Kid's Pirate Party

Marley turned 6 at the end of March and Mason turned 2 at the beginning of April.  With us moving and my parents also moved I decided to wait until June to have their birthday party.  Marley decided she wanted a penguin party, then it was hello kitty, then something else, and then I finally talked her into having a pirate party.  We only invited family this year so the party was a bit low key compared to previous years, but we all had fun and the whole family got to see our new house too.  

I got all the party supplies at Party City and Meijers.  I put the table cloth on the counter and wrote what everything was with arrows. Thought it was sort of like a treasure map?  I made cannon meatball sandwiches, ranch bean dip, fruit kabob swords, deviled egg pasta salad, veggie pizza, and goldfish and chips.  

I got the cupcake toppers on clearance for 50 cents, what a bargain! I made strawberry cupcakes with butter cream frosting, and white cake with s'mores frosting. I used crumbled graham crackers to make the X on the cake. 

We played ladder ball, catch and the kids swam. It was a great party and the kids got lots of great outside toys like chalk, bubbles, and pool toys.  

I can't believe my babies are so big already. =(  Time to start planning next years party. =)

BBQ Cola Crock Pot Chicken

Now that it's summer I've been looking for some good crock pot recipes so I don't have to turn on the oven, thus turning on the air conditioning. It's a vicious cycle.  This recipe was super quick to throw together and was apparantly quick to be eaten too because I didn't even get a chance to get a picture. OOPS! 

Chicken

1 bottle of bbq sauce

1 onion, cut into quarters

12 ounces of coke

Place chicken and onion in bottom of crock pot. Pour bbq sauce and coke over top. 

Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours. 

We just ate our chicken pieces whole, but you could also shred them and serve them on buns. 

Macaroni Au Four

When I came across this recipe on pinterest I thought 'oh that looks amazing'  Then I read the instructions and was a bit overwhelmed.  It had a lot of steps and while it looked good I wasn't sure if I would really ever make it.  I did eventually decide to give it a try and while it may have looked good in picture it wasn't my favorite dish I've ever made. I did leave out a few ingredients from the original recipe so not sure if that's why, or if it just wasn't my cup of tea.

1/2 C. unsalted butter 

2/3 C. all purpose flour

9 cups milk 

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1 egg

2 lbs. lean ground beef

2 lb pasta

In a large pot, melt the butter. Once melted stir in the flour. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. Increase the flame to medium-high, and slowly whisk in the milk. Keep whisking until the milk comes to a light boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking every so often. Add in the nutmeg, salt and pepper, whisk a bit, then allow to cool.

Once cooled a bit, beat the egg in a small bowl and beat in about a 1/4 cup of the semi-cooled butter flour mix.  Once mixed, pour it into the pot with the rest of the butter flour mix.

Brown and drain ground beef. Cook pasta al dente'.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place half of noodles on bottom of baking dish.  Spread meat evenly over top.

Place remainder of pasta over meat and then pour butter flour mixture over top of entire dish.  Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. 

Chicken Fingers

It's no surprise that I like chicken.  If we go out for dinner and I can't ever decide what to get, I resort to chicken fingers. You usually can't mess those up.  This recipe for homemade chicken tenders caught my eye on pinterest so I made them asap.

3/4 cup Bisquick mix

1 teaspoon paprika 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 tsp garlic powder

8 chicken breast tenders

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cover cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.  Stir Bisquick mix, paprika and salt in a dish. Dip chicken strips into eggs, then coat with Bisquick mixture. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat with other pieces.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes, flipping halfway through, until no longer pink.