Leap Day

Luke 6:23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. (KJV)

Happy Leap Day! Today has been a stormy weather kind of day, tornado warnings and all. I had planned all kinds of leap day fun with my little handsomes, but some of that time was interrupted for time spent in the basement. Not that we still didn't try to find fun things to do! I started working on a baby shower gift. Then we sorted through some warmer season clothes hoping to find some things for the littlest handsome to use for upcoming months. And then of course, we had out the play dough and all kinds of toys.

Our leap day craft still made it into our afternoon! I cut out some shapes and let the boys glue them to their papers into a frog. After faces were drawn, we wrote out this Bible verse. I even joined them for some frog leaping race fun! Haha! Loved every minute of that, even if I looked a little silly. 

(please excuse the pic quality, as my camera is currently at my parents)

I think this passage of scripture reminds us that no matter what storms of life may come our way--if we are poor or hungry, weeping or sad, or looked down upon--we are actually rich if we know HIM! So rejoice, and leap for joy!

Have a blessed LEAP day, and remember to rejoice in the Lord always!
-Cindy

Who wants pancakes?

Cooked pancakes for my little handsomes! We ate A LOT, and there is still plenty to go around! Guess that's what happens when I make a double batch and it's only us eating them. Our bellies were full, and the food was yummy!

These are great pancakes!!!! (And vegan...although no one would know if you didn't tell.) I have tried tons of recipes, but always go back to these. I just alter this plain, traditional pancake recipe to what I want. I have made them with whole wheat (substititing half of plain flour for WW), blueberry, apple cinnamon, chocolate chip, and even adding flax. My most recent adventure was to leave big pieces/slices of apples for a fritter taste.(I ate most of those, so you can't see them in the picture.) And again, I thought they were a success.

Try them! I think you will agree.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups rice milk (also have used soy)  
• ¼ cup applesauce (or 1 TBSP ground flax with 3 TBSP water mixture)
• 3 tablespoons oil

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, applesauce (or flax) and oil; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

 -Cindy

Love

Happy Valentine's Day! I feel so blessed to have married a wonderful man, and share our lives together, and for our beautiful children. I love them very much! And my wonderful and loving family as well!

My thought for today would be 'Who do we love? How do we show our love? Are we a light of love to those around us?'

John 13:34-35 (NKJV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Matthew 22:34-40 (NKJV)

 

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Have a blessed Valentine's Day!

Dino Valentines

Valentine's Day is approaching quickly! My oldest little handsome and I just finished his Valentine's cards today. We weren't really in a hurry to do them, and even more importantly, he wasn't ready to make his final selection of the keep vs give pile. But we were excited to work on them today!...just in time I might add!

You see, several weeks ago, we took a quick trip to the dollar store. A certain bag of toys caught his little eyes--dinosaurs. He loves animals of all kinds, and is now getting into the dinosaur phase of his animal loving. Well, he wanted the dinosaurs so badly. And usually, we just go on about our shopping, and I remind he we will stop by another time to see the particular toy when we return to the store.

This time, however, I thought I would let him get some. Valentine treats and cards were making their way into stores, and I had the idea to let him use these for his valentines. He loved the idea, so we bought a couple bags. Today was the day that he was ready to choose which he wanted to give and which he was keeping for him and his brother. I typed out a Valentine message onto a paper background from Sassy-designs, printed, cut, and placed them in rows for personalization of names and dinosaurs.

He helped read all the names off our list, then added a special heart stamp to each card for the Valentine effect. Then came the decision time. All dinosaurs came out, and he carefully placed one on each card, making sure to see who was getting what.

We punched a few holes for our yarn, tied them on, and layed them out for him to see. He approved!

And now they are all waiting in a little bag that he placed by the door, ready to go!

Enjoyed this time with him today! We had fun!
-Cindy

Pork Tenderloin and Sauerkraut

I love easy meals that I can fix up and let cook all day. So when I saw this idea for a crock pot dinner of pork, sauerkraut, sweet potatoes, and apples, I thought I needed to try it! What a great sounding comfort food for cooler days!

I have to admit, I very rarely use my crock pot, but my dutch oven, well that's a different story! I use it every week for soups, chicken, etc. So out came my trusty kitchen pot and in went the food. I didn't follow the original recipe exactly, but instead used it as inspiration.

Pork Tenderloin and Sauerkraut

one boneless pork tenderloin

3 large sweet potatoes, cut into large chunks

1 large apple, peeled and cut

2 small cans sauerkraut (probably 15oz cans, or somewhere in that area...I can't remember exactly)

1 cup baby carrots

1/2 onion, largely chopped 

garlic

salt

pepper

olive oil

Lightly brown tenderloin in drizzle of olive oil. Place remaining ingredients in dutch oven and season to taste. Pour approx one cup of water in pan to cover potatoes and carrots. Cover, then place in preheated oven at 350 for 2-3hrs.

Enjoy!! If you want to have more of a stew-like meal, you can add additional water prior to baking.

You can see what my meal looked like after combining all ingredients. However, I didn't manage to get a picture after it came out of the oven! Straight to our bellies it went! :)

-Cindy