2017 Summer Bucket List

So here it is...our annual Summer Family Bucket List.
If you decide to do a bucket list too, let us know.  We'd love to see what everyone else is doing too!!  Now to get started on crossing things off!


Make homemade pretzels

Try a new food (for mom and for kids)

Kids plan and cook dinner (each kid) (C: 7/13, M: 7/14)

Visit the ISU Horticulture Center Children's Garden (6/28/17)

Go to Lambert's Cafe (in Missouri) (7/23)

Create a travel bug (Geocache) and send it on its way (7/25)

Find a geocache in every state we visit this summer (This summer we have geocached in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Iowa)

Walk 100 miles as a family

Try a new restaurant in town 

Go to a White Sox Game (7/30)

Road trip to Oklahoma (7/25)

Go to Mrs. Wilcox's House....again (7/21)

Playdate with the Rizzo family (6/26/17)

Go to Six Flags at least 4 times (we went at least 4 times by 6/4/17)

Playdate/Visit Milwaukee Friends

Plant a new herb/fruit/vegetable in the garden (this year we are trying boston lettuce and orange peppers as our new veggies)
Go to Monkey Joe's (7/25)
Eat at Sugar in Peoria (Changed our minds due to current menu and went to Firehouse Pizza instead)

Paint 2 bedrooms (and move Matthew into his own room) (6/27/17: Matthew is in his own room and his room is painted a very bright blue (that he picked out))

Go to IKEA (7/30)

Do a Random Act of Kindness with the kids (1 act done 6/30)
Everyone catches a fish in Green Lake (we barely made it, but it happened 4th of July weekend)

Primitive camping (Tracy's version of it)
Go to the pool at least 6 times (completed by 7/31)
Play Pass the Water Game with our cousins
Go to a beach (7/27)

#1,991: Strawberry Pecan Pretzel Salad

This picture does not do this recipe justice and I will be making it again just to be able to take a picture!  This is SO good.  This is the type of picture you get when you're like "hurry and take a picture before everyone eats it and it's gone."  I mean this is SOOOOOO good.  If you have ever eaten strawberry pretzel jello, it's a lot like it, except that it doesn't have the jello in it.  Personally, the jello part is my least favorite part of the recipe, so this recipe is perfect (no jello at all!).

1 cup crushed pretzels

½ cup chopped pecans

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup butter, melted

2 cups diced strawberries

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

8 oz whipped topping

Mix together crushed pretzels, chopped pecans, brown sugar and melted butter.

Spread on a large baking sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool and then break it into small pieces.  (Then resist the temptation to eat this pretzel mixture on its own.  It's delicious!) 

Beat together softened cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla.  Fold in whipped topping.

Before serving, stir the diced strawberries and sugared pretzels and pecans into the cream cheese mixture.  

#1,990: Taco salad for a crowd

My family regularly eats Dorito taco salad at family gatherings, so I wanted something similar to it, but with a tiny twist.  I also needed something fairly large since I was making it for my daughter's first communion (and I wanted most of it done ahead of time so I could just throw it together).  When I came across this recipe I was excited to give it a try, and hoped that I would enjoy it as much as my mother-in-law's taco salad.  Here's the good news....it's delicious.  I loved it.  But I love "stuff" in my salads; the more the better!  I didn't say it was healthy though (Doritos, thousand island, and sugar will do that to a recipe), but it is very, very good.  The bad news....this will get soggy if you pour the dressing all over it so leftovers will not be salvageable.  I would certainly make this again though! 

1-1/2 pounds ground beef

2 envelopes taco seasoning, divided

1 medium head iceberg lettuce (I used iceberg and romaine)

1 package (10 ounces) nacho-flavored tortilla chips, coarsely crushed

2 pints grape tomatoes, halved

2 cans (16 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I used black beans)

3 cans (2-1/4 ounces each) sliced ripe olives, drained

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 large sweet onion, chopped

2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (I only used 1)

1-1/2 cups Thousand Island salad dressing

1-1/3 cups salsa

1/3 cup sugar

In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook beef with 1 envelope plus 2 tablespoons taco seasoning until no longer pink; drain.

In a very large serving bowl, combine the lettuce, chips, tomatoes, beans, olives, cheese, onion, chilies and beef mixture.

In a small bowl, combine the salad dressing, salsa, sugar and remaining taco seasoning; pour over salad and toss to coat. Yield: 26 servings (1-1/3 cups each).

#1,889: Monkey Toast

I don't know if this really counts as a recipe or not (I made TOAST!), but Matthew was watching a video on youtube and begged me to make this for him.  He loved it, and asked that I make it for him again.  I'm sure I can make that happen buddy.  :)  This is also a super ridiculously easy recipe that I'm sure you can figure out just by looking at the photo, so I'm only going to list the ingredients below.

Bread, toasted
Nutella
Banana, sliced
Blueberries