Mexican Pancakes

Blogland! How I've missed you! My posts have been few and far between lately, only because my youngest has decided that she no longer needs to nap. But today she isn't feeling well and a nap keeps her from being too cranky. So just a quick post about a recipe that my family LOVES! I'm not sure how we came up with it or if it was just something that was passed down. Mexican pancakes, like pancakes...but better! Get your alka seltzer ready and bring on the enchilada sauce!
Heres what you need:

    

First take the tortilla and warm up for about 20 sec in the micro then put a little oil in your frying pan. Let the tortilla sit in the frying pan until its warm and toasty, but not TOO toasty. You want to be able to cut it with a fork later and not hear "crunchies". In a separate pot you need to warm your sauce.

 Next cook your egg. I like mine runny. When the sauce and the egg yokes run together its glorious! Then place your egg on top of your tortilla.

Then smother with enchilada sauce.

Next comes cheese and chopped onions! If you dont work quick enough it gets cold. Give them a nuke in the micro to melt the cheese and your good to go. You can also add salsa and sour cream if you like!  Its best to make 3 or 4 on top of each other and that way it looks like a "stack" of pancakes.

Hope you love!

True life at the kitchen table

My kitchen table is very important to me. Its where everyone comes together, the place where we talk, have coffee and make important decisions. When we first got married our kitchen table folded up (so did the chairs, only 3 of them, the 4th chair was broken) and rolled away :) Then we upgraded to a wonderful chocolate brown table with.... wait for it... 6 chairs!! You would of thought we had won the lottery! The chairs were covered in this tan microfiber suede. After a few years and a few kids this is what those chairs look like. Its not pretty. Its downright gross. True life~with kids. I've cleaned and cleaned them and it didn't seem to help.

I also discovered that my daughter had put stickers on the inside of one of the legs. Princess stickers anyone?

 I got tired of looking at the dirty seats and decided to take on a project. I found this home decor fabric at Joanne's. It was on sale! 2 yards and only 14.99, down from 10.99 a yard! We all know that home decor fabric can be so expensive, when I saw this I snatched it up!

 More true life-me ( sans makeup) doing my mommy thing and trying to be crafty at the same time. I stay busy.

The hardest part was using the scary air compressed staple gun. I just knew that I was going to hurt myself! Its how I roll! But surprisingly I didn't! Go me! Heres how they turned out....

I like! The chairs themselves still need to cleaned. And I'm off to buy a big bottle of scotch guard until my kids are spill proof.. How long will that be ya think? :)

Pumpkin spice latte cupcakes

So here it is, the greatly anticipated Pumpkin Spice Latte cupcakes! I love anything with pumpkin it! It feels so fall-ish! These are the moistest cupcakes I have EVER made. If you want to see the original recipe you can see it here, but I didn't exactly stick to it... also, if you want some great recipes then subscribe to Annie's Eats (where I got this from)! So, heres how it went!
What you need:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
In the original it says to use all the spices for the pumpkin. I just used like 2ish table spoons of the "pumpkin pie" spice. Im such a cheater! 
1 tsp. salt
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree- I used the kind that was already spiced. Not the puree, but the kind you can cheat with and just pour into a pie dish ;)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup  vegetable oil
4 large eggs
It also calls for espresso powder- 3 tbs-but I wanted to make them a little more kid friendly. Can you imagine my kids with caffeine?? No thank you! Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and pumpkin spice. Stir well. Then combine all the other ingredients. If you have a great mixer use it!  Slowly add the flour mixture to the puree. When its all mixed it should look kinda like this

Pour them into the cupcake wrappers. Bake at 350 for about 20 mins. If you fill the wrappers more than half way then you will need more bake time. 

To make the frosting you will need
2 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream that has been in the fridge for at least an hour(chilled)
1/2 powdered sugar
This is by far the hardest part. Whisk the heavy cream slowly then add the powdered sugar a little at a time. Whisk it until it creates stiff peaks. It should look like frosting but more fluffy. Now you can make it pretty by using a decorating bag and tip to frost them. The whipped cream has to be COLD and it warms up quickly. I had to quit halfway through... refrigerate the whipped cream and then come back and finish up. You can add caramel drizzle and cinnamon. I got a little impatient and only put cinnamon.

I had no fall colored cupcake wrappers! Only bright ones, but I kinda like how they looked.

These were a huge hit at my house! I left some unfrosted and they go great with a cup of coffee in the morning. Hope you are welcoming fall with open arms!

 

BEAVERS & ducks

So it seems... that football season is here! We all have our favorite teams or our favorite rivalries. Here in Oregon it's between the Beavers 

and the ducks. You can already see I have some serious loyalties!  I love to watch football but you wont catch me rooting on the ducks. Ever. I just can't! But when a friend asked me to help her stitch up her lucky duck flag, I had to help. She can't help she chose the wrong team to root for... right? :) My sewing machine has seen the color, yellow and the color green. But never at the same time!! 

Look at that sad flag. Its so pitiful and torn.

 It's seen better days...

I basically had to chop a good inch off the top and bottom. Then I hand sewed the flag back on the plastic rod. Its smaller but its what had to be done to save it. 

Here we are on the way back from cheer camp together. Don't we look exhausted?! And yes, there is 40+ teenage girls behind us. If we can get through that together then I can sew up a little flag!

Up next- Southern mint sweet tea!

 

Getting back to it and a little contest!

So, Im back from vacation! Yipee! I love being away, but there's something about coming home to your own bed that is so relaxing. I crashed the first night home. The kids were so glad to be home they slept till 9 the next morning(being the uber paranoid mom- I checked to make sure they were still breathing) because sleeping in at our house is unheard of :)

Being home means getting back into a routine. Any routine. Please. Right now were on a day to day, lets-see-if-we-can-make-it-routine. Anyways, being home means getting back to my sewing!!

I got my first sewing machine for Christmas a few years back. I loved my machine. At the time I didn't know what I was doing. I was just learning and most of the projects I did are so bad, I would be embarrassed to show them to you. Trust me. Lucky for me, I had a sewing fairy ( my MIL) who patiently helped me along. Being a beginner, my Singer Inspiration was perfect for me. But when I got home from vacation it was giving me more problems than ever before. Just a quick backstory....before I had my sewing table, I sewed at the kitchen table and well....one day I tripped over the cord and my sewing machine went flying across the kitchen floor and ever since then it hasn't worked quite right. But I kept right along!!

So, my sewing fairy felt my frustrations and....

Isn't she purdy?

This is the mess I made in and attempt to clean up my sewing space.

Yes. I like to color coordinate my thread. Im a freak. I know.

The ONE clean corner of my table.

I'm jealous of all of you who have wonderful work spaces. I dream of long counters where I can lay out all my fabric and do cutting-NOT on the floor. A room that is specifically me. I feel selfish saying it, but its true! For now I will be happy with my corner of the living room!

One last thing.... because Im still a child inside(sometimes) who wants to name my new sewing machine? The best name will get one of my fantastic aprons! Just leave a comment. And if your new "WELCOME"!

Home made Lip Balm! Yes Please!

Oh. My. Word. Delia over at Delia Creates made her own balm and I'm loving it. I'm kind of a lip gloss/balm junkie. I love having tons of them, in different colors and flavors! This would just add to my collection. You should check out her other awesome projects!

Vacation!!

You know I love you all right?! But sometimes you just need to get away...and thats what the kids and I have done! We are in the fantastic state of Texas visiting my family! And yes, its HOT HOT! I like it though. I had a moment where I could feel the sun scorching my skin and I decided it was time to come inside :)
Here are a few pictures from our vacay so far. I promise I will be back and September holds something really cool! Promise.

My kids are awesome travelers! PJ is making sure we are safe and Eva has the barf bag... which we needed after we landed!

Were eating at our favorite restaurants! Loving the tex-mex! I swear this green sauce ( not to be confused with guacamole) is the most addicting thing I have ever tasted.

I'm trying to fix my awesome tan line from my Toms. So far no luck.

And spending time with family! Love them!

Hope your all enjoying summer!