Recipe for a Fun Night

Tonight my family and I ate leftovers, watched the Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie and ate scrumptious peanut butter honey popcorn.

I got the recipe for the popcorn from my mother-in-law. They have been making it for years and I always ate this at their house when I was dating my husband. Must be nostalgic feelings I have for the popcorn. My son and I both have a special love for peanut butter. Unfortunately, he will probably die from heart disease with all of the butter popcorn he had last year during home schooling. Every day at 10:30 he would make a bag. Now his sister is so excited about home schooling next year because she will have popcorn at 10:30. Hey, whatever motivates them!! :)

I wanted to share the popcorn recipe with you because it is easy, yummy and fun for family nights like ours.

1/2 cup of popcorn kernels - air popped (maybe two bags of microwave popcorn)

Melt 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup of sugar in a pot until it comes to a rolling boil. Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1 tsp. vanilla to the pot. Pour over popped popcorn and toss it until it is coated all over. It's that simple. It is really, really good.

Let me know if you try and love it like we do!!

As for the movie, it was pretty good. It was not a deep movie like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or anything, but it had a fun, sweet feel. I think the worst word was sucks and it was only once. There were some crudish humor, but nothing my kids have not seen or heard or said for that matter. It was fun for my kids to get excited about the funny parts because they had already seen it. They kept saying, "you are going to crack up at this part."

Hope you have a great weekend!

Favorite Product These Days

My family is not much on ironing. They do not mind leaving the house with a plethora of wrinkles. I like to iron my clothes, but I am not one to sit and iron all of our clothes on a Sunday afternoon. I was talking with a friend and she mentioned Downy Wrinkle Reducer. Sounds like an infomercial, huh? Well, I ran to Wally World the first chance I had and picked some up. My family is hooked. My friend who told me about it . . . I bow down to her when I see her. It has changed our little wrinkled lives!!

Funny story: On Monday, my Prince Charming was frantically looking for the Downy because he had a ball game and he wanted his shirt to look pristine. The wrinkle releaser definitely helps when you have lettering that you cannot iron over. Anyway, I let him know it was on the table.

He was kind of in a silly mood and he started telling the kids to look at his wrinkles disappear magically. He would squirt then say voila. . .no more wrinkles. He was squirting up a storm and the kids were laughing along with him. I was kind of ignoring his silliness until I looked up and squealed, "You are using 409 on your shirt!!" He picked up the wrong bottle and his shirt was drenched with 409. We laughed and laughed until we could not laugh anymore. So the moral of the story is pick up the right bottle!!! :)

Many thanks to Prince Charming for letting me share your funny story. I love you.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Guys Ballgame, duty calls. . .gotta wear my cheer leading outfit; Creamy Tacos (recipe below) and home made garden salsa

Creamy Tacos
1 lb hamburger meat
1 can chili w/o beans
2 cans hot chili beans
1/2 can rotel
1 lb velveeta
1/2 pt. whipping cream
Doritoes
salad and Italian dressing

Brown hamburger meat in large pot. Drain. Add chili, beans and rotel. in a separate pan or microwave melt velveeta, mix in whipping cream until smooth and creamy. Add to meat mixture. Put doritoes on each plate. Pour some cheesy meat mixture over it and top with salad that is already mixed with dressing.

This makes a lot, but you can freeze it in smaller sections if you need to.

Tuesday - Crash, hot potatoes, teriyaki chicken legs;
Wednesday - Garden Veggie Night; fried green tomatoes, salad, squash (from a friend's garden), tomatoes with basil and olive oil. . .perhaps a little feta on top = yum :)
Thursday - Sloppy Joes, french fries
Friday - Chicken Quesadillas, rice and Mexican Layer Dip
Saturday - Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts, Ranch Potato Salad,
Sunday - Homemade Pizza - we buy Sam's Club crusts and top with veggies and cheese = yum!

Last week, I was running low on ingredients and I made Zucchini Alfredo from and it was pretty good. My kids do not like zucchini but they ate about half of it. My husband and I enjoyed it though.

Also, for our Church Ladies Night I made "Bowl of Yum" again (recipe below) and I cannot tell you how good it is. I need to take a picture next time for you.

In a trifle,
1st layer - crumble up brownie with walnuts (the walnuts really make it good) (see note on Sam’s Club brownies, but add walnuts)
2nd layer – prepared chocolate pudding (large box of instant)
3rd layer – Cool Whip (1 8 oz. carton)
4th layer – Heath bar (1/2 to 3/4 bag)
5th layer – Cool Whip (another ¼ to ½ the container)
6th and final top layer – Heath bar (1/4 bag)

Have a great week! Remember, always cook with love (recipe for Chicken Parmesan and explanation!