Happiness is...

these delicious whole wheat pancakes...(and you don't even need a wheat grinder!)

Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes


1. Put 1 Cup of wheat kernels and 1 Cup of milk or water in blender. Blend on high speed for 3 min. (I use my Bosch blender. I imagine you need a pretty powerful blender for this.)

2. Add 1/2 Cup more milk and blend for 2 more minutes.

3. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 1/2 Cup oil, and 2 eggs. (If you want to make these non-dairy / vegan, you can omit the eggs. I did it once because I didn't realize I was out of eggs, and they still turned out great!)

4. Blend well and pour on hot griddle. (You know the rest, right? Flip them when they look bubbly. Remove them when they've reached desired color. Top with more deliciousness, such as strawberries, whip cream, and syrup...)


(I don't know where this recipe originated. I got it from my mom. If you know where credit is due, let me know.)
Happy eating!

Homemaker in the Making and a Cook Book for Kids

My little (but growing bigger) Welly-girl loves to help me in the kitchen. Last time I went grocery shopping, I had both of the (big) kids choose a recipe for my dinner menu. They helped figure out what we needed at the store, checked the items off the list as we found them, and helped prepare the meals.

Welly chose a yummy (if fattening) "Totally Awesome Tortellini Alfredo" that turned out to be a big hit. Bubs words were, "That cook book IS kid-friendly" when he tasted it. The dinner was quick to make, and the kids enjoyed helping. The illustrations and recipe titles are fun, too. The recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cook Book. We've only used it a couple times, but so far, so good.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

When life gives you lemons, use them. That's my new motto.

I consider myself a decent cook. I mean, I can follow a recipe as well as the next person. I'm not one of those creative cooks or anything, but I can certainly put together a simple meal for my family each night.

BUT, once in a while I just totally and completely can't follow a recipe for some reason.

Like a couple of weeks ago. Doesn't this lemon meringue pie look divine? I was so proud of it, until right before I was about to eat it and realized that I never put in any lemon!

This may or may not have been my first disastrous dessert making. I may or may not have also (on a different occasion) made peanut butter cookies without peanut butter.

Moral of the story: When life gives you lemons, use them. They're one of the main ingredients, after all. And really, if we didn't have any lemons, our lives would be quite bland, don't you think?

(PS. Feel free to let me know that I'm not the only person who blunders up their recipes. Thanks.)

A Recipe for Homemade Bread Mixed with Love

There's something magical about baking with kids, and it's not just the magic flour dust that floats through the air. It's using your hearts, minds, and hands to create something that will satisfy. It's working together, but it doesn't feel like work. It feels like play, making a mess that is not just allowed, but encouraged. Giggling together. Discussing. Counting. Loving. And mmmmmm...smelling that baking bread while you cuddle up to read a story.

It's a bit of heaven on earth. And that's all before you even taste it.

Basic Bread recipe:

2 C very warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp salt
up to 6 cups bread flour

1 Tbsp olive oil

1. In a large mixing bowl, add water and yeast. Swirl together.
2. Stir in sugar.
3. Add salt, pouring it down the side of the bowl.
4. Add one cup of flour at a time until the dough comes away from the bowl (about 4 cups).
5. Spread a cup of flour on a clean, flat surface. Knead the dough into the flour until the dough does not droop when you hold it in your hand. You may not use all 6 cups.
6. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil in the mixing bowl. Add the dough, turning over until coated. Cover with a towel and let rise until it doubles in size.
7. Split dough in half, and place into two greased bread pans. Cover and let rise again.
8. When dough is rounded over the top of the pan, bake in preheated oven at 350 for 30 minutes. (Times and temps will vary.)

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving snacks/appetizers for kids

Sweet or salty? How do you like your turkey sandwich?

For the PB&J Turkey...

1. Spread peanut butter and jelly on a full piece of bread.

2. Cut circle head out with a lid. We used a spice lid. Place it on your turkey.

3. Roll out fruit snacks for feathers.

4. Make a face with peanut butter and jelly.

For the Cheesy Turkey...

1. Cut out a circle head from bread with one lid.

2. Cut a larger circle of cheese to frame the head.

3. Use grated cheese for feathers and face. You can use ketchup or cream cheese as glue.

The idea came from Family Fun, and we adapted it to what we had and what the kids felt like eating for lunch.

Happiness is...

making apple pie, knowing it will make my bebe smile.

Food, Food, Food!

We've been cooking and baking all week.

On Monday, Bubs and Welly chose recipes from their new kid cookbooks. They wrote a list of what we needed, helped shop for the ingredients, and cooked up some grub...

Bubs chose a stuffed baked potato recipe.



Welly chose a parfait recipe. We had fun making the parfaits on Tuesday, but (dang!) they were nasty!

We also used marshmallows to make arches for this week's Think! Challenge...

We followed this tutorial on Wednesday and made caramel apples for some friends...

And (when searching for something to do with old bananas) discovered this AMAZING banana muffin recipe on Thursday.

We also made some yummy chocolate chip cookies, but I'm afraid that recipe is secret.

Have a great weekend! I wonder what great foods we'll discover...

The Most Delicious-est Cupcakes in the World

This chocolate cake recipe from Martha Stewart is pretty much todiefor. Topped with a cream cheese frosting we learned from cousins and semi-sweet chocolate shavings? Absolutely heavenly.

Ready? Here goes...

Devil's Food Cupcakes

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
Chocolate Curls, for decorating (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined.

3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

5. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

6. To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature and garnish with chocolate curls just before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter, firm, not cold
1/8 tsp. salt
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions: Mix with electric mixer until whipped into desired consistency.


PS. Happy September! Can you believe it?

Shrimp Tacos, brought to you by Bubs and Welly-Bells

One of the ideas from my huge list of things to do, was to have the kids plan a meal, help shop for the items, and prepare the meal.

We did this for our special Sunday dinner with Aunt Marissa and Uncle Terry.

First, the kids brainstormed some of their favorite dinner ideas (chicken fingers, peas, pot pie...) and wrote them down. They settled on shrimp tacos. I know. What kids love shrimp tacos? Mine, apparently. They made out a menu. Shrimp tacos, corn, Spanish rice, and strawberries, with brownies and ice cream for dessert.

We all looked at the recipes and made a shopping list.

Going to Smith's and pushing around the mini carts was definitely their favorite part of the adventure. (They may or may not have had a couple shopping cart races...and they may or may not have made a couple old people glare at their mother.)

The dinner plans got fancier and fancier. Soon enough, they were writing name cards and pulling out our (rarely-used) napkin rings. The table was lovely. The food...tasty. The company...splendid. The lessons learned...fun and useful.

Wanna-Be Cafe Rio Shrimp Tacos (If you like breaded shrimp and cilantro, you have to try these...)

Ingredients:

frozen popcorn shrimp

tortillas (the home-cooked ones are yummiest)

cilantro to taste

Green sauce ingredients:

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet prepared according to package

2 tomatillos

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1 clove garlic

juice from 1 lime

1/2 jalapeno

1. Cook the popcorn shrimp according to the package directions.

2. Prepare the green sauce by placing all the ingredients in a blender and blending until smooth.

3. Cut remaining cilantro, leaving it in large pieces.

4. Warm (or cook, if necessary) the tortillas.

5. I'm sure you can figure out the rest...Place shrimp, green sauce, and cilantro onto a tortilla. Roll it up, and enjoy!

Easy and delicious. The kids love it, as long as I don't make it too spicy.

How to Make a Buck (or 9)

The kids have gone all entrepreneurial. They've been dying to get out and make a buck. Their first attempt was a lemonade stand...on the front porch...in the rain. That didn't work out so well.


So, when the sun finally came out, we tried something else...and it was quite a hit.



We made chocolate-dipped strawberries following this AMAZINGLY easy and delicious recipe and refrigerated them.


We didn't want to sit and wait for customers to come to us, so while our chocolate was hardening, we made these Traveling Salesmen Boxes. We simply cut three edges of the front of the cereal boxes, then hole punched four holes in each. (Two holes at the top of the flap and two on the sides.) Then we strung yarn through and tied knots. We secured the bottom of the box by covering it with packaging tape. Lastly, we taped some wax paper into the bottom of the box. (If the day is particularly hot and sunny, you may want to put a flat cold pack under the wax paper.)


Be sure to write your price on the top flap. We sold ours for 50 cents or 3 for a dollar, and guess what? Every single person we talked to bought 3!

If you want to do two colors of chocolate, you can put your leftover warm chocolate in a ziploc bag, snip a small hole in one corner, and drizzle on some stripes.

One of our favorite parts? Dipping mini marshmallows into the leftover chocolate. Yum!
Following our little money-making escapade, we chatted about how much of the money was actually profit.


It was such a fun spring activity! Let me know if you try it!

Fallback Meals

What do you make for dinner when you are low on groceries and short on time?

I have three fallback meals.

1. The pasta salad pictured above (simple recipe to follow...)

2. Spaghetti (varied with chicken, shrimp or beef...whatever I have.)

3. Canned soup and grilled cheese.

Here's how I made this pasta. I change it up according to whatever I have.

1. Boil chicken tenderloins until they are no longer pink (for about 15 minutes).

2. While that is going, get some noodles boiling. The ones in the picture are Ziti noodles, but I use Wacky Mac a lot. Follow directions of the package.

3. Microwave a package of mixed veggies. (I like to throw in fresh veggies too, but I didn't have any this time.)

4. Cut up chicken into bite size pieces when it is done cooking.

5. Combine noodles, veggies, and chicken in medium bowl.

6. Smother mixture with your favorite dressing. This time I used 2 parts Kraft Balsamic Vinagrette and 1 part Kraft Basil Pesto. (It was a great combo. Go me!)

7. Top with shredded cheese if desired. I usually use parmesan.

We eat it warm or cold. The husband-man prefers it chilled for a while. I kinda like it hot. This SIMPLE pasta salad is also my go-to quick recipe when I need to bring a salad to some gathering or other.