Works for Me Wednesday: Chocolate Covered Raspberries

My FAVORITE candy from the store is Chocolate-covered Raspberries! Delish!

But I have something even better! This is one of the finest things in life as far as I'm concerned...

Chocolate Covered Raspberries!

Hard and chocolate on the outside...
Sweet and juicy on the inside!

You want to make some?

First you will need to wash and dry your raspberries...

Then space them out on a pan so none of them are touching and throw into the freezer for 30 - 60 minutes.


Next, you'll melt your chocolate - I actually have a "Chocolate Warmer" because I LOVE to dip things in chocolate.


Once your raspberries are nice, cold, and firm you just need to cover them with chocolate and set them on foil or wax paper to set up...


Once the chocolate is set up you can throw them together in a bag or dish. You'll want to let the raspberries thaw so they are nice and juicy when you bite into it.



Seriously - such incredible yumminess for such an easy treat!

If you are going to keep them around for a few days, I would definitely store them in the fridge. (I've never kept them around that long - they are usually gone in the next few minutes because I JUST can't RESIST!)

Chocolate Covered Raspberries - it DEFINITELY works for me!!!

Notebook Experiment: Broom Treat Bags

I came across this Halloween Treat Bag Tutorial at Three Pumpkins Little and knew I needed to try it out!

I did mine real fast so I just used some scissors and folded the bags to cut them, although an exacto knife would probably been just as fast... I then found some halloween ribbon in my stash and wrapped it around... Easy and very festive!

Menu-Planning Monday

Monday: BBQ French Dip Sandwiches/Baked Potatoes/Jello

Tuesday: Honey Mustard Chicken/Rice-a-Roni/Mixed Veggies

Wednesday: Manicotti/Salad/Bread

Thursday: Shepherd's Pie/Rolls

Friday: Take-n-Bake Pumpkin Pizza

Saturday: Taco Soup

Sunday: Leftovers

Treats: Banana Bread (see recipe), Zucchini Crisp (tastes JUST like Apple Crisp!)

Banana Bread
Grease and flour bread pans.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas
2 cups flour
1/2 cup nuts

Bake for 40 minutes.

Works for Me Wednesday: Controlling Toaster Crumbs

I believe it was my mother-in-law that taught me this trick, but I could be wrong...

I keep my toaster on a cookie sheet and it has made my life SO much easier! Before, I would get bread crumbs all over the cupboard and floor. Now they just pile up on the pan and I can just dump them in the garbage or sink!

Something so simple, but it works for us!

Crab Boil!

My parents are to Washington State this week so we went for a fun little visit this weekend. And on Friday night they spoiled us with a Crab Boil! Such yummy deliciousness!!!

Well, all these years I had never paid attention to how they cook it, so I figured I'd figure it out this time - and guess what!?! I'll even share the goodness with you!

Start by cutting up the red potatoes into nice chunks... we used about a potato per person...


and throw in the pot...


Then sprinkle LIBERALLY with Cavender's Seasoning...


Next throw in the corn-on-the-cob... (we used frozen cobs that were about the size of a third of a normal big ear of corn - and you could probably figure one or two per person)... You should put the corn on it's end the best you can for the first layer and then just throw the other ones on top (gotta pack it in so all this goodness fits!)


Then sprinkle LIBERALLY with Cavender's Seasoning...

Next you add the onions which you just cut into quarters...


Then sprinkle LIBERALLY with Cavender's Seasoning...

Then you add the sausage which is also cut into nice chunks...



And sprinkle LIBERALLY with Cavender's Seasoning...

Next is the Crab Legs! You'll need to lay them all in there and try to get them to fit. (My awesome mom bought too many and we had to cook some on the stove.)


Remember to sprinkle LIBERALLY with Cavender's Seasoning...

And finally the Shrimp!


And sprinkle LIBERALLY with Cavender's Seasoning once again, but make sure you kind of mix it in so it is sprinkled THROUGHOUT the shrimp layer...

Then you add some Worcestershire Sauce (we used 1/3 - 1/2 of the bottle) to the top.


Add about 1.5 cups of water to the bottom (we just poured it down the side)...


Cover and cook on high until the shrimp on top is pink and done! (DON'T over cook!)

Meanwhile spread out newspaper on the table or a plastic tablecloth if all the newspaper has been used for packing boxes...

When shrimp is done, lift basket out of pot to drain and dump on the table!


And DIG IN!

Personally, I like it with melted butter, but you can serve it with tarter sauce and cocktail sauce...

Once you are done eating just wrap it all up in the newspaper and toss!

Menu Planning Monday

Monday - Sweet & Sour Chicken Stirfry/Ham Fried Rice

Tuesday - Chili, Rolls, & Saltines

Wednesday - Fish/Veggies/Lemon Rice

Thursday - Cashew Chicken

Friday - Pizza Night

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Crockpot Chicken/Jello/Funeral Potatoes

For more menu ideas, visit http://orgjunkie.com/ every Monday! If you want any of the recipes that I don't have posted or linked... feel free to ask!

General Conference Kits

General Conference is coming up and I found this blog post over at Everyday Food Storage of conference kits and LOVED them! So I decided to do up some of my own for my visiting teaching ladies! SO much fun!

Inspirational Sunday: "He'll Carry You"

Today at church we had a fantastic lesson on Elder Holland's Conference Address, "None Were With Him". So I had planned on posting this YouTube video of his talk that is incredible, but then remembered that I had posted it on my personal blog on Easter... So I thought I'd share something else, but take the time to go watch the "None Were With Him" video. It's incredible...

In the lesson today, we spoke of how Christ was alone so that we don't have to EVER be alone. And when I watched this video of Hilary Weeks' Song, "He'll Carry You", I think it is saying the same thing...

Lunch Note Cards

Last year when Andre would take his "cold lunch" from home, I would always write a little message or love note on his napkin. He seemed to like it but I worried about it embarrassing him and worried that he'd ask me to stop. So this year I decided I needed to make it something he DEFINITELY looks forward to...

Andre LOVES jokes - so I started writing jokes on little note cards and putting my message on the cards, but that got crazy trying to come up with a joke in the last couple minutes before he ran out the door... He LOVES it though and enjoys telling all his friends that sit by him the joke...

So I've pre-designed some note cards with jokes already on them and a place in the middle to write your love note. They turned out great! We used the first one today and it was fun, easy, and most important... He LOVED it!

So I thought I'd share them with you...

Here's the ones with the pre-printed jokes...


And here's a blank page in case you want to write your own jokes...


You can also download a PDF file of them here.

We LOVE pizza in our house. We seriously could eat it twice a week for the rest of our lives and be completely happy... In fact, Bryan always says that if he ever gets so rich that he never has to work, he'll go get himself a job at a pizza place! (In college he was the "dough boy" - person who makes the pizza dough - each night for Pier 49 Pizza and it seriously was his favorite job ever!)

SO we've been trying to make a good "homemade" pizza for years now but have never had much success at making it taste DELICIOUS until now. We've had it taste GOOD and maybe sometimes even REALLY GOOD, but never AWESOME or JUST LIKE DELIVERY! The crust was never anything special... But after we pulled it from the oven Friday night and took our first bite, we knew we had finally nailed it.



I found the recipe online here. I made the dough in my breadmachine, then rolled it out on the pan and threw some Ragu pizza sauce on it... Then we all made our own half of a pizza using Mozzerella Cheese, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Mushrooms, Olives, and/or Pineapple. DELISH!

Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough
1 1/3 cups water
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp cornmeal
3 1/4 cups flower
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine and run dough setting. After machine beeps, roll out the dough.
Prebake the crust with a drizzle of olive oil on it at 450 degrees for ten minutes (I actually did it for 5 minutes). Remove crust and add sauce and toppings. Place into oven for another ten to fifteen minutes or until golden and bubbly.