Enjoying a Moment of Quiet

by Alicia at BalancingMotherhood.com on November 21, 2011

I’m smelling the sweet embers of a campfire as I type this this early Monday morning. On vacation in the mountains. No cell service, but there is wi-fi! Being in a place so quiet where you can hear the clicks of the rocks under your feet and the caw of the birds as they get up to rise for the day sometimes is the only time that I can slow down.

Even though there is wi-fi, it’s spotty and slow. It’s not possible to be on Facebook all day long. Instead, I check in once or twice to see what is happening. To check on a little girl who had a heart transplant a few years ago, but still has to be cautious. She got sick last night and has to go to the doctor today. It may have been a trip to the ER. That’s what Facebook is for.

But, now I sit and try to relax and not worry about work. Not worry about if my house will ever sell. Not worry about having to keep the house clean for the potential buyer who will call at the last minute, “I’m in the area. Can we stop by in an hour?” “Sure, I say. We have two little kids and toys EVERYwhere, beds are not made and there are dirty dishes in the sink.” After I hang up the phone I rush around to clean everything and let the potential buyer in.

But today, I dont’ have to do any of that. Today I am going to enjoy the outside and the quiet. I will enjoy just being. And I’m thankful for that!

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Delicious and Quick Breakfast Wrap

by Alicia at BalancingMotherhood.com on November 9, 2011

Twice now I’ve been at morning events where a “breakfast wrap” was offered as part of the buffet. Neither time did I pick one up. It looked slightly strange and I wasn’t exactly sure what was in the wrap. I don’t like to eat what I don’t know.  I saw enough, however, that intrigued me and got me thinking about options and variations of what I saw that could make a yummy lunch to pack for my son, or a great, quick breakfast.

banana breakfast wrap

While making it the other morning, it started looking better and better. Tortilla, peanut butter, honey, chocolate granola (oh yeah!), and banana. 5 ingredients. That’s it. Wrap it up and take a bite. It’s a winner.

While making this one for my son, I decided to make one for myself for breakfast. Let me tell you this is delicious. I ate the whole thing and I wasn’t hungry all morning. It’s quick to make and easy to eat … you can wrap it in parchment or foil to bring to the office. I kept thinking about it all day long too. It’s that good.

Here’s the recipe:

Banana Breakfast Wrap

Ingredients:

Whole wheat tortilla
1 banana
2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter
1-2 tablespoons granola (I used a chocolate granola)
1-2 teaspoons honey

Amounts are approximate. The great thing about this recipe if you can use as much or as little as you like.

Instructions:

Lay wrap flat.
Spread layer of peanut butter over surface of wrap.
Drizzle with honey. Go light on the honey as it tends to drip out of the wrap.
Crumble layer of granola over honey.
Slice banana in half, then lengthwise so you have a flat surface. You can use half of a banana or a whole banana. Depends on how much you want to eat.
Starting with side closest to you, roll tortilla over banana and continue to roll until you reach the other edge of the tortilla. The banana and honey will make it stick together.
Cut in half and enjoy.

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Give a Child The Gift of Christmas

by Alicia at BalancingMotherhood.com on November 5, 2011

Operation Christmas ChildThis post was originally published in 2008 and reran in 2010. I’m re-posting it because the message hasn’t changed: There are still children across the world that don’t know what it’s like to be the recipient of a Christmas gift. 

Today, I had the pleasure of hearing one of Operation Christmas Child’s full-time volunteers speak about what it’s like to be the one to give out the boxes: To see the children’s faces as they open these presents. He spoke of one drop off that didn’t go so well. They were told there would be 200-some children. They brought 400 boxes. 700 children showed up. You do the math. I wouldn’t want to be the person to have to look at 300 little faces and say how sorry I was that there weren’t any more boxes. The volunteer asked everyone to give one more box this year. One more than you gave the year before. If you’ve never given, try it this year. It’s fun to fill a box with items you know will make a child smile.

The 2011 collection dates are November 14-21. Find a location near you by clicking the link at the bottom of the page. 

Original post:

Last year I participated in “Operation Christmas Child,” a program that gives gifts to children in need around the world. It was a wonderful, and easy, program in which to participate. Who doesn’t love giving to a child? Seeing his or her eyes light up when he or she opens the box. That’s the gift for the giver.

Although you don’t get to see the recipient directly, you can imagine a child in another country opening a shoebox full of candies, crayons, books and maybe a teddy bear or stuffed animal. Toys they’ve never seen before. Many of the children who receive one of these special boxes may have never received a Christmas present before.

My family packed one box for a pre-school age girl and one for a boy last year. We’ll do the same this year. I’ll get my son involved this year to pick out the small gifts to go inside the box, we’ll pack it together and take it to our local drop off location.

National collection week is November 17-24 (editor’s note: the 2011 collection dates are November 14-21) where all the boxes will be picked up from the local drop off locations, hauled in trucks and then sent to the countries so the children can receive the presents in time for the holiday.

It’s a great family project and you’ll feel great about giving.

christmaschild-copy.jpg

Related:

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Super Cool and Super Easy Halloween Bundt Cake

by Alicia at BalancingMotherhood.com on October 31, 2011

I saw this cake made from Cooking with Sugar and knew I had to try it myself. It’s super easy and has the wow factor I like. The reason this is so simple is that it’s all box cake mix and package frosting: no tricks here. It’s all treat!

Halloween cake

The recipe involved two cake mixes (one chocolate, one white), store bought frosting and food coloring. That’s it. It’s a matter of coloring the batter then layering it and baking the cake. Then, you color the frosting and drizzle on top. You can get the full instructions over at Cooking with Sugar: be sure to go to the bottom where she has a link with a video.

Halloween cake

The outside of the cake looks great, but the inside is the real treat. Super cute. We had this cake last night and it was a big hit with the kids (and adults!)

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Halloween Cupcakes, Cocunut Cupcakes and One White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

by Alicia at BalancingMotherhood.com on October 26, 2011

I had hopes to make a Halloween cake for a charity auction last weekend. I bought the cake mix (yes, I was going to keep it simple with a box mix) and planned to bake the cake on Thursday night. Friday night would be for decorating. Saturday I would deliver the masterpiece.

Thursday night I got out all the ingredients to bake the cake, but realized we were out of eggs. I didn’t have it in me to drive to the store and figured I’d just double up on Friday night to do it all.

Friday night I remembered we had a prior commitment, but I still planned on cramming the cake backing/decorating into the evening — somehow. We got home that evening and I was wiped. Not only was I frustrated and tired, but I realized that I didn’t have a container to put the cake in for the auction. What now?

I ended up scrapping the project and didn’t have an entry in the auction. I felt horrible all Friday night and Saturday morning. My feelings of failure of not being able to do something so simple as bake a cake — something I LOVE to do — brought me down. Later, while at the auction, I noticed they had plenty of cakes. Too many actually. They couldn’t give them away. Funny how I let this become such a stressful event and it turned out to work in my favor.

Let’s get to these cupcakes now, shall we? I had cake mixes and ingredients for homemade icing sitting around waiting to be used. I also had tons of candy corns. I had to do something with all these ingredients. Plus, after all that unnecessary stress, I needed a creative outlet.

candy corn cupcakeI used a white cake mix and make six jumbo cupcakes and then about 3 regular cupcakes. I used the candy corns on 3 to make Halloween cupcakes.

Halloween cupcakeThese turned out so cute. I love all the color from the candy corn.

Halloween cupcake

I made one of the regular cupcakes with a simple pumpkin candy on tip. Sometimes simplicity is best.

white chocolate cream chesse icing

Let’s talk about the frosting for a minute. This came from a book that I was sent, “Shortcut Desserts: 123 Yummy Easiest-Ever Recipes.” After I looked through the book I knew I had to use this frosting recipe: white chocolate cream cheese frosting. It’s so simple it’s embarrassing. It’s so delicious it’s sinful.

coconut cupcake

I used three of the jumbo cupcakes for the Halloween cupcakes, but I needed the other three to make these jumbo coconut cupcakes for my mother’s birthday.

coconut cupcake

These cupcakes were so simple: just bake the cupcake, frost with the deliciousness of the white chocolate cream cheese icing and dunk upside down in a bowl of sweet coconut flakes. Turn it right side up and fill in any gaps with small handfuls of more coconut.

coconut cupcake

Love the all white of the icing and coconut flakes. These were big and delicious.

Let’s get back to that frosting. It came from shortcut dessertsthe new magazine “Shortcut Desserts: 123 Yummy Easiest-Ever Recipes.” There are so many recipes in this book that I want to make: the chocolate-resberry cream cake, whipped cream frosting, lemon-cream cheese frosting, eggnog pumpkin pie, peanut butter swirl cheesecake. I could go on and list all 123 desserts. The book is designed to help the busy chef create elegant and tasty desserts. I set my sights on this white chocolate frosting. Here’s the recipe:

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

(adapted from Shortcut Desserts (originally from Country Living magazine)

8 ounces cream cheese (softened)

1/2 Cup unsalted butter (softened)

8 ounces white chocolate chips (melted and cooled)

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat above ingredients until creamy and blended.

Add 2 cups confectioners’ sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

Chill 20 minutes before using (I didn’t wait and dove right in!)

Makes 4 cups.

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