Works for Me: Toys Worth Buying

This week Shannon is hosting a themed edition of Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks in my Dryer. The theme is Toys Worth Buying.

My personal favorite place to shop online for toys is Oompa Toys. They have great quality, open-ended toys many of which are hand crafted of wood and other natural materials.

Here are a few of my favorite things that we have gotten for our girl. I can tell you that everything we've gotten for her from this store is still in service and is still played with. These are just my three favorites.

(all photos courtesy of the Oompa site)

Walker Wagon by Haba

Pickle's has a red seat with blue handle, although I do like the updated orange & green!


We call this the Chicken Stacker. Here's the real name: Cachempil Maman Poule from Djeco. Now you know why we call it the Chicken Stacker!


Djeco Tap-tap Mother Hen

Although many of the toys we've gotten from Oompa are available from other retailers around the web, we like that we can find most of what we're looking for in one store and they offer free shipping when you have a large order (I think they are at $65 right now.).

Oompa Toys works for us, what works for you?

This post is not a paid advertisement for Oompa Toys. Just our happy shopping experiences shared with you!

Reheating Spaghetti

First, let me say this really will only work if you don't mix your noodles and sauce. If you do, then you're going to need a spatter protector of some kind that I just can't help you with.

If you keep your noodles and sauce separate, read on:

When reheating some 'sketty' for my girl yesterday, it dawned on me that if I put the sauce down first, under the pile of noodles, I might not get the inevitable "Pollock" look-a-like microwave interior.

I tried it and I'm happy to say it worked for me!

Head over to Shannon's Place for more great tips and tricks!

PANCAKE?

Who wants a pancake,
Sweet and piping hot?
Good little Grace looks up and says,
"I'll take the one on top."
Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?
Terrible Theresa smiles and says,
"I'll take the one in the middle."
~Shel Silverstein

Whole Wheat, Banana, Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I'm re-posting this for Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks In My Dryer--head on over for more great tips!

YUM! These are so delicious (and really quite healthy) that they don't even need syrup!

Here's what you need:

1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur--it is ground super fine)
1 t. baking powder
healthy pinch of salt

1/2 c. milk
1 egg
1/3 frozen, then thawed banana
1 1/2 t. honey
1 1/2 t. oil

mini chocolate chips

1. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. Measure 1/2 c. milk in a glass measuring cup.
3. Add the egg, oil and the thawed banana to the milk.
4. Using a fork, mix the egg, banana & oil; pour into dry ingredients.
5. Mix the wet into the dry until just combined.
6. Add the honey to the batter, stir.
7. Ladle batter onto hot, greased griddle.
8. Sprinkle 1 t. mini chocolate chips onto top of pancake.
9. Cook 1-2 minutes, until bubbles form on top.
10. Flip each pancake and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until second side is golden.
11. Butter each pancake as it comes off the griddle.

Serves two, but is quite easy to double, triple or even quadruple! (Even for a non-mathematician like me!)

Five Ingredients or Less

This is one of my favorite 'go-to' meals, or as I like to call them, Pantry Pleasers. I generally have all the ingredients on hand in my dry, frozen & fresh pantries.

I realize there are probably hundreds of versions of this out there, but here's mine.

Baked Penne

1 lb. penne rigate pasta
1 lb. loose chicken sausage
1 jar pasta sauce
1 small tub (1/2 large tub) ricotta cheese
2-3 c. mozzarella cheese

optional:
Parmesan cheese
pats of butter for the top

1. Boil four quarts water. Salt heavily. Add pasta & cook according to package directions.
2. While water is coming to a boil/pasta is cooking, heat a heavy skillet over medium heat and add sausage. Cook 'til evenly browned.
3. Add jar of pasta to sausage, bring to simmer.
4. When draining pasta, reserve a cup of pasta water in case sauce is too thick for your taste. When pasta is drained, return to pot and cover. (Don't return this to the hot burner though, or your pasta will stick to the bottom!)
5. Add ricotta cheese and 1 c. mozzarella to chicken/sauce mixture. Stir to combine.
6. Add chicken/sauce/cheese mixture to pasta. Mix well.
7. Dump pasta/sauce mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish (I spray mine with cooking spray, but this step is not necessary).
8. Cover with remaining cheese. Add Parmesan & pats of butter if desired.
9. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbly and browned on top.

This freezes well and also makes fabulous lunch left-overs!

For a more descriptive, photo laden version of this recipe (with a cute recipe card), click here.

Works for Me Wednesday: Gettin' the Lid Off the Honey Jar

We have a friend who is a honey farmer. (He farms other stuff too, but the honey is most important to me!) He brings me honey in jars. Raw honey that hasn't been processed, filtered or homogenized or pasteurized (or whatever it is they do to the honey that comes in the little bear squeeze bottle!).

It's just wonderful, natural honey in glass jars with screw-on lids.

The thing is, those screw-on lids get awfully sticky from pouring that amazing, magically sweet honey out.

So . . . one day, after a particularly frustrating bout of struggling with a honey jar lid, I remembered a little tip I picked up on Food TV. I think it was Paula or Sandra Lee or one of those talented ladies; she said to put a little oil in your measuring cup when measuring out sticky things like honey and corn syrup. I've been doing this now for years after hearing this little golden nugget of advice.

Honestly, I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner--maybe you already have--but if a little oil works in a spoon/cup, why not on the neck of a honey jar?

I cleaned up the neck of the jar and the inside of the lid with a cloth soaked in hot water, sprayed on a little cooking spray and voila! no more sticky jar lid! I reapply the spray every second or third use just to keep the stickiness down.

This works for me! What works for you?

Head over to Shannon's place to post your wonderful ideas and see what else is working too!