Bryce's House

Well, looks like Stacey let us down not posting a recipe....so let's move on here.

I went over to Maricopa and spent a nice afternoon with Katie and took some pictures of Bryce's new home.













And now for a look at his bedroom:








Just kidding, Bryce!

I'm Game Too - Here's Dessert

First of all, I would like to let you guys know that I am no longer with Jack Henry & Associates. I have accepted a position with Cox Health Systems in Springfield. I will be performing the same function as I did with Jack Henry, job title changed from Systems Administrator to Systems Engineer.

Now for the recipe:

Gooee Bars
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 Stick of butter or margarine
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
2 eggs
1 lb powdered sugar (sifted)
Mix yellow cake mix with softened butter and pat evenly onto the bottom of a 9 X 13 cake pan. In a separate dish, blend remaining ingredients well then pour on top of the cake mix base. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until golden. Coconut and nuts are optional.

Stacey - TAG, Your it!! :)

I'm game-Here's Breakfast

I love to have this with eggs and toast.

Broiled Grapefruit

4 grapefruit, 1 Tbl of sugar, 1Tbl cinnamon, 4 Tbl of butter.

Directions:
1.Preheat your oven's broiler
2.Cut the grapefruits in half and use a small serrated knife to cut out the sections in the halves. Spoon the sections and juice into a bowl, then scrape out all of the remaining thick skins and pulp. Spoon the sections from the bowl back into the halves. This is best done one half at a time.
3.Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the top of each grapefruit half, adjusting as you see fit. Dot with butter place the halves on a cookie sheet.
4.Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the butter is melted and sugar is starting to turn brown.


Ok, well that's ok for everyone else but i use splenda and i can't believe its not butter on mine:-)


Let's see......Ivan&Judy! TAG! your it:-)

New Game....Are You Game?

Okay, I need to see some more posts...so lets try something different. Recipes are easy, and I personally, love them. So, I'm typing out one of my tried and true favorite recipes, (Ruth requested it a couple of weeks ago, so I may as well post it anyway.) and then I'm going to "tag" one of you and you then have to post a recipe and then "tag" someone else. If your "tagged" you have ... 1 week to post a recipe. Got it?

TAG -- CRYSTAL!!

Homemade Alfredo Sauce

1 pint (2 cups) Heavy Cream (I use half and half)
1 stick butter
2 Tbsp. Cream Cheese
1/2 - 3/4 C. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Garlic powder

In a saucepan, combine butter, cream, and cream cheese. Simmer this until all is melted and mix well. Add the Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Simmer this for 15-20 min. on low. You may wish to season with a little salt and pepper.

I serve this with both the fettichini noodles and the bow tie pasta. It's a favorite at my house... and after making it this way, I cannot use the bottled stuff.

WELCOME HOME, PAUL!

We're so glad you've made it back to MO safely!! We've missed you at family chat -- it hasn't been the same without you.

Recipe for MOON SAND

(I found this article in a website wisebread.com --- I'll have to make some OUTSIDE with the kids soon -- looks like fun.)

Make your own moon sand, dirt cheap.

One of the hot Christmas items this year was Moon Sand. But while it's certainly not a bank-breaker, it is costly for what is basically wet sand. So, I did a little digging around (pun intended) and discovered a way to make your very own moon sand. Here's the best part...the homemade stuff will set you back less than 60 cents per pound!

As you may know, there are several Moon Sand kits out there, and they come with all sorts of the usual play-gough style gadgets and molds. But if you just want a bucket of the stuff, the best deal I have found so far is at Amazon, where a 7 1/2 lb tub will cost you $18.74, down from $29.99 (at the time this article was published).

Now, if you do the math you'll figure out that Moon Sand is roughly $2.50 per pound on sale, down from $4/lb. Not bad, but not great. With the following recipe you can create around 50lbs of homemade moon sand for $30. That equates to 60 cents per pound, over 4 times cheaper than the sale bucket! So, grab your rubber gloves and lets get to work.



Recipe for homemade moon sand (1 batch)

6 cups of play sand (I got a 50lb bag from Lowes, it was $4.99 plus tax)

3 cups of cornstarch (most dollar stores carry it for $1 per box...you'll need around 24 boxes for the whole 50lbs!)

1 1/2 cups of cold water

Step one: Mix the water and cornstarch together thoroughly, this will take a few minutes to get it nice and smooth.

Step two: Gradually mix in the sand, one cup at a time. You'll need to really work it in with your fingers.

Step three: Play with it!

Step four: When you're all done, pop it in an airtight container.

Step five: When you next play with it, you'll need to revive it with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Just sprinkle it over and work it in.

That's all there is to it. Very cheap, very easy and the kids will get to play with heaps of the stuff. Play sand also comes in different colors, so buy different colored bags to mix things up a little. Have fun!