Choco-cherry smoothie

If you read yesterday's post, then you are here to find out about this smoothie that uses that delicious raw almond milk I showed you how to make.  If you didn't read yesterday's post, go check it out and then make sure to come back and get the recipe for this smoothie that uses the delicious raw almond milk ;)

When I buy fruit for my daily smoothies, I most often buy them frozen.  Because lets face it, I'm in Canada and fresh, affordable and ripe fruit isn't always available all year round.  I have my go to fruits or fruit blends I use regularly, and I make sure I use them in different ways so I don't get sick of them.  But yesterday, while I was at the store, I found frozen cherries.  My store had never carried them before (that I know of).  I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it: a choco-cherry smoothie!

And delicious it was!

I apologize if you are the measuring type for no matter what recipe you make, because smoothie making isn't always an exact science.  Sometimes, you just throw things together and the result can still be delicious.  Build those kitchen instincts!  I'll just give you the super simple, super basic, super nutritious list of ingredients and you can play with it to suit your taste ;)

Choco-cherry smoothie:

• frozen cherries
• raw vanilla almond milk
• chia seeds
• raw cacao powder (start with less, rather than a big scoop, as it can be bitter and overpowering)
• agave nectar (or even maple syrup would have been fantastic)

That's it!  Just blend and enjoy as breakfast, snack or satisfying dessert! 

Now for the giveaway...

Time to announce the winner...

Congratulations to Julie!  You won the feather necklace!

Thank you to all those who have participated.  And keep an eye out, because I'm thinking of doing another giveaway soon ;)

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

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Raw vanilla almond milk: So easy, you should try it!

For the past couple of months, I got into the habit of making my own almond milk, to replace some of the "milk" (almond and rice) that we use in our house, because homemade from scratch is always better for you than store bought, no matter what.  I wanted to try it for so long, but could never find a nut milk bag and my old blender wasn't powerful enough to even bother trying.

But now that I'm better equipped, I knew it was time to try.  And I am going to show you just how easy it is!  

First, you want to make sure you use raw almonds, and you want to soak them in water.  I place 1 cup raw almonds in a large mug, glass jar or bowl, and fill with filtered water, making sure you more than cover the almonds.  They will swell up and soak up some of that water.  I typically do this at bedtime and let them soak overnight so I can make the almond milk in the morning.

Why soak the nuts?

First, raw nuts contain enzyme exhibitors.  Those enzymes are needed for proper digestion.  By soaking them overnight (some nuts can take a bit less soaking time), you increase the digestibility.  The other reason is that the almonds will have a smoother taste after being soaked and will be much easier to blend into a creamy milk.

After they soaked for 6-8 hours, you will notice how murky your almond water is.  Discard the water, rinse them well and put them into your high speed blender.

For 1 cup (pre-soaked measurement) of almonds, I add 4 cups of filtered water.

 Blend on high speed until it's white and you can't hear the chunks of almonds being broken apart. (With a high speed blender, this step literally takes less than 2 minutes).

At this point, you end up with the most amazing white milk, and it has a bit of that "cherry" taste that is particular to almonds.  You could leave the milk as is, but I like to add either some vanilla extract (about 1 tsp or to taste), or scrape the inside of vanilla bean pod into the milk, and I sweeten with a bit of agave to taste.  I've tried to sweeten with a few dates, but I didn't like the flavour as much for this. When you put in your "flavour additions", blend quickly once more.

Now, you are ready to strain.  Remember the nut milk bag I mentioned?  This is where it comes in.  

This is my favourite part.  I don't know why, but I love doing this.  I must of been a dairy farmer in a past life, because you literally have to "milk" the bag, and for some reason, I think it's super fun, lol.  

Gently squeeze out the milk until you have no more liquid coming out.  

Tip: I pour the milk from the bowl back into the clean blender pitcher so I can use the spout to pour it into my glass milk container.  I tried pouring into it straight from the bowl and turns out it was harder than I thought ;)

Now your milk is ready, it's raw, it's healthy, it's packed with nutrients and it tastes incredibly fresh.

Wondering about your calcium intake?
Almonds are higher in calcium than any other nut!  They are also rich in potassium, magnesium, folic acid and are a great source of protein.

What about that almond pulp left behind after you squeezed all the milk out?  Don't throw it out!  If you have a dehydrator, you can use it as a base for raw cookies.  Or just throw it in your baking as a nutrition "addition".  Add it in your muffins, cookies, loafs, breads, etc.  And if you're not ready to use it in your baking soon, just put it in the freezer until you need it.  No waste!


I love this almond milk with some pumpkin granola, cinnamon and fresh blueberries.

(Note: The milk will keep refrigerated for about 5-7 days)



Come back tomorrow and I'll have a new and super easy smoothie recipe for you where you can use this milk in.

If you've never made your own almond milk, I hope I just convinced you to give it a try.  You won't regret it!


By the way, today is the last day to enter my giveaway!  I will announce the winner in tomorrow's post :)

Good luck!

Nature inspirations and a giveaway

It's been spring only for a little while here.  Mother nature has been hesitant on allowing the changes from winter to spring.  Or maybe she was just still a bit too sleepy to bring us spring early this year.  We had late snow, and lots of snow.  But mother nature had a surprise up her sleeve.  A rather warm spring all of a sudden.  We've been wearing summer clothes almost daily, playing in the sprinklers, enjoying fresh air flowing into the house through he wide open windows without ever having to close them, even at night.  

And now, blossoms are making their appearance.  

From dandelions in the grass, to flowering trees, to surprise blooms in the flower bed.

(I wasn't sure what these were at first, since we've only been at our house for a year and the previous owners had just planted in the flower bed before we bought our home.  But I believe these may be cherry trees? They are still small, like a bush.  But I'll have to remove them from the bed before they get to big.  I think these would be perfect in the backyard!)

I am loving discovering new flowers popping up left and right in the yard.  I am loving learning about the different plants and flowers that are on our property.  I am loving being inspired by nature, by this explosion of life.

Nature has been inspiring me in my crafts lately.  A couple months ago, I had ordered a bunch of small jars to make fairy dust necklaces.   Last year, I had made a rather large selection of them and brought them to the summer craft fairs.  (They never made it to my Etsy and sold out).  But when I received my jars, I was accidentally sent the wrong size.  These are a touch taller, and I find them a bit too big for a child to wear.  I could have sent them back, but I knew I'd think of something to do with them.

Just this past Thursday, I went to the store and found adorable bird themed charms to add to the necklaces.  I wasn't sure what I was going to put IN the necklaces though.  And then, a funny thing happened.  I found a few small feathers while on a walk with the kids this weekend.  Just the perfect size to fit in the bottles.  What were the chances of that happening?!

As soon as I came back home, I went to work and made these :)

I only had enough feathers to make 3 necklaces.

The necklaces aren't even posted on Etsy yet (I will work on that this week).

*****Contest Closed*****

I've been long over due for a giveaway.  So I decided to give a feather necklace with wing charm with one lucky follower!

That's right! You have the chance to win this adorable nature inspired necklace. (No worries, no birds have been harmed in the making ;)

To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post.

For extra entries:

2. Follow me on Facebook and leave me a comment letting me know you did so!

3. Visit my Etsy shop and come back to tell me what your favourite item is.


You can enter until Friday (May 25th) and I will announce the winner on Saturday.  This giveaway is open to anyone, no matter where you live, I will ship!

Good luck and happy Monday!

Nesting: Outside

I don't know if it's because spring has finally arrived, or if it's because last week marked the 1 year anniversary of being in our new home, but I've been nesting.  Nesting like I've never experienced before.  You see, this is going to be our forever home (or at least until the kids have grown, moved out and we reach retirement).  For weeks, I've been nesting inside the house, reorganizing and making plans to repaint almost every room and make our house feel even more like our home (more on that tomorrow).  But now that mother nature finally decided to let us have spring since this past week, my thoughts have moved on to outside. 

I borrowed a few library books and stumbled upon one that had ideas for kids play areas. The above picture is a cozy sitting area that is also a covered sand box.  I am planning on making this one for sure!   We have a rather large backyard (considering we live right in our town, and not in the country), but it's pretty bare.  Some grown trees, a garden by the shed... but we have no play equipment for the kids.  Though I'm all for letting them use their imaginations, I would love to provide them with open ended play areas that will get them engaged.  

So I am making plans, trying to decide what to build, where to put what...

The sandbox/tree seat, a mud pie kitchen, a trampoline, and perhaps maybe even this neat little wooden tent/playhouse.

Now that the weather is consistently warmer and and snow seems to be gone until next year (hopefully), we'll be working on bringing this fairy garden back to life and make some new additions to it (stay tuned for this!).

I can finally weed the garden and get it ready for planting, which I cannot wait to do!  It's been years since I've been able to grow a garden.

Though we did not have time to plant in time after moving last spring, we have a return visitor again this year ;)

 All those plans are for the backyard.  But there are also plans for the front yard, such as changing the shape of the flower bed and removing some of the plants we strongly dislike in it.  Cutting down the birch tree that is rotting and paving the driveway that is currently only gravel.

Of course, between the front and backyard, most of these things will not all get done this year.  But it's fun to dream and make plans. My main priority this year will be the backyard and giving the kids a couple play areas.

I am truly enjoying this nesting period and can't wait to see what comes from it!

Happy Friday!

Weekending

Every now and then, time seems to escape me and life feels like it's on full speed ahead.  Then I remember to slow down and take the time to breathe and truly enjoy all of life's little moments.  This weekend was one of those breathers and we all enjoyed it fully!  To me, slowing down and taking time to breathe, doesn't necessarily mean staying home (and do nothing).  To me it means living consciously. Being aware and present in the moment.  It's easy to go through life unconsciously, just go through the motions that every day bring on.  Constantly being in a conscious state, aware of our surroundings, our actions, our emotions, is a whole other story.  It's like breathing... we don't need to think about it, it just happens.  And life can feel that way sometimes.  

But I find I really find more joy in my life when I am IN the moment, aware of every aspect of each moment.  

While we did stay home for most of the weekend (at the exeption of a Lego activity at the local library), we kept pretty busy.

Busy making silly faces, 

Busy building corrals and bridges for the animals, 

Busy hooping and enjoying the snowless backyard (ironically we are in the middle of a snow storm today and can't see any grass. Again.)

Busy making some delicious and healthy foods like kale chips, 

And raw almond milk (my favourite!)

Busy building forts,

Busy sewing some felt pop tarts, 

You get the idea.  Busy, busy, busy.  But the good kind of busy.  The kids even helped me clean the house and do some spring decluttering.  I can't believe how much we got done this weekend, and still had lots of time for fun things.  I guess that's what happens when you are truly living in the moment... time doesn't escape you as much, but it sure did fly by though!  It was just the perfect rhythm for us.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!  And happy Monday!

Mini meringue cookies - a party special

I didn't grow up learning to make meringue cookies while watching my mom in the kitchen.  In fact, I didn't taste my first one until I made my first batch, sometime in my twenties.  I saw a recipe and wanted to try.  It was love at first taste.

I've tried different types of meringues since in my life, but none quite like this one.  I may be bias, but I really do prefer this one.  It's crunchy all the way through, and it's fun to play with flavours.  (I used to make it with peppermint during the holidays.)

I stopped making them after I discovered my son had sensitivities to food dyes and processed sugar (among other things).  It's been about 4 years since I made any.  But last fall, when I took Ashton to a sensitivity test to find out exactly what he is sensitive too, the test revealed that he isn't sensitive to organic sugar.  After years of cooking and baking with only natural sweeteners (honey, agave, coconut sugar, etc), I can't imagine going back to cane sugar in my everyday food, organic or not.  But... I knew this was one recipe I could substitute sugar for organic sugar, and not much else would do.  And when my daughter requested meringues for her birthday party, I was happy to make an exception.

Like I said earlier, I used to make them with peppermint extract during the holidays, and I added green food colouring to go with it.  Food dye was not an option here.  But it doesn't mean you can't actually dye them.

I tested with beetroot powder and it worked!

Don't let the natural powder intimidate you.  When you open the packet, it will smell strongly of beets, but a little goes a long way, and you wont taste it in here!

As promised in my last post, here is the recipe.

Meringue cookies

• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/8 tsp salt (I used Himalayan pink salt)  
• 1/2 cup organic sugar
• 1/4 tsp beet root powder
• 1/2 tsp extract (such as vanilla or almond.  I used mango extract for these pink ones), or 1/4 tsp if using mint

Heat oven to 200F.

In a bowl, combine egg whites, cream of tartar and salt; beat at medium speed until foamy.  Increase speed to high; add sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, beating meringue until it's very stiff and glossy and sugar is all added.  Turn beater off, add beet root powder, and turn back on low, then faster to incorporate until meringue is completely pink.  (If you add beet root powder while beaters are on, it will make a mess, as the powder is very light). Add extract once powder is incorporated.

Using a piping bag with a star tip, pipe meringues into 1-inch circles onto a greased cookie sheet. (I did 5 x7 meringues per cookie sheet, and it will fill about 2 cookie sheets).

Bake at 200F for 2 hours.  Let cool for 5 minutes before eating.  Store in airtight container.  Keeps for a very long time, if you can resist eating them all ;)

Makes about 4 dozen meringues.

They make a great homemade gift and are super cute to display.  The only problem is they don't last.  I made the first batch (a half a batch) a week before the party and let my kids eat one each.  Its funny that after 4 years, they remembered eating these.  Some tastes we never forget I suppose.  It must have been a very fond memory for them, because I had made two half batches that both completely disappeared before making a full batch the day before the party in order to get this one and lonely jar for the special day.

It will be a while before I make these again since it seems no one could exercise self control around these.  I am just happy I found a way to make these so that my son could enjoy them again.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

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Birthday girl celebration, spring style!

This past Saturday was Arianne's 6th birthday.  I cannot believe where time has gone, they do grow way too fast!  A few days before her birthday, I was having some mommy anxiety at the thought of my baby turning 6.  In my mind, at 5, they are still a young child.  Six seems so grown up!  Thankfully I got over the anxiety before the big day, and was able to fully enjoy it with her :)

                            

I took the time to make her a birthday crown this year (I used this template).  I think it turned out well, and most importantly, she loves it!  

She had a party with a few of her friends and classmates, and so a few days before we started getting a few things ready.  I don't know where the whole "loot bag" thing started from, but I find it can be so much pressure sometimes.  I don't like to give out a bunch of things in a bag, but instead, I like to focus on one (or two) well thought things.  Since she wanted a spring theme birthday, we did a little bug catcher jar/terrarium.

We simply used 250ml mason jars, put a small bit of moss in the bottom with a few butterflies in them.  And then we poked a bunch of small holes in the lids so they can be emptied to be used as bug catchers if the children choose to.

We also included some bug crayons for all the kids.  I've been making these for about a year now (I've been selling them locally and at craft fairs).  So far, it's my only mold, but it was so perfect for this :)

I made some super cute little meringue cookies, some white, some pink (using natural food dyes).  I loved how this looked!

I will share the meringue cookie recipe with you in a post this week, so stay tuned!  No Red dye no.40 needed for these pink meringues!

The party was a success, everything went so well and she had the best time ever!

I am so grateful to have her (and him too!) in my life! As much as I want to keep her little and hold on to that feeling of being needed, I am so proud to have a daughter that is smart, confident, independent, beautiful and oh! so! funny!

I think I learned a lot with this birthday.  They do grow fast, and their growth (not physically but personality and maturity wise) will happen at their own pace.  Weather I'm ready for it or not, it never matters.  I just need to follow their lead on this one.  Let them grow, and follow behind with advice, and help when needed.  I think, incidentally, the spring/butterfly theme of the party was definitely symbolic, when you think of it.  We all grew a little that day.