November 20

1}  I'm thankful  for lists...I just finished making my Thanksgiving grocery list...and when the kids wake up off we will go to get all or our Thanksgiving food.

2}  Thankful for leftover cookies that my kids will eat for breakfast!

YEP...I'm gonna let me kids eat a cookie for breakfast and then take them grocery shopping 2 days before Thanksgiving when the store is likely to be horribly crowded!
And ... there is a large possibility that they will end the shopping experience with a large donut...
{because I believe cavities and obesity will give my children character}
AND....I feel strongly in the fact that we all have jobs in life,
     and we do those jobs better if we get a paycheck when our job is completed...
my children have a job today...
    They will be expected to act like normal civilized humans
     {even though their only breakfast was a large cookie}
while I drag them through a crowed, unfriendly grocery store...
      when & if they complete this job, their paycheck will be a donut at the end!

3}  Thankful for the men and women working at the grocery store...such an unappreciated job!
People treat grocers horrible.
Yes, I know you hate shopping...
     Yes, I know it's crowded...
Yes, I can see that your child is throwing a fit and just broke a jar of pickles...
remind me why that is the grocers fault and you need to be rude to them?
Yes, I know the lines are longer then you were expecting...
Yes, I can tell you fed your children cookies for breakfast...
Yes, I know that you wish you were ANYWHERE other than grocery shopping....
Yes, I know that this normal 1 hour trip has taken you 2 and you're still not done...
remind me how being rude to the grocer is going to help this situation!
I have a small task for you and your family!
If you have yet to finish your Thanksgiving grocery shopping, or end up back at the store because someone forgot butter or pepper...
First...be thankful that you have the option of shopping at a grocery store,
Second...be thankful that there are people that work in this thankless industry and THANK THEM...
Give them a smile...maybe a kiss {Hershey that is}...
and bonus...if you head into the grocery store with a good attitude and your goal is NOT to get out of there as fast as possible...
     but rather to make the day of those that are serving inside the store...
your trip will be that much more pleasant! {you can even make it a game with your kids}...
extra points in the game...help a young mom or elderly couple that look like they might need help with their list or bagging their groceries...
double bonus...your kids will learn amazing kindness, grace, and character from this simple trip to the store.

monkeys+apples+caramel=lovely

so this most amazing thing happened Saturday morning...

I was throwing around the idea of making monkey bread for breakfast
...please don't tell me you have no idea what monkey bread is...
(yep, I'm healthy like that)
and so I look around the kitchen to make sure I have what I need...
and I did...
and then as I was standing there cutting the biscuits I remembered my mother-in-law making a monkey bread recipe sort of thing a few years ago not with refrigerated biscuit dough but with frozen roll dough (I think) and then I think she tossed the dough balls in a sugar, cinnamon, hot chocolate powder mixture...

yep...
I said hot chocolate powder....
so I decided to see if I had any packets of hot chocolate...

I DIDN'T have any hot chocolate...
but I did have packets of apple cider...
I started to close the cupboard in sadness when a little voice said,
"why not apple cider?"

and then....
this is the moment that all the stars aligned and perfection was born...

I ran to the computer and searched all of the world wide web
(aka pintrest)
for anything close to a Caramel Apple Monkey Bread recipe...
and guess what...
it didn't exist...
because if it's not on pintrest than it hasn't been invented yet!!!

nope, brand-new invention...

so I ran back into the kitchen and became giddy with my new found power of creation!
and thus pure awesomeness was born...
please...let me be the first to introduce you to

Caramel Apple Monkey Bread!
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
3 cans of Buttermilk Biscuits
1 1/4 cup Sugar
2-3 packets apple cider drink mix
2-3 apples cored, sliced and chopped thinly

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees & grease your bundt pan.
2.  Place your butter & brown sugar into your bundt pan and place in oven while it's pre-heating. Keep an eye on the butter/sugar mixture while it melts and becomes one, open up the oven and stir ever few minutes until the two have become caramel goodness. Once the brown sugar and butter married, you can pull it out of the oven and wait for the biscuit nuggets.
3.  While your butter/brown sugar (aka caramel) is melting in the oven...open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters/nuggets.
4.  Next, in a 1 gallon zip-lock bag, combine the white sugar with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon & apple cider drink mix packets (2 for a mild flavor, 3 for a slightly stronger flavor).  Drop all of the biscuit nuggets & chopped apples into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Once all the biscuit nuggets and apples are in the bag seal it and give it a vigorous shake. This will get all those pieces unstuck from one another and nicely coated with cinnamon-sugar-apple cider goodness.

5.  Take the caramel...(butter and brown sugar) out of the oven, mix it up good and slowly spread these nuggets out evenly in the bundt pan, coating them in the gooey caramel-ness in the bottom of the bundt pan.
6.  Bake for about 30 minutes until the crust is a a little beyond golden brown, you want it slightly gooey, but not doughy. When its finished cooking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for about 15-20 minutes before turning it over onto a plate.
 
So, here you go...
'Hello World Wide Web...I'd like you to meet Caramel Apple Monkey Bread...'

can you see the caramel coating those apple slices?  YUM

she really is very friendly, with all those carbs and gooeyness...

and bonus...when she's cooking in the oven she makes your house smell like fall...

I totally forgot that it was August and going to be 100+ that day...

I smelled baking apples and cinnamon...

and I had visions of sweaters and cold noses dancing thru my head!

Now, just to be clear...this was the-one-and-only-thing my children ate for breakfast on Saturday...

but it had apples in it so I figured that the fruit would get them thru till lunch...

and they acted totally 100% like they had eaten Caramel Apple Monkey Bread for breakfast...go figure!

the 'bread'

you either love it or you hate it...
not the bread itself, no one could actually hate this bread...
but the tradition of the bread is what you love or lothe...
or like me, I love the bread enough to tolerate the origins of it.
it's called Amish Friendship Bread
but I've had friends call it the 'Friend Hater Bread'

you know the stuff...
a friend gives you a weird
gooey,
goopy,
lumpy looking bag of 'starter'
along with a crinkled xeroxed paper
with directions like

we shall have cake for breakfast

 but it's practically like veggie oatmeal, so it's good...right...right?

so I had a huge zucchini from a friends garden...
and I needed to use it since it's been hanging out on my counter for about 2 weeks now...and then I was thinking I can make a nice healthy breakfast for me and the boy child...
...girl child spent the night at a friends house...
...Beau is still in bed....

when I'm making cake for breakfast I like to make it whole wheat so I feel better about feeding it to my kids...so this is what I do....
ready...major news break here...
when the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups flour...
...I use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour...
crazy amazing, I know...

blog tangent...as I was standing in my kitchen making cake breakfast I looked up at my cupboard and decided to share with you my beautifully organized life....

and then because I'm real...I decided I'd show you the other side of the same life...

blog tangent over...

and here is the recipe for the veggie oatmeal otherwise know as Oatmeal Zucc Coffee Cake....

Oatmeal Zucc Coffee Cake
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c. oatmeal
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/4 c. dairy sour cream
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla


crumb topping
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. softened butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 13 inch pan. Combine all coffeecake ingredients at low speed. Put in pan.

Mix topping ingredients minus the pecans until crumbly. Sprinkle 1/2 of crumbs over 1/2 of cake...mix pecans into rest of crumb topping and sprinkle over rest of cake.
(my family doesn't appreciate the gift of nuts in desserts breakfast foods)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cut into squares. Serve warm with coffee...or milk

a Scone-ful week

So I had this idea last week that I'd do a few English sounding recipes because of the royal wedding and all...
and then I did none of them...because I won't post a recipe that I haven't actually made so since I never got around to making any of them I couldn't post them...
and by English recipes I mean scones...
and scones and a few more scones...

all that blabbering to say, that I finally got around to making these yummy scones yesterday for breakfast
and it's actually my own recipes because I totally tweaked the recipe I was following so much that it's nothing like the original!

oh, and if you've never made scones before, please do...
they are so easy to make and so worth it!
think sweet biscuit...
and if you've never made biscuits SHAME ON YOU!

nothing like a nice warm scone right out of the oven with your cup-o-Joe...
and I'm always amazing at how many scones my kids devour daintily eat for breakfast!
and hey, whole wheat, fruit (dried cranberries are a fruit right), dairy (yogurt)...that's a well rounded breakfast!

Cherry Vanilla Scones

1 cup dried cherries 

     or my cheater cheap version 

     1 cup cherry flavored dried cranberries

2 teaspoons vanilla*

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour 

     (or go with 2 cups of whatever you have,

      I like to have some wheat so it seems healthier)

3 Tbl brown sugar (or raw, if your going the healthy route)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon orange or lemon lest

1 beaten egg yolk

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 tea vanilla

1 recipe Vanilla Glaze, recipe follows

     (optional, I didn't make so you don't see it in the picture)

Place dried cherries (or cranberries) into small bowl, pour 2 teaspoons vanilla over the top and then pour enough boiling water over them to cover.  Let stand for 5 minutes and then drain well.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Using a pastry blender cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Toss in orange zest and drained cherries/cranberries; until coated. 

In a small bowl combine egg yolk, yogurt and vanilla.  Add mixture all at once to flour mixture, using a fork stir until combined.  Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface   Knead dough by folding and gently pressing dough for 10-12 strokes.  Pat into a 1 inch circle and either cut into 12 wedges or cut circles using a biscuit cutter.

Place scones onto an ungreased baking sheet, bake in a 400 oven for 7-9 minutes.

Vanilla Glaze

mix together 3/4 cup powder sugar and 1 tbl vanilla until you have  a drizzling consistency.

*Vanilla Tip...not sure if I've ever shared my tip for cheap good vanilla.  Buy it from a Mexican Grocery...I buy my big bottle for $8...Yep $8 for 33.7 oz of Really Mexican vanilla or $4 for 8 oz of imitation Safeway vanilla???

this little shopping secret allows me to use lots more vanilla which, in my opinion, is the key ingredient in many baking recipes!

don't have any idea where a Mexican Grocery is...either google it or look it up in the old fashion yellow pages, or talk to someone at your favorite Mexican restaurant...the Mexican store I go to is in the small shopping center as one of our favorite Mexican restaurants!

Eggs from the Farm

Farm Fresh Eggs...
Ranch Eggs
Eggs that Farmers eat...Ranchers...eat...

whatever it means...
Huevos Rancheros* are yummy!
my mom would make these for us every once in a while as a kid...
I always loved them...and now my kids like them too...
the husband, well lets not push it...he's not a big fan of the fried egg and bean combo...

I have been making these for breakfast on the weekends or for my lunch during the week when we have leftover taco meat and beans from a meal earlier in the week.

Huevos Rancheros
corn tortillas (just better with corn, I've tried flour, but don't like it as well)
refried beans (pinto or black)**
taco meat
fried egg
cheese
salsa
cilantro (optional)

1.  fry egg, while egg is frying, heat up the beans, meat and tortilla (I didn't have any refried beans so I quickly 'refried' myself some black beans)**

2.  layer tortillas with beans, meat, and egg on top.  Top with cheese, salsa and cilantro....

**Refried Beans

1 can of black or pinto beans drained

cumin

salt

butter or bacon fat (optional)

1.  Heat up skillet and melt butter (if using), add beans and mash, season with cumin and salt to taste...

just a fast easy different way to serve up eggs for breakfast...or lunch...and to use up any leftover beans and meat...

*oh...and for those wondering
Huevoes Rancheros is Spanish for "rancher's eggs,"
huevos, pl. of huevo, egg + American Spanish rancheros, pl. of ranchero, ranch-style
although the more common translation is "country" or "country-style" eggs...

I think it means...delish!

Baked Memories

flipping thru a cook book the other day...
yep, I read cook books sometimes....

I saw a recipe for a Puffed Oven Pancake....
it was on the same page as wonderful fluffy melt in your mouth supreme baking powder biscuits (that's a blog for another day!)

anyways....as I made my biscuits later that night I kept thinking about the puffed oven pancake...
...and remembering...

remembering yummy lazy Saturday's and this thing my parents called a German Pancake...

so I went back to the cook book and read the recipe...it seemed like it was very close to what I remembered as a little girl....

so I put it on the menu...
and then the husband asked, "What's a Puffed Oven Pancake?"

so I decided to make it up last night....

so happy that I did that...
and guess what...it was so easy...and it was all gone when dinner was over...

Puffed Oven Pancake aka German Pancake
2 Tbs butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 milk
1/4 tsp salt

1.  Place butter in 9-10 inch pie plate or oven proof skillet.  Place in 400 degree oven for 3-5 minutes or until butter melts.  Meanwhile, for batter in a medium bowl using a wish or egg beater, beat eggs until frothy,

add in flour, milk and salt;  beat until mixture is smooth.

Immediately pour batter into the hot pie plate.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and well browned.

Serving Options...
I heated up some apricot jelly in the microwave and Beau and I topped our pieces with butter, apricot jelly and powdered sugar...
the kids used just regular syrup and powdered sugar...
any type of fruit on top is so good...berries, pears, peaches...
nuts, whipped cream...
my dad use to eat his with lemon juice and powder sugar....

this was everything I remembered as a girl but better...better because it was so simple...

and here are a few pictures of the kids helping with dinner last night...

the boy child browning the sausage...and yes he's cooking in his red underwear...is there anything cuter than a little boys tush in red boxer briefs?
and taught the girl child to make scrambled eggs...she did the eggs all by herself last night...and they were great!

Stickin' it to 'The Man'

I think I have a problem...

I'm coming clean and admitting my problem to all you right now...

I can't just leave good enough alone...I have to just mess with it...
why?
I think it's my way of breaking the rules...

See, I'm a good girl,
I follow all the rules,
I get upset when others don't follow the rules
   rules were meant to be followed not broken!!!
Stay in line, no cutting
Color inside the lines
Go the speed limit (or no more than 5 miles over)
First come first serve
Do what your told and what's expected of you
Do your own work, don't cheat
Say please and thank you
Raise your hand
Plastic and Paper in the blue bin, green waste in the green bin, trash in the gray bin
Don't mix Plaid and Floral together...
No white shoes after Labor Day (okay, so I'm not that bad)...

But then give me a recipe or a pattern and I BREAK the rules!  So really I guess I'm a rebel at heart!  It's my way of "stickin' it to the MAN"...or woman or whoever wrote the recipe in the first place.
Or making my own rules...

So, we had company the other night (well, we have company every Tuesday night, we're hosting an eight week Bible/Book study and one of the couples eat dinner with us before hand)...and it was breakfast for dinner...

The menu-French Toast, scrambled eggs (my husbands specialty), bacon (the other husbands specialty), and fresh fruit...
but could I just make French Toast?  NO...I wanted stuffed French Toast...but I didn't want to look up a recipe (and you can't make me!)...so I just decided to figured it out...and then when my friend Rayna showed up (she's also a rebel and breaks the rules...but I think she even breaks the "real" rules!)...So I figured out the "stuffed" part and she figured out the "French" part...

so here's our version of
Stuffed Blueberry French Toast
2 loaves French Toast (we used one regular and one whole wheat loaf), cut into 2 1/2 inch slices
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, at room temp (roughly...I really just poured in the amount I wanted and called it good)
6-7 eggs
1 cup milk
1-2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease cookie sheet with baking spray.
Cut slits into the sides of bread slices.  Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and blueberries together; stuff into slits of bread.
Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in pie pan or other shallow dish, dip stuffed bread slices into egg mixture until just coated, place onto cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 min on one side, turn over and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve straight out of oven, top with butter, maple or blueberry syrup and fresh fruit...

oh, to be regular

okay, going to start my blog with a warning...
...blog warning...
material contained in this blog might be bathroom talk...and might cross the line from fun blog reading material, to wow, she just over shared!
...end of blog warning...


My body fully understands and accepts the concept of food in, waste out...and that it MUST happen on a regular basis for the system to work properly!
I'm just a regular girl...I've always been a regular girl (minus the few weeks after both my c-sections)...
that's just me...

Well, that was true for the first 32 years of life...
then I discovered that I'm anemic...like NO iron in my body!

easy fix, take iron pills...
iron pills that STOP a body from being regular...
like to a grinding HALT!

So I've been adding lots of extra fiber to my diet, cutting back on the dairy (that's two-fold, it stops the body from absorbing iron, and well it doesn't help with the whole regular thing either!), but we are a cheese loving family!, and Bran...Bran is my new bff...

that's where my new recipe comes in.  Refrigerator Bran Muffins, I remember my mom making these as a child (might not have been too young, but felt like years ago, and it's a warm fuzzy memory!).  I decided I was going to find that recipe, no matter how hard I had to search, yes, I know, just ask mom...didn't think of that...
So, first things first, I remember that I want to find and make this recipe while I'm at the grocery store, so I might as well go to the cereal aisle and pick up a box of Raisin Bran and then at least I'll have something that I'm sure is in the recipe...and guess what...the box had my recipe on the side...well, not MY recipe, but a version of one that I wanted to try...so of course I didn't follow their recipe but it gave me a guideline and I took it from there...
I love this recipe because you can bake up 2-3 every morning and just keep the batter in the fridge, it keeps for 2 weeks and makes 30 muffins so that's 12 days with 2 muffins and 2 day with 3...or bake up half the recipe one week and the other half the next...my son devoured these like candy (and he's already a regular boy...his new bff is the bathroom!)

Refrigerator Raisin Bran Muffins
2 1/2 cups buttermilk or sour milk*
1/2 cup oil**
2 eggs
3 cups Raisin Bran of your choice
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or white if that's all you have)
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 white and 1/2 brown)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional, for those raisin lovers)

In large bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, and eggs beat well.  Add remaining ingredients; stir until just moistened.
To bake now...Heat oven to 400.  Spoon batter into greased or paper-lined muffin pans, filling cups 1/2 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.
To refrigerate...Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to two weeks and bake when needed!
*to make sour milk, add 2 Tbs of lemon juice or vinegar to the measuring cup and then fill with milk to 2 1/2 cup line, let sit at room temp for 5 min
**to make these lower in fat, I want to try cutting the oil in half and substituting applesauce so 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 applesauce, just didn't have any at the time


Hope you have a regular sort of day!

Change of Plans

I made my weekly menu a mere 5 hours before dinner...how can it change so much in 5 short hours?!

Kids...it's always their fault right?...being on Christmas break the kids are stir crazy so when Madison invited a friend over to spend the night and then I extended the invitation to her friends younger brother so Wilson would have a friend...
how'd that change my dinner menu you might ask...I have a very strict policy with OUR kids, that I'm not a short order cook, that they might not LOVE what I've made for dinner, but I always make sure there is something on the table that they will eat...
Well, 2 new kids at the dinner table changes everything...
When asked, "What's for dinner?" about an hour before dinner time, I stated, "Potato Soup" and heard a chorus of, "NO," "do we have to," "YUCK," you get the idea...so even though I rarely change my dinner plans for my own picky kids, why make an entire meal when only two of the six people present will eat it...so they vetoed my plans...
(bummer too, it was Potato Soup weather today)
And they decided Pancakes for dinner...
well, actually they decided McDonalds for dinner, but when not one of the kids wanted to pay for it, they settled on pancakes...
and then, much to my chagrin, my husband suggest that I run to the store to buy his dad's secret pancake recipe...

(I have a HUGE desire to conquer the homemade pancake...
I have been working on it weekly for almost 5 years, every Saturday (almost) I wake up and prepare pancakes from scratch...
I know I can do it...
I have made some pretty good pancakes in the past 5 years...
I would venture to say, some Darn Good Pancakes...
regular...whole wheat...low fat...buttermilk...
pumpkin...blueberry...oatmeal...apple-butter...
but it never fails...
we visit the in-laws...
and my father-in-law breaks out the good ol' Krusteaz Buttermilk pancake mix...
and my husband reminds me that I just haven't reached Krusteaz perfection yet!)

so because I did need to run to the store anyways...
and because I love my husband...
and yes, because I just can't make a pancake as good as Krusteaz (YET!)...
I brought home a bag of the ChambersMade secret family pancake recipe mix...

But just because I can't leave good enough alone...I did some doctoring of the perfectly good Krusteaz...

ChambersMade Krusteaz Buttermilk Vanilla Pancakes
2 cups Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake mix
1 1/2 cups water
and 2 tsp vanilla (because vanilla makes almost everything better)

Mix together; batter will be lumpy, and pour onto hot griddle (375) cook 1 1/4 minutes per side....
serve with little smokies sausage and orange juice....

Not Just for the French

If there's one thing we can do as Americans is take something French and turn it into a casserole!

I was introduced to the French Toast Casserole at a MOPS (Mother's of PreSchoolers) meeting a few years ago by my friend Amy Goodall...
reasons I love this recipe...
it's highly changeable...
it's a make the night before breakfast (LOVE that)...
it makes the house smell heavenly while it's baking...
and I've never had anyone not ask for the recipe when I've served it...
really good for Christmas morning or large family gatherings....

French Toast Casserole
1 loaf French bread cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla (thus making it...ChambersMade)
10-12 eggs
cinnamon (to your liking)

Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.  Put half of the french bread into dish.  Cut the cream cheese into 1 inch pieces and put on top of bread, then cover with rest of bread.  In large bowl mix together eggs, milk, syrup & cinnamon, pour over bread.  Cover and put in fridge overnight.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with syrup.

Serve with bacon or ham, fresh fruit, and coffee.

Recipe Options:
add any fruit that you'd like, blueberries, strawberries, apples, peaches...
change out the "flavor" of the syrup
add chopped nuts
chocolate chips
for a more "Holiday" flavor add pumpkin spice or dried cranberries and orange zest....

Let me know any changes that you made and how the family reacted...

ChambersMade Christmas Breakfast

A ChambersMade Christmas morning tradition...
the Breakfast Casserole...
if you were to ask me,
"What does Christmas Morning smell like?"
it would be breakfast casserole and coffee wafting through the house!

Such an easy recipe, make it the day/night before, or even a few days before, keep it in the fridge and pop it in the oven Christmas morning right before the kids start opening the presents...and in an hour breakfast is ready and it's time to take a break in the gift opening frenzy!

(and YES...I have entertained the thought of making this in the crock pot...but all reports I've read regarding eggs and crock pots are just okay...and I want more than just okay...apparently the texture becomes slightly rubbery!)

Overnight Breakfast Casserole
10 slices of white bread
butter
1 lb grated cheddar cheese
8 eggs
3 cups milk
1 can chopped green chilies, drained
Garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste

Butter bread and cut into 1 inch cubes.  Layer bread, cheese, chilies in greased 9x13 pan, (2 layers).  Mix eggs, milk an seasonings.  Pour over bread, sprinkle with any remaining cheese.  Refrigerate overnight.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Serve with orange juice, sausage and coffee

Options...
add 1 cup chopped ham or crisp bacon
omit chilies
use a cheese mixture (Cheddar and Jack)
add artichoke hearts (I would LOVE to do this but no one in my family would eat it!)

Let me know any changes you make and how they worked...

Merry Christmas...Here's a Fruit Cake!

That's how I start to feel during the Christmas season trying to think of meaningful gifts or thank you's to hand out to teachers, co-workers, employees, etc...

I want to do something...
I can't spend much money at all...
so what am I stuck with...

Well, making them something, but I know they probably don't need another plate of Christmas cookies to sit on the counter for a week only to get stale and throw away...
and I don't want to go through all the baking for it to get thrown away...
so anyways...

this year the ChambersMade solution was
...Jars of Scone Mix and a few tea bags...

that they can choose to make them whenever the mood arises...

Dried Cherry Scones Mix
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbl baking powder
1 tea zest of orange
2 tea sugar

Layer into jar, placing the 1 tea orange zest and 2 tea sugar into a small baggie and placing at the top of all the layers.

Close up the jar and add a pretty piece of cloth and attach the directions on a tag. 
Directions:
8 Tbl butter (1 stick)-chilled
1 egg
2 tea vanilla
3/4 cup chilled milk
1 Tbl milk

1.  Remove baggie with sugar and orange peel, set aside & Preheat oven 400°.
2.  Dump contents of jar into bowl and mix.  Cut chilled butter into mix until resembles fine crumbs.  Combine egg, vanilla, & 3/4 cup milk; add to dry mixture, Stir until just moistened.
3.  Turn onto floured surface and knead 12 times.  Pat to a circle (1/2-inch thickness) ; cut into wedges.
4.  Place scones onto ungreased baking sheet.  Brush tops with milk and  sprinkle sugar and orange peel from baggie on top. Bake for 12 minutes.

 ...now send your kid off to school with a glass jar layered all pretty and hope that the teacher gets something closely resembling what you made!

Oh, and a little extra for you this morning...

today was "Elf Day" at my daughters school...so here is her Elf outfit...I wore one too (I help out in class on Friday mornings) but didn't get a picture...maybe later...

 

 don't you just love that Elf Attitude?!?

Breakfast for Dinner

Sunday's are a lazy day for most...for our family it's a work day.  My husband is the Children's Pastor at our Church (1st grade-5th grade) and I'm the Early Childhood Director (birth-kindergarten)...

(us at work...80's night for the kids...but still working!)

...so by the time dinner rolls around on Sunday we are toast, and that's why we usually opt for breakfast for dinner (pun intended!).

A favorite is country potatoes and scrambled cheesy eggs (the eggs made by my husband, I might be able to cook/bake many things, but the best ChamberMade eggs are made by Beau), but tonight I'm feeling like some flap-jacks, I made some really yummy ones yesterday morning and I've been thinking of them ever since.  Don't have a name for them yet, "Pseudo-Buttermilk, Low Fat, Whole Wheat, Apple Butter Pancakes" seems like a mouth full...maybe just "Apple Butter Pancakes" will do and just knowing that they're Low Fat and Whole Wheat made with fake buttermilk will be fine...
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Apple-Butter Pancakes
1 tbs lemon juice or vinegar
1 cup no/low fat milk (approx)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 tea baking powder
1/4 tea baking soda
1/4 tea salt
1 beaten egg
3 Tbl Apple Butter* (or 3 Tbl of apple sauce and 1 tea of cinnamon)

1.  In glass liquid messuring cup pour lemon juice or vinegar, add milk until it measures 1 cup, (this will make "sour milk" or "pseudo-buttermilk" with a lot less fat than regular buttermilk), let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes.
2.  Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Beat the egg, stir in apple butter, and add the sour milk.  Gradually add the milk mixture to the dry, stir just until moistened; batter will be lumpy.  Add additional milk if the batter is too thick.
3.  Pour batter onto heated, lightly greased griddle (griddle should be around 350 degrees), or heavy skillet.  Pancakes will get a bubbly surface and when the bubbles pop it's time to flip them.

These are great served with peanut butter (tossing the "low-fat" right out the window) or Nutella (a chocolate hazelnut spread that the kids and I love, Beau not so much) and vanilla syrup (will post that recipe soon). 

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I was out of vanilla when I made these yesterday morning, so I will also be adding 2 tea of vanilla in the recipe tonight...can't go wrong with vanilla...

*in the recipe that I altered to make these it called for 2 Tbl of oil, in most "bread" recipes (yes, pancakes are in the bread family) , you can replace the oil/fat for a different "liquid", applesauce usually works very well, you can also use pumpkin (add more milk with pumpkin to thin the recipe down) I've made this recipe with pumpkin and we gobbled them up!

We don't eat a whole lot as a family so this recipe is good for us, but your family might need to double it because it makes only about 8 regular sized pancakes.
If you were having a full breakfast spread, serve with fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, slices of grilled ham, orange juice and coffee...very cozy breakfast/dinner!