Banana Bread Recipe (SOOO good!)

We got the banana bread out of the freezer last night that I made on the "2 hours and $20" day... it was SO GOOD, so I thought I'd post the recipe. That loaf didn't even last 24 hours in this house!

Ingrediants:
1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick)
2 eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup Ripe Bananas
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 Cup sifted flour (I didn't sift mine..)
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 Cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate ones)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix: butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla in a bowl until creamy
Add: Bananas and cinnamon and mix well.
Add: baking soda, salt, sour cream, flour Mix until all smooth.
Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour until done.

I got this recipe off of cooks.com. It froze really well. I plan to make a couple loaves next week! I'll see how well the recipe doubles or even triples. =)

garden space

This year I am trying to figure out what keeps the weeds down the best. I try and use organic methods so weeds are the most work. I divided the garden in thirds. My dad came and rotatilled the garden

(Thanks dad!) and then I covered one part with a degradable paper (looks like thick brown paper bag material) the middle is straw and the other is not covered and I plan to rotatill it again before planting...so then I will know which works best for keeping the weeds down. With such a warm winter, I hope to get some peas into the ground at the end of the month.

Chick box cleaning day!

This chicks are AMAZING entertainment for Elle! She draws them pictures, sings them songs, reads them books, watches them, talks to them, protects them from our dog and cat... it is truly all day entertainment ...(which is GREAT for MY sanity!) We'll see how long it lasts, but for now we are loving it!

Today I wanted to give them new sawdust so Elle and I made a little "fence" with her blocks to put them in while I cleaned out the box. It was hilarious... they really wanted to break out! One even went through the little hole in the block! Elle was so funny, she is sort of scared of them so she wouldn't put them back in herself, she'd just run away and start shouting that "one got out!"... Adorable.

hellebore pictures

I Love these flowers. They are so early to bloom, the blooms last for SO LONG and the greenery stays year round. They continue to grow to larger "bushes" and have such cool flowers! They do well in the shade which makes them great for some color under trees or on north sides of buildings.

Rooting Pussy Willows

Just an experiment... I hear rooting willows is really easy, so I am trying it out. Supposedly just cutting the branches and putting them in water will produce roots after a couple weeks. So we'll see! =)

 I am going to try it with honeysuckle as well.

The chicks have arrived!

The chicks came today. Odd to pick up our "mail" on a Sunday, but they arrived at the place they go before getting sent out to the post offices and they called with the option to come get them, so we did! Elle was SO excited! Murray McMurray sent us an extra 3 chicks so we got 28!!! What a tiny box they were shipped in, for body heat in traveling. We had to "teach" each of them to drink water by dunking their beaks in the water dish before letting them loose in their new home (a large cardboard box). Elle just loves to sit there and watch them. It'll be fun to see them grow!

Our little man!

Happy Birthday Elle!

I can't believe I have a 3 year old!! What a fun year of changes for this little one! She got a new house, a new brother, a new van, learned words like "otherwise" and "actually". She can count to 14 without error and with a couple of flubbs all the way up to 30! She's got her ABC's down, although there are times when T-U-V are not included... She has learned her colors and has enjoyed lableing things with her sticker letters. Christian has a C on his walker, Michael has an M on his work boot, I often have S's on my jeans and even the dog endures the hair pulling privledge of having an O on his 'coat'. Her manipulation and debate skills improve daily keeping me on my toes. She is one smart cookie! She learned to swim (with a life jacket on), learned to ride a bike with training wheels and loved climbing ladders at our construction site. She is one active little girl! Her birthday chicks arrive after the weekend, she is so excited!

Happy birthday my little firefly!

Quiche recipe

Another great one from Cindy... who got it from another friend! I made this last night for dinner... yummy!

Crust:
2 Cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 C Olive oil (or any kind you like to use)
1/4 Cup Milk

Roll out between parchment paper to fit pie pan
bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes
take out and cool while turning oven down to 350 degrees

Filling:
3 Eggs
1 Cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Add ins: (you can pretty much add whatever...here's what I did for dinner last night)
1 Cup cheese
1 Cup Bacon (I pre-cooked mine, because I like it crunchy)
1 Cup diced ham
(Mushrooms are great too, and I hear spinich is a healthy add in as well...)

Mix all together and pour into crust
Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes (middle might still be a little gooey)
let it cool to set.
Enjoy!

"Why isn't Michael in the band?"

We get asked that question a lot. (Michael's 4 brothers are in a band...see their video on this blog under 'fun times' or at shoemakerbrothers.com) So I thought I would share a little story to answer the question publicly... =)
We have many "dance parties" in our home. We crank the music up and Elle and I in particular love to just let it all out singing and dancing (not sure if I can even really call it dancing... I feel a twinge of guilt that I am decieving you.... picture running, flailing and jumping rather than coordinated and rythmical...)... So Saturday we were having one of our "dance parties" and Michael came in and started singing- just BELTING it all out and Elle started to nearly PANIC yelling (nearly crying really) "No dada, stop! You're scareing my ears!!!" So there you have it... THAT is why Michael is not in the band. =)

2 hours and $20

12 individually wrapped bean burritos (beans, spices, rice, cheese), 5 loafs of bread (1 banana, 4 white), and a batch of biscotti... this is what I cooked/baked today for about $20 in 2 hours time. (plus another hour of bake time on the bread... but that wasn't "active" time) I have been wanting to do more "bulk cooking" and freeze things so that they are ready quickly and still healthy to eat. Michael's work schedule is super inconsistent so it is hard to plan when to start dinner, if he'll even be home for dinner, etc.. so this is a great way to have things ready to just heat up when he does get home. I won't lie, I was REALLY working for these 2 hours... I had to put Christian down for a nap, bunndle Elle up to go outside, and then de-bundle when she came in and made her and Michael lunch at the same time I was making all of these items...but come on...ONLY 2 hours!!! All of the dishes were done, things put away, etc... all in the 2 hours! I thought I'd share the recipes and the order that worked well for me... I do have a double oven, so that helped make it possible... if you don't have a double or a wall oven... you will be waiting for things to get done before you can move on.

Bean Burittos ( I got a recipe from Cindy and changed it a bit based on what we had...here's how I did it..)

Ingrediants:

*2 Cups Rice (I had about a Cup left over which we'll have with our chicken dinner tomorrow..or I could have put more in the burittos...) *2 Tablespoons Olive Oil * 1/2 large oninon chopped up *6 garlic cloves diced *1/2 teaspoon Cumin *1/2 teaspoon salt *1/2 teaspoon pepper * 1/2 Cup tomato sauce *3 cans (15oz) Pinto beans drained/rinsed * 1 bag of frozen corn (10oz) *12 burrito size tortillas *2 Cups grated medium cheddar cheese *1 1/2 Tablespoon Chili Powder *1/2 teaspoon Cayene Pepper *1 Cup water

Directions:

Cook Rice

Heat oil in large saucepan over med heat. Add Onions, garlic, chili powder Cayenne pepper, Cumin and Salt and Pepper. Cook Stirring occasionally. (10-12 min) Add Tomato paste (1 min)

Add Beans and 1 Cup water, bring to boil, turn down to med simmer, stir occationally until thickened. (10-12min) Add Corn (2-3 min)

I took wax paper and put the tortilla on it, scooped beans onto it, then some rice, then some cheese, wrapped it up, fliped it over to keep it from opening and then wrapped the wax paper around it and put about 6 per freezer ziplock bag.

I did these with the purpose of freezing them for Michael to take for his lunches, or to just grab and zap in the microwave for a quick meal. They're also great to just have right then, hot! =)

Once frozen it takes about 2-3 minutes in the microwave to heat them up, or you can put them in foil and  place in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30-45 min.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti (another altered recipe from Cindy!)

Ingrediants:

1 3/4 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 Cup dutch process cocoa powder

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 Cup dried tart cherries

3/4 Cup blanched Almonds
3 large eggs plus 1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

*Oven racks in upper 1/3 of oven and lower 1/3 oven *Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper *In large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until mixed well. Add Cherries and almonds and distribute. *In another bowl whisk together the whole eggs, egg white, and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingrediants. *Using a fork mix them together working all of the dry into the dough.... dough will be dense and STICKY! Divide in half. *Shape dough into flattened logs 12"x2 1/2" by 1" thick. Bake the logs  (325 degrees) until they are dry to the touch and firm in the center when pressed with fingers. (about 30 min) *Transfer to wire racks and cool for 30 min on pans.Transfer to cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise on diagonal into 1/2" pieces. Arrange slices cut side down back on the parchement paper/baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool COMPLETELY store in airtight container at room temp. for up to 3 weeks. (original recipe called for flipping them and cooking them again for another 10-15 minutes on the other side... I did this the first time I made them and they burned a little and were not good... this time I just did the one side and they are PERFECT! So you may have to judge your oven... since they are dark brown from the cocoa...it's hard to tell if they are burnt until it's too late!) These taste great with coffee, tea or just by themself. My 2 year old LOVES them!

I am not going to post the banana bread recipe until I try it. But I worked on it while the biscotti was in the oven. I froze the loaf, so after we eat it, I'll post it if I loved it! =) I made the 4 loaves of white bread last. It was quick to throw the ingrediants together, but it needed rise time so while the other items occupied the oven, this was rising. I made were a bunch of ingrediants I didn't measure, just "estimated" so I'm sorry I don't really have one to share..! =)

A fun, productive afternoon!

What we don't buy anymore...

It is amazing what you realize you can very comfortably do without. I no longer buy paper towels, napkins, dryer sheets, store made cleaning products (see posted recipes under "penny pinching") or baby wipes. We aren't religious about it or anything... if we have a large get together I may buy napkins for that, but really, a cloth towel works just fine, or cloth napkin. Dryer sheets I have recently learned about how awful/toxic they are (you make them more toxic by heating them up!) and who knew that laundry isn't any different without it! (I sure didn't... I thought for sure everything would cling to me like glue... but alas, I can't even tell the difference...) It is amazing how much I save when going to the store to not be buying anything but food. (fancy that!) These things really do add up, especially with a toddler who would use nearly an entire roll of paper towels to clean up a small spill, or when we do about 10-15 loads of laundry a week. I also now delute hand soap. Truly, about 50/50 fifty percent water and fifty percent liquid soap... still get a good lather, lasts twice as long! I am still working at perfecting my shampoo and lotion/cream recipies... it is a lot of chemistry and I am awful at chemistry! I will post those recipes when I am happy with them!

Sunrise

Here's a picture of the sunrise view from our master bedroom porch. There was so much pink in the sky that this doesn't show...it was too early to fuss with the camera! That water out there is just seasonal... in the summer it is actually a hay field that gets hayed. The blackberry bushes below give us masses of blackberries and have a family of Quail that live in them. It is so fun to see them come out and forege (sp?) in the field during the day. We counted 13 of them.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I LOVE peanut butter cookies. I have been making them a lot lately and never really quite follow a recipe. Here is what I have found works the best and makes some INCREDIBLE cookies... (These are also awesome with hershey kisses smooched into them about 5 minutes after they come out of the oven. I also enjoy adding about 1/2-1/2 cup of straight peanuts into the dough just before rolling it out..makes for a more clunky, crunchy cookie.)

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup packed brown sugar

1 1/4 Cup crunchy natural (I use Adams) Peanut Butter

1 Cup of Butter

2 Eggs

3 Cups wheat flour (you can use all purpose white flour if you'd rather)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Small amount additional sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and eggs in a large bowl until all ingrediants are well mixed together. In a separate bowl stir the flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Add together and stir.

2. Roll dough into about 1 1/ 2 inc balls, roll them in the additonal sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Once the cookie sheet is full take a fork and lightly press down on the dough ball to make a criss-cross pattern and flatten the ball, just slightly.

3. Bake 7-8 minutes. They will still be a little gooey- this is how I like them! You can cook longer if you'd like, but I think what makes them so soft is pulling them out when they are still soft. Carefully transfer the cookies to wire rack immediately to cool.

I honestly can't tell you how many dozen this makes...5? I usually make about 3 dozen and then just freeze the dough to eat it later (as dough, not cookies!) =)

Shoemaker Brothers

My brother in laws! What an amazing journey they have had and are now in a MUSIC VIDEO- check it out! Their music is incredible. Memorable, heartfelt lyrics that make you feel like you already know the words, even if you've never heard the song. Their ability to play a wide variety of instruments in astounding. For more information check out http://www.shoemakerbrothers.com/.

"Dada's a MAAAAANNNNN"!

Funny Elle story...
We still haven't gotten an additional mail box for our new house and just use the old mailing address for the house we rent (that's right next door), so we have to go down to that house and pick up mail a couple times a week... I asked Michael to go and get it yesturday evening. He said "sure"! Elle and I were playing together... Michael just kept doing other things and I kept asking him when/if he was going to go get the mail... (Okay, nagging...but with just enough smile and laughter to justify it as "jokingly harping"!) He kept telling me he was going, but continued to sort of walk around doing something....well, really nothing. About 15 minutes past and I smiled and said "are you going?!" He was right near the door and playfully shook his finger at me to say "I'm going, I'm going, don't ask again..." and left. I looked at Elle and laughed and said "dada's a funny guy!" She curled her forehead and got real serious, then looking straight at me said, "Dada's not a "guy", dada's a MAAAAANNNNN and he put YOU in time OUT!" =0) What a cutie!

T-I-M-B-E-R!!!

Michael took down the pine tree today! (Yey for firewood next year!) He has been itchen to do this since last summer. He was cutting up some fallen branches one moment and the next I heard the chainsaw in the front yard, and went out to see and he apparently decided it was time for that ugly pine to come down! There was a plastic pot in the field that he aimed to hit. The tree was leaning pretty good down the hill and he wanted to fall it along the hill. This is only the third tree he has ever fallen and he did it perfectly! The trunk was about a foot from the plastic pot target!

PERFECT wedge!

What a guy! ;)

Crockpot with whatcha got! =)

I did a crock pot meal I thought I'd share. We are trying a new food budget thing this year (this being the first month) and let's just say that I only had $21 left on the 14th to get us until the end of the month! =) I am now (as of the 21st) completely out and having to get creative with what we've got, which I actually really enjoy having to do. So yesturday for dinner I threw in the crock pot quartered small potatoes, carrot chunks and frozen hamburger patties on top (so the juices drip down over everything else to give them more flavor). We have a lot of apple trees on our property and last summer I was trying to use all that I could to not waste any and I made pie filling (sliced apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar shook together in a ziplock bag) and froze it in ziplock bags so all i'd have to do is make a crust and throw it in.... anyway, so I used some of that ON TOP of the hamburger... cooked it in the crockpot for 4 hours on high, it was SO GOOD! No salt or anything added, it smelled really good and apples really make beef taste amazing!

Scrapbooking

I used to be a Creative Memories Consultant so I have EVERYTHING one could imagine they need to scrapbook... and yet just NOW I am trying to get my soon to be three year old's pictures into albums! The best advise I can give, is just GET OVER IT AND DO IT!!! I was draggin my feet because the task of going through all the pictures, getting them in chronilogical order and all was just too much. So I got over needing it all in order. She is so young that she changes so much season to season that it is pretty obvious how old she is in the pictures and I just grouped events together. I can up on "super fancy" pages long ago and just go for speed and layout. I went through about 1000 (yes, one-thousand!) photo's and have entered about 125 into the album so far in about three days. It looks like a Creative Memory tornado blew through our dining room, but I am determined to get the remainder of the pictures in before Elle's birthday (13 days away). So maybe now that I have blogged about it, I will HAVE to do it! =) Megan (My sister in law-brother's wife) and my neice, Elena came over today to do some work on hers as well. Elena is starting to pull herself up now and loves to be standing. What a fun girl!

Real Estate Tips PRIOR to listing your home

When PREPARING to sell your home (before it is on the market):
1. Less is more! De-clutter, remove items you don't HAVE to have. Rent a storage space, use a friends garage, whatever, just get it out! If you think you are "doing your part" by just cramming it all away in YOUR garage or closets, you are doing yourself a disservice- presenting that your home does not have enough storage.
2. Lights... Clean them, replace any burned out light bulbs, if your fixtures are really dated, consider replaceing them- this is often very inexpensive and can "update" a rooms appearance significantly.
3. Deep Clean.... Go through each room with an extremely critical eye...
Does trim work need to be touched up with paint/stain?
Does tile need to be re-grouted?
Shampoo carpets (rental of a commercial sampooer is about $25 for 4 hours- well worth it)
Wash windows
Dust/wash/Iron Window treatments
Clean appliances thoroughly
Touch up paint on walls- fill in any nail holes first
Clean heater vents- whether wall "Cadet" type heaters or just the vents. take covers off (turn off power first if wall heaters) and clean thoroughly.
Pay special attention to sinks, toilets, tubs and showers... put some muscle into it! Baking Soda works great to really scrub the grit out of there. Wash shower curtain if it's cloth. Replace shower liner if it is the least bit mildewy or gross.
4. Spruce up the yard/exterior... First impression is extremely important.
Pressure wash or at least sweep driveway. If it is rock, consider bringing in fresh rock and spreading it to fill in any pot holes/give clean look.
Plant planters full of plants that are available in color depending on the season... Be sure you take care of them, or don't plant them at all! I have seen so many "well intended" planters that end up looking worse than nothing at all because they don't get watered, weeded, etc...
Clean off roof (or have someone else if it's not safe for you) Baking soda along the ridgeline works great for moss. Don't do this on a windy day or it will just blow away.. Try to do it when rain is expected so the water will wash it down and kill the moss. Once it has died it will just blow away.
CLEAN SIDING! Especially near the front door or entry ways! Spray it, scrub it, touch up paint if needed. Touch up chaulking where needed.
Clean any decks or patios. Consider pressure washing, staining or sealing if necessary
Wash exterior of the windows
Clean up flower beds/landscapeing
Patch or re-seed any areas of the lawn that need it.

ALL of these things would cost probably a total of $100 (to rent the carpet shampooer and pressure washer if needed) and it is amazing how many people do not do these things! Buyers today are looking for TOTALLY move in ready. I have seen people walk away from homes that met EVERY check of their "must have" and "would like to have" lists, simply because it "needs too much work" and the only work was items from this list! It takes time, yes, but the more time you put into these sort of things, the less time your home will sit on the market. Many buyers right now are first time buyers taking advantage of the tax credit. For the most part they do not understand the demands of owning a home and can be intimidated by them.... make your house look EASY! Provide them a "fresh slate" --the idea of getting to get settled in without having to do the "little stuff".