Pink Pancakes!

Okay, I needed to try out something new and remembered I had a bunch of canned beets. So I started thinking what I could do with the beets. Then I remembered reading a recipe for Pink Pancakes from the book "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld. I don't own the book so I decided to make my own recipe for pink pancakes! The wonderful think about pancakes is that once you have the base idea of what pancakes are "made of" then you can adjust and throw together anything you want to create anything you heart and tummy desires! Here is what I did:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup milk

1 Tbl oil

1/4-1/2 cup pureed canned beets

2 tsp vanilla 

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all together and cook like normal pancakes. I serve with a dash of powdered sugar and jelly on the side. Pancakes are just so much fun to make and easy to manipulate recipes to create just a fabulous and creative breakfast!

My kids just love pancakes so I know this will be a big hit!

~KT~

 

Changes

Well now, this is different! Everything looks different around here at blogger... It's confusing but once I get used to the new look I know I will find it just as easy to write. It's kind of like hanging out with a new friend.

I had a bunch of stuff to update with but I might have to take a short vacation on posting until I get used to this new interface. It's so bright I have to wear sunglasses even after turning the backlight down on the computer...

Will post again as soon as I get used to this new thing. Otherwise I will be starting a new blog elsewhere.. stay tuned for further details as they happen.

~KT~

'Tis the season!

Yes, it is here!

Gardening season!!!

The rest of this week and coming weekend I'm going to get my garden worked up, compost added, another compost pile started and some plants planted!

I will start with potatoes. I'm going to plant potatoes in barrels this year. It looks so easy and a lot more space friendly which I am all about as I have a small garden. I decided to go with 4 barrels, one in each corner of my garden. I will try some different varieties to find out which one my family likes the best and which one stores the best for me.

I have a bunch of strawberry plants I am waiting to plant and I am going to be "natural-scaping" with them. I'm thinking along the woods line would be perfect as they will have room to grow back in the woods.

Last year I tried growing garlic for the first time and I didn't think I was successful. . . but there it is! One of the first beautiful green things growing in my garden! Along with a lone kale plant I tried growing last year as well!!! How exciting!!! I am going to plant more garlic all around the house to help keep rodents away once I re-mulch the landscaping. I'm also going to intermingle some herbs around the house so it will be beautiful, useful and multipurpose all at once!

I also am going to plant a bleeding heart plant but I am not sure where I want to put it yet. I have a few places in mind but the perfect one just didn't pop out at me yet.

I have some blueberries that I want to plant too and I have just the perfect place for them. I like to landscape as natural as possible so the yard will look nice but wild and natural at the same time.

I already planted some day lilies, lily of the valley's and gladiolas and last year I planted tulips and lupine. The tulips came up beautifully but I haven't seen any of the lupine as of yet.

I'm also going to get the garden dirt prepared to plant in a few weeks year and I'm adding tons of beautiful compost. I am going to start two more compost piles so I have plenty to use next year as well.

The weather forecast is a few inches of random mid-spring snow but it's just white fertilizer! It won't hurt anything I have already planted and plan to plant this weekend.

I just love the busy planting season and I am so excited to see the beauty of my labor at the end of the year!

Now off to get busy because I have to fit in my run yet today!
~KT~

Going for it!

This morning I remembered an annual 10K coming up. I decided to finally go for it since I'm not pregnant! The past few years I haven't been able to do it and I've been wanting to get back into shape for summer so this is a perfect opportunity!

I'm hoping I can get somebody to run it with me but if I can't then maybe I will just do the stroller one and bring at least two of the kids with me. I have about 7ish weeks to train so I need to start training today. I'm going to use my old training method of cross training for when I was training to be in cross country in college so here goes nothing! I'm going to have to get up extra early in the morning to go for a run before the kids get up so I'm just going to do my cross training part today then a run tomorrow rest on Sunday and so on and so forth so I will be ready to go for the race!!! I need to get a new pair of shoes so hopefully I can work that into the budget.

My very first official run! And a 10K at that!!!

~KT~

Thrifty Surprises!

Today I finally got to get out and about. We went grocery shopping then stopped at the local thrift store! I now have plates in my house! How I got through over 3 years of marriage with just 5 random plates I just don't know! Now I have a set of 6 and a double set of 4 (4 large and 4 salad).

 I FINALLY found some gelatin molds!!! I got the lobster one I had hoped to find for the past year and also a grapes mold.  I am so excited to finally try my hand at some old fashioned gelatin mold recipes not to mention there are a whole bunch of yummy looking recipes from MaryJanesFarm that I am itchin' to try as well!!! I have some ChillOver powder now I can actually try it out! So exciting!!! Perfect find for a spring day!

I also came across some sewing supplies that I have needed for a while and I'm glad I held out because I got them at 1/4 the price of brand new! It was worth the wait for sure!!! I also came across a plain glass latte mug and at 50 cents I couldn't resist it was so pretty and I knew it would be lovely to drink out of, especially this summer with iced coffee and iced teas!!! 

I am very excited with my thrift store surprises!!! I am very excited to eat off real dinner plates tonight and I will enjoy the ham casserole even more than usual as it will be served on real dinner plates! Yay! Can't wait for the casserole to be done!!! My house is slowly starting to feel more like "home". Slowly but surely I will finally have that homey feeling to my house all while being thrifty!!!

~KT~

Leftovers many ways

Today I am thinking about ham.

In general I do not prefer pork products as they usually upset my stomach but I do "stomach" them on occasion. 

Holidays are one of those occasions. 

We had a nice sized ham this past weekend and only ate about 1/5 of it so I have a lot of ham leftover. I just can't stand ham sandwiches and pea soup so long before creativity takes over to remove the dreaded boredom of a meal.

Tonight we are having breakfast for dinner. In other words scrambled eggs and ham skillet! 

I've also thought of scalloped potatoes and ham, a ham version of shepherds pie,  ham pot pie, a version of chili with cubed ham instead of red meat, I'm sure a ham pasta salad wouldn't be too bad either for a side dish or even for lunch one day.

Some more thoughts I have had which I haven't fully developed yet are a way to make leftover ham roast into something more mexican type like tacos,burritos kind of thing with leftover ham. That would be a nice way to spice things up a bit. I'm sure there are many more good things but as of now that is what I have thought up and developed. Now that I am talking about food I'm thinking Greece. A nice warm gyro sounds absolutely fabulous to me right now but alas we are having scrambled eggs with ham  and yes, I am going to put salsa on my portion!

~KT

Easter Blessings

My three little blessings before heading to church for Easter service. 

This past Easter weekend was wonderful despite the entire family fighting off head colds. The Easter service was incredible and reminded me what a wonderful blessing it is to have salvation and also God's love for us. Absolutely incredible!

I also planted the gladiola corms I had waiting to be planted and I picked up some day lilies to plant in the back of the house. I still have to plant my bleeding heart plant into a pot. I don't want to plant it in the ground as I would like to bring it with me someday if and when we ever get to buy our own place. I've been wanting to start preparing my garden and really work some of natures fertilizer into the ground so it will be all ready for planting next month.  I also forgot that I need to pick up a few more seeds to plant! Yikes! Better start looking before everyone is sold out and I want to make sure they are OP and not hybrids or GM.

Well off to enjoy my evening!

~KT~

Today I chose: Joy!

Happiness is a fleeting feeling but Joy is something that can be held on to so today I choose Joy!

Amid life's chaotic moments it's so important to hold on to Joy for without it life would get pretty dull. Despite life's hard times I know that God is always good which helps Joy thrive, looking at all the blessings both big and small help Joy to grow even more.

Despite anything life gives you, you and you alone have the personal choice to be a grouch or to be joyful.

Here are some things that help me to choose Joy over discouragement today:

~My salvation
~My husband
~My kids, each one of them!
~The sunshine
~Spring time!
~The hope that spring time brings
~Budding trees
~Spring time flowers
~A freshly laid chicken egg
~ Freshly brewed coffee and tea
~A roof over my head
~The ability to garden
~Watching said garden go from "plain" dirt to a feast waiting to be picked and preserved and best of all enJOYed!
~Watching my kids grow up
~I could go on and on and on.

If you find just one good thing in your life, you can think of another and pretty soon your life seems amazing instead of bland!

One step at a time, so go ahead and choose Joy!

~KT~