After some time off...

It's true - I took a large chunk of the summer off from TS and blogging.  At the end of June, I cut my hours WAY back at my job, so spent the rest of the summer enjoying the new free time with the kids and friends.  I actually went to Las Vegas for the first time with three of the most AMAZING women best friends a girl could have.  We had a fantastic time.  It was also my first plane flight, but that wasn't bad at all.

Anyway, this morning I just created a recipe I'm going to call "Kolette's Fancy Restaurant French Toast".  For the first time, spur of the moment recipe, it was fantastic!  I hope you agree...

You'll need:

3 large eggs

About 1/8 cup of milk 

           (like most cooks, I don't really measure this stuff when I'm making it... Use your judgement!)

About 1 tsp TS Warm Up Mulling Spice

About 1/2 tsp vanilla

10 slices of French bread

TS Creamy Caramel Sauce

Optional: butter, powdered sugar

In a small flat bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, Mulling Spice, and vanilla.  Coat each side of bread and cook in a skillet on medium high heat.  You know, like you do with French toast!  Once all slices are cooked, put two or three slices on your plate, and the plates of whomever you are sharing with.  I topped mine with a small amount of real butter first, then drizzled Creamy Caramel Sauce over them, then sprinkled with powdered sugar.  It really did look like the French toast I recently had at a wonderful restaurant here in Lincoln.  All it was lacking was the strawberries!  And the taste is GREAT!

That's my recipe.  Enjoy!

After I finish this blog, I'm going to head over to the recipe section of tastefullysimple.com and submit my recipe!

Recap of Thanksgiving and what's for supper at my house...

Thanksgiving was fun.  We went to visit the extended family, saw my aunt's new house (very nice!), got to see lots of cousins I hadn't seen in a while, ate too much, watched football, did an early Christmas gift exchange, and hung out with my brother and his wife.  Oh, and all that was in three days!

My two contributions to Thanksgiving this year: with the help of the kiddos and Grandma, we made the place markers for the table, and I created my own recipe for a Tastefully Simple dessert!

The place markers were absolutely adorable - Oreo Turkeys!  In an after school craft class, one of my daughters made one, and we opted to make 30 for Thanksgiving.  I've found a pattern/recipe online here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamakimi/2056437398/ that also has a great picture.  We added a toothpick with a paper name tag taped to it stuck in with the "feathers", and viola!  Place cards!

My Tastefully Simple dessert turned out AMAZING!  I'm calling it Nana's Apple Cake Extraordinare.
          Ingredients: (I doubled this, as I made mine for a large family gathering)
            TS Nana's Apple Cake Mix
            2 Eggs
            1 cup chopped apples
            1 cup halved fresh cranberries
            1/2 cup cinnamon chips
            1-2 Tbsp TS Warm Up Mulling Spice
            1/4 cup powdered sugar
            1 Tbsp milk

Combine first 5 ingredients.  Place in WELL greased 8x8 pan, sprinkle with Warm Up Mulling Spice.  Bake as directed Cake Mix package.
In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and milk to make icing.  When cake is done and cooled some, drizzle icing over top.  Serve warm or cold, as a dessert or a wonderful brunch coffee cake!

That brings us to supper at my house tonight.  I think I'm going to make chicken with TS Asian Honey Mustard Dressing in my crock pot this afternoon, make some rice later, add a few frozen veggies, and have a tasty Asian inspired dish that the kids will (hopefully!) eat.  I think it sounds great, but then, I am one of the adults in the house.  :)

Another few more happenings in the last couple weeks. My baby turned 2 the day before Thanksgiving.  She's getting so big!  I've consulted for a few more Tastefully Simple parties (I'm up to 7 now, with 2 more in Jan!), so that is going well.  Harry Potter 7 came out, so work at my real job has been crazy, and it's only going to get worse...

Did you know that Christmas Day is the busiest day of the year for movie theatres?  It's true, and I'll be working that day!  Maybe I'll see you there.

Absolutely Almond Joy Pound Cake

Happy November, everyone!
I've been a little busy with the kiddos, work, TS, and more work!  Plus, I've completely a few projects recently. I've made a few Halloween costume hats, a few other hats, wrote my own pattern for some AWESOME fingerless gloves, and did some cooking.  Oh, also in there, I had an Envy Purse Party (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lincoln-NE/ENVY-PURSE-PARTY/203797320615?ref=sgm) for which I made a few snacks and got a free purse just for hosting!

So, on the cooking front - tonight I made what I am going to call Absolutely Almond Joy Pound Cake.  It starts with (yes, you guessed it) Tastefully Simple Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix.  Prepare as directed. Pour into greased loaf pan.  Then I topped it with a generous drizzle of chocolate syrup (I think next time I will swirl it into the batter and then add chocolate chips on top), covered that with sliced almonds, and covered those with coconut.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for 55 minutes.  Cool, cut, enjoy!

Yes, this is very similar to the cupcakes I made last month.  However, I think this is easier to eat, and a MUCH faster prep time!  Today's was made in honor of my husband's birthday, which was yesterday.  We ran out of time to make a cake yesterday, what with life and all happening around us.  So, tonight I baked him this cake, which we are enjoying at 11pm while the kids are asleep.  They can have some tomorrow.

That's about it from here.  I will post my crochet pattern and pictures in the near future.  Some minor tweaking is still needed.

It's been a while...

Sorry - it's been a while since my last post, but you know how life gets in the way of everything else!
We've been busy with Girls Scouts (Daisies and Brownies), trips to the Pumpkin Patches, work, more work, babysitting, and all the other stuff!
I made my super tasty chicken the other night - chicken breast topped with TS Backyard Barbeque Dip mixed with shredded Co-Jack cheese, and wrapped with ham.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.  The kids actually gobbled it all up!  You can do this with almost any of the TS dip mixes and get a tasty result!  The ham is even optional - I was just going for a twist on Cordon Bleu.  I've made it using Sundried Tomato Veggie Dip, and next on the list is Spinach & Herb Dip.  Serve with rice or whatever your choice of side dish is...  I'm thinking pasta alfredo.
My last TS Host Pack went out the door this morning - counting my husband's catalog party, that is 4 parties in October!  Yay me!  Off to a good start!  Lori is very excited for me!

I think that's it for now from me.  I have one home sick for a while this morning, so I'd better go deal with that.