Random Recipes-no bake granola bars

I had been wanting to make my own granola bars for a while so I went looking & combined 2 or 3 recipes to make my own.  The kids love them & it’s a lot cheaper than buying them!  I love how simple these are because you don’t have to bake them. 

        No-Bake Granola Bars
          (Makes 2 – 9x13 pans)

          Ingredients

          5 c. rice krispies

          5 c. oatmeal

          1 ½ c. brown sugar

          1 ½ c. corn syrup

          1 ½ c. peanut butter

          2 tsp. vanilla

          2 c. your choice of add-ins (see optional for ideas)

Optional: Currants, raisins, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, mini chocolate chips, sliced almonds, coconut, pumpkin seeds (I add a maximum of ¼ - ½ c. of any of these…just combine the ones you like.)

          Method

Ä Mix 1^st 2 ingredients in a large bowl

Ä Bring brown sugar & syrup to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring constantly

Ä Remove from heat

Ä Stir in peanut butter & vanilla until well blended

Ä Pour syrup mixture over cereal mixture

Ä Stir until coated

Ä Let stand 10 minutes

Ä Stir in add-ins

Ä Press into pans

Ä Cool in pans on wire racks

NOTE: They freeze great!  Let them cool, cut them & then just transfer them to a freezable container with wax paper between the layers.

Random Recipes-Polynesian Chicken

This is for you Cheri:)...and anyone else who's looking for a new recipe idea!  One of our all time favorites.  Enjoy!

Polynesian Chicken

CHICKEN

¾ cup flour

2 tsp. Paprika

1 tsp. Salt

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced

¼ cup butter

SAUCE

¾ cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. Cornstarch

1 tsp. Ground ginger (I usually do double this at least)

¾ cup pineapple juice (juice from one can)

¼ cup vinegar

2 Tbsp. Soy sauce

1 can (14 oz) pineapple tidbits

1 small green pepper, julienned

CHICKEN

Ø  Combine 1^st 3 ingredients in a bag

Ø  NOTE: I usually double the flour mixture...just makes it a lot easier to get all the chicken coated.

Ø  Add chicken & shake until coated

Ø  Melt butter in pan

Ø  Remove chicken from flour mixture & put in pan

Ø  Cook chicken until cooked through & golden brown

Ø  NOTE: Don’t stir the chicken unless absolutely necessary.  The flour coating will become goopy & come off the chicken.  When I add the chicken to the pan I make sure to spread it out over the entire pan...then leave it there till that side is browned.  At that point you can stir it gently to get the rest of it browned.

SAUCE

Ø  Mix brown sugar & cornstarch in a small pot

Ø  Add the ginger, pineapple juice, vinegar & soy sauce

Ø  Stir well

Ø  Heat until thickened

Put it all togetherJ

Ø  Pour the thickened sauce over the cooked chicken

Ø  Gently stir in pineapple & green pepper

Ø  Allow to simmer until heated through & green pepper is desired firmness (not sure if that’s the right wordJ??)

Ø  Serve over rice (I prefer brown)

Family Funnies

Kirby comes into our room this morning, chipper as ever.  He is a BIG morning person.  I’m NOT. 

Me: Kirby, I wish you could share some of your energy with me!

Kirby (completely matter of fact): It’s easy.  All you have to do is drink lots & lots of water...and some juice!

New blog ideas

Here are some new blog ideas I have that may or may not (depending on how much I decide I like themJ) pop on here:

Random Recipes...recipe ideas that have already been test drivenJ.  (I have a few friends who do this & I really enjoy getting them so I thought I’d try too.)

Werdal Wanderings...probably a similar format to what I was doing last year.

Family Funnies...pretty self explanatory.

Heidi’s Highlights...random thoughts & facts that stand out in my mind.

Picture of the month...again...I think you can figure it outJ.

Feel free to give me your thoughts...

Family Funnies

Kirby: Mommy, if you have any marshmallows don’t give them to us.

Mommy: Oh?

Kirby: Yup, cause we had oodles of marshmallows at Grandma W’s house!

A thought about pictures...

I was reading an article about Mother’s Day where the author talked about taking pictures.  Like me, she loves to take pictures of her kids & her family.  Although I love taking family pictures, my favorite by far is capturing the “moments”.  A laugh.  A hug.  A cuddle.  A conversation.  A look.  There is one person in our family though, who we don’t have that kind of pictures of...at least not many.  Can you guess whoJ?  Yes, that would be me.  Once in a while I’ll hand the camera to Ben or someone else we’re with.  The problem is, those moments are usually “planned”.  I’m sitting down to open this gift with my kids...I know the camera is on me. 

In the last few months my dad has been scanning old slides.  I have loved looking at all the pictures that bring back so many memories.  When I read this article today I was thinking about the pictures my dad scanned that are of me & my mom.  I love being able to look at those.  I want our kids to have pictures of me with them to bring back memories too!  The issue for me is one of control.  I want the pictures to be the way I envision them.  Problem is...if I’m not behind the camera, I have no control of that.  So I tend to hand over the camera for 5 or 10 minutes while we’re doing a particular activity & then take it back again so I can get the pictures I want of what’s going on.  Wow, writing that down sure makes the selfishness show.  Never thought of it that way before.  Now I’m even more determinedJ.  This Mother’s Day (& beyond) I’m going to make an effort to give someone else the camera...and let them hold it for more than 10 minutes while we’re doing a particular activity.  I want our kids (& grandkids) to be able to look back & see me for who I am...the way I am.  I want them to be able to look at pictures of me & know that I really was living life right here with them...beside them...so that they can look back on these memories when they grow up.

Random fact

Manda & Kirby have both been LOVING (& somewhat obsessed with) counting (to 100 & beyond) & spelling words.  Well, one day they put the 2 together & were thinking of words & counting how many letters they had. Cat.  C-A-T.  3.  You get the ideaJ.  Here’s what they came up with.

Benjamin.  B-E-N-J-A-M-I-N.  8.

Amanda.  A-M-A-N-D-A.  6.

Kirby.  K-I-R-B-Y.  5.

Hey Mommy!!!  All of our names are the same numbers as our ages!! 

Let’s try Mommy & Daddy!

M-O-M-M-Y.  D-A-D-D-Y.  Awww, it doesn’t work for your names!  JJ

Generally at some time or another in our lives we will be the same age as the number of letters in our name.  I just think it’s funny that it happened for all 3 of our kids at the same time...and that they were the ones to point it outJ.  (No it wasn’t plannedJJ)

Dear Kirby

Dear Kirby,

Well, it’s 3 months past your birthday & I’m finally sitting down to write your birthday letter.  Sometimes I feel like you get the short end of the stick in some things with your birthday when it is.  By the time your day comes around I’ve planned 2 other parties, plus the busyness of Christmas & we’re all in “chill” mode.  It sure doesn’t mean we love you any less though!  I can’t believe you’re already 5!!  It’s been so fun to see you grow into the boy God created you to be! 

There have been a number of firsts for you this year.  This was the first year you played hockey.  You absolutely loved it & would have lived at the rink if we’d let youJ.  Now that spring is here, you’re THRILLED to be playing soccer alongside Manda & Benj.  I love the way to get in there & play with everything you’ve got.  You sure do “leave it all on the ice” (or fieldJ). 

You continue to be the “fireball” in our family.  That word popped into my head, but I thought maybe I had the wrong word.  Well I looked it up & it explains you very wellJ.  The definitions I found gave three characteristics of a “fireball”.  A person with a fiery temper.  A person with a great deal of energy.  An exceptionally ambitious person.  Oh yes, that’s our Kirby alright!

Daddy & I have always said that you’ve had a temper from the moment you were born...you came out screaming...but not just any scream...a ticked off, what do you think you’re doing to me, kind of screamJ.  This last year you have grown up so much though.  You have been working so hard to learn good ways to get rid of your anger & express yourself & you’ve gotten so much better at it!!! 

You have more energy than pretty much anyone else I know.  Some days I catch myself telling you to just stop.  Then I realize that there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing.  I just don’t have the energy to keep up.  You are up, pretty much without fail, between 7 & 7:30 every morning...and I mean UP...cheerful, ready to eat breakfast RIGHT NOW & then start doing something...anything!  I wish I could learn that from youJ.  It’s nice for me though...makes it hard to wake up grumpy when you’re there to give me such a cheerful hug.

When you set your mind to something, it is pretty much guaranteed that you will do it.  About a year ago now we read a series of books called “Heroes for Young Readers”.  Each book emphasized a certain character trait & we would do lots of activities based around that.    One of the books was about Gladys Alyward.  Her character trait was perseverance.  Ever since then, if something is tough you’ll come & tell me that you’re going to keep trying.  “Do you know why Mommy?”  “Why?”  “Cause that’s per-sev-erance!”  It was so cute to hear you say it a year ago because you had to concentrate hard to say it right.  Now you say that big word no problem.  It’s so true though.  Sometimes your perseverance can get you into troubleJ.  Like when Mommy or Daddy asks you to do something & you don’t want to.  Most of the time though, your perseverance is so fun to watch played out.  It’s how you learned to skate so quickly.  And how you keep up with Benjamin even though he’s so much bigger than you.  And how you learned to ride a two-wheeler last summer.  And how you’re learning to live your life in a way that makes God happy.  

Speaking of that.  You have continually blown me away with the things you will come up to me & say...most often completely out of the blue.  I’m kicking myself now for not writing them all down.  There are so many.  It’s just so fun how God allows me to see some of the ways that He’s working in your heart...that something we talked about actually stuck...a completely random though of your own...or a question so deep I didn’t know you would think such a thing.  I love getting those peeks into your heart & I’m going to work at writing them downJ. 

We’re so proud of you Kirby.  Daddy & I have noticed so many ways that you’ve been learning & growing...and we know it’s not an accident!  God is working on you...and you’re doing your best to follow Him!

We love you Kirby!!!  Happy 5^th Birthday!!!

Mommy & Daddy

Blogging!??!

Can someone please remind me what blogging is???!! J 

I know I’ve been terrible.  I haven’t written since the end of January.  Poor Kirby, I didn’t even write about his birthday.  I’ll catch that up.  Right now I’m just doing this to get myself motivated to start writing againJ.  There are so many things that happen that I know I won’t remember if I don’t write down.  OK...so, I’ll hopefully be back to blogging very soon.  Might be gradually, but I’ll get there.  I’m pondering a different format to make it more smaller posts instead of a big one...we’ll see.  Anyway, I haven’t forgotten about you all...I truly appreciate your willingness to read my babblingsJ. 

Here are some random thoughts to keep you till I write again (Hope you don’t mind I stole your idea CoreenJ):

*We got around 8” of snow on Wednesday...and most of it is already gone.

*Ben turned 31 earlier this monthJ

*I’m very excited to go on a date with my hubby next Friday...a late birthday trip to Tony Roma’s...it’s been waaaay too long since we’ve been on a date!

*We have yet to do a basement in 2010L

*Benjamin is doing great at school.

*Amanda LOVES hanging out with me & doing any girl things.

*Kirby says the funniest things ever...problem is, it’s not what he says, but how he says it...so it’s really hard to write down.

*I finally got our taxes done this week...and was thrilled to find out we owe less than I think we’ve ever owed for taxes (too bad it still has three zeros behind itL)

*Uncertain work situations are very hard on a marriage & I’m so thankful that God is using this to draw us together & not apart (certainly hasn’t been easy though)

*God is good!

*We’re still praising God for the hail storm last summer...that’s all the work we’ve done all year is hail repairs!

*I’m really excited about a book I just started...it’s about organizing in a way that allows me to relax.

*HIGHLY recommend the book “The Lamb” (devotional for kids 5 & up)...all 3 of our kids learned sooooo much from it...and I LOVE the way it’s laid out...Jesus became so much more real to me too!

*All 3 kids are loving soccer...Benjamin’s in competitive for the first time this year & loves playing more often...this is Kirby’s first year & he’s thrilled to be in it...and Manda is so much more confident this year!

*Ben & I have been working on our ensuite bathroom in the last little bit (it never has been finished since we moved in)...the shower door is up & it’s all painted!!!  Soooo excited for Ben to put it all together tomorrowJ

*I am thrilled to have all 3 kids home again next year!!!