Happy Halloween!

Cleo might spook a few goblins on Halloween but more likely she'll be so spooked tonight she'll not be allowed near the door. I love her bad hair days!

 Several years ago I made this t-shirt, then took it to a class to paint the Halloween design on it. It's fun in the dark as the eyes and the fence have glow-in-the-dark paint.

This sweat shirt has not been worn in years as it is just too hot in Florida at Halloween but it was a fun one to paint back when I doing lots of tole painting. I think the design is from one of Pat Wooster's books.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Reveal Day at Tangled Textiles

Here are some additional photos that I had mentioned over at Tangled Textiles. I had so many layouts to choose from when I decided to do a tic-tack-toe dual of machine vs hand. Here are just a few.

I wanted the hand to win for once as it never wins with me; I always choose the machine whenever possible even though I do want to do more hand stitching. So I struggled with hand stitching the cord until I found a glove made it so much easier. Then I found I didn't like it and the machine won again.

I didn't get to free motion on our last challenge so I made up for it this time. I used one of my hand-dyed fabrics for the back.

And the front finally came together like this ....

Head over to Tangled Textiles and see the wonderful pieces the ladies came up with! I am feeling very humbled by what they have created!

Can Cookies Be Healthy?

I hope so because I've found a new use for some of the okara I have left-over every couple days when I make our soy milk or tofu. Okara is not to be confused with okra the veggie. Okara is the cooked ground pulp of the soy bean, created in abundance if you make soy milk or tofu. A couple years ago we bought a soy milk maker and it has become one of the most used small appliances in our kitchen, second only to the coffee maker. It is SO easy to use, simply add 1/2 cup soy beans and fill with water. Twenty minutes later you have soy milk. From there you can have tofu pressing in less than five minutes. I like to add a little rice or other grain when I'm making milk, and sometimes I'll make almond milk with the same maker. More about my beloved soy milk maker at another time, this started as a cookie entry so back to the recipe ......

 Mix together the following four ingredients:

1 cup okara (if you don't have okara, you can use tofu*)
1/2 cup maple syrup (my favorite sweetener)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix the following ingredients and then mix the wet and the dry together:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup ground flax seeds (you can skip this if you like and add a bit more oats instead)
1/2 tsp salt
2tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins (you could add chocolate chips instead of or in addition to either the walnuts or raisins)

Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. (I'm now using silicone baking sheets so no need to grease them) I press them down a little with a fork dipped in water.
Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 15-20 minutes. Makes about 30 cookies, fewer if you like big ones.
Enjoy!

* My okara has lots of liquid so if using tofu use about 1 1/2 cups of soft tofu)