Bee Lesson for the day...

See this....blow the pic up and look at it closely.  It is NOT a bee.  Stop calling it a Bee.  Stop saying..."those bees are driving me crazy."  It is a yellow jacket.  It's mean.  It will sting you over and over again.  It will eat your ice cream, your pizza, your steak.  It will drink your soda.  They will buzz around you this time of year constantly.  It is not a bee.  Yellow jackets will sting you over and over again.  They are carnivorous.

 This is what a bee looks like (below)  These are honey bees.  They eat nectar in flowers.  That's it.  Honey bees will not eat your ice cream, your pizza or your steak.  If they sting you, it's because they felt they needed to defend their hive.  They will sting you one time, and die.

And guess what else yellow jackets will eat.
Yup
A honey bee :-(

Cindy Bee

A recipe using HONEY!

I have a recipe for you using honey!

Toast bread.  

Spread peanut butter on bread.  

Spread honey on bread.  

Slice an apple.  

There you have it!

BREAKFAST!

(teehee)

And if you have a bit more time...here is another recipe using honey. 

(I will post entire recipe below pics so you can copy and print if you want to)

I got the recipe from the box of Hodgson Mill Unprocessed Wheat Bran (but I made a few changes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease 9x13 inch pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, butter, and vanilla; blend well.

Stir in oatmeal, oat bran, wheat bran, sesame seeds, walnuts (optional) and salt

Press mixture evenly in prepared pan.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until light brown.

I melted some chocolate chips.  I always use the stove top and a pan instead of the microwave.  I don't always use a double boiler.

 I stir the chocolate the entire time.  It's important to stir it so that it does not burn.

 

I drizzled (or spread) the chocolate on the granola bars AFTER they came out of the oven.

 You MUST let the granola cool completely before cutting or they will crumble.  

They are a bit crumbly anyway. 

 Yields 24 bars.  They are delicious peanut butter yummy goodness.  I prefer them WITHOUT chocolate.  I know...I can't believe it either!  I felt they were too rich with the chocolate on them.  Maybe I just used too much chocolate.  A drizzle would have been ok.

Chewy Granola Bars

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter, crunchy

1/2 cup honey (their recipe calls for corn syrup)

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 tsps. vanilla

1 1/4 cups oatmeal

1 1/4 cups Oat Bran

1 1/3 cups Unprocessed Wheat Bran

2 Tbsps. sesame seeds

1/2 Tsp salt

I added a handful of walnuts (optional-original recipe doesn't call for walnuts)

I also added the chocolate (but prefer them without)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease 9x13 inch pan.  In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, corn syrup, butter and vanilla; blend well.  Stir in oatmeal, oat bran, wheat bran, sesame seeds and salt.  Stir in nuts (optional)  Press mixture evenly in prepared pan.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until light brown.  Cool completely before cutting into bars.  Yield: 24 bars.

 Enjoy!

Cindy Bee

 PS.  Can someone tell me how to put my :Cindy Bee" Facebook page on my side bar using one of the gadgets?

More randomness....

I'm liking these random posts!  

I posted the story on the house blog about our house in town and what happened to the offer.  It's at the bottom of this post.  And our realtor called us last night, and he has an offer on our house! We'll know more this evening.  Cross fingers and toes!

 I'm crocheting a hat and enjoying it.  Yes I still have my ripple blanket that I'm working on.  I had to try out this new yarn, and I needed a little 'to go' project.  I'm learning this rib stitch in crochet.  Fun!

We have lots of apples on our trees.  And they do not LOOK perfect.  But they make the best apple pies, and apple dumplings!

 I made the pie

 

Mom made the dumplings.  Thanks Mom!  It's tradition in our family for Mom to make these for us.  I freeze them.

Here is something I learned from our neighbor who is hands down THE BEST GARDENER! 

 He gave me these apples about a month ago.  He said they are "transparent apples."  And he said he picked them up off the ground, that I need to cut around the bad spots, and they will make the best apple pie.

 HE

 WAS

 RIGHT!

This pie brought tears to my Shug's eyes!!!  He ate three pieces that night.  I'm going to get a transparent apple tree.  Never heard tell.

I will be canning apples later in the week.  

 Something about slicing apples and watching movies on laptops just go together!

 Oh yeah...what I learned from Kenny.  I used to leave the apples on the ground.  Now I use them for pies! 

I'm also letting my bees clean out the supers I extracted honey from.  I'm putting these supers away for the winter.  Don't know if I'll be extracting any more honey or not.  I was SO BURNT OUT for awhile, that I said I wasn't going to extract any more honey.  I just needed a break.  I'll be getting back in the hives to see what's up, one last time before closing them up for winter.  If I NEED to extract, I will. 

 (hear that Vickie)

 I did set up a booth at our town's First Friday event and at Groovy Girl Yarn's sidewalk sale last weekend.  Both days were successful.  I took my beekeeping hat and let kids try it on and ask questions.  They loved it.  I was invited to two other events!

 Speaking of kids....This one makes me laugh!  How did he do this?  (This is the baby I used to watch!)

More produce randomness.  Our neighbor Kenny gave us peaches

 and corn. I froze the corn and we are eating the peaches! I have a question for you peeps.  Think about this.  And I've done it for years....until this year.  You know how you put up corn, right?  Well, most people put it in freezer bags to freeze it.  But the corn is hot when you put it in the bags.  Isn't that bad for you to put hot things in plastic?   

 Lastly, I came home to two pee spots yesterday.  Dixie's bed got moved to inside a cage.  When I'm gone, the door gets closed.  He doesn't even seem to mind.  He goes right in it and sleeps. 

 What's up in your life?

Cindy Bee