These days, meals come in prepackaged boxes…everything from potatoes to cakes…just add water, perhaps an egg or two, and voila! - dinner is served. Our society is just go, go, go! Maybe it’s due to the fact that I live in the country, but I love baking from scratch. It’s less expensive, healthier (I know exactly what ingredients I’m putting into a dish…and can pronounce them for that matter), a great experience for the girls (educationally & emotionally…a wonderful chance to bond with my girls), and fun! If it can be done, I will do it - or at least attempt to :)  I didn’t have the luxury of having this taught to me. Instead, through trial and error, I learned how to bake from scratch just in the past year - it’s become very important to me that I pass this down to my daughters.

On Friday, Lilli and I made chocolate pudding from scratch. We used the “Hasty Chocolate Pudding” recipe from Allrecipes.com. Here it is in step by step instructions, with photos
Ingredients:

1 c. white sugar
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
6T. cornstarch
4c. milk
4t. vanilla

(note that T.= tablespoon and t.= teaspoon)

1. In a microwave safe bowl (this can be done over the stove as well but it would just take longer - see my “go, go, go” comment above…lol), whisk together the sugar, cocoa, & cornstarch. Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps.

2. Place in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on HIGH.

3. Stir. Then cook at 1 minute intervals, stirring between cooking times for 2 - 4 minutes, or until shiny and thick. Stir in vanilla.

3. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming (the pudding will be HOT, so be careful!)

4. Chill in the fridge. Serve cold. Enjoy!

What do you like to pass down to your children?

The Mexican Baked Fish dinner I made last night brought on the tears…and not in a good way. One bite and Corinne was crying, “I n’wanna!!” She ended up eating a hot dog. Not quite Mexican, but it she was happy. Surprisingly, Lilli finished hers - perhaps our talks about being thankful for what God has given us has had an affect on her. Michael had a few bites but was full because he “ate a lot of chips and salsa.” Don’t worry family, this wanna-be chef threw this recipe in the trash. (As a side note, I will be trying it with a different type of fish…I know now that cod is just too fishy for us)

Mexican Cookie Rings were a success for dessert though. Corinne was quite excited - “Mmm…cake!” I guess that makes it all better

Around here, Fridays are “Clarke Family Pizza Party Day” where mom (that’s me) makes the dough and the rest of the family gets to decorate their own pizzas. Lilli really looks forward to Fridays because she “just loves pizza so much!” I wanted to add another theme to the week’s menu so I decided to look at what the rest of my family loves to eat:

Eleanor: Mommy’s Milk
Corinne: CARBS, CARBS, CARBS!
Michael: Mexican

Well, I’m not going to pass myself around to the rest of my family, and we sure can’t just have bread for a meal, so I decided that Mexican was the way to go. I had originally thought of “Taco Tuesday,” but Michael suggested “Mexican Monday,” which of course is brilliant because it leaves the menu open to other entrees other than just tacos. Yesterday was our first Mexican Monday:

The Enchiladas were a hit with the fam, but my Flan wasn’t. I guess not everyone can have an “educated palette” (right Dad?)

Let me first start off by saying YUM! The girls and I baked, or rather - did NOT bake - cookies today. In fact, they are called, “No Bake Oatmeal Cookies.” Lilli had fun making the little balls of dough, while Corinne had fun eating whatever Lilli mistakenly dropped This is a great recipe if you have kids…it calls for few ingredients, little hands are able to help out, they’re ready in about 20 mins, and since you don’t bake them, you don’t have to worry about cooling off time or anyone burning their little mouths. There is ONE problem though…they’re so addictive so watch out!

Okay, I have a sleeping baby in my lap and the rest of my family is playing outside - it’s a sunny 80 degrees with a nice breeze - I’m jealous. But before I run out to meet them, I just HAVE to blog about my super day (did I mention it was sunny, 80 degrees, with a slight breeze out??):

* Church this morning was wonderful! We had the amazing opportunity to hear Mike Licona speak. What an incredibly intelligent, not to mention quite humorous, man.

* Even though CVS doesn’t have any oh-my-gosh-I-have-to-run-out-the-door-this-instant deals this week, they do have a buy (4) 12 pack of Pepsi for $11.00, get (1) 12 pack free. That deal is great, but when I added my $2 off $10 purchase AND a $2 ECB, that brought it down to a total (including tax) of $7.17 for 60 cans of Pepsi! WOW! And yes, I will be heading back before the week is over to pick up some more Hey, when you’re hubby is a Pepsi-holic, you do what you have to do

* I baked bread. Yes, I’ve baked bread before, but this one is called Sweet Bread. Sweet and bread together? I had to try my hand at it…and I’m happy I did. Not only did I love it, but the fam did too. It is quite similar to a dinner roll type of bread, but it’s lighter and fluffier. YUUUUMMM!

* But where were the girls when I was baking bread?? SLEEPING! YES! All at the same time….incredible

Now I’m off to play outside with the rest of the Clarkes!

…sometimes means leaving your room a mess to go have a really cool muffin cup lunch.

(This post was inspired by Mandi…who makes awesome moments with her three girls)

Let me set the record straight-

I NEVER WANT TO BE A CHEF! I know I’ve blogged about being inspired to cook before, but I’m blaming that on Disney’s Ratatouille and their oh so cute slogan, “Anyone Can Cook.” Sure, people are physically able to cook…but to actually want to do it (over and over and over again…like our insanely-creative-chef-brother-in-law, Justin) is a different story.

In the past two days, I have made 9 different recipes to prepare for Eleanor’s arrival (note: this does NOT include daily cooking for the fam). I’m tired…my feet are swollen…I smell like cilantro.

BUT - Here’s what I accomplished today:

Broccoli, Cheese, and Rice Casserole

More Muffins

Oatmeal Cookies

Chili (I like to add corn and green beans as well)

Corn Bread Muffins (thank goodness for mixes!)

Chicken & Rice Casserole

If I can get one more dinner prepared, I think we’ll be set (thank goodness for leftovers!). I’m saving that task for tomorrow though

I have been wanting to make freezable meals for the family in preparation for my time confined in the hospital (if Eleanor ever decides to arrive) and today I started…that’s right…started. Talk about waiting until the last minute! I should have been doing this for the past month, but for some reason, the normal “must plan ahead” part of my brain wasn’t working. However, I always did perform well under pressure so I’m not too worried…yet
Ideally, I’d like to make a weeks worth of meals (that’s between 14-21 meals if I decide to make freezable breakfasts…the fam may just have to settle for cereal). Luckily, Michael is pretty handy in the kitchen…I was just hoping to help him out a little more.

Here’s what I made today:

1 dozen Black Raspberry Muffins (obviously I omitted the blueberries…but they are just as tasty!)

Kraft Parmesan Meatballs

Mandi’s Baked Ziti

Fudgy Fudge Pie was something extra I made today for all my hard work Boy is it good!!

One day down…um six to go? *** Wondering if I can complete this tomorrow…. ***

Thursday night, tired, still pregnant but pretty much ready to go into labor at any moment (I’m already at 2cm as of Tuesday, not to mention other things going on), not wanting to cook, and just plain old not wanting to do anything…what do I do? Order Chinese take out. I love Chinese food, so I wasn’t disappointed, but as far as my fortune…

…boy were they WAY off!

I have tried to find a PERFECT banana bread recipe - they’re either too banana-y, too dry, or tastes like card board (granted I really don’t know what that tastes like, so I’m guessing). But now when someone asks, “Do you happen to have a banana bread recipe?” I can smile and say, “You betcha!”

Banana Bread Recipe