Homemade Chex Mix in the Microwave! Kid friendly cooking for the whole family!

First official day of Stay cation!  Have you ever had one?  I haven't and I have hopes of getting stuff done.  We will see!  Do you have those recipes that your famous for?  I've only got about 3 and this is one of them.  My recipe for Chex Mix goes back to my 4H days and is tried and true.  I get so many compliments on it!  It's so easy!   And since it's done in the Microwave it's kid friendly!  Great family activity.  I had great intentions to post photos as I went, but my camera had other ideas LOL.  My camera has been a little bit of a diva lately and hasn't been storing all my pictures.  Just imagine 2 hours of shooting Etsy in 96° heat and nothing saved.  Yeah that was me last week.  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsps. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 c corn cereal squares
2 c oat cereal circles
2 c wheat cereal squares
3 cups thin pretzel sticks
1 (8oz) jar dry roasted nuts

When making my mix I always buy generic and it works just as well as the name brand.  Recipe calls for peanuts, but this batch is going to work and is peanut free.  We are not cereal eaters in our house so I try to finish everything up.  Three full batches will finish off the wheat cereal, pretzels and peanuts.  The wheat and the oat are my favorite part of this mix.  Don't try to make a batch with the remaining cereal or just your favorites the ratio gets thrown off and you have a big burnt blob.  Go ahead and make more than one batch it's that yummy AND IT FREEZES!!!  Before my days of Vintage Markets I'd go on a bake-a-palooza every Christmas and freeze what I didn't give as gifts for later in the New year.  It's doesn't get soggy it comes out as crispy and tasty as the day it was made.  

Directions: 
1. Combine cereals, pretzels, and peanuts in a 3 quart bowl
2. Place butter, Worcestershire sauce, and salts in a glass bowl.  Moicrowave on HIGH for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  Pour over cereal mixture and mix well. 
3.  Cook in microwave on HIGH for 6 to 8 minutes or until cereal is hot and crisp; stir well every 2 minutes to prevent burning.  


I cheat a little and add an extra 1-2 tablespoons of butter, and oops! leave the bottle of Worcestershire upside down over the bowl when measuring out with a couple of extra shakes for fun.  It is important to mix no more than every 2 minutes!  I go about every 1:30 minute for 3 to 4 times in a 1000 watt oven.  Mix well or you will have a giant Chex monster or worse burnt Chex.  I use a large glass bowl to mix mine.  Don't use plastic or Tupperware, especially if you are doing more than one batch.  I learned the hard way when my Tupperware got too hot mid second batch and I had a peak-a-boo bowl!  Enjoy!  

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2 Tbsps. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 c corn cereal squares

2 c oat cereal circles

2 c wheat cereal squares

3 cups thin pretzel sticks

1 (8oz) jar dry roasted nuts 

Directions: 

1. Combine cereals, pretzels, and peanuts in a 3 quart bowl

2. Place butter, Worcestershire sauce, and salts in a glass bowl.  

Microwave on HIGH for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  

Pour over cereal mixture and mix well. 

3.  Cook in microwave on HIGH for 6 to 8 minutes 

or until cereal is hot and crisp; 

stir well every 2 minutes to prevent burning.  

Tired of pricy K-cups? DIY it!

Quick, cost effective, and easy!  Buy your favorite coffee and make your own!  When you have one bathroom and a husband on the same schedule as you your mornings need to be quick and easy and dish free!  A close second to my Kitchen Aid Mixer on my list of things I never knew I couldn't live without is my Kreurig.  I love poping in a pod and getting on the go.  Having to dig the coffee bag out of the pantry in the other room and having to neatly put it back was getting old.  Tiny little containers to the rescue!!  (Plus I just love tiny organizational things!)  One bag, and 30 containers with a heaping tablespoon each are ready in my drawer to go every morning .  All for the price of 1 box of k-cups and I still have containers left for next time!!!!   You can get a reusable k-cup at many retailers.  A quick rinse and your ready to go again the next day!  Links below will lead you to getting started with your very own DIY K-cups!!

 
   

Super easy Diy no sew TuTu fit for a princess!

I'm in major purge mode and wanted to get rid of my tulle.  Well, when you have a tiny princess fashionista in your family and find Cinderella blue in your basement you just have to make a giant ballgown style skirt.

The shirt was made from a Dollar Store find with scraps of silver and black HTV.  Tiny people are the best way to utilize all of your materials!!!

Love that Princess Tiara find it here on Amazon.

                                                           A Tiara Fit for a Princess

Want to make your own!  It's so easy for toddlers you can buy a pre-made headband. or your can buy rolls of it and do a quick stitch up yourself.  I do mine by hand, you need zero skills and it doesn't need to be pretty it's going to get covered up!


I use tulle ribbon so I only have to cut the length.  It' goes 50% off with the ribbon pretty much every other week at Hobby Lobby.  Or you can use your coupon.   Cut your tulle to the length you want.  It will be folded in half and will need a little allowance for a knot that will be made.  I lay it all out in piles so that I can curl up on the couch and make as I watch a movie.

Fold tulle in half and feed through one of the holes.  I start at the bottom and do every other hole with I don't want it super fluffy and leaves room for fill later.  Simply push the tulle through the hole and loop it around to form a knot.  You can always add more in or go up another layer.  The above skirt was 3 colors, 3 rolls of tulle, and 3 rows alternating holes. Below see two rows 2 colors.

And we're off! First Flight of my Air Fryer!

I recently got a Nuwave 6 quart Air Fryer for Christmas. Yes, it's a healthy alternative.   But my main objective was not having to keep filling my fryer.  My current fryer was open with no way to save the oil and took about 2 1/2 bottles of oil to fill and the clean up was a pain in the patuti.   As I surf online I'm starting to realize that I'm not the only one who is a little intimidated by this device.  So let's work together to master the art of healthy frying!   

First Flight!  Vegtable Lumpia

Lumpia is basically a Filipino spring roll that my husband usually fries in a small saucepan with oil on the stove.  First, I used the nuwave to make the egg rolls with the preheat function to 350 degrees then cooked them for 15 minutes with a shake at 8 minutes.  Rolls came out crispy but didn't have that fried taste. They were OK.  The next day I to used the 4 minute reheat function to make them crispy again.  By simply microwaving they were no longer crispy.  I also fried some in a pot to do a proper comparison.  The fried were definitely the better tasting.  To test out my skills I did frozen fries with the frozen fry setting.  They came out crispy and tasty, just not fried in oil tasty!  I also tried frozen potato skins by preheating to 350 degrees and 12 minutes.  One larger one came out a little oven baked consistency, but the smaller and medium ones were crispy and wonderfully.  And I didn't have to turn on the big old oven for such a tiny little treat.  

Top to bottom fresh air fried, oil fried in pan, and reheated with air fryer.  

What are your thoughts and experiences?  Let's learn together!  Tomorrow I just might jump in with both feed and try fried chicken.  

Salute to small STL Businesses!

Salute to small STL business's! Finally went to Straubs for the first time today and found these chips. I have to admit my draw to them was the cute little prim kraft paper bag. The cashier told me that the $.99 sample size I bought would be gone before I made it out of the parking lot (had to make a left on a 4 lane road!) and that I should go buy the family size. He was right! These chips were the yummiest kettle chips I've ever had. Reminded me of the King's Taters that you get at the fair. The bag claims no presevatives, no trans fats, no MSG & gluten free. Next up to try the spicy ones!http://billygoatstl.com/

Leftover Jalapeno Popper Dip

http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2008/10/jalapeo-popper-dip.html

Made this dip for New Year's Eve and it was a really good replacement for Buffalo Chicken Dip and for me who gets heartburn easily I didn't feel it was a heartburn inducing.  You can control how hot this dip gets by what jalapenos and green chilies you buy.  I was a little worried about the mayo separating, but even with keeping it on a warming plate for most of the night and reheating in the microwave since I haven't had a problem yet.  

Today I used some of the leftover dip to make Jacket Potato's for lunch and it was yummy.  Jacket potatoes are red potatoes that have been cooked, cut an x shaped in the potato but not all the way down and filling the v with a mixture of sour cream, spices, and Cheddar cheese.  I used my microwave potato pocket from Hawaii (I think you can get them at most craft shows no days) and microwaved 4 potatoes for 3 minutes.  Then cut the V and filled with the popper dip!  It was delicious and cut down on a little of the spice.

Take Two: Avocado Chicken Salad

http://becomingbetty.blogspot.com/2011/09/avocado-chicken-salad.html

The first time I made this I used canned Chicken and it was awful.  Today I made it with fresh chicken and it was wonderful.  I could eat this everyday!  I do LOVE avocado!  I'm beginning to think that this is going to be the year of cilantro and green onions.  I keep finding myself pulling out the food processor to chop the two ingredients.