McCoyalicious Granola

Hubs loves granola but we don't have it often because the stuff you get at the grocery store is generally super expensive and super fatty. I don't know why I got it in my head to try making it, probably Pinterest again, but I was inspired one afternoon to take to the Internet and seek out a recipe. I found Alton Brown's here and it looked perfectly tweakable. Now, I'm not one to follow a recipe or pattern to the letter... ever, so below you'll find my version. We thought it came out delicious but I would suggest that you add/swap whatever nuts or dried fruits you and your family are fond of. I used what I had on hand but I think that next time I might try sunflower seeds in place of the peanuts, add some dried cranberries and swap out half the coconut oil for vegetable oil. Experiment, experiment! It is a little time consuming, though not labor intensive. You just have to stop by the oven and stir it every 15 minutes. So if you have an hour and a half I highly recommend spending it multitasking by cleaning your house and making this crunchy goodness.

McCoyalicious Granola

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup shredded sweet coconut

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 250.

In a large bowl combine oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar.

In a separate bowl combine honey, oil and salt.

Combine both mixtures and spread onto sheet pans. Cook for an hour 15 minutes stirring every 15 minutes for even color.

Remove from oven, transfer to a large bowl and stir in raisins until distributed evenly.

I stored mine in a couple of mason jars but any airtight container should work. I cant officially tell you how long it will keep but we are still working our way through one of the jars 3 weeks later so it's got to stay good for awhile.

Varying degrees of fail and win.

I've recently completed a couple of projects, unfortunately they did not all come out completely as planned. Exhibit A: The Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's a lovely pattern, well written and easy to follow even for someone who had never done raglan sleeves or a placket neck. It only took 2.5 skeins of Vana's Choice from Lion Brand. Yes I know its trashy and I am a little embarrassed but 1, I'm too cheap to buy cotton and 2, I have felted every wool sweater I have ever known. It's a good choice for me. It also washes surprisingly well which is great for kids clothes since I refuse to hand wash anything and will inevitably throw everything we own in the dryer at some point (read 2) but I digress.

I did not swatch this project first. Let this be a lesson to us all. When changing both suggested yarn type and gauge, go ahead and swatch. Ive already got a second one on the needles though and he'll grow into this one eventually. (I'm realizing that these photos don't do justice how huge this thing is on him, but maybe this helps, he is a large 17 month old and this sweater came out at the 6-8 year old measurements) So its a sizing fail, but a definite experience win.

The second completed project is a lovie for a little boy that Ive been meaning to get to FOREVER. His mama asked for my help recreating one that had been destroyed. Pretty simple, or so I thought. Let me tell you, these minky and sateen blankies are tough to sew. They are diametrically opposed and super bitchy fabrics. Seriously, they hate each other. Also the minky hates irons as evidenced by that top left corner. Jeeze, thanks for telling me in advance minky, WTS? I totally winged this one. I eyeballed some rectangles making the sateen about 3 inches wider on all sides than the minky, slapped them together and machine sewed around the perimeter about a quarter inch in (insert plenty of swearing at this point). Then I ironed the sateen's edges over about a quarter inch and folded and pinned just inside the sewed line. Finally I hand stitched the folded edge of the sateen to the minky. This really didn't take long, maybe 2 hours total. Pretty good for all that hand stitching right?

I guess it doesn't look THAT bad, though the bunching is killing me. I can see it in this photo and it is making me crazy. Despite my grumping I was informed by the mama that her little man basically had a happy baby heart attack over it. So I guess that makes it a win?

The third thing I guess isn't really much of a project and isn't really mine to take credit for but it was such a win that I had to share. CRISPY FRIED SHRIMP! They had those bags of frozen, uncooked shrimp on sale at Safeway last week so we grabbed one. Dinner rolled around the other night and we decided to make shrimp tacos. Bruce, who has no fear in the kitchen (blessing and a curse) made a flour, cornmeal, cayenne pepper and salt dredge and an egg/milk wash. I'm sorry I cant post a recipe, Bruce is wont to literally throw things together. Luckily, they often the look like this.

 Oh god, it is so good. Is your mouth watering right now? These were so delicious it was kind of ridiculous. We added home made tarter sauce, corn tortillas and shredded cabbage. Mmmmm. This was of course the big win of the week. We'll be making these again for sure.

Semi-homemade holiday cupcakes

First off, ooch! Sorry blog, I didn't mean to be away so long. Hubbs and I went to Vegas for a couple days sans babe (it was a blast) and then things happened and whatnot and such. Anyhoo, I'm back, and I've been in a holiday mood!

I wanted to bake something festive but I didn't want it to be complicated. I started digging through the pantry and inspiration struck when I saw the chocolate cake mix. I sent hubbs out for some frosting and candy canes (which I needed for the Christmas tree anyway...) and the chocolate, peppermint cupcake was born!

This is all you need. These turned out amazing. They were met with both "Oooos" and "Ahhhhhs" and also with requests for seconds. So I'd say they were pretty AND nummers. Win!

The deets: I added a half teaspoon of peppermint extract right into the frosting can and mixed it up before decorating the cupcakes. I think it was just the right amount. A subtle flavor that was definitely noticeable but not overpowering. I would add more flavor by the 1/4 teaspoon to taste if you want something a little punchier. For the "Martha Stewart" topping I just unwrapped 3 candy canes, put them in a freezer bag and smashed them up with the bottom of my Pyrex liquid measuring cup. The single can of frosting and 3 candy canes were just about the perfect amount for 24 cupcakes (1 box of mix).

Note: In the photo you'll see whipped frosting. This turned out to be a bad idea and hubbs went back out for cream cheese, which ended up much tastier anyway. See, once you mix the flavoring into the whipped frosting, the texture turns to a silky paste which when combined with peppermint flavor is unmistakably toothpaste-ish. Not yummy at all.

I would totally make these again. They were a huge hit and so easy. Perfect for a quick and easy festive project. Happy baking!

Pickles!

I must admit. I never really "got" making your own pickles. Sure, regular store bought pickles are kind of ugly, but what do I really do with them beside chop them up to go in tuna salad or throw a couple on a burger. I'd see these lovely photos on other blogs of jars of beautifully vibrant pickles and think oh those are pretty, but is it really worth the effort? We took Jack to play on the Pilchuck river in Snohomish last week and on the way out had to stop at one of our favorite farm stands. We always buy more than we know what to do with, the abundance of fresh food is just intoxicating somehow, and we ended up with a bag of pickling cukes. I figured they would sit in the fridge for a week and I'd get sick of them staring at me and make a cream cheese sandwich out of them. Enter the glory of Pinterest and this link to Zaaberry. It looked too easy not to give it a shot.

Took all of about 5 minutes to whip up 2 jars (even with a fussy baby I had to randomly hand kitchen instruments to).

I'll never go back to store bought. These pickles are salty, crunchy, sour and beautiful. I followed the recipe exactly. The only thing I might change would be to try dividing the garlic into each jar instead of mixing it into the brine. It did tend to get stuck to the sides of the bowl as I poured it into the jars, and I ended up scooping it out with a spoon to make sure the garlicky goodness made it in. If you've been on the fence about making your own pickles just dive in and try it out. I'm thinking pickled cabbage next. Mmmmmmm.

Grown up strawberries

I got some lovely strawberries at Trader Joe's yesterday and as I was chopping them by the kitchen window, inspiration struck. I have a couple of basil plants on the sill and I love to throw fresh basil into everything I can. I roughly chopped a handful of leaves and tossed it with the strawberries and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Voila! A delicious, grown up fruit salad. Perfect for snacking on in the back yard in the early evening. Mmmmmm.

Mmmmm Bread...and some standing too.

Since Jack has been eating solid food, Bruce and I have been making an effort to eat more naturally. We've been mindful of lables and have focused on cutting things out of our diet that have too many ingredients, especially things we can't pronounce. The easiest way to make sure we know what is going into our boddies, is to make things ourselves. I've always wanted to be a bread baker, and have tried several times with minimal success. This perticular attempt was quite delicious though, and with a few tweaks may become a staple in our house. Recipe Here

The other thing thats been going on around here of late is a whole lot of this.

Jack sure loves to stand, and he's pulling up on EVERYTHING. I can't leave him to sit with a toy long enough to get a cup of coffee anymore. He crawls over to something, anything and pratices his new skill. Its exhausting but hilarious and we are both fully enjoying it. Since Jack and I dont have apointments or errands every day, we sometimes (often) spend the day in our pjs. I thought I could make the standing a bit easier and slightly less comical if I were to help out his little slippery feet on our hardwood floors.

I got some puff paint at Michaels and dotted up the bottoms of the feet of his pj's. Hopefully this gives my little man some traction and though I do delight in seeing a smiling baby do the splits, he's probably going to appreciate this wardrobe update.

Ted Allen says I can make vinegar

Since I am breastfeeding we aren't always able to finish a bottle of wine before it goes off. This frustrates the crap out of my thrifty nature. Especially when its a bottle of 2007 Viognier from the Harbinger Winery on the Olympic peninsula. So delicious, so crisp, so lightly sweet... I digress. While flipping through the latest issue of Food Network Magazine, I found the perfect solution. Ted Allen of Queer Eye and Chopped fame suggests making your leftover wine into what he calls "the most delicious vinegar you've ever tasted". The most delicious vinegar I've ever tasted? I can totally get behind that.


Oh glorious 2007 Harbinger Viognier and a very tasty Tempranillo you will live again! These jars will be hiding somewhere dark for the next 6 weeks. Ill let you know what happens, hopefully its deliciousness.

Gardening, stash busting and true love.

Finally, something to show for my not very hard work in the garden this summer. A giant zucchini and a large yellow squash! I made 2 loaves of really delicious zucchini bread last week and I've been wanting to make more to freeze as well as to attempt a version including chocolate chips. Yum!


This afternoon I used a disposable nursing pad as a template to make these washable nursing pads. I used some weirdo flannel that was included in a package of fabrics I got for super cheap at the thrift store awhile ago for the fronts. For the backs I used some leftover terry cloth scraps and the sleeves of a robe we were given on the Caribbean cruise we took last winter. Judging by those materials you can see how badly I needed this destashing challenge. Sad. Anyhoo, I now have a large stack of washable nursing pads to wear at home. Yippee!


Lastly, this evening Bruce took me to Cafe Juanita to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. This man is my favorite person in the whole world. He is my best friend and I can not wait to become parents with him. Love you so much Bruce. Happy Anniversary baby!

Busy with Baby Stuff

As you can see the belly is growing. I'm still tired, but I got tired of being tired and have forced myself to get back into a crafty groove albeit not as prolificly (thats a word right?) as I would like. I have managed to make a few things on my list for Jack. The first is the LOOP baby toy from Ravelry. I keep reading that little babies like high contrast stuff so I did up the main ring in black and white and the smaller ones in red and gray. Hopefully it will be something texturally and visually interesting for Jack to enjoy right away. To be honest, I have no idea what newborns are interested in so I guess we'll just have to see what he thinks.


Ive also finished the baby sophisticate finally. It was sitting around waiting for buttons FOREVER and I got sick of it mocking me. I also made this bunny from the pattern I found here. I HIGHLY recommend this one. Its super fun to make, quick, easy and oh so satisfying. I stuffed a couple of jingle bells into the body to make it a little more interesting for Jack. Bruce has been calling it "Jack Rabbit". So cute.


I also found time last night to make this coffee cake. I found out half way into mixing that the applesauce in my fridge had gone bad (sad face, why can I never use that stuff up fast enough) so I subbed in canned pumpkin and it was delicious. Ive had 4 pieces already and intend to eat several more this evening. Delish!