cocoCoconut Granola Bars

I am a total on-the-go eater. Before I leave the house in the morning I grab either an apple, granola bar, or both to keep my tummy happy until I am home in the afternoon. I wanted to try making my own granola bars with what I like in them. There are a million recipes out there, so based on the rough outline of them I came up with my own. These have toasted coconut, cocoa, pecans, and dates- I mean, yum! They are slightly crisp on the edges and chewy in the centre- just perfect!

 

Ingredients:
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups flaked sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped pitted dates
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

1. Toss together your oats, coconut and chopped pecans on a sheet pan and bake for 10-12 minutes at 35o degrees, stirring every couple of minutes until they are browned evenly.
2. In a saucepan, add your butter, vanilla, brown sugar, honey, salt and sift in the cocoa powder. Bring this mixture to a low boil and turn to low.
3. Meanwhile transfer your oat mixture to a large bowl, grease a large rectangular cake pan and line it with parchment paper- turn the oven to 300 degrees.
4. Pour your hot mixture over the oats and stir to coat everything, pour into your greased, parchment lined baking dish and using a spatula press the mixture down into the corners of the pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake at 300 degrees for 26 minutes.
6. Allow bars to cool for 2-3 hours before cutting.
7. Keep in an air tight container, or wrap in parchment paper for up to a week.

Enjoy and have a great Tuesday all!
xo
C

4 Favorites

 

I just noticed this 4 Favorites has a bit of a theme... We are half way through November though people- it is time to start feeling festive!

 

1- What I am currently drinking- Nonfat Decaf Peppermint Mocha, with a touch of whipped cream please!

2- Some fabulous and festive ornaments I picked up at Ikea for $4.99! I can't turn down polka dots...

3- Awesome Countdown Glasses from Indigo. These are on my holiday wish list... (hint...)

4- A super easy DIY I posted here, that would be a great gift this holiday season!

 

Happy FRIDAY everyone. Have great weekends.

xo

C

DIY: Geo Necklace

 

Pretty amazing right? I honestly didn't think this would turn out as well as it did, and it was easy! I promise, if you can bake cookies, you can make this necklace.

 

 

You don't need many materials for this project, some basic necklace making supplies that you can find at any craft store, needle nose pliers, wire cutters and bake-able clay such as Fimo or Sculpey. I chose a deep burgundy colour and mixed in some antique gold for a little variation...

 

A few notes before you start: I used a cutting mat that has a grid on it- I found this super helpful to make even shapes and keep lines straight. I covered my mat with parchment paper so I could cut the shapes and transfer the paper right onto a baking sheet and into the oven. You could easily use graph paper with parchment paper on top as well.

 

1. For the whole necklace I used only half a block of the burgundy clay and 1/8th of a block of gold. Start with the main colour and work it in your hands until it starts to soften, then add in your secondary colour (gold). Twist it around and work it into a ball.
2. Once you have a pattern that you like stop working the clay.
3. Flatten out the ball into a rectangle-ish shape.
4. Roll flat with a clean rolling pin until its about 1/8th-1/16th of an inch thick.
5. Using your grid lines, cut your design out with a kitchen knife.
6. The large geo shape is about an inch wide, and 1 1/2" long. The two geo shapes on either side of the center piece are each about 3/4" wide x 1" long.
7. Gentley poke the Eye Pins through the top of your shapes, twisting your shapes around the eye pins to ensure the hole is large enough. Remove the eye pins and lay on a baking tray. (If you need to reshape, do it with a knife while the eye pin is still in place, then remove.) 
8. The larger rectangles are simply cut out of a strip of clay, they don't have to be perfect, just try to make them slightly smaller than the two geo shapes.
9. Lay out all of your shapes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.
10. Remove your shapes, and while they are still warm, poke the eye pins through your shapes so they are ready for necklace making.
11. Cut the excess pin until there is slightly more than 1/4" remaining- you will coil this side into another 'eye' to attach all of your pieces.
12. Continue cutting...
13. Lay out your design until you are happy with it. [I had to make more little triangles, about 1/2" x 1/2" because it wasn't long enough]
14. Start attaching the shapes to each other.
15. To keep your necklace laying flat, you will have to twist the eye pins on every-other shape... vertical eye, horizontal eye, vertical, horizontal... this will make more sense when you are doing it.
16. Hold your necklace up to your neck- when you are happy with the length attach a couple of jump rings on one side and a claw clip on the other. Lay your necklace out flat and twist any eye pins that need to be adjusted to allow your necklace to lay flat. [This is important- otherwise it won't lay flat on you!]

Once you get the hang of it, the whole process goes pretty quickly- and you will have it done in an hour or two.

I am pretty happy with it considering it cost me about 10 bucks to make! WOOT!

 

Try out this DIY and send me pics of your creations- have fun with it! What do you think....!?

 

Have a great Thursday,

C  

 

 

 

 



One of Those Mornings.

You know when you just have one of those mornings. You know, you burned 4 pieces of really good tomato-basil toast, and then you are about to send drawings to a client and you realize (thank god) the manufacturers fireplace dimensions on their website are WRONG. Therefore, your drawings and mill work sizing is WRONG. GAH. And all you really want to do is the 3 DIY's that have been sitting on your dining room table for a week. It was one of those mornings...

Okay.

I feel better now. Kind of.

I scraped the black stuff off the 5th piece of toast I burned, and fixed the drawings and sent them off. I am going to make time for one of those DIY's as my reward for having a crap morning. I am going to go to yoga, and work hard this afternoon.

Here's to turning the day around.

It WILL get better. It's already better- now that I have shared it with you!!



We got our wedding pictures and this one makes me smile. 5ive15ifteen Photography is amazing.

See you tomorrow,
xo
C 

Three Towels. Three Ideas.

Hi,
How was your Monday? Mine was good, you know, did some work, went to yoga, made dinner, went to bed. By the way.... dinner was awesome, and so speedy- spaghetti squash with pesto, sauteed spinach and mushrooms topped with goat cheese and an egg... because I had one. You are probably thinking, that is not easy or fast you crazy woman- but I promise! It was- I'll blog a recipe soon and you will see.

So these ideas. I have a lot of them, and it sucks- I am short on time to do them all. So I figured, why don't I just share them with you in the idea stage and you can get all creative on me and show me what you come up with? I like it, I think its a good plan.

Oh, a little disclaimer... these are Christmas ideas. HA. Yes, it is time. I am so excited. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and I can't wait to share many more ideas with you (that I actually try my self).

All of these ideas have one thing in common- a festive dish towel. I doubt I will ever say that sentence again in my life. But yes, a dish towel- and great ones at that. I was perusing etsy.com yesterday and came across a couple. I couldn't stop thinking of fun ways to use them- that didn't include dishes! I have found a couple that I totally love, mostly because they are so simple, but you could use anyone that you love.

 | Towel 1 | Towel 2 | Towel 3 |

Now that you have an amazing towel- start creating!

| frame | pillow insert |  tray |

1. Frame it with a simple white frame- use it as a backdrop to your holiday bar set up or buffet- why not over the couch!?
2. Break out the Mod Podge, cut the towel to fit the base of your tray, put a thick coat of mod podge on the tray, layer on your antler towel, and then top with another thick coat of mod podge and allow to dry for 24 hours. You will have a shiny, water proof antler tray for the holidays! (Don't worry- the mod podge dries clear!)
3. If you are a sewer, pull out that sewing machine and whip up a holiday cover for any pillow inserts you might have already in existing pillows- then switch them back after the holidays.

I am kind of loving all of these... maybe this weekend I will work on creating one of these towels my self!? Aggressive... I know.

Try these out and send me a pic.

Happy Tuesday All!
xo
C

Apple Pie Scones

Mmm. Don't those sound good? They are. I will show you how to make them below...

After a late night Friday spent with my second favorite man, Bond, James BOND, I spent a lazy Saturday morning looking through the Anna Olson cookbook my Mom bought me, Back to Baking. I wanted to do some baking on Sunday and decided on cookies and scones. Her scone recipes looked yummy, but they inspired an idea- Scones that taste like Apple Pie. Why not? Also- Go see Skyfall- it was AWESOME. I think it is my favorite Bond movie yet.

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 6 tbsp cold butter
• 1/3 cup cold milk plus more for brushing
• turbinado sugar
• 1 medium sized ambrosia or granny smith apple (I left the skin on, but you can peel it if you prefer)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, spices and cold butter together with your fingers until the mixture resembles small pebbles.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients and then add the butter mixture, stirring with you hand or a wooden spoon until combined.
4. Thoroughly wash your apple and grate on the large side of a box grater. Add the shredded apple to the dry mixture and stir to coat the apple.
5. Add the 1/3 cup of milk and stir together- the dough will be ragged and dry.
6. Pour the mixture onto a floured surface and shape the dough into a square, about 1 1/2" thick.
7. Cut the square into 9 equal pieces and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush each of scones with milk and sprinkle with turbanado sugar.
8. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 16 minutes.

Enjoy warm out of the oven. These scones are best the day of and can be warmed up in a low oven the next day.

Recipe adapted from Anna Olson, Back to Baking, Apple Cheddar Walnut Scones Scones.

Enjoy and have a happy Monday,
xo
C

4 Favorites

 

What a crazy week. I have to say, I am pretty pumped that it's Friday. Dave surprised me with [1] last night for our 2 month anniversary of being married- seriously, can you get anymore thoughtful!? (I didn't remember... crap wife ovah here). [2] I dog sat (like babysat- I didn't sit on my dog) last weekend for my mom and she thanked me with the new Anna Olson cookbook, Back to Baking. I can't wait to get baking this weekend! [3] My SodaStream is my new obsession, it was a gift from our wedding and I can't get enough of it. If you love bubbly water- this is a must for Christmas. [4] My dino DIY, that I shared this week. I am seriously in love with my Golden Jurassic Park.

 

What are you up to this weekend.... Dave and I are headed to the new Bond movie tonight- SKYFALL. I can't even tell you how excited I am, and we have assigned seats- so no waiting in line. I love Bond movies, not too scary, totally exciting and Daniel Craig... what's not to love. Oh, and movie theater popcorn- clearly! We went to the opening night of the last Bond movie and I got motion sickness from the opening chase scene... we were 2 rows from the front- barf. I don't understand why they even put seats up there- redic!

Have great weekends, and happy Friday team!

xo

C