Blah to Gra – nola That Is!

Allergies have haunted my life since I can remember.  Memories of the first time I was tested still haunt my Stepmom, whose fingers I may have broken had I been stronger.  Back then they did skin testing on your back, not on your arm…thankfully, for my daughter the testing process is considerably less painful and quick.

Little C tested positive to dairy allergies last year and she exhibits symptoms of wheat allergies, which we will be tested for next month when we go back to VA.  Developing meals free from both products has been quite a challenge…one that I welcome with gusto!

The puffed rice that once was a great breakfast at school has now become subpar in the world of more interesting things to eat.  What do you do with a ton of plain puffed rice?  Why, make absolutely wonderful granola, that’s what!

Start off by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

I raided my pantry to find different ingredients; this is a great time to use nuts or seeds that might be flirting with an expiration date or dried fruit that were bought and then forgotten.  This is what I found:

1 cup of Puffed Rice

2 cups of Rolled Oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup of raisins

½ cup of dried plums

You will also need the following:

1 tsp. Vegetable Oil

1 tsp. Vanilla extract (real pleeeeease!)

6 Tbsp. Honey

¼ cup Apple Juice*

1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

½ tsp. Cinnamon

*I did not have apple juice, we just don’t drink it.  So, I used a packet of apple sauce that I had in my pantry.  Perfect substitution!

Combine the oats and the puffed rice and layer it onto a cookie sheet.  Pop it in the oven for 10 minutes, just to toast everything a bit.  Keep an eye on it, if you burn any of this it’s done.  I stirred mine half way through.

While that’s getting roasty-toasty, combine all the wet ingredients and the spices in a measuring cup.

When the oats and puffed rice are done toss them into a bowl and pour the wet mixture over it all.  Mix it well.

Then spread a thin layer onto a cookie sheet.  You can use the same cookie sheet as before; I chose to use my Pampered Chef stoneware for this because I didn’t want anything to burn.  I baked this part in batches so that things would toast nicely.

Bake each batch for 15 minutes, mix some, and then another 5 minutes or until it’s lightly browned.  The mixture will still be moist when it’s done, but it should look a bit toasted.  Spread out onto another cookie sheet to cool while you start on the next batch.

Once cooled you can put back into the bowl and mix in the dried fruit.

You’re finished!  Super easy, super cheap, super yummy!  What more could a sweet little girl ask for?  Pour on some unsweetened coconut milk with a side of banana and you’ve got one energy-packed breakfast!



Seasoning Life

In April my daughter and I drove from Washington D.C. to Spokane, Washington.  Okay, I lied, my amazing Dad drove…we rode.  So here I found myself ready to establish a wonderful life for our little family, in a quiet area with a slower pace than the big city.  Of course, what I hadn’t really thought about was what I would do without all my friends.  Making new friends comes easy to some people, but not to me.  I’m inherently shy and very sensitive to feeling like an outsider.  By chance the opportunity came to me to host a craft/girls night every once in a while…thanks to the Party in the Back skirt.  This was the project we worked on this last night.

  

If you haven’t already realized, I’m anal retentive.  I spent about 30 minutes at the Hobby Lobby picking out the paper for this project.  So much fun...anyways, I folded and tore the paper, making sure it was slightly smaller than the actual size of the block.  I then wrote the word on the back of the paper and the side of the block, so I could keep everything organized.  You won’t believe, it took an hour and a half to just tear all the paper (talking included).  I’m silly sometimes…

I then sanded down all the edges…with a nail filer.  That’s right.  The sandpaper I bought was too fine and taking too long, so I just used what I had…easy enough to replace.  One of the blocks even had a stamp on it that I filed off, the best I could anyways.

I then Mod Podged the torn paper onto the matching block side.  I was very careful to make sure that if each block rotated once it would still show the same season on all three blocks.  Once the Mod Podge dried I sponged white paint onto all the bare wood areas, wiping it with a paper towel to remove all excess.  I repeated the exact same steps with an antiquing dye.  I used FolkArt’s Antiquing Medium #811.

Finally I applied the vinyl, making sure to rub firmly with a credit card to make sure everything stuck nicely.

Tadda!  LOVED this project!  Here is where you can get yours.



All Things Spring Quiet Book

This, I think, will be my last quiet book until winter.  It dawned on me that if I hurry up and complete all my projects right now that I might not have anything to do when the weather outside turns nasty.  :-)  I love this little book, which required even more sewing than the Witches Brew book.  The details are to die for!

I’m a huge fan of buttons, and thankfully my little girl is not a fan of eating them.  So bring on the buttons!  These sweet little flowers have sweet little button holes in the middle so they can come off.

 Loving the little rain drops and the path they’ve left as they’re coming down.  Not loving how hard it was to sew the umbrella handle…my machine likes the taste of felt.  Enough said.

Who doesn’t love bunnies; especially sweet little minky bunnies with ears that stand up or flop?  I embroidered the nose and eyes, having given up on the stress of sewing the minky on.  Anyone have a suggestion of which foot works best with this material?

  

And the galoshes!  Each one has a little piece of Velcro on the back so they can be removed and then put back in their respective spot.  My daughter loves playing with these types of puzzles, so this is just perfect…AND I got to experiment with different decorative stiches on my machine.

We absolutely adore finger-puppets in my house.  This little caterpillar is no exception!  I used different stiches for each of the three stripes, to add some fun.

One of the best things about spring…the butterflies!

These Easter Eggs were so much fun to design.  There’s an endless possibility to what they can look like.  I love how they just tuck away behind the grass.  Speaking of grass, I applied Fray Check to that entire end of the rectangle, prior to cutting.  That way the little blades wouldn’t fray away.  Hahaha…that’s funny.

Finally, the sweetest little chick!  Might have been the easiest out of all the pages.  LOVE

Now…go get the pattern here, and send me pictures of the eggs you make!

Cookie Crumbs

This weekend was a difficult weekend of not knowing exactly what role I ought to play in other people’s lives.   This can be a confusing and frustrating experience, especially when everyone wants a different type of involvement, level of involvement, and are likely to communicate this in different ways (or not at all).

So after a rather abrupt, but much needed, shake I came to the realization that if they aren’t asking for advise, help, or comfort…then they don’t need it bad enough.  My role is to be here, even if just a silent partner.  Eventually, if needed, they will come seek what I may have to offer…and they will be more likely to be grateful for it when it’s under their terms.

I can’t shove my caring down people’s throats, no matter how much I want too…but what I can shove down their throats are cookies!  So I made cookies…a lot of cookies.  :-)  Realizing how much I care will just come with time…

Chocolate Chip Cookies, with Pecans

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

2 cups of chocolate chips

1 cup of chopped pecans

Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste

 Start, as all cookie recipes, by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, cream together the butter and both kinds of sugar.  Beat in one egg at a time, and then add the vanilla extract.  Do yourself a favor and use real vanilla extract…please?

In another bowl combine the dry ingredients, including the cinnamon and nutmeg.  I enjoy spiced cookies, so I was generous with these two spices.

Okay, time to combine the two bowls.  The best cookies I’ve ever made come with patience…so instead of dumping all the dry ingredients into the wet at once, I do this in small batches.  It doesn’t matter if you do it in two, three, or four batches…just make sure that all the dry ingredients are combined before adding more.

Once everything is combined you can fold in the chocolate chips and pecans.  I used semi-sweet chocolate and whole pecans that I chopped myself.  You’re ready to bake.

Here is where I now provide a shout out to my wonderful Step-Mom for introducing me to the world of Pampered Chef Stoneware.  I once was lost and now am found!  So out came the stoneware and I started balling the cookie dough, placing about 5 on the stone at a time.  I patted them down a bit.  If you want GIANT cookies, go for a little smaller than a golf ball.

My oven baked these babies perfectly at 11 minutes, but yours might take a minute more or less.  Shoot for 9 to 12 minutes.  I love gooey cookies, so mine were perfect.  I let them rest a few minutes on the stoneware before transferring them to the cookie sheet.

Voila! Mum Made...



Monster Tooth Pillow

My nephew’s Birthday is coming up, and I’m thinking he won’t enjoy a princess bank as much as his younger sister.  So what do I make for him?

A Tooth Fairy pillow!  Of course…you have to man it up a bit.

I started with this:

Yes, that’s right; random kitchen supplies and a baby clothes hanger.  Fact is; I am not a good sketcher.  I couldn’t sketch a circle if my life depended on it.  And, since I’m of the anal-retentive nature, I love my circles to be perfect and everything to be even.  So I use what I can find around my house to trace the lines I need.  J  It just works.

  

So here are the cardboard patterns I made:

Went on a fun outing to Joann’s and came back with this (plus more…you know that happens):

The mouth was difficult:

No matter how much I’ve been sewing in the last year, I still can’t seem to sew three pieces of fabric together without messing it up somewhere…then let’s add the fact that the knit material likes to move.  Needless to say, it took me a couple tries before I was satisfied.

Then came the stitching, which I do while sitting in front of the boob tube:

I am using “Mum Made” as my calling card, so I went ahead and stitched that into the bottom corner of the Monster’s rear.

And the finished results:

 What do you think?

Royally Saved

For my niece’s Birthday this year I made her a savings bank…yes, out of a recycled formula can.  I’m telling you, I don’t want to waste these babies…not at $60 for a 14 oz. can!

Anyways, my darling little niece is such a princess, thanks to her Mom.  She always looks beautiful, with fantastic hairdos and sweet outfits.  I love it!  This is the perfect little bank to help a princess want to start saving.

It even came with a few dollars to help jump start the savings; in quarter-form of course.  There’s nothing better than the rattle of coins in a bank!

Express Yourself

Like this painting?  Me too; it’s one of my favorites.  The colors, however, were not my choice at first (I love them now).  My daughter picked them out of a plastic bin I have.  She was so proud of her finger painting: clapping, pointing to it and telling me all sorts of stories about it.  I love that she picked out the colors on her own, what a wonderful opportunity for her to express her unique personality!

This is a topic I’ve been contemplating for a while; especially since my daughter is starting to develop her own tastes and style.  So this is the question I want to ask all of you to ponder:

Why does it matter to me what my child’s _______ looks like?

Fill in the blank with whatever applicable word fits your life.  Hair?  Clothes?  Room?  Art?  Finger nails?  Anything really could go here, the point it to ask why it even matters.

This topic causes a lot of people to jump to the defensive.  It’s interesting to me to see their reactions.  Once our kids have reached the age of making their own choices, why do we still feel the need to control all their choices?

Have we not raised them to make good choices?  Is it a deeper insecurity that we haven’t done a good job of raising them?  We’re afraid that their decisions will make us look bad?  That people will think we aren’t good parents?  That our kids will look different?  Weird even?

Here are some reactions I got when I asked this same question to people I know:

1.       Short hair looks more professional.

a.        Um…they’re kids!!  No kid is being considered for CEO anytime soon, so let it go.

2.       I don’t want my girls to dress like women.

a.        Why would you even buy them clothes like that?  If you don’t want them wearing inappropriate things then don’t even buy them.

3.       I want my kids to look like me or I want all my kids to match.

a.        That was weird even on the Twilight Zone.  Enough said…

I think all of these answers are rather selfish, but perhaps that’s me.  Why impose our own insecurities on our children?  Let them express themselves!  Let them mismatch their clothes, grow their hair out, paint their nails bright green!  Why does it really matter so long as they are happy and confident?  Are we really trying to raise lemmings?  Individuals who follow society because they don’t know any different?

One of the things I do is let my daughter pick out her outfit for school each Friday.  Monday through Thursday are crazy days for me, so I normally set her clothes aside first thing in the morning to help move things along.  But Friday is a special day!  No matter what she picks, she gets to wear it.  She’s only one, so I still control her choices a bit by:

·         Only putting school/play appropriate clothes in the drawers she can reach. (This means her nice things are in the closet where she can’t pick them for daily wear.)

·         Only having seasonal options available.

Here’s the result:

 Hey, guess what?  It made her so happy to wear that hat, and it matches too.  :-)



Witches' Brew Quiet Book

Shelley Wallace did it again...my second quiet book adventure is complete!  I'm rather proud of myself on this one; the sewing level was more advanced, in my opinion, and some of the materials were firsts for both my sewing machine and myself.

The cover was one of the easier pages to make.  The most important part was to trace the letters onto the three fabric strips prior to sewing them onto the page.  Thankfully I'm learning to read all the instructions prior to starting, so I caught on that this was a must.

Sewing button holes is still a newly developed skill, so there were some issues with trying to get it to work on the felt.  After a couple of tries I got it to work, and then scalloped the edge for a nice flare.

This cat makes me very proud.  While it seems straight forward, sewing black on black seemed to be one of the hardest things to do.  There were several places where I had to resew because I moved off the edge.  Also, the eyes were a bit of a headache for me.  This was the first time I've ever done this, so it took a couple of tries before I was able to time it and space it right.

Without a doubt this was the hardest page.  My machine hated the bias tape (the tail), it ate it every chance it got.  Someone please share with me the secret to sewing a button hole on bias tape!  I ended up cutting a hole and reinforcing it on both ends.  Not the prettiest thing, but I can always replace it with something better.

Finger puppets are now one of our favorite things!  The ribbon holding them come off one of the buttons, which I'm not certain followed the pattern, but I like it.

This page was the most time consuming, simply because the web took a bit to sew.  We love this little Velcro spider.  I'm considering if I ought to put more little pieces of Velcro on the page so the spider can move around...

I was admittedly a little nervous about sewing this plastic, but after I started I realized it was no different than anything else.  Not quite sure why I waited so long!

The last page is the cauldron, where all the ingredients can be placed.  I love the little purple magic stars around the top.  That's the sweetest little accent to this adorable quiet book!

Just in time for Halloween too!  Go get your pattern now, you won't regret it!!