Best Coffee Cake

This is a versatile and easy recipe. This one is usually gone in less time than it takes to prepare!

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

-Topping-
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup shredded coconut

Mix together dry ingredients, add butter, milk, and egg. Beat until moist, about 20 strokes. Scrape into greased 9 inch cake pan, or 9 x 13 glass works too. Sprinkle chips across top of cake. In small bowl, mix coconut and melted butter, and spoon over top of the chips. When the cake bakes, some of the toppings will sink slightly into the center, and the coconut left on the top will brown nicely.

Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes.

Other toppings work well too, such as streusel crumb, fruit, (blueberries, crushed pineapple, sliced cinnamon apples) or even 1/2 can of cranberry sauce cut into slices and laid over the top, which creates a nice marbled effect.

Easy Banana Nut Bread

This is one of my favorite recipes - it makes a wonderful breakfast, snack, or side dish. It is quick, easy, and nutritious.

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 mashed bananas
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup sugar (or brown sugar)
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup shortning, butter, or margerine
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Mash bananas in small bowl. Sift together dry ingredients. Add bananas and shortning, and beat well, about 30 strokes. Fold in walnuts. Bake in greased loaf pan or 13 x 9 pan, for 35- 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

If you love this recipe, pass it on - it has been in my family for 4 generations.

Save Your Sanity - Embrace Organization!

As a parent, you are the guide to the journey your little ones take as they grow. You are their mentor, their role model, their guiding light. So, for your own sanity, and to provide them a good example, learn some easy time saving tricks. Here are a few that I have incorporated into our household;

Chore Checklists - just a simple chart kept in a visible area (magneted to the refrigerator door) that has everyones jobs for the week. This reduces fighting and whining, if you outline it fairly.

Bathroom Checklists - another list of responsibilities that must be completed morning and night that outlines the basics - i.e. brush teeth, brush hair, clean socks, laundry in hamper, etc. This eliminates (in theory) the room for "I forgot....."

Shopping Lists - a blank note in an easily accessible area to jot down supplies when you run out, to keep you from running to the grocery store every day. We live so far out that we only get a chance about once a week to shop, so this one is necessary here.

Dinner Planning - weekly or monthly, line out what you plan to make, so there is no last minute decisions, and you are more likely to have what you need on hand. This can be a family exercise too, so everybody gets a chance to have what they like.

Cooking Ahead - I will often prepare breakfast the night before, usually with lots of 'help'. When cooking dinner, its not hard to mix up a batch of muffins or a banana bread. Do up a few and put them in the freezer, and this works great for dinners like lasagna, too.

Time Limits - A simple egg timer or a microwave timer works well to enforce time limits. It also creates a sense of urgency, and saves you from repeating your requests (hopefully). Twenty minutes to clean up toys or ten minutes to prepare for bed minimizes long ordeals, and gives a sense of accomplishment.

A few minutes of peace and quiet once in a while makes a world of difference, I hope some of these ideas help someone else to be able to find that.

Time for School - Already

Summer has flown by, as the usually do, and now it is time to start back into the monotonous grind of school. But, it doesn't have to be so bad.

Here in our home, we take a fairly relaxed attitude toward school. Well, as the teacher, I try to project a relaxed attitude to my kids. (me, on the their hand, I am quite anxious, but what's new?)

There are so many wonderful aspects to homeschooling. I have been formulating a curriculum for quite some time, and doing my best to gather all necessary materials. I have let the start date slide a little, as most students returned to school last week, we have taken the time to set up our school room. I feel that this eases my students into returning to a routine, rather than slamming them into a brick wall. This would be defeat before we have even started.

Rather than doing every subject every day, I periodically will introduce a new subject as the work days grow longer, and the kids become more accustomed to spending time sitting indoors. This way, they are given something new and interesting to do, which truly is the key to staying motivated. We will be doing a variety of "fun" lessons, like sing-a-long tapes for certain subjects, interactive CD's, and even sign language. This is a multifold solution, as I have quite a span of ages which I must entertain.

Here is to staying motivated, and lots of success and progress in the months to come.