Care Package #10: Going Healthy (and another craft project!)

I've been having a blast making all kinds of yummy treats to send Brian: cookies, brownies, candy. Although I've enjoyed it, there are two downsides: 1. I either have to give away any extras or risking gorging on them myself and 2. Brian has to either give away any excess or risk gorging on them himself! I guess you can have too much of a good thing...

So, in the interest of keeping us both from gorging on sweets, I have decided to honor Brian's request to send healthier goodies and reserve the sweets and treats for holidays. This isn't much of a concession for me because I'd really rather make healthy food.

For his first healthy package, I whipped up a new batch of granola, then added in some dried fruit and a few chocolate chips to make a delicious trail mix. Because even dried fruit can cause nuts and granola to get soft, I sent each ingredient in its own little baggie, leaving Brian the fun of mixing it all together according to his tastes.

Low-Fat Homemade Granola

4 Cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (don't skimp and go with Quick Oats)
1 Cup of as many of the following as you would like: raw sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, crushed walnuts, pecans, almonds, sweetened coconut, etc.
1 Cup Wheat Germ
1/2 Cup Flax Seeds
Sprinkle with Cinnamon according to your tastes
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
1/3 Cup Honey (or substitute Molasses or Maple Syrup)
1/3 Cup water

Pre-heat oven to 350. Add all the dry ingredients in one big bowl. In a jar with a tight lid, combine the oil, honey and water and shake until well mixed (if you use more than 3 choices of nuts/seeds, increase the oil and water to half a cup each). Slowly pour the liquid over the oats while stirring to make sure everything is well coated. Spread the mix out on a large, rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry (I stir it ever 20 minutes and it usually takes at least 45 minutes to bake. I heard you can make granola in a crock pot and will let you know how it works when I try it!).

I added raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots (chopped up, since they're kinda big), toasted whole almonds, and a handful of chocolate chips to turn the granola into trail mix.

On a totally different subject, I finally made some curtains for my bedroom. I have been wanting to try out this idea since I saw it in a magazine years ago. I used small kitchen hooks, like you would hang a coffee cup from, to hang the curtains in my room. I am of the mind that this project did not cost me a penny, since I have had all the different pieces for at least 2 years.

I first attached the grosgrain ribbon with Stitch Witchery (a miracle invention!), then sewed the top and bottom edges of the ribbon, just to be thorough. I measured out the spacing for the hooks (I am slowly learning that the "measure before you cut/hammer/sew/etc" really does help prevent frustration) to make sure they were even, then used my grommet tool to put the eyelet through the ribbon.

I used some very, very old single-fold bias tape to secure the edges of the fabric. Since it is a sheer material, this was really important to keep it from fraying and to give the curtain a little bit of body. I am pretty sure that this bias tape came from the craft-stash of my great-grandmother, Ida. I have only ever worked with double-fold bias tape...and now I know why. Single-fold has its uses, I'm sure, but I certainly prefer the double-fold.

The butterfly fabric was a remnant that I picked up when I was in college and took a day-trip to Asheville, NC with my professor. I loved it enough to buy it, but never could decide what to do with it, especially since I rarely work with sheers. Having open, light-filled spaces is really important to me, so these curtains provide just enough coverage while still letting the sunlight flow in to my room.

I am SO HAPPY with the finished product! This is another case of it looking exactly how I imagined/hoped it would! Oh, and the whole project was started and finished in one day. Can't beat that!