Homemade Hummus

Or, as RT would say, "humorous."

We eat a lot of hummus in our house.  I love it.  My kids love it, too.  I put some out with carrots and celery.  It makes a great after school snack.  Healthy, too!

It isn't too difficult to make.  Throw a few ingredients into your food processor (you can use a blender if you do not have a food processor) and you are done.

Just for kicks, I put mine in a hummus container from Trader Joe's.  It works for me.  It also explains to everyone what is in that container.

Here's the recipe I use, taken from "From a Traditional Greek Kitchen" by Aphrodite Polemis and a little updating from me.

Hummus

16oz chickpeas(garbanzo beans) cooked
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1-2 Tablespoons Tahini

Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend.  Should come out creamy.

*I usually just use 1-2 garlic cloves. 




You can try adding different ingredients:  great northern beans,  kalamata olives and roasted red peppers.  I have made zucchini hummus (great thing to do with that abundance of zucchini from your garden)

Scary-Journey's Halloween Craft - SPIDER!

Spider. 

Spider. 

SPIDER!!!!

Definitely a scary thing if you don't like spiders.  I'm not a huge fan of them.  I was a little scared with this one, but, it was Bella doing the craft.  I just stayed away and snapped a few pictures.  (and helped out with the glue gun)

Supplies needed:
2 black pipe cleaners
glue gun
google eyes

We didn't have 2 black pipe cleaners, so we used the black/brown striped pipe cleaners.  I figured they would look like a spider.  (the yellow and black might have creeped me out)

This one is pretty easy.  Take your one pipe cleaner and twirl it into a circle.  Start at the end, then wrap it around and around.  I didn't get a picture of that part, but, you will be able to see in this picture what we did.

 See how it's a circle?
 
Take the second pipe cleaner and cut it into 4 pieces (in equal length, if possible).  These are going to be the legs of the spider.  The circle part you just made will rest on top of the legs.  You will have to bend them a little so the body can rest on the legs.  This is where the glue gun comes in handy.  Glue the legs onto the body.  Like I said, you should have 4 sets.  Bella did not want to use the fourth set for some reason)  Maybe it looked a little too real? 
Again, we did not have Googly eyes, so, we improvised and used our hole punch and punched out a couple of white circles, put little black centers and glued them onto our spider.

feel free to add a mouth or fangs

almost looks innocent here

AHHH!!  Attack of the scary spider!

24 Hours in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin - The Outtakes

You know more happened in our 24 hours than I wrote about in my last post.  I put all of the nice things and pictures in my original post. 

I thought I would share just a couple of the outtakes with you in this post.

When we went out for breakfast, I was sitting in a booth right next to this vase with (artificial) flowers.  Since there was no room on the table, it was pushed to the wall right by me and felt like it was in my face.  A whole meal with a big bush of flowers in my face.  Oh, joy.  It was so annoying that I took a picture of it.

 When it annoys you, take a picture of it.  Thats a rule, I think.

At the same restaurant, they had this poster at each table telling us how sweet potato fries have arrived.  I've been waiting so long for their arrival that I did a little dance right by our table.  Again, I felt the need to take a picture just so I could share it with you.

I know you're excited about it, too

go ahead, dance!

Finally, my last share of the trip, Alex went to use the bathroom before we left.  He comes out and says, "What happened to the soap?"  Turns out that RT had taken the bar and packed it.  They throw them out, so why not take it home and use it?  (reduce, reuse and recycle)  Alex wasn't too happy.  He said we could have waited until we were done.  I said I was glad that he was going to wash his hands.  (no, he wasn't happy with that comment and, yes, we got him some soap)

As you can see, we enjoyed our 24 hours in Lake Geneva, glad I could share it with you,  and we look forward to going back soon. 

Scary-Journey Halloween Craft - Mosaic Pumpkin

You know I can't do a Halloween craft week and not include Mosaics!   Especially now that you know how much I love mosaics.

Again, this is an easy craft.  A little work in the beginning, but, easy for young ones to assemble.

Supplies:
Orange construction paper (cut in squares)
green construction paper (cut in squares) (you only need a few of these)
scissors
glue
pencil
sheet of paper (we used a white piece of paper)

                                   

Using your pencil, draw a HUGE pumpkin onto your piece of paper. Don't forget to add the stem!   Gather your orange and green squares, put some glue down on your pumpkin and start filling it in with the squares.  Isn't this fun? 

I'm hoping you're enjoying mosaics as much as I am

and, here's your pumpkin!  Cute, huh?

You can make this scary by adding some black squares (tiles) and giving your pumpkin a scary face.

Bella and I had so much fun that we decided to make a ghost, too.  I  know, two mosaics in one day!  What can be more exciting than that?

We used black construction paper for the background (to give it a scarier effect).  Using white chalk (I could only find yellow) draw a ghost on your paper.

 This looks like the ghost in Pac-Man.  (for those of you youngin's, that was a video game back in the 80's).  Anyway, moving on...

This time you will need white paper cut up into little squares (don't worry if your squares are not even).  Put some glue down and start tiling.

this is fun!

Of course, Bella pooped out after awhile and I had to take over

To finish up the ghost, I cut out glued on some eyes and a mouth

Another fun and easy halloween craft!

BOO!

24 Hours in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

We took a quick (24 hour) little getaway to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  We stayed right in the heart of downtown Lake Geneva at the Mill Creek Hotel.

It was a little chilly when we got there, so, we bundled up when we were walking around town.  We had a couple of kids (Alex and Bella) with us (and a friend of Alex) and all they wanted to do is hang in the room or at the pool.  They did enjoy the workout room, too.

a view of the pool and hot tub

Here are some pictures I took of the lake and the marina

love sunset on the lake pictures, don't you?

close up of the fountain

courtesy of Mr. Artsy Photographer

Mr. Artsy Photographer, himself

The next day, we went for a hike in the Kettle Moraine State Forest.  It was a beautiful day!  And the fall colors were just breathtaking!

The trail was REALLY wide.  We could walk all together if we wanted

No, we didn't do that.

The kids think that going on a hike means racing to the end.  The key is to walk at your own pace and they will turn around and come back to find you.  Yea, can't lose them even if you try.  :)

the trail

  Out hike was cut short because we made a wrong turn.  Not hard to do when paths are not clearly marked.  Turns out that turn we made was a little cut through.  We still walked over a mile.

(if only you knew how hard it was to get this picture)

 I would like to go back, without whining children, and do the nine mile hike. 
Loved the fall colors. 
God's artwork is beautiful.

Scary-Journey Halloween Craft - Pumpkin Magnet

Bella did just about all of this craft, except for drawing the pumpkin.  This craft is pretty simple and won't take that long to complete.  Great little craft to do with little ones (as long as you cut out all of the parts before you start).

Supplies needed:
Orange paper/foam
green paper/foam
black paper/foam
scissors
glue
magnet

We used foam for our pumpkin magnet.  Again, you can use paper.  You could also try felt and make a nice soft pumpkin magnet. 
I made a template for the pumpkin and traced onto orange foam.  I had a green triangle piece of foam that we used as the stem.  (always good to try and use what you have on hand)

 It gets a little difficult now.  Make sure you read all of these instructions carefully. 

Once you have cut the pumpkin out, you have to start thinking about the face.  I had Bella draw out what she wanted on a piece of paper.  She was pretty specific with how she wanted the mouth.  I drew a template out on paper.  I know, me and my templates.  But, hey, when it's not your craft, you want to be sure it looks right for the artist designing the artwork.

I cut the black foam out and....breathe now...we're almost done.  Bella glued on the pieces for the face of the pumpkin. 

Phew.  Didn't think we would make it.  Oh, and we glued the magnet to the back and put it on the refrigerator. 

There!  You made it!  I knew you could do it!

You can make this as scary as you want with the facial features.  The mouth with the teeth showing, is Bella's scary version.

 

Scary-Journey's Halloween Craft - Bat Pencil Cup

I thought Bella could get everyone into the Halloween "spirit" by doing some crafts with me.  She's always up for the task of doing a craft. 

Today we made a bat pencil cup.  Very easy project, just allow some time for the paint to dry.

Supplies:
empty can (soup or vegetable can)
black paint
paint brush
google eyes
black construction paper
pencil
white paper or white foam

First up is paint your can black.  Easy enough, right?

(see the foam Christmas tree from last December's crafts?)

Let it dry.  In the meantime, draw some bat wings on the black construction paper.  If you need help, just "Google" how to draw bat wings.  There are several tutorials.

nice wings!

 

 Or, you can just free hand it like me.  Batman, if you ever need help with your wings, let me know!

I couldn't stop singing the "Batman" song. 

Ok, back to our craft.

Once the paint is dry, glue the bat wings (that you have cut out) onto the back of the can.  And a couple of small black paper triangles (for ears) of the top front of the can.

Glue on some google eyes.  We didn't have google eyes so we made our own eyes using red and blue sequins.  Since this is our "scary" craft, we cut out a couple of small white triangles from the white foam (you can use white paper) for fangs

And, you are done!