It's Monday...Again

Well, Ya'll....I'm t i r e d! Mondays are a crazy: Clark to speech therapy, got half of my groceries at Glen's Bulk Foods (awesome, awesome, awesome store, by the way!), came home to babysit my lil' Lucy over the lunch hour, finished up getting my other half of groceries @ Walmart (ugh), and by this time, the older two were home from school....starving, of course. Good thing it's Mexican night...Tacos! Easy, Peasy!

Brown up some hamburger meat, sprinkle on your favorite seasoning. Warm up the taco shells and tortillas. Set out your favorite toppings (tonight we had refried beans, farmer's cheese, chopped romaine, leftover corn, & salsa).

If you haven't discovered these yet, I want to introduce you to these yummy little white corn taco shells. We tried them several months ago, and I'll never go back to buying yellow corn shells. These are just too good. Very light and crispy!!

Smells Good Enough to Eat

Okay, so this really isn't something to eat, but it's sooooo much fun! My kids have spent hours, HOURS, playing with this homemade playdough. It's fun to make, fun to play with, fun to smell, fun to look at....it's just FUN! A year and a half ago, the summer of 08, when Clark broke his leg...this is the one thing that kept his sanity and mine! That's impressive for a 2 year old!

Homemade Playdough

2 c flour

1 c salt

1 Tbsp cream of tartar

1 Tbsp oil

2 c boiling water

food colorings

liquid flavorings

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl and whisk together. Add oil to hot water, and then add this to flour mixture. After well mixed, divide dough into equal parts and add your favorite colors, and if desired, your favorite flavorings (vanilla, almond, peppermint, etc.) You can use your hands to knead the color and flavorings in, but I recommend using rubber gloves so that the color doesn't stain your hands. Store the dough in ziploc bags. Lasts several months.

Saturday Brunch

I had a busy morning with worship practice today, so by the time I got home and got our meal ready, it was actually noon :0) We went ahead with breakfast food, though...b/c I LOVE breakfast food!! (technically, there's not much food that I don't love, but that's beside the point). We had pancakes and cheesy scrambled eggs.

Fanny Farmer Pancakes

2 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 egg

2 c milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients. Add egg and milk and stir well. Add butter. Fry 1/4 c of batter (or desired amount) on hot griddle. Serve with favorite toppings. (Mine happens to be the Cinnamon Syrup I listed last week...yummo!)

The story behind these pancakes being named "Fanny Farmer" is that a couple of years ago, Reagan brought home a book from the Hutch Library and had this recipe in it. I've loved it ever since. It's basic, easy, but yummy.

Burger Night

Tonight is Burger Night and since I have the freedom to make burgers how I want, I used my Burger Bun recipe to actually make Beef Hot Pockets and Pizza Hot Pockets :0)

Burger Buns

4 1/2 c flour

2 pkgs yeast

1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c butter or margarine

1 egg

1 c milk

1/2 c water

Mix 1 1/2 c flour, yeast, and sugar in mixer. Heat milk, water, and margarine in microwave for 1 minute or warm to wrist (not hot). Add to first mixture and let mix for about 5 minutes. Add egg and salt and mix well. Add enough extra flour to make firm dough. Beat for about 5 minutesor until smooth. Let rise for 30 minutes. Form into hamburger buns or hotpockets. Let rise again for another 30 minutes on greased cookie sheets. Bake in 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

I used up some of the leftover roast beef from earlier this week with some shredded cheese to make the beef ones. I used about a tsp of spaghetti sauce, some shredded cheese and mini pepperonies to make the pizza ones.

Here's what the pizza ones look like in the making process:

Here they are rising.

And here's the final product:

I really, really like this bread recipe. It's my favorite and I use it for several different recipes (hamburger buns, hotdog buns, hotpockets, Bacon Bread,  and Monkey Bread). However, if you are not a homemade bread maker, you can always use frozen bread dough. You'll just have to follow the directions on the package for the rising process. Oh, and I'll be posting those other recipes in the future :0)

P.S. For all of you who sent me sweet messages of encouragement, I deeply appreciate it. It's odd how the smallest of things can trigger depression. I recently switched meds, and it's helped tremendously. This time around it only lasted a couple of days instead of weeks. I know that your prayers for me were heard, too, b/c I felt them.