Beef Gnocchi Dinner

 Ingredients: 

1 pound hamburger or ground turkey

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1/3 cup chicken or beef broth

3/4 cup whipping cream

1lb gnocchi

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Brown the burger and onion in a skillet. Drain the fat. Stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning. Add the diced tomatoes, broth, cream, and gnocchi. 

Stir and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, reduce heat, and cook for about 5 minutes. Uncover, stir, and then let cook uncovered for a few minutes (or until it has thickened). Add the parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. 

Wooden Owl Ornaments

 I got wooden circles from Walmart. We used Sharpie to draw on the feathers. We glued on buttons for the eyes, yellow felt for the beak, and pipe cleaners for the talons. I also hot glued a string to the back of the circle to make it an ornament for my fall tree. 

First Fiesta Cake

 

Homemade Marshmallows

 

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup ice water

3 (.25 oz) envelopes of unflavored gelatin

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

I found dipping small squares of this in chocolate was the best option. For my Christmas candy, I also put a little bit of my homemade caramel on the top of the marshmallow squares before coating in chocolate. It was delicious! 

Line a 9x13 inch pan with plastic wrap. Coat the wrap with cooking spray.  Coat a rubber spatula cooking spray as well. 

Pour the 1/2 cup ice water into a small mixing bowl. Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over the water. Gently whisk with a fork. Allow the gelatin to sit for 5minutes.  

In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, the 1/4 cup water, and salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Then heat to boiling. Boil without stirring until it reaches 240 degrees. (This takes a few minutes.) Then remove it from the heat. 

Pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Slowly add the hot syrup mixture. Whisk with the attachment at a slow speed first and then gradually increase. Beat until the mixture is thick (about 10 minutes). Add the vanilla and continue mixing until combined. 

Pour the marshmallow into the pan. Smooth with the coated spatula. Allow the mixture to cool completely and then cover. Let it set up overnight. Cut and dip in melted chocolate if desired. 

Friends Birthday Party

 For Rachel's 10th birthday, she wanted a Friends theme. This is what I came up with...

The menu: Monica's lasagna, Phoebe's Grandma's cookies, Chandler's Cheesecake

Joey's meatball subs, Ross's moist-maker sandwich, Rachel's trifle, and we had Pizza. 

I painted this frame on a tri-fold cardboard stand from Dollar General. 

This is where she opened her presents. (I found this backdrop on Amazon). 

This is her cake. I printed the Central Perk logo off on the computer and used dollhouse furniture for the couch and table on top. 

Cashew Chicken

 

Ingredients:

1 cup long-grain white rice

1 pound chicken breast, diced

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp soy sauce

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp garlic

2 Tbsp oil

8 oz sugar snap peas

1/2 cup cashews (optional) 

I cooked my rice in the instant pot. I did 1 cup rice, 1 1/4 cup water, 1/8 tsp salt. Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. Let naturally release for 10. 

In a bowl, mix 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 2 tsp soy sauce. Add the diced chicken and stir to coat. Let it sit while you mix the sauce.

In a separate bowl, mix 1/4 cup hoisin, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp ginger, 2 tsp minced garlic, 1 Tbsp water, and 1 tsp cornstarch. Stir until smooth.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the chicken and cook until done. Remove from the pan. Put in the sugar snap peas and cook for about a minute. (If you want to add cashews, put them in the pan now and let them cook for about a minute.)  Add the chicken back into the pan. Top with the sauce mixture. 

Cook for about 2-3 minutes to thicken the sauce. Put the chicken on top of the rice. 

Pumpkin Spice Baked Doughnuts

 

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour

1/2 cup dark brown sugar (light would work too)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 pumpkin spice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

In a large bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin spice, salt, and baking soda. Whisk together. In a separate bowl, whisk the pumpkin, eggs, milk, and butter together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

This will make 12 doughnuts. Spray a doughnut pan and bake 11 minutes in a 325 degree oven. 

Put the baked doughnuts on a cooling rack after baking. Top with either maple glaze or sugar. 

Maple glaze ingredients (for 6 doughnuts): 

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 1/2 Tbsp water

1/2 tsp vanilla

Sugar ingredients (for 6 doughnuts)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

2 Tbsp melted butter

I usually do half glaze and half sugar. Dip the doughnuts in the glaze after they have cooled about 10 minutes. For the sugar ones, brush each doughnut with the melted butter and then roll in the sugar mixture. 

Pumpkin Spice Latte

 Ingredients: 

1/4 cup pumpkin spice creamer (I used an almond milk pumpkin spice creamer from Aldi)

1/4 cup milk (I used oatmilk)

3/4 cup freshly brewed coffee (or enough to fill the rest of the cup) 

whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice on top (optional)

Put the creamer and milk in a large coffee cup. Heat in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the coffee and additional toppings if desired. 

Luca Dinner and a Movie Party

For the premiere of Luca, we set out to create a dinner party. Rachel and I had read the book prior, so we knew what foods were going to be incorporated in the movie. 

We picked out three different types of noodles and created a pasta bar for our main entrée. I made meatballs, crab cakes, had red sauce, white sauce, and pesto along with the noodles. 

We also had cucumbers (sea cucumbers) and watermelon as sides. For dessert we had gelato.

We also painted pictures that represented characters in the movie. 

Apple Carrot Muffins

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup almond milk

1 cup shredded carrots

1 apple shredded with the skin on

Mix the flour, flaxseed, oats, baking soda, powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla, and sugar together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until there are no dry clumps remaining. 

Fold in the carrots and apples. 

 

Pour in a greased muffin pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes. 

 

May the 4th Star Wars Party

I made these finger puppets out of puff balls and pipe cleaners. 

We had Star Wars themed food. 

And played Star Wars Monopoly. 

 

Kentucky Derby Dinner Party

These horse cookies were made from Milano cookies, mini vanilla wafers, Tootsie Roll ears, chocolate frosting hair, licorice, and sugar eyes. An edible marker was used on the vanilla wafers. 

Kentucky Derby Pie. I mixed 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 2 eggs, 1 stick of butter-melted, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 cup chocolate chips, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Pour into a pie crust. Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes. 

I cut horses and horseshoes out of cardboard and let the kids decorate and paint them.

We had a horse cleaning station (huge hit). I found this container at the Dollar Tree. 

Non-alcoholic mint julips: 2 cups water, 2 cups sugar, 8 mint leaves. Boil until the sugar is dissolved. This will create the simple syrup. In a glass filled with ice, add 1/4 cup simple syrup and 1/2 cup ginger ale. 

I also made hot brown dip: 8 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, 2 cups chopped turkey (I used natural lunch meat), 1 small tomato chopped, 6 slices of cooked bacon crumbled, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Stir cream cheese, yogurt, nutmeg, 1  cup of the cheese, and turkey together. Add to a baking dish. Top with bacon, tomato, the rest of the 1/2 cup cheese, and parmesan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with crackers. 

We also made Burgoo, but only used venison and chicken. I used this recipe for the inspiration: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/burgoo/

We made ours in the Instant Pot. 

 

Country Music Award Dinner Party

For the Country Music Awards this year, we decided to have a dinner party. Because they were held in Nashville, I looked up some famous Nashville foods and replicated them for our dinner. The biggest things I found were Meat and 3 and Nashville Hot Chicken. We smoked meatloaf and mac and cheese, and had mashed potatoes and green beans as the other sides. The desserts were a huge hit: chocolate covered Pringles for cowboy hats, drumstick pretzels, brownies cut into music notes, microphone cake pops put into ice cream cones, and a Kit Kat piano.

The craft was to make our own guitar picks. I also made VIP passes for the kids to wear. 

Rachel even came up with her own awards that she awarded to family members via Zoom. (Greatest Duo of the year went to her grandparents, Best Newcomer of the year went to our new nephew, etc.)