Baking Cabinet Revamp & Warmth in the Winter Oatmeal Goodness!

A friend asked a while ago what was up with my blogging (or lack there of)...  The truth is, I've let everything but the hubby, kiddos, and house slide to the wayside for a while.  I've taken on a number of projects and while they're going well, I realize my poor time management skills simply by the dust I'm having to Swiffer off of the blog today.  :)

Some of the things I've been working on around here--posts coming soon!

--Family File Organization:   We've never shared a filing system, and both of our filed records had gotten out of hand by the time of the move.  Upon completion of this process, it is likely I will Never Want To Shred Another Document---EVER.  Actually, I'll get back to myself and love my shredder, but this has been a rather tedious process with a slow visual change sort of outcome.  There were documents from the 90s in our files folks...  and we're not talking birth certs or social security records.  We're talking receipts from the grocery store and checks that cleared the bank.  LOL  We hardly even USE paper checks anymore!

--Utility Room Makeover:  This will be a work in progress for a while, and that will drive me crazy.  It is a test of my own patience though and I have to work on acknowledging that some things take time and will not be complete in a couple of days.  We have a substantial amount of space in our utility room and will be utilizing that space for storage.  Right now it's an open space with no shelving or real functional options for organizing.  Boxes are stacked on one another, and while we know what's there right now, the room being what it is now is like inviting clutter to take over that space.  It will happen easily, and very quickly.  I got to paint the concrete floors in that room a fun blue color though!  It's lively and I love it!

While these are two major projects taking place around here, we've had painting and decorating going on in the Big Kid's room, repeated attempts at finding what works for US in our laundry room and our rather small pantry.  And, we're still unpacking...  There are only about four boxes that are not completely emptied BUT they're sitting in our master bedroom just glaring at me day in and day out.  We'll get there.  Everything else in our home has fit so well and become "ours" in such short order that a few boxes are nothing at this point.

So, we have a small pantry with wire shelves which houses the vast majority of our dry and canned goods and an upper cabinet that we have designated specifically for baking.  Both of these areas are a constant source of frustration.  The pantry is too small, but when it's well organized it works find for our needs, the problem is it tends to only "stay" organized for about 24.75 hours before it explodes and the snacks are with breakfast foods and the pasta has randomly traveled from it's "home" to hang out with our extra bottles of juice and such.  

I'll leave that space for another time.  I know I need to address it, but I'm still not sure how.

I neglected to take a pic of the baking cabinet before I got started emptying...  Impulsiveness got the best of me as I opened that cabinet this morning, nearly got conked in the head by peanut butter that ought not even be in there, and decided today was the day!  No more of this!  I took EVERYTHING out of the cabinet, wiped down the shelves, and got to work grouping things that should be in that cabinet.  Perhaps a pic of all the crap that needed to be taken into consideration may help....

Baking cabinet junk

More baking cabinet junk!

Even MORE baking cabinet junk!

I moved the bottom shelf to accommodate the OXO storage containers we use for flour, sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, and now chocolate chips.  This way I'm able to stack two small containers on top of one another.  I also noticed that most of the baking supplies that belong in this cabinet are SHORT.  The container of salt, baking soda, corn starch, various types of extract, and boxes of Jell-O.  They're all super short and fit perfectly in the now much smaller second shelf.  The largest bulk containers of oats and raisins found a home on the top shelf, which is fine because they're not used so frequently that this will be inconvenient for me.  

Here's this lovely, more organized, and much better.  Assuming this setup works for us, this cabinet should no longer drive me bananas, or threaten a concussion from falling peanut butter.

While emptying the baking cabinet I realized this would be a perfect opportunity to make the first batch of oatmeal breakfast bars my husband typically takes to work for breakfast.  Prior to moving to this house, we made these all the time!  I guess it's easy to get out of the habit.  I LOVE these things though and want to share the recipe because they are truly one of our favorite and most convenient breakfast foods!  The freeze incredibly well, so I will often make a large batch of them and freeze them in sandwich size ziplocs--two bars to a bag, and pull a bag out each evening so they're thawed and fresh for the hubs in the morning.  LOVE them!  You can also throw in craisins instead of raisins, or in combination with raisins.  We've made them both ways and they're equally as delicious!

I began making these bars after it was featured on "Cooking During Stolen Moments".  You can see the original post here.  I have made the bars with both 3/4 cup canola oil and 1 cup canola oil--I think I prefer the lesser amount just a little bit, but both are fine.

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

• 4 c. dry oats (old-fashioned or quick cooking)
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 – 1 c. canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 c. raisins (or your preferred combination of raisins and/or craisins)

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl (I use the bowl for my Kitchenaid mixer, because I do not mix this by hand.)  You can mix all ingredients by hand just until mixed or use a mixer on low until all ingredients have just mixed together.  

Press mixture into a greased 13x9 baking dish--I have typically used a well-greased glass pyrex baking dish for this and greased with Crisco.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  I check for the edges to start to brown, it gives the bars a bit of added texture.  

My confession....  while these are fantastic for kids or adults to take for a quick on the go breakfast, my absolute FAVORITE time to eat them, is just a couple of minutes after they've come out of the oven when they are still quite warm but have already set fairly well.  A large glass of cold milk and a couple of wonderfully warm oatmeal bars on a cool winter day--not much better!

Three cheers for a productive day!

Until next time,

Nic

In a School Daze

We're late to the "starting school" party--I know, I know!!

We're in Minnesota and around these parts MOST kids don't start school until AFTER Labor Day!  The "Great Minnesota Get-Together" ended today and school begins tomorrow!

The Girl is starting THIRD grade (time flies!) at a new school because of our move.  She's excited and nervous...  I'm excited and nervous...  I know it's going to be a great year for her but it's always hard to be the new kid.  She hasn't met many kids in our new neighborhood either so we're hoping, REALLY hoping, that she'll make some great friends quickly at school.

I admit--I LOOOOOOOVE the start of school!  

I love shopping for school supplies!!!  (a strange quirk that my older daughter certainly inherited from me)

I love the routine that the school year brings.  I'm a BIG fan of routine (hah.... imagine that!!!), and order, and stability in general.  I like planners and schedules and calendars (Oh My!).  The school year just brings with it a consistent routine--everyone knows what to expect and when to expect it.  Everyone has their own responsibilities and obligations to get it all done and make it all work.  Yes, I'm a sucker for routine!

Lastly, I LOVE fall!  Crunchy leaves, crisp air, sweatshirts, pumpkin patches, apple crisp, Halloween candy (I'm not a huge fan of Halloween--I know, I'm sorry!), apple cider, CARAMEL APPLES, bonfires and s'mores....  Oh My Gosh people I have to say it again...  I LOVE FALL!!!!!

So, the past couple of weeks have included a bit of preparation for start of school and the beginning of fall!  

We went through old clothes for the Big Girl, donated those that she has skyrocketed out of height wise, and found jeans that will fit her this year!  Yeah, that took a few stores and a LOT of trying on.  

In an effort to become a little more "green", and to send lunch with the Mister & the Girl more consistently, I purchased Easy Lunchboxes for both of them.  The Mister got a black box & the classic lunchbox colors.  The Girl got a pink box and the bright lunchbox colors.  Both of them will get four home lunches per week and one floating "meal-out" based largely on the school lunch calendar and what sounds good to the Girl.  

source

Four of our Easy Lunchboxes ready to be packed!

The Girl loves Gogurt so we're trying DIY "Gogurt" using these silicone popsicle pouches.  She's pretty picky about types of yogurt...  Boring, predictable, plain vanilla!  So this weekend I spooned some yogurt into these new pouches (after washing by hand and in the dishwasher--just my preference with silicone prior to first-time use).  We decided to freeze them, knowing that they will thaw before the Girl's lunch (which isn't until ONE O'CLOCK!  Eeeek!) and this way they can serve as a small cold-pack.  I love, love, love the colors, but I feel a little bad for the Mister should he take them to work...  heh....  they're just a little girly!  

Silicone popsicle molds are perfect for DIY yogurt-to-go!

We really slacked this summer on meal-planning.  We didn't have anything going on though, I mean really, what with moving, and surgery, and the Toddler's Big First Birthday.  So, I took some time and whipped up a new weekly meal planner for the 5-day week (Monday through Friday).  I mainly did it this way because we will be packing lunches only on school/work days, and we seem to end up running a LOT on the weekends!  In any case, here's a glimpse at that!  I will add a free printable in the next couple of days if anyone is interested. 

Weekly Meal Plan

This meal plan is based on how we live and eat, and how the Girl's schedule is at school.  It's very important that she have an AM snack because her class is assigned the last lunch period---at One.O.Clock.  I'm an early lunch eater so that seems suuuuuuper late to me, but with a good breakfast and a good snack, she'll be just fine!

Finally, I made some yummy stuff today....  I had great plans to accomplish more than I actually did, but in my defense, Home Depot was calling...  and I answered!  "That's the power of the Home Depot" I guess....  I just can't pass up a trip when the opportunity arises!

That being said, here's what I made today (with more cooking and baking fun to be had tomorrow!)

Chewy Granola Snacks

Good Mornin' Strawberry Muffins

So, the chewy granola treats resulted from my attempt at this recipe for No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars posted by Carole at My Kitchen Escapades.   They were too adorable NOT to try!  Truth is, I'm not even sure what I did wrong--I could have salvaged several "bars" but decided to break them apart into bite-sized "snacks" because several broke apart on their own.  They may be bite-size instead of full-size, but they are PURE yum!!!  

Though the photo only shows 6 of these lovelies, I actually froze a whopping EIGHTEEN more for an easy breakfast for us to take out before bed and have ready to eat first thing in the morning!  I doubled the recipe knowing I had a lot of berries and I wanted to use them all with one recipe!  I haven't tried these yet, but I plan to try and thoroughly enjoy them tomorrow morning!  I followed this recipe from Acceptance with Joy.  It appears the original recipe comes from the Rainbow Children's cookbook by Gold Medal.  While I haven't tried any yet, the smell wafting through our home while these were baking was absolutely heavenly!

I did some scouring of Pinterest & the interwebs for free lunch note printables.  I'll share those tomorrow.  And, I may just have been inspired to create my own!  I love sending notes in the Girl's lunchbox, but they're usually handwritten on notecards with an envelope that I draw on.  Not so exciting, perhaps, but she seems to appreciate the thought.  I'm hoping she'll think these are pretty fun and silly--lighten things up for her as she's feeling a bit nervous starting this year.  

Happy First Day of School Friends!

Until Next Time,

Nic