The perfect salmon patty

My husband grew up in the south and loves southern cooking. One of his favorite dinners is Salmon Patties. I got my recipe from a friend of mine and altered a few things to make them crispier on the outside and juicier in the middle.

Ingredients needed:

2 cans pink salmon (if using the smaller cans with no bones use 4)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cups italian season bread crumbs
1 Tbsp onion powder (or 1/2 chopped onion)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3 eggs
1 bottle vegetable oil

Combine salmon (de-boned if not boneless), garlic, mayonnaise, onion powder (or chopped onions) and bread crumbs in large bowl. Mix well, I use my hands to ensure proper blending. Roll mixture into golf ball size balls and dip in whipped eggs.

Put the egg dipped patties in a large skillet filled with oil and fry until both sides are deep brown and crispy. About 10 minutes each side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate or serving platter.

I serve with some kind of pasta. On hot summer nights, I serve with macaroni salad but in the middle of winter when the heat from the stove is welcome I serve with macaroni and cheese.

Enjoy!!! We do!

Healthy cinnamon chips and fruit salsa

Always looking  for fun easy and healthy snacks for my kids, I did what everyone is doing today and took to the web. I found tons of great ideas but the cinnamon chips and fruit salsa are made with stuff I always have in the kitchen. I altered the original recipe slightly to cut out the sugar but it is still sweet and tart.

Ingredients needed:

10 Wheat flour tortillas (Taco size)
butter flavor cooking spray
cinnamon
fresh or frozen mixed berries (frozen have juice already)
1 cup splenda
1tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Spray both sides tortillas with cooking spray. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon. Place in preheated (350) oven for 5-7 minutes or until browned and crisp. Let cool and slice with pizza cutter into wedge shapes.

Combine fruit (thaw the frozen first), splenda and vanilla in bowl and chill for 30 minutes (I let cure over night and it was juicer)

Serve and enjoy...but you should know it can be messy with younger children.

Crock Pot Roasted Chicken

Crock pot roasted chicken is an easy meal cooked slowly all day long that the family will LOVE!!! I am always up for easy when it comes to the meal planning and executing. I never fail with this meal and the kids and husband scarf every last bite!!!!

Ingredients needed:
1 large fryer chicken or 2 cornish game hens
minced garlic
1 stick butter
italian seasoning
cayan pepper
chicken broth
large onion, peeled and cut into halves
red potatoes halved (I serve with baked potatoes)
Carrots
olive oil

Directions:

Cut the skin away from the chicken body starting at the but making pockets under the skin to put the butter mixture. Mix together 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning, 1 Tbsp minced garlic and 1/4 stick butter and put under skin, smoothing out for better coverage.
Take half onion and put inside chicken against neck hole to cover opening. Follow with the remaining 3/4 stick of butter cut into cubes, 3 Tbsp minced Garlic and 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning. Place the other half onion against the but opening and tie legs together with twine (I use bread ties).
Place chicken in crock pot and poor chicken broth until just under openings (neck and but). Put in potatoes and carrots and cook for 6-8 hours on low or 3-5 on high until chicken juices run clear and potatoes and carrots are tender.

You can serve as is at this point or go 1 step farther like I do. I remove chicken from crock pot and place in baking pan. Sprinkle the skin with cayan pepper and place in oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden and crispy. Then I use a small amount of olive oil to coat the skin and make it look and taste great! Enjoy!!!

Back to School

So it is almost time for back to school. Here in small town upstate NY the kids return to school on September 5th. I'm sure all you mothers and fathers out there stress over the cost of school supplies and the list of supplies needed goes up every year but I learned to bargain shop for the kids basic supplies and splurge on their clothes and heavy duty backpacks.

Sure, the kids love the cute back packs with the cool characters on them from Wal-Mart and the dollar store, but they are worth what you pay...if you go cheap, you will be buying more of them later in the school year!!! I look at the seams and the zippers of the kids backpacks before I let them pick what they want. I stay away from the plastic zippers since those usually break or split in the first couple months (weeks for my son) of school. I also buy the extra coverage plan if it is available (K-Mart and Sears has it for $7) and their backpacks are covered for a year!
 
The supplies I usually buy on sale at the end of school shopping season for the next year, but I can't always guarantee I will remember where they are! If buying new, I look at sale papers and determine the best places to buy each item...NEVER buy them all at one place!!! If you are shopping for a High School student, go to BJ's or Sam's Club for the paper and note books. Buying in bulk means they are ready for the whole year and you don't have to rush out and buy loose leaf paper at 9pm because your child is out and has a paper due the next morning!!! For the younger kids I would suggest buying the notebooks at the dollar store or Wal-Mart. If they like the ones with the characters on them, allow them one or two to start with and go back when everything is on sale to get more. The crayons and other writing utensils are usually best at Wal-Mart or K-Mart for quality and price, but once again if buying for the older students, go to the big whole sale stores and buy in bulk!
 
The kids clothes are the most expensive, especially for the younger ones that hit that growth spurt in the middle of summer and have NOTHING that fits them!!! Shopping sales all summer is a good idea for older kids and teens that you know have already hit their spurt but for the younger ones I would suggest getting a few outfits for the start of school and add more to it each week until they are fully loaded with all the essentials! Another great way to get clothes and spread out payments is to do Lay-A-Way! K-Mart has a great Lay-A-Way program for the start of school and the payments are affordable...especially when you have to get new EVERYTHING!!!

 Kids shoes you should ALWAYS spend extra on since they are roughest on their foot wear and the pricier name brands hold up the best. If you buy cheap and have to get new every few months they add up to more than a name brand pair in the end!!!






Now that you are spent (physically and financially) and your kids are ready for the new school year, sit back and take time for your self!!! Remember that not only are your kids getting a great education but you can take a day off work and have a little pampering yourself!!! Enjoy the shopping and the free time. I will!!!

My new web site for my new paying hobby

http://pictureperfectpicture.webs.com/

Since I am beginning to be in demand for taking quality pictures and supplying quality prints at affordable prices, I decided to take it to the next step and make my information and pricing available on a cute and easily navigable web site. Check out my prices and my pictures I have loaded. I will be adding more daily and after each shoot I do. Enjoy...I plan to!

Picture perfect

Kaitlyn Mae Kramar

As most of my family and friends know, I like to dabble in photography. I'm not too shabby at it either!! I enjoy planning fun outdoor photo shoots, picking out fun costumes and props, posing in both classic poses and fun care free poses and letting my subject do what feels natural to them. I enjoy the entire picture taking process...I even have a good time editing my pictures in photo shop and posting on line for all to see. I have the privilege of having tons of family that let me use their kids for fun free shoots and they appreciate my artistic vision as well as making the kids relax and enjoy 4 hours of picture time. Here are some pictures I recently took of my favorite cousin's kids....What a fun time we had and the pictures turned out fantastically!!! Enjoy!

                                                                             The Kramar Kids

Zachery John Kramar

 Alyssa Lynn Kramar

Angry Birds

My son is a HUGE Angry Birds fan. For his birthday, we threw him an Angry Bird party with fun decorations, a cake made by a family friend and even a pin the nose on the pig board. While I purchased most of the items for his party on-line and in the stores, I did make the pig board and the center pieces for the tables...both of which were gifts as well and he currently has in his re-done Angry Bird themed room. Now my cousin's son is having an Angry Bird birthday party also so I got back on the crafting waggon and made his gifts as well.

I never realized how hard it would be to find Angry Bird party items in stores until I started searching for them. I was able to turn on my lap top and have everything delivered to me with out any hassle and pretty cheaply too. I love to shop on line, especially Amazon. If you do a lot of on-line shopping, I would highly recommend starting at Amazon since they carry most everything you would ever need. I also recommend joining Amazon Prime...for $80 a year you get free shipping on hundreds of items!!! But back to my search for the perfect party items. I knew exactly how many kids were going to be there so I knew how many party favors and plates I had to get. Amazon.com saved the day with a party pack!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Supplies-Includes-Napkins-Metallic-Balloon/dp/B006QYR91W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1342554413&sr=8-5&keywords=angry+birds+party+supplies

I found tons of Angry Bird items on Amazon for the goodie bags and purchased red gift boxes to give them out in.  Each box included a bag of Angry Bird gummies, an Angry Bird ring, and Angry Bird pen and 5 assorted Angry Bird stickers. I also purchased the invitations and Thank You cards from Amazon.

  The cake was done by http://www.facebook.com/lonny.cakes

I crocheted the Angry Birds and the pig and used them for center pieces that Gavin got to keep after the party and gets to sleep with them at night.
I got the pattern from http://www.craftown.com/Angry-Birds-Pig.html and they were really easy to do. The King Pig poster was made out of dollar store poster board, craft paper, permanent markers and hot glue. After the kids (and adults) had fun pinning the nose on the pig, it was hung over the boys bed on his wall with the nose in the proper place. Now my son has a one of a kind pig poster.

Once I found out that my cousin was having an Angry Bird party too, I started crocheting again and made the red bird and pig. Then I sketched and painted a picture on canvas that will be hung on his wall. I got the canvas and acrylic paints at http://www.joann.com where I get all my painting and crocheting materials.