Coffee cake

This is one of the easiest cakes to make and it doesn't have any weird ingredients that you have to go search for. 

Quick Coffee Cake

You will need -

1cup sugar

1-3/4 cups flour (I used fresh ground while wheat)

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 Tablespoons butter

1 egg lightly beaten 

1/2 cup milk

1 Tbls sugar w/ 1/2 t cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 375. Butter 8 inch square pan. Mix 1 cup sugar, flour, and baking powder in large bowl. Work in butter with a pastry blender, fork or fingers until the mixture resembles course meal. Add egg and milk and blend. Spoon into pan and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Now enjoy. 

I just made this this morning and I'm thinking that I would like to have a tea party with my girlfriends. Or maybe it was just my kids. 

I hope you enjoy.

God Bless,

Jen

Whole wheat Tortillas

Yummy, yummy, yummy......

I love tortillas!

Doesn't everyone?!?!

So maybe I'm just weird. Oh well it doesn't matter I am still going to love them!

We eat a lot of them and I have always just bought them. When you read the labels of them there are so much added to them even the "All Natural" ones. 

I always thought there was no way I could make them. I kept hearing all of these people saying how hard they were to make. 

But I decided one day when I opened the frig and I was going to make tacos and guess what was not in there? No tortillas. ... 

So I go to the World Wide Web and looked up recipes. So I found one and it was ok so next time around I used it as a guide and here it is for you to try. 

Whole wheat tortillas

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 water (give or take)

In a bowl stir together flour, sea salt and baking powder. Now cut in coconut oil (do not melt). 

Now you add your water at about a half cup at a time and stir. Then knead it until smooth. You may need to add more or less water. 

Next you will need to separate it into 14 - 16  balls. 

Then you will roll them out very thin. You will need to play around with this because sometimes I like them really thin for tacos but thicker for other things. 

I am not really good at that part. Mine do not always end up a nice little circle but it does get better with practice. 

Next you cook them on a griddle or castiron pan. I have used both and they both work well. You need to cook them on each side for about 30-45 seconds or until kinda bubbly. Be careful not to cook them for to long they will become hard and that's no fun. 

And there you have it. 

God Bless,

Jen

Making Breakfast easy

Okay making it easier.

So we struggle with getting Brooke and Vince to eat something healthy or at all in the morning. Since Brooke is the only one going to Public school and has to be there at 5:30 am for cheerleading practice. I am not going to wake up and cook her something.. So what she does in eat toast most days or dry cereal well that is not going to keep her going until lunch time. Then there is my wonderful husband that will go to the gas station to pick up a coke and a roll smh…..

So I would like to share a few ideas for the morning rush to help you out.

Breakfast Burritos

I made about 20 smaller burritos with this.

• 1/2 pound pork sausage (or whatever sausage )
• 12 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• shredded cheese
• And any other toppings. (my kiddos are very picky when it comes to peppers and things like that so I just don’t add them but I am sure it would make them yummy)

Brown sausage. What I do is cook the whole 1 pound package and only use half of it and save it for something else. Remove from pan scramble eggs add salt and pepper. When those are done mix back into the pan the sausage.

I then laid a few tortillas on the counter and added a couple of scoops of the egg and meat mixture and then sprinkled some cheese. I then rolled them up and wrapped them with plastic wrap. You then can freeze or put them in the frig.

To heat just pop in the micro wave and enjoy.

Waffles

I make up a few batches of these let them cool laying them on a cooling rack. After the cool completely I put them in zip lock bags of servings sizes of 2 then freeze. Just take them out and put them in the toaster. We have to toast ours 2 times.

Breakfast cookie

I make up 2 batches of these and freeze some and if you just set them out the night before or even just a few seconds in the microwave.

 

We really try to stay away from processed cereal but some days we just have to eat it. I hope you can take something from these ideas and help your mornings go smoother. 

 

God Bless,

Jen

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 chicken breasts
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
• 2 packages Italian dressing mix

Instructions:

1. Slice chicken breasts in half. Set on paper towels and pat them, if necessary, to remove excess water. (You don’t want them dry, but too much water will make the coating gummy.)
2. In medium size mixing bowl, combine parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, garlic powder, and Italian dressing mix.
3. Coat chicken pieces one at a time, and lay on well greased baking sheet. I use olive oil. Cooking spray would work.
4. Bake in 400 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Serve atop your favorite pasta and next to a great salad.

Ham and scalloped potatoes

Need a quick easy recipe that will fill belly's of your children and make them happy. Okay well this is what my children act like when they eat this dish. My kids love anything to do with potatoes (so do I). Really all you need to add to this is some bread and maybe another veggie. Tonight we will be having home made whole wheat bread and butter nut squash with this mmmmmmmm………

Hope you like this as much as we do!

Ham and Scalloped potatoes

fully cooked ham  cubed (I used Turkey ham)
6 medium potatoes
¼ cup chopped or minced onion
¼ cup butter
4 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1 t. salt
2 ½ cups milk

In a medium saucepan, sauté onion in butter. Stir in arrowroot powder and salt. Pour in milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until bubbly. Remove from heat.

Scrub potatoes and slice very thin. Place ham and sliced potatoes in large baking pan. Pour sauce over all, give it a quick stir making sure everything has a coat of sauce on it.

Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes

Home made coffee creamer.

Who wants to get rid of their flavored coffee creamer in the name of healthy eating? NOT I!!!

Well I love flavored coffee. I drink at most 2 cups per day. I really don’t drink it to awaken me or anything like that. I just love to sit with a hot drink in my hands in the morning before everyone else wakes up.

internet picture

So I ran out of creamer one day and decided that I was not going to pay the big bucks any more for it. Plus you just never know what is really in it. I then decided to make it myself. I then went searching for a recipe. I found some really easy ones but I still did not know what was in them because they called for non dairy creamer along with things like hot cocoa mix and other mixes to make them. I felt like that was still unknown to me what I would be putting into my body.

The ones I ended up with I knew exactly what was in them. Vey simple ingredients that we all usually have in our homes. These recipes that I will give you  are made of items I have in my home all the time so they were super easy for me and it did not cost me any extra. That makes my budget happy. If you don’t keep things like heavy cream in your home just use only milk of half and half. They may not be a creamy but I bet they will turn out just fine *smile*

You can play with these and change anything you would like to make them sweeter or less sweet. The recipe I found had more cream in it but I didn’t need the extra cream so I took some out. So if you want it creamier  just add more cream.

Cinnamon strudel creamer

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 tsp. maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 
• 1/2 tsp. almond

In a sauce pan, whisk together cream, milk, maple syrup and cinnamon over med heat. Once it starts to steam remove from heat and add vanilla and almond extract. Pour into glass bottle and store in the frig for up to 10 days.

Chocolate Almond

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 4 T maple syrup
• 1 t almond extract

In sauce pan, whisk together cream, milk, maple syrup, and cocoa powder over med heat. Once it starts to steam, remove from heat and add almond extract. Put in a glass jar in the frig.

Pumpkin spice

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 T pumpkin spice
• 3 T pureed pumpkin
• 4 T maple syrup
• 1 t vanilla extract

In sauce pan, whisk together cream, milk, maple syrup, pumpkin spice and pumpkin over med heat. Once it starts to steam remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Put in a glass jar in frig.

French Vanilla

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 T maple syrup
• 1 t vanilla extract

In sauce pan, whisk together cream, milk, and maple syrup over med heat. Once it starts to steam remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Put in glass jar in the frig.

Peppermint Mocha

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 T maple syrup
• 3 T cocoa powder
• 1 t peppermint extract

In sauce pan, whisk together milk, cream, cocoa powder, and maple syrup over med heat. Once it starts to steam remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Put in glass jar in the frig.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

God Bless,

Jen

Eating Organic…. How do you start?

I often get questions when people find out that we eat organic and whole foods I get tons of questions. So I thought I would just answer some questions I often get.

• Where I buy the food at?
• Isn’t it expensive?
• How do I go organic on a budget?
• Is it really better for you to eat?
• Where do I start?

Where I buys the food at?

First off I need to share that we do not live in an area where there is a whole foods store near us. We have health food stores small ones about 45 miles away and they are SOOOOO expensive. I only buy from there if I ran out of something and I need it. Most of the time I will just get something from Wal-Mart or our local grocery store. Wal-Mart has started to carry a few organic products.  Which ahs been nice but I am not a fan of supporting Wal-Mart. I do what I have to. The majority of my food comes from Azure Standard.

Here you can order using UPS to deliver or you get on a route and once a month you order and it is delivered to a location that there is a drop off point. You can call the company and find out where the closest drop off point is. My drop off point is now in my town. It used to be about 15 miles from me but now the lady that is the “Manager” of the drop off moved closer to me and which makes it real nice for me.

If you decide to order using UPS they are limited to certain items that you can order. But it is a good way to start.

Isn’t it expensive?

I will tell you the truth here it is a little bit more expensive. Bit the benefits out way the cost. We do not go to the doctor very often at all. I think it has been years since one of my children have been to the doctor of illness. Truly me ordering from here has not raised our grocery bill all that much.

How do you do organic on a budget?

As most of you know I have 4 children and one on the way with 3 of them being boys. Their ages range from 14-6 so they are at large appetites as of right now. It took me a while to get to be able to by a whole months worth of food at once. But once I made the switch it has gotten easier.

I went from ordering things like wheat, sugar, and oats to finally ordering a 220 pound food order. I did buy from other stores and the select items from Wal-Mart and local. This way I was still able to buy quite a bit of organic but I was still not happy with that. After learning more and more about the healthful benefits and the nasty chemicals they add to everything I just did not feel comfortable feeding my growing family this way.

I have a pretty small budget to work with. But I was determined to make it work. So in the beginning I learned how to make real food from “staples”. I would look up recipes from many different sites. My favorite site is Heavenly Homemaker. If you look thru her site she has so much info and her recipes are wonderful and use very little ingredients. She was such a big help to me. I also would go to the library and barrow old cook books like ones from early 1900’s.

After I taught myself how to cook this way I also grind my own wheat which helps in the long run with cost and in health benefits. Buy whole grain flour is better then white white flour but so many of the nutrients are gone after sitting on the shelves at the store. So after I learned these new things I still would buy mostly from our grocery store and I saw the savings when I checked out. Then I started placing an order with a friend of mine who ordered fro Azure it was a small order of what I saved my cooking differently. Then I saved a bit here and there them bit the bullet and just made a big order. You could wait to make you first big order when you get a bonus or tax return then save your food budget fro the weeks and then you can make a full order the next month also. THis is how I did it. My husband received a bonus at work and we were able to jump in full bore.

Is it really better for you to eat organic?

This is a big YES!!! I know some of you have probably read and heard things that organic and not organic are the same. Well the one thing that can be the same is the nutrients. Yes an apple you buy that is organic and the other one have the same value of nutrients but the big thing is how they grow the apples. On a normal apple orchard they dust the trees with pesticides and herbicides. These things soak into the the skin of the apple of other food items and even if you wash them this stuff does not come off! It is scary thinking about what these things will do to our bodies. Well we the effects because of cancers and things like that. I know that some people will argue this fact by saying that people have been using these things for a long time and I am fine. Well if you research the different things they use to kill bugs and weeds they are different then what used to be used. plus less and less of our food comes from our back yard or the neighbors yard. So we get all of these commercial poisons.

I am also going to tell you that when I order produce from Azure they taste better. You can ask my kids this too. Now another thing is lets look at all of these fruits that they have started selling in the past few years that are made for kids hands. Those cuties oranges that are mortified to be easy to peel and smaller for a smaller tummy. What nutrients do you think was lost doing that. I am pretty sure a lot. God made the orange the way he did to feed our bodies what it needs. 

Next look at the GMO’s. If you don’t know much about GMO’s look it up it is scary. I have read study after study and not just studies from some person who is all about organic I have read they articles written by companies that do it. Did you know that there is a ban on GMO food in many countries. They know how bad it is for you that their government has banned it.  I wish they would at least label the foods that it is in. I do know that most soy products use it. So I stay away form them.

Next antibiotics!!! We are pumping our kids with antibiotics with the milk we give our kids and the meat they eat. Now I can not order organic meat yet but I do try to get organic milk from the grocery store. I do buy meat that was not given antibiotics but sometimes it can be hard to find. We are trying more and more to eat deer and things like that from the wild. I do have 3 boys so hunting will be a big thing here. There are also people that will give you deer meat if they know you would like some because they never seem to use it all. I have some awesome friends that do this. I believe next year Vince is going to start hunting with Vinny.

I hope that clears up a few things on how much healthier it is for you to go organic. There are so many great website dedicated to this you will have endless knowledge. My biggest thing is that we should eat the way God intended us to eat. So why mess with his creation and then wonder why we are so unhealthy??

Where do I start?

As I said before start little. Learn how to cook differently if you need to. Stop buy things that come in boxes!! Start with taking white out of your diet. White flour, enriched white flour, white rice and white sugar and NO HIGH FROCTOSE CORN SYRUP!!!!. Now this doesn’t mean brown sugar that is still very processed. You can start with the raw sugars at the grocery store then do some of your own research on what kind of sugar you want to use. I use Honey and coconut sugar. Honey I try to by from a local farmer and the coconut sugar I buy from azure. It is also lower in the glycemic index. Now this sugar does not taste like coconut so don’t worry about that. It is not going to taste like white sugar but when you cook and bake with it there is no difference. I don’t use it in my coffee and drinks but everything else I use it on. I buy raw sugar for those things.

Next take out all of the vegetable oil in your house!! Switch to butter and coconut oil and olive oil. These are great for you. I know you may think that it is bad for you but you body can actually digest it. Trust me you will feel so much better. Also coconut oil is great for so much more. Your hair, skin it works great on dry skin. I use it on my face with as a moisturizer which has gotten ride of my acne. Yep I am over 30 and have acne. But it is gone!!

After you switch these things take baby steps to work in other things. I have a great book for you to read also. It is called Nourishing traditions. I don’t follow everything in there but I do follow most of it. But the information is so great in this book it is a must have.

Well I hope something in this post will help you out in your adventure to eating better and becoming healthier. I thought I would share a few pictures of my last food order It is not all of it but I love getting it, it is like opening a Christmas present.

Here is our month supply of Almond milk for us. Will has a milk issue.

One of our favorite items that comes in. Kefir is so good for you!! Cultured food is so good for you. Cultured foods will help so much in you way to being healthy.

This is so yummy!! Everyone looks at me weird when I pull this jar out and eat it. But more for me!!

20 pounds of apples. These are so juicy!!

Here is my pantry. If you look close you can see some items I don’t get from Azure. like the natural Jiff peanut butter and the crackers. I love the feeling of a full pantry and frig. It makes me feel so at ease.

I hope you learned something from this post that you can take back with you and implement into your own lives. I want to make sure you understand something that just because you don’t feed your family organic does not make you a bad person. Anything you can do even if it is small will make a big difference in your lives.

God Bless,

Jen

The best sugar cookie recipe ever!!

Okay hands down this is the best batch of sugar cookies I have ever made.

Don’t they just look so yummy? Well they are and I am going to share this recipe with you.

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup oil (I used coconut oil)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 pkg. (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding
• 4 cups flour (I actually used fresh ground whole wheat flour)
• 1 t. cream of tarter
• 1 t. baking soda

In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer) cream the butter, oil, sugars. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and pudding mix.

Combine the flour, cream of tarter, and baking soda. now gradually add this mixture to the creamed mixture. Drop by tablespoon full I used a scoop that I have that makes nice big cookies. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or lightly browned.

Let cool for a few minutes then cool on cooling rack.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we have. I have a heck of a time baking cookies and I made these and they turned out great so which means anyone can do it!

God Bless,

Jen

Corn Dog Muffins

I have another yummy recipe for you all. This one is very kid and dad friendly. Basically you make corn bread and out it into lined muffin tins and cut hot dogs into 3rds and place one in each muffin. But I will give you my corn bread recipe. I do have to say I use fresh ground corn meal so this might make it different if you use store bought cornmeal.

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 eggs
2 T. honey
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk

Hot dogs

Mix all dry ingredients together, add eggs honey, butter and buttermilk. Set oven for 400. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and place a 1/3 of a hot dog in to each tin. Next you bake for 20 mins. Super easy and super yummy. If you want to make 24 muffins double the recipe.

 

I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.

   God Bless,

     Jen

Home made Yogurt

So here is another one of those easy things to make at home and it cost way less and you know what is in it because you put it in there *smile* You can flavor it however you want I use it a lot in cooking. It makes wonderful pancakes!

So you are going to need 2 ingredients!!

Whole milk and yogurt starter.

Don’t forget to read you label on the back to make sure it has active cultures.

Yogurt starter is simply plain yogurt with live cultures in it. You can buy it at the store or you can use some from a batch you or a friend made. So if you keep a couple of cups off each batch you will never have to buy yogurt again!! This is good for us because we go through a lot of yogurt. You also will need to use whole milk also it just wont work with others. Trust me I tried.

First off you will add milk to a pan. I do a whole gallon at a time so my batch is always pretty big. You first bring the milk to a boil stir often so it does not burn. then remove from heat.

Now you let it cool. This may take awhile. Mine took a couple of hours too cool to room temp. You don’t want to kill the good cultures in your starter by putting them in while it is too hot. Just test with your finger.

Once it is cooled add your yogurt starter. I added about a 2 cups to my 1 gallon. Now you are going to place a towel over it and set it out over night about 12 hours.

Next you will place it into your containers you will be using and let it sit in the frig for at least a few hours. Now you have yogurt! you can flavor it however you want.

You may notice it is not as think your first time making it. But as you make it and use the starter from each batch it becomes even better.

Some things I do with my plain yogurt.

• add some to a pancake recipe
• flavor with honey, vanilla, any fruit (love blue berries)
• Add to my oatmeal in the morning with a bit of honey and some blueberries
• I have used it in place of sour cream in a pinch

There is so much you can do with it. I hope you enjoy your yogurt!

   God Bless,

    Jen.

Home made sour cream

There are so many things you can make at home not just to save money but also to know what is in it. Sour cream is one of those things and it is so easy to do. You only need 2 ingredients!

Cultured Buttermilk and heaving cream

You can buy them both from any supermarket. You can also make buttermilk too. Which you can look in recipes for that. It has to be cultured buttermilk.

So you ready for this super easy recipe?!

First you find a glass jar. I used one of those salsa jars with the wide mouth. You fill the jar about 3/4 full (or however much you want to make) with heavy cream then you add some buttermilk. my Jar was pretty short so I put about 2 – 3 T in it. If your jar is bigger add more.

Now here comes the tricky part *smile* take a paper towel or some other cover that can breath and set it on top of the jar and place a rubber band to hold it on. Phew……. Okay now that hard part is over place it on you counter and let it sit for 12-24 hours. This just depends on how warm your kitchen is. I did mine at about 4pm last time and when I got up in the morning it was done!

Look at that!!! SOUR CREAM!!

P.S. It is super yummy!!!

   God Bless,

     Jen

Lazy Daisy Cake with Caramel Frosting

I wanted to share with you this yummy recipe that I just tried that I had written down to make along time ago. I found it in an old cook book that was made from a group of ladies at a church which was dated 1930’s. I am wishing I would of made this much sooner. It is yummy!! It has a different kind of texture to the cake almost spongy I would call it. You could also top it with any kind of frosting you would like but I chose Caramel frosting which I love. This frosting also goes great with cinnamon rolls. I also want to add that this is fairly easy to make so don’t be scared.

Lazy Daisy Cake

In a medium to large bowl beat 2 eggs well then add 1 cup of sugar gradually

In a different bowl mixed well together 1 cup flour (I used Wheat), 1/4 t salt, 1 t baking powder. Fold into egg mixture.

Boil together 1/2 cup milk, 1 T butter, then add 1 t vanilla. Mix this carefully into the above mixture. It will be hot. Batter may look odd but it will be fine.

Bake at 325 for 25 – 30 min. I used a square 9x9 stone pan.

When min came out it was kind of stick feeling But I didn’t want to cook it longer of fear of it burning.

Caramel frosting

Mix in sauce pan

• 2T butter
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 2/3 cup Brown sugar ( I used raw sugar since I didn’t have brown sugar I think it would be a deeper caramely color if you used the brown sugar but we just don’t use it)

Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add 1 t vanilla and enough powdered sugar for good spreading consistency. (I didn’t not measure how much I used, sorry but I think it will just depend on you liking)

 

Wait until cake is cooled before frosting. Enjoy!

I did have to taste this cake before we were going to eat it for desert after supper tonight,. The kiddos were not too happy about this but I had some friends on Facebook that wanted the recipe written up on here and they were not very patient about waiting *smile*. I am pretty sure they will enjoy it and I will then regret giving it to them this late because they will all be a bit hyper. oops……

   God Bless,

     Jen

Strawberry or blueberry coffee cake

I have yet another yummy treat. This one would be awesome for a brunch or even just for a little treat at home. This recipe called for blue berries but I used strawberries because that is all I had in the freezer. This just shows how you can sub-statute other ingredients if you do not have everything in your house. Like today this recipe called for honey and I didn’t have enough honey for this recipe so I used my raw sugar. I will tell you what I used but I will also tell you what the recipe was so just incase you don’t have everything or running low you can do either way.

Berry coffee cake

• 3 cups fresh or frozen blue berries ( I used strawberries you could use any berry you like or mix it up)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder (I didn’t have any on hand so I used white flour)

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup honey ( I used 3/4 cup raw sugar honey is sweeter then sugar that’s why I added more)
• 3/4 cup melted butter ( I used coconut oil because my son has an allergy to milk)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk ( I used almond milk again milk allergy here)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

In medium sauce pan, cook berries and water together until it begins to boil. Turn down heat cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add sugar and arrowroot powder (here I used flour) slowly. It should become bubbly and thick. remove from heat. Set aside.

In mixing bowl , combine whole wheat flour, baking soda & baking powder( I also added the raw sugar here too do this unless you are using honey). Mix well. Make a well in center add honey, melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Stir well.

pour half the batter in a 9 x 13 baking dish (mine was being used so I used a deep dish stone ware baking dish).

Spread berry mixture over the batter

Drop remaining batter by spoonful's on top.

Bake 40-45 minutes @ 350

Now enjoy. Oh it is so yummy. Not to sweet it was just perfect. I brewed a pot of coffee with this and enjoyed it with my mother who stopped by this after noon. Now she is a very picky eater and she even said it was very good!

   God Bless

    Jen

Applesauce Bread….Yummy!!

So today we tried a sweet treat for breakfast which was still healthy for my kiddos. Just add a glass of milk and there you have it a healthy breakfast.

Applesauce Bread

• 1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 eggs

Mix all dry ingredients. Make a well in center and add applesauce, eggs, and butter. Stir well. Pour into butter bread pan and bake for 45-55 minutes @ 350. Now enjoy!

   God Bless

    Jen

Italian Dressing mix

This is such an awesome mix and you know for sure what is in it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Here is what you will need.

Italian Dressing mix

• 1-1/2 teaspoon.  garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 Tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 t dried celery flakes

Put all ingredients in a jar and shake and store.

To make dressing. Mix 2 Tablespoons dry mix with 1/4 cup vinegar, 2 teaspoons water 1/2 cup olive oil. Store in seal container shake and serve. Enjoy!

Home made syrup

So this is something that we go thru a lot of. Syrup can be very expensive when you buy the stuff with out high fructose corn syrup. I try not to let our family eat that stuff! Well and my kids will not eat real maple syrup so I make it. The brand I normally buy that doesn’t have the yucky stuff in it is over $4 per jug. so this is a money saver for me! I just buy a new jug every once in a while.

So first of all you need to get some Mapleine flavor I think it is around $4 per bottle and I buy maybe 2-3 a year. So that’s a HUGE savings for our family!It is over by the extracts in the grocery store.

Here's what I do when I make my syrup. There are instructions on the box but I don’t do the same. Okay I don’t think I do I just do it by eye. So today when I made it I made sure to count and measure what I put into it.

• In a sauce pan boil 1 cup of water
• turn to low after boil
• add sugar in 2/3 cup increments  to a total of about 2 cups ( I use Raw sugar). Between each 2/3 cup of sugar stir until sugar is completely dissolved. This is key other wise you will have a lot of crystalized sugar in the bottom of your jug.
• stir in 1 tsp. of flavoring (you can add more if you want more of the maple flavor)
• Let cool for about 20 minutes
• then add to jug you want to use. Mine is 22 oz and it was filled up to the top. It will look very liquidy.
• let cool completely with lid open then store in the refrigerator

 

Now you just use it like normal syrup. You can heat it up if you desire just make sure you use a jug you can do that with. I had this really awesome syrup jar that I could place in a pan of water on the stove to warm it up. I wouldn’t recommend placing in the microwave in less you put the syrup in a different container with the amount you want to warm.

I hope you find this useful to use in your home to save a few pennies.

    God Bless,

    Jen

Whole Wheat waffles and pancakes

This recipe is what I use for my family of 6.

Whole Wheat waffles/ pancakes

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 T honey (or raw sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup almond milk (you can use regular milk we just have a milk allergy in the house)
• water

Warm waffle iron or skillet. mix together dry ingredients then add the rest stir together and add water till you get the consistency you need.

Poor into iron and cook till done. you can top with anything your heart desires. We have even put turkey sausage patties and eggs and made a yummy breakfast.

Breakfast cookies

Oh man these are such a hit at our house. When I make them its like having something naughty for breakfast. You should of seen the first time I made them for breakfast my kids were like ummmmmm??? We can eat cookies for breakfast? Loved it!
I have not taken pictures when I make them. I keep telling myself to take pictures next time and I forget each time well because I usually have extra hands helping.
Breakfast cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk (I use almond milk we have a allergy in the house)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups whole rolled oats
• 1 cup of dried fruit (or chocolate chips if you want to spoil kiddos)

Pre heat oven 350.
Mix all ingredients together then add dried fruit. scoop heaping tablespoon of dough onto cookie sheet. Bake for 15~20 min. Allow cookies to cool 3~4 minutes on cookie sheet before removing from cookies to cool on wire rack.
Now enjoy.

Oh and another great things about these cookies is that they save well. But we never save ours we have them for snack through the day.

   God Bless
   Jen

Breakfast Cake

Yes you read that right I do make cake for breakfast! It is so yummy and it is pretty darn good for you too!!

Here's what you need!

Breakfast cake

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups rolled oats (not the instant stuff)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter melted
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup of raisins, dried fruit or chocolate chips (optional)

Stir together dry ingredients till well blended. Then add all liquid items. mix well. Next fold in chocolate chips or fruit.

Pour into greased 9x13 pan

Bake at 350 for 30-40 mins

Serve with cream, butter, syrup, honey or just alone is yummy!!

Enjoy!!

God Bless

Jen

Easy Noodle Stir fry

 

This is a yummy fast meal. It can be made in 20 mins or less!!

Easy noodle Stir Fry

• 2-4 cups of frozen mix veggies of your choice
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 clove minced garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 10 ounces whole wheat spaghetti noodles
• Soy sauce (to taste)
• Sea Salt (to taste)

Start your noodles first. Cook using directions on package.

In a skillet add olive oil, veggies and garlic together, cooking on medium heat until veggies are tender. After noodles are done drain and add them to the veggies. Next add salt and soy sauce to taste. I think I added 1/4 cup of soy sauce but my kids added more. We like soy sauce in this family. If you would like you could add meat to this.

Doesn’t this look yummy? All but 1 of my kids ate it. “Willy Stub” is going thru a phase that he doesn’t eat anything right now. I am not a softy so I don’t give in to his “I don’t like this mom!” talk. So I figure when he is hungry enough he will eat.

I hope you enjoy this yummy meal as much as I did.

God Bless

Jen