Tasty, Healthy Pancakes

(This is not a picture of my pancakes. 4:30am is way too early to take pictures! Picture courtesy of flickr.)

We love pancakes at our house. They're fast, cheap, and the kids love them. Unfortunately, if we're not careful, they can pack on quite a bit of sugar and loads of empty calories. My favorite, basic pancake recipe comes from Hillbilly Housewife. It's delicious on it's own, but I've altered it over the years to make it both kid and mom approved. The final product is light, fluffy, and a bit sweet, with loads of texture and flavor.



Healthy Whole Wheat Pancakes



2 eggs

2 c. milk

2 Tbsp. oil

4 Tbsp. sugar

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. white flour

1/4 c. milled flax seed

1 tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking powder



Whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients. Add to the egg, milk mixture and stir until well blended. Don't over mix. You may need to add a bit of milk at this point. Here in the South, it all depends on the weather. I like my pancake batter thick, but not too thick! Using a 1/4 cup, I can fit 6 pancakes on a well oiled griddle. Cook until the top is bubbly and the sides are no longer shiny. Flip the pancakes, and cook the other side until browned. This recipe makes 18 pancakes.



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You can do just about anything you want with this recipe. I've omitted the flax seed and used only white flour before. They taste great, but you lose all of the heath benefits. I've also used only whole wheat flour. Again, they taste great, but are a little less moist. My kid's favorite is when I grate granny smith apples right into the batter. Delicious!! Around Thanksgiving, when it's actually cool here, I'll add mashed sweet potatoes or pumpkin puree and cinnamon. Tastes like pie....YUM! For a fun weekend treat, add chocolate chips to the top after you've spooned them onto the griddle. They are so packed full of whole grains, omega 3's, and fiber, you won't feel guilty at all, and you're children will think you're the coolest!



Now if I could just find a tasty, healthy syrup that the kids will like!

I've got my eye on you!!

Fall is fast upon us, and I love it. Fall in Florida isn't your typical leaves turning, harvest event. Stuff just dies. Do you live in Florida?? Can I get a witness? So, one must pretend to be surrounded by such lovely picturesque fall "thingys". Here are some fall aprons on eBay that I've got my eye on.

I love this one, because it's everything beautiful about fall that you just can't find in central Florida. It reminds me of raking leaves into a pile only to jump into them...and do it all over again.

This one is great because not only is it fall colors, but they've incorporated roses which aren't your typical fall fare. Very feminine!






Isn't this one adorable? I liked this one because of the apple and pumpkin harvest theme. Plus, black is slimming. Yes, even on an apron...trust me!

A Typical Day

I thought it would be fun if we shared what our day looked like. Here's a typical week day for me:



Morning Routine:

4:30-4:45 Wake Up (That takes awhile some mornings!)

4:45-5:15 Shower, Get Dressed, Fix Make-up and Hair

5:15 Sort main basket of clothes and start 1st load of laundry

5:30 Start Breakfast, and put away clean dishes

5:45-6:00 Wake up older kids (It takes them a few minutes, too!)

6:00 Eat Breakfast

6:00-6:30 Big kids brush teeth, fix hair, put on socks, shoes, and glasses

6:30-6:50 Wake up Ty, get him dressed, fix hair, and give him a cup of milk

6:50-7:00 Brush Ty's teeth, big kids round up book bags, and get in van

7:00 Take kids to school



Mid Morning Routine:
(I don't have specific times for these routines)

Devotions

Daily Chores

Focus Task of the Day (Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, etc.)

Finish/Fold Laundry

Lunch

Computer Time

Make snack for kids

Afternoon Routine

(Begins around 2:30, when the kids come home from school)

Supervise homework

Clean up snack dishes

Put away laundry

Supervise kids chores

Begin supper preparations

Evening Routine:

5:30 Supper

6:00 Clean up supper dishes, kids help with clean up

6:00-7:00 Family time (play outside, board game, or watch TV)

7:00 Begin showers (Basically 15 min. per child, as one comes out, another goes in!)

7:45 Ty's prayers and bedtime

8:00 Girls' prayers and bedtime

8:30 Joshua's prayers and bedtime

8:30-9:00 Finish tidying up the house

9:00 Collapse on couch with a cup of coffee and watch something mindless

10:00 My scheduled bedtime :)

My days do vary at times, especially when I have to run an errand, or the girls have cheer practice during the week. This is a pretty typical glimpse of my day, though. I would love for some feed back from everyone. What does your day look like?

Sometimes you have to say "sorry"

Parenting is hard. I won't sugar coat it. I'm a fleshly, vile, sinner. Saved by the grace of God, but a sinner none the less. I'm not always sweet. I don't always smile and respond in a gentle and kind manner. I lose it sometimes. I won't shift the responsibility of my actions to a horrid childhood, or some other lame excuse. There are some days when I'm not proud of my actions.

Today was one of those days.

My daughter was being especially challenging this morning. She didn't get up when she was told, she didn't want to eat what I had prepared for her, and then threw a fit while I was doing her hair.

I didn't respond to her very well. Instead of letting natural consequences take their toll, my voice rose, I was stern. I could have allowed her to sleep too long and miss the bus, thus ruining her perfect attendance. I could have allowed her to not eat, thus going to school hungry. I could have allowed her to not have her hair done, thus going to school looking scraggly. (Okay, that's my issue, it probably wouldn't have bothered her one bit to have unkempt hair.)

But instead I lectured to deaf ears. When that approach didn't work, I increased the volume and toughened the tone. When that didn't work, I threw my own little hissy about being unappreciated and sent her out the door very upset with me and crying. (I'm really laying it all out here, ladies.)

I was heartbroken all day. I couldn't believe I had been so harsh. I replayed every detail, every word over in my mind. Wishing, praying I could take it back. A good part of me wanted to go to her school and take her out of class to apologize, but I knew that wasn't feasible.

I decided there are battles in the morning that I'm not willing to fight. Yes, she needs to get out of bed when asked, but I could be more accommodating about breakfast. What's the big deal if she eats a piece of toast with peanut butter instead of an egg, anyway? She's in the fourth grade. If she wants to do her own hair, I should let her. Even if it doesn't look the way I think it should. She can handle it.

2:30pm arrived and the kids were home from school. I just knew she would still be holding a grudge from this morning. Instead, do you know what she did? She brought me the brush and asked me to put her hair up for cheer leading.

My heart was pierced by her forgiving spirit.

I happily took the brush, and with tears streaming down my face, apologized for this morning's fight. She apologized, too. Both of us crying at this point, we hugged, and hugged. I held on for so long, I just didn't want to let her go.

I know we're the parents, and what we say has to "go" for the most part. But our children have the potential to really teach us some of life's lessons, if we allow them the opportunity.

Sometimes you just have to say you're sorry.

Slow Cooker Cube Steak with Gravy

A dear friend blessed me with a couple packages of cube steaks, and I knew just what to do with them. Tuesday's are very busy for us ever since our girls started cheerleading. I'll be out of the house from 3:30pm to 6:15pm. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than coming home at 6:15pm with hungry cranky kids in tow and having no clue what you're going to fix for dinner.

Here is my take on a traditional cube steak with gravy dinner.

Ingredients:

Beef cube steak (thawed)
1 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
1 onion chopped
4 beef bouillon cubes
2 cups water
2 tbsp. oil
2 small cans cream of mushroom soup

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups water in a small saucepan with bouillon cubes, chopped onion, and a dash of garlic powder. Bring to a boil and simmer.
2. Place flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a pie plate. Mix with fork. (I don't give exact amounts, because I don't know! I would guess about 1 tsp. of each.)
3. In a large frying pan, heat the oil.
4. Dredge the steaks in the flour mixture and place in hot pan.
5. Brown the steaks on both sides. You're not cooking the steaks, just browning them. They will cook in the crock pot...you don't want them to be dry.
6. Remove from pan and place in bottom of slow cooker.
7. Don't skip the flour. It's important for two parts of this recipe...it will help form the thick gravy in the slow cooker and it's vital to this next step.
8. Remember the bouillon mixture you've got going? Add that to the hot pan of crusty, brown, flavorful goodness you just took the steaks out of. It will be very bubbly, very fast...but don't panic, just whisk it all together. Whisk, whisk, until everything comes up off the bottom of the pan.
9. Now, dump the two cans of cream of mushroom soup over the steaks and spread evenly.
10. Pour the onion soup mixture into the slow cooker...right on top of everything!
11. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and enjoy the smell permeating through your house.

Now, I'll also go ahead and cook some mashed potatoes at this point. When they're done, I'll put them in the fridge to warm up when I get home. The cube steaks make a perfect gravy to top the potatoes, add a side of corn and I'm in heaven. If I were really ambitious, I would make some biscuits...but I'm just not feeling it today!!

***Helpful Hint: Did you catch on to what the beef bouillon and onions essentially made? French onion soup!! I never have that in the house, and a jar of bouillon is so much cheaper that I'd just as soon make my own. If you don't have a particular ingredient, search the web for an easy alternative. Many times you can make a substitute that's just as good or better.

It's Monday, but Sunday's A Comin'..

We had a wonderful service at church yesterday. The singing was beautiful, the preaching was powerful, and God was definitely present.

It got me thinking. What do I do daily, to prepare myself for Sunday? Other than church, how did we make Sunday any different than the rest of the week. The answer....I didn't.

I am already in the habit of making sure the kids have their church clothes picked out on Saturday so I can iron anything that may be wrinkled. This also prevents the last minute, "You are not wearing that to church", conversation. But other than that, we really don't do anything special.

Sunday should be special. Sunday is the day we corporately meet our Lord and unashamedly worship Him together. Sunday is the day we see our church family that we might not otherwise see during the week. Sunday is a day to learn more of God and what we need to do to walk daily in His will. The Lord's Day should be our day of rest. Sunday should be special.

Too often, in our family, we find ourselves scrambling out the door at 9:15am Sunday morning. Most of the time someone's temper is flaring, the kids are arguing over who sits where, we get half way to church and someone remembers they've forgotten something. I get everyone to their Sunday School classes, only to get to mine and feel the urgent need to collapse.

I was reading about the Jewish culture, and how their entire week is planned to prepare for Shabbat. They clean all week in preparation for their special day. Special meals are prepared and ready so Shabbat can be a time of rest. Worshiping God is so important, their daily activities are scheduled as such to make the coming Shabbat holy and set apart as it should be, an anticipated event. Our Lord's Day should be an anticipated event.

So this week, I'm going to try something new. I would like to do something each day to prepare our home in anticipation for The Lord's Day. I'll try to post a schedule (or something) as it comes to me. In the mean time, I'd love to hear from you. What do you do to make Sunday a special and anticipated event?

Acts 2:37-38

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Read about baptism here.