Granola Nut Clusters

It's not secret that I follow the Smitten Kitchen blog and love almost all of the recipes that I've made from there. Deb recently posted the recipe for these granola nut clusters, and I have to spread the word. I made these 5 times in one week because everyone who had them said they loved them and wanted the recipe.

I was surprised by how fast and easy these were. It only takes a food processor, 5-10 minutes of hands on time, and 20-30 minutes in the oven.  I like to save for breakfast the leftover granola that doesn't stick to the nut after baking. You could give these as neighbor gifts in lieu of sweets. I'm sure you'd be thanked!

Since I really didn't change the recipe from how it was written, I'm going to just send you to Smitten Kitchen to see how they're done.

Hot Chocolate & Marshmallows

It's the start of the new year, which means that most people vowed to lose weight, eat healthier, and exercise more. Maybe, if it weren't so cold today, I would have been on board with that. According to our local NBC station, we have a morning forecast of "blustery and cloudy with scattered snow flurries. Temps in the teens," and an afternoon forecast of "colder." Colder?

This year, we gave our neighbors little kits of hot chocolate cubes and homemade marshmallows. The cubes were supposed to be hot chocolate on sticks, but after I tested a few out to determine the proper number of cubes per cup, I realized that I prefer a spoon instead of a stick to stir the heck out of the chocolate into the hot milk. The sticks would just get thrown out. Plus, I don't want to stir my hot chocolate with a marshmallow, melting my mallow into the hot chocolate. I prefer to have a glob of marshmallow on top, and, since everyone shares my preferences (right... right?!), stickless hot chocolate cubes and stars they were. *Delicious, rich, warm, wish-I-didn't-already-eat-all-of-the-scraps* hot chocolate cubes and stars they were.

Both recipes take a little bit of effort, but neither are expensive to make. If you have some friends or neighbors over this winter, these would make sweet little favors to hand out. Or, if you do Valentine's Day gifts for your kids' teachers, these are perfecto. Really, just make up an excuse to make them.

If you decide you want to put them on sticks, I've heard that you should put the marshmallow on the stick first (slide from the bottom) and then put the hot chocolate cubes on underneath. The marshmallow will leave a sticky mess if you slide it down from the top of the sticks. 

Here are the links to the two recipes I used and a couple of notes to help clarify how I did things:

Cocoa Blocks - King Arthur Flour

• These are a little soft after resting 12 hours, but they'll continue to harden after you cut them. I made these 2 or 3 days before I made the marshmallows, and they were perfectly firm and not sticky.
• I found that 50 grams (about 2 cubes for me) were the right amount of chocolate per 8 ounces of milk. 
• I used half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half 60% Bittersweet chocolate chips with vanilla extract. I was tempted to use mint extract, but I only had spearmint on hand (and that would be gross). 
• I weighed the chocolate since not all chips are made the same size. I like how they give you the option to view the recipe in weight as well as volume.

Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows - smitten kitchen

• I have made these twice and both turned out perfectly. John's supposedly not a marshmallow lover, but he really liked these.  Here's how it went last time.
• If you are like me and only have one stand mixer bowl, you'll need to whip your egg whites while the sugar is on the stove. Transfer them to another bowl, wipe out your mixer bowl, and then soften your gelatin in the mixer bowl while the sugar is still on the stove (you should have plenty of time to do all of that). If your egg whites separated while resting, try to only add the whipped part into the marshmallows when that time comes (and discard the separated liquid part). Some separation will be normal, but it shouldn't affect your outcome.
• I used cookie cutters to cut some of the marshmallows. Others, I cut into cubes with a knife. 
• If you don't have the same sized pan that she recommends, err on the size of using a larger pan. 

I really hope you make these sometime! They're fun to eat and inexpensive as far as gifts go. And the mess? Yeah, it makes a mess, but it's an easy mess to clean up.

Clock DIY Make-Over

Last week, I saw a post online where someone repurposed an old clock by taking off the face and painting it. I tried looking around, but I couldn't find that post again. I've been wanting to add a clock to LE's room, but I really didn't want to spend more than $10 bucks on one. 

I casually looked around for a little while. It wasn't until I had to go to Walmart to buy spraypaint (the cheapest place I've found it) that I walked by their clock aisle. Their basic Mainstays brand 8.75 inch wall clock comes in a few colors, and it costs under $4. Add a little scrapbook paper for less than $1. Bingo! A new clock that comes in under 5 bucks.

If you have an old clock that needs new life, or if you're like me and need to revamp a new clock, follow along for the step by step. I'll explain how to do this using thick scrapbook paper as the face of the clock, but with small adjustments to the tutorial, you could use fabric or paint instead. I was able to get this very easy DIY done from start to finish during LE's nap. 

Take a mental note of how the clock hands are placed before you take your clock apart. Flip your clock over and remove the screws that are keeping the face to the back.  Snap out the battery pack, which will remove your clock hands.

Flip the clock back over to the front. Measure the width of the inside. The Mainstays clock face is 7.75in. If the clock face isn't glued in (mine was), remove and discard it.

If you have a Silhouette craft cutter, your job will be super easy (skip to instructions). If not, it will just be mildly more difficult. Print a circle the size of the clock's face (use Microsoft Word or other software that allows you to specify the exact size of shapes) onto the back side of your scrapbook paper. Use scissors to cut out the circle. You should probably buy die cut numbers for the clock unless you are really good with cutting. 

For the Silhouette users:

• Open Silhouette and draw a circle to fit your clock's face. (7.75in for the Mainstays clock)
• Pick a font that you like for the numbers. I used Skia.
• Adjust the size of your numbers until you like it. The 12 in my clock was 2.5in, measuring from the top to the bottom of the 1. 

• Once you get everything to the size that you like, move all of the numbers and extras to the outside of the circle.

• If you're using the same paper for everything, send your paper through the Silhouette on a mat. For thick cardstock, use the pink blade at 2 speed and 33 thickness. I didn't find double-cutting necessary.
• If you're using different paper for the numbers, just make sure you tell the Silhouette which items to cut (e.g. just the circle or all of the numbers/dots)
• Use Mod-Podge, spray glue, or your choice of non-wrinkling adhesive to adhere the paper circle to clock's face. Before adhering, take note of where the 12 is on your original clock. You'll need to be sure that's the top of your new clock's design since that aligns with the hanging mechanism on the back of the clock.
• Paint your cut out numbers, if needed. Apply glue dots or your choice of adhesive to the back of the numbers. Adhere the 12, 9, 6, & 3 (not the dots yet); that will allow you to get them straight. If your clock is like the Mainstays one, there are visible screw holes to help guide you. 
• Poke a small hole in the paper and then push the battery pack through from the front to the back. This will make your paper bend towards the back. Carefully remove the battery pack and reattach it to the clock the correct way.
• Attach the hands the same way that they were originally. For the Mainstays clock, the hour hand goes first shiny side up. Then, the minute hand goes matte side up, and then the second hand snaps in on top. 
• Rotate the hands so that all of them line up at 12. Using the dial on the back of the clock, turn it to 1. Place a dot. Then use the dial to turn it to 2. Place a dot. Continue for the rest of the dots. This ensures that you are placing them in the correct places.
• Place the glass and cover back on the clock. Screw everything back in place. Admire your new clock!

I haven't decided where in LE's room to place the clock yet. For now, it will live with the sock monkey.

Tuna Salad with Dill

Tonight's dinner came together in the way it does so rarely.  The fridge really needed to get cleaned out, but I didn't particularly care to send everything on its way to the compost bin. I couldn't stomach eating the rest of the cottage cheese as a snack again. Do you ever do that-- get something that you really enjoy for the first couple of times, and then it just sits there until you toss it? Even though John and I both like cottage cheese (LE, not so much), we didn't finish it off.

Back to tonight...

I needed to make dinner, and I was determined to figure out how to use up what was in our fridge.  For whatever the reason, tuna salad with dill sounded good. We have dill growing outside and tuna in our pantry. Considering I rarely eat tuna salad and have never included dill before, I consulted my usual food sites to search and then headed to google to see what the top results are. Sure, I could throw together a tuna salad, but I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing some incredibly smart ingredient that pairs perfectly with tuna and dill.

The very first recipe I clicked on had exactly what I was looking for. It's as if the ingredients were taken from the inventory of my fridge.

The fridge had half a lemon, 1/3 cup of cottage cheese, the bottom of the Dijon jar, a big spoonful of capers, a stalk of celery, a little more than a quarter of a purple onion, half a pita, and an accidental purchase of 2 heads of lettuce.

The recipe called for exactly those quantities (except the lettuce; that would be insane). Don't you just love it when the stars align? Ok, I don't really believe in that, but it was certainly serendipitous.

I never had heard of cottage cheese in tuna salad, but I thought I'd give it a try. As it turns out, it's just a healthier substitute for mayo and boiled eggs.

I'm not going to pretend that this is something that it's not. It's not something you'd make for company. This tuna salad is great for eating alone or with your family. If you're looking for something healthy, quick, and simple-- this is for you!

Tuna Salad with Dill
Adapted slightly from Simply Recipes

Ingredients
2 cans of tuna, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
1/3 cup of cottage cheese
2 tablespoons of mayo
1/4 purple onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 tablespoon of capers
Juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon of fresh dill, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
freshly ground pepper, to taste (I added about 3/4 teaspoon)

Combine all items in a bowl and serve on top of lettuce, in a pita, on toast... I think everyone knows how to eat tuna salad. ;)

Enjoy!

It may be worth it to procrastinate buying Christmas gifts this year!

Have you heard of Free Shipping Day? This year, on December 17, over 750 stores have already signed up to participate in giving free shipping with a Christmas Day delivery guarantee. Granted, who knows if what you want will be in stock by then, but it sounds like a great way to avoid shipping costs! From Neimans to Moosejaw-- there are a lot of great stores participating! Go to http://www.freeshippingday.com/ for more info and to see if the stores you're shopping from this season will be participating.

Birdhouse Accessories

I stumbled across some plain wooden birdhouses on sale at Michaels a few weeks ago. They were $1 each, and I picked out 4 different styles. They are lightweight and purely decorative-- definitely not anything I'd actually use as a real birdhouse-- and the perfect accessory for LE's bird themed room.

The plain birdhouses were just too, well, plain, but covered with cute scrapbook paper or paint, they'd be perfect to mount in a cluster on a wall or hang from the ceiling as a mobile. I haven't decided which to do yet.

All of the materials that I used to create them are below. Most of them are optional items I had on hand.

1. Birdhouse
2. Cutting surface (only if you are using a razor to cut)
3. Colorful [super cute] paper
4. Paper cutter (optional)
5. Paintbrushes
6. Razor or box cutter
7. Paint
8. Water (optional)
9. Glue (I didn't have glue at home for the first house, so I made my own with cornstarch and water.)
10. Scissors

All you do is paint the small areas and parts that you don't want to cover in paper. Then, using one of the cutting apparatuses, cut out the paper to cover the sections of the birdhouse. Apply a layer of glue to the house. I watered my glue down and spread an even coat with the paintbrush. Press the paper down firmly and make the creases crisp. Voila! You're done!

I'm on the fence about getting some clear spray paint or mod podge to seal it. They can sit on a shelf if you want. I'll either drill a hole in the back to mount it on the wall or put a hole on the top to string fishing wire through to hang it from the ceiling. I'll post pictures when they are hung.