Homemade Granola

My sister-in-law is a wonderful cook and also loves gardening and making things from scratch. She is also a nutritionist, so I love to pick her brain for new recipes. When I visited her recently, she was making granola and shared the recipe with me! This is from "Finding Joy in my Kitchen" and it is so easy and really tasty.
I used olive oil instead of butter and the granola is really crunchy--just the way we like it. Our youngest loves to eat it plain! Click on the link to see the recipe! It's a winner!

Garden Progress and the chairs I promised...

We finally have green beans! Our green bean tee-pee yielded a nice bowl of heirloom Missouri Pole beans. Picking them was fun, as they had started to grow in with the grapevine that covers our fence behind them. It was like hide-n-seek! 

One of our largest sunflowers broke this week, so it was time to dry and roast the seeds. I cheated a bit and dried them in the dehydrator for a few hours before roasting. I wish that I had soaked them in salt water for a salty flavor but they are still pretty tasty! 

Last but not least, I promised a photo of the chairs I scored at the antique sale a few weeks ago. They were $10 each and are in great condition. I love the design and the color. They are actually really comfortable to sit in too! We've enjoyed using them for school and for my new Usborne Books business venture!

Pyrex + Vintage Dress= Love

One of my awesome vintage dresses (a Sears and Roebuck) and my beautiful Green Wheat Promo Space-Saver dish in action!

Homemade Fruit Snacks

A friend of mine, Rebecca, shared a recipe that she found online and liked for homemade fruit snacks. We tried them out this week as we are really trying to cut out high fructose corn syrup and other potential GMO foods from our diet. They were very easy to make and yummy! I can't wait to try some different flavors. 

Here's the recipe:

3 tablespoons gelatin 

3 tablespoons honey

1/3 cup lemon juice (or juice/fruit purée for flavor)

Mix ingredients together and heat on medium until the mixture becomes runny and smooth. Pour into molds and freeze for 10 mins. Pop out fruit snacks and enjoy! 

Tips:

-I used organic cherry juice for flavor

-soak your sauce pan and utensils ASAP! That stuff is sticky!

-Target had some ice cube molds in their dollar section if you need some and are on a budget! 

- I stored mine in the fridge to be safe :)

Getting ready for Fall...

My mom and I bought supplies at Hobby Lobby awhile back to make these and I finally put mine together today! Fall is my second favorite decorating season (Christmas comes first of course), so I already hung this up! If you are going to make one, I highly suggest the wreaths with the pipe cleaner already made into it! It made the process really easy and I only had to cut one piece off wire for my bow--time saving!

August Treasures and a Christmas Preview

Summer seems to be waning earlier here this year and we've had some cooler than normal August weather. Our garden seems to be doing well though and we are now getting lots of juicy tomatoes each day! My favorites are the "Dr. Welche's Yellow Tomatoes" a great heirloom variety. I'm really excited about the black cherry tomatoes which are starting to just get ripe! 

Anyway, I finally got to get up early and go out to garage sales this summer. It's hard for be to get up early because...I hate it :). When I found out my favorite antique store was have a clearance event at their warehouse, I had to go! My friend, DeAnne, and I got up and made the trek down there. I found 2 awesome 50s style chairs for our "school" area that I'll have to photograph, and I also found these treasures at the sale and at their store location! 

I love this bit of pyrex! I've eyed this promotion piece for a bit and snagged it when I saw it hiding in a corner on the floor! This beauty should never go in the floor! It's a Green Wheat promo dish from 1960 (a 2 qt space saver dish) with the original cradle! 

While we were shopping, I got brave and tried on these vintage dresses! They fit so well, they came home with me. Now to iron them (I hate ironing and did wash them, just so you know I'm not wear someone else's 1960s sweat). I also got this cute orange apron for $1. DeAnne has one to match ;) 

Now, I know Christmas is still far off, but I couldn't help getting a family shot of my Christmas Pyrex with the new Snowflake oval casserole I found for $7 recently. It was in excellent condition and fits with my little Christmas collection nicely. I'll be looking forward to displaying these this year! Now, to get some more orange and black/white Pyrex for Halloween! 

Also, I love love love www.erincondren.com. Her life planners are amazing and this is my Lesson Planner...Yes, I am homeschooling a Kindergartener this year. Yes, I am crazy. We'll see how this goes, but I have an awesome kid to teach, so that should make things go better :)

Till next time!

~Priscilla

Summer Pyrex...

It's surprisingly a cool day here in Missouri in July. So cool in fact that I broke out the Pumpkin Spice tea. My advice is to get yourself some!

I also took the opportunity of cooler weather to photograph some pyrex pieces I have gotten in the last two weeks.

Green 502 Fridgie with lid

-clear 10oz bowls with adorable handles! Not sure how old they are but they were .50 cents each at Goodwill!

-Lime tea cup, saucer, and plate set

-Gooseberry 442

-Meadow Promotional Oval Casserole (1.5 Q 043) 1960 Promotional 

-Best of all, I completed my Primary Bowl set! I had the blue 401 since I started collecting. It was my first piece of pyrex that I'd gotten a long time ago. The red 402, green 403, and yellow 404 were all at a local thrift store. They are in pretty good shape with a few scratches and dirty rims. I think it's time I finally try Bar Keepers Friend myself to clean these up. Stayed tuned for a cleaning report.

-My bestie visited in early July and I snagged this Flamingo 8X8 dish in great condition. I've been needing an 8X8 since I broke our clear one about a year ago :)

Hopefully I'll add to my Pyrex posts and get up some posts about kids activities and sewing today or tomorrow!

~Priscilla

Thank you!!!!

Just a huge thank you to my sweet Aunt Ruby, who surprised me with this amazing Pyrex book! 

She knows exactly what I like!

My pyrex joys continue!

My mom is a great treasure hunter and when they came up to vacation with us, she brought me a couple of beauties. These adorable little oval yellow dishes are 10 oz and reference both Pyrex and Corelle on the bottom. 

While we were on vacation in Branson, Missouri, I found these little fruit cups that are a part of the Pyrex Tableware with the turquoise rim. They are so cute and I know we'll use them for fruit, applesauce, and yogurt! 

My mom also bought me this cute Snowflake Garland 472 Cinderella casserole. It's minty and so sweet!

The Friendship pattern is one that I have wanted to find since I started collecting but it seems to be pretty rare around here! The set that I saw before Christmas was sold before poor Kurt could get them for my gift! My mom found this 443 Cinderella mixing bowl and brought it to me. It has some scrapes but I love it! 

After an appointment, I stopped by an antique mall that I haven't been too before and found this little lovely! I splurged on it but it is perfect! It's a 473 Cinderella casserole and I love the opal lid with the design. 

My duties as MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) coordinator officially ended in May! As a parting gift, I got to take our table decoration home with me! It's this adorable orange Fire King mug that says "Your Florida Coffee Break". I'm not a coffee drinker, so I'll use it for tea but I love the retro design and the girl on the water skis! It will always remind me of MOPS! 

My mama also snagged both of the Designs Mixing Bowls. These were a promotional set in 1972 and both were in mint condition. I have the smaller one at my house and my mom kept the larger one at hers. If we ever move into a bigger house or I score a cool Pyrex shelf, I'll have to steal it back from her! I have the 1.5 quart 343 bowl. 

I am seriously hoping to go out "pyrexing" this weekend. I want to find my first auction to attend but I am going to have to get a babysitter, as I am too chicken to go without the hubs. I'm afraid I might get into too much trouble without him. That's a fun date...right?!?!

~ Priscilla 

Our garden...

I'll try to catch up a little bit on some photos of our garden! We had a very mild, wet, and often cold spring that is now being followed by some normal summer temps! The first photo shows one of our raised beds with corn, sugar snap peas (I'm surprised they are still growing at this time of the year!) and some radishes, thyme, rosemary, and cucumbers.

This is a photo of both the beds closest to our house. The front bed has yellow squash, butternut squash, sunflowers, cantaloupe, and tomatoes (black cherry, German Johnson, Hazelfield...I think there are some others too (I'll have to check Kurt's chart!), jalapeño peppers, and basil.

Baby yellow squash!

Some tiny snap peas still hanging on...

Kurt's pride and joy are these red raspberry bushes! Right now we are picking .5 to 1 pint per days!

These are beds back in the corner of our yard. The long one is full of strawberries, now done growing. The smaller bed has lavender, peppermint, cherry tomatoes, and green peppers. I also have heirloom morning glories on the fence!

Baby pepper!

My green bean teepee is growing nicely this year too! These are Missouri pole beans.

Two last beds in the opposite corner of our yard. They get full sun in the morning and shade in the evening. One is still empty! The other had lettuce and spinach and is now growing carrots, peppers, parsley, oregano, sage, and another batch of radishes.

Gardening is so rewarding and I love doing it with the kids too! They were very excited to pick radishes (a nice veggie to grow, as they mature quickly). Kurt and I also did a gardening presentation this spring.  I'll try to get the PowerPoint up here if anyone is interested. Remember, we use organic gardening methods and only use heirloom seeds from Baker Seed Company www.rareseeds.com!