Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Mmmmmm. That's all I've got to say. I pinned this picture on Pinterest a while back and just recently remembered to give it a try. Upon checking out the actual recipe found at this link, I discovered it to be a bit too complicated for my taste. This is not the "tube biscuit" recipe most people will be familiar with, but a made from scratch version. Here is what I came up with, combining the made from scratch version with the traditional tube biscuit recipe. It's super easy and super addicting!

Recipe

• 2 Tubes of Crescent Roll (or something similar) "tube biscuits"
• 1 Cup of Pumpkin Puree (canned or fresh)
• 1 Tbl Cinnamon (or more to taste)
• 1 Tbl Nutmeg (or more to taste)
• 1 Stick of Butter
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Cream Cheese
• 2 Tbl Confectioners Sugar

Roll dough into quarter size balls. Mix pumpkin puree, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Then, coat dough in mixture: stirring together in a bowl or shaken in a zip lock bag. Place dough mixture in a greased bunt pan. 

Melt butter and mix together with brown sugar. Pour over dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until golden and baked all the way through. Let set for 10 minutes, then turn over and remove to a plate.

Soften cream cheese in microwave until it is thin, almost liquefied (roughly 30 seconds). Add confectioners sugar and stir. If mixture is still too thick to pour, add a little milk. Drizzle over bread and serve warm!

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Mealtime Battles

Are you tired of fighting a battle with your kids every time you sit down to eat? I have a couple picky eaters in my house (one of them is not a kid). I also have children that get quite rambunctious and easily distracted, without fail, as soon as they sit down at the table. My kids are 5, 4 and 1. I want all three of them to be grateful, not complainers. I want them to take mealtime somewhat seriously. I want them to realize I am not a short order cook and that our kitchen does not take special requests or extend it's hours after closing time. I'm not a heartless monster in the kitchen, but I need structure in our home and I need down time. It's exhausting watching other moms get up and down and up and down at every single whim and request of their children! I will not be pushed around by my kids.

Here are our mealtime rules:

• No complaining. You eat what is in front of you, you don't get to make special requests.
• You can choose not to eat, but this may result in complaints of being hungry later. For that reason, you will eat now, or not at all.
• You will sit politely and quietly (so that when we are out to eat, sitting quietly is not a new concept).
• You will ask to be excused before getting up, and you will take your plate to the sink.

We do generally reward our kid's good eating habits with a small portion of dessert. This may be controversial to some people, but dessert for us usually means 1 small cookie, 1 piece of candy, or 1 fruit Popsicle  This is generally the only time during the day that our kids get sweets. 

I was given the advice by a mother of 3 boys, to set the timer when my kids are goofing around instead of eating. Let me tell you, it works! I usually give them a few minutes of grace, but when I see they are acting up, I will inform them the timer is going on. I use the timer on my stove. For a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I will give between 5 and 10 minutes to finish. That may seem short, but really, how long should it actually take to eat a sandwich? Once they are motivated, they will usually finish under 5 minutes time - and that is while still eating like normal humans, no cramming everything in their mouths as fast as they can. 

The first time I did this, they did not take it seriously, but I warned them I would take their food away and they would not get dessert. I felt a little cruel doing this, but I never had to do it again after that. They know now that if they do not finish they will earn a negative consequence.

What are your mealtime tricks of the trade?

Happy Valentine's Day

The way to my man's heart...

I've never been that big on valentine's day, in fact, it has always ended up being a pretty crazy, strange, messed up kinda day at our house. Meaning, something always seems to go wrong on valentine's day! In fact, I just realized that it was 10 years ago today that my husband broke up with me. Yup, on valentine's day. Of course he eventually came back around and realized he needed me in his life, and we were married the following year! 

But it's always stuff like that. Maybe because of stuff like that, his philosophy has always been "why do I need valentine's day to do nice things for you and spend lots of money, instead of just doing stuff all year long?" I think many men hold to this view, but in fact, he really does do stuff all year long! I couldn't ask for more in a husband - he is the best, and he is mine! Woa, woa, no need to get defensive if you think your husband is the best, every woman should believe her husband is the best. Please don't take advice from the Kardashians, choose to love and cherish your man for better or for worse (even when the worse seems to out-way the better), stick with it and make him some bacon. Happy stinkin valentine's day. Love, Sarah <3

Holiday Pies

Happy 4th of July!

Simple wow factor: Homemade blueberry pie filling inside a frozen pie crust, take one crust and cut out shapes using a cookie cuter. Semi-homemade perfection :)