This blog stuff

I am new to this blogging stuff. It's probably pretty apparent with the few posts that I have written. I guess I have a question for anyone out there who knows how these blogs work and who is actually reading my blog, if there really is anyone reading it :). How do you see who is reading your blog? I see that I have page views, but I never see who is reading it. I was just curious.

Anyway, if you are reading my blog, please feel free to comment on my posts so I know there are actually people out there reading. :) Even if it is a criticizing comment, post it. I welcome any comments. Just try not to be mean. Criticizing is one thing, meanness is another. I don't really have anything else right now, so have a great day everyone.

Strawberry poptarts

I try to make homemade versions of the snack favorites as much as I can. One of the favorites of the kids is poptarts. When I started making them from scratch, they started asking for them at least once a week. So I made them again today for snack. I thought I would share my recipe. For the crust, I have tried several different pie crust recipes and came up with my own that is super easy and always comes out tasting great. Here ya go.

Homemade strawberry poptarts

2 1/2 cups flour ( I have used half whole wheat flour and half white flour in the past, but it makes the dough a little harder to work with. But it tastes just as great)
2 sticks (1 cup) cold butter, cut into chunks. I usually just cut them into tbsp size pieces
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup ice cold water

In a food processor (I use my ninja) combine flour, sugar and salt until combined.  Add cold butter and pulse until butter and dry ingredients almost resemble thick sand. Slowly add water a tbsp at a time until it forms a dough. You don't want it too wet but also not too dry.

 

Pour it out into a bowl and incorporate any flour that didn't get mixed in.

Put it onto a piece of saran wrap and cover. Use your hands to knead it until it forms a ball. It takes me a couple minutes.

Divide into two balls. Wrap and saran wrap and place in freezer for a half hour.

Roll out on a flour surface as thin as you can but don't make it paper thin. Try to roll it into a rectangle shape. Repeat with the second ball.  Cut edges off to form a rectangle. Cut each rectangle into 4 -6 equal rectangles depending on how big of poptarts you want. You will be folding the rectangles over each other so it will be both the top and bottom of the poptart.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Make the filling. Mix together a tbsp of cornstarch and a tbsp of water until blended.  Mix jnto a 1/2 cup strawberry jam. Place a tbsp of filling onto the right half of the rectangle leaving about 1/3" around the edges.

Fold over the other half and use a fork all the way around to seal the edges.

Prick the top a couple times to allow the steam to release while cooking. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25 min or until light golden brown. 

Place on wire rack to cool down.

 

Make topping. Mix 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1/4 tsp of vanilla and 2-3 tbsp milk. I also adds few drops of food coloring for fun. The kids love the colored icing.

Once the poptarts are cooled down, ice them with the icing and sprinkle with sprinkles.

Enjoy.

Pictures

We got the photos back from our family photo shoot. The whole point of us getting these were to have a nice family portrait with our family and my brother and his fiance to give to my mom for her birthday. But as I am looking through them, there are only a couple to choose from that my daughter is smiling in. She was being such a turd that day. At least she was cooperative with the photos with her brother. Here they are. I will also include some of the photos that had her snooty look.

                                                                 Fun at the playground

                                                          Jackson on the bouncy frog

                                                                Our little family

                                                                          My babies

                                                                   Peek-A-Boo

                                                                  Me and my love, Russ

                                                                   My brother and his fiance

                                                                         :)

                                                                   Pretty girl

                 This was supposed to be a nice mom and daughter shot, but notice her annoyed look?

                                                            Group shot (snotty look)

                                                      Another snotty look

                                                             Group Shot

 

Another one of my brother Damion and his fiance Anne

                                                                Handsome Boy

Zucchini Pancakes

I love potato pancakes. Absolutely love them. There is something about the creamyiness of the pancake topped with some applesauce and sour cream. Mmmmmmm.... But they are all starch and cream. So they are definately an occasional treat, especially since I am trying to shed some pounds. I was cleaning out the freezer and found some shredded zucchini from last summer. So I decided to make a pancake out of zucchini instead and try to make it a little healthier. I forgot to take a picture of it. :( I will get into the groove of it sooner or later, hopefully sooner. I will take a picture next time I make them, and there will definately be a next time because they were delicious. My husband loved them, the kids loved them, I loved them. I just wish I would have made more than I had. Instead of doing applesauce and sour cream, like we do for potato pancakes, I decided to try to make a dip out of greek yogurt. I added some lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper and that was delish as well. Mmmmmm.. Here is what I did to make them.


Zucchini Pancakes (Makes 5)

5 cups shredded zucchini, (3 cups after the water has been squeezed out)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 tblsp whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp black pepper

I started out with 3 cups of shredded zucchini thawed out, since I only had frozen zucchini. After I thawed it out, I sprinkled 1/4 tsp salt on it and let it sit for about a half hour. Then I placed the zucchini shreds in a doubled up viva paper towel and rung it out until no more water was coming out of the zucchini. I decided that I needed to add about 2 more cups of shredded zucchini because without the water in it, it shrunk to about 1 1/2 - 2 cups. So I repeated that process with the other zucchini except I only added a dash or two of salt. After all of it was rung out, I added the remaining ingredients and mixed to combine. I heated up a large skillet over medium high heat. Once that was heated, I added 2 tbsp of each, butter, olive oil and veg oil. Once the butter was melted, I turned the heat down to medium heat. I shaped about 1/3 cup of the mixture into a flat disk (about 1/2 inch thick) and put it in the skillet. I repeated until no more mixture. It made about 5 pancakes. It probably would have made more if I made them flatter, which I will probably do in the future. I fried them on each side until they were a nice dark golden color (i prefer them a little darker than a normal golden brown, only because I like a crispy crust.).
I made a yummy sauce to go with it. I mixed a small container of greek plain yogurt with about a tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1/4 tsp dill and salt and pepper until it tasted yummy.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

My Fam

These are my loveys. Rylen and Jackson. It amazes me everyday how two kids can love each other so much. They definately bicker like siblings, even though Jax is only a toddler, but at the end of the day, they love each other more than life itself. It makes me so happy to experience that kind of love.


We took family portraits on Saturday, so as soon as I have those back, I will post them so you can see our little happy family.

One thing I love about my husband, is that I can do something just ordinary and he makes me feel like I did something amazing. Last night, after I made dinner, he said to me "How did you come up with that. That was absolutely wonderful." I have to giggle at him, because all I made was pork chops on the grill with some apple bbq sauce, some butter and herb rice pilaf and some asparagus, simply grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper. Oh and of course some homemade strawberry muffins with homemade strawberry butter. mmmm.... recipe to come later. Anyway, he was just so amazed at what I came up with. I love it, because he appreciates me, and my cooking and what I do for our family. I definately feel loved. One of these days, he will figure out how to put a meal together and I will have a night off from cooking. One of these days......which will probably be a long time from now. At least I love to cook. 

So I have decided that I need two drop about 30 lbs by the end of this year. That's definately a stretch for me, because let's face it, I'm lazy and I don't have the motivation to go to the gym that we pay for every month. I  wish I did, though. I want to go work out. I want to be healthy and not worry about if my shirt is showing too many rolls, but after all my "kids" go home for the night, I get dinner ready for my own family and by the time that's all said and done with, I am exhausted and all I want to do is sit down, watch a show or a movie with my hubby and relax. Then I think, okay, I will get up early and go before daycare starts. Yea right! When my alarm goes off at 5:30, I turn it off and reset it for 6:30 and go back to sleep. I will get to the gym. I will. Hopefully before our weight loss boot camp starts in August. Oh man, is that going to kick my butt or what!! I think I will start slowly and start eating right for a couple weeks, then slowly get my butt to the gym. Start off with a half hour there and then work up from there. It will happen. I know it will.

That's all I got for now. Until next time.....

The Beginning

Everyone is blogging. I have wanted to blog for awhile now and I have decided that it is about time that I do so. Soooo here it goes.

Hello. My name is Kellan. I am a mother of two beautiful children. My daughter Rylen, who turned 9 in May, is a beautiful, smart, stubborn, thoughtful, and limit testing little girl. My son Jackson, who will be 2 in October, is a handsome, ornery, brave, sweet little boy. My kids are my life. I am married to a wonderful guy named Russ. We will be married for 5 years this October. I couldn't have found a better guy for me. He definately puts up with my temper tantrums and attitude. Yes, as a grown woman, I have found that I get more temper tantrums and more attitude the older I get. Crazy, I know. I thought that you grew out of that eventually. But, he is definately one of the most supportive and loving men I know.

I have my own in home daycare. I have been doing it for a little over a year now, and I love it. I get to be home with my son all day and I get to be an influence in other children's lives. I consider all of my daycare kids to be my kids in one way or the other.

My purpose for starting this blog is to get my thoughts out there. I need some sort of outlet and what's better than putting it out there for everyone to see. :) I love to cook, so a lot of my posts will be about cooking and recipes, but I will also be posting about my family, my daycare family, my journey to weight loss and just about everything in between.