Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Every time we go to Meijer my daughter begs for these muffins that are displayed near the milk.  I do by processed foods, ones that I can not make, such as potato chips, cold cereal, and Velveeta (I know...), but muffins are totally doable.  I found this recipe from Eat at Home via Pinterest and it was a winner!  I used my mixer to cream the butter and sugar, added the wet ingredients, and then the dry.  I used a mini muffin pan for a cute variation of the original.  Quick, easy, yummy, without all of the junk!

Pretzel Time!

The kids had a "snow" day on Friday.  Really we should call it an ice day because there was not any snow, but they were pumped about staying home.  I was excited too because Matt was off and we were able to hang out together as a family.  We love carbs and we really love homemade pretzels, you know like the mall kind.  I saw this recipe on Cooking On Clover Lane and I have never tried another because this one is IT!  Easy to make and so yummy to eat!  We brushed these with melted butter and topped with kosher salt.  For a breakfast treat we have topped them with cinnamon and sugar.

Recipe Organization

I had a goal last week and that was to organize my recipes.  This was no easy task and I spent HOURS doing it, but I am more than please with the end results.  I organized both my paper recipes and online recipes.  I love Pinterest, but without search options within personal boards I was searching through 350 pins to find that must have recipe.  The first thing I did was tackle the loose recipes and cooking magazines in three steps.  

Once I had my recipes divivded into categories I purchased a binder, page protectors, and Post-It tabs.

I found the cutest cover sheet and spine label from Banjelope.  I love it because it matches my kitchen!

Love the re-positional tabs.  I am sure that adaptations will be made over the years.

I created my own divider pages in Word and printed in a soft gray.  Again, obsessed with this coordinating. Someone help me. 

I used 4x6 photo pages for the loose cards. Clipped recipes were glued onto white sheets of paper (not pictured).

Adding the handwritten note that Grandma included with her famous cole slaw recipe is priceless.

Organizing my Pinterest recipes was time consuming and made me really hungry!  I created boards for each category as I did in my binder.  Now when I pin a new recipe I add it to the appropriate board.  This will reduce the number of re-pins and time spent searching in the future.

Although this project took me three days to accomplish I feel motivated to cook with organized resources.  And for the record this post contained the word "recipe" twelve times.  

Mini Lemon Scones

Lemon and pumpkin are my favorite flavors and since it is still summer I have a few lemon recipes that I  want to try out.  One of them was these mini lemon scones with lemon glaze by Cooking During Stolen Moments.  My only modification to the recipe was substituting half of the flour with white whole wheat.

Following Kate's advice I placed a cookie tray under the rack to catch the excess glaze for an easy clean up.

 Madeline was a big help this morning. She zested, squeezed, and glazed.

And a small peek at the unfinished floors in the background.

These were yummy and simple to make and I plan on making these again soon.  

I will not divulge how many I consumed today.  My little secret.

Coffee Cake Muffins

I love making something for Sunday breakfast the night before for a quick and special treat the next morning and these muffins did not disappoint!  They taste like a cake donut and have just the right amount of cinnamon sugar topping.  Yummy!  Here is the recipe.

Strawberry Scones

I like to experiment on the weekends with breakfast foods especially now that I have eliminated Toaster Strudels and frozen french toast sticks.  My baked doughnut skills are slowly improving, but we still haven't reached the "perfect" donut that makes you forget about the bagged white powder ones.  This morning I made these scones.

Source: garlicgirl.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

The claim is that you can make these wheat strawberry scones in 30 minutes and you can!  The only modification that I made was substituting half the flour for unbleached white.  I am not a huge scone lover. I made Ree's awhile back and although my sister and her family loved them I did not.  For some reasons these hit the spot. Maybe it was the fruit?  I added whipped cream to ours.  My kids love watching me make whipped cream.  If you have not whipped your own you are missing out. 

DIY Granola Bars

I love granola bars, specifically Quaker Chewy Chocolate Chunk, but I do not love the ingredient list and decided that I would try my hand at making some. This is the recipe that I tried with a couple of modifications.  I used unsweeted rice puffs and added chocolate chips to the dry mix which gave them the chocolate color.  These were so easy to make and Wyatt and I can not stop eating them!  

New Toys!

I bought a few new cooking toys in an effort to make healthier choices for my family.

             

Flat Whisk:  

I needed a silicone whisk for my new cookware and I needed a flat one for gravy.  The Pioneer Woman uses hers all the time.  I could not find one at my usual shopping grounds so I purchased this here.

Apple Corer:  

I already have an apple corer and slicer, but I needed this one to make these goodies.

Norpro Ice Pop Makers:  

I first saw these on Lisa Leakes's blog and her review was enough for me to submit my order.  I love reusable products.  They are a lot bigger than you think too. I am so excited to try these out.

Wilton Mini Donut Pan:

 Special breakfast treats on the weekend would usually consist of either Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls or powdered mini donuts.  I decided that making donuts would be better than buying and I grabbed this pan today at Meijer for $4.99. Half off! I did a happy dance in the aisle.  Tomorrow morning we are going to try this recipe.

Cooking with Whole Wheat

This past weekend I cooked several recipes from this book that I found at the library using whole wheat white flour to see how my family would adjust to change.

Source: 234.powertooldragon.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Friday afternoon we made popcorn on the stove top.  I followed the instructions on the popping corn bag and used coconut oil rather than the standard canola. I was amazed at how easy it was to pop and in just a few minutes we had fluffy popcorn.  We melted butter and added a little kosher salt and my kids agreed that this popcorn was better than microwave!  I was also surprised to find coconut oil at Meijer for only .20 an ounce and the King Arthur flour for less than than the Meijer brand.

Saturday morning I made the Blue Ribbon Pancakes and although they were not as fluffy as the Krusteaz pancakes my kids gobbled these up!  They melted in your mouth. I was too busy stuffing them in my mouth to take a picture!

We like cornbread and my usual go to is the blue box Jiffy.  I made mine following the recipe on the back of the corn meal bag and substituted 2/3 of the flour with whole wheat.  My family could not even tell the difference.  Bye, bye Jiffy.

Next on the menu was a chocolate cake and frosting for Matt's birthday... from scratch.  I have never made a cake without the help of Betty Crocker so I was a little nervous.  I used the Secret Agent Chocolate Cake and the Old-Fashioned Vanilla Frosting recipe.  We all agreed that the cake was good.  In my opinion better than boxed, but my husband thought that it was "dense".  

Sunday evening I made the Mega Mac 'n' Cheese.  This version of the classic uses whole wheat macaroni, shredded cheeses, and heavy cream.  My kids are used to the enriched white macaroni and half a package of Velveeta. This is one of Luke's favorite meals and when he tried the Mega Mac 'n' Cheese he said. "I do not like this. I want the yellow macaroni and cheese".  Matt laughed.  Madeline who tends to be pickier ate it up.  We thought that we would add a little more cheese and bake it next time as the cook book suggests for a crunchier version.  Matt definitely agreed that this had a lot of potential and that is encouraging because I knew that giving up Velveeta would be hard for some family members.

Two of My Favorite Things

Two things that I am digging this week is this book by The Tipsy Baker.  I read 3/4ths of the book last night.  Witty and real.  I think I may need some chickens...

Source: tipsybaker.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

And this song by Jamie Grace.  If this can't get you singing in the car, then I do not know what will.

Happy Valentine's Day

We always start our Valentine's day with pink heart shaped pancakes!

Here is Wyatt's Valentine Bento lunch.  Only took a few minutes using my heart sandwich cutter and Pampered Chef mini cutter.  I will recreate this for Madeline and Luke later for lunch.

 Madeline and Addie in their matching Valentine outfits.

 Have a happy Valentine's and share the LOVE!

Crescent Rolls 3 Ways

Over the last week we have tried three different recipes via Pinterest using crescent rolls.  I usually pick the rolls up at Sam's for a good price.  All three were good, and it is hard to pick a favorite. I guess it just depends what you are in the mood for! The breakfast ones have cream cheese and blueberries, mmmm. I love that combo! We use ham and provolone for the lunch version and my oldest could not stop eating them.  The peanut butter and chocolate ones were also yummy. Chocolate and peanut butter is another pairing that this Reese's lover could not resist.  

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Wrapping Up

Today I made the Pioneer Woman's Leftover Turkey Pot Pie and it was so good that I had two servings for lunch! I used our leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and substituted corn for peas.  I also had some leftover pie crust too and that made this a quick meal to throw together.    One tip: Put a cookie sheet below pie dish to catch the bubbly goodness. Your oven will thank you!

This week we are wrapping up Christmas. The shopping is done, but I have a few presents left to wrap.  The kids and I have more baking to do and some cleaning is in order before family arrives.  Four out of the five family members have caught a bug and we are trying to kick its' butt before Christmas.  My sister-in-law noticed that I was slacking on blog posts last week and this week will be no different.  I am taking the time to enjoy my family and I did knock out a couple of organizational projects that I can not wait to share in January.  

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!