Sound Bites & Snap Shots

In preparation for St. Nick’s arrival, the boys put their shoes in front of the fireplace last night.  The funny thing is that I forgot that St. Nick’s day was today and I kept harping on the kids to put their shoes away.  Silly me!

At any rate, this morning Walker and Mason discovered that St. Nicholas surprised them with tickets to see Alton Brown when he comes to Evansville.  After seeing him in Louisville, we know he puts on a great show.

The next exciting gift of the day came in the form of the spending time in Walker’s Language Arts class.  All of the students had to do a TED talk to present the findings of their passion projects.  Walker delivered his yesterday on North American Martyrs.  He was well prepared and poised.  Public speaking is one of his talents.  I will say that having heard him practice his talk many times, yesterday’s rendition was slightly different that the others. He had so much to share about the impact of the martyrs that while the basic content of the talk remained the same, some of the supporting details changed from version to version.

I was fortunate to be able to visit the class for both days.  I really wanted to hear what everyone else had been studying for the semester.  Their talks were recorded and are available here.

The last gift was getting to do something special for Walker’s teacher.  She was a good friend long before she donned the Language Arts hat and I wanted to do something special to surprise her on her birthday.  I made her a double batch of granola but not my usual recipe.  This version is a low carb recipe that I found on a lovely knitting blog.

I’m posting the recipe here for reference.

2 cups of chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, filberts, pecans, etc.)
1 cup seeds (sunflower and flax)
2 cups coconut flakes
2 egg whites
1/3 dropper of liquid stevia
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• In a mixing bowl, combine the chopped nuts, the seeds and the coconut flakes. In another bowl, beat 2 egg whites until stiff.  Then add 1/3 dropper of liquid stevia, 2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Fold this egg white mixture into the chopped nuts and seeds. Spread onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake at 275 for 45 minutes then let cool.

The person who posted this recipe has a daughter with Type 1 Diabetes and has to count carbs.  By her calculations, 1/2 cup of this granola is about 1 carb. (Regular granola can be upwards of 25 carbs for the same amount).