kapachino

Category: goals

  • cinnamon-topped oatmeal muffins

    This is the second in my ten quick breads challenge. It is a delicious challenge.

    This time I went for muffins. I like that they’re not overly sweet (except for the topping…yum) and that they have oatmeal which is hearty – and good for lactation if that’s something important to you. :)

    cinnamon-topped oatmeal muffins

    Cinnamon-topped oatmeal muffins
    adapted from More-With-Less

    1 cup sifted flour
    1/4 cup sugar
    3 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats
    1/2 cup raisins (optional – I didn’t have any, so I left them out)
    3 Tablespoons oil
    1 egg, beaten
    1 cup milk

    For the topping:
    2 Tablespoons sugar
    2 teaspoons flour
    1 teaspoon cinnamon
    1 teaspoon melted butter

    Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, egg, and milk. Stir only until dry ingredients are moistened. Fill greased muffin cups 1/2 to 2/3 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon topping. Bake 15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

    cinnamon-topped oatmeal muffins

    Then enjoy, and be prepared to eat the leftover bottoms when your toddler just eats the top part and leaves remnants lying around. :)

    p.s. – baked oatmeal and refrigerator oatmeal. Yum!

  • fall goals

    fall goals

    But first, a recap of my summer goals:

    >Complete Whole30 and reintroduction plan: did it! And it was awesome.

    >Finish Liam’s stocking: Check plus!

    >Go to the beach: Nope, we didn’t make it happen. We are such homebodies. Sadness.

    >Read a long book: Spent most of the summer reading Lonesome Dove, which I finished and loved.

    >Meredith’s birthday party: We had a great family day at the park.

    ***

    Now about my fall goals. Truth be told, I haven’t been in the best mindset for goal-setting. Things have been kind of chaotic and what I really want to achieve (a perfectly agreeable & compliant toddler, for example) doesn’t lend itself to measurable steps. So I did a little journaling and took some areas where I have felt stalled or disorganized and tried to figure out some steps to take in the right direction.

    >Run a 10k: Well, this snuck up on me and I’m signed up to run one on Saturday! Because of issues at home (sick husband / crazy toddler) I haven’t been able to run as frequently in the past couple of weeks. So my goal is really to run the whole thing, even if it takes awhile.

    >Finish quilt: For REALZ. This thing needs to get DONE. It’s been almost two years, and I want to move on to the next project!! I only have the second half of the binding left, anyway.

    >Take the Grocery Savings Made Simple e-course: Finances are always a struggle since having a second child, and food is one of the biggest variable expenses. I love that this course focuses on real food without couponing or stalking the sales. It helps you set up a system tailored to your own family that you can set in motion. That’s the method that works best for me, I just need a little guidance.

    >Christmas gifts done by the beginning of December: I’m always stressing about gifts all the way up until Christmas, and I don’t want that this year. I’m also intending on doing as many handmade gifts as possible, although I didn’t make that a goal because I’m not sure if it’s doable or not (especially for some people).

    >Read a parenting book: Let’s face it, I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. As a very calm and compliant person all my life, I’m finding it quite difficult to deal with a strong-willed child. I think it’s time to do some research. Any recommendations?

    So, those are my fall goals. There are a bunch of other things I hope to get done, but I want to prioritize this stuff to help me make progress in all different areas: fitness, personal projects, food/finance, holidays, and parenting. What are your current goals?

    p.s. – three other goal setting projects I’ve got going on: the houston project, a baking challenge, and ten cross stitch

     

  • dutch apple bread (and a baking challenge)

    As I was reading through my More-With-Less cookbook I was overwhelmed with the urge to do some baking. One day I’d love to master baking yeasted bread from scratch, but I’m not quite ready to tackle that yet. For now, I was very inspired by the quick bread section of this particular cookbook.

    Quick bread is any bread leavened without yeast. Technically this could include cakes and brownies and such, but I want to branch out from that. I set myself the goal to try ten new quick bread recipes.

    dutch apple bread

    My first attempt – Dutch apple bread – was rushed and I realized too late that I used baking powder instead of baking soda (I am ALWAYS doing that; I know the difference but they just get mixed up in my mind) but after a quick web search I figured it would probably still turn out fine and thankfully it did! The end result is most likely a little denser and not as full as it should have been but it was still yummy.

    dutch apple bread

    Dutch apple bread 
    adapted from More-With-Less 

    1/2 cup margarine (I used butter)
    1 cup sugar
    2 eggs
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    2 cups flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/3 cup sour milk or orange juice (I used buttermilk)
    1 cup chopped apples
    1/3 cup chopped walnuts

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt separately. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately to butter/sugar mix. Fold in apples and walnuts. Bake in greased 9×5 loaf pan for 55 minutes, or until bread tests done (mine needed a few extra minutes).

    dutch apple bread

    Enjoy!

  • the houston project / july

    Last month we were able to fit in a couple activities on my Houston project list. First of all, we attended a kids’ storytime at a cool independent bookstore called Brazos Bookstore.

    brazos bookstore houston

    It started at 10:30 a.m. but weirdly Meredith fell asleep in the car on the way there (weird because she is usually wide awake well past noon). Waking her up is never fun but it wasn’t close so we did it. She was fine while the story was being read in the cute kids’ room, sitting on my lap with Liam in the Ergo.

    brazos bookstore houston

    brazos bookstore houston

    Next was craft time where the kids were supposed to draw a picture of their best friend. This is where it all went downhill when the little girl sitting next to Meredith dared to use the markers she was using. (We are working on sharing.) We had to leave craft time but I thought we could look at more books in the kids’ room. That didn’t work out either (euphemising here…it was a disaster) so we had to leave pretty quickly.

    brazos bookstore houston

    I was bummed because M. is usually so pleasant at that time of day and gets along well with other kids. We learned our lesson not to wake her up from car naps if we can help it! I did get to browse the store a little bit, and I loved it. There were handwritten book recommendations all over from the staff and cool displays. If we had had more time there I definitely would have bought something to support it.

    brazos bookstore houston

    Then David and I finally got a date night in! We have two sets of willing grandparents ready to babysit at almost anytime, and yet we still go on way too few dates. We decided to keep this one low-key and just visit a new restaurant nearby called Torchy’s Tacos that is located at an outdoor mall area that has live music and events. Loved the food, and we sat outside (the weather was miraculously cool) and talked like we hardly ever really get to do.

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    Then we wandered down to rest by the lake and I convinced David to take a picture with me…

    20140803-091312-33192011.jpg

    …and we saw ducklings!

    20140803-091312-33192270.jpg

    Finally we visited the Nestle Tollhouse store where I had a scoop of ice cream and we each got a cookie treat to take home for later (and we brought Meredith home a treat too).

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    Usually for our date nights we just go to a movie but I’m so glad we are opting for new things now. Can’t wait to explore the city some more!

  • the houston project

    the houston project

    Image credit

    I was recently inspired by my friend Stephany to experience our hometown more fully. This project is fun for me on so many levels. I have already greatly enjoyed researching more about Houston, compiling recommendations, and making this list of goals. Checking them off will be awesome too, as they involve a mix of family adventures and new date night ideas. I plan to post monthly about it with a roundup of all the things we did. But for now, here is my list:

    Family Adventures

    1. Walk the Memorial Park loop and visit the Houston Arboretum

    2. Go to a Sugar Land Skeeters game

    3. Visit the Waterwall and Williams Tower observation deck

    4. Play at Discovery Green

    5. Go to Adickes Sculptorworkx to see the giant presidents’ heads

    6. Visit the Health Museum

    7. Go to the Katy Train Park

    8. Visit the Children’s Museum

    9.  Go to Oil Ranch

    10. Attend a Lakewood Church service

    11. Visit the Houston Aquarium

    12. Attend storytime at Brazos Bookstore

    13. Go to Hermann Park and ride the train and pedal boats

    14. Attend a Houston Polo Club match

    Date Nights

    15. See a new musician or band at the Mucky Duck

    16. Check out the Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel

    17. Go to the Showboat Drive-in Theatre

    18. Live music with dinner at House of Blues

    19. Explore Buffalo Bayou: ride bikes, take a boat ride, and see the bats

    20. Discovery Green Flea by Night

    21. Do a food truck crawl

    And Also…

    22. Try ten new independent restaurants (1/10) : Torchy’s Tacos

    Off we go! Have you ever done a project like this? For some reason, turning it into a challenge even makes the experiences themselves more fun. :)