Betty Crocker Mac and Cheese

Last week, I got a surprise at my door

We're a big mac and cheese family, so I couldn't wait to try it out. Tonight for dinner, we were having bbq pork, so it seemed like a great time to check out the new mac and cheese. 

I let the youngest (8 years old) make it. The instructions were pretty easy so no problems there! (Don't mind my messy kitchen )

Note: When the box says to stir frequently, they aren't kidding! We had some pasta stick to the bottom of the pan, but we made a full recovery! 

I wasn't too sure about this stuff because you don't drain the pasta. I'm usually not a fan of that because sometimes you end up with a weird texture. It looked good, so I gave it a try. 

The verdict? The kid really liked it. She gave it a big thumbs up. The husband liked it. He said it was really cheesy. I thought it was ok. It would lend itself well to add-ins like bacon or broccoli. It was really cheesy and the pasta had some substance, which I like. I will probably make it again, adding some broccoli next time. We tried the regular mac and cheese this time, and we're looking forward to trying the other varieties. 

As a member of the Hamburger Helper community, I occasionally receive products free of charge. The information and above product have been provided free of charge by Betty Crocker and General Mills through MyInsite. However, the opinions in this blog post are those of myself and my family.

Hamburger Helper Community

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I'm pretty excited about this. As part of the Hamburger Helper community, we get to share recipes, give our opinions, and much more! And we all know I'm a sucker for new recipes. When I joined, we got a box in the mail with two boxes of HH and a stuffed HH hand. Given my love of a great deal, free HH was an awesome way to start off! 

One of the things I like about HH is the simplicity. If I don't feel like cooking, I can let one of the kids do it! 

And of course, the most important part....everyone likes it! 

As part of the Hamburger Helper Community, I occasionally receive free products from General Mills. However, all opinions reflected above are mine or those of my family. 

Even during the heat wave and drought...

We have managed to keep the garden green and growing! Today, we picked tomatoes, potatoes, purple beans, cucumbers and a random pumpkin!

Strawberry Sorbet

My favorite part of June is all the fresh strawberries. I just love going to the farmer's market on Wednesdays and getting a bucket of fresh berries! The problem is, I have this habit of buying strawberries every time I see them. It's just a reflex at this point. So it stands to reason that eventually I'll end up with more strawberries than I can eat, and we certainly cannot waste them! Last year, I made strawberry ice cream. I was going to do the same again this year, but my lactose intolerant friend was coming over, so I thought I'd try strawberry sorbet instead.

What you'll need:
1 1/2 lbs strawberries
1/3 c sugar
1 c water
lemon juice
crushed mint


Start by stirring the water and sugar together in a small pan until dissolved. Heat until boiling. Remove from heat and chill. While the simple syrup is cooling down, wash and stem the berries. In a food processor, blend the strawberries, about a tablespoon of lemon juice, and mint to taste.

When the simple syrup is chilled, mix it in with the strawberries and freeze in your ice cream maker according to its directions.

I like to pour these kind of desserts into single serving dishes (yes, in this case they are double shot glasses) because it makes them easy to serve and provides a bit of portion control.

Strawberry sorbet was definitely what we needed on a warm summer night!

Easy Peach Cobbler, to go please!

Most of us have that recipe we always use for pitch ins and cookouts. Mine is my super easy cobbler. So last time I made it, I thought I would change it up a little bit. But there's not really much you can do with my cobbler recipe, so I figured I would change how it was served.

Start off with a jar of peaches, a stick of butter, and a box of Jiffy cake mix. You'll also need small jelly jars.

Using a slotted spoon, fill the jelly jars about 1/2 to 2/3 full of peaches. Some of the peach juice/syrup is fine, but not too much. Top each jar off with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Next, divide the cake mix evenly among the jars. Top each off with a pat of butter. (not margarine!)

Bake at 350 until the tops brown. When the cobblers have cooled, add lids for easy transport. Tip: to make baking easier, I set the jars inside a baking dish for easy transport to and from the oven. To carry them into work, I put the full jars back into the Ball box the jars came in!

Sorry there's not a picture; I forgot to take one before I brought them into work. And well, once they got to the office, they didn't stay around too long! These little jars were perfect individual servings during our all day meeting. Those who wanted to heat theirs up could just pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds and have hot cobbler!

Oven Fried Chicken

Is there really anything better than fried chicken? No, not really. Well, that is unless you have mashed potatoes with it. But that's another post. Unfortunately, fried foods usually don't sit too well with my stomach, so I tend to bake more than fry. My mom used to make oven fried chicken, but I didn't bother to call her and ask her recipe, so I figured I'd just wing it.

In a small bowl, mix together one egg and some milk. In a second bowl, mix together flour, salt, pepper, season  salt, oregano, and rosemary. Dredge chicken tenders in the wet mix, then the dry mix and lay on baking sheet.

I like to spray them down with a bit of ICBINB (I can't believe it's not butter) so they get a nice browning in the oven.  Bake at 375 until cooked through.

The kids loved these! Unfortunately, now they don't want to eat the frozen chicken tenders. I can't really say I blame them, but those were my go-to lunch staple when I was busy!

Peanut Butter Cereal Treats

So other day, when the kids pulled the "I'm huuuunnngggry" for the 12,039,856th time, I finally gave in and told them they could pick any snack they wanted me to make, but it had to be able to last them a few days. What did they come up with? Cheerios treats. I was secretly relieved because they are so easy to make!

What you'll need: