a day at home

May 19, 2012 · 5 comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel like I’m kind of working all the time these days, which is actually not too bad because I’m generally really happy with everything I’m doing. Yesterday, I had planned to go into Gathering Together Farm really early and then spend the rest of the day making cutting boards, but our grandparent childcare plans fell through, so I ended up staying home all day with the kids. It’s kind of sad how rare it is that we stay home all day just working on personal projects, reading books, and playing. A day at home was actually a real treat.

I talk a lot on this blog about my work and Henry’s work and goats and projects and whatnot, but Charlotte and Levi are the constant joys in my life. Charlotte has her southern accent of unknown origin (She says “school” “sku-well” and “now” “ney-ow”.), and Levi has his wacky fashion sense and deep, deep love of all things Star Wars and Legos (or better yet, Star Wars Legos). They are fun and funny and generally very well behaved. This is not a parenting blog (by choice), but I don’t want to leave these two creatures out of my posts completely. That would be no fun.

In the early evening, after running around outside, cutting fresh brush for goats, gathering chicken eggs, pulling weeds, sweeping the porch, scootering, digging in the dirt, collecting rocks and caterpillars and sticks and oak galls, I had two dirty kids on my hands. The outside bathtub really came in handy.

We also painted all our toenails. Levi helped me pick out the blue the other day. He loves it.

Earlier in the day, we tried out a recipe for “Wookie Granola Bars” (otherwise known as Chewy Granola Bars). I sort of used  Molly/Orangette‘s recipe found here (but brought to my attention by Jodi who used it for her entry to the serving board giveaway that is still going on). I tweaked the ingredient list quite a bit and then (of course) baked them in the barbecue. Here’s how:

2 2/3 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup chopped almonds (from Massa Organics purchased at the Chico Farmers Market)
1/2 cup dried shredded coconut
scant 1/2 cup chocolate chips
generous 1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
 
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons olive oil (We’re still working through the five gallons we got from Heath Ranch.)
2/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon water

Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients. Stir together. Press into two loaf pans lined with parchment paper. “Bake” over fire bricks in a propane barbecue set on “medium” for 25ish minutes. Cool completely and then cut into bars.

They turned out awesome. While there’s actually nothing junkie or inherently bad in these, they must hold about a million calories per serving, so I’m trying to restrain myself from eating all of them.

We also made a double batch of naan, which is a semi regular occurrence at our house. I posted my naan recipe/method here on the blog a while back, and somehow it made it into the StumbleUpon mix. Because of that, it’s the single most viewed post on this blog. I kinda like that fact because it’s a good, easy recipe, and we love the results.

The naan dough is very forgiving, and it benefits from extra pokes and prods from sticky little hands.

The light in my kitchen is so weird–sometimes in a good way but mostly not.

I love taking photos of naan cooking. I think it looks pretty darn cool.

The poofy ones are the best.

We had a simple dinner of naan with garbanzo beans and chard. Nothing too fancy, but it was nice end to a very nice day.

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Jane May 19, 2012 at 12:03 pm

A little Southern girl at heart, and down here in Tennessee, we really appreciate it, LOL!
Wait till Charlotte discovers Lego Friends for girls, HUGE hit…..then they’ll start Lego swapping and the Friends will be playing with the Droids!!

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Sasha May 19, 2012 at 2:10 pm

Need to try that granola bar recipe! I’ve been baking batches of granola every week – I love it for breakfast with milk or as a snack during the day, but I’ve been meaning to figure out a way to turn it into bar form so I could easily eat it on the go – Thanks for sharing! P.S. That painted toes picture is pretty darn cute 😉

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catie May 19, 2012 at 9:37 pm

i always love a southern accent of unknown origin : )

i was on a mission last summer to find a granola bar recipe we all loved & i could pack in my kids lunches. my post & recipe {adapted from smitten kitchen} are here: http://five-ten-fifteen.blogspot.com/2011/07/best-homemade-granola-bars-ever.html
looking forward to trying your recipe… and also that naan!

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abby May 21, 2012 at 10:28 pm

Sounds like a day well spent. Nice to spend that rare day at home doing home related things. I miss those kinds of days, and I don’t even have fun tiny people to paint toenails with! 😉 Those granola bars look pretty nice. I keep meaning to make some kind of snack bars for us snack-needy too-busy people.

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Cara May 28, 2012 at 9:44 pm

That is just the cutest pic of charlotte! What a smile and twinkle in her eye! Missed your naan recipe the first time around- can’t wait to try it! Yum.

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