honey funnies

this is one of the snacks that i make that doesn't last even twenty four hours in our house. with just tim and i. not even kidding. i made them last night and tonight, i think we may have one left (and i have plans for it in a few). we both love them and they're super easy to make. i got the recipe from my mom, who used to make them a lot for us as kids (probably one of the reasons my sister developed a fatal peanut allergy later in life - only kidding). they're great for kids (after 2 years, of course)because they can be molded and shaped, like an edible playdough. i just roll (or scoop) them into balls and eat a few with a glass of milk.

ingredients:
1 jar creamy peanut butter
1 bear of honey (or agave nectar)*
powdered milk
wheat bran (optional)


mix all ingredients well. the measurements are really just estimates. i usually end up using almost an entire jar of peanut butter, depending on how big of a batch i make. add powdered milk and honey as you need to make a sticky but still pretty doughy consistency. you need mostly peanut butter & powdered milk, then honey & wheat germ are added for taste and to adjust texture. i add the wheat bran for nutritional value. i've seen these made several different ways and i'm sure there's a hundred things you could add like i did the wheat bran. it's just what happened to be staring at me when i opened the cabinet door.





if you want to roll them into balls by hand, go for it. i have a handy dandy cookie dough scoop from Pampered Chef *dreamy sigh* and it goes much faster. store in the refrigerator.

i might have to try them dipped in chocolate....

*note: i only used half agave and half honey. the light agave nectar that i bought isn't sticky enough to bind everything together, so it's really important to have honey. the agave adds sweetness without so much sugar. i haven't heard anyone say they notice a difference in taste yet!

sk.

so i've found a new food website that i'm borderline obsessed with. i mean, do you ever watch a tv series so much that you feel like you actually KNOW the characters? as if you could just call them up and talk about their situations they're going through on that week's episode or the feeling that you might just run into them somewhere? this is how i feel about Deb from Smitten Kitchen. she lives in new york city in a teensy but very cute apartment where she takes care of her a.DOR.able baby boy and cooks up with some very interesting and delicious looking recipes, all the while "chatting" with you about her life. i'm a fan.

i've already made her bitter orange ice cream recipe (with adjustments) and am planning on the garlic & zucchini chicken meatloaf for tomorrow night. oh, and the chewy toffee blondies for dessert when we have friends over that evening. hopefully, the ice cream will freeze up nicely (i don't have an ice cream maker) and the meatloaf will be a hit. i'll take pictures later if they both work out.

newly discovered today, she is starting to make baby food for her little man and just started a side blog about that. yay!

that's all, really. i just had to share. although, from what i hear, she's already pretty well known. she was on the top 50 mommy blogs....a goal of mine one day. pffyeah, ok.

terrible (ok, not too bad) tuesday

(i heard a rule that you're not supposed to start out a blog with apologies, so i'm not apologizing. i'm just saying i haven't updated in awhile and i'm fully aware. so there. i'm not apologizing.)

yesterday wasn't the best of days. it wasn't the worst of days either. i just felt like i could take it or leave it as far as days of my life go. i got up that morning and heard the rain, inside and out. our roof was leaking. again. this time, in FOUR different places. i was sitting on the couch enjoying the news and my breakfast when i heard another trickle of water coming from God knows where. we have a front sunroom on our house that had been closed up for the winter and is now home to my sewing machine and extra couch. the ceiling out there had been guilty of dripping water before, but our landlord brushed it off as gutters that were backed up. temporarily fixed, it now leaks pretty badly in two places...ceiling is sagging a little and mold is showing up. awesome. seriously, though, in times like this i LOVE just picking up the phone and saying, "hey, you need to come fix your house. thanks." most of the time, it's so nice to be renters. yeah, i'm sure we're paying way over what a monthly mortgage would be, but we're not in debt up to our noses (which are now stuffy from the mold in the air) and it's like paying a full time, personal handy-man who will pay to get things fixed. and it's in his best interest. call me John Blum, but i love having that kind of control. :)

predicting what kind of day it may turn out to be, i used the rest of my Starbucks gift card from Tim (or Isaac) for mother's day and got my usual grande non-fat extra hot vanilla latte and very berry coffee cake. yes, that's right. it was a fat $20 gift card and i've already used it all. but i did buy tim coffee once. please.

upon arriving to work, i realized i'd forgotten my lunch AGAIN that week and had to pay for a Subway lunch. i know it's nice to have a dual income household, but literally all the money i make now until the end of the year is paying for childcare for 3-4 days a week, gas to drive 25 minutes one way, insurance that i need to cover the times when Mr. Blue Jaguar decides to rear end me on the way to work at 7am, and the times i have to spend both gas AND cash on buying lunch when i forget mine. argh.

tim and i went grocery shopping (which i actually like to do) and on our way back, as i'm mid-sentence, tim whips the jeep off the road, onto the grass, and across our church parking lot. what the? he saw tyler. of course. our friends tyler & carly were out flying some of their very expensive, very cool trick kites. we spent some time watching them do swirls and turns, flips and dives. tyler even let me try. i actually got the hang of it for a few minutes. it was peaceful to be out there that evening, watching how our friends enjoy the little things in life - beautifully engineered pieces of fabric sewn together & a good wind.


it ended up being a good day, or at least one that ended with God's peace erasing everything that i thought was stupid or that bummed me out that day. and that's how it should be.




*photos were taking by yours truly & edited by my better half. personally, i think we're a good team. in my opinion, we make pretty pictures and daggum pretty babies.