Vegan Portobello Mushroom Burger

 Well, this dinner cost me 9 cents--I had everything but that shriveled up mushroom--but oh, what a meal!

 I cookie cut two pieces of homemade bread and broiled them in the oven. (I dehydrated the rest for bread crumbs because it's really hard for me to go through two loves of bread--but I do love it!) I spread a generous layer of humus for starters.

 Next, I wasn't stingy with the romaine lettuce.

 A couple of slices of tomatoes, topped with a no-salt seasoning.

 And since I can see that this is going to get tall rather quickly, I spread the other cookie cut bread with still more hummus.

 I sauteed my onion till it was barely caramelized--I added a little rosemary, too.

 Then I topped it with my grilled portobello mushroom.

 A few bread and butter pickles,

 A dob of homemade ketchup,

 A little mustard,

And wallah, this was the tastiest burger I've eaten in a long time. What a great topic!

A Little Bird told me it's Hamburgers this Week!

I talked with Heidi and she said her computer is down. 

She wanted me to pass on the word that the topic

 is hamburgers of all flavors and 

kinds this week. Be it veggie, turkey, beef, 

mushroom, whatever. Great timing for summer barbecues! 

Water, With or Without You

Dehydration has been a great topic for me. All sorts of things have popped into my head. Random things, but, all very relevant.

What do all of these pictures have in common? There is a major component to each  of these pictures' success. . . . . . .. . . . .
WATER!
So, I will explain. The picture top left is of part of my garden. I have been frustrated at the weeds that grow and the watering needs of the plants. I just don't feel I have been as successful in gardening as I had hoped. Well, I have found a really good gardening book I like. It's called Successful Home Gardening, by E. Gordon Wells, Jr. He has given some seminars out here as well that were excellent. In it I learned that you can mulch your garden around the plants with your grass clippings and that will retain more moisture and block the sun from letting the weeds proliferate! Hooray! You want to make sure the grass clippings you use don't have weed or pest chemicals on them from your lawn care. I don't use any fertilizers or weed killers, so I have found a way to save money and have a healthier garden.
My next picture on the bottom left is of my hand holding my water bottle. If you look close you will see next to my nails, cuts that run along side the tips of my fingernails right off to the sides of each nail. I have had struggled with these cuts for forever. I have put every kind of cream on them. Some kind of help, some not so much. I have taken more probiotics which helped a little. But, I think the biggest change I have found has had to do with . . .  WATER! The more humid the condition, the better my nails and skin are. The more water I drink, my cuts begin to heal and go away!!! Hooray because these are the most uncomfortable cuts ever. It's like a deep paper cut that feels infected.  But, it's my body saying, Water please!! In this article linked below it says it has been estimated that about 73 % of people are dehydrated. And about 37 % mistaken dehydration for hunger.  Are 8 glasses of water enough to drink each day? Click Here This is a great website link that I hope you find useful. Something you can do to to help you measure how much you are really getting is to fill 2 quart mason jars with water in the morning and then make sure you drink them all gone by the end of the day. That would be 8 c. of water by the end of the day, a suitable amount for our bodies. However, if you are exercising or sweating a lot, you will need to drink more. Put back in what you take out! On June 9th I will be running a 1/2 marathon, so I have learned the value of enough water in the body. I have found that if I drink plenty of water hours before I run, I feel much better and not as desperate for water during my runs. I always run with water. My friend likes to drive her route and stash water in spots before she runs.
M next picture on the right is of a momma duck by the pond near my home. She has 12 chicks under her wings! I was out on a drive with some of my kids and it started to pour down rain.  I watched this momma guide her chicks under a tree near the water's edge and then get out of the water and all flock under her wings. It was so sweet! I loved watching them.

Last is a picture of some almonds that I soaked in water and seasonings, drained, and rinsed and reapplied the seasonings, and then dehydrated them. You may wonder why to soak them and dehydrate versus roast them. Click here to learn about why and how to soak nuts and seeds. They are spicy, sweet, and crunchy! Yum!
I took about 2 c. of almonds and covered them with water. I added
1/2 t. Salt
1 T. agave
1/2 t. cayenne
1/4 t. onion powder
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. smoked paprika
Next I let them sit overnight. In the morning I rinsed them off and reapplied the seasonings. I just stirred them in a pot, but, putting them in a bag with the seasonings and then shake it up would help it spread evenly. Then I dried them at 115 degrees for 24 hours or until they were all nice and crunchy. They are so yummy!


Now, just for fun, something to hydrate our memories, this one is for Val. One of your favorites as a child I seem to remember. It's been in my head a long with Angel of the Morning. :) Click Here for the Queen of Hearts

Dehydrated Banana Chips

 Slice your bananas and dip in pineapple juice, then set on your dehydrating tray. After a few hours, I turn the banana chips over and place them right on the vented tray. Let dry overnight.

 As you can see, my basil is doing well--it smells so good! Anyway, the banana chips don't turn out like the preserved store bought kind, you know, real crispy. These are more like taffy with such a wonderful banana flavor. I love them with chocolate chips--OK, so what don't I like with chocolate chips!

Here is a close up of these shriveled little darlings--hope you like them!

 Peanut Butter Buckeyes

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 package chocolate chips

Mix first four ingredients well, roll into balls, place on cookie sheet and refrigerate or freeze until hardened.












Melt package of chocolate chips and then dip each ball into the chocolate.  I use my fingers.

Place on the cookie sheet  and return it to the refrigerator or freezer until it's set.  I just leave them in there until someone wants one.

Peanut Butter Granola

1 cup dry oats

1 cup rice crispies

1 cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

2 Tbs. coco powder

- stir-

In another bowl mix:

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup coconut oil

heat 30 seconds in microwave

-stir-

-combine all ingredients-

mix in 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

My friend gave me this mix and recipe for Mother's Day and told me it was her new addiction.  It is delicious! I couldn't get enough in my mouth with just my fingers, so I started using a spoon....ahhh much better!

DEHYDRATION

Whether it's something that happens to you after running a marathon, or something that happens to the bananas you got 5 pounds for a dollar---share your secrets to success---anything goes!

Peanut Butter Banana Cups and Peanut Butter Puffies

Peanut Butter Banana Cups
1 banana
tub of peanut butter

recipe for raw fudge
1/2 c. agave
1/8 c. honey
1/4 c. coconut oil liquified
1/2 c. raw cocoa powder
Blend until smooth.

Take the banana and slice it 1/2 inch thick. Place in a cupcake liner. Take about 1 t. of peanut butter and roll it into a ball or just shmear it  on to the banana slice. Next drizzle  1/2 t. -1 t. of fudge on top. Plac in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes for the fudge to harden. If your fudge is already cooled and firm, then drop a dopple on top. Warning!!! Do not call your children in for these treats until you have at least a few made up for each child, or you might go crazy! :) These treats were made fast. I didn't have time to melt and solidify the chocolate, otherwise it would have looked more like a pb cup, flat and smooth. But, I could barely even get these pictures taken before 4 little hands came and devoured them all and a mommy hand to help! :) Needless to say, I made more right after they ate these! :)

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Puffies
3/4 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. maple syrup or half maple syrup/ honey or agave
dash of salt
4 c. puffed rice or puffed wheat

Combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, and salt in a large sauce pan over low heat and stir constantly until smooth, melted, and bubbling a little. Add the cereal and stir until well coated. Transfer to an 8x8 baking dish. I like to place a piece of saran wrap on top of that and then press firmly. Refrigerate or freeze until completely cooled, then cut and eat! These are great for after school! And the puffed cereal is cheaper and healthier. It is similar to rice krispy treats, but more dense. My neighbors and kids love them. And I love that I can make something yummy without all the processed sugar. Choosing healthy alternatives is like insurance for the mechanics of your body. I believe in it!

Mother's Day Flower Magnets

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

I've made some flowers that will never wilt and can look pretty on your fridge all year round.  Here's a little tutorial if you'd like to make some for yourself.

Materials:

8" x 12" piece of fabric

needle and thread

button

magnet

glue gun

 1.  Cut fabric into five 3-1/2" squares.

2.  Fold one square in half diagonally and sew a running stitch around the non-diagonal edges.  

3.  Gather triangle into a petal.  

4.  Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all five squares.

5.  After all five petals are gathered then close the circle by stitching the first petal to the last petal.

6.  Use the glue gun to attach a magnet to the back of the flower. 

7.  Sew a few stitches through the holes in the button to give the illusion that you've sewn the button to the flower, and then just glue it on.  

I'm usually a purist and will choose to spend the time to attach just about anything with a needle and thread before I'll submit to using glue.  This is one of the rare occasions where I feel that hot glue is simply the way to go. 

Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll find one of these in your mailbox.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Who doesn't love peanut butter cookies?

Ingredients
1 Cup Oil (I like coconut oil & Earth Balance Margarine)
1 Cup Peanut Butter (Almond Butter, if you like)
2 Cups Sugar (less if you use sucanat) If you are using white sugar, add some molasses or substitute some of the white for brown sugar for a better flavor.

Combine these ingredients. Then, in another bowl add:

2 1/2 Cups flour (any combination will do--I like whole wheat and rice flour, but if you must, white will work)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds (this is instead of adding two eggs to the Peanut Butter mixture)

Add the dry ingredients to the Peanut Butter mixture and mix together.
If you've made your own Almond Milk, add the leftover pulp to your cookie dough--so good!
Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
Roll into little balls and let your kids smash them with a fork, any ol' way will do.
Bake for 10 minutes in 375 degree oven.

Serve with chilled Almond Milk for an added treat and nutrition!

Recyled Crayons and Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

  My sweet little Clover girl has found a new game.  Yep, you guessed it,  breaking crayons.  I just can't throw out half a box of crayons so I decided to make Clover Crayons!

All you need is:

Broken Crayons-paper removed
Oven

Oven safe Container- I used a silicone one because I figured it would be the easiest to get the crayons out of and it was. 

 

1 - Place all broken crayons in container and bake in oven at 250*.....I baked mine at 300* for 10 mins and the colors mixed a little more than I wanted them to so next time I'm going for 250*   I also grouped the colors Yellows-Oranges, Reds-Purples, Blues-Greens, and Black-Gray-White.

2 - Pull them out of the oven and let them cool until hard then pop them out... I was a little worried when I pulled them out of the oven because I figured I had over baked them and I really wanted to see all the different flicks of color but boy was I surprised when I popped them out!

Peanut Butter Sandwich

1

2

 The best part about these crayons is while they cool you can enjoy my favorite Elvis Sandwich Peanut Butter and Banana...Seriously every pregnancy I have HAD to eat these, even when I'm not PG I find myself craving these babies.
All you need is:
2 slices of Bread

3

4

Peanut Butter-Only Creamy Peanut Butter in my house baby!!!
1 Banana sliced up- I just was reading that the more brown spots a banana has on it the better it protects you against cancer, but all bananas help protect, so bring on the bananas.

Graduation Party I helped out with...

Table Center Peices

Dessert Table

These are the pictures of my mother in laws graduation party that I helped out with.... First lets start out with the dessert table, I made the cake, the lemon bars (ha ha the lemon bars have a sprig of mint on them for garnish that should take care of my herb week right?), anyway I also did the fruit/dip tray, the brownies, all the floral arrangements and all the signs. I wish I had a betterpicture of the table center pieces...they were really beautiful, the flowers were red and yellow garden roses with daises, the paper lanterns were glowing on a round mirror with 4 votive candles with rose petals in them surrounding each lantern. (the only picture I have really sucks!) 

Graduation a sweet sensation.

Graduate Silhouette

Congratulations sign

The signs were so easy and cheap to make, I went to the dollar store and got 2 rolls of shelf liner/tack paper, then I took some frames I had around the house and removed the pictures and glass and I covered the back boards with the tack paper.  The rest was on the computer, for the pictures of the frames I just googled boarders, I found a

few that I liked then I tweaked them quite a bit on Microsoft.  For the silhouette of the graduate girl I took several silhouette images and cropped them and put them all together...it was actually really fun. All I had to do after that was click print, then cut out each frame, then tape them on the tack paper.  I almost forgot I also did 3 batches of my garlic twisted bread sticks to go with the AMAZING Italian dinner my sister in laws made (sorry I have no pics-it was really really good though). For all the work that went into it I think it turned out great!





Peanut Butter

I loooove peanut butter.  It's so good in so many ways.  It's completely satisfying licked straight off the spoon.  It's right at home in Chinese stir fry.  Bananas, chocolate, ice cream and toast wouldn't be the same without it.  And I'll never forget the times that mom smeared peanut butter in my hair to melt away the gum that I thought was impossible to get out.  Songs have been written about this stuff.  It's that good.  Have fun!


it's peanut butter jelly time.  peanut butter jelly time.  peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat.