Muffins

So this morning I am making blueberry muffins with blueberries that I froze this summer and buttermilk from the butter that I made yesterday! Yum! 

I substituted the milk for buttermilk and the oil with two cubes of pears that i put up this summer. Going in the oven:

Coming out of the oven:

And serving with butter made yesterday:

Happy kids eating breakfast, yes, at 1030am! We get up late around here!

It's time to get are day started!

Butter

A friend of mine wanted me to show her how I make butter-so here is the blog! Sorry it's a little late, Tara! I worked all weekend. Check Tara out at http://www.organizedsahm.com. She has awesome gluten free recipes and tons of homeschool ideas!

       You will need a food processor, measuring cup, heavy cream at least 40% fat, cheese cloth, a jar for buttermilk, a strainer, and a baking sheet.

Start with 4 cups of cream into the food processor. I use the sharp blade. Turn it on and wait til the butter separates from the butter milk. It goes through a couple stages- I'll show it with pictures.

Step one: cream

Step two: whipped cream

Step 3: about to separate

Step 4: butter

Awesome! Now you have butter! Most recipes stop here and that's a problem. If you don't "work" the butter, it won't work in recipes because there is too much buttermilk left in it. Now, drain the buttermilk into a jar and use it for other recipes. Get as much out as possible. 

Now we will "work" the butter. Fill your measuring cup up with ice water.

Pour about 1/2 cup of water only, not the ice, over the butter. Make sure the cold water comes in contact with all the butter. Then, process it for like 30 seconds. Pour the water out. Do this 3 times and you will notice the butter getting harder in consistency. Here are what is looks like after each time.

After "working" 1:

After working 2:

After "working" 3:

Now, spread your cheesecloth over the strainer or colander.

Put butter on cheesecloth and shape it a little.

Cover it with the cheesecloth.

Put in the refrigerator on the baking sheet for at least 10-12 hours. It takes that long for most of the water to drain out. When it's done, I cut it into sticks, wrap the individually in plastic wrap, and freeze. 

Now, you have the best butter you have ever had always ready to go! One thing to remember is that it sours quickly because it is so fresh. Take the butter out as you need it. It won't last for more than 2 days. I have making my own butter for over a year and will never go back to buying it! It's do easy and yummy! Ya'll enjoy!

Update: double this recipe and you will get about 2 1/2 pounds of butter.

Planning

      As a working mom, planning my week meticulously is so important. I have to use every spare moment to plan and organize so that I don't find myself behind on everything. Because I work nights 7p to 7am, I'm already used to staying up at night and I get some of my best work done between 11p and 3am. 

      This week, I work Sunday, Friday, and Saturday. I have 4 days off to get school done for both boys, get caught up on laundry, clean up from the last 2 days of being at work, get all the meals made for this week, and, oh yeah, sneak some fun in there! You might think,"Well, 4 days is plenty!". Remember, I work Sunday 7p to 7am, so my first day off, Monday, I've worked the night before, so either i don't sleep at all or I sleep 3 or 4 hours. Either way, I'm exhausted! That leaves 3 days of really rested time. Somehow, I do get it done though. 

          Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change being a full time working mom for anything! When Avery was born, I went prn and worked only 1 day a week and loved it! Poor Shaw worked 2 full time jobs and was never home and when he was, he was exhausted! I felt so bad for him- he was missing our sons life! I went back full time when Avery was 2 years old and have never looked back. Shaw is such an awesome dad! 

         So here I am planning away at 230 am! 

Muffins!

Muffins from C is for cooking with my modifications. Yummy treat after another day of sanitizing, laundry, cleaning, etc. didn't get to the schoolroom. Well, there's always next week! Back to work Friday and Saturday. Have a great weekend!

Better

My sweet Avery seems totally fine this am. Matthew is so happy! He missed Avery so much yesterday and was so bored without him!

    Today, I'm going to get in the schoolroom and get it cleaned up and ready to go! I have all our curriculum and school supplies already and can't wait to get everything organized!

On the mend

My poor little Avery. Thankfully, my sweet guy hasn't thrown up in hours and has kept down 16 oz of Gatorade and Zofran. Hoping this is the end of this stomach virus in our house! Next week, we r getting started with school! I'm excited about it!

Poor babies

Well, my poor babies are sick:( Matthew woke up with the stomach virus last Thursday. We sanitized, cleaned, washed laundry, drank grape with grapefruit seed extract, etc... Anything we could do to prevent anyone else from getting it. I was about to take a sigh of relief when Avery woke me up at 315, puking. Poor little guy. Here we go again! Prayers are appreciated:)