How to Make Mashed Potatoes from the Box Taste Homemade

I love mashed potatoes. I don't have enough time all the time to make them from scratch. I have a really good ranch mashed potato recipe to share with you some time. We have mashed potatoes almost every week depending on our menu. Like many others I use the boxed kind for the convenience. For some reason I don't follow the directions on the box.  I realized that I make them wrong, however I still do it because it tastes really good. I like thicker mashed potatoes personally. I used to eat Salisbury steak TV dinners but never ate the mashed potatoes. They are not too good in my opinion. I am pretty weird though. I still don't eat them.  I have perfected my boxed mashed potato recipe. It's really good too. Trust me!

How to make boxed mashed potatoes taste like homemade every time. 

This makes four servings which is like really like three.

1 and 1/4 cup water
2/3 cups of milk
A stick of butter cut in half.
Potato flakes ( I don't really measure them. I just as much as it takes to get the consistency you like)

Combine half a stick of butter with the water and milk and bring to a boil on high heat. As soon as it starts to rise take it off the heat and add the flakes. Combine and then add the remaining half of stick of butter and salt and pepper to taste.

I know you aren't really suppose to boil milk but it doesn't burn or anything in this recipe.

How to make Peanut Butter Shells

When you think of making candy it seems like a really involved process. I made a ton of delicious peanut butter shells. When I say shells I mean seashells. I have a shell mold. Of course I do. Are you new? Noah loves shells and sea life. After my infamous Crisis Cooking with Sheila episode and trying every easy method to make these darn shells. I figured out that a spoon works the best. I used one of Noah's toddler spoons. It made it easier for control purposes. I tried the pastry bag. It wasted too much of the goodie. I tried a squirt bottle. It was impossible. So lets just say when I finished them I was not making them with love anymore. I was extremely frustrated and angry. So, use a spoon. It will save you hours of grumpiness.  Here is my recipe. It has two ingredients. It sounds like it would take a long time to set but it doesn't. Like twenty minutes in the fridge.

Sheila's peanut butter shells

Reese's peanut butter chips
Shortening

Combine half a bag of Reese's chips with a teaspoon of shortening. Microwave it for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 17 seconds and stir until melted. Carefully fill the molds. Carefully drop them on the counter.

Refrigerate  for twenty minutes until hard pop them out and do it again.
I figured out that two bags makes six trays of shells as long as you aren't sloppy.

It's a beautiful and yummy treat for anyone who likes peanut butter.

Autism Awareness

My mom is a teacher. People always ask me what grade she teaches. She has never really taught one grade because she is a special education teacher. She has taught many different disabilities but right now she teaches Autism Spectrum Disorder. I really didn't know much about Autism. I remember asking my mom once What is Autism when I was younger.  She explained it to me, and although I still didn't know much about it. 

I think when I was growing up there really wasn't autism awareness. I know that a lot more people have autism then when I was younger so it wasn't as talked about much. I think i only knew one person who was autistic. I really am happy that Autism is talked about now. What Autism is vs. what it us perceived in Hollywood is different.  It's important to know what it is.  It's also important to know the symptoms and that there are different levels of function. Some autistic people are high functioning and can perform at or close to grade level. My mom's students put together a really good reading about Martin Luther King called I have a Dream theater. They did an amazing job.  I know my mom is extremely proud of them.

I feel like with my mom's job, I have learned so much and it has made me passionate about raising awareness. I have friends now that have children with Autism.  The numbers are extremely high.  I continue to learn about Autism everyday.