Sunday, November 12
great weekend so far
I'm on Day Three of my four-day weekend and have been quite enjoying the ... nothingness of it. No plans, no obligations - well, other than finishing off that damn afghan. I am now on skein #18 of 18, so the end is in sight. I plan to finish it up this afternoon, then weave in the ends and have it ready to take to the recipient on Tuesday.
Speaking of work, a colleague of mine makes these great tasting energy bars. I've tried and tried without success to duplicate them, even though she's given me the sort-of recipe for them. Hers always come out more cake-like; mine end up like puff wheat bars - sticky and gooey. So I decided to make my own recipe for exactly the type of product I want. I was thinking more of a breakfast cookie type thing:
That turned out pretty good, but I had some dough left over and decided to bake it up as a bar cookie:
which ended up being exactly what I wanted. The texture, the taste - perfect. I love them! The recipe:
Breakfast Bars:
3/4 c margarine, softened
3/4 c natural peanut butter
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c light corn syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Cream margarine and peanut butter together; add sugar and syrup, blend well. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
1 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c Kashi puffed cereal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix dry ingredients together; then add to wet. Mix well. Stir in:
1 3/4 c diced dried fruit (I used apricots, dates and craisins)
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c sesame seeds
1/2 c flaked coconut
1 c chopped nuts (I used macadamia nuts, cashews, almonds and peanuts, unsalted)
Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheets; bake @ 350° F for 15 minutes. Let cool a few minutes then remove to wire racks to finish cooling. If making bar cookies, press dough into a square pan (9 x 13) about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. Bake at 350°F for 20 - 25 minutes, or until done. (the edges were starting to brown and crisp up, and the bars bounced back slightly when I pressed a finger into them). Let cool completely in pan, then slice into bars. These have a nice flavour to them - the cinnamon is just a hint, not overpowering, and the craisins and other dried fruit gives it a nice sweetness.
We had quite a bit of snow over the weekend, and it has been a bit of a battle to get Sabrina outside. She's not keen on going for big long walks; would rather dash out, do her business and come right back in. Yesterday I put her out in the back yard but she wasn't thrilled. "I'm not having any fun!"
I went back in and got a squeaky hedgehog to encourage her to run around and warm herself up. That worked well - after she zoomed around the yard several times and kicked up snow left and right, she was warm enough I had to take her jacket off. Last night after supper I put her coat on as well as her boots (quite securely, as they fell off, one by one, during our afternoon walk) and we had nice long stroll around the neighbourhood. Today the snow has stopped and the sun is blinding.
I figured an orange tennis ball would be easier to track in the snow than her stuffed toys.
"I don't know what to do with my ears - such a mess! I just can't do a thing with them.
Looking more like the princess she is.
The big fella called; he's on his way back from Edmonton and should be home before supper. We still have tomorrow off together, so that will be nice. In the meantime, I'm going to go and finish off that afghan!
~ ~ ~ edited to add ~ ~ ~
Someone asked in my comments about Sabby's winter gear. Her winter coat and head muff, rain slicker and red sweater are all from Chilly Dogs, a Canadian company that has a "long and lean" line for Greys. I'm very happy with their product; the coats fit perfectly and are exceedingly well made.
Here she is all geared up for our walk last night. I didn't put her head muff on, though. I also have a Mountain Equipment Co-op kids neck gaiter in that lime green that I'll slip on over her ears to keep them warm instead of using the head muff. I was careful about securing her boots and they stayed on for the duration of the walk, even though much of it was in deep snow. I got the boots from Petacular, although I've read on some of the grey forums that people complain about boots falling off and some use Muttluks which is also a Canadian company, I believe. I was thinking about switching to Muttluks, but then I paid a little more attention to fastening the Grey boots and they seem to be working fine. I was worried about fastening them too tightly - but they seem to be snug enough now.
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