Together Tuesday: St. Patrick's Day Craft

You may not find a real pot of gold this St. Patrick’s Day, but at least you can have a pot of gold candle holder on your nature table or dining room table! For each candle holder you will need a clean baby food jar with the label removed, or a small canning jar, black tissue paper torn into small pieces, gold, yellow or orange tissue paper torn into small pieces, a paintbrush, decoupage medium or watered down tacky glue and a tea light candle. Coat the mouth of the jar with glue and adhere the gold (or yellow or orange) tissue paper pieces to resemble gold peeking out of the pot. You will need more than one layer, so once the first layer is down, spread more glue and add another layer. Once your gold is finished, cover the rest of the jar with glue and add the black tissue paper in the same fashion. Let dry thoroughly then add your tea light. When the tea light is lit, the flame will make the gold in your pot shine brightly!
copyright 2004-2010 Earth*School, Bonnie Vontz

Monday Munchies: Salad!

If asked, I would have to say that next to insanely dark chocolate, my favorite food is salad. I could live on salad (and the aforementioned chocolate). I'm not talking about some iceberg lettuce with a couple of cherry tomatoes tossed in there. Take a look ...

The next time you are making a salad, try mixing it up with any/all of the following:

* Greens - my favorite is a mix of the spring mix lettuces and baby spinach
* Fruit - apple wedges, sliced pear, blueberries, sliced strawberries, blackberries, orange/tangerine wedges, grapes, kiwi slices
* cheese - cubes (my favorites for salad are sharp cheddar, parmesan, asiago and sharp provolone); soft cheeses (my favorites for salads are feta and blue cheese); marinated mozzarella; shredded cheese (parmesan and cheddar are my favorites for shredded)
* veggies - sliced peppers, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, beets (I especially like pickled beets), grilled asparagus, artichoke hearts
* proteins - hard boiled egg wedges, a scoop of cottage cheese, diced cold chicken, shrimp, fish
* beans/nuts - sliced almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, chick peas, kidney beans

This was my breakfast this morning: spring mix lettuces, red bell peppers, carrots, apple, bartlet pear, cheddar and provolone cubes, marinated mozzarella, strawberry slices, tangerine wedges, sliced almonds and walnut halves

Friday Favorite: Doodles Jewels

Danielle from Doodles Jewels has to be one of my all time favorite artisans. I have a weakness for gorgeous stone necklaces and Danz keeps me very well supplied. I own about 3 dozen of her pieces, each one more beautiful than the next.

Valentine's Day weekend we went away for a romantic weekend (A and me, not Danz and me :P) and of course, I had to wear one of my gorgeous Doodles Jewels creations ... which I put in my backpack when I took it off and then dropped it somewhere! Probably on the beach in the 30 mile an hour frigid wind gusts. I was devastated! The first thing I did when we got home was message Danz and ask if i could have her make me a new one ... and she obliged! I adore working with Danz - her creativity and vision when it comes to jewelry knows no bounds. Her eye is amazing. Her jewelry is built to last (unless, like me, you drop it somewhere and can't remember where - I don't recommend this) and her customer service is impeccable. She has some gorgeous pieces instock right now, pieces that I am trying very hard to resist splurging on ...

Theme Thursday: Cloth Diaper Accessories

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Wordless Wednesday: Pretty

Together Tuesday: Tactile Fingerpainting

Is it snowy or rainy where you are? Are your little ones starting to go a little stir crazy? In that case, it's time to break out the finger paints!

Fingerpainting is a great activity for children. Regular fingerpainting makes for a nice tactile experience, but add some different textures and little hands will have a blast! Try fingerpainting on a variety of textures: tin foil, bubble wrap, sand paper, wax paper, fabric, wood, etc. Or try fingerpainting on regular paper, but add some tactile elements to the fingerpaints - rice, flour, glitter, cornmeal, sand, etc.

From Earth*School: "The Five Senses"
Copyright 2004-2010, Bonnie E. Vontz

Monday Munchies: My Favorite Almond Biscotti

I have been using this recipe since way back in 2001, when, in a previous life, I was a Kindergarten teacher/early childhood facility director. Every year, we would have a holiday cookie swap and I would put together a recipe book for all the families to take home. Erin and Colin A.'s mom sent in her almond biscotti and the accompanying recipe and I have made it ever since.

Ingredients:

2T butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2t almond extract
2 1/4 flour
1 1/2t baking powder
1/4t salt
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 egg white

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a baking sheet.
2. In a bowl, beat together butter, sugar, eggs (not egg white) and extract until
smooth.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and almonds.
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture mixing to form a dough.
5. Divide dough into two balls, making each into a flattish log about 10-12" long
and 2" wide.
6. Brush each log with egg white and back about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
7. Remove from oven and slice diagonally into 3/4" wide slices. Arrange cut side
down and return to oven (turned down to 300 degrees) for 10 min. Turn and bake
an additional 10 minutes.