BANANA POPS

If you’re looking for something to do with all the over-ripe bananas lying around, try this simple-to-make frozen treat: Banana Pops.

1. Cut peeled bananas in half crosswise.  Insert a Popsicle stick into one end and lay on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet.

2. Dump chocolate morsels in a large bowl and melt in the microwave for one minute. Stir.  If they are still chunky, melt for 30 second intervals until creamy. If the mixture feels thick, try adding a tsp. of vegetable oil to thin it.

3. Spread chocolate over bananas until covered. Place in the freezer until chocolate is set.  You can also sprinkle chopped nuts, rainbow sprinkles or coconut over the chocolate before you freeze the pops.

4. Once they are frozen, they can be stored in a zipper bag in the freezer. A delicious chocolate treat and a serving of fruit. What’s not to love?

Crunch Your Greens

KALE CHIPS are a fun way to get children to eat vegetables.  They’re surprisingly easy to make, store well and taste amazing. Even adults who shy away from their veggies will enjoy these low calorie treats.

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Wash kale and pat dry.  Remove the tough stems.  Tear kale leaves into pieces.

3. Coat kale leaves with olive oil and place them one at a time onto the parchment.

4. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in a 275 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes to see if kale is crispy to the touch.

5. Let them cool.  Munch away!  Store uneaten chips in a plastic storage container so they don’t break. These are a great chip with a sandwich or as a snack.  You can eat a pan full with no guilt.  HAPPY MUNCHING!

Fancy Easter Eggs

Here is the link to a fun site having to do with yummy things to eat. There are some beautiful Easter Egg decorating ideas you  can try  or just admire. HAPPY EASTER!

http://www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/holidays/easter/decorated-easter-eggs

Outdoor Fun

Now that the weather is turning warmer, it’s a great time to get everyone outdoors for some adventure and creative play.  If you’re already planning to work in the garden, get older children involved by putting out bird feeders, and planting native flowers and shrubs that attract wildlife. Butterflies love asters, hollyhock, lupine and milkweed.  Hummingbirds love anything red. The Audubon Society has a wealth of information for encouraging wildlife: audubonathome.org/yard.

Keep little ones busy with a bucket of water and a paint brush. Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers can “paint” to their hearts content on sidewalks or driveways with a wet brush and there is no worry about clean-up afterwards.  Add a bit of food coloring to make water colors.

Make clean up fun by collecting sticks and twigs and using them to make tipi’s, houses or for writing out messages.  Make a tic tac toe board and use rocks for O’s and twigs or leaves for X’s.

Where Do You Go For Inspiration?

Learning From a Master

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Florida Keys and spent a day in Key West. Along with a lunch at a fun restaurant called Blue Heaven (A great bartender named Joe makes a fabulous mojito, and chickens and roosters roam among the outdoor tables),I also took the tour of the Hemingway House.  The estate is much the same as it was when he resided there and wrote many of his most memorable novels.

Hemingway's writing studio at his estate in Key West, FL.

The heat was oppressive, thanks to his second wife having replaced all the house ceiling fans with chandeliers. Yet, his writing studio was an oasis that he entered faithfully each morning to begin his work. The manual typewriter still sits on the desk, books line the shelves and a chaise lounge rests against a shady window for those moments when a writer needs to figure out where to go next. It is a beautiful space filled with the things Hemingway wanted and loved. A sanctuary free from intrusion.
Did all that great writing occur because of the place he wrote in? Would he have written as well in a crowded coffee shop or at Sloppy Joe’s Bar? Hemingway visited the bar often and observed the men who came and went each evening. Then he wrote about what he saw the next morning.
My point is this: I know Hemingway did not need a fancy retreat to write Nobel Prize winning literature. Neither do we. But we do need a place where we feel inspired and our mind can roam free to explore the secrets we didn’t know we were hiding. Find your oasis, whether it be a bar, a den, your back porch or the beach. We each know where that place is. For me it is NOT in front of the computer. For me, it is somewhere out in the natural world where a pen and fresh pad of paper are all I need to discover the secrets locked within.
The next time you face writer’s block or just need inspiration, go to your retreat and let the magic begin.

Three Cheers for SPRING!!!

The Inspiration Called Spring

After painting my thoughts from a grey pallet with a cold winter brush, I pick up the same brush and find it changes color like a chameleon. The words coming from its tip are filled with sensory images that wake up the dormant muse. There is no doubt that spring has entered into the picture to spread its influence on my thoughts. How can I stay grey when yellow and purple crocuses wave their tongues as I pass by? How can I be cold when the earth feels warm in my hands? How can I take a breath of air without bringing the scent of grass and hyacinth to my nostrils? Spring is the season of poetry; it is the feast promised after the famine passed. It is the reason birds sing, and the sun shines. It is the reason I pick up a fresh piece of paper and a newly sharpened pencil and bare my soul in words.

Get your children outside on a SPRING SCAVENGER HUNT. Make a list of things to look for as you take a walk through the neighborhood or park. Some possible things to include on your list are: flowers of various colors, different kinds of birds, different kinds of trees/leaves, insects, things popping out of the ground, nests, etc. Or, make it a sensory hunt and try to identify various bird songs, nature sounds, smells from blossoming trees and flowers, taste of newly sprouted asparagus, rhubarb and strawberries.

Celebrate all things spring!

Got Stuffed Animals?

Does it sometimes seem as if your child’s stuffed “critters” are taking over the house?  I found a nifty solution to end stuffed animal clutter.  Hang them on an adhesive backed strip of hook and loop fasteners you’ve attached to the wall. They are within easy reach yet out of the way as well. Be sure to use the loopy side of the strip so the soft fibers of the toys will stick.