decoration traditions

This is my favorite time of year. I am sure we all have things we do each year. Being a mom of two little girls I have started each year buying them an ornament for the tree. It started when I was pregnant with Stella and got one with a mommy and daddy chicken, the momma was knitting. so cute. Last year Stella was really into Spiderman, and another year was trains. This year will be Little Mermaid and Irene is so into babies or fairies or hello kitty. I date them and save them. Maybe one day they will want them for their own tree's. Something that isn't too expensive to do, and makes memories each year!

apple yummy

A few people have told me about this and I just started making it. OMG it is so easy and SO SO good. I am thinking of new ways and different things to use in it. So far I have made it with peaches and with apples. Today I made it with raisins combined in the apple one.

here it is!

Ingredients

• 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
• 2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Mountain Dew ™ (i like orange juice instead)
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.
3. Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew™ over the dumplings.
4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

daytime tv? say what? i have two little kids!!!

ok ok ok! I don't do daytime tv anymore... well until now. I have fallen in love with THE TALK. I liked the view for about 2 days. This show is so fun and just girly. I love Julie Chen and Sara Gilbert. The other women are good too.One of today's guest was Kathy Griffin. She cracks me up. SO now I AM DVRing it!!! Check it out and let me know what you think!!!


http://www.cbs.com/daytime/the_talk/

Okay there Momma's. I have now fallen in love with some taco shells. They are so so so good. Very thick and they are whole grain. I made regular taco's with ground turkey meat and used mrs dash southwest seasoning (no sodium) and everyone loved it. I also made some gordons fish (garlic herb) and made fish tacos with it. That one is still a work in progress on the sauce for it. The shells though are fab. Make sure you don't burn them. Only 3 mins in the oven. The kids were able to eat them, because they were thick enough and not to thin.

here is the link
http://www.ortega.com/products/products_detail.php?id=17185

my aunt hazel

Everyone needs an Aunt Hazel. She is the best at making you feel like you are doing everything right, even when you are at you lowest point. Mom's are great, but your mom always thing you are perfect. My Aunt Hazel is my Mamaw's sister. She just turned 90 yrs old this year and is amazing. She is probably the best cook ever and loves to share all her trade secrets. My girls call her grandma Hazel. She has no grandkids of her own, so she loves her new title. While at home visiting in TN this summer she taught me to make refrigerator rolls. They will never compare to hers, but they were okay and the girls loved them. So if you go home or have someone who is like an Aunt Hazel, make sure you make time for them... they won't be here forever! I LOVE YOU AUNT HAZEL!

shake shake shakel.. your pork chops

Who ever invented shake n bake deserves a big KISS! I love love love it so much!!! When I was a kid, my mamaw made it and I have rediscovered it. I make 4 pork chops with it and have one left over for the next day. SO YUMMMY!

Now they have more flavors and have generic brands. I prefer the shake n bake brand, but the others aren't bad!

http://brands.kraftfoods.com/shake-n-bake/

cheesssey rice yummmmmm

I just discovered this new rice that you microwave! Okay I am not into microwave food, but at this stage in my life we pick some hard things to make at dinner along with some easy stuff. This an easy thing. It is Uncle Ben's ready rice. They have lots of different kinds and it takes 90 seconds. My kids love it, they like the brown, long grain and the cheese ones the best.

http://www.unclebens.com/rice/ready-rice-creamy-four-cheese.aspx