CHRISTEPHI

I didn't have a chance to pick up my camera the whole day yesterday. I did snag this quick shot of daddy and daughter at the supper table with my phone. Daughter had been baking and was adorably smudged with flour -- or is it powdered sugar? She baked chocolate Christmas cookies for today's tea party! Today we were up bright and early (for us) to get everything ready for a last minute Christmas tea party we hosted for some local homeschoolers. We had a great turnout and the house was bursting with fun! I snapped a few shots and then gave Miss M my camera to go around and photograph everybody. Somehow, this is still the only shot that came out even halfway decent. Oh well... 

Do you ever discover a wrinkled old apple in the bottom of your produce drawer?  It's not moldy or rotten, just soft and wrinkly and old.  What do you do with it?  No one is going to eat it like that! Do you throw it away?  Or does the truism of our ancestors come to mind: Waste not, want not. Rescue that apple!  Don't throw it away, but transform it into something scrumptious and satisfying.  Once you rescue the apple and turn it into these delicious muffins, the muffins in turn might rescue you on a busy day as a quick grab-and-go breakfast or snack.   Now doesn't that sound like a winner? Apple Rescue Muffins Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix thoroughly: 1 egg 3/4 c. milk 1/2 c. applesauce In a separate bowl, sift together: 2 c. flour 1/3 c. sugar 3 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 1 t. cinnamon 1/2 c. peeled, finely chopped apples  1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional, I never do) Combine dr...

Ahh! I just realized I haven't blogged our Adventures in U.S. History since Week 26!!  What happened?!  We've just been plugging away contentedly at our work and are nearing the end of our school year.  So, while I go get myself sorted and whip up the rest of our weekly reviews for you, I thought you might like to see our latest project. A Cocoa Krispie Sod House Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter 6 cups miniature marshmallows 9 cups cocoa krispies 3/4 cup fancy shredded coconut ("fancy" looks more like grass, but any shredded coconut will work) green food coloring extra butter or cooking spray Also needed: large sauce pan (or large microwave safe bowl) wooden spoon jelly roll pan or cookie sheet waxed paper small glass bowl fork knife clean scrap of cardboard popsicle sticks kitchen shears Directions: Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Don't let the butter brown!  When melted, add in the marshmallows and s...

Crazy bread is one of my favorite breads to make.  It's versatile and forgiving.  It makes a great accompaniment to dinner or a perfect afternoon snack for the kids.  And it's hard to mess up! Add 1 cup warm water to a small mixing bowl.  I use water that is just slightly warmer than body temperature -- warm enough to wake up the yeast, but not so warm that it'll kill it. Stir in 2 teaspoons sugar and stir to dissolve.  You can use white sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, anything that'll "feed" the yeast. Sometimes I mix some parmesan cheese into the dough too! So yummy! Sprinkle one .25 ounce envelope of yeast over the water.  Or if you're like me and buy yeast in bulk, use two heaping teaspoons.  Stir the yeast into the sugar water and allow it to rest about 10 minutes until the surface is foamy. Meanwhile, measure out 2 cups of flour into a large bowl.  I use bread flour, but all-purpose will work.  Or try substituting wh...

When Hubby and I were first married, I had a bread machine, but I couldn’t keep up with our bread needs since I was a full time student and later had a full time job.  Add in California commute times and it just wasn’t feasible.  So we mostly bought our bread.  We favored a particular brand of Country Buttermilk bread.  At over $4 a loaf, it wasn’t cheap, but there were only two of us and it was convenient. Fast forward several years and the number of mouths to feed has doubled.  Not to mention my kids LOVE their carbs!  Buying that bread is no longer an option.  And since I stay home AND have the help of my trusty bread machine, I have no excuses either! I took the original “white bread” recipe that came with the bread machine and over the years I’ve tweaked it according to our tastes.  My machine can bake a 2 pound loaf.  I use it to mix the dough, but not to bake it.  And I add the ingredients in this order (even though that’s no...

Yesterday Miss M had a lesson on The Gingerbread Man.  We've read the story before, so she retold it to me and we made our own gingerbread man. Before I let her eat him, I asked her to tell me the story one more time.  She forgot a few parts in her haste to finish, but it's mighty cute nonetheless! I used the same recipe as I did when I made dog bone shaped cookies , except again I used real butter, doubled the cinnamon, and halved the cloves.

Yesterday hubby came home from work saying he needed to bring "something" to work for Food Day (today!) and the theme is Italian.  My first thought was that everybody'll bring pasta (turns out nobody did, go figure), so then my thoughts turned to these  Easy Peasy Bread Sticks .  I also remembered a biscotti recipe I used once that was quite easy and turned out well. Usually when your 3-year-old "helps" in the kitchen, it's more of a hindrance than an actual help, right?  Well, to my utter delight, I actually found myself being helped by Miss M! She did much better rolling out the breadsticks than I had anticipated and ended up doing almost all of them herself! I did the messy work...dipping in butter and Parmesan. Don't you just love seeing little chubby hands hard at work?  She was so pleased with herself.  My in-laws came over this evening and she proudly proclaimed, "I made them!  Mama and I made them.  I did a great job!"  (She...

My grandma is the ultimate pie maker in our family.  The most memorable of her pies was the year Grandpa first grew blueberries.  He went out and picked a batch that wasn't really quite ripe yet.  As he put it, they were "almost blue."  Despite their being slightly green, he fully expected Grandma to use them, and so was born the "almost-blue berry pie."  It was insanely delicious! For Valentine's Day, I thought I'd make use of some of the rhubarb in my freezer (yes, Grandpa grew it last year) to make a pie...after all, rhubarb is naturally pink. Of course, I used Grandma's recipe. Grandma's Rhubarb Custard Pie Beat slightly 2 large eggs Add 2 tablespoons milk Mix together and stir in... 1 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons flour 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg Mix in 3 cups pink rhubarb. Fill pastry-lined pie pan with rhubarb custard filling.  Dot filling in pan with 3/4 teaspoon butter .  Cover with lattice top.  Bake until ...

When you're three, there's only one reason to help in the kitchen. Hubby needed more snacks for work and chocolate chip cookies always go over well with him.  But rather than spend the time to make individual cookies, I'm baking them as bars.  I haven't tried this particular recipe before, so we'll see how it turns out (they're still in the oven as I type). Oh, incidentally, one of those nasty medical bills (for upwards of $2,000) was in error and I only ended up owing $300-some-odd for that one!  Whew!

My grandma, my father's mother, has a tradition.  Whenever she shares a recipe, she intentionally leaves out an ingredient.  This is a tradition passed down from her mother and  her mother's mother.  Still, sharing her runza recipe with her preteen granddaughter must fall under a slightly different category, because I'm quite certain I got it in its entirety when I copied it down years ago. Runza's are very simply meat and cabbage wrapped up in bread dough and baked, but to many who have lived in Nebraska they are the stuff of legend.  The ultimate comfort food.  I hear the practice has been discontinued, but when I was a kid growing up, the local Runza restaurants had a deal going in the winter that whatever the temperature was at 6 am, that's how much runzas were that day.  (Of course, you had to buy a drink to get the deal).  So if it was 20 degrees out, runzas sold for $0.20.  If it was zero or below, runzas were free! With...

As Miss M played in her doghouse , she kept asking for dog things -- dog food, water in a bowl, a leash.  So I took it into my head to make bone-shaped "dog biscuits" from gingerbread. I used  Eileen's Spicy Gingerbread Men  recipe.  The only changes I made were to use real butter instead of margarine, double the cinnamon, and halve the cloves. They were a big hit with Miss M, probably more because of the shape than the flavor.  They were a big hit with me because of the awesome gingerbready goodness!  Mmmm!  Hubby tasted one, but he likes my applesauce gingerbread better.  I'll have to make some of that soon, it's good too!

Today's the first day of our no-spend week. I did what I could this weekend to plan and prepare, so we'll see how it all goes! But first...  We went to a parade Saturday!  Miss M has been begging to see a parade (and, in fact, "seeing" them in the most unlikely places), so when I heard there was to be a parade at the Parkville Days celebration, we decided we just had to go. There were two marching bands, clowns, a carnival, pony rides, and one very happy toddler!  You couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. We got hungry, but opted to buy a small snack rather than spend an arm and a leg for carnival food that most likely would have been less than satisfactory portion-wise.  That saw us through the rest of our errands and we ate at home. I made my meal menu that night. I doubt anyone plans meals quite like I do, but who knows, maybe my way could be helpful to someone else at some point.  Instead of planning specifically what I'll cook on ...

Yesterday afternoon Miss M was asking for sweets  (nothing new there!), since I was in the mood to bake something, I pulled out a cookbook and handed it to her. "Find some cookies and I'll see if we have the ingredients to make them." She picked Frosted Fudge Brownies from the Taste of Home's Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2005 . (By the way, it's a pretty good cookbook, if you're in the market for one). I'm not a huge brownie fan or even much of a chocoholic, but I had (almost) all the ingredients and was willing to give it a try. I was short an egg, but it didn't seem to matter too much. I was also out of powdered sugar, but since we were doing our fortnightly grocery shopping last night, I figured I'd just pick up some then and frost the brownies afterwards. Miss M loves running the electric hand mixer and she did well this time -- meaning she didn't fling batter all over the walls. She was very excited to announce that "we're...