Garden 2015

I have a good feeling about our garden this year. 

First of all, Justin, with the help of my dad (nailing boards) and our neighbor (designing the gate), put up and awesome fence with chicken wire backing. The posts are also cemented in the ground and it has a 8 inch barrier below the fence line to hinder those under-the-fence diggers. I'm hopeful that this will really help with our wildlife problem that we've faced the last few years. I also made some cute hanging baskets with marigolds and ivy just for fun. 

Second, I put the seeds (or plants in some cases) in about three weeks ago. We've had both sun and rain, and most seem to be doing well. For plants, I put in two peppers, four broccoli, four yellow squash, four zucchini, peas, spinach, parsley, green beans, tomatoes, honeydew and musk mellon. My first round of spinach didn't come up so I replanted this week to see if it would take, though I researched a bit and am worried I might be a little too late for the season. My melons didn't seem to take either, so I replanted those too. I did, however, has quite a few cucumber volunteers in random places, so I transplanted them and they seem to be doing fine. I am hoping to have peas in a few weeks. Green beans will probably be next, although I always seem to have trouble with bugs at the beginning, even though I used diatomaceous earth on them. Humph! Hopefully they will be alright though. 

Now it's just a waiting game and trying to keep up with the weeds, which I seem to have such trouble with! Gee thanks, Adam, for making us all struggle with the earth... 

Here's some pics of everything: 

  Left two rows: peas                                   Right two rows: broccoli, squash, zucchini  

 Left row: tomatoes                            Right two rows: green beans

1st Avenger Birthday Party

For Ansel's 1st birthday, we went with a 1st Avenger Party theme. It just seemed to fit since he was stuck in his helmet for half of his first year anyways! :) I had fun with a lot of the details, from the invites to the scrapbook table to the cupcakes. It was awesome to have lots of family come too!

1st Avenger Invites                                       Scrapbook Table  

 Drink Table

Food Area

Treat Table

 Photo Booth

Easy, No Bake, Fiber-and-Protein Filled Granola Bars!

Summer's here and that means more time to experiment in the kitchen for this teacher! So I tried these granola bars, and they aren't for the faint of heart. Chewy, nutty, sweet-n-salty goodness explode from this yummy bar. While they aren't low on calories or sugar, they do have a lot of other good stuff in them- oatmeal, flax seed, chia seeds, nuts, and sunflower seeds. You could certainly add more chia seeds or flax seed if you wanted to. I haven't tried substituting corn syrup for honey, but I'm sure you could do that as well. The best I could determine, one bar (recipe makes six) is about 360 calories with 4.5 grams of fiber and 7.5 grams of protein. You could of course cut into smaller pieces for smaller snacks.

Kate's Granola Bars

1. Line 4x8 loaf pan with aluminum foil for easy cleaning and cutting. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, mix to following and set aside:
1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. crushed nuts (peanuts, mixed, whatever you like)
1 T. chia seeds
2 T. flax seed

3. In large saucepan, bring to boil and boil for 30 seconds:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Karo corn syrup

4. Remove from burner and mix in peanut butter, working quickly:
1/3 c. peanut butter

5. Working quickly, add oatmeal mixture and stir until completely covered. Pour out into loaf pan and let cool. Cut into six pieces (for calorie count above). Store in airtight container.

If desired, drizzle with white chocolate melting candy.