happy national donut day!

          

we made donuts for breakfast. mini cinnamon donuts with coconut sprinkled on the tops and they are gooooood. everyone should have at least one donut today, it would be a disservice to the day if you didn't.

it's one of those impossibly beautiful, magical sunny portland days today and we have no intention (once again) of accomplishing any of the things we're supposed to accomplish because we wanna play outside all day! if this house doesn't pack itself we're in big trouble.

hey guys it's bedtime...

... let's make cookies!

these are so good it's crazzzzzzy!

and just in case you might like to try to make them too, here's the recipe:

- oatmeal peanut butter pecan chocolate chip bedtime cookies -

1c. organic whole wheat flour

1c. organic buckwheat flour

2tsp. organic baking soda

1/2tsp. sea salt

1c. organic peanut butter

1/2c. unsalted butter (at room temp)

1/2c. organic applesause

3/4c. organic brown sugar

1tsp. vanilla

1tsp. organic molasses
2 eggs (or egg replacer)

1c. organic rolled oats

1/2c. organic, unsweetened shredded coconut

- preheat oven to 350˙ and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

- whisk together flours, baking soda & salt. set aside.

- cream together peanut butter, butter, applesauce, sugar, vanilla & molasses.

- beat in the eggs.

- gradually mix in the flour.

- stir in oats and coconut.

{add chocolate chips and/or pecans if you like}

-spoon onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

- enjoy!!

side note: when i use butter and/or eggs they always come from local farms with pasture-raised/free-range,

organic fed, hormone-free animals. if you were wondering :)

when it's cold outside...

... just turn on the oven!

we made experimental oatmeal-coconut-pecan cookies,

and they are yummmmmy!

here's what we used:

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of buckwheat flour

1/4 cup of almond meal

1 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of sea salt

1 tbsp of cinnamon

2 1/2 cups of oats

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 cup of butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup rice milk

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

1 tbsp of molasses 

and here's how we did it:

first combine the dry ingredients,

then mix the butter and sugar until light & fluffy,

then add to that the remaining non-dry ingredients and mix well,

then mix in the dry ingredients.

scoop out onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake

at 375˙ for 10-12 minutes.

oh, we also baked shrinky-dink charms!

isn't she cute?!!

hope we're not the only ones having fun and keeping warm today.

prettiest/tastiest donuts ever!

yesterday, we made donuts.

we used this recipe. thank you, kaylah :)

we made them chocolate by replacing the cinnamon & nutmeg with cocoa powder.

we iced them with teal icing because what other color would we use?!

they are as tasty as they are pretty, if not more so. we will make them again, often!

modifications:

- i used 3 sturdy teaspoons of cocoa powder in place of the nutmeg & cinnamon.

- i used coconut milk instead of soy milk and whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.

starting the week off right...

... baking oatmeal muffins with the squirrels.

have you ever seen squirrels handle kitchen utensils with such grace and style?

they smell so good, wont last long.

going...

going...

gone.

bare with me...

...i'm a few posts behind, so i'm gonna mash 'em all together.

the original plan was to follow this post with a series of posts about all the sweetness i've been experiencing lately, but i got distracted by all the sweetness and then it was my birthday... so this will have to do.

i recently received a very charming looking bag of homemade chai tea as a gift. it smelled so incredible i wanted to eat it and wear it and sprinkle it all over the house so that everything would smell that good. i resisted all of the above and brewed a cup instead, and the taste was every bit as delicious as the aroma. look how beautiful it is...

homemade gifts are the sweetest kind.

it's been raining and raining and raining here for days and days and days. it's the nw, it's why everything is so pretty, you get used to it, and you go to the park anyway, and it's FUN!

you can use your jacket to keep your bum dry while sliding.

and take surprisingly awesome photos with your cell phone.

playing outside is oh so sweet.

the night before my birthday, i fell asleep to the sound of things clanking and crashing in the kitchen... i just assumed the boys were making a midnight snack. but when i woke up the next morning, this was on the table...

isn't it the most miraculous birthday cake you've ever ever seen?!! it's the very same camille rose garcia owl i have tattooed on my shoulder {except mine is not crying, but this is true to the original artwork}

what sweet boys. and the frosting... soooooo sweet.

i recently posted about a giveaway that tille over at shewaitsforwhispers was doing and i was one of the lucky winners!! this was unexplainably exciting to me, and then i received this bundle of treats and i was all squealy and smiley and bouncing off the walls.

this terribly fun package arrived at my house on my birthday, how sweet is that?!

more birthday loot. i like owls, can ya tell??

and get a load of this! my momma ordered me my very own pair of these...

they'll be here in a few weeks and i am on pins and needles.

it was a very sweet week. 

{there's actually more, but i'm saving it for later}

bittersweet

my littlest squirrel is 5 today.

she's growing up so fast.

she's doing such a good job of growing up.

she's not here.

this is the first time i haven't been there when she woke up on her birthday.

any minute now she'll be running up the steps so excited to tell me all about how she's 5 now.

i made orange cupcakes for the occasion.

just the right amount of bitter, from loads of zest

and

just the right amount of sweet, from the best icing i've ever tasted.

thank you chelsea for the recipe.

they honestly are the most delicious cupcakes ever. 

oh, easter is this sunday?!!

this was new information to me when the squirrels came home this past sunday chirping all about it excitedly. i was quite certain it was the sweet treats that had them on pins and needles, but i was quickly reassured that what they wanted more than just about anything in the world was to paint and dye hard-boiled eggs. 

better get to it.

we like to use teas, fruits and veggies for the dye, renders the most beautiful colors over brown eggs, and i was thinking about using blown out eggs this year, utilizing the eggs for a quiche or scramble. last year we learned that none of us are terribly fond of the hard boiled variety.

spoonful is having a bunny drawing contest if you like bunnies and drawing you should enter. this drawing is one i did recently as 'thank you' gift to someone i appreciate an awful lot.

this sunday is also the 2nd birthday of our resident bunny, Otto. isn't he a handsome fella?!

the making of a jellyfish cake and happy birthday jerid!