Tried painting some beach scenes with my watercolors. Man, color mixing is a real art form. I’m much more familiar with acrylics, and I have a bajillion colors to choose from. Very rarely do I need to do anything more complicated than tinting the colors. Time to grow as an artist!
These are scenes from my favorite beach on Cape Cod.
Also, rocks are hard. (haha)
Every afternoon, when I was a kid, I would turn on the radio at 3pm (sometimes earlier, depending on what novel was being read aloud on the 2:30 program) and spend the afternoon listening to stories. Some of them were books read aloud or dramatized (Sugar Creek Gang, some program that started “If I could paint a picture”) others were original. I also loved listening to Adventures in Odyssey, an original show produced by Focus on the Family. I generally preferred stories to music–though I love music, too, now, I still love a good story.
It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that I jumped at an opportunity to work with one of the creators of Adventures in Odyssey on a new original audio drama, and it has now been released! It’s called Iliad House, and it’s about a boy who lives with his uncle on an island off the coast of VA. Oh. And time travel.
Believe it or not, audio dramas are great for kids. Audio dramas engage the imagination–even today’s kids, who are accustomed to video. You can listen while you color, play with blocks, or fold laundry (you know, depending on who you are) and you don’t have to worry about keeping one eye on the screen. Plus, all those articles about screens being bad for you? Not a factor here. Car ride bonus: No car sickness from watching a video in the car (or is that just me?).
Anyway, give it a try! You can listen to the first episode for free on our site and if you like it, you can purchase the rest of the series on itunes, Amazon, or our site.
Mom started making homemade granola right around the time I started college. At the time, I wasn’t into yogurt and granola. But a few years of school and the realization that I really really need sustenance in the morning (dangit) and yogurt and granola became a routine part of the breakfast rotation. When I graduated I needed the recipe, and learned that granola is really flexible. Start with oats, oil, and flour or sugar of some kind to make it all stick, then add whatever you think you might like. I’ve taken to adding dried cherries after its cooked. All part of this complete breakfast!
The Homemade Granola Recipe
Mix in large bowl (8qt)
14 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 c sesame seeds
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c chopped almonds/walnuts/pecans
1 c powdered milk
1/2 flour or nut flour (I use the almond flour from my almond milk sometimes)
2 tsp salt
1-2 cups dark brown sugar/honey/maple syrup
Add 1 c water
1 c oil (I use olive oil, typically, but you could use coconut oil [melted] or grapeseed)
3T vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Mix thoroughly, spread in two large jelly roll pans and bake for 2 hours at 250 degrees. Add 1/2 c dried fruit if desired. Enjoy!
Ever since reading Calico Captive as a teenager, I have been fascinated with the idea of sipping chocolate.
This year I actually made it a couple times during the holidays, and may very well make it again as the winter progresses.
It’s very good.
So much depends on the chocolate you use, but I’ve actually really enjoyed my Costco brand chocolate chips. Who knew, right? I should really try it with some of the fancy organic fairtrade $4/bar chocolates and see how that changes the experience, but so far the chocolate chips are doing the trick.
One of the really fun parts is garnish–or whatever else you call the last finishing touch ingredient. So far my favorite is cinnamon sprinkled on top, but cinnamon with a spit of hot chili powder is also good. You could also use whipped cream, or whipping cream straight, lavender or rose (if you like drinking flowers), orange zest, fancy salt, vanilla sugar…Lindt bar flavors are great inspiration for chocolate toppers.
Cheers!
The Recipe (adapted from the Tasty Kitchen Blog)
3 c whole milk
1/2 c heavy cream
8 oz chocolate finely chopped
1 tsp maple syrup or honey (I used honey)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used homemade bourbon vanilla extract)
dash salt (brings out the flavor)
Warning: This is a really, really rich drink. Tasty Kitchen says it makes 4 servings. You have to have a serious capacity to down chocolate to only get 4 servings out of this. You could generously serve 6, or comfortably serve 8. This recipe does alright the next day chilled, though, so leftovers are not the end of the world.
Warm the milk and cream to nearly a simmer, add the chopped chocolate and whisk till melted. Add the honey, vanilla extract and dash of salt. Simmer and whisk about 4 minutes until starting to thicken.
Serve with cinnamon or whipped cream. Or both. Sky’s the limit.
I love peanut butter cups–that is, I love my peanut butter cups. So does Zorro. I always dig out the recipe and then realize in surprise that I don’t follow it.
It’s not that there is anything wrong with the recipe, it’s just that I have a near-celiac friend and started converting things to gluten free. This is one of the rare things which is actually better that way–plus it’s much better for you. What with raw honey instead of sugar, no wheat, and just a bit of chocolate and butter fat. It’s like melted trail mix now.
I forgot I usually use honey and used powdered sugar this time…whoops. It’s what I get for cooking and watching Agents of Shield at the same time.
Tasted good.
I’ve finally gotten better at the art of pouring peanut butter–most of the peanut butter is in the cups this time around! Woot!
So here you go, I’ve now written down what I actually do when I make peanut butter cups. When I’m not distracted by a tv show and trying to remember what I do instead of following the recipe.
