Birthday, pancakes, sprinkles... oh my

Cake Batter Pancakes

from howsweeteats.com

makes about 12 pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups milk

assorted sprinkles

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed. I suggest a small taste test as well to see if the pancakes are flavored enough.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat (I use an electric grilled and turn it to 250 degrees). Fold desired amount of sprinkles into batter. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with vanilla glaze.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

assorted sprinkles

Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms. You may need to add a little more sugar or water/milk to reach desired consistency. Mix into glaze and drizzle on pancakes.

*Just a side note, after trying these I prefer them without the glaze. The glaze was just too sugary for a breakfast item, in my opinion! But all in all this will be a staple for birthday breakfast!

Happy Birthday!

It was a crazy busy weekend, so I unfortunately forgot to post this on Saturday.

Happy 8th Birthday to my baby girl!!!

It feels like this picture was just yesterday, yet it has been 8 years. Where has the time gone. It has been fun to watch you grow into a wonderful gal who enjoys art, music, and occasionally annoying your brothers.

I'm not as good as my mom at decorating a cake, but I think the oreo middle made up for it!

If you couldn't tell, we had to have a Justin Bieber party... she was very happy to get the movie in blu-ray! Bieber in high def... go ahead be jealous!!

In the morning I made the b-day girl a special breakfast of cake batter pancakes (recipe to come later!)

Furniture Re-Birth

I have been thinking about adding a desk to Gabrielle's room for awhile. I just never really looked for one. Now that she is going to start taking piano lessons in the Fall, she needed a place to set her keyboard and practice. I was out garage sale-ing one morning and saw this desk for $5. I loved all the detail on the top drawers and the spindle legs. Right after buying it I knew I wanted to paint it black. 

The only issue I had about taking on this project was I didn't want to have to strip and sand all the parts. So I did some research on the internet and found that there was a primer that I could use that would adhere to anything pretty much. So I headed to Menards and bought the primer and got to work making sure to carefully follow all instructions on the can including drying time between coats. That is Key!

I didn't really want to spend any more money or time on new hardware, so I bought nickel spray paint and painted the metal parts and painted the wood white. I also added black details... peace signs and zebra stripes.

Here is the finished product (minus one pull, I need to find the last screw) I am extremely happy with the results, and Gabrielle likes it too!

Cowboy Pork Chops

 Sorry I am a few days late with this one...but trust me it is worth the wait! I found this recipe on the back of the package.

Ingredients: 
1 pkg Rice Sides Baby Back BBQ rice
4 pork chops
1 pkg sliced mushrooms
French Fried Onions
Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
Garlic
Salt & Pepper

• Cook Rice according to package. 
• Meanwhile in a skillet cook pork chops seasoned with salt and pepper for about 6 minutes, until they are 145 degrees. 
• Remove and cook the mushrooms in the same pan. Add in a little garlic towards the end of cooking.

To serve: Layer rice, pork chop, mushrooms, cheese, then top with fried onions.

Wordless Wednesday

Cowboy Pork chops and Rice.... Recipe to come tomorrow

Individual Fruit Pizzas

I LOVE Pizza, any kind of pizza... as with any kind people have differing opinions on toppings. So, I happened upon Individual fruit pizzas at The Crunchy Mamacita. It was a match made in heaven! We could have pizza, but choose our own toppings.

Here's the recipe.....
Crust
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold butter

Mix flour and sugar together. Cut in cold butter. A food processor make quick work of this. Press into 10 inch pizza pan or equivalent sized rectangle cookie sheet (I used the smallest of my Wilton set of 3 and lined it with parchment paper) Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes. If you're making individual pizzas use a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes while the crust is still warm. Or, just cut it into rectangles...which is what I did.

Frosting
8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1tsp. vanilla extract

Mix well with a mixer. Spread on cooled cookie crust.

Toppings
Anything you want! Strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, rasberries, peaches, bananas, mandarin oranges, etc.

Weather

It has been a rollercoaster for weather lately. From 90 degrees to 70, from sunny to rainy. I must say the 70 and rainy is my favorite and I think deep down it is the boys' favorite too! 

The only thing about this weather I am not enjoying is Allergies, which seem to have hit all the kinds in some form or another. Each kid has at least 2 medicines they can take depending on their symptoms. I am looking forward to the day that the pollen or whatever is causing this is gone. I dislike this nighttime routine. Jayden is a horrible medicine taker. He will do the nasal mist, but will not drink or chew any medication. I have tried to call it his vitamin, or stick it in his desert, but everytime he catches me and hands it back. 

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

Carmel Yogurt Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The other day at work we were talking about cookies. I realized I hadn't made any for awhile. So, being it was a rainy day I decided it was time to bake! As I set out to make cookies I noticed I had a container of carmel yogurt in the fridge that needed to be used, so I searched the internet to see if you could use yogurt to make cookies. Enter Happy Tummy Blog, this blog had a recipe for oatmeal yogurt cookies that I decided to try. There isn't any butter or eggs, so I figure they have to be somewhat healthy right?!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
• 2/3 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup carmel (or whatever kind you have)
• 1/8 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.

I usually don't follow this step, because I HATE getting another bowl dirty- In a large bowl, sift the flours together with the baking powder and cinnamon. Whisk in the sugar and oats, then stir in the raisins and chocolate chips. Beat the yogurt with the oil, then add to flour mixture to make a dough.

Instead I just Beat the yogurt and oil, then add brown sugar, baking powder, oats, and flour.

Roll into small balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until firm and brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.


Also by popular demand...here is the recipe for my favorite go to cookies...Sorry no pictures, just trust me these are sweet, salty irresistible morsels
Oatmeal Scotchies
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick oats
2 cups flour
1 - 12oz package of butterscotch chips


Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together all the ingredients in order listed. 
Bake for 10 minutes! 
Cool and enjoy! 


I bet you can't eat just one! There is something addictive in the butterscotch chips.

New Decor

This past weekend my mother and I had some much needed "retail therapy" (aka shopping). The majority of our time was spent at Kirklands. I LOVE this store! Everything in there looks like it belongs in my house which is good and bad, as you can imagine. I have been itching to get some light sticks lighted branches to spruce up the home.

I bought 2 different sets a small one and a larger one. I think I might have to go back and buy this -------> 
vase to put the larger set in as I don't currently have anything at home for them.

Oreo Cheesecake Pretzel Bites

I found these delicious little nuggets on Making Memories with your Kids blog. I knew the minute I read their name that I had to make them! 

It is quite easy... The ingredients are

* 21 Oreo cookies
* 3 ounces cream cheese
* pretzels
* melting chocolate (either white chocolate or milk chocolate)

Grind up the Oreos, Add cream cheese and blend until it's a very thick paste consistency.

Take about a teaspoon of Oreo mixture and roll into a ball (I used the small pampered chef scoop and split it in half). Place on top of pretzel. 

Top with another pretzel, and dip in chocolate! I tried both the white almond bark and the chocolate, and the consensus from the family was that the white almond bark was better!

Chicken Salad shake-up

Now that it is summer, I felt the need to make Chicken Salad sandwiches for supper. A month or so ago, I had a bagel sandwich from Bagel Depot in Mason City that had chicken salad on it. This chicken salad was scrumptious! It had chicken, walnuts, celery, apples, and this was the kicker and the part I LOVED... sliced black olives! Even-though Mike says that I poisoned it by added the black things, I don't care. I will always make my chicken salad this way. They just add a little bit of moist-ness in amongst the crunchy. :) 

In case you are wondering, after chopping all those items up I add a little mustard, celery salt and Mayo.

Give it a try the next time you make Chicken Salad! 

Weekend Wrap-Up..... a little late

 Memorial Day weekend = The start of summer!!! 
Saturday- I worked and did some retail therapy with mom. While the Mike and the kids hit the Bandfest parade in Mason City. Now I must say I about fell over when Mike approached me that morning stating that he was thinking of taking all 3 hooligans to the parade himself sans-stroller (we didn't pack one). I hear they all did great and Dexter loved all the bands! (sorry no pics, that must not be he #1 priority like me).

Sunday- Work again for me, this time though Gabby joined me at work so she could help with our Bead for Life open house. I just have to plug here... these Ugandan woman are awesome! I LOVE these beads! After work My sister Nat beautified us all, by painting our nails.... including Jayden! (I will try and get a pic of his toes, they are zebra!)




Monday- Finally, after waiting all weekend the pool and weather was ready for us to swim! The kids had been anxiously awaiting.  But unlike years past, Gabby was not the first in the pool this year. Unfortunately Jayden beat her to it.

 

This Dollar Tree water blaster was the best $1 I have spent in a long time! There were a riot!

Jayden ridding the jetski, he didn't want to get off of this. Although it took awhile for the "men" to get it working. I must say though this was one time their tinkering came in handy!

 No Memorial Day is complete without a picnic! Dexter enjoyed "finishing" his sisters corn on the cob.

Gabby, Landon (Nat's friends son and Jaydens "sidekick"), and Jayden enjoying their picnic!