Blessings

I would like to take a moment and talk/think about the blessings that surround us.  I'm mostly talking about me here, because mostly this blog is about me.  But I bet you could apply this to you too!  God is so GOOD!  I am so blessed, and sometimes, like now, I am so humbled and touched and just AWESTRUCK, that I want to share how awesome HE is!

Why?  Why am I so blessed?  What has me so worked up, you ask, that I'm waxing a bit religious fanatic?

Nothing HUGE.  Not like winning the lottery huge or life saving huge.  I didn't see an angel, or watch some huge media-worthy miracle.  BUT here is how awesome God is:

I usually do my major weekly grocery shopping on Mondays.  Two things happened this week that prevented my usual trip.  1.  I didn't really feel like it (definitely not a valid excuse, I know) 2.  I had a grand total of $25 in my pocket.

Ummmm...how am I going to manage this one, I asked.  Lord, how am I supposed to feed a family of 4 with $25 for a whole week?  And by the way, the gas tank was below empty.  Like....waaay below empty and I was praying the fumes would last to the gas station and I wouldn't hit too many red lights.  Oh, and by the way, I only made like $32 last week, so that means I don't have much money coming in a couple days to cover it.  Oh, and its the 1st so my husband's check is pretty well gone towards rent.  Yeah, and also there are several bills due.  And my brother Josh just got home from Afghanistan right in time for his birthday. (Which is actually part of how I got myself into this fix.  Extra trips out to my mom and dad's to visit.  Extra events to plan for.  And several extra low-level activities that added up.)  But that's ok.  I know that the Lord won't let us starve.  I KNOW that GOD IS WATCHING OUT FOR US AND HE HAS A PLAN!  So, Sunday morning I put my regular tithe in the offering plate, said a little prayer and put my faith in Him that made me.

Back to Monday.  I put  $10 in the gas tank and took Terran to school.  Then I went home and looked through my cupboards and took stock of what I could improvise into some meals.  Then, after school I went to Walmart and spent $15 on a few essentials that would help to supplement what I already had.  "We might be eating a little weird.  But we will be eating."  Was my thought at the register.  Got home and called one of my bill people who I knew I owed, but hadn't gotten a bill for yet.  It was almost half of what I had budgeted for!  I had budgeted $75.  The balance was $41.  Pheww, now at least I can buy some milk and juice!  A couple hours later I went to check the mail and our tax return had come in!  $4200.  Now, that money has also all been spoken for so I couldn't get tooooo excited, but still....  I proceeded to call the first person on the list slated for the tax check. (mixed blessing here:) I had thought we owed $400.  Turns out we owe closer to $1,052.  Ouch!  But they were willing to work out a payment plan of $133 per month starting May 25th.  Well...the good news I guess is that that means I can buy groceries!

 Also, I got ahold of another big bill person.  My student loans!  Yikes!   THis one kinda caught me off guard because I had applied for a defferment a couple months ago.  I had wondered at the time if I really qualified, but hadn't recieved notification that I had gotten denied either.  So I naturally assumed no news was good news and let it ride.  Ya...all the way till they call me this afternoon and inform me that my account is 75 days overdue and I owe 400 something dollars due immediately and how would I like to make that payment today?  My hear hit the floor...."I'm sorry....I caaan't make that payment today...I'm sorry."  I manage to say, while frantically wondering how to make this happen.  "Its ok" the nice lady says "I understand.  Now mam if we were to lower your monthly payment to $50 would you be able to resume payments in June?"  I'm floored that this is even an option!  I do a quick calculation in my head.  "yes, I think so."  and just like that my loans receive a "courtesy forebearance" to bring them up to current and my new monthly payment is $41 per month with the first payment due June 16th.

The whole point is that in 3 days I went from feeding my family a plethora of cooks surprise and raman noodles to having a REAL grocery budget, a tank of gas and being a little more on top of my bills.  And all I can say is "praise God!" 

Sometimes life gets out of hand.  Sometimes we don't know what to do.   Sometimes we wanna give in and give up.  But God always has us in His hand.  He always knows what to do.  And when we give up, He is there to take over.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I have fond memmories of making peanut butter cookies with my mom.  I think I may have gotten a little burnt out on them at some point though, because although I remember liking making them (particularly the part where I got to squish them flat with a fork) I don't ever remember really loving them.  Weird.  I liked them ok...but they were never my fave.  Oatmeal raisin cookies were my all time favorite.  Particularly the ones my Grandma Birchard used to make with me.  They were AWESOME!  And they were relatively diabetic friendly, so she could eat them with me too. 

So, why am I posting about a cookie I just told you wasn't my favorite?  Because THESE cookies have reached a tie with my all-time favorite!  I can't decide which I like best now!  Crazy.  And yummy.  And my oldest, who seemed to share my opinion of peanut butter cookies, also loves these.  So its not just me.

Sooo, without further ado:

Mix the flour (not shown because I buy 25 lbs. at a time) baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small (or medium if your doubling the recipe like me) bowl.



In another, larger, bowl cream the butters and sugars till light and fluffy.   This part always looks so yummy already!  All smooth and creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla.  You could easily do this with a stand mixer, like the recipe insinuates, but I did this all by hand.

This is my interpretation of stirring in the dry ingredients till "just incorporated".  They are pretty well mixed in but not completely, you can still see some of the flour mixture.

Add the oats and stir till its evenly combined.  And taste, because I firmly believe that you can't know if its gonna be a good cookie unless you tase the dough!  Personal opinion there, of course.  And you can give me all the lectures about raw eggs and salmonilla (spelling?) but I've been taste-testing raw cookie dough since I can remember and haven't gotten sick from it yet!

Roll into even sized balls.  I used a tablespoon for this part and, although my recipe doesn't actuall say to, I lightly spray my cookie sheet with cooking spray.  I also dip both my tablespoon and my hands into that bowl of warm water, so that the dough doesn't stick to my hands as much.  Of course, this could be completely unnecessary if you have an appropriate sized cookie scoop, but I do not.  You do need to space them far enough apart though.  Don't overcrowd because these DO spread quite a bit.

Bake 10-15 minutes until just barely golden brown around the edges.  They will be soft and almost doughy, and slightly puffy when you first take them out.  THAT IS NORMAL!  Do NOT overbake these!  As they cool (and I highly recommend you allow them to cool a few min on the cookie sheet) they will "set" and flatten out a little.  In the end you end up with a delicious, lightly crispy, cookie.

See?
*Note: These were originally intended to be sandwich cookies, but I'm not patient enough for that extra step.  In my head I keep telling myself "next time I WILL make the filling and make these the way they were intended" But I never get around to it. 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

slightly adapted from annies-eats.com

3/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

8 TB. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. oats

In small bowl combine flour, soda, baking powder and salt.  In large bowl of stand mixer cream together butter, peanut butter and both sugars till light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined.  Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.  Stir in oats till fully and evenly combined.  Roll into evenly portioned balls and place on cookie sheet a couple inches apart.  Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.



Pean



My "Test Kitchen" What pans are acceptable to me

Did anyone else use to sit and love watching Americas Test Kitchen on PBS?  I seriously used to stop what I was doing just to sit and watch that show.   Did I ever use any of the recipes?  Ummm...no.  Personally its really hard for me to follow recipes from cooking shows because a.) they talk really really fast so I can't write down ingredients and steps. b.) this was all before I had ever had a satelite...let alone a dvr...so there was no option to pause, rewind or rewatch. c.) I don't believe t.v.s belong in the kitchen. (or the bedroom either but I've given ground on this account) So, although I never tried any of their actual recipes, I did lear a lot from the show.

My favorite part was when they actually put things to the test.  What brand tortillas was actually best and why?  Why should you spend that much on a certain set of knives?  What cheese was best for that recipe and why?  Sooooo......now that I've started recently spending so much time in my own kitchen I have discovered a few things myself.

1.)  I HATE teflon/nonstick pans.  BLAH!  Whos terrible idea were they anyhow?  I invariably end up ruining them.  They wear out quickly (broken handles, cracked coating etc.) and I'm pretty sure they can't be healthy either.

So, what would I prefer to use and why?

Cast Iron- because these pans are pretty much indestructable with low maintnance.  And I can use a metal spatula to scrape things off the bottom, or a metal scrubby to scrub crusted junk.  Also, They heat well and more evenly.  And are super versatile so you can use them outdoors over a campfire, in the oven, or on the stovetop and expect the same results!  Whats not to love about that?

or........

Stainless Steel- Because once again these are durable and I can use metal.  Also, they are easy to clean with a simple solution of baking soda and vinegar or a metal scrubbie.  I have had the same stainless steel set of pots for probably 6 or 7 years...none of my non stick pans can claim that lifespan!

If I have to use a non stick/ teflon pan, then I would only recommend Farberware.  Why?  Because America's Test Kitchen said they were a great brand.  And also, the one non stick pan in my cupboard with singularily the longest lifespan is a farberware.  It needs replaced because of course I did a non-inteligent thing and left it on a hot stovetop and now the bottom leaves little black specks in the food.  My fault entirely...I acknowlege this.  Poor pan.

So there you have it...
First Place- Cast Iron
Second- Stainless Steel
Third- Farberware ( but you still need to be careful with them)

There are no runners up....all the other ones I have experience with are NOT WORTH IT!

Grocery Stores, food, and nutrition

Do you ever wonder how much we lost with technology?  I mean you can go into any grocery store at almost any given time and pick up an entire meal without batting an eyelash.  It could be a complete meal from a deli, or a boxed meal from the shelves, or individual ingredients to take home and transform into a meal.  The choices are limitless, and they are all within our reach.

But when was the last time you REALLY thought about all that convenience?  Do you read the ingredients on packages?  Do you know what they are?  How to pronounce them?  Do you care so long as dinner is ready on time?

I just recently started REALLY REALLY paying attention.  It started with my finding out that Pepsi is made by using aborted human fetuses.  YUCK!  True story, by the way....I didn't believe it either, so I looked it up.  As if that isn't bad enough, Kraft and Nestle do the same thing in the making of their products!  Double, and TRIPLE YUUUUUCCCKK!  And of course the ultimate shocker?  President Obama has declared this "business as usual".  WHAT?!!!  If they can seriously do THAT to our food, what else is in there?

I don't know.  Thats the problem.  And I'm not looking to take college level chemistry classes to try to decipher those unknown ingredients either.   So that is what got me to where I am now.  Making as much as possible from "scratch".  

I was blessed to inherit my Grandma Birchard's old Betty Crocker Cook Book (copywrited 1956).  I love it.  I love the comments.  I love the nestalgia.  I love that almost everything that I've ever tried to make from the recipes comes out nearly perfect.  And I love reading the little tips and tidbits so lovingly included.  Of course, some of it is purely humorous in todays society, though maybe still applicable? "If you're tired from overwork, Household chores you're bound to shirk.  Read these pointers tried and true And discover what to do."  Those "pointers" by the way, are things like "wear comfortable clothes and shoes while working" "Use good posture" and "harbor pleasant thoughts". 

I would love to see what the grocery stores were like back then.  I would love to look at the things they had on the shelves.  Apparently, up until the 50s there were hundreds of small little grocery stores all over the place.  Did they have "convenience foods"?  What were the ingredients in those?  I know my grandparents were all farm kids.  They grew a lot of their own food.  And even into my parents generation my mom will tell you that things like bottled juice were almost non-existant in their household.  They worked.  They supported themselves.  And I bet they could pronounce all of the ingredients in their food and had a pretty good idea as to where it came from.  What an awesome concept......

Waiting & Waiting & Waiting & ..... TWINKIES

I'm unreasonably excited for Drake to get home from school.  Terran is too...we've been counting the minutes.  Only 5ish more to go!  So...what were we doing in the meantime?  Baking of course!

I know they aren't beautiful....but trust me....they are AWESOME!  They are............Homemade Twinkies!

I won't give your the recipe though, because I didn't come up with it.  But you can get it yourself at:  loveveggiesandyoga.com  

I followed it pretty much exactly.  Except I didn't have her nifty pan.  And I used Plain yogurt.   And hers were much prettier. 

Anyhow, I definitely recommend them to you! 

And as an added bonus:  A totally kid-friendly baking project!  Both boys loved helping put the marshmellows on, there wasn't much to make a mess with, only dirtied one bowl and the pan and they are done in about 30 min or so (start to finish)!  TADAAAA!

It's FRIDAY...

I have a confession:  I caved this morning.  Six more days to go and I logged on to facebook.  But only becasue I didn't want my brother to feel abandoned.  I got a text last night from my other brother saying that Josh wanted people to quit quitting facebook.  Josh is in Afghanistan.  He doesn't have a lot of ways to keep in touch with people.  So he won.

So Friday means a few things around my house lately:
  1. Ever since I found allfortheboys.com an their "build-a-fort friday" activity, and Drake got a Build A Fort Kit for his birthday, they LOVE to get to sleep in whatever fort is created for the weekend.  They ask (or beg) all week long to be able to sleep in their fort.  Its a big deal to them, and I don't care as long as its not a school night.
  2.  It's payday today.  YAY!  Payday is always a good thing right?  Even when you're still broke like us and all the money already has a place to go?
  3.  It's my last full day for the week.  Already?  Yep, tomarrow is Sat. so I only work a 1/2 day, which is nice by design, but could mean bad things for MY check on Wed.
  4.  And this is really the most important one, only 2 more days till SUNDAY!!!  EEEEK!  Why am I such a stinkin procrastinator?  Yikes!  I'm in trouble.  I know it.  Why?

WEEELLL....My church is throwing a babyshower for lifeway pregnancies, which is a local non-profit organization that offers free services to women such as pregnancy testing, counciling, etc.  All wonderful stuff.  So they were asking for layette items and hand-made blankets.  Awesome.  I got to talking to the lady organizing the shower about blankets specifically and she was saying that that was the one thing she didn't really expect to get many of because she didn't think many ladies at our church sewed.  I sew.  I also make blankets.  I'm a total beginner, but this IS something I do.  So I sort of maybe volunteered myself to make a few.  She was SOO excited.  And then I put it off.  And put it off.  And procrastinated just a tad more.  Thus the above panic.  Now I only have 2 days and only 1 quilt made. 

Fortunately,  they come together pretty quick.  And I raided my own fabric scraps for material, so I have all the material I need.  (Hopefully there are a lot of boy layettes since all I have are boy fabrics!)  So it's just a few hours work and actually getting it done. 

I better get to it then.......(The first one was SO cute!  I'll post pics when they are done! and maybe my own version of a tutorial?)

Days up to whatever day this is :)

So...I have been bad.  I haven't been posting anything new and exciting lately.  I also have not been on facebook.  At least I haven't caved in right? 

Saturday was my birthday.  It was fun.  My husband had fire training all day so, unfortunately, he didn't get to come to my "party", but we just went to my mom and dads' house for cake and such.  Nothing big, but isn't it always the small and simple get-togethers that mean the most?  They are for me.  My dad psychically knew I was in need of some new kitchen towels, which really was awesome and perfect timing! and my ex-sister-in-law (long story there) gave me a couple of shirts (of a most comfortable variety) and an ipod!  I was so shocked! 

I was, of course, super excited.  But I am a total ipod virgin and the very first thing I did was to accidentally delete all the content.   OOOPS.  The next thing was to realize an immediate problem....

The cord to the earphones gets caught on stuff.  And, unless you happen to be wearing pockets (which I was not) then you have to actually carry the thing around with you.  Not practical for my every-day usage.  So I set to work to find a way to solve said problem.

This is what I came up with:

(I was impatient....I still needed to trim the stray threads :) ) 

Not bad.  I think I may still play with some different designs and styles, but overall it does what I needed it to do.