Mini muffin & fruit skewers

The kids LOVE these because it has all their favorites.

"Rustic" curtains

I've finally gotten around to making Mr I's curtains. I've only had the fabric for just under 2 years, lol. The blinds in our house are the originals - 23+ years old. His finally kicked the bucket which forced me to get moving on these. I have some red bandana fabric that I will probably do a swag in. These were rather simple to make. Yes, I cheated. ;) I felt I could get away with cheating because of the type of fabric & the theme of the room. I used pinking shears to cut the fabric & then "no-sew" tape to make the curtain rod loop. No sewing required!!

Chicken Paprikas

This is an old Hungarian meal my grandmother makes & now I make. I can eat it for days on end. Not The Pilot's favorite, but he is getting used to it. Different than what he grew up with. I make it a lot while he's gone. So this is the 1st time making it since last August/September. I have an old Hungarian recipe book with a recipe in it, but this version is simpler to make.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
2lbs chicken (cut into cubes)
1 envelope of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 tsp Paprika
1 3/4 cups water (broken into 1 1/2 & 1/4)
1 tbsp flour
1 (8oz) sour cream

You can serve over egg noodles or dumplings. I've made my own dumplings before but now I get Maggi Spaetzle. It's a small German dumpling. I've found it occasionally at the commissary or at a grocery store with a very good international isle, but mainly at World Market.

Directions:
Melt butter on medium-high heat & brown chicken, drain. Stir in onion soup mix & blend in 1 1/2 cups water & paprika. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low & simmer covered for 45 minutes or until done. Stir it. Remove chicken & keep warm. In pan blend flour with 1/4 cup water. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low & simmer uncovered, stirring frequently for 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Remove from heat & with wire wisk blend in sour cream. Add chicken. Serve over noodles or dumplings.

(I'll add a picture later when it's all done)

Stuffed Pizza

Nothing fancy. Easy. Crust is very light.

Ingredients:
- 2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent Creations
- Pizza Sauce
- Your choice of pizza cheese
- Your choice of toppings (I used sausage, ground beef, green peppers & onions)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cook any meat you choose to use. Lay out 1 can of dough. Top with sauce, cheese, & toppings. I poured any extra sauce in can on top. Lay other can of dough on top. Pinch sides. Cook 15 minutes.

I'm a cheater :D

Just stealing some "mommy time" & trying to play catch up. It's been a few months! I'll have to dig through my photos to see what I have been up to.

So why am I a cheater? I volunteered to make cookies for our family day coming up this weekend. Turns out I need to make 99 cookies. 33 packages of 3. I'm 29 weeks pregnant now & chasing after 2 wild little ones. I'm hoping it's just the full moon tonight. Either way, I am exhausted. I have several other items to cook & bake for various events this weekend. So I cheated a little with the cookies. Easy way to fancy-up Oreos. Dip them in chocolate. I used white. Before they harden, sprinkle them. Let them dry.

Lemon pudding cupcakes

These were a craving. Lemon cupcake with cream cheese icing. I added a little lemon juice for a hint of flavor & yellow dye. Oh! Before doing this I piped into the cupcake some vanilla pudding. Topped with sprinkles... of course! :D

Baklava

Ok, so I only post recipes I find to be yummy. I DO NOT make pretty food, lol. There fore you won't see a lot of pictures & the ones you do see won't be anything to rave about. I have been craving this for about a month now. I saw it posted on another blog & it only added fuel to the fire. Have I mentioned previously yet how much I <3 Sandra Lee Semi-homemade recipes? Easy & delicious!! This is her Baklava recipe...

For syrup:
2/3 cup honey

1/3 cup premium orange juice

1/3 cup water

For baklava:

3 cups whole natural almonds, roasted

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1-pound package phyllo dough, thawed for 15 to 30 minutes if frozen

Syrup: Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe container, and cook on high heat 1 minute. Stir and cook 1 more minute. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold.

Baklava: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place almonds in a food processor and process with sugar, cinnamon, allspice and salt until almonds are roughly ground.

Generously brush a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish with melted butter. Halve phyllo sheets crosswise and stack sheets. Keep stack covered with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a dampened clean kitchen towel. Lay 2 sheets of phyllo in bottom of baking dish and brush top sheet generously with butter. Add a couple of tablespoons of almond mixture. Continue to layer 2 sheets at a time, staggering sheets in each double layer slightly to cover bottom of dish, brushing every second sheet generously with butter and add 1 cup of the almond mixture, until 10 sheets of phyllo have been used, total. Brush top layer of phyllo with butter. Let baklava stand at room temperature to harden slightly, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, cut baklava into 6 equal squares, then cut each piece in half diagonally to make 12 triangles. Be sure to cut all the way through.

Bake baklava until golden, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer dish to a rack to cool, then slowly pour cold syrup around edges of hot baklava, in between all cuts, and over top. Let stand at room temperature at least 8 hours. Cover when baklava is at room temperature. Do not chill.

Baklava keeps in an air-tight container up to 1 week.