Growing Up!

Our little guy is growing up so fast!  He had a well check up yesterday and now weighs 15 pounds 1 ounce and is 23 inches long!  Here's a little sampler of our photo shoot yesterday. (click on the picture to enlarge)

Pancake Molds: The Easy Way!

I recently bought a bunch of pancake molds for a little bit of nothing at JoAnn's. It inspired me to make a nice breakfast of pretty shaped pancakes for the gang.  Recipe HERE.   I thought maybe ya'll would like to know how I did it!

I have to say that although I got a great deal at JoAnn's, they were a little on the cheap side; bent funny so that the batter seeped out the bottom.  It definitely pays to use the better kinds (I have a Pampered Chef star that works much better!)  I found these Star and Flower Pancake Egg Rings on Amazon.  They're Norpro brand so I have no doubt they will work well!

Just a few tips...

Spray the molds really well with non-stick cooking spray.  (You may need to spray them again after a few pancakes.)

Put the pancake batter in a squeeze bottle so you can have better control when putting the batter in the molds. 

Cook the pancakes on one side then, using the handle of the mold, flip the pancake over and tap it out of the mold.  (In most cases it should slide right out.)

To make the process quicker use 6-8 pancake molds at once. 

Try using cookie cutters!  (Not the ones with silicone handles, though.)  Put the cookie cutter upside down (the side that has the ridge) then when you flip it over (use tongs) you can tap it out of the cookie cutter easier.


Voila!  Lovely holiday style pancakes!

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

We made these over Christmas break.  They were deelish!  You can also make them as peanut butter balls, but the bars were so much easier.
 

photo credit

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
adapted from Amy's Finer Things

1 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed (about 20 crackers)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate is our favorite!)

Melt butter.  Blend with peanut butter and crushed graham crackers (I used my KitchenAid stand mixer).  Sift powdered sugar into peanut butter mixture, one cup at a time (I sprinkle it through a strainer).  Mix until well blended.  Batter will be stiff! 

Press into a 9x13 pan.  Melt chocolate chips; spread over bars.  Refrigerate before cutting into small squares.  (They are as rich as fudge!)



Enjoy!

Simplify Your Life Series: The Home That Welcomes

Happy New Year everyone!  With a new year comes the nagging within to see something to completion.  You all know what I'm talking about ... that dreaded "R" word?  I don't like that word.  It sounds like a legal term to me.  Too serious.  You know? I like to think of them as goals.  If you know me personally or have been a reader here for a while you've heard my catch phrase "It's good to have a goal!".  Well it is!  Zig Zigler says "If you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time."  I have a few goals for this year.  One of them is to simplify my home.  I mean every part of it; menus, recipes, schedules, closets, cupboards, etc.  If you're looking to simplify a little bit of your life or achieve a major overhaul then join me for our ten part series as we work along side Country Living's Simple Country Wisdom: 501 Old-Fashioned Ideas to Simplify Your Life by Susan Waggoner.

The Home That Welcomes

What Makes a Welcoming Home?

It's the place we all want to come home to.  There's no place like it according to Dorothy.  There are many elements that make a home.  Cleanliness, efficiency, self-reliance, and joy are just a few elements that are discussed in the book.

Your home need not be spotless and stark, but it should be a refuge from the busy world we live in.   It should be clean and uncluttered.  Do you have mail that's waiting to be sorted through?  Laundry that you meant to put away three days ago?  Is there a gooey, sticky mess waiting for you in the microwave?  "Learning how to keep a house clean and uncluttered is the groundwork for many loftier achievements -- happiness, thriving family relationships, intellectual pursuits, hobbies that nurture creativity, and renewed energy and enthusiasm for the life we live outside the home."  Again we don't want the stark and sterile look.  Think fluffed pillows, candles burning, some soft music playing.  Try one of those this week! 

Our homes should be efficient.  The rooms should accommodate the needs and activities of the people who live in them.  Efficiency means not being wasteful.  The furniture and possessions in our homes need to be well cared for and made to last.  Water and lights are turned off when not in use and left overs thrown away are a rarity. Try leaving post-it notes around your home as a reminder!

No one is truly self-reliant anymore, but it's good to try. (Good to have a goal, right?! *wink*)  My husband is the very model of self-reliance.  No matter what repair in our home needs to be accomplished he tackles it head on.  Plumbing, carpentry, yard work, planting, and animal care (we have goats and chickens that need special attention at times) just to name a few.  If he's not sure what he's doing he'll ask someone or read about it.  Try to fix something yourself instead of hire someone. That's a great goal to have this year!  I'm going to try to make more bread from scratch!  A simple step in self-reliance is to try making your own fun!  Instead of DVD's, computers, iPods, etc. cuddle up with a good book or read aloud as a family!  Try reading the Bible in a year together or at least the New Testament! Work a puzzle together. Even little ones can find the straight edges of the borders!  Find one way this week you can do something that's simple and fun!

Our homes experience the joys of the seasons right along with us.  They get decorated and spruced up, too!  Our homes help us develop traditions; turning on a lamp for a loved one on their way home, a summer garage sale, pancakes on a Saturday morning, etc.  The simple act of traditions, no matter how simple, give us joy.  Find a new tradition to try this week!

"They say that people fall in love with houses, but houses never love you back, and I suppose that's true.  But if you take time to manage your little part of the world, if you put energy and thought into the way things are done, you'll receive some things that are pretty valuable in return -- comfort and joy, time to relax and appreciate your life and the people in it, and rooms that welcome you each time you return.  All in all, pretty well worth the effort." -- Susan Waggoner

Join me in the coming weeks as we unwrap the present that is our lives.  The next step in our series is taming the clutter.  Please share this series by placing the button in the side bar of your blog or share on Facebook by clicking the "Like" button under this post.

* photos courtesy of Country Living