No-Bake Granola Bars

My favorite things about this recipe: ease to make, availability of ingredients and delicious-ness.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats or steel cut coats
1 cup ancient-grain cereal blend (I use Cheerios + Ancient Grains or just Cheerios)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey

Once you have put together the base ingredients (up to salt) then you can get creative.  Since we have a massive amount of pecans from our pecan trees (we picked 58 pounds last year!), I put in 1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup craisins.  You could do pistachios, almonds, raisins, dried fruit, shredded coconut... do what your family loves to eat! I only add in 2 extra ingredients because I try to keep the calorie count low.

Then, combine the creamy peanut butter and the honey in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook 2-3 minutes until the peanut butter melts and stir frequently.  Pour over the ingredient bowl and mix well.  Spray a 8x8 pan with Pam and put in the mix.  Pat it down and make it as flat as possible.  Put the whole pan in the freezer for 15 minutes or so and then cut it into even pieces.

Pumpkin Yarn Wreath

Happy Fall friends!  Today's blog post is a simple DIY Pumpkin Fall Wreath.

Supplies needed:
-Large bag of cotton balls
-2 spools of yarn (choose your favorite color orange)
-Hot glue gun
-Grapevine wreath
-Twigs from outside

1. Wrap the yarn around the cotton balls.  Start wrapping around semi-tightly until you cover up most of the cotton ball.  Then finish it off with a dot of glue on the end of the yarn.

2. Once you have completed a large amount of yarn cotton balls, start placing them around the grapevine wreath.  For the most part, I did 2 x 2s  around the grapevine wreath.

3. Once you have glued all of the yarn cotton balls to the wreath, break down some little twigs to make the pumpkin stems.  Add a dot of hot glue to the stem and stick it into the cotton ball.

4. Add acorns (I did this because I ran out of the yarn) and/or a bow.  Totally up to you. I think it looks splendid with no bow at all!

5. Hang up and enjoy!  I love the versatility of this wreath because I can leave it up through Thanksgiving.

I'd love to see your versions of this wreath.  You can post a comment with a picture or email me: wbthompson2004@gmail.com.

Happy Fall and Happy Crafting!