Happenings

Things have been moving at a super fast speed.  To catch you up quickly,

I now have a 8, 6 and 2 year old.  :) 

Gabe had his birthday party at a indoor pool!

Using his new bow&arrow.

We had Grandma and neighbor Heidi over to have brunch and watch Big Hero 6 with us.

Gabe. 6.  <3 br="">

Mama with her growing son!

I now make my own deodorant.  And it works great!  I sweat less, I don't stink.  EVER!  Not even in the mornings, before I shower.  It is awesome.  And so easy!  It is 4 ingredients.

1/3 c coconut oil
1/3 c arrow root
2 T baking soda
15-20 Essential oils (I use Purification from Young Living)

I emptied out the SURE deodorant since it so awful for us, doesn't work as well and isn't being used and smooshed my homemade stuff into it this morning.  We will see how that works tomorrow.  :) 

Trev shaved.  He went from this

 

To THIS!  

I successfully through Trever a 40th birthday party 4 days before his actual birthday.

I think that about sums up what we are doing.  We are working on school.  As much as we can.  CC will be done in short 3 weeks!  And school school will be going through the summer.  Math and reading and maybe some writing too.

My CC class on St. Patrick's Day.

  Carson has become a major book warm!  All.the.time.  :)  Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful he got the book bug, but when I ask him to come do something else, I do get a bit of some attitude.  :)

Yes, he is reading like this?!!!

 The boys do a lot of this

This last week, World Series pitcher for the Kansas City Royals, Jeremy Guthrie was in town.  He is from little old Ashland Oregon and went to the big league. Jeremy was my classmate and graduated a year before me from Ashland High School.  He signed a couple of things for us.  It was really fun to see him again. 

Gabe holding the flag out, so Jeremy could sign it.

Happy Spring Time to you! Hope you are doing well.

AlOha!

Broccoli Cheese Bites

Broccoli Cheese Bites (adapted from My Tasty Treasures & WholeSomeBabyFood.com):

16 oz. package of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained of liquid (I used fresh steamed broccoli)
1 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese
3 eggs
salt & pepper
1 cup of seasoned Italian breadcrumbs

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

With your hands, form small patties and lay on a parchment lined baking sheet.


Bake at 375F for 25 minutes, turning the patties after the first 15 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!

Instead of using breadcrumbs, I added a little almond flour.  They turned out pretty good.  They got really flat, which might be from using the stoneware cookie sheet.  

Egg Muffins

My plan for today was to make some Pinterest recipes that I have pinned.

The first one up was Egg Muffins

I don't like using muffin tins, so I decided to make it in a Pampered Chef round stoneware dish.  I used chard, green onion, cheese, mushrooms, and broccoli and sea salt.  Oh!  I also added some milk. 

(Makes about 12 muffins)

Ingredients12 eggs
1-2 tsp. Season Salt
1-2 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Optional: chopped veggies such as chopped broccoli, red peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, spinach, etc.
Optional: diced Canadian bacon, lean ham, or crumbled cooked turkey sausage

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Use regular or silicone muffin pan, 12 muffin size. If using silicone pan, spray with nonstick spray. If using regular muffin pan, put two paper liners into each slot, then spray liner with nonstick spray.

In the bottom of the muffin cups layer diced meat, if using, vegetables, if using, and cheese. You want the muffin cups to be about 2/3 full, with just enough room to pour a little egg around the other ingredients. Break eggs into large measuring bowl with pour spout, add Season Salt, and beat well. Pour egg into each muffin cup until it is 3/4 full. I like to stir slightly with a fork. Bake 25-35 minutes until muffins have risen and are slightly browned and set.

Muffins will keep at least a week in the refrigerator without freezing. Egg muffins can be frozen and reheated. For best results, thaw in refrigerator before reheating. Microwave on high about 2 minutes to reheat.

 

Here is the outcome of my egg "muffins."

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I want to try these out! 

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe by Clark, The Trainer:


3 ¼ cup almond meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
½ cup honey (maple syrup or agave nectar works too)
½ cup coconut oil, melted
1 ½ cups cacao nibs (pure chocolate chips and vegan chocolate chips work too)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, Grab a cookie sheet and some parchment paper or aluminum foil.  I’ve found it easier to use something like that rather than baking directly on the cookie sheet (plus I can get the next sheet in the oven quicker and I want my cookies NOW!)
2. Combine 3 and 1/4 cups of almond flour (Trader Joes almond meal is by far the best, and it’s cheaper than Red Mill or whatever) with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of baking soda.
3. In a large bowl, combine 2 eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup of coconut oil and 1/2 cup of either honey, pure maple syrup, or agave nectar (I like honey).
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients then add 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips.  The darker the chips the more paleo friendly they are, but the dairy free ones from Trader Joes taste pretty good.  Haha! (The dough will look pretty wet, I placed my dough in the fridge to firm up a bit before rolling them into balls, but you can just pop them into the oven as is)
5. Spoon them onto your parchment and pop them in the oven.  This recipe makes about 24 cookies, and i usually do 2 rounds of 12.  Bake ‘em for about 8-10 minutes (the tops will start to get golden brown).  If they go longer than that the bottoms burn because of the sugar in the honey.  No good at all.
6. When I pull them out I let them cool long enough to get them off the parchment and put them in something sealed to go into the fridge.  I like them better out of the fridge because there’s no flour and they tend to be a little sticky at room temp.
7. Now it gets a little crazy…  Done like this, sometimes they can seem a little under cooked.  Just the nature of the recipe.  I’ve experimented a little with adding 2 tablespoons of coconut flour and it really changes the texture.  Makes them more “cakey” if you will.

Sesame Crackers

My mom made these over the weekend and they are yummy!  She said she is going to use a little less salt and maybe a little less oil next time.