Gifting Granola

If you are looking for the Giveway post, click on this link....

december-giveaway-day

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I'm in the process of making something for Advent...a countdown of sorts for my little boy who just can't wrap his head around the fact that Christmas is NOT today.  But in the meantime, I've been making something else....

Do you remember the Granola that I got at the Farmer's Market over the summer?

Well I do, it was really yummy.  But it cost a ton and I had really been wanting to try to make it for myself ever since I had tasted it fresh.


Of course, I have bought granola at the grocery store.  You know, the kind in the box with the plastic bag inside...the kind that really sort of half-crunches-half-smushes when you bite into it.  The kind that TASTES like it has been sitting on a shelf for a long time.

Well actually,come to think of it.....that's exactly what it has been doing.

I found a recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and I decided to try to make a batch for myself.

My own variation, of course.  Omitting the ingredients that I didn't like or didn't have (like the coconut, butter and brown sugar, just to name a few)

I had a Mason jar of roasted/salted sunflower and pumpkin seeds mixed with almonds.

And I always have oats and dried fruit on hand that I mix up with yogurt..... like this

I also had some Buckwheat Honey....PERFECT!

I mixed all of it together with some oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Spread it out on a cookie sheet and baked it for 30 minutes (stirring it every 10 minutes)

It came out just perfectly.  Golden colored and intoxicatingly scented in it's vanilla spice goodness.... 

Crunchy and soft in all the right parts.

This batch is about half way gone already, but I am going to be making a fresh batch closer to Christmas.  It's going to be spooned into little Mason Jars with ribbons and cards as gifts for the boy's teachers.

And I'll be sure to keep a few jars on hand for any unexpected visitors.

Vanilla Spiced Granola Recipe

4 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup of dried fruit....I used cherries, cranberries, and raisins

1/3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup roasted sunflower seed hearts

1/3 cup slivered almonds

3/4 cup honey

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

and a sprinkling of salt (if the nuts aren't salted)

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I've been overwhelmed with the turn out for the giveway...such nice people.  I really hope that some of you will continue to join me here, even after the giveaway.

Hugs to you all.

Best Shot Monday... and a visit with Santa on the Mountain.

For this week's entry in to Tracey's Best Shot Monday, I chose a photo that my Mom said reminded her of antlers...And after she joined my boy and nephew with the rest of my family at Santa's Workshop last night....

I can see why she had reindeer on her mind.

I was sorry to miss the meeting of the minds between Santa and my boy. I'm sure there was some heavy negotiations going on.

Happy Monday everyone. Be sure to stop by the Creative Book Exchange to sign up!

Tradition...

I used to make a gingerbread house every year around this time with my Pa.  Our Gram would buy and lay out all of the candy goodness and our Pa would help us construct the house.  They would then slather it in frosting and let Laura and I go to town on the decorating.... covering each and every inch of it in the sweetest, most tooth destructing candy imaginable. Every year we would devise a system to make it even MORE sturdy and impressive. We would make paths out of crumbled crackers, ponds to skate on out of aluminum foil, and even use coconut to mimic fallen snow. And somehow it was always strong enough to last an ENTIRE month.  Then on Christmas morning we could finally hack off a piece to chomp on.


It is one of my fondest holiday memories.
 
I was feeling super ambitious yesterday morning.... all hopped up on post Thanksgiving happiness.  While at the grocery store, I walked by the bakery and saw a gingerbread house kit, it had all the basics, a roof, the sides, and base; plus a bunch of generic candy to stick to it.

I got a bit sentimental standing there.

Then I got an idea....I sent the boys to pick out bags of whichever candy they wanted while I found the supplies to make homemade gingerbread and some graham crackers for the roof.

When we got home, the boys played for a bit and then they were off to the Arena to watch their cousin play hockey.  While they were gone, I went about making my first batch of gingerbread.

IT DID NOT GO WELL AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The bottoms of the pieces burned and when I tried to scrape off the charred parts each piece shattered into a gazillion bits.

I decided that I would try to make it again once I got to Pa's house in the afternoon.

But of course, my enthusiasm dwindled when I got to Pa's.  The boy's cousin Aurora was there, and there was NO way that I was going to get away with an hour of baking.

I ended up bagging the whole gingerbread idea in favor of graham cracker houses......I used the ENTIRE box of Graham crackers and a tub of vanilla frosting to construct 3 houses.

Flat-roofed-super-lame-wonky-graham-cracker-houses

 But it didn't seem to phase the three 5 year olds who each staked their claim....on a house and a pile of candy.

And even when the inevitable happened and the houses tumbled under the shear weight of approximately a pound of candy and frosting.

 There were still three little smiling faces reminding me that...

"It doesn't matter if they fall down Auntie Jella, they will still TASTE really yum!"

And as I looked back through the photos last night, I saw my own father assisting in the construction of his grandchildren's houses and I became super aware of the tradition being passed to another generation.

A tradition that I used to share with my own 90 year old grandfather who was just pleased as punch to pose for a photo with his two great-grandsons, their houses, and smiles plastered to all three of their proud little faces.
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Happy Thanksgiving...!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited for this day, and not just because I have launched the Creative Book Exchange Blog.......

But because I have not one, but TWO delicious family gatherings to jam into one day. The first is up at my grandparents big house on the mountain filled with cousins and kids and yummy food, then I am going back home where Fran and I are having his family over for dinner.  With all of that tryptophan from the turkey, it's SURE to be an early night.

As promised though, here is the link to the Blog. SO, follow me over there and see the new space, sign up and pass on the good word.

I really look forward to this Exchange so much.

And please, have a really wonderful Thanksgiving with your families....because we truly have so much to be thankful for.

Psyched...

Here I sit, warming my lap with my computer.  Eating a MASSIVE Honey crisp (my favorite) and a mug of hot chocolate.

The first thing I've eaten all day and it was well worth it.

Head first in Blogger all morning, setting up the Blog for the exchange.

Boy is this ever going to be fun.

See you tomorrow!

Hugs, Julia

Creative Book Exchange update...

So, I've been thinking about that Creative Book Exchange that I had mentioned that I wanted to host way back in September, or so. 

I realize that we are all utterly swamped at this time of year and I was going to wait to start the Swap until after the Holidays.  Then I thought that if I set up the Blog for it NOW and started the sign-up that we could have a month or so to get our books together and casually get to know each other at the site before that we all traded our books.

 Stress-free visiting...doesn't that sound nice right about now?!?!?!

Ideally the blog will be a place of inspiration and friendship.  A place where we can show photos of the things that we have made from our favorite books; trade stories of favorite authors and projects or just talk about all of the coveted books that we wish that we had.

I am going to be setting the Blog up in the next few days (in between gorging on Turkey, that is!!!) but I wanted to give you all the heads up.  I will post the link to the new Blog on Thanksgiving Day.

The actual Swap date will be January 10th 2010...I think that gives us all enough time to recover from the last of the BIG holidays.

How does that sound? 

Does that work for all of my friends here? 

If so, just comment here and I will collect a list of interested people to transfer over at the Creative Book Exchange Blog where the official sign up will be.


PS. Tell anyone that you feel might be interested too, the more the merrier (and the greater selection of books!)

Hugs to you all. 

 I really think that this is going to be a lot of fun.

Best Shot Monday...

This morning is a short school day for the boys.  I spent those few hours doing one  of my favorite things....taking photos for Tracey's Best Shot Monday.  I jammed as many photos in as I could muster before the boys got out from class.


They are currently having a pillow fight in 10 feet from where I sit, here on the couch.

I am happy to report that after my self-imposed mood enhancement makeover, the little things like this are bothering me less and less.

I'm happy that I was able to reign myself in before the Holidays.

This afternoon we are going to do some crafting of our own together.

I can't wait.

Better....

How could I not be..... watching this.




over and over and over again.

My nephew Sam is in the 2nd row back on the right hand side (in the blue striped shirt).

My little cousin Aurora is the last one on the top right hand side (in a pink dress that Laura made for her).

And my boy Eben is the redhead in the front row...He definitely didn't get his flamboyant nature from me.

I'm feeling ever so much better after a relaxing few days and a fruitful Craft Fair weekend.


See you all tomorrow.

Winter wreath....

 

The wreath turned out even more beautiful than I had hoped.  It's small but the perfect thing to spruce up the wall of our entryway.

 

If you would like to make one for yourself for the holidays, I've included a tutorial below.

Supplies:

3 sprays of glitter covered leaves

one 12 inch floral wreath

One roll of 5 inch wide sheer ribbon

a small glue gun

5 small glue sticks

To start, I wrapped the roll of sheer ribbon around the floral wreath enough times to not let the green of the foam show through.

I left about 2 feet of ribbon free to act as the tie to hang the wreath from a nail.

I decided to use just the long leaves for this wreath instead of mixing the two types of sprays that I had.

I snipped each leaf from the stem

Until I had a good pile to work with.

Then, starting at the top of the wreath, I began gluing each leaf one by one, overlapping at an angle.

This is the first time that I have used a glue gun since I was in Girl Scouts and needless to say, I came away with a few blisters on my fingertips from oozing glue.

Scouts honor.

I tried to make the start and finish as seamless as possible by tucking the last leaf under the edge of the first.

In the end, between the glue sticks and my constant blowing on my fingertips from the burns, there wasn't a surface in my sewing room that wasn't covered in glitter.

But, I DID have a really sweet wreath to start off the holiday season with.

 

 

After I cooled my fingers under a cool stream of water, I went about finishing off the wreath for hanging.

I folded the extra length of ribbon at the back of the wreath in half and secured the raw edges to the top backside of the wreath with 2 straight pins.

 After I hung it on the light blue wall of the entryway, I was surprised at the way that it changed colors according to the light filtering in through the door's window panes.

 

                                                                              

From gold (on the left) at noon.....to silver (on the right) this evening.

I'm pretty sure that this wreath not only got me out of my crafting hibernation, but it may have also kick-started the winter Elf in me, as well.

Not to mention how it reminds me of my walk yesterday morning.

The blue of the river
The green of the moss
The metallic of the rocks

 I just love a bonus, don't you?

Try.....Cooking

~A few recipes of my favorite food~ 

 

 Lasagna

 

White or Rye Bread

glazed pear cake

Lime meltaways

 

Warm Milk and Honey Cake

Orecchiette noodles with roasted chicken and rosemary in a creamy parmesan sauce

Granola for gifting

Comfort and Joy Chicken Pot Pie

Fall hues and crafting slumps averted....

Yesterday morning I was feeling restless, the beginning of the week was already shaping up to be a busy one.  I decided to calm my mind with a walk down to the river.  Just me and my camera, scouting out my Perfect Shot Monday, I walked a ways up the trail and back. The hiker trampled trail that is  flanked on one side by the river, a perfect beginning and ending to my walk.

The river was steaming in the chill morning air and I was struck by how much more moss is on the rocks where I sat so many hours in the summer, watching the foam form around the little mossy eggs. 

As my camera shutter spoke to me in the silence of my secret spot, I tried to capture the vibrancy of the greens and browns and grays.  Delighted with the watercolor like images that filled the camera screen. (A product of getting too close to the rocks mixed with the sun and my unsteady hands and footing on moss covered rocks)

I had time to reflect on the current state of my head.

A large part of my restlessness stems from the wall that I seem to have hit in regards to deciding what to crafts to do in anticipation of the Holidays.  My head and inspiration folder are just filled to the brim with projects.... alas, my indecisiveness had gotten the best of me.

I realized that all of these photos clicking away onto a memory card were the perfect inspiration for a new project. Then I remembered a recent post of Heather's.  A wreath was just the project to capture the hues of this day and to end my crafting slump.

PERFECT.

Unfortunately, I only got halfway done with the wreath before I joined Laura to replenish our dwindling Adirondack Mama's supply before this weekend's Fair.


I know! 

How could I pass up a Sewing Bee in the delicate condition that I was in?????

I couldn't!!!!  

It was like a sewing smorgasbord and I was a starved crafter.

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So, I leave you today with a sneak peak at the progress of my project.

Tomorrow though, definitely done.

See you all then.....with a tutorial to boot!

The winner and Best Shot Monday....

Just stopping in to announce the winner of the Calendar.....  the random number generator chose my wonderful friend Breanna.

Breanna is a fellow nurse and crafter.  She is also a Mama to the sweetest little boy named Jack.

Any way, I know that this is a rushed post, but I am just heading out the door to Laura's house.  We have a double date scheduled for this afternoon....

Her's is with someone named Brother, and mine is with Singer.... (I know, I know, her date is WAY hotter than mine is.)

We are going to be super busy, sewing up a storm in anticipation of the TWO day craft fair extraordinaire this weekend!

TWO DAYS!!!!!

I really can't wait.

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I went for a really nice walk this morning.

And found the perfect subject for Tracey's  Best Shot Monday.

Did I mention how much I love taking pictures?

Almost as much as I love visiting with all of you.

Hugs to you all.

Snug....

It was a chilly one last night.

 I had a really hard time getting out from under these this morning.

And an even harder time leaving little miss Grace and her brother.  The three of us spent all of last night snuggled up under the layers of blankets on my side of the bed.

I'm working again today, then I'm off for two glorious days.

I can't wait.

Maybe I'll even be able to sleep in.