World's Greatest Hot Chocolate

When your back yard looks like this...

(and yes, this is my back yard.)

You might want a little of this...

My friend Dennis shared with me a Hot Chocolate recipe about a year ago and I now make it all the time.  I have even given it as Christmas gifts. 

Here are the ingredients:

I picked up all these at the dreaded store Walmart.

All you do is find a really big bowl or a brown paper bag works too, mix together a large can of hot cocoa mix, a large can of coffee creamer, half a box of dry milk, and half a bag of powdered sugar.    Now, just get yourself a cup of hot water and add about 1/3 cup of mix.  Give it a good stir and enjoy!

You can add more or less of the dry milk or powdered sugar depending on how sweet you would like your hot chocolate.  I make it all different ways because honestly, I cannot always remember the exact ingredients unless I get out my recipe and who always has time for that? 

I found another new recipe I love. I also love being able to use my crock pot when cooking so that is a plus too. Give this one a try. It is easy and delicious.

Slow Cooker Chile-Chicken Tacos

1 1/4pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 envelope (1-oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles
1 cup Green Giant® Niblets® frozen corn (from 1-pound bag), thawed
1 can (10 ounces) Old El Paso® enchilada sauce
4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
1 package (4.6 ounces) Old El Paso® taco shells, warmed if desired
3 cups shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped (3/4 cup)

1. Spray 3- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place chicken thighs in cooker. Sprinkle with taco seasoning mix and brown sugar; toss to coat. Mix in green chiles, corn and 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce. Refrigerate remaining enchilada sauce.

2. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 6 to 7 hours.

3. Place chicken on cutting board; use 2 forks to pull chicken into shreds. Return chicken to cooker. Stir in green onions. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 15 minutes.

4. Heat remaining enchilada sauce. Serve chicken mixture in taco shells with lettuce, tomatoes and warm enchilada sauce.

Recipe by Betty Crocker http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-chile-chicken-tacos/7ca3f26c-e85f-443e-9784-cb0e6b1c7b56

Schwans Country BBQ Nachos

These may not be good for you but they sure do taste good!

I made this recipe for David this past weekend and he said it was one of the best things I ever made.

I don't know if I would go that far but I do agree that they taste pretty darn good.

The only thing I would suggest that the recipe doesn't is the dressing & cream cheese mix...I would put that in a squeeze bottle next time. It is hard to spread that over the nachos and get it even. A squeeze bottle would control how much you put on the nachos.

Ingredients
BBQ Pork
1 pkg. corn tortilla chips
1 cup ranch dressing
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 cup Sweet Corn
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
sliced jalapenos to taste

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Cook BBQ pork according to package directions.

3. Arrange tortilla chips on large oven safe serving platter.

4. Mix ranch dressing and cream cheese.

5. Layer BBQ pork, ranch/cream cheese dressing and corn on top of tortilla chips.

6. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and jalapenos. Bake at for 10-15 minutes or broil until cheese melts.

http://www.schwans.com/products/recipeDetail.aspx?id=41203&c1=3002

What kind of parent are you?

...no I don't mean if you are a good or bad parent kind of thing. I'm just simply asking, do you get up in the morning and fix your kids something hot for breakfast or are you more of the "here you go eat this" kind of parent.


I remember growing up and my Dad would always fix our breakfast for us and we all had to sit at the kitchen table together and eat it before we left for school. We would have cereal, eggs, cinnamon toast, waffles, or something of that nature that my Dad would sit in front of us. Sometimes we had oatmeal for breakfast and my two sisters did not care for oatmeal very much. They talked me into eating my bowl of oatmeal and theirs too. Now looking back, I don't know how they achieved this. Probably because I was the youngest and was dumb enough to listen to them. I'm not sure.


I believe no matter which kind of parent you are, as long as your kids get a good breakfast (and cold pizza does qualify) then you are doing okay. Just for the record, I am the pop tart kind of mom while my sister has become the biscuits and gravy kind of mom. (Good job Sis)