Reduced Ebook pricing!

Now that we are well into the new year, I wanted to re-post OUR EBOOK at an even lower price to help you keep going in your resolutions. By the end of January is when I'd rather let go of some of the 'uncomfortable' changes I've tried to make for myself. I hope that our book can give you some motivation to keep going, eat clean, add more fruits and veggies. You are worth it and I know you can do it, because you can do hard things.

Baby steps remember. Maybe add a few more vegetarian meals, a few more salads and work up from there. It doesn't have to be cold turkey on every guilty pleasure all at once!

Keep going, and hopefully this $0.99 book can help you along your way!

Creamy Peach Smoothie

Summer is in full force! Can we say HEAT WAVE! It seriously is so hot, which is why I love, love, love to whip up something to cool me off. Unfortunately most cool treats are high in processed sugars and calories. So how to we combat this....SMOOTHIE!!!

I love fresh peach it is so perfect in the summer with it's smooth flavor. I designed this smoothie to go along with my plan to lose the baby weight. I loved the result and so did my little people, they thought they were getting quite the treat.

The wonderful thing about the creamy peach smoothie is it is so simple and has very little ingredients to it.

If you want a wonderful, smooth, creamy, guiltless treat to survive this heat wave this is it. This smoothie would be the perfect smoothie pop for the kids...or you!

Creamy Peach Smoothie

1 chopped fresh peach

2 bananas

1 T greek yogurt

1 tsp honey or stevia

1/8-1/4 cup almond milk (depending on how you thick you like it)

a large handful of ice

Add peach to the blender, then a layer of ice, add bananas, then another layer of ice, add remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. At least 90 seconds. Enjoy frozen as a popsicle or just drink the smooth, cool smoothie!

What are your favorite summer tricky treats?

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

Hawaiian Haystacks

As summer is kissing this year good-bye I feel the need to take full advantage of all the delicious, sweet fruit out there! Pineapple is one of the greatest gifts given to this earth! Okay, I'm sure there are a lot of other awesome things, but isn't pineapple so delicious!

I mean you throw it in some ice cream or make a tropical smoothie and you can be sitting on beach getting tan while there's a blizzard going on outside (I don't know why you'd eat ice cream during a blizzard, but in case you do...I'm sure that's how you feel)

Tonight I was missing Hawaiian haystacks. We haven't had them FOREVER! I also haven't made them with anything but cream of chicken soup before or without ham....and those two ingredients just aren't going to fly with me anymore. So I tried two sauces. The ginger vinaigrette and I made a creamy version of the dressing by using cashews. I'm still not sure which I like better. I'm also very open to another saucy idea so leave a comment if you have a tasty creation! I was satisfied with the Asian swing of these haystacks, and honestly I didn't miss the ham...yes you can do meatless and have a flavorful meal! Enjoy the last big of summer with chunky, tangy pineapple over your haystacks....you can thank me later :)

Hawaiian Haystacks

2 C uncooked Brown rice

1 C green onion

1 pineapple, chopped

1 C sweet peas

1 C corn

1 onion finely chopped

1 C shredded carrots

Rice Chow mein noodles, tortilla strips ( I used these) or nuts for some extra crunch 

* other toppings

Black Beans

Red Bell Pepper

Mango

Broccoli

Mushrooms

black olives

cashews

Ginger Vinaigrette Recipe 

Cashew Ginger Dressing

1/3 C raw cashews

1/2 T ground ginger

2 garlic cloves

1/3 C soy sauce

1/4 C almond milk

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook rice in rice cooker until very tender. Two options: you can leave your vegetables raw or if you're like me and have an onion texture issue you can saute some together for a stir fry taste. I sauteed the onion, peas,  carrots and corn for 5 minutes in a skillet to tenderize the vegetables. For the Cashew dressing add all ingredients to blender and blend for 2 minutes until completely smooth. Add pineapple, choice of dressing, and vegetables to the rice. Top with chow mein noodles. Enjoy

Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownie (GF)

Sweet, Tangy, mouth watering orange flavor perfectly balanced with rich dark chocolate is what will be in my personal heaven someday! I have had such a sweet tooth lately. I've been doing really well and haven't indulged myself too much! I decided to try and create something for alphabet days letter "V" that was a treat, but not full of sugar (I realize the only "V" in this is vegan). Even if I do use raw sugar, I still have to watch it.

Did anyone know that medjool dates are commonly used in place of sweeteners? I haven't used them for a long time, but today I was gung ho on using them to decrease my sugar amount in these decadent brownies! These were perfect to make use of my new cacao powder from my giveaway, be sure and enter, these products are sooooo worth it! Most of my gluten free brownies involve beans, not these ones these are very cake like and will be served often! The orange flavor was subtle, but showed it's self at the same time...perfection! I love chocolate oranges so I loved this flavor, however you really could use any flavoring you'd like, coconut, raspberry, almond, mint, peppermint...make these yours! The glaze is optional, but highly recommended. The reason it calls for being optional is...it does have sugar. I tried, but I have yet to perfect a good glaze without throwing in some powdered sugar. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to comment at the bottom! You'll thank me later after you try these, preferably nestled next to some berry soft serve!

Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownies

1 1/4 white rice flour +1 3/4 all purpose gluten free flour

(or 3 cups of whole wheat flour)

1/2 C cacao powder (or regular cocoa powder)

1 1/2 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C applesauce

1, 12 oz container of firm tofu

1/2 C non dairy butter, I used vegan smart balance

1/2 C pitted medjool dates

1/4 C agave

2 C almond milk

1 T vanilla

1 T orange extract

Glaze

1/4 C cacao powder

1/4 C powdered sugar

1/4 C agave

2 T non dairy milk

1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cacao powder baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and pitted dates to blender or food processor. Blend together for 20 seconds. Add remaining wet ingredients to the blender. Blend well for about 2 minutes to make sure tofu and dates are well blended. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients in the bowl. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes clean. 

while the brownies are cooling combine all your ingredients for the glaze. Once brownies have had time to cool spread the glaze over the top! Serve warm. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy

source: bring-joy.com

Vegan Strawberry Cobbler

Okay here is my promised, not forgotten "U" day! Alphabet days is coming to close. I switched up "V" day and today because I was so anxious to share the Rumbi Salad. This is also a stretch for the letter "U", I'm going to pretend to call it strawberry upside down cake, but really it's a cobbler...it's no big deal!

Have you ever sat in your quiet house, if you have kids, after the kids go to sleep and just had a craving for something sinfully delicious to enjoy while escaping into your favorite TV show? Introducing this cobbler! That is exactly what I experienced last night! I needed something sweet, but healthy so I could sit and soak up the drama of Army Wives....okay yes I love Lifetime shows, it's not a problem!!!! This was such a fast prep work I couldn't believe it, and the end result fit my need. This will not be as sweet as traditional cobblers, however the upside is you can eat two servings without so much guilt! I'm all for that. This would be delicious with some vegan ice cream snuggled right next to it, melting all over the place with the warm cobbler!

I'm going to try this cobbler in our dutch oven soon and see how the end result turns out. You can use any fruit you'd like. I was going to use peaches, but Derek requested that I didn't, he just isn't a peach fan that crazy guy! So I pulled out the strawberries. It was wonderful too. Please excuse the pictures, it was dark outside and my house lighting is just the pits, it looked amazing and tastes even better!

Vegan Strawberry Cobbler

Crust

3/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C coconut sugar (optional)

1/4 C agave

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

5/8 C almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

Filling

4 C chopped strawberries frozen or fresh

1/8 C  coconut sugar

1 T chia seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all the filling ingredients in a 9x9 baking dish and place them in the oven to heat while you mix the crust ingredients.

 Pull baking dish out of the oven and pour crust mixture over the top.

 You can sprinkle top with raw cane sugar if you'd like but that is optional. Bake for 30 minutes until crust is baked all the way through! Serve warm! Enjoy

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

Raspberry Chocolate Freezer Bites

This summer has been perfectly mild most days. It has had a few scorchers, but I have felt that it has been sunny, comfortable perfect frozen treat weather.

As I said in my earlier post I had planned on making something involving raspberry and chocolate...okay the excuse was because we are learning the letter R but mostly it's because I am a fool for raspberry flavor...okay okay and chocolate!

In my mind the simple recipe was going to work out perfectly. It was going to form round little pieces of chocolate that would be sinfully delicious and put DOVE chocolate to shame :)

....this little dream land didn't work out so perfectly. My original thought didn't set up for some reason...it was crazy. It was just a nice tasting liquid blob for over two hours. So I had to really think and brainstorm on how I could get this creation to set up nicely. After some extra ingredients added in, I finally was able to get it to solidify, but if you leave them out too long they do start to thaw very quickly! They turned out really yummy and they will be a fun freezer snack whenever the urge hits for a sweet!

Raspberry Chocolate Freezer Bites

1 C fresh raspberries

3/4 C dark chocolate chips

1/2 C oats

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 T almond butter

1 banana (optional, banana can help things mold. I personally didn't use one)

Add raspberries to saucepan and heat over medium. Stir until they are a liquid. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Stir until chocolate is melted. Spoon mixture onto cookie sheets covered in parchment or wax paper. Place in freezer for 1-2 hours to set up. Keep covered and store in freezer. 

 

*you could also use carob chips if you prefer

Silken Protein Shake

Is anyone not really a huge breakfast eater? I know sometimes I'd rather have a nice smoothie or something instead of something larger. In the blazing summer it's always nice to cool down with something cold and silky in your mouth! If you leave this in the refrigerator for a few hours it turns into a pudding! So you could make fruit parfaits or something for breakfast. I found this recipe here

I have a slight confession, I was terrified to try this! As some of you might be! The way it turned out....well it tasted like a peanut butter, chocolate protein shake! Ah, sigh of relief. My kids wanted it as a dessert they thought it was so tasty, (my little mad did get really frustrated with the slowness of a straw, we moved on to a spoon :)

I've taken a challenge through this blog to do things your afraid of during august. Oh this is so small, just trying something that sounds yuck to me. It's all about the principle behind it though. I'm learning through this lifestyle to branch out, try new things, go against social norms at times. It's increased my confidence to try new things as well as dig up old passions that I have let just kind of fizzle out!

One of those dreams and passions was to always be a published author. I'm finding that is a passion or desire for a lot of people! Well over the last few weeks my husband and I have been working on a project together. An eBOOK! We've designed a fun book on living a healthy lifestyle while living with a tighter wallet! I am so excited to launch this. I find myself just writing all my passion about healthy living into those pages and I can't wait to share them with a larger audience! It's going to a rip roaring party on here on launch day, it's still a few weeks away, we're still learning about all the marketing and things like that!

Anyways, this month if you'd like to share in her challenge. Step out of the box and do something you've pushed way back in your mind that you've always wanted to do or do something your afraid of! Even if it's as simple as trying a new ingredient in a recipe!

Silken Protein Shake

19 oz of silken tofu

4 T cocoa powder

3-4 T agave

2 heaping T of peanut butter

3-4 frozen bananas

Combine all ingredients into high powered blender. Blend on high for about 2 minutes until everything is combined! Refrigerate left overs. Enjoy

           

Fresh Raspberry Soft Serve

Ice cream. Do I miss not indulging in creamy, sugary ice cream from Farr's or Ben and Jerry? NO! Want to know why, because I can make this baby!

It's fast and it satisfies! It's also full of completely natural ingredients. Challenge yourself to try using bananas for your soft serve instead of using cream! It really is wonderful. So do I still think dairy ice cream tastes good....you bet I do. Is it worth it to me? Nope it's not. I'd rather eat a huge bowl of this and not finish it, than give myself two small scoops of other ice cream with maybe a small amount of toppings and then leave myself wanting more, but I can't have more because then I'll kick myself for it later! No thanks, it's more fun to eat as much as I want :) I made this after the kids went to bed because I was in a selfish mood and wanted it ALL FOR MYSELF! So I snuggled in from of the computer ate my huge bowl and worked on my eBook! Talk about De-stressing....for me at least. Enjoy this, I know you will!

Raspberry Soft Serve

1/2 C frozen raspberries

1-2 frozen bananas

almond milk, just until you get the consistency you want, I used about 1/4 C.

fresh raspberries to top it with

Place bananas and raspberries in the blender. Slowly add milk while blender is going until you reach the soft serve consistency. You may have to scrape the sides of the blender! Top with fresh raspberries and enjoy. 

Sub out raspberries for any fruit or berry you want!

"Lazy Lime" Breakfast Smoothie

It's the letter "L" today, I'm not sure if I'm going to do a letter tomorrow, I'm having a tough time finding time to do alphabet day on the weekends so it might just be a Monday-Friday deal :) Today is my "Lazy Lime breakfast smoothie! I have never really been able to take a lovely picture of a smoothie, this one is no different I'm afraid. It was much greener than the picture lets on and more appetizing to look at! I'm working on my photography skills guys :)

 I call it lazy because you really can't beat the speed and ease of a smoothie, and everyone in my family drinks one, so no need to try and make a huge breakfast for everyone! It's lazy, but oh so healthy! I had never used lime in my smoothies before, I liked the subtle hint of lime. If you want more lime taste you might want to throw some zest into yours!

The great thing about smoothies is how many nutrients you can back into them or proteins and all you really taste is a super yummy drink! I used to feel that I needed yogurt in my smoothies at all times, but now I am totally satisfied just stuffing it full of bananas, fruit, and I use almond milk a lot in my smoothies! I always add Chia seeds, and Flax seeds to my smoothies to get the calcium and omega 3's.

P.S. I may start a rumor that there may be a giveaway on here soon....just sayin' :)

Lazy Lime Smoothie

1 fresh banana

1/2 frozen banana

1/2 C frozen strawberries

1/2 C frozen blueberries

2 limes, juiced

2-3 large handfuls of spinach

1 T ground flax seed

2 T Chia seeds

Oats, for top (optional)

1/4 C water

1/4 C almond milk

Combine all ingredients, apart from oats, to blender. Blend on high until completely smooth! About 90 seconds. Add oats and fresh lime zest to the top if you'd like!!! Sleep in, be lazy, it's a weekend :)

Hawaiian Chicken!

You know, I stick to a pretty filling plant diet, but I'll admit sometime a nice tangy, sweet chicken is wonderful! There are some meats I have chosen to not eat any more, pork of any kind and red meat! I'm still working on the poultry! I do think it's okay to eat meat health wise maybe a couple days a week, it's just the animal part...I know that's why a lot of people don't eat meat is for animal rights, which is great! But if you do have chicken every once in awhile or however you eat it, I really liked this recipe, we served it on a bed of wild rice and it was great! It also is really easy to make. I baked my chicken, but I'm sure this could be done in the crock pot as well! You can use canned pineapple, but it will have more sugars in it, so fresh pineapple would be best! This is a great summer dinner!!!

Hawaiian Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 fresh pineapple, chopped (or canned tidbits)

1/2 C honey

1/3 C water

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 T cornstarch

1/4 tsp cumin

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp Mrs. Dash seasoning (by the way if you don't know this is a salt replacement, it's made from veggies, use it, love it!)

Oven Baking method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken breasts in baking dish, sprinkle with cumin, onion powder and Mrs. Dash. Add pineapple, honey, water, nutmeg, and cornstarch to blender. Blend until a chunky puree or desired thickness has occurred. Pour 1/3 amount of pineapple sauce onto chicken. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove and turn chicken over, add another 1/3 of pineapple sauce to chicken, return to the oven uncovered and bake another 20 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through! Serve with rice and top with remaining pineapple sauce!

Crock Pot version: Add chicken and chicken seasonings to the crock pot with small amount of water. Cook on low for about 4 hours, add remaining ingredients. You can puree the sauce or just add the ingredients whole, whatever texture you'd like, cook for another 2-3 hours, stir up the sauce every once in a while if you chose not to puree it! 

Enjoy

Tootie Fruity Freeze Cups

It was a nice hot day today, so after dinner I wanted to make a treat that would cool us down. It still is "F" day for our alphabet days and we are honoring fruit today, so what more could I do than a delicious fruit cup. I wasn't sure how they would turn out, since I just invented them today :) Well, I invented the filling, for the crust I used the berry pie crust and just put in a cupcake pan instead of a pie dish! It worked out really great, they actually popped out easily, that's the part I was most worried about do you know what else is great, they are gluten free and vegan, what do ya know! 


*I also think if you want to do a revamp of the berry pie you could put it in cups like these and have mini berry pies!!!!

 I did a banana filling, and after you pop it in the freezer for a couple hours it comes out much like a banana Popsicle in a crust...Next time I think I'm going to puree all the fruit and turn the whole thing into a fruit freeze instead of topping it with the fresh fruit, not that it wasn't good, I just want to shake it up! Go ahead and play around with it, it's quite simple to make, it just needs time to set up, make it your own! Enjoy

Tootie Fruity Freeze Cups

1 recipe of berry pie graham pie crust (link above)

1 fresh banana

1 frozen banana

1/3 C agave or raw honey

2 T fruit jam (optional)

1/3 C almond milk, or any non-dairy milk

2 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

cut fresh fruit

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pie crust according to directions. Smash crust into cupcake pan. Bake for about 8 minutes. Watch closely, these are smaller so they will burn much faster! Set aside to cool slightly. Add frozen banana and almond milk to blender and blend until broken up and blended slightly. Add fresh banana, agave, jam, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend until very smooth and no banana chunks. Add contents of blender to a small saucepan, heat over med heat, add cornstarch and cinnamon, whisking constantly, until it seems quite thick. Pour banana mixture into the crust cups and put in the freezer for about 2 hours to set up. Remove from freezer and top with any fresh fruit you'd like. I used raspberries and nectarines! If you don't like it so frozen, take it out earlier so it more of a soft banana filling! 

*Just so you are aware, the filling thaws quickly. So if you have left overs cover and store in the freezer.

French Toast Dunkers

Good Morning and Happy "F" day! I have a few fun things planned for this day, I am focusing on fruit today, since fruit is an amazing thing in this world, so beneficial and tasty! So some fun facts about fruit:

-Fruits are excellent sources of fiber and simple sugars, but remain very low in calories...so eat up

- Fruits contain provide lots of soluble dietary fiber, so it helps ward off too many fats, but also helps in digestion... and prevents getting plugged up if you know what I mean

- Fruits are full of anti-oxidants, they can help our bodies prevent diseases, cancers, and help our bodies immune systems fight against these ailments!

-Fruits with a blue or deep purple pigment, acai, blueberries, black grapes, have been known to help prevent cancer, premature aging, and also may linked to dementia/Alzheimer's prevention

-Fruits have so many vitamins and minerals that they promote cell regeneration...which turns into slower aging!!!! 

Did you know fruits did all these things? We all know they are healthy, but these are just some of the reasons why they are healthy. I think we should have more than the standard food pyramid servings! I really try and tie them into every meal, and many snacks!!!!

Okay so now onto breakfast...I decided to make French Toast Dunkers with berry puree as a dipping sauce, I thought they turned out really great, my kids loved them too. If you don't want to do the berry puree then use maple syrup! I liked these since they were super quick, and not quite as messy with my kids believe it or not, whenever I give them pancakes or waffles with syrup it always gets all over them and my chairs, counters you name it. These, however, seemed to be a much easier clean up...which I vote for.  If you'd like a vegan recipe for french toast, check out this recipe right here...it was also a huge hit!

French Toast Dunkers

3 slices whole wheat or whole grain bread

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Slice the bread into 1/2 inch strips. Combine egg whites, cinnamon, and vanilla to small bowl and whisk until mixed very well. Lightly grease skillet with coconut oil. Heat skillet to med. heat. Dip strips of bread into egg mixture until both sides are coated. Let excess drip off. Place strips on the skillet and cook until both sides are brown, about  a minute or two on each side! Serve with berry puree dipping sauce or maple syrup, Enjoy

Berry Puree

2 c fresh berries

3 T maple syrup

1 T raw cane sugar (optional)

Place all ingredients into blender and blend until completely pureed. Serve as is. 

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

Cashew Thumb Print Cookies

If you want a healthy cookie without loosing the sweetness...here you go! I loved these! They are adapted from this recipe at ohsheglows! They were awesome and such a fun cookie for the kids to help with! I love the nuts in this recipe and the flavor they bring, combined with the fruit filling, you've got a winner in my book! This is our double "C" cookie for our Alphabet days, Cashew Cookies!

Another Bonus of these little babies, they are gluten free! How great is that! I'll admit I'm not awesome at gluten free breads and most sweets, but these don't taste any different than other cookies! I'd eat these even if I didn't enjoy eating healthy :)

Cashew Thumb Print Cookies

1 1/3 c raw cashews

1/4 C brown rice flour

2 T ground flax seed

1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 c cashew butter (or almond butter)

1/4 c maple syrup (I actually used honey and agave mixed and it worked awesome!)

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/3 c coconut (optional)

1/2 c fresh berries

Place cashews in high powered blender and blend until they are ground into a flour consistency (you can leave it slightly chunky if you want more crunch) Whisk ground up cashews with all other dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients. If the cashew butter isn't soft and drips, melt wet ingredients for 20 seconds in the microwave to make them soft! Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

 Roll dough into small balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Puree fresh berries or fruit in blender until it is a sauce.  With your thumb push down into ball so there is a little bowl in the cookie.

 Fill bowls with fruit sauce.  Place in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes! Watch closely! Let them cool in the fridge for 15 minutes! Enjoy

*If you don't want to use fresh berries, by all means use already made jam! It tastes great no matter way! Or you could put some chocolate chips in the bowls and melt them during baking so you have a chocolate cookie!

Banana Fudge Cups

This was a fun little snack/treat to tie into our "B" day! They are soooo tasty too! They use natural sweeteners and topped with yummy bananas make it a guiltless little treat! The original recipe used mini cupcake tins, but I only have large ones so that's okay though they still turned out great!

These were so quick and use ingredients that I had on hand anyways, I didn't have to do any special planning. I found the recipe at ohsheglows.com right here and only made a few tweaks, this is a fun recipe to do with kids, they could be in charge of scooping the fudge sauce, or putting the bananas on top!
We had a great time spelling out banana, and quizzing each other on what ingredient started with what letter! I think you could coat the tortillas in cinnamon for a sweet shell, or top this with different fruit, like berries or something! Enjoy

Banana Fudge Cups

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 c agave (or maple syrup)

1/4 c coconut oil 

1 T nut butter any type (I used cashew because of the milder taste)

3 wheat tortillas 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If you're using mini cupcake pans cut 2 inch circles out of the tortillas, if you are using larger cupcake tins cut the tortillas into fourths and place the tortilla pieces into the tins

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden. Be sure to watch closely. There is no need to grease the pan they just pop out!

Meanwhile place all ingredients into sauce pan and heat over med-low until coconut oil and nut butter are completely melted together, whisking constantly. 

Spoon fudge sauce into tortilla cups. You can just tip the ends of the cups with the fudge then fill with fruit, or fill the entire bottoms of the cups for more chocolate (that's my favorite option) Place in the freezer for 15 minutes so fudge sauce stands up. Top with whatever you'd like, I liked the bananas, but I also think raspberries would be awesome...or why not just go for it and add some more dark chocolate chips! :)

Enjoy!!!

for a gluten free option use gluten free tortillas...easy right!

Banana Peanut Butter Crunch Rolls

Ready for the easiest snack in the world! My daughter ate all of these, she didn't leave any for her younger brother...nice huh. All you need is three things! Bananas, natural peanut butter, and cereal. I used cinnamon Honey Bunches of Oats, but I think a rice cereal would be good, try and not use the super sugary cereals. It's super fast, and quite healthy! A perfect little snack for your little ones or you too :)

Don't be jealous of my bear plate, I know it's awesome :)

Banana Peanut Butter Crunch Rolls

1 banana

2 T natural peanut butter

1/4 crushed cereal

Cut up banana into slices, roll into peanut butter so the sides are coated. Dip peanut butter covered sides into crushed cereal! Serve chilled or right after they are rolled! Just don't let the bananas start to brown! Enjoy

*for gluten free be sure and use gluten free cereal

*Vegan options use, vegan rice cereal or another vegan cereal

Tangy Apple Coleslaw

I think my favorite fruit is an apple. Just a simple apple. I've always loved them, they are so perfectly sweet to me, I love to dip them into nut butters, or put them on my salads! I love fruit of all kinds, but to me nothing can beat the simplicity of the apple! 
      
       As part of our alphabet day I thought to add this fun summer side or main dish salad! I found this in Healthy Kitchen Magazine and it sounded really yummy. I love raw cabbage and so does my family, my kids don't know the difference really between lettuce or cabbage so I can just shake it up when I want to! I've never thought to add apples to cabbage though! I love the sweet apples with the tangy dressing over the cabbage! So here is our "A" salad

Tangy Apple Coleslaw

1 head green cabbage

2 granny smith apples

1/3 c apple cider vinegar

1/4 c canola oil

1/2 packet Italian Dressing Seasoning

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 T honey

Tear off cabbage leaves and slice so they are like matchsticks. Core apples and slice so they are like matchsticks. Combine vinegar, oil, mustard, seasoning, and honey to small saucepan, bring to a boil, stirring often, remove from heat. Pour heated dressing over salad and toss to coat. Put in the fridge and let combine, and chill for an hour! You'll love it!