Pumpkin Granola

I love all things pumpkin!  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes... The list goes on and on!  I also like making granola because you really can't go wrong when experimenting.  I stumbled across a recipe for Pumpkin Granola here.  I did make several changes because of what I had in the kitchen. 

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons pear butter (that I canned, you could substitute apple sauce)

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons dried cranberries

 2 tablespoons golden raisins (I ran out of cranberries...)

Directions:
Heat the oven to 275.  I use a Demarle non stick baking mat to bake my granola.  It is really awesome!  If you don't have something like this, you could spray the baking sheet with cooking spray, but I prefer parchment paper because it cuts down on the oil. 

Mix the first seven ( dry ) ingredients together in a mixing bowl. 

Mix the wet ingredients together in a smaller mixing bowl. 

When they are combined, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.  *Do not add the fruit yet!  It will burn! 

Spread the granola out on the baking sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  The granola will continue to harden when it is removed from the oven, so don't over cook it. 

Let the granola cool for 10 mintues then combine with the fruit in a large mixing bowl.  It is delicous and pretty healthy!   Enjoy!

Heartfelt Crafts

I'm not really one for Valentine's Day. I think it's an over commercialized holiday, but I also love my husband and I really enjoy wearing festive colors. So for February 14, 2012 I made a few crafts, which is something I really love! The first thing I made is a gift bag for husband's candy. It was my first attempt at sewing felt. I think I need some practice, but it wasn't a bad start. I also made myself a felt rose pin. It was super fun and I like it a lot! A tutorial will be coming your way very soon! Happy Valentine's Day!

A Yarn Letter for Charlotte

Right before Christmas, my husband's cousin Heather had her first baby Charlotte!  Charlotte was born about a month early so the craft project I wanted to make her was not yet started, but everything was ready!
I bought a cardboard letter from Joann's:

I also used felt and pretty pink yarn that I had in my craft arsenal. 

I hot glued the yarn to the back of the letter and then wrapped the yarn around the letter over and over and over!  The curves in the C made some of the yarn more challenging, but I just wrapped in a x pattern around the curves and it worked out perfectly. 

I then made four felt flowers in different colors and hot glued them to the bottom of the "C" and attached a turquoise ribon that matched one of the flowers.  I love it and I can't wait to give it to Heather, Sean and Charolotte! 

Theresa's Baby

My friend Theresa and her husband are welcoming another baby girl to their family! Baby girl 3 is the first daughter to be born in the winter, so naturally I knew she needed a knitted hat! I used a double strand (one pink, one white) from my odds and ends yarn collection. I also added a braid to the top of the hat by using a tapestry needle to weave it into the point and I love it! A lot!

My January Wreath

It's January 21st and the Jones Christmas tree is still standing.  While I am fine with my Christmas tree being up inside, I don't want my neighbors to know that I still have Christmas decorations hanging.  So, down came the Christmas Wreath. 

I wanted to create a wreath that still said "winter."  I went to Michael's and bought a 14" foam wreath and covered it with a fluffy white yarn that reminded me of snow.  I also had a 40% coupon!  I then made a bunch of blue felt flowers using this tutorial.  I looked at many tutorials, but I liked these flowers the most.  Here is a close up of my flowers:

I really love how the wreath turned out!  Every time I see it, it reminds me of snow!    Happy Snow Day!

-9 degrees

Chris and I are currently in Vermont staying at our favorite place: Greenmont Farms! Google it, it's pretty awesome! We have skied, gone to the movies and done a good bit of relaxing. Last night I mad a killer lasagna! I also have had time to plan my next crafting and canning projects, including gifts for a few close friends and family members who have birthdays soon. But for now, I leave you with this photo, because negative nine is really cold!

Orange Ginger Marmalade

I love my husband!  So much that I threw him a New Haven Pizza Tasting party for his 30^th birthday last night(don’t worry, I’ll post the results soon)!  And my husband loves oranges.  Every year we buy a big box of oranges from a fundraiser and it is glorious!  Sometimes Chris eats 5 in a sitting... this might ruin dinner, but that's ok because he is never going to get scurvy.  This year we didn't go through the entire box of oranges.  Chris suggested I do something with these oranges and we both know what that means: canning!  Over the summer we got married in a barn and we drank out of mason jars.  You can see one here:

This meant that we had 160 mason jars in our possession.  Oranges and canning mean one thing: marmalade!   I went to one of my favorite websites: Foodinjars.com.  It is a great website and I have learned a lot about canning from Marisa.  I chose her Orange Ginger Jam and my neighbors Julie and Dave came over to partake in the canning experience.  As always we had a great time! 

 This was our final product!  Everything looks so pretty in jars!  If you are looking to try making marmalade, this one is fantastic!  The ginger and orange are so delicious together, I highly recommend it.  Here was our finished product: 

Have a great week and make this marmalade!