Pears are in full swing around here in the South and with all the low hanging fruit we are preparing for homemade pear butter and pear cobblers. Read more

Yikes! It’s been awhile since my last post. Life happens and it lasted for a couple of months for me. Well, I have a great recipe to share! If you are looking for a healthy snack you can toss in your bag to eat on the go or pack in lunch boxes…I am with you and I may have what you are looking for.

Read more

My daughter has been wanting to make donuts for a long time. We rarely buy donuts and have fried pop-biscuits only a few times in their lives, and that was a looooong time ago. I knew there was a better way.

When we came across a Whole Wheat Cake Donut Recipe she jumped on it.  We found the recipe on Heavenly Homemakers.com. We used coconut oil instead of the melted butter and opted to bake instead of fry. Read more

At my house, we love pancakes and waffles and all things you might put syrup on. Needless to say we can easily go through lots of Maple Syrup.

I try to keep some around and often blend fruits sweetened with the Maple Syrup to pour over pancakes, to stretch the syrup and decrease the amount of sugar in the early mornings. Read more

Spring is upon us in the south and I love it! The colors are so beautiful and vibrant.

It got me thinking of these colors…

Pink Strawberries

Green Spinach

Purple Blueberries (yes, they blend up purple) Read more

When I say Eggs, I do, mean real chicken eggs. Nearly all of this site’s recipes are Vegan or Vegetarian, but I do use eggs, sometimes.

Throughout my recipes I give alternatives for eggs, but I, personally, have never used an egg substitute for scrambled eggs or omelets. If you have, and it’s good, please let me know what has worked for you.

Back to real eggs… We have access to country chickens “aka yard eggs” and love to take advantage of this luxury.

From time to time we even get the privilege of taking care of the chickens and get to keep the eggs. We love that! There is just something about peaking into the nest and finding several eggs laid and ready to be taken. I guess it’s like a hide-and-seek game — fun for the whole family. Read more

Peanut Butter Dip for Apples Kids Love

Peanut Butter dip for fresh veggies or fruit.

I whipped up this Peanut Butter Dip one afternoon as a quick snack and served it with apple sticks (an apple I sliced into sticks).  Now it has become a common snack at our house when the kids get the munchies between meals.

The next morning I spread it on toast for breakfast. This peanut butter dip is an excellent substitution for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The dates make the dip sweet and it’s all natural ingredients.

Peanut butter dip on toast.

If you don’t have dates you can use maple syrup or honey for sweetener.

This is also a great way to incorporate flax seed into your diet. Flax is high in Omega-3 essential fatty acids which are good fats shown to have heart healthy effects. Flax is also high in fiber. In order to absorb these nutrients, the seed must be broken apart such as in a blender or grinder. Otherwise the seed just ‘”passes through”.

Any nut butter can replace the peanut butter. This dip does not need to be measured exactly, just throw the ingredients in your blender and blend away. If you need a bit more milk to get it to blend, add some. If you need more maple syrup or another date to sweeten it, add it. Experiment. It really is hard to mess up this mixture of  ingredients. They just go together and come out great. Read more

Fresh-made Almond Milk

There are a variety of milk alternatives in stores now and the one we love is almond milk.

One of the reasons we love it is, other than the obvious nutrition of almonds, it seems to have a thicker consistency than rice milk. It comes in regular or vanilla. It is even great in coffees and teas. I have been making my almond milk for some time now and have turned that job over to my six year old.

Almonds are considered one of the most nutritious nuts. They are a rich source of protein, fiber, vitamin E, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium and zinc. All of which are micro nutrients your body needs and the best source of getting these nutrients is through a plant-based diet. Real fruits and vegetables. Read more

My Blendtec turns 300!!!

One of the cool features of the Blendtec Total Blender is its counter. It counts the number of uses, cycles run. I guess it’s like a blender odometer…pretty neat.

Well, I have had mine since February 8th, just less than 4 months! Wow, that is some serious blending!!! 300 and counting…

So, my 300th blend was an Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie. It is so yummy with oats and raisins and cinnamon…slurp! It was quite interesting drinking my oatmeal for breakfast…and very filling. It doesn’t have to be for breakfast, the first time I made this was 11pm.

Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie

2 bananas (frozen)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup milk (I used almond)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 T raisins

Blend Well … Live Well

I am currently reading Disease  Proof Your Child  Feeding Kids Right by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.   I think this book should be on the shelf of every house hold who has children.

Straight away Dr. Fuhrman says he will not sugar coat his message and so far he has held true to this statement. His message is “the modern diet that most children are eating today creates a fertile environment for cancer and other disease to emerge at a later age.”

I thought of this as I was reaching for the cereal for my children’s breakfast. I paused and decided to go with my gut and went to the fridge and pulled the following ingredients out for a healthy breakfast smoothie. I toasted a piece of homemade whole grain bread with honey and called it a successful heart healthy breakfast for us all.

It did take a moment longer to get prepared, compared to cold cereal and fruit, but I felt good about my choice. It’s these first 10 years of my children’s lives that are so important in creating a healthy diet for their young growing bodies.

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 fresh banana
• 1 handful of Romain lettuce (or spinach)
• handful of fresh blueberries (or frozen)
• 3 pitted dates
• handful of frozen peaches
• handful of frozen strawberries
• a few carrots
• heart healthy herbs (optional)

I stuffed all this in my Blendtec Total Blender and blended until all ingredients were smooth.

The key to making a great smoothie is not stressing about exact ingredients, but putting good stuff in your blender. If you don’t have dates, don’t worry, skip that and move on. If it’s not sweet enough for your taste, add concentrated OJ or honey or maple syrup.

The idea is to get the nutrients in  your child (or you) with the least pain. If it’s the green color that is scary (but so beautiful), add blueberries to turn it purple.

Then let your children help you. Let them choose the green, or the frozen fruit..or whatever it takes to get them involved. Have fun with it.

Let me know what your favorite ingredients are your children like in smoothies.

Live Well!!! Blend Well!!!

April

Baked Oatmeal

This is probably one of my favorite breakfast recipes. It’s super simple to throw together and while it’s baking you can be preparing smoothies/coffee/setting the table or just taking a breather before the day begins…

Baked Oatmeal w/ Cranberry & Walnuts

Combine the following ingredients in small bowl and set aside:
1 3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 c apple sauce (I tossed in one snack cup)
1 T flax (milled)

Combine the following ingredients in a larger mixing bowl:
2 cups rolled oats
3 Tablespoons honey
1/3 cup cranberries (or raisins)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Add the wet ingredients to the dry oatmeal mixture and stir. Pour into sprayed dish.

Bake 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Serves 4-6

I felt I was super mom with the Crock-pot the other day. I had soaked some red beans the day before, put them to cook all day. I separated the cooked beans in 2 quart jars, then the rest I made a red bean chili in the crock.

The 2 quarts of red beans will be for dinners later on in the week.

So, after the chili was done for supper that evening, I washed the crock and set it for breakfast!
It cooked all night and was warm and ready to eat when we woke. Easy peasy!!!

Crock-Pot Steel Cut Oats

2 cups steel cut oats
6 cups water
1/3 cups honey
1/2 cup raisins
2 tsp cinnamon (or more to your liking)

Stir all ingredients into crock and set for 6 hours and 30 minutes on low. My new wonderful crock has a timer and once the time is out it automatically sets to warm. Very nice.

Vegan Yeast Pancakes with Walnuts

This vegan yeast pancake recipe is different from my other pancakes. I have never made pancakes using yeast and was interested in trying this one out. It was a hit from the beginning with the family.

I first saw this recipe on veganyumyum.com. I have replaced the oil with apple sauce to make these vegan pancakes fat-free. There is no dairy or eggs in this recipe.

One reason I like them so is I can prepare them the night before and in the morning they are ready to go.

Blend all the ingredients in your blender. Cover and set in the fridge over night.

The next morning they should have risen up to the top of the pitcher.  The next morning if there is no rise, don’t worry, I have made them when they don’t rise too. I am not sure why this happens. It does not seem to affect the taste or outcome of the pancakes. Read more

Beets from my garden!

Once I saw GreenSmoothieGirl’s hot pink breakfast smoothie I just had to try it. It was just too pretty. What a way to wake up in the morning, drinking a great pink drink…and it’s all natural coloring.

It’s beet season around here and the beets I found had beautiful green tops that I could not toss, this time. So, I added them.

My recipe is not the same as the original GSG’s hot pink smoothie, surprise…I modified it!  But, some days it all differs to what I have available (or what I remember to put in it). This morning I forgot the vanilla, big difference!

Smoothie ingredients

The ingredients look beautiful in the blender even before the they are all blended up.

Pink Breakfast Smoothie

Pretty Pink Beet Smoothie Recipe

1 1/2 cups almond milk (or milk of your choice)
1/4 cup cashews
5-7 baby carrots (or just grab a handful out of the bag)
1/4 cup cranberries
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 beet (peel the beet and quarter)
2-3 beet tops
7-9 frozen strawberries
1 Tblsp rice protein powder (optional)

Blend away, maybe even twice to get it all silky smooth. It will happen, if you have a blendtec blender. I sometimes add a banana for added sweetner and it tends to make it creamier.

If it’s too thick, add more milk and pulse. I like my smoothies thin enough to drink with out a spoon. It’s all about getting it down for me, and moving on…