Luke's Sleepy Eyes . . .Life. . .

I am sure that most moms have those special little things that they love about their children. These are things that most people are never aware of- and are generally "Mom's Little Secret".

One of my little secrets with Luke is his morning sleepy eyes. Riley's doesn't have these eyes- just Luke. They melt my heart, and I just wanted to share them with you. Love you bubba.

Recipe Swap Friday #1- Comfort Food . . .Cook. . .

I am so excited to see what YUMMY recipes everyone has dug up for our Recipe Swap today! I pulled out one of our old favorites, that is full of Doritos, yes....Doritos!

Nacho Cheese Chicken Casserole

(350 F 30-40 min)

2T butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1-1/2 lb chicken (1/2 breast, 1/2 thigh)
16 oz sour cream
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1- 7oz can diced green chiles
1/2t salt
1/2t pepper
1 bag Doritos, crushed
1 cup monterey jack, shredded
1 cup cheddar, shredded

1. Melt the butter, and toss in the onion and garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes- until the onions become translucent.

2. Add chicken. Cook through- NO PINK.

3. Remoce from heat, and stir in soups, sour cream, chiles, and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Spray 9x12 baking pan with PAM. Layer 1/3 chips, then 1/3 chicken mixture. Repeat two more times.

5. Combine the cheeses and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Cover with foil if the cheese starts to brown.

Now it is your turn. Post your recipe (w/picture) to your blog, or facebook, or personal website. In the "Mr. Linky" below enter your name, and the link to where ever it is that you posted your recipe, and then submit! All of the recipes with be linked here to this blog. So Simple! If you have any questions at all- just let me know!

Signs of Spring . . .Life. . .

I had a family session last weekend, and took a little time afterwards to photograph the blooming flowers, as the weather has been BEAUTIFUL here the last few days, and it seems like spring is in full swing- ha, that rhymed.

Look who decided to pop into the picture :)

Toddlers at Tables . . .Laugh. . .

Do you know how you know when the dinner you put on the table was really, really, REALLY delicious?

When you look over and...

Thanks for the vote of confidence there buddy :)

Recipe Swap No. 1- Announcement

I am super excited to announce the VERY first Recipe Swap!

This week's theme is Comfort Food.

Comfort food is as unique as your are, and the definition varies from person to person- so I want you to share with me what your favorite comfort food is. These theme is as broad as they come- your comfort food could be of any country origin, and even a dessert if you so chose.

Here's how this is going to work. Dig out the recipe to your most cherished comfort food. Whip is up, take some pictures, and then post the recipe and pictures in the notes section of your facebook profile or on our very own blog if you have one. Format your recipe as closely to Pepperoni Pizza Puffs as possible.

On Friday morning I will post my Comfort Food Recipe- at the bottom of that post you will find a Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is a blog utility that will allow you to provide me with a link to your recipe.

You will enter the recipe name- along with your first name, and then the link to your recipe on your facebook or blog in the Mr. Linky utility and then submit. Mr. Linky will submit this link and permanently post it on my blog for the world to see! The only hiccup that I can forsee will be private facebook profiles. Since I am not sure if this will work for private profiles- we are going to take the wait and see approach.

If come Friday, your Mr. Linky doesn't work out for you because of a private profile- then email the recipe/picture to me, and I will post it.

Mr. Linky Help

Here are few hints to help you fix any Mr. Linky problems you might encounter.

1) Remember that Mr. Linky automatically fills out the fields with your previous entry. If you specify your link to go to the i heart faces post directly, remember to check again, B E F O R E you submit. This will save you time from having to fix your error later.

2) Please keep your Mr. Linky name to 25 characters (or less). If your username is longer than 25 characters we will make your name shorter for you. Please do not use all caps, special characters or commercials as your name.

3) You must link directly to your Recipe permalink. Please do not link to your home page or Facebook profile page. Your link will be removed if not directed to the specific post.

Examples:

GOOD - Permalink (it takes you directly to a specific post “Pepperoni Pizza Puffs”)

http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/2008/12/about.html

BAD (Direct link to the home page which makes you have to hunt for the post)

http://cooklaughcreate.blogspot.com/

4) Can't see Mr. Linky? Sometimes his server goes down. I'm sorry, but I can't control that. If Mr. Linky does disappear, please be patient and try again later.

5) If you are still having problems or if you accidentally mess up your Mr. Linky name or permalink, please contact me and we will try to help you anyway that we can.

Recipe Swap Fridays

So I was thinking that I wanted to start a Recipe Swap Friday here on Cook, Laugh, Create.

Every friday would have a theme, like Italian, Dessert, etc.- and the people that want to participate would simply need to email their recipe along with one picture. The picture is required. I don't know about you, but I wont even buy a cook book if it doesn't have pictures.

All of the contributions will be posted here.

Like anything- I need people to participate. Submissions would be due every Wednesday. Theme's for the next week will be announced along with the Recipe Swap on friday's.

If you think this is something that you would like to participate in- leave me a comment! It think it would be fun, and a great way to get some new recipes into our kitchens!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs . . .Cook- For Non-Cooks. . .

These are the perfect dippable little kids bites! Sorry about the AWFUL quality of this picture- I made these a while ago, and didn't take a picture. This is a picture of a magazine picture.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

(prep 15 min. Bake 25 min @ 375 F)

3/4 cup flour
3/4 t. baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces shredder mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
4 ounces pepperoni, cut into small pieces (about 1 cup)
     - look for the mini pepperonis, these work great!
1/2 cup store bought pizza sauce
2 T. fresh basil finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a 24-cup mini muffin pan with PAM. In a large bowl wisk together the flour and baking powder; wisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni. Let stand for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the batter and split it up among the mini-muffin cups. Sprinkle with a little more cheese if you want to. No such thing as too much cheese! Bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 minutes

3. While you are waiting on the oven, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Then stir in 1 tablespoon of basil. Sprinkle the puffs with the leftover basil.

Serve the puffs with red pepper slices and pizza sauce for dipping. If you are a dip-a-holic, pull out the ranch!