Recipes

Okay, for those of you who requested recipes, here they are:

Pop Tarts (this is for Brown Sugar Cinnamon but with extra pastry dough, we added plum jelly to some and Tigerfan and Dancer loved it...we are going to play around with fillings next time).

This recipe is from Sticky Cook. She has a lot of great preservative free recipes so you should check her out if interested.

For the pastry:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cubed

2 Tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup really cold water

1 egg, beaten, for brushing on the dough

For the filling:

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

4 teaspoons all-purpose flour

For the icing:

¾ cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

In a large mixing bowl, cut the flour and butter together with a pastry cutter or two knives. Add the sugar and salt and mix well. Add the cold water and mix until just combined (if needed, add extra water, 1 teaspoon at a time). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the filling ingredients. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the pastry dough, as thin as possible, then cut with a sharp knife into rectangles (you will probably have to do this in batches). Brush half of the rectangle with the beaten egg, then top the center of the brushed rectangles with a generous amount of the filling mixture (don’t spread all the way to the edges). Top with the un-brushed rectangles. Using a fork, press all the sides of the tarts, sealing the edges. Prick the top of the tarts a few times with a fork, to allow venting. Brush with the egg. Bake on a greased baking sheet (I use cooking spray) for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Combine the icing ingredients, adding a little more milk if necessary. Spread on cooled tarts.

Okay, now for the Green Smoothie:

For a single portion size, I use:

1/2 cup cold water

1 large handful (about half of a bag) of spinach

Blend these together until well blended and smooth.

Add 1 frozen banana. My sister sometimes uses an avocado but I haven't tried this yet (I think I am going to today). This is for the creaminess. The banana will give it a banana flavor which I don't mind. My sister says that the avocado gives it the texture without adding any flavor so if you don't like banana, give this a try.

Then I just throw in whatever fruit I happen to have on hand. My favorites are apples, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi. I usually add a couple of different kinds and a little flax seed.

When I first started making these, I added a little sugar or honey for sweetness, but I don't do that anymore...I think they are perfect without it, but a lot of people do add a little sweetener.

Blend all together and enjoy!

I know for you non spinach people, this sounds disgusting but the fruit masks the spinach...I promise. If you add blueberries, it will take on kind of a brownish color rather than the bright green. If you can get past the look, it is really good and a nice healthy snack!

Hey Good Lookin' Whatcha Got Cookin'?

Thought I'd catch all the friends and fam up on some holiday activities. I am fully aware that the holidays are, in fact, over but in my usual time managed challenged self way, I haven't actually shared much. So today, we will discuss holiday baking.

I think we have previously established that my love of baking and consuming said baked products has led to a very unhollywood like figure. I just can't seem to resist and while I haven't seemed to pass that love of all things baked on to Boys 1 or 2, I am working hard to convert the youngest of the clan. As you can see, they are quite helpful.

In case you can't tell from these pictures, Tigercub has learned "cheese" and is actually quite accomplished at it. When the lens opens, the grin starts!

As you can see, I am training him well in the consumption of Christmas confections. If you happened to have partaken of those cookies...do not worry. He had his own stash, own knife own icing...no baby slobber was added to public cookies!

And finally, we have the before and after. It may not look like much, but about half way into that pile, everyone is tired of frosting and the silliness begins. Because we are a family friendly blog, I chose not to share the anatomically correct gingerbread men designed by Tigerfan, but you are also missing out on the breast cancer awareness cookie he designed and placed near them! I am pretty sure we will not get our cookies on the cover of a magazine or anything...but Santa has never turned them down!

This week, I am trying to rid myself of holiday sweets and start working off the effects of calorie overload. I started off great. Exercised this morning, watched my calories and even kept track of them online. I have a week's menu planned full of hopefully delicious recipes from my new "Cook Yourself Thin" cookbook and I was very good at the grocerry store and stuck to my list even avoiding my true love, the Oops we baked to much rack! That is until about 9:00 when the effects of getting back into a routine hit and I decided to reward myself with a Twix and a Diet Coke...so much for exercise. However, on the bright side, that is one less caloric treat to lure me away from low calorie success. Oh well, there is always tomorrow! Unfortunately there is also still a Snickers bar and a muffin Tigerfan put in my stocking...I mean, it would be rude to let them go to waste, right?

Green Smoothies

I finally did it! I jumped on the bandwagon.

My momma gave me a blender for my birthday and so today was the day. I prepared a green smoothie, a little skeptical that it would be as delicious as claimed.

People...it was GREAT! This from a confirmed, dyed in the wool, down to my toes junk food junkie! It was really good!

Now I can get all my veggies in EVERY DAY! Yay me!

For any interested, I looked on several sights and just combined ideas. Basically, I put 1 1/2 cups cold water into the blender and filled it with spinach. Once it was all mixed together, I added a banana, some apple and some strawberries, added a touch of sugar and some flax seed. Blended it all up and drank away.

In the future, I will make sure my fruit is frozen to make the smoothie a bit colder, other than that...no changes. I look forward to experimenting with different greens and different fruits...my sis even suggested a little ice cream in place of the banana and sugar. That way, I get the creaminess that the banana adds and the sweetness but without the overwhelming banana flavor!

So, if ever you have considered trying one...I highly recommend them, they really are good!

Because Obviously, I Have Too Much Time on My Hands

It is Wednesday and I LOVE Wednesday. I know that is weird, but it means Bible Study and I LOVE Bible Study. Each week a different lady brings snacks for the group. This was my week. Now, I love bringing snacks because I like to cook, bake, etc. but my family is PICKY! So, when I find an interesting new recipe, I will save it and use my ladies as guinnea pigs.

So, today I tried to make Mini Caramel Apples. They should have looked like this. They did not look like that. Apparently I should have gone on-line BEFORE the fact and read the comments. You know, like about how the toppings DO NOT STICK! Now, according to one commenter, if I had rolled them in flour first, all would have been good. But, alas, I did not. We had a wonderful time making them. Dancer helped out choosing nuts, and chocolate, and sprinkles, and coconut to roll in...sounds yummy, huh!

Unfortunately, the finished product does not look quite as good as that glossy magazine photo. It looks more like...disaster! caramel, sprinkles, chocolate, nuts all in a blobby puddle at the bottom of a little apple scoop!

One wonders, what made me do this to begin with? Like I do not have enough to do...and I think we have well established in the past weeks that I am not handling my normal duties with a whole lot of grace. Why oh why would I add something like this to my schedule. On a school day. When Baby is sickly. I am a sick woman!

And, I am not even getting to go! Tigerfan is delivering for me because I am staying home with the baby! Who, by the way, is apparently taking after his mother in the weird things he likes because he has turned down almost all forms of nourishment today. EXCEPT plain, unflavored Pedialyte. He is drinking that nasty stuff like water in a desert! I guess I should be glad that he is consuming something, but I have really got to work with him on his choices!

Totally meant to add a picture of the end result...took it, can't get it off camera. It is 9:00 and we haven't eaten supper, so the picture is going by the wayside...use your imagination!!! :)