Sweet treats

Daily Gratitude

Today I'm shining because I'm thankful for:

• A job well done. Doesn't it feel great when you have a daunting project that you've taken head on. You work hard, maybe harder than you thought you'd have to. Then, it's finished. And, you're pleased with the results. Well, that's how I feel about a writing job I just completed. It feels great. 
• My best friend's dog, Willie. Debbie's dog was a delightful friend to my family. He'd bound to the door when I arrived, carrying one of his precious toys as an offering. He'd bark for treats. He'd bark for a pat on the head. Willie's old body became too tired to stand on his long legs. He couldn't see well. His teeth were falling out. Other failures where happening as well. Yesterday, Willie went to sleep a sweet, happy dog. He will be missed for a very long time.
• Bright colors. Yesterday I noticed people were wearing lively shades of green, blue, yellow and other colors. It's spring! And, we're wearing it well. 

Sweet Treats for my Kiddos

As a regular pinner to Pinterest, I see some pretty amazing things. Even though I don't have kids at home these days, I have a Kids Only board that I pin to. Weeks ago I saw a great treat called Trix Krispies and have thought about making them ever since. But, goodness, I couldn't justify making a whole batch of these goodies for myself! So, when Easter plans were being made, I jumped on the opportunity to try the recipe! They were super easy and quite delightful.

Trix Krispies

4 tablespoons butter

4.4 oz. bag mini marshmallows
10 cups Trix cereal

Place the butter and marshmallows in a large glass bowl and pop in the microwave for about 2 to 3 minutes to melt. Stir well. Mix in your Trix cereal and stir. Pour into a large greased pan (9 x 13 or 11 x 11) and press down with a spoon. Cut into squares. Serve with a colorful smile!

***

As I perused the posting for Easter treats, I saw several versions of Easter Bunny Bark. Ok, I had to make that as well. It was even easier than the Trix Krispies! This is my version of the recipe.

Easter Bunny Bark

1 pound white chocolate melting wafers
1 cup thin pretzel sticks, broken in half
1 cup M&M’s in pastel colors
1 cup salted peanuts
Sprinkles

Line a cookie sheet pan with waxed paper. Melt the white chocolate wafers over a pot of simmering water, whisking frequently until melted. Pour the melted chocolate over the prepared sheet pan. Sprinkle the pretzel sticks, M&M's, and peanuts over the chocolate. Mix in with a spatula. Then, spread evenly over the pan. Sprinkle with sprinkles. Let set at room temperature about 1 hour. Cut the bark at room temperature with a sturdy sharp knife. Yummy!

I think my family will gobble up these sweet treats quick like a bunny!

A thousand ways grateful

Today I am just grateful

I believe that every good thing comes from God. There are a myriad of good things in my life and I want to say Thank You to Him. I like how King David expresses his gratitude:

Thank you! Everything in me says "Thank you!" Angels listen as I sing my thanks. I kneel in worship facing your holy temple and say it again: "Thank you!" Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; Most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength. Psalm 138:1 

Today I have a thousand ways that I'm grateful

Please indulge me as I say that I'm thankful for the ways God expresses His love for me. Here are just a few:

• My Sarah. The words to describe my beautiful, talented, shining daughter escape me. I am not skilled enough yet in this craft of words to tell the deep emotions that rise when I consider her. Yet, I continue to try. Today they are the colors bubble gum pink, smokey grey, and mysterious violet. 
• New lipstick. The scent encountered the first time one twists up a fresh tube of lipstick is a little bit thrilling. The smooth surface of color is perfect and I almost hate to mess it up. Yet, I can hardly wait to dress my lips with the slickness of the new shade. I like it...
• Sally Cat. She persistently pursues my affection my insisting to be on my lap when I'm at my computer or reading in my big green chair. My lap is her throne. 
• My Creator. I can't begin to comprehend the ever evolving, ever expanding universe. I will never get my mind big enough to fully enter the world of quantum physics. The intricate details of things big and small boggle my pea brain. All I can say is, wow! God, the harder I look, the deeper I delve, the more honored I am to be called your beloved. 

• Lively conversations about good reads. When a fellow read-acholic can get as excited as I do, well, it's pure heaven! Learning from someone I respect about a new book or being introduced to a new author is mind expanding. Yes!
• Icy cold martinis. Yep, the crisp ginny juniper essence barely cut with a kiss of vermouth. Oh...! 
• Friday morning phone chats with mom. Our standing weekly date is Friday morning at 8:00. I call mom, she answers with a sunny hello. The previous seven days are encapsulated.
• Warm hugs and kisses from friends. As I venture out in the world and encounter friends, I am happy to embrace them in greeting. The brief moment of closeness fills me with joyful energy that keeps my shine going. 
• Planning family gatherings. My family is a lot of fun, as we're a creative bunch. Getting together for Easter holiday is going to be an event. Just like it always is. Excited conversation. Amazingly creative food. The planning part is almost as fun as the doing part! 

• Soap. Gorgeous French milled soap. Hand-crafted organic soap. Prettily wrapped boutique soap. Italian goat's milk soap. Mmmm, I love you all!
• My girl friends. I thought to list each, then realized the list was so very long. And, what if I inadvertently missed one dear?! May the richness you've added to my life return to you tenfold. Each of you are rare and beautiful gems. I wear the love of our friendship with honor.
• Job interviews. I'm actually showing up on employers' radar. Many job seekers feel that all their efforts are going into some black hole at the far end of the universe. I think a few of my letters of interest have ended up there as well. Yet, the lovely opportunities I've had are confirming that I really do got it going!
• My Morgan. To have a son who honors me, expresses in his life some of my own dreams, and who still on occasion calls me "mommy" is a delight beyond expression. Thinking of him conjures visions of sparkling surf, homemade pizza, and all things "suvvy." 
• Eddie Dog. Rambunctious, adorable, crazy Eddie. My little buddy is super glued to me and I love it.

• Robust and complex coffee. You all already know my love affair with java. I'm just saying I'm thankful...again.
• The rushing creek down the road. It has come to life with the melting snow. It's fresh. It's wild. It's sparking with spring!
• My guy friends. You champion me. You validate me. You challenge me. Some of you think I'm pretty. One or two even think I'm sexy. I love you!
• Peace in times of strife. Trusting in God's provision during lean times has taught me the sweet joy of falling into Him. They ways He cares for me are precious. 
• Yummy smelling things like exotic incense, the top of a baby's head, sun-warmed tomato plants, freshly baked pumpkin pie, a freshly showered man, a perfectly scented candle, money (the green kind), and warm laundry from the dryer. 

The list goes on.... pot roast with carrots and potatoes, cards in the mail, snuggling, bird baths, an eager audience, completing a to-do list, funky and cool jazz, mint tea, junking treasures, foreign films, my bed after traveling, seeing the potential in another person, baby clothes, a balanced checkbook, a hike in the woods, the car wash, getting flowers, the robins in the tree out my window, praise for a job well done, plane boarding passes, the full moon, synchronicity, long and hot showers, tree canopied roads, reading poetry with a friend...

Today I am a thousand ways grateful. 

The first camping trip of the year

Daily Gratitude

I'm shining today because I'm grateful for:

• An extra hour of day light in the evening. Not loving loosing an hour in the morning, but know that I will adjust in a couple of days.
• Warm showers and washing machines. These were the two things I ran to immediately upon returning from my first camping trip of the season! 
• The safety of both of my kids. Both Sarah and Morgan took trips and came home with great memories. I'm so thankful they've returned happy and sound.

Ah! The great outdoors! 

When friends learned that Mountain Girls Adventures Genia and I were going camping this weekend, they shook their heads like I was nuts and told me to keep warm.  Even the cashiers at Walmart and Winco Foods had funny, wondering looks on their faces. Why in the world would anyone want to go camping in early March?

Because there's adventure in going and doing! 

Camping is something I've done since I was a kid. Most of the time I've wilderness camped. That is, going into remote locations where there isn't another human in sight. Nor are there water and power hookups, restrooms, showers, or tidy tent pads. Occasionally, I will camp in a campground. Usually not by choice. However, this trip it was a great decision.

Genia has a long history of summer adventures at Farragut State Park in northern Idaho. And, while we packed plenty of gear for tent camping, she thought one or two nights in one of the cabins would be fun. She made a good choice!

This little cabin is just great! It includes bedding and a log table with two small benches. It's wired for power, so there were lights and a heater/air conditioner unit. It sleeps five, however we thought it was just great for two people with a dog. Fortunately, Genia is small, so she could fit the little bunk bed. Eddie and I were grateful for a full sized lower bunk. 

So, maybe it wasn't wilderness, tent camping. But, it was pretty close! We still had outdoor cooking and outhouses. We packed in our water and used our flashlights. And, campfire smoke permeated our clothes. It was camping.

While hot dogs, hamburgers and smores are the mainstay of most camping trips, I like to fix up healthy and fun food ahead of time. This trip I thought it would be fun to try new camping recipes. Here are a few:

Pumpkin Apple Pancakes

1 large egg

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

1/ cup canned pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 apple peeled, cored, and shredded

2 tablespoons butter, divided

Syrup

Mix together all ingredients except butter and syrup in a bowl. Melt 2 teaspoons butter in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Spoon batter by 1/3 cup portions into pan, making 3 or 4 pancakes at a time. Cook turning once, until cooked through, 8 to 10  minutes. Continue making pancakes with remaining batter, adding more butter to pan for each batch. Serve with syrup and more butter. Camping note: Mix dry ingredients and place in small ziploc bag. Mix all wet ingredients except apple and place in small ziploc bag. Place the two small ziploc bags, the whole apple, and measured butter all in a large ziploc together. Before preparing to mix and cook, peel, core and shred apple. 

Mexican Squash

3 Mexican Squash

1/2 heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Coarsely chop squash. Place in pan with cream. Cover and simmer until squash is soft. Add salt and pepper. Serve!

Salade aux Trois Légumineuses (3 Bean Salad)

1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
8 ounces of fresh French green beans
1 1/2 cups garbanzo beans, cooked and drained
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 shallots, chopped

1 tablespoon Herbs d'Provence

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon olive oil

Bring a large pan of water to boiling. Add edamame and green beans. Cook 4 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain. Combine edamame, green beans, garbanzo beans, and red pepper a bowl. In a small bowl, combine shallots and remaining ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzled dressing over bean mixture and toss. Camping note: Place bean salad in a large ziploc bag or plastic container.

Curried Lentils

2 cup dried lentils
6 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 teaspoon garlic chili paste
Sour cream
Fresh cilantro

In a medium pot, bring water, lentils, and bay leaf to boil. Cover and turn reduce heat for 20 minutes or until lentils are soft. Drain and discard bay leaf. In a separate pan, add oil, onion, and tomato. Saute until tender. Add garlic, curry powder, cumin, salt, and chili paste. Add lentils and cook and additional minute. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.  Camping note: Place lentils in a large ziploc bag or plastic container. We topped the lentils with a bit of shredded cheese rather than sour cream and cilantro. 

Chipotle-Lime Mashed Yams

4 large yams (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce

1 tablespoon adobo sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

Boil quartered yams in a large pot of water until soft. Drain and remove skins. Mash yams in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Camping note: Place mashed yams in a large ziploc bag or plastic container. 

I didn't get a picture of this, but it was sure yummy!

Mashed Avocado with Hummus

2 cans drained garbanzo beans
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tahini
1 lemon, juiced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
1 large, ripe avocado

In a food processor, make a coarse paste with the garbanzo beans. Add oil slowly as the processor continues to make the beans a thick paste. Add tahini and mix in. Add lemon, garlic, cardamom, and salt to make hummus. If serving immediately, smash avocado separately and stir into hummus. Camping note: Place hummus in a plastic container. Wait to mash and stir in avocado right before serving.

There were several more, but I'll post them on Mermaids in our next issue in May.

What a wonderful, beautiful, adventure-filled time! Coffee by the fire in the morning. Stars shining brightly against the dark, frozen sky at night.

Hiking around the hillsides and along the beaches.

Sharing the invigorating air, spectacular sights, and excellent conversation and laughter with a great friend.

What an exceptional way to start the season! 

Pinspiration: Floral Abstract

Daily Gratitude

I'm shining today because I'm grateful for:

• Waking to the sound of birds. This morning the birds were calling one another in the morning light. It made me smile knowing they are getting ready for the business that Spring brings.
• Mermaids of the Lake, the online magazine I co-publish with my best friend Debbie. Sometimes writing and editing, organizing layout and design, working with other writers, and such can be a load of work. Yet, it's so worth it when it's done. A finished issue feels wonderful.
• My coffee maker. Enough said. 

Pinspiration: Floral Abstract

Have you had a pinspiration? It's a term coined by Pinterest followers. Being an ardent pinner, I have pinspirations frequently. More than just loving all the beautiful, interesting, creative things on Pinterest, I'm actually having fun cooking a few recipes and doing some of the projects. And, I'm finding that sharing these experiments with another pinner doubles the fun! (See my Pinterest related terms below).

Last weekend I visited my daughter, Sarah. She's a university students attending school a few hours away. Sarah (also a pinner) and I planned to do a project together. You know, mother-daughter bonding. We cruised through both of our creative boards. There was so much to choose from! Many were complicated, requiring more time and money than we had. We narrowed things down to an art project I'd pinned a few weeks ago. How to Paint a Floral Abstract in Acrylics appealed to both of us.

Materials needed for the project

• Acrylic paints - Use a variety of colors 
• Paintbrushes - 1 flat paintbrush for painting the background squares, and 1 or 2 small round paintbrushes for painting in the details.
• Canvas - choose a square or rectangular canvas in any size you want. I used a 12"x 12" canvas.
• Ruler - for measuring the grid
• Pencil - for drawing the grid

The first step was to pencil in 12 3x3" boxes on the canvas. Then paint each square.

Once the squares dried, I painted a boarder and a circle in each. No need to be precise with this project. In fact, I thought going at it a bit free-style adds to the look. I used all sorts of colors, making the boarders and circles differing sizes.

Sarah took off on a completely different path. She drew precise angles resembling a quilt pattern. Her color scheme was five colors.

My circles soon turned into the center of flowers. I began adding petals and such to the centers. Again, being a bit loose, sometimes extending into the boarder. 

Sarah's boxes filed with angles and blocks. Pretty colors!

Reinforced with an excellent cup of coffee, I continued to apply layers upon layers of petals. They were then embellished with dots. This was really taking quite a bit of time! Not being an artist who uses acrylic paints, I didn't realize how much time it would take. I made a boo-boo or two, so painted over a few places. You can see that on the bottom right corner and on the top row. Oh well, still having fun!

At this point, it was time for me to head for home. Sarah and I compared our pieces. Wow, what a different approach to the same project! 

Finally, each of the boxes were filled with a crazy, dotted flower. Lastly, I painted the sides with black paint.

Seriously, this project turned out way more whimsical than how I usually express myself! Yet, I had a wonderful time. Working side-by-side with Sarah was fun. It was interesting seeing how we each approached the creative process. She is studying Architecture, so it makes sense that she comes at things with precision and takes care at every step. I, on the other hand, dove into the project with complete lack of restraint. Even our shared paint tray demonstrated that. Sarah's paint blobs were neatly placed in a row. Mine, smeared all over, took up two-thirds of the tray! 

Overall, the Pinterest project deserved medium-high scores 

Here's why: The link from Pinterest to the web page went directly to the featured project, the project was clearly stated on the web page, the steps were easy to follow, the project turned out somewhat similar to the tutorial, and we were able to modify it to our taste. The only lower mark being it isn't a beginner project and it should be stated that familiarity with acrylic paints and brushes is required. 

Another Pinterest project

Earl Grey Cupcakes is another Pinspiration project I did. The process is documented on Mermaids of the Lake.

Want to know more about Pinterest?

Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organizing things you love.
Pin is what you do when you find something on the webs that you like.
Pinner is someone who uses the tool a lot!
Pinspiration is an inspiration one gets from seeing something pinned by another.

I would love it if you followed my boards! I love pinning great quotes, inspirational ideas for decorating, recipes that are interesting and unusual, various art expressions, and images of the types of things I collect. Find me here: Pinterest.com/ShelleyHepler