Silly Hats, Spun Sugar and Ginger Pear Glutenfree cake

We had a fun celebration for Daryl's birthday. For his cake i tackled spun sugar and was more successful than my previous attempt. Making a dairy free frosting is always a challenge, so this spun sugar was a great alternative to decorating the cake!














We asked everyone who came to wear a fun hat. Here we are with ours!














The birthday cake was a Gluten free Coconut-Molasses-Ginger cake with warm pears. So good! one of the best compliments you can give to a GF baked treat is that you couldn't tell it was gluten free! I made two to have enough for all our guests and everyone really enjoyed it!

On the Menu

All I could think on my drive home today was the chocolate cake. One last piece in the fridge for me beckoning me to finish, although really I think I must split it and share it with my neighbor who claimed on Saturday it was one of the best things she’s ever eaten. I have to agree, it is not your average chocolate cake by any means. In fact I think it’s the first “flourless” chocolate cake I’ve ever made. I don’t know what has taken me so long! This particular recipe from Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life was absolutely wonderful. So light and creamy-great warm from the oven, but even better after chilled overnight in the fridge. We literally had a moment of silence as we all marveled, slowly lingering over each bite! I’m already thinking of when I can make it again. My birthday’s coming up soon, seems like a good excuse. Ah- but who needs excuses to enjoy life and all the wonderful flavors we have. Life is too short for to wait for birthdays for cake! I do believe in moderation but just wait until you try this cake, you’ll see.

Inspired to salvage

I have been reading JunkBeautiful and it has really encouraged me to look at things differently.

I have perused a few different books on this topic and this was by far the most inspiring! The projects are not cheesy and out dated, they are fresh and classy.

So last week when our family was sitting in traffic on the 605 and i looked out my window and spotted this cable dumped on the hillside I quickly recalled a friend mentioning they had used one of these for a table. A coffee table is exactly what we have been missing in our simple home and after a bit of an adventure getting off the freeway and finding our way back to the hillside, my handy husband rolled this beauty up the hill and we loaded it in our car. (i'm so grateful to have a station wagon)

The next couple posts will show more projects around the house as we change how we view things; in an attempt to consume less and create more!

Save the Bears!

Natania and Claire were pretending to shot bears and lions the other day. (I decided that if I had boys I wouldn’t be surprised that they wanted to pretend to hunt and shoot so I don’t want to have a double standard! Although I really don’t know where that idea came from, not me!) Anyhow, after they had brought us their 4th or so pretend dead bear, Daryl and told them they shouldn’t shot too many bears, only what Natania and Claire could eat themselves so that they didn’t waste. Claire then told me that they were having a big dinner and needed enough for Natania, Claire, mommy and daddy. We then said that they needed to make sure they didn’t shot all the bears because other people needed to see them too. Natania called down, (she was hunting upstairs) that other people could always look at pictures to see bears and lions!

They are quick! Maybe it was too early to be teaching them about conservation!

Natania cracks us up all the time. A couple weeks ago we had family from out of town visiting. Daryl's aunt from Colorado and Grandparents who live in Wyoming as well as his parents, brother and girlfriend were all over for dinner at our place. We had a great time together! At one point in the evening Daryl asked his Aunt Natalie how old she was. Aunt Nat teasingly said to all of us, "I'm old as dirt!" Natania who was standing right by her, looked at her and said, "Aunt Nat, you're not old as dirt," and then she pointed at Daryl grandparents sitting on the couch and said, "they're old as dirt!" We all had a good laugh at that one!

Sweet Claire

Last week we had a first hair cut... first hair cut by someone other than mommy that is! Natania got into the scissors and gave her little sister a hair cut. i was trying to find a good "before" picture but i just cut Claire's hair a couple weeks ago into a cute bob. and was probabably feeling a little pride about how adorable she was with her cute little hair cut. Well, as you see below, her golden tresses are rather short in some areas! We've tried to down-play the whole "oh Claire your beautiful hair is gone!" response while still taking the "playing with scissors" seriously. Even at this early age she is learning from us what beauty is and we want to be very intentional about treating looks healthily and without very much importance. I would love to raise girls who are free from the lies this culture and world teaches us from day one about beauty and needing to conform to a certain image that media and current fashion feeds us!

Ok, so here is the evidence!

Flour-Less (yes it's true!) peanut butter cookies

Ok, i was looking for a new Gluten Free cookie recipe to try out for Daryl and came across this recpie. I was skeptical at first, but i know this blogger does a lot of GF cooking and blogging and after reading through a bunch of the reviews on her site, i decided to try them and wow, i'm glad I did! Daryl loved them and we were both surprised at how good they came out without any flour. I read that some people substituted honey (only 3/4 cup instead of 1) for the sugar and also had great results... i think I'll try that next time. I don't normally like PB cookies, but these were delicious! (i did add a couple chocolate chips to the ones i baked for myself. If you like chocolate then i'd suggest adding a couple chips on top- wonderful) I did change the recipe a bit because Daryl isn't eating "peanut butter", so here is my version of the recipe as well as the process!

Becky's Cashew/Almond Butter Cookies
(how many things do you have to change to a recipe to make it officially yours?)

1/2 cup cashew butter
1/2 cup almond butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
(extra sugar for rolling the cookie dough balls in)

that's it! ...i'm serrious! so simple.

Step 1. Mix ingrediants. Here is the dough... pretty sticky












Step 2. Make into little balls and roll in a little sugar. Small is good; apparently they hold together better if they are smaller. (this much dough would make a very big cookie! I made mine much smaller!)














Step 3. Press the classic fork "x" on them.













Step 4. Bake at 350 for 11 mins. Then let sit on pan for 5 minutes or more, then remove them from pan and let cool longer on wire rack or plate. As the cool the outer sugar coating gets crispier!

Step 5. Enjoy!

Becky's Chocolate Crinkles Cookies

These are wonderful, i took them to work last week and everyone loved them!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 cups white sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup of almond flour (optional: you can use more white/whole wheat if you don't have) 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours, or put in freezer for 45 mins.
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Get hands wet (very important as the dough is sticky!) Roll dough into one inch balls. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
3.	Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Take them out right when you think they may need a minute longer. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute and they will sink down a little and finish cooking. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!

Here it is! The finished curtain!

following a bit of a hiatus, I am back. This winter /holiday season has been full of family, new traditions at Christmas, a slow "parents of preschoolers" new years (i.e. we went to bed before the countdown...sorry) and now getting back into the rhythm of life. I'm doing good. Tonight i almost finished a little project I’ve been working on for a couple weeks... ok that is misleading. I have not been working on it for two weeks. I have been looking at it for 3 weeks, slowing gathering supplies and motivation to actually sit down at my sewing machine and make the girls their new curtains. If you saw them, you would realize that it was more of a "two night" project but, for me, 2-3 weeks is pretty good.

Next week I’m going to be gone for dinner one night. It will be a nice to have a night away from my normal duties, maybe I’ll convince Daryl to cook himself or take the girls out so that i don't have to make dinner either. Isn't it funny how on nights that mothers get "off" we still have to do almost the same work (at the cooking part ...) This Christmas Daryl told me that he is willing to try and learn how to make a couple meals (beyond his current repertoire of .... toast....scrambled eggs... grilled cheese.... tuna/beans/corn/bell pepper stir fry -i know, it sounds weird, but the girls gobble it up and i try to pretend when i walk in the door from work at lunch time that Daryl's concoction is yummy and normal for them to eat ...(i make myself a sandwich on those days) Anyhow, i need to think about how to really encourage this idea of his to make dinner and cultivate this into a wonderful new tradition... "Daddy's Dinner night" or "Daddy's Surprise casserole Night" something fun like that. Unfortunately i know all to well what a little discouragement can do to an idea like this. When Daryl and I first got married he offered to learn how to make 5 dinners. For some stupid reason, i told him that he didn't need to be in my kitchen! Oh naive little wife i was.... what was i thinking! how many times have i kicked myself for turning down his offer... (he has teased me ever since about my lost opportunity and pretty much stayed out of the kitchen) This time around since apparently enough time has passed for my past deflating remarks to drift out of his memory, i'm going to gently seize this opportunity and put some recipes in his path..

More another time….

Visiting Cousins

My sister Liz was in town in February. The girls had so much fun playing together.

A day at the park

Natania (2 yrs. 8 months)















Throwing rocks













Claire (17 months)














Trying to get a "girls" shot.

check this link out:

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909

this video is really cool. I am now an official supporter of Dove Products.

We are back in the states and readjusting to life in Southern California. (If that previous post didn’t already imply that). Our transition has been good but harder than we expected. Partially that is because we really didn’t have many expectations that it would be hard. I think it had something to do with the whole, “we’re MK’s, and we’ve already gone through this. I stood paralyzed in the cereal aisle when I was thirteen; I’m not going to do that again!” Well so far I haven’t had a crisis in a grocery store but I’m still surprised that I have felt different feelings of true culture shock! It’s a good humbling experience. If you know any MK’s you know that we are a breed that has a high level of self pride in our “culture awareness.” And so to go through this experience has once again shown me that I am not special and immune to the same issues that “everyone else” goes through!

As for Natania and Claire, they didn’t skip a beat reconnecting with their grandparents. When Natania first saw Grandma Sherry she ran to her and said, “can I go swimming in your pool?!” We had been telling Natania that she would get to swim at Grandma Sherry’s house so that she would have something concrete to think about when we told her that we were coming back to “America.” I know that they don’t totally understand what has happened. We still talk with Natania about the people we miss in Macedonia. Maja, Vesna, Auntie Heather, Whitney, Heather, Katelyn, Aunt Nadine, Uncle Andy, Alex, … the list goes on. While Natania does have a limited understanding, Claire is totally oblivious. She is her usual coy, sweet self. Her hardest adjustment so far has been the nursery at church!

We are excited to be here even if we’ve had re-acclimate ourselves to some of southern California’s unique culture! Please pray for us that we would continue to settle in to life here and honor God through this process!

I made it to and out of Target. Well, I should say that our bank account made it out still alive after being bombarded with lots of appealing “needs”. Oh those sandals are so cute-I know I already have a pair of flip flops, but those are so much cuter… oh look at that clearance rack over there, I really should go take a look, maybe I’ll find a great deal! By the way, what happened to the style since I’ve been gone? It’s like we can’t make up our mind between tight eighties and flowing seventies—maybe that’s the point—we can’t come up with anything new so we’ll just blend styles to get a new look. Ok, So I can resist the clearance rack for now; or maybe it’s just that I’m going to need a little time for the current trends to wear off of me. J But man, all this pressure to buy, buy, buy. I’m not used to feeling this struggle so acutely in my heart!

Ok, so all that to say I did give in, I bought Natania the cutest little dress shoes—she’s going to need a pair now that we’re going to church right? They were so sweet! But don’t worry, they were on sale!

Claire is One!

Claire had her first birthday at the end of May! We celebrated as a family on Tuesday the 22nd, and then had a little party for her here at the house on Friday. Natania was so excited about her birthday, she sang Happy Birthday to her all week long. Claire is such a sweet girl. We are so grateful to have her in our family. So, for those of you who don't know Claire very well right now, I'll try to describe a little what she is like. One of her best attributes is her great smile, her whole face gets involved! She like to sing and clap her hands, her favorite song is "slippery fish" and she'll put her hands to her cheeks and say "oh no" with the song. I think she is going to be a gentle, compassionate child because she can sit looking at book with paper pages (as opposed to cardboard) and she doesn't rip them out or crinkle them -Something that Natania was always doing. We were playing a game the other night with cards and Claire was just content to sit in my lap and hold and shuffle some cards. She likes to be tickled although not quite as much as Natania. When she gets really excited/upset about something she'll try to bite whatever's in reach. (you can ask Natania, she's already got several marks to prove it!) Some of Claire's favorite foods are whole wheat pancakes, black beans, bananas, and anything sweet! If you say "Hello" she'll put whatever toy she's holding up to her ear as though it is a telephone. She can give kisses (leans forward with open mouth). Claire is a little on the shy side, she doesn't like to go to people if she can see her mommy close by, unless you have food to bribe her! It is hard to believe that she was 4 months old when we left, she has changed so much. We can't wait for everyone to get to know our little one year old soon.

Seven Layer Bars

Submitted by: Patty Tindall Rated: 5 out of 5 by 132 members

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes

Ready In: 40 Minutes Yields: 36 servings

"Easy to make and very rich. Can use different kinds of chips (vanilla or peanut butter) to suit your taste."

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped walnuts 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 1 1/3 cups shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2.	Place butter in 13 x 9 inch pan and melt in oven. Swirl to coat bottom and sides with butter.
3.	SMix crumbs and buter in a bowl then press into bottom of pan. Layer chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts over crumbs. Pour condensed milk over nuts. Sprinkle coconut over condensed milk.
4.	Bake until edges are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool.

My notes: Hm... they were so good. I followed the recipe except we can't get graham crackers here so i used a "close" friend of the graham and did 50/50 cracker crumbs and pretzels! Very good combo! I also didn't use quite as much coconut as called for.

As you can see from the video clip below, our little Claire has sprouted wings and begun to crawl! In a little over a week she has already picked up a lot of speed! She is now pulling herself up on the couches and she also enjoys being "walked" about the room. Not too long before she'll be doing it by herself. Which by the way is one of Natania's new favorite phrases. "I need do it by myself mommy." I thought I was somehow going evade this stage with Natania, that we'd just pass over this common toddler struggle for independence. But alas, no, even sweet little Natania is reaching for her autonomy. Please pray for my patience as I let her grow and that I’d have wisdom with when to reign in her self sufficiency! She really is a lot of fun, some of her favorite things to do are... well hold on, she wants to tell you herself!

-"Help" mommy in kitchen. Translation: kneel on the stepstool, eat a snack and play with kitchen utensils while mommy tries cook and relax if a little extra mess is made with the added "help"

-Go for a walk around the neighborhood. Translation: push Claire in the stroller "all by myself" and run to mommy if a car comes saying. "hold mommy's hand, i don't be afraid!"

-Watch "Little people movie" (self explanatory... except that this is when mommy tries to hurry and make dinner without the "extra help!")

-Take a bath. my favorite part is at the end when Daddy sometimes turns on the shower and sprays me with cold water and I squeal with delight and say "again! more!"

-Play hide and go seek. Translation: I run to a hiding spot and then turn around and run back out. I'm starting to learn to actually stay in my spot until I’m found!

-Play at a playground. Translation: this is very exciting for me. I get very happy when mommy tells me we're going to the playground because we don't have any by our house. We have to drive at least 10 minutes. But my favorite one is further away down in the center of town because there, the teeter toddler is not broken and they actually have swings i can sit in by myself. (without falling off). I also love slides!

-Go see the river. Translation: go walk up the river that flows through town and say. "Dirty river, no go in river. that's dangerous." mommy is trying to teach me to say "nice river" because she's embarrassed that i say "dirty river"... but i don't know why...i'm pretty sure i heard mommy and daddy say that!

-Go to McDonalds. Translation: eat "toast" (which is McDonald's grilled cheese here) and french fries... I love french fries!!!

-Sing! Translation: Watch the video clip!

On the Menu

"On the Menu" is a new series dedicated to my favorite recipes that I have recently made and photographed. This is one of my favorite cookie recipes! Hope you enjoy.

Henry and Maudie's Oatmeal Cookies
INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sifted whole wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 egg 1/4 cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups rolled oats

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Stir together the whole wheat flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2.	In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg,

	water and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture, then stir in the oats. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart.
3.	Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2007 Allrecipes.com

Date Night

Tonight Natania, Claire and I went out on a little outing. We didn’t get out yesterday or today and so I decided to go get ice-cream. Macedonians have this idea that eating something cold like ice-cream in the winter is bad for your health, so most restaurants and stores don’t stock it or serve it during these “chilly” months. There is however an ice cream parlor at the big mall in the center of town and so, feeling a little adventurous and stir crazy, I decided not to take a taxi but to find it myself with my co-worker/neighbor’s car. I’ve of course been there before but never behind the wheel myself!

After a few wrong turns that adjusted our 15-20 minute jaunt into a 25-30 minute trip, we pulled into a tight spot (parallel parked!) on the curb. If I had parked in this same spot in the states, I would have received dirty looks and probably a ticket for my audacity to leave my vehicle where I did, but thank goodness, those rules don’t apply here! Otherwise I would have spent another 10 minutes driving around the squished “parking lot” looking for a legitimate spot!

I slid Claire into the sling and gave Natania strict warnings about needing to hold my hand and obey Mommy while we were out. We stepped in the mall and I realized at once what a novelty I was. To paint the picture for you: Young single woman, two “babies,” a sling… most women here don’t have children until their 30’s and if they have more than one child they definitely don’t have them close together, 6 years is the desirable distance between siblings. As for the sling, let’s just say I think mine is the sole representative of its kind here in this country! It’s been a while since I’ve attracted so much attention. It took me back to my days in Asia where there was no hiding the fact that I wasn’t a national, and everyone stares openly at foreigners. Here, with my light skin, dark hair and brown eyes, I can blend in quite well as a Macedonian (as long as I keep my mouth shut!).

At “Palma’s” we sat in the “non-smoking” section, which I don’t think really exists, everyone here smokes and so if there is a non-smoking section, it’s just one or two tables in the middle or off to the side of all the smoking tables! I ordered two scoops of ice-cream for us to share and a cappuccino as a treat for me. Natania wanted to try mommy’s coffee but I didn’t want to risk her not being able to sleep due to the caffeine boost. (I’m sure the sugar in the ice-cream was already taking care of that!) Natania enjoyed her ice-cream and … so did Claire (yes, it’s true I guess I have relaxed my standards a little). After ice-cream we rode the escalator up and down four times because Natania was having so much fun. Then Natania helped me pick out a pair of earrings at a little silver jewelry stall. Lastly we got one of those big shopping carts that has a little car for your toddler to sit in the front and “drive” (another fun treat for Natania) and I picked up a few items at Ram Store; the largest grocery store here and more importantly; the only one with little cars!

We had a lot of fun tonight and mostly I think it was because I took great joy in my daughter’s joy. It’s hard to put into words, but Natania was so happy to be out with her mommy. On the way home, I told her that we had gone on a “date” and tried to explain the concept to her in toddler vocabulary. She told me that she wanted “do date again mommy?” And she also got very excited when I told her that she could go on a date with Daddy too.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently with my two daughters and it can be a temptation to lose sight of the bigger picture. These are two precious little girls that God has entrusted to me for a time. Tonight I was blessed with a beautiful little occasion that has helped me to reflect on God’s goodness to me. I thank the Lord for the delight that I am experiencing being Natania and Claire’s mother. It truly is a privilege to raise these little girls.