National Trail Mix Day

This isn't your regular trail mix but its just as good! The new M&M's snack mixes are great! Pretzels, almonds, shortbread cookies and of course peanut m&m's. What's not to love!

September National Food Holidays!

September National Food Holidays

*National Biscuit Month
*National Breakfast Month
*California Wine Month
*National Honey Month
*National Mushroom Month
*National Potato Month
*National Rice Month
*Whole Grains Month
*National Chicken Month

*Saturday before Labor day: International Bacon Day
*Second week of the month: Waffle Week, Biscuits and Gravy Week, & Vegetarian Awareness Week.
*Fourth week of the month: National Wild Rice Week

*September 1: National Cherry Popover Day
*September 2: National Blueberry Popsicle Day
*September 3: National Welsch Rarebit Day
*September 4: National Macadamia Nut Day
*September 5: National Cheese Pizza Day
*September 6: National Coffee Ice Cream Day
*September 7: Salami Day
*September 8: National Date Nut Bread Day
*September 9: Wienerschnitzel Day
*September 10: TV Dinner Day
*September 11: National Hot Cross Buns Day
*September 12: National Chocolate Milkshake Day
*September 13: National Peanut Day
*September 14: National Cream Filled Donut Day
*September 15: National Linguine Day
*September 16: National Guacamole Day
*September 17: National Apple Dumpling Day
*September 18: National Cheeseburger Day
*September 19: National Butterscotch Pudding Day
*September 20: National Rum Punch Day
*September 21: National Pecan Cookie Day
*September 22: National Ice Cream Cone Day
*September 23: National White Chocolate Day
*September 24: National Cherries Jubilee Day
*September 25: Crab Meat Newburg Day
*September 26: National Pancake Day
*September 27: National Corned Beef Hash Day
*September 28: National Strawberry Cream Pie Day
                          Drink Beer Day
*September 29: National Coffee Day
*September 30: National Hot Mulled Cider Day

National Toasted Marshmallow Day!

 School is back in full swing and the dog days of summer feel like a dream. But before we totally say good-bye to summer activities, we still have a few more summer celebrations to take care of. And of course one of them is National Toasted Marshmallow Day! Darrell and I got the girls together, grabbed a bag of marshmallows and headed outside for a marshmallow roast! Here are our family photos of the roast, and for once I got to be in them! It's usually me taking the photos but Darrell wanted to make sure to get me in on this one! Whether you like them golden or burnt to a crisp, an added bonus is that two marshmallows are only 1 PPV! I hope you grabbed your family and friends and enjoyed National Toasted Marshmallow Day like we did!

Banana Lover's Day

Happy Banana Lover's Day!

National Cherry Popsicle Day!

The girls are fresh and clean from their baths. Now it's time to enjoy their Cherry Popsicles on National Cherry Popsicle Day while Mom reads them their good night books!

August 25th~National Banana Split Day & Whiskey Sour Day!

Happy National Banana Split Day! See, even the banana split is happy to be celebrating! (Little did he know, that when asked over for dessert, he would be dessert.)

National Waffle Day!!

It’s National Waffle Day! On this day in 1869, a man named Cornelius Swartwout received the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron! Thank you Cornelius! So pull out your waffle iron, dust it off, and whip up some waffles!! Don't forget the syrup!  

National Sponge Cake Day!

So after making several trips to Walmart today, I broke down and picked up some little sponge cakes. I had made that huge Rainbow Cake earlier this week and didn't want anything else to do with cakes. But I couldn't ignore my desire to celebrate National Sponge Cake Day, even though I had already told my husband earlier, that we would NOT be celebrating Sponge Cake Day. I did however only get the 6 pack of mini sponge cakes in the bakery section of Walmart. I already had some strawberries and some fat free Cool Whip in the freezer. (I ALWAYS have Fat Free Cool Whip in the freezer, usually multiply containers.) So after dinner, I laid out the mini sponge cakes on our plates, put a few strawberries on with a spoonful of Cool Whip and I don't like cherries, so a blueberry topped it off. Voila! Extra Bonus- only 2 PPV for my little creation!

RAINBOW CAKE

So I've seen this cake all over blogs, Pinterest, and Facebook and I just had to try it! I was going to wait until Samantha's birthday which is next month, but my dear hubby knew how much I wanted to make it and he said I could do it for his birthday. What a sweetheart!

All it is, is two boxes of white cake mix, follow the directions on the box, and then divide up the cake mix into five separate bowls. It turned out to be about 3 1/4 cups of batter for the five layers. I got icing color from Walmart to make the colors so vibrant and wonderful. Now I am not a big frosting person, so the cake will need about 3 tubs of frosting. I only used 2 and didn't go all around the cake, just in between each layer and the top. Now my mom told me that if you beat the tub of frosting you will get double from it. But I had already frosted the cake and couldn't try that out.

So all in all, the cake turned out AWESOME!!!!! The only downside is, it's MONSTROUS, we couldn't finish our pieces and have no idea how we are going to finish this cake. I think next time, I will try the Walmart style rainbow cake in one pan and no layers.

Potato Day! And also Hot & Spicy Day!!!

So today is not only Potato Day, Hot & Spicy Day, but also my hubby's birthday!! Happy Birthday Honey!! And since he gave me free reign over his birthday dinner, I made a delicious strawberry spinach salad with buttermilk poppy seed dressing. Sounds very fancy but very easy. And I couldn't ignore the potatoes. So I just boiled them for 8 minutes, and then threw them back into the pot with some seasoning, olive oil, and a little bit of garlic and herd sandwich dressing. The kids loved them, so they turned out amazing! They also loved the strawberry spinach salad which I was very worried they would just look at me and say "Really?" But they dug right in and loved it! Now tomorrow is my husband's real celebration because he had to work today. Poor baby. :( So tomorrow is the rainbow cake attempt! (Details will follow tomorrow!) But tonight I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip bar cookies so we could sing him happy birthday and he could blow out the candles.

Now the spinach and strawberry salad and the chocolate chip bar cookies both came out of one of my favorite recipe books.  Eat What You Love by Marlene Koch. The potatoes were my own creation so I don't have a recipe for them. I threw in whatever sounded good, but potatoes are easy like that.

So here are the recipes. Please try the strawberry spinach salad. It's AMAZING!!

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Buttermilk Poppy Seed Dressing

Makes 4 Servings.

1 1/2 cup serving= 2 PPV

Dressing:

1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1/4 cup low fat buttermilk

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 Tsp lemon juice

3/4 Tsp poppy seeds

dash salt

pepper to taste

Salad:

6 cups spinach leaves

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries.

1. Whisk all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Place salad ingredients in large bowl and pour dressing over. Mix well. Serve immediately.

Soft-Batch Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Serving 1 Cookie= 3 PPV

6 Tbsp butter, softened

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup Splenda granulated sweetener

2 oz jar baby food- prunes

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Oven- 350 degrees. Spray 13x9 in baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Large bowl with electric mixer- butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, sweetener, prune and vanilla and beat till smooth.

3. Medium bowl- whisk flour and baking soda. Add to wet ingredients and stir by hand until combined. Add chocolate chips.

4. Spread mixture into baking pan. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until light brown.

Now don't be scared of these bar cookies just because they have prunes in them. You CANNOT taste them. My husband was shocked when I told him what was in them. But they turn out so light and fluffy compared to the original chocolate chip bar cookies.

August 18

Happy National Soft Ice Cream Day!!

The girlies and I walked over to McDonald's from our house this evening, just to get a ice cream cone. It was the perfect little treat to the end of our fabulous day. We attended a birthday party to celebrate our little friend, Landon's 5th birthday. I remembered to grab the camera just to get their pictures enjoying their ice cream. We hope you celebrated too!

Enjoy!!

August 16th

Happy Bratwurst Day!!

National Food Holidays~August

~August~


*National Brownies at Brunch Month
*National Catfish Month
*National Panini Month
*National Peach Month
*National Sandwich Month


*1st Sat of the month: National Mustard Day
*Second Week of the month: National Apple Week


*August 1: National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
*August 2: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
*August 3: National Watermelon Day
*August 4: National Lasagna Day
*August 5: National Oyster Day
*August 6: National Root Beer Float Day
*August 7: National Raspberries in Cream Day
*August 8: National Zucchini Day
                   National Frozen Custard Day
*August 9: National Rice Pudding Day
*August 10: National Banana Split Day
                     National S'Mores Day
*August 11: National Raspberry Tart Day
*August 12: Julienne Fries Day
*August 13: National Filet Mignon Day
*August 14: National Creamsicle Day
*August 15: National Lemon Meringue Pie Day
*August 16: Bratwurst Day
                     National Rum Day
*August 17: National Vanialla Custard Day
*August 18: National Soft Ice Cream Day
*August 19: Potato Day
                     Hot & Spicy Day
*August 20: Lemonade Day
                     National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day
*August 21: National Pecan Torte Day
*August 22: Eat a Peach Day
                     National Spumoni Day
*August 23: National Sponge Cake Day
*August 24: National Peach Pie Day
                     National Waffle Day
*August 25: National Banana Split Day
                     Whiskey Sour Day
*August 26: National Cherry Popsicle Day
*August 27: Banana Lover's Day
*August 28: National Cherry Turnover Day
*August 29: Chop Suey Day
                     Lemon Juice Day
*August 30: National Toasted Marshmallow Day
*August 31: National Trail Mix Day
                     Eat Outside Day

New Blog!

So recently I have had a lot of response from my celebrations of National Food Holidays. I know it sounds a little crazy, but yes, there is a food to celebrate everyday of the year! Sometimes one, two, or even three to celebrate.

And for the last couple of months, I have been planning our meals, snacks, or desserts to these holidays. And I LOVE it! It's been so much fun celebrating with my husband and children. So I decided because of such great response from family and friends, why not make a new blog just about the food holidays, our celebrations, and some other fun things that happen to us along the way? (Some food related, some not.) Now I won't have posts everyday, because I do have somewhat of a life and a family to take care of. And some holidays are a little outdated, ex. National Hot Cross Buns Day for Sept. 11th. Or they are just a little gross or weird. National Oyster Day on Aug 5th? Gross. National Welsch Rarebit Day for Sept. 3rd? What is that?!

So if you find this blog as much as fun as I do, then please follow me. Or you are sick of the dinner game every night- "What do you want for dinner?" "I dunno. What do you want?" I HATE that game! Then follow this blog or you just want to check out what the food holiday is for the day (I will have a post at the beginning of the month for all the food holidays in that month) then follow this blog! Please. :)

Enjoy!