Morning Granola

Breakfast always has bittersweet connotations for me. I love the idea of breakfast, but am not really a fan of breakfast food. I think a lot of it stems from the 2 years I cooked breakfast almost every weekend for one hundred people at a retreat center. Since then, eggs, pancakes, biscuits, you-name-it have never really appealed to me.

Jonathan is a big cereal fan, but since yummy cereal is hard to come by in Istanbul, homemade granola has become a staple in our house.

Prep time is quick, but make sure you have a couple of hours to bake and stir the granola.

Here's my usual recipe, inspired from my favorite cookbook, More with Less:

Mix in large bowl:
6 C. plain oatmeal
2 C. whole wheat flour
1. C. coconut flakes
2 C. nuts (try any combination. I prefer walnuts because they taste great after being baked.)
1/2 C. wheat germ (to be healthy!)
1/2 C. flax seed (also healthy!)
1 T. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Heat in Saucepan:
1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 C. water
1 C. honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar
1 T. vanilla

3 C. dried fruit (dates, raisins, mangos, apricots, apples, whatever! I usually use 2 or 3 different fruits)

When slightly warmed, mix the wet ingredients in well with the dry ingredients. If you need to, add a bit more water to make sure the dry ingredients are completely coated.

Put half of the mix on a greased cookie sheet and cook at 300 degrees for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. I wait until it's fairly golden brown before I take it out of the oven. Jonathan likes his granola extra crunchy and I've found it's crunchiest when I let it cool on the cookie sheet.

When cooled, add the fruit and store in an airtight container.

Like I Don't Already Have Enough To Do

A few years ago, I made a list of things I want to do in life. Since then, I've done a few of them, forgotten quite a few, and still have some on the list.

One of the things on my list was to take a picture a day for a year. After running across a couple other blogs that were devoted to this, my motivation was renewed. But, with a little modification.

A dear friend of mine and I have decided to share the blog and each post a picture every day. Joy lives in Colorado and has an incredible eye for art and photography. I live in Istanbul, and though I'm not a natural, I still think it would be a lot of fun to try out.

So, check it out if you want to see a bit more of Colorado, Turkey, or anywhere in between.

www.resplendentawakening.blogspot.com

We couldn't come up with a title, so Joy thought of an adjective, I thought of a noun, and we put them together!

Hand Warmers

I found this easy pattern on Ravelry. As with almost all of my projects, I took it apart once and started over. All in all, it came together quite well and only took a couple of hours per warmer.The cuff covering my fingers can also be folded back so I can do things when them on.

Matching Hats

Jonathan's request for a hat as well as a long plane flight turned into this. I got the pattern from my favorite knitting website, The Purl Bee.

My hat fit perfectly, but I had to adjust Jonathan's a bit. I folded the bottom section in half and sewed it there so it would be shorter.

Slippers (that look like a strawberry)

My goal was to start and finish this project on the flight from Atlanta to Istanbul which didn't quite happen. I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong (twice), but I had to take my first two tries apart. Finally, I adjusted the needle size for parts of the final product and it turned out fine. Though, I don't have as much love for them as I originally hoped because of all the time devoted to making a simple slipper.

Journal

No sewing machine is causing me to be more and more creative with my projects. I recently finished up my old journal. I started a new one but had yet to be inspired. Last weekend, I saw a journal Allison had full of fun paper and I got inspired. In the past, I would have just taken a page and sewn it to to the front, but I had to be more creative this time.

Here are my resources:

Here's my inspiration:

Here's the final project:

Not bad for someone who hasn't colored since the 2nd grade, eh?

On My List

After I get my sewing machine...and learn how to buy fabric at the fabric stores here, I want this book. Badly.