A bit of craftiness

I wanted to share some of the crafts I have made recently. I was waiting a bit to share since two of these were birthday gifts. :)

Crocheted gift bag that I filled with these salted brownies
for a Valentine's Day exchange.

A scarf for my niece

Monkey for my nephew

Elephant that I crocheted for a Valentine's Day exchange

Yoda that I made for Ethan

These were fun projects to make. The animals were made using the amigurumi technique. All of these patterns can be found for free on Crochet Pattern Central

A very important PSA: "They" have changed the calendar

I have a very important Public Service Announcement. I was first alerted thru the mail that someone has changed the calendar. Let me explain.

I recently received a re-registration form for the school where my children attend. On this form, they stated that in the next school year I would have one child in 2nd grade and one in 1st grade. That immediately raised a red flag, there is no way that could be possible.

If the year were really 2011 that would mean the following, this year:

- I have been out of high school for 15 years
- I have been out of college 13 years
- Matt & I have been married for almost 9 years (which we all know is ridiculous since we are obviously still newlyweds, I mean come on, who is still having this much fun after being married for 9 years)
- Our children are 7 years (again ridiculous, we were just in CO telling friends that we had just found out the previous day we were expecting our first child), almost 6 (again, crazy), 2 1/2 and almost 1 year old.

So you see, in light of this overwhelming evidence I have concluded that someone has changed the calendar and am requesting that it immediately be reset to the proper year. Thank you!

Books!

I love books! Recently I've been trying to go thru and read all of those random books on my shelves that I just haven't gotten to before now. I really wanted to share quickly about the two most recent books I've read. While the theme was almost the same the books were quite different.

The first book I read was "Heaven at Home: Establishing and Enjoying a Peaceful Home" by Ginger Plowman. I had never heard of Ginger Plowman before finding this book; I am definitely looking forward to reading more of her work. Her style is very comfortable, like you are sitting with a good friend, but also filled with much wisdom and practical application. Each chapter in this book is dedicated to one aspect of a home, starting with your relationship with God. She then goes thru topics such as your marriage, in-laws, children and then to household tasks such as organization, housekeeping and hospitality.

I tend to underline while reading books and this book definitely has a lot of underlining. She had many Biblical principles and also many simple, practical ways that can help daily routines to run more smoothly. One big thing that I really appreciated was when there was a topic (such as how she schedules her day) that doesn't have scriptural basis she always stressed that these ideas are what has worked for her but that it was not God's Word so not to feel bad if it was something that just would not work in the readers life/home.

The book also included some great ideas for encouraging unity with your children. One idea that I have since implemented (and has seemed to at least make my kids stop and think) is the truth that they are each others best friends. When they are not being kind I'll ask if they are treating each other as a friend? Would they treat their other friends the same way? In many cases (not all ;) ) just asking those questions helps them to realize their own attitude and change their behavior.

The second book I recently read was an easy fun read "The Duggars: 20 and Counting" . It was fun to read how they have adapted their home to meet the very different needs of running such a large household. I really appreciated them sharing how they try to focus on character qualities no matter what the task.

One example shared is how that they focus on teaching about self-control while potty training and using the fact that God designed our bodies to give us warnings so that we know when to head to the bathroom, avoiding an "accident". They went on to share how that as their kids get older they refer back to that illustration when their children are tempted to exhibit a lack of self-control and how that God has given us a warning system (our conscience) and also a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13) and that self-control heeds those warnings and makes the escape, avoiding "accidents".

Evolution of a recipe... UPDATE (and another yummy treat)

First, I wanted to say a huge Thank you to everyone who responded with their thoughts and ideas. I think I've finally gotten the recipe figured out and wanted to share. I made a batch of the Healthy Hermits the other day. While not exactly the same the texture is very close to the store bought ones. Here is the updated recipe with some more details at the end.

Healthy Hermits:

1 1/2 cup raisin paste (I soak raisins in hot water and then puree them)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (or sucanat)
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 eggs
1 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole grain flour *
1 cup oats
1/4 cup almonds or walnuts chopped fine
2 TB sunflower seeds
2 TB poppy seeds
1/4 cup flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves OR nutmeg

Mix all wet ingredients. In separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Stir to combine. Pour into greased 15 X 10 inch pan. Bake at 350 until done 15-17 minutes. (start checking at 15 minutes!!) Cool, cut into bars. Approx. 3 dozen (depending on how big you cut them).

When these baked up there was some air trapped under under the batter so mine had some "mountains" but I just poked them with a knife to release the steam and it worked fine (they fell correctly and once cooled you couldn't tell). I also ran out of ground cloves so I substituted nutmeg. The flavor was still really great.

...and now for another treat :)

Right before Valentine's day I was trying to decide what to make for the kids to bring in for their classmates. My sister in law posted on Facebook a link to a recipe for Red Velvet whoopie pies. I thought they would work great for a Valentine's treat. After looking over the recipe (found here) I decided that I wanted to change things up a bit.

I generally don't like making whoopie pies because the idea of using that much shortening just bothers me and I just find it gross :) I really liked this recipe because it used butter rather than shortening and only used 1/2 cup in the cakes and 1/2 cup in the filling (much better than the full cup of shortening, just in the filling, that I'd seen in other recipes).

My only real issue with the McCormick recipe was that the recipe called for a whole bottle of red food coloring. I don't like using artificial ingredients when I cook and so the idea of dumping a whole bottle (yes, I realize it's only 1 oz) into perfectly good cake batter bothered me. I was sure I could find a better alternative.

While thinking over my options (and doing some searching on Google) I remembered that I had a bag of frozen raspberries. YAY! I ended up making two minor changes to this recipe that really worked well.

First, I thawed the raspberries and drained them (saving the juice). Then I used 2 TB (1 oz) of the juice in place of the red food coloring (please note: this did not color the batter red but I needed to replace the fluid in the recipe and the raspberry juice worked for that). For the filling I left out the vanilla and added 2 TB (I started with 1 but really needed the second one) of the raspberries to the filling. I whisked it all together in the mixer and filled them as normal. While the cakes were not red, the filling was a great shade of pink and still fit the bill for a Valentine treat.

These really were the best whoopie pies I'd ever had. The raspberry flavor is strong enough and really goes well with the chocolate. I'll definitely be making these again and will probably try some other variations in the future.

Why share all these recipe adventures? I want to encourage you to not be afraid to change things up. I rarely follow a recipe exactly. Once you begin changing recipes and substituting ingredients you'll learn what does and doesn't work. This knowledge has saved me a lot of last minute trips out for one or two ingredients, has been very useful now that I have two children with food allergies to very common foods (apples and tomatoes), and it's fun! Just one note of "caution" make sure to note (either mentally or on paper) what changes you make so that you can recreate the dishes that you really love. Happy Baking!

Evolution of a recipe..and some input needed

I've been trying to recreate a store bought cookie bar and have almost succeeded. I'll explain below and am also hoping for some tips from you all to help me achieve the consistency I'm looking for.

So, this all started when I tasted a bar cookie during refreshment time at church. They were delicious and I could tell had some healthier ingredients in them. I could see sunflower and poppy seeds throughout the bars and was intrigued. I'm always looking for healthier, easy snacks to send in the kids lunchboxes.

I asked the lady who brings in and organizes the refreshments what they were. They are called "Healthy Hermits" and she had bought them from a local grocery store. She explained that all the ingredients were "normal" and ones that I probably had on hand. I tore off the ingredient list from the package (with permission of course :) ) and set out to recreate these at home. Side note: the stores version is almost $5 for a plastic tub container and I knew that I could make them for much less.

My first batch came out more like a cake. We all thought it tasted good but I had cooked the batter in a 9 X 13 pan, which turned out to be much too small and thus created a thick cake. The texture was also much drier than I wanted and a bit too light. The ones I had had at church were very moist and dense.

I made some changes to the second batch and cooked it in a jelly roll pan. These came out better but still weren't quite as moist and dense as I was hoping. So, now I'm getting ready to make a third batch (they really are quite tasty :) and have worked well as snacks) but am somewhat at a loss as to what changes to make.

I'll post the recipe and then my thoughts of what might work to achieve the desired texture, again, any input would be really appreciated.

Healthy Hermits:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole grain flour *
1 cup raisin paste (I soak raisins in hot water and then puree them)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (or sucanat)
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup oats
1/4 cup almonds or walnuts chopped fine
2 TB sunflower seeds
2 TB poppy seeds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Cream sugars with oil. Add in eggs, raisin paste and vanilla. Mix. In separate bowl mix together all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Stir to combine. Pour into greased 15 X 10 inch pan. Bake at 350 until done 15-20 minutes.

*the original recipe called for malted barley flour, I had 6-grain flour on hand so that is what I used.

Here are my thoughts on getting a more dense, moist texture.
Increasing the raisin paste to 1 1/2 cups
Decreasing the eggs to 1
Decreasing the all purpose flour to 1 cup
Heating the sugars, oil and raisin paste to dissolve the sugars & honey before adding in the dry ingredients.

What it's REALLY all about...

I'm actually doing 3 studies consecutively right now. Two on my own and one as part of a group Bible study. They are on three completely different topics yet it is a blessing to see many of the same Truths from God's Word applied in each one of these.

One Truth that I have been challenged by is the fact that while Jesus died for us on the cross, and we can receive the gift of eternal life thru His sacrifice, His ultimate purpose was to glorify His Father. The cross (and everything else in this world) is not ultimately about us; it is all for the glory of God. Is this how I'm living my life? Is my focus in all that I do (including even the basics of housecleaning) to glorify God? Or am I living my life focusing mainly on myself?

This thought reminded me of the song "Much of you" by Stephen Curtis Chapman here are the lyrics....

How could I stand here
And watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains
Where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness
And the depths of the sea
And think for a moment
The point of it all was to make much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper
And You are the thunder and

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

And how can I kneel here
And think of the cross
The thorns and the whip and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost
To purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worth boasting in except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used

To make much of You

This is Your love, oh God
Not to make much of me
But to send Your own son
So that we could make much of You

For all eternity

I want to make much of You Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

I want to make much of You
Much of You Jesus

Thoughts for 2011

As I think of what I want for this year there are some things from last year that I want to continue and others that I want to ammend. Here is a short list of my goals for this year.

Blogging - While I loved the idea of using my blog to keep accountable in my Bible study I think I was a bit too ambitious on just what I wanted from those posts. This year I would like to once again use this for accountability but on a smaller scale. My goal is to post once a week; however rather than doing a long overview post I will post one or two simple truths, quotes or verses that God has used that week in my life.

Crafting - I do want to keep the same goal as last year of at least one homemade gift (or useful item for our family/home) per month. This month, I have already crocheted a Yoda for my son and a birthday gift for one of our nieces.

Bible Study - My goal is to always have something going. I tend to get off track when I finish one study and am not quite sure where to go from there. I want to have a new study lined up before finishing the one I am working thru.

Family - My goal here is to be more engaged with my children. Many days I tend to get caught up in other things and not be intentional about spending time down on their level interacting in games, crafts, etc.

So there it is, my goals for 2011. There are many other areas that I could list but I'll just keep it to those four ;)