Sunday relaxing

Today we're hanging on the deck with pretzels and awesome gourmet mustards from cherchies.com.

Avocado Smoothie {recipe}

Welcome to my newest obsession, avocado smoothies! A little yogurt, some ice, a touch of honey and you're headed to wow-land! This smoothie is creamy, sweet, savory and delicious. Go get a ripe avocado and wip one up! Now I'm watching the baby avocados on my tree with a new intensity, I can't wait until I can make these from my own crop!

Avocado Smoothies

Makes 2

1 ripe avocado, halved and pitted
1 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 ice cubes

Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve with your favorite color straw!

Recipe adapted from here.

Banana Chocolate Blondies with Rum {recipe}

 

Yes, please! Have you ever made blondies? I've always made brownies and now I might be converting. I had some leftover bananas and wasn't in the mood for regular banana bread so I tried something new. Blondies! Try them now, it's worth it! 

Banana Blondies with Rum and Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
1 c unsalted butter
2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1.5 c all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 tbsp dark rum* 
1 c chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9x13" pan and set aside. Using a double-boiler, add the butter and brown sugar and whisk it together until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture cool for couple minutes or until it’s warm to the touch then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, salt, and flour. Stir in the bananas, rum and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve if you can wait that long!

*Optional ingredient however I'm not sure why you'd ever not want rum!

Click the Print Article button below to get a printer friendly page for this recipe. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and my Mummy! I think my mother and my mother-in-law are my two biggest blog readers, commenters and fans. They both love looking at the photos from my garden and we always end up talking about plants on any given phone call. I've learned a lot about gardening from both of them and I know my garden wouldn't be half of what it is without their passed on knowledge. So cheers to the two mothers in my life, I love you both! 

And here's some photos of the garden just today for you to enjoy!

- Instagram photos of my own flowers and garden. Follow me on Instagram @eweeweyarns. 

Q&A: What is a blog?

Today while pitching a new client on social media and internet brand message the man stopped me mid-sentence and said, "Wait, what is a blog?" After I got over my initial shock of being asked this question I started to think that if you don't have a blog, why should you know what one is? 

The Answer:
Blogs are your own social platform, your own soapbox if you will. A blog is your own corner of the internet. You can present your world as you experience it, add photos, add videos, share your world with the rest of the world. 

By now everybody has been on a personal blog. They've read what their neighbor had for lunch last Tuesday and they've seen their boss' trip to India. But blogging can be much more than that. The internet is information and you, the lone person sitting on your sofa with a bag of chips, have a voice, a searchable voice. Others with your similar interests can find you on the internet and if you've created a blog then you've created a little slice of the internet where people can connect with you on the same level about the same topics.

The same concept applies to small businesses and their blogs. Your small business blog is your company's voice on the internet. A good way to think about the small business blog is that it's like your own newspaper. It's all about you, your brand and your products. You can write articles that only talk about your products, articles that provide lesser-known product benefits and even add product value.

For expample, a specialty foods company might want to blog about a recent award they've won because it shows the product's quality to brand newcomers. Or they could explain why the company chooses to not use high-fructose corn syrup in their products and the benefits that has to the consumer and their health. What about recipes? Everyone needs to eat so writing blog posts with recipes adds even more value to the food company's blog and in turn makes the company's products more valuable to the consumer. 

Providing value that people can connect with is the key to your small business blog. Everyone reads the news to find out new things in the world and using your small business blog as your own news outlet helps consumers find out new things about your products. Your products are valuable to you and a blog can help you explain why your products are valuable to everyone else. The internet has made it easy for small businesses to connect with their audience for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods. Now get blogging!