Converting Pancake to Waffle Mix

I have looked into how to do this a few times as I had a gluten-free pancake mix, but I really wanted waffles.  Here was the simple solution from Taste of Homes Forums:

Add 2 tablespoons of oil to your preferred batter!!

YES!!  It worked.  You can check the link for more discussion.

Blueberry - Yogurt Muffins - Gluten Free

2 cups + 2 tablespoons gluten free flour mix
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened juice (original: orange, mine: V8Splash)
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 egg
1 cup frozen blueberries and strawberries

Mix, divide into muffin cups (~12), bake 400 degrees for about 18 minutes...I switched to 350 partway through because I had just baked a batch of muffins at 350...you decide.

The original recipe came from my junior high home economics class.  Yep, I saved recipes from back then!  I'm trying to do some baking for 2 things.  A small road trip this coming weekend and a whole lot of new moms with new babies at our church.  Trying to get some meals and things together for them.  So, I even tried out my mini muffin tin so that I could hand the girls a mini muffin and they wouldn't get crumbs all over!  :)  Great idea, right!? 

Sweet Potato Pancakes - Gluten Free

2 cups + 2 Tablespoons gluten free flour mix
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons melted butter

Mix, cook on griddle, enjoy with applesauce and peanut butter!


Original Recipe - not gluten free

Lola's Strawberry Bread - Gluten Free

Strawberry Bread

3 1/4 cups gluten free flour mix
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
~2 1/2 cups strawberries (20 oz. frozen container, add liquid too)
1 1/4 cup oil
4 eggs 
1 teaspoon red food coloring (I used half that and it didn't quite do the trick...I usually don't use any)

Mix.  Bake in 2 loaf pans or 1 bundt pan.  350 degrees for 1 hour.

I would also like to make this Strawberry Salad!  That is why I am posting it...because I don't want to lose the recipe. 

DIY Art Display

My tools: Twine, small clothes pins, wooden spools, drywall screws. I threaded the twine (half the twine) through the wire rings in the clothes pins and tied each end to a wooden spool. My handy husband screwed the spools into the wall in the exact locations that I wanted and here is the result:
Now the girls have an art display in their room. I am planning on putting another underneath this one. And then add them to other rooms as I finish off the thread on the spools. :) I got the idea from a friend here...I can't seem to find if she has a post on it though. At Christmas, she displays her Christmas pictures in this way.

DIY Compost Bin and Grandpa

We have been composting lately and wanted to make an actual bin. Have you seen the prices of those?? ($60 - $100+) Wow, they are expensive. We came across a $6.99 version the other day and decided to try it. My dad was here this weekend and so we decided to take him for a drive in our new van. We don't take drives, just to take drives, so we needed a destination. Off to the local home improvement store... We bought a garbage bin and spent about 10 minutes drilling holes in it (I got to use the drill, I've never used a drill before!), and 10 minutes putting the first layers in and we had ourselves a bin! And it doesn't look too bad from our window. Kj has already claimed the job of filling it, although she'll need some help, I think. And it will be the girls' job to roll it around every week or so. And there solves the problem of what to put in the backyard for the girls to do for fun this summer...haha.

We've also enjoyed some quality "Grandpa-time" this weekend. He came on his own because my mom is out of the country and we enjoyed his company. Here, he built a tower with Kj and below he's helping L take "big steps" across the rocks while Kevin practiced some softball pitching/hitting.

So...

We bought a van. Yep, that's right.

And this is how we are using it. Carpooling. Well, the biggest reason is that we are training to become foster parents, but until that training is complete... This was only the morning after! We decided that it was a good purchase. Look how happy everyone is. It's so nice to ride together.

March Birthday Parties

Sweet Little L turned 2 and she knew what to do when the candles were lit! She actually got cupcakes the weekend before at her Curl Grandma's house, but we didn't get a picture of that. She knew what to do with the candles that day as well...

Kevin, showing off the cake to E. Happy Birthday L! I had invited our friends over but didn't tell them it was L's birthday (I didn't want them to go out and get a gift--just wanted their company). They were glad to share in the fun.


Kj's first bowling experience. Happy 4th Birthday to you! The weekend before the party Nana and the aunties came to take us out for some fun. This is what we came up with. Kj and L got to try it out. They did such a nice job, and we all had so much fun, that we'll have to do it again!

Family over for the big day! They all wanted to record it! We're only missing the out of state Aunt R. and the out of country ZBE. We did Skype ZBE that weekend though and now have gotten in to that with Aunt R.

Another picture I had to share, because (see that baby-belly?) the next day a new addition was born!! Must have been the food. :) Hehe.

Here's the new baby E with her Nana and 2 adoring cousins. They'll make quite a team once E is mobile. I suppose they'll know just how to get their Nana's attention! Hopefully it will be a team effort, not competition!

Silly Lunch

I know that variety is really good for your diet and so today I thought I would give the girls a little bit of everything. We've had similar suppers before and Kevin's family called them "silly suppers", so today was silly lunch. Kj ate everything and L at most...the nuts were too hard, the celery and carrots were not appetizing to her, but she did a taste test of everything.


Contents: grapefruit (gave this to L ahead of time so that she would eat it), celery, ham, carrots, spicy mustard, ranch dressing, craisens, raisens, dried papaya, almonds, cheese, bread, and a tostada. We already had apples today and we all shared a strawberry and banana muffin once the rest of the food was gone.

Twirly Skirt

I thought Kj would like/needed a skirt today. She's been passing most of them on to L and so her stash is getting scarce. We bought a couple new shirts at a thrift store and I thought it would be fun to add a skirt to them! :) I found this site and a circle skirt tutorial through web browsing (link to link to link of cute sewing ideas for little girls...and sometimes for the mamas). So, the girls helped to get this together and tada!! I got to sew today!!


The fabric is from a bit of excess that I had from making Moby Wraps. Then I used a bit of blue t-shirt for the waist band...I spy it in the bottom picture... I also gave the girls a few bits of fabric* and Kj cut out "cute little birdie pants." She's planning on giving them to her Wednesday night Club friends. :)


*used to sound like fabwic...I didn't notice it today though...my little girl is growing up!

Toddler Skirts

A friend, after seeing some skirts worn by my girls, asked if I could make her daughter a couple skirts and things. So, I did. I took the idea for this biased skirt and used it to make this skirt. I didn't want to cover up the design of the first fabric, but wanted the edging look at the bottom.


I also used leftovers from my green collection to make another similar skirt and pants. The pants idea came from Matilda Jane.

Ok, so this little girl isn't into trying on things for Mama. She doesn't like to model, so I had to sneak the pants on her while she was getting ready for bed...and then didn't get a great picture of the pants but a cute one of her! Love you L!!

And here is new owner S modeling her pants.  Isn't she adorable!!

Girls

Kj received $5 in the mail today and I asked her what she was going to do with it. She said she would save it for the car. The car? The limousine to pick me up at my wedding. A short time later I hear this exchange:
Kj: What do you want for your wedding to pick up you?
L: Um... Daddy.