Thursday, October 18, 2012

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Fall Recipes

Need some inspiration for fall recipes?  Try these!


Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats (ground in food processor)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup milk (or buttermilk)
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 tablespoons apple sauce
2 tablespoons rolled oats
1 apple (peeled, cored and chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
2. Mix the maple syrup, milk, egg, butter and apple sauce in another bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the rolled oats and apple.
5. Heat a pan and melt a touch of butter in it.
6. Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture into the pan and cook until the surface starts to bubble and the bottom is golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
7. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until the bottom is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.


Creamy Chicken and Spinach Tortellini Soup

1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 (10 3/4 ounce) cans reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated cooked diced chicken breast
2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Cook tortellini in a Dutch oven according to package directions, using 1 can broth instead of water.  Add soup and remaining ingredients, stirring well.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook until thoroughly heated.
Serves 6 ( 1 1/3 cup servings)


Fall Pork Dinner

1/4
cup packed brown sugar
1
tablespoon firm margarine or butter, cut up
1/2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2
small acorn squash
1
small unpeeled red cooking apple
1/3
cup Bisquick Heart Smart® mix
1/2
teaspoon seasoned salt
1/8
teaspoon pepper
5
saltine crackers, crushed
1
egg white or 2 tablespoons fat-free egg product
1
tablespoon water
3
boneless pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick (3/4 lb)

  • 1Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, margarine and cinnamon until crumbly; set aside. Cut squash into 1/2-inch rings. Cut rings in half; remove seeds. Cut apple into chunks.
  • 2In shallow dish, stir together Bisquick® mix, seasoned salt, pepper and cracker crumbs. In another shallow dish, mix egg white and water. Dip pork into egg mixture, then coat with Bisquick mixture.
  • 3Spray 10-inch skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Cook pork in skillet 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until coating is brown.
  • 4Place pork in ungreased 8-inch square or 11x7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish. Arrange squash and apples around pork. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Bake uncovered 40 to 45 minutes or until squash is tender and until pork is no longer pink in center.





Fall Fall Fall!

Fall is such a fun time of year, I love love it!  I just wanted to write and give you ladies some inspiration to decorate, curl up under a nice cozy blanket with a fall drink, do a fun fall craft with your kiddos, and give you some fun fall activities to do with your kids!  

From my poetry days long ago:

 Warm sunlight, yet cold faces
Pumpkin carving and potato sack races
Turning leaves and cherry pie
Delightful aromas, wood smoke filling the sky
Daylight fading faster, nights becoming long
The soft spooky call of an owl's song
Colors soft and warm filling the skies
Fall arrives as the last of summer dies
Decorating for fall is SUCH fun.  One of my favorite things to do is go down to the basement and bring up my big box o' fall decorations, turn on some Michael Buble music ( i love his music!), and decorating every room in my home.  
If you are low on finances, here are some SUPER cheap things you can do.  These are pictures from around my home and they ALL come from my favorite place... the dollar store!   

Decorate all around your home with dollar packs of leaves over door frames, on the kitchen table, on top of your tv.  Set out cute bowls of dollar store candy corns.  Make cheap displays on top of bookshelves and table tops of pumpkins, gords, pine cones, baskets.  purchase a pack of 3/ $1 battery tea light candles that flicker and place them all around your home and inside pumpkins:                            
 





My husband's biggest love language is acts of service.  He loves it when he comes home to a clean house that smells warm and cozy.  This is a GREAT idea for fall to get your home smelling like a picture in a magazine and it's totally cheap!  

*You can pick up a big jar of cinnamon (or even cinnamon sticks) at the dollar store. 
*cut and peel orange skins... the more you use, the more it will smell.  
*sprinkle cinnamon on top of orange peels.  About 1/2 TBS. should do it.  Bring to a rolling boil and continue to simmer as long as you want.  Will make your house smell DEVINE!
*You can also reuse the peels.  Simply drain and refrigerate until the next use!


Another great way to show your husband or family  some support after a long day's work:  FOOD!  Food is the way to anyone's heart... right?  Here are some YUMMY fall treats that I'm dying to have right now. To keep this post shorter, I'm adding these onto the recipes tab at the top of the blog.  Simply match up the photo and it will be located there for you.
                                                         










Stay tuned for a big blog post on some fun fall crafts for your kiddos and some fall time activities you can do as a family!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Prayer and ponderings

Moms!  I know I cannot be the only one out there feeling this way.  In fact, I know I am not.  I LOVE pinterest.  Love it.  If I actually had the time to do so, I'd sit there for hours repinning (most of the time probably pinning things that I will never get to).  Things that I want, ways in which I wish my house to be, ways to be a more spiritual parent, crafts I want to make, recipes I want to try.  I get on there with such high expectations of myself, such as getting inspired to take the plunge into trying to cook with only my crock pot for an entire year.  It can be done, but that's not who I am.

      Do you ever come off of a website like that feeling inadeqate?  I do, all the time.  Why can't I be like Martha Stewart?  Why can't my house smell of roasting oranges and cinnamon for my husband when he comes home from work? Why can't my child's room be so put together that it looks like something out of a magazine?  Why can't I cook like that?  Why can't I ever put together outfits like that?  Why can't I come up with unique and original ideas?  Why aren't I a size 2?  WHY?  WHY? WHY?

        I'll tell you why.  It's because in my own life, the minute I start comparing myself to the perfection of others, I fall short.  My #1 ministry (as I am learning a LOT lately) is to my family.  But if I am so engrossed in taking time to research how I much better I could be doing at my job, it's a sin to me.  God wants ME.  He wants ME.  He wants ALL of me.  He wants WHAT I have, creative or not.
            I  just bet you that if you really got on there and researched into someone's life, such as someone with a story book kitchen, that you would see that their kitchen may very well be the ONLY thing that's like that.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with having a beautiful hobby, or cook a fantastic meal.  But it's the moment when you start second guessing yourself that isn't right.  I am guilty of it first.
        My family wants ME!  My 2 year old Blake doesn't come to me and say "Mommy thank you for my awesome crafts that you let me do" or "Mommy the house looks AMAZING" ... he comes up to me and says "Mommy, I need you" or "Mommy I love you"...or he comes up and tickles me.   He wants Mommy, not mommy's perfection.
        I have decided that instead of pouring over magazines and webpages and books about how I can constantly better myself, that I will take some of that time, praying for my son.  He's only 2 years old, but still needs prayer. (I'm not giving up pinterest completely, I'm just not going to obsess anymore)
Ironically, I found this on pinterest :)   But how TRUE.  I always have dreamed of being the kind of parent to pray for my children.  I think I will actually sit down and do it now that I have a physical list in front of me.
Be encouraged ladies. We are in this thing together to encourage one another in love and prayer.