Ok, well, the title warned you! You now enter this post at your own risk! : ) My husband's Belgian family celebrates and mourns with ham buns. A wedding, baby shower, anniversary, birthday, funeral - all involve "ham buns". This food item is EXACTLY what is sounds like. A bun. With ham. The bun is simply buttered, filled with a piece of ham, and that's it! It seems basic, but somehow it tastes like a dream! I dunno. Last year, my husband's Uncle passed away, and at the funeral luncheon we had, of course, ham buns. Adam's uncle specifically requested double ham on his ham buns though (extra delicious!), and my girls really enjoyed them. I was surprised by this because my girls have not eaten a sandwich in at least 5 years! I think the fact that the options were were limited, they gave the buns a try. Well, after the luncheon there were leftovers, and the wonderful women running the meal packed up lots of food for us to take home. We had at least 2 dozen ham buns that Adam took to work and the girls took to school over the next week! When they ran out, the girls asked if I could make them the buns. We are mostly a gluten-free family because I eat mainly paleo, and Caleb is fully gluten-free, so it’s easier for us all to eat similar. Plus, I told the girls, making the delicious buns that the ham was nestled in takes too much time to make. So, that was that. Well then, didn’t a neighbour come over one day not too long after with some rolls she'd made with her aunt that day. They were so good......so, so, so good! Belgian funeral good. I commented on how I don't usually make bread or buns because I hate waiting for it to rise. Yes, I'm occasionally impatient! Anywho, she told me that these particular rolls only took about an hour to make, and I thought - what? For Real? I thought she was pulling my leg, and was trying to make them sound easier than they were. Well, the next day she came over with the recipe for me to see, and promised that they only took an hour. So, I said, “well, let’s make them right now!”. And we did. And it was scary easy, and scary fast how we produced big, soft and fluffy rolls in an hour. If you’re not organized (or your kitchen isn’t), I could see this taking an hour and 15 minutes. Or if you got distracted while making these, perhaps it would take an hour and 30 minutes. But getting distracted while making these will be impossible because you’ll be so focused on the warm, delicious goodness you’ll have in an hour, you’ll just hone in and get ‘er done! So, here it is! My neighbours' aunt's recipe for "bread buns" as she called them, or "dangerously quick and simple buns" as I call them! Oh…my neighbour and I also call these “dump pan buns” because we made a double batch in a beautiful baking pan I found while digging around at our local dump. I know, yuk. But this pan was in perfect condition!
Dangerously Quick & Simple Buns Ingredients
Method:
It's honestly a really simple process to go from some humble ingredients to amazing, fluffy buns! This is my Keziah who especially loves these delicious buns! She can hardly wait for them to cool a bit so she can devour one! Can I just highlight some recipes for buns from the past.....specifically, from my book by Dr. Chase from 1884? I love looking through this old book when I'm thinking up a recipe because why re-invent the wheel, right? Well, sometimes the wheel needs some rounding out! This recipe below for "Buns, Better Than bakers" is a multi-day event! You'd start the water, sugar and yeast the night before you planned to make these rolls ("hooray for rapid rise yeast" shouts all the modern women!) : ) Anyway, it's a gem of a recipe, anyway! Ok, I had to share one more recipe from Dr. Chase's book because......yuk. I mean, I might still try making it because it sounds so strange, but, yuk! It's called "Pork Cake", so, I think we can just right away agree (based on the name) that this is a recipe that maybe won't suit many peoples tastes...? I think it could be a breakfast style cake? Read the whole recipe, especially the last part about what you use to check for doneness. It's brilly-bobs (as my sister would say. Translation: brilliant) It is amazing, isn't it?! Anyway, this post seems too long? Sorry about that. I'll just get outta here then! have a great weekend! It's a long weekend here in Ontario because Family Day is on Monday (also in Alberta and Saskatchewan!), and we have family visiting (how fitting!), and I'm excited! xoxo
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Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to stop by! Can I just be honest for a minute? Blogging has been hard for the last few months, but, truth be told, so has life. I know Christmas was almost 2 months ago, but this past Christmas left me drained. I don’t need to get into any of the reasons, but when we finally got back from weeks away visiting family and friends back home, I had hopes that my feelings of anxiety and depression would get better. I fully anticipated getting home, and life getting back to “normal”, and that I’d feel like myself again. Instead I spent the nights tossing and turning, not getting decent sleep. I’d burst into tears for no reason during the day, and felt so anxious and sad I could hardly cope. I lacked the motivation to get out of bed in the morning, or even to do things I generally enjoy like painting, baking, cooking, or singing. It took me about 2 weeks after getting home to even start working out regularly again. I was not doing great. Sometimes life is really hard for clear and obvious reasons, and sometimes life is hard for what could appear to be “no reason” at all. This “no reason” hard life is often because of one thing: mental health. Mental health is a topic often discussed in my home, and among my close friends. Why? Because it matters! Why does it matter? Because, for some of us (myself included), mental health steers the ship of life. It can sometimes seem like a “no reason” reason for life to be hard because mental health is (largely) invisible, and that adds to the difficulty in dealing with it. It’s like if you have heart disease, your whole life becomes focused on getting better. You eat, sleep and breath staying alive and living a healthier life. Well, the people of the world battling mental health issues feel this way all the time! Going back to my analogy of heart disease, if you don’t have heart disease, you generally get on in life without worrying about sickness because you’re not sick. Right? Perhaps you’re consciously eating well and getting some exercise, but you’re not constantly thinking “am I helping my sick heart become better?” That’s how a lot of people who aren’t fighting mental health do life. They wake up with anticipation for their day, look forward to the events and tasks, or people they will see. They enjoy a relatively steady emotional state, becoming happy and sad, but never to extremes, and always get back to “normal” quickly. Waking up with a brain that tells you that you have nothing worthwhile to offer the day, or sucks every ounce of energy out of your body, leaving you aching and miserable gets (obviously) exhausting. Where’s the motivation for today? I know so far I’ve just been Debbie Downer, but here’s the thing: I always feel better talking to, and listening to others who are struggling. Not because I think “well, I’m not THAT bad”, but because there is strength in not feeling alone in a struggle. I take my meds, I do the things I know should help me feel better like eating right and exercising, but sometimes, I just need to feel connected with someone else who wakes up in the morning feeling like life maybe isn’t worthwhile. We know on some level life is worth it, but it can be hard to really believe it sometimes, so sharing with someone who also faces more than an “off day”, has the effect of building up. So, today, if you’re struggling, especially with mental health issues, stop and think, “who will let me talk about what I’m feeling without judgement?”. Then, reach out to that person. Asses yourself and see where you’re at emotionally, then separate what will make things worse, and what will make things better. For some, a face-to-face sharing is better, for others it’s chatting on the phone, and for some, it’s just writing something out in a text or e-mail, and sending it off. If you have no one you feel you can talk to, feel free to comment here or by privately e-mailing me! Just reach out, I promise I won’t judge you. I am there with you! Can I offer another tip? It may seem a little random, but it’s not, I promise! Music can heal your soul….so, when you’re feeling awful, resist the urge to listen to music that is depressing. Instead, turn on an album or playlist that you feel creates energy in you. Honestly, this can be very different things for each person, but you know what does it for you! My favourite thing to do is to go onto YouTube to find a playlist that’ll fill me up. I find that having music playing in the background of my day helps enormously. If you picture a movie or t.v. show, you know that the music drives the mood of a scene. So, pick happy music for your “scene” today! Thanks for letting me share. Sometimes this blog is just my online diary, and that’s what it is today! I appreciate so much that I can do this, that I can share my heart, and know I am not alone in my struggles. I thought I'd also share some mental health memes, if that's ok. I don't take mental health issues lightly, but sometimes I can take it too seriously, if that makes sense? So, I thought I'd share some memes that were on the funnier side (as memes were intended to be!), because after some good music and sharing, laughing (out loud) is really good for mental health! And these made me laugh out loud! So much love, Amy-Lyn ....Ok, one more.....I can't help it. This IS ME!!! xoxoxo Oh, also, I did post over on Health & Fitness today too! Check that out if you want!
It's a week of firsts for me here on Bushel & A Peck! On Monday I opened up my first ever giveaway (go there quickly and enter if you haven't already!), and today I'm trying out something I've been meaning to do for OVER A YEAR!!!! Seriously, this is how long it's taken me to actually do this thing called "Five Minute Friday" that is hosted by a woman named Kate Motaung from Heading Home. It started with another woman, Lisa-Jo Baker, who passed the torch to Kate in 2014. Both Lisa-Jo and Kate are honest, real women. Get digging around their blogs to see what I mean! Anyway, "Five Minute Friday" is a weekly event that encourages anyone to write for 5 minutes (no cheating!) about whatever the prompt is. I've enjoyed reading many, many of the writings from bloggers around the world (and people who write their 5 minutes worth into the comments), and I kept wanting to try it....but then I kept forgetting. Even though the link-up is open for the whole week (Friday to Thursday), I've always wanted to do it on a Friday! No real reason (except perhaps being slightly OCD.....?), but that really held me back because I would usually remember on any day but Friday! Haha, I know, I'm reading back now and seeing how crazy it is that I was so insistent on it being done on a Friday, but there you have it! So, again, this is a 5 minute writing challenge, for no real reason except to push yourself to write what comes to mind, unfiltered, un-edited, and share with others! It's a welcome challenge when writing feels stale and forced. I went to Kate's website this morning to see the prompt, opened a Word document, set my iPhone timer, and let it go (let it go! Don't hold back anymore! Crap, "Frozen" has ruined everything!) :) So, here it is! My 5 minutes worth of writing! Five Minute Friday: SafeReady...GO! Living in an area that is considered “rural” (aka-the sticks!), I think about our safety a lot. We often have the power go out, we are a one vehicle family and if I need to pick up a child from school, I can’t because I am home all day without a vehicle! We have slippery stairs and woolen socks, we have a youngest daughter named Keziah who was properly nick-named “kez-aster” by one of her cousins! We have an outdoor wood stove that gets to 190 degrees and can be treacherous to fill, the list could go on and on! I could be gripped with fear everyday about what could happen. But instead, I turn to what I find safety in. My family. My husband, my 3 children, our 2 babies in heaven, and my God & faith. I am safe and loved. Within the walls of our beautiful century farmhouse is laughter, good meals, lots of sweets, hugs and kisses, prayers and crying, honesty and trust. Those things change in the quality and quantity on a day to day basis, but I know that there will always be some of it. Something there to call home, to feel safe. To belong. I want to create an atmosphere in our home of safety. Knowing that no matter what kind of day was had at school, work, or whatever, that we can meet up here, safe and loved and valued for who we are as individuals. Separate, but together. Created fearfully and wonderfully. Knit together in the womb, and brought together as a family. My home (where my heart is), my family, feels safe. STOP! :) Well, that's it! I was going to share a recipe today too....except it's not ready, and if I don't post this right now, it just won't happen! I've been finding it hard to carve out the time to blog recently (hence the lack of posts around here!), and that's part of why I want to participate in Five Minute Friday. It won't get me any new readers, it won't really become a Pinterest sensation, but, it will get me writing again for FUN! Just quick, don't-overthink-it, kind of writing, which is refreshing! So, don't forget me over here in my corner of the internet, I'm still here! Ok, let me show you something that is happening right now though, it's part of the reason I feel like I have no time these days! We've been converting our guest room into Caleb's new bedroom, so that his bedroom can become--well, I'll leave the reason why we're moving Caleb for another day.
But, his new room is small and funny shaped, and he is getting BIG (he's 5'6" now!), so he needed a bigger bed, and yadda yadda, planning planning, searching Pinterest, and finally we decided to build him a hanging loft bed! Then we decided to cover up the ugly pipe running up the corner of his room (we got a new furnace put it, and heat runs going upstairs, which means ugly pipes everywhere now!!!) and build a bench around it...then we ripped out the flooring to see what was underneath! Oh, and I painted everything first! Long story short (or short story long...?) it's been quite the project, but I see light at the end of the tunnel! I think we should be done really soon, then I'll share the finished product! Ok, that's all! We have a busy weekend ahead of us with friends coming over tonight for dinner, then tomorrow heading off to Kingston for a Valentines dance that I'll be singing at with The Lasalle Causeway Swing Band, then Sunday I'm teaching Sunday School while Adam plays piano for worship team, and then we're going to have lunch with some friends!!! Phew! It'll be good! Have a great weekend, whatever your plans! Peace out!
I'm giving something away!!!
I'm pretty excited! Back in January I received a completely random, and at first confusing e-mail. It was an e-mail through the blog contact form, and the name and e-mail address made me go, "huuuuh?" It was from an Aimee Berg, with a bushel & a peck variation e-mail address..... But I'M Amy! And I'M Bushel & A Peck! Right? Turns out, great names think alike! Aimee Burg is a beautiful woman who had a problem, and made a solution for herself! On her website, www.bushelandapeck.co, her About page tells the tale of woe and dry, cracked lips, and how she started to make her own lip balms to remedy the situation! Well, this wonderful woman found me and generously offered to send me a bundle of her amazing lip balms as an encouragement in my own personal journey into health, art, and living a well lived life! The gesture made my day! Someone randomly reaching out to bless someone else with their gifts? What an amazing thing! So, when my lip balms arrived, and I opened my first one to use it, I thought, "Oh my gosh, I loooove this!" Then I thought, if Aimee is willing to share, I should be too! : ) And here we are! I will send 2 of my lovely new lip balms to a randomly selected winner, and all you need to do to enter is to tell me about a time someone shared their gift with you! I'm not really a popular blog, so if you're reading this right now and enter, you have a pretty good chance of winning!!! It would be nice if you shared the contest with your friends and family though, because sharing is caring (as my kids often remind me!).
My beauty needs are pretty basic. I'm not into flashy, multi-levelled self care processes! I never have been (read: lazy!)! My motto is: simple is good! So, these lovely lip balms fit into my motto nicely! There aren't 10000 ingredients you can't pronounce, and they don't smell whacky (you know you've been talking to someone and thinking "what is that strange smell", only to see them putting on Cranberry LipSmacker and going, "oh....". I'm not the only one that's happened to, I'm sure of it!)!
And let's talk about the care Aimee took to send me my gift? See that picture below? She wrote my name beautifully on the envelope, included a sweet hand written card, and just made it so special!
So, to enter, just tell me about a time someone shared their gifts with you, then fill in the info in the ballot below, and that's it! You're entered!!!
And don't forget to check out Aimee's website at www.bushelandapeck.co, or her shop on Etsy at BushelandaPeckLLC The contest closes on February 26th, and if you win you'll be contacted on the 27th! Best of luck!!! Ok, well, the title warned you! You now enter this post at your own risk! : ) My husband's Belgian family celebrates and mourns with ham buns. A wedding, baby shower, anniversary, birthday, funeral - all involve "ham buns". This food item is EXACTLY what is sounds like. A bun. With ham. The bun is simply buttered, filled with a piece of ham, and that's it! It seems basic, but somehow it tastes like a dream! I dunno. Last year, my husband's Uncle passed away, and at the funeral luncheon we had, of course, ham buns. Adam's uncle specifically requested double ham on his ham buns though (extra delicious!), and my girls really enjoyed them. I was surprised by this because my girls have not eaten a sandwich in at least 5 years! I think the fact that the options were were limited, they gave the buns a try. Well, after the luncheon there were leftovers, and the wonderful women running the meal packed up lots of food for us to take home. We had at least 2 dozen ham buns that Adam took to work and the girls took to school over the next week! When they ran out, the girls asked if I could make them the buns. We are mostly a gluten-free family because I eat mainly paleo, and Caleb is fully gluten-free, so it’s easier for us all to eat similar. Plus, I told the girls, making the delicious buns that the ham was nestled in takes too much time to make. So, that was that. Well then, didn’t a neighbour come over one day not too long after with some rolls she'd made with her aunt that day. They were so good......so, so, so good! Belgian funeral good. I commented on how I don't usually make bread or buns because I hate waiting for it to rise. Yes, I'm occasionally impatient! Anywho, she told me that these particular rolls only took about an hour to make, and I thought - what? For Real? I thought she was pulling my leg, and was trying to make them sound easier than they were. Well, the next day she came over with the recipe for me to see, and promised that they only took an hour. So, I said, “well, let’s make them right now!”. And we did. And it was scary easy, and scary fast how we produced big, soft and fluffy rolls in an hour. If you’re not organized (or your kitchen isn’t), I could see this taking an hour and 15 minutes. Or if you got distracted while making these, perhaps it would take an hour and 30 minutes. But getting distracted while making these will be impossible because you’ll be so focused on the warm, delicious goodness you’ll have in an hour, you’ll just hone in and get ‘er done! So, here it is! My neighbours' aunt's recipe for "bread buns" as she called them, or "dangerously quick and simple buns" as I call them! Dangerously Quick & Simple Buns (or dump pan buns!) Ingredients
Method:
It's honestly a really simple process to go from some humble ingredients to amazing, fluffy buns! This is my Keziah who especially loves these delicious buns! She can hardly wait for them to cool a bit so she can devour one! Can I just highlight some recipes for buns from the past.....specifically, from my book by Dr. Chase from 1884? I love looking through this old book when I'm thinking up a recipe because why re-invent the wheel, right? Well, sometimes the wheel needs some rounding out! This recipe below for "Buns, Better Than bakers" is a multi-day event! You'd start the water, sugar and yeast the night before you planned to make these rolls ("hooray for rapid rise yeast" shouts all the modern women!) : ) Anyway, it's a gem of a recipe, anyway! Ok, I had to share one more recipe from Dr. Chase's book because......yuk. I mean, I might still try making it because it sounds so strange, but, yuk! It's called "Pork Cake", so, I think we can just right away agree (based on the name) that this is a recipe that maybe won't suit many peoples tastes...? I think it could be a breakfast style cake? Read the whole recipe, especially the last part about what you use to check for doneness. It's brilly-bobs (as my sister would say. Translation: brilliant) It is amazing, isn't it?! Anyway, this post seems too long? Sorry about that. I'll just get outta here then! Have a great weekend! It's a long weekend here in Ontario because Family Day is on Monday (also in Alberta and Saskatchewan!), and we have family visiting (how fitting!), and I'm excited! xoxo I will be the first to admit to being a bit of a Grinch about Christmas. There's no real reason, except that I hate being "told" that I need to hang mistle toe, cut down a fresh tree, decorate the house with things that have been stored away (hogging space) for the whole year, & be jolly! See? A Grinch. I want to clarify though that I had WONDERFUL Christmases as a child. Seriously, my Mom & Dad put on a great Christmas! Decorations, a big tree that we'd go out to hunt for and cut down, an advent wreath with candles we would light leading up to Christmas, wonderful stockings, lots of gifts, a Secret Santa exchange with the siblings (because there were a LOT of us and we couldn't buy for everyone!), and an amazing Dutch style Christmas breakfast. So, I don't dislike Christmas because of any childhood misery, I am just honestly a Grinch! But, one thing that I love about Christmas is iced sugar cookies! Seriously, you want me to get into the holiday spirit? Give me some iced sugar cookies. Yes, they DO need to be iced! C'mon-what's the point of a delicious, buttery sugar cookie that isn't covered in more sugar!?! Ok, so this post isn't as "tutorial-y" (oh my gosh! That for sure isn't a real word at all!) as I want it to be....but that's because doing this wonderful, beautiful, time-consuming art is equal parts calculation & guess work! I'll give you tips and tricks that I've learned, I'll share some mistakes I made, and how I improvised to fix some of the problems! And taking a ton of photos during the decorating process would have been extrememly difficult since I was busy decorating! Sorry! Also, the method seems crazy long, but really, just read through it, and you'll see it's very basic. The cookies are simple and strait forward, and the decorating is 2-step because you need to first pipe a border, and then you "flood" the cookies in the second step. That's the real "secret" to beautiful iced sugar cookies. FYI : ) Honestly, it's a little time consuming, but they can be as simple or as complicated as you (and your imagination!) want, so that adjusts the time it takes to decorate. Ok, here we go!!! Cut-Out Sugar Cookies (these cookies need 1 hour of chilling before baking! Fair square warning) :) Ingredients: For the Cookies:
For the border icing:
For the flood icing:
***I use both zippered plastic bags, and proper piping bags, to decorate. As long as you have something that can give you a fine tip for the border icing you'll be good*** Method For The Cookies:
....after the dough has chilled....
Method For The Icing:
So, preparing the cookie dough is simple! When you're done you just need to divide the dough into 4 disks, wrap 'em up, and stick 'em back into the fridge to cool. This step keeps the cookies from spreading and loosing their shape when baking. I'll actually often make the dough a day or more in advance from when I'll get a chance to bake them. Bake and cool!!! Now you'll need to create the borders on your cookies so that your inner icing stays where you want it and doesn't go dripping off your cookies! You can see that my piping skills are poor! Oh well, the cookies still look pretty good when all is said and done! Ok, so here's a little tip! If you plan on making pretty snowflakes, save the pretty snowflake for after you've flooded the cookie! When I went to flood the blue snowflakes, the border and the snowflake design were so close to each other that I had to use a toothpick to gently and carefully flood around the design. And that was a huge time hog! So, for the smaller snowflakes I didn't even bother flooding them! Once I realized my blunder with the bigger snowflakes, I quickly grabbed some sprinkles and made my smaller snowflakes into sparkly pink snowflakes before the border icing dried fully! You can see those cookies above. To pipe a design over the flooded icing, you'll want to keep the flooding to a minimum so that you're not waiting around for it to dry before piping your design. Just flood a thinner layer than you might normally have used, allow it to dry to the touch, and use the border icing to pipe your design. For the wreath cookies, flood the cookie with white, then immediately add dots of green around the edge of the cookie. Use a toothpick to gently drag the green icing from one dot to the next. Then I piped red "berries" on after the green had set slightly. For the (super helpful!!!) photo tutorial I used to make my wreath cookies, look here at The Monday Box! The little penguins were time consuming! Geepers! I liked how they turned out, but I was also like, "Yeah, not doing that again!" Although I probably will because I'm a sucker for punishment when it comes to creat beautiful Christmas cookies!!!
Something that would make it not so awful would be to have little candy eyeballs, which I've seen at Michael's & WalMart, but never purchased of course because I'd rather take forever and ever piping my own eye balls onto cookies (sarcasm, people). I also could have made them more simple, like the ones pictured here, but, ya know. Too little too late. Also, the ones in the link bother me slightly because the eyes are technically on the pengiuns belly (look at the link to see)....but, they are cute, and more simple, and most people aren't painfully critical like I am and wouldn't mind or even notice that the eyes and beak are on the pengiuns belly! Anywho! I hope everyone has a good weekend, and got through this week in one piece! Let me know if you make these cookies, or if you have a special Christmas cookie you like to make for the holidays! Sharing is caring! xoxo Let me cut to the chase and tell you that the guy with no shirt on is my new favourite YouTuber, Mike Donavanik! I share about him on my Health & Fitness page! Go check it out! Pleeeeeeeease!!! : ) As for Motivational Monday here, I'm just going to share a funny meme with you because I LOVE funny memes!!! It's good, right!? Haha, seriously makes me laugh out loud every time! Also, I share the picture below on my Health & Fitness post, but I wanted to share it here too because I think it's great! It's a collection of fabulous photos from a photo booth at my husband's work Christmas party this past weekend! Yup, we're unashamedly geeky! : )
I hope you had a good Monday, and have a great week! Have you ever set out on a task and thought, "I sure hope I can see this through...", only to realize that at some point, you've done it? And not only have you done it, you find that there were many moments that were beautiful? You've climbed the mountain, you've changed your health, you've worked at a summer camp as the cook (true story!), you worked your butt off and saved an important relationship, you did a total room make-over, saved for a down payment on a house? Whatever it was, didn't it take you by surprise? Yes, you set out to do it, but still, to turn around and find that the view from this new place in your life is beautiful and unexpected? Doesn't the view take your breath away? I was watching videos of my son Caleb, who has autism. The videos were from when we had our middle child, Abigail. Caleb was 4 years old at the time. That was 8 years ago. Watching videos of Caleb when he was young, and seeing how sweet & happy he was left me feeling overwhelmed. Those were hard times, and felt like dark days filled with uncertainty, but now, with my view from here, I see his ability, his character, his goofiness has always been there! Over the years, he's developed skills that have made him into an amazing pre-teen. My view now shows me & reminds me that even if today seems dark & endless and if hopelessness wants to take over, it will be ok! Doubts about the future and how uncertain it all is feels like a boulder strapped to my back. But I turn and look, and I see it all. My pregnancy with him, his birth, his first birthday, the red flags of autism and the drowning feeling it brought on. The suggested day care, speech therapy, occupational therapy, Sunday School, years of potty training, bowel and food issues, starting a gluten free diet, refusing to put on footwear, running away, being brought home by the police, jumping in the lake and being saved numerous times. Starting school, riding the bus, bringing his baby sisters home......it goes on and on, playing like a film in my mind. You know when you're watching a movie, and everything seems hopeless, but you're sure it will work out. You're not at all sure how, but you are sure it will. I didn't feel like that back when Caleb was young, but now, from here, I do feel that. I feel it so deep down in my heart and soul. I still feel worried about him as an adult, him getting a job, or living on his own, but I also know it will be ok. I know this because I can see for miles behind me, and I can see that all along he's been getting stronger, smarter, more brave, more clever, more vocal, more friendly. He's learning, pushing, working hard, and becoming an amazing young man. Last Wednesday I went to watch him play in his first volleyball tournament. And, I needed to keep myself from crying! His classmates are so kind and helpful, and Caleb, as goofy as he is, can serve that ball like it ain't nobodies business! He just subs in to serve, but that's more than enough for now! He's great at serving! He's included, and he's spending time with the boys in his class in a setting outside of the classroom, recess, and field trips! I watched him with so much pride in my heart, knowing what the journey has been for him. When he was 18 months old and I was leaving him at a day care that told me he's mostly trouble, doesn't fit in, and struggles with every task, I never ever, in a million years would have dreamt of the day that I'd watch his team fight and win the A Championship, with him helping to achieve that! The view from here...it's spectacular! I know from here, while looking back, that I also still have a long way ahead of me with Caleb. But stopping to look back brings clarity, brings hope, and brings so much joy to my heart that it gives me energy for the future! My heart today is for the parent of a child with autism who is reading this, and they are in the middle of their storm.
Please know that you aren't alone in this journey. And also know that with love, and consistency, using your gut instinct, and raising your child like they are precious, will yield temendous results - perhaps not outwardly as you may hope, but in your heart, and in the heart of your child, no matter how severe the autism. The view you have now is not the view you will have forever, take heart in that. This autism journey is tiring, it's emotional, it's so up and down! But it's also beautiful. Because one day you'll see something so amazing in your child that your heart will be filled to the top! But you need to be looking. You need to be seeing the big picture, forward and backward. Last year really sucked for Caleb. But this year? This year has been so absolutely amazing! But I only know that because I am taking stock. I am checking out the view! You can do this. You're not stuck here forever. Autism is forever changing, moving and growing. Trust me. Just trust me. The view will be (and is) amazing. xoxoxo Happy Thanksgiving weekend American friends! Here in Canada, we celebrate our Thanksgiving in October, but Canada has in the last few years started tagging along with “Black Friday” and all the sales that go along with it - so, for me, it’s a time to NOT go out because I’m not a big fan of crazed deal hunters! Don’t get me wrong, I am a deal hunter, and I am generally crazed, but I am a quiet deal hunter. For instance, if I see a shelf with a bunch of fantastic items and they are on clearance, I will silently use my arm to make one grand gesture of sweeping all of said item into my cart, and walking away. Pleased as punch. Well, that was all pretty random. Let’s talk about today’s recipe! I found it this summer while cooking at Pleasant Bay Camp. Someone had purchased an ungodly amount of frozen blueberries for us to use, and I needed the freezer space, so got looking for a blueberry muffin recipe that was basic, used simple ingredients, and came out looking like a million bucks. This recipe from Chef Savvy hit on all those points! The campers gobbled them up, the staff stole them from the kitchen when I wasn’t looking, AND I got to use up some expiring milk to make up the first batch! The recipe calls for sour cream, but we had an over-order of milk at camp, and it was expiring faster than we could make the campers and staff drink it! It is very common to use souring milk in recipes. A lot of recipes – mine included! – call for sour milk (or buttermilk), so don’t think “bleh! Using sour milk?!? Gross!”. It’s normal, it’s economical, and it creates a softer, fluffier baked good! Some people do say not to use actual souring milk for recipes, but that strange, sour milk taste that is unpleasant if you were to drink it strait changes, and the only taste that remains is a oh-so-slight tangy flavour that really compliments sweet baked goods. I pinky-swear promise it DOES NOT taste like sour milk! Anyway, all that being said, when I didn’t have actual souring milk, I made my own buttermilk by adding some vinegar or lemon juice to fresh milk (about 1 teaspoon to 1/4 Cup), stir, and allow to sit until it’s curdled. As for the streusel top, I hate when super moist muffins get sticky on the top after they’ve cooled and sat. It’s better than a gross, dry muffin, but still. So, when I first looked up the recipe, I looked up “streusel topped blueberry muffins”, knowing that A: streusel is freakin’ delicious, and B: it would keep the tops from becoming sticky. So, without further adieu, and sorry for blabbing on, here’s the recipe! Blueberry Streusel Top Muffins Adapted from Chef Savvy's "Blueberry Streusel Muffins" Ingredients: For the Streusel Top:
For the Muffins:
For the Streusel Top:
For the Muffins:
Enjoy! I think these taste amazing if you eat them warm, with some butter and honey! These lovely little muffins also freeze well, making them great to make ahead for school lunches, or to have on hand to randomly bring to someone who is in need of a pick-me-up!
Ok, well, I’ll see you later this week! On Thursday (the day I set aside for any autism writing I want to share), I’ll be telling you about something that happened last week with my son Caleb. If you’re new here and don’t know him, he’s my 12 ½ year old son with autism. He’s growing into an incredible young man, and last week he was involved in something that ordinarily might not leaving a Mom weeping with joy (several times in one day!), but that’s what was happening to me! I am overwhelmingly proud of him, his classmates, and his school! Stay tuned for that! xoxo As far as easy recipe go-this one is way up there on the list! It's some really simple ingredients that *most* people have on had at all times, and can be baked up and cooling on your counter in 30 minutes (ish - haha! The exact time depends on how organized your baking supplies are and how efficiently you can pull them together!). But still, they're easy going cookie bars! It's all the goodness of gooey, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but without the scooping! I found this recipe at Jamie Cooks it Up, and give it two whole-hearted thumbs up! :) I usually like to post a "Motivational Monday" & "Health & Fitness" post on Mondays.....and this is neither of those things! But, I decided that although I want to give readers something predictable, most readers who I hear from don't give a rip! :) So, it helps me prepare and be organized if I have a certain "thing" I will post about on a certain day, but sometimes, I just gotta post what I feel like! And this recipe is so simple to throw together for when last minute guests are coming over, or to make and tuck into an airtight container and put into the freezer for quick lunch treats, or after school snacks, well, I just needed to share it! Hope ya'll are ok with that!:) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Ingredients:
Method: 1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a 9x13 baking pan by lining it with parchment paper, leaving overhang "handles" for later, and lightly greasing with butter or oil where the parchment doesn't cover the pan 2. Into into a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients and whisk to combine 3. Now add the melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix it up until it's all wet 4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well 5. Add chocolate chips, and stir to combine 6. Evenly press the dough into the prepared pan 7. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted into the centre of the golden topped squares produces only melted chocolate and no wet dough 8. Lift the bars from the pan using your parchment "handles", and place onto a cutting board, and give them time to cool completely 9. Once cooled, cut into bars, squares, or triangles! And eat some, of course! See, so simple, right?
Today was a suddenly wintry day (a no school, snow day included!), and we went from wearing t-shirts and no coats outside on Friday, to coats, hats, scarves, and mitts today! Oh Canada!!! :) We enjoyed it though with equal parts laziness (watching "Shrek The Musical" on Netflix), and playing outside. I hope you had a lovely day, whatever you were up to! If you've stopped by, please feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to know you were here, and to see how your day went! xoxoxo |
Hi, I'm Amy-Lyn! I am the lady behind this here blog! I live in the sticks with my animals, my super handsome husband, and my
3 amazing kids! Here you'll find things from recipes (gluten-free, paleo, and strait up junk food!), DIY ideas, thoughts on raising a son with autism, and whatever else pops into my brain! : ) Read more about me by clicking here! Want to Stay Connected?
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