In Case You're Having a Rough Day: Agave-Chocolate Dessert Recipe - Serves One and Stress Ball - Serves One

Agave-Chocolate Dessert

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of organic, plain, low-fat yogurt

1 teaspoon of organic agave syrup

1 square of fair-trade, organic dark chocolate

Supplies:

1 knife or peeler

small bowl

spoon

Nutrition Information:

Gluten free

Less than 100 calories per serving

Very low fat

Has good bacteria for your stomach made possible by the yogurt

Low sugar

Can be made dairy free if soy, rice, coconut, almond, or other alternative yogurt used

Cost for Ingredients:

About $5.00

Directions:

1) Place the yogurt in the small bowl.

2) Drizzle the agave syrup over the yogurt.

3) Take the knife or peeler (with adult supervision) and carefully shave the chocolate over prepared yogurt.

4) Take the spoon, and enjoy!

This very basic recipe can be manipulated in various ways! Use organic jam and powdered sugar instead, or slice up a banana and add honey and sesame seed on top. The possibilities are endless. Let me know if anyone comes up with anything really exciting!

This recipe was made possible by the break I have been able to enjoy today. The family went to Heidelberg to visit the grandparents for the boy's birthday, which is today. He was so excited, he has been counting down the days for weeks. I do know that the family bought the boy a Nintendo DS as a gift, which is awesome. The boy was sick with a mild flu this week, so he missed Tuesday-Thursday of school, and was better in time for birthday celebrations. Lucky kid.

As for me, I have now officially completed three teddy bears, and one more is about half done. The weather has been absolutely brutal here, as some of you may know. I went to the Galeria Kaufhof again on Thursday for even MORE yarn, and I thought I was going to freeze to death. The mother was trying to tell me to put on more layers and possibly get warmer clothing, but I knew it was too cold. The mother even went for a run in the cold and was saying how beautiful of a day it was because it was sunny and clear, cold, but beautiful. So, to make myself feel better, I decided to check the weather to see how cold it actually was. It turns out it has been in the low teens and single digits for the last few days. Therefore, because I was too cold to go out and do much, I have nothing really exciting to report, other than I went to a new organic store, and bought more yarn. I have a feeling I will have about 50 teddy bears by the end of the summer if I keep this up.

I have been doing a little more with the children, which has made me happy. I have made a stress/squishy ball (directions and picture below) which they found very entertaining, and I have had the opportunity to play various board and card games with them, including the classics UNO and Snakes and Ladders. I'm thinking about having them create their own board game. That might be fun.

That's about it for now. Everything is starting to develop a routine, very slowly. I will have been here a month tomorrow. I will see what kinds of exploration excitement awaits me this February!

Stress Ball

Supplies:

2 balloons, any colors

1/2 cup rice, any type

funnel, if desired

scissors

Directions:

1) Stretch out both balloons, and inflate slightly, then deflate.

2) Take one of the balloons, and if you are using the funnel, insert funnel into the hole. Then take the rice and slowly pour it into the balloon. When the rice start to build up in the long part of the balloon, use your hand to push the rice into the balloon. You will notice that the round part of the balloon will stretch out to accommodate the rice, leaving the long part free to add more.

3) Once all of the rice has been added, carefully (with adult supervision) cut the neck of the balloon off leaving something that looks like the above picture.

4) Take the second balloon and cut off the neck. (Again, with adult supervision. If you are an adult, be careful. I don't want any injuries happening as a result of my suggestions. My grandma always says: "no scissors after 9:00pm." I'm pretty sure that applies for knives too.) Then take the second balloon and stretch it over the hole of the balloon with rice, covering the rice balloon's hole and sealing it shut.

5) Now squish your troubles away!

Note: The above picture is actually three balloons. The children squished it so much that the rice kept popping the thinnest layer of the balloon. And, as you can see in the picture, that still wasn't enough. Normally you can see both colors of the balloons, but in this case balloon and rice.

Have fun experimenting with different ways to do your stress ball! Want to use flour instead of rice for a smoother feel? Or maybe black eyed peas for a lumpier feel? Or how about using three balloons and cutting shapes into the third balloon? Again, the possibilities are endless! Comment if you find a really nice alternative.

Be fun and stress free. Going through life serious and boring is a waste.