Allison: Toddler Muffins

Hi!  My name is Allison... I used to contribute regularly to this blog.  Remember me?  Yep, I'm back.  I have no idea how, but time has just slipped away from me these last few months.  It might have to do with sick babies and just daily life.  But I have some creative opportunities coming up in the near future, and I thought I'd better get back in the habit of blogging.

Anyone out there have really picky eaters in their house?  I knew that my little Isla (2 1/2 years old) was picky, but lately, it's gotten so much worse!  There are days where she'll skip lunch AND dinner.  My skinny little girl seems to be getting even smaller, and it's started to worry me a little.  She's definitely more of a snacker, and I've found myself giving her things I wouldn't normally, just to get her to eat something.

So when I found this recipe here for "Toddler Muffins", I knew I had to give them a try.  Here's the best proof if they were liked or not:

She loved them and ate 3 for breakfast.  The only foods we've been able to get her to eat for breakfast are cinnamon toast (or "sugar toast", as she calls them), and french toast with syrup.  Can you find the theme here??  This girl definitely likes sugar (I have no idea where she gets that from)!

I didn't modify the recipe too much.  I didn't have oat bran in the house, but saw that others had substituted oats or flax seed.  I had ground flax seed in my house (weird, I know), so I used a 1/4 cup and a 1/4 cup of oats.  I'm sure a half cup of oats would work just great too.  For the baby food ingredient, I'm sure any pureed veggie would work.  I had a baby food pouch of pear and butternut squash that I used.  I also only added a 1/4 cup butter instead of 1/2 cup.  That seemed like a lot.  They still turned out super moist and delicious.  I also added raisins.  Because of the bananas, they tasted a lot like banana bread.  Yum!  They yielded 24 mini muffins, with enough left over to make a mini loaf.

Well, I hope this recipe helps some of you with little ones that have a mind of their own when it comes to food.  I'm hoping to make a few more adjustments (maybe wheat flour?), or adding more veggies.  Whatever it takes to get them eating their fruits and veggies, right?  Until next time... have a great week!


Allison

Allison: Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Hello, again!  First off, I would also like to send my condolences to Lisa's extended family for the lost of their brother-in-law, son-in-law and father.  I remember Greg from various encounters years ago, and he was a great man.  Any contributions that could be made to support this amazing family, would be incredibly appreciated (see Sara's last post).

I'm not sure where time is going, but another week is here, and I'm still not 100% back to my crafting and baking self.  So for this week, I thought I'd share one of my favorite Fall recipes: Pumpkin Spice Cookies.  They have been a go-to treat each Autumn since I first tasted them in Sara's kitchen.  (Sorry, Sara, if I'm stealing a post idea.  At least I'm giving you credit!)  This yummy treat is incredibly easy and amazingly delicious.  Here's how you make them:

1- box of spice cake mix
1- 15 oz can of pureed pumpkin
chocolate chips (optional, but essential at the same time)

That's it!  You combine all ingredients, spoon onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (until they're set).  Can you think of an easier treat?  They're so moist and delicious and always a crowd pleaser.  I was going to make some, but let's face it... getting to the store is still a little tricky.  But I'll definitely be making them this season, and I'll try to post some then.  Sorry for the lame post!  I'll get back into the swing of things soon.  Promise.  What's your favorite Fall treat??

Have a great week!!


Allison

Allison: Banana Bread Alternative

Hello, hello!  I'm actually going to try to post a "normal" post this week!  My newborn is napping, and my 2 year old is momentarily "happy" (aka not being crazy), so I thought I'd hurry and post.

I've had some bananas getting overly ripe on my counter for the past few days now, but the thought of making banana bread AGAIN, didn't sound very appealing.  For some reason, I keep buying bananas, and they keep going bad.  That equals A LOT of banana bread.  This usually isn't a bad thing, but I wanted another option.

Then this morning, I saw a recipe from one of my favorite bakers over at Cookies and Cups.  This is such a fun blog, where Shelly posts so many amazingly-devilish recipes.  When I saw her recipe for Banana Bread Cookies, I knew I had to try them.  So... I did!  :)  You can find the recipe here.

These cookies aren't exactly what I had imagined, but I really like them!  In Shelly's recipe, she used chocolate chips (which I wish I'd tried).  I used raisins in my version, and thought they came out tasting like a cross between oatmeal cookies and banana bread; two of my favorite treats!  Shelly also posted a recipe for Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (Mmm...), but I didn't have enough cream cheese to attempt it.  You better believe I will next time!

They were so good, Isla kept trying to sneak one.  :)

Regardless of whether you try this recipe or not, you should definitely go check out Shelly's blog.  Everyone have a great week!


Allison

Allison: Pizza Balls

Hello, again!  Yep... still pregnant, if anyone was wondering.  Hopefully next week I'll be MIA, but probably not.  :)

My crafting desire lately has been as slow as my waddle.  So, this week I'm turning to my best friend lately: food.  Last night I tried a dinner idea that I found on (surprise surprise) Pinterest.  I had canned jumbo biscuits in the fridge, along with marinara sauce and string cheese, so I thought I'd try these pizza balls.  My husband came home when I was starting to prepare the balls, and convinced me to wait while he ran out to get pepperoni.   I didn't follow a specific recipe, opting instead to play it by ear.  Here's what I did:

Step #1- rolled out biscuits to about twice their size

Step #2- placed 3 pepperoni pieces, 2-3 small cubes of cut string cheese, and a spoonful of sauce in
              center of biscuit dough

Step #3- pulled and pinched edges together, placed edges down in lightly sprayed muffin tin

Step #4- lightly brushed tops with butter, and sprinkled garlic salt on top

Step #5- baked at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until tops were golden

Done!  They turned out pretty great.  I kind of felt like it was too much bread compared to filling, but I couldn't get much more inside without the sauce squeezing out.  I used the jumbo flaky biscuits (which tasted great), but next time I might try the smaller biscuits, to see how they compare.  At this point, I'm just proud of myself for even making dinner.  My husband also seemed to enjoy these.  They would make a great football party snack/treat.

Hope you all have a great week, and that you don't hear from me next week.  :)


Allison

Allison: Go-To Cookies

Hello again! This week I'm feeling particularly pregnant and decided it was a good week to share my go-to cookies: Thumbprints.  I found this recipe a few years ago, and really love how easy it is, but how complicated it seems.  Does that make sense?  I can bust out a batch in no time at all, but they look more high-maintenance than they are.  Here's the recipe that I pretty much copied exactly from allrecipe.com:

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened (I use 3/4 cup butter or 1 1/2 sticks)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raspberry preserves (or any jam/filling you like)
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar for decoration (I omit this ingredient)

• 
  
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
2. Cream the butter with the white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Mix the flour and baking powder together. Stir in the flour mixture into the butter mixture and combine.
4. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Make an indentation in each cookie and fill with jam (I use a teaspoon measuring spoon to make the indentation.  Dipping it in sugar will help it not stick to the cookies). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes (13 minutes is my magic number.  I leave them on the cookie sheet for a few more minutes to "set").  Let cool completely and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar (or not.  They're amazing without the sugar).

*Makes about 32 cookies (though the recipe says only 18.  I must make mine smaller).

* I almost completely fill "the well" with jam/filling, as the cookie will spread and so will the jam.  The pie filling didn't seem to spread at all, so I took that into consideration with the second batch.

There you have it!  These cookies are so buttery delicious, that I'm sure this recipe will become one of your favorites too.  Have a great week!!

Allison

Sara Jane: Nutella Wednesday

Would you believe me if I told you I once had an unopened jar of Nutella in my cupboard for a year and a half?!?  

True story. 

I had never had (or even heard of) Nutella before when a friend gave my hubby a jar of it for Christmas.  Having no idea what it was, I stuck it in the cupboard and completely forgot about it (tells you how much I actually clean my cupboards).  When the day came for me to finally clean out the cupboards (moving, I assume), I threw the jar away with out even thinking twice.  

That was nearly 4 years ago.   Now, I would never EVER throw a jar of that heavenly treat out.  We don't just buy Nutella to snack on.  No.  It is a part of our pantry staples.  We eat it on tortillas, on sandwiches, on crackers...heck, sometimes I eat it by the spoonfuls by itself.

The other day while pinning, I came across this recipe for Nutella cookies, by Tasty Kitchen.  I decided to try it out today to give to my father-in-law for his Cookie of the Month.  While they are not my absolute favorite cookie in the entire world (which would be oatmeal chocolate chip, by the way), they are pretty tasty and I think Eric will enjoy them.  The recipe at Tasty Kitchen uses sugar.  I omitted the sugar, as per the Pinterest recommendation.

Nutella Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1 cup Nutella

*1  cup flour

*1  egg

Directions:

Combined all the ingredients.  I then used my cookie scoop to scoop out the dough, rolled it in my hands, and then flattened the dough to about 1/4 inch.  Bake for 8 minutes at 350*.

Something that we have decided to do with our Cookie of the Month is to put it in a creative container.  For this month, I grabbed the following items...a glue gun, fabric, and a Pringles container.

Next, I cut out enough fabric to cover my canister.  To ensure you don't waste fabric, measure around the canister, just like you would if you were wrapping a present.  Then, I started gluing on the fabric.  I started at the top (make sure you don't glue the top fabric over where the lid will fit) and then glued down where the two pieces met creating a seam.

To finish off the bottom, I folded and glued, folded and glued and folded and glued until all the fabric was securely glued down.  

Here's how it should look when it is finished.

Pretty cute, if you ask me.

Is your mouth watering yet???

Happy Wednesday!

Sara Jane

Friday Favorites: Recipes

Hello!  Welcome to another Friday Favorites!  This week we'll be concentrating our posts on favorite recipes or dishes that we've discovered/stolen from others.  Isn't that how it works?  You find some amazing dish and it slowly becomes your own, though it originally came from someone else.

That's how I feel about my favorite recipe.  Sometimes I think my husband and I ultimately ended up together because we both LOVE plain New York-Style Cheesecake.  No strawberries, no topping, no swirled flavor inside... just PLAIN cheesecake.  He even added it to his mental list of "reasons I love my wife".  There you go.  :)

So a couple of years ago, when I was trying to think of a really special dessert to make for Valentine's Day, I decided to venture my first cheesecake.  I looked up a recipe on allrecipe.com for "plain cheesecake", and found this recipe.  I have no idea who Chantal is, but I've mentally thanked her many times for this recipe.

If any of you are like me, you're probably intimidated by the idea of making a cheesecake that takes close to 8 hours.  It's not that bad, and I'm going to share my tips/tricks to make it PERFECT!  Most of them I found online, or from others that have tried this recipe, but I'm taking credit for applying them.  I'm not going to brag too much, but I've used this recipe 4 times now, and they've all been amazing.  No splits or cracks... just perfect!

TIPS/TRICKS
-I'm not going to retype the recipe here, but I'll list what I changed about the actual recipe or the steps given.


#1- If you like a sweeter graham cracker crust, add just a little sugar to your crushed crackers and butter.  The cheesecake itself is plenty sweet, so it's not really needed, just depends on preference.


#2- I didn't change any other ingredients, but I did reduce the oven temp to 325 degrees and altered the baking time to 45 minutes.  When the 45 minutes is up, turn the oven off and forget about it for a couple of hours.  For real.  Don't open the oven every 5 minutes, just let it set.  (This part is hard to do, as you'll want to make sure it's not cracking.)  Just walk away...

#3- I used a water bath.  I think it's the reason that my cheesecakes have never cracked.  It's not too difficult.  I use the heavy duty tin foil around my springform pan (though regular would work... just double it up/overlap it), to make sure the water doesn't get in. I wrap it almost to the top of the springform, and place it on a cookie sheet.  Once they're both in the oven, pour enough water to fill the cookie sheet, but not too much that it'll overflow (duh).  I only had water seep into my pan once, and that was because the springform wasn't completely "closed" before I added the crust.  Oops.  Check that.  Ironically, it still turned out fine.  Just with crust a little more "moist" than usual.  :)


#4- DON"T OVERMIX YOUR CHEESECAKE FILLING!  That will create bubbles, and won't make it as pretty.  Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature before mixing with a hand blender.  After that, I only used the blender to add the sugar and milk to the cream cheese.  The rest I mixed by hand.  It's a bit of a work out but not too bad.  


#5- After your cheesecake has been in the cooling oven for hours, you can leave it on the counter (I put mine on a cooling rack) for awhile longer.  But you can also just leave it in the oven until it's completely cooled.  I usually venture to remove the springform pan edge then.    If the edges look a little ragged, you can smooth them with a wet table knife (if you're a crazy perfectionist, like me).  


#6- This part is tough.  It will be so tempting to try a slice, but it really is best overnight in the fridge, or at least for a few hours.  To me, it seems to get better the longer it cools.  Mmmm... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  

#1- I think I took the springform off too soon. #2- I discovered the wet knife technique... much prettier.  I also doubled the graham crackers, but the crust became a little too much.  #3- My best by far!  Yum!  No picture of #4.

Okay.  That was a lot of info, but really not as crazy as I made it sound.  The actual prep for this recipe doesn't take too long and the results are AMAZING!  My husband says this recipe rivals any cheesecake he's ever had, including The Cheesecake Factory.  That's pretty high praise from someone who would choose cheesecake over almost any other dessert.  I hope you venture this amazing recipe.  If I left anything out, please feel free to ask.  Good luck, and happy baking!!



Allison

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I have an obsession with bread.  

Not just plain old bread but fresh-out-of-the-oven-covered-in-butter (and-sometimes-honey) bread.  When we make it, whether it be by hand or in the bread machine, the loaf is gone within an hour.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.....

Photo from recipeschezmoi.blogspot.com

My only issue with fresh-out-of-the-oven-covered-in-butter bread is that by the time I think about actually wanting it, I don't want to wait the 3 hours it takes to make it.  Soooooo, when I found the following recipe, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  (Honestly, this bread isn't as good as the 3-hour bread BUT it is perfect when, if you're like me, you decide at 4:00 PM you want to have bread with your dinner which is supposed to be at 5:00 PM.)  The original recipe I found was on the Recipes Chez Moi blog.  I, however, after making it many times, have changed several things and want to share the recipe with you.

 1(ish) Hour Bread

Ingredients:

5 1/4 c. white flour (if you feel the dough is too sticky, you can add another 1/4 cup)
1/4 c. sugar 
1/2 T. salt (I think I actually added 1 T. on accident and it was still great)
1  T. yeast

1/3 c. oil 
2 c. hot tap water

Directions:

Mix together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid).  Add oil and hot water to the dry ingredients mixture.  Mix for one minute, scraping the bowl once (this is where if you think the dough is too sticky, you may add the additional 1/4 cup of flour).  Mix dough for five more minutes on a medium high speed without scrapping the bowl.  When you finish mixing, the dough will be sticky.  ITS OKAY :)  On a floured surface, divide the dough into two equal portions.  Shape the dough and put into a greased (I used Pam spray) bread pan.  Let sit, covered, for 1/2 hour (I accidentally left mine for 1 hour the other day...still perfect).  Bake in a 375* oven for 35 minutes.  Makes 2 loaves.

I hope this delicious bread finds its way to your home soon.  

Sara Jane

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Lisa here!  One of my favorite things in summer is to not use my stove.  At all.  I love food that my family and I can eat raw, grill or cook in the crock pot.  One of our favorite crock pot recipes is a very simple pot roast on Sundays.  We have a late church and we often don't get home until 4:30pm and we are all super hungry!  To walk in and smell the roast is heaven!  And this one couldn't be simpler!  I've seen this recipe a lot of places but I orignially got it from a friend when we were living in Arizona (talk about hot!).

Courtney's Pot Roast

3-4 lb Chuck roast (mine was frozen and it was perfectly alright!)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 pkt. Lipton onion soup mix (or Walmart brand)

1 large onion, sliced

3 large potatoes, chopped

a handful of baby carrots

Spray the inside of the crockpot with a non-stick cooning spray, like Pam.  Place roast in bottom and vegetables on top of the roast.  Mix soup and soup mix together and pour over everything.  Cover.  Cook on high for 6-8 hours. 

It really is such a favorite with my family.  The meat is super tender and the vegetables are perfectly cooked.  Thank you so much my Arizona friend!!!

Lisa

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I've gotten into the habit of making a big breakfast every morning to feed my growing boys (that includes the husband).  One of my favorite things to make are pancakes with homemade buttermilk syrup.  It is especially fun because Clark is starting to help out now.

Pancakes

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
3 tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.  In a separete large bowl mix all wet ingredients together.  Add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix till a few lumps remain, be careful not to over mix.

Using a buttered hot griddle, pour pancake batter according to the size you prefer and flip once bubbles appear on top.  Serve hot with your favorite syrup!

 

Enjoy!

Sara Jane: Fireworks and a treat

Hello hello hello!

I love the Fourth of July.  Not only do we get to celebrate this spectacular country of ours but we get to blow things up.  Who doesn't enjoy doing that???

For my craft  you will need:

Wire cutters, wire (I used 22 GA), twine, paint (red, white and blue), a fancy star, sandpaper and wood.  The wood can be any size you like.  I used an old 2 x 4 piece of wood I found at my in-laws house and cut it into 3 pieces - a 10 inch, an 8 inch and a 9 1/2 inch piece.  (AND just in case you're wondering....I CUT the wood.  This is huge for me because I usually just have my hubby do all the work when it comes to power tools.  I'm now looking forward to my next project.)

First, paint your wood.  I like a more distressed looking piece of wood so I only did one coat.  If you want a more solid color, do two or more coats until it looks how you want.  Again, since I like the distressed look, when the paint was dried, I took a piece of fine sandpaper and lightly sanded the corners.

Next, I cut three pieces of wire.  I first tried the silver wire but you could hardly see it so then I tried the gold wire and it was exactly what I wanted.  Each piece of wire is several inches long.  I cut it long enough to be able to manipulate it and still have length.

Next, I drilled 1 hole in the center of the top of each block of wood.  Each hole is approximately 1 inch deep.  Use your smallest drill bit when doing this.  When your hole is done, stick the wire in.  If you are having a hard time getting it to stand up, maybe try a small dab of hot glue.

Finally, wrap your twine around the blocks of wood and decorative star.  Does it look something like this....

 Finally, everyone (except my Penelope) loves to watch fireworks, right?  Why not have a tasty snack while you are enjoying your Fourth festivities.

Simple Caramel Popcorn

This recipe is a favorite for movie night at my house.  The best part about it is that there is always left over caramel to be used to dip apples in, drizzle over a yummy spice cake, or to just eat with a spoon, like I do.  I know a lot of people like the kind of caramel corn that is baked in the oven.  If you are one of those people, this is probably not the recipe for you.  This caramel popcorn is a delicious mess.  My kids usually end up having sticky hands, faces and hair when they are done with this treat.  We like a good mess around here.

Enjoy!  

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2 cups packed  brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

2 T water

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 T vanilla extract

3 bags of microwave popcorn.

Directions:

Pop popcorn.  I tend to use microwave popcorn because it is so convenient.  Use light butter flavor.  The full butter flavor just is too much with this recipe.  If you want to use air-popped, it tastes just as yummy :)

Combined all ingredients, except vanilla, in a large sauce pan over medium high heat.  Stir until butter melts.  Watch the mixture carefully as it can burn quickly.

When the mixture comes to a soft boil, continuously stir for 3 minutes to dissolve the sugar.

Take the pan off the heat and add vanilla.  Stir until combined.

I have found that the easiest way to combined popcorn and caramel is to do it in a LARGE pan.  I like to use my roasting oven pan.  That being said, pour 2 cups of the caramel over the popcorn and mix with a large spoon (I use a spatula...easier to clean).

Save remaining caramel in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  It saves pretty well for a few weeks.

*NOTE*

Most of the recipes I make are kid friendly in that the kids can help make them.  THIS IS NOT A KID FRIENDLY RECIPE!  Please make sure you know where your little ones are when you are making this recipe (and whenever you are using the stove/oven).  The caramel is so hot and can do some major damage in very little time.

Happy Fourth of July!

Sara Jane

Allison: Patriotic Treat and Kids' Craft

I LOVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!  It's true... I consider myself to be a very patriotic person, and LOVE any holiday that celebrates my country.  I lived in Spain for 18 months as a missionary for my church and didn't realize just how much I loved my country, until I was away from its soil.  Every time I would see an American flag, I would get emotional and instantly homesick.  That being said, I'm excited to share a patriotic-themed dessert/appetizer recipe and kids' craft with all of you today.

I took my inspiration for these cute little cupcakes from here.  I loved the idea of a bite-sized dessert that wouldn't be TOO messy.  They were surprisingly easy to assemble and even easier to snack on in the process (tee hee).  Here's what you'll need:

Duh.  You could probably figure out those ingredients.  But I'm going to share the whipped cream cheese frosting recipe that I discovered, and you are going to thank me (or curse me)!  Of course I found it through Pinterest, on this site , as a cinnamon roll topper.  I may never make another cream cheese frosting again.  It is amazing!  I had to stop myself from sampling it too much, before it was all gone.  This would work great for a standard size cupcake too, but I liked the idea of a bite-sized treat, so I used the mini cupcake tin.  The adorable little pinwheels I found in Target's dollar section, and worked great to secure the stack.  I love them!

Here's the frosting recipe:

Ms. Humble's Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

16oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, cold

Beat the cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream to nearly stiff peaks, then add the whipped cream into the cheese mixture and quickly and briefly beat to combine. Do not over beat.

Mmmm... So good...

This patriotic craft came from a cute blog I came across called "Random Thoughts of a Supermom".  This mom is so creative and I loved that she involved her kids in the project.  I planned to replicate her version of this windsock but wouldn't you know it... I got lazy.  So instead, I thought I'd share my version.  Maybe not AS cute, but still a little cute and definitely kid-friendly.

You'll need these things:

* blue plastic cups
* red & white crepe paper
* tape
* star stickers


This little guy was so easy to assemble!  I just taped alternating red and white crepe paper to the inside of the cup, and poked a little hole in the top to string some white ribbon to hang it up.  Next, grab your star stickers and stick them on.  Done!  I didn't think my two-year-old could handle this yet, but I think this craft would be so fun for kids!


The blog I "borrowed" the idea from used empty baby formula canisters and spray painted them blue.  She also used ribbon instead of crepe paper.  Either way, I think they're a great way to decorate the outside of your house for patriotic holidays.  

Before I end this post, I wanted to advertise to our faithful readers and friends the special I'm offering this week on our Etsy page.  I'll be selling my 9" Patriotic Rag-Tie Wreath until the 4th of July for only $10 (instead of the $15 it sells for on Etsy).  Any local orders can be hand-delivered also, saving on shipping.  For any out-of-state orders, I'll give you a discount on shipping (only $3, instead of $5).   Message me or leave a comment and I'll create a posting for you where the discount is applied. 

Get your wreath now!!  :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/fivecraftysisters

Well, I hope you enjoyed my easy dessert and craft!  Even more, I hope you enjoy celebrating our freedom this 4th of July.  May we always remember those that have fought and continue to fight for that freedom.  Happy Independence Day!!

Allison

Sara Jane: Father's Day

My father with my son.

I LOVE celebrating Father's Day not only because I get to show/tell my own father how much I love him and how wonderful he is but because I (and my kiddos) get to try to show my hubby just how much he means to our family.

The relationship I have with my father is different than any other relationship in my life.  I've been trying to think of words to explain it....but I can't.

My dad has helped me all through my life in obtaining my education (he spent countless hours (re)teaching me math and critiquing English papers), has counseled me on nearly every subject on which one may need counseling and has set an example of service that I can only hope to emulate.

My father is my hero.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Abraham.
That is our 6-month old in his shirt :)

As for my own husband...my children love no one more than they love their daddy and their daddy is one of the best out there.  He is kind, patient, soft, playful and LOVES to snuggle (which my kids can't seem to get enough of).

He thinks of his wife and his children before anyone else, even himself.  He will do everything in his power to make sure that we not only have what we need but have what we want.

I doubt I will ever be able to put into words the love and admiration I have for these two men in my life.  I hope my son grows up to be the man that his daddy and grandpas are.

For Father's Day, I have found the perfect treat to make for Abraham...Cake Pops. A few years ago, I stumbled upon this fun blog all about Cake Pops.  I tried making them once and, well, I'm not going to lie...they were horrible.  Disgusting, in fact.  So, I never made them again...until yesterday, that is.  While out picking up ingredients to make a cake for my brother's birthday party, I found a cake pop pan.  SERIOUSLY?!?  I can resist very little when I go shopping so....I bought it and I LOVE it!

So, today, I baked up about 40 cake pop balls, melted some white and milk chocolate, squashed up some candy bars and assembled these delicious treats with my babies.  They were a hit and pretty yummy (which is strange because I really don't like cake).

After making up enough pops for everyone to have a few, I made some chocolate cake bites with milk chocolate drizzled over the top.  And, just because we had oodles of delicious, fresh-picked Oregon strawberries in the refrigerator, P and I decided to do chocolate dipped strawberries, too.

 I also made a little card to go with the delicious treats.  Kinda cheesy but I think we all secretly like a little cheesiness in our life.  It is also in a google doc here.

Here's what it looks like put together.  I decorated these cake pops with Heath Bar pieces.  

 To end...here's my love with my little Bea.  We went and picked/stuffed our mouths with the most delicious strawberries at Farmer John's...our favorite local farm.

If you live in the McMinnville area and would like to buy a yummy treat for the dad in your life, I am accepting orders now for the cake pops to be picked up on the 16th.  I can deliver out of town depending on how far you are.  For you out of staters...I can try to ship but I don't know how good they would be when they arrived :)  If you're interested, click here for the pricing/contact information.  Thanks!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Loves

Sara Jane

Allison: Cookie of the Month Club

Not bad, Lisa!!  Your man is pretty great.   He's helped me out many times.  I'll vouch for him.  :)

Happy Father's Day Week, everyone!  I'm so excited to celebrate (aka gush about) the amazing fathers in my life!  I was blessed with an outstanding father.  I have turned to him countless times when I've needed words of wisdom or a voice of reason.  He is the greatest man I know and I love him very much.

Having this kind of father, raised the bar pretty high when looking for the future father of my children.  It took me awhile longer than most of my sisters, but I did it!  My husband is the most amazing example to me of kindness, compassion and unconditional love.  He can look at me when I'm sleep deprived, unshowered and irritable and tell me how beautiful I am (with a straight face).  I feel incredibly lucky and so blessed to have him as my eternal partner.

Not only is Brent the best husband in the world, he's also the most amazing father to our little "I".  She LOVES spending time with him, and literally paces the floor until he comes home to play with her each evening.  She trusts him like every little girl should trust her daddy.  The love I see in her eyes for her father, is only matched by Brent's love for his little girl.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop now.  Because I'm still tweaking Brent's gift, I thought I'd share the idea I came up with to honor my father.  I know that I don't express my appreciation enough to him for all that he's done/does for me.  So I found a gift that will keep expressing that gratitude each month this year.  My dad has now been enrolled in "Grandpa's Cookie of the Month" club!!  My idea is to send a dozen cookies each month to his office, along with a note from his granddaughter expressing our love for him.  For this first month, "I" and I are sending him my much loved butterscotch, oatmeal and peanut butter cookies.  The official name of this cookie in the Better Homes and Gardens' cookbook is Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Rounds.  But I have put my own twist on this cookie and renamed them Scotchers.  I've tweaked the recipe a bit too.  Here it is:

I promise... these are amazing!  I look forward to trying new recipes as I run out of my go-to's.  Along with the cookies, I'll send this fun little label with a picture of "I" and a note on the back.  

You can download the Grandpa label here.   I also made an option for a Dad's Cookie of the Month label that you can download and print here.  Sorry about the shadow under the label.  PowerPoint and I are still figuring out how to be friends.  I just cut it off.  Problem solved.  :)

                                      

Everyone have a great week, and enjoy spoiling the men in your life!  

Allison