Cookies for Breakfast

What?  Cookies for breakfast?  You may be thinking that Bru Crew Mom has lost her marbles.  :)  Well, it all started a couple of years ago when Bru Crew Dad replaced his daily breakfast with Oatmeal To Go bars to lower his cholesterol.  (It worked beautifully, by the way.)  The kids were jealous, and wanted these yummy oatmeal treats too, but they came six to a box, and cost over $3 each box, most days.  I told them no.  Then, one time, the store was out of the bars, and I bought Bru Crew Dad Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.  Then, the Bru Crew was REALLY jealous.  Dad gets cookies for breakfast?  We never get cookies for breakfast!  I tried to explain that these were different, but in a child's mind, there is no difference.  Cookies are cookies are cookies.  So, I set out to find a recipe for breakfast cookies, because I am NOT spending that much money on breakfast for my children regularly,  especially considering that they are still hungry after they eat one!  It took a lot of hunting, and I still didn't find the perfect one, but I found one that was close here.  I have adjusted it to meet our taste preferences, and my easy cooking preferences.  I reduced the sugar because I could.  I reduced the oats because I use whole wheat flour, and it absorbs more liquid.  I also use whole eggs.  I avoid using just egg whites whenever I can because we tend to not use the yolks later, and I hate wasting food.  I also replaced the oil, water, and prune puree with just apple sauce.  (Side note:  I have also used banana puree, pumpkin, and others.)  I have one that won't eat nuts in his foods, and I don't keep apricot around, so we use dried cranberries.  Here is my recipe with adjustments:

Bru Crew Breakfast Cookies:

1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 c rolled oats
4 c whole wheat flour
1 Tbs baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c unsweetened apple sauce
3 whole eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c raisins
1/2 c dried cranberries

1.  Preheat oven to 350*F.
2.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.  (I used a seasoned stoneware pan, and I do neither of these.  They are non-stick already.)
3.  Mix first 7 dry ingredients in a large bowl.  (I use my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.)
4.  Make a well in the center and pour in wet ingredients.  Mix well again.
5.  Stir in raisins and cranberries.  Dough will be thick!
6.  Using an ice cream scoop (or Large Pampered Chef Scoop) place balls of dough 2 inches apart on the sheet.  (If you do not have a scoop, you can roll golf ball sized balls of dough.)

7.  Spray your hand with non-stick cooking spray and flatten the cookies.  Because of the lack of fat in these cookies, they will not spread on their own.  (See picture above.)
8.  Bake 8 minutes for a soft and chewy cookie, 10 minutes for a more cake-like cookie.
9.  Cool on pan for a couple of minutes, the move to cooling rack to finish cooling.
10.  This makes around 3 dozen large cookies for us.  They freeze well, but stick together, so layer with waxed paper before freezing.

*Also, I have used banana puree instead of apple sauce, and used nuts and chocolate chips instead of fruit to make "Banana Nut" cookies, and I've used canned pumpkin with pumpkin pie spice and cranberries for a fall version of these cookies.  Varieties are endless, but different purees cook up differently, so the texture isn't always exactly the same, but they still taste good and are healthy.  Soon, I plan to try sweet potatoes!

MFW-ECC Week 1

We all went to Disney World last Sept. 
This is the Bru Crew's last group
photo with Great-Grandma.
(Bru Crew Dad's sister and parents went too.)

This post is a little a lot delayed, sorry!  The evening before we were to start school, we received a call that Bru Crew Dad's grandmother had died.  We prayed about it, and decided to start school as scheduled anyway, since the kids had been looking forward to starting.  We also thought it would help take their minds off of the loss.  Because of the viewing, funeral, and Bru Crew Dad's parents staying a few days after, it took us two weeks to get the first week of curriculum finished.  (As I type this, we are wrapping up week two, with much greater success.)  I read several blogs last year about ECC and several posts in the forum, and was prepared for the first two weeks to be a little intense.  Also, knowing that this was our first year in MFW (and my oldest girls are doing some additional history stuff in preparation for junior high), I was expecting kinks.  As we wrapped up our first week, I was slightly concerned that I'm made a very unwise decision, even though I'd felt like the Lord was leading us to it.  Nothing went like I was expecting it too.  As I already mentioned, I'd read all these blogs, and saw all these cute pictures of kids doing the activities.  Our mandarin orange globes?  Not picture worthy...Ms. Quality Time rinsed hers and restarted at least 3 times.  I drew the continents on the others, but even copying the globe in front of me, my Atlantic Ocean was significantly larger than my Pacific Ocean.  Not only that, but NONE of them wanted to peel it carefully to try to late it out flat.  However, we did finish school each day before soccer practice, which was a tremendous blessing!  (I can't tell you how many times in the past I've had a kid take school work to the soccer fields, and sit on the bleachers doing their "homework" during a sibling's soccer practice!)

Little Man had almost equal parts blue and
red, so his tongue is purplish.

Also, while the grandparents were here, we took a field trip to the Blue Bell factory.  We got to see where they pastuerize the milk, freeze the milk, how the store the sugar, add in flavors, and put ice cream into the cartons.  The highlight of the trip was eating the ice cream at the end!  One of the ice cream options was "Krazy Kolors."  I ate Triple Caramel, Ms. Quality Time ate Red Velvet Cake, Tenderheart ate Cherry Vanilla, and the Little ones got Krazy Kolors.  It has so much food coloring in it, that it colored their teeth and tongues.  It was a fun, educational, tasty, and Kolorful experience.

Smiley had a lot of blue.  Sorry for the blur,
but that expression is priceless!

Dig Into God's Word with us!

On September 3, kids all over the country (world?) will be participating in a new Bible Study with their families.  The idea behind this study, is to teach children how to read the Scriptures, analyze what they are saying, and apply the truth they find.  It is explained as an archeological study, using that terminology.  You start with "The Map" setting the stage for where you are going in your study that day.  You move on to "The Dig," where you read the Scriptures for the day.  You find "The Treasure" and then there's "The Display" where you apply what you discovered in God's Word to your children's lives.  What I love about it, is that it is straight Scriptures!  This study does not give you one verse, then a fluffy story and an application.  It gives you a passage each day, guiding questions to ask about it, and a verse or two for the week to memorize.  Each Sunday, you stop at "The Oasis" where you review what they've learned in the week, along with an activity page to complete.  What a great way for a dad to lead family devotions!  It takes out all the guess work, removes the pressure and guides Dad as he guides his kids into God's Word.  Won't you join us?  You can get your ebook here!  It is available as a PDF file, or for the Kindle or nook!  Kindle and nook versions include a link for "The Oasis" downloads, so you don't miss out on those activities.

First Day of First Grade?

Smiley's Scroll Alphabet page A-F

 

 Well, we are officially out for the summer, and have been for a couple of weeks.  I give the kids a couple of weeks truly "off" where they can sleep late, and do whatever (within reason) they want all day.  By the end of the second week when wake-up is around 10 am, lunch around 2:30 pm, and bedtime is after 10 pm, we're  ALL crazy!  So, we begin our summer schedule of getting up at a reasonable time (6:30, anyone?), which leads to a reasonable bedtime, and a sane Mom!  There are not a lot of kids in our neighborhood, so it doesn't feel much different, and BruCrewDad works year round, and heads to the gym before 5 am each morning, so early to rise, early to bed works better for our family.  (I know the saying is early to bed, early to rise, but that doesn't work in our house.)  The Bru Crew does NOT go to bed early unless I wake them up fairly early and keep them busy all day, thus, we continue working on the 3 R's during summer break.  Yesterday was our first day back in the saddle, and it wasn't pretty.  Lots of meltdowns, and a math page that took two hours.  :o(  After lunch, I busted out the new books so I could organize it all while I still remembered what I bought and why.  ;)  Smiley looked at some of it with great interest!  She finished what I required of her quite quickly today, then begged to start her new stuff.  What was I to say?  "No.  You have to wait until August to learn this new stuff you're excited about." 

Can you see why we call her Smiley?

Practicing writing Aa, Bb, Cc

   By then, she won't be excited!  So, Smiley started first grade today.  ;) We talked about how the Bible was written on scrolls, and looked online at images of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Then, she wrote her letters for practice, then beginning sounds as I dictated words.  This was all after she had already done a page in Math U See, and a handwriting page.On a side note, I had a brilliant idea today.  This fall, we are doing My Father's World-Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC).  Since we will be studying cultures around the world, I wanted to also cover Christmas around the World, but Christmas is crazy, and I'll be honest, we don't get much done between Thanksgiving and New Year's.  So, when I saw a facebook post about Christmas in July, I thought, that's perfect!  We can do Christmas around the World in July!  Then, we have our appetites wet for ECC without the stress of a full blown project in December!  We can make Christmas passports, Christmas goodies from around the world, and end with a party!  Won't that be fun?

Strawberry Cupcakes with Ganache

It's Tasty Tuesday!  At the request of the Cubbies Leaders at church, I am making 2 dozen strawberry cupcakes for the Cubbies' last night of class.  I am on a quest to reduce our processed foods, which means making cakes from scratch, instead of a mix.  I found this recipe, and fell in love!  Now, just an excuse to make them right?  Well, that came along with the Cubbies!  I am leaving out the red food coloring.  My cupcakes will be less pink than the picture, but I'm okay with that.  At first, they were not nearly pink enough, and I couldn't fit all the cupcakes in my oven at once.  I baked 24, and was unimpressed with the coloring.  After that, I pureed a few more strawberries and stirred them into the remaining batter.  Those cupcakes had a much better color, but did not rise as well.  Did they not rise because they had already risen some, or because the egg whites were beginning to fall, or because I folded more puree into them, I'm not sure.  Her frosting sounded yummy too, but I was looking for less sugar, since I'm covering them with the chocolate Cubbie Bear faces from yesterday's post.  It came to me, ganache!  I am using this recipe, but again altered it.  The 60% Cacao Ghirardelli chips come in a 10 oz. bag, so I just used 10 oz. of chocolate instead of 12 oz.   Tomorrow, I'll post pix of the finished product, along with my taste test reviews!

Make-It Monday!

It's Make-It Monday.  As the school year winds down, so does AWANA.  BruCrewDad is helping lead the Cubbies, and he voluntold me to make cupcakes.  (Around here, if someone else volunteers you for something, you were "voluntold.")  I was happy to do it.  The perfectionist in me wanted the perfect cupcakes that screamed "CUBBIES" and not just regular cupcakes.  The other leader requested strawberry, so I get to try a new recipe.  Yay!  (I will sample them first, and if they are nasty, I'll go buy a cake mix.)  Stay tuned tomorrow to see how that goes!  Okay, so here's what I made for Make-It Monday:   Cubbie Bear's face!  I made 24 of these out of chocolate to put on top of the cupcakes!  Aren't they darling?  I also had plans to do some quilting today, but these cute little faces took WAY more time than I planned.

Remembering

One year ago today, our little town got turned upside down and inside out!  As I read through my post not long after, I cried all over again.  Such a tremendous sense of loss in those days!  My parents were here recently, and I showed them our downtown area.  So much has been cleaned up, that it's harder now to see the devastation.  Dirt has been placed in the giant holes that our HUGE old trees left, and the grass has covered them, so to one not familiar with our town, it didn't look too bad.  There is a building that was hit that had a mural painted on the outside of the building, and they reused the bricks they could, but without regard to the mural (maybe on purpose, I don't know), so you can see the outline of what was lost in the storm.  First Baptist has sent its steeple off to be repaired, so it looks funny right now.  Our old building has been leveled, and the hole filled.  Some of the buildings and homes have still not been repaired, but most have been repaired or leveled.  The local restaurant that had been around almost 100 yrs that I mentioned in my first post has been reopened.  Our community has come together in a way that only tragedy can draw people close.  Our church has been sharing a building with another church in our community whose services are the opposite times as ours.  They have been very generous to allow us an extended visit!  If you have ever shared your home with someone for an extended time, you know how hard it can be to have two families in one house.  This church has never made us feel unwelcome!  They have been kind and generous with us for a year now!  And, at this point, it looks like a year more.  We have tried to do our part as well, tidying the sanctuary after we finish, and sharing responsibilities with the lawn.  This past Sunday, we had church at our new property for the first time!  Our association has a portable baptistry, and our denomination baptizes those who have chosen to trust Christ for salvation.  The church we are appreciatively sharing, baptizes infants, so they had no baptistry.  So, we had the association's baptistry brought out to the property and filled so we could baptize all the people (in this case children) who have trusted Christ this year.  We all brought our camping chairs and had church outside, then we moved into a metal building still on the property and celebrated how God is still working in our church by baptizing six of our kids, one of whom was Tenderheart!  It was such a touching moment!  One of the children was baptized by his grandfather, and our pastor baptized the other five, including his youngest daughter.  I remember walking away thinking, God, You are so amazing!  Satan thought by destroying our church building, he could destroy us.  Thank You that the church is the people and not the building!  Thank You for continuing to work in our faith family, drawing us closer to You, drawing our children to You!  May You be glorified as we rebuild! As time marches on, and the one year anniversary is here, I sense of loss has lessened, but not the sense of God's movement!  God has his hand over our town (and my own family)!  Despite the devastating losses of property, our death toll was low!  For an F-4, that's pretty unbelievable!  God is doing new things in our town, in our faith family, and individually in our own hearts.  I can't speak for the whole community, but our faith family is going back to Scriptures, examining what our purpose should be, what we should be about, and how the Scriptures say to do it.  We have not been without our ups and down corporately since that time.  Our music minister had a massive heart attack after Thanksgiving, and we weren't sure he would survive it.  Our hearts cried out, "God, haven't we suffered enough?"  God healed him, and he has started leading us in music again just this month.  It feels so great to sing from the choir loft again!  While he was recovering, his wife, who's also our pianist, fell off the stage backwards and busted her head open.  She recovered completely too.  We've had others fall as well, to the point were we made it a church-wide "rule" that you have to stay vertical!  ;)  All of the injuries have been relatively minor.  I think God wants us to see that this is still a battle.  We haven't won, just because we didn't let the loss of our church building keep us from gathering to worship, we have to keep fighting, because Satan will not give up.  The enemy is real, and he wants to destroy us. (1 Peter 5:8b-Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.)  But, praise God, Jesus' words in John 16:33 are just as true! (John 16:33-I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.)  In Christ, we can overcome the world too!  


Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died —more than that, who was raised to life —is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.