a favorite thing

I'm going to share today about a simple little goodness.  Maybe it will become a favorite for you, too!  this is a food combo that can either be my breakfast or lunch.  It's really quite simple--granola, fruit, yogurt.  Nothing wild and crazy about that!  but here's the particulars:

Silk yogurt, vanilla flavored, in the large container that holds enough for several servings.  I don't measure, just spoon out enough to seem right.  Silk yogurt in the large container isn't a requirement, but I choose to buy it because a) I am lactose intolerant and b) the little Silk yogurt flavored containers are way overpriced.  But all that vanilla flavor gets kind of boring, and I found that adding in some fruit is a good thing.  But because I don't always have a reliable fresh fruit supply at home, I have come to be a big fan of frozen fruit.  Like these dark cherries.  Or raspberries.  Or strawberries.  Or blueberries.  Very convenient to keep on hand.  I usually mix the yogurt and fruit and let stand for 5-10 minutes to get the iciness tempered down, then top off with 1/3 cup of my homemade granola.  This makes a great food to pack for my lunch, because I can mix the yogurt and fruit in a plastic container and put the granola in a snack bag.  By the time lunchtime rolls around, the fruit is thawed and just needs a little stir.

So there you go, one of my favorite things!  Nothin' fancy, guess I'm not a high maintenance girl!

I have been pressing on with a very large customer quilt that needs to get finished--

This was made from a Quiltsmart pattern.  If you haven't tried one of the Quiltsmart designs, you really should.  I learned about this company several years ago, and found out they are based right here in MN.  I even went to their place of business, along with a couple of friends, and got a little tour of their manufacturing process.  Their patterns are all printed onto interfacing, which is sewn right into the blocks.  This one is called Baskets Around.  Baskets have been a theme in quilting for centuries.  Can you see the baskets in these blocks?  The 4 large red arcs are the handles of baskets connected at their base.  The quilting on this one is taking me awhile, there is a lot of outlining to be done.  Outlining is a tedious but necessary step in quilting, especially in an applique block like this one.  It can't be done quickly, so takes a lot of my patience!  I stitched around the big circle, then the smaller circle, and on both sides of the "handles".  Then filled with feathers and meandering.  I am on the last row of blocks, then need to stitch between all the blocks and in the wide border.  

I know this is going to the daughter of the maker for a wedding gift, and needs to be done in October, so the pressure is on to get it back to her for binding.  There are 20 of those large basket blocks, measuring 20" square and taking me about 1/2 hour each to quilt.  My neck and shoulders can't take long periods of this kind of close work, and my eyes go buggy, too, so I have to pace myself with breaks to stretch and do my neck exercises.  And take some ibuprofen!

So you know what I will be doing today!  What will you be doing?

Spring has sprung

I know that in many places in this fine land you presently have leafy trees, mowed lawns and colorful flowerbeds. Not so much here in the tundra. But there is progress aplenty here, once again assuring that the cycle of seasons never ends. Yesterday morning I awoke to rain and dreariness, which was not a good omen for Bob's golf league kick-off. But by midday, when I emerged from my quilting in the basement, the sun was blazing and I could open windows, stroll around the house, poke in the dead stuff, and snap these pictures for you. A blossoming tree in the front yard--

Raindrops still puddled on the tiny bleeding hearts---

emerging hostas that are amazingly purple--

Sunny and windy for golf for Bob, and perfect conditions for me to join him on the 19th hole!

Last weekend at my quilt retreat, I shared my homemade granola with the people who wanted something other than the usual camp breakfast. Had some requests for the recipe, and I thought I had posted it here before but couldn't find it, so here it is.

These are my ingredients:

1/2 cup honey, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/3 cup veg. oil, 2 Tbsp. water, 1 tsp. apple pie spice, 1/2 tsp. cardamom. Mix these together in a microwaveable bowl or pan, cook in microwave a couple minutes to heat and mix everything but watch out that it doesn't boil over. In a big bowl mix these: 4 cups regular old-fashioned oatmeal (not quick-cooking), 1 cup toasted soybeans, 1/4 cup flaxseeds, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Pour the hot liquid mixture over all these dry ingredients and stir it up. Spread this out on a sheet cake pan/cookie sheet/jelly roll pan, mine is about 12" x 17" with 1" sides that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir it up and add 1 cup craisins, bake 15 minutes more.

This combination can be varied according to your likes and what you have on hand. The apple pie spice is something I purchase at Weaver's Country Store in Fall Creek, WI, an Amish general store. It is a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice, but I don't know proportions. I change the nuts and fruit each time, sometimes pecans, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, almonds, cherries, mixed berries, blueberries or any combination of the above. This makes a hearty, crunchy cereal, my serving size is 1/3 cup with a carton of silk yogurt or a little soymilk, and it fills me up!