Grandma Crisman's Spicy Hot Dogs

1 lb Pkg of Hot Dogs
2 tsp of Four
11/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Ketchup
4 tsp Vinegar
4 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Mustard

Cut hot dogs in half length wise. Mix flour with 4 tsp of water. add remaining ingredients except hot dogs. Cook stirring constantly until thickened. Add hot dogs and simmer for 30 mins.

(Family fav is to serve with mashed potatoes)

and Im Back

Ok sorry for the hiatus - as previously stated it was been a crazy few weeks to say the least! And what blows my mind even more is the craziness that lies ahead! 

As stated before my little Sister aka Fo Show came down to visit then it was back to work until my two other Little Sisters came along with one husband and my baby niece. We spent the weekend together in Orlando and drove them to Sarasota where they would spend the week with my parents. I then I worked M-F and spent this past weekend in Sarasota at my parents. Off they flew to NY early this morning while we went to Universal to take advantage the tickets the Mr scored from his job. Here are a few pictures to show how much fun we had.

 

That there is My Lilly- I must say that being an Aunt is by far the best thing ever! I cant believe how much I love my Justin, Makayla and Lilly!

 

 While is Sarasota we went to a Zoo where I held a Parrot and fed Flamingo - and of course got our Tan on!

 

Today we were Orlando tourist - Spending a few hours at Islands of Adventure - fun times in Toon Town and found a friend on the Caro-Seuss-el and finally made our way to Harry Potter, which I admit was pretty cool. I'm not a fan neither seeing the movies or reading the books but I did like the little village and loved the castle we walked through to get onto the ride. Fun times!

Here's a sneak peak at what we've got lined up in the next few weeks

Next Saturday will be our 6 Month Wedding anniversary! Best 6 months of my life - I cant believe how fast its gone and how blessed I am! So far the plan is Dinner that night and a Beach day on Sunday!

Then it will be the annual Faraji Florida Easter Extravaganza! We have dinner plans to go to this A-mazing Turkish place and hopefully make time to go to get some great Iranian food as well (yumm I love good food!) We will also spend time soaking up the sun at the resort where we held our wedding - LOVE!

Super sad that Chris and Laura wont be here this year but excited that by August I'll get another SISTER!

As if all that is not mind blowing enough my man is taking me on a European Cruise! Ahhhhh Barcelona, Rome, Venice just to drop a few places that we will see! I don't think I've fully processed this but we got books and are reading all about these amazing places! AHHHH 

LIFE IS (too) GOOD (to me)!

Aunt Cindy's Chicken Divan

2 Pkgs Broccoli Florets (pre steamed - can use fresh or frozen)
2 Cups cooked Chicken
2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup Mayo
1 tsp Curry Powder
1/4 Cup White Wine
1/2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs
1 tbs butter melted

Arrange cooked broccoli in greased 11x7 pan
Place Chicken on top
Combine soup, Mayo, lemon juice, Curry and wine - place over chicken
Sprinkle cheese on top
Combine bread crumbs with melted butter and sprinkle on top.

Bake 25 Mins at 350

This dish was super easy to make! I served it with rice and it made a tasty meal. I'm attempting to do the whole meat, veggie and starch at each meal. We are also big on counting calories - Thanks to "My Fitness Pal" I estimated it was 421 per serving - excluding the wine from the ingredients as I figured the calories were "cooked" out? Hopefully it was pretty accurate.

I did use a 9x13 pan and it actually filled it up pretty high 

I also want to try it with replacing the mayo with milk - I am not a huge Mayo fan and the "sauce" was a little too thick for my taste - I think i'd enjoy it more if it was a little thinner and more like a pot pie filling.

I do like the accessibility of the ingredients as they are all things I usually have on hand- it was super easy and quick to put together. I'll defiantly try it again and add a tweak or two to make it my own.

What Had Happened Was . . .

My "lil Sister" came for a visit!

Day trips were taken to Sea Wold (where we fed dolphins) and Sarasota to go to the aquarium and see my parents.

and now 

These two sisters are coming to visit and they are bringing with them 

"little Nugget"

Needless to say cooking had taken a back seat! No family recipes have been made in 2 weeks and honestly are not in the works until after the sisters leave but I have gotten better with Meal Planning and making sure my husband had a hot home made dinner as often as possible! Baked Ziti tonight and Crock Pot Ham & Potatoes tomorrow. Dinner with friends Thursday and then "Sisters Extravaganza" will begin!

*now that all my "little sisters" have been to visit I NEED a Big sister visit!*

Cooking with Dad

March is the month of my Grandmothers birthday so I decided to make her recipes this month and started with her cookies. I had planned to make her Manicotti this week and when our weekend plans changed and my husband suggested a weekend at my parents I jumped at the chance to make this WITH my Dad. Hes made it many times before and thought it would great to have him teach me his mothers recipe and that way I was sure not to completely butcher the dish! Here are some pictures of our cooking.

Cooking

Sauce

Hand made Crepes

  

Ta Da

A special thanks to my Dad - for always making time to build memories and teach me traditions - I love you!

Grandma Josie's Manicotti

6 Eggs
3 C water
1 1/2 C Flour
Pinch of salt

Beat until blended then drop 3T into a frying pan until firm and flip (like a pancake). Stack and set aside

Filling:
3 lbs Ricotta
6 Eggs
1/2 C grated cheese
4 lbs Mozzarella

Put 2T filling into each pancake and fold over put in 9x13 pan and cover with sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Mission Complete

Another rough recipe! Being that I haven't had these cookies in over 10 years as my Grandma passed in 2005 and went into a nursing home in 2001 - this was hard to get my memory to match my cookie but . . . It was successful being that it was my first time making it - with time I know I will be able to perfect them.

First of all they took a big chunk of time! I started at 8pm and didn't finish until 11 and thats just the baking! I made a few phone calls to my Dad to verify the recipe  when things didn't make sense. For starters I invested in Crisco after the "Gobs Fiasco" but when I melted it like the recipes said, it looked like vegetable oil - hummm maybe I did this wrong so I called my Dad and he said I did it right. Then 9 cups of Flour sounded a little hefty so I called to make sure that was the correct amount and turns out it is and thats not including all the flour you use to get them onto the cookie sheet! I also had to do some goggling to see how much a Whiskey glass is because I don't just have those lying around, Turns out 3 TBS.

There began my rough start. Once everything was assembled I then had to figure out how to "kneed" the dough that was so sticky that I  would have needed massive amounts of flour to form it into a solid mass - which I chose not to do afraid that they would taste like a lump of flour. So I left the sticky mess and just floured my hands "pinched" out some dough and made balls, dropped them onto the wax paper covered cookie sheet and baked for 20 mins. Now I am used to 5-8 min cookie baking. 20 minutes with 6 sets of  cookie sheets = time consuming!

Once they were all baked I made my recipe for butter icing as the recipe says to use, but I had the same issue I had with the Gobs where the ingredients wouldn't blend so it looked separated and chunky not smooth like icing, I cant adequately describe it but trust me it was no good. I then just went to my dads suggestion of Confectionery Sugar, vanilla and milk and that looked right but I had used all my sugar on the disaster icing and was stuck with 5 dozen un iced cookies.

Tonight I was able to make it to the store to get more sugar and viola the cookies are done, 3 days later but they are done, they are pretty, they are tasty and they remind me of the Grandma - MISSION COMPLETE!

P.S 3 hours of baking later my husband come in and says "wait, what are these called? My Grandma makes them! = two family recipes in one!