Cinnamon Flop

I have recently discovered a delicious and simple recipe called "Cinnamon Flop". I am not sure about the origins of it's name, because there is no "flopping" involved in it's making; and it turns out wonderfully, not at all like a "flop," but perhaps there is some mysterious explanation floating around on the internet. I challenge YOU, readers, to seek this information out and post it in the comments below. Inquiring minds need to know!

Funny name aside, it is basically a recipe for two identical coffee cakes, baked in two cake/pie pans.  It is very simple to make and you mix everything in one bowl! It is an old Amish recipe and something I will be baking regularly for years to come, I'm sure, as my go-to coffee cake/quick dessert/quick breakfast. I changed some things from the original recipe I had found (like subbing in almond extract for vanilla because I was out, and using less sugar because one whole cup seemed a bit much.) 

I sincerely hope you can read my rusty cursive (I was feeling old-fashioned) and I encourage you to comment with any questions if you are unsure of the recipe.  I managed to snap a few photos with my phone this morning while baking, and I hope they inspire you to try this tasty recipe for yourself.

The pictures below are of the first time I made it this morning.  I had to bake it again for dessert, because my husband missed the mid-morning baking of the first batch (which the kids devoured), and said he couldn't listen to my tales of it until he'd had some for himself.

A close up of all that delicious butt-ah!

Healthy Smoothies

Don't feel like eating a salad but need to get some more veggies in your diet? Picky kids won't eat their vegetables? Have a blender?

Blend well: 1 entire apple (minus stem), 1 ice cube tray of ice, few tablespoons honey, 1 1/2-2 cups plain yogurt, couple handfuls mixed salad (I used leftover salad from dinner last night: spinach, romaine, and shredded carrots). Tastes great and good for you! Add some frozen berries for color and extra flavor if green scares your kiddos. This can easily be adapted for breakfast by omitting the ice, apple, and honey, and instead using frozen berries, a banana or two, and some orange juice. I love making this as an easy lunch/breakfast for the children and I, served alongside a grain like buttered toast.

Does your family make these or a variation? If you have a favorite recipe that sneaks veggies into your diet, please share in a comment below! Have a blessed day, and please don't forget to talk to God today, He loves you!

Pancakes and Blogger Problems

I tried to post a great photo tutorial on a craft project the children and I just did, but I'm having problems with my mobile Blogger app. :-( I guess it will have to wait until I can sort things out on my home computer. That may be a while. So for a while, I'm stuck doing simple photo posts.

I am making freezer pancakes today. Here is the process I am following. This will be so convenient on hectic mornings; pull out kid-sized, homemade, whole wheat pancakes from the freezer, reheat and eat! Let me know if you try this!

Speaking of hectic mornings, if you are having one, don't forget to take a quick moment to talk to God and "give it all over" to him. Don't carry stress around; surrender your day to the Lord and trust me, it will be be a great one!

Banana Nut Oatmeal

Today's breakfast. Delicious! Scroll through the pics and you'll see that children approved as well :-)

Creamy Beef and Cabbage over Noodles

Cook whole wheat pasta noodles of your choice until "al dente". Drain, set aside.

Brown some butter, then brown some lean ground beef in the butter. Add in desired amounts of cumin, Real Salt, freshly ground pepper, onion flakes or chopped onions, dried thyme, minced fresh garlic, and some chopped cabbage. Once cabbage has started to wilt slightly and looks glazed, turn off stove. Finely grate some extra sharp cheddar cheese into pot, then mix in desired amounts of sour cream, ranch dressing, mustard, and honey, until the beef and cabbage is coated by a nice creamy sauce.

Spoon some creamy beef and cabbage over each serving of pasta, and enjoy!

This was our dinner tonight, made up from ingredients on hand, and boy was it delicious! I wish there were leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, but we ate it all! Also, I'm sorry that there isn't a picture, but I wrote this post after dinner :-(

May the Lord richly bless your family as well, and I hope you all have/had a great dinner tonight!

You Promised!

I know. I did. A few weeks ago, I promised to post some photos from my brother's wedding. But, here's the thing: I was so moved by the lovely wedding that... I forgot to take pictures!

Here's the good side to this coin: Soon, the bride (my new and only sister-in-law) is going to give me a cd containing the proffesional photographs from the wedding and reception! Sweet! So, pretty soon, I should have some EXCELLENT wedding photos to share with you.

Also, I am attending a baby shower this Sunday for my new sister-in-law, who's making me a first time aunt at the end of the year! I have been having a great time sewing fun baby things for my new nephew, and I can't wait to give my sister a basket of home-sewn goodies! My hubby will be on Daddy-duty, so I *should* be able to get some lovely pictures of the baby shower, (since I won't be juggling any babies or toddlers) including the things I made!

Speaking of things I've made, I am going to make my famous "French Toast Casserole" to bring to the Baby Shower Brunch. It is a very simple breakfast that I came up with so that I could feed a big group a homemade breakfast, without spending all morning cooking it.  This time, I am addng an even simpler twist.

Mallorie's French Toast Casserole:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Thickly grease a 9"x13" casserole dish with softened butter. Cube up enough cinnamon swirl bread (we love it from Trader's Joe's) to fill the dish 3/4 full. Beat well some eggs (around 1 dozen) by hand and pour them over the cubed bread (the eggs should come halfway up the bread cubes, so use more or less eggs as needed.) Drizzle a little melted butter over the top of the bread cubes, then sprinkle some brown sugar on top of that. Bake uncovered for 20-30 min or until the eggs are completely set. The top will appear golden brown and crisp when done, and the brown sugar will be slightly crunchy and carmalized. Allow to cool briefly, then serve in squares, pouring hot maple syrup over each serving. SO GOOD!

Have a blessed day!

Splashy Photo That I Promised and Kool Aid Update

Here is that splashy photo that I promised, which my dad took on his camera phone the other day, then emailed to me.  Well, it's not the best photo, but at least Caitlin is looking at the camera!

Here are some pictures of the kids inside their toy tub at my dad's house.

Rub a dub dub, two babes in a tub!

Kool Aid Update

Okay, I promised to let you all know how the homemade Kool Aid Dishwasher Detergent worked out.  I have used it approximately 6 times and have not noticed any powdery film as I mentioned in my previous post on the topic.  It appears to work great and as long as I wash all of the food off of my dishes before loading them into the dishwasher (I always do, anyway) the dishes come out sparkling clean and not a bit green or lemony-lime smelling.  I think this recipe is a keeper, which is great because it is so inexpensive to make, and I even made up a large jar of it with a nice label and bow, and gave it to some friends of ours.  Yay for frugal homemade recipes!

Death of a Camera & Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

In the spirit of getting back into blogging, I decided to take some pictures of my kiddos swimming yesterday at my dad's house, so that I could blog all about their splashy cuteness today.  I switched over to the camera function on my cell phone (remember I lost our digital camera) and I came up with a black screen.  The view finder and all of the photo-taking options were there, but the lens was displaying absolute blackness on the screen.  Remember that Caitlin spilled milk all over my phone?  Well, apparently my phone's camera function decided to die a delayed death, because it worked just fine for at least a week, and now it registers nothing.  So, I did not get my cute splashy photos, but I did ask my dad to take some pictures and hopefully he can email them to me.  If he does, I will post them soon.  All of this to report....I am now completely camera-less!!!  It appears that I will be unable to post any new pictures for a while, at least until we can replace our digital camera, or my cell phone.  (But how do you like the clip art as a substitution?)

On another note, we ran out of dishwasher detergent and I haven't had the chance to pick some more up at Target, which is where I buy my favorite non-toxic dishwasher detergent that actually works.  If you follow this link, you'll see a price that is actually about twice as much as I pay at my local Target store.  It is still a bit pricey as far as dishwashing soap goes, but it meets my picky standards for dishwasher detergent:  1. It contains no bleach and will not ruin my clothing.  Several times in the past I have accidently sloshed some dishwashing gel on myself and bleached spots onto my clothing.  2. It is non-toxic; in case one of my little ones were to accidentally get ahold of it.  3. It does not have an overpowering "heavy duty cleaner smell" to it.  The grapefruit scent is really very mild and pleasant, and I am not even a fan of grapefruit.  4. Unlike other "green" or "eco-friendly" dishwashing detergents I have tried, it actually cleans my dishes!
So, now I will climb off of my soap box (ha! ha! pun intended : )  and finish my story.  I ran out of my favorite dishwasher detergent and decided to once again look online for a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent.  I have tried some recipes before, but my dishes always ended up with a powdery film all over them.  I even tried the natural rinse aid alternative that I've seen recommended all over the internet, which is to fill up your rinse aid compartment with white vinegar.  DO NOT DO THIS!  Firstly, it did not remove the powdery film, and most importantly, my rinse aid compartment start leaving rusty streak marks on the inside of my dishwasher door, where it drains out during the rinse cycle!  I live in an apartment and I was mortified that the vinegar was somehow rusting my dishwasher's inner parts, and that the management would make us pay for a new dishwasher when we move out someday.  I sat on the kitchen floor for a good hour one day with a scrub pad, trying to get the stains off, and a nasal bulb (like you use on a baby's nose) trying to suck out all of the rusty vinegar from the rinse aid compartment.  Not pretty.  Not fun.  Don't try it at home.  Okay, back to my recipe search.  I typed into Google:  homemade dishwasher detergent that actually works.  I came up with some recipes that claimed the only way to avoid the powdery film was to include an ingredient called citric acid, which can apparently be purchased at a brewery supply store(?) or ordered online.  Well, I certainly didn't have any citric acid lying around the house, so I next searched for citric acid alternatives for homemade dishwashing detergent.  I came up with this recipe, which calls for unsweetened lemon-lime Kool Aid packets!  My husband loves Kool Aid, so I ran over to the kitchen cupboard, and sure enough, the first ingredient on a packet of lemon-lime Kool Aid is:  citric acid.  So, tonight, I filled up the dishwasher with rinsed off dishes, and some homemade lemon-lime Kool Aid dishwasher detergent.  I will let you know how it turns out.  I only pray that I have not dyed all of my dishes green : )

Tasty Treat Tuesday and An Afternoon Craft

I might not get this in every Tuesday, but I am going to try to do this at least a couple of Tuesdays every month:  Tasty Treat Tuesday.  The idea is to share a recipe about something sweet that we are enjoying in our home on or around that particular Tuesday.  Feel free to leave a comment with a recipe for your own tasty treat!

This Tuesday the kids and I enjoyed a family favorite that my husband introduced me to back when we were dating.  It has no special name and very basic ingredients.  This is not a healthful snack, but could be considered a semi-decent source of protein (as far as snacks go).  It is simply a graham cracker, spread with peanut butter, and topped with semisweet chocolate chips.  So simple, but so yummy! 

Did you catch that little hand sneaking in to steal a chocolate chip?

Please pardon that this one has been partially eaten- they are irresistible in our house!

An Afternoon Craft

Some time ago, my grandma gave me a bunch of beads to be used in whatever craftical whimsy I might happen to come up with.  Well, this afternoon while Caitlin was napping (and after Aiden and I had finished our tasty treats : )  I decided that it was time for some one on one crafting with my oldest.  I wasn't in the mood for the usual play dough or color crayons, or even finger painting.  I thought it might be fun to make some pictures by gluing beads onto construction paper.  It really was fun!  We were out of white glue, so to add to the fun, I made some homemade no-cook paste.  Recipe:  Mix some white flour with water and a pinch of salt until you get a goopy, somewhat runny mixture.  Apply it with a paint brush (or you could probably use a squeeze bottle if you made it runny enough) and use liberally to affix your craft item of choice.  It was fun and by the time we were done, there were beads everywhere.  Let me know if anyone tries this recipe, how it goes, and if you have any helpful revisions.

Happy crafting and happy snacking!