Just can't get enough!

Lately, I just can't seem to get enough of this granola. I don't care to have a bowl of hot oatmeal very often, though when I do, it is drizzled with maple syrup, sprinkled with walnuts & then, topped with milk. When I eat granola, I eat it dry. Go figure!

This recipe is sooo simple & amazingly good. I hope you'll try some!

3 c. oatmeal

1 c. chopped walnuts or a little more!

3 Tb. melted butter

1/3 c. honey

Sprinkle of salt

Mix oats & nuts together. Mix melted butter & honey together. Pour over oat mixture & stir together, add just the teeniest sprinkle of salt if desired. (I like it with the salt!) Stir. Dump into greased pan with raised sides. Heehee-that's an important instruction!!

Bake at 300* for 30 minutes altogether,stirring after 15 minutes. Check after 20 min.s to make sure it's not too brown. Let cool, if you can, taste & say mmm mmmh!!!

Now - for my variations!

I made it with pure maple syrup instead of the honey-Incredibly yummy!

I have used walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews & sun flower seeds for the nuts & have combined a couple different nuts for a batch. I think the cashew/pecan batch is my fave so far!

Let me know if you try it!

Christmas is coming....

"Christmas is coming & the ..... is getting fat". In this case it's the chubby little tree,not the goose that's getting fat.These were really fun & fast to make! The chubby little tree is made from circles from a scalloped circle punch. I'm hoping to do a class with these.

Notice all the fun little variations. The first tree has golden snowflakes stamped on the tag, topped with a gold star. #2 is non-traditionally colorful,perfect for a little girl. #3 is classic & simple. #4 is topped with a shiny silver star-shaped brad. #5 has sparkly rhinestone stars scattered over it. Okay kids-do you need some tags?? Hurry up & tell me before I go out to Summy's!!

I love this retro image,don't you?

A card kit I made.

Another card kit I made. It's really not to soon to start making your goose, ergh, I mean, tree, fat, too!!!

Fa La la

I recently bought this book, it has a whole lot of great ideas in it. I like the cover & would really like to make a set of these. Aren't they adorable? Obviously, from the title, you'd gather the idea that these projects all use felt... & you'd be right! Felt is great to work with, as it doesn't fray, making it perfect for hand sewing. Hand sewing is very soothing to do, it has a rhythmic quality, like knitting or crocheting. Your mind is free to think about things & I find myself deeply relaxing.
I loved these little critters! I'm wondering if my kids or grand kids need some for their Christmas tree this year. I hope they do!
What do you think? They are my first project from the Fa LaLaLa book-I think they're a success!

All the sudden, I had to preserve some food. It was impulsive. Our local Farmer's market, that I like so well & don't go to often enough with our family of two, had a half bushel of apple second's.For $ 5.00. Need I say more? No, but I will. They were Cortland apples. One of my all-time favorite varieties. When I saw it, I had to have it. I just had to. Visions of bubbling, plop-plop-plopping applesauce simmering on my stove filled my head. I could just imagine the steamy fragrance filling the kitchen with cinnamon-y goodness...

And it did. A young friend came over & we visited over the companionable task of peeling, coring & quartering apples. I stirred the the fruit with water till the apples softened & broke down into a sauce like consistency. I added brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg. It was, & is, wonderful. I made another batch that same afternoon & now my freezer holds some of that Autumn treasure.

I still had some apples left & felt an urge to can something. It's been awhile since I've preserved something by canning. I ended up making canned apple pie filling.

Normally, I make an apple pie with fresh apples, but sometimes it's really nice to have a quick way to make a pie. No peeling & mixing, the labor is all done except for the making of the piecrust. That's a pretty fast way to make a pie.

I found some cute printable labels from a sight called http://www.oneprettything.com/. Did you know labels make home canned goods even more special? It's true! I could have just called it Apple Pie Filling, but I came up with "American as Apple Pie Filling". The blue & white tag with the red & white cord is my patriotic touch.

I was so pleased with my success with the apples, I also made some Salsa-make that Jill's Sassy Salsa & some Chili sauce-Mom's mmh mmmh Chili sauce.

Enjoy my little harvest, I might even do some more!!

Travels

One of the fun things I like to do is visit their different Grocery Stores! The Commissary is the Grocery Store on the Base. It was a great store, I visited it quite alot!

To make Trav's favorite Sausage Roll, I needed to make a pizza dough. I had never heard of or seen this here. I would only use this for pizza dough now, after having discovered this. There is no rise time involved, you can make it, knead it,roll it. It's good to go! No stretching back on you. This would be a newly discovered favorite!

German Chocolate Cake before frosting.

My excellent game partner, here, enjoying a hand of Uno.

Travis is working on this!

Passing through the desert.
I got to see my first mirage.

It truly looked like a real lake.

Panda Express.

Some really good food!

Today, I went to Norwich with a friend. The curtains I bought for the Dining room were just wrong. I had envisioned bright & cheery with a multi-striped tab curtain on a brushed nickle rod. The rod is fabulous! The curtains were bright & cheerful but just did not look right in the room. I think it will be plain white curtains. Unless another vision will be visited upon me!

My CA family- Travis & Jesse.
Travis took us to Panda Express.

We played lots of games.

Jesse.

Travis goofing off with his new safety glasses!

Time to play outside.

Grandma can still dribble pretty good.

My team mate!

Travis, Neiceoli, & Jesse waiting for Judah.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

How do you celebrate birthdays at your house?? Are you a party girl? Always ready to call a bevy of friends & family to gather around an abundance of food? Are you the quiet one? Let it slip by without too much notice? Or the intimate party girl ? A spouse, a good friend & you are perfectly content? I must be a rotating, intimate, quiet, party, party girl!
I may be an intimate party girl by default. Our children are nearly clear across the country, so my very most favorite party people cannot be here. I miss them. My extended family is spread out in NY, PA, & VA-I'd be really surprised if any of them dropped in!!! Soooo.... how to party??!

Thank God for the friends He has blessed us with! My family-away-from-family!!! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart from All Your Family, far & near!

Lately, I've been doing this...

My girlfriends came over today & I made a couple cards. Leslie had an owl punch, with many little pieces to glue together. The sticky fingers were well worth it in my opinion!! I made 3 more owls, not shown, to make another card or 2 with.Shhhh, don't show Dan this-it's for his 52 birthday, tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll do a cake or cupcakes, haven't decided yet.

Hmmm, what can this be?

More ric-rac...

A cute little outfit for Ariana, that Grammy sewed! Hope she'll like it!

Addition to the kitchen- Wall ware!!! I love these!!

Dan finished papering over the weekend & we started painting. The "wallpaper" is actually a textured wallcovering for imperfect walls that is paintable. I wanted an aqua blue, to match some old pottery I have....this is not that color. I find it so hard to tell, from a paint chip, what a whole room will look like. I am frequently surprised. I wanted bright & happy....wellllllll... it is certainly that!! I have made up my mind to stop obsessing over it & just get used to it. I actually like the color, it just wasn't what I had in mind. So, our d. r. project continues!