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| Poppy Seed Onion Hamburger Buns. Please excuse the crappy photo! |
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| 2 loaves of sandwich bread |
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| 2 loaves of french bread. Wonder how that one loaf is missing the end???? |
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Confirmation Sunday
May 20th was Confirmation Sunday in our church. The twins, along with 7 of their friends, took the leap and became full fledged members of Sandersville United Methodist Church. It was a very beautiful ceremony and they had a nice luncheon for the confirmands and their families afterwards. The twins took their studies very seriously and we spent weeks quizzing them on the books of the Bible, the 10 Commandments and church history. Our preacher joked that a few adults asked when they would hold classes for adults to learn about the whys and whats of being Methodist. I hope they do because I learned ALOT from the kids taking these classes. I was raised Catholic and didn't join the Methodist church until 6 1/2 years ago so I feel very "behind".
Anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of the kids from that day.
Anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of the kids from that day.
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| My son in the middle and my daughter on the right |
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| Being welcomed by our wonderful congregation |
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| Our sweet confirmands |
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| Waiting to be done with pics so they could eat! |
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| Lunch!!! |
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| Do you know how old I suddenly feel??? |
Kombucha Update
We have become some big time Kombucha fans around here. For my first batch, I flavored 3 jars with the following flavors: Raspberry, Grape and Orange. We drank them all. My favorite was the Raspberry. Kids loved the Grape. The orange was okay but not our favorite. With the batch that is currently fermenting, I took some of my blueberries I put up last year and made a syrup. I strained them then added the kombucha to it. Yes, I snuck a taste. Very vinegar-y because I had just removed the SCOBY. It has to sit, flavored, for 5-7 days so the taste can mellow. I like the word mellow....
Every day the kids ask if they can have some, they like it that much. A huge bonus has been that the Mother SCOBY has formed a daughter SCOBY and now the daughter has formed another daughter. The next time I brew, I will do 2 jars at once. Double the kombucha, baby! This stuff is really good and, I don't know if it is the Kombucha or the Kefir, but I feel GREAT! I wake up about 30 minutes before I have to, I have a bunch of energy in the morning and afternoon and, let's just say the digestive system is working like a champ! Plus, I have noticed a decrease in my appetite. I don't know if these drinks have anything to do with it or just the fact that it is getting too hot to eat a lot but I am definitely eating less. Only downside is that I have NO ENERGY after 8pm. It is all I can do to keep my eyes open til 9 so I can go to bed. Oh, and there is still the gas part. I think that is getting better, though. I would recommend both the kefir and kombucha to anyone who wants to take a little more action on their health and well being.
Every day the kids ask if they can have some, they like it that much. A huge bonus has been that the Mother SCOBY has formed a daughter SCOBY and now the daughter has formed another daughter. The next time I brew, I will do 2 jars at once. Double the kombucha, baby! This stuff is really good and, I don't know if it is the Kombucha or the Kefir, but I feel GREAT! I wake up about 30 minutes before I have to, I have a bunch of energy in the morning and afternoon and, let's just say the digestive system is working like a champ! Plus, I have noticed a decrease in my appetite. I don't know if these drinks have anything to do with it or just the fact that it is getting too hot to eat a lot but I am definitely eating less. Only downside is that I have NO ENERGY after 8pm. It is all I can do to keep my eyes open til 9 so I can go to bed. Oh, and there is still the gas part. I think that is getting better, though. I would recommend both the kefir and kombucha to anyone who wants to take a little more action on their health and well being.
Memorial Day
I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Memorial Day. I also hope you took some time out to say a little prayer for all our service members and their families. Where would we be without their sacrifice?
And what would Memorial Day be without a cookout? Boy did we have some good food yesterday! Good company, too! My inlaws, my parents and of course, us. We had the usual cookout food, hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, yada yada yada....The real stars of the cook out were the appetizers! I have seen recipes floating around about chocolate chip cookie dough dip. This is right up my alley so I decided to give it a try. Oh, I wasn't disappointed!
This picture can't do it justice! It was super simple to make, too!
INGREDIENTS
8 Oz. Cream Cheese (not reduced or fat free)
1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar (I used Sucanat)
1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Chocolate Chips
1 C. Toffee Bits
Cream together cream cheese and butter. Once smooth, add it the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.
We served it with graham crackers but apple slices would be sublime. Of course, baby girl decided to eat it by the spoonful once everyone left!
Another faithful standby is potato chips and onion dip. When I was growing up, there was never a family get together that DIDN'T include potato chips and onion dip. Onion dip is the simplest thing to make and it is sooooo much better than the premade junk at the grocery store!
INGREDIENTS
16 Oz. Sour Cream
1 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
A couple dashes of Worchestershire Sauce
Mix all ingredients together and chill for an hour.
We had this with Kettle Chips. Oh.My.Goodness!!!! I have never been a huge fan of potato chips but kettle chips are amazing!!! So crunchy. I was eating a few on the couch in front of the tv (no, I do not advocate eating chips and watching tv but sometimes a girl just has to!) I actually had to turn the tv sound up because I couldn't hear it over my crunching.
Anywho, dontcha love the star shaped platters? I cannot remember where I got them, only that I think I have had them longer than I have had my kids! There is one more platter in the set but it doesn't have a dip holder section so I used it for.....
There are few things as easy and as rewarding as deviled eggs. Simply take hard boiled eggs and halve them. Take out the yolks and smash them up and add ANYTHING you want. I tend to stay pretty traditional. I add finely minced onion, sweet pickle relish (if I'm feeling particularly wild, I add dill relish instead!), a little mayo to hold it together, a dash of dry mustard, salt and pepper, and powdered garlic. Mix it until nice and smooth then stuff it back in the egg whites and sprinkle with a bit of paprika. Took me all of about 10 minutes because I already had the eggs boiled and peeled. My inlaws brought a huge platter of summer sausage, cheeses, crackers and (my personal favorite) cream cheese and red pepper jelly! Pops got the HOT pepper jelly this time and can I just say WOW! If you have never had this particular combination, may I ask WHY????? Simply take a hunk of cream cheese and pour a jar of red pepper jelly over the top and smear it on crackers. Oh, my mouth waters just remembering all that goodness! Well, as usual, we ate so much of the appetizers that by the time the grilling was done no one was all that hungry. Oh, it didn't stop us from gorging, we just weren't hungry when we started. Afterwards, we all laid back in the chairs and looked like ticks! Ahhh, good times!
Here's a few pics of the decorations, just for fun....
Good times, good food and the best dang family ever!
And what would Memorial Day be without a cookout? Boy did we have some good food yesterday! Good company, too! My inlaws, my parents and of course, us. We had the usual cookout food, hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, yada yada yada....The real stars of the cook out were the appetizers! I have seen recipes floating around about chocolate chip cookie dough dip. This is right up my alley so I decided to give it a try. Oh, I wasn't disappointed!
INGREDIENTS
8 Oz. Cream Cheese (not reduced or fat free)
1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar (I used Sucanat)
1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Chocolate Chips
1 C. Toffee Bits
Cream together cream cheese and butter. Once smooth, add it the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.
We served it with graham crackers but apple slices would be sublime. Of course, baby girl decided to eat it by the spoonful once everyone left!
Another faithful standby is potato chips and onion dip. When I was growing up, there was never a family get together that DIDN'T include potato chips and onion dip. Onion dip is the simplest thing to make and it is sooooo much better than the premade junk at the grocery store!
INGREDIENTS
16 Oz. Sour Cream
1 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
A couple dashes of Worchestershire Sauce
Mix all ingredients together and chill for an hour.
We had this with Kettle Chips. Oh.My.Goodness!!!! I have never been a huge fan of potato chips but kettle chips are amazing!!! So crunchy. I was eating a few on the couch in front of the tv (no, I do not advocate eating chips and watching tv but sometimes a girl just has to!) I actually had to turn the tv sound up because I couldn't hear it over my crunching.
Anywho, dontcha love the star shaped platters? I cannot remember where I got them, only that I think I have had them longer than I have had my kids! There is one more platter in the set but it doesn't have a dip holder section so I used it for.....
Here's a few pics of the decorations, just for fun....
Friday, May 25, 2012
Lara Bars
I have to admit that I have never eaten a Lara Bar. I have no idea if this recipe is close to it but it is really good. I "lifted" it from Shaye over at The Elliot Homestead. I LOVE her blog. She is so stinking funny and her recipes are awesome. She swears these bars taste like Lara Bars so I will take her word for it. Here is the link to her recipe because I am too lazy to go find it in my recipe mess file and re copy it. Take a few minutes and look around her blog. You won't be disappointed! I will, however, include a picture from the batch I made, just to prove I really did make them!
These are the coconut ones. They were VERY GOOD! I would make more but I can't seem to find any more dates at the store. Is there, like, a season for dates? And what exactly are dates? Are they a fruit? A nut? I haven't a clue but I like 'em. My daughter thinks they are gross but she loved the bars. As soon as I find dates, I will make the PBJ ones. This batch lasted for a week. Only because I hid them in the fridge!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
What to do with all the zucchini I planted...
My name is Tracy and I am an overplanter.
There I admitted it. For some reason, I think that when I get a new packet of seeds, I must plant the ENTIRE THING! Because of this affliction, I have WAY TO MUCH stuff growing in the gardens. Yes, I said garden"s", plural. I couldn't fit everything I started from seed into one garden so I have 2...and a half. I could go 3 but, honestly, that's a bit of overkill. One of the most prolific growers in the garden is zucchini. I actually restrained myself this year and only planted 6 seeds. Ok, there was only 6 left in the packet. Still. They all grew. Sooooooo I have a ton of zucchini. I found a great recipe for it in a Cooking Light magazine years ago but never made it. Until now. YUM! The recipe is a lightened up version of zucchini nut bread. So far I have made 2 loaves and a dozen muffins. I like the muffins better. Easier to grab and go with a muffin than with a slice of bread. Anyway, the recipe is simple and light (bonus!) and I will be making a couple of batches today. It freezes well and I have zucchini coming out my ears!
INGREDIENTS
3 C. Wheat Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Eggs
1/3 C. Coconut Oil
1 Tsp. Grated Lemon Rind (I added about 1/2 Tsp. Lemon Juice because I have no real lemons)
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. Sugar (Sucanat)
3 C. Shredded Zucchini (Squeezed dry)
1/4 C. Chopped Walnuts, toasted
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix Eggs through sugar in a large bowl until all combined. Add the zucchini and mix well. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the nuts. You can either split this between 2 small greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or put this into the cups of a muffin tin (makes about a dozen large muffins) and bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes. This bread is so good right out of the oven slathered in butter!
Being shared atMrs. Dulls Nourished Kitchen and Frugally Sustainable
There I admitted it. For some reason, I think that when I get a new packet of seeds, I must plant the ENTIRE THING! Because of this affliction, I have WAY TO MUCH stuff growing in the gardens. Yes, I said garden"s", plural. I couldn't fit everything I started from seed into one garden so I have 2...and a half. I could go 3 but, honestly, that's a bit of overkill. One of the most prolific growers in the garden is zucchini. I actually restrained myself this year and only planted 6 seeds. Ok, there was only 6 left in the packet. Still. They all grew. Sooooooo I have a ton of zucchini. I found a great recipe for it in a Cooking Light magazine years ago but never made it. Until now. YUM! The recipe is a lightened up version of zucchini nut bread. So far I have made 2 loaves and a dozen muffins. I like the muffins better. Easier to grab and go with a muffin than with a slice of bread. Anyway, the recipe is simple and light (bonus!) and I will be making a couple of batches today. It freezes well and I have zucchini coming out my ears!
INGREDIENTS
3 C. Wheat Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Eggs
1/3 C. Coconut Oil
1 Tsp. Grated Lemon Rind (I added about 1/2 Tsp. Lemon Juice because I have no real lemons)
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. Sugar (Sucanat)
3 C. Shredded Zucchini (Squeezed dry)
1/4 C. Chopped Walnuts, toasted
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix Eggs through sugar in a large bowl until all combined. Add the zucchini and mix well. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the nuts. You can either split this between 2 small greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or put this into the cups of a muffin tin (makes about a dozen large muffins) and bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes. This bread is so good right out of the oven slathered in butter!
Being shared atMrs. Dulls Nourished Kitchen and Frugally Sustainable
Monday, May 14, 2012
My Mother's Day
I have the BEST kids in the world!!! I know, every mother says that, but mine are pretty awesome. It started Saturday. I had bought my MIL some flowers and pretty pots for Mother's Day and I was planting the flowers in the pots. I had a plant that I had meant to transplant months ago but, like most things, it got forgotten about. So I decided to go ahead and replant it while I had the stuff out. My daughter started to panic. Apparently, I was messing up part of my gift from her. She had bought me a new pot to put that particular plant in and here I was about to plant it into something else. So I got part of my presents early. She bought me an herb container and a pot for my plant. My son got me a wonderful smelling candle (can you ever have enough candles??). Hubs decided it would be easier to go out to eat that night instead of fighting the crowd on Sunday so he took us all to Longhorn (one of my faves). Sunday morning I received very sweet cards from my kids and my daughter wrote me a poem. She wanted to put it into my choirbook so I would find it during church and start crying (She thinks it is funny that I cry over EVERYTHING!) but I didn't bring my book home so she gave it to me while I was drinking my coffee. Yes, I got a bit teary! They are such great kids. They kept the bickering down to almost nothing, they sang a beautiful song in church for all the mothers and then they took us and my parents to a beautiful lunch afterwards. We even had tablecloths on the tables (running joke between my parents and me). I got control of the remote once we got home and we watched Mommie Dearest. Now my kids see just how good they have it! After a wonderful dinner of crepes prepared by hubby and my boy, we relaxed a bit more before going to bed. I went to sleep knowing that I have been blessed with a husband, son and daughter that I love more than anything on this Earth. Thank you Lord for them!
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