Do You Believe in Magic? Magic Shell, That Is...

So, my life just got that much better. How? Well, we ran out of Magic Shell topping. I know, I know, that does not sound like a good thing. But you know I'm gonna elaborate.

See, I belong in the "ice cream is just an excuse to eat toppings" camp. I like ice cream, it's ok. But ice cream with toppings, now that's what I'm talking about. A few weeks ago, as I was huffing along with my month's worth of groceries in the cart, I decided, heck I'm saving so much money this way, I can afford to splurge a little here and there. So, I threw in the Magic Shell topping and a bucket o' ice cream and went along my merry way.

James, Isaac, and I have been very much enjoying said bucket with said topping for quite a while.

Only one problem: the bucket lasts a loooot longer than that little bottle of Magic Shell. I was quite surprised to see how fast it went. So, then I was sad. But then the Amazing Internet came to the rescue. It's like a superhero. Really. 

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, did you know you can make your own Magic Shell? And it isn't difficult, and it isn't expensive, and you probably have all the ingredients right now in your very own linen closet pantry? Exciting. I know. So here it is, the great, the stunning, the amazing, Magic Shell recipe:

Ingredients:
4 oz (2/3 cup) chocolate chips
3 tbsp butter

Melt the butter and chocolate chips over low heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly. Allow to cool, but not harden. (We weren't really that patient, so I just waited until steam was no longer coming off the chocolate.) Pour over ice cream and watch the magic happen.

You could try all kinds of crazy things with this - we added some peanut butter for a little Reeses' style Magic. You could skip that and just melt Reeses peanut butter cups. You could melt a Heath bar, or any other chocolate of your choice.

I can't tell you how awesome (and dangerous) it is that I can have Magic Shell whenever I want to. But it sure does make me happy.

Hello, Again! + A Tasty Recipe

Bad blogger! A whole week and no posts - and I was on such a roll there. Well, I hope you didn't miss me too much (ok, I'll admit, I hope you did, but it's ok if you didn't). The reason for my little hiatus was pretty predictable - life got busy!

Some really cool things happened - I made some sales in my little shop, so I was busy sewing and glueing and creating away. I have to admit it was super thrilling - I sent my little camera critters off to Australia, England, and Alabama! I hope they make it ok. It's really cool to think that somewhere out there (under the pale moonlight...) someone's got something I created. Happy!

Also, my mother-in-law was in town for my awesome sis-in-law Allison's graduation. Congratulations Allison! There really should be a better term for the family you gained through marriage, don't you think? Maybe sister-in-heart is a better term. It definitely describes a little better how I feel about wonderful Allison. And Jennifer, and Buffy, and Melanie, and Heidi. Oh, and all those boys I inherited, too, I guess. :)

Then there was another lovely thing going on this week:  BYU Women's Conference. Thanks to my awesome mother-in-heart who bought me tickets and my wonderful friend Alayna and my kind husband who watched Isaac for me, I was able to attend 8 hours (over 2 days) of lectures given on various topics by some incredibly smart, spiritual, educated, strong, and valiant women. I'll probably be sharing some thoughts about the things I learned throughout this week.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi, I'm back, and will try to be better about blogging. And just to make it worth your time for stopping by, I'm going to give you something that is precious to me: my dad's recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara. There are many reasons why I love my Daddy. Amazing pasta is one of them.

Is this recipe healthy? Not exactly. Is it delicious? Oh yeah. Here you go, please enjoy:

Dad's Spaghetti Carbonara

1 small box Barilla thin spaghetti
1 lb bacon, cooked to taste (Dad likes it crispy)
1 cup freshly grated Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese
2 egg yolks
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Cook the bacon and save the grease (you will use 1/4 cup later). (I told you this wasn't healthy.)

Cook the spaghetti in lots of water with about a tsp of salt

While the spaghetti is cooking, grate the cheese, separate the yolks, and break/cut the bacon into bite-size pieces.

When the spaghetti is done, remove from heat and drain but do not rinse it. White it is still hot, stir in the egg yolks, bacon grease, and cheese, in that order. Add the bacon.

Season to taste with salt and pepper and some additional fresh parmeggiano.

Dad also recommends adding a teaspoon of hickory smoke seasoning.

There you have it! Happy Monday.

Food Storage Friday: Chicken Coconut Rice

My wonderful sister-in-law Jennifer, who is a whiz in the kitchen and one of the funniest people I know, sent me this recipe this week that I think will easily convert into a bag meal recipe, with a few modifications. I have it on her word that it is a delicious recipe, so I don't hesitate to share it here.

I am planning to try it, but since my meal planning for the month is already all set and I've already done all the shopping, I didn't want to make an extra trip to get these ingredients. It is going on the meal plan for next month, but if you try it before I do I'd love to hear how it goes. :)

Here's the recipe:

Chicken Coconut Rice

2 cups water

1 14oz can coconut milk


1 can water chestnuts

1 12oz can chicken breast

Resealable bag:

2 cups rice
2 tsp sugar


Resealable bag:
1/2 cup roasted peanuts

Combine all ingredients, except peanuts, in a rice cooker and press cook. OR Combine rice, sugar, water, and coconut milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Boil on high heat for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes, then fluff. Add chicken and water chestnuts. Top with peanuts and serve. In times of plenty, top with cilantro. Also, if you can, supplement this by adding 1/2 cup frozen peas.

And here's the recipe card:

 

Note: Michelle Snow just let me know that you can store roasted peanuts in a snack bag, so you can go ahead and put them in your bag meal. Awesome! I'll correct the recipe card when I'm at my home computer.

Food Storage Friday: Pancakes 2.0

Well, we've had an interesting week. This is what has been going on around here:

Isaac and I had a lot of fun watching the men with the various types of saws hacking away at our trees. Hopefully we will have a lot fewer apricots and apples than last year, but at the same time a lot better. :)

I did manage to tear our eyes away from the window for a little while this morning in order to try again on the whole wheat pancakes. I really wanted to figure out what went wrong last time - and guess what? I totally figured it out. I was trying to modify the food storage recipe to a fresh foods recipe (I don't have any powdered eggs, yet) and I totally misunderestimated (yep, I said it) the amount of eggs I would need. For some reason I thought 3 tablespoons of powdered egg would be just one fresh egg. Wrong.

Food Storage Friday: Carribean Chicken over Rice

Hi friends,
I talked to Michelle about sharing recipes from her book, and here's the conclusion: I really respect this woman and all she has done and is doing, so I won't be sharing any of the copyrighted recipes, even with "tweaks". I will continue sharing my own recipes, and I'll probably share reviews of the recipes we've tried from the book from time to time (unless you'd consider that a tease?).

But the good news is that I do have permission to share her recipes that she has already made public in one form or another. :) So, today I'll be sharing the Carribean Chicken over Rice recipe.

Food Storage Friday: Recipe Reviews and a Recipe Card

So, mostly to help myself and my family stay on track with our food storage, I've decided to post about food storage every Friday! :) Yay!

James and I have decided our goal is to make and store a 3-month supply of bag meals by the end of the year. That means 5 a week for the rest of the year, which would give us 2 bag meals a day for 90 days. Of course, this 3-month supply would probably last us longer than that, seeing as each meal can feed up to 8 people and we are only 2 and a half people around here. So, each meal will have leftovers for maybe 2 more meals even. So, I'm thinking this is a good goal.

Bag Meal Recipe: Lemon Garlic Chicken

My wonderful sister-in-law Jennifer gave me a crock-pot version of this recipe a few years ago. It has been one of our family favorites ever since, it is so easy and so yummy. My husband requests it at least once a week. It is one of those foods that actually makes really great leftovers. The rice soaks up the sauce and it is so delicious. I adjusted a few things to make it bag-meal friendly, and fast!

Bag Meal Recipe: Chicken and Green Chile Soup

This recipe is actually one my brilliant mother invented one day. It is such a delicious, quick, and hearty meal. You can use all sorts of different things in it, so if anything doesn't sound like something you would eat, swap it out for something else. My mom uses great northern beans and pinto beans. I like black beans and kidney beans. And you can tweak it however you like!