Pancake breakfast muffins

Well, I know it has been a long time since I have updated my blog. We have been working with no Internet for a couple of weeks. I have been using Cole's iPhone to keep in touch with the world via Facebook. Although, it was nice being without for quite a while! I am glad to be able to post again. Well, what have we been up to? (I know you all are dying to know) :)

I have been super busy in the kitchen lately. We have been trying new recipes and every day we get closer to our NO PROCESSED food goal. Breakfast is really hard for me to do without having processed food. You know, I was a child of the 80's and 90's. When the question about what was for breakfast came up, it really meant "What kinda cereal do we have?" Maybe that is why I am not a breakfast person. I mean really, have you looked at Cookie Crunch? I loved them as a kid and now...YUCK! They don't even look like cookies. They look more like dehydrated cow patties.

We have been doing a lot of yogurt and homemade granola for breakfast, but the girls and I tire of the same thing over and over. So I had to come up with something new. And so the recipe search began. During one of my searches I was reading a blog and the writer jokingly talked about putting sausage in a muffin. At first I was mortified. Sausage in the muffin? That is gross! But, then I though why not sausage in the pancake muffin. And if you can put sausage in it, why not eggs too? And so, I made them.

Conclusion? LOVE IT! We loved them so much there are no pictures to post!

These little things are the perfect grab and go kinda breakfast. We put our leftovers in the freezer and heat them up when we need a fast breakfast. All you need to add is a little maple syrup and YUMO!

So how do you make these perfect little things? Well, I am so glad you asked! It is so easy!

*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
*Oil a muffin pan. (normal or mini. We used the normal, but next time I am using the mini ones)
*Simply make a batch of your favorite pancake batter according to the package instructions. We use gluten free at our house. You should probably start with about 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of dry mix and then add your other ingredients.
*Cook your patty sausage as directed on the package. Or do like I did and buy the Jimmy Dean turkey sausage you just heat in the microwave. I used six pieces of the turkey sausage.
*After it is cooked and cooled, cut it into small pieces (about the size of the end of a pencil).
*Scramble 2 large eggs. Making sure to break them into small pieces also. (You don't one muffin to get all the egg. )
*Add sausage and egg to the pancake mix and stir until the they are evenly distributed.
*Poor the batter into the muffin tins until they are about 2/3 full.
*Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes (7 minutes for a mini pan). A toothpick should come out clean when they are done.

Serve with pure maple syrup and enjoy!

If you want to freeze them, wait for them to cool and store in a Ziploc bag or container. Heat them in the microwave in 10 second intervals until they are perfect.

I also thought that maybe next time I would put a little syrup in the batter to cut out on the mess my girls can make.

And I know some of you are thinking, "She is kidding herself if she thinks this isn't processed!" My GF pancake mix has no preservatives and the sausage is all natural. So I am feeling good about it right now! :) Maybe I am lying to myself.

Please let me know what you think!

SCHOOL!!

If you have known me for any length of time you know one fact I LOVE SCHOOL. I get all giddy walking in a store and seeing all the supplies arranged all perfectly. I love the planning. I love the teaching. I love seeing the "lightbulb" flip when a child understands. I love school! I was the weird kid that was ready to go back to school way before summer ended. I love the smell of books and one of my favorite things to do is to go buy new school supplies. I would look in the mailbox every day just to see if the letter containing the supply list and even better...the letter that told me MY teacher. Like I said, I am weird. My book bag was packed and ready to go weeks before school ever started. So doesn't it make sense that I would become a school teacher? And if you thought I loved school before, teaching took it to a NEW level. While I was teaching I was at the school basically all summer long. I was literally doing whatever I could do just to be in the building. Again, I LOVE SCHOOL. And here comes the big "but." BUT!! After Ansley was born, I could not focus anymore. I would think about my precious little one literally all day! Now I was still teaching my kids at school and Ansley was fine (she was with my mom). But, when it came time to renew my contract, I simply could not do it. Cole and I prayed about it and he finally told me to quit! I could not believe it. I (Mrs. Work And Never Leave) was going to be a stay-at-home mom and I couldn't have been more excited. But first, remember all those school supplies? Yeah, where are we going to put them? Thankfully, our neighbor was going to be a first year teacher in the fall and she took most of them. The rest of them I secretly stashed in the attic. I told you I was weird. I have pulled them out as Ansley has gotten older and I can proudly say that we are fixing to OFFICIALLY start homeschooling! I am again so excited. I read curriculum catalogs like they are novels. I talk to anyone I can about homeschooling and what they do. I read blogs and look dreamily at school supply stores. I am so happy to have the best of both worlds. And I have a little feeling that Ansley is just like her Momma! I am still not sure what curriculum we will choose, but I do know that I am going to use some of the great things from www.ConfessionsofaHomeschooler.blogspot.com. She has great printables and things you can download for a small price and the girls love it! Stay tuned for all the school fun to come!

Staying home

There are days that I am pretty sure I am going to lose my mind. The dog keeps barking, the little one I am watching is crying, both girls want to feed him his bottle, people knocking at the front door, two kids have "something" all over them, supper burning on the stove are things to make me think I am going to lose my mind. Yesterday was one of those days. Two people were going door to door selling cleaning stuff (if you don't look clean, what makes you think I am going to buy cleaning supplies from you? just saying). At the same time, that I was trying to rescue them from my viscous sounding dog, I had supper on the stove which was beginning to smell a little overcooked. My hero was running late and I started supper without him, b/c like many of you we have Wednesday night church and teacher's meetings to attend. I finally get the girls eating their dinner when Ansley spots the french fries that I "accidentally" left on the stove (at our house you can always get them to eat the food on their plates if there are french fries for dessert...they get that from their daddy). Anyways, while I am retrieving the fries I hear BAM!!! Followed by "the scream". When I turn around there is little Charlotte with her chair on its back and she is face down with blood running from her mouth. And the adrenalin starts pumping. After about 20 minutes of cleanup (and my momma and sister to assure me that she doesn't need to go to the hospital), Cole and I finally sit down to eat cold hamburgers and warm salad. Whoa! what a crazy hour. Amazingly we did make it to church! Those are the days you question exactly how many brain cells pregnancy killed. But then there are days like today. Today was a typical Thursday. We have two extra little bodies here and they were all excited. We went for a walk and literally played outside until lunch. The kids all played well together. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The baby took a long morning nap. And we all have sun-kissed cheeks. Daddy even made it home for lunch and we were able to sit down and enjoy hot hamburgers and cold salad. Right now the kids have full bellies, dirty feet, and smiles on their little sleepy faces. These are the days that I thank God for being able to stay at home and listen to the giggles and grunts, the singing and complaining, and the cries and laughs. I am truly blessed to be able to love on, talk to, read with, cry with, and teach my babies and the babies of some great friends. :)