Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast Brainerd Minnesota

hanging out laundry

I do love laundry flapping in the breeze. A rope tied around two trees, a retractable line, or permanent wires stretched taut between poles. That part doesn't matter. It's the act of hanging out laundry to dry in the freshness of nature. (One of my go green postage stamps wisely advises us to "let nature do the work.") It's recreating an era before automatic dryers. It's the cozy feeling it elicits... like oven mitt-covered hands removing a rhubarb strawberry pie or a pan of oatmeal raisin cookies from the oven on a rainy day. (One of my go green postage stamps is a    

Growing up, we didn't own a dryer. So, it was out of neccessity that we utilized a clothesline. I vividly remember the scent of lilacs as I hung laundry outside in the springtime, as a large bush grew at each end of the poles. When we installed our clothesline, I knew it must have lilac bushes... one at each end. 

black star hens

To prepare for the arrival of a flock of hens, that a local farmer raised from baby chicks for me, I loaded our shop vac and an extension cord into my wheelbarrow and headed to the chicken coop. Cobwebs daintily draped every corner. So very pretty glistening in the sun streaming through the windows, but they had to go. Since we don't house our hens over the winter, and trees shade the coop during the hot summer months, a few sporatic pieces of cardboard insulation hugging the coop's interior walls weren't necessary and they were in nasty condition. So, with chisel and hammer, I pried lathe loose that held the ragged cardboard insulation in place. Before I knew it, I had a huge pile of debris. Oops. I may have approached my task a wee bit aggressively.

The coop did look so much cleaner and apparently the boards that I had removed were not structurally crucial, as the coop hadn't toppled to the ground. To complete my cleanup, I inserted clean straw into each nesting box, spread pine shavings on the floor for bedding, filled containers with water, feed, grit and oyster shells, and opened a window to freshen the air. Oh, yes. I'm ready.

And here they are. My six 18 week-old Black Star Hens. Pearl, Flossie, Olga, Phoebe, Cora, and Henny-Penny.

A Black Star is a first-generation hybrid chicken bred from a Rhode Island Red Rooster and a Barred Rock Hen. They are bred to be superb egg layers that lay five to six large brown eggs each week beginning at 19 1/2 to 20 weeks old. The adult males (roosters) are black with white barring, while adult females (hens) have gold feathers on the neck and breast. Black Star Chicks of both sexes are black, but a white spot on the head distinguishes the males. Hybrids, such as Black Stars, are not recommended as breeding stock because the chicks will not retain the same characteristics in future generations. (It's like saving seeds from hybrid vs. heirloom plants. Seeds collected from heirlooms for replanting in successive years will produce plants true to their parentage. Hybrids do not. New seed must be purchased each year.) I have no rooster and don't intend to hatch chicks, so this breed is a good choice for me. The only problem I have with my hens being hybrids is that man has messed with nature. We do too much of that.
    

potato planting complete organic fertilizer square foot gardening

I plant seed potatoes on May 20th, my father's birthday. It's what I've done since I began to garden. Because as kids, May 20th was the marker that gauged when our parents began garden planting here in central Minnesota. Seedlings were not transplanted into the ground until after Memorial Day due to the risk of a late spring frost. Upon the death of my father in 2005, at the age of 94, my sister Rita and I have planted seed potatoes each spring on May 20th in honor and remembrance of him. Today, I prepared for tomorrow's potato planting. You were with me in my garden today, Dad. You guided my hands as I cut each potato, just as you did when I was a young child. You knelt beside me as I prepped the soil and marked the planting plot. You reminded me to lay the cut side of each potato gently into the earth so as not to sever any sprouts. Your back no longer caused you pain as you worked alongside. I chatted with you about some new methods I had learned in my gardening books. I was in no hurry to plant seed potatoes just to say I had completed the task. No, it was the time spent with you today that was important. What a sweet time it was. We didn't put a single potato into the ground. That is for tomorrow.

Growing up, potato planting involved the entire family. It began with cutting potatoes, leftover from winter cellar storage, into chunks with 2 to 3 "eyes" in each piece. An eye is a bud where the stem will grow from. The natural blue pigment in these purple potatoes provides extremely high levels of anthocyanin, which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Blueberries and blackberries are good sources of anthocyanins, too. 

In addition to a purple variety, I also chose to plant red, white, and blue potatoes. Look at the size of the white seed potatoes that arrived in my mailbox! A special gift from my sister, Rita, is a "Bintje" Seed Potato that was developed in the Netherlands in 1905. I will make a special marker identifying its place in my garden.The potatoes have begun to sprout, so now I will allow my seed potato chunks to "cure" for a couple days before planting to allow the cut side to heal to lessen the risk of the potato rotting in the ground. According to Ithaca, New York's Cornell University web site, curing isn't necessary if soil is well-drained, has plenty of oxygen, and soil temperatures are between 50 and 65 F as these conditions promote rapid healing in the ground. In my case, curing isn't essential because... 1)My soil isn't clay so it doesn't hold excessive water. 2)A week ago, I spread well-decomposed compost and cow manure onto the soil then turned it into the ground with a spade to aerate the soil. Incorporating compost or manure loosens the soil better and lasts longer than turning just the soil. 3)My soil's temp is 68 F.  

To amend the soil, I made Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) following the recipe in Steve Solomon's Gardening When it Counts. The fertilizing mix, which is made entirely of natural substances, supplies the plant's requirements for nutrients and boosts the nutritional value of the garden vegetables that I harvest. I combined 4 parts seedmeal, 1/4 part agricultural lime, 1/4 part gypsum, 1/2 part dolomite lime, and 1 part bonemeal and spread it on my garden's soil at a ratio of 4 to 6 quarts of COF for each 100 square feet of raised bed. For easy measuring, I used a one-gallon (4-quart) ice cream bucket. Solomon stated that, "Complete decomposition of COF takes about two months in warm soil during which time nutrients are slowly and steadily being released." He suggests side-dressing seedlings with COF a few weeks after they poke through the soil, or when they are transplanted into the garden, then repeatedly side-dressing the plants every 3 to 4 weeks throughout the growing season. I highly recommend adding the books, Gardening When it Counts and Square Foot Gardening, to your gardening resource library.

Finally, I pounded nails at one foot intervals into the wooden frames housing my raised beds and stretched twine across the length securing it to the nails. This formed my garden layout as described in Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening. My son-in-law, Patrick, notched his wooden frames at one-foot intervals instead of using nails. I envision a more efficient removal of the string markings than my method. I will plant one seed potato chunk into each one foot square. Tomorrow.  

 

spring cleanup split rail fence

Over the years, our wooden fences have begun to return to the earth from whence they came. One such fence had stoically held its place in time well beyond what one can ask. It was weary and pleading for a replacement. Also, the bittersweet vines that the fence supported had become entangled and dead branches prevented new growth from tapping into the plant's maximum energy source. Side by side, Dick and I breathed new life back into what had become a scene reminiscent of Miss Havisham's mansion in Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations or the beyond overgrown garden described in Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel Secret Garden. I meant to take a before photo,

but the fresh rails and end posts and the pile of dead twigs and leaves we removed tells the story.  

cherokee wisdom

An old Cherokee told his grandson,

“My son, there’s a battle between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil.

It’s anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego.

The other is Good.

It’s joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, and truth.”

The boy thought about it and asked,

“Grandfather, which wolf wins?”

The old man quietly replied,

“The one you feed.”

                                                                                                -Author Unknown

earth day 2012

How encouraging is this article from Mother Earth News?! Did you know that you can support the wind power initiative by signing up with your local power company to donate money (you decide the amount) to be added to your billing statement each month? You won't know exactly which wind turbine(s) you are funding, but you can be proud to know that you are part of the solution towards less reliance on fossil fuels. Dick and I have been doing this for five years now. Maybe, just maybe, we can change the course of the short-sighted, destructive path we are on and collectively reap the benefits by individually doing our small part to alter the bigger picture. 

Dear Friends, For Earth Day this year, we're excited to share an inspiring new report about the remarkable shift to renewable energy that is now under way across the globe. While much of the news we hear about the environment is doom and gloom, in this article Lester R. Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, outlines how rapidly renewable energy options are developing – especially wind and solar power, but also electric vehicles, hydropower and geothermal resources. Brown demonstrates that a transition is now well under way from an economy built on fossil fuels to a world powered by renewable energy. In the long term, this is great news for reducing air pollution, slowing climate change and building an economy that is independent of ever-more-expensive imported oil. And the global renewable energy boom means thousands of new jobs in the coming years. For example, most of the electricity in the United States currently comes from burning coal, which is a major cause of climate disruption. But as astonishing as it may seem, Brown points out that coal use is already on the decline. The United States is actually burning less coal than we were just five years ago. Meanwhile, the growth of wind power is astonishing – electricity from wind turbines is increasing by 40 to 50 percent a year! If we make a full commitment to renewable energy, Brown writes, by 2020, the world could produce all our electricity from solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal, and we could phase out fossil fuels. "For the first time since the Industrial Revolution began," he says, "we are investing in sources of energy that can last as long as the Earth itself." Click here to read Brown's article. Happy Earth Day! Cheryl Long, Editor in Chief For the MOTHER EARTH NEWS team

natural egg dye

For Easter, why not have fun with natural egg dyes instead of food coloring? Tumeric powder produces a bright yellow to deep gold color, red cabbage-blue/teal, yellow onion skins-light peach to gold/orange, grape juice-blue to purple, red beets-magenta red, red cabbage and tumeric-green, red cabbage and beet-purple, and red onion skins-pale celadon green. The natural egg dye recipes, with directions and hints, use items you probably already have in your pantry/fridge and, if not, they'd be worth a trip to the store to purchase them. The recipes are from Lakewinds Natural Foods Co-op with stores in Minnetonka, Anoka, and Chanhassen (Minnesota). I used brown eggs since that's the color my "Red Star" and "Black Star" hens lay. The colors may vary a tad if you use white eggs. Also, how long you leave the eggs in the dye will determine their color. I left mine overnight in the fridge to work their magic.

I had some raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar in my fridge as well as some rice vinegar, but I couldn't resist the "Got eggs?" label I spied on a white vinegar bottle sitting on the grocery store shelf.  Egg dye instructions call for white vinegar anyway. Does anyone know why? Why not apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar or rice vinegar? My daughter, Heather, has dyed eggs naturally with her daughters, too, and she suggested wrapping rubber bands of varying widths around the eggs as a quick way to create a pattern. As you can see, it works very well. Notice the egg in the upper right hand corner. It gets its speckles from pieces of chopped red cabbage setting on the egg while it's soaking in its water bath. I purchased the cardboard box with dividers at a huge Renninger's Antique Extravaganza held in Mount Dora, Florida three times a year. It's always the 3rd weekend in November, January, and February.

This closeup gives you a better perspective of the unique beauty of the eggs's speckles and swirls of color. Let your creative spirit flow and try new and different combinations of veggies, fruits, and seasonings. Heather used spinach. I will try that next time.

I conducted an experiment to see if the egg dye bath had enough color left for a second go-round.  As the photo above attests, the color comes out just as pretty as the first time. I used nonboiled eggs for the test group. Afterall, how many boiled eggs can one eat?! My bed and breakfast guests may be greeted with boiled eggs on their breakfast menu... in colors of the rainbow! Note: I initially published this post on Saturday, March 22, 2008. After four years, it had gotten buried so deeply within my blog that I decided to dust it off and bring it to the forefront once again. 

zakka fabric easter baskets

My initial zakka fabric basket rapidly transitioned into mass production... kachunk... kachunk... kachunk, as I envisioned Easter baskets for each of my five grandkids.

A cowboy and Indian theme for my two grandsons...

A bunny theme for two of my granddaughters...

and a nature-inspired basket for my eldest grandaughter who is a child of Mother Earth.

 

The bunnies and dining room set is made by Calico Critters.

 

 

sausage artichoke bolognese with sun-dried tomato bread

It was dinner hour, or supper if you live in the Midwest as I do. It was perfect timing. Not that I had anything to do with the timing. It just happened. I had stopped by the grocery store to grab a few items and the aroma of the evening's skillet meal wafted through the aisles. In a mini kitchen, strategically located in a heavy traffic pattern, a chef prepares a meal then doles out samples. Ingredients are stocked close at hand so shoppers can grab-n-go and duplicate the meal at home. The recipe's title, sausage artichoke bolognese with sun-dried tomato bread, and its ingredients, had a gourmet flair... and the sample was wonderfully flavorful. Perfect for guests that I was expecting at my table in a few weeks. After closely scrutinizing the jars' labels and not seeing any questionable ingredients, I gathered my supplies.

Cook the ziti pasta. Brown the sausage. Open the jars of flame roasted peppers, sun-dried tomato pesto, and marinated artichoke hearts. Add along with the few remaining ingredients, heat, and eat.  Quick and easy. Time left over to serge the edges of a piece of fabric for a tablecloth and pick a wildflower bouquet... or prepare a fresh salad and cheesecake for dessert, as the chef suggested. 

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Sausage Artichoke Bolognese

16 oz ziti pasta

3 (4 oz) links frozen chicken Italian sausage, thawed (I used 3 frozen Shelton's Turkey Italian Sausage Links that contain no artificial ingredients and the poultry is raised humanely.)

2 tbsp olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

1-12 oz jar roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped

2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I used a 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano.)

1 (12 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained

3/4 cup sun-dried tomato pesto

3/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

2 tbsp Italian parsley, coarsely chopped (I used 2 tsp dried parsley.)

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup Kraft Three Cheese Blend (Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago)

Prepare pasta according to package directions, then drain. To remove sausage casing, butterfly by cutting almost in half lengthwise then turn sausage over and peel casing away. Brown crumbled sausage in oiled skillet until no longer pink then add garlic, peppers, tomatoes, artichokes, and pesto. Cook 3-4 minutes or until heated. Stir in cream and olives; Cook 2-3 minutes or until sauce reduces and thickens slightly.  Stir parsley and pepper into sausage mixture. Top pasta with sauce (or mix it into the pasta), then sprinkle with cheese. Makes 8 servings. Recipe suggestion: Layer with lasagna noodles instead of ziti pasta. 

Sun-Dried Tomato Bread

Preheat oven to 350. Coat baking sheet lightly with oil. Unroll 1 can French bread dough onto work surface and coat with pesto, up to 1-inch from edge. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp cheese; roll lengthwise. Place on baking sheet, seam side down; sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp cheese. Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden. Note: I taste-tested this bread in the store, but it was a bit doughy and made with white bleached flour, so I didn't make it at home. I liked the flavor, though, so I'm going to experiment with a loaf of fresh whole-grain French bread.     

   

homemade mounds candy bars

I know what you are thinking. Yes, I can hear you. As much chocolate as she (that would be me) eats... Hmmmm. If you have been following my blog with any regularity, you know that I have had a run on chocolate recipes in the past several weeks-chocolate banana squash (or pumpkin) pudding, oatmeal date brownies, chocolate beet cake, and today... homemade Mounds Candy Bars. The key is ingredient choice and moderation in consumption. The consumption moderation is more difficult for Dick than me, therefore ingredient choice is paramount. Recently, Dick has experienced a side affect that directly correlates to his chocolate consumption-a speech impediment.... specifically an inability to speak clearly. Most recently it occurred as he was passing through the kitchen as I sat at my computer placing an online order for sprouting seeds. I asked him to check my green snow pea and daikon radish inventory. His mumbling was indecipherable, so I reluctantly headed to the kitchen to complete the task myself. I knew in an instant. He had been into the mounds bars... again. I was relieved. His speech impediment was only temporary.

Homemade Mounds Candy Bars

2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup liquid sweetener (e.g., agave, maple syrup, or corn syrup) I chose agave and reduced the amount by half, so I used half of 1/3 cup.

1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted if it's not already in a softened state

1/4 tsp salt (I omitted.)

7.5 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted (I used 1/2 of a 3.5 oz bar Green & Black's Organic 70% dark chocolate.)

Toss the unsweetened coconut, liquid sweetener, and salt (if using) until it's evenly coated. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. Finally, mix in the coconut oil. Mold the mixture into a cylinder (if you prefer authenticity) or a ball and place on a plate or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until firm. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or a bowl placed over hot water. With a spoon, roll the coconut balls in the melted chocolate until they are completely covered. Allow excess to drip off, then put them on a plate to dry. (Note: To make Almond Joy Bars, place a whole almond on top of the coconut ball, then spoon chocolate over top allowing it to flow down the sides.) Recipe adapted from The Wannabe Chef Blog.  

A bit of history... According to Hershey's website, Peter Paul Manufacturing Company began selling Mounds Bars with sweet coconut and dark chocolate in 1921. Almond Joy Bars came out in 1946 and included milk chocolate, coconut and whole almonds. After the Peter Paul Company merged with Cadbury in 1978, Hershey's took over the company in 1988 and continued to make Peter Paul Almond Joy Bars.
 

 

 

homemade crockpot yogurt

An email from my sister-in-law, Julie, about making homemade yogurt spawned a journey that eventually led me to A Year of Slow Cooking Blog for directions to make yogurt in a crockpot. On a regular schedule for several years now, I have been making heated yogurt using a yogurt maker as well as unheated yogurt using a direct-set powdered starter and a propagated mother culture, but this is a new method for me. I love its simplicity but, most importantly, the milk is heated to a lower temperature (145°-150° compared to 170°-180° in traditional heated yogurt-making) which helps to maintain more of the milk's nutritional integrity.

Add 1/2 gallon (8 cups) whole milk (raw unpasteurized or pasteurized but not ultra-pasteurized) to crockpot set to low setting. Cover and heat for 2 1/2 hours. (Note: The milk's temp in my crockpot is 145°-150° after 2 1/2 hours.) Unplug the crockpot. Leaving the cover on, let it sit for 3 hours. (Note: The milk's temp in my crockpot is 120° after 3 hours.) Remove 2 cups milk and whisk with 1/2 cup store-bought plain yogurt with live active cultures like Stonyfield or Dannon. Heidi over at 101cookbooks.com recommends Stonyfield yogurt because it claims to have three additional "live active cultures" (making a total of six) including L. Acidophilus, Bifidus, L. Casei, and L. rhamnosus. Add milk and yogurt mixture back into milk in crockpot and stir to combine. (Note: The milk's temp in my crockpot is 113° after adding the refrigerated store-bought yogurt.) Put lid on crockpot and wrap with a heavy bath towel. For additional insulation, I chose to wrap a quilted mattress cover around the towel. The elastic edge folds over to enclose it in a tidy package. Let it sit for 8 hours. If you normally go to bed at 11:00, start the yogurt-making process at 5 p.m. and it'll be ready to rest overnight wrapped cozily in its covering while you sleep for 8 hours or so. You'll have fresh yogurt waiting for your breakfast. (Note: The milk's temp in my crockpot is 93°-96° after being wrapped for 8 hours, so you can see it has held its heat very well.) You can save 1/2 cup of the present batch of yogurt as a starter to make the next batch, if you like, but the strength of the cultures decline after several batches then you need to go back to adding 1/2 cup store-bought plain yogurt. My yogurt maker's instruction booklet says "no more than 5 consecutive generations because the active cultures in each successive batch will diminish over time." This yogurt isn't as thick as store-bought yogurt, but you have two options. 1)Toss out preconceived notions about what yogurt "should look like" and enjoy every bite of its amazingly fresh, unadultered state. (Stonyfield adds pectin for thickness.) 2)After chilling, strain the yogurt through a cheesecloth-lined strainer placed over a bowl in the fridge to collect the liquid byproduct (whey), then whisk it briefly. The end result will mimic the thickness of Greek yogurt. Don't toss out the whey. Use it in your smoothies. Dick's and my favorite way to eat homemade yogurt is to top 1 cup of it with one diced apple, 1 tbsp raisins, 1 tbsp finely chopped walnuts, and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon. We eat this most every day.

wonky doll quilt

For one of my granddaughters, I got a little doll bed from Ikea.

It needed a quilt. So, I made one from fabric scraps.

When I showed it to my daughter, Jessie, she suggested my granddaughter might want to "turn it wonky" when she covered her doll lying in the little bed. I looked at her strangely because I had never heard that term used before, so I thought she had made it up. She often made up silly words when she was a little girl. Do you believe wonky is word? It really is! It means lopsided and crooked. Jessie explained that if my granddaughter lay the quilt wonky (lopsided or crooked) on her doll's bed, the quilt pieces would be positioned straight. Because of the bit of fun she was having with me, I dubbed it a wonky quilt.

chocolate banana squash (or pumpkin) pudding

It's the color of Jell-O brand chocolate pudding. It's the consistency of the familiar boxed mix. But is it Jell-O Instant Pudding and Pie Filling? Hmmm.

Let's look at the ingredients in a box of 5 Minutes to Homemade Jell-O Instant Pudding and Pie Filling, Chocolate Flavor.

Ingredients
Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Disodium Phosphate (For Thickening), Contains less than 2% of Natural and Artificial Flavor, Salt, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate (For Thickening), Mono- and Diglycerides (Prevent Foaming), Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Artificial Color, Bha (Preservative).

Now, compare it to the ingredients in this recipe. Discussion closed. Well, not quite shut tight. For me, a noteable exception to the use of Jell-O Instant Pudding is a refrigerator dessert that I have made sporatically since my grown kids were little. Now, it has also become a favorite of my son-in-law. There are exceptions. Let's be real here.   

Chocolate Banana Squash (or Pumpkin) Pudding

1-15 oz can pureed squash or pumpkin

2 ripe bananas (ripening increases sweetness) 

2 tbsp baking cocoa

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Whirl all ingredients in a blender.

For sheer enjoyment, here's a You Tube video of a 1950s T.V. commercial advertising Jell-O instant pudding as a "busy day dessert." 

 

fabric owl garland

My 10 year-old granddaughter loves nature and my 6 year-old grandson had recently studied owl pellets* in school... and I live to sew. So, I organized some supplies in an old muffin tin and began to add details to fabric owls that I had stitched on my sewing machine. Black button eyes and ivory-colored embroidery thread beaks for the barn owls. Yellow button eyes and black embroidery thread beaks for the great horned owls. Dark brown button eyes and yellow embroidery thread beaks for the barred owls. Oh, yes. I had done my research. Because my grandkids would surely know these things. *What are owl pellets? Owls lack teeth so large chunks of prey are swallowed. The meat is digested and the bones, feathers, and fur are regurgitated in the form of a pellet. By examining the bones, it is possible to determine what rodent the owl ate.

 

Tree branches were strewn about my floor as one owl after another began to perch upon them, clinging to twigs by their embroidery thread "talons," in preparation for their cross-country trek to their new home. Strung onto a piece of jute to form a garland, I suggested to my grandkids that they might want to cluster some of the owls into groups of two or three, then hang them across a window and add a tree branch for authenticity. (Enlarge for a closer view.) 

My owls are an adapted, flattened version of plump ones created on the Moonstitches blog. You can find the plump owl instructions here and a variation of my flattened version here. Are you familiar with the book Flat Stanley? The story is about a boy whose bulletin board flattens him one night while he is sleeping. At first he is sad, but then he finds all sorts of things he is able to do because he is flat. One thing he can do is fit into an envelope and travel through the mail to visit friends in faraway places. When my granddaughter was in kindergarten, each student was instructed to send "Flat Stanley" to someone for a week's adventure then he was to be mailed back to the kindergarten class with a letter (and some optional photos) telling of his adventures. Because they are flat, these owls can be easily sent through the mail on an adventure just like Flat Stanley. If you receive an invitation from your child's or grandchild's class to take part in a Flat Stanley activity as I described, wouldn't it be fun to make some of these flat owls to incorporate into Flat Stanley's adventure at your house? What excitement it would generate with the kindergarten students when the envelope was opened to discover that not only had Flat Stanley returned from his adventure but a "parliament" (group) of owls had accompanied him!

oatmeal date brownies

A "clean" brownie recipe for your guilt-free enjoyment. Oatmeal Date Brownies from Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking by Roz Denny and Christine Ingram. The secret of these moist, chewy brownies is not to overbake them.

Oatmeal Date Brownies

5 oz dark chocolate (I used 1-3.5 oz 70% dark chocolate bar.)

4 tbsp butter

¾ cup quick-cooking oats (I have used regular oats and I have also used my Bosch flaker attachment to process oat groats which produces a slightly thinner product than regular oats.)

¼ cup molasses sugar (I have subbed coconut crystals and rapadura.)

3 tbsp wheat germ (I sometimes use ground flaxseed.)

1/3 cup milk powder (I store Organic Valley non-instant dry milk powder in my freezer for occasional use such as these brownies.)

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ cup walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup dates, chopped (I have subbed figs, too.)

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

Break the chocolate into a pan set over very gently simmering water. Add the butter. Heat just until melted, then allow to cool. Oil a square cake pan. (I lined an unoiled pan with natural, unbleached parchment paper.) Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk dry ingredients, walnuts, and dates together in a bowl. Add beaten eggs and vanilla  to chocolate mixture. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Pour the mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until it is firm around the edges yet still soft in the center. For moist, chewy brownies be careful not to overbake them. When cool, cut into 16 squares.