Sedona and Grand Canyon 7/2012

One of the presents for the Prince's 6th birthday was a trip to the Grand Canyon and a jeep ride through the red rocks if Sedona, AZ. One of the best parts of this birthday trip was that the Prince's g-mother, Auntie Kyra, and Phyllis met us in Sedona for our Super FUN, and sometimes scary, jeep ride!

Disney World and Epcot 2013

Such a fun day! I just wish my boys like having their picture taken as much as I love taking then :).

Yellow Almond Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe is gluten free and paleo friendly. 

This recipe can easily be made into cupcakes.

 

 

What you need:
Cake:
5 eggs, separated,organic, free range
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegan buttermilk( in a 1/4 measuring cup add 1 tsp vinegar, fill the rest of the way withalmond milk, mix)
1 Tbls vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Frosting:
Two 8 ounce packages offull fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup coconut oil (donot melt)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

What you do:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 325.
Separate eggs.
Using a mixer, cream oiland honey together.
Slowly add in egg yolksto oil and honey mixture, beat until smooth.
In a separate bowl, mixall dry ingredients.
Add and blend dryingredients into creamed oil and honey mixture.
Add buttermilk, vanillaextract and almond extra to batter, blend.
Beat, egg whites, forseveral minutes until egg whites are fluffy and come to a peak.
Gently fold egg whitesinto cake mixture.
Line two 8 inch roundpans with parchment paper and oil sides.
Pour batter, equally intothe two pans.
Bake 20 to 30 minutes oruntil check with toothpick and toothpick comes out clean.
Cool completely beforefrosting. Don't forget to place a nice amount of frosting between layers.

Frosting:
Using a mixer, cream oiland cream cheese together.
Mix in vanilla extract

Cran-Orange Overnight Oatmeal

 

 

What you need:
1 cup Gluten Free, Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 cup Almond Milk, Original, Unsweetened
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Rehydrated Dried Cranberries (see method below)
Zest of One Small Orange, Organic
3 Tbls Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
2 Tbls Maple Syrup, Grade B

What you do:
1. Rehydrate your cranberries by placing dried cranberries into boiling water, heat off, for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Mix oats, cinnamon and nutmeg in bowl or jar and mix.
3. Mix in rehydrated cranberries.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, store in air tight container or jar.
5. Refridegerate overnight.
6. Place desired amount into microwaveable safe bowl, add 1 to 2 Tbls almond milk and microwave for 30 to 45 seconds.
7. Stir and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Blueberry GF Almond Flour Muffins

Oh how happy these made me😍

The Ultimate Lotion

The husband has dry, dry skin, all year long. The type of skin that just hours after he applies the heavy duty Lubriderm and Curel lotions it looks like he had never applied lotion in his life. The Prince and I only had minimally dry skin in the Winter only until we moves to NM, now we are a dry mess too!

I went on a Pinterest hunt and found various combinations of the lotion below and decided to settle on my own combo. Guess what?! It works wonderfully, hands, feet, whole body, small patches.. It works.


Here it is:
27 ounce bottle of Baby Lotion
7.3 container of Vaseline
2 - 4 ounce containers of Vitamin E

Through it all in a bowl, whip out your hand mixer, mix it up and put it back into the empty containers the supplies came in. To fill the bottle, put your lotion concoction into ziplock Baggie and snip off a bottom corner. Squeeze into bottle slowly!!

In the picture is a 13 ounce container of Vaseline. I only used about 2/3 of it. The rest I will use for lipgloss and eye makeup removal. It would be easier to just buy the 7.3 ounce size and use the entire thing.

Tomato Free Vegetarian Chili

I read that for my metabolic rate, I should stay away from tomatoes; who knows?
What I do know is that the Prince isn't a huge fan of tomatoes and I wanted to make chili. So, what's a girl to do? Make a tomato free chili, of course!

What you need:
1 Tbls olive oil
1 cup diced organic red onion
2 cloves garlic - chopped
1 diced organic green bell pepper
2 large diced organic carrots
1 can ( or two cups) UNDRAINED organic black beans
1 can ( or two cups) DRAINED and RINSED organic pinto beans
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 cup frozen ( or fresh) organic corn
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
Salt to taste

What you do:
Sauté onions, garlic, green bell pepper, carrots in olive oil until onions are slightly soft. Add beans, broth and seasoning. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Add corn and simmer 5 more minutes.

Serve with optional toppings: cheese, sour cream, green onions, etc.

Enjoy!

* The spice level is fairly mild in this recipe, feel free to add more chili powder or a touch of cayenne*

Homemade Orange Cleaner

I saw this on a blog last night. I'll find the link and post it on a bit.

What you need:
2 oranges
Vinegar
Mason jar

What you do:
Place peel of two oranges in jar
Cover peel with vinegar
Close jar
Wait two weeks
Place in spray bottle and get to cleaning

* I made mine jar this morning.. I'll report back on the smell after two weeks.. I hope it citrus-terrific!