Sunbutter Fudge

In an effort to wean myself from my Cadbury Mini Egg addiction (I know I'm not supposed to be eating them, but they appeared in our local grocery store before Christmas! How am I supposed to resist them for 5 months straight??!!), I've been searching for an easy dairy free fudge recipe. Several recipes I found had way too many ingredients- I want SIMPLE- but I did find one that I thought would work, so I gave it a try. Unfortunately, it wasn't creamy or very yummy. After a bit more searching I found this recipe that looked promising. I like plain and simple fudge, so I ommitted the apricots and orange zest, and I made a couple tweaks so it would be in line with what we should and should not be eating (and what I had in my cupboard- I didn't have any agave nectar). The result took all of 10 minutes to make and has great texture and flavor. Yum!

Sunbutter Fudge

3/4 c. Enjoy Life chocolate mini chips or mega chunks

1/4 c. sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)- creamy or chunky
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. honey

Carefully melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave. If you do it in the microwave, make sure you stir frequently so the chocolate doesn't scorch.

Once melted, stir in sunbutter and vanilla.

Then stir in honey.

As you stir, the mixture should thicken up nicely.

This batch fills this silicone brownie pop pan I found on clearance at Target a few years ago.

If you double the batch, you can spread it in a lightly greased or parchment paper-lined 8"x8" pan. Refrigerate an hour or so till set and hardened, then enjoy!

Sunbutter Fudge

3/4 c. Enjoy Life chocolate mini chips or mega chunks
1/4 c. sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)- creamy or chunky
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. honey

Carefully melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave. If you do it in the microwave, make sure you stir frequently so the chocolate doesn't scorch. Once melted, stir in sunbutter and vanilla. Then stir in honey. As you stir, the mixture should thicken up nicely.

This batch fills this silicone brownie pop pan I found on clearance at Target a few years ago.
If you double the batch, you can spread it in a lightly greased or parchment paper-lined 8"x8" pan. Refrigerate an hour or so till set and hardened, then enjoy!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free (depending on the brand of sunflower seed butter- check the label if this is an issue for you), and {of course} free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Framed Straw Wreath

I made a pre-Christmas trip to IKEA and picked up this straw wreath. I love how simple it is!

It's a bit smaller than I had anticipated (I'd first seen it online), so I decided to add something to it to make it more substantial. My first thought was to hang it in front of a punched metal piece I made way back in high school.

But, I didn't like how it looked with the punched design behind, and it didn't lay flat.

Here's the punched metal piece:

I made it as a 4-H project, and since I had to turn it in to be displayed at the county fair, I put this sign on it (the metal showed fingerprints very badly if touched). I can't believe that tag is still on it almost twenty years (and lots of moves) later!

I love the high tech duct tape job- I think I did have to redo that once over the years :)

The frame is one I made from wood that had been sitting outside, getting nicely weathered. If I remember correctly, it was part of my mom's old quilting stand.  Even after all these years, I love how that frame turned out.

After removing the metal (I've been planning on replacing it with a different design for years now), I rehung the wreath in the frame.

It looks much better now!

I might change the ribbon out to match the seasons, but I have red accents in the front room, so it works year round. I need to locate studs in the walls so I can hang some heavy artwork, then I can decide on a final resting place for this.

Sunday Funny

 We've been listening to the Harry Potter books lately and LMS has really been enjoying them.

The other day while we were listening she got out the Clue game and assigned different rooms on the board to be different rooms in the castle- the hospital wing, Dumbledore's office, Snape's dungeon, etc. The different colored markers she assigned to be different people- blue for Harry, purple for Ron, white for Hermione, green for Draco (he is in Slytherin, after all), etc. Then she brought out some of her legos to join in the story and Hermione became the girl lego figure. The duplo kitties she decided were Mrs. Norris and Crookshanks and the lego dog house became Hagrid's hut.

She moves the people around to the different rooms and has them act out the story, or her variation of it, anyway :)

I love how she used her imagination to see how all these toys can combine into something else.

Faux-Mato Sauce

One of the many things LMS and I can't eat is tomatoes. Initially this didn't seem like too much of a problem- just don't put them on our salads or our {bunless} hamburgers. Then we realized that it also meant no chips and salsa (well, we can't eat the chips, either, so no big loss), no pizza (who would want to eat pizza without cheese, anyway?), or spaghetti. Ok, that last one was a bit of a problem. We do like spaghetti once in a while. Mr M did some research and found a company that makes and sells a "Nomato Sauce". However, it was very expensive, which meant we wouldn't be trying it anytime soon. Mr M looked at their ingredient list, then did a bit more research and came up with this recipe for Faux-mato sauce.

For 1 batch of sauce:

1 medium beet
6 carrots
3 stalks of celery

Peel and cube beets, add to a pot of water.  Peel and slice carrots into small chunks, add to pot. Slice celery into small chunks, add to pot. Water should cover the vegetables. Bring to boil, continue to cook till all veggies are soft.

When all veggies are soft, drain most of the water. Move veg to blender, including the reserved cooking water (you can do multiple batches depending on blender size and capability). Blend well. ( A Blendtec or Vitamix is great for this)  Sauce will be thicker or thinner depending on how much liquid you add to the blender. We tend to leave it pretty thick, then thin as needed when we actually use it.

We make 4 or 5 batches at a time and put the sauce in pint jars and freeze. I imagine you could also run them through a water bath to can them, but that's just too much effort :)

Once you have the basic sauce made, you can do different things with it: tomato sauce, tomato paste, spaghetti sauce, and BBQ sauce.

For a tomato sauce substitute: leave the sauce plain

For a tomato paste substitute: return sauce to pot after blending and cook on medium heat till very thick

For a spaghetti sauce: add Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. You can also add minced garlic, chopped onion, and other chopped veg (mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, etc) if you like that kind of thing (we do). 

For a BBQ sauce: I'll get back to you on this one. Mr M tends to throw things in the pot and cook by smell, so it's sometimes hard to pinpoint what he used and how much. We tried to keep track with the last batch, but it didn't taste as good as the previous batch, so we'll keep trying to replicate that so we can share the recipe.

You must be wondering:

But how does it taste????!!

Can it really taste like tomatoes???!!

What about those beets??!!

The answer: yes, it does taste like tomatoes. I only have a memory of what tomato sauce tastes like, but it tasted like it to me. Mr M, who still eats tomatoes when he gets the chance, said it tasted very much like tomato sauce. Some {unsuspecting} friends we had over for dinner didn't notice anything till we mentioned what was in the sauce :)

I will say, though, that the beets do give the sauce a very faint pinkish cast, and if left to sit, will turn your noodles or chicken a bit pinkish. Which is a little weird, but it doesn't affect the flavor.

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free, and is also free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Laundry Basket Dresser

Yes, I've joined the laundry basket dresser craze. I saw this on ana-white.com quite some time ago, but I knew the only space I had for it was here:

It's a narrow space, so I'd have to have the bins go in from the side, instead of the front.

When I was working on the laundry room, I painted the corner so it would be ready for the shelves.

I built two shelves, with the intent of stacking them on top of each other. The top shelf didn't have a bottom, since I had to work around that pipe. I thought there would be space to get laundry bins in and out, so I added supports on the sides, but the breaker box is in the way, so no bins in the top. The breaker box also meant I had to do some fancy maneuvering to get the shelves in: first the top one in and up, and the bottom one in underneath, but on top of the base. Yeah, it was a workout.

Because of the pipe, I left the back open so I wouldn't have to work around that as well.

The shelf where the pipe is is a great place for detergent, spray and wash, fabric softener, etc.

I built a base under the shelf to lift the shelf above the pipe running a few inches above the floor.

I found different colored bins at wally world that are just the right size for the space.

I used my Silhouette to make labels for the bins.

You can't see much from the door, but here it is. I've got some giant ziploc bags of stuff stored in the upper shelves since I wasn't able to fit the laundry bins in them.

I love how functional it is, and it is so nice not to be tripping over laundry baskets stacked on the floor.

Sunday Funny

A few Sundays ago I was trying to convince LMS to wear a skirt and sweater to church. It was a cute outfit, but she was adamant she didn't want to wear it. I finally asked her why, and she replied, "I need to wear a dress because princesses wear dresses."

The funny thing is that she has no problem wearing a skirt every other day of the week, and in fact prefers wearing skirts during the week, it's just Sundays she doesn't want to wear a skirt.

TV Room Hidden Blanket Storage

We have this odd little space in our basement. For some reason, the previous owners put in a little alcove when they finished the basement. It's in the tiny hallway between the main room and the bedroom (which has no doors- why????), and faces the closet under the stairs. When we looked at the house, they had a vase in the upper space.

The lower section seemed like a waste of space, though. I couldn't leave it empty (that just wouldn't do!), so I've tried different things: stacking plastic containers in it, storing piles of magazines and books in it, and letting LMS keep her play castle there, but I didn't like how cluttered it felt.

We've been working on getting the basement all put together to our liking, and we're almost done. One of the things we did was to move our larger couch downstairs so we can get comfy while watching movies. The basement is always cooler than the rest of the house, which is great in the summer, but not so great in the winter, so we have several large fuzzy blankets to snuggle under. Unfortunately, they inevitably look like this:

or this:

Neither option really worked for me and my OCD (big surprise, I know). I had been thinking about what to do about the blanket situation, and had thought of building something like this:

source

or something like this:

source

I love Ana-White.com- she's got so many great plans! However, we already have so much stuff in the basement that I really didn't want to add another piece of furniture. As I let the problem float around in my head, I realized I could take the tip-out idea from the recycle/trash bin, and build it into the useless space in the wall.

After some more thought, I drew out my idea and got started. I built a wood box that went inside the space- top, bottom, sides, and back using a 1x10 board for the box and a 1x12 board for the back.

 I screwed the box into the studs, attached a frame out of moulding, and then wood puttied and caulked it all before priming and painting it.

While that was drying, I worked on the door. I framed a piece of beadboard with 1x3s, caulked, primed, and painted it. Then I attached a pull to the top edge of the door.

Once everything was dry, I attached hinges to the door and the box. But, since I had to change the hinges I bought first for a larger set, there wasn't enough space for the door to close :(

Grrrr. So I broke out the belt sander and sanded down the top edge. After cleaning up the mess I'd made, I attached a magnetic catch to the inside of the door and attached some rope so the door wouldn't open all the way. Then I repainted the top edge.

I'd planned on using chain, but I couldn't cut the chain down to size. Then Mr M came home and suggested I use the metal cutting attachment of the Dremel. He cut the chain for me (thanks babe!) and I switched out the rope for the chain, wiped everything down, and it was done.

(and yes, I need to sand the filler and paint the wall- I'm still deciding on the color)

Plenty of room for the big fuzzy blankets. I love it!

Any suggestions as to what I should do with the upper space?

Linking to Skip to My Lou and Today's Creative Blog

Behavior Modification

She may be super cute, but LMS has been having some behavioral issues recently, and we decided it was time to change how she acts/reacts to things.

Time outs only work for certain things and I didn't want to use chores as punishment; she actually likes cleaning the bathroom- I don't want that to change :)

After thinking about some of the things I've seen in the past that people have tried with their kiddos and discussing LMS's motivations with Mr M, we decided to try a version of the token system I've seen others use, but using pennies instead of tokens.

We had this jar full of pennies that we've been hauling around for several years (I already took some out- it was full to the top).

And I had some fun with my Silhouette and some empty Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter jars (they recently changed the formula- boo!).

 I love all the Little Miss and Mister images :)

The idea is this: we give LMS a certain number of pennies at the beginning of the week. These go in the pink "happy jar", as LMS calls it.

During the week, if she misbehaves (whines, complains, argues, etc), we move a penny from the happy jar to the sad jar.

 At the end of the week, whatever pennies are left in the happy jar go in her piggy bank. The pennies in the sad jar go back in our penny jar and we start everything over.

We've just started it, but so far I think it will be effective. How have you handled behavior problems?