The Dinner Roll
on Nov 13, 2009 in RECIPES - Breads baking bread Christmas dinner rolls easter family food RECIPES sunday meals Thanksgiving I had a bake off this week in search of an easy yet tasty dinner roll recipe. I eliminated any recipe that called for evaporate or dry milk because dry milk is not a common pantry ingredient and is surprisingly expensive. The decision of which recipe...

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
on Nov 11, 2009 in RECIPES - Breads RECIPES - Breakfast Christmas fall family food kids king arthur flour RECIPES thansgiving whole wheat baking whole wheat banana pancakes It is not very often our five year old volunteers to help cook. This morning he was eager to take position as my assistant chef.  He mashed the bananas, whisked the dry ingredients and then combined the two. This helpful streak of his has been going...

Harvest Apple and Cranberry Strudel
on Nov 9, 2009 in RECIPES - Treats apple cranberry strudel Christmas fall harvest recipes Thanksgiving Apples and cranberries scream Autumn. Wrap the colorful goodness up in a pastry shell and you have got an apple and cranberry strudel. The warm aroma of cinnamon and apples permeate the house. Take a bite and taste the tart cranberries dancing on you...

Cheesy Broccoli and Potato Soup
on Nov 6, 2009 in RECIPES - Appetizer RECIPES - Soup / Salad cheesy broccoli potato soup edible food art fall A couple of years ago I bought a recipe book for kids. You know the one that shows you how to transform food into edible art? Supposedly kids will gobble down sandwiches in the shape of a caterpillar or a bowl of soup with a roll in the shape of a pi...

Rainy Day Fun: Animal Habitats
on Nov 4, 2009 in CREATING MEMORIES THE CRAFT CLOSET animal habitat crafts kids rainy day fun zoo theme With the onset winter comes rain. Most days kids love to play in the pouring rain and stomp in the puddles. On the days the kids are stuck inside create a magical forest to host a tea party or fight off the bandits. We made a zoo animal habitat. We h...

Easy Pork Grillades Over Panko-Crusted Grits Patties
on Nov 2, 2009 in RECIPES - Main Dish bell pepper dinner fall Glorious Grits mushrooms pork grillades RECIPES Southen recipes The Panko Crusted Grits are very time consuming but well worth the work, that is I suppose if you really like grits. For a faster substitution cook up a pot of polenta or grits according to the following directions for Panko Crusted Grits, stopping j...

November Website Review: FamilyEducation.com
on Nov 1, 2009 in THE BOOKSHELF back to school behavior family education funbrain interactive games kids games parenting “We empower learners of all ages to reach their full potential.” I love this site. I stumbled upon familyeducation.com looking for expert child rearing advice. Family Education has been around since September of 2000. The site was designe...

Oatmeal Apple Scones
on Oct 30, 2009 in RECIPES - Breads RECIPES - Breakfast RECIPES - Snacks RECIPES - Treats apple recipes oatmeal apple scones I cannot resist the crunch of a ripe hard juicy apple, it is so satisfying. Apples pair well with just about anything, my favorite a cube of cheddar cheese, mmm tasty. Oatmeal Apple Scones and Chicken Apple Chili are among my favorite uses for apple...

Slowing Down in a Fast Pace World
on Oct 28, 2009 in THE BOOKSHELF THE DISH ON PARENTING back to basics family kids power of slow simple life slow movement time management zen life When our oldest was born I had no clue what Helicopter, Attachment, Authoritarian, Permissive, Glider, Conscience or Hyper parenting were. All I knew was I loved holding and kissing my little one every moment. I did have an idea of how I wanted to ra...

Revised Ukrainian Cabbage and Meatballs
on Oct 26, 2009 in RECIPES - Main Dish cabbage and meatballs dinner RECIPES A friend of ours from the Ukraine came to visit not long after we settled in California. As a treat he made dinner that night cooking up cabbage rolls (Holubtsi) among other delectables. Stephen is not so much into trying new things. You could call h...