OUR VERSION OF THE SHRIMP PO'BOY SANDWHICH!

 

We live in Kentucky now but for the first three years of Monkey's life he and I lived in Alabama. Monkey knows what a Shrimp Po'Boy Sandwich is and I sort of do, but the rest of the family has never heard of them.  Well, now they have! Jerm thought I was crazy when I was describing them to him, but now he knows, and he loves (our version ) of them!

Ingredients:

4 Cups Cole Slaw

1/2 Cup Ranch Dressing

1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

Thinly Sliced Tomatoes

Fried Shrimp ( I am lazy and used the boxed kind)

Hogie Rolls

 

 

Mix the cole slaw, ranch dressing, and garlic powder in a bowl.  Thinly spread cole slaw mixture on the hogie rolls, and layer desired amount of tomatoes and shrimp.  That is it!  It's not your classic Shrimp Po'Boy but it's yummy and unless you live in the Southern Southern states no one will know the difference!

 

 

PIZZA CASSEROLE!!

Baseball Season means a lot of things....hurrying home from work to make it to a game, trying to make baby Boogie sit for an hour and a half!! Having to hunt baseball equipment down every day, washing washing and washing uniforms, and making dinners that are fast, tasty and good for you.  During this season we rely on our crock pot as much as we can, or we eat hot dogs at the game...but I can eat only so many hotdogs in a couple of months.

  

While trying to come up with new fast dinner ideas I ran across a pin on Pinterest for Pizza Casserole...it sounded super easy, pretty cheap, and with this household of carb-attics perfect!

Ingredients:

• Box of Bow Tie Pasta
• 1 LB Pepperoni
• 1 LB Diced Ham
• 2 Jars Pasta Sauce
• 2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 can Mushrooms

Directions:

1. Boil Bow Tie Pasta till fully cooked
2. Then layer pasta, ham, pepperoni, cheese, and mushrooms like you would with Lasagna  until you fill the pan. (or run out of ingredients) 
3. I always top with cheese and pepperoni
4. Place in the oven at 350 for about 40 mins (until cheese is melted but not burned)

This feeds my family of six just fine and sometimes we have a little bit of leftovers.  We top our with Parmesan cheese and go to town!  

This is the original pin, they make it different but I tweaked mine to fit my family's personal tastes!

ADVENTURES WITH BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES!

Our family loves cupcakes! I love the fact that I can make them at home, and have a cheap alternative to expensive store bought Birthday cakes.  I can't make or decorate a cake to save my life! I can make cupcakes though, and recently I have been attempting to decorate said cupcakes to match our Birthday themes.

My first attempt was with Monkey's 10th Birthday.  We opted out of a party and instead went to a local pumpkin patch (October Birthday) with all the kids and Monkey's best friend.  So I decided to try and make monkey cupcakes for my Monkey!  ***NOTE: When Monkey was a baby he was huge..8lbs 11oz and 22 3/4 inch long..and he only got chubbier as he got older so I called him Chunky Monkey. Then he thinned out when he started walking so I dropped the chunky and have called him Monkey since***

My attempt at a monkey cupcake.

I simply made a box cake mix batch of cupcakes. I used chocolate icing for the face.  I cut the mini Nilla wafers using a standard steak knife for the ears, and standard size  Nilla wafers for the mouth.  The eyes were made with Reece's peanut butter chips and the nose and mouth were gel like cake icing.

This was the inspiration picture I found on Pinterest, unfortunately it doesn't link to any site.

In hindsight I should have placed my monkey ears more to the side then the top, but hey we ate every one of them and Monkey thought they were great!

Baby Boogie's 2nd Birthday was just this past Monday so we threw her party Sunday evening.  It was just family, and the kids in our family.  We had an Whooo is turning two theme, so it was centered around Owl's.  I had found some great owl themed pink/purple party decor at Wal-Mart for really cheap $1.00 each. 

My attempt at an owl cupcake.

Using a box cake mix (funfetti) I made the cupcakes, and used chocolate icing for the face. I separated Oreo's to get the eyes...Oreo's don't like to separate cleanly so I just used a butter knife to scrape all the missing filling from the non used side of the Oreo and tried to smooth it on the side I was using. I used gel icing for the pupils of the eyes and almond slices for the beaks.  I was planning on using the almond slices for ears but Jerm ate them before I could! Oh well, he didn't know. Don't worry about wasted plain Oreo sides..we ate them!

Here was my inspiration, another broken link on Pinterest!

Jerm's Birthday is today and he said he wanted a marble cake. I reminded him I don't do cakes, but I could attempt marble cupcakes.  

Marble cupcakes.

I simply bought a box mix of Yellow cake and one of Devils food cake.  I put a large spoonful of the yellow into the cupcake liners, then a small spoonful of the chocolate. 

( I don't measure things...I just go with it)

I used a butter knife (for lack of a better word) to fold the two mixes together.  I didn't want to swirl them too much because I was afraid the Yellow cake would just mix right into the Devil's Food cake.  I was going to attempt a marble affect with cream cheese and chocolate icing but yeah that wasn't too pretty! :)

I never practice these before hand, and I didn't have any real directions but the kiddos and the hubby seemed pleased with the results so I was happy!

Taco Soup

This Family Favorite Recipe is most likely our #1 favorite, not just among our little part of the family but many of my friends and other family members love this dinner.  I learned it from my ex-mother in law.  We still get a long great and always did, so here is a little shout out to that extended family in Mobile, Alabama.  Thanks for this recipe...although I did tweak it just a little :) They like their food spicy so they use the spicy versions, while we like our food a little more mild.

Taco Soup:

Ingredients:

• Hamburger Meat:  1 LB (you can use ground chuck or lean whatever is your preference)
• Powdered Ranch Dressing: 1 Package
• Taco Seasoning: 2 Packages (Mild, Strong, whatever your family preference)
• Black Beans: 2 Cans
  
• Red Kidney Beans: 2 Cans
  
• Great Northern Beans: 2 Cans (you can also use navy beans)
  
• Shoepeg Corn: 1 Can
  
• Diced Tomatoes: 2 Cans (you can also use Rotel tomatoes, to add a bit of a kick)
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese: 1 Package
• Sour Cream: 16 OZ (we really like sour cream)
• Tortilla Chips: 1-2 Bags

Directions:

1. Brown Hamburger meat adding the Taco Seasoning ass directed on package, and drain excess fat.
2. Combine all Can goods (with Juices) and package of Ranch Dressing in large cooking pot or Crock Pot. 
3. Add Hamburger meat to the other combined ingredients.
4. If you use a cooking pot heat to a boil then allow to simmer for 30 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally.
5. If you use a  Crock Pot either heat it on high for 1-2 hours or on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Eat It:

Every one in this house loves this soup/dip we all get our own bowl of soup topped with the cheese and the sour cream, and our own bowl of tortilla chips.  We like to use the Tostitos Scoops, and dip the soup out, then we finish the bowl with a spoon.  I sometimes double the amount I make and take it to friends or my dad, when I double I only increase all the canned goods by one can, but double everything else. ( My crock Pot is only so big lol ) I like to use this recipe any time that I go to a pot luck or anytime we are having people over to the house.  It really does make a lot and is very filling!  I hope that your family enjoys it as much as ours does!

Linked this at:

Mushroom Meatloaf

Mushroom Meatloaf

• Knorr Beef Stock: 1 tub
• Lean Ground Beef: 1-1 and 1/2 LBS
• Bread Crumbs: 1/2 cup
• Chopped Mushrooms: 1 cup
• Diced Onions: 1 TBS
• Eggs: 2 large 
• H20 (water): 1/4 cup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
2. Mix well all ingredients together
3. Place in loaf pan
4. Bake for 60-90 minutes, depending on your own oven 
5. Cool for 10 minutes after baking

Enjoy! BTW my family got to it before I could take a picture hence the picture of only half a meatloaf, told you it was a family favorite.

Most of us don't top it with anything, but sometimes Bubby likes ketchup on his, he just likes ketchup!

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

• Chicken: about 1 LB of boneless/ skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins
• Egg Noodles: about 6oz
• Cream of Chicken Mushroom soup: 2 cans (or one can cream of chicken, and one can cream of mushroom)
• Sour Cream: 1 cup
• Colby Jack Mix Shredded Cheese: 1-2 cups (some stores carry a casserole mix this works too)
• Crumbled Buttery Crackers: 1 cup
• Butter: 1/2 cup

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place chicken in skillet and brown on both sides, cook egg noodles according to package, drain and set aside.
3. Slice cooked chicken, cubes or you can shred it up.
4. Mix Soup, Sour Cream well, add noodles and chicken.
5. Melt butter add crumbled crackers to butter, then sprinkle on top of the rest of the casserole mixture.
6. Sprinkle cheese over casserole mixture.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole top is golden brown.

Oven Baked Tilapia

Oven Baked Tilapia

•  Tilapia ~ 1LB
•  Grated Parmesan Cheese ~ 3/4 cup
•  Parsley ~ 1 Tablespoon
•  Garlic Salt ~ 1 Teaspoon
•  Lemon Pepper ~ 1 Teaspoon
•  Onion Flakes ~ 1 Teaspoon

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees
2. Combine cheese, parsley, garlic salt, lemon pepper, and onion flakes in a bowl, mix them well.
3. Coat the Tilapia in olive oil, then dip the Tilapia in the cheese mixture until evenly/fully coated.
4. Place Tilapia on foil covered baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.