Now that you have an entire carton of Costco blueberries to try theBlueberry Scones with Lemon Glazerecipe, It was only fair that I gave you another blueberry recipe, right? Tis the season! :)
This is a recipe that Mike and I have been using since the first year of our marriage. This was originally my mother in law's recipe.- Through the years I have tweaked it to make it our own without realizing how much I had changed it. A few years back I hosted a recipe exchange with my inlaws and had this recipe titled "Deawn's Oatmeal Cinnamon Pancakes" .. or something like that ... but she had brought her recipe too! .... Except they were completely different! She looked at it and said, "this isn't my recipe!'' --- Ha!
I'm always weary of claiming other people's recipes as my own if I only change small things, but apparently, I had changed the whole recipe.. so I can confidently say that... this is....
Cara's Oatmeal Cinnamon Pancakes
These are great as pancakes or waffles! I'm more of a pancake girl... it's probably the "cake" involved.. anyway.. Serve with syrup, or for a healthier option: yogurt, fresh fruit or apple sauce! We like to make the dry ingredient mix in bulk and put them in Ziploc baggies for quick breakfasts! J
A half batch is perfect for 2-3 people J
Cara’s
Oatmeal Cinnamon Pancakes
2 c Quick Oats
½ c Brown Sugar
1 c Flour
1 c Whole Wheat Flour
1 ½ T baking powder
1T (heaping J) Cinnamon
¼ t cream of tarter
MIX… then add
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 c water
1 c milk
We love adding chopped walnuts or pecans and blueberries - both are optional, but they make it so so good!! :)
Place on a griddle or frying pan.....
How do you like the legs on my griddle? So... it's seen a few rough moves.... BUT! It works!
"Use it up, Wear it out. Make it due, or due without!" ... right? :)
Now this part may be old news to you, but... when I got married, along with not knowing how to boil noodles, burning poptarts and making soggy mac and cheese... I made soggy pancakes, they were either burnt, or still batter in the middle.
(My lack of cooking skills was such a blow to my pride, I had grown up watching and helping my mom in the kitchen... I suppose I missed "Poptarts 101" and the "How to Boil Noodles" class :))
My sister in law Jenny taught me this trick:
See those little tiny bubbles? When those fellas start to show up, you know it's time to flip! :)
Leaving YOU with Beautiful pancakes! :)
Remember, these are made with whole wheat flour, so they are brown, not white :).
And NOW! For the finale! .......
Dun da da dunnnnn....
Another stunning presentation.... hee hee...
No, but seriously.
REAL moment here.... I have boxed up my pretty plates and bowls... too many of them have broke. Plastic is my new best friend. It washes easily, and when Claire throws a tantrum and swipes her plate off the table... the plate survives... Claire might not.. but the plate does :) heheh jk.
I. Love. Plastic.
Now, I'm not going to tell you to appreciate this picture, even though it took 10 minutes and 2 plates to take... I won't tell you that it looked drab, so I pulled out frozen blueberries from the freezer, thawed them out in a sippy cup and am now typing with purple stained fingers.... because, apparently.. I am no photographer... But I won't tell you that..because that's too real :) .. hehehe
I know you will love this recipe :)
I like to double the recipe and use my regular waffle iron, then freeze them. They fit perfectly in the toaster and come out tasting fresh! Crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside.. yum! I loved having these on hand when I was pregnant and didn't want to make breakfast! :) ... or lunch.... or dinner.... ehem...
My precious Benjamin was born with a birth defect called Laryngomalacia. It is a condition where the epiglottis is not firm and flops together and closes off his airways. So every time he breathed in, he would make a loud, high pitched sound
Here is a video I took of him right before his first surgery. We had run out of the tabs for his o2 so we had tape on one side! :) We figured we wouldn't need them in a few days.:
When we went into the clinic at 6 weeks old, in the dead of winter, for his diagnosis, he caught RSV and nearly died .I know that sounds dramatic, but when you can't breath, you die. I don't think we realized how serious it was in the moment.
(The picture on the bottom was at his worst, he was even more miserable then he looks....in the middle, if you look closely, you can see his little nose bleeding from needing to 'deep suction' his nose so much... it was awful.)
The anticipated surgery didn't fix the problem. At his follow up appointment, we found that scar tissue had built up from the surgery and was covering his airways. He went in for a second surgery the next day..... which still didn't fix the problem.
Needless to say, it was a long, hard road full of sleepless nights, beeping pulse oximeters and many many tears.
BUT- I'm happy to report that my little powerhouse is finally on room air day and night!
It took 7 months to get here, but - I think we've made it to
the light at the end of the tunnel!!
He's loud enough where people who don't know Ben's situation give me all sorts of looks, but he's getting enough o2 in and he's happy and growing well! It feels amazing! :)
As things have been settling down, I have had a few moments to reflect. It was all such a whirlwind.
I mostly thought about my sweet Sammy and Claire.
This picture was taken after they had been away with friends and family for almost 2 weeks while they were both sick and Ben had his RSV.
I missed them so much it hurt. When they finally got home we were so happy! They were really confused about what was going on with Ben. We had tanks, and tubes and cords EVERYWHERE!
For a while I had to continually remind them that Ben's o2 tubes were not for jump roping and it was especially not a balance beam. At one point in the middle of the day, Ben's oximeter started beeping like crazy, we couldn't figure out what was going on. Claire had gone into the back room and switched his oxygen off! She wasn't trying to be bad, she was just barely 2 and really curious.
It was a rough and rocky road for them too. They saw me scared and crying more then I ever wanted. With ER trips becoming routine and a trip to the hospital in an ambulance,
they were scared too.
It was so hard to know how much they needed me, but I had to take care of Ben.
As I have looked back and wondered how we survived, I came up with this list of things we did to help Sam and Claire feel loved. Even this wasn't quite enough, but it was more then I had to give.
I'm typing this out in hopes that if someone else finds themselves in a situation when crisis hits, and just like us, you have NO idea what to do, that this will help a little.
I am absolutely, and obviously NO EXPERT. There were so many things we probably did wrong. We were under water and felt like we were wingin' it for months - but these are the things that seemed to have the best results.
6 Ways to Help Your Children During A Time of Family Crisis
#1. Let Go.... That's right, I said "let go!" That was probably the hardest thing for me. Let go of your struggle to allow people to help you. Let go of needing a clean house, especially when people come to visit. It was more important to spend what ever time I had with my kids... not the dishes..... It was a messy while. . .This will help them..
#2 Let your kids "let go" ... meaning ...
If your son wants to take that Iron Man toy around EVERYWHERE. Let him.
(This is Sam giving Iron Man a "bath" while I was giving Ben a bath)
If your daughter wants to be a monkey, morning noon and night, no matter where you are... let her.
If he is just certain that that cereal bowl with the plastic cups taped all over it is the PB and J machine off of "Meet the Robinsons" and insists on wearing all of the time... roll with it.
(He's quite the little inventor :))
And last, but not least... if your daughter is fulfilled by sticking her head out the window during a windstorm like a dog on a car ride... join in.
I'm not saying that they should be allowed to run a muck, but if there is something that is harmless even if it's not .... normal..... let them. Let them have something they can do that is innocent and makes them happy.
#3 It will be hard, and even seem impossible most of the time, but make one on one time with them a priority. It didn't happen much, but it made a world of difference when we were able to.
We did simple things. We went to dinner, went puddle hopping, went for a ride listening to their favorite songs, visited the pet store to look at all of the creatures... shared treats from little bakeries we would find... simple things that didn't cost much, but was good quality time.
#4 Let them be in charge of something. One day when everyone was napping, Sam and I talked. He was struggling.
I just ached for him...
then something popped in my mind, and without completely thinking it through, I said
"Sammy, our family needs to have fun, hu? Will you plan a party for us?"
... His eyes lit up "like the 4th of July" :) -
He was so excited! We went through the possibilities and he chose a beach party! Above all, he wanted popsicles and lemonade and they HAD to wear their swim suits. He helped cut out big suns and waves from butcher paper and made faces and fishes every where.
It was so fun seeing him so "in" to something.
It distracted him and made him feel important.
It was nothing big.. we ate goldfish, did the Limbo and ate some runny blue jello that didn't quite set properly. :)
This is Ben joining in on the fun! First time discovering.. "the rattle" :).
Sammy "swimming" in our "water" and Claire being as cute as ever.
(He was cold, but determined to wear his swim suit.. haha)
#5 Count Your Blessings. I know we hear this all of the time.. but it wasn't until this experience that I fully realized the actual power behind counting your blessings. This is something I posted to facebook after we had moved from our home into my inlaws basement.
"our family has been through absolute chaos for the past year and especially past 6 months. Our whole world has flipped upside down on us and it is affecting my four year old the most. We just recently moved and he is heartbroken. I think he tells me every day that he wants to move back and every time something hard happens, he'll say "this is why we never should've moved" .. well, last week he got really really sick - I have never seen him so sick before - it was his last straw. This poor usually energetic and happy boy was so sad. Depressed even. He's not sick any more but He just goes back into our room in the dark to lay down, he wants to sleep all of the time and I'll find him just laying down on the ground in random spots being sad. I'll make his favorite meals and offer his favorite treats and he just didn't want to eat. He didn't even want to go outside to play. Today I got everyone ready to go to the park and before we left the driveway he said his legs were tired and he wanted to go back inside... We continued on and he had some happy moments, so it was good, but I could tell he was still so sad. So, tonight at dinner we started talking about one of my favorite songs "Count Your Blessings" - it is a happy song that has helped me through some rough moments. We sang the song and decided to count our blessings- we got the camera and started taking pictures of the good in our world. Beds, toys, our family, then he said "church"- so to his surprise, we hopped in the van and went to our church and took a picture - we took a picture of the American flag and parks. We took pictures of shoes and ice cream. - Once he got started "counting his blessings" he couldn't stop - he has a whole list of things he wants to take pictures of tomorrow. We decided to make a "count our blessings" wall. I'm going to develop the pictures and hang them on a wall so when we struggle, we can go the wall that will be covered, i'm sure, in pure goodness from God. I have never taken that song so literally before and tonight for the first time in weeks, MY SAMMY was back. Mike and I sat on a bench with Ben watching Sam and Claire play at a park tonight as the sun set and honestly - amid life's billows and raging tempests- all was right in the world. It was a moment of perfection.... all starting from a conversation around the dinner table about counting our blessings.
#6 Hold them close.I felt like I had to keep leaving them for various medical reasons. I didn't want them to feel "alone." Whether you give them big bear hugs, or just sit with them and hold their hand during a movie. It wasn't until our "crisis" that Claire began to like to be snuggled. It's a reassurance that they are loved, and that you are still there. Put your hand on their back while they tell you something.. it brings you closer to them and lets them know you really are listening. Give them hugs out of the blue, have tickle fights. ... or simply let them play with your hair, or let them be the "doctor" and you the "patient" ... just be close.
I caught Sammy putting his arm around Claire while we were in line. Being "close." It made my heart so happy.
Well! There you have it! If you know someone who could use this, please share it with them. We are all just learning and getting a different perspective always helped me.
I love this time of year! I just bought one of those huge cartons of fresh blueberries from Costco for just 5.99! I LOVE that! :) This is the time of year when my kids have to endure my blueberry madness! We listen to "Blueberry Hill" by Lois Armstrong ( click the link and listen to the song while reading... you know for that blueberry season ambiance, hehe) and read the classic
Blueberries for Sal maybe a little more then they might like...
but something about it just screams happiness to me. My mom used to read this book and I just love it. It's about a cute little girl and her mom going to blueberry hill. It follows Sal and her mother as they pick berries to bottle and store and a baby bear and his mother as they are filling up for the winter. It is fun to read, and although it is sort of long compared to other children's picture books, my kids are completely enthralled....
It's amazing how our mothers have such an influence on us. My mom always seemed to have blueberries in the fridge when I was in high school. I remember coming home from school and picking a peach off of our tree, slicing it up with some blueberries and it was better then chocolate to me back then. Or I would wash some berries, put them in a bowl and pour milk over them and eat the blueberries like it was captain crunch!
I love blueberries!
In celebration of "blueberry season" I thought I would post one of my many favorite blueberry recipes. I figure following a recipe isn't hard, it's just finding the ones that are tried and true and worth taking the time to make! :)
About 5 or 6 years ago, I came across this delicious recipe by Tyler Florence from foodnetwork.com and it became an instant favorite :) It is simple, yet totally restaurant quality. I'm not exaggerating, they really are that good.
Tyler Florence's Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze
Recipe straight from foodnetwork.com (other then my "tip" and pictures)
Blueberry Scones: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones
Lemon Glaze:
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 lemon, zest finely grated
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Sift together the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Using 2 forks or a pastry blender, cut in the butter to coat the pieces with the flour. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream. Fold everything together just to incorporate; do not overwork the dough.
HINT! :) I didn't have any heavy cream, so I searched for an alternative and it worked FABULOUSLY! You really wouldn't know the difference.
In place of 1 cup heavy cream - mix 3/4 c milk and 1/3 c of melted butter. Wisk together and use like heavy cream! :) I can't tell you how many times I have avoided recipes because I haven't had heavy cream on hand! Not any more! :)
Fold the blueberries into the batter. Take care not to mash or bruise the blueberries because their strong color will bleed into the dough.
Press the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 by 3 by 1 1/4 inches. Cut the rectangle in 1/2 then cut the pieces in 1/2 again, giving you 4 (3-inch) squares. Cut the squares in 1/2 on a diagonal to give you the classic triangle shape.
Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a little heavy cream. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until beautiful and brown. Let the scones cool a bit before you apply the glaze.
You can make the lemon glaze in a double boiler, or for a simpler alternative, you can zap it in the microwave. Mix the lemon juice with the confectioners' until dissolved in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water for the double-boiler method, or in a microwave-safe bowl. Whisk in the butter and lemon zest.
Either nuke the glaze for 30 seconds or continue whisking in the double boiler. Whisk the glaze to smooth out any lumps, then drizzle the glaze over the top of the scones. Let it set a minute before serving
How do you like that for a presentation? :) Keepin' it real, right? Ha! When you are cooking with these two crazies:
That's all they need! :) I have loved having them help me!...... most of the time (wink) ...... It makes it so I can spend time with them and work on this blog - They are having so much fun helping out :)
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Ps. If you LOVE this type of scone, you'll have to try my sister's recipe at
Last year at the end of June, the mountain behind my home caught fire.
I remember calling my husband and basically.. well freaking out, and he didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal... So, I sent him pictures. He still didn't seem to worried. He was working late and I was pregnant and I was afraid to fall asleep. Through the night the "contained" fire spread down the mountain.
The next morning, the fire looked better, Mike got ready for work and about 15 minutes later, the fire had spread rapidly down our mountain and was dangerously close.
We had huge tankers flying close to our homes back and forth from the lake to the mountain.
(I couldn't figure out how to get the video to post on the blog, it's worth a look. This is a video a friend in the neighborhood took.) you'll have to copy paste the URL
It was out of control. Thankfully, I was concerned enough the day before where I had put together all of our pictures, important files, my wedding dress and had started packing a bag. I was grateful for this as we were leaving and the evacuation order came in. "Get your family and GET OUT OF HERE". As we were driving off we heard and saw a lot of commotion. Later we found out it was because as we drove down our street, the wind picked up and brought the fire here:
My house is the 3rd house in.
and here:
This is just the street behind me.
We were evacuated for almost 3 days and when we went back we were all in a bit of shock. We were SO grateful the firefighters were able to stop it. That was a little too close for me.
Red Cross set up at the highschool and we were all told that there was going to be a meeting with an official update on the fire. The evac order had been lifted. I stood there when our Mayor, Mia Love, came to talk to the person I was standing with. She firmly mentioned that we needed to put up sand bags quick.
This next part of my post was something I wrote in my journal on Sunday. As I wrote, I decided I wanted to post it here on this blog. I'm going to just type what I wrote, so bear with the "journal" feel :)
It's Sunday and the kids were just put down for their naps. I have a few thoughts running through my mind. Impressions that I can feel the Lord trying to get through to me. It's been a year since the big fire and a few months shy of a year since the mudslide/flood. It's been a particularly rainy week and the flood victims have been on my mind a lot. I remember that day like it was yesterday. -- Our little family had such a great day. We had just finished our own personal pizzas
notice claire's face... that girl loves a mess.
and dishing out peach crisp made from the peaches from my mom's peach tree. The rain was POURING down. We opened up our windows to hear it all come crashing down. - We sat in our front room giggling at all of the excitment.
THEN CAME THE HAIL.
HUGE hail.
As soon as it clamed down, Mike ran out so he could take a picture of it.
As you can see, his hands aren't small and those hail stones are pretty darn big. Little did I know how precious that hail was. -- I was pregnant with Ben and the rushing rain reminded me that I needed to .. well...go to the bathroom. (well!) .......
POUND! POUND!!
Mike started pounding on the door saying that our neighbor had stopped by saying our friends' homes at the bottom of the hill was flooding. - I knew he needed to go help but I didn't take it too seriously as we live in a developing area and it is easy for rain to build up in the window wells because many of the homes hadn't put their yard it yet and there was just nothing to hold it back sometimes. ... But Mike sounded frantic when he said "Marji (our neighbor) was in tears, I need to go right now." I still wasn't thinking it was a big deal, but said "Ok". He left and I started getting the kids ready for bed.. After a few minutes Mike came back in the house, pale as a ghost. He said the homes were being destroyed- that it could be a total loss, then went right back outside. I was a little scared, but trying to be calm as the kids were really scared. -- It got dark and I was getting really worried, so I decided to drive down and see if everyone was okay. Mike had parked in the middle of the drive way and taken his keys, so we were stuck. Finally after more time had passed, I pulled out of garage by driving on our grass-- I started heading down the hill, my heart sunk. A flood of this magnitude didn't even cross my mind. I had never seen anything like it before. Even just remembering it now brings sobs to my heart. -- Flood was an understatement. There was a CAR floating in the retention park and the park was full and overflowing. The water rushed like a rapid river through our friends' homes. Crashing through their back basement windows and then quickly breaking through their front basement windows and spewing out like several broken fire hydrants. Their basements were filled to the ceilings. This home is our good friends house the next day:
During the flash flood, the mountain couldn't hold it and ash, mud, dead animals.. all came rushing down the burn scar of the mountain.
This is our friend at the opening of our neighborhood. This is next door to the video above.
I couldn't get the video on the blog for some reason, but to get the full feel of what happened, you have to watch this. You'll have to copy paste the url
I was floored. There wasn't anything anyone could do.- I drove around making sure everyone was safe and notified our block captain. As I was driving home, I saw a woman who was visiting our neighbor sopping wet and walking. She said the only way home from Redwood (the main road near our home) was to walk. She said multiple homes on the other side of the park had been severely flooded and that one was a total loss.(Thankfully it worked out for that home)
My heart sunk deeper as I went to my across the street neighbor's house who was housing our friends whose home was flooding (the one who took the video of it actually happening above). Their sweet children had faces and eyes that were blood shot from tears and screaming with fear. -- It was something I will never forget.
I took Sam and Claire home and started to pray. Mike didn't get home until 4:30 am and was covered from head to toe with toxic sludge. Then he went right back out there later that morning.
Church was called off the next day and literally thousands of people came from all over the state to our rescue. THIS was a travesty.
The next week was fast and testimony meeting. One my one the people in our ward came to the podium, speaking not of grief, but of miracles. I was overwhelmed with one particular testimony that could have been titled, "The Miracle of the Hailstorm". (whew, I'm getting emotional just going back in my mind). Of the 13-15 homes that were effected in our ward, many of the homes had finished basements with entertainment rooms, kitchens and their children's rooms down there. It was a Saturday night. Some of the kids were out playing in the rain (We were seriously tempted to go play in it too) ....... and then the hail came. The enormous hail stones brought everyone inside and upstairs before the crashing water tore through their homes.
Not one person was hurt. The children were upstairs and inside because of this hailstorm. This flood took out iron fences, pushed cars to the middle of parks and wiped out trees... but no children.
This story brings humbling tears to my soul. The Lord's mercy was found in a hail storm.
What are the "hailstorms" in our lives? The hail on that day was big, loud and could've been painful if you were in it. Do we ever feel like there are big, possibly dangerous things going on in our lives? Are they "loud" or all encompassing? - Do we get scared or irritated? Impatient? Perhaps it would help if we would take a step back and have faith.
"God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of sea; Though the waters thereof be troubled.......God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her...
Be still and know that I am God." Psalms 46.
What miracles will come forth from our "hailstorms?" What paths are they leading us to and why? Could it be that the very storms that overwhelm us are actually the very thing protecting us from our destruction?
I have an overwhelming faith that God is in the details of every one of our lives.-- The things we can see before our eyes and the countless miracles that are continually happening with out us even being aware of it. I have a stronger desire to trust in God and do my best. Because a combination of those things will land me where right where God wants me to be. Whether that be in a period of drought or plenty - it is all in His hands and there is a purpose. His ways are higher then our ways and we just may not understand, but I do know that it is HIS work and GLORY to bring to pass our Eternal life (Moses 1:39) and happiness. It is all apart of our earthly curriculum.
This realization has brought so much comfort to me. I honestly feel "still". I see the troubled waters, I see that things aren't going perfectly - But I know I am doing my best to do my best :). And with that come promises that I hold tightly to. This brings a very real peace to my soul
I know that this is sort of a "deep" post. But reflecting on these past experiences had such a enlightening effect on me that I really wanted to share that it may possibly have the same for you.:) If we look, we WILL find God's mercy, even in the storms.
As promised... here is my favorite main dish apricot recipe! :) I love this for so many reasons! :) - It is delicious, I don't have to threaten I mean convince my kids to eat it because they gobble it up so fast! AND my FAVORITE part is that it seriously takes less then 5 minutes before it's ready for the oven. This is one of my "go to" recipes when I want to give up and go out to eat. :)
I've seen other apricot chicken recipes with a lot of other ingredients, but don't let the simplicity of this make you skeptical~ It is So good :).
Apricot Chicken
4-6 Chicken Breasts (must be thawed)
1 18 oz Jar of Apricot Jam
1 Packet of Onion Soup Seasoning
Yup! That's all!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Place chicken in baking dish
In a separate bowl, mix the apricot jam and onion soup mix together and microwave for 1 minute.
Pour over the chicken
Bake for 45 minutes, or until chicken is completely cooked. Periodically (at least once) while cooking, baste or spoon the sauce from the pan back on to the chicken.
Serve over rice (spoon sauce from your baking dish over it) with broccoli as a side! :)
So EASY, so FAST and so YUMMY!
My whole family LOVES this dish- I hope you do to! :)
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