Life In A Shoe Giveaway!

Over at Life In A Shoe they are have having an amazing Vision Forum gift certificate giveaway! Visit her to find out how you can win.

Vision Forum is an awesome site for Christian Books, movies and every toy a young adventurous boy could want!

Another Chance to Win Vision Forum Gift Certificates!

Over at Raising Olives they are have having an amazing Vision Forum gift certificate giveaway! Visit her to find out how you can win.

Vision Forum is an awesome site for Christian Books, movies and every toy a young adventurous boy could want!

Win A Gift Certificate for Vision Forum

Over at Smockity Frocks they are have having an amazing Vision Forum gift certificate giveaway!  Visit her to find out how you can win.

Vision Forum is an awesome site for Christian Books, movies and every toy a young adventurous boy could want!

Best of Luck!

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Easiest Cinnamon Rolls Ever!

Is anyone else out there addicted to Pinterest?  Pinterest is so....so AMAZING.  It is like having a bulletin board on your computer.  It is so much better than just bookmarking things you like.  Why?  There are pictures to remind you of why you liked that URL in the first place.

Of course this most AMAZING recipe was found on Pinterest.  It was originally posted on the the Jane Deere Blog.  If it weren't for Pinterest I doubt I would have ever wowed my kids with the most amazing breakfast they have ever gobbled down. 

EASIEST CINNAMON ROLLS EVER

• 2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 1 stick softened butter
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. sugar
•  
• Frosting
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter, sugar and cinnamon. Carefully pull apart crescent rolls and spread equally with creamed mixture, about a tablespoon or so.  Roll up and pinch tip a little to they don't come apart.  Place on a greased cookie sheet with the pinched tip on the bottom. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.  While baking combine ingredients for frosting using 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until frosting is a consistency you like and that will drizzle easily, but not to easily. Drizzle over hot rolls and serve.   

Maple and Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal

You may notice my use of demerara.  You may wonder what demerara is.  According to Wikipedia demerara is:

Natural brown sugar is brown sugar made by partially refining sugar cane extract, whereas most brown sugar is made by adding molasses to fully refined sugar, which may come from sugar beets.

Did you know that about brown sugar?  Did you know it is really refined white sugar flavored with molasses? 

Demerara is also known as Turbinado.  Demerara is the name most commonly used in the UK and Turbinado is the name most commonly used in the US.  I buy Demerara in the bulk section at Winco.  Turbinado is available at Trader Joe's.  I also buy my quick oats in the bulk section at Winco.  I heart Winco.

Today I was out of brown sugar and I really wanted to make up some oatmeal since we are currently cleaning out the pantry!  Demerara is very coarse and I knew it would not blend in well with the oats and since I was grinding my oats to a flour like consistency I figured I could do the same with the Demerara.  It worked perfectly!  This was the tastiest oatmeal.  The kids loved it and I loved it. 

MAPLE AND BROWN SUGAR INSTANT OATMEAL

• 4 c. quick oats
• 4 c. quick oats, ground up in blender
• 1-1/2 c. demerara, ground up in blender
• 1 T. maple extract

Grind up 4 cups oatmeal and demerara in a couple of batches in your blender. Combine with 4 more cups oatmeal and maple extract. Mix well to incorporate the maple extract. Store in airtight container.

Prepare: Scoop desired amount into bowl, 1/3 to 1/2 cup. Pour desired amount of boiling water over oatmeal. Add a pat of butter and a sprinkling of salt and enjoy.

***Imitiation Maple Flavor...my new BFF!

Sausage and Maple Pancake Muffins...tastes like a McGriddle!

This has to be the new favorite breakfast around the house!  It's true, we don't eat at McDonald's except for the occasional breakfast.  The kids just love the McGriddle.  Sweet yet salty, full of mystery ingredients.  I have cracked the code!

In other news, my new favorite kitchen staple is Maple Extract.  Use it in banana bread instead of vanilla, make homemade syrup, use your imagination, the possibilities are endless.

PANCAKE SAUSAGE MUFFINS

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 c. white flour
• 1/8 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 to 1 lb. of breakfast sausage (I am a sausage snob and can only eat Jimmy Dean!)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. soda
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1-1/2 c. buttermilk
• 3/4 t. maple extract

Crumble and fry sausage until thoroughly cooked. Drain off grease. Combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk, beaten egg and maple extract. Stir to mix ingredients. Add in drained sausage and mix again. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and remove to a wire rack.  Makes 1 dozen regular sized muffins.  This recipe can be doubled.

Win A Clothes Drying Rack from Homestead Drying Racks . com!

This drying rack looks amazing.  It is huge.  You could win it!  Head over to Homestead Drying Racks and enter today for their Christmas Giveaway.  This rack is 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide.  It looks like it would easily hold a full load of laundry.

Look how huge this thing is!

Potato and Broccoli Cheese Soup with Garlic Croutons

I am in a soup mood.  Sorry kids, soup again.

POTATO & BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP

• 1 sm. yellow onion, diced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 2 T. butter
• 1/4 c. flour
• 4 c. chicken broth (or 4 c. water and 2 bouillon cubes)
• 2 c. milk
• 4 c. diced potato
• 4 c. broccoli florets
• 2 c. grated Cheddar cheese or more
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dice onion and celery. Saute onion and celery in large soup pot with butter until soft, about 10 minutes. Add flour to onions and celery and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add chicken broth and milk and mix well. Bring to a simmer. Add potatoes and broccoli. Simmer until broccoli and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. At this point you can leave it chunky, cream it in a blender or use your potato masher to mash things up (which is what I do.) Add cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with croutons.

Homemade Syrup

It's true, we don't have a maple tree.  If you could get syrup from an oak, we would be swimming in syrup.  Then there is the taste of real maple syrup.  It kinda tastes like sweet twigs.  I like to use real maple syrup for cooking purposes, but for pancakes and waffles I like the fake stuff! 

This syrup can be whipped up quickly.  Just start it before you start your pancake batter and by the time you are done making cakes, you will have delicious syrup.  This is just another great recipe from the Family Feasts for $75 a Week cookbook.  This cookbook is really worth the investment.  I checked it out at the library before I bought it, as I do with most cookbooks, to see if it would be worth the money.  Let's just say that mine is stained and dog-eared.

HOMEMADE SYRUP

• 1-1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1-1/2 c. water
• 3/4 c. light corn syrup
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 t. maple extract

In a saucepan combine sugars, water and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 7 minutes. (Set your timer and stir occasionally.) Remove from heat and add salt, vanilla and maple extracts. Let cool 15 minutes before serving or cool completely and store in an airtight container.  Does not need to be refrigerated, just in an airtight jar on the shelf.

Homemade Croutons

Make these and eat'em up, preferably on salad, if they last that long.

Before....

After.

CROUTONS

• Sliced bread
• Butter
• Garlic salt or seasonings of choice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread sliced bread with butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt or seasonings of choice.  Stack slices up and cut into cubes.  Spread on baking sheet and place in oven.  Bake for 10 minutes. Toss around the croutons and bake for another 10 minutes. Crank the heat up to 400 degrees, stirring croutons occasionally until crispy and browned, maybe another 10 to 15 minutes. Starting out with a lower temperature helps to dry out the bread, as opposed to the high temperature just quickly browning the outside leaving you with crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle croutons.  Once you remove the croutons from the oven they will become even more crisp as the cool.  These are excellent in a salad, sprinkled on a bowl of soup or just as a munchy.