It's a PARTY!!! Part 1- Cool Prize

Welcome to the Ebook launch of "The Healthy Happy Family" I can't tell you how excited we are! This has been a long road and it has been an exciting one!

So to celebrate this amazing book we are going to be having a massive giveaway day! These prizes will stay open  until October 26! The winners will be announced on October 28, giving everyone plenty of time to enter. You can enter into all the drawings...and who knows you may just walk away with more than one prize...it's all selected at random! Each post will be a prize, be sure and read them all leading up to the GRAND PRIZE! Each post will also give an excerpt from the book....and tell you a little bit more about our baby

Should we get this party started?!?!? I agree

Cool Prize: The cool prize is awesome. Some of my favorite things to use in our whole foods kitchen...Ground Flax Seed and Chia Seed!

I use these babies for everything...egg replacers, I mix them into breads, jams, smoothies salads and they both provide a tremendous amount of nutrients without even tasting a difference!

Rules for the cool prize....leave me a comment saying what your favorite way to use flax or chia seeds are! Now if you have a preference between which one you'd like...specify! There will be two winners of the cool prize.
One for the Flax one for the chia....so get writing!

-
"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese. Obesity invites so many different conditions including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, strokes and certain types of cancer – all leading causes in death. The saturated fat associated with fast foods, red meats and cheeses are a leading culprit of heart disease. Did you know heart disease was not a common occurrence a little over a century ago? In some parts of the world today, there is little to no heart disease. Yet, in the U.S., heart disease is the leading cause of death." pg. 6

 We felt it to be very important to give a good explanation about the importance of great health. Sometimes when you are able to visualize something it really helps it sink in more! We share an amazing story about the country of Norway in the beginning of book, it really gets you're mind thinking!

Alright leave your comments for the Cool prize and we'll get started!


Links for the book:
www.healthyhappybudget.com PDF

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NNHSDW  kindle version

Vegan Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Oh man do you ever wake up just craving some syrupy goodness? Today I did, it wasn't the pancakes I was craving it was my boysenberry syrup I bought a little while ago! I grew up on that stuff and I adore it...no it is not sugar free, but my pancakes were!

Pancakes warm my soul! I love the flavors and I adore the rich taste of any syrup really poured over the top of fluffy, hot pancakes. What makes me feel better is when I get the same comfort food with no oil and no sugar (apart from the chocolate chips of course :) ) I love watching the kids gobble delicious nutritious food up and ask for more...this morning in particular we had to make a whole new batch--I couldn't keep up with the demand!

I'm very satisfied with my end result this morning. I found these little babies here and I tweaked it just a little bit to make them oil free and a little more holiday spice! Delicious. I didn't even use that many chocolate chips, but they sure melted when I added them to the skillet and it made them quite homely looking! Even though they looked ugly they were very delicious. 

If you want a fast, healthy, satisfying breakfast for your whole family...you have got to try these

Oh and by the way...this only takes one bowl for mixing except a small bowl for the flax egg...pretty sweet.

Vegan Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

1 ripe banana

1 flax/chia egg (1 T ground flax +1 tsp chia seed +3 T water)

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c steel cut oats (or any oats)

1 T applesauce

3 T almond milk

1 T almond butter- melted down a little

3 T semi sweet chocolate chips or raisins

Mix flax egg and set aside for 5 minutes in a small bowl. Mash banana and baking powder together. Add flax egg, applesauce, almond milk, almond butter, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together well. Add flour and oats, combine until well coated. Fold in chocolate chips. Heat skillet and pour 1/4 c of batter onto skillet. Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. You may want to double this recipe...it only yields about 5-6 small pancakes...

seriously I could eat that by myself :)

*use gluten free flour and gluten free oats for a gluten free option

Enjoy

You may find that you have helpers that want to assist in making breakfast!!! Courtesy of my 18 month old!

Crock Pot Peppermint Patty Brownies!

No dinner recipe to post this evening~ it's all sweet tooth tonight! These brownies have been made healthier, but still eat in moderation, the homemade sweetened condensed milk has some sugar in it! The good news....you can make these in a lot of different ways, I kept mine vegan, but you can use an egg, or real sweetened condensed milk, my version is just lighter in sugar than canned milk! It is much faster cook time in the oven for brownies, but you can't beat just throwing the ingredients in the crock pot and letting them cook themselves! And it was just kind of a fun shake up of things! These little babies are quite homely looking in my pictures, but they were so tasty, my kids wanted to eat all of them, I told them they had to save some for their dad who has been at school all day! I'd say these will be a nice treat for him to come home too!

The idea from crock pot brownies came from a blog I found on one of my many google searches for unique crock-pot meals! I obviously made some changes from the original to make it better for you, but I think they turned out as tasty as a brownie can be. 

Some ideas for revamping this recipe to make it your own, for your own tastes:

~ Blend 5 pitted dates with 1/2 C almond milk and throw that paste in for all sweeteners

~Use nuts instead of oats

~ add peppermint extract to the homemade sweetened condensed milk or brownie mix instead of using the candy peppermint patties

~ melt dark chocolate chips on top

~ Use a gluten free flour to make it gluten free

Wow, take your pick of how you make this, I'm sure it will still come out awesome!

Peppermint Patty Brownies

1 T vegan margarine

1 C water

1 chia -flax egg (1 T chia seed +1 T flax seed +3-4 T warm water)

1 1/2 C spelt flour (or any whole grain flour)

3/4 C cacao powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 C date paste (optional)

1/2 C oats

4-5 small peppermint patties

Homemade sweetened condensed milk

2 T vegan margarine

1/4 C raw turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 1/4 C vanilla soy milk

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional) 

Add 1 T margarine to crock-pot while on low. While it is melting begin making the sweetened condensed milk. In a small sauce pan add margarine and melt it, in another sauce pan add soy milk and bring to a low boil. Add sugar to melted margarine and stir constantly until it is a rolling boil. Combine with soy milk and heat until low boil. Stir in cinnamon.

After the margarine is melted in the crock pot add the chia -flax egg, water and brownie mix (make sure you mix the dry ingredients together first) Mix until the dry ingredients are wet,

 add sweetened condensed milk and top with oats.

 Cook on low for 2-3 hours. Check with a fork and see if it is done. Add patties to the top and cook another 30-45 minutes. Enjoy

* if you use a date paste add the paste before the brownie mix then mix it well and don't add sugar to the sweetened condensed milk!

We did enjoy dinner tonight, we didn't just eat brownies I promise. I wanted to show how I was able to utilize some great leftovers and make a tasty healthy dinner! I used the leftover sauce from the zucchini boats the other night and cooked up some wheat noodles. I mixed in the sauce so it was lightly coated and let the noodles cool slightly, then I mixed in some spinach and carrot chips and topped it will a small amount of balsamic, or you can use a little Italian dressing. The sauce from the noodles helps create a dressing! And there you go! A tasty quick meal full of healthy ingredients! Use those leftovers! Has anyone been able to create something deliciously healthy using leftovers?

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Breakfast for dinner is a favorite meal from time to time! Why not shake up the dinner table with breakfast! This meal doesn't consist of sausage, hash browns, bacon or eggs! This is filling, fruity, sweet, gluten free, and full of fiber and protein! And you want to the know the absolute best part? Kids devour this! No problem. My kids couldn't get enough. Ever since I discovered the recipe for the whole grain blender waffles I've been wanting to try this, I found this remake of the waffles from wholefoodmommies, they never let me down! I was so pleased, I only made a few tweaks to the whipped topping.

I had originally planned to make waffle fruit pizzas, which I still plan to do, but unfortunately the first few waffles I ruined somehow. Really how is that possible it's not that hard to watch them on the waffle iron. Anyways, I ended up following the original trifle idea and it was wonderful. We are using these for "Y" day, yes I skipped "X" I mean really, that's a hard one. We're calling these "Yummy" Waffles! Okay, it works. I have a great "Z" meal planned....and yes it really does start with "Z"!

 I do think the pizzas would be fun though! After I put this together I thought "This is so pretty!" This is a perfect brunch or shower dish! No one even needs to know it's GOOD for them! Go ahead, be the talk of your next get together with this beauty!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Waffles

 2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw almonds or cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

 

Combine all ingredients to the blender and blend on high until it is well combined. Pour generous amount to waffle iron. The waffles should be a dark brown, then they are done. 

 

Whipped Topping

 12 oz silken tofu

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 C maple syrup

1/2 C non-dairy milk

1 tsp vanilla

 

Combine everything to the blender and blend until it is well mixed. 

 

Tear small pieces of waffle and spread onto the bottom of a trifle dish or bowl. Add desired fruit in a layer. I used mango, strawberries, and grapes. But any type of fruit would be awesome. Top fruit layer with whipped topping and repeat for two or three layers! Serve chilled. Enjoy

* If you'd like a vegan option take out the honey from the waffles and use 2-3 dates or agave

Peach Crumble Muffins

Muffins are such a fun breakfast to make. You can make them super bad for you, or you can add wholesome ingredients and make them a welcome guest to your stomach!

My friend from work handed me a delicious looking bag of fresh peaches from her tree yesterday! Some of them didn't make them home, I ate them! Some of them barely made it in the front door, the kids ate them! Others are being saved for peach soft serve, they will be eaten! But this morning a select few were made into a delicious peachy crumble muffin! I didn't look at a recipe for these muffins, this is all me. I was very happy how well the sweetness in these muffins complimented the grains so much! I'm happy to serve them to my family, even though my crazy husband doesn't really like peaches, how can that be?

He ate them though and said they were good, he added they weren't his favorite like the zucchini muffins, but they were good. For someone who doesn't like peaches, that makes me perfectly happy!

All the grains rolled and snuggled next to the sweet peaches and syrup call for one great start to the morning! Feel good about your food without sacrificing taste! It's a wonderful feeling!

Peach Crumble Muffins

2 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C cooked quinoa 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 T cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet 

1/4 C maple syrup (or agave)

1 tsp vanilla

1 C almond milk

1/4 C applesauce

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 C chopped peaches

1 Flax-Chia egg (1 T ground flaxseed, 1 tsp Chia seed + 3-4 T water)

Crumble Topping

1/2 T coconut oil

1/8 C coconut Sugar

1 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make flax-chia egg and set aside into small bowl. Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Mix remaining wet ingredients with flax egg and add to dry ingredients. Fold ingredients together well. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Add crumble ingredients to a small skillet, mix together until all the oil is melted and absorbed into the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle topping over the top of the batter. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving! Enjoy

Carrot Muffins

This morning was a good day for muffins. I'm tired of my kids eating so much cold cereal, so I've set a goal to make some different breakfasts to shake it up a bit. I didn't know what type of muffin to do, then I saw I had a bag of shredded carrots and thought, yeah that would be good. I decided to make carrot muffins. I did a quick search here and found a good sounding recipe. I did change some things around. I really liked how they turned out, my son ate 1 1/2, but my daughter was not thrilled to see carrots in her muffins. It did turn into a battle. I had to do the typical lines..."You need to eat one bite before you get down, just try them you'll like them, you can pull the carrots out." Things like that. It probably was my fault I didn't cut up or shred the long shredded carrots at all. I know if they were hidden better it wouldn't have wigged her out so much. I don't know what the deal is though she loves carrots. Hmmm... oh well I guess it's just one of those things.

These were pretty simple to make, but next time I will make the carrot chunks A LOT smaller. I didn't mind it, but I guess I can see why kids get weirded out when they see big stringy vegetables poking out of their breakfast :)

Carrot Muffins

2 C whole grain flour (I used spelt)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 C coconut sugar

1/2 C ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C applesauce

2 C finely shredded carrots, very fine :)

1/4 C raw honey

1/2 C almond milk

1 T apple cider vinegar

1/3 C semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients into medium bowl. Mix carrots, honey, milk, vinegar, and applesauce in small bowl. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into greased muffin tip so they are 3/4 full. Bake for 18 minutes, until tops are golden. Enjoy!

Whole Grain Blender Waffels (Gluten Free)

Good Morning!!!!!!! It's Saturday and there is no where else for me to go this morning except lounging around eating AMAZING food with my sweet little family! The weekends are when I usually try and make a larger breakfast, obviously because I have more time in the mornings!

A few days ago my husband told me he was craving some big, syrupy, waffles or pancakes...I think he wanted a lot of butter included in that too :) well I couldn't help him with the butter but I could help him with the big, syrupy waffles!!!! I found these tasty little things here and I only changed one ingredient since I didn't have any concentrate juice and I was out of dates! So what did I add....honey. Super simple but I think they tasted wonderful, they're gluten free so I think that's saying something!

Whenever we'd stay over at my parents house and we had pancakes or waffles my mom always had her "special" pancakes or waffles that were gluten free! We never tried them, since they were sure to be nasty (even though she just loves them) well if they taste like these gluten free waffles I think I may just battle it out over the gluten free "special" waffles with my mom :)!  These are quick and easy and ready in a matter of minutes. You throw everything all at once into your blender (you need a high powered one, I've got some links for blenders at the bottom) and a minute later you have your waffle batter! These are wonderful served with either maple syrup or my strawberry syrup that you can find here Easy Peasy!

Whole Grain Blender Waffles

2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal (I used corn meal)

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients into blender and blend on high for one minute or until everything is very smooth and blended together.

 Pour batter into a heated waffle iron. They are done when they are very brown and slightly crispy on the outside! Serve warm with fresh or frozen fruit on top!! Enjoy!

Honey Oat Muffins

I feel like the last few days we've been on the go and I haven't been able to stick to my typical eating routine. I haven't been bad with my food choices, at the baby shower the other day I had no desserts and only had my couscous salad and a green salad, I went to a movie last night with my husband, I did have some sips of his root beer, but that's it! Even after trying to be really good on the go, the up and down eating schedules and not having typical small meals throughout the day has sent my stomach for a loop and my energy levels down, I've been craving whole natural foods today, so for snacks I indulged on nectarines and super bars, for lunch I had an awesome spinach salad with chia seeds and today for my family I made these Honey Oat muffins! They are full of yummy healthy ingredients, they taste like naturally sweetened, so they aren't quite as sweet as my zucchini muffins or blueberry muffins, I used agave in those these have raw honey, but I needed just some overall good health food!

I am happy that it has come to this point with me, that a couple sips of root beer or some missed veggie servings really cause a change in my energy and feeling good!! That must mean somethings going right with the way we eat! It just is more proof to me that our bodies really do want natural, wholesome foods, they don't throw a fit when I eat those, but if I go without you bet this body is going to have something to say.

I'm glad these muffins turned out, I wanted to make them for "H" day for my family but I also wanted to make them vegan! I decided to see if I could master making muffins from my own mind without eggs, you know I think I did it! I think I should have taken them out a little bit sooner, but they still tasted great!

Honey Oat Muffins

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

1/4 C ground flax seed

3/4 C oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 - 3/4 C honey (depending on desired sweetness)

1 C almond milk

1 T apple cider vinegar

1/4 C applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine almond milk and vinegar in small bowl and set aside. Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix vanilla, almond extract, applesauce and honey with almond milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Fold everything together so that it is well mixed. Pour dough into paper muffin liners or grease muffin tin with coconut oil and pour dough in. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Let cool for 10 minutes.

 Optional- you can sprinkle some raw cane sugar on top before you bake just for an extra sweet taste. Also add nuts or raisins if you'd like! Enjoy

Energizing Overnight Oats

Well for "E" day in the alphabet days I decided to have breakfast waiting for us in the morning, with "Energizing" overnight oats...okay okay, I'm stretching the "E" a little bit, but I was going to make an egg white omelet, but I want to save my veggies for a pasta salad I'm making for a baby shower, and we are going to be super busy around dinner, which I had planned something like eggplant parmesean or enchiladas, but those will just have to wait!

So the idea for overnight oats came from ohsheglows.com she has a lot of overnight oat recipes, but how to make this "Energizing" overnight oats and why! Well I don't know about you, but my kids wake me up super early, my husband gets home super late sometimes so he wakes me up, not on purpose, then my kids wake me up looking for breakfast...and last night and this morning I knew would be no different and since we're on the go today there is no time for any R&R, so instead of feeling weak and possibly getting a caffeinated beverage I decided to start the day out right with some natural sources of energy! So the specific things added for energy:
 Raspberries, these little babies are chuck full of natural energizers through all the vitamin C these berries contain and good carbohydrates! One cup of raspberries provides 50% of your daily vitamin C intake for only about 50 calories! It also gives you 14 g of carbohydrates! So you can feel awake from the get go!

Bananas, again bananas are an excellent source of good carbs and vitamin C but also potassium which can help regulate your blood sugars, if your like me sometimes I get spikes if I'm not eating the way I should and go into dizzy, shaky spells! Bananas provide us with 30 g of carbs in a single banana, 15 % of our vitamin C intake, and 13% of our potassium intake!

Chia seeds, chia seeds are full of the omega 3 fatty acids which provide a whole list of benefits for our bodies, but also providing energy to our muscles and organs!

Almond Milk, the almond is a great source of protein which provides the energy our bodies need! Combined with the almonds from the super bars this breakfast is full of proteins. Almonds are known at times to have more protein than some meats, but with the good fats included!

So there is a lesson on some foods that can give you the natural pick me up without turning to refined sugars and caffeine! Now onto breakfast...I need to top these with something crunchy, so I used some left over super bars from yesterday. They are really soft in the morning, so if you don't like that texture add something crunchy and it's just like cold cereal to me!

Energizing Overnight Oats

1 1/2 c of raspberries

2 c oats

2 c almond milk

2 T chia seeds

1 tsp ground flax seed

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract or vanilla

1 banana chopped, (add in the morning)

1 cup granola (add in the morning)

Combine all ingredients except banana and granola, into a dish. Mix together and put in the fridge overnight, or over 3 hours. In the morning top with banana and granola! That's it, enjoy! Add anything else you'd like, fruit, nuts, make it your own!

*Gluten Free option use gluten free oats