Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Great Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

http://www.littonsdirecttoyou.com/assets/satchmo/images/productimage-picture-whole-wheat-bread-14.jpg
(Picture found on the internet not my bread, but it looks similar :) )
Whole Wheat Bread

Put all ingredients in your Kitchen-Aide mixer, always mixing on low speed with your dough hook attachment.

2 Tb. Yeast
5 1/2 c. water (very warm)
6 c. whole wheat flour
Mix these 3 ingredients together
Add:
2/3 c. Oil
2/3 c. Sugar
2 T. salt
6 c. whole wheat flour, add 1 c. white all purpose flour (or 1/2 c. gluten)

Mix all ingredients on low speed for 8-10 minutes. Cover w/ a wet tea towel, and let rise until double, about 30-45 minutes. Grease bread pans w/ Pam. Punch down dough and divide into quarters. With well greased hands (I use Crisco) pull apart each quarter, slap the top of the loaf and tucking the sides in, form loaves. Let raise until the top of the loaves are peeking over the pans. Bake in a preheated oven @350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until loaves are brown.

Makes 4 loaves of bread.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

How Tall Will Your Child Be?

Do you ever wonder how tall your child will be when they are all grown up? I sure do. You know from the start where they are in comparison to other children. But that doesn't tell you their eventual height. Baby Center's Height Predictor gives you an idea. Or at least the best guess out there. It works for children 2 and up. Sorry to those with little ones who will have to patiently wait.

This calculator predicts my son will be around 6' -6'2" by the time he's 18! I'm going to have a very tall, skinny teenage boy!

Have fun trying this out for your kids!

Friday, May 8, 2009

What do you do with old medication?

I've been thinking more about baby/toddler proofing and where my medication really should be located. I'm still not sure where the best location really is. During the whole thought process though I realized I have medicine that is "expired". I have bottles of old medications from when my son was born, some that I reacted to last year and had to stop taking, and yet another bottle of something or other that I just didn't use up. Don't worry, when it's mandatory to finish the antibiotics, I do. I don't want to cause super bugs.

Anyhow, out of curiosity I decided to do some research. It is not wise to just dispose of your medication. I knew that. First, the bottles have a lot of your information on them, but also, I don't want to contaminate the water supply or have someone else end up with my old pills.

During my search I found the best way to dispose of all my old medications. Take them to a return location! Luckily for me there is one in town. You can look for a location near you on this website: Unwanted Medicine Return Program.

The Hazards of my Home

I swear it's just when you think you've baby-proofed completely that you realize it's never enough.

My 2 year old can already pull off outlet covers.
He has hit the door knob locks hard enough to break it off the knob.
He has pulled hard enough on the bi-fold doors that the locks pop off.
He can climb up things now, so putting stuff up high isn't enough.
He is sneaky enough to remember hours later if you left a door, a window, or a latch open or unlocked. And wait patiently until you are not paying attention to actually do something about it.

Cute and innocent? Sometimes, but there are those days I feel like he's always got the one up on me.

Oh well - I guess I can't complain. This is all coming from the girl caught escaping from the hospital when she had been left in a tented crib. The same girl who hauled a chair to the laundry room climbed up on the washer and into the closet to get a small key, then dragged that same chair into the kitchen, climbed above the stove and unlocked the medicine cabinet. Luckily she didn't take any because her favorite blue medicine was out. Did you know a leg could be broken just from going down a slide? She proved it! Her poor mother! So yeah, I should consider it all payback.

I guess this post is a warning - someday, somehow, your child will make your own mother very proud.

I sometimes wonder why I ever encouraged my son to grow or learn to walk. And yet, I love and adore him all the same. Motherhood is a glorious thing.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Pina Colada Muffins


I came across this recipe in one of my cooking magazines a while ago and finally got around to trying them out yesterday. They are delicious! Here's the recipe:


Pina Colada Muffins


Muffins:

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup oil

2 Tbs packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup pineapple juice (from crushed pineapple)

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1 cup well-drained crushed pineapple


Topping:

1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

2 Tbs butter, softened

2 Tbs packed brown sugar

1 Tbs flour



  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper liners or spray with PAM. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.
  2. Beat sugar, oil, and brown sugar at medium speed for 1 minute. Beat in egg until blended. At low speed, beat in coconut milk and pineapple juice until blended. Beat in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in 1 cup coconut and pineapple.
  3. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling three-fourths full. Combine all topping ingredients in a small bowl; sprinkle on top. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Oh What do you do in the Daytime?

So do any of you have difficulty coming up with things for your toddler to do all day long? Or wonder why there are days when it seems there has been way more crying than laughing? Some times my adorable boy is content to play completely on his own, all day long. But then there are those days he wants to be entertained ALL DAY! I know he gets bored with the same old thing, and honestly so do I. So when my friend posted a link to this list: 101 Things To Do With Your Toddler I was excited. It's not my only resource, but it's a good one. I'm sure many of you have other great ideas too. Please share them (links or personal ideas) in the comments.