How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds The other night, a friend casually asked me where I had bought pumpkins this year. Um... pumpkins? I don't have any pumpkins. I saw some outside the grocery store last week and seriously considered piling my four children on them and taking pictures, like some weird pumpkin patch outing gone wrong. The thought of being blocked from Instagram was the only thing that kept my grocery cart on the straight and narrow. What is wrong with me?! I love everything about fall. But other than eating a piece of pumpkin pie, I barely even understand it's already October. Is it having toddlers? Coronavirus? Do I just need to buy a new Keep Reading
Pumpkin spice scones (Starbucks Copycat)
Pumpkin Spice Scones (Starbucks Copycat) Back in the old days, when my husband and I were DINKS (Dual Income No Kids, if you didn't know the lingo), Starbucks was part of my regular work routine. Tall latte, pumpkin scone. I'd fork over four bucks + change and happily be on my way. The old days had some serious perks. These days, my work uniform involves yoga pants (workout optional) and hooded sweatshirts (kid stains probable). Any coffee shop that doesn't have a drive-thru option is dead to me. Now I can make a good cup of coffee without setting foot outside my house. But man, it was hard to quit those pumpkin scones (which is unfortunate, as Keep Reading
Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bar recipe
Homemade Granola Bars "My kids will never throw tantrums in public." "My daughter will always wear matching outfits." "My child will never eat processed junk food or suck down juice." You know all those lofty claims we make before having kids? Like a good friend of ours says, "I was the perfect parent until I had kids." Too true. I am the mom who rips into the box of fruit snacks in the middle of Target, who lets my daughter mix polka dots with plaids, who allows my son to pee under the car in parking lot emergencies. I'm so sorry. And don't even get me started on those boxes of granola bars that are so easy to grab. Nutritious? No. Fast? Keep Reading
Homemade Whoopie Pies
Classic Chocolate Whoopie Pies A few years ago, the front page of an Oregonian Food Day section caught my eye. Whoopie Pies. Hmmm. Apparently, they are the new cupcake (Remember when those were all the rage?). The article started out, London is in love with them. So is New York. San Francisco and Los Angeles are developing a serious crush, and Portland is next in line. For a snack that first gained its following in gas station convenience stores, whoopie pies have certainly come up in the world. It's not really a surprise. Though these portable snack cakes fall into the same category as Twinkies and Ho Hos, they aren't the same frightening wonders of Keep Reading
How to make trail mix with roasted almonds
Homemade Trail Mix with Roasted Almonds With young children in tow, having a ready supply of snacks is a must. Oh, who am I kidding. As I mentioned in this Healthy Snack post, my husband and I also suffer from LBSCBDO (Low Blood Sugar Cranky Butt Disorder, if you're wondering). I am a firm believer that an outing is only as successful as the number of snacks you pack. Bring on the sunshine. Bring on snacks. Our current snack of choice is nuts or dried fruit. Throw them together, and you have trail mix. Add chocolate, and you have something worth talking about. I love buying my dried fruit at Trader Joe's because they carry several options Keep Reading
How to make Maple Cluster Granola
Maple Cluster Granola Other than a few stubborn boxes of Cheerios, store bought cereal has finally been cleared from my pantry shelves. It was a long, hard battle over the course of, oh... a year. I'm not one to rush into these things. What can I say? I have a serious weakness for Peanut Butter Panda Puffs. My goal is to swap out processed food for the real deal whenever I can do it and my family will eat it. Cereal was the next item on the hit list. My kids could live off pancakes, but I wanted to find a quick breakfast option to replace the now-absent bowl of Cheerios. No matter how hard I have tried, I cannot seem to maintain any sort of Keep Reading
N’oatmeal Cookies (a gluten-free, dairy-free recipe)
N'Oatmeal Cookies - Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are not my idea of a good time, but these cookies are different. You'll just have to trust me on this one. Don't let their healthy appearance fool you. They are crazy addictive, and somehow you feel almost virtuous eating them. Sweetened with maple syrup and loaded with good stuff, N'oatmeal Cookies are the Paleo answer to the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie dilemma. They are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, with sweet & salty pops of flavor. Instead of oats, the recipe calls for a combination of almond and flax meal. Packed with coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, Keep Reading