Spring has Sprung... boutique style

Today was a launching point for the crafting collective my wonderful friend Antoniette and I have been working on.  We have been busy little bees cutting and sewing and gluing to get ready for today's boutique in La Habra.  This is our first (of what I hope will be many) boutique of the year, and it went wonderfully.

But don't be disappointed if you weren't in the OC today - you can still enjoy these pics, and you can still pick up anything you can't live without.

Our booth was super colorful and full of lovely things

 

Our big seller of the day was our "Build A Band" bar, where you could choose your headband (of course we had a variety of sizes, colors, textures, and patterns) and choose from a WIDE variety of floral rosettes (each one hand made by the two of us).  Some ladies chose to create a big cluster of flowers, while others chose a simple line across the band.  

We also featured both paper and fabric banners for any occasion. There were various and sundry means to collect your memories in journals, scrapbooks, and photo/journal cubes.

And a BIG thanks to my dear husband, Justin, who created the lovely trellis structure that held our banners all day.  He's so clever; it allowed our customers to see our banners in all their glory.

I'll be posting what we have left on my Etsy site over the next few days.  It has been dormant for a while, I'll be glad to be able to put it back to use.  Check out Candice's Curiosity Shoppe soon.  

And remember, we can always make you a fabulous fully customized banner for any occasion you might be celebrating.  They're great for birthdays, holidays, weddings, new babies, your dog's birthday, anything! 

I realize this reads like an advertisement, but we're just very excited about the beautiful things we make, and we want to share them with everyone.  I love that I've been so blessed with the ability to create, to make something lovely and useful with my hands, and if I can help my family out by selling these lovely things to people who can use them, and make the world a little bit brighter and more beautiful, it's even better. 

this just in... oatmeal is full of oaty goodness!

A few weeks back, when I posted this, I said I would get back to you regarding the facts about oatmeal.  So, here for you, is an oatmeal primer.

Despite the fact that it is super healthful, oatmeal remains one of the least eaten available foods in the world. The USDA estimates that only 5% of the world's entire oat crop is actually eaten by humans. The rest is eaten by cows and pigs, which are then eaten by some humans.

Oatmeal has many health benefits. It reduces your cravings for other, less healthy foods by hanging out in your stomach for longer than, say, a bag of chips. Remember, your mom (or grandma) used to say it "sticks to your ribs?" This helps you feel full and eat less.

Oatmeal is full of Vitamins A and B, calcium, iron, and the all important fiber! It has minimal traces of fat (as long as you don't pile butter and brown sugar on it!) and it has zero cholesterol. In fact, oatmeal's fiber acts like little sponges soaking up the bad cholesterol in your body, while leaving the good alone. So, you are more healthy after eating your bowl of oats than you were before.

So, which kind of oatmeal should you eat?

I'll start with the least processed, and therefore most healthful oat, and go down from there.

The Oat Groat is the whole oat from the plant, with only the outer hull removed. They are super packed with nutrients and fiber, but they have to be soaked and cooked for a long time. I guess they're similar to wheat berries off the wheat stalk.

photo borrowed from wisegeek.com

Next are Steel-cut oats. These are also called Irish, Scotch, Pinhead, Coarse-cut, or porridge oats. These are just groats from above that have been chopped up into smaller pieces. More surface area means less cooking time, with the same nutritional value. It also makes for some thick, but not gummy oatmeal.

from the good people over at healthy supplies in the UK

 McCanns Irish Oatmeal and the fine people over at Bob's Red Mill put out some great steel cut oats.

Here's a great recipe from Alton Brown (my hero!).  This came from the episode called "Oat Cuisine" (he's so clever with the frequent play on words).

Overnight Oatmeal
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Oat Cuisine

1 cup steel cut oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried figs
4 cups water
1/2 cup half-and-half
In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients and set to low heat. Cover and let cook for 8 to 9 hours.
Stir and remove to serving bowls. This method works best if started before you go to bed. This way your oatmeal will be finished by morning.



Here's a link to a printable version.

Next on the oat chain are rolled oats, or old fashioned oats. This is what we all think of when we think of oatmeal. The oat groats are steamed, rolled, and sliced into flakes so they cook really quickly. You see them in granola and trail mix and cookies. They're steamed and processed, so they lose some of their nutrients and fiber-power in the mix.

The wisegeek people had a lot of oatmeal pics available

Quick oats are even thinner flakes of the rolled oats. Otherwise, they're the same. If you use these for your cookies they might not come out as fluffy.

Then we have the instant oat, of instant oatmeal in the package fame. They are precooked, and just need to be mixed with a hot liquid. They usually have flavor, salt, and preservatives added in. It might be healthier than your bowl of cocoa pebbles, but they're not really "healthy" per se.

It may be "high fiber" but it's also high in sugar, salt, preservatives, etc.

Seriously, just get up 5 minutes earlier and make some quick cooking oats, or better yet, the old fashioned kind. Even better, set up the crock pot and use Alton's recipe up there.

Here's a comparison of steel-cut versus rolled oats, again from the wisegeek peeps.  The Instant oats are even further processed.  They roll much of  the nutritional benefits right out of the oat! 

I use quite a bit of rolled/old fashioned oats when I'm making granola bars or the occasional oatmeal cookie.  But the steel cut variety is really where it's at for nutrient dense, fill up your belly oatmeal at its best.

reflective introspection

I never planned on becoming a teacher.  I was never one of those kids who always knew what they wanted to be when they grew up.  I changed my mind about once a week.  Once I was in high school, I finally settled on either a medical examiner or a neurosurgeon.  I loved (and still love) science.  However, once I discovered that I'd have to pay my own way through school that all changed.  I remembered my 7th grade history teacher, Mr. Natoli, and how he was the first person to really encourage me to go to college; and I became a history teacher.

When I walked away from teaching a few years back, I never expected to re-enter the world of education.  All I could see were the political backstabbing, the far to heavy emphasis on standardized testing, and the impossibility of meeting the needs of every student. 

I started teaching shortly before the implementation of the oh-so-ironically-titled "No Child Left Behind."  During my first couple of years of teaching I was able to implement project based learning lessons.  The wonderful teacher next door and I took our kids outside for couple of classes during an experiential exercise on the feudal system.  It was great, kids learned and remembered things, and liked coming to class.  Once NCLB came into play, however, it became more and more about testing; and less and less time was available for teaching the way I wanted to teach.

I had the opportunity to switch over to Special Education at the same school.  As a Resource Specialist I was more able to work with teachers and kiddos to get their needs met.  It was great again, for a while.

Then... a whole bunch of stuff that I'd rather not talk about right now turned everything upside down and I left teaching.  It was never the kids, and it was never the parents.  It was political mumbo jumbo.  And people can union bash and hate the CTA as much as they want, but my union peeps protected me and my interests, just like a union is supposed to do.

ANYWAY.... so I went back to school, thinking I'd eventually end up teaching at the college level.  Professor H (first Huey, now Hoff) sounded pretty swell.  Alas, a whole year of applying to various and sundry graduate school achieved nothing more than decimating my academic self esteem.  A year later, as I'm applying again, to a much more selective field of schools, and with a much more specific statement of intent, my wonderful friend Lisa tells me about Tseng College.

Run out of Cal State Northridge, they have one of the top ranked Communication Disorders programs around.  And it's all online, so wherever we decide to live, I can still finish school.  We were loathe to be tied down to Riverside for time eternal, because honestly, it's not the place for us long term.  Since my undergraduate degree is in history, I applied to their prereq program.  If "academically successful" in that program I'm guaranteed entrance to their masters program.  And I have no doubt I will be "academically successful."  I still never imagined using a Speech Path. degree in the public school setting.  I saw myself helping people with traumatic brain injuries or stroke victims relearn the ability to speak; or, if I was working with kids it would be in a medical office setting. (I'm still waiting ...impatiently... for an acceptance email or letter... any day now...)

Then, the amazing Lisa further hooks me up with an interview with the learning center she works with part time as a special education services provider.  I went to my interview on Thursday, the first job interview I've gone on in 13 years.  Talking with my interviewer about why I became involved in education, what I feel the role of a teacher or support provider should be, how I make accommodations for kids made me realize that I am really good at working with kids.  I've never really left that world, I still help friends and family with their IEP's, give suggestions to people to help out with issues, etc.  I guess I had just forgotten what being in that professional world felt like.  It gave me some much needed validation that I am good at what I do, and this place seems like the perfect place in which my skills can best be utilized.  It's a k-12 independent study charter school that serves LA, Orange, San Brdo, and Ventura counties.  The kids meet with their regular education teacher about once a month to get work, and then are basically homeschooled, and then meet again to turn in that stuff and get new stuff.  As a special ed. support provider I'd meet with my kids once a week or bi-weekly to work on their goals and give support to the regular ed assignments.  It's incredibly flexible, and everyone works together to find what works best for each and every kid.  That way there really are no kids left behind.

I'm pretty sure I'll start seeing kids in the fall, which will be wonderful.

Cranberry Almond Quinoa Bars

We've been trying to incorporate healthier snacks into our regimen over here at the Hoff House, and this one is a winner.  These Cranberry Almond Quinoa are nutrient dense, highly satisfying, and are incredibly easy to make.

the finished product, topped with some peanut butter

I found some recipes similar to this on the internet, but some of them were really confusing and/or poorly written (not specifying if the amount of quinoa needed was dry or cooked, for example).  So, I decided to do one of my classic recipe re-boots and come up with something great.

For these bars you will need:

• 1 C. uncooked quinoa
• 4 eggs (or the equivalent of egg substitute)
• 1/3 C. of some kind of milk.  I used Vanilla soy milk, but I think almond milk would be good too, it might enhance the almond taste
• 1/3 C. honey
• 1 tsp (or thereabouts) Vanilla extract
• 1 Tlbsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 C.  almonds (you can use any kind of nut or opt for no nuts)
• 1/2 C.  dried fruit.  I used cranberries, but you could use raisins, apricots, apples, anything you'd like.

You'll also need parchment paper.  This silicone infused paper provides great non-stick protection you can put right in the oven.

Step One:

•  Preheat the oven to 375.
• Lightly grease an 8x8 pan, then line it with parchment paper.  

I used olive oil spray to grease my pan.

As for the parchment paper, you can simply make a sling by cutting the paper to 8 inches wide, making the length long enough to hang over the sides, but I opted for complete coverage.  cut a square at least 12x12" and then cut into the corners by a couple inches.  

 Now place the parchment into the greased pan, with the cut corners in the.... um, corners of course.  The sections you cut should overlap, giving you complete parchment coverage.  You might have to cut a little deeper to get everything settled correctly.  It won't be pretty, but it doesn't need to be.  It just has to keep your bars from sticking to the pan.

Step Two - 

• Cook your 1 cup of quinoa according to the package directions, and let it cool completely.

Step Three - 

• Beat the 4 eggs in a large bowl
• Add in the milk, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and honey
• Mix thoroughly

there are cinnamon clumps here, but they were eventually beaten into submission

 Step Four - 

• Add in your fruit and nuts.  I love the combo of almonds and cranberries.  Next time I think I'll do apples, and maybe banana chips. 

 Step Five - 

• Stir in the cooled quinoa 
• Pour the mixture into your prepared pan

 Step Six - 

• Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.  The honey will make the finished product look NOT done in the middle.  Check the edges, they should be dry and pulling away from the parchment a bit.  If you touch the middle it should be damp, but no quinoa should come off on your finger. 

the middle still looks wet, but it's done.

 Step Seven - the beauty of the parchment

• using the edges of the parchment, lift the (soon to be) bars from the pan and place on a cooling rack as soon as possible.  
• Pull the edges down to help the cooling process

De-panning would be difficult without the parchment paper

• When cool - cut into bars.  You can make them whatever size you'd like.

By themselves, these are a chewy, slightly crunchy very satisfying and filling snack or light breakfast.  To pump them up a bit, smear some nut butter (I had peanut) on top.  I also heated mine up a bit to slightly melt the pb.  Delicious!

I ate one of the bars for breakfast, and was full (and full of energy) until lunch. 

Notes on nutrition: 

For the health benefits of the honey and cranberries you can check out my earlier blog post here.

Quinoa - 2013 has become known as the Year of Quinoa (see the link below), but it is actually an ancient food.  The Inca of South America have been enjoying quinoa for centuries.  Inca warriors ate quinoa to help maintain strength and stamina.  Usually classified a grain, it's actually a seed, and is related to swiss chard.  Quinoa was recently declared a kosher food, and can be eaten during the Jewish high holidays.  Quinoa contains 9 amino acids, and has a similar protein content to cow's milk.  It is full of riboflavin, which can help prevent migraines.  Quinoa is, of course, gluten free, and has been shown to be well tolerated by those suffering with IBS. It is high in fiber, iron, and magnesium.  You can learn a lot more about quinoa at this site.

Almonds - There's something about almonds that make them the ultimate pick-me-up.  Countless times I've been struggling to stay awake during a lecture or at work, and a handful of almonds saved the day.  They are Justin's new favorite snack, and he often snacks on a few on his commute home to stay awake and alert on the horrible 91 fwy.  Almonds help lower bad cholesterol, and are high in fiber.  They are full of B vitamins, which help in cell function.  Almonds are an excellent source of manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium, and are full of vitamin E. Here is a site full of information on almonds.