Wild Berry Muffin Cookies

My mom and younger brother are coming from MA to visit us on Friday and I have been baking up a storm in preparation for their visit! Today I made Wild Berry Muffin Cookies. I wasn’t sure how these would come out because I pretty much made them up. I wanted to make cake mix cookies but had no cake mix but I did have muffin mix so I used that instead. 

I am relieved to say that these babies came out great! Better than great they are amazing! My mom is going to love them. I can’t wait for them to get here we haven’t seen them since April. I know that doesn’t seem like a long time but my family is very close. I am also happy to report that my hubby is on his way home from field training! I have really missed being able to talk to him. I am one happy wife right now!

 

 

Ingredients

~ 2 Wild Berry Muffin packages (7oz I used the Martha White brand they were only $1)

~ 1/2 cup butter, softened

~ 2 eggs

~ 1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 350

1. Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and beat together.

2. Chill in fridge 1 hour.

3. Place rounded tablespoons of dough onto an ungreased  cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 350 for 7-10 mins. Mine were always done before ten mins but everyone’s ovens are different. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few mins before moving to a wire rack.

Maple Dijon Chicken

The great thing about chicken is that you can prepare it in so many different and delicious ways. Last night was a little tricky. I really need to go grocery shopping but have been too lazy to go. I had chicken thighs and had no idea what to do with them. I wanted to make honey mustard chicken but had no honey. I did have maple syrup though which got me thinking that I could use that in place of the honey. So that’s what I did and it came out amazing!

 

Ingredients

~ 4 chicken thighs

~ 1/2 cup dijon mustard

~ 1/4 cup maple syrup

~ salt and pepper

~ parsley

~ 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

 

Pre heat oven to 450

1. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Line a baking dish with tin foil and place chicken on foil.

2. In a medium bowl combine maple syrup, mustard and vinegar. Stir well.

3. Pour over chicken and using a brush make sure chicken is completely coated. 

4. Cook for 40 mins or until chicken is no longer pink. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. I wish my hubby had been here to try it! 

My Mecipe Binder

We decided taking all of our recipe books to Korea would be a waste of space. We have a weight allowance that we can take with us and recipes books are heavy. I have a lot of recipe books! I came up with the idea to make a recipe binder. My husband and I sat down and went through all of our books (I have a bunch!) and typed out our favorite recipes from the books. I am sure that we missed some but we can always looks up a recipe on the internet if we had forgotten to add it to the binder.

Making a recipe binder is very simple and an easy way to organize favorite recipes. It’s nice having them all in one spot!

Materials:

1 binder (I got mine at Target)

Assorted scrap book paper

plastic inserts (Target)

My awesome binder I found at Target for $6

1. Determine the categories that you want your binder to have.

These are my categories:

Appetizers

Breads and Sauces

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Side Dishes

Slow Cooker

BBQ

Desserts

Holidays

2. Print the title of the categories on to your scrap book paper.

Example of my scrap book paper with category names

3. Type out all of your favorite recipes and put all of your recipes and categories into your plastic inserts.

Typed out recipe

As you can see I have a lot more room to add more recipes!

The great thing about a recipe binder is you can keep adding more recipes to it. The more recipes you try and like add it to your binder! I have seen other recipe binders online that people have also made that a are more elaborate than mine. However, I am into simple and keeping the cost down. My recipe binder cost me about $10 to make. I already had scrap book paper so i did not need to buy any but you can find some cheap at Walmart or even Michaels has some.

I hope you enjoy this project! I had fun making it!

Crock Pot Honey Chicken

My husband wasn’t able to come home on pass this weekend because he has field training all week so my son and I spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday afternoons vising him on base. We had a great time! My son made some friends! He got four soldiers playing ball with him it was one of the cutest things to see. It also benefited me because they wore him out and he slept great those nights! On Saturday he slept in until 8 and he never sleep past 6! It was amazing!

Playing ball with Daddy.

Isn’t this adorable?

He had such a great time! I think they all did!

Spending the days on base all weekend made me not want to cook. I decided to use my good old crock pot! This is by far my favorite kitchen appliance! Being able to throw something in it and have it cook all day while you go about your business is like magic! Not to mention it makes your entire home smell heavenly!

This recipe was extremely easy and one I will be making again! It had just enough kick to it with the hot pepper flakes and sweetness from the honey. It was a great contrast. You should go make this right now. Seriously it was that good!

Crock Pot Honey Chicken

Ingredients

~1lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
~1/2 cup soy sauce
~1 cup honey
~1/4 cup ketchup
~1 tbsp red pepper flakes
~2 cloves of garlic
~salt and pepper to season
~2tbsp olive oil or you can use veg oil

1. Season both sides of chicken thighs with salt and pepper and place in your crock pot.
2. In a medium bowl combine the remaining ingredients and stir well.
3. Pour over chicken thighs. Cook on low for 4 – 4 1/2 hours.
4. last 15 mins remove chicken thighs from crock pot and cut into pieces. Add pieces of chicken back in to crock pot and cook in sauce for another 1

Zucchini Pizza Logs

Lately I have really been craving pizza and as you all know on a diet that is a big no,no! It wasn’t so much the crust that I wanted (I am not a crust lover anyways) what I really wanted was the sauce and cheese. However, I needed to find a healthy alternative for the crust. When I was surfing the web I found numerous cauliflower crust recipes, which one day I really want to make but I didn’t have any one hand and was already y in my pj’s so running to the store wasn’t an option. Then I came across a recipe using zucchini as the crust on newtritionblog.com. I made a few changes to make it my own and I was really surprised with how tasty it turned out. It also completely satisfied my pizza craving!

Ingredients

*1 medium to large size zucchini

*1 cup of your favorite pizza sauce (depending on the size of your zucchini you may not use the full cup)

*1/2 cup of your favorite cheese (I used skim milk shredded mozzarella)

*optional: top with your favorite meat. I used left over ground beef I used for taco salad the previous night.

Pre Heat 400

1. Slice zucchini in half length wise. Scoop out seeds using a spoon. Top with pizza sauce and sprinkle with your favorite cheese. Add meat on top of cheese.

2. Cook in oven for 20-25mins

This is a simple, fast recipe. It’s perfect for when you are in a hurry or if you are on a diet and are craving pizza. I will definitely be making this recipe again.

Healthier Peanut Butter Cookies

Today online I was searching for a healthy peanut butter cookie recipe but could not find one. All the recipes I searched called for lots of sugar and shortening. I did not want to add either. So I came up with my own healthier version. They came out great! My 2 two year old ate 3 of them and he is a very picky eater!

 

My hubby sent me this while I was baking the cookies. He is getting ready for 3 days in the field for training.

Ingredients

~ 1/4 cup plus 1/2 tbs of honey (in place of 1/2 cup sugar)

~ 1/2 cup brown sugar

~ 1/4 cup non fat vanilla yogurt (in place of 1/4 cup shortening) 

~ 1/4 cup margarine (softened)

~ 1 egg

~ 1 1/4 cups flour

~ 3/4 tsp baking soda

~ 1/2 tsp baking powder

~ 1/2 cup natural peanut butter

~ 1/4 tsp salt

~ 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl mix together margarine, sugar, egg, honey,yogurt, and vanilla. Mix in peanut butter.

2. Add in flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Make sure it is all combined and smooth. 

3. Refridgerate for 2 hours until it firms up. 

4. Pre Heat oven 350.

5. Add tablespoon mound on to cookie sheet and flatten in a criss cross pattern with a fork.

6. Bake for 7-10 mins.

 

Remember these are a healthier version. The yogurt makes them a bit more fluffy than bad for you cookies. But they are still delicious! My son thought so!

 

He is my adorable son enjoying his cookies! 

Super Easy Peanut Butter Granola

I love granola but have you ever noticed how expensive it is? I found this really easy recipe off of google and it is so much cheaper to make! Now I will share it with you and you can save money just like I did!

~ 6 tbsp oil

~ 1 cup peanut butter

~ 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

~ 7 cups oats

1. In a sauce pan cook oil and peanut butter over low heat until it is smooth.

2. Remove from heat and add sugar. Mix well.

3.  Add oats and stir until oats are completely coated.

4. Spread on to a cookie sheet and bake at 18-20 mins stirring after 8 mins.

5. Cool and serve with yogurt, milk, fruit or just eat it plain!

Life in The Fast Lane

Life has been a little crazy lately! In 36 days we leave for Korea! I am getting pretty excited about it. Everything is all set up. On August 30 the movers will come to take our stuff that we want to arrive once we get there. On September 5 they will come again to take our stuff that needs to go in to storage and then September 5 they come for the rest of our things that needs to be shipped to Korea.

Next Friday my Mum and my brother will be coming to visit. I am so happy that I will be able to see them before we leave! Two years will be a long time to go with out seeing your family. Then the following weekend my very best friend and her new husband will be coming to visit. She is so amazing! Her and her husband have offered to keep our dog while we are in Korea. This is a huge relief. We really want to take him with us but the way things are there I think it will be easier and he will be more happy to stay here and have a nice yard to play in. The week after my friend comes my husband graduates AIT! He has worked so hard. I am so proud of him I know how challengin this year has been for him. Ten days after he will go on leave and then its off to Korea!

We have a very full schedule and a ton going on in the next month! It will all be worth it.

Feminism and When It’s too Much

Today’s society is teaching women that being a feminist is okay. Of course women’s right are a good thing. It is good that we can vote and have jobs to help support our families but some take it to the extreme. Society is teaching our daughters that it is okay to go against what God says is a women’s place in society. They are rebelling against the basic rights that God intended for every human being to have.

Here are a few examples of this:

Women Pastors. Women who are preaching the word of God in front of an audience with men and women goes against what the Bible says. If these women truly believe in God then they would know that 1 Timothy 12 says “I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man…” No women should be teaching a group of men or even a group of men and women. It goes against the word of God. It is, however, okay for a women to lead a women’s Bible study. They can teach a group full of women but they can not be a pastor.

Another example is feminist teach that it is okay for wives to be the head of their house hold over their husbands. When the Bible tells wives to submit to their husbands we must do it. Submitting to our husbands does not mean we allow them to abuse us or that we are not allowed to question their decisions. For example, if a husband decides he want to move across the country for a different job opportunity we can tell him our feelings on it. We can tell him that we are not sure that this is best for our family. However, the final decision will be his. He can listen to us and take it into consideration, he may change his mind and agree with us but he also might not. If he doesn’t that’s when we must remember this verse and submit to our husbands. 1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” God has an order to things for a reason. We may not understand it but we need to obey it.

I know for me, it is a struggle submitting to my husband. Especially since we are apart more than we are together because he is in the military. I have been the one at home making our household decisions. My husband put his trust in me that I will do the best I can while he was away to make these decisions to the best of my ability. After being apart for a year and once again living together it will be a difficult adjustment for me. I know that we will have a few bumps here and there but we will find our way again.

A great book for Christian women to read about being a wife to our husbands is “Created to Be His Help Meet” by Debi Pearl. This book has helped me so much with understanding my role as a wife. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

To Everything There is a Season

I am sure by now you have seen my quote under my blog header. This is my favorite Bible verse. It is very straightforward and explains to us that there is a time for everything. To me the most important part of this verse for us to understand is that there is a time to die. Every persons season comes to an end. Whether our season is young or old it does end and we have no control over it. It is more difficult for our loved ones that are left behind. They are hurting and grieving over their loss. It’s easy for the ones left behind to question God and ask why, why did this have to happen, why did you take them from us? I know for me when I have lost a loved one I question God. My questions are always selfish though asking why did you do this to me? Why did you take him from us? I need to remember that God isn’t doing this to me. Though we may be left behind grieving, our loved one is in a better place. They are in Heaven! They do not want to come back to a place where there is suffering. They want to be surrounded by love and happiness. There is no place more amazing and beautiful than Heaven. Being with God everyday is something so extraordinary that we can not even fathom what it is like down here. Nor are we supposed to know what it is like. When our season has ended we to will not want to return to earth.

Remember that there is a time for every season and one day ours too will end.

To Everything There is a Season

Ecclesiastes 3

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.