Nanni's Stuffed Shells!

So let's try this again. Life with four kids seems to make time go so much faster. It is fall already and I have all summer's worth of cooking pictures on my computer just waiting for me. Nanni's stuffed shells are from a while ago. We haven't stopped cooking, I just can't seem to get the pictures posted. So I'll just post when I can and I hope you all enjoy! Here is Nanni, the toothless wonder! She is six, my funny little firecracker!

Here is all the good stuff to make stuffed shells. We did three kinds: beef and cheese and some with both. The great thing about stuffed shells is that you can stuff them with just about anything, makes cooking for picky people a little easier.

Here are all the good spices that we put in the meat. Miss Dagny loves taking pictures of these little tins.

So just shake it all in there. Unless we are baking we don't measure much. Throw in there what you like until it smells great!

Here is the ricotta cheese, eggs, and parmesan cheese. Nanni loves using her hands when she cooks, even though there is a spoon in the bowl she mixed up the whole thing with her hands, all the while giggling about how messy she was.

Stuffing shells with cheese!

Meaty shells with sauce!

Add lots and lost of cheese!

Stuffed shells with green beans, yum! Oh and to make the green beans we opened the can dumped it in the pan and heated them up. I know nothing thrilling, that is why there are no pictures of it.

On to dessert! Can anyone guess what we are making?
Anyone? Anyone?


BUCKEYES!
You know those peanut buttery balls surrounded by chocolate.

If you are avoiding sugar for any reason stop here. This recipe has more sugar in it than anything I have ever made. This is why we only make dessert on Sundays. No way I could live with my kids if they ate this stuff every day. Recipe here! That is actually the whole box of powdered sugar. I haven't tried it with less sugar, but I'll bet you could cut it back some and they would still be good.

Here is the peanut butter 1 1/2 cups. The butter is under it too! I think the pictures are backwards, sorry. But you get it the idea.

Here she is again mixing with her hands! It really is a necessity here there is no way to use a spoon or a mixer and get the sugar mixed in there well. If you don't want to get your hands sticky, call one of your kids. I am sure they would be happy to play in the bowl.

Roll the peanut butter in balls and place on a cookie tray lined with wax paper.

Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler, yummy! Just try and keep your fingers out of it, it is kind of hot, trust me on this one.

Place tooth picks in the peanut butter balls and dip them in the chocolate and place back on the wax lined pan. Place in the freezer until hard approx 30 min.

Enjoy!!!!!
I dare you to try and eat more than 2 in one sitting, these babies are RICH good but rich! Don't say I didn't warn you!

Bacon Waffle Night!

So Monday was Porgie's night. He is by far our best eater. He will try anything once. Isn't he a cutie? I know I am a little biased, but even if he wasn't mine I'd say he's pretty cute. Anyway when it came his turn, he was all about breakfast for dinner. Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner? And with breakfast you must have bacon! So when Porge decided to put the bacon in the waffles I thought, "Wow this kid is on to something." Genius right? The salty bacon in the fluffy waffle and the sweetness of the maple syrup. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Here are Porgie's ingredients for the dinner. On the menu for the night were Bacon Waffles, (we just followed the directions for waffles on the pancake mix box) scrambled eggs, and homemade blueberry sauce made from the berries we picked last summer.

Look at him cut up the bacon. Even at eight I am pretty sure the kid is a natural. He wasn't even grossed out by the squishiness of the bacon.

Here is Porge's big brother Buzz. I think this kid could smell bacon from a mile away!

We chopped it up into about 1in. pieces. That way they cook down to bite size, remember these are going in the waffle batter! Yummy!

Bacon is pretty easy to cook but it pops a lot, so when the kids cook it I keep the heat a little lower to avoid some of the popping. We also trade off with the stirring if they want, but Porge is stirring like a champ here, I think I only had to stir once or twice for him.

Isn't it pretty? Don't forget to drain it on paper towels. Or if you are like me with the ever empty paper towel holder, you can unfold napkins and layer them as well.

Stirring the pancake batter. I know, not momentous but I wanted to make sure that you know he did make that too. Believe me you are all getting off easy here. Miss Dagny, my oldest, was the photographer for "Waffle Night" and I down loaded 118 pictures of the event!

Now, for the big moment! Porge adds the bacon to the waffle batter. I swear we cooked more bacon than you see there but between my husband and Buzz's bacon swiping this was all we had left!

While the waffles are cooking Porgie starts the blueberry sauce. It is super easy!!! 1/2 cup of sugar, 4tsp of cornstarch, see above.

1/2 tsp of cinnamon, whisk in 2/3 cups of water

Bring to a boil

Dump in 2 cups of blueberries!

MMMMMMMMM BLUEBERRY SAUCE!

We also made scrambled eggs. Yes, I even let my 8 year old crack the eggs. He didn't do to bad if I do say so myself!
Now on to dessert, chocolate covered bacon!!! Are you scared?

Don't be. It is pretty easy to make! Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler and dip away!

Check out that bacon. Now I do have to say we cheated and bought the precooked bacon because we thought it would be easier since it is so flat. Don't do it, it is too thin our chocolate covered bacon tasted like chocolate chips with a bit of salt. Next time, and I am sure there will be a next time, we will buy thick cut bacon from the local butcher instead. I guarantee it will be better.

BACON WAFFLES
Sorry I didn't get a picture of one with the blueberry sauce on it, Miss Dagny was too busy eating to be bothered with taking any more pictures than this one.
Now don't you wish you had been here?

Check back next week! Nanni is making stuffed shells on Sunday!

The beginning...

It starts today. Check back soon for updates and pics. Soon means Tuesday or so. Thanks.