Vacation Travel made Fun!

I really do believe that getting there is half the journey, but I honestly felt ill when I map quested our destination and saw I will be in the car for 17 + hours with my little blessings later this month!  It has been a while since our last long driving vacation and the twins now being 3.5 should make it interesting!  We have been preparing mentally to hear 5 million times, "are we there yet?"  I've also been putting our traditional activity boxes together.  They get so excited as each ziplock bag full of goodies is packed away.  I find myself stopping obsessively at dollar stores and thrift shops looking for toys and games that will keep them entertained in between potty breaks.  Here are a few things we have gathered so far:

This is what the boxes look like put together.  There is one for the 3 yr olds and one for the 6-10 year olds.  My rule is you must put everything back into it's correct bag before a new activity can be checked out of the box.

This is why you must put your bags together before you leave, otherwise you will have all this trash and wrapping on your vehicle floor.

I found these boxes at Kmart.  They were $4.99 each, the perfect size and with the lid on they will double as a lap desk or game table!

Some packing tips:

Don't forget to bring glow sticks and bracelets!  My kids build some cool stuff with them once the sun goes down!!!  Flash lights and light up toys are very exciting at night when your almost there!

Remember to put everything you will need per activity into each ziplock bag.  (Like Qtips for paint with water, or scissors for crafts.). It would be a bummer to not have what you need on the road.

Check around your house and in the bottom of your toyboxes.  You'll be surprised at what you find that would be exciting if you were stuck in your seat.

Let your kids help pick items out.  It helps build excitement, but also plan a few surprises they don't know about.

The concept is really simple, the hard part is waiting to leave.  Doesn't he look pitiful! He will be thrilled when he gets to open his box in a few days.  It will feel just like Christmas!

Use your imagination and prepare to enjoy the travel days to your vacation destination instead of losing them to grumpiness and fussy bored kids!

Beating the winter blues...

We have some pretty stir crazy kids around here.  It's been negative and single digit temps for several weeks.  If I go to the store, it's usually alone, so the kids are really really bored!  Today I saw an idea on my newsfeed and decided to try it.  We have done something similar in the past in a cookie sheet and I will say that on the window has kept their attention much longer.  Have fun exploring your kitchen and inspiring your kids too!

We used any thick liquid I could find (I.e., dish soap, tempura paint, mayo, yogurt, ketchup, mustard, choc syrup, etc.).  I recommend double bagging them in gallon freezer bags for durability.  We added glitter to the dish soap one.  The top left one is mayo with a few drops of food coloring.  Tape the bag closed and tape to a window or wall with packing tape.  When you're done, take down and toss!  

I'd love for you to comment with your ideas.  This was really fun!!!

All Natural Applesauce

We were at Royal Oaks Apple Orchard recently and bought a bushel of windfall apples.  Today, I finally had a morning to turn them into applesauce.  The kids quickly took the slicing and dicing over and I did the dishes.  I forgot how easy....and delicious this is!

We sliced 30-35 apples with an apple slicer, we also left the skins on.  Then, we chopped them into chunks with a chopper.

Add them to a large pot with 2-3 cups of water, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  

Cook on med-low heat until tender.  Add 2-3 Tbsp. of cinnamon.  Put in small batches through a food processor.  Pour into your sterilized jars and top with lids.

Our first jar didn't make it to the pantry, but was eaten by some sneaky monkeys ;)

I add 2 cups of blueberries to the last bit for blueberry-applesauce.  It was so good :)

This batch made 11 pints of homemade applesauce.  

Homemade Pizza

As most of my readers know, I am the mom of seven amazing children.  I will admit that I haven't always been the naturally homemade mom you see today.   16 1/2 years ago I was a macaroni and cheese and chicken nugget kind of mom!  I'm not saying that's horrible,  I'm just saying deep down I always wanted to feed my kids healthy foods without being dependent on the box aisle or freezer section at the grocery store.  Add six more children and a decade (plus) of experience and I have slowly become the kind of 'from scratch mama' I hoped to become!  Tonight I was making homemade pizza with the kids and I overheard my five-year-old ask my seven-year-old why we couldn't just order pizza.  He told her that everything homemade is always better than anything store bought.  I did a little jig in my brain :). 

As soon as they noticed I was kneading dough, the twins came over to the kitchen island yelling "zi-za!!!!" After making two homemade pizzas I had the third lump of dough left, so I let the 2 year old twins make their own pizza.  They beat the heck out of that dough...it was as flat as it could get!  There was flour all over the kitchen, sauce all over the counter, and smiles everywhere I could see. 

" Yes," I thought, "this is the kind of mom I want to be."Enjoy!

Homemade pizza dough (makes 4 large so half it if you don't need to feed an army!) 

6 cups warm water

1 stick butter,melted

2 tbsp yeast

1/2 tsp salt

10-12 cups flour

2 tsp olive oil

Melt butter and add warm water into a bowl.  Sprinkle in yeast and stir.  Let sit until dissolved and bubbly, about 5 minutes.  Dump in the salt, add flour several cups at a time, stir well.  When the dough is starting to stick together dump a cup of the flour onto a clean counter or surface.  Knead the dough into a smooth ball adding flour a Tbsp at a time if too sticky.  Split into 4 equal sized lumps.  Let rest 10 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put each lump of dough onto pizza pan and press flat with your hands (or let your kids go to town :)  Top with pizza sauce, your favorite toppings and cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  

Now, before you discount this blog as too much work and 'that family is so perfect'.....I'm adding this final picture of my son who got into the lipstick in my purse while I was blogging this post.  Yeah, I'm that kind of mom :)

 

Homemade mozzarella cheese

Well yogurt was not so difficult and we LOVE it! I ate a bite of plain Dannon Greek yogurt the other day and almost had to spit it out! Wow! I couldn't believe what a difference homemade yogurt could make. I guess there is no going back now :)

So I decided my next challenge is cheese. I chose to start with mozzarella since it can be completed in an hour and is ready to eat. I did quite a bit of research (which I recommend) and then I dove right in. The first question I had was what are the ingredients?

One gallon of whole milk
1/4 rennent tablet
1 tsp. citric acid
1-2 tsp. Cheese salt

My next questions was: what in the world is rennent and cheese salt?

-Cheese salt is an easy one, it is any salt that is NOT iodized (i.e. organic, sea salt).

-rennent is gross! It is curdled milk from the stomach of an unweaned calf, containing rennin and used in curdling milk for cheese. Told you it's gross! But the tablet is just a pill you buy at a brew/cheese supply store (they also carry citric acid). Thankfully commercially sold rennent is made from vegetable sources.

My husband stopped and picked up my supplies for me and I made cheese while he watched the Super Bowl. We had fresh mozzarella by half time, yay! 

So here's what you do:

1. pour one gallon of milk into a large pot on the stove and sprinkle 1tsp. citric acid over the milk, stir well.


2. heat the milk to 90 degrees using a candy or kitchen thermometer, pay attention it does not take long.

3. as the milk is heating, dissolve the 1/4 rennent tablet into a few Tbsp. of water. When the milk is at 90 degrees, turn off stove, remove thermometer and pour the rennent water over the milk a few teaspoons at a time, making sure it is mixed all the way through.



4. Let the milk sit for 10 minutes, do not stir it. It becomes very thick and gelatin like.



5.This is the part that took me the most time. First cut the milk into large pieces ( pretend your slicing jello into cubes). Then using a slotted spoon separate the curdled milk from the whey ( white- yellowish liquid). I promise it doesn't stink like you may imagine. It just smells like warm milk!



6. Then heat it in the microwave for 30-45 seconds at a time squeezing more liquid out and pressing the milk solids together. When most of your liquid is removed stir in your cheese salt.

 

7. I removed it from the bowl at this point and started kneading it on a cutting board. Mine started to look like string cheese so I heated it again to form it into a log.



8. Once you get your cheese the way you want it submerge it in ice water for a few minutes to harden the loaf. I dried it for about 30 minutes on a rack, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it into the fridge to harden and get cold overnight. This step was optional, because it is ready to eat right after it is formed. Just like all cheeses, you should store it in the fridge.

One gallon of milk yielded 1.1 lbs. of fresh mozzarella. I can't wait until summer when I can make bruschetta with tomatoes from the garden!

After my mozzarella success I researched how to make cottage cheese, cream cheese and hard cheeses....they seem like too much work for a mama of 7, but never say never, right?????

 

How to get your kids to eat Squash ;)

Well, this week I have been particularly frustrated with my brood of kiddos.  Even the babies who are normally excellent eaters have become picky.  I made Butternut Squash Soup and they turned their noses up at it.  I made tuna noodle casserole (a BIG request 2 weeks ago), but no takers.  Chili, no thanks.  I even made an old standby, Italian Sausage casserole, but apparently bought the wrong kind of noodle!!!  I pulled my now famous pumpkin pie french toast and they were still crying for cereal........UGGGG! 

What is with these kids, don't they know money doesn't grow on trees, there are starving kids in.....you get the point.  So, I decided to NOT go to the store until the end of the week.  I had my hubby stop last night for milk and eggs, but that was it!  He even offered to order me some sushi, but I declined the treat and told him that probably wouldn't be fair to the kids!  So, guess what?  They are all eating what IS in the fridge!  They ask occasionally for a granola bar, I keep reminding them that I will go to the store on Friday.  They will live and this week there will be less to throw out to make way for our next batch of groceries.

 

 

Look at that all gone!!!  And they were crying for more  :)

 

Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash, sliced and steamed

2 cups chicken broth

1 can pumpkin

1can carrots

1 onion diced small and sauted in olive oil

cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger to taste

 

I cook the squash in the vegetable steamer (or cooked face down in a pan of water in the oven). 

Saute the onion in oil and add the scooped out squash.  Pour in the broth.  Drain carrots and add them to the pot as well (you can use fresh carrots, I just happened to have some canned to use up).  Let it cool and run through the food processor.  If it is too thick you can add some milk, water, almond milk OR more broth to taste.  Put back into soup pot and stir in the can of pumpkin and spices to taste  (cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg).  Serve warm, stores in fridge for 1 week.

saving some plastic and $: baby pool fix

 Every year I seem to buy a plastic baby pool at the end of the season for about $5.  This one I bought last August.  We used it for a month or so on the deck, put it in the basement as a toy box and then brought it back out as soon as it got warm enough to take a bath outside.  It was starting to get holes in it from where we push the side down to let the water out, (now you know you've done it too :) and so the repairing challenge has begun.  I tried several different tapes and they all failed.  At this point I usually give up and toss it to the curb on trash day, but decided this year to try something new......BATHTUB CAULK!!!  It worked like a charm!  I am so happy to save some trash in a landfill and ultimately money in my pocket, even if it is only $5.  It is something I can feel good about and as you can tell from the picture, so do my babies.

easy Banana Ice Cream - dairy and gluten free

"Why yes, you CAN have an ice cream cone for lunch!"   Have you ever been able to say that to your kids?????  I can and you can too!  Just follow these simple steps and you will all be screaming for ice cream!  I promise the only ingredients in this were bananas and real vanilla extract.  You can add ingredients to your taste or diet, but this one was excellent plain!

STEP 1: Break up and freeze bananas

STEP 2:  Blend in blender with 1 tsp. vanilla a few pieces at a time.

STEP 3: Put in storage container and back into the freezer for scoopable ice cream!

Optional Add-Ins:  Peanut butter, chocoalte chips, strawberries, cherries, marshmallows, nuts, Reeses Peanut Butter cups (yes, please), Hershey's syrup (in the above picture), M & M's, caramel sauce, crushed graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or oreos, oh my!

Outdoor Chair Cushions- RE DO in 1 hour!

Our patio furniture has lasted us about 9 years so far and still looks great....except for the chair cushions of course.  I usually buy them on sale at the end of the season every other year, but this year we can't wait.  They looked that bad!  This time I wanted to save the landfill from my ripped cushions and try to recover them.  I LOVE THEM!!!  Here is what I did:

BEFORE

I bought 8 yds. of Outdoor Fabric from the clearance section at Hancock Fabrics.  (it was 56" wide)

It was $6 yd. and I had a 10% off coupon making my purchase around $44.00

My cushions were standard sized at 42" x 22"

I cut the fabric at 47" leaving me a rectangle 56" x 47".  (You may need to trim off the sides or take it in depending on your cushion size.)  Next, I folded it over and sewed the top and side seams, right sides together with my surger, but you could use a conventional machine.  Basically this left me with an inside out pillowcase.  Flip it right side out and put in the cushion. 

Then, I used my surger and closed off the bottom of the cushion.  If you have a regular sewing machine you may want to slip stitch it closed.  That is it! 

AFTER

You could sew it more fitted if you want or add the seperation lines in the middle of the top cushion, but I was pleased with them and was happy to be done in just a few minutes per pillow. I made 6 in less than 1 hour!

The babies were happy too!!!

mini chocolate croissants: freezer recipe

I have been enjoying the benefits of preparing great food in advance and storing it in the freezer.  It is called 'freezer cooking' and has been saving me valuable time and money, as well as being able to pull amazing things out and in a flash wowing my guests.  Recently, I tried a chocolate croissant recipe that was well worth the effort.  My kids called them an awesome dessert, but I just had to have a few with my morning coffee, making them breakfast!  This recipe makes 64 mini rolls, but only about 50 made it to the freezer.  This is one of those recipes that I don't mind the kids polishing off quickly so I can try it again ;)

Mini Chocolate Croissants

2 TBSP. Yeast

1.5 cups milk

3/4 cup butter

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

7 cups flour

1/2 bag chocolate chips

Melt the butter in the milk in a saucepan.  When it is warm, not hot, pour it into the yeast and sugar.  Let set for 5 minutes.  Add eggs, mixing well.  Add salt and then the flour 2 cups at a time until well blended. (I use a Kitchen Aide mixer)   Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.

Roll out one portion of the dough into a circle about 12" in diameter.

Here is where little hands can help (but be sure you have extra chips or you will run short).  Cut the circle of dough into  16 pieces like a pizza.  Add chocolate chips to each triangle and roll them up from the outside in, placing each crescent roll on a greased cookie sheet.  (Because these are mini sized I used 3 cookie sheets total.)

Set the cookie sheets in a warm place and let rise 2-5 hours or until doubled in size.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Place on a cooling rack to cool and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  After flash freezing them, I do it on the cooling rack, then put into a gallon sized plastic bag for storage in the freezer.  Take out of the freezer and let them defrost for 15 minutes before serving, or if you want you can heat them up for a few seconds in the microwave and serve warm.  I grabbed 3 on the way out the door this morning and ate them in the car with my latte...HEAVEN!!!!!

Banana Bread French Toast Sticks - freezer meals

Ever heard the saying, "Necessity is the Mother of invention?"  Well for me, Necessity is the Mother of new recipe!"  I was making our new standard Pumpkin Pie French toast sticks for the freezer last week and I made a planning error:  DO NOT MAKE THEM WITH THE KIDS AROUND!!! Take it from me!  I could hardly keep ahead of them as I pulled them off the griddle.  I finally sent them all away and started on a second batch, but was out of pumpkin puree.  I improvised and think these are just as great, if not better, than the original recipe.  Here it is:

BANANA BREAD FRENCH TOAST STICKS

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 can of carrots
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk of your choice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla
2 loaves of bread
powdered sugar (optional)

Mix in a blender the can of carrots (drained), milk, banana and 6 eggs.  Pour into a large bowl.  Blend up the rest of ingredients and add to the first mix.  (The reason I do it separately is because my blender wouldn't hold all of the batter so I divide it into two batches.)

Dip individual slices of bread into the batter and cook them on a griddle or frying pan, turning once for each side. 

***In  my previous post on Pumpkin Pie french toast sticks I was baking them in the oven.  I have found that if just do them normally in slices on a griddle it is faster and easier to clean up saving you more time and effort.  I can fit 6 slices on the griddle and take them off laying them directly to a cutting board where I cut them into sticks with a pizza cutter. 

Place the strips onto a baking rack to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  (This is usually when they start disappearing one by one as the kids 'help' sprinkle powdered sugar on them). 

When my baking rack is full I place it in the freezer to flash freeze them (about 30 minutes).  Then you can store them in gallon freezer bags without them sticking together. 

Take out your desired amount of French Toast sticks and warm in the microwave, toaster or oven.

'Almost' Perfect Chocolate Waffles

We were driving home from a long day at the zoo and my mind started frantically trying to remember all the items in my freezer and pantry as we sat in Memorial Day weekend traffic.  I knew the frozen fruit smoothies and egg burritos we took to the park for lunch would soon wear off and I would have 7 hungry kidlets, probably just about the time we would pull into the driveway.   I was right.  I remembered my ace in my back pocket.......waffle mix.  The kids were starving and the only way I convinced them to put down the box of cereal and wait for me to make waffles was to add cocoa and promise whipped cream and chocolate syrup!  They were a fabulous and spontaneous creation, but were missing one ingredient...bananas on top would have made this recipe perfect!  Oh well, I guess I will just have to make them again!

Chocolate Waffles

4 cups baking mix

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder

2-3 cups water

1 cup of milk (your choice, I used Almond)

3 eggs

1tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil

Optional toppings: strawberries, chocolate syrup, bananas, nuts, choc chips, whipped cream, caramel, cherries, m & m's, peanut butter.....the list goes on and on!

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl, add liquid until batter is the right consistency. 
Pour into your waffle iron (this one is mine:) http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/kitchen/electrics/wafflemakers/PRD~275565/Bella+Rotating+Belgian+Waffle+Maker.jsp)

Cook until done (about 4 minutes) and then top with toppings. ENJOY!

Tuesday is freezer meals day- French Toast sticks, smoothies, pizza pockets and egg sandwich patties!

Mondays are my 'catch up on the house' days, Tuesdays are my 'catch up on the freezer meals' days.  I have found that if I put some time preparing snacks and meals in advance I save time later.  This week I made 120 French toast sticks, 18 pizza pockets, 10 smoothie packs, 20 breakfast egg patties, and 14 carrot juice ice cube packs for smoothies.  Total in time it took 2 hours and has saved me tons of time later on in the week.  The best part is that the  kids (and my husband and I) have really good choices that take little time from freezer to table.

The Pumpkin Pie french toast sticks were yummy. (I made them while I was making dinner Sunday night.) I took 1 can pumpkin, 1 can of sweet potatoes and mashed them thoroughly. I split the mash into two bowls. The first bowl got my waffle mix added to it and as I made the waffles for dinner I worked on the french toast, too. Add 1 dozen eggs, 1/2 cup milk (I used almond), 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 cup brown sugar to the mash. Mix well. Stir in 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. Take 1.5 loaves of bread (about 42 pieces) and split the slices into thirds. Take each strip and dip it in the batter then place it on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, flip and bake 3 more minutes on the other side. I flash froze the batches in the freezer on a baking rack and then combined them into a gallon size zipper bag. Reheat the sticks in the toaster oven or microwave.

Tuesday I made pizza pockets for the first time, they were fabulous. Here is the link to that recipe:
http://naturallyhomemade.blogspot.com/2012/05/pizza-pockets.html

Then I made smoothie packs from 3 cartons of strawberries, 1 bag frozen blueberries, and 1 bunch bananas.  (I juice 5 lbs. of carrots once a week and freeze them in 1 cup portions.  I also save leftover watermelon juice and freeze it the same way to add in our smoothies instead of ice.)  Here is my favorite Green Monster smoothie recipe: http://naturallyhomemade.blogspot.com/2012/05/green-monster-smoothies.html


 

Next, I decided to use up the rest of the diced veggies by making breakfast sandwich egg patties.  Just take 10 eggs mix well, add 2 cups of spinach (sauteed with chopped turkey bacon and onions, and cooled) and sprinkle the veggies and bacon into eggs.  Bake in a greased rectangular cake pan at 375 for 20 minutes.  Take out of oven and let cool.  Cut into squares and freeze in plastic bags in the freezer.  To eat, reheat the patty in the microwave and serve on a toasted English muffin with a slice of cheese....delicious!



When I was finished with the 'freezer' cooking the kids came in and showed me the toad they found in the sandbox....they were busy too!