Chicken and Mushroom Gravy

2 cans of mushroom soup

1 cup of water

4 chicken breasts (uncooked)

put above items in a crockpot and cook low for 12 hours (high at least four hours)

pepper to taste.

Come home and make rice or noodles (I used the veggie noodles I found)

Serve over rice/noodles and with a roll.

My kids eat it up!

Can't get your kids to eat veggies?

I found this pasta that is made with veggies. Its called Weird Mac. I made it last night and my kids eat it up!

Chili Cheese Dip

This is so easy, and yummy

Melt one 8 0z package of cream cheese with two cans of Chili.

ready to serve!

You can do this in a crockpot, microwave or stove.........

Yummy Pumpkin Rice Crispy

I wished I could have taken a picture of this pumpkin made out of rice crispy treats. I wanted to bring a homemade thing to this party. I was at the grocery store trying to think of what I could make....then it came to me.....if you could make peanut butter rice crispy squares, why not pumpkin? I made it up in a real hurry....sorry my measurements a wacky, I just throw stuff together....

Melt a teaspoon of butter and a bag of marshmallows.
Mix in about 1/2 cup of cooked pumpkin
Stir in one box of rice crispy (not the biggest box, I think the 16 oz...)

spray a round glass bowl with non stick spray.

put the rice crispy mixture into the bowl, but leave about a half cup in the pan. press the rice crispy mixture down to compact it a little.

with the half cup remainder in the pan, put a little green dye in it and mix it in (for the stem). I used tinfoil sprayed with non stick spray and shaped the green mix into a steam.

let it cool down and harden a little.

then get your serving plate and dump out the bowl on to it. This should give a nice round, or oval pumpkin depending on your bowl you used. Then attach the stem to the top of the pumpkin. I like to get the cake decorating icing and draw a Jack-O-Lantern face on it.

Beautiful snack that's easy, kids love, healthier and has a great festive appeal!

Carrot Tacos...Yum!

Okay, this recipe is for parents whose kids don't like to eat veggies, or love them too!

I use pancake mix, 2 jars of baby food carrots, and cream cheese

Make the pancakes, and add the baby food carrots to the pancakes.

Fry the pancakes, I usually make them about four inches around.

Spread cream cheese on them and fold like a taco.

My kids love them and they are easy!

Shepard's Pie

Crock Pot

mix 1 can corn, peas, tomato soup, 1lb cooked ground hamburger

salt and pepper to taste (I just put pepper in)

Make one small package of instant potatoes

spread over veggie/soup mix

take half a pound of shredded or thin sliced cheese and put on the top

I put the crock pot on to the LOW setting and we eat when I get home from work.

It is done when the cheese has completely melted.

I think this will be my last Halloween Party post...

Besides the games already mentioned and the mad scientist thingy, we do the traditional activities we had growing up at parties. Bob for apples, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and my kids favorite.....eating donuts off the string!

We also play musical present unwrap, where I get to wrap a few gifts in several layers of wrapping paper (I use news paper) and play music. When the music stops whoever is holding the gift takes a layer off. If they rake a layer off and get the present, they can keep it. I usually wrap things like spiders, snakes, pens and crayons. It makes it really interesting.

A tip for large parties

I have a notebook that I have the parent dropping off put their name and contact information in so that I can call them if I need to. This has helped often in the carnival type settings my parties often are. I also encourage parents to come and participate or stay if they want.

Halloween Party Mad Scientist

MAD SCIENTIST (parents don't allow your kids to read on if you want them to be grossed out)


Brains: Boil cauliflower until it is squishy, but still hard. Then set in red jello, just enough to where the hand gets red on it when they touch the brain.

Hearts: Boil red peppers still they are squishy. Can set in jello to!

Fingers/Bones: Use different sized carrots for this. Set carrots out about 1-2 weeks before the party and let them become rubbery.

Eyeballs: peeled grapes

Guts: cooked spaghetti (put some oil in it, so the noodles don't stick) You can put maggots in it with soft raisins.
Just remember to have something for kids to wipe their hands on, it can get gooey.

Halloween Party Games Part 1

Every year we do a wonderful Halloween Bash. We invite all the kids from the kid's classes, friends kids, etc. It's nice because we usually send out 50 invites and get 25 kids to show.

Tip: with school age kids don't plan every minute of every party allow for some "roam" time, just make sure you have extra games handy for "bored" kids.

Spider Web

Supplies: One large ball of yarn, (I use 2 things of black yarn for a gathering this size)

This is a great game for breaking the ice and waiting for the guests to arrive, because people can join anytime.

Great icebreaker! As kids arrive have them make a circle. One kid starts with the ball and tosses across the circle and when they catch the ball they say their name. This continues and the "spider web" is formed.

Variations for older kids, have them catch the ball and wrap the string around their waist before throwing it. Then at the end have them try to detangle the bugs caught in the spider web!

Zombie Walk

Supplies: Balloon for each child, chair for each team.

This is a relay race. Divide children into however many teams as you want. (i usually have 3-4 with the number of kids that show up.) Have each child take the balloon, place it between their legs, run a distance to a chair, take the balloon and pop it and run back to their team for the next player to do the same. Winning team is the one who pops all balloons first.

Mummy Wrap

Supplies: 1 Tissue Paper Roll for each team of up to 6 kids.

This game is easy, but a lot of fun.
Have the kids divide into teams. Ask everyone to pick a mummy. Hand each team a roll of paper and have them race to use the whole roll on their mummy picks. The team that finishes first wins!

First Post

I've seen my sister's post and thought why not do my own of meals, snacks, and ideas for kids.

I may not be the best cook in the world, but after cooking for brothers, sisters, and ten kids at times, I know what they'll eat and what they won't.

I also give pretty awesome parties with games and activities so I'll post these as they come up.

I also come across great freebies and websites so I'll get this links up and running.

For those in Utah I will post free or cheap events for the family I come across.

If you have any suggestions please let me know email address is mmekelline@yahoo.com