Homemade Granola Bars

Homemade Granola Bars

This is a recipe for chewy granola bars. They are a big hit when I bring them to share. Also they are high in fiber with oatmeal, flaxseed, and wheat germ.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of oatmeal

½ Cup of Ground Flaxseed

½ Wheat Germ

1 ½ Cups of Shredded Coconut

1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

¼ tsp Salt

¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg

½ Honey

3/4 Cup of Corn syrup

½ cup of Brown sugar

1 Cup of Raisins or dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. On a cookie sheet mix oatmeal, flaxseed, wheat germ, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.

3. Place oatmeal mixture in oven to toast for 10 minutes. Make sure to stir mixture every few minutes or else the coconut will burn.

4. In a microwave safe glass bowl or on the stove top combine sugar, syrup, and honey. Microwave until bubbly.

5. Mix oatmeal mixture and raisins with liquid bubbly mixture.

6. Place in well greased bar pan. I usually just put a tablespoon of butter in the bottom of the pan and melt it in the oven then spread it around the edges and bottom of pan. Press mixture down.

7. Place in 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.

8. Let cool for about 10 minutes and flip onto cutting board.

9. Cut into bars or break apart into chunks for snacking. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe is very flexible and I rarely measure things. I often use cranberries, white chocolate chips, or nuts.

Projects!!!

Yesterday I ventured out to JoAnn fabrics. The store is gigantic and always busy. Regardless of when I go, I have to wait in line to have my fabric cut for at least 20 minutes, even if I pick a number up for the cut table right when I get to the store. Those ladies need some lessons in efficiency. To save myself some heartache in the future I stocked up on fabric for my sewing closet; I'm planning on working on a few purses, pillows, and a maternity blouse. Better get sewing!

Sweet Pumpkin Seeds

In the spirit of Halloween today I made Roasted Pumpkin seeds. Delicious, easy to make, and high in Magnesium.
1. Extract Pumpkin seeds.
2. Rinse them in water.
3. Place pumpkin seeds on greased cookie sheet.
4. Place in oven at about 350 degrees for 25 minutes-stirring periodically.
5. Take seeds out, mix seeds with 1-2 Tbsps of butter, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
6. Place back in oven on cookie sheet for about 6 minutes.
7. Cool and Eat! Yum.

The World Outside My Front Door

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton

Our neighbors in our new town have been very welcoming, or at least the ones we have met. On one side of us lives a character straight out of King of the Hill. He stands outside with a few of our other neighbors, beer in hand, and shoots the breeze-swearing loudly across the street. The neighbors on our other side we rarely see, we were informed that they were Hmong. I had never heard of Hmongs before, but I found out from my history teaching and loving father that Hmongs were originally from around Laos and Vietnam. They helped the US with the war in Vietnam and were persecuted after the communists took over and many fled from their homelands.

Yesterday cars were lined up all the way down our street. My husband was doing some yard work in the front lawn and our neighbor invited him to come over to help celebrate the birth of their daughter. We knew that we had to go over since we were invited, but we were both very nervous to barge in, seeing as we honestly didn’t think we could spot them in the crowd if our lives depended on it.

We walked the long 20 feet across the yard to their garage. A group of Hmong men were outside the garage in a circle chatting. They graciously welcomed us and introduced themselves, shaking hands with each of them. We learned that during the party the baby and parents are given strings wrapped around their wrists by the elders of their family. Each elder wishes them wellness and happiness for their family. In the garage little Hmong women were cooking in massive pots, dicing and washing pots and pans in the front lawn. We found out later that they had a pig and a cow slaughtered for the party and they had been cooking since the early hours of the morning. To my uneducated nose the food smelled of Mongolian beef.

Our neighbor “Chow” came graciously thanked us for coming over. Inside the house all the furniture was put away and the carpets were covered with vinyl. Big banquet tables sprawled across the living room and there were at least 35 people inside and another 20 outside. The gal that brought us inside made a joke that she thought we’d probably never think so many people could fit in one house-she was right. We met our neighbor “Wing” and the young child. She introduced us to her mother who with waves and gestures asked us if we lived next door, pointing at our house through the kitchen window. The conversation then turned to my very pregnant belly and the old woman had the biggest grin on her faced and gave my belly an excited rub.

It must have been obvious that we were outsiders, being that we were the only white people in the group, but everyone was very friendly and seemingly excited to have us in their presence. Upon our departure “Chow” returned and promised to bring some food over later once it was done. After dinner most of the cars were gone from down the street and I assumed that the offer was just a kind gesture and we weren’t so special after all. Then the doorbell rang with a short, curly haired Hmong woman standing outside my door with tupperwares. Little did I know of the world that lived just outside my door.

Customized Bulletin Board

After we moved to our new house, I had a plain bulletin board downstairs in a pile that was falling apart. I decided to dress it up with some fabric, trim, and spray paint I had already. I simply spray painted the frame white, covered the cork with fabric and stapled it down, then stapled the trim at the intersections and to the back. Pictures can be slid behind the trim pieces so they don't get damaged, or push pins can be used.
Price: Free

Colorful Curtains

Here are the curtains I made for the baby's room. I painted the walls a light green called "Pickling Spice" (I have no idea what pickling spice is, but it is a nice neutral relaxing color to make the baby sleep well, fingers crossed.) The curtains, however, will probably give our child endless hours of sleepless nights.

I chose a pattern and color which was bright but also contemporary. I experimented with a balloon valance and made the curtains with a plain khaki on the reverse side if I ever get tired of the color, but they will still have the fun zebra stripes on top and on the pull backs.

Classy Inexpensive Lamp

For those of you that don't know us very well yet, we like bargains. Sea and I spent one Saturday afternoon cruising down the highway looking for thrift stores-I was looking for a lighting solution. At the time my husband had moved up to the Twin Cities and I stayed behind until our house sold and the school year finished up, it sounds like a bad divorce, but he got all the furniture but a table, desk, and air mattress. I realized while trying to read before going to bed one night in my deflating air mattress, that it was a large inconvenience to get up and shut off the light.

To Sea's chagrin I bought one ugly brass lamp for five dollars. Once I moved up with my husband and started decorating the baby's room I realized that the room needed another pop of color.

I spray painted it with a bright glossy grape spray paint. One can of paint, a textured shade, and a five dollar lamp makes the room shine, pardon the pun.

Lily Literature

Thoughts and ideas written by Lily...

Travel - First Post

"If adventures will not befal a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad" - Jane Austen, Persuasion

We have been fortunate enough to travel a bit, through the US and abroad.  We have learned a lot about how to make travel goals possible, and also have some stories we will share.  We also hope to continue with our travel adventures in the future...

-Sea

Crafts and Sewing - first post

The day Lily and I first created our blog, we were actually about to embark on yet another craft project - sewing our own purses.  Our first attempt was successful, and I will talk a little bit more about it/share some pictures in the future.  We both love to learn new skills and spend a lot of time working on our "projects".  We hope some of our ideas will be useful to others!

-Sea

Writing

Both of us studied literature and writing in college and one of our goals for this year was to "get published".  Since our time is running out, it seems we will have to publish ourselves via a blog in order to meet our goal for the year.  So we will post here to share some of our writing and ideas.

Cooking and Baking

Who doesn't love food?  While I mostly enjoy eating it, Lily is a wonderful cook and she will share some of her ideas with you here.  My intention is to learn more about the art of cooking, so maybe in the future I will have more to share.  Maybe.

-Sea

Art and Design

We love to spend hours working on art projects and work with home design, including refinishing or repurposing old items, painting, and some carpentry (that's debatable).  We hope some of our ideas will be useful for others. -Sea