Busy busy week!

So, I haven't blogged in a while and figured I'd start back up! Our family has grown with leaps and bounds and so many new adventures! First we got a new dog! We rescued this little cutie about 3 months ago! 

No not the cute 13 year old! 😉 the little smiley white dog! Boy is she spoiled rotten too! We've moved to Phoenix , which has been amazing! Now, as of last week we bought a house and I am giddy with excitement in all the new DIY projects that away me! Here are a few ice already finished!

This beauty was sanded by hand, primed spray painted then sealed with a clear polyurethane. Easy breezy...just kidding!

 

This was an oak dresser that I bought 2 years ago for my daughter and finally got the nerve to redo! It turned out awesome! I also bought these cute clear jewel knobs to go on it. (I'm awaiting their arrival from Amazon! Here's a pic! Sorry to lazy to find the link:)

Anyhoo...my latest and most brave was making no sew pillows for my couch to match my new decor! Yay! Now everyone that knows me, knows I stop at step 2 when following someone else's directions so I'll have to post my steps to making these cute pillow covers soon! 

Before

After 

Well that's all for today! I'm sure you're tired of reading my novel anyway! Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!! 

Tuesday's dinner

Last night I made the most amaze strawberry-avocado salad with lemon poppyseed dressing...sigh FYI Sprouts had organic strawberries on sale for $1.98 a pint so I over indulged a little😉

Ingredients: toss all into a bowl 

Organic Mixed greens about 6 cups

10 sliced organic strawberries or the whole pint

1 diced avocado

Half of tiny diced organic red onion or qtr yellow onion

Real crumbled bleu cheese. (Get it from the deli...don't skimp. You won't regret it)

Poppyseed dressing:

1/2 cup of plain or lemon olive oil

3 tbs of organic apple cider vinegar or mixture of apple cider & balsamic( I added a little crave Urban white honey ginger 😋)

1tbs poppyseeds

3tbs honey

Squeeze of organic honey mustard

Sprinkle of Himalayan sea salt n pepper

Wisk dressing and taste...you may want to add more honey or seasoning to suit your taste.

Whole Wheat Organic Blueberry Muffins

My kiddos asked me for some blueberry muffins and I wanted to go to the wine festival sooo guess what I was doing on a Sunday morning...Making the best blueberry muffins we've ever eaten. They were so good that I had to go buy more blueberries to make another batch that evening. 

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups Organic Whole Wheat (Sprouts-Bulk)

3/4 cup of organic sugar (I used C&H brand)

2 tsp Aluminum free baking powder

1/2 tsp Himalayan Pink Sea salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil or Coconut oil

1 large farm egg or organic from the store is fine

1/3 -1/2 cup of organic milk (I used whole milk)

1 1/2 tsp 100% Pure vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla) 

a little over 1 cup of organic blueberries (I used Cascadian farms)

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Add all dry ingredients to a small bowl. Combine oil, egg in the measuring cup and fill with milk to the 1 cup line. Add Vanilla and wisk until combined.  Add milk mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir with a fork until mixed well. Then fold in the bluberries. 

The mixture will be slightly thick, if it's too thick then add about a tbs more of milk to batter. Line the cupcake pan with paper liners. Use an ice cream scoop and fill each cup with a scoop of mixture. Sprinkle sugar on top of each muffin. This should be enough for about a dozen muffins. 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes

These are probably the most moist and bluberry filled muffins you'll ever have! Enjoy! 

Body Butter Recipe

Dale's Body Butter Recipe

A few months ago I bought a chunk of 100% Pure Shea butter thinking I'd use it on my face...well that didn't happen. So yesterday I figured I'd try to make body butter since I had all  the other ingredients...With some modifications here and there, this is what I came up with. Enjoy and please message me if you have any questions.

I used all of the ingredients in the picture above in this recipe.

1/2 cup of solid Organic Pure Coconut oil (Amazon)
1 cup solid 100% organic pure shea butter (Amazon)
2 tbs Honey (Las Cruces Farmers Market)
4 oz Sweet Almond Oil (Target) *Any Essential oil will do. Sweet almond oil has a very light scent and Shea butter has a heavy scent so keep that in mind...I plan on making a batch of lavender/citrus body butter to see if that neutralizes the shea butter smell a bit more. 
Using a double broiler I put the solids in a glass measuring cup that could withstand the heat and slowly melt to a liquid. If you don't have a double use a medium size pot and a coffee cup and heat the solids on medium until it melts.
Mix both oils together add honey and stir. Put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until slight solid but soft to the touch.  

Then finally add essential oil.   

Using a hand mixer, mix until it is the consistency of whipped icing...see picture above. This may take about 10 minutes. 

Fill your containers and decorate! They make great gifts! I bought my mason jars from the commissary or you can find them at Walmart. The little pocket/purse containers were purchased at Walmart in the travel size section. 

*Notes

This body butter is fairly thick. It may seem oily at first but the oils are great for your skin and it absorbs well. Remember a little goes a long way! Also the ingredients are super healthy for your skin. I actually use Coconut oil as a moisturizer for my face, hair and before I made the body butter an all over body moisturizer. Honey has fantastic healthy qualities. Check out this link: 

http://www.honeyo.com/honeyhealing.shtml

Enjoy!!

Body Butter Recipe

Dale's Body Butter Recipe

A few months ago I bought a chunk of 100% Pure Shea butter thinking I'd use it on my face...well that didn't happen. So yesterday I figured I'd try to make body butter since I had all  the other ingredients...With some modifications here and there, this is what I came up with. Enjoy and please message me if you have any questions.

I used all of the ingredients in the picture above in this recipe.

1/2 cup of solid Organic Pure Coconut oil (Amazon)
1 cup solid 100% organic pure shea butter (Amazon)
2 tbs Honey (Las Cruces Farmers Market)
4 oz Sweet Almond Oil (Target) *Any Essential oil will do. Sweet almond oil has a very light scent and Shea butter has a heavy scent so keep that in mind...I plan on making a batch of lavender/citrus body butter to see if that neutralizes the shea butter smell a bit more. 
Using a double broiler I put the solids in a glass measuring cup that could withstand the heat and slowly melt to a liquid. If you don't have a double use a medium size pot and a coffee cup and heat the solids on medium until it melts.
Mix both oils together add honey and stir. Put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until slight solid but soft to the touch.  

Then finally add essential oil.   

Using a hand mixer, mix until it is the consistency of whipped icing...see picture above. This may take about 10 minutes. 

Fill your containers and decorate! They make great gifts! I bought my jars from the commissary or you can find them at Walmart. The little pocket/purse containers were purchased at Walmart in the travel size section. 

*Notes

This body butter is fairly thick. It may seem oily at first but the oils are great for your skin and it absorbs well. Remember a little goes a long way! Also the ingredients are super healthy for your skin. I actually use Coconut oil as a moisturizer for my face, hair and before I made the body butter an all over body moisturizer. Honey has fantastic healthy qualities. Check out this link: 

http://www.honeyo.com/honeyhealing.shtml

Enjoy!!

Homemade whip cream or Cool Whip? I choose homemade whip cream!

My children have been asking for cool whip for quite some time... Of course my first thought is but I'm trying to keep processed foods out of my house.

Well I made the decision that Cool Whip which not only does not change shape for an entire 12 DAYS (check it out-http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/horrifying-12-day-cool-whip-experiment/), but is also made of mostly hydrogenated vegatable oil, natural and artificial flavors, polysorbate 60 and other hard to pronounce names.

I figured I'd much rather my kids have an occasional treat of heavy cream, vanilla and yes (processed powdered sugar) than all that yuckiness in Cool Whip listed above. In saying that here is the simple recipe that I promised my instagram and facebook followers. Enjoy!

Half pint of Heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar (it's up to you how sweet you want it)

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whip with a hand mixer or use a electric Mixer (I used the Kitchenaid Mixer):
http://www.target.com/p/kitchenaid-classic-plus-stand-mixer-empire-red-4-5-quart/-/A-14264291?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=%7C14264291&CPNG=Appliances&kpid=14264291&LID=PA&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=14264291

Easy Homemade Applesauce

This was literally the easiest recipe yet!! We had some organic Fuji apples that were getting a little soft so my daughter suggested we make applesauce. I mean she said it like I hadn't been on my feet for 2 hours cooking dinner. So, I took to the internet to find a recipe I could modify to fit my needs which was for it to be super easy and simple! So this is what I did...

4 organic Fuji apples or any sweet apples such as Red Delicious or Gala
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup organic sugar
1 teaspoon organic cinnamon

Peel, core and slice your apples. Add the rest of the ingredients to a saucepan and stir. Heat on medium for about 20-25 min or until soft. Let the apples cool then you mash with a potato masher or fork. I used a mix n masher, which is the best ever at mashing anything. Unfortunately I cannot find a link for you to buy one. The brand is OXO. 
It looks like this. 





When your done eat it right away or store in the fridge for later. Lets just say my kiddos will be eating applesauce for lunch tomorrow.