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  • Sweet Potato Pie: a Family Tradition

    Sweet Potato Pie: a Family Tradition

    This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and it’s advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SplendaHoliday #CollectiveBias

    Ah the holidays! A time for family gatherings, traditions, and of course good food! All my family memories seem to revolve around food this time of year, but unlike as a child, I’m actually now a bit more concerned about how much sweet things I consume this time of year. I’ve decided I need to cut back on my sugar intake again, but without giving up the things I like most – like pie! I tested out Splenda® in a Sweet Potato this weekend, and loved it! I think you will too.

    Sweet Potato Pie: A Family Tradition #SplendaHoliday #Ad

    What exactly makes this a family tradition? I don’t actually make Sweet Potato Pie everywhere, but I may very well start after this one. No this tradition stems from the recipes themselves. It all started with my Grandma. She made the absolute BEST pies I’ve ever had. She taught herself how while living on a Ranch and cooking for all the ranch hands. Every year for the holidays, Grandma’s main job in the kitchen were the pies. I’m still trying to perfect her recipe, because she had no recipe. Her two keys to me for a perfect crust were 

    • Always use Lard. Crisco is no lard – buy LARD!
    • Mix with your hands. You have to feel the dough to know when it’s ready.

    I’ve got the lard figured out, but getting the right feel is still a work in progress for me, and not something I can ever really share, because you just have to know what it feels like. I completely understand now why she didn’t have a recipe. 

    Sweet Potato Pie: A Family Tradition #SplendaHoliday #ad

    Grandma’s Lard Pie Crust
    Yields 1
    The best pie crusts are made with Lard.
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    Ingredients
    1. 1 1/2 cups Flour
    2. 1/2 cup Lard
    3. Cold Water
    Instructions
    1. Using your hands, mix the flour and lard until coarse crumbles form.
    2. Slowly add a TBS of cold water at a time until the dough holds together in ball form.
    3. Form a ball, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
    4. Roll out, and place in pie plate.
    5. Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes.
    Home Maid Simple https://www.homemaidsimple.com/
     Part 2 of this family tradition was inspired from Mark. He loves sweet potatoes and over the years has gotten me to enjoy them as well. I don’t know why I didn’t as a child, because they are so full of flavor and have a beautiful color. Combining Mark’s love of Sweet Potatoes with my Grandma’s pie just makes sense to me. Now Sweet Potatoes are naturally sweet, but when making a pie, you always need a little sugar. That’s where the Splenda® Sweet Swaps™ came to life for me. I can still eat my pie, while making a more balanced decision for my health.

    Sweet Potato Pie: A Family Tradition #SplendaHoliday #Ad

    When trading our sugar for Splenda® you only use half the amount the recipe calls for. That makes me feel pretty awesome! Did you know that the average Amercian consumes 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day? That’s a LOT! In fact it’s triple the recommended amount for women and double for men. I’ve done a limited sugar diet before, and I can tell you it makes a difference! I had more energy, and overall personally felt better with the less sugar. 

    Check out the Splenda® Sweet Swaps™ Initiative for creative ways to swap out full sugar for Splenda® Sweetener products. Splenda® sweeteners can be found at Walmart.com

    Sweet Potato Pie: A Family Tradition #SplendaHoliday #ad

    Lastly, our Sweet Potato Pie is topped with an oatmeal crumble. This recipe came from my sister in law. She makes a fabulous Sweet Potato Casserole, that she puts this on top of. Her son is allergic to nuts, so she made the exchange to oats and it is fabulous! When we combine the pie crust, sweet potato filling, and oatmeal crumble the family tradition is created. 

    Sweet Potato Pie: A Family Tradition #SplendaHoliday #ad

    Sweet Potato Pie with Oatmeal Crumble
    Start a family tradition and bake this Sweet Potato Pie. With a Sweet Swap™ from Splenda®
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    Ingredients
    1. 1 prebaked Pie Crust
    2. 4 medium sized Sweet Potatoes
    3. 1/2 cup Splenda® Sugar Blend
    4. 2 eggs
    5. 1 tsp Vanilla
    6. 1/4 cup Half and Half
    7. 1/2 cup Butter
    8. For Oatmeal Crumble
    9. 1/4 cup Flour
    10. 1/2 cup Oats
    11. 1/4 cup Butter, melted
    12. 1/4 cup Splenda® Brown Sugar
    Instructions
    1. Peel Sweet Potatoes, and boil in a large pot of water. When a fork can penetrate easily through the potato, they’re done.
    2. Drain water from the potatoes and mash with a fork.
    3. Add butter, Splenda®, eggs, vanilla, and Half and half.
    4. Mix well.
    5. Pour into prepared Pie Crust.
    6. Oatmeal Crumble
    7. Mix flour, oats, butter, and Splenda® brown sugar. Crumble across the top of the Sweet Potato Pie.
    8. Bake pie at 375F for 25-30 minutes
    Home Maid Simple https://www.homemaidsimple.com/

     You can find Splenda® Sweeteners at Walmart in the baking aisle next to the sugar. 

    Sweet Potato Pie: A Family Tradition #SplendaHoliday #ad

    What Holiday recipes will you swap with Splenda®? Check out these Sweet Swaps™ recipes for inspiration, and enter the sweepstakes below!

     
    J&J Holiday Baking with Splenda

  • Holiday Traditions

    Holiday Traditions

    Shortly after getting married the holidays rolled around, and Mark and I had to quickly learn how to balance our two families, while starting traditions of our own. Living a few hours away from our families, and eventually having an ocean between his parents, has helped us create many of our own holiday traditions. Some have stemmed from traditions we each had as a child, and some are brand new to us.
    Perhaps you are just beginning your family and looking for some new ideas to bring to the holidays, or maybe it’s been a couple years and you’re looking for a change up. Surely something on this list will become a yearly tradition in your home.

    1. Cookie Baking Day: Set aside one day every year to not do anything but bake cookies with your kids, or maybe your grandkids. Enjoy the laughter and joy that kids are sure to bring to this tradition. It is something they will always remember.  I made some gingerbread cookies last week, that were so fun to make, but even more fun to decorate with the kids, that I knew between the smell and smiles I would have to do this again next year.


    2. Christmas Book: Starting last year I decided I wanted to buy one new Christmas book with the kids each year. Reading is important, and having a seasonal book is a fun way to promote it with the kids. This year we decided to read one of our books each night. We started with the our new book this year (The Polar Express), and will continue until Christmas Eve when we read the story of Christ’s birth. This tradition evolved from my parents Birthday Book they let us pick out every year on our birthday.


    3. Decorating Day: Set aside one day each year to decorate as a family. Put up the tree, lights, nick knacks, and stockings.  Have some goodies, and hot chocolate to end the night. This might be a good night to let the kids sleep under the Christmas Tree as well.


    4. Holiday crafts: Find some holiday crafts to do with the kids, and make it a part of your holiday traditions.


    5. Sledding: Although it’s something you ought to do (if you get snow) every year, making one day all about sledding, and playing the snow will delight your children. Put off errands and chores, and go have some good old fun.


    6. Looking at Lights: I have so many fond memories of riding around in our car all bundled up just to look at Christmas lights. My dad was pretty good at finding neighborhoods that went all out. We now enjoy doing the same thing with our kids. Hearing their shouts of joy every time we’d come to some holiday lights put us all in a festive mood – especially after a trying day.


    7. Christmas Breakfast: Make something special for Christmas morning breakfast! It doesn’t have to be fancy, or time consuming, but keeping it the same year after year will leave fond memories for your child. My dad always made us Poffertjes, while Mark’s mom always bought them Christmas Crunch. We have evolved the two of these breakfasts into one – I now make Aebleskivers (glorified poffertjes) and if we get lucky to be in the store the day they sell Christmas Crunch it is added to our Christmas morning as well.


    8. Cultural Holidays: Branch out from your childhood Christmas celebration and incorporate a holiday tradition from another culture. For my family, we celebrated Sinter Klaus on December 5th by leaving our shoes by the door with carrots for his donkey.

    9. Penny Auction: Say what now? This tradition stems from my dad and his childhood, but is one I would love to bring back now with my kids. Throughout the year little trinkets, usually from yard sales, would be gathered and stored away. Come the holidays, and these would all get wrapped and tossed in a big red Santa bag. My Dad then donned the Santa hat, while one of us kids donned an elf costume. We’d invite friends and neighbors to join us. Every one was given 10 pennies to bid on presents from the bag. You never knew what you’d get, and bigger definitely did not always mean better.

    10. Pick a new ornament. This is a simple tradition that can be added each year. Go out shopping as a family for one new ornament for the tree.

    11. Open a present on Christmas Eve. When I was a kid we always got to pick one present to open on Christmas eve. The only catch was it had to be from someone that was present so they could watch us open it. Christmas morning was then a free for all with no order opening presents. In Mark’s family they also got to open one present, but it was always pajamas. We have continued with the opening of pajamas on Christmas Eve.

    With new traditions, and thinking outside the box, you can make memories that will last a lifetime with your children. It may take a few years to find what works the best for your family (it’s taken us 8), but once you have it, keep it going.

    Please share your holiday traditions with me!
  • Simplifying Birthday Parties {Think About It}

    Simplifying Birthday Parties {Think About It}

    My kids are obsessed with birthdays. It’s probably a topic discussed at least once a day in our house. I’m not entirely sure why the fixation on this topic. I would love to say it’s because of how we celebrate.  After I posted about my daughters Jake and The Neverland Pirates party, I had a bloggy friend comment that she loved how simple we made birthdays, and didn’t go overboard.

    So of course, her comment, doubled with my kids talking daily about who they’re inviting and what the cake should look like for birthdays months in advance, it got me thinking. And you all know how I love to think!

    Think About It! 
     
    You don’t need to go into debt to celebrate a birthday. You don’t need to have food for an army (unless you invited an army).  You don’t even need to pay big bucks for a location.  Your kid will have more fun, remember the special day longer, and most importantly feel loved on their special day if you keep it simple.
     
     
    Money.  You really truly do not need to go into debt for your kids birthdays.  I will admit here, with our first child’s first birthday, we went WAY overboard. Looking back, I think boy we could have spent our money wiser with her. She won’t remember it at all.  As your child gets older, they won’t know how much you spent, unless you make it into a big deal as some sort of manipulation. So save some money. Keep the decorations to a minimum, or home make them. Bake the cake from scratch, or pick up a premade from a bakery.
    Think About It!
    Unless you’re a terrible cook, a homemade cake is made with love, and can even get the child involved spending time with mom. Take my son’s cake we made this last weekend. It was so simple, and extremely cheap. We spent a couple dollars on one of those new Duncan Hines flavor creations (caramel) because we were in a time crunch and my homemade frosting was an EPIC fail! Another dollar for the Happy Birthday decorations, and voila – simple easy cake! (In case you were wondering the theme it was for our son Lincoln’s first – hence the penny for 1 President Lincoln). We used a salad serving spoon to create the bumpy penny edge. Nothing fancy, tools we already had on hand, and cheap cheap cheap!
     
     
    Presents. Who has ever bought their child an expensive toy only to have it break a week later, or be forgotten about in place of a cardboard box?  I’m not saying give your child a cardboard box (though I know mine would love that!), but really think about the presents worth before shelling out all your money.  I also suggest, that if you invite friends and family to the birthday party, you let them know a gift is not expected – just their presence.
    Think About It!
    I don’t like my friends feeling like we just want a present out of them. All we really want is to spend time making memories while celebrating their life. Presents are fun and nice, and I’m sure the kids really love them, but is it what they remember?  There are very very few presents I was given that I still remember.  I do remember the memories from the day though. Having my BFF over to play just because it was my birthday.  Having all my friends and their mothers over for a mother daughter night because I turned into a young women and was no longer a little girl.
     
    Food.  Have you ever had leftovers because you weren’t sure how much dinner your family would eat?  Have you ever had leftovers from a party because you made too much salad, bought too many hot dogs, or filled your freezer with ice cream? 
    Think About It!
    Food at a birthday party should be the simplest part. If you plan a party around lunch or dinner, you’ll want to have enough, but don’t go overboard. Finger foods like a veggie/fruit tray and sandwiches are perfect for small children’s birthdays. Just do your friends a favor and find out if there are any allergies. You’d hate to only have PB&J’s for a kid with a peanut allergy.  Another of our favorite birthday foods is a $5 pizza from Little Caesers, and a bag of salad.
     
    
     
    Games.  Make and create your own games!  I remember my parents throwing me a Carnival party for my 8th birthday. It was the most friends I had ever had over at one time. My dad painted a bean bag toss on a piece of cardboard. We had a “fishing pond” made from sheets.  And then a bucket full of water balloons and squirt guns. Simple, easy and cheap. It was by far the best birthday I ever remember, that probably cost my parents next to nothing to put together.
    When we celebrated Princess C’s birthday, Mark put together a treasure hunt. Using a paint program on the computer he mapped out our yard, and placed X’s where all the clues were. We didn’t need a fancy one time expensive Disney themed map, when we could make our own. You don’t either!
     
    Think About It!
     
    Traditions. Finally my favorite way to simplify and truly celebrate our children’s birthdays are by carrying on traditions. Things like singing the Happy Birthday song are fun, and do make it special – but have you ever changed it up some?  You know like they do at restaurants?  I recall many birthdays laughing as my dad sang us this version

    Oh Happy Birthday. Oh Happy Birthday. There is Sadness in the Air, People Dying Everywhere, but Happy Birthday. Oh Happy Birthday.

    Albeit maybe a little morbid, and depressing.  I don’t currently sing this song to my kids, but I still have fond memories of my dad singing and everyone joining in.

    Another family tradition, that I know Mark just loves, and I have carried on to my kids is one where we all get to whack the birthday person on the head after singing this catchy tune

    Heavy Heavy Hangover, thy poor head. What I wish for you is a Bump on the head.  – Followed with a nice Bump on the head with their present. This is then repeated with each successive present.

    Finally, my last and most treasured tradition is our Birthday Dinner. For our birthday, we would get to pick out a restaurant – any restaurant – and go out with just Mom and Dad (no siblings!) for dinner. The quality time spent with my parents was priceless time not often found with 5 siblings. My parents made sure to carve out that time at least once a year for the individual child. I now very much enjoy taking my own kids out one at a time, to focus on them and the things they like. Talking about their life, listening to them tell us whatever is on their mind, and enjoying ourselves. This is a tradition I would encourage all parents to start. Your children will appreciate it the rest of their lives.

    
    What do you do to simplify birthdays?
     
    
  • Holiday Traditions {Think About It}

    Holiday Traditions {Think About It}

    BWS tips button
     
    A little later than normal, but I’m here with another Think About It Thursday! Joining me are Mumfection and Tim and Angi’s Blog
     
    This week I’m talking

    Holiday Traditions

    Current Traditions

    We have yet to start any of our own family traditions, but I’m hoping to soon. For now we have carried on some traditions from both Mark’s family and my own.
     
    In my family, we always got to pick one present to open on Christmas Eve. We could pick any present we wanted.  Mark’s family always gives pajamas on Christmas Ever (something I’ve learned is common).  So to merge the two traditions…well basically it’s just his tradition. I’m ok with it though, because we still get to open a present on Christmas eve, and it’s something useful!
     
    Breakfast is another major tradition both our families had. While Mark’s family was eating Christmas Crunch, mine was cooking up Poffarages.  My dad served an LDS mission in The Netherlands, and that was a food he brought back with him. I have yet to find Christmas Crunch before it sells out, so we stick to (my personal favorite) poffarages.  Although I only have an Aebelskiver pan, the concept is similar, so we make do. (hmm, a recipe might be in order!).
     
    Sinter Klass day is one from my family that I’m trying to keep around. On December 4th we leave our shoes by the door for Sinter Klass to fill. This year the kids got a big bag of M&M’s. Nothing fancy, just good old fun. I may have introduced Swarte Pete this year as well…but he may make a quick departure when my kids really thought he’d come and take them away if they misbehaved.

    Baking. Who doesn’t spend the holidays baking?  Admittedly with our upcoming move, I haven’t done as much, but we have snuck some in. Especially our Gingerbread Houses! It’s just not the holidays without a gingerbread house overloaded with an instant sugar high.  Thank goodness for my Everyday Elegance Chair covers. They helped keep some of the mess to a minimum.

     

     

    Traditions I wish we kept, would like to start again

    It used to be tradition that on Christmas eve my family would host a talent show. We’d invite some friends to have dinner with us, and then everyone had to share a talent. One year, I decided to be creative and played “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause” on the piano, with my big toe. No, I won’t go dig the picture out for you.  Although at times, I felt it was an embarassing tradition, it was also my parents way of encouraging us in our talents, and letting us shine.
     
    Playing out the Nativity.  After our talent show, my dad (sometimes my uncle) would pull out the Bible, and read the Christmas Story. While he read, the kids got to dress up as the different people, and act out the story. I mostly remember playing the angel, proclaiming the birth of our Savior. Our mood went from one of fun and laughter, to reflection on why we celebrate this holiday.
     
    Last, and I’m thinking I will do this next year, was our Penny Auction.  Some fun times came from this event.  My grandma loved yard sales. So what did we do with all the nick nacks? Wrapped them up, tossed them in a huge red bag and auctioned them off for penny’s. My dad would dress as Santa, and the kids took turn as an elf – passing out the won prizes.  Again we’d invite a bunch of friends over, give everyone 20 pennies and begin the bidding.  So much Fun!  I still have some of my most prized wins from those auctions.
     

    What are your holiday traditions?

    Go ahead and link up with us!
     
     
    

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  • Thanksgiving Traditions {Menu Plan}

    Thanksgiving Traditions {Menu Plan}

    Growing up, Thanksgiving was a feast! Both of food and people. Many of our family friends had no family nearby, so we had them over to our house for Thanksgiving. I remember filling our Great Room with 3-4 long folding tables, plus one smaller table for the kids. You could hardly walk around there were so many of us gathered.

    While we would wait for the main meal to be served, we always had a fun little contest.  H’or Doeves!  Everyone was allowed to bring 1 h’or doeve to enter the contest. Categories were set up by age group.  It was always so much fun. I remember one year I used my Roald Dahl cookbook, and made a hoagie sandwich look like a crocodile.

    The past couple years we have really tempered it down, keeping it just to family.  As a part of that the h’or doeve contest got cut. However, this year, my sister is bringing it back!  I was just told this weekend though, so now I have got to pull something together fast. I’m feeling stuck….pinterest and foodie friday have given me way too many options.

    This Bread Dough Cornucopia from the Jazzy Gourmet Cooking Studio would look amazing on anyy Thanksgiving table

     
    I know my sister has a soft spot for Biscotti sinve she traveled to Europe. So I might try this Orange Anise Biscotti I found on pinterest

     While I personally love bruschetta inspired h’or doeves, like this Artichoke Bruschetta
     

    In the meantime, I should probably figure out dinner for the rest of the week

    Monday – Bsicuits and Gravy
    Tuesday – Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
    Wednesday – Chili
    Thursday – Thanksgiving! My mom is doing the dinner. I’m making apple pie and these Pumpkin Dinner Rolls from Will Cook for Smiles

    Friday – Dad’s birthday. Leftover Thanksgiving and hopefully some cherry Cheesecake
    Saturday – Dinner at my parents
    Sunday – Dinner at my parents (I love vacation!)