{Recipe} Vanilla Coffee Creamer

I love me some Vanilla creamer for my coffee, but when I read the ingredients I was a little freaked out.

It's filled with things I cannot pronounce. No bueno!

I played around and came up with a recipe that I love and that doesn't gross me out.

Ingredients:

2 cups Milk

1 1/2 TBS Vanilla

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Yep. 3 ingredients. 

I removed the label from an empty creamer container and washed it really well.

Poor all 3 ingredients into bottle and shake shake shake!!!

I love the pour spout and the easy close lid.

This is my new favorite mug.

L.O.V.E. Owls!!!

Enjoy!

Note:

This does not last as long as store bought creamer because it is made with real ingredients and has no preservatives, so use it up within a few weeks. I go by the expiration date on the milk that I use.

You may find me linking up with some of these blogs: Fingerprints on the Fridge, Making The World Cuter, Dittle Dattle, Mad Skills Monday, Skip to my Lou, Craft O Maniac, Delicate Construction, Ask Anna, New Nostalgia, House of Grace, Sassy Sites, Not Just a Housewife, Today's Creative Blog, My Craftie Life, Sew Much Ado, Seven Thirty-Three, Someday Crafts, A Diamond in the Stuff, My Girlish Whims, Somewhat Simple, Momnivores Dilemma, Paisley Passions, Fun to Craft, Make it, Wear it, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, What Allie's Making Now, Finding Fabulous, A Little Knick Knack, Mommas Kinda Crafty, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Inspiring Creations, Be Different Act Normal, Wildflowers and Whimsy, Tatertots and Jello, The Idea Room, My Repurposed Life, Sew Many Ways, I Heart Naptime, Thirty Handmade Days, Under the Table and Dreaming, Creative Itch, Oops I Craft My Pants, Addicted 2 Decorating

{Recipe} One-Eyes

When you have chickens you get lots of eggs.

Yep, just call me Captain Obvious! HA!

One of our favorite ways to eat those eggs is making "One Eyes".

Tear a hole in a piece of bread.

Sometimes I use cookie cutters to make fun shapes,

like a heart for Valentines Day or a star for 4th of July.

Place both pieces on a buttered frying pan(med/high heat).

Crack an egg into the hole and cook until the bottom is cooked.

To check if it is ready to flip I lift a corner and if no egg spills out

I know we are good to go!

Flip it over and let it cook until nice and sealed.

The egg whites will be cooked through, but the yolk will be soft still.

Brooklyn loves these and asks for them all the time...they are a favorite around here.

Have you ever had these?

I know there are other names for this recipe, but we have always called them "One Eyes"

Oh YUM! Valentines Treat

Tomorrow is Brooklyn's class Valentine party and I wanted to send something for her to share with the class other than cupcakes. Last year 4 parents sent in cupcakes for the Valentines Party, so each kid got 4 cupcakes. Yep, 4.

I will not add to the insanity!!!

I came across a Valentine Confetti recipe posted by This Blessed Nest. It looked so pretty and sounded so yummy, but my favorite part is that it is not a cupcake! 
No offense to the cupcake moms;)

I air popped my popcorn instead of using microwave popcorn because that’s what I had. I love getting to use my adorable little air popper…it just makes me so happy!

  I still had some of these left over from making Peppermint Bark. Oh yeah!! I melted these in the microwave and then mixed it in with the popcorn.

I poured it out onto waxed paper, took red and pink sprinkles and went a little crazy;)

To help the mixture set up I put the tray in the freezer for a few minutes.

I broke it into smaller pieces and filled a sandwich bag for each of the students. Then I had Brooklyn add a scoop of Valentine M&M’s to each bag…She loved getting to help.

Jon and Brooklyn couldn’t keep their hands off of it,
so I am pretty sure it will be a hit tomorrow.

Linking up with these awesome blogs:)

Homemade Playdough

Homemade Playdough Recipe:

2 Cups of flour

1 Cup of salt

4 tsp Cream of Tartar

2 Cups water

3 Tbs oil

Food Coloring

Put all the dry ingredients in a pot, add the wet ingredients and stir continuously over low/medium heat until dough forms into a ball. 

When it is no longer sticky to the touch it is done!

Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Travis decided that the playdough needed to be liberated from the bowl.

I love the texture of homemade playdough...it is so much better than commercial playdough in my opinion. I'm kind of a diva that way;)

I love his little tongue out as he concentrates.

{Playdough Love}

I am linking up  with some of these awesome blog parties.

Making Pumpkin Puree

The other day I was getting things ready to start decorating for Christmas and had so many pumpkins that I had no idea what to do with. Throwing them out felt like such a waste, so I decided to make some puree for pies and breads.

Here are a few of the pumpkins...the two on the left are from our garden:)

Cut open the pumpkin.

Scoop out the seeds and guts with an ice cream scoop.

Save seeds for roasting! Yummmmm:)

I didn't take a picture of the next part, but I cut up the pumpkin and baked some of it at 350 degrees for about an hour. I had both ovens full and had to steam some as well. Steam small chunks with skin on for about 20 minutes. Pumpkin is ready when you can easily pierce the skin with a fork.

Remove the skin and mash. I wasn't too worried about making it super smooth as I don't know what recipes I will be using it for. I can always puree it more later if the recipe calls for it.

I scooped 2 cups of puree into each quart size ziplock bag and stacked them in the freezer. I now have 14 bags of pumpkin puree to use in recipes! Yay! Free and fresh. Gotta love it!

If Travis still ate pureed food I would have also put some into ice cube trays for easy food servings of baby food.

Amazing Banana Muffins and A Tip

My family LOVES banana bread!

I make muffins because they are perfect serving sizes and are so easy to grab
for a fast and healthy breakfast.

I usually make a couple batches at a time and freeze some for later.
They freeze really well.

The recipe I use is the Classic Banana Bread from Cooking Light.

I changed a few things:

1) I use whole wheat flour instead of white flour.

2) I add walnuts, but only to some(more on that in a sec)

3) Muffins bake faster, so I only bake for 30 minutes

Everything else is the same.

My husband and I both like walnuts in our banana bread,
but our 7 year old daughter does not.

 Here is my tip:

Make batter without nuts and scoop into the Pink muffin liners.

Then stir in the chopped walnuts(or whatever kind you like) 

and pour into the Blue and Yellow muffin liners

And here they are all done!

Pink wrappers without nuts and Blue and Yellow ones with nuts.

Now my daughter can grab a muffin and know that it is one that she likes:)

Making Baby Food: Butternut Squash

I Love Fall!

 I love butternut squash fresh from our garden...so does my 1 year old:)

Step 1: Cut squash in half and lay cut side down on a baking sheet. 

Add water to the pan to keep the squash moist while it bakes and check the water level midway through baking.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get that stuff off my pan?

Eew! No matter how hard I scrub it stays the same.

 Step 2: Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until squash is soft.

 Step 3: Let it cool and then scoop out the flesh.

Be careful not to get too close to the skin(that's where all the strings are)
and put it in a food processor.

I use the Magic Bullet and it works so great for making baby food.

Step 4: Puree until smooth.

Add water or juice to get it to the consistency that you want
(Thinner for younger babies, thicker for older ones). 

Step 5: Spoon into an ice cube tray and freeze over night,
then transfer to a labeled freezer bag.

When baby is ready to eat, pull out a few cubes and defrost!

Isn't that color yummy? 

Serving idea: Heat up a few cubes and toss with some whole wheat pasta
and some shredded zucchini.

Healthy and delicious!

I am linking up with some of these lovely blog parties:)

Making baby food: Applesauce

This is the first year that our apple tree has produced much of anything...in fact, it is loaded with apples! Alot of them were ready to pick and I knew that if we didn't get to them soon they would go to waste.

I wanted to make some applesauce for Travis(and the rest of us), so we all went out to pick some apples from our own back yard!
I love having an apple tree:)

I had to distract the boy with an apple all his own.

I think he liked it;) I took a few bites and then let him go to town while the rest of us picked apples.

Brooklyn loved picking the apples and posing with them.

 Here is my handsome husband up in the tree picking all the apples that I couldn't reach. Thanks Babe!

After you pick (or buy) your apples you need to:

1. Wash them

2. Peel them

3. Core them

4. Slice them

5. Place them in a slow cooker

(Preferably while watching McDreamy and McWarVet on Hulu)

Take apple peels and cores out to your chickens or compost pile.

Set the slow cooker on low heat for 6-8 hours.

Add 1/2 cup water to start and add more later if it needs it.

Some people season later, but I like the seasonings to cook into my apples, so I add about a 1/4 cup of sugar(brown or granulated) and a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon.

After so many hours in the slow cooker I didn't even have to mash my apples! I stirred them and they fell to mush. Yummy mush.

I filled up ice cube trays with the applesauce, covered with foil and froze overnight to make baby food cubes to feed to Travis.

Here they are all ready to be put in a labeled freezer bag to be thawed out and fed to the baby.

The rest was eaten up so fast that I am now on my 3rd batch!

What have I started???

Do you have any apple recipes that freeze or can well?

I still have a ton of apples and want to use them all up!

I am linking up to some of these parties:)

Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing

A couple weeks ago I was reading my friend Mary's blog and found a recipe for Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing. I am not one of those people who love to be in the kitchen experimenting with random recipes...I wish I could be, but I am not. I have a few simple recipes that I make and that's it. I am not a fan of recipes with 27 ingredients. A dash of this and a pinch of that and an oodle of something else; it's just not my thing. Right in the title of her blog post is "5 ingredients or less". Heck yeah! Now that's the kind of recipe I can get excited about! Add to that the fact that the name of the recipe alone had me salivating and I just had to try it.

Yesterday me, Jon and the kids went grocery shopping and I got the few things we needed to make the recipe...I was so excited! We got home and I started right away browning the pork chops and making the stuffing. As I was spreading the apple pie filling in the bottom of the pan I was giddy with excitement and Jon was in the living room trying to recover from the shock of seeing his wife in the kitchen. I took the browned pork, layed it on the apples, then covered them with the stuffing and then foil before popping the whole thing in the oven.

The recipe was everything I had hoped for it to be...it was simple and fast and the way the flavors mingled was amazing. I will definitly make this again, but next time I plan to use thinly sliced fresh apples instead of the very sugary pie filling.

Thanks for the recipe Mary! Keep the easy ones coming for those of us who are Kitchenly Challenged:)