Bread Baking

I finally found a good sandwich whole wheat bread recipe, thanks to 100 Days Of Real Food.

Now, if I could only slice it right...any tips for that. We are enjoying baking this bread on a grey day in North Carolina.

Best Ever (3 Ingredient) Pumpkin Cake

This is not a typo....3 ingredients....will make you a super moist and delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake. This recipe will be at the top your list, trust me on this one! Here is my Halloween gift to all my lovely followers, I really appreciate you!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake:
1 Box Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz can Pumpkin
3/4 cup Water
Add Chocolate Chips is desired...who doesn't?
Bake 350 degrees in a 9x13 cake pan for about 25 minutes.  I also like making muffins with this recipe, it's sticky moist!
I would love to hear what you think of the cake. I was so desperate to make this recipe last week, but I ran out of spice cake mix. In a pinch I used a yellow cake mix and added pumpkin pie spice! Enjoy.

Making GOOP

The weather is getting lovely so be sure to take this messy fun outside!

What you'll need:
2 cups -White Glue
1/1/2 Cups -Warm Water
4 TBSP. -Borax
1 Cup- Cold Water
food coloring- we used green.

Mix glue and water in a separate bowl and borax and cold water in a separate bowl. Mix 2 bowls together and add food coloring or tempera. Stir well, then kneed. Store in air tight container. Do not use near carpet as it's glue.


(This fun recipe can from a preschool teacher a few years back.)

Simply Healthy-Homemade Veggie Wash

 September is here, which mean cooler temps, flannel sheets, shorts and long sleeves, brightly colored trees, pumpkins, crock pots, and yummy scuppernong grapes. Each Wednesday I will focus my blog posts on something that's simply healthy.

A few years ago we use to use FIT to wash our vegetables and fruit, but now we just make our own and it works great.

Homemade Veggie Wash Recipe:
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
2 TBS baking soda
2 TBS lemon juice
Directions:
-Mix ingredients then pour in clean spray bottle. Spray vegetables and fruit generously. Sit for 5 minutes then rinse off well.
-Make sure to first mix ingredients in deep container since there will be some fizzing from the baking soda and vinegar.

Flat Stanley Project- join us!

I am sending out our "Flat Stanley's" today and can't wait to show the girls all the places they will visit. A mother, from a forum I follow (The Well-Trained Mind,) organized this one. We are so excited to participate!

But it got me thinking...how would you like to participate in Sippy Cup Central's Flat Stanley Project, with a twist? 

We would start in October and instead of visiting a location, your Flat Stanley will help with an activity. For instance, your Flat Stanley could help make playdough, play a fun game, or discover a bug. The recipes, directions, or interesting facts would be included with the E-mailed photo of your child.  My hope is that by the end of this adventure your child will have a keepsake of fun things to do. Please contact me at sippycupcentral@gmail.com if you are interested in this project.

Sensory Play With Colored Rice

This is the first time I have made colored rice and orzo, but it was super easy and the girls can't wait to get their hands on it.
Making colored rice or orzo:
- add 3 drops of food coloring to rice.
- add a few drops of rubbing alcohol to rice.
- mix well in a plastic bag.

- allow to dry for a few hours before you store or play with it.

Pink and Green Mama has some fun ideas with rainbow rice here. 

Word Sliders

You are going to love this....

Olive enjoys reading so I made these fun word slides to show her just how many words she knows with common endings.

Word Endings and letter:
it, use letters- f, k, w, b, h, l, p, s
at, use letters-b, c, f, h, m, p, r, s
ip, use letters-d, h, l, r, s, t, z
an, use letters- p, r, t, v
ig, use letters- j, p, r,w, b, d, f, g

I started making them on my own and then I found my "Easy button" here.  I am planning to use the workbox system for homeschooling this year and thought these would be a good addition and something encouraging that Olive can do on her own.

I printed the pages out and laminated them with my Scotch TL901, lets just say that I've been a laminating fool!

Coffee Cake Perfected

Today is a happy day....After 10 years of marriage, I have found the perfect coffee cake recipe. I will now share this delicious piece of yumminess with you. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• 2 cups Sugar
• 3 cups Flour, Sifted
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1-¼ cup Milk
• 3 whole Egg Whites, Beaten Until Stiff
• _____
• FOR THE TOPPING:
• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• ¾ cups Flour
• 1-½ cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1-½ cup Pecans, Chopped Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined. Don’t overbeat. Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula. Spread in a well-greased 9 x 13 pan. I used my lasagne pan as it has high sides.
In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle all over the top.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes

(I found this recipe over at The Pioneer Woman, it's a great blog, thank- you for this recipe.)

Alligator Cake Sneak Peak!

Here is a quick look at Jem's very green gator cake for her 3rd birthday tomorrow. I think it turned out really cute for her alligator jungle themed party. I'll show more photos tomorrow.

Hungry for a Party!!!

My little Jem turns 3 on Friday and we sure are "hungry for a party" at our place. The theme is an alligator jungle party so I am attempting to make an alligator cake. Today I baked the parts and tomorrow I'll use my homemade buttercream frosting to decorate it.

(Use you imagination) - We used a Christmas tree pan for the head, loaf pan for the body, cut a bundt cake pan in half for the tale, and used heart shape muffin tins for the feet.


Stay tuned for the finished cake tomorrow!

Playdough under the sea

I found the perfect playdough recipe, it's just like the real stuff! Olive and Jem both agree that it's soft and easy to mold. They spent a good part of an hour playing with this new blue dough. They had a good time pretending that their little animals were under the sea.

Perfect Playdough
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Stir ingredients together into a saucepan. Over medium heat cook the dough until it pulls away from the pan. Lay onto a cutting board and knead well, it will be hot to touch. Allow to cool and enjoy.

Here is a fun chocolate playdough recipe from My Montessori Journey and Counting Coconuts has a variety of fun colors here.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting!

To celebrate the end of our school year I made a super yummy chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream frosting!  Buzz says it's the best frosting I have ever made! The recipe could easily be made into just vanilla buttercream too. I think everything taste better when it's made on my Grandmother's old Sunbeam mixer that still works wonders.

The Best Frosting Recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 of milk or whipping cream
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• dash of cinnamon

I

Freezer Pop Fun

Why wait for bathing suits when it's hot outside....just turn on the sprinklers, and grab a homemade freezer pop!

:

Summer Freezer Pop Recipe:

1 cup yogurt

2 cups lemonade or any juice

1 big handful of fruit we used strawberries

Blend it all together and pour into molds. 

I plan to keep the freezer full of yummy pops all summer long, Enjoy!

An Exercise in Butter Making!

It took us about 20 minutes of shaking it up, down, and all around to turn heavy whipping cream into whipped cream and then another 10 minutes to turn it into butter. The girls almost lost interest half way through, but I was determined that we would have butter on our bread for breakfast.....and we did!

On the right you have the whipped cream or clotted cream, on the left you have the butter, and up front you have our homemade strawberry jam from our visit to the strawberry patch, yum!

  This is what it looked like after 10 minutes.

 This is what it looked like after 15 minutes....we have whipped cream.

 And now we have butter around 20 minutes. (Sort of like the curds separating from the way.)

 The girls were so surprised to see what we could make with heavy whipping cream.  The fun really starts to happen between 10 and 20 minutes of shaking as shown above.  I appreciate Counting Coconuts for posting about her extreme butter making experience a few months ago found here.
Happy Memorial Day!

Monday Fun- Baking and Pipe Cleaner Animals

Make this for breakfast, I promise you'll love it!

Aunt Eileen's Baked Oatmeal

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil or applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup any fruit you want (we added strawberries)

Mix all together, place in baking pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I baked this in my new Le Creuset rectangle baking pans that I ordered from CSN web site. The product came in 10 days and was simple to order. The Le Creuset baker is of top quality, heats evenly, and came in this lovely blue. You can really order almost anything from CSN and they even have free shipping on some items, like the one I ordered. The only downfall is that many items have hefty shipping costs. To conclude my review on CSN....yes, I would for sure order a product again, if it had free shipping.

We are also having a good time this morning making pipe cleaner animals.

I glued eye onto buttons that I purchased from Oriental Trading Company and the girls went to town twisting legs and tails for their animals. Enjoy your Monday!