Real Life with the Taylors: Making Breakfast Burritos (for dinner)

We're back with another episode of Real Life with the Taylors-- where I help you feel better about yourself and your kitchen skillz.  

Today we're cooking (breakfast for) dinner.  If we had some kind of regular meal rotation around here, these would definitely be a part of it.  

Here's how you make them.

Step 1: Cook some bacon. Baking it in the oven allows you to move on to other steps while its cooking, cleanup is easier, and every square inch of your house won't smell like bacon. 

Pumpkin Week: Pumpkin Pancakes

And now, it's (finally) time for the (not-so) grand finale of pumpkin week.

Here's the recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

This recipe was straightforward  simple, the perfect batch size, and delicious.  Of course you could be traditional and serve them with maple syrup, but I preferred to go the pumpkin dip route.  Which was a great call.  And since you're making pumpkin dip, you may as well make molasses cookies.  This recipe is perfection, of course, because it's Laura's.  So good, guys.  So good.


The real reason I brought you here today was because I wanted to share some quotes from the past few days, but I realized I hadn't finished pumpkin week (do you realize I started it 3 weeks ago?!) and I have this weird things where I don't let myself do something else until I have finished one thing.  I know that this might make me sound disciplined or something, but really I just never get around to finishing what I was doing... and I don't do anything else either.  Also, it has led to a lot of leg crossing, when I use a bathroom break as my reward for finishing a project.  Really, I could focus a lot more and finish the project if I would just go to the bathroom when I first  need to, but for some reason I voluntarily torture myself.

Too much information?  Sorry.  Rest assured this was not my incentive to finish Pumpkin Week....that would be painful.

onward...

Saturday I was hanging out with my friends Kaden (6) and Jordyn (2), and Jordyn looked over at me and said 

"My Daddy...is my  Daddy."  
(You know, because sometimes I get confused and think her Daddy is my Daddy.) 
 "Yep, Jordyn!  That's right.  My Daddy is my Daddy, too." 
(Confused look from Jordyn)
"Where is your Daddy?"
"My Daddy is far away...he's in Ohio."
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Yesterday we were practicing our skit for our mission trip to Honduras.  Sam has a role where he is supposed to be chasing someone, and he's supposed to be dark and menacing.  The trouble is, he's anything but and he runs in a hopping/leaping fashion (at least when he's acting).  We were telling him he needed to look much scarier, and that he looked like the Easter Bunny.

Sam:  Well, I've never seen the Easter Bunny, so I didn't know I looked like him.
Me: Well I have, and trust me... you're twins.
Sam: (with a smirk) "Well then, he must be a pretty good-looking bunny."

I wanted  to say "Yeah, but his ears are smaller than yours."  But I thought that would be taking things too far.

Pray for us...

---

Today at work, our HR director (who works across the hall) had her door shut because she was trying to get benefit enrollments finished up.  She came out for air and told me and Mindy..."That's it!  We're no longer offering benefits!  I can't take it."  She went downstairs and came back up a little later.  "Ok, there was chocolate downstairs... we can have benefits for at least another year."  Maybe if I bring her cookies I can get a raise?

Well, that's it for pumpkin week.  Sorry it dragged our for so long, but you really should try the recipes.  I hope your holiday season is merry and bright so far!.

Trying New Things Day 1: Making Bagels

I've been wanting to make bagels for quite awhile, so I thought Try New Things Month was a great time to give it a whirl.

Egg bagels have always been my favorite, so I asked The Google for a recipe.  This one sounded the simplest, so that's the one I went with.

Joyce's Sweet Rolls: A Tribute

 A couple of weeks ago, my dad's Aunt Joyce passed away.  She is missed immensely, we we know she is in a better place now-- at home with her Savior.

To get an idea of the kind of person she was, I highly recommend reading these thoughts from her grandchildren.

At the funeral, by all of the pictures and photo albums, they had her apron which said "World's Best Cook."

I know those are strong words, but... it's true.  She was an AMAZING cook.  I remember her saying one time "Julie {her daughter-in-law} is always bugging me to give her my recipe for baked steak, but I refuse, because when she finds out how many calories are in it, she will never eat it again."

One of my life-long regrets is that I never got that recipe from her.

recent recipes

I've been trying some new recipes lately, and it's lots of fun.  Here's what I've been up to.

(None of these pictures are mine... I think that will be obvious...be sure to check out the recipe links!)

Parmesean Baked Potato Halves from Favorite Family Recipes.

I was pleased that (for once!) they turned out pretty much like they look in the picture.  That never happens for me!

Oatmeal Week: Oatmeal Bread

My mom and I had grand plans to bake bread over Christmas (and by "bake bread" I mean mom would make it and I would take pictures), but things got busy and it didn't really happen.  So I guess she just needs to come visit and bake bread so I can give  you the step-by-step for this recipe with mom's tips.

Oatmeal Week: Granola

Sometimes when we were growing up, my mom would make granola.  When we got to junior high and high school, it became a favorite snack before track practice and during meets.  Our friends loved it, too.

Oatmeal Week: Baked Oatmeal

Have you had McDonald's oatmeal yet?  You should!  Man, is it delicious.  Yes, it is high in sugar, but you can order it without the brown sugar if you want.  And did you know you can order it any time of day-- not just at breakfast?  Mmmm... a warm cup of comforting, healthy, yummy goodness.

Oatmeal Week: Oatmeal

January is the perfect month to do Oatmeal Week, is it not?  January is usually cold, so you want something warm and comforting that "sticks to your bones."  Also, many people have made resolutions to eat healthy, lose weight and save money.

Homemade Yogurt

I've never been much of a yogurt lover.  I have gone through phases were I enjoy it more than other times (like my senior year of high school where every day I would pack a strawberry Yoplait custard-style yogurt in my lunch, and  every day when I would scoop out the first spoonful perform the ritual turn-the-spoon-upside-down-and-say-to-my-lunch-buddies, "look! it sticks to the spoon!-- and then they would all react with obligatory awe and amazement), but I've never actually been crazy about it.

Apple Week: Apple Panekooken

I am so, so excited to have my second guest post here on Dinkin' Around.  Anne is such a good friend, and she really understands me.  At least most of the time :)  For example, she saw a big eraser in a purple case at the store and thought of me, so she got it.  And she knew I would be super-excited, even though it is just a little thing.  And then she knew I wanted to give her a hug when she gave it to me.  And she wrapped it in sparkly red wrapping paper, just like Christmas! 

Raspberry Fortnight: Raspberry Buckle

I wanted a raspberry coffeecake recipe, and this raspberry buckle by Better Homes and Gardens sounded like a good (and easy) candidate.  What is a buckle?  Based on some quick internet searching, here is a stripped-down description of fruit recipes.

Cobbler: Fruit filling with biscuit topping

Brown Betty: Fruit with buttered bread cubes

Buckle: A coffee cake with fruit and streusel topping

Raspberry Week: Smoothies

Sometimes I want a milkshake, but I know I should make a healthier choice.

I have been making the healthier choice a lot the past week.  And guzzling it all down myself :)

Warm Spiced Fruit

This recipe is so simple and so comforting. I tell myself that its healthy, too, because it has fruit in it.  It's great for brunches (think: Christmas!), and even as "sick food"-- it is yummy and feels good to eat when you have a cold.  I definitely would file this recipe as "something different."