Most beautiful eggs ever

Check out the turquoise, deep red and gold colors!

Well, these eggs have already been in a rainy egg hunt but can you see the vibrant colors? They are even better than the first time I did them.  Basically you just need the cheapest basic dye kit, BROWN eggs, and use a quarter cup of vinegar to let the pellets fizzle until they melt and then add enough water to just cover the eggs, about a quarter cup more.  Let the eggs soak for about 5 minutes and you have the most amazing colors I have ever seen.  I almost didn't want to eat them! These are way better than the pastel colors you get from using white eggs.  Try it next time!

These eggs were more solid color looking until they got rained on, but still look so vibrant.

Turning "Granola"

 Sorry about the bad phone camera photos.  Here is my general mixed up and three granolas made with milk.

First of all, why does my phone capitalize granola when I type it in? Is it a proper noun or something? Well, I have news for all you granola lovers out there...you're missing out if you haven't tasted my lime cardamom granola my friends.  This week I did a granola demonstration for the Relief Society sisters and so this past week I delved into researching all granolas to find the best recipes.  What did I find? A whole lot of nothing the same.  Granola recipes couldn't be more different.  I feel like I tried to search for just "soup" or something and got so many recipes with only a few ingredients in common. 

Here are two jars of chocolate cinnamon and one of almond essence with maple syrup. 

So, this is the skinny on granola...it can be really unhealthy if you make it with processed oil and brown sugar with just a dab of honey like most recipes call for.  Just use coconut oil and only natural sweeteners and you will be well on your way to healthy and delicious eats. 

This is the recipe...

5 cups of dry ingredients, whatever you like (can be all oats or a mixture of oats, seeds, and nuts and coconut)
3/4(scant) cup of oil(or milk)
1 cup or less of sweetner(depending on how sweet you like it)
Mix it all together, spread on two TIN FOILED AND GREASED  cookie sheet at 325 for 8 minutes on the top rack and 8 minutes on the bottom rack and then take out, let cool, add any dried fruit desired and store in a tight container. 

Having a recipe like this can open your mind to experimentation instead of following another's concoction.  As I was making my granola I thought of what spices I could throw into the mix.  Cinnamon, yes! Real almond extract, Oh so yummy! Chocolate powder, yes! Peanut butter(in place of oil), yes! Lime cardamom sauce, double yes! I'm telling you that not one of them turned out bad.  I'm only sad I didn't get a chance to try cranberry juice concentrate to essencify a batch with cranberry flavor.  I think I have about 50 lbs now in my cupboard so I think I'll just send it off to the Missionary Training Center where my sister is learning how to be a missionary for the Fukuoka, Japan mission.  I miss her so much.  Take care little sista and I know you'll enjoy some of this healthy granola so you don't have to eat the biscuits and gravy(death to the body!)

I mostly love this granola because it adds a much faster breakfast to our list of acceptable breakfast foods which is limited to, home made yogurt, french toast, pancakes, eggs, steel cut oats or cracked wheat, all made with whole wheat and all from scratch.  For once I can decide to not cook breakfast in the morning and spend a half hour cleaning up! I know some of you are thinking, what's wrong with cereal? Well, 1. because it fills my kids up for all of 5 minutes and, 2. there's nothing more processed on the face of the planet.  Plus, 3. it's super expensive and most of it is just air.  Anyway, please make up your own granola recipe and tell me how much you love it:)

Indian wedding extravaganza

Two weekends ago one of my dreams came true and we attended a real Indian wedding at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. It was definitely worth the ling drive for the two day extravagant celebration complete with three meals and entertainment amongst elaborate decor. The food was excellent but extremely spicy and I have never been more grateful for plain yogurt in my entire life. There were some traditional American elements to the wedding like a chocolate chocolate ganache cake that was to die for delicious. That's my kind of wedding.

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Best Gingerbread houses ever

This year I did two gingerbread houses: One for my friend Gulzat(her first ever real gingerbread house) and another for me.  Hers was a traditional one but mine turned out really modern and I think is the best one I have ever made.

Gulzat's house had a chocolate sugar roof complete with Santa's sleigh and reindeer with Santa in the chimney.  She decorated the rest with tiny gingerbread ornaments and a family complete with a sister that her son Daniel is wishing for someday.  She's showing it off to all her friends and getting many compliments:)

I decided to make a taller house this year and I cut out some round windows instead of all square.  I covered it with cinnamon sticks on the sides, black licorice on the back and Hershey's chocolate bars on the front polka-dotted with various candies.  The roof is frosted Mini Wheats with Rudolph on top. It kind of looks like a bank to me.  What do you think? I also stayed up until 2am the night before making a chocolate tree and Santa.  Everyone comments that he looks like a black Santa, but it was either that or albino, so I chose the dark chocolate and I think he's fabulous!

New Christmas Treat:Toffee

 My favorite: Dark chocolate on bottom, toffee, white chocolate with sliced almonds and TC

I know it's been a long time.  I've been busy traveling all over the globe and we're still on the run, but here is my favorite new treat over the holidays....toffee.  It's super easy and looks fancy.  This is the recipe you get when you search for "best toffee ever" on Allrecipes.com.  I added a generous tsp vanilla in with the sugar and butter and chocolate on the bottom with a various assortment of nuts along with, what other than, toasted coconut. 

Our three kinds: Milk chocolate with pecans, dark chocolate with ground almonds and the above mentioned.

Ingredients:

2 cups butter 2 cups white sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup finely chopped almonds

Directions:

1.	In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Allow to come to a boil, and cook until the mixture becomes a dark amber color, and the temperature has reached 285 degrees F (137 degrees C). Stir occasionally.
2.	While the toffee is cooking, cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
3.	As soon as the toffee reaches the proper temperature, pour it out onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the chocolate over the top, and let it set for a minute or two to soften. Spread the chocolate into a thin even layer once it is melted. Sprinkle the nuts over the chocolate, and press in slightly. Putting a plastic bag over your hand will minimize the mess.
4.	Place the toffee in the refrigerator to chill until set. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.

My sister Lucy with our precious cargo...that we couldn't eat or taste until Sunday, our treat day.  I think we made this on a Monday too, so we waited all week long to try it and it was delicious!

Dilly Bean and pickled peppers

I just did my first pickled peppers and dilly beans the other day. I didn't realize how easy it was to pickle things, but I'm not sure how much I really like pickled things.  I have to say I like the sweet pickled stuff more than the dill pickled stuff, but nonetheless I really enjoyed not having to give away the peppers and beans we picked at the farm before we left on our California trip.  Basically this is what you do...

Stuff beans or peppers in a sanitized jar
put in a couple cloves of garlic and some dill
pour in hot a vinegar solution of 2.5 cups vinegar and 2.5 cups water with 1/4 cup salt.  Add 1 cup sugar if desired.
close jar and either process in boiling water or stick in the fridge

That's it. You should try it!

Georgie's Cherries

Kids in front of the tree with the pie

Many of you know that when our son died we planted a sour cherry tree in our yard to remember him by.  We planted it in the early early spring and it was not expected to have cherries on it that year but it totally did.  We had enough cherries to make one pie for the previous two years and now this year our sour cherry tree produced enough cherries for TWO cherry pies.  We made this one and have quite a few more frozen in our freezer for one more.  Henry also enjoyed picking many of them and sharing them with his friends.  I think we may have had enough for three pies but the bugs, birds, and babies got to them first!

Close up of pie in my new bakeware pan.  Thanks Gammie!

We love everything about our sour cherry tree...the million blossoms in the spring, watching the little cherries ripen and seeing all the red cherries plump up.  They are very tart to eat right off the tree, but it reminds us of Georgie and the pain we still feel with his absence, but then we whip them up into a delicious pie and it turns into our most favorite desert.  I am grateful for his presence in our lives and we think of him daily and we will always remember him every time we see a sour cherry tree and are reminded of how sweet our reunion will be when we taste our delicious pie. 

The pie in front of the tree.  See all the cherries left over?

Bea snacking on the cherries on the lower branches.

Thought this was a cute shot.  We love our cherry tree.