What do you do without chocolate chips?

Last week I found myself wanting something sweet.  Of course we don’t have sweets in the house mostly unless I make them.  I usually have my homemade chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer, but we had eaten that all up.  I needed to go to the grocery store so I had no cocoa and no chocolate chips.  Arg, what was I to do?  Then I began to look through my church cookbook (Thanks Mt. Comfort Bible Church).  I found these cookies:

Blue Ribbon Peanut Butter Cookies

1 1/4 c. of flour (I used half whole wheat)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. butter (or margarine if you must)

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

sugar

Stir together flour, soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy, then add peanut butter and sugars; beat well until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well.  Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll in granulated sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and crisscross with fork tines until cookie is slightly flattened.

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes.  Cool about 1 minute before removing.  Best if cooled on a  wire rack.

Makes approximatley 48 cookies.

These were delicious.  One reason I love them is that you don’t have to use shortening.  I also have another bit of advice, don’t forget the peanut butter.  I had them rolled in sugar and I was ready to crisscross all of them when I realized I had forgotten the main ingredient.  I just smooshed them back into the dough and added the peanut butter and they still turned out good.

Happy Thursday!

Blueberry Breakfast Bars . . . Yummy!

I love blueberries.  They are so yummy.  I have been buying them and freezing them every chance I get.  I found this recipe and knew I had to try them so I did.  The original recipe is from here, but I will post it for you now.

Blueberry Breakfast Bars

(12 servings)
**Base and Topping**

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine — melted
• **Filling**
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries — rinsed and drained (*I used frozen)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8″ square baking pan with foil, letting ends extend above pan on 2 sides.

In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until evenly moistened (mixture will be crumbly). Reserve 1/2 cup crumb mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture evenly and firmly over bottom of ungreased, foil-lined pan.

Bake 12 min. to set crust.

Filling: In a small saucepan stir berries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice over med. heat until simmering.

Simmer, stirring occasionally, until juices are no longer cloudy, about 2 min. Spoon over crust.

Crumble reserved crumb mixture over top.

Bake for 30 min. Let cool completely in pan. Lift foil by ends onto a cutting board. Peel off foil; cut into 2″ squares.

And there you have it.  Okay, so I know, I am not the best food photographer. For more food ideas please visit:

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace

Tasty Tuesday

Menu Plan Monday and THE BEST WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE!

I have been searching and searching for a really good 100% whole wheat bread recipe that tasted good and I HAVE FINALLY FOUND IT!  I am sure you don’t understand how exciting this is for me because I have tried A LOT of recipes.  Most of these recipes kind of had an after taste.  I know that going 100% whole wheat does take some getting used it.  It isn’t your grocery store whole wheat.  It tastes different.

This recipe is so good.  It is light and fluffy and not dense and oh so yummy.  I do think ingredients are important when making this.  The type of flour you use is very important.  I do not grind my own flour, but I do think that makes the best bread.  For my recipe, I used Bob’s Red Mill white whole wheat flour.  I have some King Arthur’s in my fridge that I am going to try next so we will see if that is as good.  I am sure it will be.  Sorry about the picture, as you can see we already enjoyed almost all of it before I remembered to take the picture.

So I bet you are thinking, okay now share the recipe.  The recipe is here at the Urban Homemaker.

2 TB honey
2 TB oil
1 1/2 C water (90 – 100F)
1 1/2 tsp Real Salt
3 1/2 C fresh whole wheat flour
2 tsp Dough Enhancer
3 TB Vital Gluten

1 1/2 tsp SAF Instant Yeast

It is very important that you use the Vital Gluten and the dough enhancer.  Do not just omit those.  I made my own dough enhancer from a cookbook.  You can find several recipes floating out there.  Also, I bought my Vital Gluten at Kroger.  You can get it there or at a health food store.

She gives all options as far as bread machine, hand method and mixer method. I used the bread machine method.  She also gives variations that you can use with this bread dough.  I tried the cinnamon pull aparts (homemade monkey bread) and they were so good.  Even my husband liked them (even though he doesn’t love whole wheat stuff).  He thought that next time I should try to put pecans in them.

Now onto my menu plan:

Eric’s Easy Grilled Chicken, sweet corn and a salad

Sour Cream Enchiladas and more sweet corn

Grilled steaks, twice baked potatoes and salad

Homemade pizza

Basil Chicken and Pasta Bake (or as my cousin calls it “Puke on a Plate”)

Leftovers one night

Dinner with my husband one night

For more menus, please visit Menu Plan Monday at Org Junkie.com.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good

I am sorry about my whining in my last post.   So today I am not going to whine.  Above is a picture of some of the things from my garden.  I have more green beans, some carrots and one lonely little strawberry.   Not pictured are my Roma tomatoes.  So instead of whining today  I am thanking the Lord for the many blessings in my life.  Even if I am sleep deprived there is a purpose and my son is worth it.  Oh and about my hair, it is definitely lighter with a tint of red, but I like it.

I will leave you with some verses from Psalm 34 (which is where I got the title to this post):

⁴ I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
⁶ This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel^[a] of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.

⁸ Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
⁹ Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.

Verses from Biblegateway.com

I’m very, very sleepy

I don’t remember being this tired after the birth of my other children.  I do remember with my first child, calling my best friend Heather and asking how long the sleepless nights last.  She told me if I could make it four months I would be doing well.  FOUR MONTHS – what!  I could barely make it two weeks.  Have I mentioned I like my sleep?  Well, at about 8 weeks my son was sleeping through the night and I was doing pretty decent.

I don’t even remember what happened with my second child, but I do remember crying at night when everyone else got to go to sleep and I know that when I went to sleep I would soon be interrupted (ah, motherhood).  Of course she eventually slept through the night as well and both my children are very good sleepers (and nappers).

I am at week 4 (over 30 days) of not getting a full nights sleep.   In fact I haven’t slept for more than 3 consecutive hours since June 20th.  I am slightly grouchy.  My poor husband bears the brunt of this, but he has been so helpful.  He really has done a lot.

I haven’t baked anything in so long.  I have barely cooked in several weeks.  I am just too tired.  I am afraid I might put something weird in the recipe so I don’t quite trust myself quite yet.  I have been picking some produce from my garden.  I don’t really even know where I am going with this post.

My husband and I visited a few preschools this week.  At first I was not for my son going to preschool.  I really want to homeschool, but I am keeping an open  mind.  My husband is not sure about homeschooling, but he is also keeping an open mind.  We agreed on a certain preschool and my son will only be going 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours.  We have VBS at church this week so it is kind of a trial run for preschool because I am taking him and dropping him off everyday at 9.

Along with my lack of sleep, my almost 2-year old daughter has been very whiney because she has a double ear infection and she is getting her molars.  She is usually very good natured.

I think my husband has been feeling sorry for me because he did the sweetest thing – he bought me a gift card to a spa.  Oh I loved it!  So tomorrow I am going to a spa and instead of a nice long massage I think I am going to go from brunette to some sort of blond – a dark blond.  If it doesn’t turn out well then I can always blame it on my lack of sleep, right?

Pictures of Baby Caleb

My friend Heidi (Indy Photography)  just took pictures of  Baby Caleb.  He was pretty cooperative for the most part.  If you are interested, check them out here.

Thanks Heidi!

I’m still here

Yes, I am still here.  I haven’t been posting much lately because I don’t have anything profound to say.  I am working on just running the household and trying to keep my sanity (not always easy).  I have been trying to make my life even more simple and have been reading up on that.

If you are interested in a great little series on it I would urge you to go see Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking.  Go to her “Tips for Maintaining a Simple Home“.

I will leave you with some Bible reading I did today (Bible Gateway):

Psalm 18

¹ I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
² The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

Have a great weekend!

Sick Day

So I was thinking of taking a sick day today.  You know when you sometimes don’t feel great and you decide you really want to stay home so you call your work and tell them you are taking a sick day and then you spend the day just relaxing and resting.

Then I remembered, moms do not get sick days.  And I am not the one that is sick, my daughter is.  She is very whiney today and then of course there is the newborn who does need to eat every three hours.  Although my older son is at my dad and stepmom’s so there is a break right there.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being a stay-at-home mom, but some days it just hits you that you can’t take a sick day and even if you could you wouldn’t want to stay at home to relax (because that is where all the laundry is and the dusting that needs to be done and the bathrooms that need to be cleaned).

Now I’m off to find the chocolate – the next best thing to having a sick day.

Menu Plan Monday and a Reader Question

I’m not exactly sure how many readers I have.  I am guessing I have a little less since I have not been blogging as much since the birth of my baby, but I have a question for you.  You may know of my love/hate relationship with coupons.  If you visit Crystal at Money Saving Mom you will see her $40 week grocery budget.  I don’t see a lot of pantry essentials in that, but I am sure she gets those as well.

My question for you is how do you buy your pantry staples?  I mean there are coupons for deodorant and granola bars and such, but there is RARELY coupons for flour, sugar, molasses, honey, vinegar, baking soda and so on and so forth.

So, do you buy your staples in bulk?  Do you try to just buy a bag of sugar here and there?  Now if you don’t bake from scratch you probably won’t need to answer this question because I can just imagine someone say, “I just don’t buy flour.  Why would I need to I don’t bake.”

So help me out here people because I am just trying to figure out how to fit them in our budget exactly.  I was buying in bulk which I liked, but my husband reminded me that his garage is not my pantry.  I don’t have a pantry in our 1973 brick ranch.  I know, now I am whining.  I will stop talking typing and see if anyone will answer my cry for help information.

Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

And here is my short but sweet menu plan:

Breakfasts: Smoothies (it is the week of smoothies, so we are trying to have them for breakfast this week)

Lunch: Grilled chicken salad (BORING, I know but I need to get the baby weight loss kick-started)

Supper:

Alfredo Lasagna, green beans from the garden

Meatloaf, twice baked potatoes

Grilled Chicken and spinach salad

Homemade pizza and spinach salad

Hamburgers and baked beans

*We didn’t eat some of our freezer meals that I had on the menu from previous weeks.

For more menu plans please visit, Org Junkie.

Picture from King Arthur Flour.

Future Olympic Swimmer?

My son has spent the last week at his grandparents house in southwest Missouri.  He had a ball, but I am excited for him to come back home (although I’m not sure he is).    Below is a picture of him swimming at my husband’s cousin’s house.  What do you think, future Olympic swimmer?  I think the goggles just make it!