Biscuits Fresh from the Oven!

My girls LOVE biscuits! Well, Rick loves them too. Personally, I don't like the biscuits from a can. Bisquick has always been my preference. Rick's grandma used to make buttermilk biscuits. To Rick, if a biscuit doesn't have buttermilk in it, it's not a real biscuit.

I found this buttermilk biscuit recipe on Recipezaar. The great thing about this recipe is that you can freeze them and take out as many as you like and bake them when you want them!

Buttermilk Freezer Biscuits

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 T sugar
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2/3 c shortening (I used Butter Flavor Crisco)
1 c buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or two knives or until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir buttermilk into flour mixture until it forms a soft dough and leaves the sides of the bowl.

Turn out dough onto well-floured surface. Knead 10 times. Roll into an 8-inch square. Cut dough into 16 squares. (I used a round biscuit cutter.) Place squares on baking sheet that's lined with plastic wrap. Freeze about 3 hours or until firm. Remove biscuits and place in an airtight freezer container.

When ready to prepare, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place frozen biscuits 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

To bake immediately instead of freezing, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Perfectly Acceptable Substitutions:
I made a double batch, replacing half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. I also added 4 teaspoons of gluten. The results were great! They were light and fluffy. Everyone loved them!

Also, if you don't have buttermilk, you can sour milk by putting 1 T lemon juice in a 1 cup measuring cup and adding milk to make 1 cup. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before using.

Homemade Dry Skin Cream

Here's a recipe for a great cream to keep on hand (literally!) for dry skin. I don't know about you, but once we turn the heat on in the house, my skin quickly starts to dry out. Slather it on your feet after a shower and put on thick socks. Your feet will thank you! It comes out a pretty shade of pink and smells wonderful!

You can put it in pretty jars like little 4-ounce jelly jars, baby food jars, or plastic jars that are found in the travel section of stores like Wal-Mart or Target. They make great gifts for the elderly, or stocking stuffers for anyone! All of the ingredients can be found at Dollar General stores.

Dry Skin Cream

1 jar (8 oz) petroleum jelly
2 bottles (15 oz) baby lotion
2 jars (8 oz) of Vitamin E skin cream

Put all ingredients in a large bowl. Use a wire whisk and whip the ingredients well. Use a spoon and spatula to put into small jars.

Makes several jars of cream. It depends on how full the jars are and the size used.

Whole Lotta Craftin' Goin' On!

I've signed up for two craft fairs in December and have been furiously working on items every chance I get.

My main project has been crayon cozies, or Picasso Pockets, as I plan to call them. I blogged about them here. I have enough crayons to make over 60 of them! So far I have about 40 finished.

The next project will be over 100 headbands in three different sizes. I love making headbands! (Actually, I love wearing them, too.) The colors and patterns are so variable--the creative possibilites boggle my mind.

Then there are socks...and more socks...and MORE SOCKS! A lot of them are finished, but have never been counted. These are fun to make when waiting is involved: doctor visits, while riding in the car, or while the girls are playing outside.

More beaded headbands are next on the agenda. These are more time consuming and cause finger cramping, but are gorgeous in the end. I think they'd make great bridal headpieces, and I don't mean for horses! (If someone wanted one for a horse, I'd certainly make it.)

Last, but not least, are hairbows. (That link it to my Etsy shop. I've blogged about bows too often to link to all of them.) A lot of hairbows are finished, but I keep putting them in Katie and Audrey's hair. Guess a little self-control is called for here. They're just so CUTE I can't help myself!

Display is my next challenge. I have no idea how I'm going to pull that off. If you have any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments. Did I mention my budget for displays is very small?

Most of this crafting goes on after the girls have gone to bed. I'm glad they're "early to bed" type gals! I'm having a lot of fun with this....can you tell?

An "Awwwww" Moment

Miss Katie and I did our monthly grocery shopping trip today. The weather is finally cooling off and feeling more like autumn is here to stay.

We were walking through a parking lot and the wind was whipping all around us.

"Momma, do you know what the wind is?" Katie asked.

"Well, I don't know exactly.", I answered, figuring it would suffice for now.

"It's angels blowing at us."

.....awwwwwwwww.........

Decadent Brownie Re-do: Thin Mint Brownies

I made up this recipe for "Thin Mint Brownies" using things I had on hand. They are so moist and chocolaty, not to mention EASY!

Thin Mint Brownies

1 Duncan Hines Family Size Brownie Mix
1/2 of a 10 ounce package of Andes Creme de Menthe chips
Canned chocolate frosting.

Prepare brownies according to package directions. Dump in half the package of mint chips--just guess at half the package, don't bother measuring. Bake according to the directions on the box. Cool. Frost with chocolate frosting.

It's that easy!

Two Dresses in (Just Over) Two Hours

Around 9:00 Saturday night I decided to make dresses for the girls to wear to church on Sunday. Yes, it was 9:00 in the evening! Rick just laughed and said it wouldn't get done....but I did!

The dresses were t-shirt dresses that I blogged about here. Not having to make a bodice and sleeves really makes these dresses easy to make.

The skirt is a kitty print in pink, black, white, and teal. The banding at the bottom is black with pink, white, and teal flowers. The dress has a belt in the back of the same fabric. You can't really see that part in the pictures.

The shirt had a rose screen printed on the front. I cut out a kitty square from leftover skirt fabric and appliqued it over the flower.

Katie also wore the socks and hairbow that are pictured here. Audrey had a cute korker clippie for her hair.

They both looked so cute. I love to make matching outfits for them. They'll probably be in therapy over it when they're adults.

Frugal Friday

My Frugal Friday post is the one I just wrote about You Can Make This. The website has a free section where you can give some of their patterns a test run. I'm telling you, this is a great place to inspire your creativity!

You Can Make This!

You Can Make This is one of my favorite places to go for patterns for a lot of things I sew. If you sew, you'd like to sew; or if you crochet, or would like to crochet; if you quilt, or you'd like to quilt; if you make jewelry, or if you'd like to make jewelry, this is a great place to look!

I LOVE their patterns. Can you tell?

One reason I love to shop there is because the patterns are available immeditately for download. I do mean immediately. As in right now.

If you have questions, you usually have the authors email address so you can ask them directly.

The clothing patterns are "cutting edge". A lot are Euro-inspired. All of them are adorable.

They don't just have items for children. There are quilt patterns, apron patterns, and jewelry direction.

This post is starting to sound like a commercial, so I'll quit writing so you can go check it out! (I'm going to go order a pattern!)

I Love This Photo II

I Love This Photo

Katie and her daddy doing the dishes.

I love this photo.

There's nothing else to say.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

A Day With Grandma?

Katie and I made a dash into Wal-Mart this afternoon. Once we picked out our grapes and hamburger, we were greeted by a bubbly and enthusiastic cashier. She started a conversation with Katie and ended up asking, "So, are you enjoying your day with Grandma?"

Huh? Katie looked at the cashier like she was speaking Chinese. (Good girl, Katie!)

I had to enter the conversation at that point. "She's enjoying a day with Mommy."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied.

I didn't mean to make her feel bad. Granted I AM old enough to be her grandmother--barely. But why do people just assume that because you aren't a very young person that you must be a grandparent? Am I being over-sensitive here? (It's quite ok to say that I am!)

This happens at least once a month. Looks like I'd be used to it by now!

Etsy!

I have my Etsy shop open for business! Like eBay, once you get going, the listings are fairly fast and easy. I made an Etsy button for my sidebar, but can't figure out how to make it "live." If anyone knows, please enlighten me! For now, you can click here to see the store.

As I said in my post yesterday, now is a GREAT time to start online Christmas shopping!

NOTE: Rebecca told me how to make the Etsy button live! Now it works. Be sure to check out Rebecca's blog. She takes amazing photographs!

eBay

I've been working on listing hairbows and headbands on eBay. Check them out here! (Our eBay id is "peppermintstreetboutique" and you can always look us up that way.) I hope to get a lot more listed in the next few days. Once you get started, it goes fairly fast.

Has anyone out there in Bloggityville ever bought or sold anything on Etsy? Have you even HEARD of Etsy? It's a website to buy and sell handmade items. I hope to open a store site there in the next few days. I'll post about it when it happens.

In the meantime, now is a great time to start your online Christmas shopping....HINT, HINT!

Works for Me Wednesday: Pizza Cutter

A few weeks ago I wrote about one of my favorite kitchen helps: food scoops. This week I'd like to introduce you to my next favorite kitchen utensil: my pizza cutter!

Pizza cutters are for more than cutting pizza. They neatly cut the crusts off bread. (What is it with kids and crusts?) It slices sandwiches into bite-sized pieces. It makes short work of cutting meats like bologna (not that we'd EVER serve that around here! :-), pancakes, waffles, cheese, and just about everything else, including pizza, that kids need to have cut up for them.

By the way, it doesn't work so great on hotdogs.

Check out Rocks in My Dryer for other great Works for Me Wednesday tips!

Banana Bread.....Yummo!

We love bananas around here. Luckily, we’ve been able to get bananas for a decent price lately. When they start to get brown spots we all know banana bread is in our future! Here’s my favorite recipe. It originates from The Taste of Home Cookbook.

Banana Bread

¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup mashed banana (about 2 medium)
½ cup sour cream
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in bananas and sour cream. Combine dry ingredients and stir into banana mixture just until moistened. Fold in nuts.

Transfer to a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Perfectly acceptable adaptations:

If you don’t have sour cream, use yogurt. In fact, I think we prefer this over the sour cream.

If you only have one banana, make up the rest of the ¾ cup with applesauce.

Add 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with the nuts. Or use vanilla chips. Or butterscotch chips.

Leave out the nuts completely!

Make muffins or mini-muffins. Adjust baking times.

I had some leftover Cinnamon Life cereal that I crushed up and sprinkled on top of the muffins tonight. I don’t recommend doing this with the bread because they’ll burn due to the longer baking time.

-------------------------------------------------------
This bread freezes well. In fact, it’s better the day after you bake it. Just wrap it up in foil after it cools and try to keep everyone out of it!

What am I Going to Wear?

I cleaned out the girls’ closet the other day, culling out things that are too small for Audrey, and clothes that are too small for Katie, but Audrey will be able to wear in a year or so. The girls had been at their grandparents’ house for an overnight stay. When they came home and looked in the closet, Katie exclaimed “WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES? WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?”! Granted, I’d taken out about two-thirds of what was in the closet, but there were still plenty of things left hanging.

When Kim and family were visiting the other day we were talking about what is needed versus what we THINK is needed, especially where things like clothes and shoes are concerned. She told me of a little rhyme that she thinks in Amish in nature:

One to wash,
One to wear.
One for church,
One for a spare.

Four dresses. That’s it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I love dressing my girls. I love buying clothes….making clothes….finding great deals on clothes. Can we get through a season with four dresses each?

(When I say “get through” it sounds like it would be a great sacrifice on our part. I don’t want it to sound this way at all. I want us to be thankful for what we have, not always looking for more. I don’t think it would be easy to have just four dresses per girl, and I don’t think it will happen this year. Also, I’m not suggesting that this is for everyone.)

It seems like our house is getting smaller and smaller. The real problem is that we are accumulating more and more stuff.

How much do you think is enough as far as clothes and shoes are concerned?

Sandy Hannah

I just had to show everyone in Bloggityville this picture of Hannah. She's the daughter of our friends, Kim and George.

Hannah fell face-first into the sandbox here last week. She was covered, but still smiling! Isn't she a doll!

Happy Birthday, Miss Katie!

Miss Katie turn the big FOUR on Saturday! She's growing up so fast.

She and Daddy made the cake that she picked out herself: Funfetti with M&Ms on top. Mamaw and Papoo came, along with cousin Kyle, and G-ma. I think her favorite part of the day was playing with Audrey and Kyle.

(Cousin Kyle and Miss Audrey)

She informed me she wanted a kitten for her birthday. She was already planning to name it Cupcake.

Oh my.....

Soda? Coke? Pop? .....Other???

This is by far the most interesting map of the United States I've seen in a L-O-N-G time. (At our home, states are mostly referred to as a "red or blue" state. Politically speaking, of course.)

So, what do YOU call a carbonated beverage? Is it a coke? A soda? Pop?

According to the map, my county in Indiana goes by "pop". I think that's what we always called it when I was growing up, so it makes sense to me.

(By the way, my dad always drank Pepsi, but we called it "pop". We kids got one glass a week while we ate a bowl of popcorn and watched The Carol Burnett Show. ....Memories... But I digress...)

Somewhere along the line I started calling it "soda". I think it happened during my short stint as a nanny in New Jersey. Look at New Jersey....the entire state thinks it's "soda".

I noticed there is category for "other", and there are a lot of "other"s in places like North Carolina. What is "other"? Someone from a bright green county please enlighten me!

How does the map match up with what you say at your home? Is it a coke? A soda? Pop? Other?

I'm off to consider other earth- and mind-shattering questions....like what to make for dinner.