Chocolate peanut butter cups! 5 ingredients!

Everyone who knows me understands how much of a sweet tooth I am. I would give up dinner for desert any day! This recipie is so good and has a great combination of chocolate and peanut butter, hard to go wrong. It only has 5 ingredients, no baking and can be made in minutes. The hardest part is waiting for them to set.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of coconut oil

1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter or other nut butter

1/2 cup of high quality cocoa powder

1/4 cup of raw honey 

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients in food processor or blender. (It will turn out like liquid chocolate) Pour into paper-lined cupcake pan about half inch thick. ( I used mini cupcake tins and ended up with 24 total)

Let them set in fridge for 30 minutes or in freezer for 10 minutes. Once firm store them in fridge in airtight container. 

Enjoy!! 

Top 14 fruits and vegetables to buy Organic

I try to buy as much organic fruits and vegetables for my family as possible. I love shopping at Whole Foods but buying all my grocery needs there is not realistic. Buying organic on a budget means prioritizing. Certain fruits and vegetables carry higher levels of pesticide residuals, thus should be purchased organic.

 The Dirty 14 (BUY ORGANIC WHENEVER POSSIBLE) 

1. Apples 

2. Celery 

3. Cherry tomatoes 

4. Cucumbers 

5. Grapes 

6. Hot peppers 

7. Nectarines (imported) 

8. Peaches 

9. Potatoes 

10. Spinach 

11. Strawberries 

12. Sweet bell peppers 

13. Kale and Collard Greens 

14. Summer Squash 

 On the flip side the below list are the fruits and vegetables with the least amount of pesticides residuals. 

 The Clean 15

1. Asparagus 

2. Avocado 

3. Cabbage 

4. Cantaloupe 

5. Sweet Corn 

6. Eggplant 

7. Grapefruit 

8. Kiwi 

9. Mangos 

10. Mushroom 

11. Onions 

12. Papayas 

13. Pineapples 

14. Sweet Peas (frozen) 

15. Sweet Potatoes 

 This information is pulled from the Environmental Working Group's website (ewg.org). They test the fruits and vegetables and publish the results yearly in a report called "EWG's 2013 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce". The website has a lot of great information. It's good to educate yourself on nutrition. Food is you body's medicine. Food is the fuel to your engine. 

New take on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Who doesn't love a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich?? Well when you make them almost daily for a picky kindergartener, change is good. This recipie is from weelicious.com

 

Spread a thin layer of peanut butter(or any nut butter) on a tortilla. Then lay a banana on one edge.

 Roll the banana up in the tortilla. The peanut butter acts like the glue to hold it together. Then slice it into rolls. It's simple and good. They have become a new favorite in Elias's school lunches. 

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Only 5 ingredients.

These Gluten free cookies are definitely worth a try. They are my new favorite treat and another great Pinterest find off texanerin.com 

 Ingredients: 

1 can of chickpeas rinsed and patted dry with paper towel. (Yes you read right, chickpeas) 

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. 

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter or other nut butter. 

1/4 cup of honey. 

1 teaspoon of baking powder. 

1/2 cup chocolate chips. 

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth sticky  paste consistency. 

Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in chocolate chips. Wet hands and form 1-2 tablespoon cookies and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. You will need to rewet hands in between forming cookies. The cookie dough is super sticky. Unlike usual cookies these do not spread out or rise too much. They will basically stay in the shape you form them to. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool. These cookies have a very soft texture and are delicious!!!

Curry Roasted Chickpeas... A healthy gluten free snack.

My latest Pinterest find was roasted Chickpeas. I found a pin from thesimpleveganista.blogspot.com I changed it a little. They turned out to be so good and simple to make.

 

 Ingredients: 

1 can of chickpeas drained, rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel. 

1 heaping teaspoon of coconut oil. 

1 heaping teaspoon of curry powder. 

1 heaping teaspoon of Sriracha. 

1 heaping teaspoon of parmesan cheese 

 Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients in bowl. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place single layer and bake for 40-45 minutes. Turn/flip chickpeas every 15 minutes for even roasting. Keep a watchful eye during the last fifteen to avoid burning them. Bake to desired crunchiness. Let cool for ten minutes, then devour. I sure did.

Homemade Almond Milk.

My family goes through  a lot of almond milk. Thus, I ventured to make my own from scratch. It was so easy. 

Soak 1 cup of raw almonds 6-8 hours  in water. 

I did mine over night. Drain and toss that water out. Put the almonds and 4 cups of water in blender and blend. (The amount was about the total capacity my blender could hold) Add vanilla and honey to taste. Blend to mix in. 

After blending strain out pulp with strainer or cheese cloth. 

I used a spoon to keep pressing almond pulp down and extract more liquid.

That's it friends, as simple as that. 

It tastes so yummy. Now I need to see if its cost effective or just a treat once in  a while.  But I will say my almond milk, peanut-butter and banana shake was the best one I've  made yet!  I think it was the almond milk. 

Homemade almond milk will be good in fridge for around 5 days and will naturally separate, so shake before serving. 

 

I need ideas on what to do with the pulp. 

Got any? 

Vision Boards

We had a family craft night tonight  and vision boards were our fun.

With a pile of magazines, foam white board, scissors and a glue stick Eric, Elias and I all got working away on our own vision boards. We cut our board into four pieces and began cutting and glueing! 

Intention. Energy goes where thoughts flow. 

 

This is my end result.  

Vision boards are a  great way to put out to the universe your goals/desires. They give you something to look back at to remind you what your working toward. 

I've many through out the years and love going back to look at them and see what goals have been reached. 

What does your look like?

From a take out container to a kids craft to priceless present!

Thanks to Elias's wonderful preschool, Bright Beginnings, to remind me what a fun craft shrink a dinks were. Well this one is a earth friendly modern version of the craft most of us did as kids!!

Supplies:
Take out container (with the number 6 inside the recycle triangle)
Sharpie markers
Whole punch
Parchement paper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
Start by cutting the clear flat section of the take out container.(usually the lid and bottom can be used) I used scalloped scissors to have a unique edge.

Wash and dry the pieces.

Next whole punch desired area.

Now the fun part, use different color sharpies to decorate both sides of the clear pieces. Elias loves this part :)

Now place the new decorated pieces on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in oven. The plastic will look super cool as it curls up then flattens out again shrinking it size considerably!!

Bake for about 3-6 minutes. You will know when done when the pieces are flat again, a lot smaller and thicker.

How cool is it to re use a take out container and have an awesome keychain made with love!!!

The possibilities are endless.

It's alive! Growing celery from scraps.

The idea of re-growing plants from scraps has always been a favorite of mine. I've re-grown green onions and sprouted a many avocado pits, not to mention a garlic bulb or too.

But celery was one I never thought of. The idea is created to a pin on Pinterest and it works!

Basically as simple as puttin the bottom part of the whole celery stock that usually gets discarded, in a cup with a few inches of water. That is it! Watch it grow.

This is mine after about 1 week.

Soon roots will sprout and in the soil it goes!

Updated 5/10/2013:

Roots have sprouted and it's time to plant!

Working mom in modern times...

I've officially finished my first week back to work full time. Wow how does one manage to work full time and still juggle a functioning household?

Between dropping the lil man off at preschool at 7:30am, then lil miss off at daycare at 7:40am. Working from 8:30am to 5pm. To arrive home around 6pm and to then have to make dinner, get kids feed, bathed and ready for bed by 7:30. How does one do it? Not to mention lunches made, clothes washed, house cleaned, bills paid and the list goes on.

Are all waking hours devoted to keeping house? Is their a super mom power I'm lacking?

This week was tough! Not a lot got done around the house but I have a loving supportive husband, two beautiful kids, my family is happy and that's what matters to this mama!!

Ewe what's that smell? Well son, it's a clean house. Vinegar as a cleaning agent.

I've always heard vinegar could be used as a cleaner, but had never ventured to try it. Thanks to Pinterest, my curiosity got me researching. The acidity of the vinegar is effective in killing most mold, bacteria, and germs. I like the idea of using an all natural non toxic cleaner, I "make" my self.

Ingredients:
Vinegar
Orange peels ( I used clementines)
Jar

Place orange peels in mason jar.
Cover completely with vinegar and close lid. Now let vinegar and orange peels marinate for at least 10 days.

So today was the day of the vinegar cleaning test. Mopping my kitchen floor was the challenge. I diluted the orange-vinegar with 50% water. I found it cleaned well but the smell of vinegar kinda makes me feel like the surface is not clean. I need to retrain my brain to consider the smell of vinegar as clean. Elias came into the kitchen shortly after I finished mopping and said "Ewe, what's that smell?" Well, it's a clean kitchen I thought to myself! (The smell of vinegar went away within 10 minutes and I was left with a clean floor.)

I found lots of information on uses of vinegar on www.vinegartips.com
Worth checking it out.

This crafty cleaning experiment is credited to a pin from Fountain Avenue Kitchen.

Do you clean with vinegar or have you? Would love to hear what your experience, tips or tricks are?

She's crafty

A passion of mine has been ignited again. I'm crafty at heart and have dedicated 2013 to trying new things and blogging about my adventures!

Today's task... Homemade baby food. Roasted Ginger Apple Purée. Yummy!

I got this recipe from weelicious website. What a wonderful resource that place is. Good wholesome ideas of what to cook.

With that being said this is how you make this tasty starter food.

2- apples (sweet variety)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
About foot of parchment paper

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.
Fold parchment paper in half.
Peel and chop apples into 1 inch cubes.
Place on half of parchment paper.
Sprinkle the cinnamon and ginger on top of the apples.
Fold edges of parchment paper creating a sealed packet.
Baked for 15-20 minutes until apples are soft. Let cool.
Then place the roasted ginger cinnamon
apples into a food professor and process to desired consistency.
Yup that's it. Easy peasy and taste so good. Evalucia devoured it.