Sugar-free isn't Sweet...

     Nutrition books and I are very good friends, I could spend hours in the library simply choosing which nutrition books to read next, I take my time when I pick them because it's always disappointing when I'm ready to read them and then I find out they aren't at all what I expected.
     A few weeks ago I picked up a new and intriguing nutrition book called Sugar Smart Express. I've read in other books that cutting sugar out of your diet will clear up your acne (sadly I'm a teen that's afflicted with acne) and now I've finally found a book that actually tells you how to do it, in my excitement I read the book in a few hours.
     It shared a plan on how to "detox" from sugar and I had big hopes of clear skin (and in all honesty I still do), but in order to do the whole plan you have to eat the meals and things that they give the recipes for. To me it seemed like no big deal. My Mum, sister, and I went shopping a few days ago and I picked up all the things that I need for my mission which has been lovingly dubbed. Adventures in Food: Episode Clear Skin.
    Today was day one of phase one. I cooked up my breakfast this morning, a pretty plate of savory pancakes topped with tomatoes.

      With my jar of lemon water beside me, I dug into the pancakes. Words can't describe the shock and confusion I experienced upon that first bite. Each pancake was like a sheet of gritty, slimy, and curdle-y mush. The taste? Unspeakably nasty. With my trusty diary beside me I documented the experience, "I wonder if stomachs can gag, I bet it was hurrying the full signal to my brain..."
  My expression was horrified and disgusted, you don't have to simply take my word for it, apparently my dear Mum sneaked an unsuspecting picture of me as I was trying to summon the courage to take another bite.
 

     It was such a horrible meal that I ended up throwing half of it into the bin (a.k.a trash...garbage...rubbish, whatever you wish to call it)
     I have decided (out of the goodness of my heart) that I shall share the recipe with you. I know the picture doesn't capture the terrible taste, in fact the breakfast looks almost good.

 Basil-Mozzarella Pancakes

1/3 cup rolled oats
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
4 tbsp shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp + 1 tsp chopped fresh basil ( I didn't use basil, I don't like it)

 Blend the oats in a blender until you have fine crumbs (also known as oat flour), add the egg and milk, blend till smooth, stir in half of the cheese and basil, plus a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook as 2-3 pancakes. Top with the remaining basil and the tomatoes.

If you do try them, I would love to hear what you thought about them, though if you don't try them I won't blame you, in fact I'll call you wise.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

 Today..... Wednesday, January 10,  2018

Looking out my window..... I see the field across the road covered with a thin layer of snow, and a bunch of  various stubborn plants peeking up through the cold weather, determined to stay seen.

I am thinking.....  That gravy on waffles isn't as odd as it sounds.

I am thankful.....  For pens and for people.

One of my favorite things..... Is knowing the answers to all the driving-related questions my brother asks me randomly.

I am wearing.....  A floral patterned skirt and a pale purple t-shirt.

I am creating.....  Aside from the obvious, I'm creating a cook book of healthy recipes, I love inventing recipes, especially challenging ones. My sister is my taste-tester and because of that she has grown to be suspicious of anything that looks too good to be true, like the time I made a gluten-free and sugar free cheesecake with strawberry sauce, she has still not forgotten the taste.

I am reading..... Well, as of today I haven't read anything, but yesterday I read "Kidnapped" by Robert Louis Stevenson, and "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain. Both were surprisingly good books.

I am hoping.....  That I will survive the winter without any sicknesses. I've made it this far, only a a few months to go yet.

I am learning.....  How to paper quill. It's a very fascinating process and I'm enjoying it immensely.

In the kitchen.....  Is our fridge and our oven, plus a sink and a table. The whole room is perfectly adapted to cooking and baking and eating, the kitchen is a wondrous invention.

Picture thought.....  Sean and I had a great time yesterday experimenting with his fizz and bubbles science kit. I'm almost certain his favorite part was when the mixtures bubbled over like volcanoes.

Recently.....

  Hello again dear friends, it has been yet another while since I've last posted. I know that I told you last week that I'd be blogging more frequently and then I immediately sat back and drank tea whilst forgetting all about what I'd said.

  Now that I'm back I assume it's only appropriate to inform you about all the little things that you've missed while I was being lazy. Since I'm on my Summer break I've gotten to spend a lot more time doing all the things that I love, like binding books, reading, journaling, and sketching.

  This first picture is what I started to draw last night but didn't quite finish yet. (I really dislike drawing clothing.) I've missed drawing so I'm happy to get back to it, though I should probably use better pencils than just my regular old yellow school pencil.

  
I've really been enjoying binding books to use as journals. Though I hate using the kettle stitch it makes neat books so I'm grateful for it. The book on the bottom there is the first one that I bound, the cover turned out a little wonky but I think I've got the hang of it now, at least I learned that using old cereal boxes to make "hard" covers is not a good idea!

  
Here are my last two, most recent journals that I made, have you noticed that I love to put charms on them?

  
Now, onto more pressing matters. (I'm literally laughing right now, even though I've been told my jokes lack a sense of hilarity, they amuse me) my brother Eldon made me a beautiful book press that I love to use when I make my journals, the picture doesn't really show it, but it's varnished, waxed, and very smooth. I was terribly excited about it, and readily made the cookies that Eldon requested as proof of my appreciation.

 
 My reading of late, hasn't been Anne of Green Gables, or Little House on the Prairie, instead I've been devouring (yep, I'm absolutely hilarious) this College Nutrition Book, I've learned so much and can hardly wait to learn more. I'm sure I'll get to learn plenty more considering how I'm on page 32 out of 512.

 
And there, that's the end of my hobbies of late, since I've gotten caught up with you I can now sit back and wait till tomorrow to make another post. It truly is a delightfully satisfying feeling!

P ~ Pictures

  You know, sometimes I can not understand myself. Like today, when my Mum announced to us girls that we were supposed to have our yearbook pictures taken, all I wanted to do was scream and run the other direction.

  I don't have a very good history with posing for pictures, any look at our albums would prove that fact. I don't get it though, because, even though I look okay in the mirror, in pictures I look  terrifying.

  Even though I protested vehemently, my Mum got a picture, not only of my sister (who is very pretty) but of me as well. I wanted to share those pictures with you today, not because I'm proud of how I look, but because once again I didn't have any ideas for this blog post, saving the topic I'm writing about right now.

  The pictures are below, I added in pictures of all my siblings, because I love them all, and quite frankly, why not?

   This is of my very handsome older brother Eldon.

   This is of my very beautiful younger sister Diane.

  This is of my little brother Sean, who is obviously amused about something.

  And this one is of me. This was literally the only acceptable picture from my photo shoot today. I had posed holding a bouquet of daffodils but it looked as if I was in love with them, I had posed with a book but it stole my thunder, I had posed on my Dad's Peterbilt but almost fell off of the steps, and I posed in front of our flowering bush, but even though there were dozens of photos to chose from my facial expressions in every single one of them was weird, and that is why this is the only picture.
 

O ~ Outdoors

  Finally, gorgeous weather and beautiful flowers are springing up everywhere outside and I can't help but feel perfectly happy. As much as I love Summer and Fall, I love Spring with an undying passion too.

  This evening I hurried outside to take some pictures, I am no photographer in the least, so while I would be completely prepared to blame everything on poor lighting and shakiness from my near frozen knuckles, I have come clean and simply have to admit, I'm not good at taking pictures.

  Anyways, I went ahead and took pictures despite my lack in skill, and tonight you get to see how it looks right now outdoors in my own yard.

   My brother Eldon matter-of-factly pointed out that I have a brick in the background of this picture, "Who cares, it looks artisan" I told him.

   This is a picture of our chicken-less chicken coop with grapevines that climbed over it.

   Here is a picture of that fateful hamster wheel that gave my sister and I such an adventure. I have to smile every time I see it.

     This is a picture of an old stump that resides underneath our lilac bush. When I was much younger I loved perching on it and pretending to be a princess during early summer when the lilacs were blooming.

  This is a picture of our dear cat who's official name is Pepper, but everyone calls her kitty. She's very pregnant again, though the picture doesn't really do justice to how large her tummy is.  

   Here is another picture of our little chicken coop. I love how mighty and impressively tall the pine trees look. I always feel like a little dwarf beside them.

  And lastly here is a picture of our pretty yellow, flowery bush which I used to pretend belonged to nature fairies who used the petals to make sunshine.

I ~ Inside My Craft Bag

I have no idea how, but a lot of my posts lately have mentioned how Diane and I have been spring cleaning our room and today has yet another one of those posts. But do not worry that I shall bore you with trivial jibber-jabber over how to most efficiently spring clean a room, because goodness knows I have yet to learn it myself.

  Every month (which seems to be when we spring clean our room, don't judge us, Diane and I are very messy, creatively...) when Diane and I spring clean our room, the first thing we do after walking into our room with huge grins on our faces, and twirling around, is that we march over to our tidy drawers and pull out all of our craft supplies and sit down to craft.

  These past few days I have devoted my spare time to crafting and what fun it is! I have recently begun dabbling in the art of book binding and book cover making, it has been a bit interesting to say the least, and with my profusion of craft supplies that I always seemed to need nearby, I came to the most wonderful idea ever, I grabbed one of my biggest (but not the least ugliest) traveling bag, and gathered all of my most used craft supplies, and a few minutes later I had created the most delightfully filled bag I have ever owned in my entire life.

  In fact, I love it so well that it now has a dominant residence beside my desk, Sean loves my crafty bag too, and he spent a good few hours today rummaging around in it, pulling out treasures and exclaiming over them, he then busily helped me paint today, his favorite part was mixing different paints on my palette to invent colors before he painted a picture in his idea book.

  With all of this yapping about my craft bag, I decided it would be completely unfair to have made you go through all of that verbige without even getting to see a picture of it. So here it is.

C ~ Cookie Crisp Cereal

  A while back I had posted a picture of a certain kind of cereal I had made and though I had been planning on sharing the recipe a few days afterwards, I never got around to it and now that I'm sitting here at my computer facing the task of making my third A-Z post, I think it's as good a time as ever to share the recipe with you now.

  The reason I made this cereal in the first place is because one day after Diane was tired of always seeing me sitting down to the breakfast table with a bowl of my homemade cereal every morning she asked me if I would make homemade cereal for her too. I was only too happy to oblige since at that point in time I was really into spending hours in the kitchen making tedious foods that disappeared a hundred times faster than what they were made in.

  Anyway, to get back on track, here is the recipe I was left with after tweaking the original to meet my supplies and need for sanity (I was sane enough to dislike spending three hours rolling out tiny little balls of cereal so the following takes only about half an hour to an hour prep.)

Cookie Crisp Cereal

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup vanilla cake mix
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking oil (I used parchment.)
Whisk together the flour, cake mix, and soda. In another bowl cream the butter, add sugars and beat well. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, just a quick note, depending on the cake mix that you use you might have to add a splash or two of milk to the mix to get the dough to be smooth, homemade cake mix is drier which made it necessary for me to use a little milk. Stir in the chocolate chips. Using a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, scoop out little balls of dough and press lightly onto the baking sheet. The original recipe said to chill it in the fridge for an hour, but it was late already when I had started making the cereal so I skipped the step and it turned out fine.  Bake them for 10 minutes.

Cool and store in an airtight container. Serve as any normal cold breakfast cereal, or if you like you can grab a handful and eat them plain. Either option is delicious.

A ~ Art

  You all know I have a deep affinity for art, I love painting, sketching, crafting, you name it.  I have so many different sketch books, but for some reason my passion for creating art kind of went still for a little while until recently when one of my great friends showed her art book to me and we formed a mutual art tips and critiques club of sorts. Seeing all of her beautiful pieces moved me to pick up my pencils again and pour out my soul onto paper.

  Obviously I had to page through my old art books and I found several of my favorite sketches that I want to share with you today.

  My Mum had ordered our new school curriculum for next term this fall and it arrived today. I was unbelievably delighted when I discovered two gorgeously splendid art books that my Mum bought I absolutely can't wait to start drawing again, besides, I know I want to get a lot better at it all.

   I can't precisely pin point what it is that I love so dearly about art, perhaps it's the streaks of lead and charcoal that cover my fingers, perhaps it's that feeling of falling deeply in love with what ever I'm drawing, it might be that feeling of hope that springs forth when a picture slowly starts to form on paper, maybe it's the fact that a bit of my mind, heart, and soul become visible throughout the process, or it might be because I love that feeling of clarity as I spend hours listening to instrumentals, doing incessant comparisons and forgetting to eat meals in between drawing. Actually I think it's all of them together that make it all worth it.

  Because of all of the above I was motivated to share some of the pictures with you.
  I love to pour myself into the eyes of the people I draw, like Sam here.

                     
  For school one week I had to draw birds of various sorts.

  Hopefully the next time I make a post on art, I'll have improved!

Tasty Tuesday ~ In the Kitchen

   I heard it said that if someone has a passion, that passion brings a smile to his or her face and gives them a purpose in life. Well, baking is my passion and never am I happier than when I'm in the kitchen blowing clouds of flour everywhere and singing and jabbering away to myself in french whilst concocting something new.

  This past week I have been baking more than I can ever remember baking before, I have dirtied pretty much every dish in our kitchen cupboards at one point, and my poor little recipe box is now bursting with an influx of new tasty recipes. To be honest, all the mountains of dirty dishes I've created haven't been fun to scrub, but the food made with their help made it all worth it, at least in my books.

  Today I am going to share with you a few pictures of the foods I have been making.

 Here is  a picture of the homemade cookie crisp cereal I made, needless to say it was a long night forming each of those, but apparently Diane seems to think it was worth it.

  Then I was feeling summery one particularly sunny and cheery day, so I made two different kinds of galettes  and a tray full of berry and cream tarts. You might have guessed it, but I made a terrific mess in the kitchen that day.

    I was very much in the summer mood lately so I made a strawberry and cream cake, the recipe was from Rachel Khoo, I love all of her recipes and  she is my favorite culinary personality.

  Making my own cereal has really been one of my favorite things to do lately, and so when I found a recipe for chocolate and peanut butter cereal I jumped at it because I dearly love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.

  And lastly but not at all the least, I made cupcakes, I had such a splendid time making them, and if truth be told I walked through the kitchen as many times as possible after I had made them because I loved gazing at them and envisioning them gracing a little shop window or boulangerie in Paris.

Simple Woman's Daybook

For today..... Monday, February 6, 2017

Looking out my window.....  I see wet clumps of snow hugging the ground on various spots as it tries its very best to resist the melt-inducing warm breeze that is wafting across the ground.

I am thinking.....  That banana chips are very delicious.

I am thankful.....  For my warm home and charm bracelets.

One of my favorite things..... That feeling of satisfaction I get once my school for the day is completed.

I am wearing.....  A white knit skirt sprigged with blue and purple flowers, a purple cap-sleeved t-shirt, and a bronze charm bracelet with birds and flowers.

I am creating.....  A cup of tea.

I am reading..... As strange as it may seem, I haven't yet found a book to read for today.

I am hoping.....  That I don't catch the cold that my siblings are suffering through.

I am learning.....  How to play the piano, I am part of Hoffman Academy online and I love all the lessons and how easy everything is taught.

In the kitchen.....  Supplies await me, I am wanting to make ground flax seed after I am done blogging here.

Picture thought..... Diane had a heap of fun out in the snow the past few weeks.

Favorite Things ~ My Teacup

  With it being winter and all, it's only natural for me to drink tea frequently, and I don't know if it's just me, but the prettier the cup I drink my tea out of, the better it tastes. So every time I want to thoroughly enjoy my tea I reach for my favorite teacup which was given to me for my Birthday. Today's favorite thing is my Royal Sutherland teacup.

Tea for Two ~ New Year's Goals

  If you have read my list of new year goals and aspirations you probably knew that I wanted to have a tea party this year. As it so happens, I have just recently had a positively splendid tea party with Diane. Both of us loved every bit of it and had the most wonderful time.

  I spent all morning prepping for the tea, between folding napkins into a flared fan and trimming them with lace, to making sure my scones were light and flaky, I had a pretty busy time of it.

  Then, once we were all dressed and everything was ready we were quite positive that you couldn't possibly have such a tea party without having appropriate names, so in a short manner of time I created place cards with new and improved names to go by. I was Countess Esmeralda DuPont, while Diane was Lady Arabella Grindelwald.

  We had a positively smashing time. Naturally we had to have English accents and spent our whole tea party discussing our imaginary maids and footmen, we boasted about our excellent stable masters, and deprecated our carriage men. Not to forget we gossiped heartily about the Dutchess of Buckleberry, and easily passed snide comments concerning Americans. Naturally we almost choked laughing over our cucumber sandwiches when we realized that we were Americans, not actually Ladies and Countesses.

  Such pleasantries lasted for well over an hour and then our tea turned to a close. That was most likely one of the most fun things I have done so far this year.

Simple Woman's Daybook

For today.....  Monday, January 9, 2017

Looking out my window..... I see snow everywhere, it's laying about like a soft blanket on the ground, and floating lazily off the tree branches.

I am thinking..... That winter days spent reading, and writing, and sipping cups of tea are the very best.

I am thankful.....  For home, and warmth, and happiness.

One of my favorite things..... The blogging planner that my Mum made for the both of us, it has helped me a lot in the past week.


I am wearing..... A soft black skirt sprigged with blue flowers and olive green branches, and a navy blue shirt.

I am creating..... A U.S.A. lap quilt, it is a project that I love, even more so because the states are all stitched in various shades of purple, which is my favorite color.

I am reading..... Anne of Avonlea, I don't care how many times I've read the series, they always delight me.

I am hoping..... To finish my lap quilt sometime next month if not by the end of this month.

I am learning..... To applique, my Mum is teaching Diane and I the art of appliqueing. We are appliqueing all of the states onto our lap quilts and I can hardly wait to have them finished.

In the kitchen..... Mum is cutting and ironing more states out of fabric for us girls to sew onto our quilts, it takes a long time to iron them and cut them into the correct shapes so I am really grateful for my Mum's patience with it all.

Picture thought.....  Though it is already several weeks after Christmas I just had to share the picture of our mini gingerbread houses. They were heaps of fun to make and Diane, Sean, and I all agree that they will be one of our new traditions.

Favorite Things ~ Daddy Daughter Dates

  It all started at around one o'clock in the afternoon. I was toasting a batch of cinnamon almond granola and it filled the kitchen and school room with the delightful aroma of warm cinnamon. Then upon checking my email I discovered that my dearest dad went and asked me out on a date for that evening, in a very flowery way too. In a matter of moments it was all arranged. He would be home at around five thirty in the evening and we would go out to eat.
  Naturally, I just had to dress up. When five thirty rolled around Dad was ready to go and so waving goodbye I was escorted out of the house and away we drove.

  The whole evening was terribly beautiful since it was snowing large fluffy flakes. We talked for a while and then we arrived at the Cornucopia which is really the most darling-ly rustic and charming restaurant. We had a friendly waitress serving us that evening and I enjoyed every bit of my time. Dad being the photographer that he is, snapped several pictures of the Cornucopia.

  The evening was filled with many random spurts of hilarity because my Dad and I both cracked up laughing over the absurd stone pig that resided on the fireplace hearth in the restaurant. I would have a picture to share with you but neither of us wanted to get up from our table and be seen taking a picture of that garish pig with it's huge candy cane bow tied around it's neck. But my Dad did make me pose for a picture with the fireplace in the back, if you look hard enough you'll see the corner of the pig's ear, and a bit of its ribbon in the background.

  I suppose I went a little out on a limb that evening with my order because I chose a spicy Korean brisket sandwich with chow mien noodles, snap peas, and various peppers. After my dad and I thoroughly enjoyed the delicious artichoke bruschetta we took several pictures of our food and so on, making sure to document our evening.

  By far the most hilarious thing about the whole evening was the fact that my Dad had such a huge case of order envy. He had chosen a barbecue chicken pretzel roll sandwich but compared to my huge, laden with juicy toppings, sandwich, his' dwarfed in size, however we shared my sandwich then so all was good.

  The air once we left the Cornucopia was so magical. The night was falling and all around us twinkling white lights illuminated the millions of floating snowflakes. I think it was because of the ethereal air that Dad and I felt so inclined to prolong our night.

  We browsed through a local tourist's shop amusing ourselves by how the poor tourists don't realize everything is horridly overpriced. While browsing the shop I was so entranced with the gorgeous rolling pins that were being displayed.

   And then I was both terrified and struck silly by the ridiculous stuffed animals for sale.

 

   Then after Dad had me pose in front of the shop we set home, talking the entire time.

  I had such a splendid evening.

  Since I didn't directly address what the point of this post was, it was to say that Dad-Daughter time is another one of my favorite things.

Harvesting Clouds

     As a little girl I used to love when my Mom read poems to me, all those delicious sounding words all strung together were always sure to please me, and the one day my Mom told me the most marvelous poem that described so perfectly how I felt when I looked at the clouds floating in the sky.

  If I had a spoon as tall as the sky
  I'd dish out the clouds that go slip-sliding by,
  I'd take them right in and give them to cook
  And see if they tasted as good as they look.

  And of-course as a little girl I used to dream of being able to walk up into the sky and sleep on clouds and not having to worry about food since I had mounds of delicious fluffy clouds right beside me. Sadly as I grew older I realized that's not a possibility. However with a camera, a willing assistant, and some fluffy clouds I can at least make it look like I'm fulfilling a childhood dream of harvesting clouds.