What is on your menu this week?

Hi everyone!  I'm happy that it's Monday and a new month and that we got an extra hour of sleep today.  I feel like day light savings time is a great time to reset my morning routine.  Hopefully I make the habit again of getting up at 5 or so and exercising before my kids start getting up at 6.  My day is SO much better when I just get up early.   Anyway...how was your weekend?  How was Halloween?  I simplified ours a bit.  We ended up getting Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead of making our  traditional annual buttermilk doughnuts (that are super yummy and easy and fun to make).  We carved pumpkins at 3:30 on Halloween.  And I finished my son's jail bird costume an hour before our church carnival on Friday night.  The kids had a great time and we have way too much candy, so the weekend was a success! My little guy, who will be 3 in December, ran with the underwear that I bought him last week and he pretty much potty...

Hi there!  Happy Monday!  I'm feeling like I can tackle this week, probably because we don't have any soccer practice or games for the first time since MAY!!!  (I didn't realize that fall/spring soccer started in May and went all summer.  That was a surprise!)  We've already started into the next sport, basketball, but it's kind of nice to have a change in schedule. Anyway...How was your weekend?  Mine was really fun.  Two of my kids had games on Saturday (flag football and soccer).  And yesterday was our long awaited children's primary presentation at church.  I got to speak for a minute and the kids sang songs they'd been working on all year and shared their own testimonies of Christ.  It was a neat meeting...then we had lots of fun the other two hours in church.  I'm very lucky to be able to work with the kids in my ward.  They are special spirits for sure!   This kid is keeping me on my toes with his two y...

Happy Halloween!  Not much time for blogging today.  My kids have been out of school and we've been having fun.   We set up our Halloween luminaries going down the driveway.  We put our ghost lights up in the tree in the front yard.  We even put a fake spider in the candy bowl.  Ready for trick-or-treaters! We also carved pumpkins today.  My kids did a lot of the carving and I only had to clean out the pumpkins.  For some reason pumpkin guts gross out my kids.  :) Hope you all are having a fun day!  I love our Halloween traditions and am loving that we'll get to spend the evening as a family.  Catch you later! Jenny

Hi guys!  I'm excited for this week.  Halloween costumes are finished.  School parties.  Leaves falling.  Pumpkin treat baking.  No school on Thursday or Friday.  Lots of trick or treating and trunk or treating.  Should be fun! We have a fun tradition of making doughnuts the week of Halloween. This is the fifth year that we've made doughnuts at home.  Halloween is the only time that I make doughnuts.  I figure what's a little more sugar and fat this week? They're super yummy and so easy too!  You can find the recipe here .  I'd love to try other doughnut recipes, but this one is so good I haven't tried others yet. My kids like to help make them.  They help cut the doughnuts out.  Then after I fry them, they are in charge of dipping them in vanilla or chocolate glaze.  Then we vote on our favorite, chocolate or vanilla.  This year vanilla won.  :)  Yum!!! Menu time... Monday:  brocc...

Happy Halloween everyone! Before I forget...congrats to Annelisa!  She won the giveaway!  Thank you to everyone that left me a comment or a facebook note or an email.  I have great friends (who are fabulous blog followers).   So, what are you up to today?  Today isn't too crazy for me.  Just a few class parties, visiting one of my favorite "grandmas" with my kids, then trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Maybe I'll get a picture with all of my kiddos dressed up not in front of someone else's van.  We'll see! Have a fabulous day!

Happy Halloween!  Just wanted to share a few things with you today... 1.  I am making pancakes shaped like pumpkins for breakfast this morning.  I still love this pancake mix that I make and keep in my freezer.  2.  I get to spend the morning at the elementary school with my kids during their class parties.  Fun! 3.  I'm a lame-o mom this year...My three year old is happy wearing a pirate hat for his costume with his normal clothes.  I'll just blame my lack of creativity on being 32 weeks pregnant.  :) 4.  I'm making crockpot hot chocolate tonight, so it will be waiting for us when we get back from trick-or-treating.  Delicious!  5.  And I might make cinnamon rolls to share with our neighbors. 6.  Don't forget to enter my Our Best Bites cookbook giveaway that I posted about yesterday .  Remember to comment on that blog post because that's how I'll randomly choose the winner. 7.  And...las...

Hi everyone!  It's Monday...again.  My goal for today is to make lists of things that I need to do, since I seem to be forgetting things right and left.  Maybe it's pregnancy brain...or maybe it's not.  Either way I need to get organized. So, here's my menu for the week.... Monday: chicken tetrazinni , homemade bread, broccoli Tuesday: homemade pizza Wednesday: taco soup (will be nice and easy before we go trick-or-treat in our neighborhood) Thursday: chicken taquitos, pico de gallo rice pilaf Friday: easy Saturday: easy Sunday: beef stew All righty....If you've planned your menus for the week, feel free to share.  I love it when you do. (Thanks Julia!) Also, make sure to check back tomorrow for a giveaway that I'm super excited about!  P.S.  You should make these doughnuts tonight...We made them last night and they were delicious (just as yummy as last year)!  And these chocolate sugar cookies are really fun to make wi...

Making doughnuts is one of my favorite Halloween traditions.  We haven't done it every Halloween, but I think it's a fun tradition.  I figure why not eat a few more calories on Halloween and work it off later?   We made some doughnuts last year, but this year we used a new recipe and it didn't disappoint!  My kids loved helping me make them and eat them! My kids loved the chocolate glazed doughnuts...  and they loved the plain glazed too. Buttermilk Doughnuts 1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp.) 1/4 cup warm water  1 tsp. sugar 1 c. buttermilk 1/4 tsp. soda 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup sugar 3 Tbsp. shortening 2 1/2 c. flour Dissolve yeast in water, add 1 tsp. sugar & set aside... In saucepan heat buttermilk until just warm, add soda, salt, sugar & shortening. When luke warm, add yeast mixture & flour--knead until smooth & satiny. Cover, let rise in warm place until double in size,...

Our little town that we live in celebrated Halloweekend this weekend.  The kids had school parties on Thursday and Friday.  Then Friday afternoon we went trick-or-treating downtown and at the hospital.  Then we came home and made doughnuts. Yesterday was Trunk-or-Treat at the church.  I made white chil i to take to the trunk or treat chili dinner.  Then I made pumpkin cookies to give to the kids at church today since it was their Primary Program in Sacrament meeting .  Today I'm ready for Halloween to be over.  Luckily we get to stay home and relax tonight instead of going trick-or-treating. I made mummy hot dogs for the kids for lunch today (idea from Picky Palate , except I grilled my hot dogs before wrapping them and I used crescent roll dough). Now onto my menu for this week: Monday: Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops w/potatoes Tuesday: tacos Wednesday: BBQ Meatballs w/some kind of potato Thursday: Chicken Teriyaki Fried Rice Friday: ...

My six year old daughter came up with the idea for this fun Halloween treat for dessert tonight.  And of course we had to take a picture of it.

I made some chocolate sugar cookies today with my kids.  My daughter had a friend over and they all had fun cutting them out and decorating them.  My friend, Audra, told me how to make them into little cats.  We used a circle or an oval cookie cutter, then pinched ears at the top.  Then made whiskers using a fork. I bought a ghost cookie cutter today.  I love buying cookie cutters!  Now my kids can have ghost shaped sandwiches for lunch. And we made some other shapes, like this airplane, frosted them and added a few sprinkles. Chocolate Sugar Cookies I used these two recipes from the Joy of Baking and Smitten Kitchen 1 c. butter, softened 1 2/3 c. sugar 2/3 c. cocoa 2 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 3 c. flour Cream butter, sugar and cocoa.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture. Divide in two and wrap in plastic wrap.  Chill for an hour.  Roll out an...