A Womans Purse

Before kids- Cute little patent leather purse


After kids- Big red leather duffel bag(it's not really a duffel bag)
If you were to see me in a crowd, you may think that I don't look like I have kids- if they weren't hanging all over me. My clothes is put together okay (or at least I think so), you know my clothes is not yelling "Mommy alert".  My purse on the other hand is!  Today as I looked through my purse in the middle of a bible study class I had to chuckle because of the contents I had to rummage through to find my phone.

My purses have definitely taken a new look now that I'm a mommy. Before they were cute and small, always small. Now they are big and lumpy. According to my son "I need it" everywhere I go. He won't let me walk out the door with out it. You will see why as you read. If you were to randomly open my purse you would find: cell phone, keys, coins, gum, at this point your thinking okay that sounds normal. Well it get's worse: candy wrappers, baby star finger foods that have fallen out of it's container, some kind of fruit in a baggie(today it was a whole grapefruit, Bob the builder undies (got to be prepared for those potty accidents), hot wheel cars, kid tattoos, gloves and scarf (you never know when a blizzard is going to hit in TX), coupons for Sonic, Chic-fil-a, McDonald's (all those wonderful healthy places to take your children to eat), baby wipes, first aid kit (just in case someone bleeds to death) and mosquito wipes.  Depending on the time of the month you will find other necessities which Ethan tends to dig out at very inopportune times.

Wow! I guess you could get stranded on an island for a day or two with my purse. Can't wait til he's into bugs and rocks. For some reason I think I will be sure to find them in my purse.

What treasures does your purse hold?

I found this blog post in my old website and had to chuckle because 4 yrs later my purse hasn't changed much.

Van Gogh Creations Class

I had the joy of teaching these wonderful 2nd graders cooking, arts and crafts and baking!  First class, they made aprons to go with their chef hats. Second class they made swirly pops (recipe http://chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/2010/03/finallyhomemade-marshmallow-fondant-and.html.) Third class they made Pizza balls with dough they made from scratch(recipe http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/06/stuffed-pizza-rolls.html).  They loved watching the dough rise.  And they also got to make some lovely cupcake keepsakes and fill them with Cookie Balls (recipe http://amomnotapro.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-i-am-obsessed-with-lil-chickies-this.html ). Fourth day, they made some pillows/backpacks for Mothers Day! We had a blast!! Parents if you have any questions concerning the recipes feel free to add your comments below.

fun fondant cake

Fondant is becoming quite popular in my home. My 3yr old came up to me the other day and says "mom I have been eating your fondant" little did I know he has been paying attention to what I say when I am baking. 

Mushroom cupcakes for the Mother & Daughter Madhatter Tea Party

Alice in the Wonderland inspired: We are having a Mother & Daughter Madhatter Tea Party and these are one of the fun cupcakes that will be on the dessert table.  Once again my red fondant only made it to a dark pink shade, ughh. One day I will get red! Next project whimsical cake!

Gingerbread Waffles with Apple Chutney Syrup

I love breakfast, probably because its the most carb filled meal of my day! Here in Ecuador it feels like fall so I decided to eat like its fall.  We had Gingerbread Waffles this morning!  I can't remember where I got this recipe from because I found it in my recipe binder just written on a small sheet of paper. 
Gingerbread Waffles with Apples
4 eggs
1/3cp sugar
1cp molasses
1cp buttermilk (if you don't have it just add 1tblspn of vinegar to your regular milk and let it sit for 5min)
dry ingredients
3cps flour
2tspn ground ginger
1 1/4 tspn cinnamon
3/4 tspn salt
2tspn baking soda
2tspn baking powder
1/2 cp melted butter

-Beat eggs for 2min
- add next 3 ingredients and mix
- in seperate bowl mix dry ingredients
-Mix eggs mixture in with dry ingredients mix
-stir in butter

Apple Chutney Syrup
2 diced
1/2cp of honey or maple syrup
2tbspn of water
In a sauce pan on low heat place diced apples
cook for 5min adding water as needed.
then add the honey
pour over waffles

This morning I added 1/2cp of canned pumpkin and didn't use the apple sauce.  You can also make rasberry sauce from rasberry jelly and then add different berries over it.
This recipe makes about 12 waffles in our small waffle maker. 
Waffles anytime
What we do with the left over batter is stick it in a bottle and on school days squeeze it out for a quick and healthy breakfast. Or stick it in a medium size ziploc bag and cut one corner of it when your ready to use it and squeeze it out and trash the bag.

Bumble Bees Can Be Cute

Adorable!  I am envisioning a white ball shaped candle on here or warm chocolate croissants. That's why I love bowls they are so versatile!

Cupcake Keepsake

This delectable keepsake cupcake makes you want to bite into that fluffy frosting.  Great to give as a gift to your lovely mother.  Fill it with jewelry, chocolates or cookies!   

I used a small round cardboard box. Covered the bottom half with scrapbook paper and the lid with crepe paper that was twisted into long strips.  Then it was glued on in a pyramid like form until it looked like fluffy frosting! Sprinkled it with mini pom poms.   These are also great party favors for a bridal shower, cupcake themed party, 1st birthdays....

Eat mor chikin..... not tonight

I have always prefered chickens over cows not for health reasons but b/c my body couldn't and wouldn't digest it. When I moved to Ecuador I decided to give it another try.  Tonight we made this amazing burger recipe that I have to share with you.  It is packed with flavor and its very tender.   I know I am a novice hamburger eater but I am pretty sure this is an A-mazing burger: Bacon Wrapped Hamburger http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bacon-Wrapped-Hamburgers/Detail.aspx .  I plan on making it for my husbands birthday cookout.  Nothing like beef and bacon to get to a mans heart.

Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna

I just downloaded this book to my mp3 and so far its fabulous.  I love his perspective and his points.  This is not a how to with steps but wisdom to guide you as you set up the infrastructure for your home.

This is what the website says about the book: Determined to learn the secrets of those who've raised spiritual champions, world-renowned researcher George Barna conducted a series of surveys and thousands of personal interviews with both young adults and their parents.

In the process, he was able to uncover a number of common denominators to parenting success. Some of his findings will encourage you; others will surprise you. But be forewarned - raising a spriritual champion takes Revolutionary Parenting.

Ladies Tea: simple decorating ideas

• I made a pedestal by placing a plain white plate over a tea cup.
• I made about 6 of these in different colors and scattered them through out the dessert table with flower cookies coming out of them.  I placed flower styrofoam inside the cup so the flower cookie would stand up and then covered it w/ tissue paper.   
• I just stacked some colorful tea cups and plates to make a cake pedestar and placed some Lemon cheese cake bars (recipe in post below). 

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Ladies Tea tomorrow.  I have been flipping through my recipe book and I couldn't find something I wanted to make but alas, I am an exclusive member to Betty Crockers recipe newsletter ;) and I saw this delish recipe Lemon Cheesecake bars http://www.bettycrocker.com/.   It sounds so springy and yummy so I am going to try it. 
I am also tempted to make some cute cookie flower pops. Can't go wrong with edible flowers.

Pizza Pull Apart bread

I started a Van Gogh Creations class for some students at our school.  I have 12 promising young minds ready to explore the world of cooking, crafting and painting.
Tomorrow we will make Pizza Pull Apart Bread with the added challenge to make the dough from scratch.  I made it last night for my family to ensure that it was possible to do with 12 second graders. 
There are a lot of different ways you can make this recipe and as always I looked at about 6 recipes and then mixed and matched and came up with what I want mine to taste like. You can make this as a meal and serve it with salad or as an appetizer.
Pizza Pull Apart Bread
1 pk of refridgerated dinner rolls, pizza crust or you can even make it from bisquick or your own favorite pizza dough recipe from scratch
shredded mozzarella cheese
30 pepperoni
1 tblspn garlic paste
parmesan
pizza sauce/marinara sauce
italian seasoning
2 tblspn of melted butter

• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle cheese over it. then press it into the dough
• cut the dough with a knife or pizza cutter into med size squares
• grab a square and stuff it with some cheese, a tiny dallop of pizza sauce and 1 pepperoni and fold the end over each other so it is all closed up.
• put the rolled up squares into a lightly greased baking dish, pie pan. Only stack rolls on top of each other once. 
• in another bowl mix melted butter, garlic paste and italian seasoning
• once all your squares are rolled up drizzle the garlic paste mix all over it(make sure you cover the dough completely and sprinkle parmesan cheese over it.
• Put in the oven for 20 minutes or lightly browned on top at 400 degrees. Make sure you rack in the middle so the dish is in the middle of the oven.
• Eat them warm and dip them in some Marinara sauce