Minneapolis-Star-Tribune-cooksandcreates

I ran to the Dollar Tree and got two packages of chocolate chip cookies, a Hershey's chocolate bar and was lucky enough to find two cans of Wilton's spray frosting.

Start with your base layer. Make sure all the cookies on the bottom are attached to the plate.

Otherwise your whole cake will slip and slide!

Start building your layers. 

The more frosting, the better.

You can never really have too much! 

Stack your cake as high as you like

Or until you run out of cookies

Make some big swirls of frosting right in the middle of the cake.

And fill in any large gaps all around your cake. 

I like the over-flowing look of frosting!

It helps to store your Hershey's bar in the fridge while your making the rest of your cake.

Makes it easier to shave.

Using a cheese grader, make shavings of the chocolate bar.

Break up a few of the bars to decorate the top too, if you like. 

Then, your cake will go in the fridge for an hour. 

Then you can cute it with a knife, just like a regular cake!

It was so good! 

A little messy, but worth it!

Linking up to these A-M-A-Z-I-N-G blogs....

Framed Frosting, HOH, Crafty Scrappy Happy, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Cherished Handmade Treasures, Dolan Diaries, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, The Thriftiness Miss, Living Well Spending Less, The 36th Ave, Frugal Fit Family, Sincerely Paula, Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Skip to My Lou, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Mad in Crafts, Keeping It Simple, Craft O Matic, Piggy in Polka Dots, That's What Che Said, It's So Very Cheri, Boogieboard Cottage, Stone Gable, Serendipity and Spice, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

#1 - Bubbles! My kids (even the 9 year old) love bubbles....the bigger the better. I love this idea of having a bubble refill jar! The next time I see an old tea jar at a garage sale, it's mine! {La-La's Home Daycare}

#2 - Fun Bible Games - this is a great activity to have the boys do while I'm making lunch. Something they can sit at the table and do....and (hopefully) work together as a team - and learn at the same time! {When You Rise}

#3 - Summer Reading Star. This is a great idea and a great motivator for kids that either don't enjoy reading very much or find reading kind of difficult (like my oldest). {How Does She?} I'm also going to set up a day each week to take the boys to the library to check out books. You can also sign your kids up with Barnes and Noble or Half Price Books Kids Summer Reading Clubs for more rewards! 

#4 - Summer Bucket List - I like this because it can be tailored to fit your family...and even add a few things that are a bit out of the box! {This Homemade Life}

#5 - Adventure Book. I usually like to make a scrapbook each summer of all the activities we did and vacations we took. This is a great way for the kids to remember what they did. {Crazy Little Projects}

#6 - Summer Schedule. Love this idea. I'll have to make one that fits our town because Tuesday will be free movie day and Thursdays are story-tellers day. But, my kids will love knowing what we're doing each day! {Remarkable Home}

#7 - Zoo Passports. We live in Omaha, NE and have an amazing zoo right here (Henry Doorly Zoo). We also have a zoo membership, so we go to the zoo alot. This would be a neat idea for them to seek out different animals and write down one or two facts about each animal. {We Wilsons}

#8 - Making Kid Friendly Food Together. On my weekly summer schedule with the boys, I'm going to have a cooking day. This is a great way to make my kids eat food they wouldn't normally eat! {My Pinterest Board and Mom on Timeout}

These last two, I'm really excited about!!!

#9 - Building the kids a fort. We're going to try and do the whole fort for free - using found materials on Craigslist! {This Old House}

#10 - Outdoor Play Area - Colton (our youngest) would love this! He loves playing in the dirt. {Lowe's}

I'm ready to get started now!

Linking up to: Lady Behind the Curtain, Make Bake Create, Creative Geekery

This kid is growing up!

Okay...here I go with my top 5 favorite posts that I pinned this week....

I am SO going to copy this super cute idea from Uncommon Designs

Personalized Cupcake Stands!

How cute is this doughnut holder!?

I'm not sure when exactly I would use this...but I still had to pin it.

Check out Catch My Party to see more. 

Ashton is in charge of buying his own school shoes (since he insists on only Jordans now)

Last year, he sold cookies door-to-door.

This lemonade stand from Dolans Diaries would be a cool idea to try and earn some cash this year!

I'm putting together some books for the boys to take in the car for road trips this summer.

I saw this bingo printable from Thirty Handmade Days and thought it would be perfect. 

Too funny. I had to add this.

(From Cheezburger)

Thanks for stopping by today...

a few things...

Also make sure and check out my posts from this week...

My fave project..... Spray Paint Drip Pots

From HomeGrown Hospitality 

I'm linking up to these amazing blogs:

HOH, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Dolan Diaries, Beyond the Picket Fence, Live Laugh Rowe, Living Well Spending Less, The 36th Ave, Truly Lovely, Sincerely Paula, 504 Main, Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons, Chic on a Shoestring, Creative Geekery

Save 20% when you click on the banner above and make a photo album from Blurb! 

Dad will love a personalized coffee cup or iphone case from Tiny Prints.

My hubby would LOVE the new Iron man stuff from Cafe Press!

If Dad or Grandpa have a sweet tooth - check out this cool candy from Old Time Candy.

I've been wanting to do some freezer cooking here lately and have been pouring over my Pinterest boards. I have a ton of ideas pinned - but couldn't get my brained focused enough to print out all the recipes that I wanted to make and make a grocery list. It hit me to just pull everything out of the pantry and freezer just to see what I had. 

I had two bags of frozen chicken breasts, 2 lbs of ground chicken, a 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef, stew meat and  plenty of cans of diced tomatoes.

 I did go buy the green bell peppers and carrots - but everything else I had. 

It's amazing to me some of the things I found at the bottom of my freezer...some Rotisserie Chicken, the Kraft Fresh Take cheese mixes and a lot of shredded cheese!

I felt like a chef on "Chopped" or "Iron Chef", I kind of looked over everything and wrote a list of things that I would have all the ingredients to make. 

First, I cooked all the meat that I needed.

I floured the stew meat and started browning it for the Amish Stew.

(see below for full recipe)

I threw the 2 lbs of ground chicken and the 1/2 lb of ground beef in a dutch oven to start cooking for the lasagna and sloppy joes. 

Next, it was time to slice all the veggies. 

I knew I needed all three of my green bell peppers sliced for the stir fry. 

I also tried to be fancy and cut some of the carrots for the stir fry into logs. 

It resulted in a cut finger. 

Ouch. 

I didn't have any onion on me, so for all my recipes that needed it - I used dried onion. 

It's super cheap and easy. 

I also didn't have any garlic, so used garlic powder instead. 

The Amish Stew's already to go! 

This is a family favorite! 

--Please note that you'll need to make sure and add seasonings to all your dishes!!! I love Greek Seasoning (yellow can) and good old Kosher salt.--

The stir fry's were so easy!

1/2 bag of shrimp

large handful of sliced green bell peppers

medium handful of sliced carrots

I also had a half bag of frozen green beans that I divided between the bags. 

a couple tablespoons of soy sauce

a cap-ful of Emeril's Asian Essence

You won't need to defrost these all the way. 

You can just throw them into a hot skillet or wok (using oil)

and heat them until the veggies are done. 

Serve over rice...buy a few egg rolls and your meal is complete!

The chicken stir fry was the exact same....except I used chicken.

=)

If you let your chicken defrost just a little on the counter top, they are super easy to slice into strips. 

I thought I was going to make a full on lasagna.

 Then I realized that the box in the pantry...

only had five noodles in it. 

So I made do.

Crushed the noodles in the bag.

Added a can of spaghetti sauce

1/2 of the ground chicken/beef 

Handful of mozz cheese

salt and pepper

tablespoon of dried basil or Italian seasoning

Throw everything in a freezer safe bag.

Attach an 8oz bag of mozz cheese to the outside (will be used as a topping)

When you cook this lasagna....put it into a casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese.

Cover it with foil and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Uncover and bake another 10 minutes. 

The Italian Smothered Chicken was not on my original list.

But I ended up having more chicken then I thought.

This is simply 4 chicken breasts

1 can of spaghetti sauce

8oz mozz cheese taped to the outside

When you're ready to bake this...put it in a 350 degree over for 45 minutes covered with foil

Uncover and bake until cheese in completely melted. 

This is an easy one....grilled chicken.

Just four chicken breasts in a bag with seasoning (mesquite)

We also seem to have last minute friends that either come over or invite us over to cook-out.

It's always BYOM (Bring your own Meat) so this is something that we can grab out of the freezer and go. 

Last was the Sloppy Joe's.

I put the rest of the ground chicken/beef mixture in the bag and poured the can of sloppy joe mix in. 

I'm not a fan of sloppy joe sandwiches...but the kids and the hubby love them.

I do like them in bowls, something you might want to try too. 

That's it! 

I got 10 freezer meals using what I had in my pantry!!

The best part is that it took me under an hour! 

Freezer cooking does not have to be complicated or involve big recipes.

Use your imagination and come up with some great ideas for your family! 

Here's the Amish Stew recipe that I promised: 

Amish Stew - freezer cooking and crock-pot style

Makes 2 bags, each bag feeding 4-5 people

2-3 lbs of cubed stew meat (tossed in flour mixture and browned in pan)

4 cans diced tomatoes

4 diced carrots

1 diced onion (or a few tablespoons of dried onion)

Celery (optional)

2 Tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce

Couple Pinches of salt and pepper

Divide it all between two freezer safe bags. When it comes time to cook this, you'll add 3 diced potatoes at the bottom of your crock-pot, and throw everything in the bag on top of them. Cook at low for 6-8 hours. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!