Things That Make Me Smile

Happy Sunday everyone! We are finally coming out from the cloud of flu that has been hanging over our house since last Tuesday. I haven't left the house since then...so I think we may go out to a little cafe for lunch and I am oh so excited! Fresh air, someone else cooking for me, mountain views...sounds good to me.

Here are a few of the things that made me smile this week around the web:

I'm always looking for playtime ideas for the cold winter months. I recently filled a large, flat tupperware with about 10 lbs of popcorn seeds and the girls have been going crazy with it. Yes, it can be messy...but fun is sometimes messy! We call it the "seed box". You could also use beans, wheat, or real sand if you're out of your mind :) Here is another idea with oatmeal.

This week I want to make homemade playdough.

I know I have seen Kat's incredible sweaters on Etsy before...but had never seen her website until today. Kind of obsessed. And I want her house. Oh, and her busses. As I type this, I'm listening to this podcast interview with her. Love. It's a beautiful conversation about making art, how "stuff" can take over, traveling light, and more!

I adore this idea. I have many cards and letters from dear friends, but they are all just in a box. Punching holes in them and putting them in a pretty binder sounds like way more fun.

I like to buy sweaters at the thrift store & cut off their arms for leg warmers...but I've always wanted to do something with the part that is left. I think I will try this next time! Circle scarf = happy.

Bella has been obsessed with snow globes for as long as I can remember. Can't wait to make these with her!

Have you seen my "Lovely Spaces" board on Pinterest? I go there when I want to smile. :)

I like to make stuff and feel crafty...although it seems to happen less and less these days. These bracelets look pretty simple and I'm excited to go thrift store!

We have oodles of gaffers tape laying around from all of our hoopmaking...so I was excited to see this idea. Bella has loved making duct tape wallets, so I know she'll love this.

Thank you to everyone who posted recipes and links for bread and muffins! So excited to try them out over the winter. After posting that, I found this great page with tons of bread recipes.

Hope everyone is healthy and enjoying a restful Sunday! xxoo

Baking Up a Storm

I have been spending a lot of time in this here corner of loveliness...it houses my baking corner and my bulk goodies. I have longed for a space like this forever...and oh how grateful I am to finally have it.

There is just something so wonderful about having everything I need right at my fingertips...and yet not cluttering up the kitchen. It's inspiring to see them all on display and  it makes assembling recipes so easy!

And so...we have been baking up a storm...in the snow storms :) We love baking something warm and delicious inside while the snow is falling outside.

Bella is an excellent helper and always offers to help with any baking task...we've been learning a lot about numbers and measuring through this.

I like to call this beauty "My Precious". I LOVE having a full size oven again. Love love love. And it's gas. Which makes me insanely happy. I think I would rather cook over a fire than an electric stove!

Our muffins must always be eaten with hot tea! I recently re-stocked my favorite tea, Rishi's Citron Oolong...so I'm a happy girl. The muffin that we tend to make the most around here is the Delightful Banana Nut Muffins from The Garden of Vegan. It's one of my most requested recipes from from friends and family...so I thought I would post it here!

Delightful Banana Nut Muffins Cookbook: The Garden of Vegan By Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour ½ cup dry sweetener (I like rapadura or turbinado) 1 t baking powder 1 t baking soda ½ t salt ¾ cup ground flax seed ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional) 2 bananas, mashed 1/3 cup olive oil 1 t vanilla extract 2/3 cup soy, rice, or almond milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flax, and walnuts. In a small bowl, combine the bananas, oil, vanilla and soy milk. Pour the liquid ingredients with the dry and mix together gently until “just mixed”. Spoon into a lightly oiled muffin pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

On the day of our big snow, Bella decided that we simply must have a muffin picnic in front of the fire, and so we did! Such sweet memories I have with my girls.

And lastly, my friend Ellen gave me a yummy recipe for Sunflower Seed Cookies...and of course we made them right away! They were SO GOOD. Although, I think it had something to do with the copious amount of sugar in them :) You can always cut back or add alternative sweeteners if you're so inclined. They can also easily be made vegan.

Sunflower Seed Cookies Serves/Makes:   4 dozen

Ingredients: Cream together: 1 cup butter or Earth Balance 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs or egg substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend in: 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 3 cups oatmeal 1 cup sunflower seeds

Directions: Mix together well. Drop onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 8-9 minutes.

For more yummy muffin recipes, check out my food blog, Happy Foody, under the muffin category. If you're a fellow muffin lover, be sure to check out this great article on "How To Make the Best Muffins Ever". It's a goody.

Next I'd like to get into baking homemade bread. I've done it before...but I would especially like to make sourdough and english muffins, along with some crusty, hearty soup breads.

If you have a tried and true recipe...please share it below! Also, please share your all-time favorite muffin recipe so I can stop making the same one over and over :)

Sweet Summer Memories

**As you can see, my blog has a new look. Big thanks to Lisa and Noah at My Little Buffalo for all their help! I'm looking out my window right now at another 8 inches of beautiful fresh snow. So I thought it would be nice to remember warmer days :) Here is a little recap of all the lovely people who came to visit us this last summer. I could honestly write a long post on EVERY SINGLE ONE of these visits, and I normally would, but it's recap only this time because I'm playing catch up! Monica flew in from Portland and we had such fun in Boulder, exploring on a sunny Saturday...basking in the sunshine at the farmer's market and leisurely exploring Pearl St. Just seeing these photos brings back such sweetness to my heart.

My sister, Laura, flew in from Minneapolis for a quick visit and we enjoyed showing her the Colorado sights. She will be here for Thanksgiving and New Year's too...but her hubby Dan will be coming with her! So excited.

Rachel, Chad, and Oliver took a vacation to Colorado...coming all the way from beautiful Indiana. We packed a lot into our time together...and it was such a blessing to see these dear friends after not seeing them since our tour in 2007. Rachel and I have been faithful pen pals since and I so love keeping up with her writing at Mighty Violet.

Matt's cousin, Dustin, and his wife Anna brought their two kiddos from Minneapolis for a visit. We had a GREAT time hanging out...Dustin schooled us on fancy craft beers...and when I say "schooled", I mean he told us about them and we ooooohed and aahhhhhed :) We gave them the grand tour of the front range, including the essential trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.

The delightful Tiffani stopped by for a few hours during her grand road trip across the country. We took her out for Indian food and hooped it up. We weren't too sad to say goodbye because we knew we'd be together a month later in San Diego!

We spent a day with Mandy and her four awesome kids. She decided to go on a road trip when her hubby when out of the country and I was thrilled to be able to meet her in person after reading her blog for so long. Be sure to click over for a read...she tackles the hard questions of life and faith. It's raw and honest. Love it. We squeezed every drop of life out of that day...and it was definitely too short! Can't wait to hang out again someday...

And as I've already blogged, Jarod, Jen, and family were here in July to buy the RV and Mullers were here in April. We've had SO much fun with our numerous visitors since we moved to Colorado...our friends are so fantastic and life is so much richer because they are a part of it. We are blessed.