Why I Don't Have Time For Blogging . . .

I'm finding being a mother of two wonderful . . . . and a lot harder than I thought.

I think Molly is upset with me. Ever since we brought the baby home she has been, shall we say, very difficult.... here's a picture of what I found today when I got done nursing Amy . . . I'll let the picture speak for itself.  And for today, "that's all there was . . . there wasn't any more."

Blueberry Buckle

Molly and I had some time this morning to do some baking. I scored a really good deal on blueberries this week, and so I thought we'd incorporate those somehow. After searching Pinterest for a little bit, I came upon a delicious-looking recipe for blueberry buckle on this blog. For those of you that have never had blueberry buckle, it's kind of a delicious combination between blueberry streusel muffins and a blueberry cake. It's really, really good, and I hadn't made one in a long time. We decided to try that one out today.

I tripled her recipe because I needed a dessert to take to my mom's tonight, and I also thought I could bring some to church tomorrow. I also made a few minor changes, so here's my take on it. Enjoy! :)

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE: 

Makes a 9x13 pan

Preheat oven to 350 

Cake Batter: 

2 cup white all purpose flour (I used Hodgkins Mill, which is unbleached, but it's so much healthier)

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (I often just microwave mine until it's barely soft, since I tend to make things on the spur of the moment)

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2/3 cup milk (I think it would be delicious if someone tried buttermilk. I didn't think of that until later, though)

3-4 cups of fresh blueberries (I just used a dry pint or so)

Streusel Topping: 

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup brown sugar (her recipe calls for white, but I love brown sugar streusel)

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 stick of cold butter, cut into pieces

First thing I did was rinse my beautiful, juicy blueberries off. Aren't they lovely? 

Then I had my Little Helper assist me in tasting the blueberries. I think she approved. :) 

After we tasted inspected the blueberries carefully, we moved on to the recipe. First we mixed the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. I am often tempted to skip this step and dump the dry ingredients right in, but I didn't this time. There's a careful hand mixing process later. 

Next we made up the streusel. If you haven't done streusel before, just mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon together, and then add the pieces of butter. You can used a pastry cutter or something like that. I just usually use my hands. Work the butter in until the mixture is nice and crumbly. 

Once that was done we set all of those bowls aside and started work on the wet ingredients. 

First, we creamed the butter in our kitchen aid until it was nice and smooth. Then we added the sugar and blended on medium speed until it was light and fluffy (just a minute or two). Then we added the eggs and vanilla one at a time, blending on slow, and mixed until they were incorporated. 

At that point, we took the blending bowl off of the mixer and added about half of our flour mixture. I worked it in gently by hand with a spatula, and added about half the milk. I repeated that with the second half of the flour and the milk, mixing gently until just incorporated (we're doing this gently so it stays nice and fluffy). It looked like this when I was done. 

Then we greased the pans lightly (in your case, the 9x13 pan), and gently spread the mixture into the pans. 

Then we added the blueberries

And finally the streusel. 

Molly and I both agreed it looked good enough to eat already! 

Finally we popped them into the oven for a good 40-50 minutes, until a fork or toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean. The house smelled absolutely wonderful! 

We are very excited to try this out tonight! Would be wonderful warm with some vanilla ice cream, I expect. ;) 

6 Ingredient Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

So my mom is on a Gluten-free diet for her health. Bummer. Sure doesn't sound like fun to me, but then  . . . I am a carbaholic. Anything involving bread, dough, chocolate . . . . I'm addicted . . . .

Anyway, confessions aside, I've been trying to find some recipes that she can eat. But of course, I have to try them out first, right? And if you're like me, a lot of gluten-free recipes are scary. Half of the ingredients, I have never heard of! So, simple and familiar has been my goal.

I found a recipe on this blog. Hers was a 5 ingredient recipe, and I just had to add one more to the mix . . . oats. I love chunky, hearty cookies, and oats seem to fill the bill pretty well when it comes to expanding your cookie dough.

Today was the perfect day for the "experiment." I mean, how many afternoons do I have the baby sleeping peacefully in her bouncy seat, the dishes done and the kitchen clean, dinner in the crockpot?, and me with practially nothing to do but have fun in the kitchen? Not many, lately. So I launched into the recipe.

(Here's a picture of Molly peacefully sleeping. And I didn't even tell her to!)

Anyway, here are the 6 ingredients. Drum roll please . . . .

6 Ingredient Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Makes about 1 dozen) 

1 cup of Creamy Peanut Butter

1 cup of firmly packed Brown Sugar

1 large Egg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup Oats (I only had Quick Cooking, but Whole would work too)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Gently mix all the ingredients together.

 Form small 1 1/2 inch balls and flatten. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 9 minutes. Let cookies cool at least 5 minutes before removing them. 

The last step is always my favorite. Get a big glass of milk (hopefully you're not lactose-free too!), and try them out! 

They turned out to be delicious. A little bit crumbly, but as they cool they firm up a bit more. And with no butter or flour, they are a quick, easy cookie to make . . . which is probably not a good thing in my case. :) 

All right. Success! Time to give mom my recipe! 

Faith Like Little Molly

My daughter just turned 1 month old. Gosh, that makes me start to feel old! I feel like I just had her!

She is such a delight to me! I am continually amazed at just how perfect her little body is, how beautiful she already is. God must look at her as His creation and see that it is good. :)

I have been considering her a lot this week. Considering her and comparing myself to her. That has caused me to think a lot about the nature of faith. I feel like Molly is proving to me more and more what "child-like faith" looks like.

If you're unsure what I mean by child-like faith, here is a passage from Scripture. Mark 10:13-16 says,

And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

So, my goal as a Christian is to rely on the Lord with that faith, like a child has faith.

Molly depends on me for everything. When she is hungry, she cries, and I feed her. When she is tired or has a wet diaper, she cries, and I tend to her. When she is hurting, she cries, and I try to help her. She knows that I will answer, that I will (try to) provide what she needs. She does not fear me. She trusts me completely. She loves nothing better than to be snuggled up next to me, warm and content.

She doesn't know or understand days or times. She doesn't know there's such a thing as tomorrow. She doesn't worry. She simply lives moment by moment, and is only concerned about her immediate needs. She only knows the present, and perhaps remembers some of the past.

I have been praying that God would make me more like that. Able to depend on him completely. Able to "forget" about tomorrow, in a sense. Able to rest by his side, happy and content in the knowledge that He will care for my every need. Able to cry out to Him in faith, knowing that He will answer, and He will bring comfort and strength.

I am praying that God will teach me even more from observing my daughter how to better be His daughter.


My Cutie Pie. :)