Sunday morning breakfast

As I have shared before, we typically have a special breakfast for Sunday.  This morning it was homemade oatmeal raisin muffins.  They were yummy, although to me they tasted a little too much of baking powder so I will post the fixed recipe below. The kids loved them and so did J.  I double the recipe because 12 muffins isn't quite enough for a little girl, a preteen boy going through a growth spurt, and a manlet going through puberty   I swear at about 10 years old you can't keep boys fed.  They will eat you out of house and home, not to mention the garden. But all is good.  I am also posting how to make the mix up for storage.

Quick and Homey Oatmeal Raisin Muffins
Makes 24 muffins

2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup olive oil
2 egg, beaten
2 cup milk

Cinnamon Topping
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon olive oil

Heat the oven to 425°F. Grease a muffin pan, or line the wells with paper muffin cups.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir in the oats and raisins.

In a large measuring cup, whisk the olive oil with the egg and milk. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients just until combined. Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with the batter.

Mix all the ingredients for the cinnamon topping together in a small bowl until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the muffin batter.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack until they are cool enough to be handled. Remove from the pan and eat while warm, or let cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

To make for storage:

Quick and Homey Oatmeal Raisin Muffins
Makes 24 muffins

2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cup raisins

Store in an Airtight bottle or jar with an oxygen absorber

To make:

1/2 cup olive oil

2 egg, beaten

2 cup milk

Heat the oven to 425°F. Grease a muffin pan, or line the wells with paper muffin cups.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir in the oats and raisins.

In a large measuring cup, whisk the olive oil with the egg and milk. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients just until combined. Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with the batter.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack until they are cool enough to be handled. Remove from the pan and eat while warm, or let cool completely and then store in an airtight container

Happy, Happy, Happy

Recycle, reuse, and Pea soup.

I read an article yesterday about the Amish.  It is not uncommon to find an Amish millionaire.  Well, I am impressed.  In the article it talks about they buy things with multiple purposes, and they reuse things that most of us throw away.

I got to thinking about it.  I do this quite a bit, I use soda and food bottles for food storage.  I have read some articles and blogs that say things like, "soda bottles are okay if you are on a budget, but.."  I don't see it that way.  They are made to be water tight, air tight, and to hold food and drink.  Gee in my book that makes them more than okay for food storage.  And the big plus for me, they are free.  I mean I am reusing what I would have thrown away.  So I get my soda, I get a place to store food, and I am saving it out of the landfill.  I think that is a win, win, win situation.

This morning I got to work bottling up some meals in a bottle.  These are cheap and easy.  I made french onion pea soup.  When you get ready to prepare it, boil water and dump.  That is easy in a stressful situation, like a storm and no power, or worse.  Anyways, here is the recipe to feed 5:

French onion pea soup:
1 1/4 c split peas (you can use whole peas if you want)
1 package of onion soup (not brand specific)
1 packet of ham flavoring
1 oxygen absorber

Combine in a bottle (I used a 12 oz bottle)

To make bring 5 c water to a boil and dump the bottle and cook until peas are the desired softness (personal taste)

There are 24g carbs per serving in this.  So it is fairly low carb.  If you have a diabetic this is a great meal.

Enjoy!

Great advice for every parent to read.

J posted this on his Facebook page and I read it.  I think every parent should read this so I am posting it here.  It is awesome!
http://www.stevewiens.com/2013/03/12/to-parents-of-small-children-let-me-be-the-one-who-says-it-out-loud/

Busy bee, and then it got cold.

I have been a busy little bee for a few weeks, then today in May in Texas, it is cold.  Like turn the heater on cold.  Seriously there are parts of Texas getting Freeze warnings tonight.  Luckily I am not in those areas but seriously, we are a little over a month away from the official start of Summer.  And I do remember the summer I had M, from April 15- October 1 that year there were only 5 days that weren't 100 degrees or more.

Now mind you, I don't believe in Climate change ( at least not due to global warming).  Seriously I believe that like an Inconvienant Truth is the same kind of truth as Al Gore  invented the Internet. And remember his wife forced the music industry to start putting stickers on music to prevent perverted or violent music out of peoples hands.  Anybody remember the outcome of that?

What do I believe in, well, I believe weather comes in cycles.  If you look back at recorded weather and read the farmers alamenacs.  It all goes in cycles, just like earthquakes, hurricanes, ice ages, and eclipses.  It all goes in cycles, that is the way God created it.

So for dinner tonight I am making speghetti with meat sauce, and homemade garlic bread.  Doesn't that sound yummy.  Yes it does, well until after dinner when the acid reflux kicks in.  But it is worth it.  Pain is good.  Pain is just fear leaving the body.    And as my typical behavior I will be canning my leftovers.  Well just the sauce.  Noodle don't can well.  They become some nasty starchy brick in the bottom of the jar.

Special Speghetti sauce

• 6 pints of tomato sauce
• 1 pint of diced stewed tomatos
• 1 pound of browned hamburger meat
• 1 cup of lemon juice
• 1 1/2 red wine (make sure you would drink it otherwise it will taint your sauce)(if you don't want to use wine use sparkling red cider it works too)
• seasonings to taste: minced onion, garlic powder, orgeno, italian seasonings, parsley, pepper, 
• 6 packets of stevia (you could use sugar but I have to cut carbs somewhere)

Cook for about 20 medium heat, jar up hot and can, I am using 10# pressure for 20 minutes with quart jars and 1 in head space.

My house smells like Strawberries!

This morning I got up before everybody and started making Strawberry Jam.  The Strawberries aren't from my garden, but I did get to harvest 7 strawberries out of my garden this morning.  Miss S ate them with breakfast this morning, leaves and all.  She said, "Ymmm I like the leaves."  She is a strawberry junkie.  I have decided, I will only make strawberry jam in the 10 gallon stock pot.  Because no matter how many jars I am putting up or what size pot I use my strawberry jam always boils over.  Seriously every time.  You would think a 6 quart dutch oven would be enough to make 5 1/2 pints worth of strawberry Jam.  No not in my experience.  I have done other jellies and jams and not boiled over from the same pot but strawberry boils over every time.  Does anybody else have this problem?  Or is the canning powers that be trying to tell me not to put up strawberries jam?  Miss S's answer would be not to put it up because she wants to eat every strawberry that comes in the house.  And she gets quite mad that I limit her.

Strawberry Jam

2 quarts of strawberries sliced and left over night in the ice box to juice a little
1 pack of regular pectin
4 c sugar

Place strawberries in a large (very large) stock pot and bring the hit up, then add the pectin and stir until it is all dissolved.  Then bring to a boil then turn the heat down a little and add the sugar 1 cup at a time stirring it in between each added cup.  After all the sugar is added, bring to a boil stirring so it doesn't stick to the bottom. Let it boil for about 2 minutes or if you have a jelly thermometer to 220 ( soft ball).  Jar in 1/2 pint jars leaving 1/4 head space.  Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes at a full boil.  I got 5 1/2 pint jars.

It makes the yummiest jam.

Gun Shows more than guns?!?

Yesterday we went to a Gun Show in a neighboring city.  There is more than guns there.  Beef jerky, Thrive, Wise company are just a few goodies I found that weren't weapons and S's favorite the kitty clocks.  S was obsessed with the Kitty clocks their tails wagged. J and I got a few toys for us to hunt and defend with.  I am so happy happy happy.  Yes I like Duck Dynasty.  Any way we had a fun family day at the gun show.  Awesome.   BTW when trying out a trigger glove for a bow make sure the trigger is tight so you don't have a miss fire and punch yourself in the mouth.

Sunday Morning tradition!

At our house we have a tradition on Sunday mornings and special days, Moma, me, makes a special breakfast.  It is different every week and holiday.  This morning it is homemade cinnamon rolls.  (recipe below)  Past ideas are reindeer pancakes for Christmas, Bunny butt pancakes for Easter, Texas for Texas Independence day.  Miss S loves pancakes and ask for them nearly everyday, and she can have them with Sugar Free syrup. My family has gotten so used to sugar free syrup that when I got some lite because it was free, the boys asked to have S's instead.  To us it taste better, I know most of you are turning up your noses at the thought, but you get used to it.

I have to brag on my pageant girls.  I guess I need to back up I have a pageant system that is non profit.  Yesterday we had a pageant and despite less than 10 contestants we still collected 170 items and 3 trash bags of clothes for the families in West, Texas where the fertilizer plant exploded.  If you really start to think about it.  The Oklahoma City Bombing did that much damage with only a Ryder truck full of fertilizer, this was an entire plant of fertilizer and a very small town.  But I am so proud of these girls, they didn't get anything in return.  So next time somebody talks down about pageants or you see Drama on Toddlers and Tiaras, remember what I just said these pageant girls did for strangers.

Today is also a very special day in history.  I don't get political on this blog and I am not starting now but many will take it that way.  Today is the 152nd anniversary of the beginning of what Southerns call "The War of Northern Aggression", although the rest of the country knows it as the Civil War.  I personally call it the War of Northern Aggression, being the good southern girl I am.  That was not a war over slavery as they teach now, the South did not like the Northerns "Yankees" and DC taking some of their rights away and imposing their beliefs on the south.  Sound familiar?  Just food for thought.

Back on topic:

Here are some pictures of other "special" Breakfasts.

Bunny butts for Easter.  The kids thought these were so funny.  Even the 14 year old loved them.

Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer pancakes.  

Not to bad free hand if I do say so myself.

Today's Cinnamon rolls are proofing now then into the oven and make some icing.

Cinnamon Roll recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbls softend butter I used Texas Road cinnamon butter (recipe below)
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2-4 cups flour

Method
Put water and yeast in large mixing bowl and add next 4 ingredients. Beat with dough hook until well blended. Add 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour and mix until soft dough forms (should not be sticky). Put out onto floured board and knead a few times until smooth. Place in greased bowl, cover until dough doubles, Then roll out on a floured surface until about 1/3 inch thick and rectangular.  Brush on more of the Texas Roadhouse cinnamon butter across the entire top of the dough, sprinkle lightly with brown sugar.  Then roll from on end longways to the other side.  Then with a dough cutter (or pizza cutter) cut about an inch thick rolls off.  Place on a WELL GREASED cookie sheet.  Then let it rest and raise again for about 15 minutes.  Then bake for 20 minutes at 350.  

Icing: 
 1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 milk
1-3 cups of powdered sugar To your desired thickness.

Mix until creamy.


Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Honey Butter

·         ½ cup butter

·         ½ cup powdered sugar

·         ½ cup honey

·         1 tsp. cinnamon

melt the butter and mix well.

Rolls are in the oven.  And I am starving