Interrupted by Insomnia

I'm not very good at this blogging thing.  I don't know how some people are able to balance children, housework, craftiness, blogging, etc.  They either have more than 24 hours in their days or they are less affected by sleep deprivation than I am.  I haven't posted anything in a few weeks simply because I've been too tired.  Since having children, I have been plagued with insomnia that I haven't quite been able to figure out a solution to.  So, I am typically running off of about 4 hours of sleep, which over time begins to feel a lot like dying a slow death and developing premature Alzheimer's. 

But on a sunnier note, the past few days have been so nice for March!  So nice that I couldn't possibly spend my day inside crafting.  So, we planted some seeds and played in the mud instead!

Hopefully, I will get some posts up soon of a few projects I've finished up.  (no, I haven't finished the curtains.  I broke all my paint sponge brushes.  So I had to buy new ones. )

Helium is Overrated!

Who needs helium when you have this much static electricity around your house? 

The first was an accident.  Then it was a party.  A static party!  We had fun rubbing them on the carpet and sticking them on the ceiling.

Miss K had fun catching them as they fell from the ceiling!

Graham Crackers

Well, I've been scouring the internet for a whole wheat graham cracker recipe that is very simple and not containing any milk, egg, or soy and preferably very little or no sugar.  I didn't have much luck, so I tried to go with the basic idea that I saw from others recipes.

Here is what I came up with.  It needs some improving.  Mostly, I needed to roll the dough much thinner.  I was using a glass to roll them out.  I should probably just buy a small rolling pin!  I also need a silpat mat that actually fits on a cookie sheet.

Whole Wheat Graham Cracker Recipe
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cups honey
A splash of water to make the dough a little stickier.

Melt the coconut oil and then mix everything together.  Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.  Cut them right when they come out of the oven and the will harden up as the cool off.

These have a pretty nice flavor. Not super graham crackery though.  And WAY too thick.  Will have to try these again.  Anyone, have any ideas?

I ate several these while still warm with a cup of tea.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins - with NO sugar!

I've been trying to switch over all my bread recipes to whole wheat and cut way back on the amount of sugar we eat.  Most recipes call for SO much sugar.  What is the point of "homemade" if it isn't any healthier than store bought?  Today I experimented by making whole wheat banana muffins...  without sugar!  Say whaa?

Yep, that's right.  The best part is that they actually tasted good AND my kids loved them too!  Win-win!

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp Ener-G egg replacer mixed in 4 Tbs water.  (or just use 2 eggs if you can)
• 3 bananas
• 1/4 cup honey (this is still healthy right? :D)
• 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I mixed all the wet ingredients together then added the dry ingredients one at a time.  I didn't mixed it up super well.  Then pour batter into your muffin pan.  I used my mini muffin pan because these muffins are mostly for the kiddos.  I baked them for about 12 min.  My oven tends to bake things pretty quickly.  Keep an eye on them and they will come out perfect!

This recipe made 39 mini muffins.  Probably would have made 40 if I could have stopped myself from eating the batter...

Mr. T approves!

Eating Eden

One of my new favorite blogs about eating food the way God intended it is by my friend, Mindy, over at Eating Eden. 

 Today, she asked me to guest post my recipe for granola.  Check it out!  Thanks, Mindy, I'm honored!

I've been making several of her recipes and one that I actually took pictures of is of her simple yet delicious idea for Banana Cookies.  My kids love them! (and so do I)

Here is how ours turned out.  Hers look a lot prettier than mine.  :D

Now, I just need to try making whole wheat graham crackers...

Last night I made magic!

Magic shell ice cream topping that is.  I sometimes (always) crave sweets.  Last night I really wanted magic shell topping.  Of course, Miss K can't eat it because it contains milk (or at least I am assuming so).  Anyway, I got what I thought was a wild idea to make it myself using chocolate chips and coconut oil.  I googled it to see if anyone else was crazy enough to try something like that, and sure enough I found an endless number of methods for making homemade magic shell.

I didn't follow any one specific recipe as they were all slightly different in there chocolate chip to coconut oil ratio and method.

Here is what I did:
1/2 cup
1 Tbs coconut oil
Melt in microwave.  Pour over ice cream.  (Almond ice cream in our case.)  Easy!

This turned out YUMMY!  It has been quite a while since I've had the real stuff, but this satisfied the craving.  Perhaps it was even a bit healthier!  It was certainly a healthier portion than I would have eaten a few years ago, prior to spending $6 on a tiny container of almond ice cream!

Honest Advice Appreciated

So, I have been slowly working on the stenciled curtains.  Verrry slooowly!  At my current rate they should be finished in about six weeks...   I need your advice...  from all three of my readers!  haha

Not only are they taking a LONG time, but they aren't turning out as nice as I would like.  The problems:  1. The fabric is a loose weave so the paint spreads a little as it soaks into the fabric.  It isn't really that bad, but I'm not getting a crisp line.  I can probably let that slide.  2. They shrank in the wash, so I am redoing the hem on each one to make it a little longer and the previous hem line isn't disappearing when I iron them.  3.  This is my main problem, and Mr. B's too, the tops are SUPER hard to stencil because of all the fabric folds I am trying to stencil over.  Stenciling over lumps.  So, the paint is bleeding all over the place.

 

So, really, the mistakes aren't too noticeable at first glance, but if you actually look at them there are pretty obvious mistakes which I'm not too excited about.  I really don't want just plain curtains, but I don't want to put up sloppy curtains either.  So, what do you think?  Continue on, accepting a few mistakes?  Or, throw in the towel (curtain?) and then either live with bland curtains, or buy new ones?