Clean Floors

Today I got a lot done in the kitchen. Cupcakes for a cupcake-cake for Daniel's baptism.... icing for the cupcakes... chocolate chip cake because I made too much icing and wanted to put it on something rather than eat it with a spoon... communion bread... lunch was sandwiches and dinner was leftover spaghetti... and I just finished cleaning the floor. I love clean floors.

Baking Bread

I have discovered over the last couple years the joy of making my own bread. I will readily admit that I do use a breadmachine to do most of the work, but I still find it fulfilling. The bread is usually delicious (sometimes I must mess up the recipe) and I know exactly what goes into it. How much sugar and salt is in a 2$ loaf of white bread at the grocery store? I don't know, but I know that my bread only has 2 tbsp sugar (sometimes I substitute 1 tbsp honey for the sugar) and 1 tsp of salt, and that makes me feel good. I also sub some of the white flour with whole wheat. Plus whenever a loaf comes out of the oven, I can have a hot fresh slice (perhaps with my own raspberry jam!).

Recipe of the Week

I want to share some of the yummy things this family eats, but not everything has a story.
So my plan is to post a new recipe every tuesday of something we ate during the previous week.
Please remind me if I forget.
Just click on the link near the top of the page.

Z is for Zucchini

Ever since my zucchini brownies, Jeff is wary of anything I make... "are there veggies in it?" he asks. I wanted to use some of my frozen shredded zucchini so I made chocolate chip muffins that are clearly zucchini based. No tricks this time. But they are yummy. I have a great zucchini loaf recipe, but with a little tweaking it made a yummy muffin recipe.

I also made rice krispie squares (the recipe is on the box) for a kids' group at church. Jacob helped me, and discovered that marshmallows are delicious. He didn't really want to try one at first. He picked all the sticky leftovers out of the bowl and licked the spoon and then asked for more. When I was busy later on, he got his stool and helped himself to a very large piece right from the pan. It is fun to make stuff with him, and I think he likes it because I usually let him taste as we go along.

Speaking of marshmallows.... today Jacob cut his toe, and to make him feel better while I cleaned and bandaged it (at the kitchen table) he wanted a marshmallow. Usually in this type of scenario I ask if a chocolate chip would make him feel better and it works, but not today. I hope I don't have to start stocking marshmallows in my pantry now!

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Ingredients:

3 eggs

3/4 cup cooking oil

1 cup sugar

2 cups zucchini, grated

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 1/2  tsp baking powder

1 1/2  tsp baking soda

1/2  tsp salt

1 1/2  tsp cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

-Beat eggs until frothy. Add oil and sugar. Add zucchini and vanilla.

-Combine next five ingredients in separate bowl. 

-Stir all together to moisten. Add chocolate chips.

-Pour into lined muffin pan.

-Bake 25-30 minutes at 350.

-Makes about 20 large muffins.

Non-Kitchen Adventure

So I had a crazy adventure yesterday, in my living room. But I had to share this story, and technically I had to walk through the kitchen to get a flashlight so maybe it belongs on this blog. You have to guess what this picture is of before you read on:

What the heck?!?

If you guessed Lightning McQueen and Mater stuck way inside my piano, you are right!

And Jacob was determined that Fillmore the Bus should also go inside the piano. At first I didn't know what had happened, or where Jacob's cars went, but when we played the keys that the cars were sitting on we could hear them moving around. I was worried that wasn't good for the piano so I quickly put a stop to that. The cars were rescued successfully, and I hope it doesn't happen again.

And now back into the kitchen... Daniel LOVES rice cereal and is getting good at being messy, so here is a picture of my little cutie:

More Please!

And also Jacob drew a beautiful picture, he said it was bees when I asked him. Oh, and I drew the heart, in case you were wondering.

Bees!

Solid Food!

So I decided to start Daniel on some solid food. Mmmm baby rice cereal... He seemed to like it and did really well! And I don't even have any messy first food pictures to show you because he was super neat and swallowed everything. His face only got a little messy when he moved and I poked him in the nose with the spoon! Jacob found the whole process fascinating- he is always wanting to share his food with Daniel and we have to say that Daniel can't eat crackers or toast or strawberries because he has no teeth! Anyways, Jacob wanted to try the rice cereal, so I let him - the look on his face was priceless because that stuff is pretty gross. Why can't "they" make baby foods that aren't either icky tasting or totally tasteless? Poor baby, he would much prefer  whipped cream or pizza sauce.

And Be Thankful.

There is an abundance of food in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. I have a wonderful husband and two wonderful little boys. We are healthy, happy, and hopeful. For everything that God has blessed me with, I am so thankful. 

Previously, I talked about possibly making applesauce. Well, someone else from church gave me another bag of apples, so I figured it was a sign. After the peeling (which was annoying because I have misplaced my good peeler, even though it is bright green) it pretty much made itself. I ended up with five jars. Jacob's first "real people" food was applesauce and he loved it. We went through a jar a week. So I am going to do some math and see if it is cheaper for me to make it for Daniel when he gets to that point.

So we had our first thanksgiving already. We were going to have chicken, I found a new recipe I wanted to try out, but we spent enough at Superstore to get a free turkey the other week, so it was decided we would have a typical thanksgiving feast. I've never cooked a turkey before, so I decide to read the instructions. "Reach into the cavity and remove the heart, neck, and giblets." Oh my goodness, I would PAY someone 100$ to do this for me. Thankfully my mother-in-law did it for free. She showed me how she makes stuffing and gravy, and I made simple peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, and cornbread to go with it. It was so good.

In my effort not to waste food, I made stock from the carcass yesterday. My house smelled so delicious! I realized I don't own a stock pot but I do own a giant slow-cooker, so for 10 hours that broth simmered nicely. I ended up with 12 cups, which are all nicely waiting in my freezer to be turned into something delicious.

AND because I had nothing sweet in my house (I only bake one thing at a time now) I tried a new brownie recipe. They are low-fat, I used my own applesauce, and Jacob ate the leftover egg yolks for lunch. I did add some chocolate chips that aren't in the original recipe though. I have had bad luck with brownies. They take too long, never turn out just right, and use way too many ingredients. This recipe cures all that, and more:

Low-Fat Brownies

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Recipe By: Epicure Selections

Ingredients:

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp soft margarine

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 egg whites

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla

chocolate chips, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray 8x8 pan.

Mix all ingredients.

Bake 35 minutes.

Now I just have to make a couple of turkey pies with the rest of the leftovers.

(Colossians 3:15b - in case you were wondering)