Sweet Potato muffins

I have always enjoyed cooking. Recently I have become more interested in it and LOVE to try new recipes.

I have a very large bucket of sweet potatoes and I have tried a few recipes with them, but I'm the only fan of them.

The girls will get sweet potato bread but I wanted something lighter and more like a snack food for them.

Yesterday I found a sweet potato muffin recipe and decided to give it a try.

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and changed a few things with it.

I have to say grating sweet potatoes is a pretty good workout.

I was hoping the girls would like them but I could have eaten them all if they didn't!

They were a huge hit and I love that there is some healthy about them too!

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups peeled, shredded sweet potato
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin tins to hold 12 muffins.
2. Whisk together brown sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in a small bowl.
3. Mix together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt, and grated sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and pour in the egg mixture. Stir the egg mixture, gradually incorporating it with the flour mixture. Stir in the raisins and walnuts
4. Spoon the batter into the tins. I like to fill each tin to the rim to make a large cap. Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Take the muffins out of the oven and run a paring knife carefully around each muffin, then invert the pan, and knock one edge against your work surface to release the muffins. Serve the muffins right away.

** I increased the cook time to 40 minutes. I omitted the nuts and included semi-sweet chocolate chips and used Kosher salt (not regular salt). I should have squeezed some of the liquid out of the grated sweet potato, and that could have kept the bake time around 30 minutes.

These will be made again and again!

Terrible Twos

We have not had to experience the "terrible twos" with the two big girls...and boy am I thankful for that.

Sarah is showing us what the terrible twos is about.

I have cherished all the milestones with all my girls and I love that all three are so different. Sarah is the most curious and that causes some problems for her...and us. She is like a spring storm...beautiful to watch and I know that some of the things she is trying to do is preparing her to grow up...but if you are not careful a little tornado will pop up and she leaves a path of destruction.

Just this morning she broke a DVD and used half a tube of lotion on her hands and the floor. I don't leave her alone but sometimes it happens. I try to have her in the same room with me, but sometimes she takes off and it takes me a few minutes to find her and catch her getting into something.

She is a super smart little girls and is so fun to hang out with.

She loves to go to see Missy at "durch and have nonuts"!

For those needing translation....she loves eating donuts at church!haha

She has started asking "Hey Mom, whatcha doing?"....or will say.."Hey Dad, what is Mom doing?"

She asks lot's of questions and is a girl who knows what she wants!

She is Jenna and Meghan's biggest fan.

We get this cute little frown from time to time.

I think being two is just as hard on the parents as it is for the child!

Birthday

Happy Birthday to my babies' Daddy!

The love of my life.

My best friend.

My babies' Daddy with our youngest baby.

Blonde, Redhead and Brunette

I do believe I have a....

blonde,

a redhead and

a brunette.

All three are enjoying this warm (45 degree) winter day.

Eating popcorn and playing in the sunshine.

Sewing

I cut off a pair of Jenna's pants the other week because she had holes in the knees. I kept the part I cut off and the other day I decided to make a shirt for her American Girl doll with them. I still need to sew the back of the shirt, but I think it turned out great! When I told Jenna I was going to make her doll a shirt, she wasn't as interested in it as I was....until she saw what I made.

Meghan comes up with ideas and then I am the one who carries out the plan. We made Meghan's doll a dress, but I need to do a few changes before I make another one. I will take a picture of the finished dress too.

I'm going to knit a scarf for the girls' dolls too.

I really need to get back to my scrapbooking and I think I am about ready to do it. I love crafting but babies and toddlers take up lots of time, so I got out of it for a while. Sarah is as busy as a bee, but I think I can work out some time to do some things.

Gymnastics

This past August the big girls started gymnastics. They talked about taking a class for years and we finally found a great program for them at the YMCA in our area.

They have an hour class twice a week. While they are in gymnastics Sarah gets play time and I get workout time!

Meghan has been working on her splits and the first picture is her in the middle split.

Sarah was doing a roll when I took this picture. She thinks she is in gymnastics too. I think we will start her in a class when she turns three.

Jenna has been working on her backbend (from a standing position) and it doesn't look very easy. She does use a wall or in the above picture she used the couch to help her down.

They are both doing a fantastic job in class and they are both building some muscles too.

Busy as a bunch of bees

Boy have we been busy. With school, homework, gymnastics and other errands we have stayed pretty busy this month.

Meghan has lost two teeth. One she pulled and one the dentist pulled for her.

Jenna and Meghan had dental cleanings and both have been doing a great job keeping their teeth clean and free from cavities.

Sarah has been busy with playing, having books read to her, messing up the house, eating snacks....and last but not least....climbing out of her crib....then back in it later.

So this last picture shows what we did today.

We thought about putting a twin mattress on the floor, but since we still had the crib and it works with the side off, we put the twin mattress away and set up the crib as a toddler bed.

Tonight might be a very long night for me....I hope not.

We are going to put a baby gate at her bedroom door. I know she could climb it, but by the time I hear her up, I will be up and checking on her.

(I will also be putting a few pillows beside the bed, just in case she decides to fall off)

She is so excited about her bed and I hope this is a smooth transition for all of us. She is also doing a little potty training and is talking in more complete sentences. She calls herself the baby...but she sure isn't one anymore. Oh, and no she won't be sleeping with all those bears on the bed with her.