Unforgettable Childhood

One of the most fun parts of being at Grammy’s house is that she is an amazing baker. YUM!

My waistline is not appreciating it very much, but the girls are getting a glimpse into my childhood.

Nadia joined Grammy in the kitchen on Friday to bake Peanut Butter Cookies.

This recipe is an old one. We couldn’t put a date on it, but this is a picture of the cookbook it comes from.

These cookies stay so soft and moist. I asked my mom to share her trick. She says she takes them out when they are not quite done. No wonder it is hard to replicate her recipes. The recipe says to take them out when they are light brown in color. She just peaks at them a few times to get them just right.

Here is the recipe.

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Cream first four ingredients together; blend in beaten egg. Sift together dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Add vanilla and blend well. Chill dough several hours. Form into balls the size of a walnut; place on cookie sheet, press down with a fork in a criss-cross design and bake in 325 degree oven until a light brown color.

Enjoy! It is so much fun to let my kids spend time with Grammy recreating some of the memories I remember. I guess my mom created an unforgettable childhood for me, too.

Now that we are back in my hometown, my kids get to experience the things I did when I was there age. One of those things is the Park Carnival. It was the highlight of the summer when I was young.

It isn’t quite the same now, but it was fun to have them participate. They still had a great time.

One of the requirements as a parent is to supply some of the prizes for the carnival. Each child that is involved in summer activities is asked to bring a cake for the cake walk and 2 12-packs of pop.

Of course, I couldn’t just throw a little frosting on a cake, I wanted to do something a little more fun. I spent the entire day getting them ready, but it was worth it.

My girls used a lot of their tickets at the cake walk to try to win their own cakes.

I am not sure how many tickets they used, but little one accomplished her goal!

Do you have a a summer carnival that you participate in with your kids? Do you love the cake walk, too? I know I do and I can’t wait to eat little one’s cake

One of my girls favorite treats is Peanut Butter Balls. They are so easy to make and they are yummy!

I was first introduced to this recipe when I was in 1st Grade. There are three ingredients so each of them has something to pour into the bowl.

• 1 cup of Peanut Butter
• 1 cup of Honey
• 1 1/2 cups of Powdered Milk

Mix them together until combined and then everybody gets to get messy and roll the mixture into balls.

They just need to be put into the fridge for an hour and they are ready to eat.

This is a great snack for an afternoon treat!

I am joining the fun of New Friend Friday! If you are a New Friend stopping by today!

Welcome to Unforgettable Childhood!

We live in small town South Dakota. We can’t afford to fly everywhere in the world with our family. However, it is still important to us to bring culture to our family. One of the ways we do that is to Travel Around the World without leaving our house.

Today in honor of Cinco de Mayo we will be traveling to Mexico. Here is a favorite recipe for our family. We love tacos, but sometimes it is fun to make them with a twist.

Start with 2 packages of Crescent Rolls

Arrange them in a circle, overlapping the rolls.

Set aside and brown a pound and a half of hamburger.

Remove from heat and drain grease. Add Taco Seasoning and 2 T. of Water. Mix Well. Add 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. Mix together.

Add one scoop of taco mixture on each crescent roll.

Fold over each roll to cover the meat.

Brush rolls with 1 slightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Place Taco Ring in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

We like to eat them with Salsa and Sour Cream. Yummy! Add some spanish rice and this is a perfect Cinco de Mayo meal.

Taco Ring Ingredients:

• 2 pkg. Crescent Rolls
• 1 1/2 lb. Hamburger, browned
• Taco Seasoning
• 2 T. Water
• 2 cups of Cheese, divided
• 1 egg white

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook ground beef until no longer pink, breaking beef into crumbles, drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix, 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and water.

Scoop filling evenly over desired shape; finish shpae as directed. Brush with egg white. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve with toppings. Serves 8.

Do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Do you have any favorite recipes to share?

When I was a little girl I was very fortunate to have my Grandmother babysit me everyday.

Some of my favorite memories of my Grandmother happened in my parent’s kitchen. She always let me stand right next to the counter on a chair and help her. I think that she inspired the passion I have for cooking and baking now.

A couple of weeks ago when we were visiting my Mom and Dad, we decided to do some baking with the girls. My mom went through my Grandmother’s recipes so we could make something that she used to make.

We decided that since it is almost camping season and S’mores are our favorite, we would make Indoor S’mores.

It only takes a few ingredients, these are super simple to make with your kids.

Here is the recipe, the picture is a little blurry, but I wanted to capture my Grandmother’s name.

• 2/3 c. Karo Light Corn Syrup
• 2 T. butter or margarine
• 1 Bag of Chocolate Chips
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 10 oz. pkg. of Golden Grahams
• 3 c. miniature marshmallows

Butter 9″X13″ baking pan. Heat corn syrup, butter and chocolate chips, first to boiling, stirring constantly, remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal in large mixing bowl. Toss until completely coated. Add marshmallows 1 cups at a time. Press mixture in buttered pan. Let stand until firm and cut into squares.

The finished product. . .Yum!

It is so much fun to bake in my Mom and Dad’s kitchen with my girls. Hopefully someday they will love to cook and bake, too.

We made a fun snack to celebrate Earth Week.

E: Earth Worms (Gummy Worms)

A: Animal Crackers

R: Resse’s Pieces

T: Teddy Grahams

H: Hershey’s Kisses

Mix it all together in a big bowl and enjoy! YUMMY!

I had a rare opportunity tonight in the kitchen with only my oldest. I had just gotten home from a meeting and the younger two were upstairs having bedtime story time with their daddy.

My oldest daughter wandered into the kitchen and wondered what I was up to. I told her I was making Big Girl Bird Seed. She was intrigued and said she wanted to help.

Little one and I are headed out tomorrow for a Bird Watching Adventure so I wanted a little treat to take along. Our ingredients:

• 5 cups Cheerios
• 5 cups Rice Chex
• 1 lb. bag M&M’s
• 10 oz. bag of Mini Pretzels
• 2 pkg. of White Chips
• 2 T. Vegetable Oil

Mix everything except the White Chips and Vegetable Oil in a big bowl. Melt the Chips mixed with the oil.

Pour the melted mixture over the bowl of yumminess.

Stir it together and pour it onto a pan to set.

I had halved the recipe and Taylor didn’t think it had quite enough White, so we decided to melt a few Chocolate chips to drizzle over the top.

After it sets you break it apart a bit and put it into an air tight container.

Now we have a snack and our Bird Watching Bucket all ready to go. We just need to find the binoculars.

Today we saw a hawk gliding through the sky on our walk home from school. It was beautiful and the girls loved watching it. We can’t wait to see what we will find tomorrow.