Here are a few picture of our shop in progress. We are going to be opening Mid June. We will be having our grand opening July 3rd and 4th. The Tinkers will be there on Saturday the 3rd. It should be great fun. You can visits our website for more info at o-gelato.com. Or if you are in Santa Fe come see us at the DeVargus Center on Pasea de Peralta.

OK, I have a rule that I try to follow (we all cheat now and again) that you can’t have junk food unless you make it yourself. My reasoning for this is that it might be less than healthy but at least I know what every ingredient in it is.

A also love convenient foods (who doesn’t) but I am a food snob and won’t compromise on taste. There are those Sunday mornings when I just want that extra 15 minutes of sleep. These are the mornings I love instant oatmeal. My 10 year old can heat up water in the microwave and make his and his siblings breakfast. (What can I say I am a lazy mom)

Plus oatmeal is cheap even the organic stuff. And if you lucky you might even be able to get local oats. So here’s how it works. You need 3 cups of instant oats (I always make a double batch). Take one cup and grind it up in a food processor or blender until it is powder. I then add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 TBSP salt and 1/4 cup cinnamon. Blend this together in with the grown oats in the blender. Now there are two options:

First you can package this into individual bags with 1/4 cup instant oats and 2 TBSP of the powdered mixture.  To make just add to 1/2 cup hot water and let stand for a minute.

Second, You can put the powdered mixture in a container and the instant oats in another and tape instructions to the top.

I normally use the second method mostly because I don’t want to pay for the baggies or do the extra work. But I do occasionally package it up for things like camping. You decide what works best for your family.

There are also all sorts of variations. Try adding nuts, dried fruits or other seasonings.  Have fun and enjoy your Sunday morning.

I don’t know about where you are but it is snowing again. We have had snow every few days since Christmas. It has been a white January.

The kids have build snow forts, gone sledding at Hyde Park and all in all had a really good time. Even Dave has gotten in on the fun.

I saw a thought provoking article on Yahoo today about the environmental impact of our pets. I don’t know about everyone else but our little Mia is part of our family and I could no more discount her for her environmental impact anymore than I could my children.

I mean I try to be aware of our impact but to not have a pet because of it’s carbon footprint is jut not logical to me.  We buy pet food that is meat based but the meat is free range and we supplement veggies, scrap meat and raw bones in her diet.

She helps teach my children about love an responsibility, not to mention how much we all love her just because.

Here is the original article. I would be interested in hearing other opinions on this.