Homemade Pop Tarts

Y'all. These are so good. 

I've been trying to cook more of our snacks using whole wheat four and five ingredients or less. I'm slowly striving to make our diet 100% preservative free. I found this recipe  on 100 Days of Real Food. 

The ingredients are:

• 2 ¼ cup whole-wheat flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup cold, unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• ½ cup water plus ice
• 1 egg beaten with a splash of water
• 7 – 8 tablespoons jam or jelly 

The recipe said to use a food processor but since I don't have one, I used my stand mixer. 

I mixed the dry ingredients with the whisk paddle and then I switched to the "all purpose" paddle to mix in the wet ingredients.

I rolled it out on the pastry mat about a half inch thick.

 

I used this lid gripper as a template to cut out the pop tarts. It was the only thing that I could find that was the right shape. :)

I could fit four rectangles on the mat. I figured out by the end of making them that this size is too large for the girls, and cutting this shape in half is the perfect size.

I took one of the rectangles, rolled it out pretty thin and then cut it in half.

Next, I plop some jelly in the center of one half and then place the other half on top.

I gently pressed the edges together to seal them and then crimped them with a fork.

I poked some holes in the top to let out steam,

and then brushed the top with an egg wash.

I baked them at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes.

(A lot of the jelly will leak out so you will want to line the pan with parchment paper and put fresh paper down for each batch. )

The Result? 

Yummy, delicious, healthy, crunchy and gobbled up quickly. 

Hibiscus

I promise I'm not trying to bombard your health. For those interested, this little clip is very informative on the benefits of Hibiscus and how it builds up your immune system. This evening, I made the recipe he talks about at the end of the video and tomorrow the girls and I will try it out. I couldn't find the Wild Berry Zinger tea so instead I used Tazo Passion tea.

Listen up! This is important!

My cousin-in-law posted this information on her blog and I was given permission to re-post it here. I feel it's important for us to know these things and then pass them on to others.

A couple of years ago, I started making a conscious effort to detoxify our cleaning and grooming routines. This was largely in response to a couple of blog posts on a blog I follow that described the infuriating carelessness about the ingredients in these products. Don’t be lulled into a sense of safety by the assurances of the FDA, y’all. They are on the side of big business, not the side of the consumer. Most of the time, they test a substance by exposing rats to high levels of it for a couple of weeks. If the rat doesn’t die or mutate freakishly, then it’s all cool. What they do not test is the effects of constant low doses of these substances over several years— the kind of exposure humans using the product actually get. Anytime you buy a product without thinking about the ingredients, you are in effect taking the word of the FDA and the manufacturer that those ingredients are safe.
It’s pretty obvious that infertility is a major problem for our generation. Just think about all the men and women you know who have struggled with it in some way. While infertility has obviously always been around, there’s been a lot of research done on how much more common it’s becoming. Even people who don’t technically have a problem have greatly reduced reproductive health compared to people a few generations back. What troubles me is how little you hear about the role of product use in this problem. Most conventional cleaning and beauty products contain known or suspected neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors (substances that either imitate hormones, block hormone receptors, or interfere with hormone production). This is serious stuff.
A major problem area is that sneaky little word ‘Fragrance’ on the ingredients list of most products. Did you know that companies are not required to disclose the ingredients that go into the ‘Fragrance’ of their products? They are considered a ‘trade secret’ and are only sketchily regulated. In practice, this means that anytime you see the word ‘Fragrance,’ what it stands for is a toxic cocktail of chemicals, many of which have not been sufficiently tested, many of which are carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. The manufacturers do this because synthetic fragrances are way, way cheaper than natural ones. And even ‘Natural Fragrances’ are suspect— all that means is that the original source of the ingredient was natural, not the ingredient itself. And anyway, just because something is ‘natural’ doesn’t mean we should rub it in our skin or spray it in our air every day. It doesn’t get more natural than poison ivy, after all.
A few easy ways to protect yourself:

• Avoid Triclosan. It’s an antibacterial agent found in many soaps and toothpastes, and it’s a known endocrine disruptor. It’s pretty easy to find products that don’t have it. For instance, about half of Colgate’s toothpastes don’t have it. Just read the label.
• Actually, avoid antibacterial products altogether. Antibacterial agents are not good for us, and the use of these products contributes to the rise of ‘super bacteria,’ which resist eradication much more effectively. Research has shown that good old soap and hot water is just as effective as antibacterial stuff anyway. It’s all a marketing ploy— the manufacturers want you to believe you aren’t safe unless you’re using their product.
• Spend a dollar or two more on beauty products, dish soap, and bath soap and buy phthalate-free. Phthalates are also endocrine disruptors— even the FDA acknowledges this now, but they aren’t in a hurry to ban it. Phthalates are commonly hidden under the ‘Fragrance’ banner, so your product may contain it even if it’s not listed.
• Don’t buy beauty products with parabens. They are very carcinogenic endocrine disruptors, linked strongly to breast cancer. They may be buried pretty deep in the ingredient list or have fancy prefixes, so look carefully.
• Avoid Sodium Laureth/Lauryl Sulfate— this one’s a lot harder to avoid, but any reduction in exposure helps. It is a lathering agent used in virtually all shampoos and many soaps and toothpastes. It is a carcinogen, and it mimics the action of estrogen in the body— seriously harmful for both male and female bodies. It also strips the skin of natural oils, allowing other toxins to get in easier. Sodium Lauryl is more irritating, but Sodium Laureth cannot be processed by the liver, so it sticks around a lot longer.
• Buy fragrance-free— detergent, dishwashing soap, bath soap, shampoo, anything you can. This is probably the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself. If you want fragrance, then buy natural products that actually list which essential oils are used for the fragrance.

Thanksgiving

I did pretty good this week. I did not do good this weekend. Too much ice cream at my fingertips. I didn't exercise either so this coming week I have really got to make a point to make that happen.

My Uncle Evan visited me in this house for the very first time yesterday. That was pretty special and I'm so thankful that he is able to travel now. He even fixed our lawnmower.

I am also thankful for mechanics in the family. Tonight after church, Matt and Josh were up to their elbows in grease fixing Jason's car.

Family is amazing. Thank you God.

For 2 days

Yogurt for breakfast, salad for lunch and whatever I cook for supper. I'm not picky about supper except on the sugar end of things.

I have run out of my grilled chicken strips so I guess tomorrow's salad will be ham. Gotta learn to move on.

RC Cola and Candy

If there is ever a time that my brain is not functioning well, it is now.
Rachel Claire is killing my energy. Her and the half gallon of Vanilla Bean ice cream and the almost entire bag of chocolate dipped caramels that I ate this week. And the several handfuls of chocolate chips. Oh, I forgot to mention the bag of chewy Starburst candy that I finished off last night.

Did I say that my jeans didn't fit well this morning? Or yesterday morning for that matter.

I have been binging so badly the past few weeks. I usually do not keep candy in the house except for a bag of Jolly Rancher hard candy that has been in the pantry for about 6 months and every 2-3 months one of us will be desperate for sugar and will remember that it is there and go get a piece. Why do I get in these slumps? I still have the rest of the caramels and a bag of Recee's Pieces and last night Jason wanted me to make a Chocolate Pudding cake and I did so now there is that temptation sitting on top of the stove.

So you probably can't tell because I have rambled about both topics and not in a good order but there are two topics that I am going to address in this post.

Rachel Claire
Healthiness

To begin, we will discuss this awful habit that Rachel Claire is developing. She goes to sleep at 8pm (respectively) and she doesn't take a nap so she usually falls asleep rather quickly. It used to be WWIII every night but now she just listens to the music until she falls asleep. Then eventually Jason and I go to bed. Crickets chirp. On occasion, a snake will wander into our house. You know, the usual nighttime activity.

Then the fun begins. Around 2am Rachel Claire wakes up and I go get in her bed. I only lie there for about 5 minutes because she goes right back to sleep and then I get up and go into my bed. And we do this routine every ten minutes until I get sick of getting up and down and I just stay in her bed. Last night I asked Jason to go because I never get to sleep in my own bed. So he did and he said that she yelled out in her sleep all night and kept waking up to see if he was still there and then around 5:15 he went to the couch (Because Elaina had gotten in bed with me. I asked her this morning why and she said that she thought there was a snake in the crack between her bed and the wall. I lied and told her that snakes don't come in people's houses. Does that make me a bad person?)
So at 5:30 this morning when Rachel Claire was once again awake, Jason lost it and I told him to go to bed and I would take a turn. This time she was very upset because she wanted to get in our bed because we had two fans in our room. Apparently I have passed on the love of the nighttime fan blowing. I finally got her to calm down and understand that we were not going to my room we were going to stay in her room. I have no idea what time she actually fell asleep but it was so bright outside that Claire said, "Hey! Somebody turned the light on out there!"

Why, I repeat why does she wake up so much in the night? Why doesn't she get/need a good night of solid sleep? Did any of you out there have children that did this? What did you do about it?
Our pediatrician told us to make waking up in the night not a pleasant experience but that girl is the loudest person I have ever known and it doesn't ever seem worth waking up the other two girls. Also, she cries because she doesn't want to be alone and that is the type of thing that really tugs at my heart and I have a hard time arguing that she should be all alone.
*sigh*

Ok. On to the next topic.
SUGAR!!!
What has gotten in to me? I am back to drinking Dr. Pepper whenever it is available and I have been keeping candy in the house.
It's time for a change. Today two of my nieces are coming over and we are going to make Rice Krispie Treats so after that... NO MORE JUNK FOOD!!!!!

These are my New Resolutions for the rest of the year and you must keep me accountable. I think I will take it a month at a time. I will post what I want to accomplish and then post what actually took place.
Ready?

1. No more junk food/candy in the house.
2. Water. Only Water
3. Try to cook at least 5 meals a week for my family. Good meals with lots of veggie and fruit variety.
4. Exercise at least twice a week. This may not seems like a lot but we will start with baby steps. It makes it more likely to be accomplished and that will encourage me to accomplish more next month.

That's all I'm going to start with this month. If it goes well I might start being more specific with things like how many inches I want to loose around the middle, etc... Aren't you so excited??