Cannoli Cones

These are sooo good!  I adapted, very slightly, the recipe from here: cookiesandcups.com
They do require a little advanced planning, but they are really worth it!

Filling:

24 ounce container of ricotta cheese.  (The original recipe called for whole milk ricotta, I used the 2% kind.)
1 cup of sifted powdered sugar
1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
      Place a handheld strainer over a container and line the strainer with paper towels or cheesecloth.  (I used paper towels.)  Put the ricotta cheese on top of the paper towels and refrigerate for 2 days, changing the paper towels when they are really soaked, once or twice a day.  The ricotta starts out wet and needs to reduce the moisture.  It will soak the towels and even slightly drip into the container.  I have found that 2 days is the right amount of time to dry out the ricotta.  When dry, put the ricotta into a medium sized bowl and sift the powdered sugar into the bowl.  I do this 1/4 cup at a time and stir it into the ricotta.  Then add the chocolate chips and mix. 
Cones:
12 sugar cones
1 cup milk chocolate melting drops
2 cups mini semi sweet chocolate chips
     Melt the milk chocolate drops in a double boiler.  Place the mini chocolate chips into a shallow container.  Dip the cones into the melted drops and then into the mini chocolate chips to cover the melted chocolate.  Set covered cones onto wax paper to harden.  
To Serve:
      Spoon the filling mixture into a gallon sized bag and cut the corner.  Pipe the filling into the cones.  They are best served immediately but will hold in the refrigerator for a few hours.
 

Breakfast Burritos

These are a huge hit with my family!  These are a once a month project that get wrapped up and tossed into the freezer for those easy morning breakfasts.

The key ingredient to making these so good is the salsa con queso.  I have found that regular cheddar cheese doesn't stay melted very well in the burritos.  This con queso adds just a little kick with the peppers and the texture stays very creamy.

Roll them up tightly.  I stack them on one of my broiler pans with sides so they don't accidentally roll off!  Freeze them for about 30 minutes and then put them in individual baggies and then into a freezer storage bag.  Microwave for 1-2 minutes and they are ready to go!  I make mine a little on the small side.  They are very filling.  For this recipe I used:
 2 lbs. of ground mild sausage, fried
 24 oz. bag of potato rounds, baked
 20 eggs and 2/3 cup milk, scrambled (just barely undercooked, I don't like rubbery eggs!)
 40 tortillas
 1 large jar of Tostitos salsa con queso (the brand really matters, don't use the cheap stuff, it tastes funny!)

This looks like a lot of burritos, okay it IS a lot of burritos, but with a family of 9, this won't stay in my freezer very long...sigh.  :)

Frozen Homemade Waffles

I like to make waffles about once a month.  I multiply my single recipe by 9 and then freeze them in baggies of 2.  This is the best recipe I've used for waffles!

    Waffles (single recipe, makes 4)             (x 9)
3/4 cup flour                                           6 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder                              9 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar                                         1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt                                            2 1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. veg. oil                                      1 1/2 cups veg. oil
2/3 cup milk                                           6 cups milk
1 egg, separated                                     9 eggs, separated
               In a large bowl add all ingredients, except for the egg whites.  Place egg whites into another medium sized bowl.  Beat egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. (This is the secret to these waffles being so good!)  Use mixer to combine the other ingredients in the large bowl.  Gently fold egg whites into mix. 

The kids like mini choclate chips in their waffles.

I like mine with frozen blueberries and chia seeds.  (You can't taste them, but they are really good for you!)

The best part is having 24 frozen bags of 2 waffles for kids to pull out of the freezer and either toast or microwave for breakfast.  If you grind your own wheat, this is a great way to use it.  I prefer half wheat flour and half white.  You can even sneak some wheat germ or flax seed into the waffle batter, no one will know!

Kids and Chores

If your kids are like mine, getting them to do their household jobs and do them well, is a chore in itself!  If I say, "Go clean your room!" about 10 minutes later the child will return and say it is done.  I know that 10 minutes is not enough time for said room to pass mom's white gove inspection!  After several room checks the child feels inadequate and mom feels annoyed.  I learned this lesson when my kids were young so I came up with the following chore book. 

Each page is a separate room or household chore.  They are laminated for durability.  What makes them helpful is that each step is clearly and specifically laid out.  I went through each job as I did them myself and wrote every instruction, no matter how minor, for the job to be done.  Even the amount of specific cleaning product is listed ie:  Open and unwrap one dishwashing tablet and place it into the dishwashing dispenser and close the lid.  Throw the plastic wrapper from the tablet into the garbage. (I am always amazed that even my teenagers will leave the wrapper on the freshy wiped counter and walk away!)

This chore book was for our first home and when my kids were little, about 10 years and under.  We are now in a different home and my kids are: 18, 16, 14, 12, 12, 11, and 7 almost 8 years old and I am thinking we need to make another chore book.  Another rule I use with chores is that I will come check their work immediately when they tell me they are done...once!  If the work fails the first inspection they must complete the unfinished portion and remain there for 15 minutes before I will come check again.  This repeats until the work passes mom's standards.  This is where a checklist for them to follow is really helpful!  Mom is pretty picky and the kids are usually in a hurry but knowing that they will have to wait for rechecks encourages them to really do a good job the first time and makes sure they complete each task on the list!

FHE: Why Do We Need the Book of Mormon?

The youth of the church are focusing their studies this month on the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and one of the questions for study is, "Why do we need the Book of Mormon?"  We have been encouraged to use the "Come Follow Me" curriculum in our Family Home Evenings so I have decided to use this for tonight's lesson.

I printed this great article from one of my favorite General Authorities, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, from the curriculum online at lds.org.  It is titled, "Safety for the Soul."  The second page has some great insights about Joseph and his brother Hyrum right before their martyrdom.  Testimony building for sure!

This article, "Why We Need the Book of Mormon" is found on the youth page of lds.org.  This is a great section of the lds.org website and I highly recommend the youth of the church read it often!  There are songs, videos and articles chosen specifically for them.

This activity is found in the "Home Evening Made Easy" book published many years ago as a FHE resource for members.   It tells the story of a journey for a Book of Mormon from printing to destination.  It is printed on the blue books and then taped sequentially with the story onto the green continents which are taped to a blue balloon to look like a globe.

This is a game of Book of Mormon trivia.  It is for 3 teams.  Each team has a collection of anwers on sticks.  The questions are typed onto the slips of paper.  After a question is asked, each team races to find the correct answer and be the first team to hold it high in the air.  The questions are simple enough for even young children with a basic gospel knowledge to be able to answer!

 Treats, a couple of songs and prayers, and my Family Home Evening is ready to go!