Banana Pancakes

Combine:

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoon Baking powder

1 Tablespoon Baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cloves and/or cinnamon

Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Combine 1 cup mix with:

1 egg

¾ cup milk

1 mashed ripe banana

(splash of vanilla)

This is also a great recipe to add blueberries to, and we like to eat them with jam rather than butter and syrup.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 Sticks Unsalted Butter, room temperature

¾ c. White Sugar

1 c. Brown Sugar

2 Eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking Soda

½ tsp. Baking Powder

3 Tbsp. Vanilla Pudding Mix

2 ¾ – 3 c. Whole Wheat Flour (depending on how humid the day is)

1 c. Chocolate Chips

Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually to butter mixture. Depending on the weather, you may need to alter how much flour you use (a little more if the day is humid, a little less if it's dry). Fold in chocolate chips. This recipe is great with multiple kinds of chips and/or nuts. The cookie is great on it's own though, so don't over power it by going crazy on the mix-in's. Drop by Tbsp onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 11 minutes. Yields about 6 dozen.

Cloth Diapers

So we decided to take the plunge into the wide world of cloth diapers!

We bought some covers here and rather than purchase the diapers, I chose to sew them myself. I followed this general pattern, and made a few alterations.

I started by creating my pattern.

I used this pattern to cut out two pieces of flannel. I made the soaker out of 5 layers of terry cloth. Matthew gave me a serger for Valentines day which made it a breeze. I've found that 3 layers of micro-fiber cloth (the kind you use to dry your car) are equally absorbent and significantly less bulky. They also dry faster.

Next I sewed the soaker onto the wrong side of the flannel (that will be on the inside of the diaper). Then I sewed in elastic on the legs and the back. Each piece was 4 inches long. It helps to make corresponding marks on both pieces of flannel so when you so them together you can stretch the elastic and easily match things up.

On the right side of the outside flannel, I sewed a piece of velcro (the loop/fuzzy part) using a zig zag stitch. I sewed a scrap piece of flannel on the back at the same time for added strength.

With right sides together, I sewed the two pieces of flannel, turned it right side out and top stitched the opening. Top stitching the whole thing adds some strength and makes a nice finish, though it's not necessary. Finally, I sewed on the hook part of the velcro, as well as a square of the loop side to create fold over tabs.

And voilà, a homemade cloth diaper.

Once I got the kinks in my pattern worked out (it took 3 different proto-types), I was able to put together a diaper in about an hour.