Baked Apple Cider Donuts and a Walk Among the Leaves

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny Fall day today. 

The colors of the leaves were so vibrant. 

We had to keep stopping to look up and all around us. 

I think I know a brilliant Painter of such colors. 

Addy has been very motherly lately. 

The babies are everything to her! 

They sleep with her, eat with her and take walks with her. 

She can often be found rocking one and telling them, 

"It's okay, I gotch you." 

I told her after walk we could eat lunch in mommy's car and go to mommy's coffee shop, but she had to eat good bites. She ate everything! Whole wheat tortillas, turkey, cheese. 

So she got her "hot choc." 

Unfortunately she didn't make very great choices afterward, which made me sad. 

She has picked up the word "Stupid." Not that I think it's a slang word, but I don't think it is a good sounding word for little ones to be saying. She knows she isn't suppose to say it and we've explained that when we say that word to people or about people, that it makes them very sad. And we don't want to make people sad. 

So we had some timeouts (plural because she kept saying it during time out). 

Oh these testy terrific two's (do you like my use of "T" words?). 

But today is Monday and Josh has his Life Group tonight. 

So, it's been my goal to bake something for he and his boys every Monday for him to take. 

This weeks treat: 

Baked Apple Cider Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. white-wheat flour

3/4 c. coconut sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. cloves

1/4 t. nutmeg

Mix all of these dry ingredients in a bowl. 

Mix in a small bowl: 

2 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1/2 c. apple cider 

1/4 c. buttermilk

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed (don't overwork). 

But the batter into a large Ziplock bag and cut a hole in the corner. 

Pipe the batter into lightly greased donut pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes 

or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

While their baking, melt 2 T. butter in a small bowl. 

And in another small bowl, mix 1/3 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. organic sugar and 1 T. cinnamon. 

When the donuts come out, quickly dip them in some butter on the top

and then dip them in the sugar mixture. 

Cool completely on a wire rack. 

Their a super fun, cute little snack and very Fall-appropriate! 

I used the mini donut pans, but you could also use the regular size. 

Mama's Favorite Things: Baby Lit

Last year, my sister in law gave Adelynne a set of three books. I was so tickled when she opened them because they were classics put into simple terms for children. Now she could read Jane Austin and Charlotte Bronte! These have become some of Addy's favorites this past year. Now when she reads them with us, she knows what each page says because of repetition. Some books say the opposite of a word. For example, one page says, "old [clothes]" and the other page says, "new [clothes]." Other titles in the series emphasize numbers or colors.

As she is getting to know these books, she's getting to know some of the names and places, even weather from the actual stories.


I decided to see what other classics were in the series and couldn't believe when I found, "The Wizard of Oz," "Sherlock Holmes," "Romeo and Juliet" and many other titles. Author Jennifer Adams is quite brilliant in her creativity and  her thought put into these books is priceless. Illustrator Alison Oliver makes every illustration come to life for children to appreciate these books alongside their parents.

I'm a big fan of helping children understand the classics on their level. Addy is almost two and already is learning about some of the characters, plots and also is acquainted with the names of these wonderful authors. 

In my opinion, what Adams and Oliver have done with these books has helped me as a parent invest in some good reading time with my daughter and I'm so happy that she is getting to know these stories as young as she is. 

They make wonderful gifts and are reasonably priced. I have found them on Amazon for $8.99. And if you're a grandparent or parent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, these can be a fun series to add on to gradually over time and enjoy together. 

"Mama, makin' da tea?"

Sometimes our kitchen table becomes a catch all for random things.

I don't like this. At all.

However one interesting blessing has come out of the most recent pile of junk.

A lesson in tea brewing.

Let me explain. Sometimes when I know we have company coming over I'll off pile the stash of random things to either our room or our guest bedroom, just to clear the table. And then when I can get to the randomness, I'll organize it and get rid of things, like old coupons that have piled up.

Anyhoo...I've had a little pile of things on our floor in our room that have been needing to be gone thru. Among the treasures (or the lack thereof) have been two single tea strainers. They were removed from our kitchen drawers a few months ago while I've been toying with getting rid of them or garage sale them. Simply because they don't seem to hold loose leaf tea very well.

Of course having a toddler, not much goes untouched around here. I have up telling her not to touch them because I was worried her fingers would be pinched in them. She just liked playing like she was making tea.

"Mama, makin' da tea?" she would say.

Today I decided to make the most of the strainers and I told her I wanted to teach her how to make big girl tea with the tea strainers.

So we made tea.

When I went to go look thru my loose leaf collection, I realized I only had one tea that was decaffeinated: Lavender Lemon Mint Tea, a find from our local farmers market.

 Then I spread out some of the tea on a white paper plate for Addy to see the colors and all three parts of the tea. 

 I filled the kettle and let it boil. I explained that the hotter the water gets, it begins to boil and produce steam. I showed Addy the steam and we listened to it boil. 

 Then I had her wash the tea strainers. But because my kitchen sink looked like a volcano erupted as a result of breakfast, I decided to move her wash station to the floor. I added some warm soapy water for her to wash the strainers by herself. I rinsed them after she was done. 

 Then we talked about what our tea was made of: 

Lavender

Lemon 

Mint

I had her identify and touch all three and even smell them. 

And we also identified their colors: 

Lavender: Purple

Lemon: Yellow

Mint: Green

 And she smelled them. I love her squishy nose smell face. 

 Then I opened the strainer and had her fill it as much as she could. 

 Then I told her we were going to use a big girl tea cup and saucer but that she had to be really careful with it and keep her hands in her lap unless mommy said she could touch it. She did really good. 

 Ready for our hot water! 

 Here it comes! She loved the steam! "Hot, Mama." 

 Steam face...

 It started out very dull in color. Which I knew it would, because it's an herbal tea. 

 She gently stirred it around. "Cling, Cling." 

 "Look, Mama." She noticed the little specs of tea (the reason I wanted to do away with the little strainers!)

 Then we squeezed in some honey! 

 "Wanna taste the honey, Addy?" "No!" 

 I led by example and tried it first. "Mmmmmm, yummy." 

 Then we let it steep and she wanted a snack, an orange. Which we had to add a slice of to our tea. "Mmmm yummy." And we waited. 

I wanted her to try the tea, but so far she hasn't wanted to. Rascal. But the experience of making tea was super fun and hilarious. All of this after a weekend of her being tummy sick and in the midst of a cranky day. But I'm happy for the experience!