Apple Toffee Salad

I created this recipe one day when I had some apples and cool whip that needed to be used.

Apples cut into bite size pieces (I use 2 per person. I also first cut them with my apple cutter and then cut them down to smaller size.)
Cool whip
Toffee bits (You buy these in the small place in the grocery store as the chocolate chips)

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve.

This salad does not keep overnight, so only make as much as will get eaten that day. This is never much of a concern in my family, cause we all love it so much!

Coconut Macaroons

1 (14 oz) bag of coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
melted white chocolate (or I guess you can do regular chocolate if you really want to)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla together. Scoop cookies onto a well greased cookie sheet. ( I press mine down a little bit.)

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Cookies will be golden brown on the bottom. Remove cookies from pan promptly, as they will stick to the pan if you don't! The bottoms usually spread out a bit and so as I take them off the pan I push the cookies back together to make them look nicer. (Which only matters if you are taking them somewhere.)

Once cool, drizzle the melted white chocolate over the tops of the cookies.

Oven Baked Chimichangas

These are yummy and easy! A couple hints: use thinner tortillas, they roll better. Place the filling off center and start rolling from that side, that way when you finish rolling the seam will be in the right place to keep it from unrolling. And I usually at least double the batch.

2/3 cup salsa
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 oregano
1 1/2 cup shredded chicken
1 cup grated cheese
6 flour tortillas
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Mix first five ingredients. Put 1/2 cup of mix on tortilla, fold sides in then roll from bottom. Place seam side down on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Brush with melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. They will be a light golden brown and nice and crispy. Enjoy!!

As Long Ago Promised......

My recipe for my homemade granola bars! The original idea was from Rachel Ray, but I've tweaked the recipe and everyone loves them. I am constantly getting requests for the recipe and so I'm now finally posting! If you have questions, ask! And ENJOY!!!

Alicia's Homemade Granola Bars

2 Cups rolled oats
1 Cup Honey Nut Chex
1 Cup Rice Chex
1 Cup Corn Chex
1 Cup dried fruit bits (I use a 7 fruit blend from Sam's Club)
1/2 Cup white chocolate chips

Add the above ingredients to a large bowl and mix up. Then in a sauce pan over medium-high heat add the following:

1 stick butter/margarine
1/3 cup Honey (if you spray your measuring cup with pam first then the honey comes right out)
1 Cup brown sugar

Stir mixture and continue cooking until it starts bubbling. Then continue stirring and cooking for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over mixture in large bowl. Stir to completely cover mixture. Spread into a 9 x 13 greased pan and gently push down into pan. Put pan into fridge to cool until set. Cut into squares and enjoy! Store in air tight container.

I always have little pieces that have fallen off into the container. I save them and have them for breakfast with some milk, like granola.

August?!

It's August already!? It feels like summer just started and yet on the other hand I am really ready for the boys to go back to school. The days of sleeping in will come to an end and we will have to get back on a routine. No more staying up late and watching cartoons till noon. I'll be glad for the boys to get back to seeing friends, without having them come to our house. I have a hard time planning play dates with my fibro and never knowing when a good/bad day will come. No more trying to decide what to have for lunch! School lunch makes my life easier!! The boys are excited for their new teachers and to be 3rd and 4th graders! It will be a little weird for Kaleb and I not be going back to school as well, but will be ooohhh soooo nice!!! And maybe with the boys back in school I'll get my turn on the desktop computer that has all the pictures on it and I can blog about all the fun things we did this summer!!!

Waaaay Toooooo Looooonnnngggggg!

Sorry it has been soooo long since I last posted about my fibromyalgia study. I am still plugging along and some days are still better than others. We had graduation and a cello concert and family came and we rearranged our little apartment and lots of other stuff that has kept me from posting. Things have slowed down a little bit since we got graduation over with.

Last Thursday the Dr took x-rays with my weights on to determine what needed to be changed and to monitor the progress. Unfortunately he couldn't show me the x-rays because it is for a medical study and showing the patients the x-rays could positively/negatively affect the study through pschological lines. But I will get to see all of my x-rays as soon as the study is over in the first week of July. So my progress is going good. Of course I do not have the perfect curviture in my spine yet, but there is a change. The Dr said that if you started with ligament damage and a negative curve that it would take longer to achieve the desired results and I am so lucky that I have 2 torn ligaments and a negative curve. With the progress that I made I do get to change my weights! I no longer have to wear 8 pounds of weight around my waist, but I do have 1 extra pound on the right side of my head. So I lost 7 pounds of weights, which makes my bag a lot easier to carry!!

So I'll just keep plugging along, doing my exercises. I'm tired and I do still hurt, but it is different pain. And really whose body wouldn't hurt if they were trying to change the position it has been in for years! The study will end the beginning of July, but the Dr has said that he will continue to treat us if we are not at the point he wants us to be at, for free. Also, he has contacts with a Dr that can cure food sensitivities and the treatment is covered under most insurances with chiropractic coverage....so if Kaleb gets the contract position with benefits I will be visting this Dr very soon! Wish us luck! We could really use some good health insurance!

Crazy Hair Day

Last week was a CRAZY week and right in the middle of it all the boys had Crazy Hair Day at school. So I gelled and sprayed and tadaaaa........