one.

April 28 was my baby's first birthday.

I made him cupcakes from Pioneer Woman's sheet cake recipe, with this frosting, and they were really yummy.

He was quite happy with his cupcake and candle...mostly the candle.

Then we blew it out...and I think we broke his little heart.

We encouraged him to try the cupcake, but he wasn't too sure...I think he was still upset about the candle.

Then he realized, "Hey, this is good!"

At which point he quickly devoured one...then two cupcakes!

Here he is declaring his passionate love for cupcakes with a little song...

Just kidding.

I used to think it was cliche to always be commenting on how fast children grow...until I had them. There's nothing like having babies to make you realize just how fast a year goes by. It's really obvious with little ones...a year brings amazing changes.

Mama loves you, Noah Bug.

good for you & tasty too.

I found this recipe for superpower breakfast cookies last fall, but have just recently started making them on a regular basis. They are quite nutritious and very filling and, best of all, they taste wonderful...the whole family loves them!

I pretty much follow the recipe exactly (I know, unusual for me) although I usually double it because they disappear so quickly...

Oh, and I do divide my batch into two bowls before adding the chocolate chips, and substitute dried cranberries in one for my boy who *gasp* doesn't like chocolate...I don't know what happened there...

homemade yogurt.

photo

I'm thinking about trying this recipe for homemade yogurt from fellow blogger-&-frugal-girl-extrodinaire-Kristen. I'll bet it's really yummy, and quite a lot cheaper than buying yogurt at the store. Plus, you KNOW there are live, active cultures in this stuff if you grew it yourself...

*wink*

happy valentine's day.

So, since everyone knows that chocolate and Valentine's Day go together perfectly...I wanted to share the BEST chocolate cookie recipe in the whole world. I got it from the blog of one of my dearest friends who is also something of a gourmet cook in my book. But be forewarned, if you don't care for chocolate, you will not like these cookies. They are made with dark chocolate chips and are amazingly rich. I make them at least once a month, much to the chagrin of my four year old who despises chocolate (I know, I know, something went horribly amiss in the gene pool there...)

mom's pancakes.

You know those recipes that your mom makes, that you totally take for granted when you are a little kid? And then you grow up, and one day you remember that wonderful...well, whatever...that your mom made and you just have to call her for the recipe? Well, last week I resurrected my mom's pancake recipe. I have actually had the recipe for a while, but haven't ever made it. I guess I overestimate the difficulty of getting out ALL those dry ingredients. That, and I never seem to have buttermilk on hand. But last week, I just happened to have the perfect amount of buttermilk and the overwhelming desire to eat some of my mom's pancakes. They were just as good as I remembered...

Here is the recipe:

Mom's Half Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

• 2 cups flour (1 cup white/1 cup whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons oil

1. Sift together dry ingredients in large bowl, mix wet ingredients in smaller bowl and combine, mixing well.
2. Pour by 1/4 to 1/2 cup onto hot, buttered griddle (I usually have mine around 300-350, I think). Cook until bubbles on top pop, then flip and cook until browned on opposite side.
3. Top with whatever you want and enjoy! These can be frozen and reheated in the toaster.

muffins

This lovely fall...or, more precisely, winter weather has been making me want to bake and, as we always seem to have a plethora of overripe bananas at out house...I thought I'd make some banana bread. I had all the ingredients, and got to work looking at recipes online. Apparently I was not the only one craving banana bread...it was in the top searches box on allrecipes.

Now there seems to be a misconception about banana bread, at least in my brain, because it's made with fruit...it must be more nutritious than, say cake. Not so, I found as I perused through all the top rated recipes. Two sticks of butter in one loaf of bread is a bit excessive, in my opinion, especially when I'm sure I would probably end up eating most of it.

So on to Plan B. I needed to find something that called for overripe bananas, that tasted good, and was somewhat nutritious. I must admit, I wasn't optimistic. But not only did I find a recipe that met all the criteria, it also called for apples...which I had, and needed to use. The stars were in alignment! All was right with the world!

So I got to work. Of course, I had to change the recipe, because I can never actually follow a recipe to the letter. First off, I tripled the recipe, because I wanted to make muffins we could eat for a week or so, and a loaf of bread. The recipe called for raisins...plumped raisins... not a fan. So I left them out. Actually, I substituted walnuts. And I added an extra egg and a substituted a little all-purpose white flour for some of the whole wheat because some reviews said they didn't rise well. So this is what the recipe looked like when I was done with it:

• 4 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 4 1/2 cups bran cereal {I used bran flakes}
  
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  
• 6 tablespoons melted butter or oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  
• 3 apples, cored and shredded {zucchini would work too}
  
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup brown sugar or honey
• 1-2 cups chopped walnuts
  

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 36 muffin cups or two large loaf pans.
2. Beat the eggs and the milk in a large bowl, and mix in the bran cereal. Let the mixture stand until the cereal absorbs the liquid, about 5 minutes (this is when I mash my bananas and grate my apples). Add the mashed bananas, shredded apples, melted butter (or oil) and vanilla. Gently mix in the dry ingredients, and stir a few times to combine.
   
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, and bake in the preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

They were wonderful! Not quite as good as banana bread *smile* but still very good. A new staple at our house for breakfast, I think.

scones

I made some blueberry scones tonight with this basic scone/biscuit recipe and was reminded how wonderfully versatile and easy it is. I got it from my mom a few years back when I was trying to make homemade strawberry shortcake and just couldn't quite duplicate her light, slightly sweet shortcake. This recipe can be used to make plain shortcake, scones, or savory drop biscuits depending on what is added.

Here's the basic recipe:

• 2 cups flour (my mom always sifts it...I never do)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar (increase to about 3 tbsp if you are making shortcake or scones)
  

Mix these dry ingredients together thoroughly and then cut in:

• 5 to 6 tbsp butter, slightly softened

You should have a sort of crumbly mixture after cutting in the butter. Then add:

• 1 cup milk or cream, stir to combine.
  

If you are making scones, stir in your additional ingredients and top with a bit of raw/turbinado sugar. A few of my favorite scone variations are orange zest with cranberries, dried blueberries, and of course, chocolate chips...the possibilities are quite endless.

For savory biscuits, you can try adding bacon, cheese and chives or sundried tomatoes and feta...again, endless possibilities!

Drop by tablespoonful onto cookie sheet and shape as desired. Bake at 350 until the tops of the scones start to turn golden, 10 to 15 minutes depending on the oven.