Repurposing

Tonight I made Trent some really comfortable flannel pajama pants. They're worn in, super soft, perfect kind of pajama pants. How do I know? Well, they used to be mine. I wore these pajama pants religiously in college. They were actually my college roommate's, but I eventually inherited them. Anyway, along the way, they got a big hole in them. A patch would look funny so they sat in my closet in a bag of clothes intended to throw away or be given to goodwill. Alas, the bag never made it to either destination. So during naptime today, I decided to go through the bag. I realized there were so many items in the bag that could be repurposed for the boys to wear. So now, Trent has a a great pair of pajama pants!

Diversified Skill Set

Ahh, the life...

Today's morning went a little like this:

Architect - constructed castles, made of sand, with a surrounding moat
Ecologist - collected and identified trees, sticks, pine straw, pine cones, rocks, etc.
Teacher - explained the letter A, identified colors and played games to learn names of different kinds of fruit
Athlete - Ran 2 miles pushing 75lbs in front of me
Baker/short order cook - baked rolls for tonight, made lunch
Housekeeper - 'nuff said
Physical Therapist - Encouraged tummy time and dancing
Mediator - kept numero 1 from inadvertently harming numero 2

Spice Rack

So excited about my new spice rack! Jesse made me a spice rack that hangs on the wall, right next to the stove. I love convenience and extra counter space. Perfect!

Just for fun

Coasters!

I didn't keep them for myself, so someone will be receiving them in the mail soon. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Trent was an adorable Peter Pan for Halloween this year. I followed a tutorial that I found online and made his outfit from scratch. He looked pretty cute. My creative side is definitely starting to show more as a stay at home mom than it ever did as a financial analyst. I love how much fun I am having creating things! Yesterday, we went and trick or treated at Grandma and Grandpa K and Great-Grandma J. Tonight, we went to the annual Tailgate Party at church. It was a lot of fun! Trent played on some of the inflatables and tried his first lollipop. He's a fan! We had a great time hanging out with friends, eating good food, and soaking up the fun, family atmosphere.

Mr. Peter Pan

Oh, those blue eyes!

Family of 3.5 ;)

TJ and Uncle Dave

Tailgate Party at Church

Favorite Recipe Sources

Tasty Kitchen – huge compilation of recipes and many of them are rated by other readers. I love reading what people thought of a recipe and if/how they altered the recipe.

Hillbilly Housewife – great suggestions on how to make every day items from scratch. I use her recipes for making dry onion soup mix, granola, homemade yogurt, etc.

Barefoot Contessa – she knows how to make delicious food from simple ingredients. Love her recipes! I have a bunch of her cookbooks, but many of her recipes can be found on Food Network.

Taste of Home – tons of tried and true recipes. I have both the regular cookbook and the baking cookbook. Great resources!

Hobby Farm Home – a magazine that comes every other month that often has great recipes and interesting articles. My favorite banana bread recipe comes from here, but I can't find the recipe online.

Friends – great resources, especially because a lot of them are at the same life stage as me. They know what recipes are doable with young kids and a budget.

A year of slow cooking - I do a lot of crockpot cooking. You can make so many things in the crockpot from yogurt to dessert to pot roast and the food cooks itself.

Wholesome Baby Food - TJ eats what we eat now, but I used this site a lot when we were first introducing him to foods. We made all his baby food instead of buying jars of the processed stuff. Trust me, it tastes MUCH better.

Some of the recipes I mentioned in my previous post can be found at these locations:

Apple Bread I made this on Tuesday and it's yummy!

Zucchini Bread

Hummus This is a standby at our house. My 18 month old devours this whenever he gets the chance!

Graham Crackers These are SUPER easy! They didn't last a day at our house and with whole wheat and honey - they're pretty healthy too.

Squash Bread - Made this without the optional topping and it's still delicious. You hardly know you're eating squash. I wish I'd found this recipe sooner as we had a ton of squash this summer!

Milling My Own Flour

We have been baking our own bread for at least a year now. I primarily use our bread machine and a book called 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.' Both ways provide quick and easy approaches to making really yummy bread. The bread machine also allows me to use the dough setting to make bagels, homemade rolls, etc.

We had been keeping massive bags of flour in the freezer. When I did some research, I found that the majority of the nutrients in flour are lost within 72 hours of being ground. When flour is commercially made, they purposely take out the bran and germ to increase the shelf life. This increases shelf life, but depletes the flour of nutrients. Even more nutrients are lost when the flour is bleached.

When you grind your own flour, the bread tastes delicious! It's lighter, moist and better tasting than commercial comparisons. Plus, there are many different kinds of grains to choose from - far more variety than you can find in the grocery store. I've never been a huge fan of toast, but homemade bread had me eating more, and bread made with freshly ground flour has me converted!

Now before you think I've lost my mind... it is SO easy. The grain mill works just like a coffee grinder. You toss wheat in the top and it shoots flour off the side into another bowl. It takes about a minute. So simple! Since you generally grind the grain right before you make the bread, you do have to do a little bit of math. 8 cups of grain makes 12 cups of flour so it's not a 1:1 ratio - still, it's not difficult.

So far I've made banana bread, a few loaves of sandwich bread and dinner rolls using the hard white wheat. They have all turned out really well. Tonight, I'm going to attempt some squash bread as well.

The first time we bought wheat, we drove about 30 minutes away to a store that sells the wheat. I later found a co-op in our town that we started using instead so we don't have to make the drive. I ordered Rye from the co-op so I'm anticipating its arrival so I can make some Rye bread and Pumpernickel Bread.

And the best perk... having a house that smells like freshly made bread!

Plenty of Peaches

Most people have heard of the Georgia Peach. But if you want my honest opinion, the Alabama peach tastes even better! They are delicious and in season from May through August. This past week, Jesse's parents visited some friends of theirs and came home with bags of peaches. I LOVE peaches, but when they're in such abundance, they go bad before you can eat them all! So I went into overdrive finding ways to use them up for later. The outcome: We had jars of peach freezer jam, a container of homemade peach ice cream, two loaves of peach bread (kind of like banana bread but with peaches instead), and two peach crisps. I threatened to make peach soup, but Jesse and Trent devoured the remainder of the peaches before I had the chance! Sweets don't stand a chance in our house. Both crisps are already gone!

Can You Guess...

who will be receiving this adorable little dress??

I finished this up this weekend and I think it is just too cute! Unfortunately, there is no one in our house who can wear it! I made it especially for a beautiful little girl that lives far too far away from her Aunt (huge hint folks, huge). She should get it in the mail this week. I hope she likes it!

This was actually my first attempt at making girl clothes since I am completely outnumbered at our house by males. I think it turned out pretty well. I particularly like the little buttons! :)

Another Work in Progress

These cute little pants are going to be pajama pants for the little man! I still have to measure the waist so I can put the elastic in them. I love the fabric. He's going to look like such a little tough guy. :) I also have a duvet cover in the works. It only needs buttons on the bottom, but I haven't had a chance to get to it yet. I also have fabric for making a shopping cart cover and a new changing cover pad. There's also a romper that needs buttons and snaps. So there are a few things in the works!

Beginnings of a Summer Wardrobe

Summer Rompers

TJ has his first three rompers made for summer! It has definitely been a learning curve but so much fun to figure out. I got stumped on buttonholes for a little while, but I'm finally getting the hang of it. I've also made him a pair of plaid pants out of same material as the left romper. This past week while I was up in Tennessee, I went shopping at Target and some kiddie consignment stores. We found the cutest pair of brown keens that will go perfectly with all these little outfits. Also at the consignment stores, little rompers very similar the ones shown above were selling for $15-30, depending on if it had smocking on it or not. The cost of making them is MUCH cheaper than that! I'm glad I finally decided to learn how to do it myself. I bought TJ two new swimsuits (at Target) as well. I'm so glad that the warm weather will soon be on its way!

Homemade Tastes Better - Marinara

Another thing we always make from scratch is marinara sauce. My mother is an excellent cook. She showed me how easy this could be! We buy the 6lb 10oz cans of Italian Peeled Tomatoes at Costco (yes, by now you realize that Costco probably thinks we own a small restaurant). These jars normally cost under $4 a can. First, take a head of garlic (usually about 10 cloves) and sautee it in the bottom of a stockpot with some olive oil. Once the garlic is lightly browned, dump in the can of tomatoes. You will have to squeeze/crush the tomatoes with your hands (otherwise, you will have massive chunks of tomato in your sauce). Then add in a 12oz can of tomato paste. Stir and let it simmer on the stove for an hour. This makes A LOT of marinara. I usually freeze it in tupperware ranging in size from 3.5 cups to 5 cups so that I have the perfect amount for making ziti, lasagna, spaghetti, etc. You can add onions, meat, or whatever else you like into the sauce, but I like to have the marinara on hand and then add whatever else later, depending on what I'm cooking.

Supersized Homemade Oreos

I had a major sweet tooth today so homemade oreos came to mind. Last week, I had a major oreo craving and devoured the store bought bag in about two days! So today, I opted to try and make my own. They are really yummy. I have a couple of recipes for homemade oreos but decided to do a conglomeration of them all.

For the cookie:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

10 Tbsp butter, room temperature

1 large egg

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. Then beat in the butter and the egg. Mix until dough comes together in a big lump. Place parchment paper on the cookie sheets. Take teaspoons of batter and press down to desired shape. (I used a small, heart shaped cookie cutter.) Bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. Set on a rack to cool. ** These cookies grew a lot more in the oven than I expected so this time around, we have supersized oreos.

For the filling:

Beat half a stick of butter until light and fluffy. Mix together 1.5 Cups of confectioners' sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Gradually add the sugars to the butter. Beat until well blended. Beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

These cookies cool quick so by the time you are done making the filling, you should be able to ice the cookies. Obviously, if you want double stuffed, double the filling recipe.

And delicious! I'm really going to have to practice some will power so that Jesse actually has the chance to taste these when he gets home. TJ and I may have to go on a field trip this afternoon or there may be none left to share! Oreos, why are you so tempting!

Homemade Tastes Better - Granola

I really like granola. It can be eaten so many ways. It can be a healthy snack during the day, pour milk over it and eat it as cereal, add it to yogurt for a little crunch, add craisins and chocolate chips for trail mix... We always have homemade granola on hand. This too is SUPER easy to make, which is essential at our house.

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. In a large stockpot melt the butter, sugar and water. Stir and let simmer for two minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Remove from the heat and stir well until everything is moistened. Put the granola onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 13 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool. Once cooled, break up the granola into pieces. ** Warning - breaking up the granola is the messy part, if you're not careful granola can fly everywhere!**

I got this recipe from here: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/rawsugargranola.htm

We've also made this one: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/honeygranola.htm
and this one: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/peanutbuttergranola.htm

They're all good. They brown sugar recipe is my favorite to eat on its own or as cereal. The honey recipe is my favorite when I make trail mix.

Homemade Tastes Better - Bread

I've steered away from convenience foods for a while. I enjoy the taste but the fact that something that would normally need to be refrigerated can sit in a box indefinitely has always grossed me out a bit (basically not a big fan of preservatives). After having a baby, this opinion grew even more. Not only do we make all our own baby food, but we buy very few "convenience items." After staying at home for a while, I realized that making homemade can be just as easy as buying them (especially when it comes to planning a trip around naptime, juggling the groceries and baby, etc). Once you get used to homemade, you can definitely tell the difference in taste between store bought and homemade! There are three things that we ALWAYS make homemade. The first is bread. There is a huge difference in taste between the cheap white fluff and real yummy tasting bread. Rather than spend $4 or more per loaf, we started making our own. We buy the big bulk bags of flour at Costco for about what it would cost for one loaf of good bread! I have the Taste of Home Baking Cookbook. It is a great "go-to" cookbook. We just got a breadmaker for Christmas, but up until then, we've been baking bread the old fashioned way. We've tried multiple bread recipes, but this is our standby: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Milk-and-Honey-White-Bread. I'm still playing with my new bread machine. I'll post my favorite bread machine recipe once I've narrowed it down. :)