How to Make Your Kids Think You Are Cool

They will worship you. Beg you to make it again. Smiles and laughter will abound.

What is this magic? Rainbow jello, my friends. Rainbow Jello.

Basic Salmon

Leave a comment on how you like to prepare your salmon.

Salmon filets
Lemon pepper
Seasoning salt
butter

Prepare a cookie sheet with a piece of foil large enough to fold loosely around filets.

Lightly sprinkle both sides of the salmon with lemon pepper and seasoning salt. Put a small amount of butter on top of the salmon, about 2 tablespoons (depending on how much fish you have).

Bring the edges of the foil together, fold and tightly seal first the top and then the sides. Bake on cookie sheet at 350 for about 20 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the amount and thickness of your filets. For me they are usually done shortly after it starts to smell good.

Spoon additional juices over salmon filets just before serving. We like to eat it with mashed potatoes and gravy made with cream of chicken soup and milk mixed in until it is the right consistency. The gravy is good with the salmon too.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Thanks to my sister-in-law Nancy for sharing her awesome picture with me. Believe me, her photo far surpasses my original photo of the next day leftovers.

I've been wanting to try this recipe from Stephanie and it was a hit at our house. My family didn't even make the connection between tuna noodle casserole and chicken noodle casserole, they compared it to chicken noodle soup instead. They thought it tasted like chicken noodle soup, minus the broth. Genius, I know.
Stephanie used half of a Costco rotisserie chicken. I threw some chicken breasts and Good Season Italian in the crock pot early in the day. When it was done I roughly shredded it so I still had some larger chunks of chicken, then used it in this recipe. I also didn't have fresh parsley. Stephanie's probably tasted better (we all know hers LOOKED better than my photo of the leftovers), but that's the beauty of it - even with my inferior ingredients it was still really good.
12 oz. wide egg noodles, cooked according to pkg directions (I use No Yolks)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 breasts of chicken, chopped and cooked
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
fresh parsley, chopped
For the topping:
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
Cook pasta according to package directions, set aside. In a large skillet, melt butter and add onion and garlic. Cook until onions are soft, just a few minutes. Add flour and whisk together and let it brown a bit. Slowly add the milk and chicken broth. Cook on medium low until bubbling and the mixture starts to thicken. Add salt and pepper, chicken and noodles. Combine well.
Pour into a greased casserole dish. Mix the melted butter and breadcrumbs until well combined. Sprinkle on top of the noodles. Cook in a 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are nice and toasted. Top with fresh parsley.

Rice Krispy Treats

I usually make these once a year for the big family campout. But for the first time I made them just to make them (thanks to the many extra bags of marshmallows I inherited after the family campout). How else do you use up marshmallows? I don't know what else to use them for besides hot chocolate and rice krispy treats. Leave me a comment if you have other ideas for marshmallow usage.

They were a hit with the kids and I forgot how easy they are so I guess we'll have to make them more often. Nothing special, so if you want to ramp up your rice krispy treats look here and here. Or here.

This is just the plain old recipe right off the box.

3 Tbs. butter
4 cups mini marshmallows or 1 package (10 oz.) regular marshmallows (about 40)
6 cups Rice Krispies

Melt butter and marshmallows completely, then stir in cereal to coat evenly. Press into greased pan with a greased spatula or waxed paper and cool.

Cut into 2 inch squares. Best served same day.

Sounds tasty

One of my 5 year olds informed me yesterday he wanted to make cookies and proceeded to dictate the recipe to me.

"I want to make chocolate cookies. We put in chocolate chips, then all the stuff for peanut butter chews, and then 1 tomato, 2 pieces of ice, 3 pieces of butter, and 1 piece of peanut butter on a bread. We mix that up and then there's more.

"We have to put 1 cup...I mean one piece of M&Ms and 3 pieces of cheezits, and 3 cans of beans. One more thing: we have to put one oreo in the cookies. That's all the stuff.

"We can make it whenever we want...even right now!"

Do you ever wish you could just freeze your kids in time and just keep them at that age forever?

Sigh. I do.

(Don't worry, I also have the kind of days I am afraid they will never outgrow a certain age and/or stage.)

But today, I wish I could just always keep them little.

World Famous Hamburgers

2 lbs. hamburger
4 Tbl. barbeque sauce
4 good shakes garlic salt
1/2 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper
cheddar cheese
1/2 can black olives chopped fine

Mix all ingredients together except cheese. Form into 1/3 lb. balls. Cut balls in half and add a chunk of cheese between halves. Form into hamburger shapes, sealing cheese in the center of the burger. Make sure edges of burger are tightly sealed so no cheese is exposed.

Barbeque and brush additional barbeque sauce to the outside of the burger. Hamburgers are usually done when cheese starts oozing from the sides.


Originally posted 3/30/2007 without pictures

New Pictures

New pictures posted under Cafe Rio Burritos that will hopefully help you assemble them a little easier.