New Favorite Family Game

We love playing games at our house and with two boys funny games are that much better.  My oldest son got this game for Christmas this year and we are already going to buy the next edition.  We have not yet missed a day, we have played it every single day since Christmas and more than once most days.

I highly recommend this as a family game.  It is funny and different every time.  My boys are 6 and 8 and have had no problems, I just had to help the younger one with reading.

Munchkin

by Steve Jackson Games

From the Manufacturer

This award winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson, captures the essence of the dungeon experience with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items. Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm or maybe the Chainsaw of bloody dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon. For 3 to 8 players. 60 minutes. Munchkin is a stand alone card game designed by Steve Jackson that "simulates" a fantasy themed RPG in a simple, card based game that's chock full of silliness.

Product Description

• For 3 to 8 players
• 60 minutes of playtime
• Munchkin is a stand-alone card game designed by Steve Jackson that "simulates" (well, sorta') a fantasy-themed RPG (oh, ok, DnD) in a simple, card-based game that's chock full o' silliness
• 1,000 gold pieces equals one level
• Card game designed by Steve Jackson

This award-winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson, captures the essence of the dungeon experience with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items. Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon. 3 to 8 players. 60 minutes. Munchkin is a stand-alone card game designed by Steve Jackson that "simulates" (well, sorta') a fantasy-themed RPG (oh, ok, DnD) in a simple, card-based game that's chock full o' silliness.

• Product Measures: 6.25 x 1.75 x 9.25

• Recommended Ages: 10 - 14 years

Chocolate Mania

My oldest son wanted to make something in the kitchen the other day and he made this recipe all by himself I was so proud!  Great job, son. Love you :)

Chocolate Mania
1 cup mini marshmallows
1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips chopped
2 full graham crackers smashed into crumbs

Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan.  When melted coat the marshmallows, then add in the graham cracker crumbs and stir until coated.  Remove from heat and serve warm or let cool completely.

(These were fabulous the next day when the marshmallows were getting hard)

Easy French Bread

I love my bread maker for the dough cycle.  It mixes all the ingredients for you and provides the perfect environment for the bread to rise.  I don't necessarily care for bread actually baked in the bread machine so I tend pretty much only use the dough cycle... If you don't have a bread machine you can easily use a kitchen aid or mix by hand and do a regular full rise for an hour for the first part.

Print Recipe

Easy French Bread

1 cup warm water (90 F)
2 1/2 scant cups bread flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast (instant)
water

In a bread maker pan place the ingredients in the order specified by your machine.  In mine the water goes first, then sugar and salt, flour, and the yeast is last.  Use the dough cycle on the machine and let go through the full rise.  Check after the beep to make sure that you have a good dough ball, sometimes a Tbsp or 2 more of warm water is needed.

Remove the dough from the pan and place in a covered greased bowl and let rise for 30 minutes.  Dust your work surface with flour and roll into a 16x12 rectangle and cut in half so you have 2 6x16 rectangles.  Roll each rectangle up tightly working out any air bubbles as you go, fold over the ends, pinch the seams and roll lightly  to hide the seam.  Repeat with the second loaf.

If you have a baguette pan place the loaves in the pan.  If not dust a baking sheet with flour or corn meal.  Make a few long diagonal slits in the loaf and let rise covered and free from drafts for another 30-40 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 F.  Brush water over the loaves and spray some water in your oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until a beautiful golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool if you can wait that long :)

Manacotti

When I was little this was my very favorite thing that my Mom made.  I would ask for it on my birthday and whenever I got to pick what dinner was.  I don't use hamburger, I substitute ground turkey instead, but it is still one of my favorite comfort foods.

Manacotti
1 pkg Manacotti Noodles
1 Jar of your favorite sauce
12 oz Mozzarella cheese
1 lb ground hamburger/turkey
1/2- 3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs or bread crumbs + 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning (oregano, basil)
1/4 cup parsley (optional)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Brown meat, I cook with a clove of garlic and about 1/4-1/2 of an onion seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.  While cooling put water on to boil and in a mixing bowl mix together milk, eggs, bread crumbs, spices, 1/2 of the cheese and then the meat.  Stirring until evenly distributed.

Boil the noodles for 5 minutes.  I find the easiest way to remove them is to use a fork, let the water drain, and then put the noodles back in the little plastic tray they come in.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray and then pour a thin layer of sauce over the bottom.  Fill the noodles with the meat/cheese mixture and fill up your pan.  There is no graceful way to fill them, the best tool is just your hands.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the noodles then sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.  Bake or freeze.

Bake covered with tin foil on 375 F for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Until the cheese is nice and bubbly.

Sorry I didn't get a picture at the end, it was served and mostly devoured so quickly there wasn't enough to get a decent picture.  It was good though :)

If you freeze your manacotti, bake for 1 hour covered, then uncovered for 15 minutes.

December Book Club

For the December Book I read the 2nd book for the series Enclave that we read in September.  This was another quick read and a good story.  I liked how the book progressed and cannot wait to read the next.  This book included a lot more detail in the love triangle than the first, and we see Deuce's character grow.  I related to her growth and confusion in this book as I find it is definitely an aspect of my everyday life.  Worth the read and if you are a Hunger Games fan, you will like this one.

Outpost (Enclave Series) by Ann Aguirre

The main character Duece's world has changed.  Now topside in Salvation she is once again a brat and not a Huntress.  She doesn't fit in with the townsfolk and she struggles to find her place in a society where she is supposed to wear dresses and gossip and she only knows how to fight.  Her partner Fade is keeping his distance which makes Duece lonely and searching for change.  She jumps at the chance to join the summer patrols to keep the planter's safe.  But the Freaks have grown smarter.  They aren't mindless anymore.  They plan, and watch, and wait for opportunities to strike.  It is now Deuce's job to protect Salvation and stop the Freaks from taking over.

Yeast Conversion Table

I just found this fabulous Yeast conversion Table at That's My Home and I had to share.  I am so excited to make more recipes I have using cake yeast measurements!!

Yeast Conversion Table

CAKE YEAST

ACT. DRY YEAST

INSTANT DRY YEAST

	Oz	Grams	Portn-0.6 Oz.		Oz.	Grams	Tsp.		Oz.	Grams	Tsp.
	0.06	1.7	0.10		0.03	0.7	0.25		0.02	0.5	0.2
	0.12	3.4	0.20		0.05	1.4	0.50		0.04	1.1	0.4
	0.18	5.1	0.30		0.08	2.1	0.75		0.06	1.6	0.6
	0.24	6.8	0.40		0.10	2.8	1.00		0.08	2.1	0.8
	0.30	8.5	0.50		0.13	3.5	1.25		0.09	2.7	1.0
	0.36	10.2	0.60		0.15	4.3	1.50		0.11	3.2	1.2
	0.42	11.9	0.70		0.18	5.0	1.75		0.13	3.7	1.3
	0.48	13.6	0.80		0.20	5.7	2.00		0.15	4.3	1.5
	0.54	15.3	0.90		0.23	6.4	2.25		0.17	4.8	1.7
	0.60	17.0	1.00		0.25	7.1	2.5		0.19	5.3	1.9
	0.66	18.7	1.10		0.28	7.8	2.75		0.21	5.8	2.1
	0.72	20.4	1.20		0.30	8.5	3.00		0.23	6.4	2.3
	0.78	22.1	1.30		0.33	9.2	3.25		0.24	6.9	2.5
	0.84	23.8	1.40		0.35	9.9	3.50		0.26	7.4	2.7
	0.90	25.5	1.50		0.38	10.6	3.75		0.28	8.0	2.9
	0.96	27.2	1.60		0.40	11.3	4.00		0.30	8.5	3.1
	1.02	28.9	1.70		0.43	12.0	4.25		0.32	9.0	3.3
	1.08	30.6	1.80		0.45	12.8	4.50		0.34	9.6	3.5
	1.14	32.3	1.90		0.48	13.5	4.75		0.36	10.1	3.7
	1.20	34.0	2.00		0.50	14.2	5.00		0.38	10.6	3.8
	1.26	35.7	2.10		0.53	14.9	5.25		0.39	11.2	4.0
	1.32	37.4	2.20		0.55	15.6	5.50		0.41	11.7	4.2
	1.38	39.1	2.30		0.58	16.3	5.75		0.43	12.2	4.4
	1.44	40.8	2.40		0.60	17.0	6.00		0.45	12.8	4.6
	1.50	42.5	2.50		0.63	17.7	6.25		0.47	13.3	4.8
	1.56	44.2	2.60		0.65	18.4	6.50		0.49	13.8	5.0
	1.62	45.9	2.70		0.68	19.1	6.75		0.51	14.4	5.2
	1.68	47.6	2.80		0.70	19.8	7.00		0.53	14.9	5.4
	1.74	49.3	2.90		0.73	20.6	7.25		0.54	15.4	5.6
	1.80	51.0	3.00		0.75	21.3	7.50		0.56	15.9	5.8
	1.86	52.7	3.10		0.78	22.0	7.75		0.58	16.5	6.0
	1.92	54.4	3.20		0.80	22.7	8.00		0.60	17.0	6.2
	1.98	56.1	3.30		0.83	23.4	8.25		0.62	17.5	6.3
	2.04	57.8	3.40		0.85	24.1	8.50		0.64	18.1	6.5
	2.10	59.5	3.50		0.88	24.8	8.75		0.66	18.6	6.7
	2.16	61.2	3.60		0.90	25.5	9.00		0.68	19.1	6.9
	2.22	62.9	3.70		0.93	26.2	9.25		0.69	19.7	7.1
	2.28	64.6	3.80		0.95	26.9	9.50		0.71	20.2	7.3
	2.34	66.3	3.90		0.98	27.6	9.75		0.73	20.7	7.5
	2.40	68.0	4.00		1.00	28.4	10.00		0.75	21.3	7.7