Chicken Ranch Burgers

Last night was burger night, chicken burger night, here at the Wessel home. The recipe I chose to try can be found here.

Sadly, it was rainy here so instead of grilling them I broiled them. 

I have to say these were very tasty. I chose to eat mine without a bun with a slather of ranch on top. The kids had theirs on hamburger rolls. Matt is more of a BBQ guy so I topped his with the same BBQ sauce used in making the burger base. Emily however LOVES ranch dressing so her burger was topped with ranch. Matthew said it was one of the best burgers he's every had. Emily didn't really give any kind of review. 

Dave ate about an hour after we did and he gave it a big thumbs up, which says a lot from a man who prefers beef. 

This is a recipe I will definitely try again but next time I will make sure they can be grilled.

Try the recipe and let me know your opinion.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Buffalo Chicken ....YUM!!!!

Last night's dinner was a total success even though I completely messed up the cooking portion. This is what happens when you think you know what to do and don't read the recipe directions entirely. This recipe can be found at the original site skinny taste. 

So how exactly did I "mess" this up? Well, I actually put the wing sauce in with the chicken as it cooked, not waiting to add it at the end once the chicken was shredded. Oops! Although the chicken was very tasty, the hot sauce flavor didn't really permeate the meat like I thought it would during the cooking process. So, I would recommend following the true directions in the recipe, which I will be doing the next time.

Another thing I changed was the cooking time. Instead of 4 hours on high in the crock pot, I did 6 hours on low. Oh and I completely omitted the last 30 minute cooking portion of the directions too (won't be doing that again). The time change was more out of convenience with our activity schedule and really didn't effect the meal's outcome in any way.

Okay, maybe I didn't prepare the chicken properly but it was still very tasty. It did require more hot sauce when assembling the wraps though. Matt had his chicken on tortilla wraps with extra hot sauce. He has an iron stomach when it comes to spicy food, just like his Grandpa Joe.  I had mine in lettuce leaves adding carrot, celery, hot sauce and a little bit of lite blue cheese dressing. Dave had his like mine only on tortilla shells. Emily, well, she had an away volleyball game which got her home later in the evening so she opted for Greek yogurt instead. So, that would give this meal a 3 thumbs up, majority rules, so it is now added the family menu binder.

Definitely try this recipe, especially if you like/love Buffalo chicken and let me know what you think. Oh and please, follow the recipe directions. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

School Project x's 2

Wanted Poster

The end of February ushered us into the month of school projects for Emily and Matthew.

Both kid's projects were based on books they were reading. Matthew's 3rd grade class was collectively reading Charlotte's Web while Emily's 5th grade class was able to select a book of their choosing from the school library. Her book was "Asking for Trouble" written by Sandra Bryd. 

For Matthew's project, he was to choose a favorite scene from the book and depict it in a diorama. Emily was given a menu of project options. She needed to choose from the Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert menu - 3 creative projects and one style of class report. I have to say she was very excited about her choices - a wanted poster, brochure, game board and a paper bag oral report. Dave and I were very pleased that she chose items that would use her drawing abilities. Although I do have to say in the final week, I was panicking a bit about the board game selection. Of course, that was the item Emily was most excited to do. Thankfully being a crafter we had most of the supplies needed for both their projects on hand.

The completed "Wanted" poster

Okay, being a parent who loves crafting is helpful but is also a bit of a curse because I need to curb my desire to help. Now this is easy with Emily....she has the crafting gene. Matt on the other hand is not so much a man of ideas or detail. So, to keep myself sane during this two child school project "season" I let Dave help Matt with his diorama and I assisted Emily where needed. 

Matt chose as his favorite scene the time when the Zuckerman's cleaned Wilbur with buttermilk. The shoe box was painted a nice "barn" red with a black roof placed on top. Fences, felt ground, Timothy hay, plastic animals, small accessories and stick people completed his scene. As you can see, Matt was very pleased with his project. 

Even though Matt's project was completed quickly, Emily still had two more main projects to finish. One thing we've learned with both kids is the importance of having them do rough drafts of their ideas before even attempting a final copy. This also includes all the written information that will be on the project. Emily's brochure was for the academy that her main character attends.  I have to say this was my favorite project she did.

The front of her brochure

Front and inner flap

Full inner portion of brochure

Back flap

The most daunting, in my opinion, of the projects was saved for last - the board game. From day one, Emily knew she wanted it to be fashioned after the game Monopoly. After we mapped out the board and determined the amount of squares, Emily took her book and found positive and negative happenings that she would write in each square. Of course, Emily gave the extra detail of a small coordinating picture to most of the squares. What an amazing job she did and it was completed a day before it was due! 

Emily's game board

It was amazing to see the projects they produced but it was even more special to see them displayed along with all the students projects the night of the school's open house.

Emily's project display

Matt's diorama display

So pleased with all their dedication and hard work - it definitely showed in the final product! 

As always, thanks for stopping by!  

Snow Families

Even though the first day of spring was Thursday March 21st the 4th grade arts and crafts class still completed their snow families on Friday the 22nd. This idea was located via Pinterest here. 

Like I usually do, I prepared a sample that the kids could refer to when working on their projects. My snow family included Dave, myself, Emily, Matt and I couldn't help but include Mr. Jingle.

The class had already painted the 5 x 7 canvases with light blue acrylic paint at the end of a previous class. Several had also "applied" their snow people. The people are the finger portions of their hand that we covered with white tempura paint and "stamped" onto the canvas. For those who had to still apply their snow people during that day's class, we used a hair dryer to dry the paint once "stamped" so they could "dress" their snow people.

Because of my previous love of overbuying craft supplies, I had plenty of permanent color markers in a vast array of colors and tip sizes that the students were able to use to "dress" their families. Oh and just a side note, I have curbed my love for overbuying. 

After their families were dressed, they went to another table where I had two additional embellishment stations. At the first station, I had a paper plate that had more of the white tempura. The students used Q-tips to make the round snowflakes. They also used a pouncer to create the ground under the snow people. Several of the students pounced around all the edges of the canvas creating a "frame" effect. 

Once this was done, they moved onto the glitter station. First, they took a brush and added some modge podge to areas all over the canvas. Then, they sprinkled glitter on top of the glue. I provided silver and blue glitter. Also at this station was Epsom salt that they could sprinkle on top of the modge podged areas creating the look of falling snow. 

As you can see, each of the students snow families showed not only the uniqueness of their individual families but also their own creative abilities. Great job 4th grade!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Mosaic Hearts and Crosses

In February, I introduced mosaics to the 3rd and 4th grade arts and crafts classes. After seeing this project on Pinterest and having Valentine's day just pass, I chose to use a heart as the focal point of  their mosaic. 

My first and most tedious task was to cut a significant amount of small squares from colored paper to mimic mosaic tiles. These are 1/2" inch squares. I then cut 6 x 6 white pieces of paper that the students would glue stick the colored "tiles" on. To make things a little easier for the students, I cut a heart from a heavier card stock that the they would use as a template to trace onto their paper. With the supplies ready, I started the sample project that the kids could refer to in class. 

On the sample, I traced the heart onto the right corner of the paper and made 4 sections where I would have different colored "tiles" coming from the heart. 

 This picture shows the completed arrays.

The heart was completed with red paper "tiles". 

When I met with the 4th grade class, I gave them just three criteria for the project: 1) the heart had to be a part of the mosaic, 2) they had to use at least 4 colors, and 3) the heart had to be the focal point, standing out from the background they created. Other than these criteria, they were to use their creative talents. 

I also advised them that it was best to start by gluing down the tiles that would form straight lines and avoid any cutting until that portion was completed. Truly the most difficult part of the project was cutting the "tiles" that butted up to the heart as they needed to be curved edges and not just straight cuts. 

Here are their projects at the end of the first session.

Then after our second 40 minute session.

Finally at our 3rd class, these are the hearts that were completed.

Because I only allotted 3 classes for this project, several students had to take "tiles" home to complete  their mosaics. 

The students that did finish their projects spent the remainder of the class painting small canvases that would be used for their next project.

After I completed the mosaic project with the 4th grade, I did adjust it for the 3rd grade. They still had the same 3 criteria but the shape used was a cross. This eliminated the difficulty of  cutting curved edges on the small paper "tiles". 

Here is a picture of some of the 3rd grade class's cross mosaics at the end of their first session. 

I was very happy with how both classes did on their projects especially since this was their first time making a mosaic.

As always, thanks for stopping by!