Life and cooking with littles underfoot

Pumpkin muffins!

Here is something REALLY yummy I made the other day. Pumpkin muffins using the pumpkin I put up a while ago. They turned out light and fluffy and oh so yummy.

1 egg

 1/3 c butter or margarine

3/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c cooked mashed pumpkin

1/2 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter or margarine)

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

 1 tsp baking powder

 1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

after you have the dough in the muffin forms mix 1 tsp with 2 tsp sugar and sprinkle on top before baking. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. It was a big hit at our house!

Mondays inspiration~for me:)

So I will log off and get stuff done!I was at the bread store the other day and almost right beside it is a Christian book store. Some of my kids need bibles for the childrens meetings so I thought I'd stop in and see how much bibles cost. I totally fell in love with the store and when this little green book caught my eye I couldn't resist!! It's a journal with a verse from the bible on the bottom of every second page. I just LOVE it!! It's so relaxing to sit down and jot down my thoughts at the end of a day.

 At the bottom of yesterday's page  was a very inspiring verse:

 "Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established" Proverbs 16:6

I found it very inspiring especially because my feelings were so not along with me!

When my life seems like nothing but work, I must commit my works to the Lord!! I understand this verse to mean (in this situation) that if I commit my works to God and do my work unto him regardless of what my feelings dictate (being emotional, wanting to just run away:):)~ I will be able to think clearly (not according to what I feel like), I will be able to make decisions and go about my day "established" instead of an emotional mess!! I will be able to catch the suttle little thoughts that would make me unthankful and ruin everything!

This weekend was FAR from glamorous or fun for me  so this verse was quite fitting! Hubby was not home and we were all stuck inside the house due to rain and not having anywhere to go with the workload being tremendous on me! Can I in such a time commit my works to the Lord? Can I go about my day caring for the children and the home with thankfulness instead of grumbling, being upset, crying???

When hubby got home I ended up taking my boys for a haircut. I normally do it myself but this has been a busy month and the boys were looking rather like little hooligans:):) This was my 3 year olds first time at a hair dressers and he was uber exited and so cute sitting on the stool with a big happy smile on his face!!

I also got 2 of the kids their xmas gifts yesterday!!! YAY~ I have officially started getting ready for xmas!!

The chidlren did fairly well this weekend eventhough it was utterly boring:) They did some colouring and reading and chores with fairly good spirits considering!

Of course there was also plenty of mommy controlling everyones computer and playstation time! We watched 2 movies together:)

And now it's Monday and I have 4 loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away as well as about that much more waiting to be washed!!

Here is to a good Monday!!!!! Have a good day everyone!

Chicken pot pie with cornbread crust

A moist pot pie with a light and fluffy cornbread crust.

Chicken pot pie with cornbread crust

Ingredients:

filling:

~5 chicken breast halves cut into small cubes

~3 carrots diced

~2 cups frozen corn

~1 onion diced

~2 potatoes diced

~1 cup mushrooms (I'd love this but my kids hate it!)

~1/3 cup flour

~1 tsp garlic

~2 tsp steak spice

~1 tsp paprika

~1 tsp salt

~2 1/2 cups milk

 

Crust:

~1 cup flour

~1 cup corn meal

~1 tbs baking powder

~1 tsp salt

~2 tbs sugar

~1 egg

~1 cup milk

~1/4 cup oil

Method:

Filling: Combine all ingredients except for the milk in your crock pot or ovenproof casserole dish and mix well. Add milk and mix again. Cook on low all day or bake in the oven, covered at 375F until chicken and veggies are tender.

Crust: Combine and mic all wet ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and add dry ingredients. Mix again and spread evenly over cooked filling. Bake in 350F oven for 15-20 minutes. If you've used your crock pot, remove the crock pot dish from the base and pop it into the oven as well. (as far as I know crock pot dishes can go in the oven. I know mine can!!)

Enjoy!

Look who can now watch me cook!!!!!!!!!

Why it's my bumbo baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is baby girls early Christmas gift and she loves it!!! Now she too can sit on the counter to watch mommy cook!! Don't worry she's never left unattended!:)
Oh and she can also join us for dinner!! Yay daddy's home!

Easy chocolate cake

Here is a cake that my 7 year old and I made the day before we had our new baby girl. It's easy and tasty. This is the kind of chocolate cake I always wished I had a recipe for because it's light and fluffy. No more cake mixes needed! This recipe evolved out of a square recipe.

Easy chocolate cake

Ingredients:

~2 cups flour
~2 cups sugar
~1 cup margarine or butter
~1 cup water
~4 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
~1/2 cup buttermilk ( I just used regular whole milk and it turned out great)
~2 eggs beaten
~1 tsp baking soda
~1tsp vanilla

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, mix together your flour, sugar and baking soda and set aside. Meanwhile in a saucepan bring your margarine, water and cocoa powder to a boil and stir until well blended. Remove from heat and stir in your vanilla. Add this mixture to your flour mixture that you had set aside and mix half way. Then add your beaten eggs and buttermilk and blend very thoroughly. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake in 350F oven for about 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Once your cake has completely cooled off spread generously with the following icing:

~1/2 cup margarine or butter
~4 tbs unsweetened cocoa
~6 tbs milk
~1 tsp vanilla
~2 1/2 cups icing sugar(or a bit more depending on how thick you want your icing to be. With this amount your icing will feel and taste like fudge!!!)

Mix wet ingredients well ad gradually add your icing sugar while constantly stirring.

Here is the iced cake One yummy, moist slice!
In the pan

Posted by Tereza at Wednesday, July 16, 2008Wednesday, July 16, 2008Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4 comments Links to this post

Sweet and spicey chicken wings

Sweet and spicey chicken wingsIngredients:

~ 1 bulk pack of chicken wings

~1 cup ketchup

~2tbs honey

~1tbs mustard (I used dried)

~1 tsp salt

~1 tsp pepper

~1tbs garlic powder

~1/2 cup water

~sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional, not pictured)

Method:

Arrange the chicken wings the wrong side down in a baking pan. Mix together the above ingredients and pour on top of wings. cover with tin foil and bake in oven at 375F for about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Then remove the foil and broil for an additional -15 minutes or so (on low). Watch you don't burn the chicken at this point~ only "golden" them up a bit. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta salad or chow mein. When you place the ready wings on a platter (if that's what you do~I just dish them straight to the plates..plastic ones to boot...yes we're simlifyiers:) make sure you now place your chicken the right side up. It will be nicely covered with the sauce. Enjoy!

Walnut snowballs

A lot of my baking recipes started out years ago from a basic recipe I either got off the Internet or from someone or I made up. Then they are changed around so much that they become mine:) I experiment and for example if something is too dry for my taste buds then I change the amount of liquids etc . This particular recipe I'm sharing today was found years ago at lainesletters.com I'm not even sure if the website is still there but I thought I'd give credit where it is due. I changed it a bit so it makes more for our family.

Below is a recipe for making Walnut snowballs:

Walnut snowballs

Ingredients:

~2 cups margarine or butter
~1 cup sugar
~2 tbs water
~2 tsp vanilla
~4 cups flour
~1 1/2 cups walnuts
~ icing sugar

Method:
Mix wet ingredients until frothy. Add flour and walnuts and blend real well. Form little balls and bake them on a greased cookie sheet for about 9-10 minutes at 350F. Put some icing sugar into a a large ziploc bag. While the freshly baked cookie balls are still warm, put into the ziploc bag 6 at a time and give them a good (and gentle!) shake. Do this with all the balls to coat them with icing sugar. Place your snowballs on a pretty tray and you have a "fancy" looking, delicious dessert to share!
Enjoy!

Happyness

" God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe.

He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes, and prospects when He is about to give us the desires of our hearts"

John Newton

Well I did the exercise to figure out if I can find 100 things I love doing each day as opposed to the 100 things that annoy me each day!(hey I'm just being honest!!) And I came to the same conclusion that my life is actually quite good:):):) There are many things I love to do and they are pretty much the same things each day!! Which must mean that I actually love my life. Interesting because some days I hate it (just being honest again) So what could this possibly mean????????????? It must mean that how you view things has a lot to do with how much joy you have!!!!!!!! OK....I knew that BUT it was super good to see just how much my reaction to each situation in my day determines whether I have a sucky day or one that is FULL of joy and love for the others!! And guess what else?? My level of love for the others is in direct connection to my joy as well!!!!!!!!!! A loveless person is selfish and lonely. What's more is a loveless person feels unloved himself!

So instead of sharing a list of100000000000 things I love to do I included just a few pictures of a few things and people that make me happy each and every day or that bring me joy. Because lets face it........my life is far from perfect BUT I have it pretty darn good. My list could be miles long............It's all in how you look at it!

"Those who don’t learn to be content with their circumstances, exactly as they are, will not learn how to gain anything from those circumstances either."

You can read HERE for more on this subject!

Heavenly bars!!

Scrumptuous blueberry pie

The kids got to bring home the leftover snack from bible study the other night.......blueberry pie! It got gobbled pretty quick so I promised them I would make them some the next day. Here are the results!

For the crust I used a wonderful recipe from Julie's recipes found HERE. The bread machine works great for mixing up the dough!!!
For the filling I used:

Blueberry pie filling:

~6 cups blueberries

~2 cups sugar

~3/4 cup flour

Roll the dough a little bigger than your pie pan for good results!

Don't forget to prick with a fork!
Bake at 350F covered with tin foil for about 20 minutes. Then finish baking uncovered.
Serve warm with whipped cream.

YUM!!! Wouldn't you agree???