A Fly Boy Feature: Chocolate Mint Ice Cream

As most of you may know "Fly Boy" is my husband and he does not cook! I finally told him he had to make dinner at least once a week. While this recipe does not count as dinner, he was so proud of himself he asked me to post it on my blog. I thought that was cute so I told him I would do a Fly Boy feature anytime he made something new and blog worthy!

Let me give you a little bit of ice cream background about our families.  In my family my Granny always had Cookies and Cream ice cream and ice cream sandwiches.  She would offer it to you any time of day...after breakfast, lunch or dinner! My parents always have at least three or four half gallons of ice cream in the freezer and usually my  mom has a bowl every night. I worked in an ice cream store in high school and my little sister spent a few summers working at another local ice cream joint. Now I thought that having ice cream for dessert with breakfast was a sure sign of ice cream lovers until I met my husband's family.

I thought my family ate a lot of ice cream but when I met Fly Boy I realized I was wrong. He will eat an entire container in one sitting.  Ice cream is a side dish to every dessert.  When asked if you want cake it appears with ice cream even though there was no mention of ice cream. His grandma always has 5 or six different flavors in her house. We don't buy ice cream now that we are married because it does not last more than a day.

So a few days ago we returned some dishes to Bed, Bath and Beyond and had a ton of left over store credit.  In my blog stalking I have seen a lot of recipes for ice cream and I thought it would be fun to have an ice cream maker so we could make our own flavors.  We purchased the maker and Fly Boy was itching so bad to make some ice cream that he made it at 10:00 one night.  I was impressed with the outcome. 

The ice cream directly out of the ice cream maker has more of a milk shake consistency but if you put it in a container and freeze it, it comes out pretty much like store bought ice cream.  Fly Boy made this Chocolate Mint Ice cream and I was impressed.  It does melt fairly fast as you can see in the picture below. 

Be sure to read the directions that come with your ice cream maker before starting.  Ours you have to freeze the bucket for about 12 hours.

1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup chocolate syrup
3 tbsp sugar
3 cups  heavy cream
1 tsp mint extract
1 cup chocolate candies (we just used chocolate chips)

In a mixing bowl, combine the first three ingredients until sugar is dissolved.  Add the heavy cream and mint.  Pour into ice cream maker and mix for 20-25 minutes.  Five minutes before the mixing is complete, add the chocolate candies. Place mixture in an air tight container and freeze for at least two hours.

Mexican Pasta Bake

I got this recipe idea from my friend Emily's blog.  I had a few extra things in the cabinet that I wanted to use up so I made some changes to the original recipe and it actually came out really good!

1 lb ground beef
1/2 pound pasta (I used bow tie)
2 tbsp mined onion
1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes
1/2 can enchilada sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix OR chili powder and red pepper to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup crushed tortilla chips

Cook the ground beef and the minced onion. Drain any excess grease from the pan.

At the same time, boil your pasta and drain.

When the ground beef is finished cooking add the corn, black beans, diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, seasonings and salt and pepper.

Mix the ground beef mixture into the pasta.  If you want it more saucy then add more enchilada sauce.

Pour the pasta/ground beef mixture into a casserole dish. Top with cheese and crushed chips. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

NOTE: I did not use all of the ground beef mixture with my pasta. I saved some of it for tacos.

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

We went to an Easter Potluck and I had to find something I could make and that would stay warm while we were at church.  I was going to make mashed potato casserole but then I saw this recipe on the blog I was looking at and decided it was the next best thing.  It was quick, easy and I had all of the ingredients on hand.  This recipe is from www.allrecipes.com and The Girl Who Ate Everything.

4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup finely chopped onion (I used 2 1/2 tbsp mined onion)
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1 cup diced cooked ham

1/2 cup corn
3 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups milk


Directions:
1.Combine the potatoes, onion, carrot, corn, ham and chicken broth in a pot. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender for about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.

2. In a another saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly until thick for about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk and continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick for about 4 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir the milk mixture into the pot and cook soup until heated through.

Top with cheddar cheese and bacon if desired.
 
Makes 6 servings
 

German Spaghetti

Many, many moons ago when I was an ice cream scooper at a Western theme park (that is not a lie) I had this wonderful spaghetti at an employee dinner. I had never had anything like it! I was looking in a church cookbook from my church in Maryland and wouldn't you know there was the recipe for German Spaghetti! I didn't follow the recipe exactly but I was happy with the result!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb spaghetti noodles
1 can tomato soup
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (or more if you like cheese!)
12 pieces of bacon

Boil the noodles according to the directions on the package. At the same time, cook your bacon. I used the precooked bacon that you just have to microwave for 45 seconds or so.

When the bacon is cooled, crumble it up.

When the noodles are finished cooking, drain them and return them to the pot.  Add the cheese, soup and bacon bits to the noodles and stir until the cheese is melted. 
You may need to turn the burner back on low to help melt the cheese.

I like German Spaghetti to not have a lot of extra sauce but if you want more sauce just add 1 more can of soup and some more cheese.

Hello Dolly Bars

A few years ago, my roommate made these bars around Easter time and they were super yummy. I for the life of me could not remember the name of them other than they had some woman's name in the title. Then in my blog stalking I notice that Life as a Lofthouse had posted a recipe for Hello Dolly Bars. That was the name! So I checked out the recipe and notice the bars had coconut and nuts in them.  Well Fly Boy won't eat those things so for a few weeks I tried to decide if I should just make them with the nuts and coconut and gain 50 lbs eating them alone or figure out if there were some suitable substitutes.  So what I decided was to leave out the coconut and nuts and replace  those with just one ingredient: heath bar pieces. So I made Hello Dollys my way and you may go into a sugar coma after eating a piece but boy are they good!

1 stick of butter
8 graham crackers crushed
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup heath bar pieces OR (1 cup chopped nuts and 1 cup coconut)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then place the stick of butter in an 8x8 pan and put it in the oven for five minutes to melt the butter. Remove pan from oven.

Spread the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter. Layer the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, heath bar (or coconut and nuts) on top of the graham cracker crust.

Pour the condensed milk over the top of the candies and bake for 25 minutes or until the condensed milk it bubbly and the center of the bars is set.

NOTE: If you use nuts and coconut your layers should be butter, graham crackers, nuts, choc chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, condensed milk (in that order).

Oh and Fly Boy liked the bars so much he asked me if I wanted some Dolly Partons to eat. I told him there were no big boobs in that pan at all :-)

Nautical Wooden Flag

Do you ever get house envy? I have a major case of it.  It is hard to move around every 6 months to a year and never feel settled in your house.  I see tons of blogs, magazines, TV shows on a daily basis that give me major house envy but there is one that literally makes me green.  Meet The Lettered Cottage and their reading room redo, or before and after pictures of several rooms in their house.  I love it.  White, clean, nautical, beachy, decorated but not overdone. 

How did I find this blog which led to my house envy you may ask?  I saw this post on one of my favorite blogs/websites (u-createcrafts.com) and I was in love. I found that post months ago and I finally created my wooden nautical flag today.  My living room is beach themed in honor of Maryland, my home state. 

But if you know me, you know I like short cuts because I do not like things that take a lot of effort. A few weeks ago my husband made our TV console and we had some extra plywood left over.  I had him cut a piece of that for me and used that to make my flag, instead of buying individual boards, painting them and then screwing them together (too much work!).

So here is what I did:

First I painted the entire board white. I used three coats of white that was watered down a little bit with water.

Then I used tape to set up where I wanted the stripes. I put down three pieces of tape and then removed the middle piece so that the white space was showing. I did this up the entire board. I painted the white sections with two coats of aqua/grey paint. I used two parts aqua and one part grey.  I removed the tape and let it dry.  The blue bled out in some places so I just used a Q Tip and went over those spots with white paint.

I then used some sandpaper and distressed the blue stripes in some places. Then I hot glued on 9 starfish. I like the white starfish from the original blog but I think the orange ones stand out more and that is what they had at Hobby Lobby.

And there is my flag! My flag has more stripes than the original because the tape I had was 2.5 inches wide. Maybe one day I will get my cameras working since all of my blogs since March have used pictures taken with my phone!

Reversible Headband!

Raise your  hand if you have a big ol' Irish head?! ME! I cannot wear headbands at all.  I wanted to be cool a few years ago and wear the Under Armour elastic headbands when I went to the gym or when I had my hair in a ponytail and they just didn't stay on my head.  In my blog stalking I have seen a lot of headbands but I just don't think I can pull off the whole headband with huge flowers on it.

So I decided to try and make this braided headband and it came out OK but I wasn't in love. (I did cut apart and Under Armour headband to use for the elastic!) So then I decided I would make my own, reversible headband and I did and it came out very perfect for me and my big head!

You need:
- two pieces of different patterned material cut 2 1/2 inches by 20 inches
- 5 inch piece of elastic

1. Sew the two pieces of material with right sides together on the long ends only and start about a half inch down on the long side and stop half of an inch before you reach the end.

2. Turn your strip so the right sides are facing out.

3. Place the elastic about an inch into one of the open ends of the strip. Fold the material down into the inside the strip and then sew in place.

4. Top stitch around the entire headband with about a 1/4 or smaller seam allowance. Do not top stitch the open end of the strip.  Since one side of my headband was black and the other a whitish I put black thread in the top of the machine and white thread in the bottom and stitched with the black material facing up. I am not sure if that is common practice but it made sense to me!

5. Wrap the headband around your head and figure out how much give you need in your elastic to make the headband stay on your head...I needed two inches.

6. Place the other end of the elastic into the open end of the strip until you have the length of elastic showing that you need for stretching (two inches for me).

6. Turn the ends of the strip in and sew. 

Mail Organizer

A long time ago I bought a book called One Yard Wonders and planned to make everything in it as soon as I got it.  However, I ended up getting a job in Okie so that did not happen.  Since moving to South Texas I have gotten back into learning how to sew.  My friend Emily made these mail organizers from the book back in the fall and I thought they were a great idea to have to keep the papers off of the counter. I don't want to violate any copyright laws here so I will just tell you the basics of the project.

You need:

-One yard of fabric.

- Cut eight 13X11 inch sections out of the fabric.

- Sew two together with right sides together but just sew the two short sides and one long side. (Do this four times)

- Turn one right side out and put another inside of it with wrong sides together.

- Fold down the top, raw edge and top stitch.

- Add loops for hanging as desired.  I used two short straps with D rings attached.

Nursing Cover/Hooter Hider

My very best friend had a baby last week and it kills me that I am thousands of miles away from her.  When I found out she was pregnant I looked up patterns for nursing covers. I got the idea to make one when I was at a work cookout a few years ago and was sitting next to a fellow teacher who was using a nursing cover and I thought it was such a great idea. 

In my blog stalking  I came across and reversible nursing cover pattern that seemed fairly simple.  I finally decided to get going on it after we moved to South Texas so I headed to Hobby Lobby and tried to pick out some material. I am not sure if it was me or Hobby Lobby or what but I think I was in there for an hour trying to figure out what two materials to buy.  I decided on a brown and white polka dot for one side and a bluish/brownish floral/paisley for the other.  This way it wasn't super girly or boyish.


Now I have sewn like one other thing ever so I was a bit nervous during the entire process.  Here is what I learned:

- I hate pinning. It takes so long BUT is sure does help.
- My friend Emily's mom suggested putting a piece of tape on the machine at where you want your seams and this was a life saver.
- I am not that great at top stitching.

The only problems I had were that I accidentally sewed the entire cover together, wrong sides out, and then realized I hadn't turned it right sides out yet.  That was an easy fix.  Also, I tested and tested my tension and stitch length a million times and somehow in some places my bottom stitch has this weird looking loopy thing going on...I say it adds character! Finally, it is just sewn funky in one place.

Overall I will call this one a success!! I am thinking the last thing on my friend's mind will be evaluating my sewing skills while breastfeeding.  And to my next friend who gets pregnant...maybe yours will be more perfect!!

You can find the directions for the nursing cover on Make It and Love It!

Chicken Mac and Cheese

This recipe was super easy and super yummy! I used pre cooked chicken so I started with the second step in the directions.  This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens.

1 pound skinless, boneless, chicken breast

1  to 2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

Salt and ground black pepper

1  tablespoon  olive oil

8 ounces dried pasta

1  medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

2 cloves garlic, minced

3  tablespoons  butter

3  tablespoons all-purpose flour

2  tablespoons tomato paste

3 cups milk

8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)

Salt and ground black pepper

2 cups  soft sourdough or French bread crumbs

2 ounces finely shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese (1/2 cup)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Cut chicken into pieces. In a large skillet cook chicken, Italian or desired seasoning blend, salt, and pepper in hot oil over medium heat. Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions until just tender. Drain; return pasta to pot.

3. Cook onion and garlic in 3 tablespoons hot butter over medium heat until tender. Stir in flour until well combined. Stir in tomato paste. Add milk. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Add the shredded cheese. Stir until cheese is almost melted. Remove from heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add sauce and chicken to cooked pasta in pot; stir to coat. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart square or rectangular baking dish.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl stir together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle crumb mixture over pasta mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until crumb mixture is golden and edges are bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings.

Find the recipe here: Better Homes and Gardens

Mod Podge Easter Eggs

While the kid in me still loves to dye Easter Eggs it just seems like such a waste of time, money and eggs.  I saw this really neat idea on another blog called Tatertots and Jello where she mod podged strips of scrap booking paper to eggs. I used large plastic Easter Eggs that were a dollar for 6 eggs. Other suggestions I have seen on other blogs were to use wooden eggs, foam eggs or paper mache eggs.  The trick is to cut thin, short strips so that they lay nicely on the oval surface.  WARNING: Your hands will get super messy.  Basically put down a line of mod podge on the egg, lay the paper strip over the mod podge and then using a foam brush or your finger mod podge over the strip you just put down.

I poked out the bottoms of Styrofoam cups to let the eggs dry. You can see the extent of my Easter decorating in the second picture.  The subway art/word collage I found online here! So my Spring/Easter decor cost me a whole dollar, ok two dollars because I bought two packages of eggs!

Easy Shrimp Scampi

This recipe is from www.mccormick.com. It was really easy and not too rich. I actually used 1/2 lb of shrimp and had it over pasta and it was the perfect amount of sauce. I added broccoli too.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter 
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined 
1  green onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons white wine or 1 tablespoon lemon juice

 

 

1. Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add shrimp, green onion, garlic, parsley and pepper; cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Stir in wine or lemon juice.

2. Serve over cooked orzo, pasta or rice, if desired

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is from www.ourbestbites.com and I found it in their published cook book.  These cookies were soooo good! I actually changed this around a little bit and put peanut butter in place of the coco powder and put in chocolate and white chocolate chips.

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 regular sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp coca powder (I used peanut butter)

1 cup peanut butter chips (I used chocolate)

1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Cream butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add peanut butter here if you use it.

2. In another bowl mix flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder if you didn't use peanut butter.

3. Mix in the chips.

4. Spoon out onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake 8-10 min at 350 degrees. 

Mod Podge Tile Coaster

We have been in South Texas for about three and a half weeks now and I am finally settling in.  A week or so ago my neighbor (a fellow Navy wife) came over and saved me from boredom.  We took a trip, actually several, to Hobby Lobby and got supplies to make these cute Mod Podge tile coasters.  They were quick, simple, easy, cheap and cute! After I made them I texted Emily right away to tell her about this simple and cute craft! I miss crafting with her!



Supplies:

Bone color tile from Lowes (19 cents a piece)

Mod Podge

Cocktail sized drink napkins

Glossy spray sealant (located in the same case as spray paint at Hobby Lobby)

Glue gun

cork backing

sponge brush

Directions:

1) Peel apart the layers of the napkin so you just have the top layer.

2) Cut a square out of the napkin that is big enough to cover the top and sides of the tile

3) Spread a layer of Mod Podge on the tile using a sponge brush

4) Carefully lay your napkin piece on the tile with little to no wrinkles

5) Let it set 5-10 minutes then dab another layer of Mod Podge on the top of the napkin and on the sides. (You may need to use your finger for the sides)

6) Let the tile sit over night and then spray with the sealant

7) Hot glue cork to the back of your tile

TIP: Cover your crafting table with newspaper and sit the tiles on plastic cups while Mod Podging and drying. ALSO, napkins with more color show fewer wrinkles!

Happy 100th Post! And a TV Stand

Today marks the 100th post of Sweet Successes and I wanted to make it a good one.  I wanted a post that was like no other and I waited a few days, skipped a few recipe blogs and now I get to share with you the latest Sweet Success in our family: a TV stand.

www.potterybarn.com

Isn't she pretty?  We were using a folding table for a TV stand so this is a vast improvement! Wait a minute, please don't tell me that you think we really spent $700 on a TV stand?  Ok, we didn't but is sure looks like we did.

On Saturday, Fly Boy wakes up and decides that he is ready to make something.  We went to the base to check out the wood shop, errrrr, ummmm, well what we found was  a rusted drill and some cobwebs so we are thinking they moved it? Any who, we venture on to Lowes with our TV Stand plans from www.ana-white.com and head to the lumber aisle and the adventure began.  We got the wood (after several arguments) and decided to have the nice young men at Lowes cut it for us. This was good and bad. It was 25 cents a cut, no big deal but some of their cuts were off.  So what we learned is have Lowes cut big pieces of wood like plywood that will not fit in the car and we will cut the rest!

So after a few more arguments (you'd have to understand how my dad feels about wood to have any insight into the arguments we had so I will spare you the details) we headed home, unloaded the car and Fly Boy started assembling.

The next day Fly Boy stained the TV Stand ANNNNNDDDDDDDDD.......drum roll please!

We have a TV stand!!! And I love it! If you love this as much as we do you can find the plans here! Fly Boy made a few discoveries in his adventure: A) We did not see where the 1x12@6ft went so we returned it and B) It seems that the 2 1x2@8ft is listed twice in the lumber list.

So I hope you have enjoyed and have been inspired by the 100th post of Sweet Successes and yes we are going to make more furniture for the living room!!!

PS- Lowes had a military discount and the nice young lady at the register gave us a $10 off coupon so this lovely piece of furniture cost a whopping $80, not $700.

Chicken Taquitos

I have a million recipe books and I just bought another one: Our Best Bites. I highly recommend it! They have a website too that I use. 

Last night I made their chicken taquitos but I had a few changes due to taste preferences and ingredients we had here at home.  THEY CAME OUT AMAZING!!!



Our Best Bites



1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese (I use light sour cream)
1/4 C green salsa (I use regular salsa)
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro (I used like 1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried cilantro)
2 T sliced green onions (I omitted)
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepper jack cheese
small corn tortillas or flour
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.


Directions are from Our Best Bites website.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I should call my blog "What Emily Makes" because I have been on a kick of just looking at her blog for recipes.  She always has yummy ones. Just in case you forgot, you can check out her blog here!

So I LOVE sweet and sour chicken from Chinese food places but I HATE all of the breading and gross chicken that you sometimes find.  Emily found this AMAZING recipe from another blog called
Life as a Lofthouse and it was better than sweet and sour chicken from a Chinese food place.

The chicken :

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup oil

 

Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

 

Rinse your chicken and then cut into cubes. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch and then dip into the eggs. 

 

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook chicken until browned but not cooked through.

 

Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish.

 

Mix all of your sauce ingredients in a bowl and then pour evenly over the chicken.

 

Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken
every 15 minutes.