Choco-nana Green Smoothie

I whipped up this delicious Choco-nana Smoothie this morning for breakfast and it's one of my best yet! The flavours really come together and taste deeelicious on this rainy morning.

I was pleasantly surprised to find chocolate coconut water at Joanne's Health Store over the week-end, I love coconut water and the nice addition of cocoa is great. The kids have this instead of gatorade at soccer games...much more hydrating and healthy. Anyways, this is what I put in my morning choco smoothie:

2 Tbsp. chia seeds, soaked in a cup of water for half an hour
2 handfuls of spinach
1 cup of coconut milk
Half a bottle of chocolate coconut water
1 Tbsp. almond butter
1 Tbsp. cacao powder
1 handful of frozen berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry)
2 frozen bananas

Yummy Smoothie

Delicious

Yummy Vegan Mac & Cheese: Kid Approved!

Who doesn't like a nice mac & cheese? I've never been a hug fan of the 'dairy' version, and decided to give this recipe a try I found on the lovely Vegan Yum Yum site. You can find the recipe there. I made a couple alterations, based on my own personal taste & what I had on hand. I added an onion to the carrot and potato mixture (I also used two sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes). I didn't have miso so I used soy sauce in its place. I told the kids their Mac & Cheese was ready for dinner & they literally ate every bit in their bowls. Not one of them could tell there wasn't any dairy in it, let alone the sauce was made of sweet potatoes and carrots! This is going to be a staple in our house now. I doubled the recipe to bake it in a 9x13 pan and we have a little less than half left. The kids each had seconds!

Fresh out of the oven

Laila's bowl

Before it went into the oven

Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found these amazing vegan cookies at VegWeb with hundreds of positive comments & decided to give them a try. We are so glad we did (Kole and I) of course. I didn't have vanilla but they tasted great without, or applesauce to help them expand or molasses for colour...next time we will try it with the substitutions but today's batches turned out deliciously yummy & I can't wait for the older kids to come home from school & try them. 

The Happy Baker!

Adding in the baking powder

and the vegan chocolate chips

Close-up...look at his eyelashes!

Ohhh...gettin' some more chips to eat

So proud with his work!

These are gooood cookies!

Yum-O

Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    2 cups unbleached flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    cinnamon, to taste, optional
    handful vegan chocolate or carob chips
    1 cup raw sugar (turbinado; sucanat works too, but sucks up a lot of the moisture)
    1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Very important-make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. It will work if they're not at room temp but it works much better if they are. Also while your oven is pre-heating put the cookie sheets you are going to use on top of the oven so they get preheated as well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in chips. Make a well in the center and set aside. In a medium size bowl, add together sugar and oil; mix well. 

3. Add the vanilla and then add the water; mix well.  Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it.  Add more chips if you need to. 

4. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Put them in the oven.  Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets (top to bottom and 180 degree rotation). Bake another 4 minutes and check them. The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. I usually go in 2 minute increments from here until they get to where I like them.

5. Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring them to the racks.

These cookies have come a long way, lots of time and tasting spent on getting them to where they are now. Vegans and non vegans love them. In the words of my 6 year old son:Mom, you're the greatest because you know how to make the best cookies. Enjoy and let me know if you have questions. Sweet travels.

Serves: almost 2 dozen; Preparation Time: 10 minutes; Cooking Time: 10 to 12 minutes

3-D Valentine's Cards

After seeing these all over pinterest and different blogs I knew this is what I wanted to try for my kids this year. So happy I did, they turned out great and cheap! Costco has 9 cent prints and with Creative Memories StoryBook they came together quickly.

First, I took the kids pictures with their hands out so they would be "holding" the lollipop.

Then I designed the cards using StoryBook.

Lastly, with an exacto knife my hubby cut slits above and below the kids fists' and inserted a lollipop. I'm so happy with the way they turned out. Happy Valentine's!!

Chocolate Cherry Chunk Whoopie Pies

I made this for the scrap girls last month and they were a huge hit. I'm usually not a huge cherry fan but these are incredibly delicious. For the recipe check out: http://www.confessionsofacookbookqueen.com/2012/01/cherry-chocolate-chunk-whoopie-pies/ I know her recipes always come out great!

Last Minute Homemade Teacher Gifts!

Our Elf "Zippy" knew we were in a crunch during the last week of school and he helped us make these fun Nativity Legend M&M treats! I found this fun idea last year and am using it again this year!

Our Elf Zippy

The Nativity Legend I made using Creative Memories StoryBook

All you need is square pretzels, peppermint or candy cane kisses  and holiday coloured M&M's!

Start by lining a cookie sheet with wax paper, then fill the sheet completely with square pretzels. Top each pretzel with a peppermint Hershey Kiss. Heat your oven to about 170 degrees and WATCHING CLOSELY warm them for 5 to 6 minutes. You want to soften the Kiss, not melt it (or it turns into a big mess)! When it's soft (but is still holding it's "kiss" form), you can drop and slightly press an M&M on top. Chill for 5 to 10 minutes to set, wrap in a box with ribbon, attach the M&M Nativity Story and you're done!

Here are some other teacher gifts that would be great to make!!

Hershey's kisses freebie @ Shindig Parties to go

Handmade monogram mugs. HERE @ Design Mom

Sea salt scrub! Here @ kellihampton.com 

Ornaments

Here @ Laurmelashouse

Hot chocolate spoons for dipping!

 HERE @ alphamom

Teacher basket http://www.howdoesshe.com/christmas-gift-idea-teacher

New Teacher Gift Basket http://craftingmom.com/back-to-school-teacher-gift-basket-with-free-printable/

Veggie Enchiladas

Well, in an effort to start "Meatless Mondays" I began with this amazing recipe from Annies Eats. It really is full of wonderful veggies and the kids didn't even notice there wasn't any meat...bonus!! Even my meat eating hubby loved it so it's definitely a keeper! I added zucchini, bell peppers, black beans, and onion. You are certainly add whatever veg you have in your fridge and maybe even the freezer, like corn! The recipe makes a lot of sauce so I poured it all on and I'm glad I did because it was delish with all the veg. I made this recipe for the scrap gals and they loved it too...