Ok, so I have never posted a recipe before but a lot of people have been asking for the recipe for "Uncle Ivan's Nuts & Bolts". I am a visual person so I am including lots of pictures that I took while I was making them. These are a family tradition that we usually make around Christmas time and they are so, so yummy!

Uncle Ivan's NUTS & BOLTS:                                                                             (from Uncle Ivan Fines)

1 lrge. Cheerios

1 lrge Shreddies (or Wheat Chex)

1 lrge Crispix

2 bags of Pretzel sticks (I prefer the thin straight ones by Rold Gold)

1½-2 lbs. peanuts

½-1lb. cashews

½-1 lb. pecans

1 lb. butter

1 TBSP. Beau Monde salt

1 TBSP. Old Hickory Smoke salt

½ tsp. Garlic salt

½ tsp. Onion salt

1 tsp. Marjoram

1 tsp. Savory

You will also need about 3 roasting pans, and some quart sealers or large zip-lock freezer bags.

Mix cereals and nuts in a large roasting pan (I use the big foil ones that you can get from the dollar store).

I got the garlic and onion salts and the marjoram from a bulk food store, savory I already had, and the Spice Islands Beau Monde and Old Hickory Smoked Salt I got in the USA at Wegmans. Now sure where you can get them in Canada but if you google it, you can order them online as well. If you have another source for smoke salt, you could use that instead.

 Sprinkle the spices on top of the cereal mix and then stir them all together.

 Keep your butter in the fridge until you are ready to cut it. Cold butter slices easily into thin slices. You can use a cheese slicer of any type to make it easier. I have a wire one that worked great.

 Cut the butter into thin slices and then put over the cereal mix.

 Place roasting pan(s) in a 250°F oven for 50 mins, stirring often, about every 10 mins. after the butter is melted. When done, let mixture cool down. You can store it in quart sealers or use large ziplock freezer bags. If you use the bags, make sure that you squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing. This actually improves with age....a few days if you can wait that long!

This recipe makes about 10 quarts but it will be gone in no time!! Enjoy!!

An eventful year!

I am still around.....at one point I wondered for how long but that thought didn't last long because the next second I decided that I would be a fighter and a survivor!!
 This past year has been a real roller coaster. Last summer hubby was suffering from gall stones and ended up having 2 surgeries to remove his gall bladder. During the latter part of his situation, I was diagnosed with early onset breast cancer. It has been quite the journey of surgery, chemo, radiation and now recovery. I won't go into details but I am glad to be on the other side of this now.
 I love my family so very much and appreciate all they have done to support me through all of these trials. I could not have done it without them, or without our friends who have helped out in so many ways :)
 I have spent most of my time and energy recovering physically and after the beautiful summer we had here, most of my time was spent outside being creative in our back yard. I will post pictures later on.
 For now, I thought I would try getting back to blogging. I am not doing as much stamping cards or scrapbooking but I am trying to organize my craft room so that I can spend more time in there. Right now I am removing most of my Stampin' Up Stamps from their wooden blocks and using a technique so that I can use them with the acrylic blocks. This is quite an undertaking!! It will be worth it in the end as it won't take up nearly as much space.
 I will soon be going back to work so not sure what my energy level will be like. It looks like I need to update the design of this blog, so that will be fun :)