Beautiful Blessings - 7/27/15

~ Seeing the Hudson River just outside of North Creek, NY.

~ Cooling off after I got overheated with cherry ice cream, lemonade, delicious homemade iced tea, and my wonderful window fan.

~ Making Lil' G's day with a leopard/jaguar print hair-tie.

~ Bacon and eggs for a mid-morning snack ;~)

~ Singing my heart out with some hymns!

Coconut Yogurt Cake!!

It's a really easy recipe!! 

• 2 - 6oz containers of yogurt (we used Coconut Chobani, it's a Greek Yogurt but you could use regular yogurt too!)
• 2 eggs

Now you take the containers from the yogurt, and use them to measure the flour and sugar and oil!

• 2 containers of sugar
• 1 container of oil
• 4 containers of flour

Then add a dash of vanilla and 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder!

Mix it all up and bake at 375* F for 35 minutes!

Makes 2 - 9in cakes! 

I sprinkled some dried coconut on top to make it extra coconutty! Mmm! Yummy!

Science Saturday: Galls, Herring Gulls, and Hairy Cap Moss

(A Gall from our yard...the top of the stem broke...)

A few interesting things:

•             Galls are an abnormal growth of plant tissue caused by something other than the plant itself. Most commonly caused by insects but they are also caused by mites, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
• The Goldenrod Gall is caused by a small fly that lays an egg on the stem of the Common Goldenrod. As it grows it forms a solid spherical gall around itself to protect it and feed it.\
• Galls are wonderful for protection, but some birds and rodents can see that they are holding something "yummy" inside, and will eat the contents.
• Herring Gulls are one of the most common gull along the Atlantic Coast. They have migrated inland, and have been found by the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and other large bodies of water.
• They were protected at the beginning of the 20th century because of low numbers, but since then, they've increased in number and have no need for such protection.
• Herring Gulls are ground nesters, so they prefer to be on islands where predators are few. It takes 25-27 days for an egg to hatch. Then the parents feed them regurgitated food until they are old enough to take care of themselves.
• Hairy Cap Moss grows in thick spongy beds on the forest floor. It should be called "Mattress moss" because of how soft it is! ;~)
• Moss is unique in it's ability to remain dormant for extended periods of time, yet still be alive when it receives water again.
• Moss is good for reviving areas that have been devastated by natural causes. Because of their unique ability to adapt, they can revitalize areas stricken by forest fires, floods, volcanoes, and other natural catastrophes! 

Crumb-coated Muffins

(Pardon the dark picture)

These are really really delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

Pinch of salt

3/4 cup of milk

1/3 cup of oil

1 egg

Heat the oven to 400* F. Prepare the muffin pan with spray or liners. Combine all the the ingredients, dry then wet. Mix thoroughly and pour into the pan.

Topping:

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of white sugar

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix the topping together into a small bowl and sprinkle over the uncooked muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy! Makes 1 dozen.

Pavlova!

We've been talking about Australia in T-Tot's school work, so we decided to try making one of the famous Australian deserts.

Pavlova is named after Anna Pavlova, a famous ballerina from the turn of the century. This desert is believed to be named after her while she toured in Australia and New Zealand in the 20's.

 Ingredients:

3 egg whites
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of white sugar
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of lemon juice or lemon flavoring
1 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Draw a 9 inch circle on the parchment. An easy way to do this is to draw around the outside of a 9 inch pan with a pencil.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar gradually, while continuing to whip. Make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cornstarch; lightly fold into meringue with lemon juice.
3. Spread a layer of meringue to fit circle on parchment, approximately 1/4 inch thick. With remainder of mixture, pipe or spoon swirls around the edges to form a shallow bowl shape.
4. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour. Turn off oven, but leave meringue in oven for an additional 30 minutes. When cool, the meringue should be hard on the outside, and slightly moist on the inside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the cream and half a cup of confectioners sugar, and whip until thickened. Decorate with fruit of your choice; strawberries are excellent.

We used dried pineapple, kiwi and strawberries on ours. :~)

A wee bit of baking!

Remember that AWESOME new stove we got? 

Well we did some baking with it yesterday! Boy the house smells GREAT! 

We had 2 and 1/2 cups of black raspberries from our berry patch and we made muffins!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Too yummy, we only have 6 left as I speak. ;)

We used The Pillsbury Cookbook for our recipe. 

(For 2 dozen muffins or 4 dozen mini muffins {We had 1 dozen reg. and 2 dozen mini} :)

4 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of milk

2/3 cup of oil

2 eggs

Dash of cinnamon and sugar

Mix the dry ingredients, add the wet and mix it all up! Pour into greased muffin pans and bake at 400* for 18-22 minutes. We added blackberries. :) 

We also made banana bread!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We used the Fanny Farmer's recipe.

3 ripe bananas well mashed

2 eggs well beaten

2 cups of flour

3/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking powder

Mix the ingredients, pour into 1 greased pan and bake for an hour at 350. Makes 1 loaf. 

Breakfast was delicious! 

8 days till X'mas

Deck the table with bags of flour
Fa la la la la la la la la
Tis the season to make cookies
Fa la la la la la la la la
Don we now our pretty aprons
Fa la la la la la la la la
Troll Facebook for yummy recipes
Fa la la la la la la la la

See the cookie cutters before us
Fa la la la la la la la la
Strike the eggs and beat the sugar
Fa la la la la la la la la
Follow me as I measure
Fa la la la la la la la la
While I mix the cookie dough
Fa la la la la la la la la

Fast does the blender mix it
Fa la la la la la la la la
Hail the cookies as they bake
Fa la la la la la la la la
Sing when they are finished
Fa la la la la la la la la
Heedless of the burnt edges
Fa la la la la la la la la

Ingredients:

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter (softened at room temperature)
1 egg, lightly beaten (egg should be at room temperature)
3 Tablespoons half-and-half
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) .

2. Sift together all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

3. Cut in butter and blend with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.

4. With a fork, stir in lightly beaten egg, vanilla and half-and-half. Blend well with fork, then your hands to ensure thorough blending. Chill dough for one hour for easier rolling.

****If you are not rolling the dough, chill for 15 minutes then skip to step 6 for baking.

5. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes.

6. Place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar or leave plain for decorating with icing.

7. Bake for 6 - 7 minutes, or until lightly brown.

1-2-3-4

1-2-3-4

A secret code?
A plot against the free world?
A monster???

No, a recipe for my favorite cake.

My sister turned it in to a sing-song rhyme.

She keeps it in her head for "dad's emergency cake emergency's"! 

1 cup of butter
2 cups of sugar
3 cups of flower FLOUR :~) (No that was not on purpose!)
4 eggs 

Mix together. Bake for 20 min. @ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Voila, delicious pound cake!

Brownies, the BEST EVER

I made some brownies last night. Unfortunately, they are gone.....

They are the best homemade brownies. EVER

They were... :~)

So good, I memorized the recipe, while I made them. 

Lets see,

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 stick (half cup) of butter (melted)

Mix them together.

• 1/2 cup of flour
•  dash of vanilla (didn't have this on hand, but you might want it)
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

Mix that with the rest of the ingredients.
Put chocolate chips to make it taste......more chocolatey!
Use semi sweet AND milk chocolate chips, if you are adventurous!
For extreme adventurous use chocolate chips and crushed pretzels.
After you try pretzels on top, you'll never want nuts again... they are boring.....

Bake at 350 Fahrenheit, for 30 minutes. I used a pie pan.

When they are done, sit down with, a good book, tea, and the WHOLE pan!

If the brownies were detected by a sibling/children/spouse, share.

Maybe ;~D