New Year Redo

Edit: I've rewritten this whole post.  I was trying to be all informative, but I wasn't being myself, so I changed it.  I really just wanted to show you this photo and jump up and down about my cleaning adventures. So here she goes...

After shutting the chickens in last night I noticed how cozy my house looks when standing out in the snow with those wonderful icicles and snow covered furniture.

Ahhhhhh.... 

 

And we're cleaning that cozy little abode.
We're taking it one room at a time, one day at a time and from the top down.
I removed dust bunnies, cob webs, greasy, grimy gopher dust and I even vacuumed under the couch and it's cushions!
 
I'm stuck inside anyway, might as well clean.
I don't like to do it in the spring. because I want to be OUT in the spring!
 
And here's some recipes for wonderfully effective, non-toxic, inexpensive, natural cleaners that I've used for years...
 
Homemade Cleansers
 I do not remember the name of the blog that I got these from.  If you know it, please comment so I can give  them credit!

 

Glass Cleaner

1 C. white Vinegar

2 C. warm Water

1/2 tsp. dish soap (like Dawn)

10-15 drops of essential oil (I like Valencia orange, but clove or cinnamon sounds good)

 

Add to a clean spray bottle.  Shake until dish soap is fully dissolved.

 

All-Purpose Cleaner

great for counters and even pet cages

 

1/2 tsp. washing soda (like Arm & Hammer's, found in a box the washing detergent aisle)

1/2 tsp. liquid castille soap (found in the natural foods area at grocery stores)

2 C. hot water

10-15 drops essential oil

 

Add all ingredients to a clean spray bottle.  Shake until everything is fully dissolved.

 

Air Deodorizer

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vinegar

2 c. water

10 drops essential oil in scent that you enjoy for the room

 

Mix all the ingredients in a spray bottle or atomizer bottle.

 

Mopping Liquid

My own recipe

1 c. white vinegar

8 gal. hot water

 

 

Have a Healthy and Happy New Year!



  

Pumpkin Goodness

I lied...

not sharing pictures of The Apothecary just yet

 

I'm too busy eating some Oh, So Good Pumpkin Bread that I just made!

I'm using Best Bites' Picture because the napkins ARE wonderful in the background and they take better pictures.

The bread turns out just like their picture and does taste as good as it looks.

 

It is GREAT!

I had to sub in sour cream for the yogurt because I didn't have any and the bread still tastes delicious.

In fact, Joel walked in for lunch and helped himself to a warm piece and was in LOVE!

 

Make yourself happy and fill your tummies with Pumpkin Bread.

 

 

SCORE! and Oatmeal Muffins Mmmmmmm...

First...SCORE!

 8 teeny glitter filled glass bottles for $1!

Dollar Store in the beauty section--sold as nail art.

The bottles are 7/8" tall with a little plastic cork.

I've seen these used for charm bracelets, necklaces, ornaments and miniature scenes.

 

Me...MINI HALLOWEEN APOTHECARY!!!

Check out Artfully Musing's Tutorial/workshop!

 

Second...Oatmeal Muffins

 This afternoon I tried a new recipe from The Kitchn'-

Quick & Homey Oatmeal Raisin Muffins.

 

They ARE quick. 

Recipe makes 12

They ARE healthy.

Fat & sugar low/Fiber high.

 

They ARE delicious in a homey way--great for a cold day!

They aren't sweet despite the cinnamon topping.

These are a traditional muffin, NOT a cupcake disguised as healthy food.

My beautiful daughter disguised as a make-up disaster (hint,hint, hint)

 

Kaely approved (ignore the Cruella DeVille make-up, PLEASE!).

 

This muffin recipe is definitely headed for the

KEEPER & make again recipe book!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Thai Pesto! Yummmm!

Not my recipe here...I like to try OTHER people's recipes!

Last night we tried Best Bite's Pasta with Cilantro-Peanut Pesto

image & recipe from Best Bites

Oooohhhhhh!  So good and soooo quick!

Be sure to include the extra peanuts, cilantro, and lime wedge for garnishing--I think they really make the difference.

If it's not hot enough for you, you can do as Joel does and give your bowl a shot of Siracha :)

In fact...check out this Siracha Mister featured at The Kitchn'

I can see one of these in my kitchen's future...

image via The Kitchn



Rhubarb Streusel Muffins!

Don't think so, Boo Boo!

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Very much a success!  Not too sweet--you can still taste the tangy rhubarb.



 

What's For Breakfast

I stopped buying cereal a couple of years ago.

Why, you ask?

• Store bought cereals are so over processed that the natural nutrients from the grains have to be added back in a less absorbable form
• They tend to contain an unnecessary amount of sugar
• They're expensive
• They're a waste of packaging
• My kids didn't really eat them (probably the biggest reason)

Now, I'm not an early morning person.  Betty Crocker does NOT get up at 6 a.m. and cook a deliciously warm plate of goodness for her children in this house.

Betty's cousin, Tabitha, she does make things ahead of time and has them available for her precious little kiddos who find themselves incapable of breaking their own morning fast.

Banana Bread



Chocolate Ricotta Muffins



Oatmealers

Finding Simplicity's Granola Bars

Applesauce Donuts

Molly's Katzen's Awesome Granola

Old-Fashioned (less fat) Gingerbread Cookies

PBA

  

Sometimes I even make...

Sticky Buns

 (maybe not so healthy, but certainly yummy!)

Recipes I haven't featured yet, but I promise I will...

Pumpkin Scones

Fruit Crisp (lower the sugar & fat, add nuts and oats to the crisp topping)

Crust-free Pumpkin Custards (Libby's recipe minus the crust and 1/2 the sugar)

Rice & a glass of milk (set the timer on the rice cooker!)

Left-over pizza (They love it and as long as it's not overloaded with meat & cheese, it's ok)

Left-over Dinner (if it was healthy & good tasting last night, should be this morning)

This week I'm going to try some of the Make-Ahead Breakfasts featured on The Kitchn

Image from The Kitchn

Kaely would love this idea--She likes eating and drinking from mason jars.

Off to try Oatmeal Clafoutis, Quick & Homey Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, Apricot Yogurt Scones and Mini Quiches.  I keep you posted on the results!

Oooooooo....!

Spotted these on The Kitchn this morning...



image via Mommy Cooks

Granola Cups!  The recipe can be found at Mommy Cooks--granola mix pressed into a muffin tin.

Doesn't this snack look wonderful?!

Follow-up on the Slow Cooker Enchiladas from The Kitchn

YUM! 

First of all...I made mine in the oven (option on recipe).  Kids needed rides, dogs walks, etc. so I wasn't able to get the enchiladas into the crockpot early enough, so I went with the oven option.

I used the vegetarian recipe without adding leftover meat, but I think they'd be very good with shredded chicken.

They still turned out wonderful! 

This recipe makes TWO pans full of enchiladas!  You will have enchiladas coming out your ears, but that's okay because they reheat fabulously--IN FACT--we liked them even better reheated.

Slow Cooker Black Bean Enchiladas is a keeper recipe for us.

Two nights worth of awesome, kid-loving, food?  I'm in!



Mini Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

Got the muffins done!

Still doing the dishes, though...blah.

The recipe is from Mollie Katzen's cookbook, "Sunlight Cafe"

You can find the Chocolate Ricotta Muffin Recipe  (free) at her website, but I also recommend the book!

I use the full 8T. of cocoa powder (1/2 cup), low-fat ricotta, and oil in place of butter.

48 Mini muffins only take 15 minutes to cook.

Mmmmm.  Doesn't that look just yummy?! 

They do look (and taste) great when they're done!

One muffin in particular caught my eye

tee hee hee...
And since the oven was already hot I turned into SUPER MOM (for a limited time) and baked some of Searching Simplicity's Granola Bars--yum!

Did I say TOMORROW?!

When I said I'd show you my finished crocheted swiffer pads tomorrow, I really meant 2-3 days (maybe even 4) later.  They're nearly done, though!  Turns out you have to kind of crochet around your swiffer and I didn't have it with me when I was at my friend's house crocheting, soooooo.....

Yah, yah, yah...I'll finish it today.

Today I'm  trying this for dinner:



Slow Cooker Black Bean Enchiladas

Recipe and image from The Kitchn'

They only take 2-4 hours, so I'm still okay on time.  They look good, though, huh?!

Edit 1/6/12: I cooked these in the oven on 400 degrees for 20 minutes (option in recipe) and they turned out fabulous!  Beware...recipe makes a LOT!  I ended up with 2 pans worth of enchiladas--leftovers!

I'm also making some Chocolate Ricotta Muffins that I thought I'd already shared with you, but upon looking through past kluckingbear posts, it appears that I haven't, so I will post pictures and a recipe for you soon.  They are very good and pretty healthy.  Kid fave for sure.

I'm also thinking I might sew a bit.

I'm feeling inspired by this...

click for more info!

Sew Much 2 Luv is offering prizes each week just for dusting off our sewing machines and starting on a project.

I'd like to try these Tap Pants

Image and tutorial at Craftzine

Or maybe this AWESOME Mini Bookshelf Quilt by Betsy Dackson!

Image and tutorial from Don't Call Me Betsy

 Off to create!  Well, after laundry, dishes, floors...ugh.

Molasses YUMMMMM!

Warning:  Crappy cell phone pics ahead (camera is charging)

I read and drooled over Attic24's post on Gingerbread--I WANTED that recipe, but she couldn't publish it.  Sad me.

Then I ran into this Molasses Spice Cookie recipe from Always With Butter.

It was a sign...I needed to bake.

Bake I did.

And Ate...

Ohhhhhh!  These are so yummy!

They have a very subtle spice flavor with a molasses finish.

Be sure to leave plenty of room between the cookie balls

They spread.  They are just the right amount of chewy and crisp. MMMMMM.

I used a small cookie scoop to measure out my balls and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute before putting them on a cooling sheet 

I'm going to store them in the freezer until X-mas, because I WILL eat them all if I leave them out!

Dinner Last Night

Monday is now our family "Try Something New" meal day.

Last night we tried Thai Peanut Noodles from Our Best Bites.

THUMBS UP!

EVEN FROM MS. PICKY ADDIE!

BONUS:  It's VERY quick and easy to make!

Image via Our Best Bites

 Vegetarian and Veggiemation (my own word) Customizing:

• We used vegan No-Chicken Broth by Imagine instead of actual chicken broth. Veggie broth would work well too, but I've found store bought too carroty for my tastes.
•  We also added raw bean sprouts and shredded green cabbage to our bowls which turned out to be great additions.

Featuring Soup and Featured Pumpkin

Dinner last night

Baked Potato Soup from Our Best Bites

YUM!

I was going to take a picture of what the soup REALLY looks like when made by your average blogger, but...

a.  It really did look like the above picture (amazing)

b. We (Me, Joel, Kaely the vegetarian, and Addie, Ms. Picky) ate every last bite

I did Vegetarianize the recipe for Kaely by using No-Chicken Broth by Imagine (veggie broth would probably work too) and not adding the bacon to soup pot.  We added our bacon to our bowl individually (very popular!).

Easy, delicious and GREAT on a cold night!

~AND~

My Unstuffed Pumpkins were featured on Creations by Kara.  Yeah & thanks, Kara!