No-Bake Granola Bars

 Oh Yum!  These no-bake granola bars are my new, favorite pick-me-up.  You can cut them into bars or shape them into balls, for a cool, summery treat.

 I'm using my bee teacup, which goes along with my honey ingredient in the bars.

 Little bits of chocolate and dried cherries gives these bars a nice flavor explosion.  Wouldn't they make a nice lunchbox treat, too?

 

No-Bake Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats

1 ¼ cup peanut butter

1 cup ground almonds

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup dried cherries

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini)

1/4  cup sliced almonds

Put all ingredients in a mixer bowl and blend well.   Spread in a 9x13 baking dish and refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting into squares.  You could also refrigerate the mixture and then shape into balls, if you prefer. 

Yes, Nana's Cooking Camp is still going on!  Three of my seven grands made homemade vanilla ice cream and Debbie's Can't Leave 'Em Alone Bars, which are easy and kid-friendly.  These kids sure enjoy cooking and are great little helpers!

This sweet fella always wants to make German Pancakes when he spends the night.  How can I resist making memories with him, when I ask what he'd like for breakfast, and he gives me the look of "You know what I'd like, Nana"!  He always helps with the buttering, sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon and rolling the pancakes up, because he knows the reward at the end

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

Tuesday Cuppa Tea 

No Place Like Home

Teacup Tuesday 

Cooking and Crafting with J & J  

Share Your Cup

Full Plate
Thoughts of Home on Thursday 

Foodie Friday

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Summer Berry Muffins

Ahhhh yes, to relax after crafting and sewing for  the Sweet Tea Challenge, at Thistlewood Farms,  I think I'll enjoy a summer berry muffin and some iced tea !  The pink depression glass pitcher belonged to my late mother-in-law.  By using a glass plate, I can see the pretty napkin that I made for the challenge.   Come on over, for I have enough to share! 

 

Here's my submission that I made for the challenge, and you can see how easy this project is by visiting my previous post here.  You can also see all the submissions for the Thistlewood Sweet Tea Challenge there, too.  

Summer Berry Muffins, adapted from Kitchen Scoops

 

I had to share the recipe for these muffins because they are so good!  The batter was sturdy enough for the berries, and they didn't sink.  I will be  using this lovely recipe again, which reminded me of a moist, vanilla pound cake.

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup plus 6 teaspoons granulated sugar, divided use (I used Sparkling Sugar for sprinkling on top)

1 cup whole milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup melted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup fresh strawberries, capped and quartered (I used raspberries)

1 cup fresh blueberries, stemmed

1 cup fresh blackberries (I needed to chop, as they were large)

1. Center an oven rack and preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. In a medium bowl combine all but about 2 tablespoons of flour with the baking powder, salt and ½ cup sugar. In another bowl combine milk, eggs, butter and vanilla. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry just until mixed. Sprinkle the remaining flour over berries and toss to coat. Fold berries into batter.

3. Spoon batter into 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of the remaining sugar over the top of each muffin. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until muffins are light golden brown. Muffins will not test done with a wooden pick because of fresh berries. Allow to cool 5 minutes before removing. Serve as desired or remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store muffins in a tin or glass sealed container (plastic will make the muffins sticky) for up to 3 days.

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

I was featured!

Tuesday Cuppa Tea 

No Place Like Home 

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Teacup Tuesday 

Cooking and Crafting with J & J  

Share Your Cup

Full Plate
Thoughts of Home on Thursday 

Foodie Friday

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Thank you for your visit!  xo

Sweet Tea Challenge at Thistlewood Farms

 Recently some Texas bloggers met at Jemma's lovely French country farmhouse,  for a day of arts and crafts and a wonderful lunch.   Jemma, the hostess with the mostest,  blogs at At Home With Jemma,  While there,  we had the pleasure of meeting the bubbly and enthusiastic Karianne from Thistlewood Farms. We were also gifted some charm packs of KariAnne's new fabric line,  in our gift bags from Laura, who blogs at Decor To Adore.  We were challenged to come up with  what we would do with our charm squares.  Both Laura and Judith from Botanic Bleu demonstrated beautiful crafts.

 Here are the charm packs that we received!  I was especially smitten with the Sweet Tea pack!  Hmmmmm....I wonder why?!

 

I got busy and started sewing for the :

Since I love making mug rugs, I thought that these little squares would make an adorable design.  I quickly got busy on my machine, and did an in-the-hoop mug rug.

 Here's the finished watermelon mug rug.  I love the soft colors and it's perfect for my iced tea in my mason jar.

 I also knew that I wanted to make a Disappearing Nine-Patch design with nine of the squares. I wanted to make something that I would use and enjoy.  To make this , you sew the squares in rows of three and then join the three rows together,  normally leaving a dark square in the middle.  

After the squares are all sewn, you cut down the middle from the top and from the side.  You then arrange them however you like.  Once you rearrange them, it makes it look like a complicated design, but it's not, as you can see below!

This is how I arranged my Disappearing Nine-Patch,  and since I like to decorate tea trays, I added white rick-rack and backed the design, to make a pretty napkin.  I'm also thinking that I could stuff it and turn it into a pretty pillow for a guest room, when I redecorate my late beloved's office space.  The napkin is what I submitted for the challenge.  Please go to Thistlewood Farms blog to vote.

I am sharing this with:

Thoughts of Home on Thursday 

Share Your Cup 

Foodie Friday and Everything Else 

Thank you for your visit!  xo

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