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homemade baked macaroni-n-cheese ~ recipe

January 24, 2014Written by Joy

For the last year or so, our family has tried our best to eat healthier, a lot more vegetables, fruits and proteins. Sometimes though, we just crave that southern comfort food, that we grew up with. Macaroni-n-cheese is one of those dishes that just brings us back home, to our roots. We don’t eat this often, but enjoy every bite of it, when we do bake it. This is a dish that can be a side dish or you can even make it your main dish and add ham chunks to it, right before putting it in the oven.

I watched my mom and dad make this recipe often. They would make it for the holidays, for a potluck dinner at church, or for any meal that they knew would have a large crowd. This recipe doesn’t hold back the calories or the fat. So I definitely don’t recommend this on a daily menu, but every now and then, maybe for a special occasion, would be alright. Remember, all in moderation when it comes to those foods that have a few more calories and fat.

Homemade Baked Macaroni-n-Cheese

1 pound of elbow noodles (we use different shapes of noodles, it just depends what we have in the pantry. I have even used gluten free noodles.)

1 stick of butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup of milk

2 pounds of cheese (my moms recipe just calls for 1lb, but I have always added more cheese.)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil the noodles to al dente or almost done. You don’t want to cook it all the way, because the oven will finish cooking the noodles. The time it takes for the noodle to cook, will vary on the type of noodle that you are using. Once you boil your noodles, strain the water off of the noodles. In a bowl, pour the noodles in it, add the butter, milk and the slightly beaten eggs. Then add your shredded cheese and mix it well. Save a cup of cheese to spread on top of the noodle mixture. Lastly, pour the noodle mixture in a casserole dish. Bake the macaroni-n-cheese in a preheated 350 oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until firm and the cheese on top is melted and slightly golden.

Mac-N-Cheese

Are there any comfort foods that you just crave on occasion?

2014, family, recipes cheese, comfort, easy, family, food, homemade, macaroni, macaroni-n-cheese, recipes

Moist Pound Cake ~ recipe

January 21, 2014Written by Joy

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Since we moved to Colorado, I have had a hard time adjusting to the higher altitude, with my baking. While I have been able to tweak most of my recipes, to begin with, the one recipe I have had such a hard time with is my dad’s Moist Pound Cake. The problems would stem from rising and overflowing, to collapsing and being very dense. No matter what I tried, I just could not get it to rise to a normal level and stay that way. That is, until today.

When I made the cake on Sunday for practice, for my daughter’s birthday coming up in February, it was a disaster. It overflowed, all onto the bottom of the oven and then collapsed to almost nothing in the bottom of the pan. I put a plea on Facebook and had a couple of people to send me websites that give help on higher altitude baking. My husband and I started reading and going through what we have tired and what we haven’t tried on this cake. We finally decided on what changes we would make when I tried baking this cake again.

Pound Cake just taken out of the oven.

As you can tell by the picture, the change we made this time, was perfect! I was so excited! Below is the original recipe. It is the one that my dad and grandma baked, all the time. I am going to make the changes next to the ingredients that we changed. They will be highlighted with an * and be in bold.

Moist Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 eggs (room temperature) *I added an extra egg, so the total is now 7

2 cups all-purpose flour (sifted 4 times, you have to sift it. This is what makes the cake rise.) *I added an extra 1/2 cup of sifted flour

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Preheat over to 300 degrees(*I upped the temperature to 350). Grease and flour a bundt pan. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add 1 egg, at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour, beating until creamy. Add vanilla and mix well. Spoon into greased/floured bundt pan. Bake at 300 (350) degrees for 1 hour (50 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

So the changes that I made were adding an extra egg, adding another 1/2 cup of flour, baking it at a higher temp at 350 and only baking it for 50 minutes, instead of an hour. It is very simple changes that took a lot of trial and error to figure out.

Pound cake taken out of pan too soon! 😉

I was so excited about the cake baking perfectly, that I didn’t let the cake sit long enough to cool. When I tried turning it out on to a plate, the top of the cake stuck to the pan! So a little advice about the cake, let it sit long enough to cool. Don’t be inpatient like I was!

This cake really is an easy cake to make. It takes no time at all to mix up. You can even change the flavoring extracts for different flavors. I have used Lemon, Almond, and Rum extracts in place of the Vanilla. You can even mix up your favorite frosting and pour it over the top.

Now that I have finally figured out how to bake this properly, I plan on making these often and give them away, just like my dad did. Nothing better than giving away something that you love making, or in this case, baking!

What is your favorite cake? Have you ever had a recipe to give you a hard time when cooking for baking?

P.S. One of these days, I will remember to get our good camera out, instead of using my phone camera.

2014, family, recipes baking, family, high altitude, pound cake, recipes

Young Living Essential Oils and why I love them..

January 19, 2014Written by Joy

I first heard of Young Living and essential oils late in 2012. A friend of mine had heard about them and started using them. We both have some of the same medical issues, like Fibromyalgia and Arthritis. She was using them to help with the pain, headaches and had even used them when her family had gotten sick with a really bad cold. I had looked up essential oils to see what all the hype was about. I looked at the couple of direct Marketing companies that were selling them and I even looked at the oils that the local health store had. I was a real skeptic about them. Especially the ones from Young Living, because they were so much more expensive. Why were they so much more expensive than the ones at the local health store. The more I researched, the more interested I became in them. I finally decided to give essential oils a try and went with Young Living Essential Oils. Now let me tell you why I love them.

Peace&Calming, Frankincense, Balsam Fir (Idaho), Eucalyptus Blue, Ginger, Valor, Nutmeg

I ordered the Starter Kit with the Everyday Oils Collection. The starter kits have changed since then. They have 3 different ones you can choose from. When I first ordered the kit, everyone had colds and I started using the Thieves right away. I would rub it on their feet and I would diffuse it in the air. It really did help our colds. It cut the length of our cold in half. I would also rub Peace&Calming on my children’s feet, it helped them relax enough to where they would sleep through the night.

Grapefruit, Lemon, Wintergreen, Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree Oil), Citronella, Lime, Thieves, Progessence Plus

For really bad colds, I had been told that R.C., Raven and Eucalyptus Radiata would be good to have on hand. I ordered those next and I am so glad I did. The following month, in February, I truly do believe having those oils on hand and using them on my son, saved us a trip to the emergency room. By alternating the Raven and R.C on his chest, peppermint for the fever, we were able to cut his illness time in half. I had taken our son to the doctor, just to make sure it wasn’t turning into pneumonia and the doctor told me that this cold/cough was taking people up to 3-4 weeks to get rid of. My son was 100% in about a week and a half. He never did have to go on an antibiotic.

Orange, Aroma Seiz, Oregano, R.C., Raven, Melrose, Bergamot, Purification, Cypress, Deep Relief Roll-On.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, I had ordered these oils to see if it would help bring relief with my pain from Fibromyalgia and migraines. When I begin to have flare-ups, I use Ortho-Ease oil, Panaway, Aroma Siez to help with the muscle pain. It ALL helps bring relief. I could not believe it. I don’t use them all together, but depending on the pain and where it is, will depend on what oil I use.

For my migraines, depending on how bad they are, I will use Peppermint and Deep Relief. It works for me. Does it work ALL the time? No, on occasion I have had to use it a few times in a day. There has only been a handful of times that I have had to use my prescription migraine medicine.

Essential Oil Reference and Guide books.

Yes, I was a skeptic to begin with, but I am a believer in using oils now. My husband was a huge skeptic and now will turn to use the oils before grabbing any of the OTC medicines. Do I think this will get rid of the doctors for us? No, I feel that there are times to go see a doctor. However, if I can help our family in a more natural way, to get over a sickness, I am going to do it.

If you have any questions about essential oils, I would love to answer them for you. You can email me at jumpforjoy@gmail.com. If you would like to place an order or even sign up to be a distributor, visit my Young Living Website. My member is 1410497 and I would love to have you on my team!

2013, family distributor, Essential oils, family, Young Living

Christmas 2013

December 30, 2013Written by Joy

2 Comments

We woke up to a beautiful day, to celebrate Jesus’ birthday and our love for one another.

Christmas Morning

While we missed our extended family that lives on the east coast, we still enjoyed a wonderful day with just our children. I am very thankful and blessed that the grandparents sent the kids gifts, even though we couldn’t be there with them. Even though they weren’t with us in person, they were definitely with us in spirit.

Our tree this year, did not last long at all. It was a fire hazard by the time Christmas day arrived. The needles had already started turning brown. In years part, we always left our tree up until mid-January, however, it came down the day after Christmas. We still loved looking at the ornaments and talking about where they came from and who gave them to us. The memories our tree could tell you.

Christmas Tree 2013

I always enjoy watching our children open their gifts and this year was no different. We always ask a few months in advance for the kids to make us a list of a few things they would like. We have been blessed to be able to get the kids a couple of things that they wanted. As you can see on their faces, they were surprised and very thankful.

Samuel opening Legos

Michael opening books

Sisters looking at favorite gifts

Another thing I love about Christmas, is seeing what my children want to give and make for their siblings. We have been blessed with children who love to give and do for others. This year, my oldest daughter surprised her siblings with homemade light sabers. Her creative mind is constantly moving and she always creates amazing things. This year was no different. I think the younger children enjoyed these gifts, as much as the store bought ones.

A loving sister making her siblings a gift, lightsabers out of paper tubes.

I also got a surprise this year. My wonderful and amazing hubby surprised me with a Kindle. He knows I love to read and I have been having trouble reading ebooks from my phone. The print is just too small and it gave me headaches to read from my phone. He knew that and bought the Kindle, so that I could enlarge the print. It was definitely a wonderful surprise and one that I won’t forget any time soon.

a surprise for me from my hubby

I am truly blessed with an amazing family. I love their hearts and minds. They know we celebrate Christmas because of the beautiful gift that God gave us, His son, Jesus.

So while Christmas has come and gone, we will still continue to celebrate Jesus and do our best to follow in his footsteps all year long.

How was your Christmas? Do you have any special memories or special gifts from this year? I would love for you to share them with me.

2013, family 2013, celebrate, children, Christmas, family, Jesus

Christmas Tree 2013 ~ family traditions

December 7, 2013Written by Joy

2 Comments

We have several family traditions that we like to keep during the Christmas season. One of those traditions that we love to do, is going to pick out our Christmas tree. Every year, usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we head out to choose a tree. The past couple of years, our oldest son hasn’t been able to join us, but this year, he made sure that he was off work. We enjoy this time with one another, to bond together as a family and to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus.

Samuel and Claire

I love watching the kids run from tree to tree, checking out the size, if there are any holes in the tree, is the trunk straight. They look at everything! Even the older two kids get into making sure the tree is just the right one.

Michael and Claire

This day was no exception. It had to be just the right one. They looked at almost every single tree in the lot. It was so much fun and a lot of joy, watching the kids. All the laughing, smiling and joking with one another, brings so much happiness to this momma’s heart.

Sarah and Samuel

They did finally all agree on one tree and then we were on our way home with it, tied to the top of the van and joking all the way home, wondering if we would have a tree still attached to the van.

Once we got home, dad put the tree in the stand and then we got the tree set up in the corner of the room. Dad then gets the lights and puts them on the tree. We usually let the tree settle with the lights and then the next day, the kids put the ornaments on the tree.

Kids decorating tree.

I love watching the kids decorate the tree. They look at each ornament and always ask, “who made this ornament?” Or “who gave us this ornament?” I love reminiscing with the kids about Christmas’ of the past.

Some of the ornaments that are our favorites, I am sharing below. The angel topper is 20 years old. We got that angel when our oldest son was 11 months old. It has been with us through our moves to NC and CO. I look forward to seeing my husband put it on the tree, every year.

Angel Topper

Being from Florida, we are huge Florida Gator fans. When we moved to NC, we had a friend who didn’t want us to forget about Florida and he sent us these ornaments. The kids are so careful when they put these on the tree. They make sure they are up at the top, so they don’t get knocked off.

Gator Ornaments

Other than our angel topper, I think my favorite ornament is one that I painted with the kids. It truly summarizes what the who Christmas season is all about. Jesus. All because God sent His precious Son to us, in a Holy Night.

O Holy Night.

My husband and I do our best to teach our children about Jesus and why we celebrate his birth. While we have some amazing traditions, teaching them about Jesus is our most important one.

What Christmas traditions do you have with your family? I would love to hear about them!

2013 Christmas, family, Jesus, traditions, tree