Sweet & Spicy Almonds

These can be summed up in one word:  Addicting!

2 1/2 c. whole almonds
1/4 C. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. water
1 Tbs. honey
1 tsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the almonds onto a baking sheet & toast until their golden & fragrant, about 10 minutes.  Be careful, they burn quickly.

Stir together the sugar, salt & cayenne pepper in a mixing bowl; set aside.

Stir together the water, honey & olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Once the mixture begins to bubble, stir in the toasted almonds until evenly moistened.  Pour the almonds into the sugar/spice mixture & toss until evenly coated.  Spread onto a baking sheet in a single layer & cool.

How to love your tablecloths, again

I quite like tablecloths.  There are some very pretty, cute & sassy & classy looking tablecloths out there.  So my problem isn't with the tablecloth itself.  It's with what happens once that cute & sassy tablecloth lands on my table.  They get bunched up, they get pulled all to one side, they end up laying all caddy wompis on my table & I HATE that!  So I stopped using them many, many years ago.  Unless of course there was some fun & fancy function at my house.  Then I dealt with it for a few hours, giving it the evil eye the whole time.  Until now.  I have a great solution for all those tablecloth headaches. I'm telling you ladies this is so fabulous & it makes me smile just typing about it.  Now to give credit where credit is due this is my mother-in-laws fabulous idea, not mine.

Ok, grab that tablecloth & lay it on the table. 

Then measure all the sides to make sure everything is even.

 Then pinch the corner right up against the table & pin in a vertical line.  Then sew right along where the pins are.  In a vertical 3 inch line.  Am I making sense?

 The stitch line is to the very left of the blue tape.  I did such a good job matching my thread that you can't see the stitch - yay for me!  (Yes this is a different tablecloth.  I realized I should have a picture showing the stitch & used the tablecloth currently on my table)

And VOILA!  Your tablecloth not only will look lovely but will stay put.  And that ladies is a wonderful thing!

Lemon poppy seed pancakes

Boy these were delicious so I have to share!

3/4 C. milk

1 Tbs. vinegar

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1 egg

2 Tbs. butter, melted

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 C. all-purpose flour

2 Tbs. white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. poppy seeds

1 tsp. lemon zest

Stir the milk, vinegar and lemon juice together in a small bowl; let stand 10 minutes to curdle.  Whisk in egg, butter and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds and lemon zest until well combined.  Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk a few times until the batter is mostly free of lumps.

FYI/My 2 cents - This is a thicker pancake batter & cooks up nice & fluffy.  We only had regular maple syrup but I did have fresh blueberries & that was a wonderful addition.  I just love the combo of lemon & blueberries!  So for me I think next time I will use a blueberry preserve or blueberry syrup.  But of course I'd eat them just the same way I did again and again and again!

Less is more!

I got a text from my sister this morning.  She said she was having one of those days yesterday & couldn't fall asleep last night.  She rummaged through her books until she found the one I gave her by Emily Watts.   She said the book saved her day.  I was so thrilled she loved it as much as I do!  The book is called "Being the Mom: 10 coping strategies I learned by accident because I had children on purpose".  Actually Jill turned me on to this book a few years ago (I'll give credit where credit is due!).  I read it & loved it so much I bought it for my two "mommy" sisters one Mother's Day a few years back.

So what does that have to do with this post.  I immediately went to my bookcase, grabbed the book & read the introduction & the first chapter/strategy: "Instead of acquiring more things, use the things you have more creatively".  A great strategy of less is more.  She talks about these 2 capes.  A red one & a black one.  She sewed them & then for years they were used for batman, superman, little red riding hood, snow white, a zombie, a devil, a witch, etc.  She goes on to say that  things that have multiple uses are almost always more fun, cheaper & better than things with one specific use.  And then the paragraph that hit me....

"I have learned since the dog debacle (another example) that our possessions own us almost as fully as we own them.  Everything we bring into our homes and lives requires a little piece of our time and attention to care for it; to keep it clean, to store it or display it, to maintain its functionality.  So I think we need to be selective and choose to hang on to things that 'give back' in an emotional sense as much as they extract."

That got me thinking of the amount of stuff in my house.  Just stuff.  6 people worth of stuff.  Toys, games, clothes, books, plain ol' junk, etc.  But mostly toys.  I marched into the kitchen, grabbed a garbage bag, grabbed my new label maker from the office & peered inside the toy closet.

Yikes!

Less is more, right?  Honestly I have never been opposed to passing toys along or donating them.  And in my defense I did do a great giveaway before Christmas.  I swear these toys are multiplying on me!

To cut to the chase here is what a few hours worth of work can get you

Do you hear the hallelujah chorus too?!

I was happy to find a few missing pieces to some favorite games during the great clean up.

I love my new label maker!  I bought it to label all those silly cords in my office; cell phones, camcorder, laptops, digital cameras & apparently cords from 3 cell phones ago too.  Actually those didn't get labeled, they got the boot!

And here is the "headed to DI trailer" pile. 

Ahhh, it felt so nice to get that done.  Until I turned around & saw the mess the boys had made while I was busy.  That's beside the point, right?!  Now I think I'll take a week & apply this to the rest of my house before getting to strategy 2.