Book Review - The Hour that Matters Most

Recently I was contacted about reading and reviewing the book The Hour that Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal. Since planning weekly menus and having dinner with my family on a daily basis is very important to me, I gladly agreed to do it.

If I already was not planning and eating dinner with my family, this book would have convinced me to do it. Co-authored by the founders of Dream Dinners, a meal assembly business, The Hour that Matters Most provides several reasons why family meals are important. Statistics showed that a majority of parents and children surveyed said they were more relaxed and less stressed when they ate together as a family. And the meal didn't necessarily have to be homemade every night. It was the time spent together that mattered.

The book also provides several recipes and tips for planning meals to make the job less stressful.

How about some yummy Baked Chicken Salad?


Or maybe some Easy Sloppy Joes?


You'll find those recipes and more in this book. There is also a chapter on how to start a fix and freeze club so you and some friends can work together to assemble freezer meals to help all of you with meal planning and preparation.

And though all of that information was wonderful and dear to my heart, since I love to cook and plan meals, my favorite parts of the book were written by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrot. The Parrots are co-directors of the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University. They offer wonderful suggestions for building and maintaining relationships with your children, which is, after all, one of the goals of family time. They also mention the practical aspects of spending meal time together, such as teaching etiquette and gratitude to our children. Only by spending quality time with our children can we pass on our values and faith to them. I was challenged and convicted about my own relationships with my children and have several ideas now about how to solve those problems.

I whole-heartedly recommend The Hour that Matters Most. Even if you already take time to plan your meals and eat together as a family, this book is a worthy read and can give you more ideas about your own meal time traditions.

To find out more about the book and the authors, visit The Hour that Matters Most. You can purchase the book from Amazon. com or Barnes and Noble beginning Tuesday, September 6.

* All the images in this post were taken from Hour that Matters Most by Les and Leslie Parrott with Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna. Copyright © 2011 by Les and Leslie Parrott and Dream Dinners. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this review except for a copy of the book to read. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.

Blessings - Do we really believe this?

Pretzel Rolls

A couple of years ago, our family went to Disney World and ate at Le Cellier, a restaurant in the Canadian pavilion at Epcot. The steaks were fantastic, the dessert was amazing, but the part of the meal we couldn't stop talking about was the pretzel bread! I promised my family I'd find a recipe for it that I could make at home. This recipe is the closest one I've found. The outside is chewy and delicious, while the inside is soft and yummy!

The pretzel bread at Le Cellier was shaped like bread sticks. I tried doing that, but they turned out all lumpy and not very attractive. Shaping the bread into rolls makes them pretty! And who doesn't like to eat pretty rolls?

Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg (or 2 1/4 teas) yeast
2 teas sugar
4 to 4 1/2 cups flour (I used King Arthur unbleached)
2 teas coarse salt
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1/4 cup baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
Additional coarse salt for sprinkling on top

In a mixing bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy. Add the flour, salt and oil or butter. I always start with 4 cups of flour and add more if the dough seems too sticky. Combine well (I use my stand mixer and dough hook for this) and then cover with a towel. Allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled.

After an hour, punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured service. Cut the dough into 16 equal pieces. I start by cutting the entire lump of dough in half, then halving each piece until I end up with 16 pieces.

Now comes the fun part of shaping the dough. Take one piece of dough and pinch the sides into the center to seal.
Turn the ball of dough over, so the pinched side is down. The side facing you should look fairly smooth. Using the palm of your hand, roll the ball in small circles. Don't press down hard, just roll the ball a few times.


The bottom of the dough should look more smooth after you do this. Place the dough on agreased cookie sheets. You could also use parchment paper to line your sheets. Repeat this with all of the remaining balls of dough. Cover with a towel and allow to rise again, this time for about 30 minutes.


When the rolls are shaped, bring 2 quarts of water to a low boil on the stove. Add the baking soda, which will cause the water to bubble up. With the water simmering, add a couple of rolls at a time. They will start to puff up right away.


Using a slotted spoon, turn the rolls over after 3o seconds. The bottoms will be puffy and lumpy, as they should be.


After another 30 seconds, remove the rolls from the water and place back on the cookie sheets, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining rolls. Can you tell which rolls have been boiled and which haven't?


With a pastry brush, glaze each roll with the beaten egg, making sure to coat all sides. Sprinkle each one with a little coarse salt. With a sharp, straight-edged knife, cut an X into the top of each roll.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until browned. Serve warm if you can. They're so yummy that way!


These rolls are fantastic! They're a perfect accompaniment to soup and salad. We like them with broccoli cheese soup the best! But they truly are wonderful with anything.


For more yummy recipes, visit Blessed with Grace's Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Edited to add:

To make these into pretzel bread bowls, just divide the dough into four equal portions. Then follow the rest of of the recipe as written. 

Menu Plan August 28- September 3

Yep, it's almost September! I love fall so much. I love the changing colors, the crisp mornings, the cooler weather. I adore this season more than any other, I think. And on September 1, Starbucks starts selling their pumpkin spice lattes. I'm gonna have me one of those, then I'll start making my own! It's a whole lot cheaper than $4 a latte, too.

This is going to be another busy week. I have a book review to post in a couple of days. The book is titled The Hour That Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal. It was co-authored by the founders of the Dream Dinners meal assembly stores. Go here to read more about the book.


Now, on to the menu plan:

Sunday
Slow Cooked BBQ Short Ribs (from The Hour That Matters Most), mashed potatoes

Monday
Chinese chicken, egg drop soup, rice

Tuesday
Sausage veggie calzones, waffle fries

Wednesday
Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread

Thursday
Korean beef, noodles

Friday
Bacon ranch chicken, roasted potatoes

Saturday
West Virginia pepperoni rolls

For more meal planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Mommy Guilt - and why you need to get over it!

Mommy Guilt. You know what it is.

The feelings of inadequacy and failure when your behavior toward your children isn't perfect. The inability to protect your child from every hurt and danger that lies in wait. The mistaken belief that every waking minute must be spent doing something with or for your children.

Mommy guilt can be crippling. It can bring us to our knees. It can rob us of our joy and hope. It can lead us to overcompensate by letting our children get away with their own bad behavior. It can push us over the edge and make us give up trying altogether. Do you know that really our children suffer the most from our mommy guilt?

I know some moms who seem to wallow in their guilt, agonizing over every single mistake. They call themselves bad mothers, often in front of their children, when in reality they're simply human like the rest of us! Their children now seem to think that their moms aren't to be obeyed or respected. If Mom thinks she's a bad mother and says so all the time, why would the child feel differently?

Friends, it doesn't have to be this way!

First, let's think about the purpose of guilt. To me, it's two-fold. The first "job" of guilt is to bring us to repentance. If we've truly done something wrong, we need to seek forgiveness. And asking our own children to forgive is the hardest of all. It's humbling to acknowledge to your children that you're not perfect. Guess what? They already know!

The second job of guilt is to get us to change our behavior. It's not enough that we acknowledge we've done wrong. We must turn from what we're doing wrong and seek to do right. Ask for God's help and strength so you don't repeat the same mistakes over and over. If you don't want to feel badly about yelling at your kids, stop yelling. Retrain yourself how to react to stressful situations so you don't automatically start raising your voice.

Recognize that you are not going to do everything right in regards to your children. Sometimes you're going to lose your temper. There may come a time when you unknowingly punish the wrong child for breaking your vase. You might forget to write down the next dentist appointment and miss a teeth cleaning. Do you know why those things happen? Because you're human!

Correct your mistakes. Apologize for losing your temper. And then LET IT GO! If God forgives you for your imperfection, why don't you forgive yourself? Are your feelings about it more important than God's?

God gave your children to you because in His wisdom, He knew you were the best person for the job. He also knew you were going to make mistakes in your parenting and interactions with your kids. He has already provided the tools of grace and forgiveness you need to admit those mistakes and try harder the next time.

Please, let go of the past. Be the best mom you can be TODAY!

Edible DNA Models

This year in science we're using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology. We love Apologia and this year is no exception. The first chapter covers the history of the study of anatomy. And the discovery of cells is a huge part of that history.

As we look at human cells, we can see how magnificent our God is, how He planned each part of the cell to have a specific function. We also marvel at how all of our unique information is contained in our DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid.

Because my kids love hands-on projects, we made an edible DNA model for a close-up view of DNA. And this project was a hit with them, just like the jello cell model we made a couple of years ago.

We used Twizzlers, colored mini-marshmallows and toothpicks. That's it.

First, we skewered mini-marshmallows on the toothpicks. Then we attached each end of the toothpicks on to Twizzlers, like the rungs of a ladder.


The Princess kept eating the marshmallows, so it took her a little bit longer!


Then we twisted the Twizzlers and DNA was formed!



The kids want to do this again today. I think they really just want to eat more Twizzlers!

Blueberry Cake

I love blueberries. Blueberry muffins. Blueberry pie. Blueberry smoothies. You name it, I like it. But one thing I'd never really tried was blueberry cake. And oh dear, I was missing out! This simple recipe is delicious! My family couldn't get enough of it. It disappeared so quickly, I thought perhaps I just dreamed that I made it and really hadn't! Ha ha!

The Princess helped me mix the cake up and wanted to know why we sprinkled the blueberries on the top instead of adding them to the batter. Well, the blueberries are heavy and will sink. If they're in the batter, they will all go straight to the bottom as they're baking. But if they're on top of the cake, they only sink a little! Great lesson on density, huh?

Now on to the cake. Here's what you'll need:

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
1 teas baking powder
1 cup buttermilk * see tip below if you don't have buttermilk*
2 eggs
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles crumbs. Set aside 3/4 cup for the topping.

Now add the baking powder, buttermilk and eggs. Mix until well combined. Spread evenly into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the blueberries over the top, then follow with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

The children loved this cake! They even ate it for breakfast. And so did I. It's one of the easiest desserts I've made. Nothing fancy about it, it's just plain scrumptious!

* Tip - if you don't have buttermilk on hand (and I rarely do), simply add one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup. Pour in enough milk to equal one cup and allow to sit for about five minutes. And now you have a perfect buttermilk substitute!