Super Saturday Special: Double Chocolate Pancakes

Saturday mornings we try to make a special breakfast for the whole family when we will all be together, since there is no rushing to work or church or anything of the like. So this morning during cuddle time I asked Ria what she wanted for breakfast. She asked for pancakes. But not just any pancakes, but Double chocolate pancakes. I told her I would see what I could do. You see I dabble at cooking, but I am not a great cook. I am pretty much teaching myself to cook, I use cookbooks and http://www.allrecipes.com/, and friends recipes. So for this request this morning I went to my trusted all recipes and found this recipe for chocolate pancakes,  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-pancakes/detail.aspx . With a few modifications we had great pancakes for breakfast. Here is the recipe as I modified it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ( the recipe said all-purpose, we only use whole wheat flour in my house and they were still great, I also added more thank the original recipe because the batter seemed too thin)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon Baking powder (I couldn’t believe they left this out; I would imagine they would be pretty flat without this)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 

Directions

1. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla in another bowl; mix in the melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter on griddle and cook until bubbles pop in the center of the pancake, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip, and cook an additional minute on the opposite side.

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Superglue for a Supergirl or not!

Ok, so in my house I have never been the fixer of broken things. the kids even always say, Daddy will fix it. They know! Daddy is Mr. Fix it. However tonight I attempted to fix something myself. I get tired of letting Hubby have all the superglue fun. Well NEVER AGAIN! I managed to superglue what I was fixing (a small magnet) to the sink, got superglue on the counter, and all over my fingers. This Supergirl will never try Supergluing again. It stays on the list of things that Daddy can fix!

One of those days

Today was one of those days. The day that makes you question, why did I have kids? Can I really handle being a stay at home mom? I am a disorganized mess and don’t have my act together! Today is a day that I need GRACE. I need GRACE from my heavenly father for losing my temper, I need GRACE from my kids for having lost that temper towards them. I need GRACE from my hubby for being too harsh, and I need GRACE from myself for not living up to all I want to be.

The day actually started great, I got out for a walk with the dogs for 30 minutes. I am relegated to only walking right now as I have tendonitis in my foot. I do miss my runs, but I will talk a walk on a brisk morning!  My head started to pound, and I started to slow down. And has anyone ever tried getting 3 kids under 6 years old out the door in the mornings? Then you add a headache on top of that! We needed to be out the door by 9am to head to the Belle of Louisville for a home school field trip. Well needless to say this didn’t happen, so we had to miss the field trip. While I can roll with it, at some point it is just not worth the stress of pushing yourself with 3 little ones, my oldest struggles to roll with it.

We had consolation to some extent by heading to the park. Well at the park the day actually began to redeem itself. Ria finally did the monkey bars by herself! Yahoo! Now next step to some playground freedom for mommy is to get her to be able to pump herself on the swing. (Any tips on how to teach that are welcome. All my attempts have failed) I am so excited for Ria and this awesome accomplishment!

From the park we went to the grocery store. The kids actually did fantastic in the grocery! I so often dread going with them because they argue with each other and touch everything and beg for too much. But today was different. I am so excited, then I got to the check out lane and could not find my keys! Uh oh, I must have locked them in the car. Well we get to the car, and I can not see them in the car anywhere (through tinted windows visibility is limited). Anyways, keep in mind kids in tow, I then have to get down on the ground trying to look for the hidden key under the van. No success . . . Luckily a Kroger employee happens by, lets me use the phone to call hubby. Then another Kroger employee comes and helps me look under car. No success. Then the other employee decides to go check with customer service, SUCCESS!!! Thank you Kroger employees! I was a pretty loyal Kroger shopper before, but even more so now after how friendly and helpful they were to me in my time of need. I am so grateful for answer to small prayers, as I was looking for the key at first I prayed God would send someone to help me, especially to keep an eye on the kids, and God provided! So while I say it was one of those days, it was also one of those days that I remember God is in the details. God is in the little things. God cares enough for each of us to take care of us in those desperate moments. Thank you Lord for providing for me and my little ones today. Thank you for your GRACE.

The Carrot Caterpillar

In my Garden this afternoon I pulled up the carrots we plants months ago. We honestly had begun to think these carrots were duds. Well little did I know ignoring them for a week will allow them to surprise me! We actually had carrots for dinner. I never cease to be in awe of using produce from the Giggling Garden for meals and snacks. I just get this little flutter in my heart that says “this is the fruit of your labor” and can’t help but to think this is how God intended it. He wants and desires for each of us to have joy in our lives, and work as we are working unto the Lord, and I think that is what the feeling inside me, and giddiness, and desire to scream to the world, ” Look at this! This came from my Garden! ” Of course then that would possibly be an issue with Pride, but that is another story. For me, a new homemaker it feels more like,” I honestly can’t believe I did that. I actually managed to grow something we can eat.”  Now I have to give credit where it is due, Hubby has been a tremendous help with the Garden. In fact without Hubby, there would be no Garden. Ria was a big help in the Garden this year with weeding and picking veggies. Ria and Nana helped with the planting, and well Lala just kept trying to steal the tools.

So by now you might be wondering, where does the caterpillar come in. Well in the greens of the carrots we brought in we found the cutest little caterpillar. Being a good home school mom, my first thoughts were “science experiment!” So now the Carrot Caterpillar lives in a mason jar in the home school room and fingers crossed we will get to watch him turn into the moth or butterfly he is supposed to become.

Genius

Getting my husband’s help in building this new blog, and I tell him I need G words to represent different things. I tell him I am going to use genius as one of the category’s and he tells me, “you are making a category all about me, thank you”. Ha!

I do have to admit, my husband and I make a great team. An idea I have, he can make better. He has an idea, and I can make it better. Together our ideas blossom and flourish. I think that is how God intended the marriage relationship to work. For TWO are better than ONE.

Now don’t get me wrong, like every other couple we have our moments, or days, or weeks, or even . . . well you get the idea. But through all the seasons and hardships one thing we always can do is take each other’s ideas and help them grow and become more than what they ever would have been on their own. Thanks babe!

Making Bread

So I had the awesome privilege of getting to go to a bread making class. Back when I was in college the campus minister and his wife made their own bread, grinding it from the whole grain and everything. They did some other “quirky” food things that at the time I did not understand at all. Funny how things come full circle, God has a master plan. I have already embraced many of those “quirky” food things, like eating organic, reducing meat intake, eating nuts as a protein substitute, adding wheat germ and flax-seed to things, eating homegrown eggs. I however have not embraced the whole grain milling process. It has been in the back of my mind for thrifty reasons, as I do use whole wheat in all my cooking, but it was in the long-range planning. It still is, but through this class, I now have a source to buy whole wheat flour in bulk! Something I have been looking for. I am excited, can you tell?!  Two other friends and I are going to share a 50 pound bag of milled whole wheat flour.

I will be curious to see how long it takes me to use all the flour. I already use a lot of flour making banana bread and muffins, zucchini bread and muffins, and various other muffins found in the book Deceptively Delicious. But now I will start making cinnamon rolls, pizza rolls, and other “meals” with bread as the base. Not to mention bread for bread’s sake. I will keep you posted as I start this adventure, in the meantime you can learn more about making your own bread at http://www.wheat-n-things.com/ .

Giggles and Grace

Welcome to GIGGLES and GRACE. I hope to share with you my journey out of the workplace to a life at home with my three girls and husband. In a world that values success and achievement, I have struggled with my decision to stay at home. God has given me this direction to come home and re-center my heart and life at home with my girls and husband, and more importantly at home with Him. In this blog I hope to capture my journey to my physical home and my journey to my spiritual home, heaven. Join me as I share about my struggles, accomplishments, giggling and most of all the grace I need to be the wife, mom, friend, and woman God has called me to be. I hope to provide some laughter, ideas, and food for thought into your life. Join me in one mom’s journey home.

Teresa