Salt Water Taffy

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I’ve come to appreciate seasons more since living in Hawaii. I loved everything about our tour there, but I did miss the seasons. They just help to move the year along, each week ushers in small changes in the world around us, and I love matching our activities to them as well, seasonal bucket lists thrill me as I contemplate all of the fun adventures we’ll have over the coming months. As fall pulls to a close, I’ve been spurred on to enjoy a few last autumn treats, today– salt water taffy!

Healthy Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

The first thing I’ve gotta say, is don’t let the word ‘healthy’ fool you, these muffins are DELICIOUS! And I’m picky. Like really picky. They’re rich and moist and mostly guilt free! They’re the kind of chocolate that I don’t mind sharing with the kids, or eating for breakfast (lunch and dinner too 😉 ).

Cronut Recipe

Last month, I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Love Taza, and learned of a wondrous new pastry- the cronut. Croissant + Doughnut = Cronut. All of the flaky layers of the croissant, fried, filled with cream and iced, does it get any better? I’ve been dying to try one since, but as far as I know they’re only available in New York and London. A bakery owner in New York, Dominique Ansel, invented them and sells them, no more than two at a time on certain days of the week. People wait in line for hours, and once they get their pastries either eat them or sell them on Craigslist for $40- crazy! So all signs pointed to go on making these black market babies.

Apple Sweet Potato Muffins

Last week we made a batch of apple sweet potato muffins with the leftover homemade applesauce. We love making muffins around here because they’re easy for the kids to help with and I can sneak lots of healthy things in to them! Gray likes sweet potatoes, but Aurora won’t even try them purely because they are orange (but she’ll eat a carrot, go figure)! So, I decided to play the sneaky chef and work some in to her diet in a more roundabout way.

Homemade Pretzels

Pretzels are to Germany as rice is to China, so it was almost obligatory that we make a batch of our own last week! They were fantastic! Almost as good as those little twists of heaven that the mall shops sell. A&G had a lot of fun helping too, dumping ingredients, rolling the “snakes” not so much waiting for them to rise, but the eating of our carb-y treats more than made up for it I think! Here’s the recipe if you also want to partake in some delicious German culture with us. 🙂

Honey Cinnamon Applesauce

I’ve been reading 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp and as anyone who has ever read the book can tell you, it really helps you hone in and focus on grace driven thanks for all of the small blessings that make up a day. So today, we are thankful for apples, hand picked from a new friends’ tree. I’m thankful for their Christ centered hospitality and invitation to sup in their home earlier this week. I’m thankful for peach mango chutney and perfectly roasted sweet potatoes, for long ‘get to know you’ conversations and their sweet way with kids.

My New Favorite (Easy) Meal

With all of the stress of moving in lately, the last thing that’s been on my mind has been grocery shopping or meal planning, hence the dilemma I arrived at the other night when five o’clock rolled around and I had nothing at all prepared. This recipe was born out of empty cupboards and ticking time bomb-like hungry children (not normally two things that end well!)

Gluten Free Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Rora loves to help me cook, and Grayson, well he loves to get messy and eat the raw ingredients while I cook, so I figured why not, let’s make some cookies! If you’ve been following along with our story, we’re currently homeless and staying with Jon’s parents while we move our entire lives overseas to Germany. My mother in law is gluten free and so we needed to pick a recipe that we could all enjoy.