Beads and Baking

After high school I worked many odd jobs to make ends meet.
I spent a year working at a bead store.
I was an assistant manager but since there were only 2 of us there it was merely a courtesy.
I loved it there.
I got paid to play all day.
To let my creative juices flow and help people design jewelry and such.
I was sad when it closed down, but it takes a lot of beads to make a mortgage payment.

My beading enthusiasm has been re-perked and we have been creating many great new beady things.


How about this cake tester?
Why I never thought of this before is beyond me!!
I always use wooden skewers but now I have a fancy metal one with a cool design on top.
Much more sophisticated don't you think?
Hey do you want one?
Let me know.

This is a cutey necklace I made for E tonight. She picked out the beads and was having trouble stringing them so I picked it up and added a bit of a pattern.
It looks just ducky on her.

Yet another bracelet to add to my newest craze collection.

Sometimes if I reallylike something I go bit overboard.

The best part is when I get tired of these I can cut the strings and put them back into the bead collection for another time.

Or how about a beaded book marker.

I can never have enough book marks with all the nooks I go through.

This one is easy to use and fun to look at.

It'll look great sticking out of a good book , wouldn't you think?

Or for something un-beaded, how about this sneaky little mouse book mark?

I thought it was cute when I saw this idea online somewhere, so I had to make one for myself.

And now for the baking of the day.

I am doing a soup article for Our Big Earth this month and had to come up with a few new soup recipes.

Since tomatoes are growing like mad in the garden, it seemed a no brainer to come up with a new variation of an ole stand by.

I made some deliciously easy tomato soup by roasting some cherry tomatoes with garlic, olive oil and salt, then blending it all up.

Easy as that and the kids just loved it.

And for my favorite recipe of the day....

Zucchini Coconut Almond Bread

This recipe is so delicious I had to share it with you.

It is super moist and full of texture and flavour.

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or any pan you desire. I used mini loaf pans and it makes a wonderful snack sized loaf.

Toast almond, or nuts of choice and chop coarsely. Set aside.

In another bowl grate 1 cup of zucchini and 1/2 of an apple and mix together and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.

In another bowl mix with a hand blender 1/2 cup oil with 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla until well blended.

Add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Then add the toasted nuts and 1/2 cup coconut.

scrape batter into prepared pans and cook for 40 -50 minutes depending on pan type.

Place on wire rack to cool before removing from pan.

Enjoy savouring these lovely morsels.