Do you have a Sweet Tooth?

Well here's a simple antidote! 

Black Raspberry Crisp

3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 c quick-cooking rolled oats

1/2 c packed organic brown sugar

1/4 c sliced or slivered almonds (walnuts would work too)

5 Tbsp soy margarine

5 Tbsp organic banana

3/4 c pure fruit jam or preserves

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly mist an 11 x 7 (or thereabouts) baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Hand mix together flour, baking soda, oats, sugar & almonds. 

3. Yes, using your fingers, mush together the butter & banana into the dry mixture. Your goal is to resemble coarse crumbs. Add more banana if need be. Set aside 1/3 c of mixture.

4. Spread remaining flour mixture onto bottom of prepared dish. Spread jam evenly over mixture. Top with a sprinkling of the reserved 1/3 c of flour mixture. 

5. Bake for 20 minutes or until top is slightly brown. Cool & cut into 20 or so bars. 

You can use any jam you'd like -  I use Smucker's Simply Fruit. I think next time I might use apricot, or even partially boiled sliced apples, or maybe even fresh peaches! Possibilities are endless! I have another recipe which is more formal, made with fresh blueberries, (a Blueberry Betty) but for a quickie - I think this serves the purpose! Enjoy!

Park City - here I come!

What an awesome day!!! Yes, it did take 2 hours to get to my final destination, which was KPCW Radio Studios in Park City, but well worth the trip. 

To begin with, you can always count on a surreal drive through Sardine Canyon in late September or early October - the Maples paint the hills with such rich hues - it's difficult not to stop and appreciate such a vivid canvas.  

I was first able to drop off a few books of my book, A Crack in the Night, at the King's English Bookstore in Salt Lake City. 

Then off to visit Babinski's Baby Shop at the Foothills Mall to share my upcoming book, Ruby Rose Comes to Town.  

http://kpcw.org/

Here's Dave Bullock, both an amazing storyteller, co-creator with Cathy Barker of the radio program, The Story Mine, & an awesome human being. 

The Story Mine is a 8-week program that will hit the airwaves on UPR beginning October 7th, as well as being globally streamed through kpcw.org.

As described by the creators of Story Mine, "Park City is famous as an Historical Mining District where many millions of dollars of minerals were mined from the mountains of the Wasatch Back." It is also home to Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival every year. 

After the record button was turned off, I was fortunate to listen to a few of Dave's mining stories including his Tommy-Knocker tales. His father had introduced him to mining at the early age of 4 and Dave continued to work at the mines with his father for the next 30 years. He tells me that miners are a rare breed indeed. 

This man is a creative genius and quite the natural & entertaining teller. We do hope that he will publish his stories so that this rich historical, personal, local culture and folklore can be preserved.

You can see two of my published books in the forefront of this picture.

I do apologize for not carrying my camera around town, so if you're interested just google Park City, Utah & you'll see a plethora of pictures. 

I'll be sure to let you know when my stories are aired, until that time, I leave you in peace.

Before I leave, I must share with you a side note - I was on my way to Park City following my Google directions, when I began to get this feeling that I had traveled much too far. My directions said that I was to turn about 1/2 mile down the road & yet, I didn't see the street sign that was mentioned. I drove about 3 miles & then felt I must stop & get directions. 

I pulled over to a (I thought) random business area & looked around. At first, I saw an older man & watched him enter his car & drive away. Then I saw this nice-looking woman, so I approached her. After a brief exchange, she asked me if I was Marcy. It turned out that this was Cathy Barker, Dave Bullock's wife & co-producer of the Story Mine- how's that for perfect timing! After receiving better directions I headed another 3-4 miles into town. 

Marcy Hope Williams 

Time to Record!

If you peer through that window, you'll see where I was recording. To help put my promotional video together I took a couple hours to record specs on my project and two of my children's stories.

Listening to the playback was fun and a good preview for me for my next studio appt in Park City next week. I'll let you know how it goes!

Ruby Rose is Coming to Town

Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose

Whatcha goin' to do with so many clothes?

Stack 'em in the attic?

Store 'em 'neath the stairs?

Leave 'em alone?

Till nobody cares?

Too many showers!

Too many gifts!

When are you goin' to learn

About being thrift?

Share whatcha have

Give whatcha can

That's what we call

Care for fellow-man

Think about your sisters

Think about your brothers

Think about your neighbors

And thousands of others

Soon you'll be happy

Soon you'll be proud

Soon you'll be shouting

"Hooray!" out-loud

Ruby Rose Comes to Town is my newest book. The poem you've just read is a little jingle I created for the Little Bloomsbury Art Show, which was based on promoting peace & hope in an uncertain world through a sound financial basis, including being thrifty. 




Recycling is not a major theme in the book Ruby Rose Comes to Town, but definitely a minor theme which can be pulled from the story. 

Since I am preparing to go live on Kickstarter.com to raise funds for the publication, I wanted to include this jingle. Through friends, these 7 beautiful and talented children agreed to help me with this part of the project. 

These children are absolutely a delight to be around and brilliant. Together with their moms, they created a skit to go along with the Ruby Rose poem.  

You will be able to view it as soon as we get the promotional video completed. I hope you will enjoy it. I certainly had a blast the evening of the filming - 2 dogs, 2 families & relatives, pizza & a party atmosphere added to the fun!

Ready for action!

The baby shower scene

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST?

Let's Keep it Simple!

As a vegetarian, I want to make sure I do get enough protein. Some vegetarians say not to worry about this requirement because if you eat a variety of foods, you're be covered. I beg to differ. After 38 years of eating a plant-based diet, I know that when I don't include my protein shakes, I can tell the difference in both my hair, my nails and my overall vitality - but that's me. Of course we are all different and we are all at different stages of our life. 

The protein powders I use are the Vegn brand, Sport Natural Plant-Based Performance Protein, available through Sequel or myvega.com. This product was developed by professional Ironman triathlete, Brendan Brazier. His formula includes organic sprouted whole grain brown rice protein, organic green pea protein, organic alfalfa juice protein, spirulina and other nutrients. This brand offers 20 grams of protein per serving. 

Brendan offers a fabulous book on nutrition also, The Thrive Diet. which I would highly recommend. It covers a variety of topics all geared to educate you on not only getting the most bang for your buck, but actually eating the highest nutrient-rich foods with the least amount of waste for optimal health and performance.

The other protein powder I use offers 25 grams per protein and is made mostly from soy. My daughter constantly reminds me that Brendan's powder is superior, but because of cost, I do switch off.

My smoothie this morn was made from 1 cup of Silk Pure Coconut milk, 1 cup of frozen organic blue berries, 1 organic banana, 1 scoop of protein powder and then the blender filled as high as I can without overflowing with cold purified spring water.

For me, this tastes much better than any shake you could purchase at any quick-stop or drive-thru. I usually drink a cup on  my way to work and then half at my morning break and finish it off with my lunch.  

Best to you - enjoy your day & remember, we're all counting on you to be the best that you are.

Marcy Hope Williams

writer & humanitarian