Lazy Lasagna...

I'm going to be honest...
I don't have a picture of this because...

well...

it's really ugly and I didn't want to scare you away...

it's delicious and one of those foods that totally hits the spot...

trust me...

I love love love lasagna but it can sorta take awhile/be complicated...

so I created this little gem by combining a couple of different recipes and I loved it!

I really think that the egg noodles is what made it though...

the texture of those bad boys was perfect...

I hope you will at least try it!

Lazy Lasagna:

1 lb. hamburger, browned and drained

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 lb. container cottage cheese

parmesan cheese, enough for your liking

cheddar cheese, about 1-1 1/2 cups

1 package egg noodles, prepared.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Mix the hamburger and sauce together, add some parmesan cheese.  Layer the noodles in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Spread the cottage cheese over the noodles and then spread the sauce over that.  Cover with shredded cheddar cheese.  Bake in the oven until cooked through and cheese is nice and melty...enjoy with your favorite garlic bread.

My kids don't like to see tomatoes in their dinner so I always blend up my chunky spaghetti sauce before I mix it in with the hamburger...also, I was afraid they would shy away from the cottage cheese cuz they don't like that either...so I blended it up with the sauce...this is why it looked soooo ugly and I couldn't fathom posting such a bad picture.  But it was good and that is all that matters...right?

See how easy...

Instagram love...

I really really like Instagram cuz it's super easy...

but I feel like it's kinda cheating on my blog...

so these are a few of my recent Instagram photos...

The above photo is my cutie bug Jenner in her dance costume...

she is so excited for her recital next week she talks about it every second of the day!

This is my water-a-holic Addy watering my mother's day flowers for the umpteenth time...

I hope they can survive my squirmy 2 year old...

 

We love to have fire's in our backyard...

in fact, Chris has big plans for said fire pit and also an awning structure that will span our entire house...

I am lucky he's so talented...

Taylor was in the choir for her school this year and they just had an end of year concert...

this was their 'Footloose' performance and she looked so adorable in her old man suspenders...

Next year she will be on one of their competing teams and I am so excited!

Addy bug was making sure my frosting was as delicious as it looked...

I just love her hair in little piggy tails...

she is adorable...

Sometimes this is what happens around 10:30 pm around our house...

you see, these little girls are still in our room and they still don't have any kind of set bedtime and we sometimes (most of the time) can't stay up until they are ready to sleep...

so we set them up with a movie and wander back out to the front room sometime later and this is what we find...

so if you see lights on at my house at say 3:00 in the morning, it just means that we haven't rescued them from the couch yet...

move along...

My user name on Instagram is bartonfamilyco...

come follow me and I will follow you!

It's a date!

Oatmeal smoothie...

I heart Pinterest...

I pin all sorts of recipes and most of them have been a flop...

but I really like this one...

it sounded so weird but so good for you and filling that I had to try it...

my kids just die when they see me drinking it...

therefore I call it my sledge...

mmmmmm....

Oatmeal smoothie:

approx. 250 calories

1/4 cup oatmeal

3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)

1/4 cup yogurt, whatever flavor (I had yoplait light blackberry)

1/2 cup juice (I used grape)

3 Tbsp. dried fruit (I used cranberries)

Place the oatmeal in a blender, the bullet style one works really well.  Blend it's guts out till it resembles cornmeal.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend away.  Let it settle for a minute so the fruit will re-assemble at the bottom and then blend again.  The fruit won't totally pulverize so don't worry if there are chunks.  This has to 'cure' in the refrigerator for a few hours so the oatmeal will soak up the liquid and get all yummy.  You could obviously substitute any kind of yogurt, juice or fruit...these were just what I had on hand. 

I make this in the evening so I can have it in the morning...I have to sorta shake it around and sometimes blend it up again cuz the oatmeal can settle in the bottom.  Just a heads up!

The original recipe called for Chia seeds and I am so intrigued by those little guys but I didn't have any so I continued on without them.  I am tempted to go and get some to see if they live up to their reputation.  They are supposed to expand a gajillion times their size in your stomach and make you feel super full so you can make through the in-between time of meals without being tempted to snack...or at least that's what I would hope they would do for me.  Interesting right?  Although, this smoothie really makes me feel super full and so maybe I don't need them...anyways, let me know if you try it and if you like it!

Sugar cookie bars...

These come to you courtesy of my friend Melanie...

if you like sugar cookies like I do, you will thoroughly LOVE this recipe...

but I warn you, they are super naughty when dieting...

I made them on Mother's Day where no calories were ever counted...

(well, they were but these weren't a part of it)

Sugar Cookie Bars:

Cream together until fluffy...

1 cup butter, room temperature soft

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature soft

1 1/2 cups sugar

Add:

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix thoroughly.

Add:

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Mix well and press into a greased jelly roll pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until very lightly browned on the edges.  Frost with buttercream frosting.  

Buttercream Frosting:

10 2/3 Tbsp. soft butter

1 tsp. vanilla

4 Tbsp. milk

4 cups powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients until fluffy and add desired food coloring.  

Note:  I use about 10 Tbsp. butter and I also add Almond extract for more flavor.  Love Love Love!!!

Homemade French Fries...

I've never even attempted to make french fries before because they always sounded so difficult...

I found a few recipes that I was curious about and I decided to combine two recipes to see how they would work...

Let me just say...

THEY ARE AMAZING!

the kids' friends thought they were fast food fries...

SCORE!

Homemade French Fries:

Preheat your oil on the stove-top to 400 degrees...super super hot! On my gas stove, I had the dial on high.  Also, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Peel and cut your potatoes into strips...I tried to make mine pretty thin and they turned out perfect.  Dry them really good on either some paper towel or a dish rag.   When the oil is ready, drop in your fries in batches.  The oil bubbles violently and the fries will not brown...this is good.  Keep them in there for a couple of minutes unless they do start to brown, in that case, pull em out early.  Drain them on some paper towel. 

Turn down your oil not so that it reaches about 350 degrees...on my gas stove it was medium.  After they have all been through the oil and drained, put them onto a tin foil lined cookie sheet...if you have a ton you will need to do two sheets.  (with three medium potatoes, they all fit on one)  Put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes.  The very tips of them will start to brown just a little.  

Now, when your oil is ready start the frying all over...in batches.  They will brown up pretty quick so keep a close eye on them.  After they have cooked, drain them and salt them well.  Enjoy...I have just discovered via Paula Deen that french fries dipped in mayo are to die for!  Try it!

 

 She put on the famous wig again and asked me if she looked like Lady Gaga...

what does she even know about Lady Gaga?

The basement...

Remember how I told you we were getting close to getting the basement done...

well...

it's done and it's fabulous!

Glorious!

Wonderful!

I am so excited!!!

I promised pictures so don't be alarmed by the abundance of them...

Remember how I told you these bedrooms came to me in dreams...

well at first I really really wanted the boys room to have some grafitti in this corner...

and we had it all lined up to do...

then the kid who was going to do it for us ended up back in the big house...

so that idea was gone...

you can't have just anybody do grafitti for you...

it has to be someone with talent so I felt that my options were gone...

Dream # 2 for the boys...

the huge DC logo...

super excited about this idea!

I really wanted the boys to have their own closet...

and the bookshelf is behind the door so it was just wasted space that needed to be utilized...

insert genius!

Dream #3 was the stripes...

I was really pumped about this idea too...

I thought it would add just enough interest and color to the room to give that special something that I was looking for...

the chalkboard was an afterthought...

read on...

Here is Taylor's room...

she picked the bedding right off the bat and so I was in charge of dreaming up the walls...

this idea came to me to use some board to separate the two colors...

it looks so cool like that!

And the board serves a purpose too...

see those hooks...

they are going to line that whole wall at some point... 

The chalkboard idea was originally only supposed to be in her room...

but the piece of metal we got was huge and had to be cut in half...

so the boys decided that they wanted one too...

they are magnetic as well as chalkable...

now we just need to find some awesome magnets and chalk accessories!

Think of how cool this will be everytime her friends leave her notes and pictures on her board...

I'm dreaming of it now! 

The original plans of the house had a vanity in this room so we dubbed it officially as Taylor's...

what girl doesn't want a vanity in their room? 

This gem is the handywork of my super talented husband...

obviously the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen this side of the Great Salt Lake...haha

we still need all the accessories like towels, curtain, MIRROR! 

I hesitated even taking a picture of the great room because of the hodge podge of CRAP in it...

the carpet was done yesterday morning and the kids started moving their stuff down there the second they walked in the door from school...

I couldn't wait for all of the toys to be down there so I ustilized their child labor energy and we moved everything toy related down there too...

hence the MESS! 



Ol' Fashioned Donuts...

Photo courtesy of Christie's corner 

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I had to try them...I even saved up my calories by not eating a regular dinner to have these instead...it was so worth it!  I adapted them slightly and I got the picture from the blog the recipe was on because I couldn't figure out my intsagram thingy to get my picture on here.  They are delicious when they are hot...we saved a few for this morning and they were just okay.  I doubled the recipe and ended up with maybe 3 dozen donuts so if you want to go smaller, just keep it as is.  But my neighbors were thrilled that we had so many...hahaha

Ol' Fashioned Donuts

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp shortening

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup sour cream

canola oil for frying

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl, and set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the sugar and shortening for 1 minute on low speed, until sandy. Add the egg yolks, then mix for 1 more minute on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is light colored and thick.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three separate additions, alternating with sour cream, mixing until just combined on low speed and scraping the sides of the bowl each time. The dough will be sticky, like cookie/biscuit dough.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap/cling film, for 45 minutes (or
up to 24 hours).

Heat up your oil in a large soup pot.  Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with donut cutter...you can use a drinking glass and then a smaller bottle lid to make the hole if you don't have a donut cutter.  Drop about 5 donuts into hot oil, after about 10 seconds they will float to the top, flip them at this point.  Let them brown on the underside and flip them again.  After they are totally brown, lay them on a cooling rack that has been placed on a paper towel lined cookie sheet.  Let them cool for a couple of minutes and then dip in glaze.  YUM

Glaze

Powdered sugar (about 2 cups)
water (start small, maybe 1/4 cup and then go from there)
1-2 tsp. Karo syrup
vanilla

Make a glaze the consistency of honey adding water if needed to thin it out.