Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween Baby-Making!

Happy Halloween fellow bloggers!

BOY are YOU in for a treat!  I am loving a new blog, Chocolate Covered Katie, and, thanks to Miss CCK, I have discovered the joys of 'Baby-Making'!!! OMG. I am addicted. And you know what?  Making them is almost more fun that eating them!

So far I've made 4 batches, each different! In fact, though I made two last night, I did the other two today and the Beebits helped! A baby makin' babies.. LOL. Well he's a toddler but that doesn't sound quite as cute ;) He loved helping and he LOVED eating haa! AND the best part is they're sugar free, and (relatively) healthy, so I didn't mind him having them!

Here's the Babies we did (my version, of course), ingredients are listed, and the process is just pulse in a processor or (I use my magic bullet) until everything's mixed then shape into lil Babies!: 
Cashew Babies
80g dates, 30g raw cashews, 1/8 tsp vanilla
Cocoa-Coconut Babies
80g dates, 30g raw cashews, 10g coconut butter (I used Artisana), 5g unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/8tsp vanilla


 The Cashew and Cocoa-Coconut Babies side-by-side









Trail-Mix Babies
50g dates, 30g raisins, 30g raw cashews, 5g unsweetened shredded coconut, 1/8tsp vanilla









(And without an in-the-bullet pic) Coco-Pine-nut Nut Babies (ran out of cashews, decided to see what it was like with pine nuts, not bad!)
80g dates, 32g unsalted pine nuts, 1/8tsp vanilla, small sprinkle salt


These are the Coco-Pine-Nut (far) and the Trail Mix Babies (near) together :)






Also on our Halloween agenda.... lil crispy corn Ghosties!  Inspired by this post, and since I happened to have a package of qhite corn tortillas just sitting in the fridge, I decided to try my hand
at homemade chips!  The Beebits helped of course.  ;)
See our lil ghostie cutter? :)
Boot cookie cutter squished into a ghostie shape!
My little 'Vanna' - The Beebits pointing to our ghosties:)
 
Ghosties on a tray!
Pile of chips, cooling off
Lookie lookie, my lil ghostie!
I actually overcooked one tray a bit :( so some of them are kinda brown ghosties lol, but they still taste pretty good! I'd make them again :) 


And a fun Halloween morning with the Beebits - my favorite kind of fun time!  We cooked (the chips and made the Babies), we colored, we made snakes... we decorated a pumpkin... What a fabulous morning!  


The pumpkin fell and got a booboo - so we put a bandaid on him :) All better!
Happy face pumpkin! The Beebits decorated all by himself!
Happy pumpkin from the back :)

Mommy and the Beebits and the Happy pumpkin :)
Happy Mommy gettin some love :)
We're meeting up with a little friend of his for some Trick-or-Treat fun too!  I'll post again with pics of that fun time later!

Have a Happy (and safe) Halloween everyone!!!!!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

If We Learn Anything from Dogs....


  • Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. 
  • When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
  • Allow the experience of fresh air and wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
  • Take Naps.
  • Stretch before rising. 
  • Run, romp and play daily!
  • Thrive on attention. 
  • Let people touch you.
  • Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
  • Om warm days, lie on your back in the grass.
  • Oh hot days, drink lots of water and lie in the shade.
  • When you're happy, dance around and wag our entire body!
  • Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
  • Never pretend to be something you're not.
  • If what you want is buried, dig until you find it.
  • When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
And most importantly:
  • ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

(And never pass up a chance to draw smileys on your fingers and put raspberry hats on them! *wink*)


I love this... and just wanted to post it to brighten your day!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Awesome Oats *gasp SO good* and Naughty Mommy

OMG, so I was reading this article on the benefits of coconut oil the other day and decided to make some small change in my diet. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE coconut oil, love it's wonderful many uses and benefits.. and have read a lot on the subject before. I use coconut religiously (and solely, I might add) as a facial moisturizer, makeup remover etc. and use it on all of the rest of me for a moisturizer too!

I also cook with it, though not really that often - more for the fact that I can use EVOO or safflower to cook and can't use those on my face lol! So, because I literally can't afford to and AND wear coconut, I choose to wear it ;)

BUT. There are health benefits to consuming coconut oil that I really hadn't ever thought too much about or had considered applying.  I have changed my mind. The first way I thought to have it was with my oats in the mornings. I almost 100% of the time have steel cut oats for breakfast, usually just thinning it down with a little water, and having cinnamon on... sometimes a ripe banana mashed in is really good - when I have bananas.  I thought to myself, well, why not just 'mash' some coconut oil into the oats instead? Prolly won't affect the flavor too much and is an easy way to get in my oil.  

(Note: I've tried smoothie-ing my coconut oil and, uh, because it hardens at like, 70? degrees, it just solidified as soon as I threw it in the blender and then flew around my smoothie in chunks. Wasn't that great. lol)


SO, I added the oil - just a tsp to start, since I'd read if you don't consume c.oil regularly to start small.  Had me some warmed up oats, with a bit of stevia and cinnamon... O.M.G. the best bowl of oats I EVER HAD.  There actually was a faint coconut-y flavor  AND it was a bit sweet too! I am in love with coconut oil-oats. I dont' ever want to eat them any other way! AND what a health benefit too! Check out the article by NaturalNews here! And there are a few other awesome articles too, on NN, as well as probabyl thousands on the web - look it up!

For reference, try these sites for some good (diverse!) info also!
http://www.coconut-connections.com/
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
http://www.coconutdiet.com/
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/coconut_oil.html
http://www.all-about-virgin-coconut-oil.com/benefits.html
http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/successstories.htm
Just to list a few.  Yes, I believe in coconut oil. ;)

Y.U.M.M.Y!! If you've never used or tried coconut oil, oh you have got to get some!!!

****

OK, so for some cuteness..

 (The Beebits being dramatic, lol, censored version cause he wasn't wearin' any underpants!!)

Cute #1
OH and our cat, Thalia, made a surprise appearance today - hiding in the bed, under the covers! This is according to the Beebits, of course... He said she was there, a 'kitten' under the blanket.. I said "Your kitten?" He says "NO. Tha-ya kitten"...then he sticks his head under the blanket and calls "Tha-ya ... Are you...??"  So dang cute!  (P.s. Thalia's our cat, who - due to a no pet policy at our apt - lives with Meema and Beepa.  Hm. I wonder if they know she's missing? Lol...)

Cute#2
Apparently I was naughty today?  Lil man, grabbed an emery board (from where? lol), came and 'swatted' me with it... I said "Was Mommy naughty?" He walks away, turns around and says - with a very stern face - "Mommy naughty!" Then he comes and grabs me by the leg, and drags me to the cough saying "Two minutes, Mommy, two minutes..." That's for time-out (or 'quiet time' in our house).  Well. I don't even know what I did! Lol.. I did ask him to sit with me though, and he did :)

Cute#3
Later we sat on the kitchen floor banging awy on some metal bowls and tupperware with bamboo straws, listening to how the different bowls made different sound when we drum on them :)


Such a Happy Mommy, what a smart sweet cute lil man!  And he's mine! Yay!