Apple Cinnamon Dutch Baby Pancake

I've been a little MIA from posting lately. With summer travel and then my oldest starting kindergarten, life has just flown by! This morning my oldest had no school due to "Staff Development." I decided to make a special breakfast, apple cinnamon Dutch baby pancake - also known as German pancakes.

The recipe below is for a 9 by 13 casserole dish. You can easily cut the recipe in 1/2 and make it in a 10 inch cast iron skillet which is more traditional. My family of 5 always wants more and so the cast iron skillet just doesn't cut it for us. LOL! I've also made these with frozen blue berries and you could probably use any fruit your family enjoys.

INGREDIENTS:

2 apples

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

3 Tablespoon butter

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

confectioners' sugar for dusting

lemon wedges 

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Place a 9 x 13 casserole dish inside oven and preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

2.  Peel and core apples. Then cut into 8 wedges each. Slices wedges into 1/4 inches pieces. Add apples, 1 Tablespoon butter, cinnamon, and granulated sugar to a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until apples begin yo soften - about 5-7 minutes.

3.  Add eggs, milk, flour, nutmeg and salt to your blender. Blend until incorporated, scraping sides as needed.

4. Remove casserole dish from oven and reduce oven heat to 425 degrees F. Melt remaining 2 Tablespoons butter in the hot casserole dish so that inside of dish is completely coated with butter. Pour all the batter in the skillet, sprinkle apples on top, and return dish to oven.

5.  Bake until puffed and lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Remove promptly. Slice and serve with a generous dusting of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon.

Lunch with my ladies!

We don't just like pizza, we LUV pizza. My oldest says the pizza we make at home is "Dangerous pizza! Because it tastes so good you want to eat it all!" So today my lunch with my little ladies was all their favorite toppings on a quesadilla! I know, not a new concept, but it was just so tasty I had to share. One of my secrets is to use tomato paste so it doesn't get soggy and instead of Italian seasonings, we use Dilly Herb blend so it tastes like the cheesy breadsticks from our favorite pizza delivery. I like things a little spicier so I add a bit of crushed red pepper to mine. Super yum!

And we really like the thick slices of the Open Nature uncured salami. Lots of flavor but not too spicy for the girls.

Somewhat homemade muffins!

I made up some amazing and easy muffins today. They would be even more amazing with some cream cheese frosting! They are kind of a cross between carrot cake and banana bread. 

1 box spice cake mix

1/2 cup coconut oil - melted

2 eggs

2 very ripe mashed bananas

3 medium carrots finely shredded

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

1/2 cup chopped raw pecans

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Line muffin tins with foil cup liners. (Makes 18).

3) In a large bowl, stir all ingredients together just until combined and the evenly distributed. Don't over mix or they will be come tough.

4) Divide evenly into the 18 muffin cups. I like to use a large cookie scoop.

5) Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy plain, or like I said, top with cream cheese frosting. So very yummy!

Jars Of Clay

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 

(2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT)

I love the image of us as cracked and flawed, but God's amazing glory brilliantly, blindingly shining through those cracks... IF we let Him... and don't try to cover up our brokenness, if we don't try to hide our flaws.

We have flaws and cracks from heavy blows in life. God wants to shine in the midst of them - to use & redeem them for His glory. But Satan tries to shift our focus from God's working in us, to the jagged ugliness. He heaps on the shame so when we listen to him instead of God, we try to cover up our flaws, we see them as insecurities to hide from the world instead of places being healed by God. We buy into the lie that we need to be perfect right now! Instead of embracing and seeing beauty in the process of God perfecting us with HIS light, His glory.

Lord, help me to see as you see. Help me to tune out the lies. Use my broken places to shine your glory. 

Treats with the Bigs

Today for a fun treat I made individual coconut crispy treats with my two big girls (ages 4 & 5) in the microwave! Super easy, super tasty, & super quick! They helped with counting marshmallows, scooping "butter," measuring & stirring in the crispy rice and coconut. We used my silicone egg poaching cups to mold them into mounds of yummy goodness.

INGREDIENTS:

(For each generous portion)

4 marshmallows

1 tsp butter (we used Earth Ballance)

1/2 cup crisp rice cereal

Optional: 1 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS:

1) Melt marshmallows and butter in a microwave safe bowl on high for 45 seconds.

2) Stir in crisp rice cereal and coconut if using, until everything is evenly coated.

3) Shape and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes. 

The girls LOVED them and declared it an excellent activity. The great news is that this was easy, child friendly, and did not use the stove! And I'm not faced with the temptation of a whole pan of crispy treats calling out to me everytime I go into the kitchen. The not so good news is that I now know I can have fresh made crispy treats any time I want. I guess I'll have to get better at restraint. Ha!

Beauty Experiments!

Ive been reading a lot about the miricals of activated charcoal. From teeth whitening to food poisoning - this magic black powder works by attracting pollutants, holding onto them like a super strong magnet and then taking the nasties with it when you rinse or flush it all away. That is what it is used in water filters, and in hospitals for accidental overdose or poison ingestion.

I decided last night to give it a try as a facial mask. Time to pull the nasties from my pores! I started by steaming my face over the sink to open up everything. I opened up two activated charcoal capsules and dumped them into a bowl of 1 teaspoon Bragg's apple cider vinegar. Next I slathered the thin black mixture all over my face, avoiding the eye area of course. Waited about 3-4 minutes - you DO NOT want it to dry out complete. Then rinsed with really warm water and a wash cloth. Followed it up with a few drops of my favorite moisturizer - mixture of extra virgin olive oil, vitamin E, lavender & mint essential oils.

This morning my face feels so soft and and seems to almost glow. I'll definitely do this one again! Do you have a favorite DIY facial? I'd love to hear about it!

Greek Pizza Quesadilla

Today I had a lunch time epiphany! Pizza Quesadillas!! Why have I never thought of this? So simple & yummy, and it caters to individual tastes without a lot of extra work! Yes! Both kid and mama friendly!

I think the key is to use tomato paste instead of sauce. It helps bind it all together without the quesadilla getting soggy. For the kiddos today I made simple cheese & herbs. If we had pepperoni, salami, or ham, I would have added that and some julienned fresh spinach to hide some veg in there. For myself however, I make a Greek inspired pizza quesadilla.  

INGREDIENTS:

2 Flour tortillas

1 tsp tomato paste

3 Tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese

1 Tbsp shedded parmesan

6 artichoke quarters (I used frozen, thawed them, and cut each quarter in 1/2)

6 kalamata olives, quartered

Crushed red pepper to taste

Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1) Spread a thin layer of tomato paste on one of the tortillas. 

2) Top with mozzarella, artichokes, & olives. Then sprinkle the Parmesan & crushed red pepper. Top with 2nd tortilla.

3) Heat a pan over medium heat, drizzle about 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil into the pan. Once the oil is shimmering, place the quesadilla in the pan and heat until bottom tortilla has crispy golden brown patches, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook the 2nd side for another 3-4 minutes.

4) Serve and enjoy!