Power Bars

My sister-in-law made gluten-free power bars for me when I came to visit last summer.  And they were really, really good.  And I was really too lazy to make them for myself until I got desperate (not too much seems tempting these days with the pregnancy nausea situation, and protein is a great nausea fighter).  So I made these today and wanted to post the recipe website, along with my easier, cheaper version.

So the real recipe is at http://www.elanaspantry.com/power-bars/

Elana's recipe calls for stevia and agave nectar, though, expensive healthier sugar substitutes.  So I went with a drizzle of honey.  And it called for weird salt, and I went with regular.  And it called for 70% cocoa chocolate and I went with chocolate chips.  Anyway, it was pretty easy, you just need to have almond butter to make it (I got some at Trader Joe's a while ago, actually, and just never used it), and if you don't have coconut oil you could just put canola or something in it.

Bon Apetit!

The Fiesty Shepherds

Micah is a shepherd in his school's play.  So we had to come up with a costume for him.  And then, of course, we had to come up with a costume for the apprentice shepherd.  If they don't look like shepherds, don't tell me . . .

Bird's Nest Cookies

The kids and I just finished making our yearly "Bird's Nest Cookies."  I didn't actually realize they'd be a yearly tradition until Micah started asking in the summer if we'd be making them at Christmas again.  Bird's Nest Cookies are not "cookies," in the strictest sense of the word, they are a Val creation of uncooked blended nuts, peanut butter, smashed dates, coconut, cocoa, craisins, and raisins.  But, hey, the kids love them.  We made an assembly line after I got the nuts and dates all squished together (with a tiny bit of water to moisten things).  I put the little nests on one plate, Jesse picked them up and dipped them in coconut and/or cocoa and gave them to Micah, who put the raisin/craisin eggs on top and put them on our pretty red plate.

Saying Goodbye . . . to Homebaked Bread

It's official, we've given up on the sourdough for the duration of the nausea portion of the pregnancy (if not for the rest of the whole thing).  Owen threw it out for me this morning.  It had gotten to where I couldn't feed it anymore because the smell was too oppressive (just typing that line caused an alarming wave of nausea to pass through me).  Store-bought gluten-free bread is disgusting and really expensive, but it looks like it's that or a bread-free diet for now.  I did find that heavy nasty rice bread makes great french toast for some reason.  So I've turned about two loaves into that.  Then I just heat it up in the toaster when I want a piece.  Yum.   

A Davis Family Christmas

It's official, we're decorated!  And it's so fun having two kids so into it all.  They make sure we remember to keep the lights plugged in and they make any needed ornament adjustments.  Micah's been asking for almost a year if we could make gingerbread houses at Christmastime, so we finally got it together to make them today.  I did learn my lesson for next year--I will invest in name brand graham crackers (easier and cheaper than gingerbread, but the kind I bought break easily).

Jesse waits all day with excitement for us to do our little advent reading (he likes opening the door to get out the next piece for the manger scene), sing, blow out a candle, and eat a chocolate chip (I know, one chocolate chip is not too exciting, but they still find it thrilling at this age).  And Micah keeps checking his stocking to see if Santa came.

Seed Control by Monsanto

An interesting and disturbing video about Monsanto seed company:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6262083407501596844&hl=en#

It's about how the seed company designs our food crops around pest control chemicals and control of the seed supply.  It also explains why genetically modified foods are outlawed in England and many other places.  The source of our seed for our food crops comes from the makers of Agent Orange, genetically modified foods, and recombant bovine growth hormones (rBGH).  Go cooperate food sources!

Owen's Haircut . . .

This hairy rodent in our tub is Owen's hair trimmings, cleverly sculpted by Owen, after his home haircut given by yours truly.  He felt it was blogworthy, I don't know.  He has very thick hair.  We thought the sheer quantity of hair was fascinating because it really did look like some creature in the tub.