Holy cow, these have become a staple in our house the past few weeks. Matt's been eating them for breakfast and lunch. good thing I usually make a good dinner for him, or he'd eat them then as well.
Growing up our family didn't make these very often, because my dad doesn't like them. I don't know why, probably the sugar overload. Anyway, the recipe's easy, and they're ready in about 15 minutes or so. and they don't involve too much mixing by hand, which I don't like doing very much.
No Bake Cookies
1 cube butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
dash of vanilla
4-6 cups oats
1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)
boil butter sugar and milk for about 2 minutes, add cocoa powder and vanilla. Take off of stove top and add oatmeal (and peanut butter, if you so desire. We never desire). spoon onto a tray and place in fridge. Makes about 2 dozen. (I put wax paper on the sheets so I don't have to wash them!)
It's like our new sunday tradition! and it's tasty.
As for the easter garland, I found this at Tip Junkie and thought it was great.
Basically it's easter eggs with holes punched out on each end and strewn together with string to make pretty decorations. (and cheap, which I'm ALL about) I can't get the image to load, so go there and check it out (besides, they have lots of other cool stuff on their page).
I'm going to hit up the after easter sales to get my eggs for this, because why pay full price when I can wait a week and get it for half price?
Showing posts with label in the kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label in the kitchen. Show all posts
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
homemade baby food
now that our little girl is here, instead of reading about pregnancy, I'm reading all about babies and looking for tips for a lot of the situations that can arise/are already arising. Mostly just filling my head with random bits of information since Katryn is only 11 days old.
as a gift, my mother gave me one of these:
I'm very excited to start using it in a few months. it just reminds me of growing up, when we'd grind up dinner for my little sister, it was just so cool to see the food get all mashed up! I'm a cheap person, and baby food is just so expensive! so I plan on making my own with my grinder. Then I can freeze it in an ice cube tray for when she's teething to help soothe her and put it in one of these:
Which I only discovered because of Nancy, but am excited to try it out as well.
But while I've been searching around online, I found this webpage which has all these recipes for baby food and making baby and toddler friendly meals! maybe this can help someone out right now, I'll be sure to give it a try in a few months.
as a gift, my mother gave me one of these:
I'm very excited to start using it in a few months. it just reminds me of growing up, when we'd grind up dinner for my little sister, it was just so cool to see the food get all mashed up! I'm a cheap person, and baby food is just so expensive! so I plan on making my own with my grinder. Then I can freeze it in an ice cube tray for when she's teething to help soothe her and put it in one of these:Which I only discovered because of Nancy, but am excited to try it out as well.But while I've been searching around online, I found this webpage which has all these recipes for baby food and making baby and toddler friendly meals! maybe this can help someone out right now, I'll be sure to give it a try in a few months.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Kitchen helps
I have to admit that I never have followed a whole month's menu. We substitute meals all the time! But I find that at least by having an idea for every day I can relax more and not spend half the day wondering what we're going to eat. And I know how old the leftovers in the fridge are if we don't happen to use them up....
Anyway...
Andrew just sent me this link. I haven't looked at everything, but it's chock full of ideas, some of which you may find useful.
We love Lifehacker over at our house.
Anyway...
Andrew just sent me this link. I haven't looked at everything, but it's chock full of ideas, some of which you may find useful.
We love Lifehacker over at our house.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
How to save your flat batter
If you're like me, then more often than not you will just get the batter made for some delicious dessert: cake, muffins, etc. and then will have to leave it sitting in order to run off and do something else. Maybe the dryer just quit or the baby started screaming or, like what happened on Sunday, you looked at the clock and realized that you didn't have time to bake it right away because you had to be to the choirside in 5 minutes!
So, on Sunday Andrew made the batter for the poppyseed bread (that I still have to deliver) and then we had to run out the door.
When we got home we realized that there was no way the batter would rise in the oven since it had been sitting in the fridge for a few hours.
Batter rises because of the chemical reaction between the baking soda and whatever acid-like substance is found in the batter. You have to cook it immediately, though, otherwise the reaction finishes and your batter becomes somewhat "flat."
Andrew suggested that we put more baking soda in the batter. He said he thought he remembered trying that on the mission once or twice and it seemed to work.
After researching for a bit and finding nothing, I started to think back on the days when I was really into experimenting with vinegar and baking soda. I recalled noticing that if you put more vinegar into the volcano after it had already "erupted," nothing happened. However, if you added more baking soda after the initial eruption, the chemical reaction would take place again and the volcano would erupt once more.
So we added another teaspoon of baking soda to the batter and, wouldn't you know it, little gas bubbles started rising to the surface of the bowl. We baked the bread and it rose wonderfully. Of course, it then fell in the middle but bread normally does that when I bake it.
A happy ending to a nearly disastrous cooking experience.
So, on Sunday Andrew made the batter for the poppyseed bread (that I still have to deliver) and then we had to run out the door.
When we got home we realized that there was no way the batter would rise in the oven since it had been sitting in the fridge for a few hours.
Batter rises because of the chemical reaction between the baking soda and whatever acid-like substance is found in the batter. You have to cook it immediately, though, otherwise the reaction finishes and your batter becomes somewhat "flat."
Andrew suggested that we put more baking soda in the batter. He said he thought he remembered trying that on the mission once or twice and it seemed to work.
After researching for a bit and finding nothing, I started to think back on the days when I was really into experimenting with vinegar and baking soda. I recalled noticing that if you put more vinegar into the volcano after it had already "erupted," nothing happened. However, if you added more baking soda after the initial eruption, the chemical reaction would take place again and the volcano would erupt once more.
So we added another teaspoon of baking soda to the batter and, wouldn't you know it, little gas bubbles started rising to the surface of the bowl. We baked the bread and it rose wonderfully. Of course, it then fell in the middle but bread normally does that when I bake it.
A happy ending to a nearly disastrous cooking experience.
Friday, December 7, 2007
I made pizza dough!
A little while back my sister-in-law was at my house and saw the food processor that my mother-in-law gave me. She told me they were great for making pizza dough. I said tat would be cool, but I thought I would never be able to make pizza dough. It just sounds hard. But I decided to put it on my month menu. Having the month menu makes me more brave because I can plan a little more complicated dinners for days that aren't coming yet without knowing yet what my plans are for that day thereby taking away the excuse that I'll be too busy. So I tried the pizza dough yesterday, and it worked! I tasted great! And it was easy! I am so happy about it. Also it reminded me that when we try small things to better ourselves, the Lord blesses us greatly. There are some homemaking skills that I don't feel very confident in, cooking being one of the biggest ones. But as I try to improve myself in these areas, the Lord blesses me greatly because homemaking is a very important part of my life. He wants me to succeed at it because when I am making my home a better place, I am fulfilling a big part of the work He has for me in this stage of my life. How exciting!
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