A Few Dough-licious Recipes

I was able to buy a stand mixer with birthday money earlier this month, so I decided to put it to work kneading dough last week. As well as perfectly kneading several loaves-worth of bread dough for me, my mixer also enabled me (as well as my two main men) to enjoy this Whole Wheat Butterhorns recipe and also this Easiest, Tastiest, Healthy Pizza Crust recipe.

You can probably tell from the name of the recipe alone that the Butterhorns were deliciously indulgent. They indeed were. After freezing half the baked batch in freezer bags earlier in the week, on Saturday we popped a few frozen ones in the over for a few minutes and wow, they were soft and tasted fresh. I think it would be easy to have these in your freezer and pull them out for guests or anytime you want to stretch the main course.

The easy-tasty-healthy pizza crust recipe was so easy to mix up in my mixer with dough hooks. And I was amazed that I didn't even have to let the dough rise. Just give it a 10-minute rest and it's ready to go into the oven! It was such a soft and fluffy pizza dough. Definitely the best whole wheat pizza dough recipe I've found so far.

Just FYI: I didn't use as much flour as the recipes call for, because I don't use freshly ground flour, I bake with King Arthur White Whole Wheat store-bought flour. From my understanding, store-bought whole wheat flour is more dense than freshly ground (like if you have a wheat grinder in your kitchen), so if the recipe is written for freshly ground (like these are), use a little less flour if you are using store-bought. For example with the pizza dough, I probably used somewhere around 4 1/2 cups flour, give or take, when the recipe as written calls for 5 cups.

"Chick"peas

As I was peeling some chickpeas the other night, I started seeing little chicks pop out at me. Anyone know if this is just a coincidence or if this is why these legumes have their funny name?

Nativity Blocks - an investment for future years

I don't "Pinterest". I have an account but the site completely overwhelms me. That being said, I did in fact log on to Pinterest back in October and a friend had just posted a link to this nativity block idea. The craft was simple, almost simple enough not to need directions: unfinished blocks + paint + stickers + Mod Podge to seal = kid friendly nativity set. My hubby cut the blocks for me out of scrap wood in his dad's shop back in December, I bought the stickers from Hobby Lobby, I began painting this past Tuesday, and the rest is history. I just can't wait to watch Bram and any other kids we have play with these in future years!

Here is the original project link I saw last October.

I had been perusing Etsy for a nativity block set to buy and saw a few great ones, running for somewhere around $30 a pop. Also this Melissa and Doug wooden nativity made it on to my wish list, and it's on Amazon now for just $20.49. But would you believe how inexpensive this nativity block project was if I told you? It cost me a whopping $7! Here's the breakdown:

wooden blocks..................FREE (cut from scrap wood)
5 colors of acrylic paint....$5 (around $1/per)
Nativity stickers................$2 (if I had been thinking I could've used a 40% off coupon and got them for just $1.20)
Mod Podge........................FREE (already owned)
sandpaper...........................FREE (already owned)

Anyway, this was a fun and super easy project to complete, and I know it will last many, many years, giving my husband and I ample opportunities to discuss the Greatest Story Ever Told with Bram and our other kiddos. If you're interested, you've got about 11 months to go and make your own until next Christmas!

Chilly Weather = Soup Weather

Sunday evening my husband and I put a chicken with some veggies on the stove to simmer all night. When we woke up, we had lots of tender chicken to use this week and about 16 cups of rich and good-for-you chicken stock. I used about half of our fresh stock and chicken to make Chicken Tortilla Soup. I used the HH's recipe and mashed it with Sally Fallon's Mexican Soup recipe in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Basically I took the HH's recipe for soup (link above) and added 1 can tomato paste and 1/2 cup fresh lime juice. I also eliminated the chopped tomatoes in light of the addition of tomato paste. All that to say, I thought it was so yummy! The lime juice really gave it a 'zing' in my opinion. Instead of using homemade tortillas, this time I opted for Ezekiel 4:9 brand Sprouted Grain Tortillas. The combo was great. And - a plus - Bram ate it, too. We stretched the soup to feed the three of us through 2 dinners, and then Bram and I enjoyed the tail end of the leftovers for lunch today. Do you have any tried and true soup recipes you make for your family? 

 

 Here are a few snapshots of Bram the Ham at breakfast yesterday.

Photoshoot in Tulsa

While we were in Oklahoma, we along with my sisters, their families, and my mom (Grandma Peggy) got to have a 'lil Sears photoshoot to capture cousins Ellie, Bram, and Daniel this holiday season. I have to say that both babies and the toddler were super serious almost the entire shoot. But it was fun to capture the moment in time to look back on in future years.

 This is one of the only shots where Bram is smiling!

 Julie, Patrick, and baby Ellie

 Sarah, Andy, and baby Daniel

 Mom and her three girls

 The serious cousins

Bram is not too sure about this pose and Ellie can't get enough of the blanket

Bram says, "I've had enough guys."

Oil Cleanse

So, a friend posted on Facebook that she cleans and moisturizes her face with a combination of castor oil and olive oil. Sounds crazy, right? Well, after reading this blog post I'm thoroughly intrigued! After reading, I already used olive oil to moisturize my dry forehead yesterday morning, and my skin is still nice and soft, and it's now Sunday night. I think I may also add a few drops of tea tree oil as well because I already have it on hand. I'll let you know how it goes!

Praise Baby

Before my motherhood adventure began, I was a bit skeptical about baby movies. You see, my husband and I aren't huge TV people. We do enjoy relaxing together in front of a movie or the most recent episode of an exceptional PBS Masterpiece show (Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and Call The Midwife have all been great!). My husband watches big sports matches as they are aired on local TV, as we don't pay for cable. But we also enjoy reading before bed, or just going to bed after the house is picked up (having a baby will do that to you!).

But,

We love Praise Baby DVDs!



(Seriously no one asked me to write this...this is from my heart.)

This past weekend of sickness among our family confirmed my gratitude for these little 30 minute long gems, but here are some additional reasons why I'm thankful for Praise Baby:

• The movies capture the attention of infants and toddlers younger than 2 years old, which not many movies can do.
• There is no plot line, but lots of images and clips of kids and animals and shapes being shown to Christian music. It's surprisingly not annoying to listen to (and, you can turn off the vocals if you so desire, and just have the music).
• He's still into the same episodes, even now being over a year older than when we first introduced him to the movies.
• Bram was colicky, and he would watch these starting at around 4 or 5 months old. It was the only way I could get a shower or make lunch sometimes because he also hardly napped during the day as an infant. And that was well worth it to me, after having taken many showers listening to his screams!
• For some reason, we have been a very mobile family since having our son and have taken many flights. On one trip I flew solo with Bram. Having the PB movies on my iPhone to watch in the airport or on the flight itself was a lifesaver.
•  Most recently, all three of us were sick. And when Mama has a headache, she's pretty useless. Couple that with a clingy, fussy toddler who is also sick. Well, PB movies came to the rescue yet again. It was one of those compromise weekends where we just had to do what we had to do to survive. And so I was so thankful he loves watching Praise Baby. 

 A few other thoughts:

• We don't have Bram watch Praise Baby every day. Many times, he goes weeks without watching it. But sometimes it has felt so necessary, that I am glad we have had these movies around.
•  I'm not saying that TV is great for children. I don't think it would necessarily be wise for me to introduce Bram to tons of shows just to get him to watch more TV. Right now Praise Baby and a few Baby Einstein movies are all he knows of TV. And we use them sparingly and wisely as we see the need arising.
• I'm definitely not saying that every infant and toddler needs Praise Baby. Definitely not! But for me in that first year of motherhood, and still to this day actually, but not as much, Praise Baby dvds have been more helpful than I ever thought they would be. My skeptical pre-mom self would probably have never anticipated that I would one day soon write such glowing (and lengthy) remarks about a baby DVD, but like I said earlier, sometimes - having a baby will do that to you!