Superb Streusel topped Pumpkin Apple muffins

Yes this recipe is a hit... absolutely superb if I do say so myself! It is sooo moist because of the chunks of apples and a little healthier than the average muffin recipe. Sometimes I play around with the oil and flour mixing applesauce and whole wheat in to add a little extra nutrition... but this time I just left as is. Want a fabulous fall breakfast? MAKE THESE!

Superb Streusel Topped Pumpkin Apple muffins

2.5 cups flour
1.5 cups sugar
1 heaping TBLS pumpkin pie spice (making your own is super easy if you have non on hand like me!)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup oil
2 cups peeled, chopped apples  (Granny smith are my favorite in these!)

Streusel Topping:
2 TBLS flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 TBL butter

Mix all dry ingredients together in medium sized bowl. In another bowl add eggs and beat lightly. Add pumpkin and oil, mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix just until moistened... don't go crazy and over mix or you will end up with rock hard muffins! Fold in apples. Mix steusel ingredients with a fork (or pastry blender if you are fancy... I don't have one so I use a fork) until mixtures resembles coarse crumbs.

Pour batter into paper muffin cups until 2/3 full, top with steusel mixture and bake for 20 mins in 350 degree oven. Enjoy!

Little Miss Gabbie

Is 5 weeks old and continues to amaze me everyday! She started rolling over before she even turned 2 weeks old! Shes just recently started smiling and just last night started "talking"... it was so cute! Time is going by way too quickly!!! Heres a few of the pictures I've taken over the past couple weeks...

One week old!

One month old!

5 weeks! Up close and personal

 Little Princess in her tutu onesie... from Aunt Stacey and Uncle Joe :)

Big yawn...

DONE taking pictures! LOL!

Gabrielle Marie

I know I know! It's been literally forever! I will just go ahead and say I am never going to be some AMAZING blogger! Especially now that our baby girl is here! Yay! :D

Gabrielle Marie was born on August 22nd... she weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long... such a peanut compared to her big brothers! She is the most bald, and obviously the least chunky... but her cheeks have a nice amount of pudge to them! We are working on it :) And as you can see, she enjoys being pampered! She laid back and relaxed during her first bath! I see many Mother/ daughter pedi's in our future ;)

Room for a girl :)

So, my task over the next couple of weeks is going to be decluttering my house! In Japan, we lived in a small 850 sq ft home, so needless to say, we didn't keep much! I loved the simplicity of not having a house full of clutter! Now that we have 1800 sq ft, we have somehow managed to fill every closet and garage with things that never get used. Somehow we have gone from few things more than the essentials, to complete overload! (Well, in my opinion anyway!).

Anyway... once I get rid of all the stuff holding me back I want to decorate for the baby. Now, being a first time mom of a girl :D :D :D I want some opinions on which direction to take this in :) So let me know which one ya'll like the most...

black and white
tulip crib set
pink medallion
princess

Have a great night! :)

Black Bean Burgers :D

 Mmmm... just looking at the picture makes my mouth water :) When Mike and I lived in Japan we went through about a month of being "vegetarian". It was fun... well, most of the time! haha. This is one of our most favorite vegetarian recipes that we still continue to make often... it is VERY budget friendly, heart healthy, and easy on the waistline as well! The boys both thoroughly enjoy these and eat them up just as they would any other burger :)

 The cast of characters....

So heres the recipe....
Spicy (but not TOO spicy) black bean burgers
1/2 green pepper (a little more or less depending on how much you like the taste of peppers)
1/2 medium onion
1 16 oz can of black beans
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 egg
1 TBL. chili powder
1 TBL. cumin
1 tsp hot sauce (I like Cholula Chili Garlic, but we have made them with no hot sauce and they are just as good!)
1/2 c. oatmeal (or breadcrumbs, but breadcrumbs have absolutely no nutritive value)

Preheat griddle to about 350-375. Rinse beans and mash with a fork. Use a food chopper or processor to finely chop onion, garlic, and green pepper. Be sure to drain some of the juice from the pepper, or else you may need to add more oatmeal to your burgers. Beat egg and add. Stir in spices, hot sauce and oatmeal and mix thoroughly. Place on griddle by spoonful and shape into a good patty size. Allow to cook for about 5-8 minutes per side depending on thickness. We like ours pretty thin :)

Place on a nice multigrain bun and top with cheese and claussen pickles mmmmm. Really, it has to be claussen pickles. There is no substitute. The boys really like these with ketchup. Mike and I prefer them with A-1 but from this point you can do your own thing ;D  
Enjoy!

So.... Its... A..... BABY....

GIRL

Yup thats right... I was trying to get some pictures up from my cell phone, but it wasn't cooperating! Little baby girl has some LONG legs though! She must be built just like Mamma :)

I have to admit... I CRIED when I found out! I mean I have been praying for a girl since Jackson was born... but the Lord has truly answered! I feel blessed beyond belief and I just still can't believe that the Lord would allow me to have a little girl! Thank you Lord for answered prayers!

Hashbrown Casserole

I tried a new recipe this weekend for our SS class, hashbrown casserole. I've tried quite a few different recipes, but never really found one that I liked very much... until now! A couple people asked for the recipe, so I decided to put it up :) Enjoy!

Hash Brown Casserole:

1 32 oz bag of hash brown potatoes ( I used cubed, but I think shredded would be great!)
1 16 oz container sour cream
8 oz diced ham
2 cans condensed cream of potato soup (Yes, it HAS to be cream of potato!)
2 cups medium cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp or so black pepper
dash of onion powder (or chopped onion)
about a cup of Parmesan cheese

Throw the potatoes, sour cream, ham, soups, cheddar cheese, spices in a bowl and mix together. Spread into a lightly greased 9x 13 pan and bake at 375 for about an hour, or until bubbly. Easy peasy and OH so cheesy. :) haha, yes I know... I'm such a nerd!

Menu Plan Monday :)

Ok, so I know I have totally missed like 2 weeks... or maybe 3, but now I'm back! It seems this spring weather is giving me some much MUCH needed new energy! So... I can stay awake for longer periods of time to do things like, oh, I dunno... add to my blog! :) Here's what this weeks menu looks like... a little more boring than normal, but we are trying to get rid of things around here and buy less this week :)

Monday

breakfast: cereal, leftover cinnamon buns

lunch: sandwiches and fruit

dinner: grilled deer steak, pasta, salad, french vanilla cupcakes :)

Tuesday

breakfast: cereal

lunch: salad w/ cheese, fruit

dinner: breakfast for dinner :)

Wednesday

breakfast: cereal

lunch: pb&j, carrots

dinner: mac & cheese w/ brocolli, mixed veggies

Thursday

breakfast: cereal, smoothies

lunch: sandwiches, carrots

dinner: leftovers night

Friday

breakfast: oatmeal w/ apples

lunch: sandwiches, salad

dinner: roasted chicken, fresh broccoli, mashed tators

Saturday

breakfast: waffles with strawberries

lunch: OUT

dinner: chicken and gravy, french fries, broccoli

Sunday

breakfast: leftover waffles

lunch: chicken noodle soup in the crockpot

dinner: smoothies... after church is usually too late for a big meal for us, but smoothies and popcorn are a perfect before bed combination!

The "Must Read" Book.

Those who know me know that I am a lot of things.... but an avid reader isn't one of them! I can't say that I've sat down and read many books in the past couple months... or couple years for that matter! Sure, I read my Bible everyday, and things like "The Pokey Little Puppy" with the boys... but an actual adult book just never really intrigued me. UNTIL we bought "Twenty- First Century REVIVAL" by John Goetsch. Wow. It is AWESOME (And awesomely convicting!). He gives so much information on the early churches and revivals throughout history. He also talks about the church history here in America, and the changes America has gone through in the past couple of decades. It is just a really great book, seriously... yall have to read it!!!! I could go on and on all afternoon about it, but I think he honestly says things the best! If ya want to borrow it you can, but I definitely recommend buying it!  :)

Menu Plan Monday :)

Monday's are most often the day I sit down and actually compile the meals I'm planning to make for the upcoming week. I try to only go grocery shopping ONCE a week. If I am out of something, I either make something else, or find an appropriate substitute... instead of running back to the store. I have this problem with getting WAY more than what I went to the store for! Anyway... this weeks menu is as follows :)

 Monday:
B: oatmeal with apples and raisins
L: chicken, rice and carrots
D: chili and homemade cornbread

Tuesday:
B: pancakes
L: cream cheese and apple butter sandwiches, pears
D: broc and cheese calzone (one of my favorite things!)

Wednesday:
B: oatmeal w/ apples and raisins
L: chili baked potatoes
D: spaghetti carbonara, brocolli

Thursday:
B: pancakes
L: breakfast for lunch
D: Zuppa Toscana, breadsticks

Friday:
B: baked apple pie oatmeal :)
L: chili, cheese and rice wraps
D: Italian Drip Beef Sandwiches, I am SUPER excited to try these! From http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

Saturday:
B: Breakfast sandwiches
L: Sandwiches and left over soup
D: Leftovers

Sunday:
B: pancakes
L: Bean and rice wraps with cheese, carrots
D: For dinner we always have homemade popcorn (not that super processed, cancer causing, microwave stuff!), fresh fruit and choc milk. Most of the time we are all ready for bed by the time we get home on sundays and this always seems to be just the right combination :)

Weekly Snacks:
popcorn, carrots and celery with ranch, apples with peanut butter, and pumpkin apple struedel muffins

Looking forward to a great week, with lots of yummy food :)

"Git R Done"

Ok so I just had to laugh today as Thomas and I were working on school. We were going over letter sounds and blends. Among the blends we went over were the "G" blends. As we work through sounding the letters out, he always comes up with a word that has the blend in it, for example ga- gap. Well, we came down to "gi" and this is what I hear.... "G says guh and I says ih... guh, ih, guh, ih.... GIH.... like I go 'git' toys." I started cracking up... just a little :) And kindly corrected him that git is actually get. 

He makes me laugh. ALL THE TIME! We have so much fun doing school together, I wouldn't trade teaching my own child to read for the world, no matter what people want to say about "socialization". Thank you Lord for allowing me this opportunity!

cinnamon, spice, and everything nice cookies...

Mmmm... these cookies are pretty great! They taste like a cross between a snickerdoodle and a ginger cookie... or if you made a gingerbread cinnamon bun... they are delish! I didn't get a chance to take any pictures because my boys (all three of them!) really enjoyed these so much they are gone! I only made a half recipe... guess I should have made a whole! :) Anyway... here it is...

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter flavored shortening
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups cinnamon chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter flavored shortening, light brown sugar and dark brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk and vanilla, blending until the mixture is light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter until well blended. Mix in cinnamon chips and if using, pecans. Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, just until the cookies lose their gloss. Remove from the cookie sheets to wire racks to cool.

This recipe was taken from www.allrecipes.com... and for once I actually followed the entire recipe with no add ins of my own! Try em... they're delish!

Baby its COLD outside :D

So can you guess how excited I am right now?!?!? IT IS SNOWING!!!!! They are only calling for 1-2 inches... but its still snow, and I will take it any way I can get it! Ahh... I love the look of white streets and housetops :D :D :D

So what better way to welcome snow then by hot cocoa?! These mugs I got last year after CHRISTmas from Target... for .25 cents each! Aren't they adorable?! And the dinosaur robes? My awesome sister picked them out for the boys for CHRISTmas... they LOVE them and wear them whenever they get the chance.

Well thats it for now, but Sarah you should be so proud of me for posting 2 days in a row! Tomorrow I am going to post these cookies I made the other night... they were amazing :)

Ok, its been a WHILE! Like a long while! So much for trying harder at blogging right? I've gotten really bad at taking pictures lately... mainly because my camera never seems to work the way I want it to haha.

So since I'm such a slacker at taking pictures, here's some of the boys I took in the fall. Ahh... I love fall :) But I love winter too... and good thing, there is snow headed this direction!

I'm hoping to get some pictures up on a more regular basis, and hopefully get some pictures of my little men in the snow! I know they are as excited as I am for the white stuff!

I was going through my inbox and came across this pic of Mike while he was deployed to Kuwait in 2004. Look how much hair he had! And how young he is :) Ain't he CUTE!?

Mike... I LOVE YOU!!!!
and lucky for you I've always had a thing for bald guys ;)

Fabulous fall

Yes, the best time of year has finally arrived! I was reminded of this as I walked outside to take the recycling out! Nice cool, damp weather.... YAY! A perfect day for soup (and choc chip banana muffins)!



Today for homeschool we learned "Aa" and just in time since there is plenty of apples being harvested right now! While in Delaware over the weekend we stopped at a local produce joint called Fifer Orchards. They have a bunch of stuff for kids to do during the pumpkin and apple picking seasons, but unfortunately it rained the day we were there... so we just got some fresh apples. By the way... honeycrisp apples are officially the best :) Try one.



Yup, fall is in full swing in the Weller household! Pumpkin spice candles are burning, Molly is sporting her bright orange collar, and the fall baking has begun! I made these spicey little treats today... Pumpkin "Gobs"... basically pumpkin cookies stuck together with ooey gooey cream cheese frosting. Delish!

New attempt at blogging...

So... have you ever typed up a really long story onto your blog just to accidentally hit the wrong button and delete it? I HAVE! About two weeks ago I sat down to "update"... wrote out a good bit of what has been going on around here and poof, in an instant it was GONE! haha... Then today, I have been feverishly working towards getting this thing to where I want it! It's been a long couple of hours, but I think I am starting to figure things out... its about time I know! What can I say, I'm so NOT a techie! Anyway, long story (that was deleted and now made very short), we are homeschooling and in our third week, September is almost over, temperatures may finally be dropping, and I am preparing for yet another freezer cooking day. There it is, my life in a nutshell thus far :) Stay tuned for fabulous fall recipes... and my lineup for my October freezer cooking day! Oh yeah and HAPPY FALL YALL!

4th of july... In September!

I was going through my pictures today and found some on my camera from the fourth of july... we went down to the Indian Head fireworks with some good friends of ours. It was sooo much fun! Great show for such a small town! We are definetely planning on going back!

Update...

Wow, Im pretty terrible at this whole blogging thing! Worst blogger in the world right here! Anyway... we are less than 3 weeks away from my wonderful hubby's return so I am desperately searching for excellent recipes to make for him :) Currently we are working on eating from the pantry and clearing out some of the things we bought when we moved here in 2008! So, today I made a batch of home made... from scratch cinnamon buns! :D

They came out delish... the home made frosting could use some work... well... not work, just BUTTER! haha... anyway... not too bad for my first ever attempt at from scratch cinnamon rolls!

Tomorrow... Deer...

Just another day in the life

So today we had a pretty un-eventful day... spent most of it cleaning and getting laundry done. My boys are so helpful at this... NOT! Although they do enjoy helping me get the clothes out of the dryer... and acting like goofballs!



Then tonight for dinner I made one of emeril's recipes called "Slap yo mama chili mac" LOL! It was so good though! As you can see.... Jackson thought so too!!!



As the evening was winding down, Jackson was already in bed and it was time for some one on one time with my first born. He always tells me the funniest things during these times! Sometimes he tells me what he wants to eat for breakfast the next morning, sometimes its what he wants for his birthday and then sometimes (and the funniest of all) is when he quite seriously tells me what he is going to have and be when he "grows up". He's been on a kick with that one lately...



The other day he said this to me over dinner " Mama... when I grow up..... I'm gonna have a car.... a blue one like Rachel and Michael." slight pause.... " and I'm gonna play music...." So I asked "What kind of music?" After taking a moment to think about it he says " hmm... Bob the Builder." He is so funny!

So to add to this "when I grow up" thing... tonight he tells me that when he grows up he is gonna be married... so like a good Mom I ask him who he is planning to marry and with a giddy little boy's laugh and a shy smile he says "Ima marry Rachel."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that she's already married... sorry Rachel, you will have to break his little heart yourself!