Jalepeno Poppers

 My family, with the exception of my father & I love hot stuff.  My husband, mom, and brother are huge fans.  Which is great, unless you are the cook in the family.  :)

We put them together & finished them on the grill at my parents.  So yet again.. I just have a picture of the begining.  From what I heard they were amazing.  We had left over ham & pickles from the subs and the cheese made way too much so we made ham & pickle wraps, that were divine too!

Jalepeno Poppers
8 oz softened cream cheese
10 large jalepenos - for as much cheese as this made though- I'd say 20, unless you want to do the ham & pickle thing too :)
1 C cheddar cheese
salt & pepper
1 T garlic miniced
2 T water
2 T minced dried onions
10 slices of bacon (if you do 20 poppers you'll need 20 pieces of bacon)

Mix everything together- but jalapenos.  Let sit for 1/2 hour while cutting & cleaning peppers out.
Slice the sides, leaving the tops on.  Using a freezer bag or a frosting piper or even a small spoon fill the peppers.  Wrap the bacon around the peppers- if you aren't going to cook them right away, we soaked toothpicks in water for a few minutes and put it through the peppers to hold the bacon.

They go on a grill or in the oven for 15 to 20 min.  Once the bacon is done, we did them to a crisp.

Subs

 I've always had some creativeness in my cooking.  I'm not a fan of "plain" anything, unless it comes to something like a BLT.   Then I'll do plain.  This weekend we went to my mom's for a poolside lunch and I was in charge of making lunch.

One of my favorite breads ever is french bread, it's that chewy crust and the soft center.  It's everything bread should be.

 I make a mayo the night before, mayo, onion, worcestershire sauce, minced garlic.  It's all by feeling, but... it's apx 1/2 C mayo, 2 TB onion, 1 T garlic, and 6 dashes of worcestershire.

I pull the breading for the most part out of the french loaf, otherwise- my mouth doesn't open that big.  I always cut it up in to chunks to use later in the year for stuffing :)

I slather both sides of the sub with the special mayo, put the cheese, roast beef, salami, ham, and fresh pickles.  I wrap them & let them set at least 2 hours so everything melds together.

I wish after I wrapped them, I had not wrapped them & taken a picture of the finished product.  Whoops.  Then we were so famished that I didn't take a picture once they were unwrapped.  Ha.    You blog & learn right?  Next time.  These are my go-to on the go sandwiches, for picnics, the pool, or even feeding a crowd, they are so easy and seem so gourmet!

Working on life

Cory and I both have been working on losing weight.  I've also over the years consulted with nutritionists on diets and what can and will impact my migraines.  I had surgery on my neck on Wednesday to help with my migraines.

I've had plenty of time to scour the internet for plenty of ideas, one of the biggest things is removing preservatives from my diet, like things in pre-made soups, dinners, etc. So I've been writing down recipes and filling my recipe box.  I'm also working on another month of meals, once I get a chance to sit down and look at the meat flyers for the local stores this week.

I've done things like cut frozen pizza out of our diet, but, we still have it, I make 4 pizza's ahead and freeze them.  All we have to do is pop them in the freezer.  Working on our garden gives me a chance to control the amount of preservatives & ingredients in things like spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc.  Which I love making home made now.

I found a recipe I'm very excited about for Olive Garden's alfredo.  I'll let you know if it turns out the same.  We are still enjoying life, we went out on our first bike ride this last weekend together to bring a fallen rider home.  You may have heard about the accident, 12 of a local biker group were mowed over by a guy in WI.. please keep the family & all of our riders on the road in your thoughts & prayers.

Homemade Laundry Soap

 I decided to try saving even more money.. I watched for random items to go on sale.  Deciding to try my own soap.  Some mixes you find online suggest using different bars of soap.  I can honestly say, it doesn't matter.  I like Castile soap because it has a coconut smell, and is all natural.

 

I grated everything.  I got the castile soap on sale, so, I did many bars that day.  So I only had to clean the grater once.

I created 4 bags.  After making this recipe I found a site that shows how to make super washing soda from baking soda.  I'll try that soon & post the results.  This is an idea I took from Pinterest.  The original can be found here.

I take all the boxes, mix them together with 1 bag of my castile soap, I put them in a 3 gallon bucket & bagged them for use in the laundry room.  I've yet to get a container.  We stopped using softner, I've replaced it with vinegar, which, helps the smell of our top loading washer and use softner just for homemade dryer sheets.  But of course, that's another post :)

Using 2 T of this mix in your wash replaces the cups of the store made kind you buy.  I can honestly say I don't miss tide, but I definitely love the money that's in our pocket!

Homemade Laundry Soap:

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz)

1 4 lb box Baking Soda (1.81 kg)

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz)

3 bars of Castile soap- grated

Mix all ingredients, use 2 T for a large load in cold, warm or hot water.