Gluten free chocolate mug cake

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

Sorry I ate it too quick and didnt get to take a picture.  BTW this is a rather filling cake so you might want to share with another person.

3 Tbsp of Brown rice flour (I used 2 tbsp and 1 tbsp of protein powder)
3 Tbsp of agave nector (stevia, honey, brown rice syrup)
a pinch of salt
a pinch of baking powder
2 Tbsp of cocoa powder
3 Tbsp of chocolate mint coconut milk (or almond milk)
1 egg
3 Tbsp of applesauce (I have a jar of homemade  soften cinnamon apples that I puree)
splash of vanilla

Mix all in a large coffee mug and microwave on high for 3 mins. 

Feel free to add whatever you want, I have added raisins, chocolate chips, dark chocolate, mint extract. Pin It

M.I.A

Oh boy this holiday season stole my life...It seems like everytime I turned around I had something to do with the Girl Scouts, christmas parties or just shopping (and baking)

Boy do I have alot of catching up to do.  During my M.I.A. I have learned alot of new stuff. I have not only done smoothie challenges and clean eating but I have also begun changing my lifestyle to that of a Gluten Free one. I went one week completely Gluten Free and I could not believe the difference, shoulder pain that has been unbearable ceased, bloating went away and I found my energy. 

One of the things I learned is that my body truly does love to communicate with me. As it turns up, I have awful listening skills.

Ok so with all this newfound knowledge, I still managed to go off the deepend several days (a week) during the holidays.  2 nights ago I indulged in Pizza and fried chicken and brown rice sushi - yep all in one meal...Oh but wait, I did have a salad also.  But the next day, I woke up and it was as if my butt took on 2 other sizes. I felt it before I even climbed out of bed. Seriously, laying in bed I felt like I was laying on a small child but come to find out it was just added layers of butt.  No problem, nothing a smoothie challenge couldnt fix, right? Well yeah, if only I could get motivated to do the smoothie challenge.  However, Im gonna go ahead and throw it out there..Tomorrow starts a new year and new habits...uggg there I said it, so cliche'

So I decided I work better with a organized schedule. I tend to try to do 10 things at once therefore nothing gets done.  I clean the living room, as Im picking up, I bring something into the bedroom then I start on the bedroom never completing the living and so on and so forth. Then I will sit down to research something that comes to mind and I gotta do it right then or Ill forget. So I get on the computer and theres FB so naturally, I have to review FB then it will remind me to do research something else...and next thing you know 1 hr late (ok 2 hrs) and I have not accomplished one thing. 

I wont even get into my workouts lately...oh wait, what work outs.  So starting tomorrow I will build a workout schedule so I will know what I need to do what day and it needs to be the first thing I accomplish everyday otherwise I wont do it.

Sounds like Ive got a plan, anyone else have some great ideas for the new year




















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Clean eating blueberry granola

This has become a favorite of mine and If Im not careful I could literally eat all of it in one day. I truly have to put it away as soon as it cools.  I kind of go between this recipe and the pumpkin granola

Ok so the one thing you need to know is that I have jars of organic apples that I have slightly cooked to soften. These apples are frozen in canning jars and used for smoothies, juicers, breads and even my daughters lunch. Its like apple pie filling without all the sugar and stuff.. Anyhow,  its the applesauce I used in this recipe, but any applesauce will do. For this recipe, I just blended the soft apples and made the applesauce.

CLEAN EATING BLUEBERRY GRANOLA

2 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of dried blueberrys or cranberries
1/4 cup of ground flax seed
1/4 cup of grated coconut
3 tblsp coconut oil (optional)
1/4 cup of brown rice syrup (can use honey, agave etc)
1/2 applesauce (I use cinnamon)
2 tbsp Organic Blueberry agave nector

Preheat oven to 275. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Spread on parchment paper on a baking sheet and bake until crispy - about 45 mins.


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Almost clean eating - lasagna

This was a fabulous recipe I just threw together. I got the idea from somewhere, butI  just made it my own. Because well....thats what I do.  I am proud to say my husband and my 6 year old were fighting over the last 4. Yeah...they were that good!

ALMOST CLEAN LASAGNA

Whole wheat wonton wrappers
Organic ground beef
Onion
Tomato
Mushroom
Spinach
Garlic
Italian seasoning
Motzorella cheese

Preheat over to 350

Cut up Onion, tomato, mushroom, spinach and garlic.  Put in a large fry pan with the ground beef. Add seasoning. Cook until...cooked!
Line a mini muffin pan with wonton wrappers. Fill each wrapper with ground beef mixture and top with a bit of shredded motzorella.
Bake until cheese is melted and edged of wonton wrappers and browned.

If you like a crispier wonton, bake the wonton before filling. Pin It

Paleo pumpkin granola - clean eatin'

I have been wanting to make a pumpkin granola forever but just never got around to it. Well today I decided to also make something I havent gotten around to which is Coconut Milk yogurt (still setting, Ill let you know in the morning how that turned out.) But you cant have yogurt without granola right? I decided to go ahead and try my hand at it.  This recipe is again a recipe I threw together without measuring. I will give you the basics, and you can add ingrediants to your liking. Its a really simple recipe and easy to make your own. 

Thats one thing you will either love or hate about my recipes (the ones that are truly mine) they are all easy enough to make and so easy that I let you decide how much of whatever to put into them. I am that type of person who, if Im looking for a recipe, its gotta be short and sweet and have most basic ingrediants.  While I realize mine have ingrediants the common household doesnt have lying around, if your into clean eating or Paleo you most likely have the ingrediant already, know where to get it or have something healthy to substitute it with.

With that said, here we go

PALEO PUMPKIN GRANOLA

1 cup coconut flakes
1 cup oats
1/2 cup raisins or cranberry (optional)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup of coconut oil
vanilla
Pumpkin spice seasoning
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
1/4 cup of brown rice syrup (you can use agave nectar, honey, maple syrup, molassas)

Preheat oven to 275. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all ingrediants together and spread evenly on baking sheet.  Bake for 45 min to 1 hr. Depending upon how crispy you like it.

I dont know that I truly used those measurements but it was somewhere around there. You can add nuts too. But since I use my granola to top my greek yogurt I opted not to have nuts. And really you can add anything you want, flax, chia seed, any other seed, almonds etc. Pin It

Buckwheat Oat Flour Banana Waffles - The clean way!

My daughter wanted waffles this am and I just couldnt bring myself to make waffles with all purpose flour. But I did remember I just went to our Whole Foods store and bought some buckwheat groats. So I threw together this recipe and it was actually delicious. We topped it with some Organic Blueberry Agave nectar which only made it that much more delish!

BUCKWHEAT OAT FLOUR BANANA WAFFLES


3/4 Buckwheat groat flour
3/4 Rolled Oats
pinch of salt
1 egg
1/4 cup greek yogart
3/4 cup of almond milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
vanilla extract
Cinnamon
1 banana mashed

I processed my oats and buckwheat groats in a coffee grinder to make flour

Heat waffle iron. Mix all ingredients together and cook and enjoy.

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Clean eatin Roasted butternut squash soup

CLEAN EATIN ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

1 Butternut Squash - peeled and cut up
1/2 White onion
1 cup grated carrots
1 can Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
Olive oil
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Ginger

Preheat oven 350. Peel and cut up Butternut Squash. Place cut up Butternut on baking sheet and spritz with oil (or toss in oil). Roast in over for 25 mins or until soft.
Place Coconut oil in sauce pan, grate carrots and add to sauce pan with onions and saute.
Add Butternut and seasoning and Chicken Broth. Cook for about 10 mins.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Add 1/2 of mixture in blender with 1/4 cup coconut milk. Blend good then add the rest of mixture with another 1/4 cup coconut milk.  Blend well again and enjoy.

* Add seasoning as you would like. I tend to like alot of nutmeg and cinnamon

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Veggie chicken meatballs

Yet another meatball that I threw together last night. I decided to add some veggies to this one.

I have to admit, this wasnt just a healthy clean eatin meatball dinner. Sometimes my family gets bored of meatballs and wants to mix it up a little...SOMETIMES, I let that happen. So tonight, I made healthy meatballs for me and nothing healthy about these Pancakes for my daughter. But thats ok..breakfast dinner is always a fun change.

And these are the veggie meatballs. I made a huge pan of them and put them in this little foil containers for the freezer so I will have meatballs whenever I want them. Kind of a risk, being that I didnt really know how they would turn out, but they turned out delish

VEGGIE MEATBALLS

3 lbs Organic ground chicken

1 large White Onion

1 small Red onion

2 zucchinis

seasoning

Garlic powder

Ground oats

Flax seed

Put chicken in bowl. Ground oats in food processor and put in bowl. Cut up Onions and zucchinis and chop in food processor.  Add onions and zuccchini and all other ingredients into chicken bowl.  Use as much as you feel necessary. I like a little bit moister meatball so I dont add alot of dry ingredients. But add as much as you feel necessary for you. Spray fry with olive oil or coconut oil. You do not need to use alot of oil as the chicken will release some juices. Add the meatballs and cover and cook. 

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Everything Blended veggie smoothie

I made this last night. Apparently my body was needing fruits and veggies because I put a good variety in there. 

EVERYTHING BLENDED

Kale
Spinach
Tomato
Carrots
Strawberries
Banana
Water
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No more plastic travel cups

Last week, I dropped and broke my two favorite PLASTIC travel cups and that my friend was the end of my plastic cups.

So thanks to my wonderful husband, I now have a glass travel cup, complete with my new stainless steel straws.  He drilled a hole in the top of my canning jar lid to fit the straw. YEAHHH

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Goat cheese Chicken Meatballs

I LOVE MEATBALLS!

In my home, we have meatballs a couple days a week. they are so easy, so full of protein and just a great overall snack. When traveling I always make a heap of meatballs to snack on.  So you will see all sorts of meatball recipes on this blog. I dont measure things out so you'll often see I just give the ingrediants and you can season and add to your own liking.

This particular one is the goat cheese meatball. Goat cheese has become my favorite cheese and if I ever decide to get risky, Im going to use my blueberry vanilla goat cheese inside a meatball.  Be waiting for it.

GOAT CHEESE MEATBALLS

1 lb of Organic ground chicken

Seasoning of choice

Goat cheese of choice

Mix all ingredients in a ball. Spritz pan with olive oil or coconut oil and add chicken balls.

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Sorry I went MIA

I have been so busy studying that I abandoned my blog for a couple weeks. Now I have a bunch of catching up to do.  I have some great recipes and remedies to share. I hope I am able to get them all up this weekend. Pin It

True story - thinning hair

I was recently talking to an old friend, she was telling me that her hair is thinning really bad. She has always had really thin hair to begin with and I saw her a year ago and I agreed. So I told her what I knew to do, through research only, I have never tried it myself. The other day she called me and left me a message to tell me that within 2 weeks time she can already tell a difference and she has had other people notice too...So I thought Id not only brag about my knowledge haha but also share the remedy I shared with her. Both Sage oil and Rosemary oil are natural hair growth stimulants.

AS ALWAYS, PLEASE MAKE SURE THESE ESSENTIAL OILS DO NOT INTERFERE WITH ANY MEDICATION YOU MIGHT BE ON.

Combine a few drops of essential oil rosemary in a carrier oil of either jojoba, almond, grapeseed oil. Massage into scalp.

Combine a few drops of essential oil sage in a carrier oil of either jojoba, almond or grapeseed oil. Massage into scalp.

Combine a few drops of either sage  or rosemary oil in with your shampoo.

You can do Rosemary one day and Sage the next, you can do the Rosemary in shampoo one day and skip shampooing the next day and just massage the sage and carrier in following day.

Just make sure you do something every day.  This friend said she has done it for 2 weeks only and always a noticeable difference.  Pin It

Protein smoothie

Heres a smoothie I love to make when Im running short on time and need a "TOGO" meal. Loaded with protein and good for you others. Wheatgrass powder has great detoxifying properties and its loaded with vitamins and minerals. I actually should do a whole article on Wheatgrass and what it can do for you.  Also included in my smoothie is Ground flax seed, which is another superfood, with many purposes. Chia seed, another super food with tons of benefits.  So, as you can see this smoothie is good in every way

1 cup of Kefir
1/4 cup Egg White Protein powder
1/4 cup of water
2 Tbsp Ground flax seed
1/2 cup of blueberries
1 scoop of Wheat grass
1 tbls chia seeds

Blend all together with ice and enjoy! Pin It

Clean eating - Pumpkin apple muffins

I had nothing to do with this...My daughter came home from school today and said "Mom can I make some pumpkin muffins" so of course, I said "absolutely".  She normally likes to concoct her own recipes (some of which no one really ever eats) but some are good.  So I told her in order to make muffins they have to be clean so I was going to help her make clean muffins.  Her only concern was "Can I add chocolate chips" again...so of course, I said "absolutely" So this recipe is clean with the exception of the chocolate chips.  Please note..chocolate chips find there way into alot of our clean recipes - omit them if you prefer

PUMPKIN APPLE MUFFINS

2 cups of oats

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup egg white powder **

1 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of nutmug

2 egg whites
1/4 cup of applesause **

1 tbsp vanilla

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 15oz can of pumpkin

1/4 cup of coconut sugar/agave/honey

1/4 cup Almond milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips**

**I used organic apples that I cooked in a crockpot until soft. I just pureed them to use as applesause so there was no sugar. I only cook them in cinnamon and vanilla. Also you dont need to put egg white powder I just throw it in everything and the same with the chocolate chips.

Mix in small bowl flour, baking powder, egg white powder and spices.  Mix well. In a larger bowl, mix together egg whites,coconut oil applesause, pumpkin, sugar, and almond milk.  Combine the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Pour into muffin pans and cook 350 degrees until done.


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Broccoli Booster - Green drink

This is one of  my favorite mid morning/afternoon juicers. Taken from my Juices & Smoothies book by Suzannah Olivier and Joanna Farrow.  You will see me credit this book many times because it was truly the best purchase ever. 

Broccoli Booster

Hailed as a cure-all superfood and a vital ingredient in a healthy diet, broccoli's strong taste does, however, need a bit of toning down when juiced.  Sweet and tangy apples and lemon juice soften its flavour, making a drink that's thoroughly enjoyable.

I am not typically a fan of broccoli but I tend to add alot more broccoli to this drink because its just that good.

Makes 1 large glass

4 1/2 oz Broccoli florets
2 eating apples
1 tbsp lemon juice
ice cubes



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Clean Eating - Black Bean Salad

Ok today I was determined I was not going to eat meat. Now dont go thinking Im becoming a vegan because I love meat way to much, but I would like to try to skip it every now and again. So heres tonights recipe that I threw together and it was delish. Next time Im going to grill up some tilapia and mix it in or even salad shrimp would be fabulous. YUMMM

1 can black beans
1 can chickpeas
1 cup onions (vidalia would be fabulous)
1 cup bell peppers
1/2 avocado
1 cup of diced tomatos

Dice all veggies and mix in with lentils. 

You can add a sauce of balsamic vinegar and oil or red wine vinegar and oil.



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Smoothies, Juicers, Blended Veggies

This section of my blog will be loaded with some of my favorite Blending and juicing recipes.  Sometimes it real hard to know what to blend together for a good taste and honestly some veggies just never have a good taste...until you add fruit. Which is what we do in my house. Rarely do we just juice veggies but heres my rule of thumb, make sure your veggie ratio is much higher than fruit ratio and remember to try to use low glycemic fruits so your not getting as much sugar. Fruit may have natural sugar but you still have to watch your intake.

I will try to take pictures as I make my juicers and blended goodies but some are recipes Ive tried in the past and dont make often. 

Also, additions...you can add anything to your juicers I typically add chia seeds, maca root, wheat grass power, spirulina or even flaxseed.  Its a great way to add in those little benefits.

Enjoy Pin It

Strawberry Spinach Blended green drink

This is the blended drink we make when we are in a hurry  or we ran out of all other veggies. I dont know, for some reason there is always a good amount of these items in our house.

STRAWBERRY SPINACH

1 handful of spinach
1 handful of Kale
1 handful of strawberries
1/2 banana
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp chia seeds

Place water in blender cup, add all other items except chia seeds and blend.  I like to add a couple small drops of stevia. If we are not feeling well I will add a heaping spoon of honey. Pour in chia seeds and stir - let them sit in the liquid for a few minutes to turn to gel so you get the most benefits

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Clean eating - Spring rolls

Heres another recipe that can be switched up by making your own healthy alterations to it. Add chicken, lettuce, cabbage..whatever you fancy at the moment, throw it in a spring roll wrapper and eat it up. My 6 yr old enjoyed these so much that she made 2 more rolls for her lunch tomorrow. They were fun for her to make and seriously when our kids have fun making something, they are more apt to eat it. But I already knew she loved these.

SPRING ROLLS

1 cup crab meat

1 cup grated carrots

1 cucumber cut in thin slices
1 avocado sliced
8 spring roll wrappers

Cut up all your fixin's first, so when the spring roll wrapper is ready everything is ready to throw in the middle.

Fill a baking dish with hot water and place 1 spring roll wrapper in at a time until pliable and soft. Take the wrapper out of the water and place on a hard surface.  Fill the middle with your fixin's. Fold in the 2 middle ends then take the far left end and wrap it tightly around the fixin's. Pull up on the right side to get a snug fit around the entire roll. Slice in half and enjoy.  There are several sauces you can make to go with these, but we just choose to eat these by themselves. 

SOOO PROUD

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Blended greens

This is one of our favorite blended green smoothies. The Banana allows the broccoli to be tolerable.  I try not to add bananas to to many of my green smoothies because of the high glycemic value. However, Im not gonna lie, Banana makes anything delish. 

This recipe will be for one smoothie.  I dont typicaly measure anything out when it comes to juicers/blended drinks. But my typical rule of thumb is 1 handful or more of each veggie to 1/2 of fruit serving. Usually after blending, if theres still room in my cup, I will always add more veggies.

Also I always add chia seeds.  Chia seeds do not have flavor but take on the flavor of anything they are added to. Chia seeds when soaked turn to a gel. There are alot of added benefits for just using a tbls of chia seeds to any recipe.

1 handful baby spinach
1 handful of broccoli
1 apple
1/2 banana
1 tbsp chia seed

In this recipe there are two things Im doing that might be different from others you have read.  This recipe  juiced the apple, therefore I used 1 whole apple.  I used the apple juice for the liquid portion of the juicer. Added all other ingredients and blend all together

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Clean eating - Turkey Sausage veggie skillet

Trying to use up some veggies inn the house and I came up with this fabulous dish. So simple to throw this stuff together for a easy, delicious, well balanced meal. Again, use whatever veggies you have, make it your own.  You will see I load everything down in onions. Onions have fabulous health benefits and should be eaten daily. I have been known to several different onions to get different flavors in one meal, with a ton of benefits.

TURKEY SAUSAGE VEGGIE SKILLET

6 links of Organic Turkey Sausage
2 cups of zucchini

1 cup onions (white and vidalia)

2 cups mushrooms

Sauce

VIDALIA ONION VINAIGRETTE

1 tbsp dry mustard

1 sweet vidalia onion chopped
1/2 cup powdered stevia
 1/4 Red wine vinegar to your liking

1 c Olive Oil

Poppy seeds (optional)

Cut up all veggies. Toss together in a skillet. add a 1/2 cup of sauce and saute.

You can cook your turkey sausage however you want. You can take it out of its skin and brown it, you can cut in pieces and add into veggies or I like it, grilled and then cut up in the skillet Pin It

Do away with plastic straws

It recently dawned on me that during my "Healthy Changes....One Step at a Time", I was serving my daughter green smoothies and blended veggies but giving her a plastic straw to sip from. It had been bothering me for some time but never considered there being other options (short of eliminating straws and lets face it straws make green drinks much tastier.) So after visiting my BFF, I found that she switched to a bamboo straw. I love it, Brilliant! But my husband wasnt keen on the idea so I researched further and found stainless steel straws.  I bought them, I love them.  They come with a brush for easy cleaning which was another bonus. If your using plastic straws, consider giving them up. Yeah they are alot cheaper than stainless steel, but the health benefits out weigh all that. I got these 4 straws and a cleaning brush for $10

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Clean Eating - Asian turkey wrap

This is one of those recipes which you can really make your own. You can add whatever veggies you want and take out those you dont. You can make your own sauce or tweek mine. I like to add alot of seseme oil due to its many health benefits and because it taste great.  Lets face it, when its turkey and its wrapped in lettuce, its bound to be delicious!

TURKEY ASIAN WRAP

1 lb of Organic Ground turkey
1 cup of mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup onions
1/2 cup bell pepper
1 cup carrots
1 tbsp seseme oil
1 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried ginger
lettuce (butter, romaine, iceburg)

Mix oil, wine, soy sauce and ginger together in a glass bowl. Add veggies mix well.  Add ground turkey to fry pan along with bowl of veggies. Stir fry until turkey is no longer pink.  I like to add additional seseme oil to this step.  When its done scoop a spoonful into the center of lettuce. Wrap it up and enjoy.

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PUMPKIN! FALL! PUMPKIN!

OHHH BOY! Guess what time of year it is...This will be the first year that I dont make a Pumpkin roll. There is NO WAY I can justify making it. I know how much sugar goes into them. 

This year I will be experimenting with Clean Eating Pumpkin recipes - so watch for them.  Some of the recipes I will be posting will include

PUMPKIN PIE OATMEAL
PUMPKIN QUINOA
PUMPKIN SOUP
PUMPKIN MUFFINS
PUMPKIN PROTEIN BARS
PUMPKIN BREAD

and......CLEAN EATIN PUMPKIN ROLL

Oh my is this going to be a fun season Pin It

Time out

I just have to apologize. I have not been posting due to midterm studies so please be patient with me. Also I pulled my recipes because I have to adjust some things.  As it turns out you cant just copy someones recipe and throw it on your site without crediting them and thats just what I did.  As soon as I figure out how to properly give credit to these recipes I will repost them. I also want to add some pictures

So please be patient - I havent forgotten Pin It

Got Spiders?

I have to credit my husband on this one! I got out of the shower and he said "Hey I just heard this natural remedy for spiders, google it"

So I did and as it has it, this is said to be a natural remedy to keep spiders away. I obviously havent tried it but hey, I live in the Carolinas. Pretty sure, I will get to test this out real soon

8 oz distilled vinegar
1 tbls of Coconut oil
1 spray bottle

Spray problem areas and this should repell spiders.  If anyones tried this please comment so we know if it truly works.  Pin It

Whey - healthy skin and hair etc

This article goes hand in hand with the Crockpot Yogurt recipe (see recipes)

In the last step of the recipe it calls for draining of the whey. Whey is the by-product of greek yogurts. It is also loaded with vitamins and protein.  Below you will find internal and extra uses for whey that will give your body, skin and hair great results

Alot of us tend to throw the whey down the drain, because lets be honest its not going to taste good on its own. If you can stomach it go ahead, chill it, throw it over and ice and drink it, its not bad just tangy.

But if you'd rather her are some other ideas for how to use your whey instead of throwing the best of the best down the drain (thank you to BFF for these suggestions)

• Add it to your dog/cat food
• Add it to a smoothie
• Cook your oatmeal or quinoa with it
• Use it instead of chicken broth
• Anytime you want to add extra protein and vitamins, add the whey

Now, on to what we are really here for. Healthy skin and hair. Whey will strenghten, nourish and add volume to limp hair. Cleaner, Moisturizer and toner for skin. Whey will help to nourish skin, tone and all together gives your skin fantastic results.

Hair

• Add to your shampoo
• Use as a shampoo
• Add as a conditioner and leave on for 5-15 mins then rinse off
• Spray on hair, evenly distribute, let hair dry and rinse

Skin

• Use a cotton ball and apply to face to cleanse, Tone and moisturize
• Put a couple cups full of whey into bath to restore PH

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Clean Eating Pumpkin Spice Baked apples

Many of the recipes I post are taken from some of my favorite bloggers. Im not big on creating my own recipes so when I have a recipe to share that belongs to someone else I will always link their site or give credit to the proper blogger.  In this case, this recipe belongs to one of my favorite "The Gracious Pantry" blogger.  She, on the other hand does create most, if not all of her recipes.

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

Made these tonight...love love! Wish I'd made more for morning

Clean Eating Pumpkin Spice Baked Apples( Makes 1 serving )

Ingredients
1 apple
1 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice
Dried cranberries – fruit juice sweetened
Walnuts
Directions:
Step 1 – Choose a nice, fresh, delicious apple.
Step 2 – Remove the core, and place apple in a baking dish.
Step 3 – Fill the core with fruit juice sweetened cranberries.
Step 4 – Pour honey down the center, over the cranberries.
Step 5 – Sprinkle 1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Spice over your apple.
Step 6 – Place your apple in the oven, and bake until you can easily puncture it with a knife. It should be quite soft. This will take about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool.
Step 7 – Cut open and top with a small handful of walnuts. Pin It

Ants in the....Dog bowls

I have wasted so much dog food, throwing it out because the ants have invaded it. So I did some, yep thats right, research and found two options. I tried both and both work amazing.  But we forewarned you need to replace both these every few days.

For the dog bowl in the house, I drew a ring of bar soap around the dog bowl. Apparently the ants wont cross it. I had to lay it on pretty thick though. But after a couple days they figured it out or the scent or whatever keeps them away wears off. So what I did was used a scrub brush to wash that area. The ants cant pick up their own smell (so Im told) if you wash it away. Then I just draw a new ring.

For the dog bowl outside, I put the dog bowl food in a bigger bowl of water, creating a mote and the ants wont cross. Its important to replace this water every couple days, not because the ants come back but because if you dont, the food that drops in there, lets off the worst vomit smell ever...I know, trust me! Pin It

Victory over my battle

I just wanted to shout out my victory for the week..

We all know how much I look forward to sweating and getting sore muscles ; /. Every day this week, I have picked out a workout DVD, looked at how many minutes it was and said "Oh well, I dont have to do all 60 mins, I can just do 20 or 30."  Everyday this week, I ended up doing the whole workout.  YAY ME!

I feel like Im slowly getting back to that point where I dont want to stop because Im either having fun or just feeling good doing it or maybe both. That to me is so huge, I thought I lost that.

So tomorrow, my plan is that Im going to go straight in and grab the longest workout dvd I have and Im going to do the whole thing.

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Chocolate Quinoa Protein Balls??

And who said eating clean is boring.  This my friends, is a fav around my house now. I have tried making many different protein balls and my problem is, I find a recipe, I start to follow it and then I start making it my own and next thing you know, life gets in the way and you lose the site you got the recipe from and you forgot your changes. So this time Im writing it down before I do anything else. Because I really want to share this with y'all

Chocolate Quinoa Protein Balls

• 2 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled
• 1/2 cup natural almond butter
• 1 large banana, peeled
• 1/4 cup of dried cherries
• 1/4 cup of Amazing Grass chocolate greens
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp agave

INSTRUCTIONS

Put almond butter, banana, dried fruit and Amazing Grass Chocolate greens in a food processor and blend till smooth.  Scoop out into a bowl and add Quinoa, chia seeds and agave. Mix well. Scoop out with a tbsp and make balls onto a baking sheet. Then put in freezer. When frozer transfer to a SAFE non plastic means of storage

These balls are raw so they need to stay in the freezer. 

SIDE NOTE

You can substitute the dried fruit with chocolate chips. I didnt use chocolate chips well because honestly I just didnt have any. But I did add 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder.  Use this as a model and make it your own, thats what I do.

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Super duper excited that yesterday I knew nothing about html codes, today I managed to add some.

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Lemongrass oil

OHHH How I love lemon grass oil. So many good uses. Im going to try to list my favorite uses and those that I havent tried yet.

My first comment is, get yourself a spray bottle, add some lemon grass oil to water and spritz around your house. The fragrance alone is fab. Although most say it smells like a citronella candle, because why? Yes lemon grass is in citronella candles so to start off my list..
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Tea Tree Oil

Speaking on essential oils. I am only going to talk about the things I have actually tried and found help from taking. I will also try to list things that the specific essential oil is said to help.

Please remember some of these essentials interaction with meds, so be sure you do your research or talk to your doc before using it.  Some essentials are only to be used topically not orally. Pay attention to what you are taking and do your research.

Keep in mind, anytime you are looking for a anti-fungal, anti-bacterial or anti-septic, tea tree oil is your BFF.

Ok so heres the things I have used Tea tree for and LOVE

Lice - I wash my daughters hair every other washing with 5 drops of tea tree in her shampoo. She has super long hair and getting lice would be a bad bad thing.

Cold sores - A little dab'll do ya

Ring worm - Anti fungal dap on with Q-tip

Theres lots of Oral uses for Tea tree but because not enough research is done, its still not a good idea. Tea tree oil is not to be taken internally



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Sinful weekend..

See I told you I try to do my best but unfortunately PMS kicked my butt this weekend and lead me astray all the way around the food globe.

I did fine, a nice am workout, some good food choices, then it hit me...PMS (please make it stop). I went to the pharmacy for something and it happened...I leaned in on the Dark chocolate covered almonds.  That was just the beginning.  I craved chocolate the rest of the day. I tried to make some of my Cocoa crack but it wasnt doing it for me.

Then my husband came home.  We dont eat out but once a week and I always let him decide since he works so hard during the week. Not today, today I rushed at him and said "Get dressed we're gonna have mexican"  Mexican is never a good thing for me because I overload on carb intake.

Friday night was no different then any other mexican meal night and I overloaded on chips. But that night, I totally took it to a new level, I ate my entire chicken taco salad with Extra chicken to absorb the shock of all those carbs. I took the 1/2 cup of sour cream off the top of it but ended up digging my chips into it anyhow when I got bored with the salsa. 

The waitress approached us to take our drink order, my daughter started then I said "Ill have a water with lemon please" (to help flush all these carbs out..) then I paused and added "AND he'll have the Jumbo margarita, on the rocks with your better tequila please...oh and no salt" (Salt will only bloat) Yeah, that margarita wasnt really for him. BUT....I had enough self control to allow it to sit in front of him and for my husband to know that I truly did order it for him, I just expected him to share.

Then we came home and I immediately ran to put my big pants on (Sweats and his t-shirt) Oh boy was I feeling the effects of sinfulness. 

So, I drank several glasses of water - again to flush the fat, carbs and salt intake out. Then some friends came over.  We sat in the garage talking, laughing and having fun and thats when I decided "well I already blew it, why not make a pomegranite vodka and tonix"?  Later in the evening I ended up indulging in a bag (3) of sunchips... Because MOST people do not make good choices when drinking alcohol. But this day was different, something happened and I went on a salt high that  3 days later, I am still paying for. My Big thumb toe is still bloated and I completely lost my diamond (that space in between where your thighs meet up) :(

So again, today is a new day and yeah I blew it this weekend and paid for it, but Im gonna jump right back up and try it again..because why?  Just like everyone else, I fall short! Pin It

Healthy school lunch snacks

Every morning I let my daughter pick out what snacks she gets in her lunch. She is allowed to choose 1 fruit and 1 veggie.  She also gets one snack for snack time.  Here are her most popular snacks

FRUITS

Crockpot Apples that we canned
Strawberries
Grapes
Watermelon

Sometimes she will want regular apples to dip in Almond Butter and that will be her main form of protein

VEGGIES

Sliced cucumber
Grated carrots/apples
zucchini
broccoli

OTHER

Protein balls
Pirates Booty Popcorn
Baked cheese sticks  (see I fall short sometimes and give her processed items but one a day wont hurt)
Apples with cocoa hummus (see recipe) Pin It

School Lunch Favorites

Finding things to put in a childs lunch is sometimes very challenging, especially when you are trying to stay away from processed foods. So heres a few ideas that we do.

On sundays I always prepare some easy peasy meals to freeze. They are such easy dont take much time at all and my daughter loves them...We use alot of egg rolls because they are a great alternative to bread and we dont use bread.

Chicken and bean egg roll

Organic chicken breast
Black beans (dry or canned)
onion
cheese
taco seasoning
Egg roll wrappers

Boil chicken, shred chicken, add diced onions and seasoning. Put a spoonful of chicken in the center of egg roll wrapper. Add cheese and roll up.  You can spray with olive oil spritzer if you like a softer egg roll. Bake 350  for 10-15 mins.

Banana and Almond butter egg roll

Almond Butter  (or PB)
Bananas
Egg rolls

Mash bananas, spoon into middle of egg roll, add thin layer of Almond butter. Wrap up and bake 350 for 10 mins. Spray with Olive Oil spritzer for a softer roll.

Wrapped String cheese

String cheese
WonTon Wrapper

Cut string cheese in half. Freeze (if you dont freeze you risk the cheese cooking before the wrap and then it becomes hard and gritty) Pull out of freezer, Wrap in a middle of wonton wrapper and bake 350 for 10 mins or until crispy.

Avocado cucumber spinach wrap (this was actually my daughters recipe she made up)

Avocado 
Cucumber
Baby spinach
Low fat high fiber tortilla wrap

Mash Avocado. spread in the center of tortilla. Cut thin slices of cucumber layer on top of avocado. Top with baby spinach.  Roll up and cut in diagonal pieces.

Banana topped Almond butter

Cut banana in half and then half again. Top each piece with Almond/peanut butter


Crock pot BBQ pulled chicken

Organic chicken
onions
BBQ sauce

Put chicken breast in crockpot add a little water and some BBQ sauce. Add onions. Cook on low till done.
Shred the hicken. Mix it all back in crockpot. Let cool.  Place in individual containers, enough for 1 serving. If you are using plastic bags, remember to make some parchment paper pouches (see blog) so you are not contaminating your food with the plastics. Take 1 serving out the night before and throw in lunch box. My daughter again prefers this with a fork no bread.  You can also wrap in a .......yep a eggroll wrapper and bake

Parfait

1/2 cup of homemade yogurt (see Crockpot Yogurt recipe)
frozen berries
Organic granola
honey

Ball jars has a BPA free cup thats perfect for these parfaits.  They are in the canning section, clear with green lids. 

Get a container, place berries at the bottom, Yogurt on top, and a tsp of honey on top of yogurt. Do not add the granola now or its going to be soggy. I have a Bento container thats perfect size for this granola that I use. You only need a tbsp of granola.







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Homemade liquid dish soap

Well now is as good of time and ever to post this...being that I just ran out of dish soap.

Lately my choice of dish soap is a bar of Octagon and a scouring pad or sponge. However, I like to have my liquid soap with antibacterial also. So heres the recipe..

Liquid Dish Soap

1 gallon of warm water

2 cups shredded bar soap (I will use Octagon but you can use Kirks also )

½ cup lemon juice (or lemon oil)

5 drops tea tree oil (Antibacterial)

• Mix warm water and soap flakes in a large pot.
• Dissolve the soap flakes in the water on the stove over low heat. Continually stir the mix while it is heating.
• Let cool until almost room temperature.
• then add lemon juice (or oil).
• Mix in tea tree oil.
• Pour the mixture into bottles and shake well.

Heres a trick to get away from plastic.  Get yourself some canning jars and drill a hole at the top. Then get a pump to put in the hole. That way you avoid the plastic yet again.

EASIER RECIPE

• 1/2 cup liquid castile soap (unscented or whatever your favorite scent is…I like using tea tree for the added antibacterial properties.)
• 1/8 cup water
• 4 drops essential oil scent of choice (orange, lemon)

Directions:

Simply mix everything together and store it in an old liquid dish soap bottle! Use as you would store-bought liquid dish soap

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Apple Cider Vinegar - Oh how I thee...

Let me count the ways.

Apple Cider Vinegar, you will always find a gallon of this stuff at my house and I enjoy the taste.  Every household should have ACV readily available at any time.

Anytime you are looking for a solution for something first look here under this ACV post or google. There is usually always a fix with ACV

Ant - 50/50 solution of water/ACV either spray area or wipe down
Bad Breath - 1/2 tbsp in a cup of water and gargle
Heartburn - 1 tbsp in a cup of water (can sweeten with stevia)
Balance PH - drink a 1tblsp in a cup of water a day to help stay balanced
Yeast Infections - I cannot say this enough it was a saver for me a couple times - again 1tbsp in water drink couple times a day

I seriously can go on and on...

Like I said google your symptom with ACV and you will find a remedy.

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Essential Oils - They're absolutely essential

Oh how I love the essentials.

Im not even sure how to go about this one.  I think what I will do is list some of my favorite oils separately and sub categorize them according to their benefits. 

Im gonna have to think about this and get back with y'all. Pin It

More trash talk (about plastic)

Get rid of them!

I recently organized my kitchen cupboards and you know what I did (prior to realizing how plastic is made from the devil)? I went out and purchased a bunch of plastic containers to organize my flour and cereals and pastas.  Yeah I decided to unintentionally poison my family.  Heres the thing, I spent some good money on that poison..Its disgusting to think of it

So heres a good idea..you know those jelly jars, pickle jars, peanut butter jars..Dont throw them away! They are perfect for storing cupboard foods.  Go to costco buy the bulk pickles just to get those big jars for the larger items.  Or how about, canning jars - under $20 and you too can keep your family safe.

My daughter loves her yogurt. So I have started making my own. She loves parfait.  My BFF suggested sending her yogurt to school in little canning jars.  What a fabulous idea! But wait, what happens if it drops and breaks.  She had a answer for that also. She said "Get a beer cozy, cut it to size and slip the jar in that"  Have I ever mentioned how brilliant my bff is. : )

So what do you say, this week, lets revamp our cupboards and get rid of those plastics..

Id bet any thrift store would have a plethura of jars for cheap.. Pin It

Lets talk exercise

UGGG probably my least favorite subject right now. Im not going to go into anything to deep, because truth be known..Im not an expert on exercise.  What I do know however, is that getting healthy, requires exercise...

I have always been really good at exercising, 6 days a week at least. However, I never saw any weight loss due to exercise. The reason, I just wasnt doing it right. I would do only cardio, Zumba or walking. I hated strenght training, required too much use of muscles and made you sweat.  Yeah I know, right?

What I do know, is that once you are in a routine, exercise is easy peasy and comes naturally and you look forward to it. But stop for 3 days and your exercise world crumbles.
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Chocolate humor

..cause chocolate is both wonderful and funny!

As I was studying my Anatomy and Physiology, I was studying about the Endocrine system and this is what I got out of the entire chapter..

Who even knew that our adrenal gland was chocolate covered...it makes perfect sense being that the adrenal gland regulates stress. Stress - chocolate. Im gonna ace this exam!

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Making storage bags safer

So although Im trying to get away from using plastic, I still have boxes of snack/sandwich/freezer storage bags.  I must also admit, Im cheap and Im not fixin to throw them out just because I dont want plastics to touch my food. So..I found a quick fix.

I bought some parchment paper, tore off different sizes, sewed them down the sides and made a pouch that would fit perfectly into each size storage bags. I then threw my food into the parchment pouch and the pouch into the storage bag. Again, food is not touching plastic so we are good...

BTW there is a way to fold the parchment paper so it doesnt come undone but my sewing machine seems to have found a home on my kitchen table and my 6 yr old loves to sew them for me, so its just easier for me to sew.

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Say no to Plastics!

When you discover the truth behind plastics and how bad they are for you, you cant help but cringe at the thought of plastic touching our food and leeching all those chemicals into your food.

They do code plastics in terms of, those that have chemicals that leech and those that dont. But truth is, I dont believe there is any plastic, that is not harmful and Im not taking any chances.  Most plastics leech a chemical that mimics estrogen. These plastics, along with the growth horomones in our poultry, meats and dairy, are most likely responsible for our babies undergoing early puberty and a multitude of other issues.

I am slowly but surely, ridding my house of plastics. Its a long drawn out process because unfortunately everything is plastic. My first concern is to rid my family of any plastic that leeches into our foods. Think "PLASTIC IS NOT FOOD SAFE" no matter what kind.  Studies are showing that even BPA FREE plastics still have estrogen mimicking chemicals.

So, I started making the change right away with my daughters school lunches.  First I spent the money on buying some BENTO lunch packs. Bento is said to be free of BPA, PVC, Lead free and phthalates.  I will not put them in the dishwasher because I believe the dishwasher breaks them down and they eventually become unsafe.  But, even though I bought these, Im not 100% sure they are safe. So I am looking for other alternatives.

I am now making my own reusable washable lunch/snack bags.

I made these in trial and error.  I used laminated cotton to begin with but then decided I didnt like the idea of the lamination.  So the next one, I walked through the store trying to figure out what material would best suit the inside of these bags, that didnt contain chemicals.  So then I opted for the sealable vaccum bags which are food safe and BPA free. So I sewed that material to the inside of the bag and it works great...however Im still not convinced its the safest route.  I then decided to make some out of 100% cotton fabric and call it good..but wait, then you have the dyes from the fabric leeching into your food.  I then decided to throw cute out of the window and I am now making some out of plain ol' fashion organic unbleached muslin cotton. They may be boring but they will be 100% safe.

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Did someone say Chocolate

I am a huge chocolate lover. Not that I love ALL chocolate but I have to eat chocolate daily and I allow myself to induldge but I try to do it in a healthy fashion.  Heres just a couple of my simply satisfying chocolate recipes

COCOA CRACK

2 tbls Coconut Oil
1 tsp of cocoa powder (or taste to your liking)
vanilla extract (again taste to liking)
a few drops of vanilla stevia

Mix all together and spoon into the mini muffin papers. I usually put a 1/2 tsp granola, Almond butter or coconut in the bottom of the muffin liner and then add about 1 tsp of the chocolate mixture. Place in freezer and ready to enjoy in 10 mins

BANANA CHOCOLATE WONTONS

Wonton wrappers
 bananas mashed
chocolate chips or dark choco chips

Mash bananas. Place a spoonful into the middle of a wonton wrapper. Top with 4 chocolate chips. Fold wonton over in a triangular shape. Press down. Bake 350 until crispy. Maybe 10 mins.

HEALTHY TAKE ON SMORES

1 Graham cracker
1/3 of banana
chocolate chips

Break graham cracker in half. Top one side with sliced banana. Add a few chocolate chips. Place other half of graham crack on top and microwave until melted


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Laundry detergent

Heres a laundry detergent that will cost you only cents per load.  I havent totally calculated it but I do know that I have spent under $20 for all the ingredients and Its lasted me 4 mths and I hardly put a dent in it.

2 cups Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer super washing soda
2 Fels Napstha bar soap

You can use any bar laundry soap, I prefer Fels because it smells good. You can also add essential oils but I dont

Fine grate the soap bars and mix in with the Borax and A&H. I use about 1/8 cup per load for me and my daughter. I use 1/4 cup on my husbands clothes for obvious reasons.

Ive made the liquid detergent, but it takes longer.  If you want the recipe I can post that too. The liquid makes 5 gallons. Pin It

Ant Issues

ANTS AHHHH THEY WONT GO AWAY!

So fed up with the ants and I refuse to use chemicals to kill them, so I did some research and found some answers.  Now the majority of my ants were in my dogs food inside the house and out. So I tried two suggestions one for each.

Inside the house - I drew a ring of barsoap around the dogs dish, its said that they wont cross the soap.  Well it worked but only for a couple days, so I had to redraw the ring.

Outside the house - I put the dog food bowl floating inside a bigger bowl with water creating a "moat" - YAY it works. Just remember to refill the water

Eventually, I got tired of seeing the ring of soap around the dog dish in the house, so I took a scrub brush and washed the area entirely including the area where the ants were coming from. Its said if you wash with soap and water they loss track of their scent.  So far so good.

Then....they started into everything else even my cube of butter on the sink. So I figured, surely theres an essential oil thats good for that, so I decided to mix some peppermint oil with water and spray in the hole where the ants were coming out and WHHHAAA LAAA again!

Who needs chemicals - NOT I!



































































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