Waffle Mix: Preparing for Baby

The other day I made a muffin mix to help save time and make my life a bit easier after the baby arrives.  Shortly after that I was making waffles for dinner, I love breakfast for dinner, and as I was starting to mix the dry ingredients I thought, I should make a double batch of this.  I already have a homemade pancake mix I keep in my pantry and I swear by it.  Now whipping up a pancake mix or waffle mix from scratch for a meal doesn't take hours, and it's far from difficult, but why not take short cuts when possible.  I think we all have moments when it's time to cook breakfast (especially me because I can't seem to get the gumption to fix anything beyond cereal in the mornings) when even making pancakes from scratch seems daunting.  With the mix already made I dread it less and it literally takes me under 5 minutes to mix up the batter.  There's less of a mess because I only have to get out the milk and an egg, and anything that saves me some clean up I'm all about. 


I love homemade waffles.  Since I got my waffle iron and started making them from scratch I can't bring myself to buy them from the store. They just don't measure up, and we use it so much I'm wanting to upgrade to a waffle iron that makes four waffles at a time instead of the 2 mine makes.  I have to say, I think mine are pretty darn delicious and I've had others confirm it.  One batch usually makes about 15 waffles, give or take, so I don't have to mix up batter every time I want waffles but wouldn't it be nice to have half the work done for me already?  The answer, yes.


I didn't have enough flour to make a whole canister of mix like I would have like to, but I did have some quart size baggies.  Generally I hate using these for anything other than freezer stuff because I seem to run out of them too quickly and I hate buying them, but I decided this was worth it.  So I took 2 quart size baggies, mixed up the dry ingredients:

1 3/4c flour

2T Sugar

1T baking powder

1/4t ground cinnamon 

and put them in each baggie, labeling them with the wet ingredients needed to make the batter:

1 3/4c milk

1/2c oil or melted butter

2eggs

1t vanilla

I didn't add the directions for mixing because it's really just mixing the wet together and adding it to the dry.  When I get more flour I want to make a canister of waffle mix and if you have enough to do this then each time you make a batch you will need 2cups of the dry mix.

I love these little short cuts and having things already made up.  I feel like I'm getting more and more prepared for after the baby arrives, with ways to make things easier for me.  This would also be great to do if you know you're going to be having company staying with you.  Mix up a batch of dry ingredients and store it in your pantry so you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time visiting and spending time with your family. 

Hubby's Valentine's Day Gift: a day late

Every year since my son's birth my husband and I have made it a rule to stick with a simple Valentine's Day and to keep gifts $5 or less.  The first year I made him a snicker's candy bar bouquet, the 2nd year I made him his favorite strawberry cheesecake, last year I bought his favorite candies, Smarties and Sweetarts, and put them in upcycled Starbucks Frappacino bottles that I painted and wrapped in scrapbook paper.  This year I drove myself nuts for a good 3 weeks trying to come up with something different and simple and 2 days before V-day I realized I had no good DIY ideas and wasn't finding anything online that jumped out at me either so it was time to go to plan B, store bought.

I know I know, store bought gift for the hubs, what kind of DIY chick am I?

The answer is a very pregnant one with a loss for unique gift ideas.  What else can I say?  Sometimes you have to give in and take the easier way out.  I decided to post this because I thought maybe next year someone will be on the search for a last minute idea that's not necessarily DIY or homemade but just cute and easy to grab at the store.

We got a blue-ray player for Christmas this year so we have been slowly finding inexpensive Blue-ray discs here and there.  Let me tell ya it's a lot harder to find cheap blue-ray discs than it is to find cheap dvd's.  We've lucked out finding some for $5 and I thought maybe I'd get lucky, that the Valentine's Day God's would smile down on me but no such luck.  Instead I found the Hulk movie, which we had actually been wanting to see anyway, and added his favorite kind of soda that we never buy because it's a little pricey, Cream Soda.

I was so lazy this year I didn't even go the extra mile to make him a card.  Nope, instead he got a pink piece of cardstock with the note:

Sit back and relax with a six pack!

Happy Valentine's Day

The funny thing is, he ended up turning the card over and writing his message to me on the other side, haha.  Can you tell neither of us planned ahead this year?  Some wives might of been upset by this, I got a good laugh out of it and thought, this is what  almost 5 years of marriage, 2 kids, and an extra long work week does to ya.

Red Velvet Cupcakes-Cupcakes for a Cure

The official beginning of the Relay for Life year started September 1st, and I had such good intentions to send cupcakes to work with my mom once a month starting then.  However, as always September through December is a crazy busy time of year with the holidays and Grant's birthday and I never ended up getting around to it. 
So I figured I only have 4 months from now until the end of the school year to raise money with cupcakes and I better get started.  Naturally with Valentine's Day this week I thought red velvet would be the perfect flavor, plus I have never made red velvet and have been wanting to for awhile now.

I used the red velvet recipe from the girls of Georgetown Cupcakes except I didn't use red food coloring, I used the Red Velvet Emulsion I also used for the Red Velvet cut out cookies.  Since the recipe was from Georgetown Cupcakes I thought I would be blown away with a really great flavor but I have to say I was a little disappointed.  There wasn't enough of a chocolate flavor to satisfy me.  The recipe calls for 2 1/2T cocoa and I have to say next time I will be using 1/4c to add more flavor.  Most of the recipes from Katherine and Sophie say they will make 12 cupcakes and I always somehow end up with 18, I thought this would be the same for their red velvet recipe so I only added 1 1/2T red velvet emulsion.  This recipe ended up making 24 cupcakes so I really should have added 2T of the emulsion and I plan to next time I make them.

All this being said, my husband said they tasted good and they were really moist right out of the oven.  They rose perfectly and other than wanting a little deeper red color and a little extra cocoa flavor they seemed perfect.

Red Velvet Heart Cookies

I have had it in my mind to make Red Velvet cookies for awhile now and I figured with Valentines day being this week it was the perfect time to give it a whirl.  I don't even really know when the idea came to me but I saw it first here.  She used Red Velvet Emulsion and one of the things that's kept me from making red velvet cupcakes and cookies is that I didn't want to have to buy large amounts of red food coloring.  Not to mention it's difficult to get a deep red color in frosting let alone in cookie and cake batter.  The emulsion seemed like the perfect solution and I immediately bought mine at Walmart.

While I originally saw this recipe for Red Velvet cut outs I didn't want to buy the dry buttermilk the recipe called for because I figured it would expire before I could use it all since I don't have any other recipes that call for it.  I searched around and came across this recipe and decided to give it a try with a couple changes.

I only made half a recipe since it was the first time I've made them and didn't know how they would taste and I didn't want a crap load of cookies sitting around for me to eat.  Here is the half recipe with the addition of the Red Velvet Emulsion and baking powder since the original recipe didn't call for any and I thought that was a little weird.  I also used margarine sticks instead of real butter because they are less expensive and it's what I use in all my other cookie recipes.

Red Velvet Heart Cookies

1 stick margarine at room temp

1c sugar

2T cocoa powder

1 egg

1 1/2t vanilla

1/4t salt

1 3/4c flour

1/4t baking powder

1/2t Red Velvet Emulsion

Cream butter, sugar, and salt.  Add egg, vanilla, and Red Velvet Emulsion.  Mix until combined.  Add flour, cocoa, and baking powder.  Beat until dough is forming a ball and coming away from the sides of the mixer bowl.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or over night.  Roll  and cut into shapes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. 

Grant had so much fun helping mix the dough together and then putting sprinkles on the frosted cookies.

 I had intended to make homemade cream cheese frosting but didn't have enough cream cheese so instead I used a store bought can of frosting.  Grant doesn't like frosting on his cakes or cookies so I left half of them unfrosted.  They are tasty either way.

Homemade Muffin Mix:Preparing for Baby

I've been looking for ways to make life easier after baby arrives, mainly when it comes to cooking since it seems like Grant's stomach is never full.  I know once the baby comes, at least in the beginning while we are all adjusting, I won't have a lot of time to bake or just won't feel like it.  Grant loves mini muffins and I make a couple batches a week for him to eat for breakfast and snacks.  I don't buy muffin mixes, all mine are made from scratch, and while it doesn't take forever to make some it does take time to get everything out, mixed, etc. especially with Grant always wanting to help.
I noticed my homemade pancake mix in my cabinet the other day, I haven't bought Hungry Jack mix in years, and wondered if there was a recipe for a homemade mix for muffins out there.  Of course I went to the computer and googled it, what else would I do?
I found one on this site and decided to make a slight adjustment to the recipe (I used all white flour) and I ended up halving it so I could use one of my canisters instead of baggies.  I loved the blog I found the recipe on since it also gave ideas for altering it with variations of spices and fruit.  This is just what I wanted and needed since I get bored making the same kind of muffins and my husband and son have different favorites.


Muffin Mix
6c all purpose flour
1 1/4c sugar
2T baking powder
1 1/2t salt


Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk until they are all incorporated.  Pour into a canister or gallon size baggies making sure to tape the directions on the front.

I ended up taping a note card with the liquid ingredient variations to the front and the add-in variations to the back of my canister.

 This way I would have no reason to hunt down a recipe card.  I made the chocolate with mini chocolate chip variation the other night and Grant LOVED them.  I think my husband would prefer a more chocolatey flavor, but I have to be honest, I think  he's wanting a chocolate cupcake instead of a muffin haha.  I tried them and I'm not even a big fan of chocolate muffins and I thought they were delicious.  Actually I'm wanting one right now, but I'm trying to refrain.  Darn these cravings!

I did add about 1tsp vanilla to the liquid ingredients even though the recipe didn't call for it.

One batch made 24 mini muffins and 9 regular sized muffins.  They bake beautifully:

Don't you wish you had some on your counter right now?

I'm so excited to have this mix in my cabinet.  I've gotten so much use out of my pancake mix, I swear by having it ready to go in my pantry, and I know this muffin mix will make me hesitate a lot less when it's time to whip up a batch.  The time it saved just making these chocolate ones was fabulous, and it was so easy for Grant to assist me, he had a ball. 

DIY Cloth Wipes

I made cloth wipes when Grant was a baby and used them frequently.  When we moved to Ohio they got lost in the move so I made a trip to Walmart and bought a package of cheap washcloths ($4 for 18 if I remember right) and used those, both kinds worked great.  My husband finds cloth wipes disgusting and pointless as he says, "a box of wipes costs like a dollar Lisa, I think we can afford that".  For me its not about whether or not we can actually afford it, it's the fact that if I don't have to buy it and I can make something that can be used again and again, then why not?  Even if I'm only saving a dollar here and there, that's a dollar that can be used for something else.  And if I'm already using cloth diapers, which I did with Grant and plan to use again with this new baby, using cloth wipes isn't any extra work.  You just throw the diaper and wipe in the wash instead of in the trash.  Plus I really like not having to rely on store bought items, no running to Walmart at 9 o'clock at night because I didn't realize we were almost out of wipes.  It's a great feeling.

It dawned on me the other day I needed a new stock of cloth wipes, so I raided my fabric stash and searched for any flannel I could use to make some.  I made these a little bigger than the ones I made years ago and made sure to hem them so they wouldn't fray.  I measured squares 8x8inches and used 2 for each wipe.  I put right sides together, stitched around all 4 sides leaving an opening for turning.  Then turned them right side out and zigzag stitched around all for sides for durability.  You could easily use one 8x8inch square and just hem it around all four sides.  That's what I did before with Grant's wipes but I plan on using these for a couple years (until potty training time) and I wanted them to be thick and durable.

I ended up making about 12 wipes out of the scraps I found and I'm sure I'll end up making more over time but this will at least get me started.  The first few weeks at home after the baby's born I use disposable everything, it's just easier when your trying to get used to a new routine and adjust to the lack of sleep etc. etc. 

This is a great way to use up flannel scraps and save a little money as well.  With Grant (when he was 1-2years old) I was only using a 1 package of disposable diapers a month and 1 container of wipes about every month to month and a half, that is when I wasn't making my own disposable wipes.  Can you tell I'm big on doing things myself instead of buying them?

Diy Simple Cloth Napkins

I made some cloth napkins a couple Christmas's ago that were supposed to go to my cousin as a gift.  Well, I never made it to her house, she lives an hour and a half away, and then we moved and then she moved and I decided I would just use them at our place rather than save them forever.  Back then I made 12 out of a table cloth I found at Target on clearance.  They work perfectly and are thick fabric which I love. 

I've finally gotten my son and husband to use cloth napkins (when they are washed and ready) instead of the paper towels.  I hate buying paper towels but it seems like 12 cloth napkins don't last very long and before I know it they are all in the dirty clothes and we are back to using paper towels.  I've kept my eye out for another table cloth on clearance but with no luck I decided to raid my fabric stash.

I went back to the fabric I used to make dish cloths a couple weeks ago and found a yard of another fabric I had no use for as well.  I ended up getting 7 15x15inch napkins out of these 2 fabrics.  The fabric is just regular cotton so it's not very thick like the others I have but they will serve their purpose.

I used the same tutorial here, that I used for the receiving blankets and the other napkins I made.  I think I'm in nesting mode trying to get some things done before baby arrives and my crafting comes to a serious slow down for a couple months.  These cloth napkins have been on my to-do list for quite a while and I'm so glad they are finally done.  I'm still going to watch for inexpensive table cloths so I can have a crap load of napkins and there will be no excuse for anyone in our house to use up paper towels just for wiping off their hands.  But if you are wanting to get started using cloth napkins and have regular old cotton fabric lying around, go ahead and give it a whirl.  Most of the time we don't actually need really thick napkins anyway, it just feels more like the fancy ones you get in restaurants than the cotton ones.  I'm sure no one in my house will notice the difference between the two, they will be too busy eating to worry about what they are wiping the mouths with.