I'm Obsessed (Food Post)

You should know I have a problem.  It something I have to eat every day...sometimes more than once...

"Nasty Wrap"

It looks gross...I know.  But it's awesome!

1 whole grain tortillia wrap
2 eggs
1 baked potato (grated)
yellow pepper (diced)
onion (cut in small pieces)
ham (cut small)
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup brown beans (I like the ones in molasses)


Toss potato, pepper, onion, and ham, into frying pan with 1 tsp. oil (or butter).
Fry until pepper and onion is tender.
Wisk up 2 eggs and dump into frying pan, making sure to cover all ingredients with egg.
Cook on both sides.
Put finished egg mixture into wrap and add cheese and beans.
Wrap it up and gobble it down.



I also have another problem.  It's a sweet treat and I LOVE it.

Yummy cottage cheese snack

1 ripe banana

1 cup cottage cheese

honey

Cut banana into slices (into a bowl)
Add cottage cheese and honey and mix up.
(My husband likes this with sour cream instead of cottage cheese.)

YUM!!!

Easy Sugar Cookies

Prep Time:  90 minutes

Total Time:  2 hours

Yield:  Makes 32

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Assorted candies, sprinkles, or colored sugars, for decorating (optional)

Directions

In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes, or place in a resealable plastic bag, and freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator overnight).
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as needed. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets. (If dough gets soft, chill 10 minutes.) Reroll scraps; cut shapes. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes (depending on size). Cool completely on wire racks. To ice cookies, spread with the back of a spoon. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes. Decorate as desired.

Cook's Note

Use flour on utensils to keep dough from sticking: Dip the cookie cutters, and dust the spatula before transferring uncooked dough to a sheet. Rolling dough between two sheets of floured parchment will keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.

To make icing, sift 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar into a small bowl. Whisk in 3 to 4 tablespoons milk, water, or lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If too thin, whisk in more sugar; if too thick, add more liquid.  *Add food colouring if you like!*


This is a great recipe to put into jars for family members.  Layer ingredients in a clear mason jar, tighten lid, and tie with a red and green ribbon.  If you're really handy, you can cut out a Christmas-themed square of material and cover the lid with it (use the ribbons to hold it in place).  Write out recipe on a small piece of paper, fold, punch a hole in the corner of the paper (you might want to fold it and punch the hole before writing the recipe!), and attach to the ribbon.

It's also nice if children get to paint the outside of the jar before filling.  It's a great (easy and cheap) gift for family members, and a great way to get grandparents to bake with the kids!  (They can make them when they're together!)

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

These are the ones my twins made...before sparkles.

I have been wanting to make ornaments with the kids for the tree, and found these recipes for ornaments HERE.  I remember making them with my mom, and we had a great time painting them after they were made.  The recipes that I've seen said 7 years+, but the twins are three, and I'm sure they'll be able to pull it off.  I'll post photos on here of the ones we've made after they're all finished.  Until then, enjoy making your own!  (If you want some of your photos put on here too, just email them to me at:  momofcutetwins@hotmail.com)

Oh, and if you make more than your tree can stand, these would also make great additions to any gift (tie on with ribbon), and I'm sure there are more than a few grandparents that would LOVE getting a few of these!  (When they're all done, write the name of the child who made it, and the year it was made, on the back.)

Happy baking!

SALT AND FLOUR ORNAMENTS

This is an excellent recipe for homemade ornaments.
The dough is very easy to work with, and once baked
the ornaments are very firm and easy to paint.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup salt
2 cups flour
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Water-based paints

Place dry ingredients in a bowl, add the water
and oil, then stir until blended. Once the dough
holds together, make it into a ball and
knead it with your hands to make
a smooth texture.

Place the dough
on a cutting board, and using a rolling pin, roll the dough
out into a pancake shape that is a bit thicker
than you would use for regular cut-out cookies. Cut out
the ornaments with cookie cutters, design your own
ornaments using a blunt knife, or shape dough with
your fingers. Punch or carve a hole into the top of
the ornament to thread a string through to hang the decoration.

Bake at 250 degrees until hard (for one to two hours).

Once cooled, paint with water-based paints if desired,
or glue on glitter using white household glue. Thread a string
or ribbon through the hole and hang the decoration on the tree
or elsewhere in your home. These ornaments can be reused year after year.

**I should mention that I've seen this recipe several times, and it uses anywhere from 2-4 cups of flour, and this was the only one with vegetable oil.  So, do what works for you.

EGG SHELL ORNAMENTS

These ornaments are just about the most eco-friendly holiday ornaments you can make. Although these ornaments are very fragile, you can reuse them year after

They really do look cute!

year if you handle them with care.

INGREDIENTS
Fresh eggs
Sterilized sewing needle (sterilize by holding over a lit match)
Water-based paints
Glitter
White household glue
Pipe cleaners

Poke a hole into the top and bottom of
each egg. Blow into the hole at
the top of each egg (the small end) so that the insides of
the egg comes out through the bottom hole, into a bowl
below. Save all the eggs’ insides for cooking. Paint the eggs
with water-based paints, or coat the eggs with
white household glue before covering their surface with glitter.

Bend one end of each pipe cleaner into a “U” shape (so that
the “U” is about 1 inch in length). Gently insert the other end of the pipe cleaner into the
top of the egg, and use the end with the “U” to hang the egg on a tree.

Here are a couple more, found HERE:

CINNAMON CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS 

3/4-1 c. applesauce
1 (4.12 oz.) bottle ground cinnamon

Mix applesauce and cinnamon together to form a stiff dough. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut with cookie cutters. Make a hole for ribbon. Carefully place on rack to dry. Let air dry several days, turning occasionally. If you prefer they may be baked at 150 degrees for 5-6 hours.

This one is a little different:

SCENTED CINNAMON CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

4 oz. can (approximately 1 c.) cinnamon 1 tbsp. ground cloves 1 tbsp. nutmeg 3/4 c. applesauce 2 tbsp. white glue Combine ingredients. Work 2 to 3 minutes (knead) or until smooth. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness, do not roll any thinner. Use cookie cutters (Christmas type). Let air dry for 24 hours or in a low oven bake at 200 degrees for a couple of hours until dried out. Be sure to put hole in ornament to hang it with prior to drying process.

Popcorn Christmas Decoration

Oh, and lets not forget the popcorn tree decoration!  I've never made this myself, but my husband has.
1.  Make some popcorn with any method you prefer. At least one large size bowl is needed, but that will depend on the size of your tree. Be sure to let the popcorn cool before you continue on to the next step. Better yet, use stale, day old popcorn as this will be less likely to crumble and break.

2.  Thread the needle, but do not cut the thread from the spool. It will take a lot of thread for the popcorn garland to cover an entire tree.

3.  Start stringing one popcorn at a time by inserting the tip of the needle into the center of each piece. Keep sliding it further down on the thread making room for more popcorn. It's best to slide the popcorn to the end of the thread to prevent knots. Once you feel that you have enough garland for the size of your tree tie off the end of the thread by looping the thread, pulling tightly, and going under the loops a few times. Make sure that it is well-secured, so that popcorn won't fall off, and then gently cut the thread.

*You can also alternate popcorn with fresh cranberries, or separate popcorn into a few small bowls and spray with a mixture of water and food colouring (the night before stringing to allow time to dry). I've seen it done with red, green, and white (un-coloured) popcorn, and it looks really neat!
4.  Carefully hang the garland onto your Christmas tree.