Sweetened Condensed Milk Recipe

Sweetened Condensed Milk
Stir together 1/2 cup cold water and 1 1/2 cups powdered milk until smooth.
Microwave 3/4 to 1 minute until milk steams.
Stir in 3/4 cup sugar.
Cool.
Makes a 14 oz. can.

Streusel Caramel Bars

I found a bag of caramels I bought last year for some Christmas cookies and never used. Tonight was the night to use them since I don't have enough ingredients for Mike's stand-by of Special K Bars or Oatmeal (Joni's) Bars.

Servings: Makes 2 to 3 dozen bars (Umm...in my house this is more like 8 to 12 bars.) :)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 and 20 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup butter or margarine, divided
3/4 cup chopped nuts
24 caramels (umm...this isn't the whole bag, leaving several to disappear into the prep person's mouth and children's mouths) BUT...I strongly suggest, after tasting these, to use at least 36 caramels (which still isn't the whole bag) hee hee hee :)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and egg; cut in 1/2 cup butter until crumbly. Stir in nuts.
Reserving 2 cups crumb mixture, press remainder firmly on bottom of greased 13x9 inch baking pan.
Bake 15 minutes.
In heavy saucepan, (I did it in the microwave) over low heat, melt caramels with milk and remaining 1/4 cup butter. Pour over prepared crust. Top with reserved crumb mixture.
Bake 20 minutes or until bubbly. Cool. Cut into bars. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Romans 5:1-8

1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2. through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
4. and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Fruit Pizza

We made a fruit pizza. We made one yesterday also, but it was eaten before I thought of taking a picture. Although not as cheap as summertime prices, grapes, bananas, and strawberries were on sale this week. I had a can of mandarin oranges, and the blueberries are from some we picked this past summer.

For the filling, I use a recipe we got from our friend Mary D. Thanks, Mary! 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, and 4 Tablespoons orange juice. You just whip it up until it's nice and fluffy and put on top of a sugar cookie. She cheats and uses the pre-packaged dough, but I made our own dough out of wheat flour.

Light and Fluffy

I finally managed to fill Aaron up. He ate fourteen pancakes! He's been moping around complaining of starvation. I made the pancakes with half white flour so I'm sure that had something to do with it. White flour is a treat around here. :)

Pancakes
2 T. oil
1 cup milk
1 egg
Mix then add:
1 cup flour
2 T. baking powder
2 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix again and cook on griddle

Pancake Muffins

Sunday I made muffins using Abbi's recipe (though I used all whole wheat flour and doubled the berries) and stuck the remaining batter in the fridge to use another day. Today was the day. I took it out, added milk and made pancakes with it, forgetting it was a muffin recipe. :) They were very good. Thanks for the recipe, Abbi. It's the first muffin recipe I've used other than store-bought mixes that the kids and Mike haven't wanted to add sugar on top.

Finger Paint

Here's the recipe I used for the finger paint the girls used yesterday.

1/2 cup corn starch and 3 Tablespoons sugar

Mix corn starch and sugar together in saucepan. Add 2 cups cold water to corn starch mixture and mix a little more. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to clear and thicken (about 5 minutes,) stirring constantly. Remove from stove, cool, and pour into plastic cups. You can add a little food coloring and a drop of detergent to each cup.