Author: Lois Houston

I'm a sweet tea drinkin' southern gal who loves to cook, bake, crochet, and read. Check out my blog for posts about parenting, faith, books, crafts, planning, baking, cooking, and life in general.

How to make chocolate milk

Today’s post is a guest post.

Brought to you by the cutest Doodle Bug I know.
She will be sharing her expert recipe with you – a recipe for chocolate milk.

Take notes. You will want to make your own.

Hee hee.



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“C” is for Cookie

I tried a new cookie recipe this week. Well, it wasn’t a new recipe. Just new to me.

I had tasted these cookies at the bread class I went to back in April.  They had them as dessert for the luncheon we had after we learned to make the breads.  They were oh, so yummy.

My friend Deborah and I decided we just had to make them for our families. Fortunately, they gave us the recipe in our goodie bags, so the plan was made.

And then I forgot about them.

Until this week when Deborah stopped by for a quick visit this week and she mentioned them.

And then I couldn’t stop thinking about them!

So, I decided to whip up a batch, hoping I had the ingredients on hand. I had most of them, which resulted in a few substitutions and a very yummy finished product.

Here’s the result. A chewy, slightly sweet, but not overly sweet cookie. It was a huge hit with the kids and the neighbors.

img_0605One little thing, though. These are made without sugar. Or, rather, without “traditional” sugar.  They are made using sucanat.

Sucanat is a sweetener made from the juice of sugar cane.  First the juice is extracted and then the moisture is evaporated, leaving crystals which are sucralose. It has a rich, sweet, molasses taste and is not as sweet as refined white sugar (which is what most of us use). I also used Sucanat with honey. This is the same, except that a small amount of honey is added before the evaporation process which yields a milder, sweeter crystal.

Both of these work well in substituting for brown sugar (Sucanat) and white sugar (Sucanat with honey) And, if you don’t have Sucanat at home, you can substitute white or brown sugar 1:1 without issue.

So, give it a try if you have a hankerin’ for a cookie one day and want something a little bit different.

I think you’ll be glad you did.

Summertime Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sucanat with honey (or white sugar)
1 cup sucanat (or light brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup Heath toffee bits

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cream butter and sugars until creamy.
  3. Add eggs & vanilla; mix well.
  4. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt.  Add to butter mixture and mix well.
  5. Stir in the oats, chips and bits.
  6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
  7. These will be chewy-gooey when they first come out of the oven, so let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before you transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling – if you don’t they will fall apart on your spatula.
  8. Store in a tightly covered container (if they last that long)

Note: the original recipe called for 1/2 cup of shredded coconut and 1/2 cup of chopped nuts. No one in my house likes coconut (except me) and the kids don’t care for nuts, so I substituted the white chocolate & toffee bits for those ingredients.


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Back to School Shopping

I bet you read that and thought “Huh? It’s still SUMMERTIME. Is she NUTS?”

Well, yes, actually, I am a little nuts, but it is also getting close to that time of year… or at least for us it is. Where we live, school starts in early August, so we’re already seeing stores full of back-to-school supplies and the girls are already starting to obsess about who will be their teachers, etc.

So, naturally, I’m thinking back-to-school shopping.

And I thought I’d share with you some of my picks for this year.

  • Last year, I purchased both girls Backpacks from LL Bean – they were a bit more expensive than the local options from WalMart or Target, but well worth the purchase price as they lasted all year and they are in great shape to go another school year. I won’t be buying new backpacks, that’s for sure. The girls love these and they don’t really need new ones.
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  • I also bought them lunchboxes to match – and they are not showing any signs of wear from last year’s use, so we’ll most likely reuse those as well.
    I like the fact that they have a mesh pocket outside for napkins, hand sanitizer, etc. and the lid has another mesh pocket inside that fits a drink just perfectly, leaving the entire base for your lunch goodies.image
  • Bento Boxes from Laptop Lunches.
    Doodle Bug loved having her “bento box” lunches last year – I made up my own by using a large Tupperware-type container with silicon cupcake liners inside. But the drawback was that I was challenged in keeping things separated, especially when something was liquidy (like ranch dressing to dip veggies in) and then we had a mess to deal with – either at lunch or after school. UGH.
    Not this year! These nifty boxes each seal individually and the whole case is insulated.  Additionally, they are PVC & BPA-free  and dishwasher safe!!

    So, I will probably add this to the list to purchase – at least for Doodle Bug – and see how they work out. I'll either purchase the entire kit (pictured above) or just the little containers (which is how I may start out and see how it works since I have nice lunchboxes already)

    There’s a mesh sleeve on the outside for holding a water bottle – and I plan to purchase this one –

  • The FlyLady’s stainless water bottles – I have been wanting to get them for a while now – I love that they are double-walled, have two openings (one large for adding ice, etc, one small for drinking) and the nifty colored loops to keep them identified by owner.
    Since I have been trying to justify buying them for the whole family, I figured this is the year to do it – no backpack purchases to eat up the budget, so I’ll splurge on this!

There will, of course, be the requisite purchase of thousands (it seems) of crayons, markers, pens, pencils, and the like.  The kids are still using some of the things we purchased last year, but it’s hard to pass up the sales when crayon boxes are twenty-five cents each (instead of a couple dollars as they are mid-school year) and so I usually fill the cabinet when we go shopping.

What about you? Are there any major school supply purchases you’re already contemplating?

I’m still on the hunt for a 3-ring notebook that lasts more than three months in a kid’s backpack. If you know of one, let me know!!

 

Project Life Tuesday ~progress

Well, I have made some progress – finally! – in my Project Life book.

I set up a scrap space in the living room this weekend and purposely ignored the chores, laundry, etc. for a few hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday so that I could get a little scrapbooking done.

I managed to get from January through April up to date. That, my friends, is a huge accomplishment, given that I had everything in piles – piles of pictures, piles of memorabilia, piles of printouts, post-its, etc. Organization was the first step, and then I just started putting things into pages.

For March and April, I gave up the notion of a two-page spread per week and just focused on getting groups of pictures together in logical arrangements. I actually like it pretty well, as it more accurately reflects our life – snippets of the everyday with a few things highlighted.

Here are a few of the pages. I’m using some different sized page protectors as well – 6×12 for the days when I have extra pictures, 8×10 for the kids’ school work and some printouts of some of my favorite blog posts I wanted to capture. (my blog is like my online scrapbook, so why re-do the journaling?) I also got an assortment of 12×12 pocket pages on scrapbook.com with some different configurations of pockets that I’m using when I need some vertical picture sleeves.

I have to say, I’m loving this process. I want to get April/May/June done so that I can work week-to-week and stay caught up. I love the simplicity and being able to capture what was important without getting caught up in all the frills and furbelows of “traditional” style scrapbooking.

I am also loving the fact that I’m using up my stash. Other than the Project Life kit and a few packs of page protectors (mentioned above) I’ve not bought anything else. I’m just using what I have – which is copious amounts of paper and embellishments – and I love that I’m making do with what I have and still making something pretty. IMG_0580 IMG_0581 IMG_0582 I’ve decided to put my family calendar pages in for each month – thought it would be a good way to remember what we were up to each month. I’m using an 8×10 insert to hold them.

IMG_0583This is the back of the calendar page – a church bulletin and my self portrait marking one year since my surgery. IMG_0584 IMG_0585 IMG_0586

8×10 pages with my blog post. IMG_0587

Using one of the other inserts to get some vertical 4×6 pictures in. IMG_0588 IMG_0589 IMG_0590

loving the 8x10s to keep the kids’ schoolwork in the book. IMG_0591 IMG_0592

This is one of the 6×12 pages (on the right) for some extra pictures I had. IMG_0593a blog post – why redo the work? just stick it in a page protector! IMG_0594 IMG_0595 IMG_0596 IMG_0597 IMG_0598IMG_0599 Well, that’s a pretty photo heavy post! Thanks for sticking through to the end!!

More updates hopefully next week!

On a Saturday Morning ~ 9 July

Outside my window … it is rainy, misty and foggy. PERFECT weather to stay home and scrapbook, which is what I am planning to do today.

I am thinking about … well, I’m thinking about too many things. I need to try to quiet my mind some this weekend. I’m not sleeping well lately, and I think it is because I have too much on my mind.

I am thankful for … all of the blessings in my life, especially my family.

From the kitchen … baking bread today – and maybe some chili, even though it is way too hot for it, I have a craving.

I am wearing … my usual Saturday “uniform” of yoga pants and t-shirt.

I am creating … hoping to create some scrapbook pages today, and some yummy food.

I am reading … just started a new book last night, but only made it 10-15 pages in before I got sleepy. Trying to find something to grab my attention. Have had a couple “dud” books the last few weeks.

I am hoping … SuperMan’s work doesn’t do another layoff soon.

I am hearing … the washer, dryer and sounds of Pound Puppies on TV.

Around the house … the chaos that comes when the kids are home 24/7 in the summertime.

A few plans for the week … work, church, scrapbooking & the pool.

What about you?

Hop on over to The Simple Woman’s Daybook to log your entry.