New Restaurant Friday: Wild Wing

This was where we decided to take our New Restaurant Friday this week. Originally on my meal plan for this week we were going to try somewhere else, but after much deliberation and Thursday night hubby mentioning wings no less than three times we changed our minds!

Boy were we glad we did! Wild Wing located on Granville St in Vancouver is a cute little joint located between Nelson and Smithe. When you walk in it is set up very much like a Hooters for those of you that have been to one; roomy booths, a bar, and lots of televisions.

We were seated right away, which surprised me since there was a hockey game...or maybe that is why we were seated right away. Our waitress was great, very attentive.

When you look at the menu you are offered wings three ways: traditional (breaded), naked, or boneless. We chose traditional.

This is what we had:

 Garlic Parm, Sweet brunette which is a combo of the two flavors we got, and Honey BBQ. I only tried one and it was the sweet brunette really tasty. Great combo of the two flavors.

This was my meal, coconut shrimp and caesar salad. The shrimp were as good as any from back home in Florida. Crispy, not greasy and the dip was fantastic, really complimented them. The salad was tossed in the garlic parm dressing, 'twas perfect! 

These two goobers enjoying their wings. The teenager was acting a fool as any good teenager does when out to wings with her parents! 

At the end we got these tasty little candies:

Wild wing is great for groups and families. The booths were large, it wasn't quiet, and the food is for the fingers! Make sure you go check it out!

Family Favorites Friday #3

This is another classic. My mom made it since I was a kid, but many people don't know what I am talking about when I say what it is: Magic Cookie Bars.

Many people call them 7 layers bars, but not sure why because the recipe I use only has 5 ingredients, or layers, plus they are practically gone the instant they are cool enough to cut, so we will stick with "magic".

This particular recipe my mom always used was found on the inside label of Eagle Brand Sweet and Condensed Milk. I tweak it because, well, my family is picky. So...here is the recipe:

Magic Cookie Bars

-1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs

-1/2 cup of butter, melted

-10-14 oz (about 300ml) can of sweet & condensed milk

-package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

-a little shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a 9X13 pan measure out the graham cracker crumbs.

2. Melt the butter. Pour over crumbs and mix together. Once combined use your hands to press the crust into the bottom of the pan.

3. Open the sweet and condensed milk and pour evenly over the crust. Try and get it as even as possible because once it is on there you can not really move it, but it does sort of naturally spread and settle so however you pour it so long as you cover most of the crust it will be fine.

4. Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top.

5. Evenly sprinkle some shredded coconut over the top. We have someone in our house who isn't a coconut fan so I just sprinkle it over half.

See half with coconut, half without! Pretty darn simple!

Here they are baked! Not the best picture in the world, but they sure are heavenly!

What is a favorite recipe you and your family love?

Family Favorites Friday!!! #2

I was a bit disorganized last week and didn't get a Family Favorites Friday post up! Oh well, those things happen.

This past weekend though, during my baking I found a new family favorite: FUDGE!!!   It is so gooey and delicious, it really cannot be beat. Plus, it is super, duper easy!

Easy Fudge

Ingredients

• -1.5 cups sugar (regular, old fashioned white sugar)
• -5 ounces evaporated milk (full fat)
• -1/2 cup of butter
• -2 cups of small marshmallows
• -1 heaping cup semisweet chocolate chips
• -1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Process
• 1. Line and 8x8 square pan with parchment. Make sure it comes up and crosses over the the edges, you may have to criss-cross the parchment.
• 2. Butter a non-stick sauce pan (2 qt). Combine The sugar, evaporated milk, and butter. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until boiling (around 10 minutes). Reduce heat to medium. Stir constantly for the next 6 minutes (set your timer). Really, continue stirring or it will get stuck to the sides and burn...ick.
• 3. Remove from heat. Add marshmallows, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Stir until the marshmallows and chocolate chips are all melted.
• 4. Spread mixture into the parchment lined pan. To get the look I have cover with sprinkles and tiny marshmallows on top. Put in the fridge and let cool. At least 2-3 hours.
• 5. After that time, when it feels firm enough, take it out of the pan and cut into small squares and store in an air tight container.
• 
  

This is a super yummy recipe and I 100% recommend making this ASAP....especially if your Santa is a fudge fan, s/he'd be ever so grateful! ;)

Make sure to check out the other recipes I've posted this week:

S'mores Pops

Birthday Cake Pancakes

Birthday Cake Pancakes!!!!! (& a sleepover organization tip!)

This past weekend was my daughter's birthday. Normally we are huge, huge on birthdays. I mean the day of we celebrate the heck out of that person but this birthday was a crazy one and we celebrated her literally all weekend long!

It started with a big surprise party with 10 of her closest friends from school (how they all kept it secret I will never know, but boy was she surprised!). This was a total surprise to her. We had told her that due to our family Christmas gift we couldn't really afford the big party she originally wanted to she could invite a girlfriend or two to spend the night. Well, immediately after that I decided to coordinate the surprise party. I am so happy it worked out. The girls were so sweet and made it so special for her. I unfortunately didn't get the "surprise" on video, but here is on of them singing to her.

Then, on Saturday we let her have a sleep over since that was her "original" birthday party  with three of her girlfriends. I made homemade pizza, ribs, and peas (the mom in me can't go without a veggie on their plates; and contrary to what the USDA believes I don't count tomato sauce as a veggie). I don't buy paper plates or plastic cups so our cups were going to get used up very quickly with six of us in the house so I decided a bit of organization was in order. I thought at first about writing on the cups with dry erase marker, but was slightly worried that it would rub off and they'd still get them confused. So, I came up with this....

It was super easy. Just used a few post it notes, wrote their name on them and put the cups where they belonged! They could come out and grab a little water or soda, take a swig and either rinse it an put it down, or if it still had stuff in it just put it down over their name! They loved it and even thought it was a great idea!!

Now on to what you really came here for...

Birthday Cake Pancakes!!!

The original recipe that I used is here. I did mostly the same stuff. Here is what I did...

Ingredients

-Betty Crocker Party Rainbow Chip Cake Mix

-3 Eggs

-1 Cup of Water

-1/3 Cup of Melted Coconut Oil

First, I poured in the cake mix and took a wooden spoon to it to break up any lumps. Next, I added the eggs, water and oil and mixed it up, just until mixed. I also smoothed out any large lumps. I found since this is a cake mix it all mixed together pretty smoothly and I had no lumps.  

Once I got toward then end I poured them all willy nilly in the bottom just to get them made...after all I had four very hungry teenage girls! 

But, as you can see most of them I made quite nicely. See how beautifully they brown up? I pour a little maple syrup over top with some sprinkles. The original recipe shows using icing, but my kiddo isn't a huge fan so I avoided it. The other girls here didn't actually use anything at all to top their pancakes they were sweet enough without it.

All lit up!!!

The Birthday Girl blowing out her candles!

These made amazing pancakes. I couldn't even eat a whole one though, they are quite filling and a very special treat for a birthday boy or girl! I think these will definitely be a tradition in our house!

Does your family have any fun birthday traditions?

DIY: Christmas Countdown Calendar (Advent Calendar) +free printable!

I don't normally do much posting on the weekend, but this project has been in the works for a few days and with December 1 pending tomorrow I decided to make sure this got up today!

Now that American Thanksgiving is over, the holiday's are officially in full swing for my family! Even up here in Canada they had several "Black Friday" sales, it was fun to get out and pick up some goodies to put under the tree! I had also been working on getting something special prepped for my teenager for the holiday's. 

We always do some sort of advent/countdown calendar. I wanted this year's to be about more than just candy, but I also didn't want to give little trinkets that would just take up space and clutter up our small apartment. So, I came up with some clutter-less activities that allow us to spend time together as a family and give to those around us. Here is how I did it...

Supplies

• Advent Activities printed on Sticker paper
• Something to put the candy/activities in
• 1" punch
• Small Candy

I gathered my advent calendar, the printable I made, my 1" punch, and some Hershey's kisses.

I used these kisses:

They were all my Shopper's had...and they are amazing!

Above is the 1" punch I use. If you don't have one but you craft a lot I highly recommend this one by EK Success. It is compact, it is an "easy punch", and it can be used for a variety of things...namely bottle cap crafts! So, take this punch and turn it upside down like this: 

Centre it over the words and wreath, and punch! I punched all of mine out first... 

....and then stuck it to the bottom of the Hershey's Kiss!

Cute, huh?!

Then I put it behind the appropriate door! 

Now, something to keep in mind when deciding which activities to use is check your calendar. Some of the activities are quite easy and can be done even on a busy day. For example one is read a holiday book, another is have dinner in front of the Christmas Tree, have a red & green themed dinner. Those are things that don't really take any extra effort, but can go a long way in making great memories!

I printed this calendar and as I put the activities in the box, I wrote down what was being done on each day so that way each evening I can look ahead to what activity is on schedule for the next day so if it involves pancakes, waffles, hot cocoa, etc I can make sure those are prepped the night before; or, if it involves going somewhere I can make sure I tell everyone to be on schedule!

Now, how did I come up with the activity ideas? I tried to choose things that were cheap, mostly clutter-less, and ones that could help my teenager think of others. I scoured pinterest, facebook, and and several blogs looking for ideas, but most of them are unique because honestly most of the ideas I found involved a lot of "stuff" or expense. 

Here are the ideas I used and what I am doing for each one:

Hot Cocoa Breakfast with cookies

Cinnamon Ornament

Make an ornament

Design Your own Tree

Make gift for teacher(s)

Holiday Light Displays

Ice Skating-Sundae Bar

See a parade

Reflect on the year

Commemorate the day in video or pics

Look at neighborhood lights

Play Charades

Red & Green Themed Dinner

RAK Day

Have a dance party

Sing Carols

Game night

Make presents for cheer coaches

Snowboarding

Go play in the snow

Roast marshmallows in the fire

Go see a holiday movie in theater

Make goals for next year

Popcorn Garland

Mail Xmas Cards to friends

Xmas Trivia

Popcorn & Movie

Look @ Xmas Lights

Merry Christmas

Tree Lighting & Carol Ships (this is unique to our city, but your city may have a tree lighting)

Donate coats to a charity

Night Before Christmas (movie/book)

Donate a toy to charity

Bake Gingerbread Men

Make Fudge

Make puff pain snowflakes

Candle light dinner

Polar Express (movie/book)

Make mom & dad a present

Pancakes & Cocoa

Open Presents

Dress fancy for dinner

Bake Spritz Cookies

Write to Santa

Visit holiday attraction at a museum

Take a cookie basket to friends (use the cookies you've baked earlier in the countdown)

Do something nice for Mom & Dad

Magic Cookie Bars

Waffles & Cocoa

Living room fort

PJ Party

Christmas Market

Visit Santa

Dinner in front of Xmas Tree

Breakfast in front of Xmas Tree

List what you are thankful for

Craft Day

How the Grinch Stole Xmas

Send hug to out of town family

Look at the holiday window displays

Holiday Book

Xmas Movie

On Friday's and the days my teen is on holiday break I put in two activities because I really wanted us to be doing a lot together. I think this will be so fun.

Some ideas in the event you don't have an advent calendar like I do above....pin socks to a line of string hung on the wall, hang numbered socks on the tree and the let the kids pick them off each day, hang a string or string of lights and use numbered clothespins to pin pieces of paper with the day's activity to it. Think outside the box, have fun with it!

How do you kick off your holiday season???

I would love to see your holiday activities! Leave a link in the comments or some share with us on facebook!