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  • Best Banana Bread Bundt

    Best Banana Bread Bundt

    Fall is finally starting to begin in the south. The cool mornings have started to arrive. I whipped this recipe up the other morning and was quite satisfied by how it turned out. Bananas are a staple in my family. My boys eat them everyday sometimes more than once a day. So, I always keep a mass supply. But, every once in awhile I will have a bunch of banana that start to turn and this time I figure banana bread was the key. Try this recipe out and pair it with your favorite cup of joe and I am sure you will be delighted by the last bite and trying to hold yourself back from eating the entire bundt.

    Best Banana Bread Bundt

    Prep Time: 15 mins

    Cook Time: 75 mins

    Total Time: 90 mins

    Servings: 12-16

    Ingredients:

    1 cup of butter

    2 cups of sugar

    4 eggs

    8 bananas

    3 cups of flour

    2 tsp of baking powder

    1 tsp of salt

    1 tsp of vanilla

    Directions:

    Preheat oven to 350 degree F. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add in beaten eggs and crushed bananas and combine well. In a large bowl, mix together sifted flour, baking soda, and salt. Add wet mixture to dry. Then, add in vanilla. Pour mixture into a greased bundt pan. Bake for 75 mins. Keep leftovers in refrigerator.

    Enjoy!

  • Bird Seed Ornaments

    Bird Seed Ornaments

    My kiddos love to watch the birds outside. We did this fun activity one weekend, so the birds would have more of a reason to be fluttering around outside their windows. These ornaments are fun to make together and turn out adorable. It also gives you another reason to pull out all of your cookie cutters and put them to good use. Below is the recipe for making the ornaments! Happy Bird Watching!


    Bird Seed Ornaments

    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup of water

    3 tsp of unflavored gelatin

    3 Tbsp of corn syrup

    3/4 cup of flour

    4 cups of bird seed (Any type will do)

    Directions:

    In a small sauce pan, heat water, gelatin and corn syrup together over low heat until well combined. Do not boil. Mix flour and seeds together, then slowly add the gelatin mixture. While cooling, put out parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and choose your favorite cookie cutters. Spray those cookie cutters with cooking spray. Next, fill the cutters with the gelatin mixture, pressing in the mixture tightly. Place a straw in the ornament to poke a hole through for hanging. After drying overnight, remove ornaments from the cookie cutters. You can then attach ribbon or string and hang for the birds!

  • 5 Fall Kid Activities

    5 Fall Kid Activities

    Fall is here! This is one of my favorite times of the year. I like to celebrate the season with fun activities for my kids to get into the fall spirit. My oldest is 2 1/2, so there so many new ventures he gets to explore. Here are a few activities to try with your little ones to liven up the season!

    1. Baking


    First thing I think of when Fall comes to mind is baking. And my kids love to bake. We love to incorporate lots of pumpkin. Here’s the link to our Pumpkin Spice Marshmellow Treats recipe. Not only do we like to bake sweet treats for ourselves, but we love to make doggie treats for the furry boys too! This Pumpkin Pupcake Recipe had the dogs rolling over for more!

    2. Glow In The Dark Bath


    With Halloween right around the corner, glow sticks and glow in the dark paints are super cheap right now. To make bath more exciting, let the little ones have some fun playing with these. I just lathered the glow in the dark face paint on my hand and placed hand prints on the wall to make more festive. It did not show well in the pictures.

    3. Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!


    Dollar tree is great to get a carving set, fake mustaches, and pumpkin decal stickers. My little ones have carved a pumpkin or decorated at least one every weekend of October so far. I think their favorite part is pulling out all the pumpkin seeds and strings.

    Sometimes the mustaches don’t always make it onto the pumpkin at first…

    If you buy one of the tiny pumpkins, with a little bit of imagination, glue, tape, construction paper, and markers. You can make a fun decoration for their rooms to celebrate the season!


    4. Fall Painting


    There are so many crafts to do with you sweet peas at this time of year. My oldest loves to paint, so I thought he would love to paint “fall.” He had a blast! I gathered pines cones, acorns, and leaves, then let him use them as his paintbrushes. The paintings turned out awesome and he has been asking to paint with acorns ever since then.

    Another painting activity is painting falling leaves. All you need is a canvas, washable paints, and a wet rag to clean up. Paint a tree for your little one to add on the leaves.


    Then, have your tot use his fingers and thumbs to dot on the different colored fall leaves onto the canvas and you will end up with a festive piece to hang in any home art gallery.

    Something even more simple would be just paint pumpkins on canvases. I did this activities with my residents and they loved it!



    5. Feed the Birds


    My kids love to watch the birds outside so we decided to make bird seed ornaments for the birds to enjoy. Here’s the link for Bird Seed Ornaments. Have fun watching the birds and making your own ornaments!


    With these few activities, you will be sure to keep your toddlers busy, learning about season, and having a ball. Have fun with your little ones and enjoy every minute!

  • DIY Fall Wreath

    DIY Fall Wreath

    I love fall! If you haven’t noticed by all the excitement in my past few blogs. So, to decorate I threw together this gem of a wreath in no time. It not only makes my front door seem festive and welcoming but I had a blast painting and putting it together. I swear painting is the most calming activity to do after a rough day of chasing two toddlers around. Check out the supplies to make the wreath below and get crafting!

    DIY Fall Wreath

    1 Monogram Letter ( I used the first letter of my last name)

    1 roll of Burlap (Any design would be cute)

    Fake Fall Flowers

    White Acrylic Paint

    Fall Paint (Acrylic, I used red, green, orange, and yellow)

    Hot Glue

    Paint Brushes

    Directions:

    Paint your monogram letter completely white. I did three coats on mine. Then once dried, paint your design on the letter. I chose a Chevron pattern but stripes or polka dots would be super cute too. Once your paint has dried, hot glue fake fall flowers wherever you would like on the letter. Then take your burlap and make a bow for the hanger of your wreath. Hot glue the two ends on the back of your letter. And TADA!!! You have a absolutely adorable fall wreath to bring in the warmth and excitement of the season to any front door.

    After painting the Chevron:


    Finished Product:

  • Gluten Free Pumpkin Bacon Pupcakes

    Gluten Free Pumpkin Bacon Pupcakes

    One of my fur boys just had his 6th Birthday. On such occasions, I try to make them Pupcakes to celebrate. Bob loves pumpkin, so I whipped these up and helped bring in the Fall Season as well.  I had a wonderful helper to help with the mixing.

    They were a huge hit! My son made sure that Bob got a candle in his Pupcake and that we sang him happy birthday. 

    Try these out for your pups and I am sure they will rollover for more.

    GF Pumpkin Bacon Pupcakes

    Prep Time: 10 mins

    Cook Time: 25 mins

    Total Time: 35 mins

    Yield: 12

    Ingredients:

    2 1/2 cups of Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour

    1/4 Cup of Bacon Fat

    1 tsp of Vanilla extract

    1 tsp of Baking soda

    1 tsp of Baking powder 

    3/4 cup of Applesauce 

    1 Egg

    1 cup of Pumpkin puree

    1/4 cup of Honey

    Directions:

    In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until well blended. Spoon batter into greased muffin tin. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Store in an air-tight container. Freeze remaining muffins after 3-4 days. Enjoy! 

  • Pumpkin Spice Marshmellow Treats

    Pumpkin Spice Marshmellow Treats

    Happy First Day of Fall! It’s my favorite time of year. Time for apples, Halloween, family celebrations, leaves falling, the crisp smell in the air, and most of all….pumpkin everything. Last year, I began my Mad About Pumpkin blogging. So, I am starting it up again this year to keep the tradition going. You can never have too much pumpkin in my opinion. And there is always a new and fun way to whip it up into many unique recipes. So I thought I would take a favorite recipe of my boys, Marshmellow Treats, and add pumpkin to it. They were a hit! My boys even got a little extra vitamins in with their sweet treat, which to me is a plus! I hope you enjoy these scrumptious treats as much as we did.

    Pumpkin Spice Marshmellow Treats

    Prep Time: 10 mins

    Cook Time: 10 mins

    Total Time: 20 mins

    Yield: 12 squares

    Ingredients

    4 cups of small marshmallows

    6 cups  of Cheerios

    1 tsp of cinnamon

    1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

    1/4 cup of pumpkin puree

    3 Tbsp of butter

    Directions

    In a large pan, on medium low heat, melt your butter and add 4 cups of marshmallows.

    Then, add your pumpkin puree to your melted marshmallows along with your cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

    Mix in your Cheerios. Next, pour your treat’s mixture into a 9×13 greased baking pan. Press your treat mix into the pan with a greased spoon. Allow your treats to cool. Enjoy!

  • Mad About Pumpkin: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Mad About Pumpkin: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    It’s that time of year again! Pumpkin is in the air! I love Fall!

    Leslielarch's avatarSpirited Essence

    Who doesn’t love a good chocolate chip cookie? My family sure does and since it’s fall I thought I would add a twist to our chocolate chip cookies by adding a bit of pumpkin. These cookies take hardly anytime to make and they will satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth.??

    Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Prep Time: 10 mins

    Cook Time: 15 mins

    Total Time: 25 mins

    Yield: 2 Dozen

    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup of butter, melted

    1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

    1/2 cup of sugar

    1 tsp of vanilla extract

    6 Tbsp of pumpkin purée

    1 1/2 cups of flour

    1/4 tsp of salt

    1/4 tsp of baking powder

    1/4 tsp of baking soda

    2 tsp of cinnamon

    1/2 tsp of ginger

    1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

    Directions:

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until combined well. Whisk…

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  • Happy Fourth of July!

    Happy Fourth of July!

    To everyone, I hope y’all all have a beautiful and blessed Fourth of July! Stay safe and enjoy all of your family/friend’s gatherings! I am celebrating with my residents at work today and whipped this pie up for them to enjoy.


    Below is a little prayer to help brighten everyone’s holiday and be thankful.

    Independence Day Prayer

    God of justice and Lord of all, you guide all creation with fatherly care. 

    On this Independence Day, we recall the day when our country claimed its place among the family of nations. You reveal that those who work for peace will be called your sons and daughters. Continue to send your Spirit to touch the hearts and minds of all who cherish the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

    And as you have called us to be one nation, grant that under your providence our country may share your blessings with all the peoples of the earth. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

    Amen.
    Happy 4th of July!


  • Please Slow Down

    Please Slow Down

    Time seems to pass me by faster than I wish it would. I feel like all I do is blink and a month has rushed by. My youngest just turned 9 months recently and it got me thinking. It’s been pretty hectic in our household lately due to trying to find a home. Apartment life for our “six pack” just doesn’t work for us. So most of our free time has been taken up due to that. I, myself, can be a bit of a worrier. Well that may be an understatement… I always worry that I never give enough of myself and I always expect more out of myself when it comes to my expectations of being a good mom. I worry about my children constantly from not having enough story time daily to them not eating enough greens in one day. Then add on top of that, the idea of time passing by too quick and my children growing up faster that I wish. I feel like a hot mess mom most days.

    I thought about the time I have spent worrying and constantly judging myself. I thought about how I need to not only give time to my kids but also time to myself. Sadly, I can’t remember the last time I touched up my roots or plucked my eyebrows. Between chores, work, packing, and weekly errands, I find myself short on extra time. I don’t like to give up time from my children, but if I don’t take time for myself occasionally how am I supposed to be able to give more of myself for my family. 

    I, not only, need to give time for myself but stop worrying about the time I have missed with my children and enjoy the time and moments I have now. Dwelling in the past doesn’t do anyone any good. Being a worrier, I have a tendency to focus on what I haven’t done rather than what can I do. My children are happy and I need to enjoy that as well as to continue to strive for their continual happiness. I gain more from enjoying the present and soaking up my children playing and laughing. 

    And last, but certain not least, I need to reflect and pray more. Through all this worrying and stress, God is beside me and already knows the path ahead. Life is stressful and overwhelming at times. There are some days where I wonder how much more can go wrong. But, God doesn’t give you more than you can handle. I am only stronger as a person everyday for enduring through the rough times. I need to be more thankful of what He is doing for me and my family, and giving us daily. I began a Daily Prayer Circle that meets in the morning at work. Those five minutes a day during the week, helps me focus and start my day out joyous. My daily prayer and reflection has truly helped me think about my life and which direction I want it to go in.

    The old saying of “Stop! And smell the roses!” keeps playing through my meditations. It is easier said than done, but once I actually started living this advice, I began appreciating and enjoying my life and my family more.

  • Paleo Blueberry Muffins

    Paleo Blueberry Muffins

    My husband and I have been working so hard to shape up our diets, and go completely low carb, yet my passion for baking seems to always get me off track. So I threw this recipe together that will help satisfy you carb cravings and not kill you diet completely.

    Paleo Blueberry Muffins

    Prep Time: 10 mins

    Cook Time: 25 mins

    Total Time: 35 mins

    Yield: 6 muffins

    Ingredients

    1 cup of almond flour

    1/8 tsp of baking soda

    1/8 tsp of salt

    2 Tbsp of agave

    ½ cup of soy milk

    2 Tbsp of coconut oil, melted

    1 egg

    1/2 cup of blueberries

    Directions

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with baking cups.

    Mix together the almond flour, baking soda and salt.

    In a separate bowl, whisk together the agave, soy milk, coconut oil, and egg.

    Combine the wet and dry ingredients together. Gently fold in the blueberries into the batter.

    Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each to the top.

    Bake 20-25 minutes.

    Enjoy!