I absolutely love where we live. I also love tradition. I go out of my way to make sure we are making  memories together and carrying on family traditions. The 4th of July is one holiday steeped in tradition that  my kids really look forward to. Growing up, my parents always had a big 4th of July party–it started in the morning with everyone coming over for breakfast outside. Family came and went all day long. We swam and ate and then  moved the party into the garage in the evening. My dad and older cousins would blow off fire works in our back yard and a great time was had by all.

The apple must not fall too far from the tree.  We start each 4th of July at our Clintonville Community Breakfast. We walk over to the park early in the morning to begin our day.

One or more of my kids always participates in the pet parade

Then there is the fishing derby

And the party preparation

It is the part of the day that is the calm before the storm. Because the next thing I remember– It looked more like this

And this

This was before the fireworks show and the post fireworks snacking!! It was a late night. And today after cleaning all that up, I took a long nap–in the air conditioning. Hope your Holiday weekend was both fun and relaxing!!

April 26 is National Pretzel Day—who knew there was such a holiday?!

So in honor of National Pretzel Day here is a blast from the past (May 2008!)

Homemade Soft Pretzels

We followed a recipe that promised Aunt Annie’s Pretzels-like from the mall.  They weren’t exactly Aunt Annie’s but not too bad either.  I used white whole wheat flour for ours-white flour definitely would have been better.  Ours were really heavy.  And as far s the amount this recipe makes-unless you are feeding an army cut this recipe in half as this makes at least a dozen pretzels and they don’t save well.

Aunt Annie’s Soft Pretzel Recipe

In a large bowl combine 1 1/2 tsp live active yeast with 1 1/2 cups 110 degree water, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar and dash of salt.  Let sit 5 minutes

Add 4 cups flour mix well and knead for 5 minutes

Put in greased bowl and cover with damp towel and let sit 1 hour in a warm place.

Divide into 8 to 12 pieces -we divided into 16 pieces-and they were still pretty thick.

Roll into rope and shape , dip into 1/4 cup warm water that has 1 tablespoon baking soda mixed in.

Bake at 500 degrees for 8 minutes

Brush liberally with melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt or 2 tablespoons mixed with melted butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or parmesan cheese and garlic salt and serve with marinara sauce.

Mmmmmmmm!

The week between Christmas and New Years. I am feeling like I am on vacation. We don’t have too many commitments this week. We still have family visiting and a few more Holiday events to look forward to.  I might put some stuff away or not. I might start an organizational project or not. I might just stay in my jammies and eat cookies until I have to be somewhere at 7pm tonight!

But this is what the past week or so has looked like!

I made a cool mosaic at Big Huge Labs, but couldn’t get it to work! So you have to settle for a few photos posted haphazardly.

We have new games to play, books to read, a new trampoline covered in snow that needs to be jumped on, movies to watch, new toys to play with and lots of treats that still need to be eaten. What do you plan to do with your week between?

Peppermint and/or Pine scented Playdough

In a pot mix together

1 cup flour

1/2 cup of salt

2 t cream of tarter

add

1 cup water with many drops of red or green food coloring

2 T oil

several drops peppermint essential oil to the red batch and pine essential oil to the green batch

cook on medium heat until a ball forms and pulls away from the sides of the pot.

Put this into a plastic tubby with a few holiday cookie cutters attatched and this makes a great gift for a little person.

Looking for a healthy breakfast cereal? Looking for a handmade gift? Homemade granola fits both bills! Store bought granola can be expensive and often unhealthy, but making a large batch at home can save you some money as well as allowing you to customize the ingredients.

We made two different granola recipes in the past few weeks. Both are really good and when put in a pretty jar make a great holiday gift.

The first recipe is taken from a new favorite cook book of mine, FEEDING THE WHOLE FAMILY

MAPLE BUTTER NUT GRANOLA

Makes 8 cups

Pre-heat 325

3 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 Tablespoon nut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients

In a small pan melt buter, add maple syrup, and nut butter and stir to blend. Remove from heat and add extracts

Slowly pour wet over dry ingredients.  Fold and evenly coat dry ingredients

Spread on cookie sheet or shallow pan and bake until dry and golden-45 to 60 minutes, turning every 15 to 20 minutes so that it toasts evenly.

I added some of this to a bowl of pomegranate seeds and literally thought I had died and gone to heaven!!! No milk necessary.

The next day I added dry coconut and a banana to my bowl of granola/pomegranate. Equally delicious!

The kids had theirs parfait style. (In a tall glass, layered with frozen fruit and almond or coconut milk)

The second recipe is from the files of Abby, who swears she doesn’t know where she got this recipe.

MIX AND MATCH APPLESAUCE GRANOLA

3 1/2 cups rolled oats

2 cups puffed rice cereal

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

pinch ground cardamom (don’t skip this!!)

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup plain applesauce

1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

up to 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds…..)

up to 1 cup chopped dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, apricots, cherries, blueberries, raspberries…….)

Pre-heat 325 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or two smaller ones)

In a large bowl combine oats, cereal and spices. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla.

Pour wet over dry, adding nuts and stir to combine.

Spread on baking sheet in an even layer

Bake 30 minutes, turning over and baking 15 more minutes or until golden brown

This recipe was great for snacking. It was more clumpy than the first recipe. The cardamom really gives this one a warm taste.

You can find some cute glass containers at the grocery or the thrift store. Add a pretty label with the recipe and you have a wonderful handmade inexpensive gift that anyone would love to receive!

Most would call this an advent calendar. And most would start on Dec 1. But I am a little late this year and if Ginger wouldn’t have found her thrift store Christmas sweater in the laundry basket, which was intended for one of the days surprises…..I most certainly would have made this the 20 days until Christmas garland or even  the 10 days. You get the idea—there is still time to make this!!!

I found the idea for this at Maya*Made. Her’s is much more neat, I am guessing she didn’t have little elves helping her! Also I am borrowing her idea for time tickets! Love it! I am planning to give several of these “dates” to my kids as Christmas presents also.

You will need a paper tube for each day. If you are using paper towel tubes you can cut them in half.

Cut 4 slits around the bottom of each tube and fold them up and tape them shut to form a bottom on each tube.

Next have your helper cut a decorative edge around the top.

Then number them and use a hole punch to punch 2 holes on either side of the tubes (so the number is in the middle).

I made a mistake and only punched one hole and they didn’t hang as nicely.

I used a hot glue gun to decorate these with pieces of silver rope garland, beads, jingle bells, and flat glass star pieces.

My next mistake was that at this point I stuffed them with shredded paper-I suggest waiting until after you string them if you plan to use any “fluff” in them!

Then I strung a long piece of yarn through the holes (be sure to put them in numerical order) and secured them to our mantel.

I tried to keep the cost down and bought a few things from the thrift store-a Christmas sweater and T-shirt, PJ pants, a game to share. I also bought some candy and gum.  And of course, the time tickets!

Now, I decided to wait until each night after the kids are in bed to stuff these tubes or else they may all get opened in one day!!! If the surprise doesn’t fit I will either wrap it or leave clues to where it may be found. It was reassuring to me to see so many days left until the actual holiday. I haven’t even started my shopping!!!

This weeks Unplugged theme is writing. We took this idea pretty literally and set up a Holiday letter writing and card making spot.

Certainly not original but definitely popular! I set this up yesterday evening and I couldn’t pry them away to go to bed. Then they were back at it first thing in the morning and most of the early afternoon when their friends came over.

I have a desk organizer that I filled with a few $1 boxes of Holiday cards and envelopes, glittery construction paper, a cup of colored pencils and pens, pencil sharpeners, holiday stamps and washable ink pads. It was a big deal to be able to use lots of  “real cards”  and envelopes!

I wrote down and hung up some of the more common holiday greetings for them to copy.

I am pretty sure I am going to have to stop and get a few more boxes of cards!!!