Homemade Granola Bars

Tried this recipe for Homemade Granola Bars.

The taste was AWESOME! But I couldn't get the bars to cut right without falling apart. I am not used to having things not turn out for me, even when I alter the recipe on the first attempt like I did. I made a couple of changes to the recipe which I will detail below, but I think my real problem was that I didn't chop the Almonds enough before putting them in. Next time I want to make them, I will used slivered almonds instead.

I also made the following modifications:

• I used caster sugar because I couldn't find the sticky bun sugar. I think this is a contributing factor to the cut failure. The recipe says it should be bubbly, but mine never got bubbly.
• Instead of Oat flour, I used half oat bran and half wheat germ
• I used three cups of fillers: dried cranberries, coconut, almonds, pepitas and peanuts.

Next time I plan on following the recipe exactly, but after that I already have an idea for a modification. If you have ever had the Nature Valley crunch PB granola bars, the top has a super thin layer of Peanut Butter on them. I will try this in a future attempt and let you know how it goes.

Felt Play Food

Felt Play Food Sandwich, originally uploaded by HiMalta.

The kids got a kitchen for their birthdays. I saw some great felt play food online and thought "I can make this" So for .20 a sheet, I bought some felt and came up with some creations.

Here is the rest of the felt play food.

If I wasn't going to make my own, I would probably buy all of the Haba Biofino Line up from Amazon. I think it is SUPER cute!

Turkey Burgers

Finished Turkey Burgers, originally uploaded by HiMalta.

Made some turkey burgers last night for dinner. They turned out pretty good. What I was most disappointed about was that the ground turkey wasn't that good. I usually buy my meat from the butcher, but it was closed when I went grocery shopping Sunday night, so I got it at Kroger. It didn't really cook up as well as the butcher ground turkey.

You can see the rest of the pictures here: Turkey Burgers

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Sell Your PDF eBook, end up in Gozo

I was reading Seth's post on eBooks when something caught my eye....he says "The math is simple: sell 10,000 at $30 each and you too can move to Gozo and sit in the sun." Well, I haven't sold any eBooks, but I am on a working vacation in Malta right now so anyone who has made their fortune selling eBooks, I can pick you up some real estate brochures ;-)

btw...a big thanks to The blogger guide on getting this blogger template to 3 columns.

Losing Nap Time

My 2-year-old has started trying to avoid his nap times. Today I put him down for his nap at 1:15 and he didn't fall asleep until 2:30. When he did fall asleep he slept until 4:15, so he needs the nap, but I don't understand why it is taking him so long to fall asleep. Today he was calling me saying "I awake, please come get me." I didn't get him because I knew he was tired, I just told him to lay down and rest. I don't know what I am going to do if he stops taking a nap. I think I might just make an afternoon quiet time where he has to play by himself and I do my own thing. I need his nap time so I can get things done around the house.

Christmas is Coming

Yesterday I received my first batch of Christmas catalogs in the mail from LL Bean and the Right Start. Sunday I was looking through the advertisements and they are already showing Christmas stuff. It seems like they are skipping Halloween and Thanksgiving completely this year.

My new website

I am working on a new website for parents who are researching things before they buy them online. The site is still in development, but if you have any input, I would love to hear it. What is great about this new site is that all of the reviews include video of the products. You can view it here: www.baby-product-video-reviews.com and the accompanying blog here: blog.baby-product-video-reviews.com

Toddler Activities

Found this website when I was looking for some activites / crafts for Matthew: http://www.preschoolexpress.com/toddler_station.shtml. Lots of good ideas!

I am also a HUGE fan of this book.  It has a lot of great activities for toddlers and preschoolers that you can do with stuff you already have around your house.  It also teaches you how this "play time" is actually "learning time."



On another site I found an idea to fill up a container with rice and let him play with it. I had an old oatmeal container that I filled 1/4 full with rice and then gave him some small tupperwarelike bowls. He had a blast! He was very excited to show it to daddy when he came home. The only problem is that he took the new oatmeal container (still filled with oatmeal) and kept saying "rice mama rice" :-)

One Year Later (+8 days) and I am back

I am back and ready to start blogging again. Since I last posted, we had another baby girl, Maria on July 4th -- the same day as her brother -- only two years later. Life is busy (but very good) with 2 kids. She is making it easy on us because she is already sleeping through the night. She was a good sleeper to begin with and when I swaddle her, she becomes even better (Yeah!!)