Category Archives: Project 366

Muffins & Granola Bars

Tim was away for most of Saturday. He took the older two children with him and left me home to a gray, cold kind of day. Perfect for and doing some baking! I decided it was time to fill the freezer with muffins. It is a constant chore to keep healthy snacks around for a family of seven. I have an amazing Master Muffin Mix that I love to use.

muffin tasters

Master Muffin Recipe

INGREDIENTS

* 5 cups flour (use up to two cups whole wheat, crushed cereal, or packed rolled oats if desired)
* 2 to 2 1/2 cups sugar (experiment with the amount – can also vary types of sugar used)
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 Tbs.(3 tsp) baking powder
* 2 cups buttermilk (you can use part yogurt for the milk)
* 1 c. oil or melted butter (or substitute 1/2 cup apple sauce for half the oil)
* 3 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Place dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to blend. Place wet ingredients (oil, eggs, milk) in container and blend well.

Make a well in dry ingredients in bowl, add wet mix from blender and pour into well. Stir gently to mix, add fruit and fold and stir in. Do not beat, batter should be a bit lumpy. Over stirring muffins makes them tough.

This will make 24 to 30 muffins depending on size of pans. Grease muffin pans or use muffin liners fill almost to the top and sprinkle with and of the following: sugar, cinn. sugar, chopped nuts and sugar, coconut, rolled oats and sugar etc.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min. Cool on racks. Freeze these in Ziplocs for quick breakfasts or easy snacks.

sarah's mini muffins

The wonderful thing about this Master Mix recipe is it comes with an amazing list of add in possibilities. Here are the muffin variations:

Apple cinnamon: Use 3 – 4 apples (just peel and cut in chunks and throw in blender with wet ingredients, don’t over process, or chop by hand), 2 tsp cinn. and 1 cup chopped pecans.

Apple raisin
– same as above but add 1 cup raisins (plump first by covering with liquid and nuking for a couple minutes. I like to used part rolled oats with the apple muffins and sprinkle the tops with a little oatmeal and sugar.

Carrot raisin – same as above but use 5 or 6 carrots chopped in blender with wet ingredients instead of apple. Add 1 cup chopped nuts if desired.

Carrot raisin pineapple – Same as above but add one large can crushed pineapple and reduce milk to 1 1/2 cups.

Strawberry – cut up 3 cups strawberries and mix in
Strawberry/White Chocolate, same as above, but add 1 cup white choc pieces
Strawberry pecan – same but add 1 cup chopped pecans

Tollhouse - add 2 cup choc chips (1 12 oz bag – I like to use the mini chips) 1 cup chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans, use brown sugar and add 2 tsp vanilla.

Banana - Reduce milk to 1 cup – add 5 or 6 bananas to blender – add 2 tsp vanilla and 1 cup nuts

Banana/Strawberry 1- Same as above but fold into batter, 2 cups cut up strawberries.
Banana/Strawberry 2 – Add 1 cup strawberries to the blender with 4 or 5 bananas. Stir 2 cups of cut up strawberries into batter.
Banana/Strawberry 3 – Follow either banana or banana strawberry 1, but add 1 pkg strawberry jello to wet ingredients.
Banana Choc chip – same as above but add 2 cups mini chips and 1 cup nuts if desired.

Blueberry /Orange – Peel the orange skin off one orange in very thin pieces using a potato peeler and put in the blender with the other wet ingredients. Remove the white peel remaining on the orange and cut orange into 4 or 5 chunks. Pick out the seeds and put the chunks in the blender. add the remaining wet ingredients reducing milk to 1 3/4 cups, if you are using regular milk do not add lemon juice. Blend well. Proceed as directed stirring in 2 1/2 to 3 cups blueberries.

Cranberry Orange – Same as above (no blueberries) except add 1 1/2 dried cranberries (plumped in microwave by covering with liquid and nuking for a couple minutes). Can also add 1 cup chopped nuts

Orange Pineapple – Same as above (no blueberries) but add 1 large can of crushed pineapple and reduce milk to 1 1/2 cups.

Hawaiian - Same as above but add 1 cup coconut – sprinkle tops with a little coconut.

Peanut Butter and Jelly – This is for the kids, into blender container put milk, 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky, you can add extra chopped peanuts if you like) and only 1/3 cup oil. Use 4 eggs and mix as usual. Fill muffin tins 1/2 full and put 1 tsp jam or jelly in center of each cup. Fill with batter almost to top and bake as usual. Chopped peanuts sprinkled on top is a nice touch.

Saturday I made a batch of carrot raisin and a batch of mixed berries. I had three bananas that we ripe and ready to be used so I made a small pan of banana muffins (slightly different recipe). All in all I ended up with around 6 dozen muffins.

bags of muffins

After the muffin mania I decided to try my hand at some homemade granola bars. I need to do a cost analysis on boxed cereal versus ‘from scratch’ pancakes and Costco granola bars versus homemade breakfast bars.

Anyone know how these things compare, cost wise?

I tried two different granola recipes, one taken from Allrecipes.com, the other from my friend, De’Etta’s blog. Unfortunately I don’t eat sugar so I wasn’t able to taste test the bars. The mix looked (and smelled) fantastic! It took extreme will power to keep my fingers out of the bowl. I’ll report back as soon as the kids try them out.

too much sugar?

start mixing

Sarilyn’s Granola Bars (from Not2Many.com)

INGREDIENTS

* 1/3 C brown sugar (or Rapadura)
* 2/3 C peanut butter
* 3/4 C honey
* 2 T hot water (opt)
* 2 tsp vanilla

~Mix all these together.

* 2 1/2 C oats
* 1 C whole wheat flour
* 1/4 C wheat germ
* 1/2 C sunflower seeds
* 1 T sesame seeds
* 1 C chocolate chips
* 1/2 C nuts, dried fruit, seeds whatever you like

~Mix all these together in a large bowl, then combine bowls and stir well.

Press into greased 9 x 13 pan bake at 350* for 15 – 20 min. Cut into bars while semi-warm and let cool completely before removing from pan. Approx 24 bars.

yummy

Playgroup Granola Bars (Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups rolled oats
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup wheat germ
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup raisins (optional)
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

packaged bars

I tripled this recipes, added flax seeds, craisins, and chocolate chips. Looked yummy!

Now the freezer has bags of muffins piling on the shelves and the pantry is laden with a nice stack of granola bars. Not bad for a lazy Saturday.

granola guard

Kathy
Day 180

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It’s Raining – Just in Time for Our Picnic

Joshua came downstairs this morning, took one look out the window and called out, “Mom, it’s pouring outside. That must mean today’s our picnic.”

it's cold

Yep. It’s June in Washington. Rain and gray weather. It could just as well be February for all the sunshine we’re getting. Wait, sometimes we have better climate in February.

I telephoned the Y to inquire about the status of our luncheon at the park.

“Rain or shine!” the perky voice on the other line chirped.

She obviously wasn’t going to the picnic.

sarah's new rain jacket

We braved the frightful temps (Joshua is shaking his head at me, reading this, he loves a balmy 50 degrees day), ate hot dogs in the rain (okay we were under the picnic pavilion), received our Presidential Fitness Awards and scurried back home.

I hear summer will be coming in a month or two.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 157

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Anyone Got Dirt?

Tim ordered some dirt for his garden last weekend. Right now most of it is still sitting in our driveway, which you could probably see on Google Earth if you were bored.

get your cars and let's play

The kids, of course, found a better use for the dirt than silly ol’ gardens. It does make you wonder why we spend money on fancy toys, gadgets and other gizmos.

queen of the mountain

Just get them some dirt and they’re happy.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 150

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Teens in Service

Sometimes the house isn’t quite full enough with just five children. The signs include: periods of silence ranging from 10 to 45 seconds, cupboards and refrigerators with food still visible, and clean, tidy surfaces.

There’s only one thing to do in such instances – invite some more kids over, preferably for a sleepover. Throw in another family with five children, lots of pillows and sleeping bags and the house starts to feel cozy. If you can arrange for a few more kids to come by in the morning (and stay for the day), then you are doing an excellent job to remedy this terrible situation.

We had our church Small Group on Sunday evening. It was a lovely time of food and fellowship. We even managed to go through our parenting study. Talk about productive!

Libby is the boss

she tells the group how to play

Libby may be small, but she is definitely in charge!

As the night crept on and one family lingered, I realized it was time for my children to go to bed. Since the other mom and I were no where near finished with our lengthy conversation, the only thing to do was host an All Family Sleepover.

Well, not exactly “all” as mom and dad went home to their own beds, no doubt chuckling the whole time about convincing us to keep their sweet darlings overnight. Ha!

In the morning, after making a huge batch of pancakes, I realized shortly I would be heading out to pick up two of Rachel’s friends (sisters who would be spending the day with us). Instantly an email I had received earlier in the week flashed in my mind.

We are looking for any volunteers to come help paint the toddler room on Friday, May 23 and/or Saturday May 24 between the hours of 10am & 4pm.

Jenny, bethany, rachel, hannah and sarah

These girls are hard workers!

It wasn’t Friday or Saturday, but I thought there might be a good possibility someone still needed some painting done. I proposed the idea to the five pre-teen/teenagers devouring my pancakes and received an extraordinarily positive response.

Sure! We’d LOVE to paint at the church! all five enthused.

With that joyful reaction our day took on the shape of service. The kids piled into the van and we set off to pick up Rachel’s two friends. By the time we reached the church it was 10:30 am and we had seven ready and willing workers.

What a blessing! It was such a delightful encouragement to see the hearts of these teenagers (and almost teen agers) as they grabbed rollers and brushes and tackled the toddler room. We had the primer done in no time. When the children’s director asked if the kids could possibly come back and do some more painting in the afternoon, all five eagerly accepted the invitation.

Sure! We’d love to! If Mrs. E lets us.

Ah, that was a bit of the kicker. I was a cheerful part of the working team and heartily agreed to return after lunch. That is until I got home. And sat down in my chair. At that point I didn’t want to leave the house again until dinner time.

some paint on the walls, some on our bodies

Some of the paint actually ended up on the walls.

Tim, I said, shaking my head in disappointment no one else showed up to paint the toddler room.
No one in the whole church except Aleta, the Sunday School teacher, came. Isn’t that terrible?

But Kathy, he responded, they didn’t need anyone else. You all were there.

But, but, I sputtered, in indignation and disapproval.

You were the ones God used to work. You were the ones He provided.

Did I grade math assignments? Work on meal planning? Do laundry? Organize homeschool assignments? Email my parents who have been out of town this weekend? Or even sit down and read a book?

No.

But I was given the opportunity to serve. Not only that but I was blessed to create a situation where my children and their friends were able to serve.

joshua and timothy were a huge help

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24

And I think THAT is a pretty good way to spend Memorial Day.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 146

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Growing Kids and Raising Gardens

Today was a glorious Family Day. We were delighted to have the oldest two children home again, and I was determined, now that they’re home again, to spend the day doing something as a family.

Pool Buddies
David and Sarah serve as poster-children for sweetness toward each other.

“Don’t go to the book sale,” I begged Kathy on Tuesday, as she considered a scheme to attend a home-school curriculum sale on Saturday. “The kids will finally be back — we should all stay home together.”

The weather reports have been rather conflicted about this Saturday — first they said it would be partly cloudy, then they said it would be fully sunny, then yesterday they claimed there would be showers. I got up late, just in time to see some clouds rolling in. “It’s been beautifully sunny so far,” Joshua assured me, as I staggered downstairs, bleary-eyed.

Kathy wields the shears
Although odds were running 3:1 in favor of the bush, Kathy prevailed.

“If you want to see the sun today, you’d better get outside,” I informed Kathy gloomily. How wrong I was! The sun shone all day long, and the sky remained blue and mostly cloudless.

Rachel cuts boards for our raised-bed garden
Building the raised-bed garden was reminiscent of playing with Lincoln Logs.

We spent the day working on the yard and building a garden planter or two. It was a lot more fun than it sounds, and there were many chances for laughter and fun. The kids helped me plant a bunch of my never-ending crop of tomato seedlings, and Joshua shifted dirt from the driveway to the garden.

A load o' dirt
My oldest son returns home Thursday night, and six cubic yards of dirt are delivered early Friday morning. Coincidence? Maybe.

Kathy weed-whacked and pruned bushes and cooked delicious meals for us; whenever she could, she sneaked away to read her Dave Ramsey book.

Taking credit where little credit was due
Joshua was actually the one who filled the planter with dirt, but (since he doesn’t really like having his picture taken) Daniel and I horned in to take credit.

At one point, Rachel was playing an elaborate game of Trivia with the three younger kids — I just had to sneak up and take a few pictures, and to eavesdrop on their game.

Rachel holds court

Rachel enjoys a good laugh
These kids really know how to enjoy each other.

We had Slurpees™, ate fried chicken and (once it began to get dark) watched most of National Treasure 2, which Kathy bought for our anniversary. I provided sherbet and some Tillamook Mud Slide ice cream, which was every bit as good as it sounds.

Planter Number 2
There were a few design flaws on the first raised-bed garden, so I’m trying again. Besides, we still have lots more dirt.

One of the “Fathers Mandates” we’ve been studying in our Growing Kids God’s Way parenting study is the establishment of family identity. We joke about matching T-shirts, but I’ve often thought that a strong and positive family identity can serve as an excellent shield against many forms of outside temptation. While I read “the chapter” to the kids tonight, we all agreed: this was a very good day to be in our family.

Tim
Project 366, Day 115

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