Blooms of Spring, Easter Dessert, and Life!

 Hi again! Of course, I had to take more pictures of all the new life around here! So you can look at some more pictures. :)

Here's our only flowering tree... It's really pretty. :)

 

 

 

This is just a nice spring picture...

 

This field is just so luscious! So green!

 

Those pretty little green sprinkles... :)

 

 

       The woods are also getting a green carpet. Woods... ahh.

      We have these all over! So lovely! :)

(sorry, I like to use lots of smiley faces... it helps me express myself, you know. :) ;) :D )

 

 

 

   So did everyone have a nice Easter? Mine wasn't real busy. We went to church and ate good food. That was about the extent of our "festivities". The kid's did a little Easter egg hunt with "resurrection eggs".

  

  Maybe I should have done a blog post about Easter. I would have thought about it more, then. We really take for granted what Jesus did for us... me at least! It's terrible, but life just happens. Do you all have any suggestions on how you keep in mind these great blessings in life?

 

  Anyhow, here is my quite unhealthy, quite yummy Easter dessert. :) 

  So life? I think I've been having a pretty good time in life lately. :) Being a little more social. We have company, and today I went to town with my sister and her friend... and it was fun! :)

First they got their hair cut. I got to watch. They turned out very nice, too.

Now since my mom, me, and my older sister have all gotten our hair cut recently, we need to get my tomboy thirteen year old sister to get hers cut! (That might be hard) She needs to get some fun layers, or a bob or something... uh, yea.

 

 So after my little rabbit trail, we'll now move on. ;) 

So we also went to a few stores. Including Goodwill, where we tried on some dresses! :) I've tried to get my little sisters to do that with me, but they aren't very adventurous. I'd like to try on even different things just for the fun of it, but they... probably wouldn't. They need to get more fun! Haha! :)

Yea... I went off on another rabbit trail! Spaghetti brain, I think! (before I go on another rabbit trail about this, just comment and ask me if you don't know what spaghetti brains are all about! XD) 

 

 Okay. So we went out to eat at Chick-fil-A! That is a great restaurant, by the way! I got a chicken sandwhich... don't ask what kind! I guess it was like, a spicy kind. It was good. ;) I also got waffle fries and coke. :) Coke is probably my favorite kind of soda. It's good. :)

 

Then we went home. It was just a nice day, and I had fun! Tomorrow I might try out a new youth group, (I haven't gone to my other one in... forever!) so I can get some more socializing in! Please, let my hermit life dissolve! XD

 

 One of these days I want to do a post all about my former home in Minnesota. Memories, pictures, whatever! So you can look out for that. I may not get to it for awhile though...

 

Judge, by R. J. Larson has been really good! Reading! <3

 

So what have you all been doing? Do you have any questions or comments on this post? I'd love to hear from you! :D



Spring Has Come! :)

     Hi everyone! I haven't posted in awhile... we crashed our computer and re-set it all up. I had to get all my things onto my sister's computer (deleting things as well), and I haven't gotten them back on here yet. I had like... 15 gigabytes (or something like that) of stuff in my folder on the computer. Ha. That's kind of a lot. But I have lots of pictures, and those take up a lot of space. 

 

 Anyhow I have a few little pictures of spring from off my camera!

 

  Are you enjoying the fresh new season? (Unless, of course, you live somewhere like Minnesota, where there might be a foot of snow on the ground still. Then you're like, "Uh, spring? I don't see any sign of spring." :D) 

 

 Ok, um, so yea, we have lots of little flowers growing, new little leaves brightening some trees, and also trees with blooms on them. Soo pretty! There are these gorgeous poofy white blossomed trees I see while driving around places, and other flowered trees too. :)

 Well, here are the pictures.     

 

 

 I took these not-too-recently, so spring is a bit more developed by now. I'll have to take some more pictures sometime soon. :)

But isn't that picture up there kind of nice? :)

   
    Some people hate dandelions. But they can actually be quite pretty.

   These two (above and below) are pictures from Minnesota. See the pretty dandelions? :) They're also healthy as tea and such... you know, maybe I should do a post on dandelions sometime. :D And save the talking for later.

 

 

 So... you should definitely expect to see more recipes on here. I may be addicted  stuck to making up recipes for the rest of my life. :) Sound good? Sure.
  Here are some things I tried recently-ish. Potato pancakes\patties, double chocolate cream cheese mug cake, a "carrot cake" oatmeal smoothie, something that turned out kind of like a mini applesauce pannukakku (Finish pancakes), something like berry baked oatmeal in the microwave... there may be more, but, this might be boring for you anyhow. I don't need to name them all. :D So expect to see some of these on here sometime. ;)

 Anyhow, I should go. Have a happy Easter! :)  

Banana Prune Oatmeal Smoothie

  Hey, I have another oatmeal smoothie recipe here! :) This is a sweeter one, and it's good. And just so you know, this makes a lot more than the amount in the picture. ;)

BANANA PRUNE OATMEAL SMOOTHIE

______________________________________________________

 1 banana                                       

 1\2 cup oatmeal                             

 1\2 cup milk                                

 1\4 cup water                                 Throw everything in to the

 1 tbsp honey                                  blender and blend until smooth.

 1 tsp vanilla                                   Enjoy! :)

 1 tsp cinnamon

 1 prune

 a few walnuts

______________________________________________________

Other Oatmeal Smoothies Recipes:

Peach and Cinnamon Oatmeal Smoothie              Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

Blueberry Almond Cheesecake Oatmeal Smoothie

Book Review: Prophet

 I've already said that I finished this book, I'm pretty sure, but I haven't posted my review. So, that's what I'm doing today. 

 I wrote this review on Goodreads, and it turned out delightfully long... :D I'm kind of proud of it. :) I changed it a teensy bit, but its pretty much all the same as it is on Goodreads... sorry if its kind of badly written or something. :D

Anyhow, here's the review! 

Prophet, by R. J. Larson

 rating: 5 out of 5 stars

  Ela Roeh is just an ordinary seventeen year old girl living in the city-state of Parne. She loves her family, and the Infinite, the one true God; and she is also pledged to be married.
But when the Infinite asks Ela to become his prophet, she has to make a life changing choice. Why would she, only seventeen and a girl at that, become a prophet? Especially with her temper. And what's more, Parne's prophets usually die young.
Her decision leads her into danger and uncertainty that calls her to have strong faith and trust the Infinite, even if it means death.

Prophet, by R. J. Larson was a very unique and interesting book! It reminded me of lots of different fantasy books I've read at certain points, which is pretty cool. :) 

This book had faith! Being a Christian allegory, its set in a fantasy world with different kingdoms, and the creator of it all, the Infinite, who represents God. This book is also like a Bible-time prophet retelling. They seem to kind of wear Bible time clothes and there are even chariots. :) Back to the book's faith, this story teaches us to follow God and His plans for us, no matter what the evil people in this world might do to us. :) 

This book had adventure. There were deadly creatures, dangerous confrontations with corrupted rulers, near assassinations, and battle. :) 

There was even some romance! <3 Dearly sweet, too. I love the couple in here!

As for the characters here is some of what I thought of a few of them.

Ela is one of the best female characters I've read of. :) She had faith and trusted the Infinite, but she still struggled with fear and feeling unworthy. She wasn't perfectly strong or anything. She got flustered over the certain charming young man in this book! ;) She had a temper, but it didn't really annoy me... she didn't always get so mad at the hero of the story. Sometimes... She really kind of reminds me of Briana from the Viking Quest Series. (She's also a character with a temper that isn't annoying or anything :D) Anyhow, Ela was a very wonderful character!

Kien Lantec... *swoon* Ok, yes, I love Kien. He is kind of like Kaden from The Ilyon Chronicles, by Jaye L. Knight. He's more fiery, and he is charming and teasing... :) He's just so wonderful! <3 One part with him brought tear to my eyes. (view spoiler) Anyhow, he is wonderful also!

Tsawna, Ela's little sister, is a nice character too. :) And her favorite Pet, the giant destroyer horse. He is also a worthwhile "character", who brought more interest and humor to the story. :) 

There were other good characters, of course, like Tsir Aun, Tek Lara, Jon, Kien's sister, the rebel leader... :)

I recommend this book to... teen and up? There was romantic elements, like a kiss; there was violence- like a battle where giant horses ran around trampling people... and stuff. There was quite a bit of death, of course. A vision of a massacre, too. The violence really wasn't too bad, but you do get the picture of what's happening. 

So a lovely, worthwhile book with a purpose, and characters to love!! :) Now I must read Judge! :)
_______________________________________________________________________________

  So yes, if you like fantasy read this book- its good, and I believe it can be read by both genders. :) 
  
  I've started reading Judge, the second book. It kind of has a retelling of Jonah from the Bible... which is like, cool. :)

 On a random, still bookish note, today I went to the library and got a book full of the Grimm Brother's fairy tales, and a book full of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales! I read the Grimm Brother's Snow White, (Snowdrop, really) story. The queen was even eviler than any version I'd heard. But it was interesting enough. :) I want to read The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Anderson. I think the movie Frozen is based off it, and it would be interesting to read. :)
I've listened to some of the Grimm Brother's fairy tales, also.

  Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this bookish post! :)

(sorry about the totally irritating highlighting! It's too late to fix it now, but maybe I will another time)

2-Minute Berry Cream Cheese Mug Cake

   Hey, I have a new recipe here... It's a healthy "mug cake", with berries and cream cheese. :)

   Besides being a snack, I think this would work well as a breakfast... maybe with an egg and some bacon beside it. :)

  

  

   Making this in a mug, (or tea cup) is kind of fun. :) And easy. Especially since this one only has to cook in the microwave for two little minutes. :)

BERRY CREAM CHEESE MUG CAKE

                                1\4 cup oatmeal                            3 tbsp. milk

                                3 tbsp. flour                                  1\4 cup mixed berries

                                1\2 tsp. baking powder                 1 egg

                                1 1\2 tbsp. coconut sugar             1 tbsp. cream cheese                                       

                                2 pinches salt                               1 1\2 tbsp. honey 

                                1\2 tsp. cinnamon

________________________________________________________________________________

 

 Mix all ingredients except cream cheese in a bowl.

Pull the cream cheese apart in small chunks and mix into the other ingredients.

Grease a glass coffee or tea cup and pour the mixture in. *

Cook in the microwave for 2 minutes.

* This may not need to be greased. But by greasing the cup, it should make the cleaning easier, and you can also take the cake out of the cup if you want.

Banana Oatmeal Garbanzo Bean Muffins

     Healthy flour-less, nut free muffins... for a yummy breakfast!

       I decided to try making muffins with garbanzo beans. I've eaten muffins made with black beans, and they're quite good... So I made up this recipe, and it turned out great! :) 

BANANA OATMEAL GARBANZO BEAN MUFFINS

______________________________________________________

15.5 oz can of garbanzo beans

2 bananas

3 eggs

2 t cinnamon

1 t b. powder

1 1\2 t b. soda

1\2 t nutmeg

1 C oatmeal

1\4 C coconut sugar

2 1\2 T honey

1\4 C yogurt

1 t vanilla

______________________________________________________

Blend in a food processor until smooth. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners and fill with batter about over 2\3's of the way up.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 17 minutes

______________________________________________________

OTHER MUFFIN (OR CUPCAKE) RECIPES:

  

      Plum and Lemon Cupcakes

    Cheddar Cornmeal Muffins