A must see movie for every parent!

Please watch this 1-minute trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L6xEBkMnTE


http://www.overruledmovie.com/

This is only 36 minutes, I highly recommend every parent to watch this movie!

Vicky

Time4Learning.com

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.
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Soft Whole Wheat Bread Recipe (Kitchen-Aid Mixer)

As you may already know, I LOVE trying out new bread recipes. But I usually stay away from Whole Wheat ones. They're dry, heavy, and just bad tasting! There's nothing worse than wasting your ingredients, and your precious time, on a recipe that isn't that good! Well I'm happy to report this recipe brought a smile to my lips! It was soft, delicious and super easy to make! I found this recipe at http://trainsandtutus.com/?p=833 (if you wanna peek at the original recipe). I changed a little bit of it, but left the instructions the same.

Whole Wheat Bread

-1 Tbls Yeast
-2 and 1/4 cups warm water
-1/2 cup Honey
-2 Tbls butter, softened
-1 Tbls salt
-1/4 tsp. baking soda
-3 cups Whole Wheat flour
-4 cups unbleached All-purpose flour

*Mix yeast, water and honey. Stir with a spoon until yeast is dissolved. Add remaining ingredients. With the dough hook attachment on your mixer, stir on low until mixture becomes dough and begins pulling from the side. You want it a little sticky, but if it’s way too sticky, just add a little more flour. Turn off the mixer and let rest for 2-3 minutes. Next, turn the mixer to speed “2″ and let knead for 5-7 minutes. Take the hook out of the dough, and set the bowl, covered with a dish towel, in a warm area and let the dough double in bulk. About 45 minutes. After dough has risen, punch down and knead 4-5 times on lightly floured board. Place into two bread loaf pans. Cover and let rise again another 45 minutes to an hour. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 35 minutes. Brush tops with butter when they come out of the oven.

KeyLime Cheesecake

Cheesecake is another one of those foods that I found late in life, especially this one! I'm weird and never really liked cheesecake before (I know some of you almost passed out!) Like so many foods lately, I found this one from fixing something my husband would love, but I ended up loving it too! It's very "limey", but in the most surprising and refreshing way! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, (1 whole package, 9 full crackers)
6 tablespoons butter, melted
24 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 eggs
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
2/3 cup key lime juice

Directions:

Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.

Now grate your limes and juice them. I used my Pampered Chef Microplane Fine Adjustable Grater for this step

In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy.

Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not overbeat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.
Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven.
Refrigerate cake overnight, and up to three days.

I can't help it, this makes me automatically think of Pac-Mac, LOL!

Enjoy this refreshing, tasty dessert!!

*Note* For a perfect Cheesecake that isn't cracked in the middle, remember DO NOT over beat! I also always bake my cheesecakes on a cookie sheet (in a springform pan of course!) with a round cake pan 1/2 full of hot water on the bottom shelf.

Quick lunches...

We buy fresh spinach at a little produce stand for $3-$4 a bag. I'm talking about a huge bag! I love putting it in minestrone and then fixing the rest into quick lunches for me and my husband. I use the same mixture for both sandwiches and quesadillas.

-Saute a small onion in some olive oil, couple cloves of garlic, then add fresh mushrooms (sliced), a tablespoon of butter, , salt and pepper. Cook slightly, then add your spinach. It will wilt down pretty quickly.

Add mixture on your choice of bread, or put in quesadilla. Melt some cheese over it and you now have an ooey gooey, yummy quick lunch!!

Being a Mom to ALL boys...

If you notice my profile pic, I have 4 kids, all boys to be exact! This statement for the most part, usually brings out a sense of fear or panic with other people. LOL! I'm really not sure why to be honest. We were at Sam's Club over the weekend and of course I hear the same comment over and over again, (you can visibly see their lips move while counting my sweet boys!), WOW you have all boys, 4 boys! Boy do you have your hands full! This isn't a rare statement, it's a constant one. I'm used to it. I've tried to think of something clever to say back (I'm not good on witty comebacks), but I usually say the old stand by, yes, all boys and I love having all boys, I'm thankful that I do! This brings an even bigger shock to their faces! Last weekend the cashier said, "Really? You're the very first Mom that's ever said that to me!". I find that to be very sad.

To be honest, the biggest sympathy comes from Mom's that have 2 girls and then their 3rd child is a boy. I can almost tell immediately how many kids they have and what gender and birth order they are just from their Mom's comments! It's true! Of course you get the statement if my son was my first I wouldn't have been able to handle anymore kids, I don't know how you do it! Some Mom's are joking, others are very serious! I've even joked to friends telling them they better watch out when their male child arrives. Boys are different than girls! You can tell the lovingly joking comments versus the mean ill willed ones! Or the awful, terrible comment, if he was my first then I wouldn't have had anymore kids! This one really bothers me! Not wanting a child because of it's gender! I cringe whenever I hear that and look down at the cute little face of their little boy standing next to them. You know that has to hurt! Kids understand way more than you think! They also are very intuitive on picking up on any negativity that we as Mom's may have!

Since I don't have any girl children to fully compare, all I can do is make assumptions. I assume my house is a lot louder than a house with all girls. I assume my house is alot more wilder and rowdier than a house with all girls. I assume my house is smellier than a house with all girls, (boys+exercise, need I say more?). I assume that my grocery bill will be double to triple the amount than a house with all girls. That's all I can make are assumptions. Good or bad, right or wrong.

Things that I know for a fact are that my 4 boys couldn't have been given to another Mother that loves them more and is truly and deeply thankful that they are all males! I know that my kids feel loved and very much appreciated, no matter their gender. They know that I don't sit around all sad and depressed why I didn't have a daughter. Instead I let them know how lucky I am that God blessed me with 4 amazing boys! I do consider that very lucky!! I also know that my bathrooms have to be a lot dirtier than a house of all girls, and no one can change my mind on that one, LOL!

As an added bonus, no one loves their Momma like a son :-)

Vicky (a very blessed Mommy!)

HUGE Homemade Cinnamon Rolls-Step by Step Tutorial

I just love cinnamon rolls! But I just fix them a couple of times a year, because I would eat them all, LOL! These are the best Cinnamon Rolls I've ever had the pleasure of eating! Better than any store bought, even better than Cinnabon! They're really super easy to make, so don't let using yeast intimidate you! I found this recipe from allrecipes.com. I forgot to take a picture at the beginning, the idea of blogging about it didn't come until I dumped it out on my pastry mat and thought I should do a tutorial, so that's why it's late to the game! But everybody knows how to dump the ingredients into a bread machine and push start! I have included the important steps :-)

This Huge Cinnamon Roll was on top of my hand. I tried to think of a way to let you all know just how big they were!

Ingredients

1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup warm milk
1 egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups bread flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp)

~FILLING~
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

~ICING~
1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions

In the pan of your bread machine, combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start.

When Dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle.

Spread with softened butter.
In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over dough.
Roll up dough, beginning with long side. *NOTE* I rolled mine on the short side to yield bigger rolls. If you want more rolls, then roll up from the long side.
Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 buttered pan. Cover with clean kitchen towel Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. You can see they've doubled in size
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bake in preheated oven for 13-16 minutes. While rolls bake, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.
You can just put a huge dollop of icing on the cinnamon rolls and it will melt perfectly on it's own!
Now enjoy your ooey, gooey, cinnamoney, gigantic cinnamon roll! It's sure to bring a huge smile to your face :-)