Success!

The first brownie batch I made I used unsweetened baking chocolate and they were good, but not that GOOD. Last night I made another batch using dark semi-sweet chips and was worried because I had melted the chips and then it hardened in the batter before I could get it into the pan. Again, the brownies are good. After school today, my kids ate 2 brownies each which I was surprised about because they are not super sweet. I am making strides getting spinach and carrots into little, growing bodies.

 

I also made this on Saturday. The kids (husband included) loved it. Spinach and tofu are the two ingredients no one in my house would even think about eating separately. I did end up adding some ice cream in the end, but hey, at least those little bodies are getting some greens. I'll do this again.
 

Would you eat this?

Thanks to my friend Sierra I was reminded that I have a book to help me get veggies into little bodies. I bought this book about a year ago and didn't do anything with it because we were in an apartment at the time and I didn't have my food processor and a lot of other kitchen tools. So, I broke it out and did some pureeing yesterday. Here is what I started with:
 
I had to steam most of the veggies and then puree them in the food processor. This was really, really easy.
  
Derek sat like a little angel the whole time, eating "healthy" things like this:
 
Here is the end result.
 
What am I going to do with this you ask? Well, last night for dinner I made Mac & Cheese with white beans in it. Mason actually ate it. Today, I made brownies with spinach and carrots in them. They are still in the oven, so I'll have to leave you in suspense until later. I am eager to see how Mason likes the brownies after school today. Yeah for veggies!

This-n-That

Sadie's quilt top has begun the quilting process. Here it is pinned and I already have it on Velma being quilted. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have it done. Since this is my first time quilting a quilt on the machine I am being a little cautious.
 
In my quest to eat healthier, I made some of our favorite muffins today. This is Bob's Red Mill recipe called Bran Flax muffins. My MIL gave me this recipe and I love it because it hides veggies really well. Mason, my older son, who is the pickiest eater I know, will eat them. Try them out. See what you think.
 

Sour Cream Black Walnut Coffee Cake

I should change the name of this recipe since we don't drink coffee. Maybe I should call it Sour Cream Walnut Anytime Cake. My mom made this for us on special occasions when I was growing up. My family now doesn't need a special occasion to make this yummy cake. We eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is a fail proof recipe. We actually made it with the black walnuts once. However, we have found that regular walnuts are preferable to our taste so don't feel like you have to find the black walnuts. In fact, if you like other nuts better, try them out! I hope you enjoy!.
 

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups sour cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla. Beat until light. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream.

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1 T cinnamon
1/2 cup black walnuts.

Mix together. Put 1/2 batter in an ungreased angel cake pan. Cover with 1/2 of topping. Add rest of batter, then rest of topping. Run a knife through to marble. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Snow Day!

This is what we woke up to today! Hooray!
 
Since school was canceled today and Chris had the day off of work, we went out sledding and we did a little baking. I am making Blueberry Cake thanks to Randi at ihavetosay. Chris made pizza dough, both of which will be consumed a little later. I have learned a little about myself today. I already knew this, but I had another confirmation. Chris had asked for some new baking supplies for Christmas. I like these kinds of requests because I get to profit from these gifts too :) I had bought a few items from King Arthur Flour and today realized how much I like quality items and getting your money's worth. You know how it is, sometimes you pick something up at Walmart and it just isn't the quality you were hoping it would be, but you bought it anyway thinking, it will do the job just fine. Well, when it came to using the sifter to make my blueberry cake today, I was amazed. This thing measures your flour for you, the crank is smooth and doesn't make that ratchety sound the metal ones do. There is a duster that comes with it, wow, I am in love. I can't speak for Chris, but I think he is too. He is the one that broke it open today to use for his pizza dough and he was impressed.


The measuring cups and spoons are pretty fancy too. The spoons actually fit into your spice jars and the cups come in all sizes. We (or should I say I) went the extra mile and bought the odd size cups along with the regular sizes. Boy have they come in handy. Needless to say, I am not trying to do a commercial for King Arthur, I just like nice things!

Apple Pie

I am not a big pie fan. In fact, I didn't even attempt to make pies because I didn't care for them that much. When my husband started asking for pies, I put it off for, oh about 10 years!, and this year I decided I had better make some attempt at filling my husbands cravings.

Creamy blueberry pie. My first pie attempt and it was a winner. We have made this pie several times since. It is now award winning thanks to my sister-in-law Sara who made this pie after trying it at Thanksgiving.



The recipe can be found here. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Blueberry-Pie/Detail.aspx

Grandma Ople's apple pie:

 

I wasn't going for beauty here, just taste. However when I realized I had added too much butter (I won't say how much) I thought the pie was done for. If you don't think about the calorie count in here, the pie turned out great! Since this pie had almost 2000 reviews, how could you go wrong?!

Here is the recipe link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Pie-by-Grandma-Ople/Detail.aspx?prop31=3