Monkey Bread with the family... how fitting

This weekend my mom visited for the first time at our new house... a great excuse to cook all weekend. I didn't get the camera out for all the food, but I remembered to take a picture of the monkey bread this morning.

One of my favorite breakfast recipes is Monkey Bread. It makes a bunch so I only make it when we have guests over.

Monkey Bread:

• 4 cans of small biscuits cut in 4 pieces each
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together so all pieces of biscuit are covered with the mixture. Spoon the pieces into a greased fluted pan. I love my stoneware fluted pan ($29)

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

In a sauce pan over the stove combine the ingredients above and bring to a boil. Pour the mixture over the biscuits in the pan. (Add pecans to the top - you can add them whole or chopped)

Bake in the oven 40-50 minutes.

Here's the empty pan... Kolin loved doing dishes all weekend.

Here's a list of the other meals we had:

• Thursday Dinner - 30 minute chicken in pampered chef deep covered baker, risotto, broccoli, salad and french baguette. Brownies too!
• Friday Lunch - Lemon Chicken Risotto soup (made with the leftovers)
• Friday Dinner - Homemade Pizza with garlic and herb crust. 1- Sausage and Pepperoni and 2- Sausage, Chicken and Spinach
• Saturday Breakfast - Cinnamon Banana Pancakes, Bacon and Fruit
• Saturday Dessert - Homemade M&M cookie and ice cream sandwiches
• Sunday Breakfast - Monkey Bread
• Sunday Lunch - Cookout with brats, pork chops, corn on the cob, mac 'n cheese and salad

I think everyone had a great weekend... and a few extra pounds :)

I inherited my creativity

You have to see the photo my grandma sent me today. This is of the wall right over her washer and dryer. I thought it was a decal she found and applied to the wall. I asked her about it and this was her response, “I painted it, I looked at the big picture I have on my dining room wall. It was a little difficult because I had to sit on the washer or kneel.” I think she did a great job – kudos Aggie! (I don’t call her grandma ‘cause she’s just too young still). My mom has some ideas of her own. We were talking on the phone last night and she was telling me about all the great finds at a recent garage sale. A new bedroom set and a crystal lamp for the guest bedroom. She’s coming in just a few weeks, so I’m doing my best to get the bathroom upstairs ready for guests.