Housewife Hospitality

I’ve only had the pleasure of being a housewife/stay at home mom for nine months now. One thing I love about it is that I’m available. I am conveniently at home and able to accomplish so many things that I couldn’t do when I was working full time.
Previously, when we had company coming from out of town, I did the best I could to get the house ready and make nice food. Working eight hours a day outside the home definitely hindered that, however.

This weekend we have friends coming to visit and I am so excited! While our home is ever so humble, (they have to sleep on a mattress in the baby’s room while baby bunks in with us), I have had fun washing bedding, making their bed, cleaning bathrooms and getting things ready. I thought I would share with you the plans I have for food this weekend (since that seems to be what this blog is all about, now isn’t it?)

I need to prepare two breakfasts, maybe a lunch or two, snacks, treats and only one dinner since we have the pleasure of going out for one of our meals.
I decided we will have a classic bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast one morning and the second morning fresh banana muffins and strawberry orange Julius drinks.
I am going to make spaghetti, Caesar salad, and fresh bread for dinner. For lunches we have fresh buns and bread and deli meat, fruit, vegetables, cheese and crackers. To snack on I’m going to make a big bowl of my homemade salsa (you remember that one, right?!) with tortilla chips. For treats, last night I whipped up a batch of Mars Bar Squares to keep in the fridge and for dessert after dinner tonight I am making a pecan caramel ice cream dessert.

How good does that sound? I am having so much fun planning and preparing everything. It is so nice to be home all day able to do this kind of thing. I’ve been carrying the baby around in my backpack carrier as I get things done. Poor thing is teething and cranky but I still can’t complain, I’m so happy to be home with her!

I want to share some of the recipes I’m making with you. To start, I’ll share one of my favorite treats: Mars Bar Squares. I’m sorry; they are not at all healthy for you! They are very yummy and I’m sure over the years my mom has been asked for this recipe 100 times! Enjoy!

Mars Bar Squares

Ingredients

½ cup butter
4 Mars Bar Squares, chopped
3 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup butter

Melt ½ cup butter and Mars bars in the microwave. Stir in Rice Krispies and pat into a 9x9 inch baking pan. Melt chocolate chips and ¼ cup butter. Spread over Rice Krispies base. Refrigerate until set. Cut into squares.

How easy was that?

I’ll also share my recipe for banana muffins.

Combine in bowl:

1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Beat together:

1 egg
1 ½ cups mashed banana
½ cup melted butter

Add wet to dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Add ¾ cup chopped nuts if you desire. Fill muffin tins (greased or lined) ¾ full. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

These are so delicious. To make them healthier, I replace half the white flour with whole wheat flour. You can replace the butter with unsweetened applesauce also.

I am serving these with some orange Julius type drinks. I don’t have measurements but here is the basic idea. I put a can of frozen orange juice concentrate in the blender with some ice cubes, milk, vanilla, chopped strawberries, and powdered sugar. They are cool and creamy and really yummy at breakfast. They are also good without strawberries for a plain orange flavor or even better with sweet raspberries.

Soon, I am going to post two of the recipes for fresh bread that I make in my bread maker.

Have a great weekend!