Category: Homeschool Resources

Homemade Croutons

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

Forget the days when croutons were just for salad toppings. We love to eat croutons on our salads, our soups, stews, and we have even been known to eat them as a snack every now and then as well.

I know I have a recipe for homemade croutons somewhere around here but I’m not sure where it is but I’ll update this one if there is anything different about the way I made them the other day.  It just happened that my sister sent home some of the Quick & Easy Garlic Bread and it got pretty hard even though we had it in a Ziploc baggie.

Well, I really didn’t want to throw it out because it was really good and then I had an idea. When we did our last grocery pickup they were out of oyster crackers. I had planned to make Loaded Potato Soup that night as Mr. Awesome had requested it but we really like to eat it with oyster crackers. I had some regular saltines but decided to give it a try with some garlic croutons and they were a HIT!

I skipped a couple of the steps as our bread already had the garlic and butter so I simply had to cut it up and bake it for the most delicious croutons ever. I also keep a baggie in the freezer with scrap bread for making croutons and/or bread crumbs. Continue reading “Homemade Croutons” →

Sausage Balls

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

A friend of mine surprised one day by making these… I didn’t know he could cook and these were so good! He gave me the recipe and they are so easy to make!

The kids can pretty much make this recipe by themselves with a little help when it comes to the oven! I’ll try to remember to snap a picture of these the next time we make them.

Continue reading “Sausage Balls” →

Baked Spaghetti Squash (3 ways to cook it)

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog5 Comments

This was something that I’ve been wanting to try but haven’t gotten around to until last weekend. I am so glad that my sister decided to go with this for dinner as I have been very curious and now I know that this dish will be making it to our table again in the future… it’s so easy to do as well!

You can use the cooked squash in almost any pasta dish and I can’t wait to give it a try with Mama’s Secret Spaghetti Sauce or with some Easy Alfredo Sauce, the possibilities are endless. We ate it with some Easy Baked Chicken, Sauteed Squash (we used a combination of other vegetables instead of the squash), and some Quick & Easy Garlic Bread (which I later made croutons with). 

I’m thinking this might also work well in place of the squash in our favorite Cheesy Squash Casserole or maybe even good as Vegetable Casserole. I’ve also read that Spaghetti Squash is good with a little butter and brown sugar… just the way I like my sweet potatoes!

Did I mention that spaghetti squash is a low carb pasta alternative? It also has many great health benefits that you can read about HERE. This fits in well with our Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle changes that we’ve been trying to implement! Continue reading “Baked Spaghetti Squash (3 ways to cook it)” →

Single-Serve Hot Cocoa

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog4 Comments

Craving something sweet and warm on a cold day? Try this single-serve version of The Best Hot Cocoa and you can be sipping on a warm cup of delicious hot cocoa in just a couple of minutes! Feel free to use non-fat milk and/or try it with almond milk and omit the sugar to sweeten it with your favorite low-calorie sweetener after microwaving! Continue reading “Single-Serve Hot Cocoa” →

Santa’s Top 10 Favorite Cookies That Can Be Made Ahead of Time!

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

santas-top-10-pin.pngI don’t know if Santa will be visiting your house anytime soon but I think he just might stop here for a handful of cookies. My kiddos love the tradition of leaving cookies for Santa although I suspect that it may be because they get to help sample the cookies.

This year I was determined to have a little bit less stress around the holidays but sometimes life seems to just happen around you. Our new house has been one thing after another and I really wasn’t sure just what else might happen before Christmas so I really tried to get things prepped ahead of time.

One thing I did was to make a TON of freezer meals, 35+ Freezer Meals In One Day!, and I also worked on adding printable recipes to all of my existing recipes on the blog as well as to the new recipes I’ve been posting. I’ve also gotten all of my recipes from my recipe box scheduled to post and I will continue to work on some of the others I have scattered around and packed up just as soon as I can.

This is so much easier than trying to keep your screen open in the kitchen… I apologize that I didn’t do this earlier! I also went ahead and made a bunch of Freezer Cookies! (Working on that post too!) 

I’m not completely against using store-bought cookie dough but I feel that homemade is ALWAYS better if you can. With these recipes, you CAN! I normally like to roll most of my cookie dough into small balls and flash freeze to make it easier to only pull out what I need. You may want to experiment with these recipes or divide them into smaller batches before freezing. Check out this article HERE for more information about freezing different kinds of cookie dough!

Continue reading “Santa’s Top 10 Favorite Cookies That Can Be Made Ahead of Time!” →