Project Life, Week 35

We started (home)school this week, along with about half the country, and I spent an unhealthy amount of time searching for the perfect filler card to document it. A friend on my Project Life facebook group linked me to an adorable free card by Jennifer Valencia at Pixels & Co, and it's perfect. So now, I can finally share my pages.

I wanted to use that Story card, which is actually the back side of a card I used on last week's layout, so I switched things up and moved my title card over a slot. My brain is only twitching a little bit.

I played with several new stamps this week, including my August Scraptastic and Gossamer Blue ones, and a couple foodie stamps. The coffee card is one I made for a green-themed card swap. Love how it turned out!

You probably can't tell, but I attached sequins on the pool photo with French knots! Another new, useful technique. See that little mustache clip poking up? I wanted to include a funny story about Cai but ran out of room, so I tucked another card in. Here it is pulled out:

And the back reads: 
"I tried tape, and glue, and sparkling glue, but NOTHING WORKS for all that stuff!" Think I better go check my craft supplies. Cai and his imagination crack me up.

I love that kid. He takes ideas and scenarios from TV shows, and runs with it, coming up with far crazier situations than TV writers could ever dream up!

So there's week 35! I'll be back in a couple days with my first week's worth of lists for 30 Days of Lists. It's not too late to sign up if you want to join me!

Cards and Cooking

Hi, welcome to August's post! This has been the summer of the sickies - nonstop doctor appointments. Of course Avyn always provides more than his fair share, but the rest of us contributed too. In between playing taxi service and nurse, I've enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen and in my craft nook. Although digital scrapbooking still gets the lion's share of my creative time, I found that I really missed the hands-on papery stuff. So this summer I dived back in, dug out my paper supplies, and played!
I especially enjoy making cards that I can send to my family and friends. I get the fun of making them, and then the fun of giving something special and handmade! Win-win! Here's a few from the past couple of months:

Everyday Eclectic by Echo Park, Ranger Stickles in Silver and Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Broken China, baker's twine

Simon Says Stamp May card kit

Random letter stickers, paper, and buttons from my stash; washi tape from Mindy Mae's Market

Hybrid fun! Second Chances and This is Me ATC backgrounds by Design by Tina, printed and mod-podged onto card base. Washi tape and old chipboard letters from my stash.

Lime Rickey 6x6 paper pad by Basic Grey, washi tape from Mindy Mae's Market, baker's twine from WRMK, Tattered Angels glimmer mist

Now for the cooking part - I tried out a new recipe yesterday that seems to be a huge hit with the kiddos. It's based off of these Toddler Muffins. I made one version almost identical to the original with a couple substitutions for ingredients I didn't have, and one version wheat/dairy/egg-free for Avyn. These came out so super moist, and Cai actually scarfed down three before I put on the brakes! He'll never know they're so healthy...

Ready to pop in the oven!

Toddler Muffins (regular)

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran (I used plain old-fashioned oatmeal)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups (mine ended up filling about 16 muffin cups - the amount will vary based on the size of your carrots and bananas and any substitutions you make).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran/oatmeal, baking soda, pumpkin pie or other spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

Toddler Muffins (Top 8 Allergen-free)

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil (or other butter replacement)
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4 oz) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
1/4 cup applesauce

1 Tblsp ground flaxseed mixed in 3 Tblsp water (or replace the applesauce and flaxseed with your favorite egg substitute, enough to equal 2 eggs)
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur gluten-free multi purpose flour)
1/2 cup gluten-free oatmeal or oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (again, I used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups (mine ended up filling about 17 muffin cups - the amount will vary based on the size of your carrots and bananas and any substitutions you make).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the oil and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and egg substitute. Stir in the flour, oat bran/oatmeal, baking soda, pumpkin pie or other spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.

I plan to bake up more batches before our cross-country trip in a couple weeks to take for snacks. They also seem to freeze well. Delicious, and a great way to sneak veggies into my picky preschooler's diet! I hear that other veggies work well in this, too. Try different baby food varieties or fresh squash instead of jarred, etc. And if you find a particularly great combination, let me know! 

Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

I LOVE fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies. But with three little munchkins swarming me every time I near the kitchen (they can sense it, or maybe they hear the squeak of the baby gate?), I rarely have time to bake them from scratch. And since Josh is gone much of the time now and I limit Cai's sweets intake, having dozens of cookies sitting around is not helping me lose the last few pounds of baby weight. Those handy refrigerated break-apart cookies are a decent substitute when you just want a few, but they're not in the budget right now. So what does a girl do when she's craving cookies but doesn't have the time to mix up a full-sized batch of several dozen?

Enter the small-batch recipe. Thanks to my dear friend Google, I stumbled upon Cake on the Brain's blog and this recipe for a small batch of chocolate chip cookies.

SMALL BATCH BAKING:  CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
[adapted from Small Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debbie Maugans]

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1 tablespoon beaten egg [reserve the rest for later]
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (I did not line my sheet).
2. Combine the flour, soda and salt in a small bowl.  Mix well.
3. Cream the butter and sugars in a small bowl with a wooden spoon. (I used a bamboo spoon, but I suspect a metal one would work just as well.)
4. Add 1 tablespoon beaten egg and the vanilla.  Mix well.
5. Add the flour mixture and continue beating until thoroughly combined and you don’t see any traces of flour.
6. Toss in the chocolate chips and distribute well. Divide the cookie batter into 8 portions. Form balls and space evenly on the cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 10-13 minutes. (I baked them for 11 minutes on my Pampered Chef baking stone, and let them sit on the pan for a couple minutes to "finish" baking after I took them out. I think that's a baking stone thing. You could leave them in a bit longer if you like a crunchier cookie - I like mine soft and chewy.)

The verdict? This recipe is so quick to mix up, and I love that it doesn't kill my arm. Sounds silly, but since I don't own a mixer I dread the actual mixing part of baking cookies. Anyway, this recipe makes 8 large, chewy, gooey, classic chocolate-chip cookies, the perfect amount for Cai and I to share over a couple days, before they go stale (that is, 6 for me, 2 for Cai, of course). I probably only spent 5 minutes mixing them up, in between rescuing Avyn from Cai (twice), feeding Riah, removing kids from underfoot, getting Cai off the furniture, and various other delays. But if I was uninterrupted I probably would've been eating a hot, melty cookie in about 17 minutes start to finish!

Let me know if you try this recipe for yourself! I've heard it's quite yummy with a little oatmeal and peanut butter too, and I think I'll try tossing in some chopped walnuts next time.