chocolate avocado muffins

Avocados and chocolate? Yep they go together...I promise! I picked up some organic locally grown avocados yesterday and made some yummy antioxidant packed muffins! I was almost sure there were no other weirdos who would put avocados in muffins, but I was wrong. I guess you can put anything in a muffin, even sardines...NO thank you, sardines are staying out of my muffins...but there is an actual recipe if your curious.

What you'll need:

• 2 ripe organic avocados
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 5 unsweetened baking squares
  
• 1 tsp baking powder...I once made a cake and thought "Oh well I don't have baking powder and the recipe only calls for 2 little scoops..so I will leave it out." Result = flat cake :(
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
  
• 4 tbs of honey
  
• A couple dashes of salt
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 3/4 unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
  

Mush up the two avocados.

In a large bowl add melted chocolate, olive oil, honey, vanilla, and almond milk.
In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
Mix the avocado mixture with the dry ingredients until you have a nice smooth consistency.

I was a tiny bit worried that these would taste funky..but nope they are delicious!!

diy environmentally friendly candle

What you'll need:

• Recycled baby jars
• Essential oil (you can also use vanilla or almond extract)
• Toxic free crayons for color
• Pre-waxed wire wick (Michaels)
• Microwavable soy wax

Why soy is better than traditional paraffin wax:

• Its biodegradable
• Its non-toxic. With a little guy crawling around the last thing I want is him inhaling toxic "German chocolate cake" scented candles.
• Its renewable...which equals better for the planet.
  

Melt wax in microwave for about 1 min 30 sec. Let cool. Add essential oil.

Melt crayon (more on this at the end) on the stove for about 30 seconds. One crayon adds a lot of color and melts FAST.

Place wick at bottom of candle...and pour wax in.

Let candles cool for about 20 min. Trim wick..actually should have done this earlier..but I forgot :)

Enjoy your toxin free soy candle!

Lesson learned:
Use an OLD pot that you don't mind getting ruined by dried crayon wax. Woooopsie. Should have realized that when wax is REALLY HOT and you pour cold faucet water on it immediately, you make it HARD and it sticks and doesn't come off. Well..now I have a craft pot.

There are so many things you can do, big or small to make our planet a safer cleaner place to live. I want to be a good example to my little sponge (Max) and teach him...even though we are just one family we can make a difference....
Simple things like buying organic locally grown food, reusing materials and recycling bottles and glass jars is a great place to start. In honor of Earth Day this Friday, I am going to do my best to post a "Green diy" each day this week as a reminder of how easy is it to be a little more environmentally friendly.

home sweet home

Baby after bath is one of the best things ever.

Noticed today (that's what happens when you stop trying to plan butterfly adventures) that our apple tree was starting to blossom.

Enjoyed the beautiful warm evening with my husband.

A few months ago I bombarded Ian with this new family plan. Every Saturday was going to be some sort of family fun day...where we would do something active and FUN and NEW..EVERY Saturday (yes I can be a little annoying at times). The idea was to get out of town and DO stuff. You know..like go to the Zoo, baseball games, crazy hiking adventures two hours away, butterfly farms ( where you wear bright colors and the butterflies flock to you...he was not diggin this idea) and the list goes on and on. After a few weekends of my crazy idea I decided that it is totally okay to be at home with my two favorite people in the whole world... and relax. Plus I highly doubt the Zoo and the Long Beach fish aquarium are going anywhere anytime soon...

using your imagination

I have started a book collection for Max and want it to include all the good ole classics. I was beyond excited when I found out a new Goodwill opened that is solely a book donation store. I found a bunch of hard cover Dr. Seuss books in excellent condition. $2 each

We are not a big TV watching family. There are just so many other exciting things to do....But when did cartoons get so WEIRD? Have you seen Yo Gabba Gabba? Weird Weird. How does a normal, drug free brain even come up with that stuff? I watched it a few times and ended up having the song "Don't Bite Your Friends" in my head all day. No thanks.

I would much rather read to Max..opposed to plopping him in front of the tube while he watches Baby Einstein teach him how to spell cow. I know I know, some Moms LOVE Baby Einstein, but after watching 10 minutes I couldn't take it anymore and either could Max ; )

I want to fill his cute little head with memories of us reading stories to him, where he can use his imagination.

accessorizing your wrist

I may be on a little leather kick right now. I am LOVING leather accessories. Leather tends to have a more masculine feel..but when you add a little feminine touch its the perfect combination. Real leather bracelets can be pretty pricey, so I decided to venture out to Michaels and try to make a similar looking one myself. It still needs a little more...something...but this was my first attempt so I decided to share.

What I used

• Single strips of leather (found them at Michaels for around $4)
• Long chain
• Scissors
• Krazy glue
  

I cut two small strips of leather and glued the ends together...to make one long strip.

Weaved the leather strip in and out of the chain.

Krazy glued the ends over the chain. Opened each end chain link and attached them together.

TAaaa Dahh. It's definitely not perfect, or what I had pictured exactly in my head..but I guess thats the beauty of handmade things.

thrifty vs cheap

I thrifted this leather jacket a little while back. I just recently had it tailored so I no longer resemble a linebacker when I wear it. I'm not a big fan of "pleather"..I think it looks cheap and smells weird. So when I found the real deal for $7 I snatched it right up.

This was for sure a diamond in the rough. It was in a big bin of used purses and I saw a little corner of it peeking out from the bottom. When I reached down to pick it up I thought, "Hmmm this looks nice." It was in PERFECT condition. I looked inside to see if was from Forever 21. Nope it was Italian made and genuine leather. It was "Half off Friday" so I walked away with this little beauty for $5!!

I almost said to the lady checking me out "WOW this little clutch is waaaay under priced"...but then thought NO DUMMY...."One woman's junk is another woman's treasure."

There is a big difference between being thrifty and being cheap. To me, being thrifty means buying the things you love at a great price. Being cheap means compromising quality. Ever since becoming a Momma my outlook on spending has drastically changed. I no longer feel okay about spending $180+ on a pair of jeans (craziness I know). I get such a thrill when I find the SAME jeans at places like Urban Exchange for about $40. I believe you can find even BETTER quality items when you are being thrifty... if you look hard enough and put a little extra effort in.

easy dinners.. yes please

I cut the squash in half and scooped out the seeds and stringy stuff.

Placed it in the Crock Pot with two cups of water. Cooked it on low for 7 hours.

Sauteed up some tomatoes and red onion.

Took the fork lengthwise to the squash and scrapped out the spaghetti.

A refreshing, diabetic friendly... version of spaghetti!

I am LOVING my new favorite kitchen item..the Crock Pot! My friend Felicia is always raving about hers so I was so excited to try it out myself. Why I didn't get one sooner?... Who knows. The possibilities are endless and it has made cooking dinner so simple and easy.

Tonight I made spaghetti squash spaghetti. I was a little hesitant that Ian would be like "Uhhh can I have some real spaghetti please?" but he liked it! He actually told me he was full after, which was a surprise considering the meal was super low carb and did not contain any meat :)