Recipe Time: Animal Crackers

Kids love animal crackers. I love animal crackers! But, I wasn't too keen on feeding the over processed snack to my daughter. So I scoured Google to find a homemade version. That is where I came across Julie.

Onto these adorable crackers!

Homemade Animal Crackers:

1 Stick Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/8 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Oats
11/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Optional)

1. Cream together softened butter and brown sugar.

2. Add in the egg and vanilla, then combine well.

3. Now mix in the cinnamon, allspice, and salt. *I just used cinnamon for the plain cookies. For the chocolate cookies, I nixed the cinnamon and allspice completely.

4. Next add the oats, baking powder, whole wheat flour, and optional cocoa powder. Mix well. *I used 3Tbs of cocoa powder for our chocolate crackers.

5. Form dough into a ball and wrap with waxed paper. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of an hour, or up to overnight.

6. When ready, grab off a hunk of dough, and let it "warm up" for 15 or so minutes. I tried to roll it right from the fridge and it was hard as heck! Allowing it to warm up helped a lot! Roll the dough out to 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface.

7. Cut out crackers and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I swear this step seems never ending! So many teeny crackers! Bake in a preheated 350degree oven for 5-7 minutes.

Store in an airtight container and see how long they last. They're absolutely delicious! I even include a few in my husbands lunches for work! Lauryn adores these, and they're super soft so they're easy for her to eat.

Happy Valentine's Day - A day late

I love love love valentine's day! Even more now that I have a sweet baby to smother with extra hugs and kisses! Nothing spectacular to show you guys from yesterday but have a look at some of my favorite snapshots from the day!

Started munchkins day off right with some whole wheat heart shaped french toast! -- And of course I had to make chocolate covered strawberries. They were absolutely delicious by the way.

 She looks absolutely thrilled about Valentines Day doesn't she?

This is the happy, excited about everything, baby I know! She is in love with the teddy bear, now named Rupert, that her daddy got her!

Being the awesome mommy I am, I purchased a GIANT stuffed ladybug for her for Valentines Day. The thing is huge! Just wait, you'll see. But this was her reaction when I started to pull it off of the table. Seriously one of my favorite photos from the entire night!

She loves the freakishly large ladybug!

I told you this thing was big! My 19lb, 10 month old sitting on it, and there's still plenty of room on the back for another 1-2 kids! And the best part, it was only $10 at walmart! Something this large at a carnival would easily run you, ooooh $50, maybe less, but I suck at carnival games.

This was the dinner I made. It was delicious! Chicken breasts baked over portobello mushroom caps, drizzled with a white wine sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh steamed green beans, and bruschetta! I'll link the recipes below! I was even able to score a teeny kid sized heart shaped plate for the little! Very festive.

We topped the evening off with a homemade chocolate lava cake. These things are so good, but super easy to "over-bake". The recipe says to bake them at 400degrees for 12-14 minutes. I baked them for 13 minutes, and when they came out, I thought they were a little underdone. They seemed to have a little too much lava in the center, although I'm not entirely sure how thats possible. So I tossed them in the microwave for 15 seconds. Mine came out with no lava what-so-ever, hubs went in the microwave for 7 seconds and had a little lava. I'd just throw them in the oven for 14 minutes and that should be about perfect!


Recipe Links:

Chicken Breasts over Portobello Mushroom Caps
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Lava Cakes - I nixed the cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg, and almond oil in these. We wanted just a chocolate flavor. We also cut the recipe in half and covered the remaining batter in the fridge. We heated it up the next day in the microwave for 30 seconds. Delish!