Delicious Fruit Dip

There are so many different variations of Fruit Dips available. Even with this recipe you can play around a lot.

Fruit Dip:

7 oz. Marshmallow Cream (1 jar)

8 oz. Frozen Whipped Topping thawed (1 tub)

4 oz. Cream Cheese softened (1/2 package)

1 tsp Lime Juice

Lime Zest

Directions:

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Sprinkle with a little Lime Zest and serve with sliced fruits and/or Graham Crackers.

Variations:

Use a different Citrus fruit juice and zest - grapefruit, orange, lemon.

Use Cranberry flavoring and dried cranberries.

Use a flavored Cream Cheese instead.

Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Today my toes are cold. I think it is time to make some soup. This is one of our favorites. It is a bit spicy and really wards off the chill on a cold day! I always make it over the stovetop, but you of course can try the slowcooker method in the directions below!!! Enjoy!
                                      

                                       

Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS
1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 (14.5 ounce) can of Beans (black or pinto), drained
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
7 Corn Tortillas
Garnish: Cilantro, Cheese, Lime, Avocado, Sour Cream...whatever you have in the fridge!

DIRECTIONS
Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and beans, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Spray cookie pan with PAM. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup. Load on the garnishes!

Okay, now eat it. Slurp up the warm goodness of happiness!

Finger Painting

My kids really love to color, paint, draw, etc. and I'm sure your kids do too. I came across this idea on the Internet a few months ago and my boys love it. For a fast, easy, and super cheap way to finger paint, all you need is:

• Shaving cream (the really cheap white stuff)
• Food coloring
• Fingers

All you do is mix white shaving cream with a few drops of any color food coloring you want. Its even fun to show your kids how mixing certain primary colors will turn them into different colors (blue + red = purple, etc). Then all you do is let them go to town on some paper. I bought a roll of "butcher" type paper at IKEA a while back for around $6. I tape it to my kitchen table and let my kids go crazy. They love it. Anyway, I just thought I'd share!!

The Pizzadilla

Are you a pizza lover like me? I love it. Growing up at my house we made home-made pizza every Friday night. It was the best pizza ever. I look forward to continuing this tradition with my own kids.

I must confess however, making the dough takes time, and patience. Something I don't have when it's lunch time, or when dinner should have already been served. Thankfully my sister taught me a really fast, simple recipe for mini-pizzas. It's delicious, fast, and if you love thin-crust pizza, you will love this.

PIZZADILLA

Flour Tortillas

Pizza Sauce 

Cheese

Toppings (Ham, Pineapple, Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Peppers, etc.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place tortilla(s) on a baking sheet. Spread thinly with pizza sauce. Be careful not to use too much at this point or your toppings will all slide off. Top the pizza with the cheese and then your toppings. Again, don't put too much on or your tortilla won't hold it all. Place in the oven and cook for 5 minutes, then turn it to Broil and broil the top of the pizza for about 1-2 minutes. This is to get the cheese bubbled up and slightly browned.

Notes:

I'm already in a hurry right? So if I don't happen to have pizza sauce, or don't feel like opening a large jar of spaghetti sauce, I just use a little ketchup and shake on oregano and garlic powder. It's not perfection, but it's still yummy.

I also cut the toppings smaller than I normally would. For example, crushed pineapple, or tidbits are much better than chunks. Remember, the heavier the toppings, the more likely it is to all fall off the tortilla.

Best Banana Muffins Ever

It's nice to take something like this:

And make it delicious again....


3 large bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mash bananas very well, add egg, sugar and butter. Mix well by hand. Combine dry ingredients and add to banana mix. Don't overmix.
Makes 12 muffins baked for 20 min. or loaf bread bakes for 30-35 min., or 'til inserted toothpick is clean.

A Post by Brandon

This is Brandon. I came across this blog that my wife is part of and just had to post my newest and most favorite recipe ever. I was casually walking down the grocery store isle and came across the most ingenious thing I've ever seen. It was a cake in a box. In fact it had a name, Super Moist Triple Fudge Cake. Being overcome with such awesomness in a box, I purchased it immediately went home and followed the most awesome instructions. All I had to do is add some eggs, oil and some other awesome ingredient that is slipping my mind at the moment. I mixed that bad boy up and threw it in the oven (note-i was feeling a little gitty, so I made cupcakes for the kiddos instead of a cake - oh and I was overcome by giddiness, so I even made little cupcakes). 30 minutes later we had Super Moist Triple Fudge Cake cupcakes for our SuperBowl viewing. I would recommend that you Simply Doing Something Ladies check out this magical isle in the supermarket for these most awesome boxes. I have even added a picture to help everyone locate such awesomness!!!

Just for Laughs

A friend of mine posted a link to an entertaining blog on her blog. I have to admit it was just type of the random entertainment I needed last night. That said the blog is: Why Mormon Girls Stay Single.

While most of the authors and readers of S.D.S. are married, I still had to share. It takes me back to single student life and even my teen years. These young men endeavour through their posts to provide advice for the single LDS woman. I'll admit, some of it is a little over the top, but if that is what it takes for some girls to wisen up, maybe it's worth it. For me it was mostly entertainment value, but I honestly wish I could share some of these posts with some girls I've known through-out the years.

And if you're up for another good read after that head on over to My Super Hopeless Romance. It's Fiction, it's totally cheesey, but it's entertaining. You'll want to start at the beginning of the blog.

Happy Reading All!