Night Before Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal

We are at the end of the month and getting low on groceries. Last night I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I could make for breakfast. I scoured my pantry and then Pinterest. Apparently I'm late to the game with this whole baked oatmeal thing. There are tons of recipes out there and I will definitely be trying out more. And as usual, I tweaked a few recipes to come up with something that worked for our tastes and what I had in the house. I really liked that I can make this the night before and then just pop it in the oven in the morning. Everyone loved this for breakfast with a dollop of jam (the kids had apricot while I indulged in some peach bourbon vanilla jam. Oh so good!) You could change it up by adding dried fruit like cherries. Or I could also see adding chocolate chips for an afternoon snack. Mmmm. Peanut butter and chocolate. I might have to make me some of those tomorrow!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

DIRECTIONS:

1) Liberally grease an 8 x 8 inch pan with butter. 

2) In a bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until combined: milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter and brown sugar. 

3) Add in the oats, baking powder, and salt, mixing well. Pour into your prepared 8 x 8 pan.

4) Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

5) In the morning, take it out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake it for 30-40 minutes.

B is for Bodacious Bubbles!

We had a blast in our home school preschool today! We are studying the letter B, so today was Bodacious Bubble Day! First I had the girls use straws to blow in a bowl of really soapy water. I just used dawn. We talked about the size of the bubbles when you blow with all your might vs the size of bubbles when you blow gently. My 4 year old really got into it and observed all sorts of things about the bubbles. She loved it.  My 3 year old on the other hand, accidentally sucked the soapy water up the straw and after much tears & sputtering declared she didn't think she wanted to do bubbles anymore. I guess I should have been more specific in my instructions. Sometimes I forget that is she ONLY three.

Next, I made a bubble blower out of a clean toddler sock, a small 8oz water bottle. and a rubber band. There are various blogs that say to cut off the sock & use duck tape to secure the sock to the bottle. I wanted to be able to use the socks again, and since it is just dish soap and water, we will toss the now REALLY clean wet socks into the next load of laundry. The rubber band seemed to keep the sock on just fine for us. If however you are willing to sacrifice the socks, go check out Rainbow Bubble Snakes on the Housing A Forest blog! Totally cool! I might even try the rainbow bubble snakes in the bathtub with the kiddos when it gets too cold to play outside.

Bubble snakes! Even my 3 year old gave it another go after seeing all the fun!

My 4 year old REALLY loved this activity and kept playing for over 45 minutes!

And then we just had fun playing with the big piles of bubbles all over the grass. Good clean fun!

Not Your Typical Banana Bread

This week in our home school preschool we are studying the letter B. In preparation I bought bananas early in the week last week so that they would be perfect for our cooking segment. I found an unusual vegan coconut maple banana bread recipe over at Honeyed Home that I wanted to try. There is a great shortcut Michelle mentions for ripening bananas if yours are not quite banana bread ready - definately go check out her site.

I tweaked the recipe based on what I had on hand (for example I didn't want to use ALL my bananas, so I added peaches which needed to be used). I also added a maple glaze for extra yumminess. I brought it to share with my bible study ladies, and my kiddos gobbled the remaining leftovers. It was gone so fast, I forgot to get a picture! The girls and I will be making this recipe into muffins in a few days, so I'll update with a pic of those.

Maple Peach Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS:

2 very ripe small bananas

1 cup cooked peaches

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1/4 cup flax meal

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1/2 cup organic coconut oil, melted at room temperature

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Coconut oil spray

GLAZE:

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp melted Earth Balance spread

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil spray.

2) In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients.

3) In a food processor blend all the wet ingredients.

4) Add wet ingredients the the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. 

5) The batter will be thick like a brownie batter. Dump the batter into your prepared loaf pan and spread with a spatula.

6) Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until it is golden brown and passes the toothpick test.

7) Once the bread is completely cool, mix all the glaze ingredients and drizzle on the bread.

Simply Soup

Many moons ago I threw some ingredients I had on hand into a pot and called it soup. It was fast and simple and turned out tasty! My husband calls it Portuguese Kale Soup. It's not really, but that makes it sound like I knew what I was doing, so I'll go with it.

INGREDIENTS:

16 oz bulk sausage (I use pork)

6 cups chicken stock

1 can white kidney beans, drained & rinsed 

1/2 a bag of ready to use kale

GARNISH (optional, but super yummy)

Drizzle of good olive oil

Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1) In a 4 qt or larger pot, brown sausage. Drain off any fat.

2) Add stock, beans, and kale. Cover and  cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. DO NOT BOIL or the kale may become bitter. 

3) Ladle into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

I like to serve this soup with a giant garlic crouton. I love to dip it in the broth. Mmmmm good! To make it, I simply took some rustic wheat bread that I made and broiled it on both sides until nicely toasted. Then I rubbed a raw garlic clove over the surface and drizzled a bit of olive oil on top. Placed it back in the broiler for a moment. And there you have one of my husbands favorite meals. And it took less than 30 minutes to make! Gotta love that!

Gluten Free Muffins & No Odd Ingredients!

My Uncle is gluten free and he & my Aunt are coming over early tomorrow morning to watch our kiddos for the day. To make things easier for them I wanted to have breakfast ready to go. I came upon this GREAT gluten free grain free muffin recipe by Whitney McNutt! Super easy, super fast, and it doesn't use any specialty ingredients! Check out the link to the original recipe because she gives great suggestions for modifying the recipe, including a link for making it paleo or without bananas. Here is how I modified it based on what I had in the house and things I wanted to use up.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup nut butter (I used 3/4 peanut butter + 1/4 almond butter)

1 medium very ripe banana

1 cup shredded zucchini 

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp agave

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

         TOPPINGS

         1 cup strawberries, small dice

         1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut

12 muffin liners

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin liners.

2) Place all ingredients except for the toppings into your blender or food processor and process until a smooth batter is achieved and everything is combined.

3) Divide into the 12 muffin liners.

4) Top each muffin with a spoon full of strawberries. Press strawberries into the batter with the back of the spoon to submerge. Sprinkle with a pinch or two of coconut.

5) Bake for 15 minutes.

NOTES: Next time I make these I am going to drop the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. My convection oven seems to cook things faster and these, while super yummy, are a bit more brown on the outside then I would like.

A Whole Lotta Empanadas

One of my goals for this week is to try some new dishes. Using a few different recipes as guides, I came up with these super tasty, kid friendly, husband approved, empanadas. I added some nontraditional ingredients to boost the veggie factor, and my oldest who is my pickiest eater didn't notice at all. And baby ended up eating 3 of them!!! The kids ate them plain, but my hubby and I dipped them in my blender chimichurri sauce. They would also be good with guacamole, sourcream, and or some chipotle salsa. So so tasty!

This recipe makes a WHOLE bunch (64!) You can cut the recipe in 1/2 or cook up the whole mess of them and freeze some for later!

INGREDIENTS:

2 T butter

1/2 large yellow onion, diced small

1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture

2 lbs ground beef

4 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 a bag of Simply Potatoes shredded potatoes

1/2 cup Fresh parsley, finely chopped

2/3 a cup of low sodium V8 vegetable juice

4 cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (I used Trader Joes)

flour

2 eggs

DIRECTIONS, THE FILLING:

1) Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add diced onions and sauté until translucent. Add zucchini and sauté until most of the moisture has been cooked out - about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

2) Add ground beef to the same skillet and cook until just browned and no longer pink. Add back the onion & zucchini mixture, spices, shredded potatoes, parsley, and V8. Stir to combine and cook an additional 5 minutes. Allow to cool. 

NOTES: I transferred mine the filling mixture to a shallow baking dish and popped it into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. You could easily make the filling, refrigerate, and assemble the empanadas the next day.

DIRECTIONS, THE DOUGH:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pop open a can of biscuits. Take each biscuit and peal 1/2 off yielding a total of 16 rounds. 

2) On a lightly floured surface, roll out each biscuit into a 4 inch circle. 

3) Add 2 tablespoons of filling to each rolled out biscuit and fold in half, pinching the edges to seal and forming a half moon shape. Crimp the sealed edge with a fork. And place on a lightly greased or silicone mat lined baking sheet, leaving at least 1 inch of space between empanadas.

4) Brush with an egg wash. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

NOTES: I rolled out each biscuit and then filled it rather than rolling out all the biscuits first and then filling all of them. You can freeze baked and cooled empanadas in a single layer in a freezer bag. To reheat, preheat over to 350 degrees. Place frozen empanadas 1 inch apart on a baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Help & Hope

Last week I finally got around to seeing my doctor. I've been meaning to for months and months but daily life with 3 kids 4 years old and under has a way of speeding by. I can't believe my youngest is almost 16 months old, how did that happen! Well, the reason for seeing my doctor is that I've felt "off", not quite myself, for a long time. I've been feeling like I am 12 years old again - everything feels extreme... Happy, sad, angry, frustrated... It feels like I've been on a junior high type emotional roller coaster. Every night as I was going to sleep, I would feel like I had failed again. I would pray and ask God to forgive me for yelling at my kids again, ask Him to help me be a better mom again. Beg Him again to help me to see them as He sees them and not just be frustrated with them all the time.

Baby number 3 was an induced labor and I am very sensitive to medications... They kinda work too well. Anyhow, I figured my hormones were a bit off, and it was time to get everything back in line. My husband finally made me make an appointment after months of talking about it. The doctor asked about all manner of things and then she said "Ok, so now for a tough question... Could you be depressed?" I burst into tears and squeaked out "I don't know." She was very understanding, handed me a tissue and began to talk about Postpartum Depression - PPD. Everything snapped into place...it all fit... All things that I just thought were part of being a mom of young kiddos were symptoms. I never felt any desire to drive my minivan with all three kids off a cliff, or to harm myself in anyway, that is the extreme side of PPD. But headaches, trouble staying asleep, back aches, moodiness, weeping about articles on moms or kids, easily frustrated, easily angered, lethargy... ALL. THE. TIME. These can be some of the symptoms of PPD. And PPD does not only happen to first time moms - it can happen with any birth. It can even be experienced by adoptive parents and dads. I thought what I was experiencing was just part of having 3 kids so close together. My doctor assured me that some of what I have been feeling is just that - the hard demands of motherhood - but feelings to the extreme and feeling it everyday is another matter -- that is postpartum depression. She told me that my job as mom & wife is to take care of my family - that her job as my doctor is to take care of me, and to help ME take care of me.

So now the road to getting better, to feeling more like myself, is laid out before me. The friends and family with whom I've shared have been supportive. But most seem to say the same things, "You need to cut yourself some slack," and "You're too hard on yourself." And that is probably true, but it is also more than that. This is NOT in any way my fault. I haven't done something wrong to cause this. This is a disorder. And thankfully one that has a cure. With my doctors supervision, I will be on a mild antidepressant for a little while, I will have regular sessions with a therapist to begin healing mentally and to learn better coping strategies, I will carve out regular time to pour into me - to reconnect with the things that bring me joy outside of my family, and I will once again begin to exercise daily & take care of my physical self. As a people pleaser it is going to be a challenge to not put myself last on the list anymore. It will be a challenge to place a priority on time to meet with a therapist and to carve out that daily hour for time just for me. And it will be a challenge to be the one asking for help and not just giving help. But the alternative is no one getting the best of who I can be. And that is simply no longer an option.

And so today I got up early again and walked the treadmill. I took some time to read my Bible and start this blog post. Today I thank God for an answer to prayer. I thank God for a great doctor who is compassionate and knowledgeable. I thank God for my husband who pushed me to finally get help. I thank God for a plan to better health and a better me. I thank God that I now have the hope of being more like the mom and wife I've always wanted to be, through help.