I just adore our Christmas card this year. I took pictures of the boys playing and love how it turned out.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours. I've taken a little break from blogging over the past week to spend time with family. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas with lots of wonderful memories and joyous time spent with family.
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Today I will be helping kids in my oldest son's preschool class make these cookie dough snowballs. Since the school is a nut-free zone, I am using sunbutter in place of the peanut butter. At home I use peanut butter. It's less expensive and my favorite flavor. These little cookie dough bites are delicious and have lots of healthy stuff in them too.
Cookie Dough Snowballs
1. In a large bowl or mixer, mix together the raw almond butter, honey and vanilla until creamy and well blended. 2. In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut flour, ground flax seed and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well to combine. 3. Use your hands to knead the dough to thoroughly combine. If it's too wet, add a bit more coconut flour. If the dough is too dry and doesn't hold together well, knead in one teaspoon of water. Fold in the chocolate chips or carob chips. (You can do this in the mixer too.) 4. Then, scoop out tablespoon-size portions and roll into one-inch balls using your hands to create a bite-sized treat. Separate balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze until firm. Then transfer to an airtight container to refrigerate. Store in the refrigerator or freezer. 5. To make snowballs, roll cookie dough balls in coconut before freezing. Ever find yourself in a "sticky situation"? We keeping finding ourselves in this one. Our little redecorator has been having a fun time in the bathroom sink and the bathroom cabinets adding his own messy design. One of his favorite color choices is red, as in red toothpaste smeared across white cabinets and white rugs. He likes to add other colors to his design too. A favorite is Daddy's white aftershave gel smeared across the blue counter. We’ve found ourselves in this “sticky situation” several times over the past month so we’ve learned to shut the bathroom door. Our little redecorator has two older brothers who don’t always remember to do this though, so we still find ourselves in a "sticky situation" more often than we would like. We have even resorted to rubber banding the cabinet knobs in an effort to keep the bathroom redecorator at bay. Wet Ones is giving us the opportunity to share all of the Sticky Situations we have found ourselves in and tips on how to deal with them through their Facebook Contest! Submit your funniest or creative ways you deal with all of your "sticky situations". Simply log on and share your story and tips, and you can be entered to win an iPad Mini or Six Flags Tickets! I just entered, it doesn’t take long at all, here’s the link to enter. Disclosure: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Wet Ones. I received a promotional item to thank me for participating.
My Shutterfly photobook giveaway is ending soon. Hurry and enter to win.
![]() Here is our menu from last week since I will probably never be organized enough to plan a week ahead. I hope you find some inspiration and I would love to know what you are having for dinner. (I need some inspiration too.) Feel free to share your menu ideas or links to your favorite recipes in the comments. Monday: Swiss steak over noodles, bacony brussell sprouts (very good) Tuesday: Takeout pizza Wednesday: Homemade Italian chicken strips (delicious), cranberry sauce, cous cous Thursday: Spaghetti (recipe from the can of Dei Fratelli Italian Sauce), homemade breadsticks Friday: Steamed broccoli, Piggies in blankets, sliced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar Saturday: potluck at church for Lady of Guadalupe Festivities (I took Chicken Tortilla Soup) Sunday: pizza, casserole made from leftover spaghetti (We watched "Miracle on 34th St." and had a pizza party) We had piggies in a blanket the other night for a quick kid friendly meal before going to see Santa. The boys loved them of course. I was looking for the least expensive crescent rolls and these were on sale. I felt a little better about buying unhealthy canned rolls since these have unbleached flour, no artificial preservatives, and no hydrogenated oil. Ingredients: 2 cans of crescent rolls 1 package of little smokies sausages Separate cresent rolls and cut in half or thirds. As you get towards the end, you may need to get three piggies out of each crescent shape. Then wrap the roll dough around each sausage. The boys enjoyed helping make these. Follow the baking instructions on your package of crescent dough. We baked ours at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.
I needed something quick for dinner the other night and I had chicken breasts in the fridge so I came up with this recipe and it was delicious. I would much rather make my own chicken strips and fry them in a healthy oil then buy the processed frozen variety available in the grocery store. I will be making these often because the kids and the hubby loved them and they were so simple. Ingredients:
3 or more chicken breasts, cut into strips flour milk 1 egg salt and pepper Italian flavored Panko crumbs (I found these with bread crumbs in the store) olive oil Directions: 1. Make three bowls for dipping the chicken before cooking. In the first bowl mix some flour with a little salt and pepper. In the second bowl combine some milk (about a cup to a cup and a half) and a beaten egg. Put some Italian flavored panko crumbs in the third bowl. 2. Heat about 1/4 inch of olive oil in a skillet at medium heat. Dip each chicken strip first into the flour mixture, then into the milk mixture, then into the panko crumbs. Place in the hot oil and fry until golden brown on each side. The chicken will take a few minutes to cook on each side. You can test the chicken with a meat thermometer if you have trouble knowing when it is done. When you cut through the meat it should be white when cooked. I just sort of made up this recipe the other night and it was so good I have to share it. I hope I can remember everything.
Ingredients: 16 oz. frozen brussell sprouts 4 to 5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (reserve bacon grease) 1 Tbsp. butter salt and pepper to taste Instructions: 1. Put brussell sprouts in 1/2 cup water in a covered skillet. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until almost tender. 2. Drain off any water, then add bacon, bacon grease, butter, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until brussell sprouts are fork tender and just starting to caramelize. Tonight we took the boys to the library to see Santa Claus. Our youngest was not a fan. His moment with Santa was brief. Our 3 year old enjoyed his time with Santa so Mommy got lots of pictures. Our 5 year old found a computer game while we were waiting in line for Santa and didn't want to give up his coveted seat at a computer, but then decided he better tell Santa what he wants for Christmas. He had a lot to say. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
About 8 months after my third child was born I noticed that something was not right. I was really worried and went to my doctor. I found out that I have mild cystocele. My doctor reccomended that I start doing Kegal exercises daily. She said it would take 6 to 8 weeks before I would notice any changes. She was right it did take a few weeks and I noticed some improvement, but I wanted to get more back to normal.
Several months later, I talked to one of my girlfriends about this and she told me about the Hab It pelvic floor workout. I decided it was worth trying. The habit pelvic floor exercise DVD is an excellent series of workouts. They are easy to follow, only take a few minutes to do, and target the pelvic floor and lower abdominal and thigh muscles (all areas that need toning after having children). The DVD layout is as follows: Includes Hab It: Pelvic Floor DVD and exercise band Run time: 1hr 42min Chapters Intro 3:41 Anatomy overview and Kegel instruction 6:58 Postural positioning 6:10 Workout 1 21:43 Workout 2 28:43 Workout 3 22:18 Workout 4 (advanced) 12:21 Time-efficient versions of each workout I like the layout of this DVD because after having done each of the workouts, I can choose the workout that fits my schedule. "Developed by a physical therapist, recommended by physicians and tested by women, the Hab It DVD series allows you to transfer the benefits of guided physical therapy to the comfort and convenience of your own home." I highy recommend the Hab It Pelvic Floor exercise DVD to postpartum women or anyone needing to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. For more information, visit www.hab-it.com. Disclosure: I received the Hab It exercise DVD to facilitate my review. All opinions are honest and are my own. |
Welcome to Home Ec @ HomeHi, I'm Faith, a former Family and Consumer Science teacher turned food blogger. I love God, my family, and food. You can usually find me in the kitchen preparing family friendly, homemade recipes and taking lots of pictures. This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesFan Favorites
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