What my ________ think I eat

Just A Little Fun

Happy Halloween :)

So True

Yes, This is so me!

It is amazing what can be done in 10 or 15 minutes at full speed.  

Just stay out of my way because I will probably knock you down.

Spider Hair

This is R, my oldest and I gave her spider hair for school today.  Now R was a little worried because she attends a uniform public school and spider hair is out of uniform and she knows it.  R is a rule follower.  Now if the spiders were red, blue or white, than wa-la, back in uniform.  Her anxieties were relieved when the principal commented to her about her wonderful spooky hair.  All smiles.

A bag of spider rings cost me $1 and the bag has 30 rings so I told her not to worry if any fell off and got lost.  No big deal.  

M, my youngest did not want spider hair, until she saw big sister R.  Than, well, she had to have spider hair too.

Nutella Fudgesicles

Super Easy and Yummy :)

Only two ingredients.  

Nutella and Almond Milk

You can take this up a notch by using chocolate almond milk but I don't think it is really needed.  Why add the extra sugar when little M was sucking them down just the way they are.

1 1/2 cups almond milk

1/2 cup Nutella

Blend and pour into Zoku pop maker.  

Wait 10 minutes.

If you don't have one of these absolutely wonderful little fun gadgets, the fudgesicles can be made using a dixie cup or popsicle mold and frozen for several hours. 

Salad

Apple Sandwich

I saw this idea on Pinterest and because I am an awesome mom and I knew my oldest, R, would love this, it is now, what's in her school lunch.

It is healthy!  Lots of protein and fiber, without the highly processed, chemical filled, no nutritional value of bread.

Ingredients

Apple

Peanut Butter

Method

Cut off ends of apple

Slice into 4 slices

Use cute little cutters to punch out the core

Spread with peanut butter

Easy Pezzy, Lemon Squeezy, just the way making school lunches should be.

Happy Mom, Happy Daughter.

The two middle slices have more core.  Use the cute punch. 

The two end slices have a little core.  Use a knife to remove.

Spread peanut butter.

Here is pictured the front and back.

No peanut butter squishing out.

Ta-Da!

My Friends Don't Get It

Mexican Rice and Black Bean Casserole

Going Vegan or Vegetarian does not need to be difficult or expensive.  Mexican Rice and Black Bean Casserole uses basic pantry staples and because it is made with beans and rice, no need to worry about being hungry or not getting enough protein.

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice

3 cups water

8 oz of tomato sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 can of drained black beans or 2 cups cooked

1 cup corn

Directions

Preheat Oven to 350

Add all of the ingredients to a casserole dish and stir

Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until rice is tender.

Notes

This will easily serve a family of four.

A salad of greens would make a nice side dish.

I often use canned corn and when I do, I use the entire can, so none go to waste.

This recipe is from the website MyPlantBasedFamily.com.

Fruit Leather - Strawberry Banana

Fruit Leather - Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy and loved by R, what can be better?

Only fruit, no dairy, stabilizers or preservatives.

Ingredients

1 cup of strawberries, stems left on for added nutrition

1 banana, pealed

Directions

Blend strawberries and banana well in blender.

Pour onto Paraflexx or parchment paper.

Spread, making the circle thicker along the edges than in the middle.

Place in dehydrator for 4 to 8 hours depending on thickness.

Peal and flip, dehydrate for an additional 30 to 60 minutes to completely dry.

Cut into strips and store in a zip lock bag.

Hide from children.

Over ripe is best, rotten is not

Pour and spread into a nice circle

Pictured here is a Paraflexx tray liner which fits perfectly on an Excalibur tray

Kitchen parchment paper can be used

 Excalibur Dehydrator

Peals easily 

Mom Humor

Sweet Potato Chips

This is my new KitchenAid Pro-Line Dicing Food Processor and my adorable youngest, M.

These are my paper thin slices of sweet potato and apple which will be turned into chips.

Hot from the oven sweet potato chip, which lasted all of 15 minutes.

Last night I spent the evening reading the manual and sorting through all of the blades and attachments to my new food processor.  The manual had a lot to be desired.  I am thinking that the writers of this document thought that anyone buying this particular model was upgrading and knew something about food processors.  I am not upgrading as I have spent the last 44 years of my life without owning one of these gadgets.  Needless to say, all those blades and setting are a little intimidating.

Now that I have this fancy toy I had to make something right away.  Being that I have an abundance of sweet potatoes in the house, sweet potato chips seems like an excellent starter dish.  I searched the internet and found that most recipes use a lot of olive oil which is not something I wanted to do.  Several recipes used the oven, several used a dehydrator and one used the microwave.  Well, I certainly didn't want to wait 10 hours for my chips and my microwave is loud and does not hold many chips,  so I decided that the oven was for me.  The following is what I came up with.

Ingredients

Sweet Potato

PAM

Salt

Directions

Wash and dry sweet potato.

Slice very thinly using food processor.

Spray a light coating of PAM on a cookie sheet.  

     -my one potato used two cookies sheets.

Spread the slices on the cookie sheet without overlapping.

Spray a light coating of PAM on the potato slices.

     -this helps the salt to stick.

Sprinkle with just a touch of salt.

     -if you are going to omit the salt, also omit the coating of PAM on the chips.

Oven temp is 375 for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through the cooking time.

     -depending on the thickness of the chips, the cooking time may be longer.

     -chips can burn fast so keep an eye on them toward the end of the cooking time

     -the chips are so thin that they will cool down immediately.

Banana Bread Bites - Oven Not Needed

Today I really wanted to make an effort to use this new toy of mine.  The Kitchen Aid Pro Line Dicing Food Processor.  It came with various blades which I am greatly intimidated by, but am slowing learning to use.  I decided that today I would make almond flour so that I could make Banana Bread Bites.  The Banana Bread Bites recipe, originally is found on the MyWholeFoodLife web site.

KitchenAid Pro Line Dicing Food Processor

Almond Flour

Banana Bread Bites

Ingredients 

2 cups of almonds

1 ripe banana, sliced

10 to 12 pitted medjool dates

Directions

In a food processor grind the almonds into a fine consistency.

* I used a sifter to sift out the larger pieces, to roll my finished product in.

Add banana and dates and pulse until a dough starts to form.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally, to fully incorporate all of the ingredients.

Roll dough into little balls.

*If you sifted out the larger almond pieces, roll the balls in the almonds, at this time.

Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Place in the fridge to set.

These will keep in the fridge for several weeks.

I made 1/2 of the recipe and had 15 little balls when I was finished.

Zoku Quick Pops - Product Review

Our family absolutely loves the Zoku Quick Pop Maker.

What is a Zoku Quick Pop Maker you ask?  Well, it is this amazing little, in just 8 minutes, you have a frozen treat maker.  I am not talking about crappy popsicles made out of cool aid.  I am talking about amazing looking and tasting frozen whole food good for you treats!  Don't worry.  Zoku has a fantastic recipe book to go with the pop maker.  Lots and lots of fun, creative and tasty recipes.  

This is how it works. Very simple. The Zoku pop maker lives in the freezer.  When you are ready to use it, pull it out, add a stick and pour in the liquid.  Wait 8 to 10 minutes and use the super tool, as they call it and remove the frozen treat.  It is that simple and fast.  The Zoku pop maker holds enough cold to do three cycles. 

This is the maker.  It comes in a single, a double or a triple.  I have the double, pictured above.  I can make 6 pops before the unit gets to warm to be use and needs to be returned to the freezer. 

This is the recipe book.  The Zoku pop maker does come with instructions and a few recipes but this book is a must.  Every recipe has a picture.  This book also gives an abundance of advice and ideas to get the most from the pop maker.

The Zoku Character Kit makes the pops supper fun and cute.  

Can you say, Rock Star Mom!  

This is a fun accessory, but not needed.  

These pops made using the Zoku Character Kit.

Zoku Tool Kit.  

Another not needed accessory, but fun to have and use.

These pops were made using the Zoku Tool Kit

Oh, My!

This is the Dipping station.

It allows you to perfectly dip each pop.  

The dipping station gives each pop a professional looking appearance.

The dipping station can be used with Magic Shell.

These pops were decorated using the Zoku Dipping Station.

The storage case

Look how pretty the pops look.

Extra Sticks with drip catch guards.

All of the above pictures were taken from the Zoku website.  You can purchase directly from Zoku or my personal favorite, Amazon.com.

In time I will be posting recipes and pictures of pops the girls and I have made.

Plant Sources of Protein

Vegan Humor

It's Whats for Lunch

Easy, portable, low calorie and good for you.

Diary free, Soy free, Gluten free.