Who doesn't love good Old Fashioned Scones?!

I remember as a kid, it was a big treat when my mom made these for us! OR I remember at the county fair (I grew up in a fairly small town in Idaho.) that you could smell these as you walked around. (Reminds me of the smell of funnel cakes that you smell at amusement parks today).

Well, my kids love them now too! IN FACT, my 4 year old requested them just other day. She's only had them once before and it sounded like she wanted stones for dinner the way she said it. lol I was completely bewildered for a bit! I can't believe she even remembered them or what they were called but she did! :)

So, here's the recipe for you!

Old Fashioned Scones

1 1/2 Tbsp yeast

1 egg

1 1/2 Tbsp melted shortening

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups hot tap water

3 Tbsp sugar

5-6 cups flour

Mix together egg and shortening. Mix yeast mixture: yeast, 1/2 cup warm water and 1 T sugar. Let sit and rise. Add yeast mixture to egg and shortening. Mix. Add dry ingredients and water.

Roll out to about a 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Fry in oil at medium heat.

Eat them warm with a dollup of honey butter or top or dip them in it like me kids like to do! :)

They're also good with honey drizzled over them, much like a sopapilla. OR even this cookie butter would be amazing! 

No matter what you eat them with, you'll have a winner!

Good memories. Thanks Mom! :)

Homemade Sweet Potato Chips!

I've had a couple people ask me about the sweet potato chips I make, so I thought I would show you today!

What do you need? As far as food ingredients, just sweet potatoes and sea salt! Not even olive oil. Now, we have tried to make these for the past couple of year various ways. We've baked them, sliced them ourselves different thicknesses and they were all good, but not all so much like actual chips...

ENTER...some Pampered Chef help. LOVE THESE!!!!

I bought a hand slicer from Pampered Chef that slices the sweet potatoes SO easily and so thin!

I also bought this little microwave silicone trays that you place the slices on, add a bit of salt and microwave!!! So easy and seriously, SO delish!

(I microwaved 3 min and then switched the bottom tray to the top and the top to the bottom and then microwaved another 3 minutes.)

I have to say I still love them made as fries too! Just try and use some coconut oil or the most healthy oil you can, cut them in long strips and throw them in for a bit! Umnum!

Pinterest Recipes; Tried and True!

I have a few tried and truly good Pinterest found recipes for you today!

I have been eating pretty clean lately, and found this cinnamon bread on Pinterest a week or so ago. It is flourless! And a bread! YES!!! I found it on Maria Mind Body Health's blog here. It's a great new blog find too! Sooooo many good things there! It's made with whey protein, LOTS of egg whites, egg yolks OR cream cheese (I used the yolks) and cinnamon. Can you believe that's it?! And it made my kitchen smell sooooo good and totally satisfied my carb craving! :) LOVE!


Another fun one I have is just popping your own popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave. You can do it dry or add a little coconut oil and cinnamon sugar to the mix. Truly worked great! So easy and so much more healthy without everything else they add to microwave popcorn! Plus you get to customize it this way! Add some cajun seasoning, or whatever floats your fancy! Ha! ( I did 3 T of unpopped kernels and very lightly added a little coconut oil. Salt to taste if desired after popped.)

(BTW-found these brightly colored fun bowls at Walmart for a couple dollars and added some cast vinyl to them. Turned out so fun!)

Last one I tried for today was this Chunky Monkey Mini Protein Muffin recipe from Isagenix, although I doubled the oats and made them into little cookies instead. So much more healthy and great little snacks, whether for my kids after school or for me!

Try them all out and let me know what you think!

Whole Wheat Crumb Cake

Remember eons ago when I promised this recipe! Well, it's going to be a whole week of recipes!!! We all don't craft, but we all gotta eat, right? haha

I grew up with my mom making pretty much everything from scratch. In fact the first time I bought some pre-made cookie dough from the store (rather than making it from scratch myself) was when I was pregnant with my 3rd child and I truly felt like I was cheating somehow! lol

I honestly did not appreciate her time she spent in the kitchen to bake bread, cookies, homemade meals, etc until I was married and had kids of myself. I am still amazed and how she made THAT much bread all the time! (There were 7 kids in my fam, so I am sure we went through it pretty fast!) 

And I have come to appreciate another factor is this lately even more. The ingredients she used were some of the most healthy she could. She has a wheat grinder and ground her own whole wheat flour and used honey in most recipes too instead of refined sugars and flours. I KNOW that had to cost a lot more than just buying sugar!

So...I took a recipe that is in our family cookbook and subbed the white flour for all 100% wheat flour. My husband has had some major food allergies in the past few years and is doing better with many of them, but still cannot eat white flour without it bothering him, so whole wheat works much better in our house for more reasons than one.

I was afraid that the crumb cake would turn out dense and not as good and fluffy as the white flour makes it, but I was dead wrong. I loved it! It was great!

So, if you're interested in making some delicious and healthy breakfast crumb cake (Well, as healthy as you can get with a kind of "cake"), here's the recipe!

WHOLE WHEAT CRUMB CAKE

Batter Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

1/2 cup sugar (Organic coconut palm sugar or honey can be subbed here if you want)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg 2/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)

3 tbsp melted shortening 

Instructions:

Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg and add milk and shortening. Stire liquids into dry ingredients mixing only enough to damped flour. Pour into greased pan, sprinkle with crumb mixture. 

Crumb Topping Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup sifted flour (again I used whole wheat)

1/4 cup cracker or bread crumbs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar. Add flour, crumbs, and cinnamon. mix and sprinkle over batter before baking. (NOW, my little secret. My husband likes a LOT of crumb topping, so I 4 times the crumb recipe!!!)

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. (I stick a toothpick in the middle and make sure it comes out clean to see if it is done.)

So so good! Yum!

From this to that Friday: DIY Photo Puzzle

I posted this awhile ago (near Christmas) on my Instagram account, but it hadn't made it to the blog yet (like so many other things!), and I LOVE it, so thought I would share it with you!

It's so easy and simple and so fun! A great gift for almost anyone! Your kids, for mother's day, for grandparents. Love it!

I found this wooden "puzzle" frame at Walmart (and also at Oriental Trading for about the same price) and immediately thought how fun would it be with an actual photo on it?

I spray painted the base/frame. Ordered a large photo from Sam's for a couple dollars, trimmed it down to the right size I needed, cut the pic into the same size squares as on the puzzle, and mounted the photo squares with spray adhesive and rubber cement. (Modge podge or decoupage would also work.)

They made great gifts for my little girls. I have two made and another fam pic ready to go. :)
Smiles all around! :)

Build-a-Bear Birthday Fun!

My daughter recently turned four and wanted a birthday party at Build-a-Bear. We have never lived near one until recently and I honestly think their party prices are very reasonable, so I was all for it. They all got to go home with a new friend. So much fun! (AND so much easier on mom to not have it at the house and provide all the activities!)

Of course, I wanted to be all matchy matchy lol, but it's not always so easy to find Build-a-Bear party stuff (esp the way I roll, that is last minute)...so I made them!

The hats turned out so cute I thought. She wanted a crown and a party hat, so we put a crown on the birthday girls party hat. Works for me! And her! So we were all happy!

I found these cupcakes with some flat rings and then made up my own little matching discs (printed them), laminated them, and put them on top of the (Monsters Inc) flat rings. Much cheaper than trying to buy everything separately and making them that way.

From this:

 to this:

 I would say it was a success by the look on that face, don't you think? 

 And we all lived happily ever after...until of course it was bedtime. :)

Giveaway and a helpful tip!

My FUN 2 year old decided I need to learn something new last night....how to get sharpie/permanent marker out of carpet! Joy! I found this great blog though that was oh so helpful and wala! I got it out! Amazed at Hand sanitizer's many uses! LOL

Check out her blog and tips on getting permanent marker out of almost anything!

Four Plus and Angel

Okay, who's up for a give-away?! I AM! Help us get 23 more likes on my FB page (that's it! 23!) by likingmy FB page AND post, commenting on FB or here, sharing on FB, and pinning ffrom here and you're entered! (But let me know you did all of the above too!) AND I will give away your choice of either a set of small chalkboard labels found here in my Etsy shop, seen below.

or the hello in vinyl. (Your choice of white, cream, or black)

Yeah!!!! THEN, keep going, because when we hit ANOTHER 100 (700 likes), I'll give away the vinyl to make a large growth chart!!!! So, come on, start pinning and sharing!!!! 

Sharing a great help for Silhouette Newbies I found

If you are a newbie to the Silhouette machine, Life after Laundry's blog has a great starter for you. You can find it here on her site:

http://www.lifeafterlaundry.com/7-things-every-silhouette-newbie-know/

She's part of the SIL Challnege FB group I belong to. Wonderful group of people that are ever so helpful and supportive! Love it! If you interested in joining, go to their website and fill out an app there! :)

The ups and downs of parenting

Not a crafty or DIY or a recipe  post today...but this is my life.

So, if someone asked you the top five worst and top five best things about parenting, what would they be? I'm potty training my 2 year old this week and that would be one of the top worst for me. Who doesn't hate doing it?! It's not fun! For anyone involved! The poor kids have no clue bc up until now, using the diaper as their toilet was perfectly acceptable and then all of the sudden, it's not anymore. For me, this means LONG draining days of unending patience, encouragement, energy, clean up, and being positive. And then dreaming of nap time snd bedtime all the whole...lol

So here are my top fives!
Some of my Worst:
1-potty training
2-cleaning up puke (ESP in the middle of the night)
3-Bedtime for them and sleepless nights for me
4-constant dishes, laundry, picking up, cooking and doing it all over and over and over
5-hearing someone yell the word "Mo-om!" Over and over.

Some of my Best:
1-newborns
2-hearing the laughter of my kids
3-love and snuggles
4-their bedtime lol
5-hearing the word "Mom" over and over

They're so worth it. I have to say I have lots more I can list on my best list than my worst still too! :) love them! (But will be glad when potty training is done on this, my fifth, child.

Next weeks agenda: Lots of crafting and posts! Get ready! :)