Paleo Fruit Pizza

I had a "lightbulb" moment Friday in the early morning hours while I was half-conscious in the bed before waking. Since six kids aged four and under were coming to play that morning, I wanted to make a delicious, healthy snack that the kids could help put together. Already for small group this week I'd made these n'oatmeal cookies from my new Make it Paleo cookbook that I'm loving! And I had pizza on the brain from Claire's request for her birthday party dinner.

So I made a "crust" using the n'oatmeal cookie recipe, except I substituted chocolate chips for the raisins. Hamilton helped me "make cook" Friday morning as we prepared the cookie dough and baked as directed.

After the cookie dough cooled, I slathered on coconut milk from a can for the "sauce." Then I let the kids sprinkle on the sliced fruit. Strawberries and blueberries from Florida were on sale this week, and they're so delicious.

I've tasted dessert fruit pizza like this one (before my Paleo days), and it's so indulgent and pretty! With kids decorating this pizza, there was no order to the "toppings." By the end the "pizza" was piled high with fruit, so we sliced it with a pizza slicer and served the kids.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Taylor clan gathered at the farm for Thanksgiving dinner this year with more family members than some years.

The men fried the turkey, which has become our tradition for the past several years. Apparently it's a lot of hard work for them.

We women cooked inside, and I contributed a "paleo" pumpkin pie. It was so delicious!

After delicious food, we took advantage of our numbers and played a rousing game of tag football while the little boys napped.

Hamilton and Collier enjoyed the attentions of their Uncle Billy and Aunt Linda who were fabulous playmates.

Catch-Up List

Yes, we're still sad about Phoebe; but contrary to the blog's previous front-page post, life continues. I have much to share from the last two weeks. And I have pictures, especially for those wonderful grandparents.

1. My women's conference over two weeks ago was fabulous--no kids, no cooking, no chores! We heard awesome teaching, and I got to hang out with some cool chickies! We ran into lots of friends from other churches, despite nearly 2000 women in attendance. I was surprised and delighted to see my high school chum one morning at breakfast.

2. I've weaned Collier, so he's now fully drinking formula. I was eager to wean because--to me--breast-feeding gets old. I was ready to have my body (and time) back to myself. As I type, I think this all sounds selfish, but I was really ready to be finished with pumping. I weaned Hamilton between five and six months, too.

3. Hamilton does lots of new things now, like saying, "I wuv you!" He loves giving and asking for "high fives." He sings many of his familiar songs in distinguishable words and tunes; I'm really hoping for a video of his rendition of "ABC" soon.

4. We celebrated Mr. Morgan's birthday with Claire on Thursday night. She made him a brightly colored card, and because she had extra clay on hand from social studies class, created a sculpture of herself for him. What father wouldn't love a clay figurine of his daughter? Nevermind that Hamilton points and says, "poop" every time he sees it.

I thought it improved from far away. Something about the tilt of the head and ponytail, I think, is what I like.

5. My blogging has been so light this month, and my other writing is non-existent. I'm not sure why I'm feeling so uninspired these days, but not meeting with my writers' group every few weeks has not helped. Our coffee-fueled discussions helped hold me accountable to writing and blogging, inspiring me with ideas and reaffirming my purpose. Christy and Patty, I miss you! I know there were excellent reasons why we took a break from writers' group, but let's start again soon.

6. Mr. Morgan and I started a cleanse this morning. I'll probably post about our three days without solid food once we're closer to the end.

7. I found a fantastic food blog last week with delicious sounding recipes. I tried the pumpkin spice bars and cookies. The bars were delicious but crumbly because I added raisins and pecans. Sadly, I burned the cookies, but they would have been great without the scald.

Since this post is already long, I'll create another with pictures of the boys from our weekend in the mountains.

Banana-Nut Muffins

This morning I whipped up some banana-nut muffins for my women's Bible study group. I thought they turned out to be delicious and not too sweet, so I wanted to share the easy recipe from my Southern Living cookbook.

Banana-Nut Muffins
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup plain yogurt (I substituted some of Hamilton's banana yogurt, since I had no plain.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin pans, filling three-fourths full. Bake at 350 for 19-21 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pans immediately. Let cool on wire racks. Yields 2 dozen muffins.

Little Pies

Mom and I made little pecan pies tonight for her church's Christmas reception Sunday night. It's a delicious recipe that's not too sweet; Mom got the original recipe from her friend Kathy, who's a wonderful pastry chef and cake baker.

Pecan Pie
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients, and pour into an unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. (We used mini fillo shells for our tiny pecan pies, and we baked them only 15 minutes.)

Delicious, Fatty Recipes

Last week I had several occasions to bake some treats. The eaters gave many oohs and aahs, so I wanted to share the recipes. Since both are Southern Living recipes, I knew they'd be delicous and take no credit for their scrumptiousness. I'd made these brownie cookies before, and they've always been good. Mr. Morgan began calling them "brookies" in honor of our favorite Bailey kid at Clemson.

I also whipped up a sour cream coffee cake, which was a wonderful accompaniment to the coffee and hot tea we served at a women's event. Southern Living no longer has this recipe listed on its site, so I found one online that looked really close.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups flour, all purpose
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 tsp cinnamon

Oven to 350º, grease and flour 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan.
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream sugar and softened butter; add vanilla and eggs. Mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a small bowl. To the creamed mixture, add flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture; after each addition mix until just combined.
Spread half the batter into prepared pan; sprinkle with half the brown-sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and brown sugar mixture.
Bake 350º for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool upright in pan for 15 minutes. Invert onto a plate or cookie sheet, then invert again onto serving plate streusel side up. Serve warm or cool.

Today I'm planning to make chocolate chubbies. Though I've never made them before, I'm sure they'll be good; anything with tons of chocolate packed in can't taste bad.