Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Whole Wheat Tortillas

I made my own tortillas. This recipe is from the 100 Days of Real Food blog.

It wasn't difficult, just time consuming. When I get a chance, I am going to make a big batch and freeze some for future use.

And, Andrew said they were awesome. And he is picky about Mexican and tortillas. So I feel confident in posting this recipe.

2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (I might try the white whole-wheat next time)
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water (heat in the microwave for 1 minute)

In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer set with a dough hook, pour in the flour, oil and salt. Beat with the paddle until crumbly, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the sides as needed. If your hand-held mixer comes with a dough hook, those can be used as well.

With the mixer running, gradually add the warm water and continue mixing until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.

Take out the dough and divide it into 12 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a ball and flatten it out on a baking tray or board. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or up to one hour.


Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle or 12-inch skillet over med-high heat. The pan should be fairly hot before you begin cooking the tortillas.

On a lightly floured board or counter top, roll each ball into an 8 to 10 inch circle. Be careful not to use more than a tsp or 2 of flour when rolling out each ball of dough because too much excess flour will burn in the pan.


Spray the pan with cooking spray and then carefully transfer each tortilla, one at a time, to the pan and cook until puffy and slightly brown, about 30 to 45 seconds per side. Set aside on a plate to cool slightly. Eat within an hour, refrigerate or freeze.


My little guy wants to help me cook so baldy. I let him roll out some dough while I did the the actual cooking.

The month of August

We have been busy this month. Here are a few pictures from what has been going on.

We enjoyed the Wilson County fair with Granny & Papa. Colin's favorite part was the chicken/rabbit coupe. He loves birds (yuck) and loved walking around and looking at all of them. We also saw lots of dogs and even got to touch pigs, chickens, and goats. He loved the tractors and even got to play in a pit full of packing peanuts!!

The fair isn't for me, but I am glad I got to go with Colin his first time. I also enjoyed the fresh roasted corn on the cob. =)




We also went to the Taste of Stones River. This year, along with tasting some good food, Colin got a special wrist band and was able to go inside a fire truck and play on inflatables. He had a blast. It was incredibly hot so he drank more water than ate food, but he left a happy boy!





And last weekend Colin attended his first football game with his best buddy Ben. Ben's daddy is one of the coaches for the Blackman Football team and they go watch the game every week. When we first moved into our house we always talked about going over to watch a game. We can hear the band and the crowd from our house when we are outside. It always sounded like fun.

Colin loves playing with Ben and asks for him constantly during the week. I am so glad God has already sent Colin a buddy and that his mom and I have become good friends too.






My boy loves music and the marching band mesmerized him. When we went home I told him to tell Daddy was we saw. He said, "I see drums!!"

Summer is over but we are ready for fall. Bring on the cooler weather!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Oatmeal Waffles

This is a recipe Hallie sent me. She told me she makes them with LF buttermilk and egg whites and they turn out great. I stuck to the recipe except I used 100% whole wheat flour instead of white. She was right - the are delicious!! I froze the extras between wax paper and threw them in the toaster this morning for a quick breakfast. Enjoy!

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
6 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp brown sugar

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. In a small mixing bowl, stir together eggs, milk, butter and brown sugar. Add to flour mixture; sir until blended.

Pour batter onto grids of preheated, lightly greased waffle iron (amount will vary with size of waffle iron). Close lid quickly; do not open during baking. Use fork to remove baked waffle.

Top with fruit, yogurt, or syrup.

Whole-Wheat Banana Bread

After reading Becky's post about clean eating, I decided it was time to get serious about cleaning up our eating too. We do OK but can do better. We are trying to eat more organic and natural produce and products and I am trying to make most things myself when possible. The only down side is that I love to bake. I love to bake treats. So we are still going to have our occasional sweet fix, but much less often.

I found this blog Friday and have been reading it whenever I have a free moment. The first recipe I made from here is banana bread. After I baked it I let it cool and then sliced it and put it between pieces of wax paper and then a freezer bag so I could pop a piece into the toaster for a quick breakfast.

2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 and grease pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl mix mashed bananas with yogurt, honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla.

Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until blended. Do not over mix.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake large loaf for 40-50 minutes or until it comes out clean with a toothpick.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Weekly Meal Plan

Breakfast
  • Cereal
  • English Muffins
  • Steel Cut Oats
  • Waffles
  • Banana Bread (new recipe)
  • Yogurt/Fruit
Lunch
  • Leftovers
  • Cold Tortellini Pasta Salad
  • Sandwiches
  • Soup
  • Easy Chicken Tetrazzini (Trying a thermos to send hot meals with Colin to school. This is one of his favorites.)
Dinner
  • Breakfast for Dinner: Oatmeal Waffles (new recipe), eggs, bacon, yogurt
  • Sandwiches, chips, fruit
  • Lasagna, veggies, bread
  • Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole (new recipe)
  • French Onion Soup (or leftover night)
  • Chicken Enchiladas (new recipe)
  • Homemade Veggie Pizza
Snacks
  • String Cheese
  • Fresh Fruit
  • Freeze Dried Fruit
  • Soy Nuts
  • Yogurt Pretzels
  • Pretzels
  • Cheddar Bunnies

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Weekly Meal Plan

Lunch
  • Sandwiches
  • Cold Tortellini Salad
  • Leftovers
Dinner

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Tin Roof Bars

I found this recipe over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. This blog is filled with goodies and I check it every.single.day. This is the first recipe I have tried to make and will be trying many more soon!

For the brownie layer:
1 box dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 stick of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 or 7x11 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray

In a large bowl, mix ingredients together until fully combined. Pat evenly into prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, until it puffs up and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Place on a rack until completely cool.

For vanilla layer:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 cup chocolate covered peanuts, coarsely chopped

In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter, milk, and vanilla on medium-low speed until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar until just barely mixed in. Increase speed to high and beat for about a minute, until light and fluffy. Spread over cooled brownies and top with chocolate covered peanuts and marshmallows, pressing in gently. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the chocolate.

For the chocolate:
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add cocoa powder and milk and stir until just boiling and thick. Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove brownies from refrigerator and pout chocolate frosting over the top.

I didn't take any pictures but jump over to see her original recipe and drool over that photo. =)

**I need to mention that my brownie layer took a bit longer to cook. I blame it on my crappy oven. I think I should move a new oven from the "want" list to the "need" list.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Firsts

We had a couple of firsts this week.

Today was Colin's first day back at Wee School MDO program. Today is a short day, so I will be back up there to pick him up in just a few hours. Thursday is his first full day. He was ready. He ran right into his room and started playing. He paid me no attention.


I got him a fun backpack this year: Toy Story. =) He loves it and didn't even take it off when he ran into the room to play when we got there.


Colin also slept in his toddler bed for the first time Sunday night. He did great! He pretty much sleeps through the night. He wakes up at 3am, but I do too right before him. So I am not sure what that is about. But he doesn't get out or leave his room. I had to wake him up Monday morning. This morning Andrew heard him talking and he walked in there to find him sitting on his bed reading a book.


He also naps pretty well. Sunday he went right to sleep. Monday he just wasn't tired. So I told him we would have quite time in his room for a while even if he didn't want to nap. I left him in there for an hour. He stayed on his bed, only getting out to get a new stuffed animal to play with or a book to read. I am pretty happy with that!


I am redecorating Colin's room. Sad to see the nursery go, but excited to give him a boy room! Remember how much time I spent on those stripes? Well, getting rid of those stripes are just as time consuming and miserable. The edge of edge of each strip had a little bit of a bump to it. I went through and sanded down that bump. When I ran my hand against the wall, I couldn't feel it. So I then started to paint. One coat and you could still see those lines. I ended up doing two coats and you can still see them depending on how the light hits. So now I am thinking I have three options:
  1. Find another kind of texture/pattern I can paint on all or the top part of the walls. Doing a lot of Googling on that.
  2. Use the edge of the old stripes as a guide and tape up stripes again. Only this time use the same blue I painted only a different finish. Probably glossier so you see the stripes even though they are the same color.
  3. Stop caring. It isn't THAT noticable. My OCD is what makes it worse.
Right now I am leaning toward #2, but won't tackle it for a few weeks if I do it.

We hope to get him a twin bed with a trundle soon and a new dresser. His furniture is dark wood and I want a honey colored wood for his big boy furniture. I already bought his twin bedding and I have been using the flat sheet as the sheet on his toddler bed. I like the bedding too much to spend more money on toddler sized bedding. It works for now and it hopefully won't be like that for long!

I will post picture when I am done but to give you an idea, the walls are blue with a white chair rail, I have red curtian on order (not the red that you can see in the above picture), a little blue nightstand, and car themed lamp, pillow, and art canvas, and I am thinking Santa may bring him a little PB reading chair unless Mommy gets one before then.

**Off of the Colin subject - who is watching Bachelor Pad?**

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Weekly Meal Plan

Lunch
  • Leftovers
  • Sandwiches
Dinner
Sweet Treats
  • Tin Roof Bars
  • Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Pretzels

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hallmark Star!

I recently switched email addresses. I occasionally check my old email b/c you never know what you might miss. I am so glad I checked it today. Today I had an email from Hallmark letting me know that the card I submitted has won again!

The same card I that won for a couple months ago (see the picture to the right) that was available for sale online will now be in Walmart stores after September 19th! They said that the card selection for each store is "tailor-made" so our Walmart may not have it, but other Walmarts could. So if you are ever in a random Walmart, check for me and take a picture. =)

Along with Colin's card being available for purchase in stores, I also won another $250!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Vocab Explosion!

Just in the past few weeks I feel like Colin has had a vocabulary explosion. He went from putting two words together to making actual sentences. Granted, he is my first, but I was shocked at how quickly it happened. Things he will say:
  • More milk, please.
  • I can't reach it!
  • It needs batteries.
  • I do that, too!
  • I go poop.
  • I want cheese, too.
I feel like he says so much more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

He is also beginning to enjoy hide and seek. He like to be the one that counts and seeks. When he hides for Daddy, he ends up yelling "hiding!!" from his spot. We still need to work on that.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Weekly Meal Plan

Lunch
  • Smart Ones Meals
  • Peanut Butter Crackers
  • PB&J sandwiches
  • Leftovers
  • Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Dinner

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Great Deal!!

Southern Savers posted a great deal on their blog! It is for Paper Coterie. When you use the code BEGINANYWHERE at check out you get a $40 credit FREE!!!

I usually use these great deals of make gifts for grandparents and great-grandparents, but I couldn't pass up something I needed this time:


A memory keeper for Colin's artwork. After using the code I only paid shipping (about $9.50)!

Lots of other goodies so you should go check it out!