Peanut Butter Balls

I loved it back in the late eighties and early nineties when kids shows would occasionally have "very special shows" to teach kids about nutrition, exercise, school subjects, etc.

I happened to come across a cooking for kids episode recently and decided I ought to try making one of the easy kid-friendly recipes. I brought the treats into work and I have never had to write down a recipe so many times in such a short span of time. I repeat it once more thusly:

Peanut Butter Balls
1 cup granola (or granola cereal)
1 cup instant non-fat dry milk powder (Yes they really still sell it, check the baking aisle on a lower shelf.
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix these four ingredients thoroughly (best utensil? clean hands) before adding...

2 cups peanut butter (if you use crunchy you might need a little extra)

Mix this in until the whole batch sticks together in one big blob. Using either your hands (beware it's very sticky!) or a pair of spoons, roll the mixture into approximately one inch balls. Roll each of the balls in a tasty coating. Try some of the following or use anything you might want to try:

Sesame seeds
Toasted coconut
Extra granola
Crushed nuts of any sort
Banana chips crushed up
Pretzel bits
Coat in chocolate

Chill for about 4 hours before serving for best texture and store in the fridge. They'll keep for about 2 weeks, but they're sure to be gone LONG before that.

Busy? Or just a bum.

Maybe I'm not cut out for this blogging thing. I always seem to have something to say, but I never remember to put it into text.

Today I was finally able to give blood again. My iron was high enough (and far higher than normal which for me is a good thing. I was interested to learn about this new program called Red Cross Racing. The Red Cross has always been rather generous to its donors in the past and it seems to me that they just keep giving and giving. I'm happy to donate whether there is reward in it or not, but it is kind of fun to have a little program that keeps track of your appearances.

I hope to earn enough points by January 2010 to get the cooler that you sit upon. It will match the duffel bag, 7 shirts, and lunch pail. Sometimes I try to turn them down, but those RC workers are insistent.

If you're able, and you're not needle squeamish, please donate!

Geeky Cross Stitch Project #1 (preview)

Hello! My name is Kevin. Earlier this year I took up cross stitching. Below is a preview of my first geeky project. This was taken a week and a half ago, but I've made significant progress since then.

Can you guess what it is?

Plarn Making, Version 2

Oh my, but I have been slacking in my posting! In any case, I've come into possession of a ridiculously large amount of plastic. Indeed it is the same plastic used to make the snowflakes in the previous post. However, these bags are really too slender for my preferred method of making plarn to be practical. Thus, I give you version 2. In reality, this method is far more common than the spiral method I use, but in case you haven't seen it, here it is.

Step 1- Once again, acquiring and flattening your plastic bags is the first step. This method is especially suited to slender bags such as those in which your newspaper is delivered. Flatten your bag and snip off the handles if there are any and the bottom most edge which is often fused. This way you will have an open cylinder of plastic.

Step 2- With the open edges at the right and left, fold your plastic over once or twice vertically to allow for quick efficient cutting.

Step 3- Cut strips. Straight through this time! Don't leave a strip at the top or stop short, but simply cut all the way through. When you open up this cut pieces you will have loops. I have had success with strips as thin as a half inch and as thick as two inches. There's every reason to experiment here!

Step 4- Make a chain a follows.
a) Begin with two loops.
b) The left loop will go inside the right loop.
c) Then the lower edge of the right loop will be pulled through the left.
d) Use the newly made chain as the left loop and a fresh loop as the right to continue this pattern from (b) until you have as much plarn as you wish to use.


Or you could just ask me for some. I think I have more plarn now than any human on the planet ever has.

Snowflakes

Here in Cleveland, the snow is just stopping and maybe in the next week or three we'll see less slush and mud and more grass. But in our apartment, it's going to look like winter all year round because i just can't stop making these plarn snowflakes! The qualities of plarn are perfect for these! They are stiff enough not to need starch, and yet they are flexible as well. Plus, the plastic's slight shininess makes these flakes almost sparkle.

So fun!

Playing with my Food

HA! Tootsie Rolls really are just little bits of chocolate clay. I'm no sculptor, so he may not be perfect, but he was fun and easy to make. I think I need to get to the bulk candy aisle at my local grocery store and get some of those flavored tootsie rolls to make some really colorful taffy sculptures.

And he fulfilled his purpose moments after this picture was snapped. He was eaten, and he was tasty.

No Recycle Bin

I know. It makes you sad, doesn't it? Kevin and I live in a small apartment in an average sized apartment complex. There is no recycling pick up. Still, we are avid recyclers and while sometimes it requires a bit of sacrifice, we do what we have to do to avoid enlarging our carbon footprint.

The nearest recycling drop off that takes everything (plastic 1 and 2, aluminum, cardboard, paper) is roughly a 20 minute drive That means we have to make every drive really count. We make as little trash as possible. And when we do make trash, we save our trash. We save it until we know that the trunk and backseat will be stuffed before we make the trek.

In our one bedroom hole in the wall, saving up trash can take up a lot of space! Here are just a few of our tips.

• Instead of a bin, try a cardboard box. They are everywhere, so you won't have to look too hard. I find enormous clean boxes at my workplace which supplies were shipped in.They serve as my recycle bin, and I don't have to bring back the container!

• Smash your cans! Not just the aluminum cans, ALL the cans. Aluminum cans buckle easily (save your pop tabs though! That's another post!), but soup and veggie cans can be a little tougher. Use your can opener to remove the bottom of the cans and you'll have a much easier time flattening them.

• Use market bags. Avoid bringing in what you don't need by keeping your eco-friendly market bags in your car, purse, or bike basket. Every rare once in a while, go ahead and use a brown paper bag so that you can....

• Have a separate paper recycling container. Keeping paper separate from plastic and metal makes for much tidier recycling areas. Break down cardboard boxes (like cereal boxes) to save space and stand them up in the brown paper bag. You'll be shocked at just how much paper and cardboard will fit in the bag without tearing by sliding your papers in vertically. As a bonus the bag is recyclable too, so there is no bringing back a container after drop-off!

• Very important! Before you toss something in the recycle bin, consider whether you might have a use for it. I'm a crafter, so tins, glass jars, boxes, zipper pouches and many other things make excellent containers for my knick-knacks and notions. Cereal boxes turned wrong-side out make excellent mailers for small non-fragile items. Plastic jugs from milk or cider can be washed and reused. While waiting for the water to get hot for dishes what have you, why waste it? Use a jug and put that water in the fridge for drinking or boiling later.