Oh So Yummy Chocolate Cobbler

This is one of my favs, Chocolate Cobbler. Super easy, great for those that love chocolate!

Chocolate Cobbler

2 sticks butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup self-rising flour

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 milk

Chocolate Layer

1 cup sugar

6 TBSP Cocoa powder

2 Cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a glass baking dish, melt the 2 sticks of butter in the oven.

In a bowl, mix together the 1 1/4 cups of sugar, the flour, vanilla and the milk. Once the butter is melted pour the batter over the butter but DO NOT STIR!

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa & the 1 cup of sugar. Sprinkle cocoa/sugar mixture on top pf the batter. DO NOT STIR!

Pour the 2 cups of boiling water on top of the cocoa/sugar (DO NOT STIR!!!) and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

It should look something like this:

Three Envelope Picante Roast

This recipe is currently cooking my crockpot and man does it smell good in here! Super easy and very tasty, the best combination for food if you ask me!

Three Envelope Picante Roast

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix

1 envelope brown gravy mix

1 cup water

1 cup picante sauce or salsa

1 chuck roast, (mine is about about a 3 pounder) or any kind of roast really

In a bowl mix the 3 envelopes of mixes with the water. Mix well. Pour just enough of the mixture to cover the bottom of a crockpot.

Place chuck roast on top of the liquid. Pour the remaining liquid on top of the roast. (DO NOT season your roast, there is plenty of seasoning in the mixes!)

Pour the 1 cup of picante or salsa on top of the roast.
Cover and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours.

Once your roast is done, remove the meat from the crock and slice thin. Take left over liquid and place in a sauce pan. Add about 1 tbsp cornstarch to about a 1/4 cup of water and mix well to make it smooth. Add to roast liquid and heat on a medium heat until mixture thickens, making a gravy.

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Found this recipe on Pintrest and just had to try it. I love me some Chicken Enchiladas and I love me some good pasta. This little beauty has both! I present to you:

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp fresh minced garlic

1 onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

2 cans (10 oz each) green enchilada sauce

2/3 cup red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

1 cup sour cream

4 cups Penne Pasta

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Cook onions, garlic & bell pepper for about 5 minutes.

In a large stockpot cook pasta according to directions while you complete the next steps.

Add chicken, chili's, cumin, salt, chili powder, & enchilada sauces to onions. Bring to a boil then simmer about 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off and add the cheese. Stir just until melted. Add in sour cream and mix well.

Drain pasta and then add the chicken mix to the pasta. Mix well.

Serve with extra sour cream, guacamole or chopped green onions.

Looks good don't it??

Make Your Own Shrinky-Dinks!

The kids and I wanted to do something special for the youth group to commemorate their upcoming mission trip to Joplin, Mo so when I came across this idea I thought this would just be too cool! AND I was right, it is!!

Here is how you too can make your own jewelery with homemade Shrinky DInks! Yes I do realize that a lot of people have no clue what a Shrinky Dink is but all I can tell you is they are cool toys from my childhood! They are still available but why buy what you can make? Here is a picture of some I had as a kid:

Basically they are sheets of plastic that you color and shrink in the oven to make little charms, etc.

So to get started you need this:

1 cookie sheet

Parchment Paper

Scissors

A hole punch

Permanent Markers

#6 Plastic Lids from foil containers, any container as long as its #6 plastic!

You can find out what # your plastic is by looking for this symbol with a # in it. Most take out containers are made of #6 plastic too.

Once you have everything together, go ahead and set your oven to 350 and move a rack to the lowest setting in the oven. This way by the time you get ready to bake them, your oven is good and warmed up!

Take your plastic container lid and cut the flat part out like so:

At this point you just go crazy! Scribble all over the plastic or cut it into whatever shape you want! We did 2 inch by 2 inch squares for the pendants we wanted to make! We then used the permanent markers to put our design onto the pieces.

Using the single-hole punch, punch a hole in the plastic so you have somewhere to hang your earring parts or the string to make a necklace. You have to so this now because if not you will have to use a tiny drill bit to get through the shrunken plastic. You need to round the edges with some scissors as well because again, you can't do it after they bake and the edges will be sharp if you don't!

Here is a shot of some small round ones we made too!

Line your cookie sheet with some parchment paper. Place your cut outs on the paper and then in your 350 degree preheated oven.

This what ours looked like before we baked.

While these are in the oven, they will curl up really badly. You will think they are ruined but they aren't! Be patient, they will start to shrink and flatten. When they are flattened out they are done shrinking! It can take anywhere from about 30 seconds to 2 minutes for this to happen.

Here is before and after:

We even made some earrings with the left over wavy bits! The waves make cool lines if you don't color in between the waves!