Tropical Green Smoothie

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  In honour of the day, I’ve made myself a green smoothie for breakfast.

For those of you that suffer from multiple food sensitivities/allergies, as I do, you know there are some days that you can’t even look at food.  As much as you try, there are days when  your belly goes into overdrive, for no particular reason. It seems that, as  careful as I am, from time to time something sneaks into my food that I am sensitive to, throwing me off for days.  Does this ever happen to you?  Please tell me I’m not the only one…… 🙂

Anyway, on those days, I find a good option for me is a smoothie. I can still sneak in a lot of nutrients, and the BlendTec breaks everything down for me, so it’s easy to digest. I can take sips through the day and before you know it I’ve “eaten” some fruit and veggies.

I borrowed heavily from Angela Liddon’s Tropical Green Monster Smoothie recipe for this one, switching up some things for personal taste.  Check her out over at Oh She Glows.  Her recipes are awesome!

I used to  make this when I babysat my grandson, so in his honour, we’ll call this one…

Jackson’s Green Smoothie

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

1 cup frozen mango chunks

1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/4 cup curly parsley

1 inch piece of fresh peeled ginger

Throw all the ingredients into a high powered blender (I am fortunate enough to have a husband who agreed with me buying a BlendTec- when I found one on sale).  Set to Whole Foods and let ‘er rip!

Enjoy.

Copycat Reese’s “Peanut Butter” Squares

It’s Friday!!  It’s March Break (next week)!!  So many good things about today!

What better to celebrate all that good stuff with than a peanut butter cup?  Well, in this case, a pretty darn close in taste “peanut butter” square.  🙂

(The square in this picture is sitting beside an Alice Collection tea cup from Steeped Tea filled with Chocolate Earl Grey tea.  I sense a chocolate theme starting for today….)

“Peanut Butter” Squares

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup creamy SuperButter

1 cup allergen free graham wafer crumbs (I use these)

2 cups icing sugar

Melt the margarine and SuperButter together in a microwave.  Do it in 30 second increments, stirring to combine.  Stir in the graham wafer crumbs and icing sugar until well combined.  Press firmly into an ungreased 8 x 8 pan.

Glaze:

Melt together 3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips and a heaping tbsp. of margarine.  Spread over squares.

Refrigerate to firm up.  HOWEVER – remember to cut them before the glaze is set, or it will just crack and break apart as you cut your squares.

Ta-da!  A simple Friday recipe to make for a yummy treat.

The Moment.

Before I begin today, I want to start by saying that I know that there are many single dads, stay-at-home dads and just dads in general! However, when I write posts like this, I write from the perspective of the mother and do not try to constantly write “mom/dad.” I am writing from my perspective and I know that many will relate to my stories, but some won’t – moms and dads included.

I have a unique perspective…at least I like to think so! I know what it’s like to be a working mom (outside the house). I know what’s it’s like to be a work-at-home mom. I can relate to stay-at-home moms, but some things are a lot different for me because I am running a business as well. I will not pretend that one (working mom, WAHM, SAHM) is more difficult because I know that being a mom is hard no matter what you “do.”  It’s fun, exciting, tiring, difficult and wonderful all at the same time!

Okay, let’s begin.

As a parent, there are so many moments that stand out in the life of your kids. Moments that make you say, “Thank you God for protecting my child!” Moments that, when you look back, make you say, “How did I make it through?!” Moments that cause you to laugh until you cry because seriously…is THIS the life of a parent? You think to yourself, “My friend just went on a business trip to Europe….and I just scooped poop out of the bathtub.”  (Though, we must not forget about the many, many women who are thinking, “I am traveling alone for business and she just got to snuggle her baby to sleep.”)

I was doing my glamorous work-at-home job today, like everyday, and I had the house semi-quiet as my son was at preschool. I had a coaching call scheduled with our Sales & Field Development Manager for an hour this morning, and I thought to myself, “Piece of cake. One’s at school, the other is self-entertained. I got this.” My baby, now a year and a half, was quite jolly this morning, so I let her play for awhile and then put her in her chair and let her watch some Paw Patrol on my lap top. She was especially thrilled, as we typically only turn on shows on Saturday.  I wasn’t terribly pre-occupied or trying to multi-task…a quiet moment.

I don’t have an office, and I needed to keep an eye on my child, of course, so I was camped out in the living room. We have a cut-out design in the wall overlooking the kitchen, so I could walk around the room watching her and chatting as needed. After awhile, I started hearing noises that I was not expecting, so I carefully continued with the call while tuning my ear in my baby’s direction. I heard the mouse click…and click…and click…and quiet giggling. I started wandering over to the kitchen, all the while trying to not lose my concentration or become dis-engaged with the call.

And this is what I found…

The girl has got some upper arm strength, it seems! As well…she was not very remorseful. 🙂

This is what it’s like being a work-at-home mom or a stay-at-home mom.

And these are the moments that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Granola Bars

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to Tasty’s Facebook page, with a video and recipe for granola bars.  They looked good, and I’m glad I printed the recipe out that same day, because Tasty posts so frequently that I can’t find it anymore!  I was able to revamp it for my allergies, and was able to use a couple of my new favourite products in them as well.  Win/win.  The only concern I had was whether they would hold together well, and as you will see in the pictures, they do.

 

Granola Bars

4 tbsp. coconut oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 tbsp. creamy SuperButter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups gluten free oats

1 cup Enjoy Life crunchy rice cereal

1/2 cup (or so) Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Melt together coconut oil, brown sugar, honey, and SuperButter in a saucepan.  Cook on medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Fold in oats and cereal.  Put into a parchment line 8 x 8 pan, flattening slightly with a spatula.  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and press down to help them stick to the bars.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so before slicing.

So easy, so good!