A few years ago, my teaching schedule got completely booked. Every piano teachers dream! Not only was my schedule full, but I every single on of my families was fantastic!
There was one little hitch in my eutopia, I was teaching in-home lessons which meant that I didn't have a home base for everyone to come to, so posting announcements wasn't an option. You might be thinking, so what? Just tell everyone. No biggie.
On the surface, yeah sure, but it became a biggie when I had to repeat every announcement, schedule change, performance opportunity, and challenge/incentive to every parent in addition to informing them about their child's progress, assignment, and general catching up - which is more important than it may appear, but more on that another time.
Don't get me wrong, I had no problem discussing all these things, it was the time it took that became a problem.
When teaching in-home, I always gave myself a cushion of about 5 minutes between lessons in addition to the necessary travel time. Those few minutes always taken up with traffic or updating parents. For a while this was fine, until we started to grow.
More students meant more events and opportunities, which meant more things to tell parents about, which took more time, which meant I left each house a little later. Add to that keeping track of students who were absent the week I was making announcements and you (hopefully) can see how this can get a bit hairy.
To keep myself from losing my mind trying to remember who I had and hadn't discussed things with, I decided to start a studio newsletter. I bounced back and forth between monthly and seasonal releases. I've finally settled on monthly. In it I include updates, practice tips, policy reminders, schedules and sometimes a noteworthy article I've come across.
A few months before opening my studio space, I started using MailChimp to design and send out newsletters. That's when I started my favorite feature of the newsletter - the recipe of the month. Yes, it's a little random to have a recipe of the month in a music academy newsletter, but I love to cook and bake and my students (and their parents) know it. I always felt that something was missing in previous newsletters, so when I made this change I knew I had to share my other passion.
At first, I thought it would be difficult to keep up with a new recipe every month...I'm one of those cooks who finds a good recipe and makes it many times...but it has actually been quite easy.
This whole story was to share with you that you don't have to subscribe to our newsletter to get the recipe of the month. I will be posting it here on this blog.
If you'd like to subscribe to our newsletter you can do so here!
This month's recipe comes from the one and only Ina Garten. One of the things I love about Ina is that she measures everything. This makes her recipes super easy to follow and replicate.
I've made a few changes for personal preference, but stayed fairly true to the original recipe. These bars are wonderful on their own, but I love them with some plain greek yogurt.
Note: You can reduce the amount of brown sugar and/or honey, but know that while the flavor is still good, the bars won't stay together.
Homemade Granola Bars
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
1/2 cup oat bran
1/4 cup whole flax seed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
There was one little hitch in my eutopia, I was teaching in-home lessons which meant that I didn't have a home base for everyone to come to, so posting announcements wasn't an option. You might be thinking, so what? Just tell everyone. No biggie.
On the surface, yeah sure, but it became a biggie when I had to repeat every announcement, schedule change, performance opportunity, and challenge/incentive to every parent in addition to informing them about their child's progress, assignment, and general catching up - which is more important than it may appear, but more on that another time.
Don't get me wrong, I had no problem discussing all these things, it was the time it took that became a problem.
When teaching in-home, I always gave myself a cushion of about 5 minutes between lessons in addition to the necessary travel time. Those few minutes always taken up with traffic or updating parents. For a while this was fine, until we started to grow.
More students meant more events and opportunities, which meant more things to tell parents about, which took more time, which meant I left each house a little later. Add to that keeping track of students who were absent the week I was making announcements and you (hopefully) can see how this can get a bit hairy.
To keep myself from losing my mind trying to remember who I had and hadn't discussed things with, I decided to start a studio newsletter. I bounced back and forth between monthly and seasonal releases. I've finally settled on monthly. In it I include updates, practice tips, policy reminders, schedules and sometimes a noteworthy article I've come across.
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| My first ever 1 page newsletter. |
A few months before opening my studio space, I started using MailChimp to design and send out newsletters. That's when I started my favorite feature of the newsletter - the recipe of the month. Yes, it's a little random to have a recipe of the month in a music academy newsletter, but I love to cook and bake and my students (and their parents) know it. I always felt that something was missing in previous newsletters, so when I made this change I knew I had to share my other passion.
At first, I thought it would be difficult to keep up with a new recipe every month...I'm one of those cooks who finds a good recipe and makes it many times...but it has actually been quite easy.
This whole story was to share with you that you don't have to subscribe to our newsletter to get the recipe of the month. I will be posting it here on this blog.
If you'd like to subscribe to our newsletter you can do so here!
This month's recipe comes from the one and only Ina Garten. One of the things I love about Ina is that she measures everything. This makes her recipes super easy to follow and replicate.
I've made a few changes for personal preference, but stayed fairly true to the original recipe. These bars are wonderful on their own, but I love them with some plain greek yogurt.
Note: You can reduce the amount of brown sugar and/or honey, but know that while the flavor is still good, the bars won't stay together.
Homemade Granola Bars
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
1/2 cup oat bran
1/4 cup whole flax seed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.
Toss
the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for
10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer
the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the oat bran and flax seed.
Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
Place
the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan
and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then
pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the raisins, apricots, and
cranberries and stir well.
Pour
the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press
the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light
golden brown.
Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into
squares. Serve at room temperature.
The original recipe can be found here on Food Network.
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