Breakfast Butter Balls Recipe

A nurse gave me this recipe. She said it was great for picky eaters. They think they are eating cookies or candy, but it is actually healthy.

Breakfast Butter Balls
1/2 C peanut butter, creamy or crunchy (we prefer creamy)
1/2 C nonfat dry milk powder
1/4 C honey or corn syrup (we prefer honey)
1/2 C flake cereal (I have even used Rice Crispies, but if you used something with more bran it would be even healthier)
1/4 C raisins or other dried fruit - optional (we prefer mini-chocolate chips, I know it's not as healthy, but my kids won't eat raisins in food only by themselves and there is just something about chocolate and peanut butter)

1) In med. bowl, mix peanut butter, dry milk and honey until smooth.

2) Crush cereal by placing in zip-loc bag and crushing with rolling pin.

3) Add raisins (or our personal favorite - chocolate chips) and cereal to mixture above and mix thoroughly.

4) With your hands form into balls the size of a nickle.

5) Roll in powdered sugar if desired. [I have tried it with and without powdered sugar and believe it or not it is less messy with the powdered sugar. It does make it a little sweeter, but there really isn't enough powdered sugar to make it that sweet.]

6) Store in fridge for up to 2 weeks (ours don't last that long) or in the freezer for up to 3 months (ours have never even made it to the freezer and that's with me doubling the recipe).

7) This recipe makes approx. 30 balls and each ball has about 43 calories. (The ones with chocolate probably more.)

Even though the title is Breakfast Butter Balls, I make them and keep them in the fridge for healthy after school snacks. I usually have to double the recipe because my whole family loves it.

Ghostly Necklace

I saw this cute crocheted necklace on Lion Brand Yarn and I just couldn't resist whipping it up for Halloween (it's not too far away you know).

This is a quick and easy necklace to make. You can find the free instructions here. The only change I made, was that I crocheted the necklace part in black (instead of grey). I think I like the grey better, but I already had the black on hand.

After I had crocheted the 3 ghosts and before I could attach them to the necklace part, Rance was playing with them as finger puppets. That would be another way to use them. When the older boys got home from school, they saw the necklace and immediately asked me if I could make them some ghost finger puppets. Hint: Lion Brand actually has a pattern for those too, you can find that here.

I love the Lion Brand website. Can you tell? No, they haven't paid my anything to say it, nor do I get anything from them at all. Actually, they don't even know I exist, I just like their free patterns (you can find just about anything knit or crochet).

One of these days, I am going to teach myself to knit. I tried it once and made a small dishcloth and it turned out o.k. for my first time, but that was so long ago that I've probably forgotten everything. I'll have to start from scratch. But that's another project for another day.

Happy Halloween, uh, I mean have a Great Labor Day!

Easy Breakfast

My Aunt told me about these Breakfast Cups. They are so easy and it is a complete breakfast - super good for an 'on the go' type breakfast.

Take canned biscuits (I used 1 can of 10 biscuits) and flatten them out (I do this with my fingers, you could roll them out I guess, but that's just one more thing to wash - so I don't). I try to make them the shape of the muffin tin.


Then you take several eggs and lightly beat with a fork (I think I used 8 eggs for the 10 biscuits and it was a little much, so 6 or 7 might do just fine), add a little salt and pepper to taste, add cooked meat and stir together. [I took 1 lb. of bulk sausage, browned and drained the fat off of it the night before and kept in the fridge until the next morning. It could all be done in the morning, I was just trying to make my morning a little less hectic. You could also used crumbled bacon or diced ham or whatever in place of sausage.]

Then you spoon the egg and meat mixture into the center of the flattened biscuit (while the biscuit is in the muffin tin).


Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake until biscuit is done.




What isn't eaten, place in a zip-loc bag and refrigerate. Reheat in the microwave.

You can customize them any way you want them, you can add peppers and onions or whatever you like. You can also make the whole thing the night before and just reheat in the microwave the next morning.

Tractor and Crown Cake

Here is a cake that I made and iced, then my husband decorated for me. (It's not fair, I took cake decorating class and he can just do it - I tell him what I want and he does it). All I did was add the little dots (after Lee suggested it) and then I did the shell trim.

It was for Rance's 4th birthday and my niece's 3rd birthday (their birthdays are less than a week apart - so we usually have some sort of family get together).

Sports Cakes

Oh, wow! I was looking through some pictures that I took several months back and realized that I never posted any pictures of these cakes that I made.


This one is a baseball cake (I hope it is obvious, but just in case it isn't).


This is just a different angle of the cake (to show the ball in 3D a little better).


This one is a soccer cake.

I used a large rectangle cake pan and the mini ball pan that I used here (you can order the pan here). The mini ball pan was used to make the balls on the cake 3 dimensional. I thought that it added more interest than just drawing a picture of a ball on the cake with icing.

Pretty Pajamas

I know that I haven't posted much lately, but my blog is for fun and I don't want it to interfere with family time so I do it when I can.

Even though I haven't been posting, I have been crafting and creating and taking pictures. I will get them posted eventually. Here is a start...



I found this great Tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. It is for a cute nightie (you can find the tute here).

I made mine with some of the fabric that I showed you here.

I made my nightie a little different. At Sew Mama Sew the tutorial is for a night gown. I decided to make mine shorter (like 'Baby Doll' pajamas, or a pajama top) and then I made shorts to go with it. I also used wide grosgrain ribbon for the straps instead of the spaghetti straps that were shown in the tutorial.

I am really pleased with how they turned out. They were rather quick and easy and now I feel pretty.

Handwriting for Elementary School Children

The schools where my children attend, teach The 'Denelian' method for handwriting. This is not what I was taught in school, so I find it difficult to work with my children on their handwriting.

I found this great website, that will help you help your child with their handwriting.

You can check out the site here.