Catching up

It's been awhile since I posted last. No apologies. No excuses. But, so that you can forgive me, here's a photo montage of our last few weeks. We've been very busy...

Practicing how to blow up balloons




Showing off mad monkey skills


Creating Castles


Losing teeth left and right


Finding new ways to nap




Turning 6 years old


Turning 33 years old


Making lots of playdoh food




Soccer Awards


Tickle wars


Building a plethora of Trio sets




And, most of all...just being cute!

Cake Balls

I am so excited to try this recipe for Cake Balls from an article in the Dallas Morning Newspaper that my mom sent me last year. I'm thinking these are going to make awesome Christmas presents this year. The article can still be found online HERE.

Cake Balls

1 box of cake mix
Ingredients needed on cake mix: water, eggs, oil
1 can of prepared frosting
Almond Bark

Optional Items:
lollipop sticks
oil based candy dye
Decorative items like: chopped nuts, sprinkles, etc

First, make and bake the cake as directed on the box.

Once baked, I removed it from the pan immediately to start cooling. [Side note: And, wouldn't you know that the cake came out perfect, but if I had really needed the cake to come out perfectly for some time when I wasn't going to mutilate it, then you know it wouldn't have! okay, I'm done...back to cake balls...]



While the cake is still warm, crumble it up into a large bowl. You can use your fingers or an electric hand mixer. (The hand mixer is easier because you want the cake to be a fine texture, but be forewarned that the cake tends to jump out of the bowl!)



Then add 3/4 to 1 full can of frosting apparently depending on taste. What?! According to taste?! Just do the whole can and be done with it. Stirring well until thoroughly combined. Chill the mixture for a couple of hours or speed up this process by placing it in the freezer.



Using your hands or a small cookie scoop (think melon baller size), roll the mixture into balls and place them on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Recommended ball size is 1 1/2 inches--smaller balls rather than large ones are easier to eat later. This makes about 30-35 cake balls.



Gotta get your kiddos into it!



Finished rolling...whew!


Side note: I had to rearrange all the cake balls into straighter lines BEFORE I could take a picture. LOL!

My Personal Notes about Rolling the Balls:
Use a cookie scoop. Mash it in there. Peel off the excess around the edges. Release the cake ball from the scoop into your hand. Admire the almost perfectly round cake ball. Place it on wax paper and be done.





Optional Step for Cake Pops:
After rolling all the balls, insert sticks into each ball. Then, resume with the following directions.

Back to Everyone:
Chill for several hours in the fridge. Or if you are in a hurry, then place in the freezer. I do not have room in my freezer AT ALL, so I used the fridge. *Note: I had them in the fridge for 6 hours before I felt like they were firm enough!

About 15 minutes before the balls are ready, melt almond bark in a container that is tall and narrow. I don't really have a container like that so I used a measuring cup.



When the almond bark is ready you can stir in 1 tablespoon of shortening until melted. The shortening makes the almond bark more smooth and easier to dip. If you used the freezer, then make sure the cake balls aren't frozen solid when you begin working with them.

Working in small batches, remove some cake balls from the fridge/freezer and dip in the melted almond bark. Use tongs, forks, toothpicks or candy forks to manage the balls and get them completely covered. Place each ball on waxed paper to harden. I had to twist, twirl, tap and beg them to get the excess chocolate off and make them *somewhat* smooth. I don't know how professionals do it, but I'd love to sneak in and watch them!



And, now you are finished! OR...you can decorate the outside of the cake balls with almond bark that has been dyed with oil based candy dye or roll the cake balls (before hardening) in coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles, chopped candy bars etc. The ideas are endless...

Most recipes and blogs say to keep them at room temperature once completed and I tried that. But, I'm telling you, they are WAY better cold. (I think the concern is that the chocolate coating will crack in the fridge but mine didn't.) Plus, they really don't last that long...truly!

I did attempt to dye the white almond bark to see if that would cover up my chocolate cake better. So, I used red paste dye stuff:



But, I think I need to thin it out more because it was way more gloppy. See?



I also put a couple on some sticks I had and it was actually much easier to smooth the chocolate on the cake balls when they were on the stick. I guess because I didn't have to touch them at all with anything...just twirled and tapped. When I do these again at Christmas, I'll definitely be using the sticks.



And, here's my silly attempt at "decorating" them with sprinkles. LOL. You can laugh...I did. And, that's why there's only ONE of these. :)



Finished plate of them for my little family. They are SO good! My meat-eating husband couldn't stop praising them, but it was slightly hard to understand him with his mouth so full. However, I did hear him say that they are his new favorite dessert and maybe even better than steak. Nah, that can't be right, but he did LOVE them.



There's a fabulous website called Bakerella.com with MANY ideas for these cake balls including making them into cake pops HERE. They also have wonderful pictures of holiday themed cake balls that are so beyond my abilities right now, but I can still drool over them! One of my favorites is this Christmas themed reindeer cake pop HERE. I am just in awe of hers!

Ciao,
J

Our attempt at a viral video...

Just kidding on the viral part, but we did post an amusing video about couponing called "A Tale of $2.99" HERE. Feel free to take a look and add a comment if you like it.

There's also a blooper reel HERE if you are interested.

Thanks, TheThriftyMama for posting this on your awesome blog for us!

Fun times!

My Mama's Apple Crisp

This Fall recipe is beyond good AND so easy! I look forward to it all year long and I am so thankful that my sweet husband loves it as much as I do because I get to make it a LOT in these last few weeks before CHRISTmas season comes!

Mama's Apple Crisp

Filling:
7-8 large Granny Smith apples (or Jonathan's)
Cinnamon...lots!

Crust:
2 cups AP flour
2 cups sugar
2 sticks of butter

Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4 inch slices. Place them in a 9x13 pan and generously cover them with cinnamon; shaking or mixing them to cover thoroughly. Smooth out the apples in the pan so they are even.

In a bowl, combine the sugar, flour and butter. Use a pastry blender (or knife and fork) to blend the mixture until crumbly.

Pour the flour mixture over the top of the pan and cover the apples completely. Gently pat the crust down.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees for 45 minutes. The crisp is done when it's golden brown but not too dark.



Wash your few dishes and enjoy the smell of warm apples throughout your house! Heavenly!

Cool as much as you can stand before inhaling enjoying! Also, excellent with a scoop (or two) of vanilla ice cream!



And, here's a picture of my official taste-tester of "everything yummy"...



And, when he was tired of trying to pose for the perfect picture that didn't show my dirty dishes, the mounds of laundry waiting to be folded, the stacks of blocks my children still haven't put away and couldn't make the most wonderous, enraptured expression that would fully encompass the magnificent taste of THE apple crisp, he does this...



[Oh yes, ladies, he's taken!]

Ciao,
J

Fingers and Toes and Polish, Oh My!

My daughter (2 years old) wavers between wanting to do everything her older brother does including getting dirty, wrestling, football, obstacle courses and jumping off of everything to being a girlie girl by wearing pretty dresses, having her hair up in a ponytail with a cute bow, helping mommy cook in the kitchen, and playing with her babies.

Today, she wanted to be in true form of feminine awareness. I decided to paint my toenails (with free polish from CVS, of course!) during the football game. My daughter came in from playing football in the backyard with her brother and saw my toes. She immediately sat down and extended her feet saying, "Mommy, me too, please!"

My toes are dark blue (I'm pretending I'm young enough to pull that off, but notice I refrained from painting my fingernails blue too) and I knew that Daddy would not love the idea of his two year old with blue nails, so I remembered that I had a pale pink bottle of polish (also free from CVS) in the bathroom. After convincing Sarah that pink would be so much prettier on her than blue, I painted her itty bitty teeny tiny nails for the very first time. So fun!



So, here's our beautiful results...(ignore the fact that my skin tone is already winter death white even though it's only November 1st):



And, of course, she liked it and wanted her fingers painted too.



These days give me glimpses of fun bonding in the years ahead...

Ciao,
J

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

This is my family's favorite bread recipe (made into rolls). And, it freezes wonderfully--see directions at the end! (This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Beth, who has a slightly different variation on her blog HERE.)

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses (optional)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 T salt
2 packages of regular or quick acting dry yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water (120-130 degrees)
3-4 cups oat flour blend (or AP flour)
Butter/margarine, softened
Oats for sprinkling (optional for loaf)

Mix whole wheat flour, honey, molasses, vegetable oil, salt and yeast.



Add warm water and mix.



Add oat flour blend (or AP flour) 1 cup at a time and mix by hand or a heavy duty spoon until you can knead it on a floured surface. Continue adding flour as you knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. (Or you can skip the whole "by hand" and go straight to the electric mixer to mix and knead with dough hook attachments. You add flour slowly just like normal.)



NOTE ON USING AN ELECTRIC MIXER:
When the dough starts climbing up your regular beaters like this (for me it's right after the first cup of flour):



Then clean them off like this:



And replace them with the dough hook attachments like this:



and proceed as normal. :)



I generally wash the dishes I've dirtied thus far while my mixer is doing all the hard work. Or hug my kiddos or type on my blog or listen to Pandora (LOVE IT!) or...you get the idea. When your dough looks something like this:



then place in an oiled bowl and turn dough to coat. Cover with a clean dish towel and rise in a warm, draft free place for 40-60 minutes until doubled. I LOVE rising my bread in a warm oven that is OFF--I warm it first to the lowest temperature and then turn it off before adding my dough. It works like a charm and then I don't have to find some mystical warm place in my house to rise the dough.

Now, you need to decide if you are making loaves or rolls...have you decided?

LOAVES:
Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick spray. Punch down dough and divide in half. Place one half in each pan. Brush lightly with butter and sprinkle with oats (optional). Let dough rise in a warm, draft free place again for 35-50 minutes or until doubled.

Move oven rack to lowest position. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-40 minutes or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans. Brush with butter to keep from getting a tough crust and cool on a wire rack. Eat.

ROLLS:
Spray cookie sheets or 9X13 pans with nonstick spray. (cookie sheets = little harder rolls; 9X13 pans = softer, tender, yummier rolls...can you tell which I prefer?)

Punch down dough. Roll into balls and place in pans (I do about 4 rows of three rolls = 12 rolls per pan in a 9X13 pan.) Keep rolling and placing onto greased pans. You want your rolls to be a little larger than a golf ball--but I don't ever take the time to make them THAT round.



Rise in a warm, draft free place for 30 minutes or until doubled.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown but not overcooked. Brush with butter. YUM!



Ummmm, something seems to have happened to one of them. I better keep an eye on that problem.

TO FREEZE ROLLS:
After the dough rises for the first time, roll into balls like I explained above. And, then INSTEAD of letting the dough rise again, place the rolls onto a cookie sheet and put in your freezer until hardened. Don't let it completely freeze, but hard enough that you can move them to a freezer bag and they will retain their shape.



Place them in a freezer bag (not touching each other) and seal. Freeze until you are ready for them. Remove from freezer, place in a greased pan, let them thaw on the counter (usually about an hour or so), then let them rise in a warm, draft free place for about 30 minutes, and bake as instructed above. It's really mindless work at this point and you can frequently have fresh, homemade rolls any time you want! (And, you've only had to "make" them once!)



ENJOY!

Ciao,
J

"I once was lost but now am found..."

says My Blog. I've been looking for my blog for awhile now and I've finally found it! Hooray!

Or maybe I've just been too busy reading MANY other blogs to find the time to write in mine. OR maybe I've been too busy homeschooling...nah that can't be it. OH! Maybe it's because I've had nothing to say. Okay, stop laughing. Seriously, you can stop now. Really. Stop. :)

On a slightly serious note, I'm not entirely sure why I haven't written much lately...not motivated enough, I guess. But, that could describe my entire life right now. I haven't been motivated to do much lately--kind of in a funk, but that's not a good place to sit in, so I am working on getting out of it.

Our family has dealt with several colds/flu bugs the last couple of weeks and it's been beyond draining for me. I really like to sleep when I don't feel well and as many of you Mama's out there can testify as well, sleep is a non-existent entity sometimes. But, the "lack-of-sleep" excuse doesn't really clean the bathrooms, buy groceries, teach my son how to add or encourage my daughter to use a big girl voice without whining or screaming or throwing a fit or flopping herself in a pathetic pile on the floor refusing to get up or ... Anyone else have a two year old?

I love my kids. And, I really love my husband. He's amazing. Truly. And, that's what puts a smile on my face. Most days. :)