Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Pin It Now!

I don't mind putting forth a tad bit more effort knowing the end result is a little more nutritious than the boxed kind. It tastes delicious, too!

• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 4 TBS arrowroot powder or corn starch (I used corn starch b/c I had it on hand)
• 2 TBS cocoa powder
• 2 cups milk or coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp butter (omit if using coconut milk)

*Whisk together arrowroot powder, cocoa and milk in a glass bowl until fairly smooth. Combine honey and milk mixture in a small saucepan. Cook over med. heat until thickened, stirring constantly.

Once thickened, remove from heat, stir in vanilla and butter until evenly distributed.

Serves about 4 -- I stretch it out to 5, though. Top it off with "home made" whipped cream!! Yum!

**This post is linked to:

Tasty Tuesday

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Tuesdays at the Table

Works for Me Wednesday

I originally saw this recipe at Food Renegade.

See the Yolk Difference?

Pin It Now! I am kind of glad that I bought eggs from a friend last week instead of the store. Yuck to the salmonella outbreak!!

My son will be learning about eggs in nutrition soon, so I took the opportunity to show him the difference in a pastured hen's egg and a store bought one. Supposedly the happier and healthier a chicken is the darker the yolk will be in the eggs they lay.

Pretty obvious which one is my friend's hen's egg, huh? Yep, the one on the right. And honestly, the one on the left isn't really too bad. The cheap Fry's eggs (store brand) are even paler in color. I don't want to even think about the living condition of the hens from whom those eggs come!!

You can even tell the difference after they've been cooked. Hopefully my dark yellow yolks are higher in omega 3s, which is what I am going for!

Bye, Bye Belly Bump

Pin It Now! My sweet, baby girl was born with a belly bump that we later found out was actually an epigastric hernia. It's a little hard to see in this picture, but the bump is above her belly button. These kinds of hernias don't go away by themselves, so we knew surgery was in her future.

August 17 was that day. I was amazed by her bravery! Not once did she cry before surgery. The other day, though, she asked me if I'd be sad if she never woke up. Of course I said, "YES, I couldn't live without my girl!!!" Her reply: "Well, you could just kill yourself and then you'd be with me." She said it so matter-of-factly, too.

Here she is coloring with Daddy while we wait to be admitted.

So cute in her surgery outfit, and she got to pick out her hat. :) Waiting was the most difficult part, but she never complained. She did get to watch G-Force, so I am sure that helped. I couldn't believe that she never even once complained about being hungry or thirsty. Such a good girl.

The nurse gave her some stickers so she could decorate her breathing mask. Oh, and she got to scent her mask with root beer flavor - her choice. Nice that they make it so "fun" for kids.

Yep, this was the hardest part for me - watching her wave bye. And still she didn't cry. I was surprised that I didn't either, but I managed to keep myself together.

Seeing the surgeon come out to the waiting room with a smile was the best! Poor baby, though, was quite grumpy and tearful waking up. I hate that she had to go through this, but I loved taking care of her and spoiling her. :)

At home resting with her new Littlest Pet Shop character - her little happy from Mommy and Daddy. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her belly - she says it's ugly.

I am so thankful that everything went so smoothly. Praise God!!

Birthday Make-up

Pin It Now! We really went all out for Mullin's birthday this year. We have been in AZ for his past 4 birthdays, and 2 of those were basically flops. His first year in AZ, we had a super-fun Harry Potter birthday.

In 2008, he contracted chicken pox right before his birthday, and we had to cancel his party.

Last year, we planned a big blow-up slide birthday bash . . . and the blow up slide WOULDN'T BLOW UP! We had a house full of boys, and it's TORRID in August. Wow, we had to improvise -- we felt so badly!!!

So, this year we tried to make it up to him. He deserved it -- he is truly an amazing 11 year old!!!

Kicking it off by eating "sort-of home made doughnuts", and having his cousin spend the night.

NYPD pizza for lunch the next day with church friends. He doesn't look very happy here --first of all we weren't allowed to sing him "Happy Birthday" in public (yep, he's officially a tween!) and he really didn't even want to pose with his birthday brownies -- the kid doesn't care for cake anymore. Sorry, but a mama's gotta have certain kid photos!

After lunch -- Mukutu's Island for a few hours.

Actual birthday -- spent time with his Grandpa, and then we celebrated with Oreo Delight and presenting him with a Zune. :)

Lastly, a "neighborhood friend" birthday party. Pizza, X-box and gun wars.

Hope you had a blast, son!!! We love you so much. :)

Because It's Just Too Difficult

Pin It Now!

. . . to go that extra mile -- or in this case, the extra 2 feet -- to put your shoes on the shoe shelf!

Ahhhh!

Not that I noticed, but all of my shoes are on the shelf. That shelf that's for . . . shoes.

I don't like shoes in the house. I never have. It's gross. Shoes walk on all kinds of nasty surfaces, and they never get washed like hands do. (Okay, well I HAVE actually washed my shoe bottoms before.) Anyway, most of us would never think of leaving a public bathroom without first scrubbing our hands, right? (Please say, "Right!") But . . . we don't wash our shoes which have walked all over that same bathroom.

Um, I know this may sound CRAZY, but not everyone seems to be able to get all of that yellow stuff inside the toilet.

Sorry to be the one to have to break that to ya. But, it's true.

So, I provided a handy-dandy shoe shelf right by the door. Just take your shoes off, and wow, reach over about 24 inches or so, and put your shoes on it.

Really, it's that easy.

Any other mamas out there have this same problem -- a shoe shelf that's just too difficult for the house inhabitants to use?