The cookie monster was in our house recently.

These peanut butter cookies are gluten free. And there are only 3 ingredients. Oh, oh yes you can.

1 egg
1 C. Peanut Butter
1 C. Sugar

Mix well, plop by spoonfuls on baking sheet and bake in oven at 350 for 8 min, cool on wire rack.

Here’s the play by play on twitter, I only annoyed a few people with my rapid tweets … I think.

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5, 6
Step 7
Step 8

The Cooking Demo is happening today!! I’m pretty excited to see some blog friend faces and hang out. We might do some cooking while we’re at it.

Here’s the difference between me and Martha: Ms. Stewart would be hot-gluing butterflies and stars all over her handmade gift bags and then handwriting, caligraphy style, each attendee’s initials. Inside that gift bag would be more handmade goodness. Probably a small parcel filled with sweets, all handmade of course, and wrapped in cheese cloth. I’m fantasizing that she’d have her apron on, her make up done and an outfit pressed and ready to impress. She’d probably wear a fancy flat or heel.

Me?

I’ll be wearing slippers. I didn’t fire up the glue-gun but we do have gift bags and if I get around to handwriting the attendee’s names … it’ll be just that. Their name.

All with love though.

I’ve been picking my mom’s brain as I’m planning this Cooking Demo, trying to get her advice on when to start which dish … maybe I should talk about this, or that … just bouncing ideas off of her and I doubt it will come as a surprise that if my mom were planning this and throwing the Demo it would be a very different afternoon. Not in a bad way!! It’d be lovely. But it’d be to impress, to dazzle and sparkle … to inspire.

My mom is Betty Crocker and she taught Martha everything she knows. My mom is amazing.

I’m just messy.

I don’t mean to bring my mom into so many of my posts lately, but she’s FUNNY! She’s so starkly different from me and she’s my only reference point for how I got to be me. I mean, I am her clone … I will be her in 30 years physically but that’s about where the similarity stops.

A recipe for my mom is a guaranteed A, another four-point-oh mark on her transcript. A recipe for me is a suggestion. You can see how our demonstrations would be like night and day, no?

SO! Not to scare you, my lovelies, we’ll be having a recipe-following afternoon full of conversation, desserts, fun and laughter.

And we’ve got some pretty awesome sponsors to help it go that extra mile:

Kitchen Stories offered me a wonderful discount so I could send my attendee’s home with a little something-something. I just love her quote right off the bat – “I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.” - Mae West I mean, how can you not want to hang out with this wonderful lady?

I didn’t have the budget to gift an apron to each of my guests … but you have to see these. The Pretty Ditty etsy shop is to die for.

I have a couple more surprises up my sleeve, but I want to wait to announce those to my attendee’s.

Can’t wait!

As a side note – this entire Cooking Demo is sponsored by me. No one is paying me to say I love their product or to use certain ingredients in the recipes I’ll be making today and posting about later.

Not only did I have this on my list of things to do this weekend … I also had this .

Nom nom nom.

Kind of like perfection … which is totally heaven in your mouth.

My mom had printed out the directions and brought them up with her, but I’m a picture girl (surprise huh?) so I stuck with my trusty Kitchen Companion and went for it.

I like to measure my success as I go against the photos Pioneer Woman provides along the way.

Some times I completely freak out – but keep going and trust that the end result will at least resemble 10% of what I’m really supposed to be doing. In this case, we did just fine.

Rinse and repeat about 32 times. Give or take.

I had a blast.

Which is kind of what this Life List is all about, any way. Living the adventure of life as if it’s a front row seat on the roller coaster you’re strapped in to. And oh-my-ever-loving-goodness … when someone tries something I’ve made, baked, cooked – whatever the case may be – and their eyes shine with delight … there’s is nothing higher on the list for me in the form of a compliment. But it’s not even that – it’s knowing my hands are capable of love in forms I haven’t even recognized yet.

It may be called a “Life List” but it’s really just a recipe for a full life, a sweet, full life.

Here are photos of the entire process:

This past weekend we went up north to my mom and step-dad’s cottage and I had a couple things on my “to-do” list for the weekend of relaxation. (#36 is what I wanted to tackle)

1. Make these .

2. Roast them.

It was wonderful, and the marshmallows were delicious! My pancreas understood my need to indulge in trying one out … you guys – Heaven in your mouth. And they were SO EASY to make. You should all try this at least once in your life. They roasted/melted way faster than a normal marshmallow and we decided that was because they don’t have extra chemicals in them. (Maybe?) I bet they’d be good on a s’more. We just went for the naked ‘mallow.

Here’s the all the photos of the marshmallow experience:

I’ve been on quite the journey to be a more healthy person, inside and out, over the past 4 years. Lots and lots of credit goes to Jill Tanis and her understanding of food and our relationship to it.

One of the biggest take-aways I had was to eat MORE MORE MORE dark, leafy greens. So I did. I love kale and beet greens – we’ve tried endive, we eat tons of spinach, broccoli rabe (or rapini) and romaine, I’ve taken a gander with dandelion greens and I even juiced rainbow chard a few weeks ago. But eating swiss chard? No, no thank you. Have not had the bug in my pants to try this one until recently.

Here it is. You’ll need: EVOO, salt, pepper, swiss chard, and garlic.

Start by pouring some EVOO into a pan on the stove.

While your oil is heating up, chop up some garlic … and this I love to do. You get to get a little rough with the garlic. Knock it around a bit. Get a little frisky. Get angry, even.

Start with your cloves and a knife that would scare your grandmother.

Take one clove and set your large knife on top of it, like so…

Then SMASH it.

Success. You should be able to peel the skin off the garlic now and set it aside to chop after you’ve smacked around the other cloves of garlic.

When you’ve smashed and skinned all your cloves, chop them up. Be fearless.

Then toss them in the oil.

Add some salt (I forgot about the pepper)

(Missing photos)
Chop your swiss chard, I only used 5 or 6 leaves for this saute. They’re big leaves and being the first time trying it, I wanted to take it easy.

One you’ve removed the vein (stem) from the swiss chard (it’s bitter) chop up the swiss chard and toss it in with the garlic, salt and oil.

It doesn’t take long for it saute down.

Add to your dinner and try it … maybe you’ll enjoy it. Who knows!

We did not. It was a little too bitter for my liking and my very adventurous children spit it out. Can’t blame them. So I tried it again – only the next time I tried it … I added it to soup (substituted the spinach in the recipe for swiss chard and kale). Much better flavoring for me. I’ll keep taking swiss chard out on dates until I find the perfect fit. Why? Because it’s beneficial and worth the leg work to make it a part of our diets.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

I was going to write this all out on paper but then I decided photos would so much easier to explain this. I’m going away tonight! Packing my bags and heading out! Just kidding. I am, however, going out for dinner…which cripples my lovely husband into buying pizza which we niether have the funds for right now nor can my children eat such food. So, I’m making him a step by step meal plan to feed himself and the kids a healthy, fulfilling meal at home tonight.

Pull up your sleeves, lets get in there!

Aaron … read this whole thing first. I know you. You’re going to want to know where things are before you start and then get frustrated. I love you.

First things first – pop the asparagus that I have in the water bath into the steamer (it’s all ready to go), discard the water from the water bath in the sink and set the pan aside – you don’t need either any more. Plug the steamer in and turn the dial to 20 min. You’re done with the asparagus until it’s ready to plate and eat.

Now turn the front right burner on – use this pan (no photo) to melt the butter. (only use about 3 or 4 tbs)

While the butter is melting (on medium heat) cut up the onions – use as much as you’d like … don’t dice them though – you’ll end up with a stir fry when all is said and done so you’ll want some substance to the onion other than taste.

Throw them into the pan and start sauteing them. While that’s happening - Drain the meat I have set out to defrost – pat it dry if possible (use a clean towel and then throw in the wash asap) when they’re relatively dry throw them on top of the onions – brown. Stir ‘em around, have fun.

While that’s getting going you can start to fry your potatoes (if you want them…)

I’d use 3 at most – wash them and cut them up … slices probably. And thin.

Add about 3 tbs butter to this pan and turn the left front burner on medium heat.

Fry those suckers up. Might need to add butter … you make the decision. Add salt and pepper as you see fit.

Insert the spices:

Do Not Use Them All! Smell them and decide for yourself – also … it doesn’t matter how much you use, start small – you can always add when you’re tasting it.

HEY GUESS WHAT!! GOOD THING YOU’RE READING THIS FIRST BECAUSE HERE’S WHERE I TELL YOU TO PRESEASON THE BEEF BEFORE ADDING IT TO THE PAN TO BROWN. Same rules apply, don’t use them all – smell and decide. Have fun.

Continuing on with the beef: here’s where the soy sauce comes in … when the beef is browned and looking yummy throw in some soy sauce – a couple shakes. Don’t over do it, it can over take the dish.

Then quickly add the Pineapple and Green Onions (in fridge).

This last step with the Soy Sauce, Pineapple and Green Onion should only last a couple minutes – maybe 3. You don’t want the pineapple to disintegrate. Just get it in there – stirred up and warm.

Taste Test it. Hopefully it doesn’t suck. Enjoy

Or is it Raising Children As Foodies?

Since undertaking the monumental task of fixing my blood sugar issues we’ve done quite a bit of reevaluating the foods we buy and serve our children. It’s been a long journey, actually – it started about 4 years ago when I went to a Wholistic Health Counselor for the first time. But it’s been a slow going process, one that I teeter and then totter to either side of the fence.

No more.

In order for me to stay healthy I must be firmly planted on “the other” side of the fence. The weird side, the difficult side, the side that cares if my kids are eating organic cheerios or not. It matters to me, it has to. And we just plain don’t eat cereal, at all anymore.

You can imagine the conversations we have in the grocery store when our 5 year old asks us if we can buy some Captain Crunch? Maybe Fruit Loops? Or her absolute favorite “Cheesy Chips” also known as Dorito’s.

There are a lot of No’s. No we cannot, no we don’t eat those things, how about apples instead? Strawberries? Let’s look for some asparagus.

I’m not a nazi, but for a while I had to be because if it was in the house I would eat it. There is no tricking me into thinking it’s there “for someone else” – it was there for me. It was staring at me and the temptation of “things I can’t have” was greater than any kind of will-power I possessed. So, I was a nazi, we did not have it in the house at all … I HAD to get better.

This is coming to a point. I promise.

Lots of time has passed since the nazi stage of my fight with sugar and we’re happy to announce that come this spring I’ll be redoing a blood test that will confirm what we already know. I have my blood sugar issues under control, once and for all.

I still cannot eat the foods I had to eliminate on a regular basis and I probably never will but I can have some here and there and my body knows how to regulate it. Did you read that??!

I NEVER THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO GET HERE. I DOUBTED IT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!

Folks, here’s my proclamation. God is good.

So this has changed a lot of the way our family functions around a dinner table and this past week we got to bring Jessica’s birthday treat to school so I asked her what she’d like to bring to the class.

Her words: “Mom, I think the other kids would really like brownies, but I really want carrots.”

Pride. Full of it. I love that girl. I love that she knows the difference and cares about it. I love that she cares for herself.

Push came to shove and when we went to buy the treat, we ended up with Dorito’s … but carrots were still served and I love hearing how she regularly asks why the snacks at school have so much sugar? Don’t you know, it’s not very good for you.

I remember being Jessica’s age and watching my mom sit at the kitchen table cutting coupons and organizing her list for shopping. In fact I used to play “coupons” when I was allowed to play with a scissors finally.

FINALLY!

Listen to that. I was a weird kid. Couldn’t wait to get my hands on them there scissors so I could cut paper! And pretend to be shopping! For groceries!

Maybe that’s not weird. Any way – I’ve carried this over into my own household now. Last year I was really good about making a menu plan and then a grocery list to shop from which not only saved me time, but saved our family money because I was organized.

I haven’t been very organized these past 4 or 5 months and part of that is all. of. this. which threw a pretty hefty fork in the the clanks of my organization. In fact it pretty much stopped it in it’s tracks, it’s well oiled tracks.

But I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. Hence.

Last weekend I sat down and make a menu plan and stuck to it pretty well.

B S L S D S stands for Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack. I plan each and every one of them.

Then right next to it I have this:

I used to menu plan and shop for two weeks at a time but getting back into this I’m taking it slower, making sure I make the best meal decisions since we have a lot more produce in our meals. I’d rather not throw half of it away by the time I need it. So now I’m planning for one week increments.

Then I take stock of my pantry.

And try to use as much of it as I can but this week I didn’t use any. I need to get better at that. And I need to use more of the dried beans I have stocked up.

Weekends are always the hardest as far as meals go – we’re pretty busy and like to be out and about so eating on a menu plan (unless pic-nicing) during the weekends is uber difficult for us. We do plan the meals we know for sure we’re eating out – so on those evenings I’ll just write “Dinner out” where appropriate.

Tomorrow is my menu planning day but because this coming week is a busy one for us I think I’m going to play a little game we like to call “Pantry Roulette” and I was taught this game, again by my mother, my crazy, crazy woman-mom.

I think in order for her to find a happy place, where sanity was key, she would make up these competitions in her mind – where she had to race through a task and do it better than the last time. Like she was keeping track of how awesome her uber ego was – and she always won. So moral of this story is: My mom could kick Martha Stewart’s ass, with grace. Also, Matlock? My mom changed your diapers.

Pantry Roulette is going to be a whole lotta “How far can I make this bag of Dulse seaweed go, and what can I make with it to ensure my kids eat some?” or “I have a can of beans, tomato paste and some frozen fish … wheres the meal? GO!”

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get over this greeting: HI! NEW SITE! WOW! LOOK! So I’ll just get that out of my system right now.

WOO HOO! Cart wheels and back flips and LOLLIPOPS!

So we currently don’t have any chips in the house, which is actually normal, but we also don’t have any of the natural sugars I usually keep on hand (agave, honey, maple syrup) and we don’t do dairy so out goes the cheese category. My fridge is full of vegetables. That take time to prepare. And my pantry is full of stuff that requires other stuff to taste good. Ingredients.

I might be freaking out a little bit.

I want to make something in the cakeish department with all this pureed butternut squash I have but I don’t have cream cheese for the filling or the frosting. I only have about 2 cups of white flour in the house and about 5 of whole wheat. I’m running on 1 1/2 cups of refined sugar (THE DEVIL!) and all I want is a little cake. Just a little. I’ll even put SQUASH in it, ok. I will do the tricky, hiding, healthy whatever it is thing and eat squash cake. I just want cake. Bread. Oh bread.

We don’t have any of that either. Literally. Vegetables and some meat and some plums. More vegetables and then a few vegetables. And leeks. And cabbage.

I love these foods, I promise and I’m mostly inspired to cook them for my family in a meaningful and tasteful way, I try. I do. But I just want one muffin, one sweet convection and I want to stop feeling like I’m poisoning my children by letting them eat it. And I’d LOVE to stop believing that if I eat it my blood sugar will continue to suck.

How about we rewrite a few of these rules? I’ll go first.

1. SHUT UP.
2. Refer to #1, I’m busy eating frosting.

Our garden is taking off. I love the color this year, I’ve usually stuck to all things green when I’m planting but I wanted a bit more pizazz this year. I wanted blood – and by blood I mean, life. I wanted it to be bursting with life and color and shape and size. And I got it.

Jessica has been a surprising help as well. Not that I didn’t think she’d love the fruits of her own labor (she planted strawberries and flowers in her own box) but she’s very interested the garden as a whole. We weed together, pick together, replant and strategize about what’s next and what we should plant now or later. She’s a rock star.



A crazy rock star who tries the veggies right on the vine and then leaves them there to pick later – “just checking to see if they’re ready” was her reason. Ha!

And we’re all looking forward to our watermelons. I bet when it’s ready to eat we won’t be cradling it in our hands like this.
Gardening is one of those things that is “Zen” or “Spiritual” for me. For some people it’s a clean house, or a quite afternoon. For others it’s cut flowers all over their bedroom or kitchen. For the crazies – it’s hang gliding and jumping out of planes. For me, the peaceful quite of watching something grow before my eyes. To see a flower break out into a vegetable or fruit – to nurture the nature of food, gives me food on a level that eating it never will. I really really love to garden.
What transforms your day or your life that way, for you?