{healthy} Rice Krispy Treats

Yes, you heard me, HEALTHY (and vegan!)! No marshmallow, no butter. Just delicious, simple ingredients.

Baking just got a whole lot more interesting to me :) I keep finding ways to make my favorite treats healthier and better!

Recipe

8 Cups brown rice cereal (I used chocolate brown rice cereal)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
2/3 cup natural peanut butter (or whatever nut butter you want)
1/2 cup agave nectar or honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Lightly oil 13x9 pan with coconut oil.

Combine cereal and flax in large bowl, set aside. In medium sauce pan, heat remaining ingredients, stirring constantly, until liquefied (about 5 minutes). Poor over cereal/flax mix and combine until well coated. Dump into oiled pan and smooth out evenly.

Refrigerate for one hour before cutting into squares.

Makes 30.

San Diego, 2014

We just got back from our annual trip to San Diego, staying (practically on) Ocean Beach this round. Our hotel was comfortable and conveniently located! Everything was just 5-10 minutes away, 10 minutes being the very most (if even).

Ocean beach is beautiful, quiet, and they offer a dog beach, so we took Max! We didn't really do much, but we like being able to just wake up and go, relax, and not stress over time. Which is exactly what we did and we already miss it. We couldn't have asked for better weather!
 

                 

On our way!

Nervous pup

Arrived early in the afternoon, so we stopped for a quick trip to the beach!

   

 

   

 

At my Uncles' pub! They have done a wonderful, beautiful job!

Balboa Park! 

  

Balboa Park Playground

Getting ready to walk through Balboa, walking stick in hand

 

Squirrel!

 

 

 

Balboa Fountain

She fell in after this was taken.

Beach day! So much fun to have the two run around, though Max was already so tired! 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Bunny came!

Easter morning on the pier at Ocean Beach!

 

Watching the surfers before we left

{super scrumptious} Chocolate Chip Coconut Zucchini Muffins

That's a mouthful, isn't it? It may sound like a lot, but they're so simple and the flavor is delicious! I had to look through a few different recipes to make one I thought sounded good, and I did awesome. Yes, I'm patting myself firmly on the back!

They're so good, in fact, my lovely daughter sneaked into the kitchen while they were cooling and nibbled the chocolate chips off about half of them! When I asked her what happened, she grinned ear to ear and said "are you mad, mom?" Hahah, no! Silly stinker, who could be mad at such a cute, chocolate covered grin? Then, she ate 2 whole muffins herself! I'd like to say these get 2 thumbs WAY up!

Recipe

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled

1 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup shredded coconut

2 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350, line cupcake tin with paper liners (Will make 24, though I made 1 loaf and 12 muffins)

Sift together flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, b. soda, b. powder, and salt in medium bowl and set aside. In large bowl, or bowl of stand mixer, beat the oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at at time, followed by vanilla.  Slowly add in your zucchini, coconut, and chocolate chips. Mix well and then slowly combine sifted ingredients in 3 parts.

Pour into prepared liners and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until your toothpick comes out slightly crumby and moist :)

Enjoy!

***Healthy tip***

Cut the oil and the sugar in half, and add in 1 cup of natural and unsweetened applesauce. That will reduce the calories and sugar by a LOT.

Summer!

Yes, I know it's still spring, but it's also 100 degrees, so to me it's summer! This means it's POOL TIME!

I'm an Arizona native, I've had 28 years to get used to the heat. I'm not used it, you'll never get used to triple digits 9 months out of the year, but why would I complain about it? It's my home and I'm never leaving! We have a pool available to us all year (thanks apartment living), so we utilize it as much as possible!

Kenzie is almost 5, and because we love swimming, I decided to take her without wearing floaties. Kenzie swims like a fish with them on, she goes all over the place. I thought she'd do wonderfully without them. It's time she swims with the sharks! However, I cannot be the one to teach her. She is so stubborn (hmm, wonder where she gets that from), she doesn't listen to mommy.

We had our first round of "floatie free" swimming and she did OK. She just wants to jump in and GO, no patience (again, not sure where she gets that from). We bought her one of those kick boards, and we have noodles, but it was only day one. She has a lot of work to do, but she knows how to hold her breath, kick her feet, and move her arms. Now it's just a matter of coordinating them together and smoothing the rough edges.

We may just cave and get her into a swim school! There are a few good ones in the area that come highly recommended :) Hopefully by June she'll be pool ready!


P.s. You know the new movie, Frozen? How can you not? Anyway! Kenzie loves that movie, and loves Queen Elsa (white hair) and Princess Anna (red hair), so of course I had my talented friend crochet some hats! I'm Queen Elsa, and Kenzie is, of course, Princess Anna!

{homemade and amazing} Breakfast Bars - 2 Flavors!

Granola bars are delicious, we know that, but do you know what is actually IN the granola bars you buy? Can you pronounce the words listed? I can't, and that scares me.

So, naturally, I started looking for different types of homemade granola bar recipes, and found one I love! I'm still on the hunt, though, for different flavors.

This is the original recipe, but I pulled a "Hillary" and changed it to be my own (and also because I didn't actually have all the recipe called for). Crunchy peanut butter and dark chocolate granola bars? I ate most of them myself!

The Recipe

1 cup raw almonds

1 1/2 cup oats with flax 

1 cup mini dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup honey

1 cup natural, chunky peanut butter (the runny kind!)

Line a 8x8 pan with parchment paper, or wax paper.

In a food processor, pulverize almonds for about 10 seconds into small chunks. In large bowl, combine oats, almonds, and chocolate chips. Melt the peanut butter and honey in microwave for about 20 seconds, then pour into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Pour mixture into pan and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting. Makes 16 squares.

The other breakfast bar I made are equally delicious, and they're the easiest to make!  They're date squares, and I LOVE them! I was a bit surprised, because I've never been a huge date fan, but these are fantastic. Not too sweet, and just enough salt. Incredible, you must try them!

The Recipe is found here, I didn't change a single thing! That's right, they're perfect as is! 

If you want to use melted butter, in replace of the coconut oil, that would work, but coconut oil is so amazing. It tastes awesome, and it's great for you!

P.s. I know my pictures are pretty boring, I never claimed to be a photographer ;) Just believe me when I say these are perfect! 

Until my next baking adventure, thanks for reading!