{create} almond butter

See that below? The chocolat-y goodness in the picture? Absolute bliss.

That is chocolate almond butter. Homemade. It's so good, so easy, and you can control the ingredients. The latter is a huge priority in our home right now.

Chocolate Almond Butter
Ingredients:

• Almonds (raw or roasted. whatever your preference. I use raw.)
• Chocolate bar (again whatever your preference. the chocolate above was 90% dark.)
• Sweetener, optional 

{Quantity is completely up to you. For this recipe, I used about 2 cups of raw almonds, 1.5 oz of super dark chocolate and a touch of stevia.}

Method:

1. Pour almonds in your food processor.
2. Let process, scraping down the sides as necessary. Friends, be patient here. This will take awhile. This batch took about 15 minutes. First the almonds will form a meal, then will start to form the butter. Keep processing until you reach desired consistency.
3. While almonds are processing, melt chocolate in the microwave, or in a double-boiler on the stove.
4. Once almond butter is at the right consistency, add in your melted chocolate and sweetener, if using.
5. Process until completely combined.
6. Transfer to air tight container and pop in the fridge.

We use almond butter on pancakes, in smoothies and sometimes by the spoonful for a quick snack. The great part about this recipe is it's flexibility. Add in whatever you're in the mood for: coconut, cinnamon, honey, cocoa powder, snickers, etc. I used a chocolate bar, because that's what we had on hand.

Enjoy! :)

garden, year 2

I'm back with year two of my garden adventures. Last year was my first year growing food, well, anything really. So I was excited this spring to branch out a little and get a little wild and crazy with the garden. Well, wild and crazy for me. And then the rains came. And didn't stop for about 3 months. Oy. Naturally, my little garden freaked. It was drowning! But I'm happy to report that the sun has come out finally, and we had our first harvest:

Spinach (oh yum), green onions and two of the cutest strawberries ever. Oh and they were delicious as well.

Source of the strawberries.

The wild and craziness this year was experimentation with seeds. I know not all the crazy, for experienced gardeners, but this novice has never grown from seeds and was little nervous. My neighbor is a great gardener and talked me into it -- and has patiently answered all my questions. Such as, how do I know when to pull up my carrots? Or beets? I tried to pull up an onion the other day. Not so much ready yet.

We have rogue cats and squirrels in our neighborhood that delight in torturing me digging up anything I plant. So up went a little fence to protect my seeds. It worked like a charm! Above, carrots and onions (from seed!).

Beets. Are they're leaves gorg? And, round 2 of cilantro. We lost round 1 in the great spring flood.

Swiss chard. Yum. This one I started way later than the other seeds, so it's a bit smaller. I'm itching to start harvesting! {Please disregard the pesky weed poking his head through. He's been properly disposed of.}

Tomatoes! We had some major tomato problems last year. After a lot of research, I found a few ways to change up my soil. Crossing my fingers it works and I have healthier tomatoes this year.

We unsure if round 1 basil will make it. Isn't that just so sad!

I know other parts of the country have had their own weather woes this spring. How are your gardens? What are you growing?

oh etsy

As I tagged another favorite in etsy yesterday, I realized I have quite a great collection of *favorites* right now. 

A few lovelies:

vessels and wares

teal and gold

  mel bomba

teal and gold

 house of six cats

 dear colleen

I'm pretty positive all of these would feel right at home in my house.

What about you guys? What are some of your current etsy favorites?

{inspired} summer solstice

Happy summer friends!

 aina

I am so excited to *reveal* our new improved front yard to you. Unfortunately, mother nature isn't cooperating.

we heart it  

We're still in the midst of lots of rain {which is great for all my new plants!} and mid-60 degrees temps. Um, we're pretty much in the midst of fall!

we heart it 

In a nod to our sunless days, I dug up some photos that scream summer to me. Looking through these makes me really excited for the laid-back, warm and easy days of summer.

we heart it 

Here's to a summer full to sun, warmth, relaxing, friends and love for all us!

{create} back porch mood board

I found a new {virtual} toy. And, oh, the fun I'll have with it, I'm sure. It's called Olio Board, and it let's you create mood boards from thousands of products linked to their site. Like I said, so fun. And daaannngerous, in a time wasting sort of way.

Today, I created a mood board for our back porch. Can you tell it's on my mind? I've gathered tons of inspiration and I want to start painting. Now. Oregon picked a great year to have it's wettest, coldest spring yet. 

Here's the board I put together for my porch:

I know this is the point, but it really helped me pull my thoughts together. Lots of white, yellow, texture, plants and most of all an inviting comfy space.

Have fun! I'd love to hear {and see!} if you create something. And, if you'd like to find me on Olio Board, I'm ahomeinthemaking.

{inspired} lofts

I shared with you last fall my trip to the annual Portland Street of Dreams. I love peeking into other houses and am kind of fascinated by lofts. I think they're beautiful. I'm not sure their suitable for our lifestyle (i LOVE my yard!), but that doesn't stop me from being completely nosy and wanting to peek into them.

I was super excited when Apartment Therapy recently post a Portland loft house tour. I love when lofts are decorated to play up their industrial style and this one did not disappoint. Even in the entry, above there are industrial pipes near huge wood beams. *Love*.

Exposed pipes. Cement wall. Beautiful hardwoods. A touch of exposed brick. Check, check, check and check. The texture in this loft is amazing. The furniture is all low, which lets you see beyond and really opens the space. The industrial desk on the left fits in well with the space and is open and light.

What's spaces do you dream of living in?

{inspired} back porch

I've been thinking a lot about our back porch. We've done a lot to the space --construction and update-wise -- but it has been raining record amounts in Oregon for the past three months. And that means ... no painting. Yet. So while I'm still dreaming of the space's potential I've been looking around at other porches, which, with summer drawing near, seem to be a popular topic these days.

{Design*Sponge}

{Simply Seleta}

Both of these rooms could have come straight out of my imagination. They completely capture how I want our back porch to feel. Open. Airy. Light. Casual. Inviting.

I'm itching to begin, and I just hope it turns out remotely close to as beautiful as these two rooms.