Vicki Larson's Sunday Salad

3 Romaine Hearts
1 Bag Spinach
Rotissere Chicken - breast cut up (optional)
1/2 Red Onion - diced (optional)
1# Bacon - cut small
Swiss Cheese grated

1/4 C. Sugar - melt slowly in skillet, then add
1/2 C. Almonds - stir until coated with syrup mixture
Place on waxed paper to cool - break up into small pieces
Then toss all ingredients in dressing below.

Dressing: (this makes a lot of dressing - you may only want to use 1/2)
1/2 C. Sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 C. Oil
2 tsp. Dry mustard
2/3 C. Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tblsp. Poppyseeds

Mix top ingredients and add dressing.

Teacher Appreciation Candy Gram

Here's the Candy Gram that Emily and I made for her 2nd Grade Teacher, Mrs. Russell, for Teacher Appreciation Week. Mrs. Russell hadn't ever seen a candy gram before so it was extra fun seeing her expression as we read it out loud to her.


Note to self: Next year change the wording on the right hand side to "We are having MOUNDS and MOUNDS of fun this year and would have fallen to PIECES without you."

Easter Egg Hunt for a crowd

The Fish Heads and I filled 877 plastic eggs for our ward's Easter Egg Hunt. We had a great time and are looking forward to doing it again next year!






MAKE YOUR BUNNY EARS STATION


[ The Bradley Kids ]

[ The Gardainer Girls ]

CHICK RACING STATION -- This was one of the funnest games. And it can easily adapt to little children to adults. For small children just have them race against themself (while walking carry a Marshmallow Peep Chick in a plastic spoon). For older kids/adults they have race against eachother and even have a relay race.


[ The Davis girls ]

[ Cute Hunter Grandkids ]

[ Carol playing Auntie with her 2 nephews ]

RING A BUNNY STATION -- Place a large stuffed bunny on the grass and let each child try to "ring" it using Hula Hoops.



MAKE YOUR EASTER BAG STATION -- Thanks to Linda and her mom for helping all the kids make their Easter Bags





EGGS TOSS STATION -- Using 3 different sized Easter Baskets, each child tried to toss 12 plastic easter eggs into them.



OPENING GAME & INSTRUCTION: EASTER, EASTER, EGG (duck, duck, goose)




Posters...


Flyers...

Easter odds-n-ends

I just love that I live close enough to Kerry G. so I can partake in her cute banner projects! She is one of the most creative girls I know and created this very cute Easter banner!


Cute Easter cupcakes that the Fish Heads made for our family Easter party at Aunt Marie's.

"May the 4th be with you!"

Devin just informed me that tomorrow, May 4th is called "Star Wars Day" because of the play on words based on "May the 4th be with you" and "May the force be with you."

Here's how you can present it:

Jake: Happy Star Wars Day!
Devin: What?
Jake: May the 4th be with you!

My boys have always LOVED Star Wars. It is safe to say that Jake, in a galaxy not too long ago, was even obsessed with it. We were just cleaning out his bedroom today and he still isn't ready to part with his TWO very NOISY Star Wars Guns.

So for all you other Star Wars fans....Monday is a great day to watch one of the Star Wars flicks, play Lego Star Wars with your kids or have a Light Saber Fight while listening the Star Wars Cantina Music!

Easter Bunny Smores

Our favorite 3-year old and 5-year old little blonde Hilton boys knocked on our front door this week delivering a special Easter treat! We are so excited to make these Easter Bunny Smore Treats! Thanks!

April Fool's Burgers

Aren't these just the cutest "hamburgers?" My friend Camille did them for her family on April Fools. She calls them Shamburger Hamburgers! I love it!

I have never made anything "foolish/tricky" for my family on April Fool's Day but when I saw these "JELLY DONUT HAMBURGERS" I knew I had to copy the picture so I would remember and do them next year! Thanks Camille!

She sliced each Jelly Donut in half and sprinkled sesame seeds on the top "bun"
Colored coconut green for the lettuce
Used peppermint patties for the meat

Michelle Hilton was telling me that someone also made a MEATLOAF and MASHED POTATO BUNDT CAKE for their family. She baked her meatloaf in a Bundt pan and then "frosted the cake" with mashed potatoes.

I think I'm going to do both of these next year! Thanks!

We're LUCKY because...

I had originally planned to do this for Family Home Evening this week (and serve LUCKY CHARM cereal for dessert) but then I decided it would be fun to have Uncle Mondo, Grandpa and Grandpa also join in. Then I put up all our Shamrocks so we can easily be reminded just how LUCKY we are as a family. It was really sweet to read everyone's responses.

The hardest part to this activity - finding a BLACK pen that would write on these Shamrocks and NOT smear off - seriously - we went through 6 pens! What happened to all my BLACK Sharpie Markers - I can't believe my home doesn't have ONE of them!!!

The below large Shamrock is Mondos and Emily's is to the right....


Tyler's is the little one and Emily's is the bigger one (I love that she included her cousins, laptop and HSM pillow that has Troy on it)!


Me and my mom....


Jake....


Grandpa, Tyler and me...


For FHE lesson - just pull out various pictures from your GAK (gospel art kit) and have your family tell you why Noah, Samuel the Laminate, Nephi, etc were LUCKY.

We went SHAMROCKING!!!

Emily had to stay home from school on St. Patrick's Day (she had a couple of doctor appointments). She was SO SAD to miss St. Patrick's Day at school that I decided she and I needed to come up with something fun for us to do! We bought 11 boxes of LUCKY CHARM CEREAL (which was not nearly enough) and decided we'd create a new tradition....SHAMROCKING! At Christmas we go PIXING and now on St. Patrick's we'll go SHAMROCKING! Emily had a blast going to her girlfriend's home, ringing the doorbell, dropping off a box of LUCKY CHARMS and running quickly away before she got caught.

Who knows we might just have to go SHAMROCKING again today for a belated St. Patrick's Day treat!

Go green! 2009

I packed my Fish Heads a GREEN lunch for school:



For our GREEN dinner we served:

GREEN Rice Krispee Treats...


GREEN grapes, GREEN kiwis, GREEN jello....


Kim Miller's Potato Casserole (GREEN style - added green food coloring, parmesan cheese and bacon)....


Two different types of Corn Beef Briskets....


Bake each Corn Beef Brisket in it's own pan with one cup of water and the seasoning packets. Do not add salt or pepper. Cover tightly with tinfoil and bake at 400 degrees for 2-1/2 hours. Uncover and continue baking at 400 for 20-30 more minutes.

On one of the Corn Beef Briskets I added honey mustard to the top of it. Then during the last 30 minutes of cooking (when you take the tin foil off) sprinkle 1/2 cup of brown sugar on it.

REMINDER FOR ME NEXT YEAR - I bought two different Corn Beef Brisket's this year. One for Costco - no fat VERY GOOD and the favorite one. The other from Nob Hill. IF YOU BUY A CORN BEEF ROAST that says to cook it with the FAT side up - CUT the fat off first before you begin to cook it.

St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

No I'm not Irish but I love any reason to have a party or celebrate!

So don't forget to grab a box of Lucky Charm Cereal while at the grocery store. This is an easy way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day before the kids go to school.




I remember when I sent Tyler to kindergarten on St. Patrick's Day. I thought I had it all together because I remembered to send him wearing green. Well, when he came home he was a little sad because the Leprechaun hadn't visited our home the night before like some of the other kid's homes (apparently the Leprechaun left them gold chocolate candy coins and turned the toilet water green). Really, who knew? I'm Italian and I married a Swedish/German guy! St. Patrick's Day always meant to me - you better wear green or you'll get pinched!


Here are some of the fun things my Fish Heads have done for St. Patrick's day in school:


- Make Leprecheun catchers. And if your Leprecheun is really sneaky he'll escape your trap and leave chocolate gold coins.


-Make Leprecheun finding looking glasses out of empty paper towel rolls and green cellophane. Then go on a walk throughout the school looking for little Leprecheuns.


-While the students are on their walk looking for Leprecheun's the teachers or we room moms come and tip over their chairs and leave little footprints (using flour) and leave gold coins in the student's Leprecheun catchers.

Cake Balls by Maressa

Now, the above picture doesn't at all do Maressa's Cake Balls justice! But believe me - they are so YUMMY! Jake even took one to school and share one with a couple of buddies who LOVED them and wanted to know where you could buy them. As my boys have often said, "Everything Maressa makes is good!" That's right - Maressa spoils my kids with yummy treats (I think it is because she loves to bake and secondly, knows that I really don't!" She's a great friend to have!


This is how you make CAKE BALLS.


Step 1:
Bake your favorite cake and let cool.


Step 2:
Frost your favorite cake.


Step 3: (the fun part)
Take your beautifully frosted cake and DUMP it into a bowl. Break it up and mix it up. Shape into balls and dip the balls into melted chocolate. Let harden and enjoy!




Maressa doesn't like "boxed cake mixes." I am going tell you a little secret....I thought making a cake from a box was from "scratch." Even throughout my college life. My heck - I'm cracking eggs, adding oil and mixing it - that's scratch right? It wasn't until I met Devin and his mother that I learned differently.

But Maressa says that if you are going to use a CAKE MIX for this recipe use RAINBOW CHIP CAKE MIX and RAINBOW CHIP FROSTING. Then roll the balls into WHITE CHOCOLATE.

Homemade Asian Turkey Meatballs

Devin likes to email me dinner recipes for us to try at home. The below recipe is one of them. My entire family really liked the meatballs. I know is seems to have a lot of garlic but it didn't taste like it.

For the Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon hot oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Combine all ingredients, except olive oil, in a bowl. Mix well. Form into about 20 meatballs.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides, about 6 minutes, they will finish cooking in the sauce. Depending on the size of your pan you made need to do this in batches.

For the sauce:

• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup Veri Veri Teriyaki marinade
  
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon siracha sauce (optional)

1. Combine in a bowl.
2. Once the meatballs have browned, return all of them to the pan. Pour sauce over and gently stir to coat. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Serve over rice.
   

Hamburger Meat Tip

Here is a quick time-saving tip for dinner time. I buy the 5 lbs package of hamburger meat from Costco. When I come home (or the next day), I dice 3-4 onions and saute them in olive oil for a few minutes in a very large skillet. Then I add the 5 lbs of hamburger meat. Add Steak Seasoning. Once it is cooked - drain the fat. I divide the meat into 5 portions (basically 1 lb each) and place each portion onto a dinner plate lined with a paper towel. Let the meat cool completely and place each portion into a gallon size ziplock bag and freeze. Now I have 5 bags of cooked meat that I can quickly reheat in a pan for dinner (it takes about 5 minutes).




My Fish Heads like Sloppy Joes. I make them super simple - yes, with a couple of cans of Manwich sauce and 2 packages of my frozen hamburger meat. Hey - if they like it - why fuss with something else! We'll use half of the mixture for Sloppy Joes.

Then a couple days later I'll use the other half of the Sloppy Joe mix for my version of Tator Tot Casserole (pictured above). Using a large pie dish I add the leftover Sloppy Joe Meat which I have mixed with one can of corn and top with tator tots. I add milk and sour cream to a can of cream of mushroom soup and pour of the top of the tots. Add shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 until heated through.