Making a House a Home

When was the last time you made Monkey Bread?  Oh it's sooooo easy and sooooo fun to make and soooooo yummy!!!!

We had it for breakfast this morning and my girls (who are 10 and 6) cut the biscuits, rolled them in sugar and cinnamon, and placed them in the greased bundt pan.  I melted the butter and brown sugar and poured it over the top then popped them in the oven.  Super easy!!

WARNING: The wait for these to bake seems like EONS when you start smelling the cinnamon from the oven!!!!!!!!!!

Here's our recipe...




Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Greased bundt pan. 

In a gallon size plastic zip bag, put in white sugar and cinnamon and mix.  Open biscuit cans (this always scares me when they pop!!!) and cut each biscuit in 4 pieces.  Place all the cut pieces in the zip bag and toss to coat all the pieces with sugar and cinnamon then carefully put the pieces in the bundt pan.  

On the stove, melt butter and stir in brown sugar.  Bring to a boil and stir well.  Pour over the top of the biscuits in the bundt pan.  

Put bundt pan in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  When done baking, take out of oven and let stand for 10 minutes before turning out of pan.  Turn out onto a plate and then pick off the pieces you want to eat- like little monkeys picking at their food!!  FUN!!!!!


This is a fun recipe to make with children.  Let them use butter knives or even plastic knives to cut the biscuits!!  Let them toss the cut biscuits with the sugar/cinnamon mix!!!  Will it get messy?  LOL Probably.  But will they have a wonderful time and laugh and make memories? OH YES!!!!!!

So, what are you waiting for??????  Go make some Monkey Bread and make some memories!!!

Any of y'all LOOOOOVE Asian inspired dishes?  ME! ME! ME!!!!!  This dish definitely hit the Asian spot for me AND it was full of yummy veggies!!!  Double thumbs up!!!

I shared last week that I was going to be making Healthy Thai Peanut Chicken Zucchini Noodles for dinner last week.  And we did.  And, as is my usual style, I HAD to change things around.  Surely y'all do that, too?  You want to make it exactly like your family likes!! 

I linked above to the original recipe, so here's my final recipe.  Yum.

Thai Peanut Chicken
(serve 5)



In case anyone is unfamiliar with how to julienne vegetables, this video show how to julienne a bell pepper.  :)

Happy Homemaker Monday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

I am also linked up with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday and 
The Art of Homemaking Mondays at Strangers and Pilgrims.



The weather:::



On my reading pile:::


Movies or Shows I watched this weekend:::


On my TV:::


On the menu for this week:::




On my to do list:::



Looking forward to:::


Looking around the house:::



From the camera:::

What I'm wearing today:::


One of my simple pleasures:::



Bible verse, Devotional::: 

So last night we were having taco salad for dinner.  I LOVE taco salad, especially with yummy, creamy avocado mixed in!!!!

I pulled out my avocado I purchased Monday.  It wasn't ripe when I bought it, but I figured it would ripen by tonight.  WRONG!!  It was still hard!!  Not "hard as a rock" hard, but definitely NOT SOFT!!!

WHAT DO I DO???

I remember someone telling me years ago that you could wrap an avocado in aluminum foil and bake it in the oven at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  So I heated the oven up, washed the avocado, then wrapped it up in aluminum foil.  I put it in the oven, knowing full well I was completely wasting my time and my beloved taco salad would be minus the avocado tonight.

WRONG!!!

After 15 minutes, it was SOFT!!!  Not squishy soft, no, but soft enough for me to cut easily with a knife.  Mmmmm. I spooned it onto my taco salad along with Mr. U's and Elizabeth's and we enjoyed our meal!!

Who would've thought this would work?  Not me!  Glad I finally tried it!!  But, to be perfectly honest, I'd much rather have it already completely soft and ripe.  However, in a pinch, YEP I'll heat up the oven again!!

Happy Friday!!

What's the first word you think of when you see a big bathtub?  Sure, some of us think, "Calgon take me away!!" or "Relaxation!!" or maybe even, "Light a candle and leave me alone!!".  But not me.  Nope. And I'd venture to guess I'm not the only one who does not have pleasant dreams of a big bathtub in their home.

The first words out of my mouth when I saw the big tub in our home pre-purchase?  "I am NOT gonna clean that huge thing!!!" It's a back breaking job to clean a tub THAT huge!!  I'm sure y'all understand.  Do YOU have an easy time of cleaning big garden tubs?



I was venting my frustration to a lady at church one day a few years ago and she said, "Do what I do- use a sponge mop."

I sat silent.

Whoa.

Game changer.





And she was RIGHT!!!  I found this Libman mop and WOOHOOOO away I clean!! It's way faster and gets the job done nicely!!  I've been using it for our big garden tub and the girls' shower/tub combo, too!!  Sooooo much easier to clean with this!!!

So if cleaning that big bathtub is a thorn in your side like it was mine, seriously consider getting a Libman mop like mine!!!

Happy Homemaker Monday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

I am also linked up with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday and 
The Art of Homemaking Mondays at Strangers and Pilgrims.



The weather:::



On my reading pile:::


Movies or Shows I watched this weekend:::



On my TV:::



On the menu for this week:::




On my to do list:::



What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::



Looking forward to:::
Mr U having a great work schedule again this week!!!  Normally he has crazy retail hours, but last week and this week have been 8-5!! WOOHOO!!!  I'm going to enjoy it!!



Looking around the house:::



From the camera:::


What I'm wearing today:::



One of my simple pleasures:::



Bible verse, Devotional::: 


Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Psalm 119:11

Two years ago Mr U bought me a REAL blender!!  I had used a super cheap blender before, but it hardly chopped ice and would stop blending anytime I ever added frozen strawberries.  A HUGE pain when trying to make a smoothie.  This Blendtec is WONDERFUL!!!!!  It easily blends ice cubes and makes frozen strawberries disappear in seconds with no effort.  I've made tons of sauces and soups and even cake batter- all mixed in my Blendtec!!!! (In this pic, I had just made my favorite- Snickers Smoothie!!)


And guess what?  After two years of use, I watched as my beloved Blendtec went from 999 to 1000 uses!!!!  And it still works just as great as it did the first time I used it!!!  






I researched several blenders before deciding on the Blendtec, but I am so so glad I chose this one (and yes, just like the link goes to, I got the Certified Refurbished blender, too!!!)

If you're in the market for a new blender, I HIGHLY recommend the Blendtec!!! 


Wanna know the thing that convinced me Blendtec was the one for me?  This video!!!

Happy blending!!




(This is my own personal opinion.  Links, however, do go to my Amazon affiliate account)