Hummingbird Nectar

 

¼ cup white sugar

1 cup water

Directions: Pour water and sugar together in a small pan; stir over heat until sugar dissolves; continue to heat until just boiling. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool completely.

Pour sugar water into a very clean hummingbird feeder. Hang the feeder outside. Change the nectar or sugar water every couple of days. Please do not add dye or food coloring to the water.

Hummingbirds will also eat gnats and fruit flies which they can find on their own.

Enjoy the feathered friends.

Please see below for additional information on hummingbirds:

Backyard hummingbirds in the Rockies

Hummingbird habitat in Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota This is an informative booklet from the USDA with information on plants for hummingbirds and interesting facts such as the male calliope weighs as much as a penny and is the smallest bird in North America.

Audubon

Smithsonian National Zoo 

Grilled Cheese with Olive Tapenade

 

1 slice wheat bread

Jarred olive tapenade or a chopped olive condiment

1 slice Provolone cheese

Directions: Spread olive mixture on wheat bread. Top with slice of Provolone cheese. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Serves 1 person

Notes: Grilled cheese variation 5

The Provencal, South of France, word for capers is tapenas. Tapenade refers to a mixture of chopped or pureed olives, olive oil and capers with additional possible ingredients or different main ingredients. 

 Learn more about tapenade here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapenade

 

Renowned Writers and Illustrators on Blogger (blogspot.com)

     Jenn Harney’s bright and colorful illustrations begin with her most recent project and continue back in time. Her words are delightfully sparse and to the point.

    Mo Willems fun blog, Mo Willems doodles! links to his many other blogs and websites. A number of these sites have games or crafts. My favorite is the link to the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence 2020, Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems! a series of 15 videos which are great for children age 3-12. In these short videos, he teaches doodling and explains how he makes books.

    While Christian Robinson changed hosts a number of years ago, his Moss Covered Blog has colorful illustrations and museum visits.

    A number of successful writers and illustrators use the free, blog publishing service Blogger which Google purchased in 2003; the blogs are published via the subdomain blogspot.com.

Visit Jenn Harney:Jenn Harney

Visit Mo Willems: Mo Willems doodles!

Visit Mo Willems at The Kennedy Center: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/lunch-doodles/

Visit Christian Robinson: Moss Covered Blog

SCBWI: The Blog: The Official Blog of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators: SCBWI: The Blog

Learn more about Google Blogger – blogspot:Blogger.com

Grilled Cheese with hummus and Gruyere

 

1 slice whole wheat bread

1 Tablespoon hummus

3 cherry tomatoes, red and yellow, sliced in half

2 thin slices Gruyere cheese, enough to cover bread

Directions: Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Yields: 1 open faced sandwich

Notes: Grilled cheese variation 4

Oatmeal Vanilla Biscotti

 

½ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 cups flour, divided

½ cup oatmeal

Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, creaming after each addition. Add one cup of flour and baking powder. Cream. Add the oatmeal. Cream. Add last cup of flour and cream. Grease cookie sheet with butter wrapper. Drop dough by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes. For a dryer cookie bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

Yields: 2 dozen cookies

Notes: Rinse eggs with water. Dry. Crack each egg, individually into a separate bowl. Inspect. Remove any eggshells and then add to butter and sugar mixture.

Real biscotti are baked twice. In our arid Rocky Mountain climate, these cookies will dry out in 24 hours although they seldom last that long.