The . Thome . Home .

Pumpkin Muffins

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Pumpkin, pumpkin, Oh how I love thee.  It goes without saying that during these fall/winter months, pumpkin spice everything is in the air.  But, in our house, pumpkin muffins are made all year round.  This past summer I went into pumpkin muffin overload.  I baked and taste tested SO many different recipes.  Some that we liked, and some that went straight into the garbage.  Finding the perfect pumpkin muffin was my mission.  THESE are the winner! I make these about 2x a week, we never get sick of them.  Best of all they are dairy and egg free, so Owen is delighted to have these on hand for breakfast or snack time.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 Cup Flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • 2 containers of Applesauce (Approximately 8 oz)
  • 2/3 Cup SOY Vanilla milk (You can substitute with Whole, 2%)
  • 1 1/4 Cup Pumpkin Puree
  • 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Pre Heat oven 350*     –    Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

In a second bowl, whisk together the applesauce, brown sugar, pumpkin puree and soy milk.

Add the dry ingredients in 2 batches, until the wet has absorbed the dry.  Do not over mix.  Fill each muffin liner to the top, to where they look over-the-top (they are larger muffins.)  Bake at 350* for 25-28 minutes.  Let cool completely on a wire rack, and then store in an airtight container.

P.S.  Make a cinnamon sugar mixture in a small container to keep aside.  When ready to eat, roll the entire muffin into the cinnamon-sugar and ENJOY! (I find if you roll them into the sugar and store, they tend to get soggy.)  This way they stay fresh for days!

Pictures via iPhone

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Dan is the ideal tech guy to have around your house.  In late July he took off all my pictures from my iPhone and put them on numerous back ups.  He shook his head, not understanding how I could have SO many videos/pictures of the boys.  In less than 60 days I accumulated almost 500 more (whoops!).   Here are some of my favorite pictures from these past few months.  Most are via Instagram, so if you have it, you’ve seen them.  🙂


My Bucket List

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not THAT bucket list.

My PRE-PREGNANCY BUCKET LIST.

My, before I look like this again list..

Pregnant with Brody, winter of 2009.

Cuddling with Brody before being induced. No idea that was another boy inside 🙂

I have a mental one already written up, and I have been checking off things as I go.  We are on the path to potentially adding another one to the bunch.  We haven’t started yet, but in due time.

This list is for me, so please do not judge.  Brody is now almost 3 1/2, Owen just having turned 15 months, and MONTHS of nursing in between… I have justified to myself that I deserve “a list.”  I have  been in pregnant/nursing mode for almost 3 years now.  Which is a challenge for my wine-loving body.  Every woman who is pregnant misses the simple things that you cannot do anymore, the things that you never thought twice about.  So, here is mine. … With just a few months left before the baby bumping begins, these are some things I MUST DO.  For me, and to save poor danny from hearing me whimper about it.

Pre-Pregnancy Bucket List 

  • Eat Sushi … 
  • Drink WINE! 
  • While baking, eating raw cookie dough-brownie batter- 
  • EAT Soft cheeses … Oh Havarti, Blue Cheese, Feta 
  • Start Brody and Owen’s soon to be shared room
  • Paint our new room, Brody’s OLD room
  • HAVE A few date nights with the Hub
  • TAKE a Family Vacation 
  • Last year I would have said eat lunch meat… but we hardly consume meat lately
  • TRY to appreciate my body after 2 kids, because after 3 lord only knows what will happen..
  • Enjoy a HOT bath
  • MUST HAVE a Girls night out
  • Wear a bikini, even if it’s in my backyard  
  • Enroll for College Classes to start in Spring
  • Take a proper family portrait
  • Enjoy Sex without a third party, or 30 extra pounds (yes I just said that.)

With just having an amazing family vacation, and a wedding of a close friend right around the corner, we should end this summer off on a great note.  We are super excited about possibly having another child.  We want a big family, and our boys may be a crazy handful, but at the end of the day we feel SO blessed.   If we are lucky enough to have another, we would be thrilled.  SO cheers to that.  To health, happiness, and many more babies! (Not TOO many Dan.. not TLC duggar style)

Meet Ralph.

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One bright sunny afternoon in June, mommy was out playing with you two boys in the backyard.  Chalk filled hands, and dusty pants, we were having a blast.  When out of the corner of my eye I spotted the cutest fluffiest baby bird underneath our patio table.  Brody, you shrieked with joy just to spot him, anxiously jumping up and down asking if you could go check him out.  Our neighbors cat, “Ope” (Oh-Pee) was right along side the bird, so mom was a bit nervous to encouraged foul play on that sweet thing.

Never the less, the Diego in you (Brody) came out, and Owen walked right beside you.  We were all Smacking our lips together making tiny kissy noises.   Apparently the way to call over All animals in our family.  The bird was frozen, scared out of his little birdie brain.  So, mommy had to tell you boys to go play while mommy inspected the situation a little further.  Before I could get you guys back onto our chalk spot, a few small chirps escaped from the bird’s beak.  Ope, was determined to make this the catch of the day.

Brody, you are a sensitive soul, out to save the world.  Tears and “Help him mommy” were pouring out between every last cry you let out.  I kept telling you to look away, in fear of the worst case scenario.  And my love, it started to happen.  Ope picked up the little bird by his mouth, and drug him next door underneath our neighbors truck.  The bird struggled to hop away, and it was not looking promising.  Now, mommy, you will one day learn, will help animals in every way possible.  (Besides having one in the house. :)) I sent a few text messages to  dad, explaining how my stomach was doing flips, and tears were welling up wanting to save this little guy.  Dad thought mom was being a little over-the-top (who knew) and told me to leave him be.  I gave it about 4 minutes more until I put on Dad’s gardening gloves and told you boys to stay put and look away.

I yelled at Ope, which I felt terrible about during the process.  But I was not going to sit and watch this bird get hurt any further.  Cupping my gloves together, I scooped up the bird and rushed him out of harms way.  You boys were so happy to see the little guy, and we swept him into the garage where he nestled himself into an empty beer box.  We checked on him every few minutes.  Poor squirt had a wound to his head, but overall did not look as bad as I expected.  Brody, you thought this little guy was the best.

NOW, the highly anticipated arrival of Dad coming home.  Brody, you ran straight to his car to tell him the good news about a bird we named Ralph, and how we rescued him.  Mom felt bad, knowing the way this story was going to end.  Poor Ralph was now in Dad’s hands and he would probably be left outside behind the garage to let nature take its course.  I took you boys inside.  You waved goodbye and told Ralph you’d see him tomorrow.

Twenty or so minutes later your Dad come into the house.  I wondered what took him so long out there! Dad has a look on his face, like he was bitten by the love bug.  He told us to come outside and check on Ralph, and this is what we found.

A sweet little home was set up for Ralph.  A little bit of shelter, a dish of water and some nature tossed inside.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was smiling ear to ear that Dad let Ralph “stay the night” to keep him safe.  We then explained to you guys that a few things might happen to Ralph overnight.  Either his mommy was going to find him and take him home.  Or, he will go to heaven.  Sweet and simple – Dad checked on Ralph every hour until we went to bed that night.  We all know Daddy has a soft spot, and apparently Ralph found his way in.  The next morning we all skipped breakfast and went straight outside, running to Ralph’s house in anticipation he flew away or was still there.      Ralph was nowhere to be found.  Brody, you jumped right to saying that Ralph flew to heaven.  Both of mom and dad’s heart melted.  We both looked down at the ground, and saw a icky splat of feathers next our feet.  We would never explain to you then what may of happened to Ralph… so for now the story stands.  Ralph flew so fast to heaven his feathers fell right off 🙂

Moral of the story my sweet boys – always do the right thing.  Take the time to help others, even if in the end the outcome wasn’t exactly what you hoped for.  At least you’ll know you gave it a try!

What Do You DO?

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warning :: this post is sheer rambling.. a post of me typing, thinking, and giving myself a mini therapy session.

My biggest fear of being a “stay at home mom” is waking up when I am 50 and not knowing anything else from being at home with my boys. I always run into the ever popular question when meeting people, “What do you do?”  and I almost want to say nothing.  What am I going to write when I go back to work on my resume? Hair Stylist with background in lactating, playing, preparing meals, and painting rooms?  I struggle daily with my decision to be at home a lot. Our decision was based on how we felt we wanted our boys raised, and what would work best for our lives.  Not because we are against having help, or paying for a sitter, or because my husband is secretly a millionaire and we can afford it.  In my profession as a hairstylist, “coming and going” in and out of maternity leave is not ideal to retaining clients.  After having Brody, and going right back to work for another 2+ years, I was doing great.  Balancing work and home life the best I could.  I definitely felt like I had a rhythm going, and work was my oasis.  My ME time.  Once Owen was born, subconsciously we both knew I was not going back to work.  Dan’s work schedule has him out of the house from 9:30am-7:30pm, and he has one week day off that fluctuates, and Sundays (thank god for Sundays).

We are lucky enough that are parents are young and vivacious to help with the boys, but they are not retired and have open schedules to help.  Facing the music was hard, what was even harder is realizing what it is like to truly be a full-time at home mom.   Our boys are BOYS.  To the maximum.  They are rambunctious, temperamental, messy, hysterical, and more.  Owen is almost 15 months and acts just like Brody, picking up on every behavior possible including temper tantrums.  My vocabulary during the day time is repetitive.  “Where’s your binky?” “Brody WATCH your brother, you almost kicked him in the head!” “Owen, did you poop again!?” “Where did you put that booger?” “Brody-put your clothes back on.” Over, and over again.  When Dan goes to work, when he walks in I envy him.  Working all day, and making a living to provide for the family.  It seems  so credible.  There are days when he comes home and the house looks the same way when he left, and dinner is not cooked yet, and I cannot help but feel overwhelmed.  Entertaining and cleaning up for two kids is a merry-go-round.  Until their in bed, much of the cleaning and prepping is a waste of time.

I can see why working mothers and stay at home moms have secret mental battles with each other.  Working mothers want to be at home.  Stay at home moms want to go to work.   Which title is harder – which is easier.  My thoughts have always been scattered.  Maybe because I miss working? Or maybe because I am envious of women who can balance it all.  I have moments through the day where I think, gosh, if my kids were in daycare all day and I was at work, I would miss them.  But I would not have 10 hours of   not being able to accomplish anything.  10 hours of fighting naps, someone else would do that for me.  Then I would pick them up, and they would look so cute, and love me so much because I didn’t have to be the one telling them no all day.  Do dinner, have some play time and they would go to bed.  Sounds like a cinch.  I wouldn’t have to be so worn out and cranky, and irritable.  I would have a break, go to work, get paid, have a life outside of my house.  While working mothers would do anything to not have to scramble in the morning, get the kids up and ready – sick or healthy – drop them off, work all day long, get the kids, get dinner done if you have any energy left, and then the few hours you have with your kids seem to be over before you know it.

I can see it all …. I give all mom’s out there a lot of credit.  Whether working full-time, part-time, or staying at home.  NONE of it is easy.  For now I know, we would love more children if it is in the cards for us.  I know that feeling inside of me of “accomplishing” something will never go away.  Going back to college and completing my degree will be an essential part of my time being at home.   If it takes me 2x as long that’s okay.  I figure if I am at home, it will only be for so long.  But I do need to take a step back and look at Brody and Owen and realize I have accomplished a lot.  More than I ever.  For now I WILL (do my best) to enjoy this crazy phase in my life, soak up every moment possible.  Because I will wake up one day and my boys will not need me to make them breakfast, they’ll be driving themselves to school.  I need to realize that life is short, and even quicker with kids.  Our family is my world.  Not my work, but my world.  So, I need to stop beating myself up.  Someday I will be back at work and missing these days.

Recipe’s to Revisit.

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Ever open up a closet and everything comes tumbling out of it, it’s so over packed with things? Nope, me either.  But that’s what I felt like when I was looking through all of my “food blog” pictures on my hard drive.  Some of these treats were delicious, and some made their way from oven to trash can in a matter of minutes.   The quality of the pictures are awful, but some of these recipes are definitely worth posting.  Bare with me, as I unload my hard drive onto you.  That sound odd? Sorry. I’m full of odd sayings today… you’ve had your warning!

Pumpkin Pound Cake. This was good, but I’ve had better.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. We make these often. They are AMAZE-BALLS. Thick and chewy, just how I like um’ .. ha. 

I don’t think your ready for this jelly…. Yes, the Peanut Butter Cookies above I thought would be great with a jelly glaze. It was a sticky mess.

Our Pizza Bites from this past Christmas. They’re all over Pinterest now, and rightfully so. I originally found the recipe on Annies-Eats.com

Another great appetizer we make for every occasion. Southwestern Egg Rolls from the extremely talented blogger I posted above. These go way to fast at parties.  I recommend making 50-75 just for a gathering of 30.  Worth hiding a few to save for yourself!

My first idea to showcase all of things I make to stock up on in the freezer. Cookie dough to thaw and bake when needed.

Chocolate Salted-Ganache Cookies, from the freezer cookie dough post.

Apparently I own one cookie cutter.  Cinnamon sugar cookies… These were awful … like put your head down, walk of shame awful.

Second part, my pizza dough recipe. We have really slacked on making this lately. . I KNEAD to do some.

Basil Butter Garlic knots I made last fall…. to go with my, “things to do with pizza dough post”  They are a perfect bite with pasta, or soups.

Brownie Bites with chocolate ganache, and a raspberry to make it pretty. Cute right?

A better picture of my Chocolate raspberry Crumble Bars.  These are addictive, so I never make them.  My thighs cannot handle them. 

Strawberry Glazed Valentine’s Doughnuts. The dough turned out fantastic, beyond elastic. Apparently these only take a minute to cook, but I just couldn’t stop myself from flipping. I decorated them out of pity, my “one minute-man” doughnuts need a re-do!

Those sad doughnuts needed coconut too apparently…

Can’t screw up the doughnut and ignore the balls.. so I tried again. Still a failure.

“Samoa” like cookies, these were fab. Made them last month, and have to make them again soon!

Banana Cake Cupcakes, yum.  I was beyond thrilled to finally take a good picture! If my hub didn’t work so much I’d let him have full reign on the photo’s of my food.

So, truth be told.  When I’m good I’m good, and when I’m bad I’m oh so bad.  Cooking from scratch should not be intimidating.    It’s OKAY if things do not turn out, nobody needs to know! And if your like me, just admit to it.  Try try again….

 

Blueberry Oatmeal Crunch Muffins

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In this case, having a “muffin top” is a good thing.  The bigger the better.  A crunchy sweet oatmeal topping, and a fluffy-moist blueberry muffin = dynamite combination.  To make this recipe even more lovable, it is dairy and egg free.  Which means my little allergy man Owen can chow down on these all day long.  Apologies to you guys, because I DO make more than muffins, the proof is in the next post.  However, these had to jump the line of things I am working on.  These are thee best blueberry muffins we have ever made.  Hands down, I will no longer search for that perfect blueberry muffin recipe.  Make these for a quick grab and go breakfast this week, you can thank me later…. =)

Ingredients:

  • 6 Tbs melted “butter” (We use Earth Balance)
  • 1/3 cup Soy Milk (You can swap easily for 2% or Whole)
  • 6 oz plain applesauce (Approx. 1 1/2 plastic containers of applesauce)
  • 1 1/2 Cup Flour
  • 3/4 Cup Sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Cup Blueberries

Oatmeal Crunch Topping

  • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 Cup Oatmeal
  • 3 Tbs Earth Balance butter, COLD.

DIRECTIONS:

Pre Heat the oven to 375*

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, milk, and applesauce.

Add the blueberries to your dry mixture, just to coat the blueberries, add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Stir everything JUST to combine, it may look clumpy.

To make the oatmeal crunch topping, combine the brown sugar, oatmeal and butter with a fork or your fingers until it resembles wet crumbs.

Fill cupcake liners with the batter, 3/4 full.  Take a generous grab  of the oatmeal topping and cover the muffin batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack completely, and store in an airtight container.

I’ll Take It!

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Good Ol’ Craigslist – I used to spend my days shopping online, stalking each item I wanted until they were clearanced enough to fit our furniture budget.  No longer my friends – now I just wait until someone dies, or gets divorce, or gets rich and wants to give away their old furniture for next to nothing.  We have used Craigslist for a few items in our house, our kitchen table and chairs, and our patio set.  This piece was listed with a few others, and I knew right away it was the perfect fit for our sunroom.  We’ve been wanting to fill this space up for a while, but every buffet/dresser we liked was $$$$. Not happening right now. SO.  With the price tag of $20 we emailed and picked this bad boy up within a two-hour span.  With the 45 minute drive, and paint job.. we paid no more than $30 for this dresser.  Bam!  My darling Dan forgot to take a picture of the piece with the drawers in, I guess we were too anxious to get started.  There is really no point in even showing this picture, but here you go….

We used a charcoal blue paint we purchased for our patio outside, and used it for this dresser as well.  The handles on this dresser we a brassy gold.  We simply spray painted them 5x over with white satin.  It turned out better than we could have imagined.
This dresser was junk to someone else.  We were in love with size/shape and detailing in the drawers.  It was beat up – BUT – with one day of painting, look what we got! With kids (more importantly) I would much rather see a piece like this get beat up than a new $1,200 wine bar we wanted.  I’ll save that piece for when the kids are in college and Dan and I are empty nesters.

Pantry Problems.

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I’ll be the first to say it.  I’ve got 99 problems, and my pantry is 1.  Certainly, it should not be at the fore front of my “things to do” list, but there is not a day that goes by that I do not want to rip the doors off of my cupboard and just pitch everything inside because of how sloppy it gets.  OCD- a disorder that I am sure is 60% of my makeup.  I clean and re-clean and re-organize things in my house ALL the time.  Every week before garbage day I go through the house and decide to pitch/donate/give away anything that we do not need or use.  I complain allll the time about not having anything to wear.  If I did not fill up a garbage bag once a month with clothing to goodwill, I would probably have more than a few things to wear.  That’s okay though, my wardrobe is a whole other issue that I am not ready to face yet.  So my disturbing few cardigan-tank top-old jean-2 pairs of shoes options will have to suffice.  Thank god my dear Danny loves me with what I’ve got, most men just want your clothes off anyway right? Yes I just said that.

BACK TO THE PANTRY… between cooking and baking on a daily basis, items are in a constant rotation.  Brody’s little hands rummage through the pantry all day long (like racoon in your garbage can)  making a mess, and taking out everything in hopes I will let him eat it.  Are you ready to see what my pantry looks like at this moment…… AHHHHHHHHHH….

It’s a narrow disaster…

My chest is caving it just looking at it.  Coming from a girl who cannot handle clutter, this gives me anxiety on a daily basis.

There is no rhyme or reason as to where things go anymore.. There used to be a separation to everything, and now the entire cupboard is a complete blur.

This would be my ideal cupboard.. (pictures via Pinterest)

And a chalkboard inside or outside for myself/and the kiddos.

Let’s make this happen, shall we? I cannot promise myself that my pantry will look like the one above all the time.  With two babies running around, it’s doubtful.   But –   Off to the dollar store this weekend to pick up containers.  I have TONS of paint options downstairs to spice things up a bit.  Now I just have to get these kids to nap this weekend so I can get this done.  Wish me luck! =)