Pineapple Cake Mix Cookies

I'm hooking up with We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday. My tip is about dishwashers. So you know that little thingy in the door that hold the Jet Dry? Well, I fill it with vinegar with a drop of blue food coloring in it so you can see when it's running out. It works just as well and it's ch~e~a~p!!

These are the best summer cookies except you do have to use the oven, but you were going to make dinner anyway, right? Chauncey has been asking for these and he even brought up the cake mix and pineapple out of the pantry and left them sitting on the cupboard, so I had to make them! You can leave the coconut out if you want but we think it really makes them yummy!

Pineapple Cake Mix Cookies

1 yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/4 cup oil

1 cup crushed drained pineapple

1 cup coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with Pam.

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients, you can use a wooden spoon for this. Drop onto prepared cookie sheets with a cookie scoop. Be sure and lick the wooden spoon when you're done, because this is good!

Bake for 10-13 minutes. Let cool 1~2 minutes then remove to cookie coolers to cool.

Works For Me Wednesday

I'm linking up with We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday. Here's my super easy summer dinner recipe, and I let everyone make their own. Usually we add carrots, but we forgot.




This is one of my favorite simple dinners to make! Yup, tin foil dinners, but I put them all on a cookie sheet in the oven. Be sure and spray your piece of foil with Pam first! This time I put potatoes, mushrooms, onion and kielbasa sausage. They take about 30 minutes at 425.

Wobble Over, Works For Me and Lemon Bars

I'm excited to link up with Amanda over at My Life With Rats and More for Wobble Over Wednesday! Be sure and check out my giveaways while you're here, you'll find them on the top right of my blog!
I'm also linking up with We Are That Family For Works For Me Wednesday. Here's my little tip for the day. I know it's a simple one, but sometimes we get in a hurry. Read through your recipes before you begin to bake. I still get ahead of myself, but this time I read through the recipe I've used for years for Lemon Bars and found that you need to beat the egg mixture for 3 minutes, Voila! The best lemon bars ever!

These lemon bars have a nice hint of lemon. We love the shortbread type crust. These make a nice refreshing treat!

Lemon Bars

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with Pam.

In a mixer beat the flour, powdered sugar and butter. Mixture will be a little crumbly. Press into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove crust from oven.

In clean mixer bowl beat the eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon juice for 3 minutes

Pour over hot crust. Bake for 25 minutes or until no imprint remains when touched. Cool. Sift powdered sugar over the top and cut into bars.

Make Your Own Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Helper

My Works For Me Wednesdays Tip is Beef Stroganoff! Do you like fast and easy without the preservatives of a mix?

Before we get to the recipe, be sure to sign up for my 2 GIVEWAYS! You can find all the info for the Bluegala Clothing giveaway HERE, and the Road Kill T~Shirt Giveaway HERE!

Since Chauncey loves noodles so much I decided to try the Stroganoff Hamburger Helper version from Chickens in The Road. I just love a one dish main dish, especially in the summer when it's hot and I don't feel like cooking dinner! Wait, I don't feel like cooking dinner in the winter when it's cold! lol This is a great recipe to have around because it's EASY and you can pass it off as homemade, because, ahem, it is!

Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Helper

1 pound hamburger

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 cup hot water

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups small egg noodles

1 tablespoon corn starch

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup sour cream

In a large skillet brown the hamburger, add the mushrooms when the hamburger is almost done browning and cook the mushrooms a little. When the hamburger is no longer pink add the water and milk. In a small bowl mix all the seasoning ingredients and sprinkle over the frying pan mixture. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes. Uncover and add sour cream, let sit for about 5 minutes before serving so it can thicken.

Crazy Dog T~Shirt Review/Giveaway, Ham Bites are Born and Mozzarella Sticks and Onion Rings!

Today I'm linking up with We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday! My tip today is actually from my daughter, Jennie. She is a big pasta fan.

Jennie says that when you make any kind of pasta you should throw a big handful of salt into the pasta water. I finally remembered to do it when I made spaghetti the other night. It was just spaghetti made with bottled sauce, frozen meatballs and (Jennie, don't read this) Parmesan cheese that comes in the big green can. Hey, that's what my family likes! Well, the family agreed that it was the best spaghetti they've had that was from a bottled sauce! So from now on I'm salting my pasta water for a more flavorful pasta!


Crazy Dog T~Shirt Review and Giveaway!


Crazy Dog T~Shirts is your number 1 place online for funny t~shirts. They were kind enough to let me pick out two shirts for a review.


I love this shirt, it says "Invisibility Shirt ~ Currently Deactivated"



Here she is again in it with her new puppy Ella. I don't know if I shared this with you, but her sweet doggie Fifi was hit and killed by a car, while I was in Maine. I felt so bad that I wasn't there for her when she lost Fifi. Ken bought her adorable Ella Louise (Louise is my middle name!) while i was gone to take Fifi's place. Ella is a Toy Platinum Mink Miniature Schnauzer. She is fitting into the family quiet nicely!


Here's Chauncey modeling this fun Zombie Shirt! His big brother Jacob is big on outsmarting Zombie attacks!

I just had to share another picture of Chauncey modeling!

Crazy Dog T~Shirts are made out of a nice heavy cotton and are really nice thick and soft t~shirts. We always hang our t~shirts to dry and these didn't shrink when we washed them. Crazy Dog T~Shirts has an awesome selection to choose from!

Crazy Dog T~Shirts are letting me giveaway a T~Shirt to one lucky winner and the winner can pick any t~shirt!

Here are the rules~The first one is the only one you HAVE to do to enter the giveaway, the rest are just extra entries.

1)This rule is mandatory~Become a follower of my blog, easy huh? Just click on the Google Friend Connect Follower button on the top left on my blog. Leave me a comment and tell me that you're a follower! Don't worry, if you are already following me that's great, just leave me a comment saying you're a follower!

2)Sign up for Crazy Dog T~Shirt's Newsletter and leave me a comment telling me that you signed up!

3)Like Crazy Dog T~Shirts on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me that you did it.

4)Put my cute Songberries Button on your blog. (You can find it on the top left of my blog) Leave me a comment saying you did with a link to your blog.

5)Follow Crazy Dog T~Shirts on Twitter. Leave me a comment telling me along with your Twitter ID.

6)Tell me in a comment your favorite Crazy Dog T~Shirt.

This giveaway is open to US Residents only and I will close it and pick a winner Sunday, June 20th.

I was not financially compensated for this review. I received a sample of this product for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experiences.

Now, onto some more food! PW made some like this a while back on her blog, but since I couldn't find her recipe, I made up my own. These were super easy, just remember to freeze your cheese sticks ahead of time. You need to freeze them at least 2 hrs, but you can pop them in the freezer the day before or night before. These were gobbled up pretty fast!

Fried Mozzarella Sticks

1 cup Italian Panko Bread Crumbs
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
12 string cheese sticks, cut in half
oil for frying

First, put the cheese sticks on a plate and freeze for 2 hrs.

Heat oil in a skillet, I like to use my cast iron 10inch skillet with about 2 inches of oil.

In a bowl put the flour and seasonings and mix with a whisk. In another bowl whisk the eggs and milk. In a third bowl place the panko bread crumbs. I like to line my bowls up by the stove with the bread crumbs being the closest to the stove, then the egg mixture, then the flour mixture.

This is where I got my family involved! I had Sloan dipping the cheese sticks in the flour, then she'd put them into the egg mixture. Ken would take them out of the egg mixture and roll them in the bread crumbs, then put them in the hot oil.. I would turn them over with tongs when they started to brown, then remove them to a plate with 2 layers of paper towels on it, when they were browned.


We had leftover breading, so we cut some onions up and made onion rings!

We still had some of the breading left, so we cut up pieces of ham and made ham bites! Ken just loved the ham bites! I thought they were better than chicken nuggets!

Lehi Roller Mills Review

Today for Works For Me Wednesday I wanted to share something I found out at our local veterinarians office yesterday. They have a vaccine for rattle snake bites for dogs! We love to take our dogs hiking and it's one of the things I worry about. It helps the dog make it to the veterinarians office so the dog can have time to get the anti~venom. My veterinarian said it's best to get it in the fall so they can build up antibodies, but doing it now would still help.




I want to share with you some great mixes that I tried. Lehi Roller Mills recently sent me their Heart Healthy Mixes for me to try. The first one I tried was their new pancake mix. This mix is fantastic! All you do is add water and mix! Super easy and they taste great and their good for you!




They are made with whole wheat flour and they have no preservatives! I love that! The kids really liked the pancakes.




They also sent me their Heart Healthy Cookie mix. This mix is also super easy, just add water and then mix with a hand mixer and Viola! Cookie dough! Chauncey came in and tasted the dough and said he couldn't wait for the cookies to be baked!

The kids loved the cookies. Chauncey said they have a nice apple pie flavor.



The Heart Healthy Multigrain Muffin Mix was the next one we tried. I love this one too, just add water! This mix also has no preservatives. I have never liked mixes real well because usually when I grab one out of the cupboard it's because I'm running low on things, then I look at the mix and it needs eggs, and I'm out of eggs! Not so with this mix, just add water and mix and bake! I added a few chocolate chips, you know us, gotta have chocolate if you can!

Look at the yummy goodness! Nice fluffy muffins that taste yummy and are good for you!

Be sure and look for Lehi Roller Mills Heart Healthy Mixes next time you're at your local grocery store. They're on the baking aisle with all the mixes!

This review is my honest opinion and no money was given to me for it.

Work's For Me Wednesday and Whole Wheat Bread

Today I'm linking up with We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday. Today's addition is Mom I'm Bored! Here's some of the things we like to do in the summer~

1) Go to the library, ours has a summer reading program and craft activities for kids

2) Go to the special movie our theater has for kids, a different one each week and it's cheap

3) Pack up a picnic and snacks and go to the outdoor pool for the day

4) Go for a hike, we like to take the dogs

5) Go to the second hand store and buy a toy or a movie, usually around a buck.

we would do this every week when the kids were little, cheap entertainment!

6) Pajama day

7) Tourist in your own town or a nearby town

8) Go to a different park each week

9) Give the kids their lunches and let them eat out in the back yard

10) Play dates

Be sure to stop by We Are That Family and see what everyone else's ideas are for Mom I'm Bored!

I found this recipe over at The Pleasures of Homemaking, Manuela made it and it looked so good! I love how fast and easy this bread is! You only have to let it raise once. Just remember if you add the eggs it doesn't last as long sitting in a bread box. For some reason eggs make bread dry out faster.

Whole Wheat Bread

(take out of the fridge; 4 T. dry yeast and 2 eggs..to come to room temp.)
In mixing bowl pour:
5 Cups hot tap water
2 Teaspoons salt, I like to add the salt after I add some of the flour, because salt can kill yeast
2/3 Cup of oil
2/3 cup of honey
The 4 Teaspoons dry yeast
Then add the 2 eggs
Mix in your flour...

(for "all" wheat bread, you'll add 11 1/2 cups wheat flour)
(for "all" White bread, add 12 cups white four)
(for 1/2 Wheat & 1/2 White bread, add 9 1/2 cups Wheat flour & 3 1/2 cups White flour)

(important tip)...Add the flour "until" the dough "leaves" the sides of the mixing bowl.
After the flour is all mixed in, leave the machine to knead it for..10 minutes...

Pour a pool of oil on your counter top,
Pull the dough out, with oiled hands, push all the dough into a big ball.
Cut that ball into 4 pieces...shape each piece into a loaf, place in Pam-sprayed pans.

Set the 4 pans of dough on top of the stove, cover with thin kitchen towel...
Turn oven on to 350*....Let bread raise for about 35 minutes, until it's about 1 1/2 inches above side of pan.
Place them in the oven..set the timer for 35 minutes.
When done, take them out, place each loaf on the cooling rack, slightly butter the tops..let cool.
(You can add raisins, sunflower seed etc. to this bread)

Works For Me Wednesday and Double Fudge Banana Muffins

Today for Works For Me Wednesday I wanted to share a tip for dogs. I have two miniature white schnauzers and sometimes their allergies make their eyes tear and it browns their fur and around their mouths. I found that if you put apple cider vinegar (the best kind is the kind with the mother in it from a health food store, but regular will work) in your dogs water it will stop the staining. I use two tablespoons of water in a gallon of water. It works for me! Head on over to Between Naps On The Porch and see everyone else's ideas!

Don't forget to sign up for my Sock Monkey Giveaway! You can find all the details HERE!




I found this recipe over at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. These mixed up super fast and have a great banana fudgy flavor, and the chocolate chips just make them so yummy!

Double Fudge Banana Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1 /4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas
1 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the bananas, oil, sugar and egg. Add the dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups and bake 22-25 minutes at 350 (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Cool on a wire rack.

Work For Me Wednesday And Don't Buy A Mix, Make "Speedy Brownies"!

I'm linking with Take It From Me for Welcome Wednesday. It's a great chance to make new friends and finds some fun blogs to visit or follow! Be sure and pop over to Take It From Me to find some fun blogs!



Don't you just love Wednesdays? I do! That's when I like to start thinking about weekend plans! I have really great weekend plans this week, because tomorrow I'm flying off to Maine (with my sweet hubby) so we can visit our daughter and our grandkids! Pretty great huh? And, the best part is even though my hubby has to go home on the 12th, (I get to stay until the 23rd! Yup, I'm pretty excited! Well, not so excited that my sweet hubby has to leave, but excited that I get to stay for a while!

So, I've been getting my bags packed and I thought I'd share a little tip I learned a long time ago. I like to roll up my shirts, especially t~shirts! It works so well. I can push them around the edges of the suitcase. I also like to put socks and other small things in my shoes, and I put them around the edges of the suitcase too. Does anyone have any great packing tips to share that I can use on my trip? Be sure to head over to We Are That Family and check out everyone else's tips!


I found this recipe over at The Tidy Nest. After making this I want to tell you, don't buy a mix, make these! They are really speedy! Just whisk all the dry ingredients and add the wet and mix. I love that when you pour it into (not really pour, the batter is really thick) the pan, it comes out of the bowl really cleanly. Probably because it has all that nice oil in it. Anyway, you can't go wrong with this recipe. Some brownie recipes use a lot of cocoa and this one only uses 1/2 cup.

Speedy Brownies

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl combine first 7 ingredients; beat until smooth. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out cleans.

The Hair Covering Store Review and Cinnamon Toast

Today I'm linking up for We Are That Family for Work For Me Wednesday.

Do you ever get nasty little hang nails? I hate how they can hurt so much! Well, I always seem to have a lip balm in my pocket, so I just use a little on my hang nails. It really helps moisturize them and heal them faster!


Have you heard of The Hair Coverings Store? It's a great place to buy all kinds of hair accessories. They contacted me recently and asked me if I'd like to do a review for them. They sent me this really cute multi~colored scarf headband. It's a great way to perk up an outfit.


It is more comfortable than a plastic headband (sometimes I have to take them off for a while). The Hair Covering Store has lots of other great hair accessories too, like~








I love these headbands, they are such an easy way to make your hair look great!




I think this leather band with the pick is a really fun way to hold your hair back!






I'm going to have to get one of these berets, I think they are super cute! Be sure to stop by The Hair Coverings Store and see all their cute things!

Right now if you use the Promo Code Spring, you can get 10% off your order!




The other day PW did a post on cinnamon toast. It was really funny because she told how NOT to make it, which was the way I always made it. Hey, it's not my fault, it's the way my mom taught me. I always made the toast, buttered it and then sprinkled on a cinnamon sugar mixture. Well, you know me, I had to try her way! Oh, my gosh, there is no going back now! Try it, it's yummy!

Cinnamon Toast

16 slices Bread (whole Wheat Is Great!)
2 sticks Salted Butter, Softened
1 cup Sugar (more To Taste)
3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (more To Taste)
⅛ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Smush softened butter with a fork. Dump in sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, if using. Stir to completely combine.

Spread on slices of bread, completely covering the surface all the way to the edges.

Place toast on a cookie sheet. Place cookies sheet into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbling. Watch so it won’t burn!

Remove from oven and cut slices into halves diagonally.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday and Abelskiver-Danish

Since it's Wednesday I'm hooking up with We Are That Family for Works-For-Me-Wednesday.

I keep my collection of running shoes on this rack on the inside of our downstairs bathroom. Sometimes my trail shoes can get a little stinky. Yup, really bad if I've been through a creek or mud. So I give them a little spray of Lysol inside and toss in a couple of these cedar balls. I found them on the aisle with the laundry bags and stuff at Walmart. They really help control the odor. Just don't forget to take them out of your shoes before you put them on, yup, I've been sleepy and shoved my foot right in! lol

Kind of cute too, and your kids or grandkids will want to play with them.






Chauncey has been asking me to make Abelskivers again so I had him help me. I found this recipe in an old cookbook, and these were the best Abelskivers! You need a special Abelskiver pan to make these. They are super easy to make, and taste like little fluffy pancake balls. Chauncey likes jam in his and Sloan likes chocolate chips in hers.

Abelskiver-Danish

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
jam
powdered sugar
Chocolate chips or jam or both, for centers

Heat a Abelskiver pan and spray with Pam.

In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat the milk, egg yolks and butter with a fork.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just mixed. Gently fold in the egg whites.



Scoop about 2 tablespoons batter into each cup in the pan. Put 1 teaspoon of jam in the center and top with a teaspoon of batter.


Cook until golden. Flip with a fork and cook until golden. Remove to a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.