English Muffin Bread

To make this AWESOME toasting bread you will need:

• 1 tbs Honey 
• 1/4 tsp. Baking powder
• 5 1/2 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp kosher salt (if using table salt use 1 1/4 tsp) 
• 2 tbs yeast
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup water (warmed) 

{Butter and cornmeal to grease and coat loaf pans)


Steps:

• Mix yeast, honey, and water and set aside. (don't let sit too long) 
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• Stir salt, baking powder, and flour together.
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• Add milk and 1 cup of the flour mixture to yeast mix, blend well and continue to add flour mixture until you have a soft sticky dough. 
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• Spoon into two loaf pans and set someplace warm and moist until doubled in size, (30-45 minutes) 
• Preheat oven to 425*F, sprinkle tops of loaves with cornmeal and bake 15-20 minutes. The loaves will be browned and sound hollow when tapped. 

Let cool COMPLETELY before slicing and toasting! Enjoy !!!!

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This bread is a family favorite and we tend to go through it quite quickly, my suggestion is to double the recipe or make an afternoon of this with the kids because it freezes really well if you wrap it twice in plastic then in aluminum foil. 

Making It Together (Andrew and Mama Day)

Today was another "started like any other" day. Breakfast, dressed, chores, etc. Then DJ headed off to work and me and the kids went about our day. Now lately I have been having a lot of trouble staying asleep and have averaged maybe 3-4 hours a night of actual rest, so I have a bit of a short fuse as well as lingering headaches and fatigue. (I plan to address this issue with my doctor when I see him next week, if I can make it that long). So my days I wake up and hope beyond hope that the kids will keep the rivalries to a minimum. Today has been pretty good in that regard. Mckenzee made lunch for her and Spencer (some peanut butter and banana sandwiches) then once he went down for his nap she headed outside to play with her friends. Andrew stayed inside with me because he wanted to do a project. 

Turns out his project was his version of a Titanic replica made out of cardboard recyclables I had around the house and my glue gun! 
He is really good at figuring out how to make the items look like his favorite famous ship! 

He worked on it for about two hours, cutting, folding, gluing and taping until he had a pretty good start to the Titanic. Tomorrow we plan to do a little more work on it and hopefully even get to the point of painting it as well. (There will be finished pictures posted in the post I have after he finishes it). Here is what it looks like right now with the work he put into it today. 
I am very excited to see how it will turn out in the end, I am very proud that he came up with this all on his own. I love that he is so into the history of such a famous part of this world's past. 

Andrew and I also made corn chowder tonight for dinner, which happens to be a family favorite.

 Here is how you can make it at home yourself:

1/2 cup butter
One medium onion, chopped
4-5 large potatoes chopped into bite size pieces (this feeds 5 people, you can use more potatoes if you want to feed more people) 
One 12 oz can Evaporated Milk 
One 14 oz can Cream Corn
One 14 oz Kernel Corn (drained)
Salt & Pepper (to taste) 

In a large pot saute onions in butter until translucent and soft, add in chopped potatoes and toss with butter and onions. Cover potatoes in water (just until covered) and cook over medium heat until tender. Add can of milk and cans of corn and return to low simmer cooking until heated through. 
Serve and Enjoy! 

((My kids love this meal and it is a great meatless dinner night recipe however I do know some like to add bite size cooked chicken as an alternative.))

So today everything we did was home made and done just me and him. Tomorrow Mckenzee and I will do somethings together just her and Mama! I love when days work out like this. 

Now we are ending our night with some Harry Potter, watermelon, popcorn, and some cuddles. (Mckenzee will be attending camp come the 19th and it is Harry Potter themed so we are getting her prepped up for it) 

Hope you all have a wonderful night! 

Trying New Foods and Recipes

Since I am trying to eat a little better and I am trying to get out of the food rut we seem to be in, (I do not want to keep making the same things all the time) I have incorporated some new foods into our meals and new recipes! The first thing I tried in the last week (which I have found I love) is "The Golden Spurtle" which is a steel cut (also known as pinhead) oatmeal. It reminds me of Maypo (another favorite). I added some dried cranberries and almonds to it and it was spectacular! It was so good I wanted to have it as a snack after dinner so I saved it in the fridge and reheated it with some milk and it was so good! 

I have also been eating more fruit and vegetables every chance I get! I love eating grapes, oranges, apples, peaches and more with the kids because they love it all too! I have been drinking more water especially since I have done more walking lately. My inspiration was a little forced due to feeling like a big failure but I am determined to become more healthy one way or another. 

Just felt like taking a picture! :) 

We also tried a new recipe this week. A few nights ago I had taken out some sauce that I had made and was just going to boil some pasta and bake some biscuits and that was going to be that...then I had an idea! I had remembered seeing a recipe for Chicken Parmesan using frozen chicken nuggets (which I have an abundance of with kids in the house). So I found the recipe and I modified it a little using some jarred Mozzarella Sauce (Ragu) and my sauce layering first the frozen nuggets in a 13x9, then slowly layering the mozzarella sauce, my sauce and some grated Parmesan cheese. I popped it in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes, then I pulled it out and topped it with some grated Mozzarella cheese and put it back in for another 15 mins. While that was baking up all yummy I boiled the water for the pasta and used a muffin tin to put my refrigerated biscuits in (since I still don't have a cookie sheet). 15 minutes later I was pulling out everything from the oven and my family was drooling over the smells of greatness wafting through the house! Dinner was a HUGE hit that night! I am so glad I decided to make it and even more glad that a new recipe did so well with the whole family (that is just rare). 

I can't wait to try some other new recipes! 

#SuperChef #MamaChef #Shocking

I've Got Betty Crocker Fantasies and June Cleaver Dreams

For many years I have wished to be the kind of mom that was there when the kids got home from school, with fresh baked cookies, cold milk, and a smile. Yeah I had delusions that I was a 50s housewife....I now know better.

Now when the kids get home from school I have a vacuum in one hand, a screaming toddler on my hip, and a burning smell coming from the oven. My dreams have been shattered into to unrecognizable pieces due to the way the world works. 

One income is just not enough unless that person who works is 

A: a celebrity

B: A CEO of something

C: Donald Trump! 

To provide for our family takes two incomes, one of which I make at 3am! I get up between 2:15 and 2:30 am go to work and get home sometime between 8:30 and 10 am depending on the amount of work to be done and how many people decided to call out that day. When I get home the kids are either just getting up or just finishing breakfast and their father is wrangling them on his own. Sometimes I take the time he is home before heading to work himself and I lay down for a little bit since odds are I didn't sleep much the night before. (I average about 3 1/2-4 hours a night on a good night) After my nap it is usually time for me to take over anything else that needs to be done with the kids/dinner/housework so that my fiance can head out to work himself. He (most days) works from 4pm-midnight and sometimes even later! (I just got a call from him saying he is working extra tonight because he has to do inventory now since the person scheduled to do it is "sick") *sigh* ANYWAYS even with us BOTH working we just barely find ways to make ends meet. We do it and we make it work, but it is tough and stressful and tiring. I just want to bake cookies!!! 

Now don't get me wrong I try to find time to bake yummy treats and around the holiday season (October-January) I am a goddess in an apron cooking up all kinds of seasonal favorites which I will privy you to when the time comes. However it would be great to have an always clean house, no overwhelming laundry pile, the smell of yummy chocolate chip cookies wafting from the oven and a constant smile but this is not an episode of Leave it to Beaver! This is "The Avery-Mather-Hacketts" and we work hard, play hard, and are doing the best we can. 

I can find some solace in the fact that my kids are happy (most of the time), I wake each morning with the opportunity to breathe and make the day special, and that I KNOW I am doing the best I can and have FINALLY moved up in the world to a place where I can feel like a strong, confident, mother who loves her family! 

Now to change the subject a little just because I can. I made an excellent EASY stir fry last night that I threw together using little things I happened to have! 

Here is what I used:

1 chicken breast (cut into small bite size pieces)

{1/2 cup of orange juice

1 tsp garlic powder (I would have used fresh if I had it) 

1/4 cup of honey 

1/4 cup of Kikkoman Soy Sauce} 

mix all these together for your marinade and toss with chicken and refrigerate for 20 mins.

You will also need 

1 pkg. McCormack Brown Gravy Mix

1 cup water 

1 or 2 pkgs of Ramen (I used chicken flavored) or Mashed potatoes works well too! 

1 pkg of frozen stir fry veggies (I used Bird's Eye) 

Mix gravy mix and water and set aside...

Heat a 10 in skillet and 2 tbs of oil (use whichever you would like) cook chicken until no longer pink. In separate pan cook Ramen or Mashed potatoes using their cooking directions on the package. Once chicken is cooked add frozen stir fry veggies and cook until thawed and heated through. Stir the gravy liquid and slowly add to hot pan of veggies and chicken and cook until thickened. Toss with cooked Ramen or spoon over mashed potatoes. It is so good and so easy! 

I hope you take the time to try this at least once because it is so yummy. You can adjust this in any way and I invite you to post in the comments how it comes out so maybe I could try it as well! Happy Eating Faithful Readers, I hope you enjoyed my small dream...and my wacky reality! I would love you hear about what some of your dreams or accomplishments are feel free to share! 

#MamaBettyJuneDreamer #NewRecipes 

We Made It!

My Cookbook

So today we did our first home made projects!  I have been wanting to do some home made items for a while now but it always seems like time and supplies are never fully on hand.  HOWEVER, today I made sure I was fully prepped and ready to go....I had my recipes,

Our Supplies!

and my supplies, 

The Happy Helper

and my happy helper!


First Mckenzee and Spencer had their yummy lunch (which I am proud to say Mckenzee made all by herself) of a ham and cheese sandwich and chips for her, and roasted chicken, mickey mouse cheese faces, and apple juice for him. I myself am also proud of what I have since I am doing my best to eat a lot better.  I had a salad of chicken, cherry tomatoes, greens, Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing on the side. I also put a little black pepper on my salad which made me rarely even use the dressing so I was kinda glad of that. I had an ice water and a clementine to round out my lunch which was totally awesome!

Needless to say everyone ate it all up and we were ready in no time to get started!


First we started the finger paints I measured everything out and let Mckenzee add it to our pot on the stove. Here is the recipe I used :

Original Finger paint

Ingredients

1/2 cup cornstarch

3 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups cold water

food coloring

Directions

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You're ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.

Find recipe and more at :: http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_42.html#Original%20Fingerpaint

Stirring the pot!

 Mckenzee begged me to let her do some mixing so I did, she was very careful and had fun until her hand got too hot.

Mckenzee squeezing the syrup into her hot water int he jar.

While we were waiting for the paint to go from a thin liquid to the think consistency we needed we got started on the calming jars, one for Mckenzee and one for me!  This is the recipe we used to make our Calming Jars::

Mason jar or baby food jar.  Really, any kind of watertight jar will work.

added the food coloring...

Hot water

Food coloring

Glitter

Glitter glue

Karo/Corn Syrup

and glitter!

“Mix 1 Tbsp of pink glitter-glue with about 1 cup of hot water, fill jar the rest of the way with corn syrup,  then add food coloring and a tiny tub of glitter. The glue and corn syrup makes the water so thick and gooey that the glitter just slowly and gently swirls around, it takes about 5 minutes for all the glitter to settle, perfect to gather your thoughts!  - See more at: http://www.dumpyourfrump.com/2011/09/29/use-a-mind-jar-to-calm-yourself/#sthash.kmN3pGIJ.dpuf

Mckenzee had a little trouble making sure to get glitter in JUST the jar but hey she is a "sparkly" girl so why not let her sparkle right?   She also liked the way the layers didn't mix until we shook the jar! Once we glued the lid on (to keep a child from opening it and spilling it I would recommend doing this yourself) she shook the jar and couldn't stop smiling!

I put together my jar while Mckenzee washed up and once we cleaned up everything from our jars it was time to take our paint off the heat and let it cool.

Mckenzee used that time to get started on her Valentine's Day cards for her classmates, since she decided this year she wanted to make them instead of buying them! (I am very proud of her for wanting to make them all special and different) 

After she did some cards and I washed up the dishes and counters the paint mixture had cooled!  We were finally ready to put it in our jars and color it! 

We started with yellow since it was our lightest color and I armed Mckenzee with a disposable baby spoon (which was a perfect size for the baby food jars we were making the paint in) and some food coloring.  She had a blast watching the white paint turn into the colors and before we knew it we had a rainbow of colors in our little jars! 

She even wanted me to line them up as such so we could take a picture of them to show you! WE LOVE RAINBOWS around here! 

All in all we had a fun little crafty day and hope to do something fun again soon.  I have lots of fun ideas I just have to get the supplies to make! 

 These are our finished jars! Blue for her "Like the Ocean" she says, and green for me well because it is my FAVORITE color!!!

Our Finished paints and jars and the happiest little helper! 

More to come.......

Another cooking adventure and a Trip to the Bug Museum

Cheeseburger Soup

So I had a new adventure in cooking on Sunday, I made Cheeseburger Soup! 

It seemed to be pretty well received too as I was able to get some "Mommy that was yummy's" out of my picky daughter! Guess I am definitely going to keep Yumprint.com as a place to get all my yummy recipe ideas! 

Tonight was a big hit as well. I made Ham and Scalloped Potato Casserole in the crock pot and it was AWESOME! So out of the three meals I have tried from that site, three of them were great! 

Ham and Scalloped Potatoes

On Saturday before DJ headed to work we took advantage of the fun at the Bug Museum and took the kids. There we were able to use a coupon to get a free caterpillar for Mckenzee to help grow into a butterfly. There was also rock drawing, picture stamp crafts, face painting, caterpillar races, and chalk drawing. Mckenzee got to check out all kinds of bugs from around the world and lots of reptiles as well, she even touched a few!