Mouth Watering Monday!

I'm sure that I have said this once or twice before, but I really don't know how bloggers find time to blog as much as they do and still have life happen around them! My goal was to post at least once a week once school started and even that is a struggle for me currently!

Every August, when it's time for me to report back to work, my evenings start filling up like I was missing in action all summer.  It gets a bit overwhelming at times, and leaves me with no extra time to do anything but fall asleep the second I stop moving!  So between Tuesday night Birth and Beginnings classes at the hospital, Wednesday night Bible study and Thursday night Breastfeeding classes this girl is spread really thin! Not to mention, I'm just exhausted after a full day of work! With all that said, I do really enjoy creating new blog posts and will continue to try and find time to post more often! (My classes will be done at the end of September, so hopefully I will find more time then.)

This week's recipe can be found on my Yummy Things Pinterest board, but it actually came from the blog Two Maids a Milking. If you love crescent rolls and tacos then you will love this recipe!

Doritos Casserole a.k.a. Taco Bake

 

 

 

This is a quick and easy crowd pleaser! We like to pair it with a salad or some green veggies! I hope you enjoy it!

Mouth-Watering Monday!

Today's recipe is a crock pot favorite at our house. It is one of those recipes where you dump everything into your crock pot in the morning and come home and enjoy your dinner in the evening! Great for a busy life! I don't know the actual name of this recipe, but I like to call it Chicken Tortilla Soup. I found it via Pinterest and from the moment I saw it I knew I HAD to try it! Now I'm in love!

Check it out for yourself...

 

 

My tips for this AMAZING soup...

 

I add in about half a carton of Chicken broth (about --- oz.) so that it's not so thick!

 

 

We like to garnish our soup with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and crushed tortilla chips. (It's a great way to get rid of the end of a bag of tortilla chips too!)

 

Just a side note, this recipe makes a lot so it's great for several people, or we like it because then we have lunch or dinner for several days!

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!!

 

 

BONUS NO BAKE RECIPE!!!

 

Well, kind of! This isn't so much a recipe, but rather a cute idea to use for your first day!
Today was my first day with my First Graders and I wanted to share with you the treat I gave them as they exited my classroom. I found this idea last summer at Stepping Into First Grade and could not wait to do it! It's quick and easy and becoming an annual tradition in my classroom!

 

 

 

 

 Maybe it will become a tradition in your classroom too!

 

 

Mouth-Watering Monday!

Now I know that I have a sweet tooth, but this little baby girl growing inside of me has made it even bigger! With that said, today's recipe is a wonderful dessert for you to try. It's called Honey Bun Cake and both smells AMAZING while baking and tastes AMAZING too! It starts with a box of yellow cake mix ( I used Betty Crocker Butter Yellow) and the rest of ingredients are things that you would normally have on hand (eggs, oil, sour cream, cinnamon, brown sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk). Hey, I never said it was healthy, just that it tastes AMAZING!!

This recipe came from The Country Cook and she has many more marvelous recipes for you to check out! Her recipe is to make this cake in a 9x13 pan, but I chose to make cupcakes because I am delivering some to a friend for her birthday and taking the rest to a meeting with my First Grade team tomorrow.

Here are some tips for the Honey Bun Cupcakes (some tips are for cupcakes in general)...

Tip #1:

I like to pour my cupcake batter into a gallon size plastic bag and snip the end off. Using this tip, I can squeeze the batter into each liner without making a huge mess. The tip shown above was found via Pinterest, and came from the website http://bakingdom.com. I have a cool kitchen gadget that I received from my mother-in-law last Christmas that I use in place of a glass. Same concept, but can be used when marinating meat too! Here are a few pictures of my gadget:

My little plastic bag stand.

It's adjustable for different size bags too!

It also folds flat for easy storage! Isn't it fun! I love it!

                  

 Tip #2

 Tip #3

For the Honey Bun Cupcakes I covered the bottom of each cupcake liner with batter. Then, I sprinkled about a teaspoon of cinnamon mixture in each (you could add more if you like, I had a lot left over). Finally, I covered the cinnamon mixture with more batter (I did not worry about swirling the cinnamon mixture into the batter) and popped them into the oven for 25 minutes. I followed the tip pictured above for the baking.

Tip #4

Using the same plastic bag trick from above, I drizzled the glaze over top of each cupcake.   

 This recipe was very easy and gave me about 2 dozen cupcakes.

I hope you like it!

Mouth-Watering Monday!

I love my crockpot! I think it's a great tool for teachers (and other working moms) because it's a great way to prepare a meal while at work all day. That way, when you come home exhausted, the dinner is already prepared and you can just enjoy and relax!  I especially love recipes for my crockpot that just require me to dump everything in it, walk away and the food tastes like I've spent all day in the kitchen preparing it!

Today's mouth-watering recipe is exactly what I've described for you above! A friend of mine found this recipe for Chicken and Dumplings via Pinterest and told me about how awesome (and easy) it was. So, as soon as I got home I repinned it to my Pinterest board "Crockpot Creations" and made it a few days later. This Chicken and Dumplings recipe is one of our new family favorites! In fact, it's what my husband and I will be enjoying for dinner tonight! Yummy! I hope you enjoy it to!

This recipe actually came from http://www.bubblecrumb.com/! They have many other great recipes too! Go check out their website, you won't be disappointed!

Mouth-Watering Monday! Trying something new...

I wanted to try something new, and this time it doesn't really pertain to teaching but one of my other passions... Food! I love to cook and bake and I thought it would be fun to bring you a recipe each week that I've tried and love! My hope is that maybe you will be inspired to try some of these recipes and that they may become some of your favorites also! Now for the hard part, choosing some recipes!

I am going to start this journey with two of my favorite dessert dips. They are both fabulous and kinda similar, yet each is tasty in it's own way! Let me just say that whenever I make these dips, my husband and I could eat the entire recipe in like two days (and that's pushing it)! If I make one recipe to take to a potluck, I actually have to make two and leave one for my sweet hubby! You will find yourself giving out these recipes a lot! I found both of these via Pinterest (Pinned on my Decadent Desserts board), but one is from Fake it Frugal and the other is from For the Love of Cooking. Both great blogs to check out!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Dessert Dip

Toffee Crunch Dip with Apple Slices

I also added some mini chocolate chips to this dip because I look for any way to enjoy chocolate!!

With all the yummy fruit out right now, I hope you make and enjoy these treats as much as we do! I also thought with school starting at the end of August, the Toffee Crunch Dip might be great to pack in my lunch with some apple slices! My mouth is watering right now, I might just have to make one of these for tonight!!