APR
25
2013

Homemade Whole Wheat & Flour Tortillas

By | Mom Stuff, Recipes, Snacks

7 Comments

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Hi everyone! I wanted to share a yummy recipe with you today, they’re my homemade tortillas. I actually have 2 recipes to share, one is for white flour tortillas, and the other is for whole wheat tor tortillas. Either way my kids devour these! They eat them as snacks all by themselves, with peanut butter and jelly, cheese, or with salsa. Not only are they better for you than store bought tortillas, but they’re less expensive and sooooooo good!   Ingredients: 3 1/2 C. all purpose flour (Can use all purpose white flour or whole wheat flour, or you can even do half and half.) 2 teaspoons salt 3/4 C. Vegetable Shortening (Or Lard) Yes, I know it’s awful but Lard is really the key to good flour tortillas. Sorry. You can substitute with 1/2 c olive oil, but really they are much denser, and not as good.) 1  cups lukewarm water Optional: I highly recommend a Tortilla Maker for this. Rolling them out by hand is difficult and the tortillas don’t get as thin … [Read more...]

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APR
04
2013

Homemade Carrabba’s Bread & Dipping Sauce Recipe

By | Mom Stuff, Recipes

18 Comments

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Hi all! Today I wanted to share a recipe with you that we’re loving over here at Confessions! It’s the Carrabba’s Bread and Dipping Sauce Recipe! Okay, so I’m sure it’s not the “official” recipe, but it’s as close as we could get and tastes pretty good if I do say so myself!   Now before you read on, I just want to say this isn’t one of those ‘mill your own wheat’ and ‘no bad stuff in this’ recipes. The bread at Carrabba’s is white bread, and so this recipe uses white flour, and yes…Crisco. So I know it’s not all that healthy in regards to nutrition, but at least it’s homemade and so that counts for something right? Plus it’s sooooo good! So please forgive me this one indiscretion ;o) So ready to get on with all the yummy goodness? Ingredients: 1 1/4 tsp. dry yeast 1 1/4 c plus 1 1/2 Tbsp. Luke warm water (110 degrees F, 43C) 3 c unbleached all-purpose four 1 tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening Olive oil to … [Read more...]

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FEB
19
2013

Healthy Snacks for Kids

By | Health, Mom Stuff, Recipes

22 Comments

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I don’t know about you all, but coming up with snacks on the fly is something I am not great at. Unfortunately if left un-attended my kids will grab something non-healthy, or make a gigantic mess with the contents of my pantry. So out of necessity, I’ve come up with an easy way to store all of our snacks, while at the same time providing quick and hopefully healthier snacks for them. First off I should mention that we do two snack times per day. Typically 10:30am and 3:00pm are our standard snack times. Setting these times has been so helpful, the kids all know when snack time is and so they don’t ask for snacks all day long anymore. Hallelujah and amen! So here are some of our snack ideas as well as how we store them! Fruit: Of course fruit is one of my number one snack go-to’s. I do my best to keep a variety of fruit on hand, it’s usually sitting right on the counter so they can grab it and go. Here are some things you’ll find in our fruit bowl (depending on the … [Read more...]

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JUL
05
2012

Healthy Smoothie Popsicle Recipe

By | Mom Stuff, Recipes

8 Comments

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Welcome to my Summer Boredom Busters activities for kids! For July I thought it would be fun to post some ideas to keep your kiddos happy and whining to a minimum! Today, I have a fun variation to our daily smoothie recipes…freeze them! That’s right, I just made our regular smoothie recipe and added a little extra orange juice to them to make them into yummy and healthy summer popsicles!  The above Popsicle were done in a Popsicle mold I found in the $1 section at Target. Ingredients: 1 banana (frozen is better, but I will work at room temp.) 2 cups frozen strawberries (Again, room temp is okay) 1 cup orange juice (Add more as needed until mixture is liquid enough to pour into molds) 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (We prefer frozen yogurt) 1/2 cup orange juice Optional: 2-3 teaspoons honey to taste (The plain fruit can be a bit sour, but the orange juice helps with this, so try it before adding honey) These popsicles were made in a cake-pop silicone … [Read more...]

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JUL
11
2011

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Cashew Popcorn

By | Recipes

11 Comments

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Oh my sweet goodness, this recipe was the bomb! Is that still a cool word? I never know. I’m a homeschooler. I don’t get out much. ;o) Except to buy cashews for this recipe…yeah baby! Ingredients: 1 large bag microwaveable butter flavor popcorn (I use a reduced fat version. Because it makes me feel better about eating an entire bowl of popcorn, never mind the marshmallow and cashews. Oh yeah, and the white chocolate. But still.) 2 cups mini marshmallows 1/2 cup roasted salted cashew pieces 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1 cup white chocolate chips…mmmm LARGE microwave safe bowl Step 1: Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper and set aside. Or just lay it out on your counter, that’s what I did. Why dirty a pan when you don’t need to? Step 2: Pop the bag of popcorn and pour half of the hot popcorn into a large microwave-safe bowl. Top it with the marshmallows, cashews, and dried cranberries. Then top it with the rest of the hot popcorn and toss everything … [Read more...]

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JUN
27
2011

Homemade Popcorn

By | Recipes

36 Comments

Well, not totally homemade, as in I didn’t grow my own corn. (Not that I didn’t try, our corn was just sad last year…) But I sure as heck popped it without the use of a greasy chemically lined microwaveable bag! Okay, I’ll admit that when it comes to popping corn the old fashioned way, I’m a bit of a chicken. For some reason, the thought of cooking kernels until they start flying across my kitchen always made me nervous. So when a friend called and said she’d been making her own, and it was awesome, I reluctantly gave it a try, and ONLY because she kept stressing just how awesome it really was! And this little project of mine did make some of my fears come true. I have to admit it took me several attempts before I actually figured it out. Now…I can run an entire house hold, do laundry, cook dinner, homeschool 4 kids simultaneously, and take pictures to prove it all, but apparently the term “microwaveable safe” dish didn’t quite sink in. If you can get that term … [Read more...]

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OCT
17
2010

Chex Muddy Buddies

By | Recipes

13 Comments

We made this yummy snack for our Keeper’s Meeting and it was such a big hit, I wanted to share it with you all as well! Not that you all haven’t made it before, but just incase (I mean the recipe IS right on the side of the Rice Chex box) Ingredients: 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup butter 1 cup chocolate chips 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 9 cups Rice Chex cereal 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar Directions: STEP 1: Measure cereal in large bowl. Set aside. STEP 2: Put chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in bowl and microwave for 1 minute on high. Stir. Cook for 30 seconds longer or until smooth. STEP 3: Add vanilla to melted chocolate mixture and stir. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until coated. STEP 4: Add powdered sugark to bowl and stir until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in Ziploc bags or large sealed bowl. STEP 5: Clean off spoon and anything else that may have touched the chocolate. STEP 6: Enjoy! … [Read more...]

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MAY
20
2010

Homemade Granola Bars

By | Recipes

43 Comments

I’ve been trying to save money on groceries, and my husband pointed out that we spend a lot on ‘snacks’ for the kids. I decided to try and make some snacks instead of paying high prices for pre-packaged ones, and in the process I found this WONDERFUL granola bar recipe at Raising Olives. I adjusted it to fit our likings, and it turned out great! Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup white chocolate chips (Optional: any Dried Fruit, Raisins, Craisins, Nuts, Chocolate Chips, Coconut Flakes, have fun with this!) 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup honey 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup coconut oil (Melted! I microwave about 30 seconds until liquid, this makes it MUCH easier to work with!) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Directions: STEP 1: Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 baking dish. STEP 2: Mix together dry ingredients, then make a well in the center and add the honey, beaten egg, melted coconut oil, and vanilla … [Read more...]

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MAY
08
2010

Soft Pretzel Recipe

By | Recipes

8 Comments

I’ve been through several soft pretzel recipes, and so far this one tastes the best to us. Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups warm water 1 Tbsp yeast 1/4 c brown sugar (Can substitute sucanat) 3 1/2 – 4 c whole wheat flour (Can substitute 2 cups bread flour + 2 c. regular flour) Melted butter to rub on baked pretzels. Course Salt (I use sea salt) Dipping Solution: 1/4 Cup baking soda 2 1/2 Cup very hot water Directions: (Makes about 9 pretzels) STEP 1: Preheat oven to 500 degrees. STEP 2: Dissolve yeast in warm water. STEP 3: Add sugar, stir to dissolve, THEN add flour and mix until combined well. Do not over knead or dough will be tough. STEP 4: Cut dough into 9 even chunks then roll into ropes and shape into pretzels, or whatever you children come up with. STEP 5: Prepare dipping solution: Stir baking soda into hot water until dissolved, then using a slotted spoon dip formed pretzels into the solution for a couple sections each and place onto greased baking sheet. STEP 6: Bake for … [Read more...]

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APR
27
2010

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Tortilla Chips

By | Recipes

19 Comments

A friend made this for us at a scrapbooking retreat once, and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it! I made some this week and decided to share it with you all, luckily I took a picture first because as soon as I walked away it was gone!IngredientsSalsa: Really you can use any fruit you like, this is what I use…2 kiwis, peeled and diced 2 apples - peeled, cored and diced – (I like Pink Ladies or Lady Alice)8 ounces raspberries 1 pound strawberries 1/2 cantaloupe diced1 tablespoon white sugar (Can be omitted)1 tablespoon brown sugar (Can substitute with sucanat)3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor Tip: I use my Pampered Chef chopper to dice all the fruit, makes it much more ‘salsa-ish’ …if that’s a word, and yes, I do homeschool.Tortilla Chips:10 (10 inch) flour tortillas butter flavored cooking spray (Can spray with water, but not as yummy!)1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (Amount is flexible, I just sprinkle it over the chips)Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large … [Read more...]

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