I almost wish I hadn't seen this...

Remember the blog I mentioned a few days ago about cooking with food storage. I'm still looking through that blog and came across the cutest recipe. It makes a single-serving of cake in a coffee mug! I love it. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but maybe tonight after the boys are in bed... And I have a feeling the boys' teachers will be seeing this come Christmas time. ;-)

Anyway, here's the recipe and you can go to her blog for a video showing her making it in case you have any questions. Note: She uses egg powder and powdered milk in hers but you can just use the regular stuff instead.

Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
1 coffee mug
4 T. flour
4 T. Sugar
2 T. baking cocoa
1 egg (1 T. dry egg powder and 2 T. of water)
3 T. milk (1/2 T. Dry Powdered Milk + 3 T. Water)
3 T. oil (or applesauce)
3 T. chocolate chips
small splash of vanilla
Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!

I know this is a little late, but...

...I'll post it anyway. Back after Thanksgiving someone (I can't remember who) directed me to the cutest little Advent Calendar I think I've ever seen. I looked at it and thought, "I can do that!" So I did. Of course by the time I finished it, December was half over, but Owen really enjoyed it and we'll be able to use it for years to come.


The original calendar I copied was by Jenny at allsorts. I did mine almost the same as hers, but, of course, we can't have anything at our house that is ALL red and white (War Eagle!) so I alternated red and white pockets with green and white ones. I think it turned out pretty good.


I made the little dangles using my circle and star scrapbook punches. The dangles go inside the pockets (along with some chocolate or little trinkets) and each day when you open the next pocket, you hang the dangle on the button. I also used some of the scraps to make a little tree that we actually used to help Owen be able to identify exactly which day we were on since it was larger than the dangles and he could see it more easily. You can see the tree hanging on the last day in the second photo.

He loved it and became obsessed with moving the tree each day and opening the pockets. And it made my days a lot easier since it helped answer the questions of, "Is it Christmas yet?" and, "Is Nana (or Aunt Whitney) coming today?" It was so handy that I'm actually thinking about making some for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the boys' birthdays. All I have to do is find the time...