We had a visitor this morning. I was washing the dishes and saw this moose having breakfast outside our kitchen window. Penelope and I watched it for a little bit until she caught us and came up to the window to get a better look. I decided to shut the curtains and leave the LARGE curious animal alone...

Penelope and I made granola today. I cleaned out the pantry and scrounged up ingredients I thought would make some good granola.

Homemade Granola

3 Cups of Oatmeal
1 Cup of dried Banana
1 Cup of dried Pineapple
1 Cup of shredded Coconut
1 Cup of chopped Mixed Nuts
1/2 Cup of Sunflower Seeds
1 Cup of Chocolate Chips plus a handful for good measure. ;)
About a teaspoon of Nutmeg
About a teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 Cup of Coconut Oil melted
3/4 to 1 Cup of Maple Syrup
We also added some Salmonberry syrup for an Alaskan twist. :)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and make sure all the dry ingredients are well coated. Spread mixture about 1/2 inch thick on a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil. Bake in oven for about 40 minutes until golden brown. Remove and let cool. I then turned the entire cookie sheet over on a large cutting board and lifted the foil off and broke into pieces and placed in an air tight container.

This should keep for a couple of weeks, it's great for snacking or as a topping on yogurt. You can add any type of dried fruit or nuts that you like. Raisins and Craisins are a great addition. You can also play around with the seasonings adding whatever you think sounds good. I used coconut oil because I had it but you can substitute the coconut oil for Canola and substitute the maple syrup for honey and add a little brown sugar. Dark chocolate and dried cherries would make a yummy addition or maybe you want to add some peanut butter or mini marshmallows although these would probably give it a more chewy texture. The possibilities are endless. By the way Penelope loved her granola and I had a hard time getting her to stop eating it, she kept asking for more.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day today. It was just going to be Penelope and I this year but we got a surprise visit from family which made today even more special. Here are a few pics of Penelope opening her Easter basket and one taken down at the beach after brunch at Lands Ends hotel. Thank you Grandma Robin and Grandpa Hank for driving down to see us and for Penelope's new wardrobe!

Penelope's Alaskan Sunflower

Look at what Chris and Penelope brought home for me the other day.

Pretty!

My theme for MTM was Circles & Squares. Muffin Tin Mom is no longer doing official themes.



Bald Eagle

For the last couple of days it's been snowing like Christmas. That didn't stop some Alaskan surfers from hitting the waves in Kachemak Bay. Yes, Alaskan surfers!
We didn't spot any bikinis though...

Here is Penelope's bento for today. She had tri-color pasta that I added butter, Parmesan and Asiago cheese into. She also had meatballs, olives and edamame on skewers.


She loves edamame and was very excited about this lunch. She said "I eat beans everyday!"

Today's storytime theme was rainbows. Penelope created a rainbow mobile and rainbow necklace made out of Fruit Loops. Guess what Penelope requested at lunch time? That's right cereal! So I decided to go ahead and go with it and made her a colorful breakfast lunch bento.