Mom's Birthday

For Mom's Birthday, we headed to the craft store and the boys and I decorated these letters and purses for her. We were hoping they would coordinate with her sewing room.

Before:



After:

Carrots and pancakes

These are carrots from Mom and Dad's garden...I roasted them with chicken and red potatoes.



Here's my panckake pen...it's great!



Yesterday's mousetrap...



Today's attempt at a bee and hive was not so great...



Some of the leftover batter looks like a frog...

Zucchini bread

Jacob's teacher gave him a good sized zucchini so we made bread tonight. The recipe is from Betty Crocker . I used Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Flour which is why it turned out a little darker than normal. I omitted the nuts and raisins and added a cup of chocolate chips.





I put Charlie to bed and found that Jack had taken a giant bite out of one...

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Last week we decided to make pulled pork sandwiches in the crock pot...it was so good! VERY easy, too! We also had sweet potatoes and Uncle Jerimy made grilled pineapple...yum!

1 large pork tenderloin, I used one about 7-8 lbs, it was big! It should have a bone and a layer of fat on the bottom.
1 large yellow onion
1 can root beer
2 cups apple juice
Water
Garlic powder, Italian seasoning
Barbecue sauce
Buns or rolls

Spray the crock pot with a non-stick cooking spray. Slice the onions and layer them evenly in the bottom of the crock pot. Place the pork in the crock pot, fatty side up, pour in root beer, apple juice and water until the liquid is about 2/3 full. Sprinkle with seasonings. Let the meat sit in the pot, refrigerated, for a couple of hours then flip and sprinkle with seasonings. I put the pot on low at midnight so it was ready at 2:00 PM. When the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees, drain the meat, remove the bone and shred with 2 forks. Serve on rolls with BBQ sauce!

Here is Martha's picture:


Here is mine:

Christmas Pillowcase

I found this pattern in the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Crafting magazine and Mom provided the fabric. It is a slip on pillowcase and the fabric on the back is the same as the tree on the far left. It measures 12"x12".

Beach House Peach Cake

This cake was so easy and yummy! The pictures make it look burned, I think it was because of the dark pan. I told Jack, who loves to bake with me, that we were making a peach cake. He thought I was saying "beach", so he called it a "beach house cake." Since it's September, I broke out the pumpkin mold just for fun! I like that this recipe did not call for pureed or diced peaches, just sliced. They broke up in the mixer (I did not mix by hand) which left nice, big chunks in the cake. The brown sugar substitute for part of the sugar made it extra rich. There is no need for icing on this cake!

I took this recipe from allrecipes.com

3 egg, beaten
1 3/4 cups white sugar (I ran out of white sugar, so I used 1 1/4 C white sugar and 1/2 C brown sugar)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced (I used a whole, large, drained can)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I did not use these)

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2.In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, peaches and pecans. Mix thoroughly by hand.
3.Pour into prepared 9x13 inch pan and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 50 minutes or until done. (Mine took and hour)

Sunshine's Jalepenos

Sunshine decided earlier this week to make these and I've been thinking of them since!

They tasted good but.....WEAR GLOVES WHEN YOU ARE CLEANING THE PEPPERS! Halfway through cleaning out the seeds, I must have scratched my face under my eye. My cheek started burning...then REALLY burning...then it spread to my eye and it was nearly unbearable. After 10 minutes of flushing my eye out, the burning spread to my nose! 3 hours after dinner...my hands were still burning! WEAR GLOVES!

10 jalapeno peppers
2 packages of cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar
10 slices bacon,cut in half to make 20 pieces

Trim stem off peppers, halve and clean out seeds. Mix cream cheese and cheddar cheese in a bowl. Fill peppers with cheese mixture then wrap each pepper with a slice of bacon. Bake at 350 until bacon is done, about 30 minutes.