Kids in the Kitchen!!

Okay, so like my biggest stress relieving hobby is cooking. I absolutely love to cook. LOVE IT. I love spending hours in my kitchen and I drool over other people's kitchens. Seriously. No exaggeration. Its my favorite room of everyone's house. You Tim Allen on Home Improvement? How he was with cars and tools?? Yeah, me with a kitchen and kitchen gadgets. My brother brought a breadmaker someone gave hime (practically BRAND NEW AND NEVER USED) to dirty santa last year as a "white elephant" (I KNOW RIGHT?!)...Needless to say, I got it and whenever ANYONE looked my way like they were going to take it, they got the bad stinkeye! ha ha ha...obsessed.

My kids absolutely love to be on the other side of the bar when I cook. Its how I grew up watching my aunt in her kitchen and I believe is why I love to cook. She used to watch us in the Summer and she was bound and determined to make me and my sister Ms. Susie Domestic so we spent every summer with her planting in her garden, cleaning house, learning how to cook, and learning how to sew. Cooking is the only thing that stuck. :)

Well, in my children's school, the Kindergarten apparently make cookbooks. My kids had different kindergarten teachers. My son made one for us last year and my daughter just brought hers home. I love them. This was the best idea and the perfect mother's day present!! The kids tell their teacher their most favorite recipe that their mommy's cook and the kids draw on a piece of paper and give the teacher their version of the recipe (which is hilarious!) and then they type up the actual recipe behind it! So, I thought I would share my kids recipes....and I reckon share two of my family's absolute faves with you!!

Kindergarten 2007-2008 - Carson's Recipe: Carson actually said my lasagna, but I buy a frozen one more often than I actually do one from scractch, so I gave up my manicotti recipe (which my mom couldn't believe, cause I used to refuse to share it, but since I have my dads top secret chocolate pie recipe and am the only one with it, I decided it was okay ha ha ha!):

LASAGNA, BY CARSON
Cheese
Noodles
Sauce

I'm not sure, but I think she buys it at Wal-Mart. She puts it in the oven. She cooks it at 300 degrees for 3 hours. She takes it out and lets it cool. We eat it with bread. ***side note from me- he has colored around his recipe with the phrase "salt is good. Tamatos are good with salt. Yum!!! Good!!!" My son eats tomatoes like women eat chocolate! He loves them. They are his fave!***

MANACOTTI

Boil manacottie noodles as directed on the box. Cook 1 lb of pork sausage and crumble. Mix the sausage with a large container of ricotta cheeese. Mix in 1 egg, garlic powder and oregano (to taste, a little or a lot, doesn't matter). Stuff the noodles with the mixture and place in a large lasagna pan. Pour 1 jar of pasta sauce over noodles (I use Prego Ricotta Parmesan). Cook in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling. Sprinkle mozzerella cheese on top and cook until melted. YUM YUM YUM. Awesome with crusty italian bread.

now under this recipes, hes colored a picture of salt and tomatoes and wrote yum yum yum yum yum down the page! ha ha ha...he's so silly.

Now for Shanna....she absolutely loves my biscuits and gravy. Its a knockoff of cracker barrells. I won't eat biscuits and gravy unless it is from cracker barrell or I make it. I am too picky. :)

BISCUITS AND GRAVY by SHANNA

Get flour as big as two spoons.
4 eggs
2 inches of water
Mix with mixing spoon. Slap biscuits with your hand. PUt in 5 degree oven for 7 minutes. Chop biscuits.

Gravy
Take a little bit of pepper and hardly any salt and put in a little pan on stove. Cook for 5 minutes.

how hilarious is that! ha ha ha...and of course she drew me in my apron and some funky hat (which I don't wear hats, so not sure where she came up with that!)

SAwmill Gravy

1/2 lb ground pork sausage
3 1/4 c. milk
1/8 tsp dried italian seasoning
1/4 c. butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp pepper

Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring it until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove sausage with a spoon leaving the drippings (that's how I do it, you are supposed to leave only 1 tbsp drippings but I use a big ole skillet) Melt butter with drippings in skillet over low heat. Whisk flour until smoothg. Cook, whisking constantly 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Stir in sausage, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Sooooo yummy. :)

ENJOY!!