My children are hogs.  To decrease grocery costs(because cereal prices are rediculous even though we buy the bagged cereal), I have been baking again.  More fattening, but cheaper and tastier. Yum!  This morning I scrambled 6 eggs and baked 12 muffins. 

 My 3 children, alone, ate 6 eggs and 11 muffins.  yikes.

Aidan-7 (4 eggs, 4 muffins and OJ)

Lilianne-5 (5 muffins and OJ)

Sarah-3 (2 eggs, 2 muffins and OJ)

I think Kris may have to get a part-time job soon LOL!

A beautiful blog post……. please take the time to read it if you can. 

http://aholyexperience.com/2008/08/what-mother-must-sacrifice.html

 

This is a glimpse of a sunrise I photographed when we were in Fl last week.  Next post I’ll show you the whole gorgeous thing!

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 Weight loss is something that was never a concern for me until the past few years.  I was lucky I suppose.  As a child I was an extremely picky eater that didn’t eat much.  As a teenager, my appetite came into it’s own I suppose.  I could eat every bit as much, if not more, than my uber fit football star boyfriend(my hubby!).  But a rigorous schedule of ballet, jazz, tap, baton, gymnastics, dance competitions and majorette practice kept me very slim up until about the age of 20. Oh the bliss of eating candy bars every day!

Eleven years, one happy marriage, 3 c-section babies in 4 years, 12 household moves, a bit of a sugar addiction and 30 pounds later, I find myself at the age of 31 contemplating my eating habits.  I like to say there is NO part of my life or body that having a child doesn’t touch. LOL.   I grew up in the South, and let me tell you, there are no better cooks than my Granny, Aunt Patty & my Mom.  They cook in true southern fashion. And every time I go home for a visit, I come back 5 pounds heavier.  And let me tell you, Paula Deen has nothing on them!

I’m a bit of a grazer.  I eat my meals, but I graze on whatever I see as well.  I LOVE food.  I delight in food.  My husband doesn’t understand that. I noticed a difference in our families while we were dating in high school.  My side of the family EATS.  We talk about our food.  We oooh and aaaah over our food.  We enjoy our food.  We eat 3 large meals a day.  While eating lunch, we wonder what we’re having for dinner lol.  My husbands family is different.  I’ll never forget going on my first camping trip with them.  It was the summer between 10th and 11th grade and they had invited me on a week long camping trip in the mountains.  I quickly found that they just don’t eat very often.  They might have a late brunch and then one more large meal.  Very weird to me.  I found myself whispering to boyfriend(hubby) “I’m starving, when are we eating?!” 

I’ve tried a few diets, 3-day, Atkins, South Beach… but, I just do not have the willpower to stick to them.  I’m STARVING on the 3-day and I’m CRAVING on Atkins and South Beach.  Sure, if I could make it past the 2 week induction phases, the cravings may pass, but I just can’t get over the 2nd and 3rd day!  Yeah, I’m weak, I know!  What I have found that worked for me in the past was the Body for Life program.  I made it back down in my 6’s with that.  And I probably should go back on that.  And I may.  Right now I am tracking everything I eat on Sparkpeople.com.  It’s a definite eye-opening experience to see how many calories I was consuming in a day.  Well, scary really.  So I hop on my elliptical in the mornings and track what I eat. Try to make wise choices, watch my portions and not binge on sugar. And it’s working…slowly.  It’s a really great site if you’d like to take a look.  It’s free and will plan out meals and exercise programs for you. Chart everything for you and help you meet your goals. There a multitude of supportive boards and teams and an encycolpedia of helpful articles. 

So what do you do to maintain or loose weight?  What do you find works for you? 

 

 

Savoring the last of the Strawberry Rhubarb pie

I detest those 100 calorie snack packs that I see popping up all over the grocery stores.  The food is 2-3 times mores expensive just for someone else to portion it for me.  And then theres all the extra packaging (waste)!  Drives me crazy.  I am too cheap frugal to pay a premium just for extra plastic wrappers.  In addition, do you know how fast my 3 kids could go through a box of something like that?! Ugh…

All this to say, I am trying to cut back, exercise and loose some extra fat poundage and ran across this article today….

http://www.healthassist.net/food/300kcal/300.shtml

Cool eh?!  Thank goodnes this photo was taken last year and is as close as I need to be to something that good!

Back from our short vacation and busy unpacking and doing mountains of laundry.  I’ll give you a little sneak peak and will be back tomorrow for a longer post. These shots are straight out of my camera and naked….no editing.

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Lilianne in the ocean

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Aidan studying the sea creatures

Tomorrow we are heading down south to our hometown in GA for a few days.  Visit with Minivan Dad’s family and attend a family reunion.  On Sunday, we head to my mom and step-dad’s river house in north FL.  I’m hoping Fay will have passed and we can hit the beach a few times while we are there.  The Minivan kids are out of their minds excited and hopping around like Mexican jumping beans!

 I’ve a riddle for you….what do you do when you are leaving tomorrow morning for a 5 night vacation, a mile-long To-Do list,  a mountain of laundry and packing to do and you have this on your kitchen counter? 

 

Why, procrastinate on the packing and laundry and bake of course!!  I enjoy cooking with my kids, but it can often be overwhelming with all 3 hovering over me “helping”.  Please tell me I’m not the only one cooking like this.

 

 

We made banana bread…

 

 

And banana muffins too!

 

Don’t you think the “overhang” is the best part?!!  These muffins have plenty of it.

 

Mmmmm, I wish you could smell my house right now…  Want some?  We’ll share!… I think…on second thought, Minivan Dad can be a little territorial of his baked goods.

Here are my recipes if you’d like to try one of them.  They really are GOOD!  I’ll put some in the freezer (they defrost tasting just as fresh I promise!!) and some will travel south with us to share with family.

Banana Bread

Yields 1 9×5 loaf (however, my family is a little piggish so I typically triple the recipe to make 3 loaves) 

•  2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/3 cups mashed very overripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly grease 9 x 5 loaf pan (or use Pam flour spray – much easier and less messy!!)
3. In large bowl, combine flour, soda and salt.
4. In separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
5. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas until well blended.
6. Gently stir banana mixture into flour mixture.  Just until mixed.  Do NOT overmix!!
7. Pour batter into greased and floured loaf pan.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.
9. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack

Banana Muffins

 

Yields 12 muffins (again, piggies under my roof. I doubled the recipe…because, well, I only had 6 bananas left) 

 

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

    Topping

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (or more if you like…I normally do!)
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 1 tablespoon cold butter
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1. In big bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients together.
2. Mix bananas, sugar, egg and butter.
3. Stir into dry mixture just until wet. Again, do not overmix!
4. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full (I like to use an ice cream scoop so the amounts are fairly even)
5. Combine first 3 topping ingredients.
6. Cut in butter until crumbly. (use a pastry cutter if you have one, if not, a fork works too!) 
7. Sprinkle evenly over muffins.
8. Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean)
9. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and turn out on rack to cool

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I was out of butter by the time I got to making the muffins.  I hate running out of butter!!  So instead of using 2/3c butter (remember I doubled the recipe), I used 1/3c applesauce and 1/3c vegetable oil.  And on the topping, I subbed the 2TBS butter for 2TBS of butter flavored Crisco… I know, healthy right?  But, it all turned out just fine and tastes delicious!  

 

 

 

By the way, do you hate to grease and flour pans?  I do. It takes too long and makes too much of a mess…and besides, I’m kinda lazy on occasion.  So this is what I use.  And if you haven’t discovered this spray, by all means, get some!!!  Works like a charm and doesn’t make a mess.  Doesn’t matter what brand you buy, they all seem to work just fine.  

 

 And now look what I’ve added to my To Do list for today!!  I’m a messy cook. 

I plan on trying to blog while I’m out of town, but am not sure if I’ll have internet access daily. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

 

 

I read an excellent blog post today referring to this article.  I found it an interesting read that I think not only pertains to “schooled” kids but to homeschoolers as well.  Do you think you are guilty of making your child/children the center of your universe? I would say that there are probably some tendencies to do this in our home.  As a mother, I sometimes work on auto-pilot and as things are asked of me, I reply “sure, why not”  without even really thinking about it.  My children will try to bargain with me because they know that I will often change my mind.  Am I proud of that?  Of course not.  Sometimes I wish I were one of those people who only see things in black or white, right or wrong, but I am sooo not.  Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I am the worst decision maker in the entire world…in the entire universe.  I can see 15 different sides to every argument. Never quite sure which stand to take.  Due to this, I am often inconsistent with my parenting views.   

How much of your universe do you center around your kids?  Do you think it too much or not enough?

This is Sarah, my youngest, playing in our stream.  It’s going to disappear soon if we don’t get some rain.  Our county is currently in the Extreme Drought cagegory. Please pray for rain!  The cool snap the past week or so has been so nice.  But I saw yellow leaves falling from a tree yesterday! 

First off…how many of you loved watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood when you were a kid?  I did! If you or your kids still enjoy it, you may want to check out this site.  Help save Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood!!

Do you have a morning internet “routine”?  Every morning I shower, dress, grab my first cup of coffee and head to my computer to steal a few minutes to savor it.  First, I head to my google homepage that has my blogs I subscribe to. I read up on Dooce, The Pioneer Woman, Posie Gets Cozy, SouleMama, Beauty that Moves, Daisy Cottage, Angry Chicken, my good friend Beth’s blog,  and House on Hill Road…among many, many others.  There are some crazy good blogs out there!  I check my email, then I head over to Wardrobe Remix to see what everyone is wearing today.  Love seeing all the different styles out there!  And then I round out my last few sips of coffee with a visit to flickr to see what photos my contacts have posted. 

Speaking of flickr, it has really changed the way I get craft and decor inspiration.  I am a serious magazine junky.  Serious.  But since discovering flickr, they’ve really lessened my dependence on them.  Every kind of inspiration can be seen on flickr and  I LOVE to browse all the gorgeous photos!  I often have my favorites on set on slideshow on my computer monitor so when I pass by, I can get a glimpse of something pretty.  If you’re not familiar with Flickr, go check it out!  Promise you’ll be hooked in no time.

By the way, what do you think of the new layout?  I’m not so sure about it.  Wish I could change the colors!

Well that was an unexptected break, but thanks to the miracle of Zyrtec, I seem to be back to the land of the living.  We’ve been moving and reorganizing furniture, toys, beds, toys, dressers, toys and….did I say toys?  We all switched bedrooms and it has been quite a lot of work. Now that we seem to be getting back to normal around here I hope to be back to taking pictures and blogging again. 

Oh, and by the way, I’m still working on the look of the blog so there’ll be lots of changes and adding over the next little while.  Please bear with me!

 And since I don’t have any new photos to show off, I made a mosaic of some summer favorites.  The pictures above are from various summers.  This year and years past.  Regardless of where we are living, our summers are typically spent outside in nature.  What have you been up to this summer?

 

What is the weather like your area?  Here in NC, we’ve had temps in the 40’s for the past two nights.  Sure makes for great coffee drinking mornings! 

 

Poor fellow, forced to ride in the boat, but never allowed to drive….

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“It’s not easy being green.”  ~ Kermit The Frog

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