Birthdays and Hawaiian Ham and Cheese Sliders

Birthdays are a super special event in our house or at least we try to make sure they are :0). While working on the plan for this year's upcoming birthdays of our soon to be 4 and 2 year olds, I am reminded of last year's parties. The almost 3 year old (at the time) was finally able to have an opinion about her party theme and chose a monster party which turned out to be a blast! And since our littlest was too young to decide for herself, we chose a luau theme which was perfect for her late June birthday. The hit of the luau were these incredibly delicious ham and cheese sliders on Hawaiian rolls! I had first discovered them at our niece's birthday and they were so good I knew they would make the perfect addition to our luau. I'm pretty sure I could eat an entire pan of these myself so beware ;0).

Hawaiian Ham and Cheese Sliders

1- 12 pack King's Original Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls
1 lb. Deli Ham
1 lb. Swiss cheese (thinly sliced)
1 stick of butter
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 tsp dried minced onion
Poppy seeds

You can leave rolls intact but slice through the middle. Layer with cheese, ham, and more cheese. Top with roll tops. Place rolls in a 9x13 pan. Mix butter, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and onion in a small saucepan until butter is melted. Pour over tops of rolls. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. You can refrigerate a few hours, overnight, or not at all (I usually go for not at all as I want them now but for the party I did them before hand and refrigerated them until I was ready). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown and cheese is melted (if tops are browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil until cheese is melted). Serve warm.

Be on the lookout for more on this year's parties: a Superhero party for our eldest Super Girl and either an owl or Elmo party for the youngest :0) I've included a few pictures below of our monster party and luau for fun. Enjoy the sliders!

The birthday girl waiting so patiently!

Party favor bags for the guests

Funny face but a good one of her monster outfit; thanks Grandma Grace!

Birthday banner

Dessert!!

The birthday girl posing for her invites

The dessert table is prepared

Teddy bears in inner tubes

Teddies on the beach

Umbrella wreath

Birthday banner...love my cricut!

Party favor buckets

Fruit platter

Birthday girl in her Hawaiian dress

Memories, Lemon Bars, and Cucumber Sandwiches

Okay, so my last post got me thinking about memories from my childhood. Today I'm going to focus on my Grandma Adalee. When i used to visit her in the summer we used to enjoy going to the movie theater and singing in the car together. Her favorite song to sing with us was "You are my sunshine". We also enjoyed walking out at their beachfront condo on Medeira Beach. As far back as I can remember, she was very much into healthy eating. We often ate Grape Nuts cereal (yuck!) and Ruth's Golden Oatmeal cookies because they did not have preservatives. :0) My favorite thing to eat at her house were toasted deli sandwiches. She made them on sandwich buns with chicken, Swiss cheese, and tomato; yum! I still make them at home on occasion. Another wonderful recipe from her were date nut bars. The following recipe for these creamy lemon crumb squares reminds me of them; the crust is very similar! I'll include the date bar recipe in a future post.

I have also included a bonus recipe for cucumber sandwiches. This recipe did not come from my grandma but I got this recipe from a friend of mine's sister and they are absolutely delicious! I never thought that I would like cucumber sandwiches but I'm pretty sure I could eat an entire recipe of these myself! I made these for our girl's night last week and I just had to share it with you.

These recipes are pictured on a plate that I saved from my grandmother's when she moved into a nursing home. Miss you Grandma!

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares
(Found on Pinterest- original recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, slightly softened
1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 cup oats
1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
½ cups lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.

Press half of oat crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan. You can use a 9 x 13 pan; it will just be thinner.

Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. The other half of the crumb mixture mix and knead together with clean hands so that the butter that you added earlier gets incorporated then crumble on top of lemon layer but don’t press. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.Serve cool. Makes around one dozen.


Cucumber Sandwiches

2 8-oz packages cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1/2 cup mayo (I used light)
1 package ranch dressing dry seasoning mix
Hawaiian dinner rolls
Cucumber
Dill weed

Mix cream cheese, mayo and dressing until well mixed. Split Hawaiian rolls in half. Top each half with some of the cream cheese mixture, top with a thin slice of cucumber,and sprinkle a little dill weed on top (it's missing in my picture). Enjoy!

Super Bowl and Snack Foods

One of my favorite things to cook is what we lovingly call "football food". All of those deliciously yummy treats we eat while watching our beloved Colts play. This year something spectacular is taking place in our home town: Super Bowl XLVI. My husband has always dreamed of going to the Super Bowl and now that "his" team has made it twice, reality has set in and has kept him from going. Two teachers, unfortunately, do not make enough to have the money to go to the big game. Now, the game is here in our town, and although we still can't afford to go to the game we can do the next best thing...we are going downtown on Sunday to hang out before the game and during. This sounds completely crazy to me but who am I to stand in the way of a dream :0). Because we will be downtown, I won't be making any game food this time but that won't stop me from helping you deck out the food table at your Super Bowl party! Here are a few of our favorites! Enjoy! (P.S. Don't forget to check out my previous post on the buffalo chicken dip!)

Deli Pinwheels

Deli sliced ham (or any other meat)
Baby spinach leaves
1 Can Crescent rolls
1 Container Garlic and Herb spreadable cheese

1. Unroll crescent rolls. Pinch seams (or buy that awesome crescent roll sheet!).
2. Spread a thin layer of cheese spread on crescent rolls.

3. Lay a thin layer of deli meat on top of cheese.

4. Top with a single layer of spinach leaves.

5. Roll up crescent rolls starting with the long side.
6. Using a serrated bread knife, cut log into 1/2 in rounds.

7. Place on a baking sheet and bake according to crescent roll directions or until pinwheels are golden brown.

Polish Mistakes (I'll work on some pictures of these soon!)

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground sausage (I use mild)
1 lb. velveeta
1 loaf cocktail bread (original recipe calls for rye which I don't like so I use French bread)
Dash of garlic powder

1. Brown beef and sausage until cooked through.
2. Add in velveeta and garlic powder.
3. Cook until cheese is melted.
4. Place heaping spoonfuls on drop of bread slices on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 min or until bread is slightly toasted.

Have a SUPER party ;0)

Football and Buffalo Chicken Dip

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I love the cool weather, sweaters, bonfires, football, and football food! Before all our kids came along, we used to tailgate at all of the home Purdue football games. We would show up first thing in the morning, tailgate until the game, go to the game, and sometimes even tailgate afterwards. Not being a big drinker, the food really made the tailgate experience for me. We enjoyed trying new things and often had the oldies but goodies like taco dip and chili as well. These days we tailgate in the comfort of our own home where we can entertain our 2 year old without much effort. This brings some sadness as I miss the camaraderie of our fellow tailgaters but it also brings me great joy as I no longer have to freeze to death, I can go to the bathroom without visiting a porta-potty or hiking a long way, and I can cook a little more easily with the help of electricity. One of our new-found favorites is buffalo chicken dip. I am not a fan of buffalo wings but boy is this recipe delicious! I got the recipe from a co-worker of Andrew's; thanks Angie!


Buffalo Chicken Dip


4 chicken breasts
2 - 8oz. containers cream cheese, softened
1 - 16oz bottle of Ranch dressing
1 - 12oz Hot Sauce (Frank's) - more or less to taste
1 - 8 oz pkg Monterrey/Cheddar Cheese


Precook chicken and cut into small pieces (if I plan ahead I often cook in my crock-pot for a few hours and shred it). Place chicken in crock-pot.Stir in hot sauce. Mix in cream cheese, ranch, and shredded cheese. Heat until warm and serve with tortilla chips.


Here is the finished product:

I plated it with blue corn chips. Andrew prefers those with this dip and it looks so pretty :0) Hope you enjoy!