Things That Make Me Say Yeay

The cutest pair of color block blue and yellow boat shoes c/o...BOBS from Skechers.  I seriously had no idea that Skechers made such cute shoes.  I wore these out around town after our sledding adventure the other day and they were so incredibly comfortable and I got quite a few compliments, which is always a plus when you have a new pair of shoes :)  BOBS is a charitable footwear collection that is making a difference by giving a new pair of shoes to a child in need with every BOBS purchase.  I love companies that do this like BOBS and TOMS.  Is is always a good thing when multiple companies are trying to make a difference around the world, one shoe sale at a time.

Learning about colors and playing with watercolor paint on a rainy day.

Gluten free baby puffs!  I am so happy to see more and more companies producing healthier snack options for kids and babies.

Delicious fresh berries from the farmer's market that are going in some pancakes this weekend.

My husband's first batch of homemade beer, which is fermenting in my laundry room at the moment. The whole process is actually really interesting and I can not wait to try it once it's all ready in a few weeks.  Lets hope it tastes better than it looks. 

Have a wonderful weekend! Will you be watching the Superbowl?  I never really get into football during the actual season but for some reason I always look forward to the Superbowl and all the awesome commercials of course. 

A Snow Day

One of my favorite parts about living in Southern California is that the beach and snow are all so close.  I seriously don't think I could ever leave based just on those two things.  Yesterday we all got bundled up and headed up to Big Bear for a day of snow play and a little meandering around the town.  We went to this seriously high tech sledding park where you are brought up to the top of the sledding hill on a conveyer belt.  I guess we are no longer walking our butts up the hill like I remember doing when I was little.  

We all had a blast! And Max was so excited to see and play in the snow.  He kept asking us "Why are there Christmas trees in the ground, since Christmas was over?" Haha I love the way his little mind thinks. I need to get one of those books where you write down funny things your kids say.

My little butter ball was not being cooperative and smiling for the camera, but he was such a trooper the whole day. 

A Few Valentine's Day Past Favorites

Today I am doing a "cheat" post. I originally had this really fun polymer clay tutorial planned but I got distracted last night and before I knew it the Bachelor was on and I was not about to miss the crazy ladies battling it out over Sean (who is not a bad lookin dude).  Are you watching the Bachelor?  I ALWAYS tell myself I am not watching it again and somehow I get sucked into it all over again each and every season. 

So today I am sharing a few past Valentine's Day DIYs as well as some things that really have nothing to do with Valentine's Day but they are yummy and Valentines Day is a great day (excuse) to eat something yummy so here ya go...

 DIY Polymer Clay Candy Heart Bracelet 

 DIY Heart Glitter Nail Polish

This is one of my family's favorite desserts!  And I am sure they would love it on Valentine's Day or any day.  Dairy Free Strawberry Lime Ice Cream

One of the most annoying things when you are single is watching and reading all about Valentine's Day.  Right?  I have been there.  So this is perfect if you just want to forget all about Valentine's Day but still want to make a single serving of a delicious flourless 3 minute mug cake for one! 

"Cheesy" Baked Cauliflower Poppers (Dairy Free)

So how are these "cheesy" but dairy free you may be wondering?  No I did not use fake or imitation cheese (yucky).  I used nutritional yeast, which is a healthy alternative to cheese that has a delicious nutty cheese flavor that will blow your mind, cheese lover or not.  These are by far my favorite munchy crunchy salty snack.  Sounds crazy but two heads of cauliflower is almost not enough, at least it wasn't for Max and I.  These are a spin off of these cauliflower poppers that I posted about a while back but with a little bit more attitude and flavor.

What you will need:

• 2 heads of cauliflower
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 tsp of garlic salt
• 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast.  *You can add a little more if you want them extra "cheesy" 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wash and clean the cauliflower. Cut off and discard the stem. Cut the cauliflower up into small pieces.
3. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic salt and nutritional yeast. Add the cauliflower pieces and thoroughly coat each piece.
4. Place cauliflower pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you want to add a little more "cheese" sprinkle it on top at this time.  Bake for one hour and turn 3 times during cooking until each piece has a nice brown coloring. The browner and more caramelized they are the better.
5. Remove from oven and enjoy!

These are so so good!  Please come back and let me know what you think if you make them.
   
*Carb count for one batch (one head) of "cheesy" baked cauliflower poppers is 16 grams.

Flaming Hot Toilet Seats + Potty Training Adventures

Here we were over the weekend (lookin a little crazy) buying our first package of big boy undies and the last box of "back up diapers"...or so I hoped.

Mom life has been crazy this week and I am pretty sure (very sure) that I have lived in my gym clothes for the past three days.  I attempted to start potty training Max, which has been a nightmare and disaster all wrapped up in one.  I am almost positive the whole 2 1/2 day production gave me a few wrinkles.

He acted like I was making him sit on a flaming hot toilet seat with venomous snakes in the toilet that were going to attack his butt at any moment.  I even bought bribery goodies like good ole fashioned Jelly Beans.  Nope he didn't care.  What kid doesn't like Jelly Beans?!  Then I told him he could have a quarter every time he went potty so he could start filling up his new Spider Man piggy bank.  I told him when it was full we would go to the toy store and he could buy a new toy.  Well, he is too smart and decided when I wasn't looking to go in the drawer where all the change in and fill his piggy bank up himself.  HA!  Then I got irritated and told him he is NOT getting any more diapers and he has to go on the potty...or else...and he freakin lost it and peed on the carpet.  So I gave in two and 1/2 (the half counts) days later and put a diaper back on.

He knows what he is supposed to do.  I mean if he can sing the full on ABC's and have complete conversations with me about pretty much anything then he can go on the freakin potty.  But he wont.  Pretty sure he would rather go shopping with me to "Mommy Stores" aka Forever 21 (and he hates shopping--I mean really hates it) than go on the big potty.

Just for reference he will be 3 in July.  Have you been though this yet?  At what age did your child finally get it? 

Flourless Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Some ingredients are baking best friends. For example... avocado and chocolate, coconut and almond, lemon and poppy seeds and cinnamon and apples.  They just go and it makes sense and feels right when you eat them together. 

These muffins contain one of my favorite food combinations.  Apples + cinnamon.  One of my friends recently asked me if my husband really likes all the recipes that I post about and the answer is no...ha!  If my man does not like a recipe it must really suck so I do not post about it :)  I have made quite a few flourless muffin recipes where he has said, "Hmm.."  and they sit in the tupperware for a week untouched.  Translation: Yuck and I take the hint and do not post about them.  He did not say that about these.  In fact my husband and two year old finished off the whole batch of muffins within 2 days. Yep. These are good.  Really good.  This recipe is slightly adapted from here. 

 What you will need:

• 2 cups of almond meal 
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce 
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1 tbs of cinnamon 
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend the eggs together in a separate small bowl.
3. Mix together all the above ingredients and slowly stir in the blended eggs.
4. Pour the batter evenly into 12 muffin baking cups.  
5. Cook 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden brown. 

Makes 12 muffins and each muffin has only 5.5 grams of effective carbohydrate. Pretty awesome news for you carb counters!

Things That Make Me Say Yeay

Max enjoying some fresh made carrot/orange/ginger/beet juice.  The kid seriously loved every juice I made, even the really (grassy tasting) green ones. 

Trying a new delicious snack...roasted okra with sea salt.  Okra is a highly nutritious edible pod vegetable and up until yesterday I had never heard of it or tried it.  I was missing out.

The most fragrant, sweet smelling flowers.  Does anyone know what these are called?

A demonstration courtesy of my husband showing us how fast a crispy dried up Christmas tree can go up in flames.  Plus we were out of logs and the only thing we had was our dead Christmas tree in the green garbage bin.  It was pretty intense and Max thought it was the coolest and scariest thing all at once.

Max testing out his new scooter from Santa at the park.  The kid is a scooter natural :) This picture was taken with my iPhone.  Sometimes I try to remember what it was like before we had phones and were able to capture special moments with just the click of your thumb...and I seriously cant remember. 

Have a great weekend!