Glazed Brownie Hearts

1 box Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on brownie mix box
1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Chocolate frosting

Heat oven to 350°F. line bottom and sides of 13 x 9 pan with foil. Crease foil on bottom only of pan with shortening or cooking spray. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Bake as directed for 13 x 9 pan. Cool completely 1 hour.

Using foil to lift, remove brownie from pan; remove foil. With deep 2½" heart shaped cookie cutter cut 14 brownies. Place brownie hearts on a cooling rack or waxed paper.

In microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 10 to 30 seconds. Stir; frosting will be thick and spoonable. DO NOT BOIL. Carefully spoon melted frosting over brownies to glaze, allowing excess to drip down sides. Sprinkle with candy sprinkles before frosting sets.

Garden Patch Minestrone Soup

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 medium carrots, sliced (1 cup)
2 medium stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (1/3 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium zucchini cut in half lengthwise then cut crosswise into ¼" pieces
1 tsp dried basil
1 box Hamburger Helper beef pasta
1 can (15 oz) Progresso cannellini or dark red kidney beans, drained,, rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
5 cups hot water

In 5 quart Dutch oven or stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic, cook about 5 minutes stirring frequently, until vegetables are almost tender.

Stir in zucchini, basil, uncooked pasta and sauce mix from Hamburger Helper box, beans, tomatoes and hot water. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until pasta and vegetables are tender.

Coming Soon: Guests

Hello, I'm TDFIRMOAFM and I'm a recipe collector.

I was asked to share something that someone may not know about me. Something that is often over looked but that I really enjoy doing. It took some time and deep soul searching to come up with an answer. I enjoy many things. But one that many people don't really grasp is that I like to collect recipes.

Many of the recipes I have come from people I met for one reason or another. Those reasons caused the chance meeting to turn into a beautiful friendship, that naturally led to swapping recipes. Other recipes come from odd sources such as magazines I used to read, newsletters from schools and organizations, and get togethers. A home ec class that I took or someone else took. A few come from cookbooks that have been passed on to me by friends and family or found at various tag sales, friends of the library sales, etc.

I have found that a quick way to break the ice and become better friends with others is through the discussion of food. Often I have been at a function where I've been assigned to sit with people I don't know. As my anxiety of the unknown raged, often a discussion would start innocently regarding a food or drink that was or wasn't being offered or the simple remark of "Gee,wish I would have eaten before I came". This would then lead to opinions being shared and the ice of unknown being shattered. I could relax enough to not be as anxious because suddenly there was a common denominator of food amongst us.

Anyways, that is why the odd recipe or many appear through out the pages of my ramblings. Often I am given a recipe that is so interesting that I just have to share it. This has caused the question to be asked of "why do you post recipes to your blog without a comment about how you enjoyed the recipe?" The reason is because I haven't tried the recipe personally. I am either excited to share it with others cause its interesting and may help them come up with something to enjoy or it's because of more personal reasons such as a food allergy or lack of resources to get the ingredients. After all I have a few recipes that the only place that I can get the ingredients for them is to travel over 12 hours one way to a place with the known ethnic venue. Not very advantageous to trying to make those recipes.

So what does the above have to do with the announcement of Guests?

Over the last  two years I have had the privilege to meet many wonderful artisans and small business owners through various online venues.  We have been interacting now to the point that we are sharing not only what's for ___(dinner, lunch, breakfast, holidays). But a few have even shared recipes for x to help out ___ with y.

So my guests that will appear here will  be sharing about their business ventures and a recipe that has special meaning to them. And I think that you will find as I have that while we may all be similar in some things and completely different in others; food is a very real and common bond that we have.

So who will it be? Just wait and see....

Mango Strawberrry Sorbet Torte

Cake
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix, water, vegetable oil, egg whites called for on cake mix box
1 pint mango sorbet softened
1 pint strawberry sorbet softened

Frosting
1½ cup whipping cream
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp grated lime peel
2 Tbs lime juice

Garnish
Lime peel twists
Fresh Strawberries

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan).
Spray bottom only of 15x10x1" pan with baking spray. Line with waxed paper; spray waxed paper.
In large bowl make cake mix as directed on box, using water oil and egg whites. Pour into pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until toopick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack; remove waxed paper. Cool completely about 1 hour.
Cur cake crosswise into 3 equal sections. On long serving platter. place 1 section rounded side down. Spread mango sorbet evenly over top. Place another cake section onto the sorbet; press down. Spread with strawberry sorbet. Top with remaining cake section; press down. Cover lightly; freeze about 2 hours or until firm.
In large bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peak form. Frost sides and top of torte. Freeze about 1 hour or until firm. Just before serving garnish top with lime peel and strawberries.
To serve let stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Cut torte in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise 7 times to make a total of 16 slices

Chicken Ranch Tacos

1 box Old El Paso Stand n Stuff Taco Shells
3 cups cut up deli rotisserie chicken
1 pkg Old El Paso taco seasoning mix
½ cup ranch dressing
1½ cups shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato chopped (¾ cup)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
¼ cup sliced green oinions
Additional ranch dressing if desired.

Heat taco shells in oven as directed on box
In medium microwave bowl place chicken. Sprinkle with taco seasoning mix; toss gently to coat.
Microwave uncovered on HIGH 2 to 3 minutes or until hot. Stir in ½ cup dressing
Spoon warm chicken mixture into heated taco shells. Top with lettuce, tomato, cheese and onions. Drizzle with additional dressing.

Substitution: instead of rotisserie chicken used any diced cooked chicken.

Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad

1 box Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad ranch & bacon pasta salad mix
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp grated lemon peel
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1½ cups snow pea pods strings removed,c ut diagonally into ½" pieces
½ cup sliced almonds
leaf lettuce if desired

Empty pasta mix into 3 quart saucepan 2/3 full of boiling water. Gently boil uncovered 12 minutes stirring occasionally.
Drain pasta, rinse with cold water shake to drain well
In large bowl stir together seasoning mix mayonnaise lemon peel and lemon juice. Stir in chicken, pea pods and almonds serve on lettuce leaves
serve immediately or refrigerate

High Altitude: Make pasta mix following high altitude directions on box.

Very Berry Parfaits

1cup Berry Burst Cheerios cereal (or any flavor)
½ cup fresh blueberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries
1 container Yoplait Thick & Creamy yogurt (any berry flavor)

Place cereal in resealable food storage plastic bag. Seal bag. Use rolling pin, slightly crush cereal.
In parfait or drinking glasses layer half of the berries and half of the yogurt. Top each parfait with half of the crushed cereal

Makes 2 parfaits

Incredible Family Needs Our Assistance.

The Estes Family needs our help. There is a fundraiser that is going on now until January 29, 2010. You can learn more about it by clicking on the following: homeschool-sale-help-estes-family-in-need

In 2005 we became a home schooling family. Shortly after embarking on this new journey we were left searching for a way to help reinforce the lessons we were covering. We didn't want just rote memorization of facts but a deeper understanding of them. A friend recommend that we go to a site called Hands and Hearts. What a blessing it quickly became for us through their fabulous history kits. Because of the success we experienced with these kits and the other great products they offered, we frequented the site regularly and even began to follow their blog.

We have through Kate's blog followed this family on their amazing journey for awhile now. It's amazing to see how they handle the curve balls that have been thrown their way. I don't think we'd do as well as they have with the string of serious issues they've faced. None of what they have been hit with seems particularly fair. It's almost like they have a particularly large bulls-eye hovering over their heads.

Why would I say that? Here are 3 of the top reasons as to why I say it.

They have a young son named Noah who has a  mitochondrial disease. The future is very uncertain for him because of this rare disease. It will at some point claim his life. There have been numerous hospitalizations in the past and there will always be the potential for more in the future. Unfortunately that is just the nature of life with a mitochondrial disease. His mom quite literally has to drop everything else and rush him to the hospital and then stay with him for unknown lengths of time. The hospital that Noah must use is several miles away from the family home. Which adds another degree of stress to an already overloaded highly stressful moment.

Last spring, they were dealt a very nasty blow to their financial situation. The unreasonable CPSIA regulations temporarily forced them to stop their business. This created a tremendous hardship as their profitability took a major nosedive.

Before the CPSIA blow, Jeff had been out of work for many months because of being downsized. He's been unable to land another job that will give him the flexibility that is needed  in order to care for their other 7 children when Kate is at the hospital with Noah.

This family has a lot to juggle in a given day.Who doesn't you might say? But seriously stop a minute and think of what they face each day. There is  the normal daily living activities of meals, laundry, and keeping the home for a household of 10. That takes a good chunk of time. Then there is the schooling, running a family business that's been crippled by CPSIA, appointments that must be kept with different doctors, clinics, etc. and manage a lot of the medical care that Noah requires on a day to day basis. The last thing they need is the worry that they may lose their home because their savings is exhausted.

Please take a minute and consider what you can do for the Estes Family. If you can help with a donation, or a purchase through the special link. If it's just to pass on this special offer to others, if it's even just to take a minute and say a prayer or two. Please consider doing it.

Take a good look at the links sprinkled above. Contact the organizers of this event for verification if you need to. This is a very real situation that really does need help. So let us unite and ban together to help our neighbor who is in need.

 Again here is the link to how you can help this Incredible and Very special family homeschool-sale-help-estes-family-in-need

Thank You

Chicken Fajita Salad Wraps

Chipotle Lime Dressing
1 cup ranch dressing
1 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs finely chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (from 7 oz can)
1 tsp grated lime peel

Wraps
3 cups chopped cold deli rotisserie chicken
2 cups thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
1 cup frozen corn niblets cooked cooled
1 small tomato seeded chopped (1/3 cup)
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese (4 oz)
1 pkg flour tortillas ( 8" size)
Sour Cream

in small bowl mix dressing ingredients; set aside. In large bowl, stir together chicken, lettuce, corn and tomato. Add dressing; toss to coat.
To assemble each wrap, spoon 1/8 of chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. sprinkle with cheese Roll up Serve immediately with salsa and sour cream.

Warm Caramel Apple Cake

Cake
½ cup butter
¼ cup whipping cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
2 large cooking apples (Granny Smith) peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist yellow cake mix
1¼ cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
¼ tsp apple pie spice

Topping
2/3 cup Betty Crocker Whipped fluffy white frosting (from 12 oz container)
½ cup frozen (thawed) whipped topping
Caramel topping

Heat oven to 350°F
In 1 quart heavy saucepan cook butter, whipping cream, and brown sugar over low heat, stirring occasionally just until butter is melted. Pour into 13 x 9" pan. Sprinkle with pecans; top with sliced apples.
In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and apple pie spice with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Carefully spoon batter over apple mixture.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from pan. Place heatproof serving platter upside down on pan; carefully turn platter and pan over. Let pan remain over cake about 1 minute so caramel can drizzle over cake. Remove pan
In small bowl, mix frosting and whipped topping. Serve warm cake topped with frosting mixture and drizzled with caramel topping