Sisters

So often my three girls struggle to find ways to be the best friends I hoped they would be.... so when they decided to make a sister sandwich I could not resist taking a picture! It always makes me so happy when they enjoy eachother's company!

Autumn in Southern California

Here in Murrieta, it can be difficult sometimes to believe that autumn is here when the weather fluctuates between daytime highs of 70-90F!

I was recently priveleged to visit a local mountain town and view the lovely changing of the season visible from most trees and to breath in the crisp clean COOL air! I thought I would share some of my photos with you!

Nature, needs no captions....

Homemade Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

You know how they say that growing boys are bottomless pits that you can never fill up... well girls are not that much different in my experience. The first question I get in the afternoon when I pick them up from school is not "Hi Mom how was your day?" its "Whats for snack, when is snack, can we have snack NOW"! Then immediately after snack its "Whats for dinner!" (My standard reply is, "Food!"). Feeding 3 hungry growing girls is a daily challenge for me! Packed in their lunch everyday for school the girls have a granola bar, chocolate chip is their favorite. So 3 granola bars a day times 5 days a week is 15 granola bars a week! The kind of bar I used to buy came with 10 in a box so we were using a box and a bit every week.

Now lets get on to the nutritional value of said granola bars...they aren't very big are mainly filled with air and they do not fill the girls up!

Being unemployed this summer inspired some creative thinking and I found a recipe on another blog, Thrifty Third Avenue Girl, who I have to thank for the basis of this recipe but as always I have modified it to suit our families tastes. I make a batch a week and the kids love them!

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats, uncooked

1 cup all-purpose flour

(optional I also add 1 scoop of soy protein powder)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark, doesn't matter)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (real or imitation)

1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a 13 x 9" metal baking pan. Line pan with foil; grease foil.

2. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix this up but a regular mixer should be fine too. In large bowl, mix oats, flour, chocolate chips, sugar, salt, oil, syrup, vanilla, and egg until blended. It is going to be really sticky! Get your hands wet and, pat oat mixture into prepared pan.

3. Bake 25 minutes or until edges turn pale golden. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

4. When cool, invert pan and remove foil. Cut length-wise into the size of strips you would like and then cut crosswise in half. I store mine in a Tupperware container and they last the whole week just fine!

Lemon, Creamy, Dreamy, super smooth fabulousness with a ginger crumb crust!

OK, so the first recipe on my blog is one that I made up!

The combination of the spicy ginger and the tart but creamy lemon will tantalize your taste buds and make it impossible to only eat one. This is an incredibly light and fresh dessert perfect for a warm summer (or in my case fall, winter, spring, summer) night!

Ingredients

Around 24 ginger cookies (we like Fresh & Easy's Ginger cookies) crushed in a blender

1 tbs ground ginger

4-6 tbs butter

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

1 tbs sugar

1/2 pint lemon sorbet

Step 1: Crush the ginger cookies in a blender or food processor, Naomi and I did this together 6 cookies at a time. This provided an excellent opportunity for cookie math! We did 3 cookies plus 3 cookies, and 2 cookies plus 4 cookies etc... When the cookies are crushed put them in a bowl and add 1 tbs of ground ginger and mix well.

Step 2: Melt the butter in a pan or in the microwave. Slowly add the melted butter to the ginger crumb mixture and stir until just moist.

Step 3: Grease the cups in a regular sized muffin pan and press the ginger/butter mixture into the cups making a shell. Make sure it is pressed in well all around the cup as it will slide down slightly during baking. Bake for 8 minutes at 350. Allow to cool completely before adding the next ingredients.

Step 4: I have a kitchen aid mixer which makes whipping cream incredibly easy, but an electric beater can work just as well. I also like to put the bowl that I am going to be whipping the cream in, in the freezer for about 10 minutes as it helps the cream whip up faster.

Anyway... whip the cream until stiff. When it is stiff add the sugar and blend well.

Remove the cream from the bowl and set aside.

Step 5: Place the 1/2 pint of lemon sorbet in the mixing bowl and beat it until smooth but not defrosted. When it is smooth add in the whipped cream and blend well. carefully spoon the creamy mixture into the baked ginger shells.

Using a melon baller, scoop a round ball of lemon sorbet and place it on top of the cream mixture.

Step 6: Place the entire pan in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Step 7: Just before serving remove pan from freezer and allow to sit for 5 Min's. Using a thin knife to slide around the outside of each frozen cup, gently ease each dessert out of the pan and serve in a bowl.

With any luck your Lemon, Creamy, Dreamy super smooth fabulousness with a ginger crumb crust will look a little like this!

Cooking from Scratch and Recipe Modification!

One of my favorite things to do is cooking simple yet tasty food from scratch. It is quite common for me to look at a prepared food in a store and think, I could make!
I am also a recipe modifier... just ask my friend B. I will tell her about a new recipe that I tried and I will tell her how good it is. When I show her the recipe I will say things like, "I did not have that ingredient so I used this instead" or "I did not have this ingredient so I left it out altogether" which can totally change the outcome of the recipe so that it ends up tasting not at all like the original.
I am going to start posting some of my modified...made up... and favorite recipes on this blog, have fun making them and if you like changing them to suit you.

I Love Rainbows

I LOVE RAINBOWS

I love rainbows hence the title of my new blog. There is just something so amazing about the iridescent shimmering colors that a rainbow posesses and the promise that it holds.

When our children turned 7 we allowed them the priveledged opportunity to have their own room and not share with a sibling. When Rowena turned 7 she decided she wanted a rainbow room!!

I had lots of fun making different rainbow themed decorations for a really bright and cheerful room. The picture above is a mobile made from rainbow fabric and beads.

I also made her some rainbow art for her walls...

And a rainbow Rowena picture hanger. She has mini clothes pins that she hangs pictures of family and friends and or special art work from the ribbons that hang down her wall.

I hope this blog is something that brightens your day just like rainbows brighten mine!