I've Moved!

In case you're interested.. I've moved! I'm now posting here, and will no longer be updating this site. 

Come visit me at my new home! :)

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!!!!!

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!

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!!!

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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!

Junior-ism's: Funny things he says and does...

Short but sweet updates on my lil man, vegan-related or otherwise! You might laugh, be warned ;)

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Him: "Fruit bar?"

Me: "We don't have any honey, mommy's sorry"

Him: "Fruit bar?"

Me: "No, sweetie, you can't have one, we don't have any, I'm sorry."

Him: "Buy some?"

-

*He gets a wooden spoon, pats me on the hip with it (swat) and grabs me by the leg, drags me toward the living room*.

He says:  "Two Minutes mommy."

(D'oh! Two minutes is how long he has time-outs for LOL!)

-

*I hear a suspicious 'liquid noise" and turn to see what he's doing.*

Jr stands at his little kitchen, peeing into one of his little 'kitchen' pots. He's so proud of himself for not peeing on the floor (couldn't make it to the toilet? No idea.)

Then I notice it's not a 'pan' he's peeing into. It's a colander. Pee all over the floor anyway! (I had to tell him I was proud of him for being resourceful and to please use the toilet next time lol!)

-

My little 'tech-baby':

Jr: "Meema?"

Me: "You want to call grandma?"

Jr: "Yes."

Me: "Okay, we'll call grandma..."

Jr: "Bluetooth?"

Heheh

-

While having a conversation with lil man one morning, he suddenly stops me with a loud whisper "SHhhhhhhh! People sleepin!" D'oh! Each time I tried to ask about who these sleeping people were I got another "SHHH!" I'm sorry, apparently I was being loud enough to wake the neighbors? Ack!

-

I saw him one day looking at (sort of at, anyway) a blank wall and dangling a little necklace he has toward ..(nothing?) and saying "Get it... get it kitty... kitty... get it get it..." I laughed and asked him if he had a kitty? He said "Yes." So I said, "What color is your kitty?" He says, "Orange." Well, don't tell the landlord, we're not supposed to have cats!

-

I am talking to him one day, as he sat at his tray table eating lunch.. I was in the kitchen.. and he suddenly stops, looks to his right an points and says "Stop it." Then launched right back into his 'talk' with me... 'Someone/something' must have been bothering him? LOL! 

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I am going to attempt to write these things down more frequently, cause I know if I don't I'll forget them!! I hope you enjoy reading about some of our daily fun :)  And YES, I'm going to get some more vegan-yummy posts up too - SOON!!!

Long time no Smoothie

Morning! SO, I was motivated this morning (so many morning i just don't feel it!) and made myself a smoothie for breakfast!  I so often make 'recipes' that I get from my mom, or look up 'what tastes good in a smoothie'... but today I made up my own :)

AND... it was so yummy I had to share! Yah so the picture looks like every other green smoothie, lol, but the ingredients may be different?  ;)  I hope you try this cause it's amazing!  Little man even had some and he loved it!  (Of course, he loves all green smoothies so that in itself isn't necessarily a 'recommendation' lol)

My smoothie:

1 1/2c water

60 grams organic baby  spinach

500 grams watermelon

200 grams cantaloupe (mine was in cubes, frozen)

96 grams frozen banana (shootin for around 100 grams)

2 scoops stevia (maybe 1/8 tsp, it's a tiny lil scoop!)

Put the water, spinach and stevia in the blender and blend until the spinach is liquified.  
(If you're new to green smoothie-ing, note: if you don't do the spinach first, it won't blend up entirely - or possibly at all! - and you'll have spinach bits,. which could be unappetizing in a smoothie....)

When the spinach is processed, add the watermelon, and then the frozen fruits one at a time until each is blended thoroughly. 

Drink! Enjoy!

P.s. My smoothie was quite sweet, so if you prefer it less sweet, or more the natural fruit sweetness, you may consider using only 1 scoop of stevia or none at all.  I didn't factor in how (awesome!) my watermelon was, and I think 1 scoop of stevia would have been plenty even for me, who likes the sweet!! Next time I'd definitely start with one and go from there.  Also, if your fruit isn't frozen, I think it'd still be super, it'd just be different :)  I don't know why, in my mind, 'smoothies' are cold, but obviously everyone may not agree lol

P.s.s. OH yeah, almost forgot, I have an every day run-of-the-mill blender... hence the ordered blending.  If I don't do it that way, it doesn't work... but IF you have a BlendTec or VitaMix, you could just dump everything in and blend and have the same result. :)  Oh, a girl can dream :) lol...

Hope to see you again soon!! I have to do some recipe updates and some lil man picture updates too!!  I owe you guys, I know! ;) Have a fabulous day!

And... Welcome back! Sort of ;)

Welcome to my adventure! Some of you may find that you recognize us, as I've blogged before... but this is a brand new effort - with a new blog, new title and new (I hope? lol) style too!

Let me introduce myself - I'm a Christ-follower, single mommy & vegan. In pretty much that order too lol... My DS is almost 2, and a vegan also (for my part). I'm hopeful that his dad adheres to the wonderful animal free lifestyle with him too but that's beyond my control really isn't it? I just pray about it and think the best ;) SO, for all intents and purposes, lil man is a vegan too and that's how I introduce him.

To sum me up for informational purposes...

I'm on a journey... to find more of God in this world and in my life, to seek Him out in everyday things, draw closer to Him and lean on Him for my (our) needs first. That's my #1 priority...

My second journey is in motherhood. All I ever wanted to be in life was a mommy... I got my wish almost 2 years ago (almost 3 including prego-time!) and couldn't be happier with my lil man. I want at least 3 more kids and look forward to the day when that's a reality. On a dady-to-day basis though, mothering is an adventure... and as the "terrible two's" comes upon us, I am even more joyful for every little victory at home - every smile - every new thing learned and every happy memory! It's a amazing ride and I don't regret one minute!

Lastly - because it's really the most recent - I'm on a journey as a vegan. I've been 'vegetarian' for a few years, but really went totally vegan in January 2010. So far it's been a pretty smooth transition... my biggest conflict (for lack of a better word) was actually just last week with a HOT pair of shoes that turned out to be leather... I walked around in them .. loved them and then put them back on the shelf. I found a not as cute but still very cute pair that were not leather and walked proudly out of the store feeling awesome about my steadfastnest. Lol... not to too t my own horn ya know, I'm just sharing some of the ups and downs ;)

I'm going to share this bit from another post I did in my old blog, because I want everyone to be able to read/see it... it sums up my thoughts and new beliefs as a vegan perfectly. It's from an article called The Fat Vegan by Dr. McDougall, and once I read it I was completely reaffirmed in my decision. I hope it speaks to you also!

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Vegans Are Ripe For Change

Being vegan says to me this is a person with outstanding character. Vegans are self-sacrificing and committed to making a difference. When everyone else is certain that it is our God-given right to mistreat and kill cows, pigs, chickens, and fishes in order to be properly nourished; a vegan would rather risk protein and calcium deficiency than to harm these beautiful creatures. Of course, this deep sacrifice ends with the discovery that plants provide all needed proteins, amino acids, essential fats, vitamins, and minerals (including calcium) without the inherent risks of flesh and dairy. Vegans are self-confident. They remain steadfast even when mom, dad, dietitian, and doctor are visibly angered by their religion of “veganism.” Vegans are industrious. To avoid eating animals in a world where beef, chicken, and cheese are mixed in with everything in the market and on the menu is a daily struggle. Reading labels, turning down invitations to dinner, and occasionally, going hungry, require more effort than the average person is willing to muster.

Obviously vegans are exceptional people. With this one simple shift to a starch-based diet the word “vegan” will become synonymous with terms like healthy, trim, active, young, strong, and energetic, and finally the most important adjective, earth-changing.

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I hope you'll come back again for another visit sometime - and if you have any ideas for a post or have questions, want to hear something in particular... just let me know! :) Thanks for visiting!