Recipe: Organic Cocoa Wheats

 

Mornings are hard. I work late nights creating Handmade Pretties, so when the alarm goes off, I have to be ready to spring into action, feed the kids, encourage them to get dressed, and head out the door in less than 40 minutes. To help me with this process, I have a handful of easy yet nutritious breakfasts for which I keep the ingredients on hand. 

My eight year old's favorite is CoCo Wheats. Now chocolate hot cereal may not sound all that nutritious, but a breakdown of the ingredients reveals that the two necessary ingredients are Farina and unsweetened cocoa powder. I control how much and which kind of sweetener is used in the cereal. I serve it to her made with grass-fed local milk and a small dish of frozen berries. 

Once I realized how much she liked CoCo Wheats, I started searching for an organic option, to no avail. Apparently, putting chocolate in hot cereal is a whole food no-no, so I created my own.

To start, you will need:

1 box of Farina (we like wheat farina, but rice farina would work for a gluten free option)

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Our box of Wheat Farina was 24 oz. it needed 3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder. 

For every 8 ounces of cereal, add 1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder. Mix well and store in a sealed container.

Hang onto the instructions for preparation from the box, as this is the same method you will use to make your hot cereal. Sylvia likes hers slightly sweetened so we use about 1/2 T of raw sugar or 1/2 T of honey for the single serving size. I prefer to cook hers in milk (it's creamy delicious).

Do It Yourself: Disco Ball Pinata

 

The finished disco ball pinata!

Sylvia turned 8 years old this week, and for her birthday she asked for a Girls Only Dance Party. Luckily enough, my mother owns her own DJ and Karaoke business, so we had the lights and the music covered. This left me with a little time to think about the decorations! 

We found small and large sized disco ball ornaments which we hung around the room, but the centerpiece of the decorations was our homemade disco ball pinata!

Here are some directions so you can make you own!

Disco Ball Pinata   

Supplies: 

1 Large Paper Lantern (or 36" balloon or large beach ball)

1 batch of wheat paste (see below for a link)

newsprint (either newspaper or actual newsprint)

black paint

tacky glue

5 - 12" x 12" sheets of silver reflective cardstock cut into 1" squares

I made our pinata on a paper lantern. While this made it easier to hang and a little faster to make, if I were to do it again, I would use a 36" balloon or a beach ball for the base shape because the paper lantern didn't break well.     

Whichever base form you use, start by applying two to three coats of paper mache. There is a fine line between not enough and too much. Too few layers will make a very weak pinata, while too many layers will require a wrecking ball to break open. I try to keep the paper mache to two-three layers because this seems about right. Leave a hand sized hole at the top of the ball for filling and hanging. If you are using a balloon or beach ball, reinforce the top of the pinata with several extra layers of paper mache as this will be where the weight of the pinata is borne. Allow the paper mache to dry COMPLETELY before proceeding to the next step.

 If you are using a balloon or beach ball, carefully deflate and remove it from the center of the pinata. I usually slip my hand inside and help ease the balloons away from the sides so as to prevent the paper mache from sticking to the balloon and collapsing as the balloon deflates.  If you have used a paper lantern, continue to the next step without removing the lantern.  

 

 

Paint the entire ball black (or whatever color you would prefer to see sticking out between the mirror "tiles". 

 

After the paint is completely dry (wet paint will encourage the mirror paper to curl), using tacky glue (or hot glue) begin applying the mirror tiles in a straight row around the middle of the ball. The tacky glue was much easier to use but did cause minor curling of the paper. Hot glue may work better if you are experiencing a lot of curling. 

 

Keep adding rows until you reach the top and bottom. 

 

I found it useful to cut some of the squares in half as I got to the final rows on the bottom of the ball. I also looked at the bottoms of pre-made disco balls to get an idea of how the tiles would best fit together. 

The paper lantern will have two hanging tabs built into the lantern. Otherwise,  made three holes at least an inch into the ball to hang the pinata. 

 

Here is our finished pinata as the centerpiece at the dance party! We rigged it up so that it could be lowered down at the end of the party.

Wheat Paste Link:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wheatpaste/

Recipes: Tasty Yogurt Pancakes

I grew up eating pancakes for breakfast at least twice a week. I liked them plain (I HATED syrup and my mom refused to buy REAL butter) so the taste was really important to me. As an adult, I searched for YEARS to find the perfect recipe but could stand up to my refusal to use white flour, refined sugars, or tons of oil. A few years ago, I found it.

This recipe started out as the Silver Dollar Pancake Recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I have adapted it to use whole grain flour, raw sugar, and greek yogurt (in place of sour cream). What I like about this recipe is that it uses very little flour, and no added fats (except for the oil on the griddle and the fats in the eggs and yogurt). The bulk of the batter is yogurt and eggs, yet the result is a really delicious pancake.

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 T raw sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda

Wet ingredients:
1 C greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 t vanilla

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (for the pan)

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. Combine the wet ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed. This batter is thick.

Using a large spoon, drop small sized pancakes onto a hot skillet coated in virgin coconut oil. Cook on one side until you see bubbles forming along the edges of the batter, flip with a spatula. Due to the thick nature of this batter, I use the "wiggle" test to be sure they are cooked through. Using the spatula I press gently on the middle of the pancake. If it moves side to side, it is not yet cooked through.

If I am cooking for myself and my two little girls (5 and 7) I make one batch and usually have a few left over. If I am also cooking for my husband, I make two batches and usually have enough leftover to store in the refrigerator for one more breakfast for the girls.

Cut and Ready to SEW!

Train Themed Giant Fleece Ball - $50.00

Each ball is 14" in diameter and features 12 panels. The theme will be carried out as follows.



1 panel with a NAME

4 panels with theme related words ("All Aboard", Toot, Choo Choo, Chug)

3 panels with Train Cars

2 panels with Railway signs

1 Panel with Train Silhouette

1 panel with railroad tracks



Unless specified this ball will come in r...

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Custom made to fit You!

Adult Skirt Custom Size Bits Recycled Jersey Skirt - $75.00

I got a little bored making straight panel skirts, so I started getting a little more inventive. This graphically stunning skirt is the latest from my spring/summer line. It is made from little bits of recycled tops and jersey scraps. They are patchworked together to create this colorful an fun skirt that twirls and sways beautifully as you move.



I have collected beautiful colorful jersey tops for two ...

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Cut and ready to Sew!

Personalized Giant Fleece Ball - English Horseback Riding Themed - $50.00

These balls are huge! They are made from soft fleece and stuffed with fiberfill. Babies can flop on them and big kids can too. This ball is about 14" in diameter.



This order is for ONE custom giant ball made with English Horseback Riding themed appliques. The price includes the following:



1 -Personalized panel

3 - Theme related words (the ball in the photo says "cross co...

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FIVE Candy Free Fillers for Plastic Easter Eggs

FIVE things besides candy to fill plastic Easter eggs:



1. Pom pom chicks - We made these one year for our girls, and they STILL play with them years later. Here is how to make them:

Materials:
1 bag large pom poms
1 bag googly eyes
1 bag of feathers
1-2 pieces of orange fun foam
hot glue gun with glue sticks
scissors

Each chick needs a beak and feet cut from the fun foam. Cut small triangles for the beak and larger triangles for the feet. Each chick also needs one pom pom, two eyes, and one feather.

Using the hot glue gun, put a dab of glue on the end of the feather and stick it to the top of the pom pom. Glue the feet on the bottom. Finally, glue on the beak and the eyes. Ta dah! You just made a chicken.



2. coins - pennies, nickles, dimes, even quarters. My kids enjoy putting the money in their piggy banks more than they'd enjoy the candy. They are old enough that they can count the money too.



3. stickers - the beauty of stickers is that they get used up. We buy a few sheets of stickers and cut them into individual stickers to stuff the eggs. Tattoos work great too!



4. Easter jokes or fortunes - Our seven year old is deeply dedicated to the art of joke telling, so this year, we plan to stuff some of the eggs with small slips of paper with Easter themed jokes on them. Click Here to download a sheet of jokes.



5. Flower seeds - We buy a few packs of flowers and divide them into smaller packets (simply fold little pouches from scratch paper and write the names on each pouch). After the hunt is done, encourage your children to plant their seeds in your garden or flower beds, in pots, or go on a walk and spread the seeds in vacant lots and along fence lines (every kid enjoys a little eco-terrorism)! They can enjoy watching their seeds grow all summer long.