Bantha complete!

It looks like a big sheep but the kids like to climb on it and pretend to be Tusken Raiders.

up next...

When I have the time to finish it I will post pictures of the cuddly bantha that we (the kids and I) made as inspired by the Star Wars Craft book.

This book is awesome and a must for both crafter nerds and Star Wars nerds....

ah nerds .

Food....food, OMG.....Food.

So I have said it before but I am thankful that we can afford to be members of a CSA. We get awesome boxes of fresh organic veggies from the spectacular farm down the road, Kirsop.

Today I made fennel slaw, potato salad and chicken veggie stir fry.

Fennel slaw from Kirsop Farms Newsletter

2 tbs cider vinegar

3 tbs olive oil

1 tbs sugar

2.5 tbs lemon juice

3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1/4 cup celery leaves

2 fennel bulbs thinly sliced

1 tbs fennel fronds

1 crisp firm apple Julienne.

Combine, enjoy.

Potato salad

eyeball it.....boiled potato's minus skins (two hands worth works). Diced onions, a couple hard boiled eggs, MAYO!!! a small, I mean, small bit o mustard (like less than 1tsp) and salt and peppa. YUM!

Chicken veggie stir fry

one sliced long squash

three chicken breasts marinated in apple juice and cut into bite sized pieces

onion

broccoli (she's choppin Broccoli! Shes choppin Broccoli! Shes choppin brocoli-he-he-he he)

carrots slices

Cook it up adding hardy veggies once chicken is cooked. Right before taking off heat, add softer veggies.

For lunch I tried a newer product, Kale Chips all done up by Rhythm Foods. Not only is it a raw food but its organic, vegan and tasty. They arent as good as my homemade ones (tossed with olive oil and salt and baked at 350 till crisp) but for food on the go, they are pretty darn good.

Another crafty lady that I like.

I am lazy and havent had time to post anything of substance so, till I have time, here is another link to a lady that I think is very talented. I am currently reading her book "Handmade Home."

Nut butter....

Ha ha.

Today we are talking about almond butter. Almonds are supposed to be the one nut that my Husband isn't allergic to. After exorcising the house of the dreaded peanut butter I started to take more of an interest in its tastier cousin, almond.

I found that I liked the more natural types, the ones that didnt use shortening for example to make a creamy texture. I liked the Blue Diamond brand but decided that it was too expensive and really...did I need to eat more palm oil? I thought to myself, why would someone add a oil to an already oily nut....after making my own I understood.

Choosing to use almond oil for almond butter I found it was super easy to make and so tasty too. All I do is blend a handful of raw almonds and add enough almond oil to get the creamy texture that I like. I like a bit of sweet so I add a teaspoon of whatever sweetener I have be it honey agave...whatever. A pinch of salt and away we go. It tastes excellent on top of toasted gluten free bread and I know that it hasnt been contaminated with the evil scourge, the peanut.

Too much time on my hands....

So feeling the itch to craft all weekend I accomplished a few and started others. First on the list....to create a Tron inspired all wool felted hat for the daughter. Behold in all its cheese ball splendor.

Undercover beet choco cake

"The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish admittedly is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious."

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume.

Everythings better with chocolate cake or in this case beeter (ha ha, couldn't resist). Our mostest awesome local Farm, Kirsop, sends home these great newsletters with our stupendous, spledorific boxes of lovely delicious veggies. This week happened to have a simple recipe for chocolate beet cake thus helping me to sneak a big ole bunch of veggies right into the kids gobs completely undetected.

The recipe is as follows:

1 1/2 cups cooked, peeled and pureed beets.

3 eggs

1 cup flour (this recipe is not gluten free)

1 cup oil

1 3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 baking soda

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Lightly beat eggs and incorporate all wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients.

Combine and beat till blended.

Pour into greased 9 x 13 inch cake pan (I used a bundt pan) and bake at 350 for approx 30 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

It makes a gorgeous deep red velvety chocolate cake. I modified it however to include an additional ounce of chocolate, less oil, Semi-sweet instead of unsweetened and half sugar half splenda. It turned out wonderfully. Yes, you can detect the beets but the earthiness lends well to the chocolate.