Barrel Cacti and Such

Liam came to me to show me a picture he drew. He was pointing out the various elements: rattlesnake, eagle, trees, mountains, etc when all of a sudden he said "barrel cactus".

Me: "A barrel cactus?!"
Liam: "Yup. It's a barrel cactus. You know, that little round green cactus that grows in the desert?"
Me: "Yes, I know what a barrel cactus is... how do you know what a barrel cactus is?"
Liam: "Well, I think Uncle Joel might have showed me when we went hiking."
Me: "Oh, did he tell you it was a barrel cactus?"
Liam: "Yup. That is because he is sooooo smart. Cuz he's in school, you know."

:)


He was speaking about when my brother took him hiking when we were out in Phoenix. I was crazy enough to think my brother was reasonable and wake up my son before dawn, so they could hike a mountain together and watch the sun rise from the top. Liam said that he had lots of fun. And didn't even see snakes, because Uncle Joel said they don't like to come out until it's hot. ;)

I asked Liam what this face was for... he said he was either pretending to be scared, because Mommy would think it was too high, or he was afraid a plane was going to fly into his face and crash into the mountain. He thinks it was a plane.
Ummm, ok. 

Granola

I guess I could have titled this "because she asked, part 2". It's mainly so Natalie can have her online access to my granola recipe. But she hasn't been the first. It seems whenever we hand this out as gifts to various people, they tend to want the recipe.

So for anyone out there that may be curious (and for me to be able to have access to, were something to happen to my hard copy and my mental copy ;), here's my granola recipe guidelines.

It started with a yummy granola I used to get in Phoenix at the farmer's market across from my parent's house. But it irritated me that theirs, along with store-bought varieties would boast the addition of flax seed, when really, your body doesn't breakdown the seeds, and if you truly want the benefits of flax, it's best to use flax seed meal (which doesn't have a superb shelf life once opened). That and my oft times compulsive behavior of soaking and dehydrating my nuts to rid them of their phytic acid and other enzyme inhibitors, something I figured the store-bought varieties also didn't contain. So I took to my favorite go-to website for highly rated recipes and found Megan's Granola from allrecipes.com... but of course, I was trying to make it gluten free at the time, thought it had too much sugar in it, didn't have certain ingredients, thought others would taste better, etc etc and so pretty much changed the whole thing up. If you are looking for frugality, you may want to stick with a different variety.

Just a Note: I still only loosely follow the basic recipe below, depending upon my mood. Joel was really craving coconut one time, so instead of adding vanilla extract, it was almond and coconut, with the addition of coconut chips and manna to the shredded coconut. Another time, I was not paying attention and added almond meal instead of flax meal... so I put in sliced almonds, whole almonds, slivered almonds and almond extract for an extra almond-y granola. It really is just whatever I'm in the mood for and what I have in the pantry :) I've subbed steel cut oats for some of the rolled oats, played around with the sweeteners and oils (using less if the boys' immune systems have been compromised lately, and also eyeballing the sweeteners, because I don't want to deal with sticky measuring cups) and changed the dried fruit (mainly sticking with raisins, cranberries, blueberries and cherries)... that's what I love about granola-- it's very forgiving :)

You can basically break it up into the following categories and play around as you wish: oats, meal/seeds, nuts, sweeteners, dried fruit...

One  more note... Because I've cut back on the sugar, if you are looking for the more clumpy, stick together, type of granola, this recipe probably won't satisfy you. There are definitely still clusters for sure, but it's a sacrifice I've taken to reduce the sugar intake in my family, since they would consume this recipe every week if I let them. If you want a granola with more cluster-y goodness, feel free to increase your honey/syrup quantities. Besides, my little boys' mouths like me to break up all the clusters anyways, so really, what's the point :)

Granola

INGREDIENTS:

8 c rolled oats
1 1/2 c oat bran

1 1/4 c flax meal

1/4 c chia seeds

1/4 c sesame seeds

3/4 c sunflower seeds

3/4 c pepitas (or pecans)

1 1/4 c almonds (mixture of whole and sliced)

1 1/4 c walnuts, chopped

Mix all those in a large bowl and set aside.

In a saucepan, stir together:

1 1/2 t salt

1/4 c brown sugar

1/4 c maple syrup

1/2 c honey

1 c oil (EVCO, EVOO, vegetable, etc)

1 T ground cinnamon

1 T vanilla extract (or 1/2 T each of vanilla and almond)

Bring those to a boil over medium heat, stirring to incorporate. Then pour over the dry ingredients and stir to thoroughly coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the two baking sheets (I use jelly roll pans covered in either parchment, aluminum foil, or my silicone mats, depending on whether I have helpers... with the latter, I tend to avoid the aluminum foil, as when they help me jar them later on, they tend to rip the foil... ;)

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven until toasted, about 20 minutes, stirring and rotating pans halfway through. During this time, I also sprinkle 1 c of shredded coconut onto the top of the granola (1/2 c on each sheet), because I like them slightly toasted but not burned.

Set out to cool, then sprinkle a heaping 1 c of dried fruit (again, 1/2 c on each sheet) before storing in an airtight container.

There you have it! :) 

The boys love this with milk, over yogurt, etc etc. and love giving it away as gifts... so don't be surprised if one day you get a mason jar full ;)



Because She Asked...

Yes, yes I know. I still haven't posted pictures of Phoenix. To say the boys have been a bit under the weather would be a bit of an understatement. Nothing like having ear aches, congestion, vomit, diarrhea and respiratory problems right when we got back. And being up all night with sick children before an inspector walked through the following morning. Sigh.

God is good though, right? And He is in control. If He wants our house to sell, it will. For the price He wants.

That's what I had to tell myself, when somehow the washing machine worked just fine before the inspector came, but flooded the laundry room after he left.

And the appraiser is coming next. Any advice for our sick household? :)

Anyways... my sister has been giving me not so subtle hints that I need to give her more pictures of her with the boys... So, here it goes. Round 2. Round 3 will follow soon... I hope.

Making faces... don't you love how Aiden's face doesn't really change. He was trying.

Not sure I would trust this 4-yr old hair stylist with my hair...

 ... especially with the crazy maniacal faces...

... and cannibalistic tendencies...

 

 ... that seems up to no good...

but even without eyes on the back of her head,
she's still somehow able to redirect his intentions to more harmless ways of fun :)

 

And that's why they love their Auntie Katie :)

Phoenix

We just got back.

No, we haven't been gone since I last posted. That would be a nice thought, climate-wise. But it's more like I hadn't been near the computer since I last posted as I was too busy packing, decluttering, cleaning, and organizing.

Our house is pretty spotless now.

So spotless, I really do feel like I hear an echo in this office as I type. Seriously. :)

My sister, bless her heart, swooped in and flew back out with the boys-- yes, that quick. She didn't want to stay too long in the snow. ;) She was amazing flying back with the older two, withOUT a working DVD player.

And then Kristen and I went to town. She's amazing too. She would be right behind me, cleaning after I would declutter, pack and organize.

And now our house is, in my mother's words, "unrecognizable". Yup. And when Liam and I played a "find the differences" game with the pictures on zillow, well, he missed all the various furniture items and pictures I hadn't put up until now, but did notice my clean kitchen counters... he probably didn't even know they were white ;)

So there you have it. A few sleepless nights later, and I was Phoenix-bound with the baby, leaving my husband behind with the mess I left. And he did impressively. I love him. :)

And then he flew out too. And our house went on the market, with me fervently praying that it would show and sell before we returned, so I wouldn't have to keep it spotless, at the ready to show it with my children living in it.

And God provided. :)

And we've kept it clean for almost 24hrs.

I'm so proud of them. :)


Still waiting for pictures from everyone else's phones (gone are the days of one camera/family simplicity, grrrr) so I can  upload other pictures... but here are a few from surprising my mother on her birthday.

My sister had been in a state of moderate depression because she had been the first to request off St. Patrick's Day from work (it was our last day in town and my mom's birthday), and she was still scheduled, though a bunch of other girl's got it off. Begrudgingly, she showed up to work and found out the manager had double-booked her tables. So she got off. My dad wanted cupcakes over cake, so she stopped at Sprinkles, then picked up a couple balloons for the boys to hold, and well, we surprised my mom :)

 The Surprisers and the Surprisee

 Sprinkles. <3 p="">

I love the simplicity and the fact that unlike all the crazy cupcake places popping up, these ones may not look fancy, but they taste the best.

 Aiden wanted a letter on his cupcake. Well, those were on the St Patrick Day flavors (green velvet and Baileys)... aka, ones he couldn't have. So we put it on his cupcake and he was thrilled, telling everyone that his cupcake said "Aiden."

And he had Katie continually chop it into slivery bites for him. He saw her lick the marshmallow creme off of it though and from then on, he wanted to lick the cupcake off the knife too. :)