25 days of recipes: Day 2

Beef & Roasted Pepper Crostini 

3/4 pound thinly sliced deli roast beef
3 tablespooons olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 loaves (8-ounces each) French bread (about 2 1/2-inch diameter), cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 (12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, rinsed, drained, chopped
2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend

1. Heat oven to 450°F (230°C).
2. In 1-cup glass measure, combine oil and garlic; microwave on HIGH 30 seconds.
3. Lightly brush top side of each bread slice with oil mixture; arrange on 2 baking sheets.
4. Bake in 450°F oven 6 to 8 minutes or until light golden brown.
5. Layer equal amounts of beef, red peppers and cheese over toasted bread. Return to oven; bake an additional 2 to 4 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Makes 32 appetizers.
Tip: Bread may be toasted ahead and stored in airtight container.

25 days of recipes: Day 1

Peanut Brittle

(DELICIOUS! One of the best recipes I've found for it! Nom nom nom)

1 cup raw Spanish peanuts

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Lay out several sheets of foil to spoon the hot peanut brittle onto.
2. In a large skillet mix the sugar, syrup, and water together. Cook at a medium-high heat, stirring regularly. Heat until the mixture has a hard ball consistency. Heat to 250 to 265 degrees F (121 to 129 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a rigid ball. If you don't own a candy thermometer, occasionally hold spoon above mixture, allowing it to drip off spoon. When mixture is at hard ball stage, it will 'hair' off the spoon when falling, looking like a clear spider web.
3. Once mixture is at hard ball consistency, add raw peanuts. (They will pop a little.) When mixture starts to turn a light clear-brown, as if it's starting to burn, remove from stove. Add soda and stir. Mixture will foam up.
4. Spoon out bite-size pieces onto unbuttered foil, stirring constantly between each couple of pieces. Mixture can also be poured onto unbuttered foil as one big piece and broken into smaller pieces once cooled.



Christmas Ornaments (project #1)

Christmas Ornaments

(Great for gifts from the kiddos)

This is what the almost finished product will look like. I didn't put the hanger back in yet, because my awesome toddler decided to hide them from me. :P My 4 year old made this one all by himself!

Here's what you need:

Plain balls (I got plastic, because they are safer than glass ones, and with a 4 year old something was bound to break)

Acrylic paint. Any colors you want. This is a great project to work on learning colors with kids!

Disposable cups.

Wire hangers for the balls, or ribbon.

Here's what you do :

Take your ball, and pick a few colors of paint, and have your kiddos pour the paint into the bottom. (if you angle the paint you'll make nice pretty lines, but for kids its all about blobs). Then have your munchkins (or you) mix it around by slowly moving the ball around. Watch the colors spread out, and start coating the ball.

Once your ball is pretty much covered on the inside, turn it completely upside down and place it in a cup so that the excess paint can drip out. (We use the excess paint and make pictures...I'm too cheap to waste stuff)

And then you get this!

Enjoy! Don't forget to put the hanging piece back in, and then add a ribbon or hanger to place them on the tree!

-heather<3

MKL is hosting a Christmas Card Exchange!

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Cake In A Jar

I wanted to send my husband something for Fathers Day, since he was deployed. Someone said "cake in a jar". After trying to bake a cake and get it in a jar, I realized that is NOT how you do it! :D HERE is how you do it!

Get wide-mouth canning jars. You can find them at Walmart, other stores, or online. Boil the jars to sterilize.

1 package of cake mix or any cake recipe

1. Make the cake batter according to the instructions or recipe
2. Grease the jar by liberally spraying the inside with cooking spray
3. Fill jar no more than 1/2 way with batter
4. Place jars on cookie sheet on rack in the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean @ 400 degrees (or you can follow the directions on the cake box, it just takes a bit longer)
5. While baking, boil jar lids in a pan of water
6. When cake is done, take on jar out at a time and cover with hot lid. Screw on jar ring tightening it slightly
7. The lid will seal as it cools. Listen to hear the "ping" as they seal.
8. As the cake cools, it will pull away frm the jar slightly. That's ok, it just means that it will slide out of the jar easily.
9. DO NOT FROST cake in the jar! Send frosting along.
10. Make sure you wrap the jars well (bubble wrap is preferrable, but wadded newspaper or clothing and other items will pad it too)

Welcome to the new MKL Blog!

With 1,800 friends (and always growing) on facebook, and so many opionons, experiences, and stories to share, we figured we would make an all access way to share that information with you.

This blog was started to share everything from day to day activities, to life alerting experiences with one another. Have a favorite recipe? Tips on how to survive deployment? Maybe an idea on some sweet holiday gifts for that deployed SO? Share them!

Write an article about anything, and everything, and email it to us at militarykindaloveblog@gmail.com! We will get it posted up once an admin approves it.

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