gluten free granola

A friend of mine is on the GAPS diet, so she came up with this recipe for a gluten free granola.
My son told me it's just "seeds and nuts put together" and that I call it granola. But since this particular son is all about being gluten free this time in his life, he's jumping on board.  It's quite simple and delicious.

GLUTEN FREE GRANOLA

1/4 c. coconut oil

1/4 c. honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. pecans

1 c. walnuts

1 c. pepitas or pumpkin seeds

1 c. sunflower seeds

1 c. unsweetened, unsulphured coconut flakes

1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

pinch of salt

(actually, you can use any nuts and seeds of your choice)

Melt coconut oil, honey and vanilla in a saucepan. Don't overheat.

Add rest of ingredients in a bowl, add melted oil and honey and mix until well coated.

Place on a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Stir after the first 15 minutes. Watch carefully as not to get too brown.

I have to bake mine at 325 degrees.

When finished top with milk, or my favorite greek yogurt.

It's a great high protein snack that will keep you satisfied. Enjoy!

welcome 2012

The older I become, the more I look forward to the new year. I now look forward to what each new day holds for me. Last years mantra was "Do something uncomfortable everyday". I was always looking for ways to step outside of my comfort zone. I didn't accomplish it everyday, but I did some pretty big things that were certainly outside of my comfort level. One was learning to ride a motorcycle at the age of 48. That was huge for me. Not really something I ever expected to do. My husband always talked about it but I certainly was never interested. But when we allowed all three of our sons to get their motorcycle permits last summer, I decided "why not me, too?" 

This year I want to continue with that mindset of doing things that are outside of my comfort zone, but I also want to pursue some interests I've been thinking about lately. I don't want to "think" about them anymore. I want to "do" them.

personalized gift tags

I was inspired by this on pintrest so I decided to make this.

Here are some of the items I used: Baker's twine, popsicle sticks, Fiskars hand drill and wood letters from an old scrabble game.

First I drilled holes in each end of a popsicle stick. I also cut the popsicle stick to fit the size of the name.

I strung some baker's twine through the holes

Then tied it to my package

Add the letters, and voila! A personalized name tag for a gift.

thankful

Thanksgiving is over, but it's not too late share what I'm thankful for.
That "attitude of gratitude" should be evident in the everyday, not just once a year.
I am thankful for these three young men. My three sons.

I always wanted to be a mother. Not just a mother, but a mother that made her career at home. I didn't dare tell any of my friends that when graduating from high school. At that time, most of my girlfriends were ready to head off to college pursuing a career outside of the home. I had many idealistic ideas about motherhood, most of which were not realistic. It was hard. Really hard. No one can prepare you for parenthood and especially motherhood. I think most (I won't say all) mothers want the very best for their child. They want them to be kind, respectful, hard working, polite, and be able to support themselves and possibly a family someday. But I also wanted more than anything for my sons to love God and enjoy Him forever. To love Him with their whole heart, mind and soul. I made many mistakes raising them. Too many. But I hope as they look back on their childhood that they realize all that I did, I did out of love for them. I may have gone about things the wrong way, but I always loved them.

They are growing into such wonderful men. So wonderful, it makes my heart hurt.

I tried to raise them on a healthy diet. Teaching them to be informed about food so they could make healthy choices when they were old enough to choose between real food and junk food. They rebelled for a while, some longer than others, but have all slowly come around to making good, healthy lifestyle choices. On the way home from a Thanksgiving meal with family, one of my sons said "I'm never letting my kid eat sugar!" as his older brother dittoed that statement. It made me smile.

But today, I am especially thankful for the young man on the far right, our middle son Calvin. Today is his 22nd birthday. Calvin was the hardest of the three to raise. Stubborn, obstinate, persistent, head strong, ornery, said whatever was on his mind, and never stopped moving. From about 3 to 18 years of age, he had me in tears most of the time.  But today, at age 22, he is one of the most amazing people I know. Everything that was so annoying to me when he was younger, has now become his strengths. He is growing and maturing into the most amazing, creative person. I think he's always been creative, but never knew how to channel that energy. I certainly didn't know how to help him channel it either. But he is finding his way and I am so thankful for the man he is becoming.

Happy birthday Cal! You are loved and appreciated more than you will ever know!
Mom

what Fall looks like

love fall

love its colors

love the crisp air

love the shorter days (just kidding)

love wearing boots and jeans

love the smell of leaves

love pumpkins

love cider

love fall

is honesty the best policy?

Not so much.

I like honesty. I want people to be honest with me. But in return I want to be honest with whoever is being honest with me.
People say they want honesty, but I don't think they really do. They think it is noble. But honesty can hurt, if you choose to let it.
It's a hard call, whether to be honest with someone or not. I know it should be done with grace. But not everyone thinks like I do.

You know the golden rule, DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU".
I try to live that way. I want others to treat me as I would treat them. But the problem with the golden rule is that it is relative. The way I would treat someone and have them treat me is not the same as how someone else would treat me and want to be treated.

I want honesty and want to be honest with others.
Others want honesty as long as it doesn't hurt them.

gluten free muffins

This past summer two of our sons who are athletes in college heard about Novak Djokovic going on a gluten free diet. After doing so his tennis game seemed to improve and he was unbeatable. So our sons decided to give it a try. I started substituting rice and almond flour for wheat flour in many of my recipes. I was looking for a raspberry muffin recipe (at the request of my 3 year old niece) so I googled it and altered it. This is what I came up with.

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

1-1/4 c almond flour (use rice if almond not available)

1 c rice flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/3-1/2 c milk or kefir

3 T melted butter

3 T slightly melted honey or use an alternative sugar to plain white sugar (also I use as little sugar as possible, so you may need to add more if you have more of a sweet tooth!)

juice from half a lemon

lemon peel from whole lemon

1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

1. combine dry ingredients, including lemon peel

2. combine wet ingredients

3. combine dry and wet ingredients, do not over mix

4. Add raspberries and gently fold in

line muffin tin with paper cups and add batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min and lightly browned

Enjoy!