Homemade Oreos

I adore Oreos

Dip them in some milk…

Mmmmm….

My husband made

Oreo stuffed Pancakes!

We do like us some Oreos around here!

When a friend on Facebook

posted that she made Homemade Oreos

I was all over that

Mmmmm.Mmmmm.Mmmmm

They are yummy!

We made them with both white

and chocolate filling

Since my Husband prefers the chocolate!

Although,

I am not sure there were any left

by the time he got home from work 😉

I also recently made them with my Homemade PB Frosting

YUM!

Ingredients:

Oreo cookie:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP butter

1 Egg

Filling:

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered Sugar (add more, if desired, depending on how thick you like the frosting!)

1 tsp vanilla

Milk – if needed

Add in 1/3 cup Cocoa if you want chocolate filling

or 1/2 batch of my PB Frosting

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375

Mix the sugar and butter. Add in the egg. Mix in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in until the dough comes together. Take a rounded spoon full or use your trusty cookie scoop (LOVE mine!) and place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 9 minutes. Cool on rack

Filling:
Put the butter in the mixer and slowly add in the Powdered sugar. Add in the vanilla. Whip until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add milk as needed to desired consistency

Take a ziploc bag and fill it with the filling (or you could use a pastry bag) and snip off the corner. Pipe the filling onto one cookie. Top it with another cookie and you have a delicious Oreo cookie!!

ENJOY!

Homemade Oreos

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP butter
1 Egg
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered Sugar (add more, if desired, depending on how thick you like the frosting!)
1 tsp vanilla
Milk - if needed
Add in 1/3 cup Cocoa if you want chocolate filling
or 1/2 batch of my PB Frosting

Instructions

Heat oven to 375
Mix the sugar and butter.
Add in the egg.
Mix in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in until the dough comes together.
Take a rounded spoon full or use your trusty cookie scoop (LOVE mine!) and place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 9 minutes.
Cool on rack
Filling:
Put the butter in the mixer and slowly add in the Powdered sugar.
Add in the vanilla.
Whip until the frosting is light and fluffy.
Add milk as needed to desired consistency
Take a ziploc bag and fill it with the filling (or you could use a pastry bag) and snip off the corner.
Pipe the filling onto one cookie.
Top it with another cookie and you have a delicious Oreo cookie!!

https://mismashedmom.com/2013/06/homemade-oreos.html

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Sticks

My 7 year old can find a stick ANYWHERE!

He even found one at Disneyland

YES

Disneyland

If you’ve been to Disneyland

you know it is meticulously clean

but somehow he managed

I was just in the kitchen making

some Mini Banana Muffins

(which happens weekly around here!)

and he comes in from outside

to show me a new stick

and when he was doing with it

We walk out the door to swimming yesterday

and he has a stick with some rope attached to it

“I am making a bow, mom”

We were on a walk/bike ride last night

and he is up ahead of us on his bike.

We catch up to him…

He is off his bike with a stick in his hand

Me: “Why did you stop biking?”

Him: “To get this stick”

Me: “It is just a stick”

Him: “but it looks like a gun!”

It did have a slight curve to it

My husband trimmed our apple tree

and there were sticks all over our yard

It kept my kid entertained for hours!

Why do we buy them toys?!?!

He also has a habit of finding

and picking up things wherever we go

He finds lots of coins,

lego pieces (I KNOW!), but will even pick up garbage

which would be fine if,

he was going to throw it away

but no,

I am pretty sure it is just to pick it up

Leave the GARBAGE ALONE!!

Don’t pick everything up!

Of course this is the kid

that would lick EVERYTHING:

the subway in New York City

and Washington DC (true story!)

The handrails in Pirates of the Caribbean

and even the garbage cans in the lines

*sigh*

at least he doesn’t do that anymore!!

Energy Saving tips – Tip of the day #2

Keep your Fridge filled! This is an easy one for us – our fridge is usually stuffed. The same thing goes for your freezer – we put containers of water in it, when we first got it, to help it run more efficiently – now we just have it filled with food 😛

Having lots of food in your fridge keeps it from warming up too fast when the door is open. So your fridge doesn’t have to work as hard to stay cool.

If you are interested in Solar Panels, and clean, renewable energy at a lower cost than your power company at $0 out of your pocket, contact Solar City for your Free Consultation!

Spinach Artichoke Dip Pizza

I LOVE Spinach Artichoke Dip

The best I have ever had

is a a local place

here called Novaks’

I saw this recipe

on Pinterest

for Spinach Artichoke Dip Pizza

and I HAD to try it

it was combining 2 of my favorite things

what’s not to love?!?!

I was not disappointed

It is delicious!

If you like Spinach Artichoke Dip

and you like pizza

Then you will love this recipe!

and because it has Spinach in it

it is “healthy” right?!?!

(just ignore the cream, butter, and cheese part of the recipe, when calling it “healthy”)

Mmmmm…..

Ingredients:

5 Minute Pizza Dough Recipe
1 cup cream
1/2 cup butter
2 TBSP Cream Cheese (used the low fat… might as well try and trim the fay somewhere *shifty eyes*)
3/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
Garlic powder – to taste
Mozzarella Cheese – I just sprinkle over the top ’til it looks good – probably 1 1/2 – 2 cups
6oz frozen Spinach or Fresh spinach
1 Can Artichoke Hearts, drained and chopped

Heat oven to 425. Heat the Cream, Butter, and Cream cheese, in a saucepan, until melted together. Add in the Parmesan Cheese and Garlic – cook and stir about 15 minutes. Make your pizza dough while it cooks. If you are using Fresh Spinach, you should wilt your spinach in a pan while you are waiting for the sauce. If using frozen, defrost it in the microwave. Now take either your now unfrozen spinach or your fresh wilted spinach, place it in a towel, and ring out all the water in it. Place the spinach and the artichokes in the sauce. Spread the sauce on the pizza crust. Top with Mozzarella Cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes. Let it sit a few minutes after you take it out, so it doesn’t just ooze all over when you cut it.

Enjoy!!

Eureka Steam Mop

There are few cleaning appliances that I can’t live without
probably because I don’t like to clean
but this Eureka Enviro Steamer
is one that I simply MUST have

When we went to mop with it
this Saturday night
after our Solar Party
We discovered that it was not working
not steaming anymore

This is seriously BAD news
We use this thing constantly
probably why it finally gave out
after several years of constant use

It makes our hardwood floors shine
it disinfects our floors
It is one of the few steamers
that steams the water hot enough
to adequately disinfect

It cleans the floors beautifully
with just water
no harsh chemicals!

When my husband said it wasn’t working
I immediately went on amazon
and ordered a new one
that is how much we love it
and use it all the time

Our floors were nasty after our party
Of course,
it goes out right after a party
when our floors desperately need a cleaning

It came from Amazon today
Thank you Prime Shipping!
I LOVE my Amazon Prime Membership!

So now I should go get it out of the box
and finally clean our nasty floors
Did I mention that our downstairs is 1400 sq ft of tile/hardwood floors
Yeah, it is alot to clean 😛

Now if I could just like cleaning
as much as I like this Steam Mop 😛

Disneyland Touring & Tips

Thought I would share some Touring and Tips that we have learned from all our MANY trips to Disneyland!

#1 tip – Get there when they open!!! You can seriously get ALOT of touring done before most people show up! Shortest lines and waits first thing in the morning. If you do nothing else, get there when they open!!
Try not to go on a Saturday. Just don’t do it, if possible. Trust me.
Go during the Low Season, when possible. We take our kids out of school. Bad, I know! but it is so much more pleasant without all the people and lines!
If you do go during the busy season, my sister and brother in law SWEAR by RideMax to limit their waits in line.
DRILL it into your kids what to do if they get lost. Have a meeting place. Tell them to find a Cast Member. Make sure they know your cell phone number! I can’t stress this enough. We’ve been to Disneyland and DisneyWorld MANY times, we have never lost one of our kids… until our last visit there. I was back at the hotel with our 2 year old, who was taking a nap. My Husband had our 7&9 year old with him. They were leaving Grizzly River Run and were going to head back to the hotel. There was a parade. My 7 year old distracted my husband and my 9 year old got lost. Our 9 year old is Autistic. He called me saying he couldn’t find her. I was stuck at the hotel with a sleeping 2 year old. However, within 5 minutes, I get a call on my cell phone – it was a security guard near Soarin’ over California and they had our daughter. She knew my cell phone, sought out a cast member – security guard in her case – and had them call me. I called my husband and they were able to get back together. It was a very scary 5 minutes for me though!! So drill that phone number into them! and to find a cast member at a ride or gift shop/restaurant.
If your kids are too small to remember your phone number, I laminated small tags with our phone number, where we were staying, etc. and used a key ring to attach one to their shoes (in the laces, or put the Velcro through it) and one to the zipper on their coats. Works for losing a coat too! Sharpie across the forehead works too, but might not look the best in photos 😉
Try the line inside the Enchanted Tiki Room waiting area to get your Dole Whip – often shorter and you get to enjoy a show!
If you have small kids or just want to ride those rides, head to Fantasyland there FIRST! Trust me! Peter Pan and Dumbo always get long lines, and it does not get better through the day. They are shortest in the morning and the best time to see them. We often send my husband to get fastpasses for Space Mountain or Star Tours while I head with the kids to get in line and he catches up to us minutes later (he is fast on his own without kids)
Use fastpass whenever possible – use one person to go get all the fastpasses for the group – it is much faster, especially with small children!
Have small children? Use rider swap for the rides they are too short for. Lessens the time you wait in line! Just ask the ride attendant outside the ride
With small kids, We get our rider swap and then we use our fast passes for the first group, and one parent will take the too small child on an adjacent ride – like Buzz Lightyear for Space Mountain or Star Tours (since there is rarely a long line for Buzz!), or the Jungle Cruise or Pirates for Indiana Jones and Big Thunder or Winnie the Pooh for Splash Mountain (I have ridden Winnie the Pooh soooo many times!!). We then switch, use the extra fast pass (from the parent that didn’t go the first time), and the rider swap for the other parent and the two older kids to go again! (and the other parent then takes the little one on the other ride again)
We also save our fastpasses for when the little one is napping. HOWEVER, I have heard rumors that they were going to enforce return times. We have not experienced this, but be warned! But, you could save your rider swaps at least for when the little one is napping, as they don’t have return times, so they don’t have to wait twice.
If your kids are dying to do Jedi Academy – make a SIGN. Every time we’ve been there, ANYONE with a sign gets chosen
The Fantasyland side of the Matterhorn, is often the shortest line
If Pirates of the Caribbean is running 2 lines, go with the one on the right
EVERYONE heads to CarsLand first – head to Paradise Pier first instead. Do Toy Story, that often has a long line all the time and California Screaming.
CarsLand is less busy around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. We walked on to the Mater ride, with no wait at all, several times (like 10 times in doing the child swap for Radiator Springs), and this was only 2 months after it opened…
Try and see the neon in CarsLand at night
Use the Single rider line, when possible, for Radiator Springs – when we were there, there was no line at all for it – just walk on!
Get your fastpass for Radiator Springs FIRST thing in the morning. You won’t be disappointed, it is a GREAT ride! One of my favorites!
Then get your World of Color Fast Pass
While the bigger kids are riding California Screaming and other rides in Paradise Pier, take the little ones on the carousel, or the Little Mermaid (again, I’ve ridden Little Mermaid more times than I can count!)
While I LOVE World of Color, this show can be a PAIN, if you have small children, because they cannot see above all the adults. Our last trip, we finally found a solution. TRY and get a spot at the top of some stairs!! They can see above the other adults below! Also try piggyback to hold them up. You will be sore afterwards no matter what 😛
Take the Monorail to get to Downtown Disney – you get to it faster, and you get a ride at the same time 🙂
Down near SmallWorld is one of the better places to get a spot for a parade – often less full!
The Back of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is by far the best seat on the train!

Homemade Moby Wrap

Not long after we had baby #4

we wanted to take the kids to the zoo

We looked ALL over for our Snugli

and we could NOT find it anywhere

we don’t know what we did with it between kid #3 & 4

*sigh*

We needed SOMETHING

to take to the zoo

and he was too small for the strollers we had

I didn’t want to spend much money to buy something new either

I had been wanting to buy

a special wrap that I could wear in the water

so I could wrap the baby to me

and still have free hands to swim with our 2 year old

when we were at the pool everyday this summer

I just hadn’t bought one yet

I couldn’t find any in our local stores

and we were going to the zoo the next day

so not enough time to get one from amazon

Then I looked at it

I can totally make one of those!

It just looks like a long piece of fabric

Guess what?

It is!

It is just a long piece of fabric!

and $40-50 for a piece of fabric

So I headed to our local fabric store

armed with my 40% off coupon

I browsed the aisles

until I found a fabric that seemed like it would dry fast

It was stretchy and had small holes in it

It would work perfectly!

So I bought 5 yards

in hindsight,

I would have bought 6 yards
(or 5.5 yards),

because I am 5′ 9″

I needed a bit more fabric.

I can wrap it around once

and there is not quite enough to go around the second time

so I just have a long piece of fabric hanging down

so I think 6 yards,

for taller people

would be better!

I brought it home

and cut it in half

length wise

Now,

the fabric I bought,

does not fray

So I just cut it in half

and was done

If you bought one that does,

you will want to use a serger

or hem the edges

Now I had 2 Moby wraps

(cut in half lengthwise, thus giving you 2 wraps from the one piece of fabric!)

for a total of $16

when just 1 would have cost me $40-50 in the store!

Then I just went here

and learned how to wrap it

EASY

and a BIG money saver!

I am asked ALL the time about it

Just yesterday at Costco and then again at the pool

moms were asking me about it!

Needed for 2 moby wraps:

5-6 yards of fabric – 6 yards, if you are taller like me

Serger or sewing machine – depends on the fabric you buy if you’ll need this!

Directions:

Go to your local fabric store and pick out a fabric that has a slight stretch to it. I picked one that was slightly stretchy and had very small holes in it, so it would dry quickly and work well in the pool. Buy 5 yards or 6 yards if you are taller. When you get home (or if you asked at the fabric, I bet they would even do it for you there!), cut the fabric in half lengthwise. This will give you 2 long pieces of fabric needed to wrap. If your fabric is like mine, then you are done and you now have 2 wraps! Otherwise, use or borrow a serger, or use a sewing machine and hem the edges of the fabric/warp. Now your done! And you saved yourself a TON of money and got 2 wraps for LESS than the price of one!!

Me at the Zoo the day after I made it

(I made it the night before!)

At the beach

At Chuckie Cheese

Add caption

Silver Creek Falls

Yes, our baby had a busy first 2 months!

Now at 3 months

he is big enough to be out of the newborn hug hold

and now just used the hug hold

Energy Saving Tips – Tip of the day!

While we are waiting for the next step in our journey to get Solar Panels, I figured I would share an energy saving tip of the day! One tip you can try out each day, to a more energy efficient house

With Summer here, I thought this tip was a good one, even though I have central air conditioning!

Use fans with your air conditioner. Fans help reduce energy costs by circulating the cool air from your air conditioner. This allows you to raise the temperature and still be comfortable. Use ceiling fans for air circulation. In hot weather, set the ceiling fan direction to blow air down. the air moving across your skin creates a cooling effect. allowing you to raise the temperature on your thermostat and still feel cool. in cold weather, set the fan to blow toward the ceiling. This pushes the warm air away from the veiling and evenly distributes the heat in the room

If you are interested in Solar Panels, and clean, renewable energy at a lower cost than your power company at $0 out of your pocket, contact Solar City for your Free Consultation!

Crockpot Ranch Chicken

It was so nice to come in from swimming last night

and dinner was ready to put on the table

LOVE IT!

and it was delicious to boot!

This will for sure make it into our regular recipe line-up

I found this one on Pinterest

Budget Savvy Diva

(LOVE her!)

and decided to try it out.

We were not disappointed!

I even put the cream cheese

and chicken in the crock pot

FROZEN!

I then made a double batch of brown rice

so we would have enough

for another dinner this week!

(cook once, two meals!)

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken (I used 2 LARGE breasts)
8 oz of low fat cream cheese (this is the only kind I buy – no need for the higher fat!)
Garlic powder – to taste (you know I never measure – about 1tsp)
fresh ground pepper
1 packet Dry Ranch Mix
1-2 Green Onions – chopped
8oz Light Sour Cream

Directions:

I put everything but the sour cream into the Crockpot – and since I am lazy and didn’t defrost anything, they all went in frozen, so after an hour or so, I stirred and mixed it all together! If you don’t put things in frozen, the cream cheese should melt faster and you can stir it together sooner!

4-6hrs on High, 8-10 on low. Shred up the chicken with 2 forks and Add in the sour cream about 20 minutes before serving. Which is a perfect amount of time to cook your rice. I always use a rice cooker, so I don’t have to worry about timing it or it burning 😛

I shredded the chicken and added the sour cream before we left for swimming and used my “Keep Warm” option on my slow cooker. I then started a full (4 cups dry!) batch of brown rice, which takes about twice as long as white rice, especially in such a big batch – as we were walking out the door for swimming. I used my Rice Cooker, so it was safe to leave cooking while gone because it turns itself off when done cooking. Coming home 2 hrs later, the rice was all cooked (enough for dinner later this week too) and the chicken was delicious and perfectly warm and ready to eat!

Love walking in the door to dinner ready to eat and this was delicious!!

ENJOY!!

Crockpot Ranch Chicken

Ingredients

1 lb of chicken (I used 2 LARGE breasts)
8 oz of low fat cream cheese (this is the only kind I buy - no need for the higher fat!)
Garlic powder - to taste (you know I never measure - about 1tsp)
fresh ground pepper
1 packet Dry Ranch Mix
1-2 Green Onions - chopped
8oz Light Sour Cream

Instructions

Put everything but the sour cream into the Crockpot
4-6hrs on High, 8-10 on low.
Shred up the chicken with 2 forks
Add in the sour cream about 20 minutes before serving.
Which is a perfect amount of time to cook your rice. I always use a rice cooker, so I don't have to worry about timing it or it burning 😛

https://mismashedmom.com/2013/06/crockpot-ranch-chicken.html