Melt in Your Mouth Biscuits

This recipe puts Pillsbury to shame! I got it out of an old Amish cookbook, but made a few modifications along the way. If making homemade biscuits seems like too much work for you, here's a tip: When you make these, double, triple, or quadruple the recipe. Follow the instructions until it's time to bake them. Instead, lay them flat in a single layer on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer until they're frozen through. Then pop them off the baking sheet and stick them in a zip lock freezer bag and keep in the freezer until you're ready for some super yummy biscuits. Then, bake them for about 30 minutes. Homemade convenience food at it's best!

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 450. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter by using your fingers or a fork to smash the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Don't over do it, though. Having a few large lumps about the size of beans will ensure a flaky crust. So after that, add you milk and egg. Blend well. Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. It is very helpful to sandwich your dough between two pieces of wax paper to do this so you don't have to worry about it sticking to the table or adding too much flour which can make the biscuits taste bland. Use a round biscuit or cookie cutter or the open end of a glass. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Felt playfood

The past few weeks I've been working on some new playfood for the kids made out of felt. I have been so pleased with the results that I wanted to share with you all my new found love. Let me start by saying that we try to stay clear of plastic as much as possible. For those of you who think that sounds extreme... all I have to say is BPA. This chemical was deemed "safe" by the FDA for years and recently they have admitted that BPA is capable of seeping out of the plastic when heated, into your food or beverage, and then making it's way into your body. Now they're trying to weed out all things containing BPA so that plastic will again be "safe". That's great, but what next? What is safe now will be toxic tomorrow. That being said, we live in the real world and so we cannot completely boycott plastic. We do what we can. Playfood is not regulated any more than any other toy, but it has a huge tendency to end up in the mouths of babes, so we feel like we should take special precautions. Besides that, the texture of the felt food is so much more realistic, it cannot cause a concusion when Eli throws it and hits someone in the head like wooden play food, and the kids appreciate it so much more because they saw the amount of work that went into it. I used left over felt from diaper covers and here are some samples of what I've made thus far:



I started with my favorite kind of food... sweets! I know the egg looks out of place, that was Ava's addition. :) A quick google search will give you all kinds of tutorials, but I don't find it nessecary. The imagination works just as well. I have a huge list of more food to make and I can't wait to get it all done. Mark my words, once you start, you won't want to stop!

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever put in a google search for a healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe? There are so many recipes that pop up, none of which I would consider healthy. So after mixing and matching many different recipes and substituting here and there, I've come up with a recipe that's a little more on the healthy side. I recommend you follow these exact ingredients to get a healthier cookie, but I know that everyone might not have all of these things, so you can easily substitute them for whatever you have on hand.



3/4 cup rolled oats
1 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Celtic Seasalt
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup coconut oil
2/3 cup honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325, let your butter soften, and melt your coconut oil. Start off by pouring your measured oats and salt (If it is still course) into a blender and blending it until you get a fine powder. After that mix your ground oats and salt, whole wheat flour, baking soda and baking powder together and set it aside. Mix your butter up until it's nice and fluffy. Add the oil, honey, egg, and vanilla and mix just until blended. Stir in your chocolate chips. Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls onto your baking stone and cook for about 13 minutes. Keep in mind that oven temperatures vary and using a baking pan instead of a stone will effect your cooking time. When the cookies are done, let them cool for a minute and then move them to a cooling rack and you're all done!

Mmm... Garlic!

Often referred to as 'Nature's Antibiotic', garlic is recorded being used for medicinal purposes even back while the Egyptian pyramids were being built. Medical studies have found that garlic can be used to help prevent and treat colds, it's full of antioxidants that combat free radicals (which are nasty little particles that are naturally found in the body and also get absorbed into the body through food and environmental toxins, then group together to cause a number of illnesses, including cancer), prevent heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. It also has antiviral, antibacterial, and anti fungal properties. And you thought it was just for seasoning, right? Just another one of God's wonderful and perfect foods he has given.
So, the past week we've been feeling quite under the weather. We've really been battling a nasty cold that's passing through the house. Garlic has been a staple this week and has helped us so much that I had to pass on the information to you. We've put garlic in our baked potatoes, on toast with butter, and into pizza and spaghetti sauces. Any little bit helps. But this recipe I'm about to share is about the yummiest meal we've had this week and within 20 minutes of eating it we were feeling some relief. It's a little time consuming, but it's really worth it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Cream of Garlic Soup

2 garlic bulbs (This is the whole head of the garlic plant, not just a piece which is a clove.), peeled
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup peeled and cubed potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons cornstarch or 4 tablespoons flour

Put all of your garlic and your melted butter into the blender and puree it for a minute or two. It doesn't have to be perfect. When you're finished put this garlic paste into a 2qt, or larger, pot over medium heat. This is going to toast your paste and really bring out the flavor. When the paste starts to brown add your chicken broth. Simmer this for 30 minutes, then add your milk, potatoes, and cream. Simmer this for another 30 minutes. When it's finished, add half of this mixture to your blender and blend for a few minutes. This will puree your potatoes and will whip up your whipping cream to give you a nice thick soup. It's important to mix your soup in smaller batches because it really fluffs up. WARNING!!! If you have the time to let your soup cool down a little bit before you do this, then it's wise to do so. Otherwise your blender fills with steam after you put the lid on and when you start the blender you will probably get splashed with scalding soup. I take that risk to have my soup as quickly as possible :). You can throw a towel over the top and that will help, but make sure you keep your hand on the lid. After the initial start up everything will be fine. So once everything is blended, put it all back into the pot, add your salt and pepper and cornstarch, and bring it back up to a simmer. Once this is reached, you're done. It will be so thick and, well, I think Serenity said is best... "Nummay, nummay, nummay!"

Come Thou Fount video

I think so often we forget about the truth and beauty of the old time hymns. The older I get, the more I enjoy them. While I used to consider them boring, they are now some of my favorite tunes to listen to. Come Thou Fount is at the top of my list. This song is packed with such biblical truth, every line saying something so inspiring that I can listen to it every day and still be moved by it. This is the song that's sang to Serenity every night as she doses off. It is very special to our family. I hope it blesses your day today!

Favorite line: "Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above." This should be our constant prayer.

Serenity's New Cloth Napkin Shirt

Oh, I am so excited! You see, about a year ago I found some really cute cloth napkins at the Dollar Tree for $1 a piece. I went ahead and grabbed a bunch, though I had no idea what to do with them. Today I finally found a use for a couple of them, and in the most unexpected place!

Serenity's little fat body has already outgrown my winter clothes supply for her. She is so short and so fat that I have a hard time finding clothes to fit and if they do, they're way too long. So today I set out to make her some new pants. I used a knit material so there would be some stretch and room to move for her. As I was on the last pair of pants I glanced down and saw my super cute napkins poking out of a drawer. The more I looked at them the more I realized how great they would look with these pants and what a time saver they would be! So I cut 1 strip from each long side of a napkin and sewed it to the bottom of the pants, gathering as I went. And for the shirt I folded each top corner of 2 napkins in 3x7 inches. Then I folded the top down about an inch and a half to make a casing for the elastic. After that I stitched the sides together, added elastic through the casing, and Voila! A brand new, so-stinkin'-cute, outfit! And the best part about it was that I didn't have to take the time to hem those pesky raw edges because the edges of the napkins were already hemmed. Of course, you could do this very easliy with some pants that may be too short for your little one or a plain pair that you want to dress up a little. So, with balancing a fussy baby, the whole thing took about an hour to make and only cost about $5. Here's the finished product. Sorry, she was not being photogentic!

My lesson learned?... The Dollar Tree may possible be bursting at the seams with thrifty crafting finds! I can't wait to go back!

Storage Tip...

How many sheet sets does one house really need? Taking a look at my supply of linens you'd think I was housing an army! I'm sure that many of you are like me and don't have room for unnecessary clutter. So we've recently cleaned out the linen closet and set aside 2 sheets for each bed: One set on the bed, one tucked under the mattress for easy and hidden storage. This clears out a lot of room for other, more purposeful things. The left over sheets can be donated to a grateful shelter of some sort or re-purposed into all sorts of things! I took an extra sheet, cut it up, and covered an old cork board to match the bedding for one of the girls' rooms. The possibilities are endless!