Cranberry coffee cake

We had leftover cranberry sauce in the fridge (homemade with love by Jaden) . . . what better way to use it than to make a yummy cranberry coffee cake!

After a quick call to Nana to get the recipe, we got started - Lael and Jaden helped by adding the cranberry sauce layers!

 Here it is - hot out of the oven . . .

 . . . and with the glaze added!

 So delicious . . . Lael and Jaden pronounced it "the best coffee cake ever"!

And here's the recipe:

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Cream:  ½ cup butter

             1 cup sugar

Add 2 eggs (1 at a time)

Sift and add dry ingredients alternately with 1 cup sour cream:

2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda

½ tsp. salt

Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract (can also use almond extract)

Put a layer of batter in greased and floured bundt.  Add a layer of cranberry sauce  (1/2 can).  Then put remaining batter on top.  Top with remainder cranberry sauce.

Bake 350 degrees for 55 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.  Spread topping on while still warm.

Topping- ¾ cups conf. sugar

2 T. warm water

            ½ tsp. vanilla extract (or almond)

Spinach-Feta Strata

Here's what we had for breakfast today . . .

Verdict: DELICIOUS! MUST MAKE AGAIN!

If you want to make it yourself, here's how:


Spinach-Feta Strata


10 slices French bread ( 1-inch thick)
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 10-oz. box chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. groung nutmeg
1/4 t. black pepper
1 1/2 c. (6 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 c. (4 oz.) crumbled feta cheese

1. In a greased 13x9 pan, arrange French bread in a single layer.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, spinach, salt, nutmeg and pepper. Pour over bread in pan.
3. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours (or overnight).
4. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the strata comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

A couple of notes:

• I actually chunked up my bread because it was very dry and difficult to slice and it was still yummy.
• Also, I actually prepared this on Wednesday night and baked it this morning (Friday) - and it was yummy.
• Great to have for a busy morning when I still want to have a hearty breakfast for my family.

Ahh, muffins!

Yesterday, when he woke up, Jaden said to me, "You know, Mom, tomorrow is September 1st. Don't you think we ought to celebrate or something?" And since I'm always looking for an excuse to celebrate things, I was all for it.

When I asked him how he'd like to celebrate September 1st, his thought was that we should make something to eat that was "fall-ish" . . . and after further discussion, we decided that pumpkin chocolate chip muffins would be just perfect!

So this morning, I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for breakfast . . .

HAPPY SEPTEMBER 1ST!!!
(And don't forget to celebrate something every day!)

Mmmm! Homemade granola!

We LOVE granola cereal here . . . but it's hard to justify the hefty price tag at the grocery store when it's sooooo easy to make at home! Here are two of our favorites:

Granola

3 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup honey (can use more)

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 - 1/2 cup of any of the following: raisins, craisins, sunflower seeds, coconut, slivered almonds

(I often throw in some wheat germ and ground flax seed as well)

Directions: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Heat honey and oil on stove until liquidy. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add honey and oil mixture; stir until everything is moist. Bake in 13x9 pan for 30-60 minutes (depending on how crisp you want your granola to be). I bake mine for 60 minutes. Also, I've found that we like it better when the raisins and/or craisins are added when the granola comes out of the oven; otherwise, they dry out too much if they're in while you bake it.

This is a very forgiving recipe -- you really can't mess it up! And I usually make at least a double batch so it lasts a few days! ;)

Peanut Butter Granola

(this recipe is from another FIAR mom -- thanks, Rebecca!)

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup peanut butter

Melt these two ingredients together until smooth, over low heat. Then stir in:

1/3 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

When all ingredients are warm and smooth, stir in 3 cups of rolled oats until well coated. Put the oat mixture on an ungreased cookie sheet or 13x9 pan. Bake at 375 for approximately 10 minutes, or until crisp. At this point, you can toss in raisins, craisins, sunflower seeds, etc. Then cool and store tightly covered.

This is especially delicious with sliced bananas on top! Yummy!

What's cooking at our house . . .

We are trying to eat healthier in the New Year . . . okay, so we always try to eat healthy (it's just that sometimes we're more successful than others). Anyway, I found this recipe a few months back and we LOVE it! It's really healthy and very inexpensive too, which is another plus!

Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole

3 cups broth (chicken or veggie)

3/4 cup green lentils

1/2 cup brown rice

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 300. Combine broth, lentils, rice, onion, and spices in 13x9 glass baking dish. Stir together and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Return to oven and bake uncovered for 20 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serve with steamed broccoli or a garden salad. Enjoy!

Mmmm . . . apple dumplings!

That's right . . . warm, cinnamony (is that a word) apple dumplings with a scoop of Turkey Hill Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Bean ice cream . . . does it get any better than that? Probably not!

Now, before I go any further, I should offer this disclaimer . . . the recipe that follows is absolutely scrumptious but should NOT be a part of your daily diet -- it's definitely a "special treat" kind of dessert! Okay, having said that, let me share:

I found the recipe here -- there are some amazing recipes (and photos) on this website . . . I get hungry every time I visit there! And yes, her pictures are better than mine -- but you won't get to see my beautiful children there! ;)

First, you wrap apple wedges in crescent roll dough as Lael is so expertly doing here:

Put the wrapped apple wedges in a greased pan . . .

Cover with a mixture of sugar and melted butter (I told you this is a special treat) . . . Then pour in some Mountain Dew (or in our case, Sierra Mist) and sprinkle with cinnamon, then bake!

When they are done, they look like this: . . . and taste like this!

Let us know if you try these apple dumplings . . . so we can come and help you eat them!

Making bread

Back before Christmas, my wonderful husband blessed me by purchasing a new heavy-duty Bosch mixer and a Nutrimill for grinding our own flour. It was an exciting day when two big boxes were delivered to our home!
I've been using the Bosch mixer since we received it, but I had trouble finding a place to purchase wheat berries locally so as not to pay a lot for shipping. However, I finally found a place to buy wheat berries in bulk -- organic, no less -- so yesterday was the day to try the grain mill out! (A fun "home ec" day at GodSeekers Academy!)

Lael and Jaden were so excited to get started! They helped me unpack the Nutrimill and put everything together. We looked at the different parts of the machine to learn what each part does. Then it was time to add the wheat berries to the hopper.

Here are the wheat berries before grinding -- they look like brown rice. We started by grinding just two cups of wheat berries -- this would need to be discarded to make sure any dust or other contaminants on the Nutrimill were discarded as well.

Grinding grain is a bit noisy!
And here is the freshly-milled whole wheat flour!

What to do with flour you can't bake with! Why, play with it, of course!

Once the flour was milled, we made our bread dough, using this recipe:

6 cups warm water

1 cup sugar

1 cup oil

3 T. yeast

2 T. salt

1 cup vital wheat gluten

16 cups whole wheat flour (approximate, may be slightly more or less)

Combine water, sugar and yeast and let sit for 5 minutes to "wake up" the yeast. Add all the remaining ingredients and knead for 7-9 minutes. Divide dough into 6 pieces, shape loaves and put into pans to rise (covered, for 30-50 minutes depending on how warm or cold the room is).

Bake at 350 degrees F for 28 - 30 minutes.

This makes 6 regular size loaves of bread OR 4 loaves of bread and one batch of monkey bread (that's what's in the bundt pan)

This recipe is FANTASTIC! (Thanks to Tristan for sharing it!) It makes perfect whole wheat bread -- with the consistency of store-bought bread.
And the monkey bread is so yummy too! I only have 4 bread pans, so I had to figure out something to do with the rest of the dough ;)

Ahhh . . . muffins!

So here's my little sous-chef helping me to make our new favorite muffins . . . pineapple-zucchini-coconut -- YUMMO!

Jaden's favorite part of this recipe is running the food processor --

just look at that concentration!

And just that quickly (okay, so it's not quite that quickly), you have MUFFINS!

Don't they look great?

Jaden really loves his muffins . . . so much that he gave one a kiss before eating it up!

And just in case you want to make some yourself, here's the recipe:

Pineapple-Zucchini-Coconut Muffins

4 cups all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

3 cups sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups shredded zucchini

1 can crushed pineapple, well drained

3/4 cup shredded coconut

Grease bottoms only of muffin tins (or use paper muffin liners) and set pans aside. In mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil and vanilla; mix well to combine. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Stir together until just moistened. NOTE: At this point, the mixture will be very thick and seem too dry! Fold in zucchini, pineapple and coconut.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool briefly before removing to wire racks.

With this recipe, I made two dozen muffins (standard size), one regular loaf - which baked for about 45 minutes, and two mini-loaves - which baked for 30 minutes. You can also just make 3 regular size loaves. If using loaf pans, make sure to grease/flour the pan, then layer the bottom with wax paper and grease that also.

And if you're going to enjoy a muffin, how about a story to go with it . . .

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She'll pour herself some.

Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.

She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two year old's diaper.

While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are...

If she has a cup of coffee,

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

by Kathy Fictorie

Valentines fun and fondue

We had so much Valentines fun this past weekend! Brent and I were blessed to attend a dinner for young couples at a local church -- we met so many wonderful people and just so enjoyed a great "date night"! And they provided child care for the kids too -- what more could you ask for?

We also participated in a Valentine exchange with other homeschool families, which was lots of fun! Here are the cards we made!
Lael and Jaden each received 7 Valentines from all over the country . . . everything from bookmarks to family photos to a frog made entirely out of heart shapes (Jaden's favorite)! I'll have to take some pictures and post them later . . .

We had some fun treats for the kids on Saturday morning, including a new VeggieTales DVD -- because you can never have too many Veggies ;-)

And then on Sunday night, we had our very first family fondue night! So much fun! We had cheese fondue first, with steamed veggies and bread cubes for dipping:

And then for dessert . . . chocolate fondue, of course! With pound cake cubes, strawberries and banana chunks for dipping . . . YUMMMMY! Can you tell that somebody enjoyed his chocolate?

And in case you were wondering, here are the recipes we used . . . we highly recommend them!

Parmesan Fondue

1 1/2 cups milk

2 pkg. cream cheese (16 oz. total)

1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

a pinch of nutmeg

Melt all ingredients together until creamy. Serve with your choice of dippers!

Easy Chocolate Fondue

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt in a double boiler over barely simmering water until completely melted, smooth and creamy. Serve with your choice of dippers!

Mmmm . . . cookies!

Don't they look good?

Don't you wish you could have some? Well, if you live nearby, come on over! There's nothing better than freshly-baked, homemade chocolate chip cookies!

If you live too far away to drop by for a snack, never fear . . . you can make your own! And these chocolate chip cookies actually are good for you -- well, as good for you as cookies can be ;) Thanks to Emily for the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt (I used kosher)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature - no margarine!

1/4 cup canola oil

3 tablespoons milled flaxseed (I measured the flaxseed, then ground it in my blender)

1/2 cup raw sugar (I used regular granulated because that's what I had)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

12 ounces (1 package) semisweet or dark chocolate chips (I doubled the recipe and used one package of chocolate chips for the whole thing - plenty chocolate-y!)

1 cup chopped nuts, optional (I left these out)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine flour, flaxseed, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix together.
3. Beat butter, oil, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy.
4. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.
5. Gradually beat flour mixture into creamy mixture. Fold in chocolate chips (and nuts, if desired).
6. Drop by tablespoon onto an ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake 7-9 minutes; remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack.

I made these last night -- we had them for dessert and everyone loved them! I liked them better than the chocolate chip cookies I usually make (you know, the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips) . . . they didn't spread out so thin, so they were more of a chewy cookie than a crispy one. Let me know if you try them!

Time for pumpkin pie . . . playdough!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I decided to surprise my kids with some pumpkin pie that they can really get into -- pumpkin pie playdough! Here's the recipe - I got it from another homeschooling mom:

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

(Note: I doubled this recipe)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup water

food coloring (6 drops red and 15 drops yellow) - I used orange paste food coloring because I had it in my cupboard

Combine the dry ingredients in a saucepan. Add the oil, water and food coloring and whisk until smooth. Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, cook over medium heat until it forms a ball, about 3 to 4 minutes). My note: I look for the consistency of mashed potatoes when I'm making playdough, but I like my mashed potatoes thick. So if you're a soft potatoes fan, don't use that rule! You want the playdough to pull together and not be sticky to the touch.

Turn the dough onto the counter, let it cool slightly. . .

. . . then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture (about one minute). Store in a plastic container or ziploc bag.

Then let your kids loose to have fun! Rolling pins, cookie cutters, plastic silverware all make great accessories!

Lael made pumpkin pie snowmen . . . can you tell that we're waiting for snow here?!

Not only is this playdough a fun color, but it smells SOOO good . . . almost good enough to eat!