• Kids in the Kitchen: Easy Parmesan Chicken

    The girls have started making dinner for the family once a week.  It has been fun coming up with easy and fun recipes for them to put together.  My husband actually came up with this idea after the girls suggested they make chicken nuggets for dinner one night.  This is a super easy recipe to put together and the only thing you really need to help the kids with is taking the hot pan out of the oven.  It is really neat to see them get excited about cooking dinner!

    Easy Parmesan Chicken:

    • 20 to 25 Chicken Nuggets
    • 8 slices Provolone Cheese
    • Small can or bottle Pasta Marinara Sauce

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bottom of a 9 x 13 pyrex dish.  Line the bottom of the pyrex with one layer of chicken nuggets.  Place the slices of cheese over the chicken nuggets.  Spread the pasta sauce over the cheese slices and bake uncovered in the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

     

  • Book: “New Junior Cook Book” by Better Homes & Gardens

     

    I love cooking with the girls.  My parents gave the girls the  “New Junior Cookbook” by Better Homes & Gardens Cooking a while ago and they love it.  They enjoy spending time in the kitchen with Mom and Dad.  Although they haven’t mastered all the recipes they are doing more work in the kitchen.  The cook book is fun, colorful and have recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts, celebrations, as well as basic cooking information.  If you are looking for a great cookbook to get started in the kitchen with your kids this is a neat one.

  • Recipe: Ashley’s Strawberry Jam

    Freshly picked strawberries, ready to make into jelly!

    After our family went on a  Strawberry picking adventure this past weekend I got together with a good friend, Ashley from Reflecting On The Simple Things in Life on Monday morning and made some of her amazing Strawberry Jelly.  The gallon of strawberries we used for the jelly was from Sandy Flats Farm in Taylors, SC.  We had a lot of fun catching up while making strawberry jelly.  Thankful for friendships and time together making delicious goodies for our families and to share with others.  The recipe for the Strawberry Jam is one Ashley generously shared with me.  We made 23 jars of Strawberry Jelly in a couple hours.  Our cost for the strawberries was $8.00 for a gallon.  I went ahead and bought a set of jars since I didn’t have enough, Ashley had the sugar and pectin on hand.  If you go to Yard Sales you should be able to pick up more jam jars for a better price.

    Ashley’s Strawberry Jam:
    • Two pounds of fresh strawberries
    • 4 1/2 cups of white sugar
    • 1 box of Sure Jell premium fruit pectin
    • 6 canning jars
    Wash and drain strawberries.  Remove stems from strawberries and slice.  Blend sliced strawberries in blender or food processor.  Measure 3 3/4 cups of crushed strawberries and 4 1/2 cups of white sugar.  Make sure to measure out the sugar ahead of time because you don’t want to stop in the middle of making the jelly and have to measure it out.  The jelly can easily burn.
    Stir 1 box of fruit pectin and 3 3/4 cups of crushed strawberries into a large sauce pot on high heat.  You can add 1/2 teaspoon of butter to help reduce the foaming if you’d like.  Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that doesn’t stop when stirred.  Stir in sugar quickly.  Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly one minute.  Remove from heat.  Pour quickly into clean jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops.  Cover with lids and screw bands on tightly.  My Mom would always finish with putting them into a pressure cooker to seal the lids.  I was always scared of pressure cookers because I thought they would blow up on me so she told me that most of the time the jelly is so hot that it will seal the lid on its own within 30 minutes.  But to be safe, in case it doesn’t seal, always store the jelly in the freezer.  Majority of the time all my jars have sealed but I still store the jelly in the freezer, just in case.  This recipe makes about 6 cups of strawberry jelly.
    Jars of fresh Strawberry Jam I made this week, there are a couple not in the picture because I already gave one away to our neighbor and opened another one to eat!