Cinnamony French toast, homemade pancake syrup, and take-that-Starbucks

You know those times you try something new in the kitchen and it's a complete flop?

I definitely have experienced that.

Today, however, was not one of those times. Today I tried THREE new things and they ALL worked! I was so excited.

We had French toast for breakfast this morning, one of Joshua's favorites. I love putting cinnamon in the batter that the bread gets dipped in (I REALLY like cinnamon), but usually the cinnamon doesn't mix in and just floats on top. So the first few slices get lots of cinnamon on them and the last few don't get any. Not cool. Today I changed around how I mixed the ingredients for the batter and it worked beautifully!

First, I beat two eggs in a medium bowl. Then I added about 1/4 cup dark brown sugar and beat it again till there weren't any lumps. Next I mixed in about 1/3-1/2 cup plain (homemade) yogurt (I don't usually measure) and beat again till smooth. Then I whisked in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and it mixed in beautifully! Finally I added 1/2 cup 2% milk (or so), and it was perfect. Usually I mix the eggs and milk first, so it starts out pretty runny. This time the batter was quite thick when I added the cinnamon, so the cinnamon mixed in well. It made amazing French toast!

While I was cooking the French toast I made homemade syrup to go on it. Last night I Googled "homemade pancake syrup" and found this recipe. It was so easy, and it tasted incredible--my husband absolutely loved it. I don't know if we'll quit the store-bought syrup altogether, but we'll definitely be using this pretty often. I added about a teaspoon of butter and a few drops of vanilla extract to the mixture after I took it off the heat, plus a little extra water because it was getting thick. I poured it into a half-pint jar when it was still hot, and it solidified in there pretty quickly as it cooled, but I'll just microwave it before I need to use it again. I know it's still lots of sugar, but at least there aren't any weird ingredients like in store-bought syrup, and NO high fructose corn syrup! Yay!

Finally, I made a homemade chai latte this morning. Yeah, you read that right.

I felt like cinnamony, spicy tea to go with the French toast, and then it hit me: if I can make a latte with coffee and hot milk, why not make a chai latte with tea and hot milk? Duh.

It worked. Really well.

I steeped a chai tea bag in half a mug of boiling water, for quite a while (to get it strong). I added milk to mostly fill the mug and popped the whole thing in the microwave for a minute and a half to heat it up well (you could just steep a chai tea bag in a saucepan of 1 cup milk, too, and forgo the water entirely). The milky tea, a healthy teaspoon of coconut oil, and about 1/2 teaspoon of honey went in the pitcher for my immersion blender and I blended it like I do with my coffee (for about a minute, agitating the blender to incorporate a lot of air into the stuff). I finally realized why it gets such a rich foam: the fat from the coconut oil helps the milk (just 2%) get really foamy and creamy. YUM.

Man, it was good. I'm doing this all the time now, when I don't make a coffee latte. Seriously, who needs Starbucks?!?

I apologize for how long this ended up being, but I hope you go try at least one of these things. I kind of tend to geek out over food. Good food, that is. You won't find me going into raptures over a burger and fries. (Unless, of course, it's a homemade burger, grilled and juicy, with oven-baked fries tossed in olive oil... sorry. I'll stop now.)

On tea and other hot beverages

My mom got me started drinking tea when I was quite small.  I was probably eight or nine when I learned to enjoy a hot cup of tea.  "Tea parties" with dolls and (when I was very young, two to four or so) with Daddy were fun play-time activities, but it wasn't till I was older that I realized the lovely possibilities for other happy times that tea holds.

Pretend tea parties turned into real ones with my girl-friends down the street, two sisters who had a knack for baking.  We'd all make sweet treats and I set the table with the fancy china, tablecloth and linen napkins, and we used my mother's pretty tea cozy: large straw cylinder with a space inside that exactly fit the teapot that came with it, lined with pretty fabric and stuffed with some insulating material.  (Go to this site to see exactly what my mom's tea cozy looks like on the outside.  This site shows kind of what it looks like on the inside.  It's quite brilliant, and keeps the tea hot for quite a long time--warm for nearly 12 hours!)

Then, in high school, tea parties took an even more mature turn with my tea and Jane Austen-loving friends.  We would play "big girl dress-up" with fancy dresses that J's grandmother, a talented seamstress, had made, eat fancy and delicious snacks, and choose from J's big collection of tea.

When I started college I was given a hot pot, several new mugs, and several boxes of tea by dear friends who knew how important that was.  I enjoyed cups quite often while studying in my dorm room, or with a friend or a few.

Now my husband and I will often drink tea together with breakfast, or during a cool evening while watching a movie and doing homework.

Tea has been the center of gatherings for my mom, me, and many friends, and tea parties with different people are among my happiest memories.

But tea isn't the only lovely hot drink there is!  In the fall and winter, spiced hot apple cider is one of my favorite tastes and smells.  I'm drinking a tea right now that tastes like Christmas: "Market Spice" by Simple Graces.  (I looked for this tea company online but couldn't find it...I'm wondering just how old this tea is!  Oh well, it still tastes amazing. :) )  A good hot chocolate, either from a high-quality mix (my mom makes a homemade mix; I'll share a recipe for it later this fall!) or made from scratch, is a treat that is unmatched in the winter.  And then there is coffee, of which I am not a connoisseur but which I enjoy very much.  My dad drinks Gevalia but I am quite happy with Maxwell House or the like.  In lieu of hazelnut coffee creamer (my very favorite), I like putting some brown sugar and milk in my coffee.  Also, I discovered this recipe for iced coffee on Pioneer Woman the other day, and I am making it very soon!

While other hot drinks are wonderful, and suited to their own occasions, tea is good all the time and there are so many kinds, tea suits itself to all tastes and seasons.
My mom's favorite tea, and one of the few that Joshua will drink, is Earl Grey.  Bigelow's is my favorite.  Actually, all of the tea that they make is high-quality and delicious!

Green tea with honey and lemon is refreshing and healthy-feeling.  Peppermint is extremely refreshing, very Christmassy, and excellent all year for soothing the tummy.  Chamomile has been one of my favorites for a long time, and especially with a little honey tastes wonderful and is very soothing.  Plain black tea--especially a good one like English Breakfast--with cream and sugar is perfect for breakfast or teatime with some scones.

And then there are all the fruity-flavored teas, and the different herbal teas.  I haven't had it yet, but I've heard that Red Raspberry Leaf tea is one of the best natural supplements for pregnant women--I plan on getting a lot of it someday! :)  My favorite fruity tea is peach--so yummy.  I'm also fond of lemon teas, which are wonderful iced.

Until I started writing this, I never knew to what raptures I could go about tea and other hot liquids that are drunk from a mug!  Tea really has been a recurring, happy theme in my life...I hope it continues to be so.  And I hope I've made you want some right this minute--go put the kettle on!

Life isn't perfect, but it sure is good. (Also, my hubby is a good baker!)

So my husband has been wonderfully "domestic" lately.  I put that in quotes because he's not really domestic, he's just been doing some domestic activities.  Mostly baking and doing some of the dishes that I never seem to find time to do.  But seriously, in the last four days he has made:
bread
no-bake cookies (his specialty :) )
homemade chocolate chip cookies.
They all turned out fabulously.  Last week I had him make no-knead whole-wheat bread.  It was in the More-With-Less cookbook, and I figured, hey, no-knead!  Easy, right?  Have the hubby make it.  The bread turned out tasty, but very, very dense.  Read: cutting it gave me writer's cramp.  Or I guess bread-cutter's-cramp.  Anyway, this week I had him do white bread instead, which turned out really good.  And the cookies were all fantastic.
But tonight we made banana bread.  It was fun, working together.  But then we were watching Smallville, and I left the bread cooling in the pans too long.
It fell apart as I tried to ease it out of the pans.  :(
I nearly cried.  Especially because I was going to give a loaf away, but it's not very pretty anymore.  It does smell good, however, and I know it will taste great!  (I haven't had any yet because I just had two fabulous chocolate chip cookies and a mug of vanilla tea!)

That's how life goes.  It's never perfect.  It might look really, really messy sometimes.  And often I goof up so much I just want to cry.  But that's ok, because I'm human.  I'll never be perfect, no matter how much I try or how good my intentions are.  Things will definitely not always go the way I want them to.

I know, though, that life is and will always be good.  I will always have more blessings than I can count.  I will always live forgiven and loved by God.  And sometimes, life will even be great. :)

A Day of Rest...and Productivity

Sleeping in this morning.  Necessary after a late night with friends and then with my husband.  :)

Homemade oatmeal-bread-toast and tea for breakfast!

Smiles and tears in church, joy and tragedy (a plane crashed at the local airport this morning), thankfulness and blessings, the Word spoken and sung.

Easy, yummy, filling lunch.  Doing the dishes together.  Getting the kitchen into a little better order.  (It never ends...)

Spontaneous romance.

Walking to work, hand in hand, such a cool and wonderful sunny day!!

Making pizza for several hundred people, with a lovely young lady, discovering a connection we didn't know we had.

Legs and feet throbbing after work, but thankful for the exercise, the ability to move and work.

A hot, long, soothing, refreshing shower.  Bliss.

Hubby laying out my nightgown and bathrobe, making tea and more toast for an evening snack.

Smallville.  A shared passion (obsession?).


Looking forward to tomorrow, with hope, with excitement, with peace.

Simple Happinesses

Seeing relatives that I haven't seen in about eight years.  I think I know now which side of the family my cuteness comes from.  My dad's cousin and her daughters are SO DARN CUTE!  (The girls are in their late 20's and early 30's.)

Singing Matins in church this morning.  I love it.

Driving out to my in-laws for Sunday dinner.  The fields are SO GREEN.

Spending the afternoon reading a book (of the Anne of Green Gables series) while my husband and his family play a board game.

A Sunday afternoon nap.

Toasted tomato-and-cheese sandwich.  My new favorite fast supper.

A cup of Chai tea, the first water boiled in my new tea kettle.

No tornado, despite the fact that the siren went off.

Relaxing with my hubby.  :) :)