january sponsor & giveaway: 19elephants

i am thrilled to be showing off my first ever sponsors today and giving away some goodies from them. be sure to check out both sponsor posts and enter both giveaways!

19elephants on etsy

19elephants is a shop full of handmade deliciocity. it is run by beth, and sister is a jack of all trades. she is rocking the sewing, crocheting, hairbows and more. all at really great prices.

there is SO much variety in the things beth can make--and make WELL--, from scarves for me to lunchbags for the kids to a beanie hat that i am pretty sure jesse would look mega-fine in.

here are just a few of the things i would go bananas for (for reals, the variety of things in there is amazing) if i had my very own 19elephants shopping spree:

the crochet cowl with flower pin. seriously. i must have this. comes in lots of colors, but i love this oatmeal shade already.

no fancy lady tying of the scarf to make it look cool: it just sits there and is awesome all by itself. and i would use the removable flower pin (in my choice of color...i choose gray!) like a red light green light scenario. if i have the flower on, i'm feeling friendly and want to make new buddies, but then when i take it off i am cool and unapproachable. that's totally how it works, guys.

a set of 10 no-slip hairbows.

so help me, layla *almost* has enough "business in the front," to necessitate a bow and balance out her "party in the back" baby mullet. one of these adorable litte accents would make her terminator assaults even more darling. plus, people would know she's a girl when we dress he in judah's old sneakers and shirts. bonus!

crocodile hand puppet

this thing would give judah so much joy, running around, roaring (do crocodiles roar?) and taking big chomps out of everyone. i love his big googlie eyes and shiny white grill (the puppets that is...and judah's too). the fact that this is a hand made and not mass-produced toy would satisfy the hippie mother in me that would come out if only i fed her some quinoa.

GIVEAWAY: $15 store credit to the 19elephants etsy shop

to enter (required): leave a comment on this post saying which item(s) you'd use your winnings on

additional entries (separate comment saying you did so for each):

-be/become a follower here

-favorite 19elephants etsy shop

so that's a total of 3 possible comment for 3 entries. i will announce the winner on friday morning.

DISCOUNT: from now until next friday, january 20th, everyone who enters DUKES15 at checkout, will receive 15% off their entire order at 19elephants.

good luck! and you'd better hustle if you want to beat me to that cowl!

lemolay'ed

i love layla. she make my heart fuzzy and cockles warm. but this kid is a smart little punk.

while she is just starting to sometimes drink the same watered-down juice that we let judah have, layla mostly gets milk only. i am pretty certain she has never been given full strength juice.

so you'd better believe i dont let her have full strength lemonade from chickfila. that mess is high octane. i used to work at the chick, and i know that the lemonade is real and full of straight up lemons. that mess is strong and acidic. if i was on juicing detail, my hangnails would be singing for hours afterward as the corrosive lemon molecules found their way past my outermost armor of epidermis.

while it is highly delicious and we let judah drink it on special occaisions, (holidays, birthdays, tuesdays, bribes) i havent let layla have any because its pH is so low that i am afraid of torching her still-new, pampered, litte baby GI tract. we gave judah juice too strong, too fast and it gave him bad diarrhea and diaper rash.

she knows she can't have it and therefore she comes after it with an unholy vengeance. this is the same way she feels about jesse's thermos of scalding hot coffee and any beer bottle within 2 miles of her.

she is the terminator. and if you dont move that junk about 3 feet further away from her than you *seem* to need to, she will destroy you.

so naturally the mastermind that she is, layla finally got ahold of some lemonade the other night when the perfect moment to hatch her nefarious scheme presented itself.

judah, jesse and layla were in the play area. judah had his kids cup of lemonade but jesse was in there with him preventing underaged drinking by layla. when jesse had to take judah to go to the potty, and the cup got left behind, she pounced. she knew i was all the way on the other side of the glass and couldnt stop her in time.

so i had a choice: go in and snatch it from her grasp or document her heist.

"ohhhh, what now, mama? it's just me and the cup right here, and you're all the way over there!"

she toddled over to the steps and set it down so she could put her back into enjoying it right in front of me. i am just thinking of the diaper scorch that this is going to cause her

"just want to make sure you could see my face here...drinking the lemonade"

and then an unsportsmanlike victory run at the glass to try to intimidate me into buying her some starbucks and corona. it didnt work...but only because i knew the glass would keep me safe.

she is a terminator, yall, and will eat your face off with slobber kisses and roars.

Ham and Cheese Melt Poppyseed Sliders

UPDATE, November, 2016: This was the first ever food pin I put on my Pinterest, and I've adapted it to become our traditional Black Friday & day-after-Christmas lunch. It's similar enough to holiday food to feel festive, but far enough away to not make you O.D. on brown and orange casserole.

Ham and Cheese Melt Poppyseed Sliders

Over the holidays I found myself at the store, in need of a special--but easy-- lunch one day. I pulled up this pin and made it our destiny.

Best. Move. Ever.

The dressing/topping/sauce stuff that goes over the top is something I could (and did) lick off a plate. And my finger. And off of Judah when some dripped on his bare shoulder.

The original recipe that I worked from is fabulous, but I made a few changes over the course of making these THREE TIMES IN ONE WEEK (see full recipe below) to speed up the process and make them even more to our liking loving lusting:

PRO TIPS:

1-Only make however many you need at a time. These are best when fresh out of the oven, and some magic is lost when you re-heat them. Our family of 4 does great with a dozen for now, but may soon get grabby as the kids get bigger.

2- Use King's Hawaiian sweet rolls, in the orange bags. I have always scoffed at these, but they were on sale in the deli and I am SO glad I used them instead of plain white rolls. The sweetness was crucial and worked perfectly, and the way they are packaged made things easier.

3- Dont make each roll one at a time. Dont even pull apart the rolls. Take them out of the package still stuck together. Take a bread knife and saw horizontally through all of the rolls--parallel to the ground (I am awful at this and always end up going too low or too high, but it matters not, just try to keep the knife in the vertical center of the bread bunch).

Now you have two big bread slabs: Topsies and bottomsies, made up of 12 roll-parts each.

It is a millionty times easier to assemble the sandwiches as one huge instead of doing the same steps 12 tiny times over.

Spread mayo all over both halves: dealer's choice on the brand, but you'll understand if we are a brand-loyal family:

Putting up my Duke's

Then lay down a layer of about ham slices. No need to make tiny ones, just make sure every bread section is covered with a few layers. I used about a half  pound of sweet deli ham, folding and draping the meat like a subway commercial stylist. Then top evenly with swiss (again, I'm not usually a fan of swiss, but it works here.

Then you pull a William Wallace and UNITE THE CLANS HALVES to create one big 12-part sammie conglomerate.

Grab a big knife and cut along all the bread seams to make individual rolls. just push straight down at each seam to keep your ham and cheese from sliding (like they would if you sawed).

.

Pop them in a pan. A 9x9 pyrex was perfect for 12 sandwiches. You do have to get aggressive forcing them in, but it's okay, let them get cozy and melty and smushy. 

Whip up the topping/liquid manna sauce. The original recipe said you can halve the amount, but DON'T DO IT!  Make it all. This stuff is where it's at, yall, and you can't go wrong with the full amount.

We accidentally made the full amount of dressing indicated for 24 sandwiches and poured it over just 12. We were bordering on "too much of a good thing," but not actually occupying that space. It's just that good.

Fork/pour the manna sauce over the top of the sammies and then cover them with foil and pop them in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

It really is hard to wait. They smell SO good while they are cooking, but you NEED fully melty cheese. It is crucial.

As i am writing this, my stomach is rising up in rebellion against my brain for making it look at these pictures and relive these memories of deliciousness when i don't have more of the sliders at-hand.

Go eat 7 of these.

Ham and Cheese Sliders (makes 12 sliders)

adapted from the girl who ate everything

Sammie ingredients:

-1 pack (12 rolls) king's hawaiian sweet rolls

-1/2 pound thin-sliced (good) deli honey ham
-4 thick slices Swiss cheese
-approx 1/3 C mayonnaise

Sauce Ingredients:

-1/2 Tablespoon poppy (seeds

-3/4 Tablespoon yellow mustard

-half a stick of butter, melted

-1 Tablespoon minced onion

-1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 375.

Take the entire pack of 12 rolls out of the packaging with them all still attached. run a serrated knife through the middle of the entire mass of rolls-- back and forth parallel to the floor.  Separate the top half and bottom half.

Spread mayo all over both halves.  Arrange ham on top of mayo so that the entire surface is covered.  Arrange cheese slices next.

Put the top half of the rolls on then run a long knife along the perforations to make 12 individual sandwiches.

Transfer them to a greased baking dish (9x9 size is a nice, cozy fit for 12 sammies) and set aside.

MANNA sauce:

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients. 

Fork out the solids evenly onto each roll and then pour liquid evenly over all of the sandwiches. Cover with foil and bake at 370 degrees for 15 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown.

Serve them up and try not to drool all over yourself.

Good luck with that.

** sandwiches can be assembled a day ahead and kept in the fridge ready to bake.