Herb Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

One of the best part of fall are pumpkins and whats inside them. Every year look forward to roasting the seeds after carving the pumpkins. This year we tried another recipe we threw together on our own again. If you don't already know, we like to experiment in the kitchen. 

This years roasted pumpkin seeds were simple and delicious. Our girls devoured them and repeated it was the best recipe so far. Success in the mom book! 

Herb Roasted Pumpkin Seeds 

All you need is...

Salt

Pepper

Rosemary 

Parsley

Add any kind of herb you want.

How to...

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Clean seeds and add ingredients.

place on a baking sheet. I lay tinfoil down first.

roast for about 10-15minutes. Till their starting to get golden brown.

Chocolate Butterscotch Popcorn

Yesterday our three girls started to have mini meltdowns once the evening started to approach. As for any parent when your children starts to have meltdowns it can be stressful and exhausting. With that being said, I decided it was an easy diner for the evening followed by family movie night. And when your a house full of girls involving meltdowns, you have to add in the sweets. Our daughter's do not get the specialty of sweets in our house daily. I feel they get enough sugar from fresh natural fruit and their Grandma's and Grandpa's. So don't worry my daughters are not completely deprived from all sweets. Ha ha ha. 

Since it is almost October we decided on a Halloween Movie. As a mom I am already thinking in my head what snack can I prepare that's follows our family movie night theme? Popcorn! But popcorn can be boring so he sweetened it up. We came up with our own ingredients and called it Chocolate Butterscotch Popcorn. Plus It fits in perfectly with the season; fall. 

Ingredients

Popcorn: 2 bags. 

Chocolate Chips: 1/2 cup. But it really depends how much chocolate you like sprinkled onto your popcorn and chex mix.

Butterscotch Chips: 1/2 a cup as well. Same follows as above.

Chex cereal: 3 cups

Candy Corn: I'll leave it up to you how many you want to add.

Steps

*Pop the popcorn and lay out on wax paper. 

*Melt your chocolate and butterscotch chips and drizzle it it over the popcorn. Then add your chex mix an drizzle the chocolate and butterscotch again.

*Let it cool down. Takes about 5-10 minutes. I put mine in the freezer to speed up the process. 

*Once the chocolate is hardened put add it into a serving bowl and mix in the candy corn. 

Is your family a pop corn loving family like mine?!

Homemade Strawberry Jam (recipe)

I finally made my first batch of strawberry jam and canned a few extras to freeze. I have to admit I am pretty darn proud of myself. Six years ago when my husband and I first married, Canning let alone making my own strawberry jam never crossed my mind.

It is such a simple process to make. I feel that anyone could make strawberry jam. Here is the recipe. Please note I did use my own measurements when I made my strawberry jam because I did not have the exact amount of strawberries other recipes call for. Although I'm sure you could easily figure it out. After all isn't that how you know your a good cook?

Homemade Strawberry Jam (freezer)

You will need...

• canning jars
• big boiling pot(for the jars)
• Sauce pan (for boiling the lids)
• Tongs (for pulling out the hot jars and lids)
• spoon to stir
• labels (for the name and date)
• blender or food processor ( I don't have a food processor. My blender worked great.)
• Pot for the jam mixture
• I did not have the true canning necessities yet so I managed a more natural way. I don't think you can do that with other canning recipes.

Ingredients

• strawberries (I had only 2 cups of strawberries once blended 
• pectin (1 box) (I did not use the whole box.)
• sugar 
• lemon juice (I used 1-2 table spoons with my recipe)

Preparation

1. Start sterilizing your jars by letting them come to a boil in the big pot on the stove. You may start this and let them boil while you start making your jam.
2. Cut the tops off your strawberries and blend them till their smooth. You may have them a little chunky if you prefer. 
3. Add the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and pectin into a pot on the stove. 
4. Stir the jam mixture and let it come to a boil. It will become sticky and a little on the thick side. But not too thick that happens once it settles when your finished canning the jam.
5. Pull out the jars with the tongs and pour your jam mixture into the jars. ( I wasn't sure if I had to wait till they were cooled off or not. I did not wait and nothing bad happened.)
6. Seal your jars and let them cool.
7. lastly label your jam with the date and put it in the freezer.

I am proud to say my four year old brags to others about my jam and others are asking where their jar is!

Dinner Time Madness

I think I'm going to start calling it dinner time madness from now on. The tittle pretty much sums up our daily dinner time routine. If it is not one thing it seems to be another. It's the time of the day I love the most because my husband arrives home from work and we are gathered around the dinner table, yet it can be the most challenging. 

It all starts when the clock strikes 5:00; an hour before my husband gets out of work. It is usually when I start preparing and cooking dinner. While I cook dinner I am constantly tripping over our lovely dog.  I feel like I'm always repeating myself to our dog during dinner time madness, "Move out of the way!" Or yet another popular phrase," Get out of the kitchen Porter!" He is a big chocolate Labrador who loves waiting for food to drop. I don't blame him. If it's not the dog, it's our 18 month old I have to keep reminding, "careful it's hot," while shes tugging at my legs. This is our 18 month old  daughter's cranky pants time. At this time she's not getting my full on attention, therefore she throws little fits and wants everything.  I love letting my daughters help out with dinner, I believe it's a great learning opportunity for them, but only age appropriate. 

Once dinner is finished and the table is set, which I try my hardest to have complete when my husband walks int he door. But it is not always easy task after battling a sisterly fight, tripping over a dog and our cranky 18 month old. Finally we are able to sit down and enjoy our family dinner and talk about our days. It' a very important time of the day. But of course can't forget the begging dog. He knows hes suppose to stay on the carpet, but doesn't always listen. Or our cat begging as if she were a dog too. We believe she gets confused at times, ha ha ha. Lastly it's not madness dinner unless one of the girls drinks accidentally gets spilled, or Helen puts her food in her hair. 

But once everything is cleaned up and put away until the next morning, it is well worth it. Our dog is getting up there in age, so I know I will miss tripping over him someday while cooking dinner. Along with our daughters growing up so quickly; I'll cherish the messes made into memories. And I will sit back and laugh at myself for trying to always have dinner made and the table set before my husband walked in the door from work, knowing that some days it was beyond impossible. I sure wouldn't change it for the world.

              

Homemade Strawberry Frosting

For our Valentine's day cupcakes I had everything bought, least I originally thought. But leave it to me to leave out one of the most important ingredient's when making cupcakes; the frosting! The last thing I wanted to do was make a trip to the store with the girls. I figured it couldn't be that hard to make homemade frosting on my own, and it was a piece of cake. Then I wanted it pink, but I did NOT want to use food coloring, so we decided to make strawberry frosting. It is so easy I though I'd share the recipe with you. 

Homemade Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting

(Frosts roughly 24-28 cupcakes.) (preparation time: roughly 12-15 minutes.)

Ingredients

*1 cup of butter (soft)

*3-4 cups of powdered sugar (I use 4 cups)

*1-2 Tablespoons of milk (I use 1 Tablespoon. It depends on your desired consistency.)

*1 teaspoon of vanilla

*Strawberries (Shade of pink depends how many you use.)

Preparation

1.) In a mixing bowl cream your butter. (I use my standing kitchen aid with the wire whisk, or my hand kitchen aid blender.) 

2.)Beat in the sugar and vanilla.

3.)Add your milk and keep beating until your frosting reaches your desired consistency

4.) Wash and dice your strawberries. In a separate bowl mash them till the strawberries have the consistency like soup and you see no chunks.

5.)Poor the strawberry liquid into the already beating frosting and let the strawberries mix in.

6.)Once the frosting is evenly pink, I use a lunch bag and cut a whole in the bottom corner to decorate my cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Candied Almonds Recipe

For one of our family Christmas gatherings I made the famous candied almonds. You know the ones that  you smell in the mall this time of the year? I have decided I wanted to make the candied almonds and show off my talent. I did not have a recipe yet, therefore I searched the Internet. There were some pretty complicated recipes out there, along with some simpler ones. First thought that came to my mind was, the the more ingredients the better it would taste right? Wrong, I found some shorter recipes and tweaked them a little into my own. They were a total hit at the party and my daughters loved them also. That's a bonus. These could even make great gifts for next year.

The Simple Candied Almonds

Ingredients

3 cups of whole almonds.

2/3 cup of water

1 tablespoon of cinnamon 

1 cup of white sugar

Cooking Directions

1.) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2.) Spread the almonds on on a baking sheet evenly. place them into the oven for 8-10 minutes. Or until they are lightly brown. They smell wonderful already once you take them out.

3.)While the almonds are in the oven browning, combine the mixture of water, white sugar and cinnamon on medium heat.

4.)Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce while stirring occasionally until it starts to look syrupy and thick.(This will take about 15 minutes.)

Careful the mixture will get very hot and sticky. Plus don't forget about the almonds.

5.)Stir in the almonds cup at a time. Make sure that they all get covered.

6.) Keep cooking the mixture with the almonds in while stirring continually until the liquid appears gone and leaves a sugar coating on the almonds. (This will take about 15 minutes.)

7.)Lay out wax or parchment paper and spread the almonds evenly with a fork as quickly as you can. Let them sit for about 15 minutes again till coating is hardened. 

8.) Enjoy!