Scrapbooking - A Year is a Long Time

Scrapbooking.  We have a love-hate relationship.  I love the finished product, but often hate all the time required to get there.  Had I realized, fully realized, how long it would take me to scrapbook my year in Australia, I'm not sure I would have done it.  I've found though that just because I might not do it if I had to do it over again, that doesn't mean I regret it. I do enjoy the crafty, creative aspect of scrapbooking, but sometimes the desire to finish over-rides the desire to be creative.  It's been a long, long journey and I will admit that it was made longer by my procrastinating, but it is nice to be done.  I have one more page that I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with, but as far as photos, events, etc. to be scrapbooked, I'm finished!!   In honor of this momentous occasion I've decided to share a few of my favorites.

If you'd like to see all three, yes, three books, I'm sure I can manage to arrange a private viewing... I contemplated having a travelogue (my Grandma always wants me to have one), but my faithful readers know all about my indecision issues.  Although, come to think of it, a travelogue would give me an excuse to eat Tim Tams and try some of the Australian Meat Pie recipes I found on Pinterest...

Easy Make-Ahead Breakfast

I was reminded a few weeks ago that I have not posted in a while, and I had to admit that it was true.  Life is so much busier when I'm home.  I'm about 90% done scrapbooking my year in Australia, but that last 10% is taking a disproportionate amount of my time...  I did make a trip back to Juarez, Mexico last fall, but I didn't take a computer to blog while I was there.  Anyway, someone asked for this recipe, so I figured I'd post it here and kill two birds with one stone.  The beauty of the recipe is that it only takes 5 ingredients, minimal utensils and equipment, whips up in less than 5 minutes, and is ready to eat the next morning.

  I always mix mine up the night before so that the chia seeds have time to absorb the liquid in the yogurt.  If you forgot to prepare it the night before, just let it sit for about 10 minutes and you should be fine.  You can double the batch and eat it over a few days too!

The trick to this recipe is that most container base to most blender will fit the mouth of a mason jar (regular sized, not wide-mouth).

That's how I have minimal clean-up, it's all done in one container.  Since we use lots of mason jars at our house (my Mom does a ton of canning) we keep plastic mason jar lids around, they're quite handy.  As with most recipe you can change the proportions to suite your tastes.  I've made this with cherries, raspberries, papaya, lychees, just choose what your favorite fruit - the possibilities are endless.

Did you know?  Chia seeds are a great source of calcium, vitamin C, iron, potassium, and Omega-2.  Enjoy!


Un-Granola Peach Yogurt    Serves: 1  Calories: 336

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened, plain, whole-fat yogurt*
1 whole peach (fresh or canned - if using canned, don't add any of the liquid)
2 TBSP chia seeds
1 TBSP ground flax seed
1 TBSP unsweetened coconut

Directions:

1. Pour the yogurt into your mason jar (mine have the ounces marked on the side so it doesn't require a measuring cup) and add a peach (or fruit of your choice).  
2. Add the blade and blender base to the mason jar and blend.  I prefer mine to be a bit more chunky, but feel free to completely puree the two.
3. Remove from the blender and toss the blade and blender based into the sink.  I recommend cleaning them right away so nothing gets stuck, but that's up to you.
4.  Add the remaining 3 ingredients and mix with a spoon.
5. Screw on the lid and place it in the fridge for you breakfast the next morning.

*I make my own yogurt, no sugar, no preservatives, just whole milk & cultures
**You can also substitute yogurt for keifer (same quantity)

Keywords: Grain-free, Gluten-free, Low-Carb, Breakfast, Noatmeal, Healthy

Recipe Analysis provided by SuperTracker.usda.gov - this is for yogurt, not keifer

Total Calories: 336; 11g Protein; 35g Carbs; 15g Fiber; 18g sugar; 0g Added Sugar; 7g Saturated Fat; 2 Monounsaturated Fat; 9g Polyunsaturated Fat