New Recipe of the week 4- Olive Cheese bread

We've all been sick so i've gotten behind on blogging.  So I need to add a new recipe of the week for my recipe challenge.  Recipe of the week 4 is also from the Pioneer Woman, yes her cookbook has been getting quite the workout the past couple of weeks.  We can't help it we just love her cooking, as do many others!  I let Makenzie choose this recipe since she loves to help in the kitchen and has become quite the little cooking mama.  She chose Olive Cheese Bread and it's soooooo good but kinda salty so next time we will cut back on the green olives since they tend to be very salty!

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French Bread
• 6 ounces, weight Pimiento-stuffed Green Olives
• 6 ounces, weight Black Olives
• 2 stalks Green Onions (scallions)
• 1 stick Butter, Room Temperature
• ½ cups Mayonnaise
• ¾ pounds Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated

Preparation Instructions

Roughly chop both black olives and pimiento-stuffed green olives. Slice green onions into thin pieces.

Combine butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir together until thoroughly combined. Spread mixture onto French bread that has been sliced lengthwise. Bake at 325ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browning.

Mixture can also be refrigerated (up to two days) and used as a dip. Great with crackers.

Snow much fun!

Since we don't get very many snow days in Oklahoma we have to take advantage of each and every one of them.  Even though we homeschool we are still having a snow day today, all of the area schools are on a snow break so we are too.  We woke up and decided to make Edna Mae's sour cream pancakes from the Pioneer Woman and they were yummy and got us off to a good start.  This is also part of my try a new recipe every week so this is recipe #2.

Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes (The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

• 1 cup sour cream
• 7 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/ 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Butter
• Maple syrup

Warm up your griddle, iron skillet or frying pan at a medium heat.  Get it nice and hot but not smoking.

In a bowl combine sour cream with sifted dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, & salt).

In separate bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla together

Pour egg mixture into sour cream/flour mixture. Stir gently until all ingredients are mixed well.

Melt about a tablespoon of butter onto griddle. Using a ladle pour about 1/4 cup of pancake batter onto the pan, making about a 4 inch in diameter pancake

Cook each side of the pancake for about 1 to 2 minutes, flipping when the edges start to brown and cake begins to bubble.

Remove from heat and stack high, top with a pad of butter and drizzle with lots of maple syrup!

Then, after reading a Facebook message from my dear friend Christy or as I like to call her SUPERMOM, she reminded me of snow paint and so I had to make up some bottles for the kids to go play with out in the snow.  It's so easy get clean spray bottles, fill with cold water, add food coloring, screw the top on it and head out to make some colorful snow creations!

Then we headed into the house for some homemade mint hot cocoa.  We then decided to use Brandi's recipe for Snow Ice Cream.  It's so yummy all you will want to do is make more and sit and eat it all day!  This is recipe #3 for try a new recipe every week.

Now, we are trying to decide if we are going sledding or stay next to the fireplace.  My vote is stay warm next to the fireplace!

We've got the flu

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Please excuse my break from blogging because we've got the flu!

New Year's Resolutions 2011

Every year Kevin and I make a list of goals that we would like to accomplish as a family, individual and as a couple.  Sometimes they are health goals, financial goals, etc.
This year our family goal is to sell our house and build our dream home.  We have been working so hard to make this happen, we painted all of the upstairs and moved Makenzie back into her room so we now have a bonus room again.  The house is on the market and we signed the paperwork to build our house!  All very exciting news.
One of my personal goals is to be more creative in my cooking and try new recipes because I tend to get stuck in a rut with my cooking so my new goal for 2011 is to try 1 new recipe each and every week, unless we are on vacation!  So, hopefully by the end of the year we will have tried at LEAST 52 new recipes!  Help me out and pass on your favorites.
So the first new recipe that we tried this year was Iny's Prune Cake by the Pioneer Woman

Here's the recipe

Prune Cake
Makes: 10-15 generous slices
Prep time: 20 min to prepare, 35 – 40 min baking

Ingredients:

Cake

1 cup prunes
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 ½ cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Icing

1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white corn syrup
¼ cup butter
½ teaspoon vanilla

McLinky Monday-Ringing in the New Year

Once again it's that time of the week for McLinky Monday with the Real Housewives of Oklahoma.  I'm starting to really look forward to it every Monday so I can see what all the other Okies ladies have to say and the one from TX too!
The question of the week is, "How do YOU ring in the New Year?"  Well, we normally have a New Year's Eve party every year and invite friends and family to come over enjoy fondue (chocolate and cheese) and play games.  The past 2 years haven't gone as planned, last year Kevin passed out at our front door and to read more about that click here.  This year we are in the middle of painting and packing so we decided against a party but hopefully next year we will be in our new house and will have a wonderful New Year's Eve party!
A couple of things that we always do is stay up until midnight, watch the ball drop, let the kids do a toast with fancy glasses and sparkling cider, and we always have fondue.  I know it's a huge tradition to make black eyed peas and eat them on New Years Day but I've NEVER had them before.  I bought some this year and didn't get around to making them.  I need a good recipe!

Here are some of my posts from past year's
2007/2008
2008/2009

Comment Love Day

Just follow the rules that she posted here and help spread the comment love!

New Year's Day tradition

Every year my mom takes the kids for an afternoon and they work on a Christmas gift for Kevin and myself.  Each year it's something unique and we always look forward to receiving it, several years ago they gave us a growth chart wall hanging that says, "Let it snow, watch us grow" and then felt snowflakes to glue on it for each kid.  We always hang it at the same exact height and look forward to seeing how much the kids have grown in the previous year and we add the new snowflake on New Year's Day, it's easy for us to remember.  This year Kylan grew 4" in one year and Kenzie grew 3"!