What's For Dinner, Mom?

          As a mother, I am bombarded with the same question each day " what's for dinner, mom?" 
Well, I will tell you what we had for dinner, last night! None other than Open-Face Toasted Pizza Bagels, of course! Ferme la porte! How fun and easy, you say! The kids will have a blast creating their own. 


You will need the following:
Bagels, sliced in half
Mozza cheese, grated.
Philadelphia creme cheese (plain)
Pizza sauce
Toppings (ham, pepperoni, pineapple, onions, fresh tomatoes, ect.)
Pepper, if you choose.
Baking sheet


Just prepare the topping choices ahead of time and let them go to town. The trick to ours is the Philadelphia Creme Cheese, though. After you spread the pizza sauce (i cheat and use the canned stuff from the grocery store) on each bagel, add the philly on top using a butter knife. Do not scrape side to side as you will make a mushy mess.  Just scrape it on vertically, all the way around-from the middle outwards towards  yourself. Then, add the toppings of choice and some shredded mozza, sprinkle with pepper.


Bake at 375 for about 7 min.  
You just want everything to be melted and slightly toasted. So, depending on your oven (we all know how they vary in heat capacity), just keep an eye on it.  Once you are done that part, turn off your oven and turn on your Broil button to High and watch the magic happen! The tops will become golden and crispy! 
Remember that philly we added? It has baked into creamy, fluffy goodness! It makes all the difference!
 Here is mine. My toppings included: ham, onions, fresh tomatoes, mozza, and of course the sauce and the Philadelphia creme cheese.

Bonne Appetit!

Oooo La La, A Blog Feature

A friend of mine, and fellow blogger mailed a parcel to my daughter and I, all the way from France! This is her and her Frenchman Hubby above (and their fur babies). So, to express our gratitude, I am featuring her blog, today! I hope you check her out. Her blog is adorable and fun! In her own words, it showcases herself as "a 20-something homesick Canadian girl and her Frenchman (plus a dog and 2 cats) living a love-hate relationship with France". You can expect to find great recipes, fantastic scenery, the lifestyle of her adorable pets, and even great reads that she recommends.

 Let me tell you, I was ecstatic to receive her yummy treats among my usual pile of bills.

 (The pink cupcake case is for my daughter, she was in love when she saw it!).

The chocolate was divine! My daughter loved the milk chocolate from Belgian chocolatier Galler, the most. It had a creamy praline center. You can view their website here: Galler
As for myself, I favored the All Natural Noir Cafe with coffee crispies within it, made in Switzerland! You can check out their website here: Chocolat-Villars
Your browser should offer to translate them for you, as they are both in french ;)

The tea is from the tropical island of Mauritius and came in a vanilla-coconut flavor! It is smooth with a light aroma. A sprinkle of sugar, or a small squeeze of honey enhanced the flavors. It arrived just in time, as I have the worst sinus cold known to man-kind! lol.

I hope you enjoyed this delicious blog post, featuring Crystal Goes To Europe.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to comment!

Yummy In Your Tummy Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese

I was recently told that I have an issue with my heart (no, it is not broken by romance lol). But, I am unsure of the exact diagnosis until February the 9th. I will keep you posted.


However, this has launched an extreme desire to take better care of myself in all ways possible! I did take fairly good care of my body to begin with, but this has thrown that desire into over drive. 
I very quickly familiarized myself with the Heart & Stroke's Foundation website and to my delight, they have some fantastic recipes.  I decided to get my daughter involved and let her choose which one we should experiment with first.  She chose the home made Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese and you can find the recipe here.


The result was met with rave reviews all around! We decided that next time we will add a little Parmesan to the ingredients list and a little less margarine. 

Happy Fooding, Everyone! 

Yummy In Your Tummy Cookies

This is the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies, hands down! 
Not too sweet, not too bland.  A little crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Impressive, right ? Here is the recipe from my kitchen to yours. 
Your welcome :)


TIPS & TRICKS
Here is a baking soda comparison. Same recipe for both batches.The bottom one I added a quarter teaspoon more of baking soda. Both were delicious. 


"Baking Soda. Helping yumminess rise to the occasion"
 ~ Home Spun Journey (c)2012 

7 Steps. 9 Ingredients. Pre heat oven to 375 F

1 cup butter or margarine.

1 cup white sugar.

1/2 cup brown sugar.

2 eggs.

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 & 1/3 cups all purpose flour.

1 teaspoon salt.

1 teaspoon baking soda.

12 oz chocolate chips. 

1)Creme together sugars and butter

2)Add eggs, vanilla, salt and soda.

3)Add flour 1 cup at a time, then 1/3 cup.

4)Add chocolate chips.

6)Drop from teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet.

7)Bake at 375 for 8-10 min.

Makes almost 3 dozen.

TIPS & TRICKS 

~Feel free to add a little coconut, cinnamon, or nuts. Just eyeball it.  

~If you shave a chocolate bar into it, you will end up with double chocolate/chocolate chip cookies ;) 

   ~If you forget to set the timer, don't fret. They will be done when you can smell the yumminess  wafting from your kitchen and they are golden.

Happy baking!

Yummy In Your Tummy Banana Bread

It was a "baking kind of weekend" in our house hold, boyfriend and lil one included. 


We made home made banana bread, twice baked potatoes, home made mozza-sticks, and home made chocolate chip cookies ! Let me tell you, our home smelled amazing all weekend long! 


I thought I would share my Banana Bread recipe with you first, because it is such a favorite with us and the entire loaf is half gone in one day between the 3 of us! Ha!


8 Ingredients.   11 Steps.   Pre Set Oven to 350 F  


1 cup butter or margarine. 
2 cups granulated sugar.
4 eggs.
6 extra ripe bananas.
2 teaspoon baking soda.
1 tablespoon salt.
2 cups all-purpose flour.
1/2 cup macadamia nuts (optional).


~In a large bowl, creme together the sugar & butter well until a light lemon color. Mash bananas in a separate bowl. And whisk the eggs in a smaller bowl.


~Then add the squashed bananas and eggs to the mixture.


~Stir well until all the ingredients are completely mixed.


~Sift together the flour, soda, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients.  Add nuts if desired.


~Again, mix well. But, do not mix too much ;)


~Pour batter into two separate bread pans (grease them with Crisco or margarine or butter so they do not stick).


~Bake for 45 min.


TIPS & TRICKS 


~ Use a tooth pick or a fork to carefully pierce the loaf.  If batter sticks to it when you lift it out, it is not done, yet.
~Don't be scared! You can add anything ! Such as; 
lemon zest, orange zest, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, chopped apricot, chopped mango, coconut flakes, mince meat....(maybe not all at once) Have fun! 
~If you happen to somehow mess up the temperature, don't fret. Cover your loafs with tin foil (tent it like you would a turkey) and cook the remaining amount of time. Check it every now and again. It WILL turn out. 
~If you happen to pour the entire contents of the batter into one pan, never fear! Double your cooking time. (so, 90 min) and be sure to watch the top. When it is happy and golden- that is when you want to tent it and bake for the remaining amount of time. 


This is the best recipe I have found for Banana Bread. It is easy, moist, not too sweet, and full of flavor, versatile and virtually fail-proof!

I promise you it is not burnt! I curse my tablet's camera for it's inaccuracy of color definition. 

Happy Baking, Everyone!