Teaching Kids New Tricks

During a recent visit to Georgia, I bought my eight year old granddaughter a bag for her new yarn, crochet and knitting needles. I'll do anything to keep things tidy and in one place.

Hopefully, to be found again later, before the kid gets married and leaves home.

Some of her favorite colors.

It was pretty slim-pickens for boy colors, but I wanted my six year old grandbrat to give it a shot too, so I picked this blue.

Last year, I showed them how to knit, which wasn't an easy feat. I figured wielding just one weapon... er... needle, might be easier.

Here's this one, getting a feel for it.

I think she liked it!!

Oh, yeah!

Please ignore the blue painters tape. This room is always being redone.

Maybe they were hoping I'd do it. Yeah. Like that was gonna happen. I was there to play with the grandbrats. And play we did!

I love the expressions on her face.

Such a sweet smile.

I think when I'm crocheting, I have a disturbing pinched look on my face.

(That's being kind.)

She picked up speed and wouldn't stop. She was 'hooked'. Pun intended.

Finally that one was ready to give it a shot.

He was a real sport and tried.

And tried.

I'd started it off for him, so he would get an idea of how it's done and what it's supposed to look like.

It never looked like that again.

He wanted to know if instead of blue, they sold 'camouflage' yarn.

'Cause he's a tough-guy, after all!

I told him I'd never seen it anywhere.

The next time we went shopping, look what caught his eye in the yarn section!

Camouflage yarn. Who knew?

There's never a dull moment with this kid.

Same shirt, but a different day and a different location.

She even has two crocheted bracelets.

Her idea was to crochet a big ol' honkin' rope that reached all the way to her mailbox!

She thinks she's getting close!

Another day... and many, many, many more stitches!

She wanted to see how far she'd gotten.

Pretty far.

Pretty darn far!

Not quite to the mailbox yet...

But pretty darn close!! Tomorrow's another day, kid. Awesome job!!

I got the urge too, so I made these little accessories for the otherwise naked bear.

Besides, those guys were busy crocheting and I had nobody to play with!

B.O.R.I.N.G

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Raw Food, Desserts And Green Smoothies - For Kids.

As some of you know,

we have our five year old grandson and seven year old granddaughter

with us for two weeks.

My plan is to try to feed them only raw/living food during that time.

We start our mornings off with a green-smoothie.

These are the ingredients we used that day.

(A handful of each of the greens and three cups of water.)

When I make them for myself, I don't use as much fruit and add more greens,

but kids like a sweeter taste, or getting them to drink it is like pulling teeth!

I use a BlendTec high-speed blender and I love it!

The thing is a real work-horse!

For more information and to purchase this blender,

please go to Cathy Silvers' wonderful, informative website.

A green-smoothie is not the most attractive drink in the world,

but boy, does it give you energy! It's good health, waiting to happen!!

For detailed information about the health benefits of green-smoothies,

there's none better than the website of "The Raw Family".

(But finish reading my blog first!:)

This one likes them...

and that one likes them.

Even this one!

This is our eleven month old granddaughter, tasting a green-smoothie for the first time.

She kept reaching for more!

(The picture was taken in Georgia, three weeks ago.)

Later, our granddaughter wanted to play "Restaurant" and be the 'server'.

Her brother was the 'customer'.

She introduced herself and pulled out her pad and pencil, to take his order.

She asked the 'customer' many, maaany food-related questions,

and was pretending to write down his answers on her pad.

Her customer just wanted to eat.

Seriously.

Yay! Finally!! The order has arrived!

The 'server' decided to take her break early and have a bite as well.

This is a great-tasting, healthy breakfast or snack!!

Recipe:

A handful of nuts of your choice. (Not almonds, unless they've soaked for a couple of hours.)

A handful of pumpkin seeds, or hulled sunflower seeds. (Or both.)

Grind in a food processor. (Not too fine.)

Pour in a bowl.

Add a handful of raisins.

One cut-up, seeded date.

Add a few shakes of Cinnamon.

Stir.

Serves two.

Slice a half of a banana on top. (Or an apple, peach, whatever.)

If they're not looking I add a little water instead of 'milk'.

(I know, I know - it sounds gross, but it's still delicious!)

If they're looking, I add a 'small' amount of store-bought oat milk, or a nut milk.

You can make your own nut milks, but I've been too busy lately.

Later that day, he and I made a cabbage-salad for lunch.

We added pine nuts for protein.

(I just love this picture. Could those little legs be any cuter?!:)

We made our own yummy salad dressing... for kid's taste-buds.

Recipe:

Two T. Tahini

3/4 C. Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 C. Olive Oil

1/4 C. Agave Syrup

One T. Lemon Juice

Blend it in a food-processor, until it's smooth.

(Mom and Dad, if you're reading this -

it's unplugged and he's not allowed to put his hands in it!:)

He asked me if he was "a good cooker". He loves helping. So does she.

They both had a huge bowl of this and asked for seconds!

Making raw desserts is always fun!

But when you're tired and have a kid yackin' in each ear,

concentration seems to go right out the window - and you screw up.

We were attempting to make "Chocolate Covered Bananas",

from Ani Phyo's awesome book, "Ani's Raw Food Desserts"

(This is the "Liquid Chocolate".)

Even though I read the simple directions - twice,

I thought the "Liquid Chocolate" needed to go into the refrigerator to cool, before using it.

Wrong.

That made it too hard to roll the bananas in,

so he had to use his fingers to put 'globs' of hardened chocolate on the bananas.

By the looks of him, I think the scenario went like this:

one glob on the banana - one in his mouth,

one glob on the banana - one in his mouth.

Then the banana was rolled in the remaining ingredients and a healthy dessert was born!!

Later, after dinner and a bath, she enjoyed a nice piece of watermelon.

He, on the other hand, decided to chuck the whole raw-food thing...

and opted for a dead chicken instead.

Don't be a chicken -

Try raw foods and green-smoothies!!

Signing off for now,

gabriele