Saturday Night Baking

Tonight I am baking some cookies for our church luncheon tomorrow.  White Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cookies.  Yum!  Super long name, super good cookies.  If you are interested in the recipe, you can find it HERE.  The only thing I changed was the amount of salt.  The recipe called for 1/2 tsp of salt, but I gave it 1 tsp instead.  I love salt in cookies!  So good!  I only have one good baking pan (my other one is dark and tends to burn cookies), so I have ten minutes to spare every five minutes.  This will have to be broken up into at least 3 or 4 batches.

Image borrowed from recipe website

August loves pumpkin.  I think this face says it all.

"Mommy's little pumpkin" onesie

"Ohhh let's see here, you got any pumpkin on this grocery list?"

Well, I have been 3 days without Facebook now.  I must say, it's weird.  And hard.  I think in my last post I sounded a bit facebook crazed, and that's honestly not true.  Facebook is cool, yes.  But it wasn't anything I thought about all the time or checked because it was a hobby of mine, it was just a bad habit that took up a huge amount of time.  I dunno what it is about checking it.  Maybe I'm afraid I'm going to miss something?  I have no idea.  But I do have to say, it has been SO nice to not have everyone's opinions in my head.  I will just say that.  My brain is A LOT less cluttered.  I have caught myself typing in "face.." in the address bar.  Such a hard habit to break.  Oh, and also, have you ever tried to cancel your facebook?  They make it really hard to do that.  You get asked a million times if you are sure you want to cancel it.  They show you profile pics of your friends with a caption below saying, "These people will miss you!"  Some of those people I haven't spoken to in years.  I think they'll be ok. :)  The worst part about cancelling it is that they actually save your information and tell you that you can come back at anytime.  All you have to do is type in your e-mail address and password.  That's ridiculous.  What is the point of "cancelling" it if you can just sign back in?  So I guess it's going to take more willpower than I thought.

On another note, my house hasn't been this clean in a while.  I deep cleaned both bathrooms today, swept the house (we don't have carpet, just laminate hardwood), did a few loads of laundry (by did, I mean washed and dried...not folded yet....), and still had time to take the dog to the vet, drop off a prescription at Walmart, play with August, do some Insanity, cook a healthy supper (roasted asparagus, roasted red dill potatoes, and steamed corn on the cob), bake some cookies, and relax a little bit with Adam.  Not bad for a Saturday.

God has been doing HUGE things in the Hare house lately.  (Not that He isn't always doing huge things.)  But we have recently stepped out in faith, and He has been faithful to His Word.  We knew He would, but it was the first time we have lived what we believe.  It has been AWESOME.  God is so amazing.  I can't fathom His love for me; I am so undeserving.  I will give a proper post to the happenings very soon, hopefully.

I am seeing results with Insanity.  I have hit a number I haven't seen since I started trying to lose the baby weight.  I have been on a plateau for a while, but I think I am finally starting to come off of it.  I have increased my water intake, and I have actually started eating more calories.  I haven't been counting calories at all, but I have just started eating more during the day.  I guess my body was just holding onto everything because it wasn't getting enough.  I wasn't having any snacks during the day (an almost-6 month-old, housework, errands, and a crazy schedule will do that to you), so I added those in and it has worked.  Bonus, the snacks haven't even been super healthy.  (Cookies!) I know that's bad, but my body is just happy with the extra calories for now.  I have also seen an increase in my milk production from drinking more water and eating more.  Woo hoo!

Oh, and shout out to one of my best friends, Becky, for having her baby!!!  All natural people....no drugs!!!!  In the hospital!!!!  With a regular OBGYN!  (See you doubters and crunchy people, it's totally possible!)  Sooo proud of you girl!  Your little Liam is so precious, and I am just over the moon excited for you.  Love you!

I better get in the bed.  Adam is passed out on the couch, and I need to clean up my baking mess.  I am a messy baker for sure.  To the two of you, including my mom, who are still reading the blog now that I'm off facebook, I appreciate you so much!  I hope the pair of you have a wonderful night! :)

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

You might remember a while back when I posted how to make your own Homemade Laundry Soap.  You can find that link HERE.  I have used that recipe for about a year and a half, and I love it!  However, I was interested to try a homemade powdered detergent, and that is what I'm going to share with you today.  The powdered detergent is less time consuming but is still a big money saver!  It uses the same ingredients as the liquid version.  Here is what you will need.

1 cup of Borax, 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, and 1 bar of Fels-Naptha.  You can also use Zote, Dr. Bonner's, or Ivory Soap.  I prefer the Fels-Naptha because I like the scent.

If you aren't sure what the Borax and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda looks like, here are pictures.  You can find these products at Ace Hardware (that's where I get mine) or any other hardware store.  I also get the Fels-Naptha from Ace.

The first thing you want to do is to grate your bar of soap.  I prefer to use the grater attachment on my KitchenAid, but you can also grate the soap by hand.  I grated mine by hand this time.  Bonus: calories burned! ;) 

This is how much one bar of soap is grated.

Next, pour in 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Super Washing Soda.

Lastly, you need to stir it up really well so that the soap and the powders are mixed together.  Then just put it in a container.  You could put it in a tupperware container, a ziplock bag, or a glass jar.  I put mine in a glass jar I had on hand.

You only need 1 Tablespoon per load, so this will actually last you for quite a while.  I use 2 Tablespoons for tougher loads, like Adam's hockey clothes.  Yuck! :)  The amount in this recipe will probably last me about a month and a half to 2 months or so.  Next time I make this, I will double the recipe so that it will last me longer. Better to get all that soap grating done at once! You can work out both arms! :)  Haha.  I hope you found this recipe helpful, and I hope it saves you money! 

Easy Breakfast Cake

Happy Saturday :)  I didn't get much sleep last night.  Heidi (our dog) apparently knew that there was a storm headed this way, so she was up in the bed with us and refused to let us get any sleep.  I was up almost every hour (Is baby head down now?  Cause I'm always "goin"!).  Our weather alert radio went off at 5:30 to let us know that there was a tornado watch, and from that point on, sleep was just not happening.  The baby was constantly moving (which I can't say that I mind), and I was waiting on the sound of thunder.  I finally got up a few hours later and left Adam (and Heidi) to sleep since he was finally able to doze off. 

I love how quiet the house is on Saturday mornings.  The rain on the window made everything so peaceful.  I decided that I wanted to cook up a yummy breakfast.  I had some sort of coffee cake on the brain since I figured I probably had the ingredients on hand.  I did some searching and finally found this one here.  I followed it but adjusted the baking time from 20 minutes to 35 minutes since mine wasn't done.

If you would like to make it, here is what you will need.

2 eggs, 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 and 1/2 cups of milk (I used skim), 3 cups of flour (I used King Arthur's white whole wheat flour), 4 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, 4 Tbsp vegetable oil, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  I didn't measure the brown sugar or cinnamon.  It is used to sprinkle as a topping.  (Not pictured: butter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the eggs, sugar, milk, flour, baking powder and salt into the mixer.  Mix ingredients together.  After ingredients are mixed, beat in vegetable oil for a minute or two. 

Spray a 9x13 pan or glass dish with non-stick spray.  Pour mixture into pan.

Generously top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and pats of butter.

 Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until cooked through.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee, wake up your hubby, and enjoy!



Happy Saturday :)

Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie Recipe

The other night I had the worst craving for a peanut butter and banana smoothie.  I've never actually made one, but with my heartburn, it sounded really good! 

All you need to make this quick recipe is a sliced, frozen banana (or 2 depending on how much you want to make...I think I used 2), peanut butter, ice cubes, a bit of water, and a blender from the 70's. Well, your blender can be from the 2000's if you want it to. But a blender from the 70's just makes life more fun. :)

Here's what you have to do:

1.) Slice the banana and then stick it in the freezer for at least 45 minutes.  Slice and then freeze.  In that order.  Have you ever tried to slice a frozen banana?  I haven't, but it sounds hard.

2.) Put the frozen banana slices, 2-3 Tbsp peanut butter, about 5-6 ice cubes, and a splash of water into the blender.  Set the blender to crush the ice first, and then blend smooth.  You may have to play with the consistency/taste to get it to your liking.  I just kept adding a bit of this and a bit of that til I got it like I wanted it.

3.)  Pour into a glass and serve!  Mine made 2 servings, or 1 big one if you are super hungry.  This smoothie is really filling, so it would be great for breakfast.  Enjoy!

30 Minute Peanut Butter Fudge

Today after church Adam and I picked up some KFC for lunch.  Man, that place is expensive.  We don't eat there often, and I'm always reminded as to why!  We always get their chicken strips, which is probably the most expensive thing there, but we only like the strips.  Oh well.  It wasn't long after lunch until I got a dessert craving.  It's really strange having my sweet tooth back.  I kind of feel like my regular non-pregnant self again.  Before pregnancy I was ALL about the sweets.  I would barely eat any of the meal so I could save up for dessert.  During pregnancy though, I have found that I would rather have seconds of the meal and no dessert....weird.  Glad to see my sweet tooth is making a come back! :)

So, of course I hopped on the ole computer and searched the internet for easy dessert recipes.  I finally came across one that looked delicious and SUPER easy.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....3 ingredient (4 if you count the water), 30 Minute Peanut Butter Fudge.  Oh yes.  I really thought it was too good to be true.  But it's not.  YAY!  This would be a great dessert to take somewhere for Christmas if you need to fix something up fast.  Here's what ya do!

You will need 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, and 1 TBS of water.

Put all ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl.

Next, microwave ingredients on high for 30 seconds and then stir....a lot.  If it's still not smooth after this, put it back in for another 30 seconds.  Mine was basically smooth after the first 30 seconds with lots of stirring.  Remember, you don't want to over heat it!  We all remember the great white chocolate fiasco of 2011. Read about that HERE.

It should look like this when you are finished microwaving and stirring.

Spread the mixture in a small baking dish and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

I spread mine a little thin.  Next time I will put it in a smaller pan so it will be thicker.  The final results were AMAZING.  This fudge is so smooth and delicious.  My husband was a big fan! 

Fudge is always best with a glass of milk!

I hope you enjoy!  Merry Christmas!

White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

This week I went to my friend Summer's cookie swap.  It was such a blast hanging out with the church ladies.  We had chips and dips, played a game, did some crafty things, and ate lots of cookies of course!  I attempted to make a scarf.....it was kind of a miss.  I wish I could be more crafty.  I try really hard!

For this cookie swap, I decided to play the pregnancy card.  Haha.  My back seriously has been killing me though, so I wanted to do something fairly easy that wasn't too time consuming or labor intensive.  I decided to make semi-homemade cookies. :)  This is a really easy recipe that your kids could help you with.  It would be a great treat to take to a school party or other Christmas function.  They are just Keebler Grasshopper cookies (chocolate with mint flavoring), dipped in white chocolate, topped with crushed candy canes.  I hope you like them!  As always...this is Pinterest inspired. :)

You will need Keebler Grasshopper cookies, white chocolate morsels, and candy canes.  The amount you need depends on you.  I was making 72 cookies, so I ended up using 2 bags of white chocolate chips, 2 packages of cookies, and 6 candy canes.

Step 1: Put your candy canes in a zip-lock bag, so that you can crush them up without making a mess.  I started with 4 because I wasn't sure how many I would need.  I needed 6.

Step 2:  Take your frustrations out on the innocent bag of candy canes.  Don't you feel better? :)

Step 3: Put about 1 cup of white chocolate chips into a bowl to be melted in the microwave.

And here is where I will tell you that...in theory...if I did mess up...it was right here.  I kind of knew that chocolate could be overheated, but I guess I got daring.  The bag the chocolate chips comes in says to heat 1 cup of morsels for 1 minute at a time, and then stir.  Well, I set the timer for 1 minute on the microwave, checked it, and it still wasn't close to melted.  Stir it?  Nah.  Just set it for another minute and then stir it after that.  Bad idea.



Behold, mashed "potatoes."  Yep, as much as I stirred this stuff, it was NOT gonna melt.  I definitely scorched it.  So....when the bag says 1 minute then stir...DO IT. 



Redo.  Exactly 1 cup.   No more, no less.



1 minute in the microwave, then stirred like mad to get the chunks out.  Wah-la!

Dip in white chocolate and top with crushed candy canes!  I did actually dip this one, the rest I got lazy with and kind of scooped the white chocolate with a spoon and smothered it on there.  It was less messy that way.  But the dipped one turned out the prettiest.

Lots of cookies!

 I set them out on plastic wrap to let the white chocolate harden.  I must admit, I made a few, ate a few, made a few....ate...lots.  So it took a little longer than it should have.  Haha.  In all, it took about an hour to make all of these.  

72 cookies for the tasting! :)

My husband loved them.  He has a thing for anything minty and chocolatey.  I hope you like these! 

Merry Christmas!

Delicious Homemade Creamer

The other evening my father-in-law came over for supper.  We had taco salad.  It was delicious and super easy to make.  It's a good week night supper for sure.  Afterward, I made some coffee.  Adam and his dad prefer to drink it black, but I remembered a little recipe I found on Pinterest, so I wanted to try it out in my coffee (decaf only for me!).  Yes, Pinterest again.  You can find everything on that site.  I found a recipe for homemade creamer on there and decided to give it a go.  You can seriously make this stuff in about 3 minutes.  It's easy!  It's also a money saver since flavored creamers can get expensive.  This is made with stuff that you probably already have on hand.

What you need: 6 ounces of milk (we drink skim), 6 ounces of sweetened condensed milk, and  1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. 

You will need a container to put the ingredients in.  I used a mason jar since it would be easy to screw the lid on and give the creamer a good shakin.  It also looks pretty. :)

To use all of the sweetened condensed milk without wasting any, just make 2 batches of the creamer.  (Sweetened condensed milk comes in 14 oz. cans.)  That's what I did.  Or, if you have a quart sized  mason jar, you can make one large batch instead of 2 smaller ones.  I only had the smaller sized mason jars.

First, I measured out the milk.  Mason jars are also convenient because they have the measurements right on the glass. 

Next, I added the sweetened condensed milk on top of the skim milk.  Lastly, I added the vanilla extract.

Then, I gave it a good shake!  I'm pretty sure Baby Hare got a good sloshin' around during this part. :)

The creamer turns out very sweet, so a little bit goes a loooooong way!  If you want to add a little more flavor to yours other than just sweetness, you could add cinnamon, almond extract, or anything else you can think of.  As far as expiration goes, this creamer is good for as long as the milk is good.  So it might be a good idea to stick a label on it with the date or write the date on the lid with an Expo marker. 

I hope you enjoy!



A Very "Pinterest" Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  Woo hoo!  I am so happy to be off of work for a few days.  I am getting some major organization done around this house.  I will post more on that later!  I started off the morning with a strong case of morning sickness (that is becoming a regular event around here), and then I hit the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for my Thanksgiving Day dishes.  I definitely used this holiday as an excuse to try the Pinterest recipes I have been drooling over!  Adam and I always have 2 Thanksgivings every year.  Each family brings a few dishes, and someone is responsible for the turkey.  Thank goodness it's not me, because this would totally happen.



Yeah.  I won't be doing the turkey.  The first dish I am making is a dip/appetizer.  I am hoping it will be a favorite since we have a few spicy food lovers in the family (the main one being my husband!).   It's spicy crandberry cream cheese dip!

Source: jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

This recipe is Hawaiian Sweet Roll Ham Sandwiches! They look delicious!  I am definitely looking forward to making these!

Source: beyerbeware.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Lastly, as a side dish, I will be making my favorite potato recipe- red dill potatoes!  You may remember when I made them HERE. 

Source: newlywedhares.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

What will you be making this Thanksgiving? 

Sunny Side English Muffins

This evening was a breakfast kind of evening.  I was wanting something easy, fast, salty, and easy.  :)  I browsed through a few recipes from a few websites and came up with a creation.  I actually didn't have a name for it, but Adam came up with one: "Sunny Side English Muffins."  He's pretty creative like that. 

Here's what you will need:

English muffins (whole wheat is best), turkey (you could use ham or bacon), eggs, and cheese.  How many eggs you need depends on how many sunny side english muffins you want to make.  1 egg per muffin.  Not pictured: non stick pan (you should use a muffin tin) and 2 Tbsp. melted butter.

You should definitely use a muffin pan instead of a regular pan.  (Definitely do not use a baking sheet for this! You will get egg everywhere.)  The muffin pan will hold all of your ingredients together.  That way, you don't have to back track like me. :)  My muffin pans are at my parents' house.  They were borrowed.  I can't say anything though, I have a casserole dish or two and half of my mom's tupperware collection at my house.

First, I separated the english muffins in half and placed them face up in a non-stick pan (Muffin tin for you!  You will have to kind of stuff them in the muffin pan, and that's ok.)  Next, I put a small slab of butter on each one.....

BUT.....then I realized that none of my ingredients would lay flat on the muffins if the butter was like that (think egg), so I took all of the butter off, placed it in a small dish and melted it.

Then I poured the butter over the english muffins.  I'm smart like that. :)  Next, I was going to put the turkey down, but realized that would make a slippery surface for the egg.  So instead I went ahead and cracked an egg onto each muffin.

A little bit of the egg white ran off, another reason you should use a muffin pan.  Next, I sprinkled some sharp cheddar cheese and covered the whole thing with a slice of turkey.

I put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.  You can put yours in for about 5-7 minutes less if you like the egg runny.  If you are eating it on the go, obviously you should cook it for the full 20-25 minutes. 

They turned out great!  They actually stayed in tact, believe it or not.  Don't forget to pepper the eggs if that's what you like.  I forgot to do that for Adam's.  I didn't add salt because I figured the cheese would have enough (plus I'm trying to watch my sodium since I have been overboard on that lately). 

Hope you enjoy!