Easy Whole Wheat Biscuits

I remember waking up many mornings as a child to find my mother baking these biscuits for breakfast.   They're easy and very quick to make, and they use ingredients that you likely already have on hand (my favorite kind of recipe).I modified my mother's recipe by substituting whole wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour  any by using butter instead of shortening - otherwise, these are just the same as Mom always made.

 Easy Whole Wheat Biscuits
*1 cup all purpose flour
*1 cup whole wheat flour
*2 tsp baking powder
*1 tsp salt
*2 TB cold butter
*1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flours, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter (or, to cut in butter without a pastry cutter, simply put the butter in the bowl and pinch it into the flour until it is the size of small peas). Stir in a cup of milk, adding more if needed to make the dough hold together.

Turn out the dough and roll it about 1 1/4 inches thick. Cut it with a biscuit cutter or with the top of a wine glass. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until golden brown. This makes about 8 good sized biscuits.

I eat my biscuits with butter and jam, but you could also serve these with herbed butter for a delicious savory side dish. These only take about 15 - 20 minutes total to prepare, including cooking time, so they are a great last minute addition to your meal.

What recipes do you make that have been passed down from your family? Let me know in the comments below!

Sweet and Simple Valentine's Day Wreath

As Valentine's Day is getting closer, the children I work with are getting more and more excited. They are always clamoring for more crafts, and so we try to get creative in our (fairly low-budget) after-school program. These wreathes are simple to make and require very few supplies, all of which you probably already have on hand - cardstock (or any stiff paper), scissors, and a stapler. This makes it a great last minute craft, and its definitely one that the kids love.


First, cut several 1" x 4" strips of paper (I used 16 of these strips to make my wreath, but you could use however many you'd like). These strips don't have to be perfect, so even young children can cut them independently.  Next, staple two of these strips of cardstock together at one end.

Pull the opposite ends of the strips together beneath the stapled end, and sandwich them together between two more strips of paper as seen below.

Continue stapling strips together this way until you have as many hearts as you'd like.

Then form into a circle and add one more staple to attach the last heart to the first one.

I had about 20 children ages  6 - 11 doing this craft with me, and only three staplers on hand. To help them be patient while they waited for their turn with the stapler, I gave them markers so that they could  decorate both sides of their strips of paper. Older kids helped the younger ones with the stapling, and in the end it was a great collaborative project!

Rise and Shine Coffee Sugar Scrub

In the winter especially, I love using facial scrubs. My skin often gets very dry in the winter, and scrubs help fight dry skin by removing old, dead skin cells to expose the new, healthy skin cells underneath. These healthy skin cells absorb moisture better and help your skin to look and feel healthier.

Store bought scrubs are often very expensive, but you probably already have everything you need to make your own homemade version. While there are tons of versions out there, this coffee sugar scrub has quickly become my new favorite. The coffee helps to improve circulation and is also an antioxidant, and the sugar provides great, gentle exfoliation - sugar begins to melt as soon as it hits the water, so this isn't an overly abrasive scrub.

To make your own scrub at home, you'll need:
*3/4 cup ground coffee
*3/4 cup white sugar
*1 TB vanilla
*1 cup oil (you can use any kind you like - I'd recommend grapeseed oil for very greasy skin, and olive oil for normal - dry skin)
*1/4 cup dry oatmeal, ground in a coffee grinder or food processor (optional. This is a great and very soothing option if you have breakouts on your skin)

Mix all these ingredients together. To use, massage the scrub over damp skin, then rinse and pat dry.

These scrubs can be anywhere on your body that dry skin is a problem, and they also make great gifts! Use some creative packaging, and it would make a great Valentines Day gift for friends or family, or a wonderful teacher appreciation gift!

Sweet Homemade Cupcake Toppers

After baking cupcakes the other day, I was looking for something fun to use as a cupcake topper. I didn't have anything ready-made, so I grabbed some twist ties (the kind you'd get in the bulk or produce section at a supermarket), yarn, and a pair of pliers and got to work making my own. Here's how I did it:

First, gather your supplies and use your scissors to cut the excess paper of the twist tie. Like you see in the photos above, you should be left with just a wire coated in paper. Next, use your pliers twist it into a shape you like. With Valentines Day coming up, I created one that spelled 'love,' and another that was in the shape of a heart, as you can see below.

Then, simply wrap it with yarn (using glue if necessary to secure the ends), bend a second twist tie around it to use as the stake, and insert it into your favorite cupcakes!

These are so quick and easy to make - mine only took about 5 minutes each to create. They're a fun and simple way to dress up a dessert for someone you love - or could be sweet surprise tucked in a stack of pancakes for a child's Valentine Day breakfast! 

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I woke up the other day with the biggest craving for these lemon poppyseed muffins. It was cold and grey out, and all I wanted was to sit down with a hot cup of coffee and a warm, sugary treat - and the scent of lemons always just brighten up the morning for me, especially in the winter.

These muffins are sweet and simple, and come together quickly - great for last minute cravings.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
For the batter:
*2/3 cup sugar
*1 lemon (zest and juice)
*2 cups all purpose flour
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*11/2 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp salt
*3/4 cup sour cream
*2 eggs
*1 tsp vanilla
*1/2 cup unsalted butter
*2 1/2 TB poppy seeds

For the glaze:
*juice of 1 lemon
*1 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Melt the butter and let it cool.

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers or the back of a spoon until the sugar is damp. Then add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until combined. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and melted, cooled butter. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix until just barely combined. Add the poppy seeds, and stir briefly (it's okay if there are still a few lumps in the batter - they'll bake out. But if you overstir, your muffins could turn out tougher than you'd like).

Divide the batter evenly into the 12 muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. While the muffins are baking, whisk together the lemon juice and confectioners sugar for the glaze. Add up to a tablespoon of water into the mix, if needed, to make sure the glaze is thick but easily able to be poured. When the muffins come out of the oven and are still warm, use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each muffin. 

Enjoy, and let me know in the comments if you try this recipe out!

Beat the Winter Blues Treasury

Now that the holidays are all officially over and everything has settled back down to normal, we're left with just... winter. Its definitely been a colder-than-usual winter out here in California, and I have been on the lookout for ways to beat the winter blues!

I always find that it's little things that do the best job of cheering me up. Here a few of my ideas - all around $20 or less, so they won't make a huge impact on your wallet. Hopefully, though, they'll help you shake those blues!

Tiffany Blue Chevron Infinity Scarf ModLux $19.50	Robins Egg Blue-Teal-Turquoise Mug juliaedean  $21.00	Aqua Tissue Paper Pom Pom PartyPoms $4.00	Graphic Art Print  YellowHeartArt $10.00
Snow Day Body Cream  DressGreen $12.00	WINTER SALE Wild Blueberry Tea ChibiNaturals $5.75	Arrested Development Eye Chart ThePressingPig... $8.99	1 handmade cotton linen pillowcase linxge $22.00

As you can tell, I am in love with making these etsy treasuries... I'm not affiliated with etsy or with any of these sellers,  but I do love curating these lists! To see more treasuries or make your own, go here.

Embroidered Constellations

I have always loved learning how to identify constellations and finding out the stories behind them. I had a minor in Ancient Studies in college, and all the old myths have always just really resonated with me... especially when I can look up and see the same groups of stars that the stories were centered around. There's always been something magical about it to me.


My husband also shares this love of constellations, to the extent that when we were getting married, we designed our own constellation wedding rings and had them produced by a seller on etsy.com (Christine Bossler, who was wonderful - I'd highly recommend her). The rings are difficult to photograph because the silver is so reflective, but my ring has Ursa Minor drilled into it, and my husband Russ' ring has Ursa Major.

Recently, we were looking for something new to hang on the wall beside our bed. It had to be something light (because of the risk of earthquakes), so anything framed was out, and we didn't want to go for the dorm-room poster look. In the end, I remembered that I had several old canvases that we could use, and decided to embroider them with different constellations that have significance to us. I decided to start with Ursa minor, and this is what I came up with:

I like that the end result is subtle, and I'm going to make a few more to hang, gallery style, on the wall beside our bed. If you would like to make one, they're super easy to do, and all you will need is a canvas, paint and embroidery floss in colors that you like, a permanent marker, and a needle.

First, paint the canvas (I used one that was 8"x10") with navy blue acrylic paint, and while that paint is still wet, add a dollop of pearl acrylic paint in cornflower blue (find the kind I used here). Use a clean paintbrush to blend it in with the navy. This helps to add some depth and dimension to the color, instead of it being a flat blue. Make sure that you also paint the sides of the canvas for a finished look. Let the paint dry overnight.

Once you are sure that your paint is dry, turn your canvas over. Use your marker to sketch out a mirror image of the constellation that you'd like to use. Make a dot where each star will be on your finished piece, as in the photo below. 

Get your needle and embroidery floss. Thread the needle and tie a knot in your thread, and then embroider french knots where you marked the main stars in your constellation. If you're not sure how to make a french knot, check out this video, which will show you how.

Once your constellation is embroidered, tie a knot in the embroidery floss and cut it. Divide a new piece of embroidery floss in half (so that you have two strands of floss, each with three threads). Thread one of these strands on your needle and make small, random stitches around the canvas to represent other stars in the night sky. Continue making small stitches until you are satisfied with how your piece looks, and you're done!

I hope you are having a wonderful day - and enjoy making your own embroidered constellation canvases!