"You got a game going somewhere Pal? Well, you're not gonna bowl any strikes sittin around here are ya? Beat it." Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I had to throw out that Uncle Buck reference. "Gotta brand new Bronco, red". It's the Pal thing.
I just posted a comment on facebook about a family prayer experience that I found fun. As we were kneeling down for prayer last night I invited Jack to kneel down next to me as follows, "Come kneel by me Pal". He did and while so doing Andy said "Can I be your pal too?" I replied "Sure" as he came up and knelt on the other side of me. Natty Sue was offering the prayer and in the middle of it Jack says to me "Hi Pal". I know this is probably not very funny to anyone but me, I started to laugh in the prayer - what an irreverent father I am, I know. Anyhow, Natty was probably wondering what was going on but she managed to continue on with the prayer just fine. She is my pal too. It is always nice to have prayer with your pals. My fb comment was a little condensed but basically the same. It was a moment I found joy in as a father gathered with his children and I wanted to record it. I am grateful for these wonderful kids. As much work as it is being a parent there are moments of joy that pull you through. I am grateful for those moments.
Yesterday I wanted to make my own version of nutella. I love that stuff but have a problem with it. For those that don't know Nutella, it is a chocolate flavored Hazelnut spread and it is delicious. The problem is that the number one ingredient in this hazelnut spread is not hazelnuts. No, it is sugar and a lot of it. In 2 tablespoons of Nutella there are 22 grams of sugar. I need a sugar free substitute which there is not and thus my desire to make my own. I ran into one problem yesterday, no hazelnuts. I decided that I would try with almonds for my first go round and then pick up some hazelnuts later. I was using my standard oster mixer and came up with a concauction that was rather disgusting actually. It was nothing like butter at all. If Peanut Butter were sold as extra crunchy with very little creamy I would have it but, no.
I mentioned it to pops last night and he suggested that the Vitamix I have would do it no problem (for clarification, I have the vitamix but no lid so it has been sitting on a shelf in the pantry. I have never actually used it so it was not on the top of my mind). He was right. This afternoon I knocked out a batch of almond butter that I sweetened with splenda, added cocoa, added more splenda (don't forget sugar is the number one ingredient in Nutella) and we were just about there. Oh, helpful hint for nut butters; 1 tablespoon of oil for every cup of nuts. The splenda wasn't quite hitting it so I decided to add just a hair of honey as a sweetener. That was a good choice. The bad choice was I saw the vanilla when I got the honey out and thought a dab of that would be good. Ultimately had I left it there it probably would have. I had a little Natty Sue telling me I needed to add cinnamon to the mixture. I didn't think it was a great idea but I sprinkled a dab. Ummm, mistake. Have you ever had Mexican vanilla? Yeah, did that to my beautiful almond butter. What a shame. Oh, I have kept it, Natty loves it. She wants more.
It may be time to bring out the hazlenuts and lose the cinnamon. Mmmm, sounds delicious, eh pal?
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