Lane's Birthday

 Lane was super excited about his presents this year!  He is really into skateboarding so that was pretty much the theme of things.

 Lane got one of Tony Hawks biography books.  He really likes him, and he's met him so that's even cooler!  (Meeting Tony Hawk Link)

 Tech Decks are all the rage, pretty sure they had those when I was a kid.  He got a tech deck half pipe from us and another ramp from grandma.  He also got a trick scooter that he's been riding in garage, along with a new pogo stick!

 Later in the day he had 6 friends over.  I was a little worried about how these kids would be entertained, but it was a nice day and they played outside mostly.  They swung on the buoy swing, played in the woods and did the zip line.  Easiest party ever.

Lane wanted a skateboarding theme for his party.  So in true Natasha form, I decided to make a skateboard cake.  It was actually really easy, one more cake feat under my belt.

Love this 10 year old boy!!  I really like the kind friend he is and (usually) the kind big brother he is.  ;)

Homemade Laundry Soap

Since February I have been making my own laundry soap.  I found a recipe on Pinterest that looks a little better than others.  I didn't want have a huge bucket of laundry soap, so this is concentrated, all you use is a tablespoon.  I wanted to wait a while to post about to see how well I liked it.  I normally used the Arm and Hammer detergent, I'm not to picky about how it smells etc.  I would say this works the same as the other stuff.  Mostly I like it because it's just way cheaper.

This is all you need.  And the washing soda and borax lasts a while.  I have made 3 batches of this stuff and I still have quite a bit of the soda and borax left.

Grate the fels-naptha in the food processor.

Melt the soap into 4 cups hot water.  This takes a while like 15 minutes.  Once it's melted you add 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda that has been mixed together.  Stir this all together until there is no graininess left at the bottom of the pan.

Divide the mixture up between two quart size jars.  Fill these jars with water to the rounded part of the jar.

Place lids on tightly and place jars upside down to sit for 4-5 hours

This step is the most fun!  After 4-5 hours the solids and liquids will be separated.  Take your blender jar off of the blade.  Screw the blade base onto the mason jar.  Pop it on your blender and whip.  

Wha laa!  Whipped laundry detergent.  It looks a bit like mayonnaise but gets a little more firm once it's sits for a while.  I also cut out a couple cute labels on my Cricut because I was so excited about it.   I use about a Tbsp of it in each load.  I would say the two jars last me 3 months or so.  You can add essential oil to make it smell nice, but I haven't tried it yet.  

Here is the link to the tutorial I used:  Whipped Laundry Detergent link

Spring Minestrone

I made this soup for myself tonight.  Reese is gone and the kids will eat something simple so I thought I'd try a new recipe out.  It was one of the best soups I've had in a long time.  Best part is that I will be eating it for lunch for the next few days!  It is meatless and full of yummy veggies, including asparagus.  I found the recipe here:  http://www.laaloosh.com/2013/05/08/spring-minestrone-recipe/  I just changed a couple of things in the spices.  You must try it! And if you are doing weight watchers it is 5 pts + for 1 1/2 cups!

Spring Minestrone

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb asparagus, cut into chunks (you could substitute green beans when asparagus is out of season)
6 oz uncooked whole wheat pasta (bowtie)
15oz can Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen peas
3 carrots, diced
28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups fresh baby spinach
4 cups fat free chicken or vegetable broth
juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Add onions and garlic to oil and saute until tender, about 2 minutes.  Add the diced tomatoes, broth, salt and pepper, thyme, red pepper flakes, basil, bay leaves and oregano.  Bring to a simmer and turn heat to low, cover and simmer about 15 minutes.

Add peas, carrot,s asparagus and beans.  Cover and cook for another 15 minutes.

Stir in spinach, pasta, and lemon juice.  Cover and cook until spinach is wilted.

Freezer meals: Slow Cooker BBQ Spareribs

The two weeks before my surgery I started to stock pile freezer meals. I wasn't sure how much I could do. Turns out I can probably do more than I thought but any use of my left arm is limited and I'm left handed. I am really glad I did this, it made me feel prepared, even if I wasn't totally prepared emotionally. It was a great distraction. I think in all I had 15 meals prepared plus frozen blueberry scones, banana bread, apple pie, and muffins. So I was trying to distract myself a bit...

Reese's mom just left this morning so tonight was the first night that I needed to cook dinner. I made BBQ spareribs. They were really good. I served them with baked beans and broccoli.

Slow Cooker BBQ Spareribs

1-2 lbs country style pork ribs
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 Tbsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar

Place ribs in gallon freezer bag. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over ribs. Freeze
When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Put in slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours.

Sorry didn't get a picture of the finished product but it was really tasty! This would've been easy for me to put together one handed, but it was still nice to know I had it in the freezer ready to go.

The rest of the pictures are from our hike yesterday. Yep, I went on a hike. Probably not the best idea, since I was really tired and sore today. I will blame Reese, he told me it'd be a 10 minute walk each way. Wrong! Either way it was good to get some fresh air and as always, there were BEAUTIFUL views! We hiked down to a beach that had a cabin made out of driftwood. Laura got to see some of Kodiak too, which was great.

Remembering

Yesterday it was 11 years since my mom went to heaven and 8 years since her dad, my Grandpa Ken joined her there. We all miss them so much. Both my mom and grandpa were really influential in shaping who I've become and most my siblings and other family members would probably say the same thing. I took the picture above from my sister Michele's blog. I love this picture of my mom and dad and us five kids. I bet Phil (her 5th child) wasn't much more than 6 months old here and mom is rockin' a tube top! I know this because there are other pictures of that same day when you can see her stomach and she looks amazing! I was blessed with many of her genes, but that whole showing my stomach after having children is not one of them!

I have been reflecting a little in the past couple months about what I want to be when I grow up. It sounds funny right. Well, I never chose a career path that I was really passionate about, never finished my degree, etc. I am taking online classes right now just to finish up my 2 year transfer degree and my Theatre professor sent out an email to everyone about finding a job that you are passionate about. I kind of felt stupid because I didn't have that drive and here I am almost 30 and I am still trying to figure out what I want to be. One way she said to find out what that was, was to remember back to when you were a kid and what you most liked to play. I immediately thought of playing house with my dolls and barbies. I also set up houses out in the woods with my brothers, I made plates and bowls out of the clay I dug out of the creek, I picked weeds that resembled wheat and ground them up to pretend to make bread. I don't think I was an ordinary little girl playing with dolls because when all the other girls had moved on to other things as we got older, I still wanted to play with my dolls! I thought about all this for a while before I realized that I HAVE found what I am most passionate about, being a wife, mother and homemaker. That may seem a little old fashioned to some, but I am the most content when I can do those things well. I feel so fortunate that I am content being a stay at home mom because I know some women find it hard to be home all the time. I realize that my mom taught me these things. She showed me how to be a good mom and a good homemaker and to take joy in the domestic things :) Now I know that at some point I will get a job which is why I am slowly finishing up college. But I have a feeling I won't veer too far from what I am doing right now :)

So last week I was having some neighborhood ladies over for coffee. I sat down and looked through some recipes to figure out what I would make for that morning and this recipe stood out to me. I haven't made it in a really long time, but it is so good. After mom died, I was living in 29 Palms and I called my Grandma Alma for this recipe. It was one mom made often, especially when she had my dad's side of the family over for coffee on a Sunday night. So last Monday night, after the kids went to bed, I made this Applesauce Raisin Cake and thought of my mom the whole time.

Applesauce Raisin Cake

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup warm water

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

1 cup raisins

nuts, optional

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Beat well, add applesauce and water. Mix flour, soda and spices. Add to butter mixture. Add raisins and nuts (if using). Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Penuche Frosting (SO YUMMY)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup milk

1 3/4 -2 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter in a saucepan, add sugar, boil over low heat for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in milk and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until thick.

Orange Chicken

I will start by saying how much Lane LOVES Orange Chicken. His love for it began when I bought a frozen box of it from Costco. He always requested it. I am not much of a frozen food kind of girl so I would always cringe just a little when I served it, although it was good! So when I found this recipe while I was doing weight watchers, I was really excited to find a healthier version of Orange Chicken. Served with some brown rice and edamame, this meal is a favorite of my family. I got it from this blog http://www.pointlessmeals.blogspot.com
And this is Estelle after she's eaten her orange chicken, she loves it! In fact this is what got her eating some chicken despite her vegetarian tendencies.
And on a side note, Lane had to "dress up" a potato last week for school. Kind of a funny project, but fun. I asked him what he would like to dress it up as and of course he wanted it to be in camouflage. So we made a ghillie suit for this little potato. For those of you who don't know what a ghillie suit is, it's a suit that snipers wear and they can blend completely into their surroundings, like this for example...

So we strung some leaves on him and stuck in some stick arms. We went through Lane's army guy stuff and found a good hat and a pair of tiny binoculars that hung from his potatoes arm. He was pretty proud of it, who knows if his teacher knew what a ghillie suit is. What is important is that Lane knows what it is :) Lane is doing so great in school, I am really proud not only his grades but also the way he conducts himself at school. Hopefully he can pass down these things to his sister... hopefully.

Adventures in Eating Whole-ly

So I ran across this blog on Pinterest. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ I liked her ideas and decided to try a little of what she was doing. She decided to eat only real food for 100 days. Me, I am just trying to cut out a lot processed stuff and use a lot less sugar. So "real" or "whole" food is nothing processed, no white flour, no sugar, no preservatives, etc. Now I don't use a whole lot of packaged, processed stuff in my cooking so that isn't the hard part. The hard part for me was bread and sweets. She started making her own bread in a bread machine using King Arthur's White Whole Wheat flour. I thought, I can do that, I make bread all the time. Well, two loaves of bread in the garbage later, I decided to buy organic wheat bread with no preservatives/chemicals etc. Because really when you look at the ingredients of a loaf of bread...why is there 40 ingredients? So the organic bread is what I am doing.

So the other hang up of mine was sugar. I love to bake. But in an effort to used less sugar I tried her recipes for Whole Wheat Brownies and Homemade Maple Pecan Ice Cream. (Just click on the recipe names and it will take you to her blog and the recipe) No sugar used! The only sweeteners are honey and maple syrup. So I can feel good about giving Lane (and myself) a bowl of ice cream with a brownie! The ice cream is really yummy and creamy! Also I do have an ice cream maker, I LOVE IT! The brownies definitely have a different texture, but I really love them. The recipe says you can use maple syrup or honey, I have done both and I like the honey better.

A few other changes I have made are:

-not buying crackers, cookies, etc unless they are minimally processed and no preservatives. Somethings I found that work are Triscuits and Kettle Brand potato chips (they may not be great for you, but they are made with natural ingredients).

-sweetening my coffee with maple syrup and half and half. I also have bought the Natural Bliss coffee creamer. It does have sugar in it but it doesn't have all the other junk the regular stuff has, I think it has only 3 or 4 ingredients.

-Stretch's Fruit Leather are a good choice instead of fruit snacks or fruit roll ups.

-Changing my white rice habit into brown rice which I am learning to love and Lane and Estelle already love it so that's a plus.

-Instead of packing Lane's lunch full of crackers and stuff, I have been putting in pickles, string cheese or baby bel cheese, fruit leather, and homemade muffins or breakfast cookies made with all whole grain. He also eats a cold grilled cheese sandwich everyday in his lunch (silly guy).

I am not an extreme person, but I thought making a few changes would be a good thing and I am hoping I have more energy as a result?? Now if I can get this Valentine's candy out of my house that would be helpful!

Tasty Tuesday: Cranberry Dijon Pork Roast

This time of year, I love crock pot meals. Usually we have an after school activity going on once a week and having dinner ready to go in the crock pot gives me one less thing to worry about. This is a great one. I made some roasted root vegetables to go along with it including carrots, turnips, parsnips and sweet potatoes, just cube them up, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper and roast at 375 for 30 or 40 minutes.

Cranberry Dijon Pork Roast (Taste of Home)

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork loin roast (2 to 3 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 envelope golden onion soup mix
• 1 can (14 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Directions

• In a large skillet, brown roast in butter on all sides. Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker; sprinkle with soup mix. Add cranberry sauce to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan. Pour over roast.
• Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until meat is tender. Remove roast to a serving platter; keep warm. Strain cooking juices and stir in mustard. Slice roast; serve with sauce. Yield: 6 servings.

Tasty Tuesday: Poffertjes

We are Dutch. Frisian to be exact. The town where Reese and I grew up is a total Dutch town. While we were living there a few years ago we got a poffertjes pan, poffertjes are a Dutch mini pancake, kinda. Reese and Lane love this little treat. If you are not in the Lynden area, you can get a poffertjes pan on Amazon! According to my research, poffertjes are traditionally made with a yeast batter, but that is not the recipe I have... so here goes.

Poffertjes

1 cup flour 3 eggs

4 Tbsp sugar 4 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt Butter

1 cup hot water Powdered Sugar

Mix flour sugar and salt. Add water, eggs and oil. Mix well until batter is lump free. Fry on poffertjes grill or as silver dollar size pancakes in frying pan or griddle. To serve, spread with butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

The pan, and a squeeze bottle for easy dispensing.
flip once...

melt some butter on top and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Yum! (Can't get rid of underline AHHHH!) They are so yummy! I may or may not have eaten a few....

And here is my little helper in the kitchen in her jeggings! She is hilarious. She likes to be in the kitchen when I am, sometimes standing by the dishwasher, but usually getting into the recycling box! I usually have cereal boxes, etc strewn about the kitchen floor.

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Espresso Biscotti

So....I am doing Weight Watchers. Not because I think I am fat (to all of you rolling your eyes right now). I have had an extra 10+ lbs on me since I've had Estelle that I can't seem to get off. So in an effort to eat a little better and be aware of what I am shoving in my mouth, I thought I'd try it out. So far so good. The reason I share this is because this Biscotti recipe is from a Weight Watchers cookbook. Each little piece is worth 1 point. Now I can't just have one so I have been having two, but really not bad for a tasty little sweet treat.

2 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 1/2 Tbsp ground coffee (not instant, actual ground coffee)

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 Tbsp strong brewed coffee

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk together flour, cocoa, ground coffee, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; stir in almonds. Beat sugar, eggs, brewed coffee and vanilla in a medium bowl until mixed well. With electric mixer on low speed, add sugar mixture to flour mixture, beating until dry dough forms. Cut dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, shape each piece of dough into a log about 15 inches long, 1 inch high and 1 3/4 inch wide. Transfer to baking sheet. Press logs until 3/4 inch high and two inches wide. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of log comes out clean, 20-25 minutes, rotating baking sheet after 10 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce oven temp to 300. With two spatulas, transfer 1 log to cutting board. Using long serrated knife, cut log into 1/4 inch slices. Repeat with other log, making a total of 80 slices. Place biscotti on baking sheet (cut side down). Bake 10 minutes per side. Let cool on wire rack.

Estelle is now 9 months old! She is sooooo fun! Estelle's sleeping habits have greatly improved in the past month or two and I am feeling much better as a result. She takes two pretty good naps a day and sleeps well through the night. She is a happy, curious and quite social little one. We had her 9 month appointment yesterday. She weighed 21 lbs 7 oz and is 29 inches long. That put her in around the 95th percentile for height and weight. I am feeling so blessed to have Estelle. She really brings so much joy to our family and I can't imagine life without her!
Reese bought a helmet for a her a while back. We put it on her last night and it fit well. So we put her in the bike seat for her first little ride. I am not going to go on long rides yet, I feel she's a little young to keep that heavy helmet on her head for too long. But little rides are fun and she seemed to love it!

Tasty Tuesday: Peach Cobbler

So while we were in Alaska, I planned to make one of the dinners and two desserts. When we go up there we have to fly all of the food into the cabin because we come in by float plane. So I like to buy things that can be used for a couple purposes and make recipes that have minimal ingredients. We had Bisquick on our list so we could make pancakes, biscuits and this peach cobbler. I get to the grocery store in Ketchikan and they have no Bisquick, hmmmm. So I buy Krusteaz pancake mix and call it good. So when I went to work on the cobbler I substituted 1 cup of pancake mix for the Bisquick. It was really good! And to top it all off, the oven doesn't work to well so I baked it on the barbecue! I also had brought some Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mixes. I also baked those cookies on the barbecue and they turned out yummy, just a little "done" on the bottom. So here is my recipe for my Barbecued Peach Cobbler!

1 cup Bisquick (or pancake mix :)

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1 can (29 oz) sliced peaches, drained

Heat oven (or BBQ) to 375. Stir together Bisquick, milk, and nutmeg in ungreased square baking dish (8x8). Stir in butter until blended. Stir together sugar and peaches; spoon over batter. Bake 50-60 minutes. (More like 40 minutes on a BBQ). 6 servings

And no I am not confused on my days of the week, I am just that unorganized. Tasty Wednesday it is!

Tasty Tuesday (on Wednesday)

Since I can't seem to consistently keep up on the menu thing, I thought I'd try to do Tasty Tuesday. Some other blogs do this and I might link up to one at some point. So my plan was to start this week, well one day late....here it is.

I made this tart last week. It is so yummy! The crust is cornmeal crust which is such a nice change from a normal crust. I halved the recipe and just made the tart a little smaller. The crust would be great with apples, pears, peaches, any kind of berry, and I want to try it with rhubarb too.

Blueberry-Blackberry Rustic Tart

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2/3 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 
  FILLING:
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 cups fresh blackberries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons turbinado (washed raw) sugar or coarse sugar
• Whipped cream, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and cornmeal; cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 14-in. circle. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• In a large bowl, combine the berries, sugar, flour and lemon juice; spoon over the pastry to within 2 in. of edges. Fold up edges of pastry over filling, leaving center uncovered. Brush folded pastry with egg; sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake at 375° for 55-60 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Using the parchment paper, slide tart onto a wire rack to cool. Serve with whipped cream if desired. Yield: 8 servings.

Recipe Courtesy of Taste of Home

Hope everyone is having a great week. We are enjoying some down time before some adventures in the next week!!

Apple Berry Salsa!

I've been having a craving for some Whatcom County strawberries. I guess these California ones will have to do. I got this recipe a long time ago from one of those Pampered Chef Season's Best recipe books. It is so yummy and fresh tasting. You serve the salsa with Cinnamon Chips. Lane could just eat a bunch of cinnamon chips.

Apple Berry Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

Cinnamon Chips

4 flour tortillas

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Salsa

2 medium Granny Smith apples (diced)

1 cup strawberries, diced

1 kiwi, peeled and diced

1 small orange

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp apple jelly

Preheat oven to 400 F. For cinnamon chips, lightly brush tortillas with water. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over tortillas. Using pizza cutter, cut each tortilla into 8 wedges. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet (use a baking stone if you have one). Bake 8-10 minutes.

For salsa, mix together apples, strawberries, and kiwi. Zest and juice the orange. Add orange zest, juice, brown sugar, and jelly to fruit mixture. Mix gently.

On another note....I am having a little bit of a hard time "blooming where I am planted" literally! I am so frustrated with trying to grow things here! I have had pretty good luck with impatiens, but other than that, Ugggghhhh! I have been trying to plant some seeds outside. I know the snails love to eat things around here, so I try to keep up on the snail bait. I had some good starts going too, only to find them mowed down by snails the last two mornings! So... between unsupervised 4 years olds peeing on my flowers (no joke), children (hooligans) driving through them with their power wheels and the snails, growing much of anything around here is an uphill battle. It is times like these that I REALLY want my own yard again. I am not a city girl. I am a country girl at heart. Sometimes I ask myself, "do I belong here?" I guess I do, because God has brought our family here. I am sure there is a reason, but sometimes I struggle with trying to find it... and I just want to get out of our little ghetto, move to the country and play pioneer woman for awhile.

I Could Just Eat You Up

So I am talking about Lane, Estelle, and yummy new recipes :0 I have a weakness for some really adorable kids and great food, and by the way, losing the baby weight? Not going so good :)This little girl loves her bath time.

Lane is so great with Estelle! Today she had a cute, springy outfit on. When I picked Lane up from school, he looked at her and said, "she looks really pretty today." I thought that was about the sweetest thing a big brother could say to his little sister.

Moving on to food... what else. When Reese is home I like to make some yummy new recipes. Number one, because he appreciates it and number two, because he can help me watch Little Miss while I cook it. Otherwise, Little Miss doesn't let me get anything done. She would rather not nap for more than 20 minutes at a time, just in case she might miss something really important. I am linking the recipes here, just click on the name of the recipe and it should take you straight to the food network website. I have become quite the foodie again, for two reasons. I am breastfeeding so I am really hungry. Two, because Estelle loves to be held or just for me to sit next to her on the floor while she plays so I spend more time in front of the tv watching Food Network. Hey I could be watching soap operas and Housewives of Orange County (or whatever that is) or even worse the Home Shopping Network.
Paula Deen's Pot Roast Really yummy and we ended up making our own gravy because there wasn't a lot of sauce left at the end of cooking.
Lemon Chicken Breasts This was surprisingly awesome. My friend Kelly was talking about Ina Garten and I became more intrigued to try one of her recipes. I was drawn to this one because of it's simplicity, I wasn't sure how we would like it but we all loved it. I used bone in, skin on thighs. They worked out well. I also make some brown rice and put the sauce on that too. The peas... Lane will eat them, thats why I make them a lot. I alternate between peas, corn, carrots and salad and usually Lane will eat those.

Maple Oatmeal Bread and "Tricky" recipes

My friend Kelly emailed me this recipe recently. I tried it last weekend and since it made two loaves, I shared with her and her family, and in turn they shared brownies with me, it worked out pretty good :) The recipe has real maple syrup and coffee in it! So yummy.
This is the oatmeal heated up with the syrup, butter, coffee, etc.
The bread turned out to be a little sweet. I made some honey butter that went really well on it! Here is the recipe:

5 3/4 or 6 1/4 c all purpose flour

2 pkgs yeast (5 1/2 tsp)

1 1/2 cups prepared coffee (the darker the better)

1 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 c butter

2 tsp salt

2 eggs

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour and the yeast. In a saucepan heat tje coffee, oats, maple syrup, butter and salt over medium low heat just until warm and butter is almost melted.

Add flour mixture along with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl. Beat on high for 3 minutes

Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn dough out on to a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic about 3-5 minutes. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease. Cover; let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Punch dough down. Turn on to floured surface; divide in half. Cover, let rest 10 minutes. Lightly grease two loaf pans and set aside.

Shape dough into 2 loaves by patting and rolling. Place into prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. (30-45 minutes). Preheat oven to 375.

Bake for 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

I have had the cookbook, The Sneaky Chef for a few years now. I got it back when Lane never wanted to eat anything good for him. He has gotten much better but Reese was gone a few nights last week so I made some "tricky" dinners. The first one is Tricky Taco Soup. It was really good and I would have served it to Reese too, it doesn't taste like kid food. It has a sweet potato/carrot puree in it and a white bean puree too. The cookbook gives you a bunch of recipes for purees to sneak into your kids foods. The soup was really flavorful and Lane would never know that "stuff" was in there.
The next night I made pizza and decided to mix some of the sweet potato/carrot puree in with the pizza sauce. I also made a homemade whole wheat crust. It turned out really well. If anyone wants the soup recipe, just let me know. For now, here is my pizza crust recipe, I use it ALL the time.

Place ingredients in a bread machine in the following order:

1/2 cup warm water

1 T olive oil

1 1/2 cups flour (for wheat I do 1 cup all purpose and 1/2 cup wheat flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp yeast

Set your machine on 1 lbs loaf and dough setting. It is enough for one pizza. I roll mine out with some cornmeal on a pizza stone and let rise about 30 minutes before I put the toppings on and bake at 425 for about 15 minutes.

I'll try to take some pictures of Estelle this week and post them. Another busy week ahead. Lots of appointments. I am sick of dr appointments! Also, Estelle got her first cold last weekend and it's still hanging on. Poor baby, we've had a few rough nights and I am feeling quite sleep deprived. I've been feeling things getting on top of me lately and the lack of sleep can push me over the edge. Praying for sleep, healing (I haven't been too well lately either), and for peace.