i just made the yummiest vegan dinner. my body craves healthy stuff... nd then it craves something sweet i wish i had the time and resources to do all or most everything vegan... but alas, i don't and my family would completely revolt. but here is my recipe

saute up some mushrooms, onions, yellow pepper (or any color i'm sure would be great) and a zucchini in some coconut oil. i added some garlic powder and raw salt. 

toss with raw kelp noodles. first time i had used them and they are yummy. 

i bought mine from naturalnews.com for less. i only used half the package. it is a completely raw noodle/pasta with hardly any calories! 

so, toss veggies with noodles, and then put in some bragg's liquid amino. this is super yummy. and fresh. 

goes great with the chocolate chip cookies that i'm making right now too... anyone else do that? make something healthy with something unhealthy???

here is my cookie recipe (i did add in 1 cup oat bran in place of 1 cup flour)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

because my life is usually super busy and it takes me a while to get projects done... here is one that has been in the works for about a year. my boys bedroom is going to be a space theme. pretty hard to figure out something for a 12 and 6 year old, but this is gonna be cool. so last year, we painted the one main wall black. and that was as far as we got. confession, the blue tape was still on the ceiling because i'm too short to get it off without a chair and i kept forgetting to get a chair.  

alas, yesterday, i had about 3 hours to finish the project. i have had this tiled wall mural of the earth from the moon for years. multiple multiple years. in all fairness, i was going to get the mural up a lot sooner, but then i found out that it was slightly too big and i was going to have to cut it down. well that also took a long time to realize what i could do and how i could do it. finally, yesterday, i got a spur in my boot and figured up the math (for the most part, i did it right too) and got it cut down. so i was by myself and had to call my mom to see if she would help me. so with mom's help and then the fes (foreign exchange student) to get the tall stuff, this is the final product of their wall. the boys want a bookshelf to be hung on this wall to look like it's floating in space... 

what do you think?

my goals for this weekend is to finish up the boys room, so maybe future pictures will be coming soon. at least a more final project. 

birthday spread
we are having our monthly birthday spread at work. and since i'm pretty bored at home these days (shockingly, pretty calm and not much to do) i am bringing 3 things. one is
pineapple cream cheese bread. it's baking right now and smells sooo good. get the recipe here!

the next thing i'm making is divine halfway bars. recipe here.

i've seen some like this before, but knowing that this is "divine", i just had to try it.

i will say, mine isn't turning out as pretty as launi's but i have to see what it is going to taste like. 

i'm sure divine!!! 

this recipe is courtesy of launi, the wonderful woman who taught me about hypnobirthing. it was amazing and saved my daughter's life and made a possibly stressful birth and complications very calm and peaceful for me. she is in utah, so you should check her out if you live there. 

last day of school was on thursday. and my princess had an amazing teacher (well both K teachers were good, so they both got treats) we did something for each day of the week for teacher appreciation, but i didn't take any pics. here is what we did for the end of the year, with a sugar scrub and a good little poem i found

here is the poem. we did the brown sugar scrub instead of lotion. teachers loved loved it!!!

A teacher has such special hands,

So many things they do,

They teach the tiny children

And yes, the big ones too!

They watch over precious lives

while parents can’t be there.

They reach and teach so lovingly

To those for whom they care.

They work on crafts, they clean the mess

They know each book that’s read

They lift, inspire and touch a heart

With each kind word that’s said.

A teacher has such special hands,

So many things they do.

May this little bit of lotion

Help preserve those hands for you!

i'll link up the recipe for the sugar scrub. i love it. this link has honey in it, and i haven't used honey, but it sure does sound good.  i use it in the shower all the time. and it is so simple and good for your skin!!!

enjoy

GIVEAWAY TIME
check out this giveaway. it's a chance (and a pretty good one too) to get a set of handmade cutesy blocks, she'll even personalize them if you don't see what you like in her etsy shop. pretty cool. go to her site and start following. easy peasy! oh... and i'd like to have more followers too at some point, so i may have a giveaway later down the line.

i have been a slacker. or just super busy. i really haven't forgotten about my fledgling little blog. however, life (that crazy thing) has taken over. thankfully, in a few weeks, i will have approximately 20 hours a week back of my life. 

allora

easter is this week and what a fabulous week it is. tomorrow is palm sunday and then this week we are going to celebrate passover and easter. my friend (who i have celebrated passover with many many many times) posted this amazing idea. seriously, you should check it out!
i typed up the scriptures to go along with this, so if you want it, just comment and i'll email it to you. i'm working on my set right now. my goal is to keep it every year.

i am all for teaching my kids about the real reason for holidays. when the little ones were little-er, i thought i would not do santa and the easter bunny and all that. then, i had some church activity and basically rethought it all. i realized that all of the traditions have history to them. so i like to have a couple different celebrations. like today and tomorrow is our "easter bunny" type celebrations. they did the easter egg hunt at church. tomorrow morning, the easter bunny comes (with just a few things in their baskets like bubbles and socks and books). this week will be passover. there are some good recipes and history on PBS Kids for matzo soup and lots of other things i'm going to try. 

passover will be during the week, then on friday, saturday and sunday, we will be learning about easter, the crucifixion and the resurrection. here is one of the BEST ideas ever i have ever seen. i did it last year and i can't wait to do it this year. i remember last year, the princess was so upset when we sealed the cookies in the oven overnight. she wanted to know what was going to happen and why did Jesus' friends leave him. it is such a testimony builder! i can't wait for the thoughts this year.

this is the final product... a hollow cookie

today is hubz birthday ... and thanks to inside brucrew life

i made some super yummy cupcakes for him to take to work and school 

but hubz doesn't especially like cake at all (though he said he might like these), i made him another favorite dessert to have here at home all the time. the recipe is crack crackers (we named them, because yes, they are as addictive or more than crack)

1 sleeve saltines

1 package of milk chocolate chips (however you can use other kinds of chips -- wouldn't recommend mint choco though)

2 sticks of softened butter

2/3 c. brown sugar

heat oven to 450*. mix together the butter and brown sugar. lay saltines on a cookie sheet so they are touching completely. you can put down some coconut oil or butter on the sheet beforehand if you remember. so after the saltines are all laid out flat, dollop on the butter mixture. do not try and spread it out. put cookie sheet in oven for no more than 6 minutes. take the tray out of the oven and you will notice that the crackers are all messed up and they floated on top of each other. no fear... take a spoon and slowly move them back to where they belong. once they are back to their homes, sprinkle the back of choco chips all over the crackers. then, using the back of your spoon, start to spread the chips over all of the crackers. as you do this, the chips will start to melt. takes about 3-5 minutes. once it is all melted, put the tray in the refrigerator for a bit so it will cool down. then cut into crackers squares and enjoy. you might want to share so you don't get sick eating all of these yourself. just saying. enjoy!!!