Specifics...

Okay, I should have written the specifics down immediately, but better late than never.

Here are my changes to the oatmeal bar recipe.  I think I remember them all--except the last ingredient... (I'll update and note for sure when I make them again).


2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
1/4 cup chia seed
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground flax
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1.5 cups almond milk (or other milk)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
2-4 tbsp nut or seed butter
1 banana, mashed
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup xylitol (I can't remember if I used 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup...)
2 apples (fuji) chopped up into bite size pieces and cooked in a little water and cinnamon (2-3 teaspoons).  I cooked them for ~20 minutes?  I didn't peel.  All the liquid didn't cook off and next time, I'll probably decrease the almond milk a little as the cake/bars was a little moist and I had to cook them for 50-55 minutes.


See below for the rest of the instructions... (mostly mix the dry stuff then add the wet.  Bake with parchment paper or a silicone liner.)  I have one about like this and I love it!  I stick it in the 9x9 pan that I use for baking the cake/bars and it works great!  The corners of my cake/bars aren't exactly 90 degrees, but it's okay.  I never have parchment paper and my silicone liner is reusable!

Sweet T

Three-a has usually been on the recipient end of gifts rather than the giver.  This is mostly because she's the youngest and her biggest sister, oNe, likes to spoil her and is a giver.  Yesterday, Three-a wanted to earn money because she wants to buy twoK a sewing machine as a birthday present.  I thought it was super sweet.

Just a little longer...

I have made it through 2 of the big 3 things I had to do.  January is almost gone and I don't feel like it should be.  Time flies when you're so busy you can't see straight.  I'm working on working less.

In work related news, I don't know if the "blogging gig" at work will work out, but after hearing more about the project, I'm fine with that.  We'll see what happens, but we're not going to worry about it!

Right now, we're going to worry about baking!  I'm baking today!  I'm making the recipe I made last week, but I in addition to what the recipe says below, I added a little xylitol to make it a little sweeter and some apples.  I cooked them in water and cinnamon on the stove.  We'll see how it tastes.  My big goal for the rest of today is to NOT do work for work or my class, but to catch up on the other blog.  I might even try to bake something else.  We'll see.  The girls would like to go play at the park and we'll take them there soon to burn off some energy.

Oh, just for the record, my class went well, this weekend.  More soon.

Baking

One of the things I dislike about traveling (besides leaving my family) is the FOOD you get.  It's all crap.  When I went on my last trip, I made muffins and these cookies and took them with me for fast breakfasts and quick snacks.  I'm so glad I had them.

I just found this recipe at  http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/20/on-the-glow-basic-oatmeal-squares/ and am baking it to see if it's good as another option on trips.

Note, I copied and pasted the recipe over here and everything below the line is from her site (I am not trying to take any credit, but I just want the recipe in a place I can always find it).

Note, I decreased the sweetner from 1/2 c maple syrup to 1/4 c.  I'll let you know if they are good.  They just finished baking...  They are a little plain.  I'll eat them.  I'm curious to see if the girls will eat them.  I made them without chocolate chips; I will add chocolate chips the next time I make them.  (I may make them again very, very soon.  I think they will be delicious with chocolate!  They are plain without chocolate.  I may use them for PB sandwiches like she suggests.  I am also thinking a teeny bit more salt and more cinnamon!  I'd add more cinnamon if I were putting in raisins, apples, or blueberries.

I'll keep you posted on how they come out with chocolate.

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Think of this oatmeal square as basic baked oatmeal that can be dressed up any way you like. Each large square contains a tablespoon of flax and a teaspoon of chia seeds as well as 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein. Feel free to add in nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and other mix-ins as you desire. Just be careful about frozen fruit. When I made a trial with frozen blueberries they became quite soggy. Use fresh blueberries and you should be fine.

Yield: 9 large squares

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
• 3 tbsp chia seed
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 cups almond milk (or other milk)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
• 2 tbsp nut or seed butter
• 1 banana, chopped small
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• Dry sweetener, to taste if you want them a bit sweeter

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8 inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper.

2. In a blender or food processor, blend/process 1 cup of the oats until a flour forms. Or you can just use 1 cup of oat flour.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oat flour, 1.5 cups rolled oats, chia, flax, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, syrup, nut/seed butter, banana, vanilla until no clumps remain. Add wet to dry and stir until combined. Add dry sweetener to taste if desired. Fold in any nuts or dried fruit that you desire.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 35-40 minutes until lightly golden along edge and it springs back slowly when touched. I baked them for 40 minutes, but baking time may vary. Place pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, carefully remove, and cool on rack before slicing.

Even less bad for you muffins.

I modified the recipe, below, to make it less "carb-y," vegan, and a little lower fat.  See below the line.


The original from
Swistle's Whole-Wheat Pumpkin Peanut-Butter Chocolate-Chip Flax-Seed-Meal Muffins
1/3 cup flax seed meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
someone's partially-eaten banana, mashed up, OR 1/4 cup applesauce
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup peanut butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

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My modifications

2/3 cup ground flax
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 - 1/2 cup xylitol 
(I made it with 1/2 cup and it was a tad sweet for me, but the girls loved them. We'll see if I try them with less)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Ener-G Egg Replacer equivalent to 2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 banana
1/2 cup PB2 
1/4 cup real PB
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 - 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
(Note, no butter necessary.  You have plenty of fat with the flax and PB!)





Enjoy!

Back...

I'm back from the first big thing this year...

My back isn't happy.  Yesterday I sat for almost the entire day ... approximately 20 hours.  NO JOKE.

Today, I am trying to recover.  I am not sitting.  I am standing a lot and stretching a lot.  I have done a few core exercises and will go do some more as soon as I write this (lame) entry.  I just want to remember a few things.

First, I was way too busy with this project, but it's a really good project. We're trying to do more of it.  If it happens, I will still probably be way too busy, but I hopefully will be able to reduce the number of projects I have and then I'll be less busy.

I have to decide if I want to keep teaching next year.  I had one student who nearly did me in.  Seriously.  I am not blogging anymore about h/im/er.  I don't want to remember the details.  Quote of the day from oNe after watching one of our cats throw up.  Hopefully that memory will be a distant memory soon.  That's how I feel about that student.

I learned something on this trip; I do like having a job that I like.  I have been a little, um, not that excited about things for a while.  I think I learned that life is too short to do stuff I dislike.  There will be some things I dislike on this project (if we get it) but I'm going to do my darndest to NOT get involved with those things.  The things I don't like are mostly in MB's domain.  (PS please remind me to say NO to any of those activities!)

But, bad/good news, I just said yes to a new gig at work.  It should only be 8 hours a week.  In 2-4 weeks, I'll lose 16 hours of "time" at work.  For the next couple of weeks it will be busy.  But, I'd rather fill that 16 hours with this new gig than any other way that I know of right now.  I'll be blogging (on work topics) as my new project.  It's good.  I can't turn down a blogging gig. I'll also do their Social Media (twitter/FB), too.  This should be pretty flexible.

Okay, what else...

I'm so happy to be home!  I missed my girls, MWH, and the kitties!  One of the little kitties threw up 4 times today.  He must be really happy I'm home to decide to welcome me that way.  Here's hoping he got whatever made his tummy upset OUT of his tummy.

10!

oNe is 10!  A decade... How did that happen?  We have a little over 6 years of that decade documented, here, and I have the first 4 years documented in a word processing document on my computer.  I need to make sure it still opens and I can work with it.  This blog, and that journal is a gift to my girls.  Anyway, maybe, in honor of oNe's tenth birthday, I'll put some of the early entries from that journal up here.  I'll do it after next week....  Maybe even after 2/8 or 2/15.  We'll see.  (It's still crazy at work.)

For oNe's 10th birthday, she didn't want a party.  There's a guinea pig at her school, we'll call her "P."  oNe loves P so much.  P got a fungus and has had to be out of school.  oNe, I believe the only child in the class, also got the fungus (from P).  oNe and P can't see each other for another week (minimum).  Because of this turn of events, oNe decided she wasn't celebrating her birthday until P came back to school.  We honored oNe's special day, here at home, with chocolate cupcakes (her nanny brought), ice cream, and presents.  We'll celebrate a little more when P comes to spend the weekend.

oNe is such an animal lover.  When I was oNe's age, I loved animals like she does.  I understand.  oNe is a lot like me.  She's got a very strong sense of right and wrong and a sense that saving the world falls to her.  I hope that I can share some of what I learned along the way, but like me, she likes to figure it out for herself.  Recreating the wheel is something she and I both do.  I love my little oNe girl.

When she was born, I couldn't believe how little and absolutely perfect she was.  She was a great sleeper, a great nurser, and grew strong, quickly. MWH and I were delighted. She passed all those wonderful baby milestones ahead of schedule (reassuring me of her genius!).  As she grew, her personality formed more.  She became a very silly little girl. She was also headstrong; she and I butted heads, a lot. I remember explaining so many things to her when she was 4.  Four was a rough year. By the time she was 5, she had taken over as my little helper.  She's such a little "mother" to her sisters.  (She lectures all the time and I don't have to!)

Anyway, I don't have the words, today, to write a proper entry for the girl who is my first born.  I am thrilled beyond belief to have my oNe.  I love you oNe!

It's over...

Break is over... WAH!  I don't want to go back to school and work tomorrow.  It's gonna be REALLY busy between now and January 19th--don't expect much from me.  We're really busy at work until the 19th and then really busy again until February 15th.

I'm teaching, too and it's also busy with big stuff occurring in the semester during January and February.

I'll just take it one day/project at a time.  If I think all that I have to do before the end of February, I'll cry. Seriously.

Over break, I got to spend lots of time with little girls and MWH started teaching them how to program!  twoK is a natural, he says!  oNe is getting it, too, but at first, until twoK got interested in it, oNe wasn't that interested.  Then, when twoK started doing well, oNe got more interested.  Sometimes sibling rivalry is a positive thing.  Heh.  Three-a is learning by observing.  If you're interested in seeing what oNe and twoK are doing, check out the other blog, er, soon.  I've got to post it over there, first--as soon as I get a chance.

So I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked to accomplish over break.  I worked as many hours as I said I would (actually even a few more), but it doesn't feel like it was enough and I feel behind schedule going back.  The good news is I got to 1) play with kitties 2) do 5 Zumba classes 3) do one Dailey Method, and 4) sleep in a lot.  

It'll be okay.  It'll be okay.  Just keep repeating that phrase over and over... It'll be okay.

Darn it!

This morning, my alarm didn't wake me up and I missed Zumba.  I don't know if it was a technical failure of my clock or me sleeping through it.  After testing the alarm, I'm leaning towards the "I slept through it" failure.  D'oh!

I really wanted to go do Zumba.  I may make myself do a Dailey Method class later today.  

I'm also worried because tomorrow morning, I have to get up 2 hours earlier than I did today.

I'm still so tired.  I wish I could get another week of break.