daily glimpses

back to school...

It's been awhile since I've posted - I'm sorry. This summer got busy and a little overwhelming for me. I'm hoping to be back on the blog wagon now though! Part of the reason for being so busy during the summer was mainly because of these 4 little people (not so little now!).

I am not sure who was more excited - me or them. haha. I think the person who was the most excited about school starting was Hannah. She started preschool and she LOVES it! She talked about going ALL summer long. Almost every night at dinner she wanted to save her dinner for snack at preschool. lol Needless to say, that first day went great and she has eagerly gone each day since. I'm so happy she loves it so much.

So far everyone is liking their new schedules and routines. I think our family just does so much better on them. Let's hope that continues. I love back to school time - I have ever since I was a little girl (then again, I loved school and eventually became a teacher).

Hopefully another blog post will be coming soon!!!! I have some exciting business related news on the horizon.

Future Baker?

Hannah has a very good memory. I'd mentioned in passing that she could help with her birthday cake if she would just lay down and take her nap. Well, she did and she remembered too. lol She was so excited to help make her much requested strawberry cake. We whipped it up one night right before bedtime and I was in a hurry and I thought about taking her picture and then decided I was in too much of a hurry. It was too cute to resist when she asked me to take her picture. I'm so glad she did because I just love these pictures of her! :)

 

She decided she really like licking the beater - I can't blame her. That's the best part of making a cake.

The next morning when it was time to put the candles and frosting on - she insisted on helping with that too. So cute! It wasn't technically the most beautiful cake - but it was so fun to watch her put the strawberries and candles on. She was so proud of that cake. :)

Black Bottom Coconut Bars

 

Black Bottom Coconut Bars - recipe from Everyday Food

FOR CHOCOLATE BASE

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

FOR COCONUT TOPPING

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 package sweetened shredded coconut (7 ounces), 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling

1. For chocolate base: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a slight overhang; butter bottom and sides of foil (not overhang).

2. Place butter in a large microwave-safe bowl; melt in microwave. Add sugar and salt; whisk to combine. Whisk in egg, then cocoa and flour until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan.

3. Bake just until sides begin to pull away from edges of pan, 10 to 15 minutes (do not overbake). Let cool slightly while preparing coconut topping. Keep oven on for topping.

4. For coconut topping: In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla. Gently mix in flour and coconut (except 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling).

5. Drop mounds of mixture over chocolate base; spread and pat in gently and evenly with moistened fingers. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup coconut.

6. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan, peel off foil, and cut into 24 bars. Store in an airtight container 3 to 4 days.

Note: I can't remember the blog that I pulled this from (but the original recipe is from Everyday Food). The blog author suggested waiting until the next day to eat these as they taste better. I agree as the flavor and texture improves and they're quite delicious!

Turning 8....

In March,  Maegan turned 8. I can't believe she's 8 already! In our faith, children are baptized at age 8. It is a very special and exciting day. We're grateful that we have so much family that could come and support her. She waited a month after her birthday to be baptized until my parents came home from Arizona so they could be there. She was so excited and a little nervous. She looked so beautiful! We are so proud of her and the decision she made to be baptized. She's such an example to all of us and in her desire to make right choices. We love you, Maegan.

 

I was so excited to get a decent family picture of us! :)

three years ago today...

our family was completed with the arrival of this sweet girl. I can't believe it's already been that long. She's been a joy. She's got a super funny sense of humor, a sweet little voice that can melt my heart and loves and adores her big brothers and sister (they are quite in love with her as well).

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!!!

Homemade Pizza

Sometimes I get the craving for pizza (okay, I get it a lot). Going out for pizza too often can get expensive. I've tried making several homemade pizzas over the past year. They were okay, but nothing to blog about. Until now......

This was delicious. :) I am a fan of Pizza Hut pizza.....I love the buttery crunchy crust. If you like that crust too - make this tonight and you'll be very happy. This recipe came via Your Homebased Mom .

Pizza Hut Pan Pizza

adapted from Your Homebased Mom

Dough:
1 1/3 C Warm water (105F)
1/4 C Non-fat dry milk
1/2 tsp Salt
4 C Flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 pk Dry yeast
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil (for dough)
9 Oz Vegetable oil (3 oz. per pan) – (I just use enough to coat the pan)

Put yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk in a large (2 qt.) bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Allow to sit for two minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed. Turn out on to a flat surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into three balls. In three 9″ cake pans ( or can use 1 – 9 inch pie plate and 1 – 9 x 13 dish) , put 3 Oz. of oil in each making sure it is spread evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9″ circle. Place in cake pans. Spray the outer edge of dough with Pam. Cover with a plate. Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Prepeat oven to 450 degrees.  Spoon 1/3 cup sauce on each pizza and spread to within 1 inch of edge.  Distribute 1 1/2 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese on each pizza.  Place toppings of your choice in this order – pepperoni or ham, vegetables, meats (cooked ground sausage or beef)  Top with 3 oz. mozzarella cheese.  Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown – about 15 minutes.

Personal Note: I made the same alterations as her with the oil in the pan. You really do just need enough to give it a light coating on the bottom. For the kneading I cheated and used the dough hook on my kitchen aid (worked great!!!). The first time I did this recipe, I made three pizzas. The dough was a little too thick. So the next time I divided it into fourths and it was perfect! I don't have enough 9" cake pans, so I used my glass pie plates - worked like a charm!

BTW, this is a Hannah approved recipe :)

Buttermilk Pancakes

It has been a long known fact in my family that I am not a fan on buttermilk pancakes. I have now seen the light and discovered that it isn't buttermilk pancakes that I don't like. It's buttermilk pancakes from a box that I don't like. I've been wanting to make some pancakes from scratch this week and stumbled on this recipe on a cooking blog I love to visit. They were delicious. :) Make these for someone you love tomorrow morning.

 

Buttermilk Pancakes

• 2 eggs

• 2 C buttermilk

• 6 Tbsp vegetable oil

• 1-3/4 C flour

• 2-1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 Tbsp sugar

Combine liquid ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Mix until smooth. Let batter rest for 10 minutes. Cook on a preheated, lightly greased griddle for 1 minute.  Turn pancakes and finish cooking. Makes about 10 pancakes.

Personal Note: I doubled this recipe when I made them this morning because my kids are HUGE pancake fans and will eat a lot. 10 pancakes didn't seem like enough. However, these rise a lot (while still being light and fluffy) and were pretty large pancakes. I now have the extra pancakes in the freezer ready for another day. :)

March Menu

I've been trying to keep up with my menu planning lately. I seem to have found a good system that is working well for me. I'm now planning menus by the month - that way I'm not repeating things too often. It will be at least a month before we have the same meal again. Here's this month's. Anything that is in red is a new recipe and so I can't vouch for it....yet. Some weeks are missing a meal or two - because of other dinner plans or because I like to leave a couple spaces empty in case I find a recipe that I have to try. :)

Several of the recipes came the current editions of Simple & Delicious and Mixing Bowl. Both had some great looking recipes this month :) I picked both of them up at Walmart. If anyone wants any of these recipes, just leave a comment and I'll do my best to post them or email them.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I stumbled across this recipe a couple of times over the past few weeks while looking through foodie blogs. I decided I'd finally make it after seeing it so many times. I'm glad I did.....and more importantly, my family is glad I did. 5 out of 6 gave it rave reviews. I can't really count the missing vote though - he really doesn't eat much of anything, especially anything with meat. lol  I encourage you to check out the blog I found the recipe at as I've found quite a few recipes that made it on my menu this month. :)

Sweet and Sour Chicken

from My Kitchen Cafe

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

My personal Note: I ended up having to use 4 eggs. I also added another 1/2 recipe to the sauce so it made 1.5x the sauce since I used 4 pieces of chicken....which was plenty for my family of 6 plus lunch for my husband the next day.

happy visit

This week I took all four kids to the dentist. This was Hannah's first time so I brought along the camera to document her "happy visit". She was a little apprehensive at first but after watching Andrew (who by the way had about much fun as he did at Disneyland!) and seeing it was okay, she was ready to give it try. She really liked the water from the "straw". lol I snapped these pictures of her right before she got her teeth brushed all  shiny and pretty. :)

The above picture is her practing how to show the Dentist her teeth. lol :)

She also brought along her babydoll so she could get her teeth checked too. It was quite cute. You can see her in the bottom corner of the picture.

 

I'm sure the next time we go back she'll be just as excited. :)