Pinterest Wins: Pancake Muffins

Instagram'd my Pancake Muffins

Found an idea on Pinterest and BAM...made it work. Pretty tasty. Didn't have anything too crazy for toppings but Chocolate Chips and Blueberries work wonders. 

The original Pin:

Source: theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com via Char on Pinterest

And here's how I did it.

Ingredients:

Pancake Mix (yep, I used box mix. Easy)

Toppings of choice (I used chocolate chips and blueberries)

Mix batter in bowl according to directions on box. If using a from-scratch version, it will work just the same. Preheat oven to 350* degrees, or according to box directions. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray. Spoon batter into muffin tins, about half full. The fuller, the more plump your muffins will be. Add toppings. Also would be good: Nuts, bacon, sausage...Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes, again according to box directions for Muffins. Check with a toothpick. Let cool. Eat up. Eat them all. Ok, maybe not all of them.

These are super easy. Can be made ahead of time and grab 'n go for breakfast.

You'll thank me later. Or thank Pinterest. Same thing.

Baby Food 101

Making apple sauce

All of the baby food that Jackson has eaten so far, I've made. Besides the oatmeal rice cereal, I've made everything else. It has been pretty cost effective too. We've tried Avocado, Banana, Sweet Potato, Zucchini, Carrot, Apples (sauce), and next is Butternut Squash. 


It has been pretty easy thanks to my handy dandy food processor. This thing rocks!


The baby food making process has been pretty easy and fun too! I love that I know exactly what is in the food that he eats. And color compare, WOW! It's hard to believe the color of the food on the shelves is what it says it is when the color of the natural stuff I make is so different. Carrots are a vibrant orange, zucchini is a neon green, apple sauce smells of warm apple pie. Bananas and avocado are easy, just peel, remove seed (avocado) and mash up real good. The food processor does that too for the other foods.


I freeze the pureed food in ice cube trays and then transfer to a zip lock bag. So easy! Take a cube or two (depending how much baby eats) in the morning to put into a container and leave in the fridge. It should thaw out by afternoon time. Or do it the night before. Wa-la!


When Jackson eats this, I scoop out of the container into a bowl he's eating from. Important: because once you dip into the food, put in mouth and back to food it has been introduced to bacteria. So to keep the food in the container "clean" I just scoop what I need into a bowl. Plus, by only using a cube at a time, I'm saving all the rest for later.


Genius!


Give it a try if you like. The apple sauce is really good. Yes, I tried it. Baked apples with a touch of cinnamon. Pureed. Who says it's just for baby? This might be "baby food" but it's all regular food made for Jackson.

Some of the goodness in the freezer: Carrots, Sweet Potato

For all the recipes and tips, I've used Wholesome Baby Food for help.

Good Things to Come

There are so many good things to come this year. Starting off with some cool goodies I got for Christmas.

A food processor and spring form pans. I can make cheesecake now! And other healthier things of course. And Canning books and some essentials to get me started. Can. Not. Wait! I will be a food-making machine this year. I'm looking forward to making baby food when Jackson starts eating solids/mushy foods. Thanks to my beautiful Mommy and my wonderful Aunt Tracy!

Jackson's Room

Here are some photos of Jackson's room. I thought I'd share with everyone. It was a lot of fun putting together and shopping for this, Josh and I really enjoyed it!

I took these pictures back in August, so a few things have changed. We now have Jackson's name on the wall with letters my mom made for him.

{DIY: No Sew Tie Blanket}

Now I can finally share the blanket that I made back in August for Jackson. I didn't share it because the gender was a surprise. I had fun making this. I have a couple homemade fleece blankets that my sister Steph has made, so I wanted to try my hand making one. Super easy!

I used two pieces, each 1 yard in length I believe

Items needed:
two pieces of fleece the same size
measurimg tape
sissors
4x4 inch piece of paper

1. Take your two pieces of fleece. Put one piece on top of the other. lining up the edges so they are even. (one side will be the front and the other side will be the back of your blanket)
2. Trim off any selvage around the edges of your fleece (try not to cut in more than 2 inches) * Remember you need to try to cut straight, but it doesn't have to be.
3. Take your piece of 4"x4" paper lay it on the corner of your blanket. Then cut out the corner through both layers. Proceed to do this on all four corners.
4. Now you are ready to cut your fringes. Cut 4 inches into both fleeces at 1" wide. I found it easier to lay a tape measure across from the corner of the cut out corner to the other.
5. Your fringes don't need to be 1" exactly, just try to keep them the same size.(You don't want to have one fringe 1" and the next one 2".)
   Proceed to cut 1" intervals on all four sides.
6. Starting on one side, tie over hand knots (using one fringe from each fleece.) Tie these knots on every other fringe around the entire blanket.
7. Then flip the whole blanket over and tie the remaining knots until your blanket is complete. (This helps your knotted ends look perfect)
8. Some prefer to only tie one knot, but I like to double knot them. This helps them from coming untied especially in the wash.

http://www.allkindsofbabystuff.com/no_sew_fleece_blankets.html

These are great gifts to give andcan be so fun with so many different color and pattern combinations!

Pesto Pasta Dish & Citrus Decor

I've made a return home after being away in Colorado for almost 2 weeks. Sometimes being home feels good, even though you miss where you were and who you were with. So I've been busy planning what to cook this week for dinner. Sunday I made this lovely Pesto Pasta with Chicken dish. However Monday and Tuesday were a no go since I worked evenings and I wasn't up for cooking dinner at 10:30pm. This dish was pretty easy and I just made it up on the go. I was in the mood for pasta, had some chicken and remembered I had a dry pesto mix in the cupboard to use. I love it when it's that easy!

Pasta of choice (I used Cavatappi)
Dry pesto mix (usually in the store in the spice asile)
for the pesto mix you'll need: milk & olive oil (amounts listed on the packet)
Chicken (I had about 2 small chicken breasts)
about 1/3 cup lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves, smashed & chopped
seasoning for chicken if you want

I started by cooking the pasta and in another pan cooking the pesto sauce. The pesto was super easy to make. Then as the pasta was done, I added the pesto to the pasta and let it sit for a few minutes. In a skillet pan I put about a tablespoon of olive oil and 2 garlic cloves and turned the heat on medium. I sliced the chicken into bite size chunks and just used salt and pepper to season. I kept it pretty simple knowing it was going into a pesto dish. So the chicken cooked for about 5-10 minutes until it turned white and was almost cooked all the way through. I added the lemon juice now just so the chicken could simmer it in a few more minute, about 5, to get the flavor. Then I added the chicken to the pasta and wa-la!

Now here you can dish up your plate and dig in. I decided to try to bake it. Something about baked pasta sounds fancy, maybe?! So I put the dish in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes just to get a crispy topping. I thought it would be good to add some parmsian cheese. Yumm! It was a good idea.

All in all, this was an easy dish with ingredients I had on hand. Of course you can make your own pesto or use a different sauce. It was light and creamy. It doesn't look like much chicken, add more if you like, I didn't have much.

Oh yes, and now the citrus decor. Josh had a great idea to use up our excess Lemons and Oranges. He works in landscape and had come across a lot of lemons. We weren't going to be able to use them all before they went bad. Josh is a genius! He took a string of heavy duty string and threaded it between the sliced lemons and limes. This is so pretty and smelled awesome! The smell has kind of gone away as they dried out, but it is SO PRETTY! And such a festive decor for spring. Very cost effective decor I might add!