, whisk, whisk

 Pour the mixture into a bag...Alex held the bag for me over the sink as I poured

 Adding the salt

 Ready to shake...she thought it was too heavy for her so I shook the bag

 Ahhh...ice cream! We made vanilla but I have some strawberry ice cream flavoring so we could have made strawberry...but she chose vanilla which is very odd! 

Yummy!

Homemade Crackers

So we were in the kitchen yesterday but I didn't have time to post about it because my little chef ended up getting croup at night. But during the day we did make some homemade goldfish like crackers. I say goldfish like because we used a star cookie cutter, they are thicker than goldfish, and taste a little different too. I think the taste is good but I would have liked if they were a little more crunchy. And I definitely rolled out the dough way too thick!

This was a child friendly recipe though which is what I am always looking for. Alexandra was able to help me measure, pour, and pulse the ingredients in the food processor (of course after talking about how she should never ever ever touch the food processor unless I am with her!) and she cut out most of the stars herself.

I found the recipe courtesy of Miss Anthropist's Kitchen. I'm not going to retype the recipe but instead I'm going to just redirect you to her blog and I'll just post some pictures. (I'm on a time limit...I have a feeling Camden will be up any minute from  his nap!)

 Helping to our some ingredients in the food processor

 leveling off the salt

Our finished crackers

Snowflake Tortillas

This morning Alexandra and I made a tasty and super easy winter snack: Snowflake tortilla crisps. I found the recipe on the Family Fun newsletter that comes to my email but you can also find it on the Family Fun website. Here is how you make them! 

You need flour tortillas, vegetable oil, cinnamon and sugar, colored sprinkles if you'd like, scissors to cut the snowflakes, a brush to brush on the oil, and a cookie sheet. 

** the actual recipe calls for confectioner's sugar but I was out and that NEVER happens!!! I guess I just made too many treats over the holidays! 

** If using confectioner's sugar the recipe says to bake and then sprinkle it onto the tortilla after getting it out of the oven while it is still warm. 

Dig In! Alexandra thought it was necessary to lick all of the cinnamon and sugar off first...

After taking a few bites I thought that it would be very good with some cream cheese...oh I was right....so good!!!!