Lemon bars

Ingredients:
-2 sticks (8 ounces) butter
-2 cups flour
-1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
-4 beaten eggs
-2 cups sugar
-4 tablespoons flour
-1/4 cup lemon juice
-1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
-sifted confectioners' sugar


Directions:
Heat oven to 325°.
Blend butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar.
Pat into ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

For filling, blend together eggs, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
Pour over first layer.
Return to oven and bake at 325° for 20 minutes.
Loosen around edges, cut into bars and sift confectioners' sugar over the top while warm.

Did you know frogs love spaghetti squash?

Description:
This is really easy too...its a great quick dinner and healthy too! The kids love it..you can substitute the beef for sausage if you like..

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash, cooked by your favorite method and separated into strands.
1 lb of lean minced beef
1 lg. yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 T olive oil
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 C grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
I usually steam the squash, cover it with saran wrap and put in the microwave for 5 minutes each. Then take a fork and it should shred easily!

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix the cheese together, set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and add the onion, pepper, garlic and meat. Sauté, Add crushed tomatoes and basil. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. Mix squash well with the cooked vegetables and put half in the bottom of the shell. Top with half the cheese mixture, followed by the other half of the squash mixture, then the rest of the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and slightly browned. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

Castle cake to impress a 5 year old

Description:
I was blue for days with this frosting...so use a pastry bag..this cake made chase soo happy..and it was quite fun to build:) I did one for dylans 6 year old birthday too..soo long ago:)

Ingredients:
• 5 baked 8" square cakes & 5 cupcakes
• 5 to 7 cups white icing
• 5 sugar cones
• blue edible glitter or sugar crystals
• 1/2 cup blue icing
• assorted color gumdrops and red licorice strips
• blue gel icing
• light blue sprinkles
• Colored paper or blue saran wrap and tape
• 5 toothpicks



Directions:
Step 1:
Cut one cake into four equal pieces and arrange three of them atop the four whole cakes, as shown, securing with icing. (Tip: Cut up the extra cake piece for nibblers.)

Step 2:
Frost the castle and put the sugar cones on top of the cupcakes for the turrets.
Step 3:
With a pastry bag, create blue icing corner pillars and a door made out of graham crackers..add the licorice strips wherever needed.

Step 4:
Set the gumdrops and what ever other candies you can imagine around the castle ledge, then add decorative loops of gel icing.

Step 5:
Finally, add the sprinkles around the top of the castle and top the cone turrets with flags cut from the colored paper and taped to the toothpicks.

French leek pie, Thomas maman's recipe

Description:
everyone that tries this..wants to know how it is made..and it is soo easy!
one tip though..be sure to get all the sand out of the leeks..:) that is a must!

Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie crust
2 teaspoons butter
3 leeks, chopped
1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup light cream
1 1/4 cups shredded Gruyere cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in leeks; cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cream and cheese, and warm through. Pour mixture into pie shell
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until custard is set and golden on top. Allow to sit 10 minutes before cutting pie into wedges.

Coconut milk fish

The frog and I found this recipe on the back of the coconut milk can..and we just changed it a bit..The kids eat this soo fast and beg for seconds!! It's sweet and tangy and oh soo good!

I will post a picture, we just made it the other day, but never thought to take a photo:) I'll try to do that, as I love it when I see the photos on garlic breath blog, and strawberries and creame, and sometimes I cook. (ooh there are many more too:)

Ingredients:
6 slices of fish or 6 servings
1/4 c. of water
1 can of fresh coconut milk
1/2 c. of shredded carrots
1/2 c. celery
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 t. oil or butter
1T tomatoe paste
Salt, black or white pepper to taste
1 chicken bouillan

Directions:
Season fish with salt or lime juice and grated garlic. Heat sauce pan. Add oil or butter. Add carrots, onion, garlic and tomatoes and sauté well. Add tomatoe paste and chicken bouillon. Add coconut milk , salt, pepper. Cook over low heat until mixture starts to thicken. Add fish, cover, and allow fish to cook. It's done when fish breaks apart easily. About 20 minutes on medium. Serve hot, over rice or orzo.

The birth of an amateur foodblog, and I do stress AMATEUR!

I can cook, and I can cook sometimes really well. Unfortunately, things don't always turn out the same, when I cook, I hardly ever am exact, although usually if I bake, I try to be more exact:)

I have mastered the fine art of hiding vegetables in the food I cook, I make it a personal game. When the kids are done eating, I count out how many they ate without knowing.

Some may think, I'm an evil mom, some may think I'm brilliant, some may just think I need more chores to do in the house rather than blogging:) (that would be my parents, good thing they don't know I have a blog;)