Lettuce!

Lettuce from our garden!!!
I love our garden!

Tia made this!  Kira made the dressing!  Collaboration!

Peppermint Chocolate Brownies (no bake)

These are so easy!  And so very good!

I found this blog over the holiday break and when I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it!

http://mywholefoodlife.com/2014/12/21/no-bake-peppermint-brownies/

And now I can't stop typing exclamation points!

2 cups pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup of dates (I soak sometimes and sometimes I just add a little water to the mix)
1/4 cup cacoa* powder
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Food process the pecans and chocolate chips.  Add the dates, cacoa powder, salt and peppermint.  Process until smooth. Spread the brownies into a pan lined with parchment paper. Chill and then serve.  (I always stick mine in the freezer for 10-15 minutes 'cause I can never wait for them to chill in the refrigerator.)

Bad picture below.  We had a whole 8x8 pan filled and this is all that is left a few hours later (teaspoon included for scale). I'm happy I have 3 growing girls to keep me from eating these all by myself! 

 

*I use cacoa (raw) when I make no-bake goodies.  I use cocoa (processed) when I make baked brownies and baked chocolate goodies. I do think both the no-bake and the baked taste better with the raw or cooked respectively.  

Mashed potatoes and gravy

We made these the other night.  The changes I made:

We used garbanzo & fava bean flour instead of rice flour (I had no rice flour and didn't want to buy it. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about rice because of arsenic. A post about that someday!)

I added some cauliflower to the potatoes.

http://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/mashed-potatoes-and-gravy/

We liked them. The gravy was especially good. One thing, I think we don't "love" mashed potatoes as we had a some mashed potatoes leftover and they didn't get eaten.

I would make them for Thanksgiving or a holiday celebration when there are more folks eating, or I'd make a smaller quantity for us.  OH! Next time, I could fry up the left overs.  My Dad used to do that for me when I was a kid and I LOVED that. Next time!

A photo taken in bad lighting with the iPhone. 

Antibiotics...

Here's a nice article on something that might help us with antibiotic resistance. I'm not a fan of antibiotics or other medicines unless they are REALLY needed. However, I am interested in plants and what they give us so I'm very excited about the new research with essential oils. I use a couple of different essential oils to help keep us healthy. My feeling is they might help and they can't hurt. Maybe I'm wasting money, but I do like the way they smell so, worst case, it's like buying perfume.

I found out about Oil of Thieves a few years back and became a fan of it (well of the generic brand). It might help and it can't hurt. It smells like the holidays. I like to use it when I travel. I figure having a little on my hands while traveling is a good thing.

When the girls (or I) get a cold, we rub it on our feet, and our neck and chests.  You have to use another oil to dilute it 'cause it's really "spicy." (I use a little bit of castor oil as the base and mix in 3-4 drops of the generic oil of thieves. We haven't tried it, thieves oil or castor oil, internally.)

I learned about oil of oregano a little more recently and really like it. I can't remember why I bought it, but I had some, and I had an infection on the back of my leg. The area was swollen, it hurt, and was really icky. I thought it would take 3-4 days to rid the infection and then much longer to heal. I put oil of oregano on it (straight and it STUNG). However, the infection was GONE within 24 hours (I re-applied a few more times because despite the stinging because I could see it was helping.) Seriously, the area healed faster than I ever imagined. I now use it on all skin issues we have; I mix a few drops up with a little water (so it doesn't sting). It really works to help prevent or end infections and promote healing on the skin.

I told my brother about oil of oregano when he had a bad scrape on his leg. He didn't use it. He ended up on some serious antibiotics as it got very infected. I don't know whether oil of oregano would have helped him, but we'll never know.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving this year. One of the girls had an AWFUL cold. Horrible. Fever, cough, the whole nine-yards. One of the other girls started coming down with it. I gave her oil of oregano (on my brother's urging 'cause he has since started using it and liking it) and the second kid didn't get nearly as sick. She was a little sick for 24 hours whereas the first kid was pretty darn sick for 4 or 5 days. I could give some more testimonial, but I'll end by saying I think we've prevented 4 or 5 colds (in different people) by using these oil of oregano capsules.


I'll be traveling soon.  I'll be taking some oil of oregano capsules and the oil of thieves (I buy the "generic" kind) with me.  Might help, can't hurt.

The third oil we always have around is lavender oil. One of my daughters LOVES it and swears it helps her sleep.  My Mom introduced it to her when my daughter was having problems sleeping. My Mom is gone now so I love that my daughter has this wonderful, happy tip, and memory. Again, worst case scenario, I'm wasting my money and it doesn't help her sleeping, but on the positive, my daughter smells like lavender, and is happy.

Peanut Butter Granola aka dangerous stuff

I've been making granola recently with maple syrup, water, and cinnamon and it's good, but I decided that making it with Peanut Butter would be even better!

I found that Minimalist Baker had already created a recipe.  I diverged a little... I left the oil out 'cause PB has a lot of fat.

This is what I did and YUM!

Ingredients
3 cups of oats
14 cup flax (I used ground, and I prefer ground, but could be seeds)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon of salt


Mix 3 cups oats, the flax, and the salt. Melt the PB (30 seconds in the microwave) and stir the maple syrup in to the PB and microwave together for another 15 to 30 seconds. Pour the PB and maple syrup mixture on to the dry mixture and stir really well.

Spread evenly on a baking sheet (mine was lined with a silicone baking sheet).


Bake at 275-300 for 30 minutes. I try to stir every ten minutes.
When your granola cools, add dark chocolate chips (no dairy), if you want. The first time I made this granola I added chocolate chips. This time, I'm not going to do it. My husband might add chocolate chips to his share, but I'm going to try to stay pure. (I could NOT be trusted to not eat the whole recipe in one sitting if I added chocolate chips. That would be BAD.)

Try not to eat it all in one sitting.  If you do, here's what you'll get:

It's more reasonable to divide it into 7 servings that are 1/2 cup.  (I measured my granola out and only got 7 servings, not 8.)  Here's what you'll get:

Gratuitous shot... about 4 servings worth in this cereal bowl.

Selfie in my kitchen

 
 

"Resolutions"

I don't do "resolutions," but I'm always working on improvements. The sign at the fitness center said, "I don't believe in New Year resolutions, but in daily resolutions." I love this. I think a resolution for a whole year is a little hard to do and sets you up for failure. I think having goals, and thinking about how to achieve them is important, too. I make goals for "the year," at the beginning of the year, that help me think about things, but they are loose and flexible. I think about whether I am meeting my goals, sometimes daily, sometimes monthly, but at least quarterly. Sit back and I'll tell you the story of my resolution at the beginning of 2014 and how if I had thought about it as a New Year's Resolution, I might have not achieved it.

Last year, at the beginning of the year, my goal was to add more strength building to my life. I started off trying yoga; I figured I could use a little extra stretching and building strength at the same time. Eh. Yoga doesn't like my body. I'm very flexible and I overstretch in classes and my back and legs were hurting. I kind of liked Bikram, but it wasn't at a convenient studio. So ix-nay on the oga-ya.

Most of the year went on with me doing my usual one Pilates class a week. It's Pilates on the reformer and it's good, but once a week is not enough. It's also very expensive so I didn't want to just add another session of it. In the fall, I added a cheaper class with a friend, but it wasn't at a great time for my schedule so I would go as often as I could, but I only got about 8 or so classes in during the 17-ish weeks of fall. (It's also a class that is okay, but not my favorite workout--2 strikes.)

I had a hard time finding a class that fit into my schedule, that I enjoyed, and that worked for my body. FINALLY, in November, I found a class that fit my schedule and seems to make my body happy.  It's a Body Pump class and it's on Saturday afternoons--a perfect time! It's at the gym that is close to my house! It is FREE (with the membership that we already pay); that makes it even more exciting!

I count finding this class in November as a WIN for my resolution last January. I don't think resolutions have to be done by a certain date, if I did I might have just written it off and not worried about it.

This year, again, the goal is more strength building classes.  Right now, it will be Thursday and Saturday and after the month of January is over, I should be able to add in one more class with my bestest colleague at work. (We have a BIG meeting in January at the end of the month and meetings during the time we'd like to do a class.) 

I have more goals, but I'll save them for another post.

First post of the New Year! BBQ sauce!

I saw this linked in FB and was so excited; I've been searching for a good BBQ sauce recipe! I used some of my homemade Adobo Sauce in it (instead of the Chili powder) and YUM!

BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup tomato paste, not sauce
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
(I used my adobo sauce here--I used about a tablespoon of it--maybe 2)
1 heaping tablespoon yellow wet mustard
(I might do slightly less next time.)
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2-3 tablespoons unsulphured regular molasses
1/2-1 tablespoon smoked paprika (I added this 'cause it's my favorite spice at the moment.)


It was excellent. Believe it or not, I love BBQ sauce on Broccoli. It's what I ate for breakfast. (Seriously.) Look for recipes playing around with BBQ sauce in the next year.

Thank you Vegan 8!