granola, gardening, quilting, and knitting

Jon made up a delicious batch of granola last night. He used Amanda's recipe and included 2 cups of almonds, 1 cup of coconut and raisins and dried cherries. It's delish! We've got seven other recipes to try, so we'll definitely be experimenting with granola recipes for the next few months.

Here's her recipe:

8 cups old fashioned oats

2-3 cups goodies (nuts, coconut, etc. don't add the fruit here)

mix together in a large bowl

-----

1/2 cup veg or canola oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup honey

dash o' salt

generous splash of vanilla

heat these ingredients until well blended

then add this to the oats mixture. stir to coat.

bake at 350 degrees stirring every 10 minutes or so until brown.

then I throw raisins on a pan and stick them in the oven just until
they start to plump up a bit. take them out of the oven and stir with
sugar. (the sugar will stick to the raisins, just like in raisin bran)

Our bleeding heart bush is in full bloom. I think it has tripled in size since last year. This is one of my favorite plants, so I picked up another one at a local plant sale last weekend. Early blooming spring plants are such a great treat! Walking outside to take pictures was really depressing this afternoon...I've been trying to ignore the yardwork as long as possible and it's getting really overwhelming. Jon and I will be working up the vegetable garden soil (read: hauling dirt), planting some new perennials, digging up last years' annuals and mowing this weekend. Our yard is a dump right now! Eek...I hope the weather is nice this weekend!

I've been a little preoccupied lately with this new crafting venture, the Common Threads Virtual Quilting Bee. Everything is set up and I mailed out my fabric for the swap last weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the quilts and squares everyone will be making in the next year! Special thanks to Melissa for coming up with this great idea! Be sure to check out the blog to see all of the great quilting inspiration that's coming from all of our members. My head is swarming with ideas for new quilts!

And, of course, what post wouldn't be complete without another ball band dish cloth picture? This was about my only crafting adventure this past weekend.