Like grandma used to make it!

Oh, I wish you could've joined me today.  It was one of those dreamy times in the kitchen.

The weather was amazing today....a beautiful, crisp breeze, with lots of sun.  We had all the windows open.  I could hear the boys outside playing in the backyard, while listening to all my favorite praise songs playing inside.  My pumpkin spice candle was lit, and the scent was filling the kitchen. 

And to top it all off....

I made my husband's favorite dessert of all time:  carrot cake.

I used his grandmother's recipe, of course.  He has great memories of her serving him pieces of her carrot cake.  She hand wrote the recipe for me on a card many years ago, before she went to be with the Lord.  I'm so thankful I have that from her, in her writing.

There is nothing like "Momma Doc's" carrot cake.  It's nothing fancy.  Only the good old fashioned basics...made with a lot of love.  And let me testify....it's YUMMY!

No comments about my portion size, please.  Carrot cake is a veggie, right?!

Grandma's Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together:

2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups sugar

Beat together:

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil (add slowly)

Add dry ingredients to the oil/eggs alternatively with:

2 cups raw grated carrots

Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Prepare two 9" cake pans. 

Bake for 25-30 mins. or until toothpick comes out clean.

Icing:

1 large package of cream cheese

1 stick butter~softened

1 box confectioners sugar (1 lb.)

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup nuts, finely chopped

Take, eat, ENJOY!

I'm happy to post this at To Everything a Season.  Hop over there and check out lots of great dessert ideas. 

Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

OK, I'm so NOT a cooking blog...but that seems to be what I have to share these days, so please bear with me. I'm always on the look-out for healthier, easy, kid-friendly recipes to try out on the family (poor guys). I love to share what we try and like. If you don't cook or don't care, tune out now.

This one this morning was easy, yummy and fun! It was great for my kids.

I can't seem to make this Blogger thing behave, so please excuse all the unnecessary spaces below!

Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins

1 cup flour (I used 3/4 cup whole wheat and 1/4 cup all purpose)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 T sugar (I used Sucanat)

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 egg

2 T pure maple syrup (I used honey)

2 T melted butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir with a wire wisk.
• In a separate bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips, if using.
• Bake 8-9 minutes.

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from pan. Serve immediately. Can dip in maple syrup. Smile and enjoy!

My 3-year old sure did. Notice the melted chocolate all over his fingers!

He gave this recipe an A+.

Quick-grab burritos

From time to time, I like to re-stock the freezer. This allows us to have these kinds of weeks, if we need to…and for now, things are a little uncertain. I just like to be prepared. And honestly, I feel more comfortable when I know there is something in the freezer to eat.

Also, I don’t really want to cook everyday, so this allows me, from time to time, to shop the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner.

One of my favorite freezer foods are Beef and Bean Burritos (recipe originally taken from Tammy). These are quick-grab lunches for my husband on his way to work. When these are in the freezer, we don’t have to scramble to prepare a lunch for him as he leaves for work that day. He grabs a couple of burritos and by lunchtime, they are ready for a quick heat and eat.

Here’s how to make them:

Quick Beef and Bean Burritos

2 lb. ground beef
2 cans refried beans (I use non-fat, or sometimes make my own)
1 1/3 cup enchilada sauce
½ cup water
¼ cup minced onion
1 T. chili powder
1 T. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 cups shredded cheese (any kind is fine)
~20-25 flour tortillas

Brown ground beef and drain. Add all remaining ingredients, except tortillas. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Heat a few tortillas at a time. Spoon ¼ cup beef mixture and put down the middle of each tortilla.




Roll each tortilla and wrap in a paper towel and then wrap in foil.

Refrigerate or freeze.
If freezing, package wrapped tortillas into a freezer bag.

When ready to eat, remove the foil and microwave for 45 -60 seconds. The paper towels keep the burritos moist. If you don’t use a microwave, simply wrap in foil and then heat the burritos in the oven with foil.

When sitting down to eat, top with lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream. But they are good as is for grab and go as well!

Not a "fancy" jelly maker!

Oh, how I wish I could actually can and preserve. For one, I don’t have the supplies…yet. Secondly, I’m not fully sure how to do it. But my goal, by the end of 2009, is to do both!

I do, however, make my own freezer jam. I sent my husband to the store for more pectin. When he asked the grocery lady where to find it, she said, “you mean there are people in Dallas that still do that?!”

OK…it dawned on me that some people have no idea how easy it is! If the lady at the store knew how easy it was, she wouldn’t have asked to talk to me on my husband’s cell phone to get the 411 on how to do it. For those of you who are REAL canners and preservers, please just humor us amateurs and pretend this is a really big deal that we can do this.




OK, here's how you do it. Drum roll, please.

Step 1: Have clean jars ready to go.
Step 2: Buy some FREEZER JAM pectin. It will specify “freezer jam”.
Step 3: Wash your fruit of choice. You don't have to drown yours in water like I did...I'm just too lazy to wash individual fruit pieces.
Step 4: Dice fruit.
Step 5: Stir together the freezer jam pectin and 3 ½ cups of sugar (or sucanat or rapadura, or whatever you choose).
Step 6: Add diced fruit. Stir (for 3 minutes, I think).
Step 7: Pour into clean jars.
Step 8: Let sit on counter for 30 minutes to “harden” a little bit.
Step 9: Freeze or eat. (Will last in freezer up to 1 year….will last opened in frig up to 3 weeks)
Step 10: Consume on toast or ice cream or crepes or whatever tickles your fruit fancy!
Step 11: If your choice was consumption, now walk away…you’re gonna want more!



We love making it...but love eating it more! Hope you can take advantage of the wonderful produce right now and all the great prices...and make some as well.

It's the simple things in life....

My brother and sister-in-law live on 40 acres out in the country. They raise chickens to produce their eggs.

When we were out at their house yesterday, they gave us 18 farm fresh eggs. What a sweet, simple blessing.

Taste and see that he Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Kitchen catch-up time

When I think about blogging lately, I think "I don't have anything interesting to say!" I am enjoying reading other people's blogs. They are generally much more interesting!

I'm also spending time figuring out all the home improvement projects I plan to take on now..and which ones I will tackle when the boys go back to school. I've been moving furniture around in the house and deciding what all to take my paint brush to...and what to take a can of spray paint to. One or the other...it's bound to happen! I'm feeling creative.

But so far today has been one of those days where "the sun, the moon and the stars lined up". The boys were happy for an extended amount of time to play nicely together. (Notice the bolded words. THAT's the amazing part.) Anyway, it allowed me to get caught up on making some things I needed to make in the kitchen.

The boys have been requesting pancakes in the mornings, but we've been out of syrup. So I made some homemade maple syrup.

I made some homemade chocolate syrup...to make the boys some chocolate milk ocassionally...and to drizzle on homemade vanilla ice cream next time we make it! Yum....

I made the boy's favorite granola cereal. The boys (their Daddy included) eat it up as soon as it is ready!

I made some more homemade buttermilk.

I mixed up more homemade laundry detergent.

I made some homemade wheat bread. (Actually, today, the bread machine made it for me)

I put together my menu plan for the remainder of this month. I am trying to get better at monthly menu planning. With our casual summer, I haven't been as diligent.

And then I was able to work in the tomato garden .... picking.... weeding... watering... working on stabilizing chicken wire, as the weight of the tomatoes is pulling the wire over. The boys...and their Momma...are enjoying the mounds of cherry tomatoes coming in. Actually they won't eat them....but they like to pick them. I'm selfishly glad they don't like to eat them.

In case you want the three recipes above that haven't been mentioned in a previous post....

Homemade Granola

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

7 1/2 - 8 cups oatmeal

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar together. Stir it up and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt and cinnamon, then the oatmeal. Remove pot from heat and stir until all the oatmeal is coated. Spread the granola onto 2 cookie sheets (with sides) and bake at 375 for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Cool granola completely on pan, then break into pieces and transfer to an airtight container. Add raisins, nuts or other dried fruit, if desired.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a 2 quart saucepa, mix the cocoa and water with a wire whisk and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar and continue to stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture t a full rolling boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil for a full 3 minutes. Remove the sytrup from the heat and add the salt and vanilla and stir to blend. Pour the syrup into a clean pint sized canning jar (or old ketchup bottle or chocolate syrup container). Store in the refrigerator. This can be used in place of store-bought chocolate syrup. It's yummy!

100% Whole Wheat Bread (Made in a Bread Machine)

Put ingredients in your machine in the order listed for your particular machine. My order is listed below:

1 1/2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

3 1/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

2 TBL Non-fat Dry Milk

2 TBL Oil

3 TBL Molasses

1 cup + 3 TBL Water (approx. 80 degrees)

Can add millet or sunflower seeds or the like to make the bread more "grainy" or nutty.

The rest of the day is POOL TIME! Ahhhhh...summer....

Summer squash

My sweet friend, Colleen, gave our family some yummy fresh squash out of her garden. The squash was wonderful...and the gesture was beautifully appreciated. Thanks for sharing your garden goodies with us!

In the crazy kitchen

I wanted to share with you a great new recipe I tried.

...while cooking with Iron Man and Super Why flying (literally with arms stretched out and mouths making flying sounds) around me and through my kitchen, rescuing animals in distress. (If you are at all familiar with any kid's things, then you can observe that my kids have combined a SuperFriend character, a PBS cartoon character and Diego, all in one pretend world.)

Sorry...I just had to set the scene for you.

Back to the recipe now.

They are homemade pizza pockets. I made these today. I have two words for you...YUM-EE.
These are tasty!

Homemade Pizza Pockets

Crust:

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. sea salt

1 cup melted butter

1 cup plain non-fat (or low-fat) yogurt

Stir ingredients together until thoroughly mixed.

Pizza Sauce:

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. garlic powder (I was out of this...and used garlic salt)

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/2 tsp. basil (I was out of this, too...and used parsley)

Stir together and simmer for a few minutes.

Additional pocket fillings you can add:

Grated cheese (I used mozzarella)

Cooked hamburger

Pepperoni

Olives

Peppers

Mushrooms

To form a pizza pocket:

Roll a small ball of dough into a circle. Place one tablespoon of pizza sauce in the center. Put in a small amount of your choice of toppings. Fold the dough in half. Use a fork to pinch the edges together. Lay pizza pockets on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze for about one hour. Pop them off the cookie sheet and put them into a freezer bag and put back into the freezer.

Bake your pizza pockets:

For frozen pizzas, bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. If the pocket is thawed first, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (Thanks, Laura, for the recipe.)

These will be fabulous to have on hand for quick lunches or snacks. Hope you get the chance to try them!

Tomato Talk

OK...so that's not a picture of MY tomatoes, but it hopefully will be soon. Don't they look yummy and perfect?

I am obviously such a novice gardner. Clueless actually. But I so want to be a great one. I am experimenting with tomatoes right now. And having a ball (no pun intended).

I bought these two little tiny 5-inch cherry tomato plants at Home Depot about 5 weeks ago and put them into these huge pots. They grew and grew and grew very quickly. It was so fun to watch. (Again, proof that I am either a total novice...or a nerd)

Then here's what happened soon:

Then a couple of short weeks later, this:

I know, I know...I'm excited beyond belief about the smallest things. It's ridiculous.

If you have any helpful hints for me, like "how do I properly prune them?" or "do I even need to prune them?" or "when do I pick the tomatoes?", that would be great.

Please pardon the overusage of video. I now have a blog...and no camera. It broke. And since I'm paying off debt and not spending money, I have to make due. I suppose if I don't add something other than my rambling words, even my own mom will get bored.

Drooling for a moment...

Exercise/Diet Update: It's going fairly well. I'm on track for the exercising part. TRYING on the food part. (I'm actually doing pretty good, considering I have toddlers in my house whose favorite foods are cheese, macaroni and cheese and cheese toast!)

So since I'm only allowed to "indulge" one day a week...and that is on my favorite day, Sunday....of which today is NOT, I thought I'd drool a little. Join with me, if you'd like. I'm not sure if this is considered torture, but it feels close.

Ah.....

Mmmm....

Oh yah....

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about...

Pass me a napkin, please, so I can wipe my chin.

Help me, Rhonda...

Hold on now!

Shew. Now that that is done, I can go eat my carrot stick.

On another note....my family will be at a family reunion for the next few days. I won't have blogging access, but I just wanted you to know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I'll be back mid week next week.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

All photos provided by Southern Living magazine

Great healthy start to the day!

We're all back up and running today...feeling pretty much back to normal...and had a really healthy breakfast I wanted to share with you. We're a pancake family, so we're always looking for new and healthy ones. This one is great! It's different...texture-wise, but tasty. All the boys (big and small) in my house liked them...score! We added strawberries and blueberries to our plates as well.


Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 1/2 cup soy milk (or whatever milk you prefer to use)
1 cup whole wheat berries (bought them in the bulk section at Sprouts)
1 T whole flax seeds (I used already ground milled flax seed)
3 T water
2 T oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup oats (not instant, again...bought in bulk at Sprouts)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp.baking powder
2 T. sweetener, such as sugar, honey, or molasses (I used honey)


Blend the first 6 ingredients in a blender very thoroughly. Could take awhile (I think I blended about 2 minutes), make sure the berries are crushed. (Disclaimer from the original post: Just make sure, however, that you listen carefully to your blender for change in your motor sound. If this mixture is over-blended, the gluten in the wheat will begin to bind and create a sticky substance that will wreak havoc on your blender. If this happens, stop the blender immediately.)

Pour the contents of the blender into a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients.

Pour on a hot griddle and cook both sides untl golden brown.

Top with your favorite butter spread, syrup or whatever else you'd like. The sky is the limit! Enjoy.

And enjoy your day!

Homemade Buttermilk

I had heard about ways to make homemade buttermilk, but wasn't sure if they would work. They DO! It's so awesome.

I know...buttermilk isn't an expensive product. But I always have it on hand to use in my baking, so if there was a way to not ever have to purchase it again, then I wanted to find it!

I took a quart mason jar and poured about 1/2 cup buttermilk in it. Then I bought some goat's milk (but you can use ANY milk) and filled the rest of the jar with it. I set it out on the counter for 12 hours.

When I opened the jar 12 hours later, I was afraid it would smell sour, but it didn't, it smelled like buttermilk! It worked!

Then, when that jar was almost empty, I took the last 2 inches of buttermilk in my mason jar, poured it into a NEW mason jar, filled it the rest of the way with 2% milk, and did the process again.

Wa-la...free buttermilk!

It doesn't take much to excite me.....

Progress Report and a High Five!

I told you I would start documenting our debt payoff woes...oops, I mean adventures. Well, here is the beginning....

I wanted to share, first of all, that we are 59% to our goal. We have a good long way to go, but we are FINALLY making great strides! It will now be fun to share the progress, as I know we will be moving forward in bigger steps each month.

I have so enjoyed the encouragement I receive from other family blogs out there. There are many like-minded women, walking the same tightrope. Some of my favorites are:
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
http://www.mommyswishlist.blogspot.com/
http://www.freebies4mom.com/
http://www.goodtrueandbeautiful.com/
www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/
http://www.moneywisemoms.com/
http://www.couponsavinggame.com/
http://www.grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/
http://www.smallnotebook.org/
http://www.econobusters.com/

There are many, many more out there, but these have given me guidance and inspiration for grocery shopping for next-to-nothing; inspiraton to "keep on keepin' on" (one example is being motivated by Chrystal who gives a savings update each month of progress made towards buying their next house with 100% cash!); many frugal entertainment and family ideas; etc. Thank you, ladies!

I look forward to sharing with you specific ways that we are saving each month, but I wanted to let you know that my sweet husband and I have decided to take the No Spend Month Challenge in July. This is following along with what Rachel's family does each July. This is a challenge to cut their spending down to the bare essentials. After paying bills, they allow themselves $250 for anything personal, which includes food, clothing, gas, coffee, and anything else their family wants during the month. They do this challenge to help take their eyes off stuff and spending for one month and to refresh their outlook. We're looking forward to taking this challenge for July as well. Our goals are to help us use any and all extra money we would spend that month...and throw it towards debt.

Lastly, I wanted to share with you Laura's High Five Recipes. I'm excited about trying these. These are healthy recipes, using 5 ingredients or less. Also, she has an Italian Roast Wrap that is featured today on Money Saving Mom . Let me know if you try any of these.

So,what do you think about the No Spend Month? Does it sound crazy? Does it sound do-able? Let me know your thoughts, if you'd like. I'd love to hear them!

I have three words for you....

YUM! YUM! YUM!

I found this really great blog and tried this amazing chocolate cake recipe. It truly is wonderful!
Go check it out, if you want a little slice of chocolate wonder.
Double layered cake pictured...I made the single layer...it was still yummy!

Randomness

I'm feeling all over the board today, so bear with me.

My little guy below is home sick today. Isn't he so cute bringing me weeds...oops...I mean flowers? (Picture not taken today) He was sick with a fever of 102.6 at 10:00 last night. (My thoughts immediately went to illness of the swine variety!) Today, no fever. Thank the Lord, of course, but since he can't go to school (no fever in the past 24 hours), we are home. My day without kids is not happening. :) But we are having a great day working on numbers, writing, counting, and coloring in our pj's.

Next random topic....

I went through a time when I would only purchase organic fruits and veggies.

I felt it was the best for our family. I STILL feel it is the BEST choice for our family, but my desire to get out of debt outweighs the desire to put $5/lb. strawberries into my kids.

So, I've tried to come up with ways to feel better about putting $1.50/lb. strawberries into my kids, that are potentially laced with pesticides and herbicides. (Makes me cringe even uttering the words!)

I make my own fruit and veggie wash. It's much cheaper than the store bought kind and I think it is just as effective. I can't promise that it removes ALL of the yuckiness from our fruits and veggies, but I'm sure it removes most of it.

Here's how we do it....

(I can't WAIT to get a new camera...sorry for the fuzzy pictures)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup distilled vinegar

1 T baking soda

20 drops of grapefruit complex liquid

1 empty spray bottle

Recipe courtesy of Sophie

Put 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vinegar in a large pitcher.

Add 1 T Baking Soda.

This is my kids favorite part! Now you see why it has to go into a large pitcher first.

Then add approximately 20 drops of grapefruit liquid complex.

Lastly, pour it into a clean spray bottle.

That's it! So easy!!!
Then you spray on your fruit and veggies. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

Rinse with water and eat.

We washed these grapes, then we popped them into the freezer for a refreshing snack later.

We heart frozen grapes around here!!

Last randomness....

I wanted to let you know about a promotion that Hallmark is doing. This is a great idea for a Mother's Day card. Mother's Day is just around the corner and will be here before you know it!

Go over to Hallmark.com and choose a 5x7 greeting card online. Give them the mailing address and they will mail it for you. It will be completely FREE! Just use code CARD4MOM at checkout. If you'd prefer to receive the card so you can sign it yourself, put in your own address (quick, though, or you won't have enough time to mail it again).

If you want to send a photo card, find a photo and upload it at KodakGallery.com. You can make a custom photo card there for FREE also by entering the coupon code FREECARD at checkout. You can mail it directly to Mom for just $.99.

That's all the random thoughts for now...have a great day!

Super Power Muffins

We had a great time making some very yummy and nutritious muffins!

I wanted to share the recipe with you. HOWEVER.....I would totally give credit where credit is due, IF I COULD REMEMBER WHERE IT IS DUE!!!!! I cannot, for the life of me, remember where in blogland I picked up this recipe. So, in the very far-reaching chance that the owner of this recipe reads, or hears, about this...I never intended to take credit. I just can't remember where it came from. I'm so sorry! But be encouraged if the recipe is yours...it is DELISH. We love these!

We made "Super Power Muffins". I made actual muffins..and the boys "made" their own.


The RECIPE:

1 cup brown sugar (don't pack it)
1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter
1 banana
1/2 cup of applesauce or carrot puree
1 egg
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
*optional 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients well and set aside. Blend everything else and then sift in dry ingredients.

Spray muffin tray. Bake for 15-18 mins.
Makes 12 ~ double for 24. (I made muffins and mini-muffins)

It makes a great breakfast!
I put some in the freezer for later, as well.

So how are they, you ask? Let's ask my 2-year-old....


Enough said!

Homemade Pancake Syrup

In light of all things frugal, I wanted to share the recipe for the yummy maple syrup we had on our chocolate chip pancakes this morning.

Pancake Syrup

2 cups warm tap water
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups white sugar
2 T corn syrup
1 tsp maple flavoring
1/3 tsp butter flavoring (optional)

In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the water, sugars and corn syrup. Put the pan on the stove over medium heat. Stir every now and then until the syrup comes to a rolling boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Do not stir it for this ten minutes. Remove the pan from heat. Take off the lid and let it cool on the counter for about 15 minutes. Stir in the maple flavoring (and the butter flavoring, if you are using it) Store the syrup in a clean quart canning jar or a clean ketchup bottle (32 oz). Use the funnel to pour the syrup into the containers because the syrup can get a little messy.

If you're interested in this and other frugal recipe and meal planning ideas, go check out
Molly's blog. Thanks, Molly!

Perfect Imperfection!

Easter was beautiful yesterday. Not only for the most obvious of reasons….Christ is Risen!!
But also, we have some incredible friends that we were blessed to have in our home.

Look at these! Aren’t they lovely??














These are the incredibly thoughtful gift of my dear friend, Connie…and her big-lug husband, John, of course. What a special treat!!!

Look at these! Aren’t they fun??














These are the sweet and thoughtful Easter gift of my dear friend, Colleen, for our kids. What could be better than hot wheels and “Super Chicks” (as they’ve so rightly been named)?! An additional blessing is to have friends that love our kids well.

These ladies, husbands and families are what helped to make our family Easter PERFECT.

The IMPERFECT part was this:
My spiral cut ham, although tasty, was luke warm.
My deviled eggs were horrendous! (Note to self…stick to Mom’s recipe…don’t try new recipe)
My homemade ice cream never “iced”….something went dreadfully wrong.
My house was not spotless clean…in fact, it was quite the opposite!

But in spite of all the hospitality faux-pas, the day was lovely…just BEING with friends. It so didn’t matter. All that mattered was conversation and sweet fellowship.

I did, however, make two really great recipes, shown below.

Have a perfectly imperfect week, full of love and real friendship!

Lemon Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 T lemon juice
1 T grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
GLAZE:
2 T lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, lemon juice, and lemon peel. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to batter, alternatively with milk. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over loaf while still warm.














Recipe courtesy of Lynn. Thanks, Lynn!

Strawberry and Spinach Salad*
3 T sesame seeds
1 T and 1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup and 2 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 T and 1 1/2 tsp minced red onion
15 ozs. fresh spinach, rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
6 cups strawberries, cleaned hulled and sliced
1/4 cup and 2 T almonds (or walnuts)
crumbled feta
Red onion slices (for top)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

*the quantity here is a lot...can reduce ingredients.

Pancakes....and voices

We are a pancake-eatin' family. We love them! So we're constantly trying out new recipes. My new favorite is a Whole Wheat Pancake recipe, courtesy of Crystal at Money Saving Mom. (The picture is Crystal's, too.)

We covered our pancakes this morning with strawberries, powdered sugar and maple syrup! They were utterly delish!

But it was during this yummy breakfast that yet again, God taught me about Himself.

My boys...precious as they may be, ARE, in fact, 4 and 2. As with any 4 and 2-year-olds, they say the word "Mommy!" a lot. A-L-O-T!

They also ask an abundance of questions. Many times the exact same question I gave them an answer to only 3 short minutes ago. Those of you who are Moms know exactly what I'm talking about!

Their voices are super cute. Tiny little voices I KNOW I'll miss down the line. But for now, sometimes it's like listening to long, sharp nails on a chalkboard. Merely the repetitiveness of it is too much for my nerves at times.

As I played the 101 question game this morning while preparing pancakes, I thought..."Does God ever feel this way about me? Do I just ask him the same old questions over and over and over again? Do I even stop and listen to his answers?"

And then I thought, (shriek) "Does he get irritated with me, too?"

That gentle voice somewhere inside reminded me....no...God loves to hear from me. I'm his child. I'm so grateful he never tires of hearing my voice or gets irritated by my questions. He is always gentle and patient. However, I'm certain he DOES want me to listen, just as I desire my own children to listen to instruction.

And then it dawned on me....my boys CONSTANTLY call my name because they want me to converse with them. They WANT me to be in relationship with them. They know my voice. It's comfort and reassurance to them. My voice tells them how much they are loved and cherished. My voice is safe.

What if we never spoke? We wouldn't know each other's voices! How tragic would that be.

In the same way, God desires relationship with me...and I desparately want (and need!) relationship with him. I'm glad we talk often, so I know his voice.

So, I sat...smiled...ate pancakes with my boys...and listened to the incessant talking and questioning. And adored it.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

3 cups whole-wheat flour (or a combination of whole-wheat/white)
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 beaten eggs
3 cups milk (you can use buttermilk or sour milk)
6 Tablespoons oil

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir together just until moistened. Add additional milk to thin batter, if necessary.

Cook on a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Makes approximately 20 standard-sized pancakes.

(Thanks, Crystal!)

Whole Wheat Tortillas...and laundry soap

What do these two have in common, you ask? Absolutely nothing. Except for the fact that I made both from scratch today.

If you're as interested in frugality as I am, you may like to know how to make these.
If you're interested in products with nothing strange added to the ingredients listing, you may also be interested in how to make these.
If you couldn't care less about either of those things, you may want to close this blog for today.

The tortillas are really good! As good as any whole wheat tortillas you can buy in a store...and so easy.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil (Extra virgin would probably be best...but I always use up what I have on hand)
1/2 cup warm tap water
(I double all of this...I like BIG tortillas)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add olive oil and stir until well combined. Put in warm tap water one tablespoon at a time, until dough can be gathered into a ball. (Add more water, if needed, one tablespoon at a time.) Knead on floured surface 15 - 20 times. Let dough rest for 15 minutes.

Divide dough into 10 -12 equal portions and shape into balls.

On floured surface, roll out each ball from the center into a circle.

Notice my great-grandmother's glass rolling pin. I absolutely love it!

Cook on an ungreased skillet over medium-high heat on each side about 30 seconds, or until puffy. You can cook them longer, until they are crispy, if you'd like.

Ta da!!! A plate of whole wheat tortillas!

You can use for anything you would use tortillas for. They roll up nicely, for fajitas or tacos. Today I stuffed them with beef fajita meat and whatever else we had on hand. Tomorrow I will use them for quesadillas.

Laundry Soap
Ingredients:

6 cups water

1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

4 cups hot water

1/4 cup Dawn

1/2 cup Febreeze

Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan, with 6 cups water, and heat on low until dissolved.

Does anybody know what that pink line is in my picture??

Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened and remove from heat. Add 4 cups hot water to a 2-gallon bucket. Add soap mixture and mix well.

Again, what is the pink in the picture?? I promise the detergent isn't nuclear.

Fill bucket with hot water. Add Dawn (to cut grease) and Febreeze (for odor-prevention), and mix well.

Set aside until mixture thickens.

Then I pour mine in these to store above my washer.

The recipe calls to use 1/2 cup of mixture per load.

I use one cup. But even still, it lasts a long time.

And the total cost for all those ingredients was less than $10.

Let me know if you try either of these and what you think!