Homemade Granola

This is our new favorite snack! I have been trying to get into healthier eating/cooking habits for me and my family. I was looking for recipes for healthy snacks and I came across a granola recipe. I thought, hhmmm, that might work. So the problem with the granola you buy at the store is that most of it is high in fat, calories and sugar. The other problem, not that I am a freak about organic eating (because I am not at all!), is that it has high fructose corn syrup and a bunch of "processed junk" in it. Anyway I thought i would give it a whirl. I research probably two dozen recipes. I wasn't sold on any of them, so I con-cocked my own cocktail of deliciousness. Here it goes.

Homemade Granola

4 cups of old fashion (rolled) oats
1 cup of sliced/crushed almonds
2 T of virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup of honey
1 T of vanilla extract
1 T of cinnamon
3/4 cup of flaxseed
3/4 cup of wheat germ
1/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of natural applesauce

Pre heat the oven to 275

I could not find, and didn't want to go more than one store for ingredients, sliced almonds. So I bought this nut crusher for $6 at dierbergs. So first I crushed my almonds. I liked them extra fine so I ran them through several times

Then add and mix all dry ingredients to a large bowl. This would include oats, almonds, cinnamon, flaxseed, and wheat germ.

In a separate bowl add and mix all remaining ingredients. If you choose to use coconut oil ( I like the added flavor) you must melt it down to be able to mix it because it is solid at room temperature. I just zapped it in the microwave for 30 seconds, until it is liquid. I would suggest adding this last because as time passes it will start to turn back to a solid, making it more difficult to mix. You can substitute any other oil you have on hand, or just omit it completely (less calories/fat!). The applesauce will cover any need for oil in the recipe. Like I said, I like it for the flavor.

Add your wet ingredients to the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir well

Spread mixture on to a ungreased cookie sheet and place in oven for 10 minutes

After 10 minute remove, and stir mixture

Put back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes

Remove from oven and remove granola from cookie sheet immediately (other wise you will be scraping your pan for a LONG time)

Let cool granola cool completely before storing in Ziploc bags.

Granola is great with raisins, fresh fruit, yogert, I even ate it as cereal one morning for breakfast. Sunshine prefers it dry and plain! This is a great source of protein, fiber, and omega 3.

Happy (healthly) toddler approved!

Sickness and Jellyfish

Not much happened last week. Sunshine was sick most of the week.She is such a trooper. She had a high fever for 4 days, but most of the time she was running around like the princess she normally is (with Ibuprofen of course!). I did complete one dress despite my little Sunshine being sick. This is what the sewing world calls an "upcycled dress". Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value(according to Wikipedia).So, this pretty much means: J and I did some closet cleaning, getting rid of clothes that were too small or old and I ended up with a HUGE pile of new(recycled) fabric.

Like I really need more fabric. I am on overload right now. My fabric rack can't hold any more. I started piling it the glider chair. And since the recent closet clean out, I have now filled up the wicker basket. So, haven't bought any fabric in a while. I am guilty of buying fabric, washing, ironing, folding it then it disappears in my "rack". GUILTY!

Anyway, so back to the dress. The main "core" of the dress was a t-shirt of my sisters. I think it was from aeropostle. The sleeves are from one of my long sleeves shirts, adjusted to Sunshine's size of course. And to finish it off, the "skirt" part of the dress is one of J old t-shirts. This dress required minimal amount of sewing because I used the preexisting collar, and hems.

Sunshine calls it her "jellyfish dress". Which I find incredibly funny because there is no jellyfish on it, its a clam of some-sort.  I always get nervous that she won't like the dress, but she loves this one. The day after I made it, she woke up, walked in our bedroom, trying to take her pj's off. She taps my shoulder, "Mommy, where is my jellyfish dress?" I giggled to myself.

personalized ruffle dress

I whipped this baby up in one afternoon for my cousins daughter for Christmas. It is made out of a knit combo. I got the grey knit one clearance at Hancock. And the pink striped knit, you'll love this, I found it at A GARAGE SALE! Ohhh yeah I love a good bargain. I found this and four other fabrics (all over a yard long) for $3!

 As told you before, knit is awesome because it won't fray. It's a little less time-consuming because you have to do less finishing on the edges. The dress looked really dull to me. So I added some fun ruffles (so easy to make).

 I also add a cute touch that makes the dress so much more original, her first initial. I used the freezer paper method (here). So cute!

I'm REALLY impatient about letting paint dry so I cheat and use my hairdryer!

I wish I could of got a picture of her wearing it, but she was really camera shy. I was so happy it fit her so well. I have had a problem of making things to small for my "clients". Nothing is more frustrating than spending hours on a project, then them not being able to wear it because it is too little.
     
Thanks for stopping by! Happy New Year!

My First Dress



Just a quick post. I want to have a flashback moment to the very first (wearable) dress I made. I thought (and still think) it was the most adorable thing ever. I have been hooked ever since. It's cotton, with ribbon straps. I made it last December and Sunshine was able to wear it well into the summer. It's always a little sad to me when she out grows out of the stuff I make her.



Notice the crib in the background, wow, how much she has grown in one year!



A princess dress



Little Miss Sunshine is obsessed with the Disney princesses.... She has many of the Barbies and a couple of the dress up dresses. She usually has changed into one of them before she even comes to wake me up in the morning. Soooo for an extra special Christmas gift I made her my own version of "Sleeping Beauty" dress. This is probably the gift I am the most excited about giving to her. I know she will just LOVE it.

the fabric......ooooo shiny

sparkle trim

Two great things about this dress..... It only took me about 2 hours from designing it to hanging it on the hanger.....and it cost a little under $15 to make. That is more than I usually spend on making a dress BUT, these little suckers cost $20 anywhere. Plus, this one is way more special because it is from Mom.

The Christmas dress

I really wanted to make Sunee's Christmas dress this year. I was really excited about it. I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like, red and black satin, with a BIG bow on the back. But to be honest, I was nervous about sewing with satin. My sister, again, talked me into buying a pattern. I used some of the pattern pieces for a sizing guide, but that was about it. I realized that this is probably the only thing they are good for. I bunched the rest of the tissue you paper up and shoved it back in the packet. I guess I didn't have to make the dress out of satin but I think it makes the dress look so much more "dressy". Here is the fabric.

Since satin has absolutely no give whats so ever. I knew I might have to venture into "zipperland". I have yet to use a zipper in any of my projects, so again, I got nervous. I chickened out, and did hook and latches instead.

Getting ready to attach the skirt....

The finished product.

My little model had to be bribed to take some pictures and I still didn't get any good ones. But you can still see she looks really cute in it.

3 week long curtains

I have been working on some curtains for a very special man in my life. These curtains took me three weeks to complete, no joke. I have made several sets of curtains for our house. However, the curtains in my house were much simpler. I completed them the same day they were started.


Sunee's room

Our room...yum chocolate brown

The dining room

I love love the pattern of the curtains in the dining room

These Toy Story 3 curtains were more complex and required a lot more thought and planning. They are made out of a set of sheets, fitted and flat. My curtain journey started with me taking the elastic out of the fitted sheet. This is a long and tedious process. But after that was done, I had two nice pieces of fabric to work with. After cutting the main pieces, I went to work on the straps. Each strap took forever (15-20 min). I needed 16 straps to complete the curtains, you can do the math.

A whole lot of measuring, ironing and pinning later, they were finished. I definitely think they were worth all of the time and extra work. I was impressed with the final product, and so was my nephew.

all scrunched up...cute huh?

I was recently talking to a friend who has an interest in starting to sew. I was explaining to her that curtains, (not these kind) are a good thing to start sewing because curtains are a bunch of straight lines. Also. that curtains really show you that most projects are about 20% sewing, and 80% of a project is measuring, cutting, folding, ironing and pinning.

So now I am so excited about moving on to some Christmas gift making. I hope to make Sunee Mae a couple dresses to open on Christmas morning, including her "Christmas dress"!