7 Quick Takes (#54)

It's either this or laundry...

1) Lots of you already saw this on my facebook page, but I'm so proud of him I have to post it here too!!  Leo finished the phonics program at Christmas with only a few difficulties.  We immediately jumped into the next part of the school year: McGuffey's Eclectic Primer.  I was excited for this part, but a little nervous since I already knew that he might have a hard time with reading.  

McGuffey's gave us a run for our money.  For a little less than 2 weeks, we plugged away trying to read words and sound them out.  Trying to put sentences together.  Trying to cheer and encourage as the concept clicked.  But Leo was soooo frustrated.  He spent the last 3 days in tears and so I put the book away and polled Facebook for a solution.  90% of the responses were in favor of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, so I jumped on the bandwagon and bought it.  After about 14 lessons, we picked up McGuffey's one more time to see if it was something we could add back in and Leo read the first couple pages with NO PROBLEMS!!  No crying or frustration. And he was sooo proud of himself.  

When we actually do arts and crafts, I take a million pictures.  All 2 times.  Of course, I have none of him reading!

I'm not proud of Leo THAT he can now start to read.  I don't buy into the hype that children in Kindergarten have to learn how to read.  (Jason and I are pretty darn articulate and we spent our half-days of Kindergarten painting pictures, singing songs, and trying not to have accidents in public.)  I'm proud of the way he handled the stress of learning how to read.  He was beating himself up pretty bad when the concept wasn't clicking.  But he kept trying each day without giving up and I'm really happy that in the end, he emerged victorious.  Seeing the look on his face when we revisited McGuffey's Primer and he crushed it, the source of his angst and frustration, was soooo worth the effort!!

This first year of homeschooling has been such a fun ride so far and I never imagined I would actual like it.  I'm glad we started now so we can continue if we want!  I think we will still take the decision year by year, but I am feeling more inclined to say homeschool forever after this last year!!  

Although it does have its downsides...

2) I had a MUCH needed Mom's night out with our local Catholic Moms Group and we made these Lenten centerpieces.  

It was only $6 and almost everything came from The Dollar Store!  Except the tree branches and glue guns.  Seriously - if you have a couple girlfriends, a few bottles of wine and some brownies, this is the perfect hangout activity to prep for Lent!

You need:

Pottery

Glue Guns

Rocks

Ribbon (for burial cloth)

Fake grass

Twine

Twigs for crosses

Or you could go all over-achiever on this project and use real grass: tutorial

Credit

3) February is birthday month for us.  Roman's 2nd birthday was the 15th and Elena's is tomorrow!

2 years old!!

He helped make the cake :)

He is a pirate.  And he means business

No seriously - do NOT mess with him.

Cousins came to play for the entire weekend.  I LOVE having family close enough to drive over for a party!!  

4) My 4 year old!!!!

This picture cracks me up.  It looks completely normal until I noticed WHO she is staring at like this:

*heehee!!!*

5) Miracle of miracles!!!  It snowed for 30 minutes in Texas!!!!!!

I think I heard 99% of you scoff from your northern homes.  I recognize the silliness of this "news".  But I refuse to post things about weather on Facebook so this is my only outlet.  When you are all snowed in for weeks at a time, we are outside enjoying the weather.  It all comes full-circle when the heat and humidity kills us in the summer, but I don't want to torture you all regularly by showing our shirt/shorts combos in February.

6) Hi.  My name is Lisa.  And I am a Legomaniac.

Leo got this huge Lego set and he isn't old enough yet to put all the pieces together by himself.  I spent no less than SEVEN HOURS putting together the firehouse, a helicopter, airplane, ladder truck, rescue boat, rescue car and motorcycle.

And I loved every.minute.  I can't believe I'm 32 and I have never played with legos before.  But it was oddly cathartic to work on building each individual piece and see it through to the end.  I feel like I should put a set on my wishlist for my birthday.  I liked it THAT MUCH!

7) But something I like more than legos is dessert.  I decided to make a Chocolate Eclair Cake completely from scratch.  I thought finding a recipe to put this cake together would be relatively easy but I was SO WRONG!  I searched the internet for over an hour to try to find the recipes I needed.  This meant: no graham crackers, no "no-bake" cake, no instant packages of vanilla pudding, and no cool whip!  I wanted the real thing.

I had to combine three recipes in order to make this bad boy.  This eclair cake, these classic eclairs, and this whipped cream.  For ease of making this in the future, I am going to list the directions and ingredients.  If you get a wild hair and love boston creme donuts as much as I do - definitely make this!!!

Chocolate Eclair Cake completely from scratch

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Ingredients:

Pastry Puff:

(from here)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 

1 cup water 

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour 

4 large eggs 

Chocolate Filling: 

(from here)

2 ounces semisweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons butter 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 cup confectioners' sugar 

3 tablespoons hot water

Vanilla Custard Cream Filling:

(from here)

12 egg yolks 

4 cups whole milk 

1 1/2 cups sugar 

2 tbsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup flour 

1 stick butter

Whipped Cream Topping:

(from here)

2 cups heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp confectioners' sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F.

For the Pastry:
1) In a large heavy saucepan, heat butter and water to boiling over medium-high heat. Add flour and reduce heat to low. Cook and stir until it forms a ball and pulls away from the pan.
2) Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
3) Spread in bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
4) Bake at 400 degrees F for 35 minutes. Cool completely.

For the Chocolate Filling: 
1) Melt chocolate and butter in a pan on low heat stirring constantly until smooth.
2) Stir in vanilla.
3) Sift in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, stirring as you go. Dribble water in to the mixture until smooth and spreadable (you may or may not use all the water).
4) Spread over the cooled pastry.

For the Custard:

1) Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flour together in a large bowl. 

2) Bring milk to a boil. Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, continuously whisking. This is called ‘tampering the yolks’. 

3) Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring to a boil, continuously stirring and going along the bottom of the pot in zigzag motion with a rubber spatula, to prevent scorching. It WILL stick if you stop. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. 

4) Add the vanilla extract & butter. Allow the butter to melt and stir for it to incorporate. 

5) Cover the custard with plastic wrap it touches the custard. To speed up the process you can transfer the custard into a jelly-roll pan, spread it thin, covering with plastic wrap will avoid skin formation. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the whipped cream topping:

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

Putting it all together:

When the puff pastry has cooled, spread the chocolate on the puff pastry.  Spread the custard on top of that and top it with the whipped cream.  Enjoy!!!

7 Quick Takes (#24)

1) Facetime with Granny and Papa!!!

Sometimes when I see pictures of my family, I kind of freak out at how we just keep growing and growing!! These 3 little people didn't exist 5 years ago...and now there are three of them!!!!  It's really kind of cool.

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2) I caught Leo and Roman watching The Avengers together.  Leo made sure Roman had a Superhero action figure to play with during the show.  Then I caught him telling Roman the longest and cutest story involving soldiers, princesses, Oma's house, superheroes, pooping on the potty and, of course, chocolate.   

After this extremely long and involved story, Roman was all tuckered out.  Leo knew exactly what to do.  He sang our "Go to sleep" song (complete with arm movements)

       Go to sleep.  Go to sleep.  Go to SLEEEEEP  little Roman.
       Go to sleep.  Go to sleep.  Go to sleep my little boy!

Within a few minutes of his song, Roman was out :)

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3) I'm back on the "weight-loss" train.  I do this after each child.  The weight never just "falls off" for me!  But after a couple months of "dieting", I lose interest and can't keep up with it.  In an attempt to eat healthier, I have decided to consciously eat more veggies and more protein.  Rather than focus on what I can't eat, I'm adding all sorts of good stuff to my daily diet to fill me up.  (I'm also on myfitnesspal.com as "lelesmama" so come be my friend!)  One super awesome problem with breastfeeding is that you have to eat an additional amount of calories each day, and I tend toward foods that are high in carbohydrates to fill those calories.  So I tried to make a few snacks this week that are low in carbs so I can snack to fill my daily calorie needs.

But before I post the recipes, I think that a few of you might look at my recipes and say "She'll NEVER lose weight with all that fat in her food!!"  But you will never find me eating something that is low-fat ever again!  And I think the proof will be in the pudding when I am successful at losing weight eating full-fat milk, butter, oils, cheese, etc.  (Speaking of pudding - are you addicted to chia seeds yet??)

Here are some resources for why I eat the way I do:

The Truth about Saturated Fats 

Five Fats You Must Have in your Kitchen 

Why Skim Milk Will Make You Fat and Give You Heart Disease 

Also, this is a long-term way of eating.  I watch The Biggest Loser and get SOOOO frustrated when they brag about eating low-fat cheese or sour cream, etc.  YUCK!!  These foods are simply not meant to be low-fat!

Fact: Just eat the real stuff and I guarantee you won't leave the table hungry.
Fact: Restaurants don't carry "low-fat" anything.  Parties with friends don't include recipes made with "low-fat" ingredients.  The low-fat diet is completely unsustainable long-term for me.
Fact: The low-fat option of anything tastes like water and leaves you unsatisfied.
Fact: The rest of your family will hate your cooking if you add anything that is "low-fat".
Fact: If it has fat, and you don't want to eat the fat, just don't eat it.  Don't pay the same price for a processed half-product!!!

Lunch: Pastured-eggs, local-grown spinach, local-grown mushroom, full fat feta scrambled in unsalted butter

Fact: The scrambled egg white, low-fat cheese and "spray" oil version of my lunch omelette would NOT taste as good nor would it be as nutritious (are you still eating scrambled egg-whites??)

It's simple math: Calories in = Calories out.  For weight loss: Calories in < Calories out.  Still not convinced you can lose weight while eating full fat foods?  Then stay tuned for my weight loss progress :)

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4) My first fun recipe was just to redeem myself.  Remember the Baked Donut Hole Fail a couple weeks ago?  I decided to buy some real Coconut Flour and try them again.  I made them with Coconut Sap Sugar and they turned out pretty tasty!!  I found the original recipe on Tropical Traditions website.

Ah yes - THAT is what they were supposed to look like coming out of the oven!!

These bad boys are DENSE!!  You can only eat one, maybe 2, before you are at your limit.  But they are a really fun treat if you have a sweet tooth and need something every now and then. And only 75 calories each.  Check out the recipe here.

The kids were so excited they couldn't even sit down properly before they dug in!

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5)  The next high-protein, gluten-free recipe I tried was the Coconut Flour Banana Muffins from Heavenly Homemakers.

Coconut Flour Banana Muffins
1/2 cup Coconut Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 medium eggs (or 4-5 large eggs)
4 tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted
1/4 cup honey
2-3 small ripe, mashed bananas (use 2 if they are larger)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 and put the coconut oil in a dish to melt in there while you prepare the rest.  Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a well-greased or paper lined muffin pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins

140 cals/14 carbs/8 fat/4 protein/3 fiber/104 sodium per serving

When I am making a treat, I make muffins with my fresh-ground whole wheat flour.  But when I am looking for a snack that is higher in protein, I'll keep a few of these in my fridge!  Making gluten-free baked goods is tricky.  I used too much banana and too much egg (my eggs from the farm were extra large this week), so fresh out of the oven they were too gummy.  But straight from the fridge they are delicious!!

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6) And even though this one isn't so low in carbs, this one is my new absolute favorite!  Initially, I tried to cut out the sugar from my diet.  But I don't actually eat that much sugar.  My coffee is black, my oatmeal is plain, my yogurt is unsweetened, etc.  But I am a mess if I have a sugar craving and I do believe that most foods in moderation are okay.  But I would usually opt for an insane amount of chocolate or cookies.  So this is my best substitute.

Homemade Kettle Corn made with Coconut Sap Sugar!!!! 

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup Organic Popcorn

- 2-3 tablespoons Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil (high smoke point)

- 1/3 cup Coconut Sap Sugar (why not just use granulated sugar??)

Heat coconut oil on med-high heat with 3 popcorn kernels.  When the kernels pop, take the pot off the heat.  Add the sugar and stir it to mix.  Then add the rest of the popcorn kernels and let it sit covered for 30 seconds to allow the kernels to heat up.  Then return it to the heat, crack the cover to let some steam out and all the kernels will begin popping.  But please be careful!!!  The sugar burns bad if it hits you!!  When there are 2-3 seconds between pops, pour the popcorn into a bowl and enjoy!  Even Jason thought this was an excellent treat despite it being a healthier version :)

7) I made these bad boys last night and I am their new number 1 fan!  Even Jason (who stated they probably wouldn't be something he could get into) was digging on them all night.

Roasted Curried Chickpeas Recipe

Photo Credit: thekitchn.com

I calculated the nutrition facts and here is the breakdown: 4 servings of about 1/2 cup each
Per serving: 235 cal/35 carb/8 fat/11 protein/12 fiber/126 sodium

The math looks pretty high when you are trying to stay within a certain calorie limit each day.  However, I had one serving last night and was FULL!  Jason said they tasted like little mini potatoes.  They satisfy the potato chip craving, the salty craving, and even a french fry craving (for me anyway).  It was easy to stop after just one serving.  I can never stop after one serving with potato chips!


MAN it feels good to talk about food again!!!  Pregnancy kills any desire for cooking or eating healthy for me.  I am usually too tired and sick in the beginning to think about food.  And I'm too uncomfortable to stand in my kitchen in the end.  But I'm glad to see that my love affair with food has returned :)


Bonus) Check out this new Etsy shop!!  A 12 and 17 year old learned how to sew and opened their own Etsy shop where they will custom-make any Saint doll for you!!   We are past birthday and holiday season, but I have my sights set on a doll for Elena!  St. Helena is going to be beautiful :)  Aside from being really cute dolls, the fact that young girls make them is so rockin!  (And the faces are actually pretty, not creepy!!)

Mother Theresa and St. Therese of Lisieux

Pumpkin Waffles & Whoopie Pies

I absolutely love fall baking.  I can really get into it when I can open my small kitchen window and the cool air comes whipping at me.  Sometimes, when the birds in our backyard chirp loud enough and the creek water is at a dull roar, I can pretend like the kids aren't even there and it's just me and my baked goods.  

Not usually though...

Last week, I baked 4 pie pumpkins and saved the meat until I found a recipe "worthy" to try this year.  I had some really good recipes from last year which I plan on making again soon (especially this pumpkin bread recipe!), but I like to try new ones too.  

Then my friend Steve posted "Apple Cider Donuts?" on Facebook and my brain nearly exploded!  What is THAT?  And why isn't there one in my mouth right NOW?!?!?!  I can't make donuts because I hate frying stuff in my house.  So I set out to make this recipe with the apple cider I recently made and the pumpkin combined: 

Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup 

(from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 2 cups milk
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
•  
• Apple Cider Syrup
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, milk, and egg yolks. Whip the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form.
3. Stir the flour mixture and 1/4 cup melted butter to the pumpkin mixture, stirring just to combine. Use a whisk or rubber spatula to fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, stirring gently until incorporated. Fold in the remaining egg whites. Cook waffles according to manufacturer's instructions.
4. To make the syrup, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Stir in the apple cider and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to boil; boil until the syrup thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of butter until melted. Serve warm.

This was an extremely late breakfast.  I needed coffee before I tackled this one.  So I poured my second cup and called out to my "helpers".

We're still working on sharing around here.  I'll let you know when it's under control...

The cider syrup was super easy.  I actually might make it again to have with plain waffles due to its deliciousness.

The waffle mix was a little more work.  Many reviews stated that the waffles were too dense.  So I made sure to whip the egg whites until soft peaks formed and then ever-so-gently I folded them into the batter.  I  left a lot of egg white floating in the mixture to make sure it didn't fall and get too dense.  And I was careful scooping so I didn't stir the mixture more and get flat waffles.

This stuff made my house smell like HEAVEN!!!

Elena wanted desperately to help me cook the waffles.  The closest she got to the waffle maker and stovetop was a chair stuck smack-dab in the center of the kitchen where her tiny dinosaur arms were safely out of reach of everything.

Even her baby came up to see what that delicious smell was!!

Elena was all over this breakfast.  Leo?  He's a picky eater and wanted a waffle with plain syrup.  He crushes my cooking ego daily.

But then Jason came to the rescue by jumping up for seconds as soon as the next waffle was ready :)

We have exactly enough leftover for breakfast tomorrow...if I can hold off that long...

We also tried out another new recipe 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie 

Ingredients

• Cookie
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil (or softened butter)
• 1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cloves

• 
  

  Filling
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese (softened)
• 2 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 
  
• Directions
• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
  2. Combine the oil and brown sugar. Mix in the pumpkin and eggs, beating well. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix well.
  3. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool then make sandwiches from two cookies filled with Whoopie Pie Filling.
  4. To Make Whoopie Pie Filling: Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add cinnamon and vanilla and combine.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time.
• 
  

Now, before I give my verdict, I have to state that there is something wrong with me this pregnancy.  Sweets just don't cut it.  Nothing tastes right.  Sweets have odd flavors that are unfamiliar.  This definitely didn't happen with either of the other two pregnancies.  And unfortunately, it's not stopping me from consuming sweets...  These aren't floating my boat right now.  They are just so sweet!  But it was a good day to be at Jason's office since I sent him with a bunch.  Jason absolutely loves them!

And the kids?  Well - they like the cookies so much their eyes have rolled in the backs of their heads...