Use Your Words: September 2014

Hello, friends!

Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado. This is how it works: 11 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, but there's a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featured in this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they were given and how they used them. 

My words are: Lemony pancakes ~ phone marketer ~ zoo ~ car insurance ~ yell ~ laundry

They were submitted by the wonderful Tamara@ Confessions of a part-time working mom  

The "Before-Dinner-Snack"

Weekday afternoons are often like a zoo around here. At three o'clock, the kids start coming home from school. Before the front door closes, they're yelling about one thing or another. Usually, it's announcing that a friend (or three) has tagged along, or asking loudly if the laundry they had balled up under their bed has been washed. 

I'm commonly multitasking by asking about homework or reminding the kids to pick up their shoes/jackets/backpacks while ALSO telling telephone marketers that I am NOT interested in lowering my car insurance rates/ buying a new roof/ completing a survey, etc.

It gets to be a bad rhythm around here; from three to five o'clock every day. There's always a bit of chaos, exhaustion, bickering, and non-connection. Definitely, our proudest moments are NOT happening at that time of day.

Some days, we just have to slow down. The shoes can be put away later. I don't need to yell about where the laundry chute is located five times a week. We all need to remember to breathe...and eat.

Ten years from now, my kids won't remember what the homework was. I won't remember who I was mad at for not putting their clothes away. What we will recall are the moments we did something completely unexpected. 

Like the time I made lemony pancakes at 3:30 in the afternoon. With whipped cream and thick syrup. No rhyme nor reason; just because. I had no idea what we would be having having for dinner that night. All that mattered was that we were going to sit down, eat something rich, and talk about our day. We didn't make a four-course meal OR healthy choices that day, but we did make some sweet memories. :)

The "Let's Just Eat!" guide to Lemony Pancakes 

Ingredients: Lemon boxed cake mix, 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cup water, 1/3 cup oil

Optional: Syrup, yogurt, fresh fruit, whipped cream

Make cake mix according to the directions on the box.

Scoop mix onto a hot griddle@ 325 degrees. The smaller the pancake, the better. Mine were too big.

When the pancakes start to bubble, slow-roll them over (like crepes) Cook thoroughly.

Stack on plates. If you're making more than needed, sprinkle with powdered sugar for easy separation later. The pancakes taste like cupcake tops. They can be served warm or cold.

Let the kids serve themselves up and enjoy.

 AFTER savoring your time together, remind the youngest to hang up his coat. Hey, we don't live in a zoo!

Make your memories on your own terms, friends :)
-Michele

Thanks for the words, Tamara!!

Baking in a Tornado                              

Spatulas on Parade                          

Stacy Sews and Schools                     

Sparkly Poetic Weirdo                                   

Evil Joy Speaks                        

Someone Else's Genius                            

Confessions of a part-time working mom                              

Follow Me Home                            

The Bergham's Life Chronicles                          

The Sadder but Wiser Girl                                    

Battered Hope                                 

Use Your Words- August 2014: Short and SWEET!

Hello, friends!

Today’s post is a writing challenge created by Karen @ Baking in A Tornado. This is how it works: 11 participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, but there's a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who received their words or in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featured in this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they were given and how they used them. 

My words are: 

Potatoes ~ hippopotamus ~ cannon ~ bug spray ~ orange submarine

They were submitted by: Sarah@ http://themomisodes.com   

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? 

Well, for this challenge, I decided to use all of my words in photos.  I was able to "USE" the words and "EAT" them :)

So, thank you, Sarah. Not only for the awesome words, but for giving me an excellent excuse to bake the day away with my boys.

            

I didn't have cookie-cutters for many of the words, so C. cut them by hand for me.

J. loves to ice the cookies. Lila loves to watch.

Without further ado, here are my "words".

Potatoes

Hippopotamus

Cannon

Bug Spray

Orange Submarine

Thanks again for the words, Sarah!

Have a sweet day, my friends :)

Check out the other participants in today's Use Your Words Challenge!

Baking in a Tornado                                       

Spatulas on Parade                          

The Momisodes                                      

Confessions of a part-time working mom               

Juicebox Confession                             

Evil Joy Speaks                 

Follow me home                   

Someone Else's Genius                       

Crumpets and Bollocks                       

The Bergham's Life Chronicles              

The Sadder but Wiser Girl                       

* sending love to Stacy @Stacy Sews and Schools, a regular contributor to these challenges. She's unable to participate this week for personal reasons. Keep her in your thoughts. We miss you, girl.

-Michele

Day 22 of Forty- Happy Pi Day!

I warned you when I started this whole "writing-for-40-days" thing that there would be a bit of chocolate involved. I may have used the word, "BOATLOAD"; I can't be sure.

Alas, it IS March 14, aka Pi Day. 3.14 You get it. It's suppose to celebrate the math constant, Pi- a name given to the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter. I think. I taught Kindergarten for a reason, man. All I really remember is that Pi is 3 point 1415926 -infinity, and if you correct me rather that give me your favorite pie recipe, I will have to recalculate our friendship...

The important question here is: Who would ever turn down the opportunity to actually eat PIE on Pi Day?  That's like messing with fate and why would anyone dare do that?

The middle child has awarded himself as the biggest pie-lover in all the land. I tend to believe it only because I know his genetics. Pie runs deep in our family. My favorite non-chocolate dessert in the whole world is my grandmother's fresh strawberry pie. Even typing those words causes me to tear up. Grandma used to make everything from scratch. To say that God put that beautiful woman on the earth solely to make a fruit pie may be exaggerating; but only by a little. It is THAT good. Ask my sister. She feels the same about Gram's Cherry pie. Mmm.

Since I'm across the country and that dreamy dessert is out-of-season,  I'll share with you our family's celebratory pie. Of course it's chocolate. It's me, remember? No need to pass this recipe down to anyone; there isn't one thing in it made from scratch. No one needs to know that, though. They just need to eat it.

Give it a try sometime. If you're like us, you don't need a special day on the calendar to eat sweets. Every day is "Pie Day". Or "Cookie Day". Or "Brownie Day". Oh, you understand...

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Pie.

You'll need:

*3 cups of Chocolate Animal Crackers or Chocolate Graham Crackers or....wait for it...crushed up Chocolate Chip Cookies.


*1/4 cup melted butter


*Tub of Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (or any flavor)


*Chocolate Chips (I used regular semi-sweet chips and mini chocolate chips.


*Tub of Whipped topping


*Chocolate Sauce


*Pie plate, cookie sheet, bowls, potato masher or fork, wood spoon

1. Butter pie plate and set aside.

2. On a baking sheet or in a baggie, smash Animal Crackers until crumbly.

3. In a bowl, mix cookies with melted butter and a little chocolate sauce. You need it to be a consistency that will allow you to press the mixture into the pie pan. This is your crust.

4. Stir ice cream in a bowl until smooth enough to pour and fill the pie shell.

5. Sprinkle chocolate chips onto the ice-cream (about 1/2 cup).

6. Spread whipped topping on top of the chips/ ice-cream.

7. Sprinkle more chips on top of the whipped topping. I used mini chips for this part.

8. If desired, (um, REALLY?) drizzle that chocolate sauce on top. Freeze for at least 20 minutes.

9. Eat that baby UP!! You can inhale it (like me) or you can savor it like only a true pie connoisseur can..

Your turn. What is your favorite kind of pie? Non-pie lovers need not comment. I can't read that kind of negativity here. ;)

Happy Pi Day, otherwise known here as "Wednesday"

Day 20 of Forty- Easy Double Chocolate Cookies

Double who? Double what? That's right, girls. Double chocolate CREAM cookies. I know. Lets take a minute to say that aloud. Double.. Chocolate...oh, who cares after that part?

If you are out of your girl scout cookies (Shhh) or if you've thrown out all your sweets in the name of eating healthy (who are you?) or even if you're just craving some cocoa, these are the easiest cookies in the world to make. They may not last long, but if you get the dough out of the bowl and into the oven without looking like you've rubbed chocolate on your mouth the way one would apply lipstick, you are already so much better off than me. Or my 18 year old for that matter. Thank you Good Lord for a daughter who understands the urgency of a good chocolate cookie.

This is what you'll need. Run! Now!

* A box of Chocolate cake mix. Because I have no self control, I bought TRIPLE chocolate fudge cake mix. Yes, the cookies are called Double Chocolate, but come on. I've eaten half the dough so we're already left with something less than that....don't judge. What's a little salmonella in the name of cookies?

* 2 Eggs.  We are blessed to have a beautiful family next door who raise hens. Fresh Eggs. Unless you are a Vegan, rejoice!

* 1/2 cup of oil. I use good old Crisco. You choose. (We are not engaged in a heart-healthy event here.)

* Marshmallow Cream

* Chocolate Sauce. I use Hershey's... I think it's the only brand I know of.

* Some mixing bowls, measuring spoons, wooden spoons, (I like to stir mixes like this with a fork; it's up to you.) a knife to spread filling, a cookie dough scoop or a tablespoon, cookie pans and parchment paper, (Only if you use it regularly. Cookies straight on the pan is fine..) and a cooling rack.

*Oven pre-heated to 350 degrees

Here we go:

1. In a large bowl, mix eggs, oil and cake mix. It will look like dough, not cake batter.

2. When thoroughly mixed, drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie pans. I fit 9-12 to a pan; depending on size.

3. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Cool for 1 minute on pan, then transfer to cooling rack.

4. In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups of Marshmallow fluff with 1/2 cup of Chocolate sauce. I've been making these so long, I barely measure anymore. Try not to mix in too much chocolate sauce; (you know you want to..) you need the mixture to be spreadable, not spill-able.

5. When the cookies have cooled, spread the chocolate cream on the back of one cookie and sandwich with another cookie.

6. If you want, you can roll them in chocolate chips. Or try different flavors of cake, add mint to the cream, dip them in chocolate, freeze them, add ice-cream instead of marshmallow fluff.. I don't care. Make them however you like. Just make them and tell me what you think.

Makes 24-30 cookies (12-15 sandwich cookies)

Happy, Happy Chocolatey Monday, friends!

Day 14 of Forty: Happy Birthday, Oreo!

The Oreo cookie turned 100 years old today! At our house, that was something to celebrate. I bought a package of the cookies just for the occasion but had to hide them until today, you know, so I wouldn't eat them.

Here is a cute project I did with the kids after school in honor of OREO's special day.  A "project" is the perfect excuse to use when mama needs some sugar.

Since yet another snowstorm is on its way,  I went with building "Oreo Penguins".

Do you want to make some? You will need:

 *Two Oreos for each penguin. (I hand out three because let's face it, an artist has to eat.)

*Mini Chocolate Chips

*Various cookie decorations (Candy Corn make great beaks and feet!)

*Clean Hands (It's flu season, kids!)

1. Pass out Oreos (3 each). I started out by telling my kids one of my favorite sayings: "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit!" -that means if you break your Oreo, you CAN'T take your sibling's cookie out of anger. (I'm talking to you, 18-year old..)

2. Carefully break the cookie open and slide the top up about halfway. Press softly.

3. Open another cookie. Take the half that doesn't have a lot of filling and break that in half. These will be your wings. With right sides up, flip both halves so the broken parts face the outside and attach to the belly of your penguin. (right under the head.)

4. Use the filling from second cookie as your "glue." Take pieces of filling and use it to attach the penguin's eyes (chocolate chips). Then attach the beak and feet. Like I said, Candy Corn works great for this. We didn't have any, so we just used candy dots and candy hearts. Use whatever you have on hand..

5. When I showed the kids my penguin, the youngest said it looked like an owl :(  Yep, save the kindness for someone else.

After that, we made another and purposely made it into an owl.

THAT turned into a flock of little birds..

Then, because it is MY family, the kids veered off-course into "one-upping" each other and created a few more species from the Animal Kingdom.

It wasn't EXACTLY my plan.  It never is.  But I loved every second of having the kids together. I loved it SO much, I even shared the cookies with the kids. Okay, I shared the penguin with the kids.

That friends, WAS my plan :)

Thanks to Nabisco, for a fun Tuesday afternoon.

I hope you enjoyed a sweet Tuesday! :)

Sweet Saturday

"School, writing, and paying the bills is good, but enjoying the interaction with that little family you and your husband made is something that is very very special. You all are good people." 

I was gifted this bit of advice from a friend I have reconnected with recently. I received a genuinely kind note from them after the death of my grandmother in June and we have been talking back and forth ever since.

I had been busy running around, worried about lots of different things lately: errands, work, my husband's work, my shop, some friends, my children's school....a whirlwind of everything, when I got that message in my inbox.

Have you heard the statement, "God is always on time."? Well he is. A friend I haven't seen since 1988 found the words I needed to read. Words I needed to live. My family is my most cherished possession, yet I was beginning to take it all for granted..

I felt like I hadn't had the permission to put the people that live in this house first. Like other things should matter more. How could that be? And then I realized... it was me who was not allowing the priorities. I'm going to work really hard at righting that wrong...anyway, I wanted to acknowledge that "aha" moment and thank B., my very wise, brand-new, old friend.

First up? Being present with my middle child, who helped me in the kitchen making our Fantasy Fudge". The rest of the family? They did their part: making it disappear...together. :)

Enjoy your weekend, friends :)

Fantasy Fudge- As always, vary as you like :)

Ingredients:

2 bags of peanut butter chips (or butterscotch, Carmel, or vanilla chips)
2 small cans of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated!)
1 bag of chocolate chips (bittersweet or milk)
1/2 cup of crushed peanuts (or Heath bar bits, marshmallows or pretzels), 1/4 extra for topping

any size pan (glass or metal.) smaller pan for thicker fudge, cake size pan for @1 inch thick fudge
tin foil to line pan
glass measuring cups or bowls to microwave chips in
rolling pin and baggie to smash filling in or just buy crushed peanuts.
Mixing spoons, large knife for cutting
microwave
fridge

 

line baking pan with foil...

#1. Melt two bags of peanut butter chips in the microwave. Use 30 second intervals, stopping to stir each time. It usually takes me three intervals.

#2 Slowly stir in 2 cans of condensed milk

#3 Crush peanuts or other fillings and slowly incorporate those into the batter. You have to work somewhat quickly as the mixture can start to harden.

#4 Pour mixture into a foil-lined pan. Put the pan into a refrigerator for about 45 minutes.

#5. Melt 1 to 1 and a half cups of chocolate chips in the microwave. Intervals of thirty seconds.

#6. Spread onto top of refrigerated mixture.

#7. Use your favorite toppings while the chocolate is still melted. We like peanuts or crushed pretzels for a salty-sweet treat. Return to fridge for another 30 minutes....You can wait, I know you can!!

#8. Remove from the fridge, cut into manageable squares. The fudge is really rich. Put onto parchment paper to solidify a bit. I use cupcake cups. 

Enjoy! They last about 2 days out...As with everything sweet at our house, I have no research beyond that time frame :)