December 30, 2013

Yummy Snacks for Your Next Big Adventure

Adventure Bars for on-the-go snacking

A big adventure needs fuel and The League of Adventurous Women test kitchen has a tasty treat for the next time you head out the door for fishing, cycling, skydiving or even a road trip.  These Adventure Bars are packed with protein and carbs for energy.

Adventure Bars

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
¾ cup reduced fat peanut butter

4 cups Grape-nuts cereal
1 ½ cups dry roasted peanuts
1 ½ cups whole almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped*
1 cup Oatmeal (optional)
½ cup Coconut (optional)
1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, etc.)

Line 13x9 pan or jelly roll pan with parchment allowing parchment to go up the sides of the pan (or use foil and spray lightly with no-stick cooking spray).
Combine cereal, nuts, oatmeal and fruit in large bowl. Set aside.
Microwave corn syrup, sugar and peanut butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH for 2-1/2 minutes or just until mixture boils, stirring every minute (time will vary depending on the strength of your microwave).
Add cereal mixture to peanut butter mixture. Stir to coat well. Press firmly into lined pan (you may have to press with a little piece of parchment to keep the mixture from coating your hands). Cool.  When mixture has cooled completely, pull entire rectangle out of pan by pulling on parchment. Cut into bars. Wrap bars separately for travel or store in an air-tight container.

* toast whole almonds at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Let cool and chop into large pieces.





December 13, 2013

Want to Explore the Milkyway?

Fun Citizen Scientist News from the Zooniverse Team:

The original Milky Way Project (MWP), which asks citizen scientists like YOU to help measure and map our galaxy, launched three years ago. Since then more than 50,000 individuals have contributed millions of drawings of objects in our galaxy. The new MWP is being launched to map data from different regions of the galaxy in a new infrared wavelength combination. It’s very exciting! There are tens of thousands of images from the Spitzer Space Telescope to look through. After a bit of training, volunteers record what they see in this infrared data and Zooniverse scientists can better understand how stars form.

Get involved now at www.milkywayproject.org

In other awesome news: The Zooniverse has been named as one of six Google Global Impact Awardees for 2013. This award will allow for a platform that can support hundreds or maybe even thousands of new and exciting citizen science projects!