Stop Time they are Growing Up

 I haven't blogged in so long and I've missed it. I need to write, but I can't ever seem to find the time anymore...not that I'm complaining, my time is filled with the beautiful blessings in my life. My children are growing up so fast and I've really noticed how fast time seems to be flying by lately. People wonder why I take so many photos of my children, but for me it stops time for just a few minutes and lets me capture the moment...forever. I need those moments of time to stop in my busy life of taking care of two little children, to remember why I love being a mother in the midst of messes and tears and noise and constantly tell big brother to stop picking on little sister...lol. I can't really stop time, but I wish I could and so I take a picture...look at my baby girl drinking water from a sippy cup, getting so big...she still wants and needs "mommy milk", but I don't know how much longer...

 I love how she crawls across the floor following me from room to room while I'm putting away laundry and how she says "Ma Ma" and I know she is talking about me and wanting me, how she comes as fast as her little knees can go (she is not quite walking on her own yet) to get to me for cuddles and snuggles, for kisses and hugs. She is such an affectionate child, always ready to give big brother or daddy or mommy big hugs and open-mouth slobbery kisses...lol.

 She is really loving books and enjoys looking at them by herself or having me read to her. She will come up and practically throw a book at me "begging" me to read to her. It makes me so happy to see the interest she has in books, since reading is something that I enjoy extremely too!

 She is a "talker". It is mostly baby babbling right now, but so cute to hear. She can say "Ma Ma, Dadee, Cup, Uh oh, Wow, Yum Yum, bye, hi, What's That, "Tickle Tickle" and "Co Co" for Colton. She also says "Ruff Ruff" when she sees a picture of a dog. :-)

 Her eyes are a deep dark beautiful blue and her hair is brown with subtle highlights of blond and auburn red. Her skin is perfect and sometimes rosy when she gets warm. She looks like a mixture of her mommy and daddy.

 I am treasuring the times she still wants to nurse and be close to mommy to get her nutrition and nurture, because I know those days will end all too soon. She loves to eat "big people" food now. She is not a picky eater and seems to be an adventuresome eater which makes it fun to feed her. She especially likes pasta...lol.

 She is Cherish...she is beautiful, she is a happy smiley little girl and I'm so glad God gave me this gift of a daughter of my own.

 There she is smiling at her big brother who she just loves and adores...speaking of which, Colton is growing up too!

 What a charmer, look at that smile! How can you not smile back at him? He is so full of energy and sometimes I wonder if he will ever slow down. I wish I could bottle that energy for myself, so that I can keep up with him...lol.

 He is so sweet and loveable! He enjoys playing outside so much. Helping in the garden, digging in the dirt and driving his little tractor.

 Colton and Cherish love each other and I'm glad to be able to capture those moments on camera, but there are times when they fight over toys or hit each other or having sessions of see who can out scream the other one, those times are the ones that I feel like I'm going to go crazy. Sometimes I just want a peaceful quiet moment to myself. Thankfully they both still take naps or I would probably pull my hair out...lol. Which by the way they just woke up from, so I better get off here. I should have taken a nap too, since I'm so tired ALL the time, but there are days when I just need to write instead. Maybe I'll get some sleep this weekend, feels like I could sleep a whole day and still not get enough rest. Did I mention time won't stop for me...Maybe I don't really want it to, there is always new adventures and moments to capture as my children continue to grow...and I continue to grow in this journey of motherhood, I'm learning and growing too, trying to be more patient, gentle, and have self-control...etc...hoping to become the kind of mother that would make my Lord ~Father God proud of me, just like I'm proud of my children, Colton and Cherish!!

~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mother

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

~Pumpkin Bread~
Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
I love the way this bread turned out when I made it...so moist and yummy!


~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mommy

Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

This is a yeast-free cinnamon rolls recipe. They are not as big and puffy as the yeast bread-kind, but the easiest recipe I've found so far for cinnamon rolls. When I made these the other day, my husband said they were the best cinnamon rolls he's ever had. :-)
~Cinnamon Rolls~
Ingredients:
Rolls:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter,2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar,1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder,1/2 teaspoon baking soda,1/2 teaspoon salt,1 1/4 cups buttermilk,6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Cinnamon Filling:
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar,1/4 cup white granulated sugar,3 teaspoons cinnamon,1/8 teaspoon salt,1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Glaze:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 6 tablespoons hot water
Mix together...slowing adding hot water, until reach right consistency.
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Generously coat a 9 inch round cake pan and a wire cooling rack with vegetable oil spray.
2. Make the filling: combine together the brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated white sugar, cinnamon, salt, and the 1 Tablespoon melted butter until the mixture resembles wet sand.
3. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour; 2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk and 2 Tablespoons of the melted butter together.
5. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until absorbed, about 30 seconds. The dough will look shaggy.
6. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute.
7. Press the dough out into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle using your hands.
8. Brush the dough with 2 Tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough.
9. Loosen the dough from the counter using a bench scraper or a metal spatula.
10. Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly, to form a tight log.
11. Pinch the seam to seal. Slice the dough into 8 even pieces.
12. Place the slices in the greased pan.
13. Brush with the remaining 2 Tablespoon of butter.

Bake 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes...Let rolls cool 10 minutes while you prepare the glaze. Drizzle glaze over cinnamon rolls...yummy!

~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mommy

Buttermilk Cheese Biscuits

I love biscuits! That's all I'm going to say about that...lol. My husband loves breakfast food for dinner, so this was a recipe with a fun twist and the cheese made the biscuits slightly more "dinnerish" and they were so yummy!
~Buttermilk Cheese Biscuits~
Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening (I used butter)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk
Directions: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Rub in shortening (or butter) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheese. Add buttermilk; stir just until dough clings together. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough lightly until easy to handle. Roll into a 12-in. circle. Cut biscuits. Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet.
Bake 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm!

~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mommy

Healthy Green Smoothie

I've seen at least 4 blogs with recipes for this "green" smoothie drink. I kept wanting to try making it and finally today I had a chance. It was so tasty and healthy too! I've had store-bought green juices before, but not in a smoothie form and homemade with all the fiber still in it. There is many various recipes I've seen for this, but I came up with my own recipe and used what I happened to have on hand. I'm excited to try some other combinations too! ~My Green Smoothie Recipe~
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen peaches (or pears, blueberries, etc...)
1 cup of plain almond milk (some people use juice or soy milk)
1 huge handful of raw spinach leaves (could add kale or other greens)
a few raspberries...would have put in more, but my son was eating
them up...lol
(some recipes had a sweetener of some kind...I didn't think it needed it.)
Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.
In spite of the healthy greens this is very delicious!!
My son (who will eat raw spinach) wasn't too sure at first about the
color, but when he finally tried it, he loved it and gulped it down
and agreed it was yummy! :-)

Enjoy! One of my inspirations...love her blog... http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.housewifeintown.com%2F2011%2F10%2Fspinach-and-kale-smoothie-with-pear.html&h=1AQB88AEc
If you've made green smoothies before, what do you like to put in them?
~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mommy

Homemade Bread

I've been making bread since I was around 10 years old, over the years I developed a wheat bread recipe and I'm always changing it and trying to make it better...My mother is the one who taught me how to make bread and now I'm teaching my son. Colton has helped me make bread many times, he started helping me when he was only 2 years old...he is now 3 and he still loves to help and is even starting to understand the process more. He likes to eat it also...lol. ~Homemade Wheat Bread~
This recipe is for two loaves, but sometimes I double it to make four loaves.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 TBS yeast
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sweet molasses
1 TBS lecithin granules (find in health food stores)
1 TBS sea salt
1/8 cup of gluten flour
1 cup white flour (sometimes I leave that out if I want 100% whole wheat bread)
4 to 5 cups whole wheat flour
also you might need a little extra white or wheat flour for kneading.
Mix water, yeast, and molasses together-sit 5 minutes and make sure yeast activates.
(I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer that my sweet hubby bought for me...)(Little boys love machines...or at least mine does...lol.)
Next mix in the oil, lecithin, salt, and gluten flour.

Now slowly add the flour, one cup at a time, you might not need all the recipe calls for,

it just depends on the consistency, add more if sticky, less as it forms into a nice dough...

I always take my dough out after mixing it so that I can knead it by hand, because I use to make bread totally by hand with no mixer and I still like to knead that way to make sure it is the right consistency and Colton loves helping with that part too!

Knead into flour, until no longer sticky. (baby Cherish is interested also and has started watching us now...It will be fun to teach my girl to make bread too, when she is old enough!)

Put bread dough in large bowl and let rise for one hour or until doubled in size.

Than shape into loaves...another favorite thing for my little helper to do...

Let loaves rise in pans for 1/2 hour until doubled in size.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Love the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven...Mmmmm.

Yummy healthy wheat bread...Enjoy!!

~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mommy~

Zucchini Rice Casserole Recipe

This is a vegetarian recipe that my mother-in-law gave me...my husband loves it! It's perfect for using up the abundance of zucchini from our garden!
~Zucchini Rice Casserole~
3 cups shredded zucchini (squeeze out excess water)
3 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 can cream of celery soup
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped onion
(optional: garlic, onion salt, dried or fresh herbs)
First cook the rice...

Next shred the zucchini...

Add in all the ingredients and mix together...

I like to pick fresh herbs from my garden to add in..I'm sure you are not surprised...lolMy little helper is just too cute, so had to take another photo of him.

Spread in baking dish and Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Enjoy! Yum!

~Crystal Dawn...Homemaker and Mommy~