Please Help! What is this Pyramid?!

On our travels we were driving somewhere near Dallas, Texas (if my memory is correct), I opened my drowsy eyes from a nap to see a huge pyramid out the car window. I was able to grab the camera and snap a picture of it:

Photo Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

I tried searching the internet for the answer to what this incredible building is, with no luck. So, I'm asking for your input--what is this pyramid? Am I correct in thinking it is outside Dallas, or was I so groggy from sleep that I am completely wrong as to its location? Thanks for your help!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Thanksgiving Menu, Or Should I Say Feast?

I have cooked a big Thanksgiving dinner by myself only once. Our family has always gone to my parents' or my inlaws for Thanksgiving, so I never actually had to host the dinner myself. The one time I did cook the whole meal, I loved every minute of the planning, organizing, cooking and serving. I thought I'd share the menu. It is mostly traditional, except for the lasagne. I cooked that, in addition to the turkey, at the special request of my husband!

Thanksgiving Menu:

Lasagne
Turkey Breast with Italian Herbs
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Stuffing in a Crock Pot
Homemade Yeast Rolls with Butter
Sweet Potato Casserole
Homemade Noodles
Corn Casserole
Sweet Tea
Lemonade
Pumpkin Pie
Buttery Cranberry Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Egg Nog

Looking at this list I am amazed that I actually cooked all that food! But, organization was key, and because I had a step-by-step plan and did a lot of preparation in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I truly was not stressed on the big day.

I wrote out a day-by-day schedule of things to do, starting on the week before Thanksgiving. I assembled and froze the lasagne ahead of time. I also made and froze the uncooked noodles, cooked the sweet potatoes for the sweet potato casserole, chopped vegetables for the stuffing, and put together parts of recipes that could be quickly thrown together on Thanksgiving day. I made out an hourly schedule of what needed to be done on Thanksgiving day, planning ahead of time what dishes could bake in the oven together and when each dish needed to be assembled and cooked. Because I was well organized, we were able to have a huge, completely home cooked meal that did not chain me for hours to the kitchen!

I want to share with you the Sweet Potato Casserole I adapted from the internet. Instead of using a nut topping, I substituted Vanilla Wafers in the topping recipe for a sweet, crunchy, absolutely delicious dish!

Sweet Potato Casserole

4 c baked sweet potatoes, mashed (bake medium sized potatoes 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees)

1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 t salt

4 T butter, softened

1/2 c milk

1/2 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Pour into a greased 9x13" baking dish. Top with crumb topping(recipe below).

Crumb Topping:

1/2 c brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 T butter, softened

1/2 c vanilla wafers, coarsely chopped

Mix together sugar and flour. Cut in butter. Stir in vanilla wafers. Sprinkle over top of sweet potato mixture in baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Whether you are cooking up a feast, or keeping things simple, remember to keep your priorities in sight. A table full of food is not worth the effort if the cook is overburdened, upset and exhausted from cooking all day! Stressing over the food is never worth ruining a day in which we have so much to be thankful!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Great Giveaway-Amazon $50 Gift Card!

I love giveaways, don't you? I just heard about a very generous giveaway that I wanted to tell you about at World of Mom's place. Stop by and sign up! The drawing will take place just before Thanksgiving, and is perfect timing to use it for Christmas shopping if you should win!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Warm and Comforting Ham and Bean Soup Recipe

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Our deliciously warm and comforting dinner tonight was a thick Ham and Bean Soup with cornbread. There's something about a crockpot of hot soup simmering on a cold day that brings anticipation for dinner as the aroma fills the house! The price of beans is very economical, and this makes a good amount (serves 7) and, depending on the size of your family, will be enough for leftovers. I want to share this tummy warming recipe for Ham and Bean with you!

Ham and Beans

1 pound dry Great Northern beans
1/2 pound cooked ham, diced
1 meaty ham bone
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1/8 cup brown sugar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
salt and pepper to taste

Sort and rinse beans, and soak overnight in a large pot with 8 cups of water. In the morning, drain and rinse beans. Place in crockpot with all ingredients except diced ham. Add just enough water to crockpot to cover the beans. Cook on low for 8-9 hours. Add water during cooking as needed. During last hour of cooking, add diced ham. If you prefer your ham and beans to be spicy, add 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper at the start of cooking.


Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

The Butterfly Award

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUnSe8q8e0KAjuZTKxUt_dOTXmtYz2ubdY7wvT_ar2JL81CmBw4auYbQnEhjRsNT97e13IZCxR7DtJ4p_P3OHzVR7sKiG-9Mbd-R7KE33BunPMknmUlZaWkZfU9EXjqOKyEL9nEpfnFbT/s1600-h/award_butterfly.jpg

This award was given to me by Reality Check

Now, here are the *rules* that go along with this award:

1. Put the award up on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog

Now I get to pass this on to some other wonderful bloggers!

Smoke and Flames-Grilling in November

Living in a warmer climate has it's benefits! While I lament not being able to see the beautiful autumn colors outside where we live, we are taking advantage of the wonderfully warm days by grilling outside! Imagine that, grilling in the middle of November!

I bought a Kingsford BBQ Bag-a one time use bag you throw on the grill and light on fire, bag and all! We rarely cook on the grill, so this was perfect for us. The last bag of charcoal we had sitting around for months, the puppy ate! (No negative side effects, thankfully!)

Photo Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

You can see in the picture above that it was still light outside when we lit the fire. We ended up having a bonfire as it turned dark. The BBQ Bag burned and burned...and burned some more!

Photo copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

After an hour of waiting for the flames to be gone (they had died down some), I gave up and threw on the burgers. Now, I don't claim to be an expert at grilling, but in only a few minutes time I went to check on the burgers, and they were burnt to a crisp on one side! I raced to flip the blackened burgers and only let them cook for a few minutes more, and then removed them, only half cooked on the inside. Needless to say, we picked through our burgers at dinner, trying to salvage what edible meat was left. It's a good thing there was macaroni and cheese on the menu as well, because this dinner was a flop!

Anyone have some tips to give me on grilling? I'd be most appreciative! The Munchkins love grilled hamburgers, but that's one thing Mama hasn't mastered yet!


Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

I'm Doing the ChaCha! Working at Home on the Internet

No, I haven't become a dancer! I've started working for ChaCha, a company that provides a free service in which people all over the United States can call or text a question and, within a few minutes, receive an answer to that question via text message on their cell phone. I'm one of the many people who find the answers to those questions and form a short text message online back to the person with an answer that I searched for online! A few months ago, a friend told me about her experience with ChaCha, and, wanting to make some extra money, I applied and was accepted too!

ChaCha pays me for every answer I provide to the questions that are sent to me as I sit at my computer. Pay depends on how many answers you complete per week, and the quality of those answers. As long as I answer at least 200 questions per week, I make 20 cents per answer. When I get on a roll and can really focus on what I'm doing, I can find the answers quite quickly, and I've gotten faster the longer I've worked for ChaCha! It's really not bad to be making a dollar for every five questions I answer considering that I can do this at home in my pajamas if I wanted, at any time of the day or night, and answer as many or as few questions as I want.
I know of people who work for ChaCha to make a living, but I personally just do it to earn some extra cash! It is so nice to be able to have a little extra spending money each month!

In order to be accepted as a ChaCha Guide (finding and answering questions), you are required to take 3 tests. I highly recommend you not take the tests without preparing first, as I've known of many people who have not passed. If you are seriously interested in applying with ChaCha, feel free to contact me, and I'd be happy to give you some tips on how to prepare for the test!

Winter Is Coming!

Even in the desert, there are signs of winter's approach! Nights are getting cold, and in the evening the comforting smell of smoke from a fireplace occasionally drifts across your nose.Even though Thanksgiving has not yet come and gone, signs of Christmas' approach are everywhere! Christmas music and decorations fill the stores, advertisements speak of holidays and family, and the musical performances of churches, ensembles, choirs and the Nutcracker are advertised throughout the city.Yes, hearts are a little warmer this time of year, as we think of the many blessings we have been given. I love this time of year!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

The Good Ol' Days

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a simpler time and place. Not too far back to where there are no modern conveniences, but just enough to where the pace of life was just a bit slower?

The Munchkins and I watched the old black and white Disney movie The Absent Minded Professor this evening. The ladies dressed and acted like ladies, the men were gentlemen, and the humor clean and simple!

Times certainly are progressing! In so short a time we have become dependent on our cell phones and computers, when just a few short years ago there was no such thing! I can only imagine what the next 20 years will bring!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Call of Duty--to the Computer!

Call of Duty's newest World at War was just released today, and the Munchkins and their daddy were right there at the store to be one of the first to bring it home! As much as I don't care to play most video games, they all love to get in on the action! Their assessment of this newest game: simply put, "Awesome!" Hey, this gives me a chance to sneak out of the room and do a little blogging!'

Don't you love those little unexpected moments when you can get away and indulge in something you really like to do?! As the Munchkins get older, I'm finding I have a little more time to do that here and there, although the time spent WITH them is truly what I love the most!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Invitations- For Free!

Have you noticed in the past few years how the internet has become so central to most of our lives? Most everyone I know has an email address and internet access. So, for your next party, why not utilize this medium for sending out inviations, all for free?

Used to, I would design my own invitations on a word processor and e-mail the invitations myself. But, recently I received in my inbox an invitation to an event that had been sent from a free invitation service online. When I R.S.V.P.'d to the event by going to the link that was on the invitation, I could see who all was invited, who had replied and comments they had made about the upcoming party. There was even a link to get driving directions: everything I needed to know was all right there!

So, for the next event that I hosted, I decided to use Evite's free service myself. I chose a design for the invitation from among a good selection, and filled out the details of the party. The website took care of e-mailing out the invitation on the day I specified and kept track for me who had viewed their invitation, who had R.S.V.P'd, and any comments people made. You can even have a place for people to sign up to volunteer to bring something to the party. You can select to send a reminder e-mail about the party as many days in advance as you choose, and after the party, you can upload photos to share with those who were invited.

Checking at the Evite website to see who has viewed your invitation is very important because it is possible that the invitation could be sent to someone's spam folder and they may never see it. This very thing happened to me. I noticed there was one couple on my list that had not viewed their invitation, so I called them to tell them about the party and mentioned the invitation that had been e-mailed. For this reason, and just because for some events it's probably more appropriate to send a tangible invitation through the mail, I personally will limit my use of Evite to more informal type events.

For someone who is always on the lookout for a good quality bargain I can use in intertaining (and you can't get a better bargain than free!) I think this is a great find! Maybe you'll want to try this yourself for your next event!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Shortcut French Toast Recipe

French toast is a breakfast item our family enjoys, but, if there's a way to keep from having to stand over the stove babysitting the multiple batches of French toast cooking, then I'm all for it! I doctored up this simple French toast recipe that eliminates this hassle, and, while it's nothing gourmet it does fill the growling tummies at our house! This is how we usually make it now:

photo copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me


French Toast Casserole



6-8 slices whole wheat bread OR 10-12 slices white bread

4-5 eggs

1/2 c milk

1 T sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1 T vanilla



Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Break bread into pieces and place in a greased 8"x8" pan.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients.

Pour mixture over bread.

Stir together with a rubber spatula, then lightly press the top down with the back of the spatula. Cover with foil.

Bake 18-20 minutes, then remove foil and bake, uncovered, another 5-7 minutes.

Insert a toothpick in the middle of casserole. If toothpick comes out clean it is ready.

Cool slightly, then slice into bars.

You can sprinkle powdered sugar on top, serve with syrup, maple syrup or honey.

In the picture above, I was feeling creative and a little naughty and made a glaze out of powdered sugar, a splash of vanilla and a tiny bit of milk and drizzled it over the top.

Now, that's a satisfying breakfast sure to stop the gastric growls...at least for awhile!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

How to Make Your Pictures Load Faster on the Internet!

I'll admit I'm somewhat new to having a blog and website, so I am always looking for helpful hints for creating great web pages. I was excited to run across a free way to make your photos load faster on the internet WITHOUT sacrificing the quality of those pictures!

The website is Web Resizer, and all you do is upload the photo you want to optimize for internet use, then re-save it back to your computer to place on your webpage. While you're online at the site, you can also perform some basic photo editing such as cropping as well. I use it with all of the photos I use on my webpages. I believe the program can also be downloaded to use off-line too!

So, now you can have a faster loading webpage, with lots of great-looking pictures...all for free!

Just thought I'd share!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Emergency Preparedness

We see ads on TV suggesting we should have a plan in case of a disaster, and I wonder just how many people actually prepare ahead for the unknown? I mean, most do prepare when they know a hurricane is inevitable, especially when they've lived through a disaster and know the discomfort it can bring when you are not prepared!

For those of us who have fortunately not had to live through a disaster, but would like to be prepared for long-term power outages of a storm or what have you, here's a simple, budget-freindly plan to help! There's nothing like having a growling tummy in a bad situation and not having the food to feed it!

Here's what we've done, and it really has not been at all difficult, even on a budget! Each shopping trip we have simply bought a little extra of the non-perishable foods that we normally buy each week! Wow--that's not so hard, is it? I've added a few gallons of bottled water as well, so that if the water supply was not safe for a couple of days we'd have at least some that is drinkable.

Now, there are those who would suggest storing up food to last a year or more, but the type of preparedness I'm talking about is more for a short-term emergency. It would take much more money and planning to prepare for long-term survival! I'm sure there are websites out there that address those issues. What I'm talking about, rather, is to store up some food that you would normally eat, so that you can continue to use the older food and replenish your storage with fresher food. If you mostly buy that what you normally eat, you won't end up throwing out expired food that no one has an appetite for. Also, if there was an emergency, it will the be familiar foods that you already like that will be a comfort for you and your family!

Do you have some emergency preparedness tips to share? We'd like to hear!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Beet You'll Love These! Baked Beets Recipe

Have you ever opened a can of beets, threw them in the pan to heat them up, and served them to your family only to receive an unfavorable response? Canned, or even boiled fresh beets don't usually have a lot of flavor. But, beets are really good for you, not to mention their deep red color is beautiful....and there IS a way to cook beets that result in a tender, sweet, flavor! If you know how to bake a potato, you already know how to bake a beet!

To bake beets, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If the green tops of the beets are still on, cut them off at the base and scrub each beet well, leaving the skin on:

Photo Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me


Wrap each beet well in aluminum foil. Make sure these are completely wrapped to avoid dripping beet juice in your oven!:

Photo Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

Bake the beets for about an hour. Depending on the size of the beets, just as in baking a potato, you may need to bake these a little longer, until they are tender. As they cook longer the more carmelized the beets become and the flavor deepens and sweetens.

Remove beets from oven and carefully remove foil. Be careful, the steam in side is hot! With your fingers or a knife, remove the peel from the beets. Slice the beets and butter. If you'd like a little more "wow" to your beets, drizzle the beets with vingar---Balsamic vinegar is delicious with these!

Photo Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me

It's good to try new foods, or even re-try them with your family from time to time. Just because something wasn't liked the first time around, doesn't mean it won't grow on them in time! Beets are a great place to start since they are sweet and don't have a strong flavor. Try baked beets soon!

Copyright 2008 The Munchkins and Me