Pomeamole!!  That’s what I want to call it, so that’s what it is. Guacamole with the addition of tiny little pearls of sweet and tangy juice.. I mean, come one, it can’t get much better. This is what happens when avocados are on super sale, I buy a lot…and then eat a lot….and then eat some more.  I start to get a little crafty and, wa la.. add pomegranate seeds. I also inflict anyone eating around me with avocado, even if they believe that they don’t like it because that’s not possible. I know this because there was a time where I believed that I didn’t like avocados… and that’s just crazy. I remember the very moment I realized I was wrong. It was the first food Nick ever made for me. I was working at a pottery studio and wasn’t able to leave because of a raku firing  and I was starving. My love saved me with a sandwich, and it was the best I had ever eaten.  A sandwich that contained hummus, greens, sun-dried tomatoes, and yup, big slices of avocado. That sandwich change my life. I knew from that moment on….  I loved avocados……oh and that I loved Nick too. I know, we are so cute that you want to barf. Well go ahead, just do it before you eat the pomeamole.

It’s all pretty simple…One very tasty ripe avocado, about 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds,  a little chopped onion, a bit of chopped tomato,  a lemon, a few cloves of garlic and a pinch of salt.  It’s what dreams are made of.

Mash it all together minus the pomegranate seeds… As smooth or as chunky as you like it….

Fold in 1/2 the seeds

And top with the rest! And another squeeze of lemon… just like that. You can eat this magic with anything you want;  chippers, rice cakes, tacos, toast, or even top a kale salad with a big scoop. …..we at it with carrots and broccoli. SO GOOD!

Pomeamole! (Pomegranate Guacamole)

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 a small red or sweet onion
• 1/2 a small tomato
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• salt
•  a lemon or lime

Pit and scoop avocado into a medium bowl and smash until desired consistency. Finely chop onion, garlic and tomato and mix together with avocado and half the juice of the lemon. Fold in most the pomegranate seed. Top with the rest and the squeeze the other half of lemon on top.

Serve with food, or just eat with a spoon.

Hooray for on-sale avocados!! 

-C

.I am awesome. It’s ok for me to say that today because this is probably the coolest and most fantastic thing I have ever made in my entire life. Phew, I had to get that off my chest.For the last week I have been thinking a lot about what holiday treats I want to make. I have been planning on making a full fledge yule log with the rolled sponge cake, the filling and the candy mushrooms and taking a whole day to do it. Well that is just not happening this season.. The next week is nutters and I have so much other baking to do that I just don’t have time to do a log…bummer

Oh, but how my mind never stops.. See, it’s not the cake that I wanted to make, it was more making a cake look like a piece of wood that was appealing to me.  So I must try, or better yet, create my own version of a yule log……………

Problem solved. Peanut butter, fluff, nutella and a wrap.  And oh what a piece of wood I made.(insert dirty joke here) A yule log,(or yule branch), but whatever. Its food that looks like a piece of wood. I am happy. 

Simple ingredients…I pictured 2 flour wraps because I was going to make 2, but ended up only making one, so one wrap per log works…… A glob of fluff, a glob of peanut butter… A smaller glob of nutella and a sprinkle of a crunchy cereal (I used crispy rice cereal) The cereal is not essential, but it add a little bulk and crunch to the log and when eating wood, there should be a little snap crackle and pop.  If you want to make this into a vegan log, use vegan marshmallow cream. You can even omit the mallow and use a banana, or jam, or anything you want. Heck, you can make a smorgasbord of logs…That would be fantastic. A bundle of logs of all different flavors….I am doing it!!

 Trim off two opposite  side of the wrap and put them aside, you are going to use one of the trimmings in a second. Smear the peanut butter, fluff, and a bit of the nutella all over, even to the very edge of the wrap.

        Sprinkle the crunches on top  and then starting rolling from one of the non trimmed edges,  Try to get it as tight as you can. 

  Take one of the scraps and smear some more peanut butter and nutella all over it(leave our the crunches) and roll. You will end up with a branch nub. Attach the nub. I smeared more fluff to the bottom and it stuck on pretty well, but (not shown here) I took a little piece of a spaghetti and stuck it in the nub to keep it in place. If you don’t use the fluff in your log, I would use the spaghetti(It is edible and will soften from the peanut butter so you don’t have to worry about taking the noodle out)

Looks good right…You can go ahead and stop here if you want to…Its pretty great, but one more minute and…

A bona-fid Yule log…well its kind of more like a branch, but whatever.

 I used the other end of the spaghetti noodle dipped in the nutella to make the lines. I just free formed it and it really transformed the log into a LOG!!! Just to jazz it up  I added a handful of crunchy rice with the extra glob of pb and fluff, mixed it up and made little piles of  yule log landscape.   Added a few dried  cranberries and pistachios for color…. It like taking walk through the woods. After the mister ate the crispy mounds, I sprinkled some flaked coconut around it and that looked pretty fantastic too.

Needless to say that if you make this, your day will be excellent.Make it for a friend, you will bring them joy. Its hard not to smile when looking at food that looks like wood. Happy.

These little logs would make fantastic party snacks. Fast and tasty … can’t get better than that.  Think about walking into an office party, or better yet, a school party….All the other parents will think you are awesome and then probably start to hate you..Hey, it’s not your fault that you are cool enough to read my blog.(it’s ok, you can share the website) SO make them for friends, for family, for anyone.. Just don’t try to start a fire with the logs….It might not turn out so well.

Have fun splitting wood!!!

-C

One wrap makes one log

• 1 big glob of Peanut Butter
• 1 big glob of marshmallow cream (vegan or what not)
• 1 small glob of nutella (again, vegan if needed)
• 1 medium flour wrap
• 1 handful of crunchy rice cereal
• a spaghetti noodle

Note..Use these flavors or make up you own……PB and Jam…PB and Banana.. PB and Apples ….Cream cheese and Jam.. the possibilities are endless.

With a sharp knife, trip two opposite sides of a wrap and set trimming aside for later. Spread the peanut butter, fluff, and nutella(or whatever ingredients you want) all over wrap, up to the  very edges. Sprinkle crispy rice all over.

Starting from one end, roll wrap leaving the seam on the bottom. With one of the wrap trimmings, spread more peanut butter fluff and nutella all over and wrap as well. Place a dollop of fluff on the bottom of the small nub and place on the roll where ever you see fit. For a better hold, snap small piece of spaghetti noodle and stick through nub into log.

For the tree markings, dip a toothpick or spaghetti noodle into nutella and lightly draw little lines on the log…..And you are done. If you want to jazz it up, sprinkle rice cereal or coconut or whatever you want to make the log look more nature like, do it. .

And now its time to eat your log…..

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!!

What the …….! . Is it really Christmas this week? I don’t know where the time went. and I am feeling a bit of the holiday pressure. Every year I tell myself that I won’t give in…I have nothing to stress about. Guess what, I am just at tiny bit stressed..But thats cool. I might feel the pressure, I might feel a little agitated or like someone close to me is going to end up getting punched( sorry if its you). but I aways try to stop and take in the little stuff, take in the happy.. This is why I started my bits of happy post every week. It’s a way to wrap up the week and a way to remember how awesome my life is and the little things that make me happy. Wow.. maybe my next career move will be a motivational speaker. That or a window washer…. You get to look through windows without seeming like a creeper. And you know when you breathe on a window and use your finger to draw something, then it goes away but you can see it when later when there is more condensation?  I would draw pictures and leave weird words on people’s windows……that would be amazing…..Anyways…….

Sylus…the house dinosaur. He has been chillin under the christmas tree as of late.  I think he is drinking the water cause it always seems empty..

Catching the ice crystals before the sun melts them away.

Early morning hike with my favorite people in the world…. and the trash dog. Yes, he has found some stink on the trail and is rolling around in it. Thats’ my pup.

I finally finished this sweater! It came out so good! I made it to big so it actually is a sweater dress for now(which is amazing) and she will grow into it to wear as a sweater. I am pretty proud of myself for this one!

A pizza, cookie, and christmas movie party!!!!! We watched the Polar Express and trashed my tiny house. Good times!

A surprise purple potato.

This Yule log.…I sent a pic to my Dad and he asked if it was a real piece of wood. That’s  a success right? Or does it mean that my Dad needs to get his eyes checked? ‘

We got to keep this one for a couple days this week. Do I need to explain why this make me happy?

I mean…. for real…..she is too much. Sometime I think I don’t want to have my own kids cause I am afraid I might not love them as much as this little.

I like to eat large quantities of green stuff……This stainer is full of lovely greens from my farm share. All for me! With shredded carrots, shredded roasted beets and a big scoop of lentils……Meal of my heart.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEK!

P.S.. remember not to stress too much and try to find the happy and pretty in everyday. And don’t just eat a bunch of crap…eat some freaking veggies too! (See, I am motivational)

Those are some for real chocolate chip cookies…….for real.

This is probably one of the first recipes that I ever really knew by heart. Some recipes I can bring up in my head, but if I haven’t used it in a while, I usually have to check to make sure I got it right… Not these… Chocolate chip cookie are forever imprinted in my brain.

Chocolate chip may seem like a simple cookie, but trust me, its more complex then one may think. There are so many little factors that really affect the over all cookie: The baking temperature, the exact perfect time to pull the cookies out of the oven. Weather the butter is hand mixed or beaten, softened or melted. The color of the baking sheet and how long you leave the cookie on the sheet before placing on the coloring rack…….This cookie is as much about method as it is about ingredients. ….But don’t let that scare you..you got this. Just don’t think that these are a mindless act of baking. You have to be committed, keeping on the oven the whole time these cookies are baking………….. It’s so worth it.

Full disclosure here…I have been making these cookies the same way for so long so I am not exactly sure, but this might actually be the same recipe as toll house. I haven’t looked….Either way…I have tried out other chocolate chip recipes and this one has always come out on top.

 As usual, I forgot an ingredient in the line up…the  chocolate chips, oh and the pinch of salt.. But rest assure, even though not pictured, there are indeed chocolate chips in these cookies!

Pre heat the oven to 375.

Room temperature butter creamed with both the white and brown sugar. Before  you add the butter to the sugar, smash any of the big chunks of brown sugar. The key to my recipe is not melting butter or using an electric beater, it’s all hand mixin, no electric mixing(you could use a kitchen aid, but I don’t have one so I think you should use a wooden spoon too), plus it’s a good arm work out. Mix mix mix. I find smearing on the side of the bowl helps too. Mix/smear until both sugar and butter is a unified color and consistency, Once that happens, add the two room temperature eggs, the vanilla and mix a little more,

                                          When everything is mixed, add the dry ingredients and mix that until fully incorpaerterd….

Take a minute here and sniff……I love the smell of cookie dough, it’s a happy smell.Now for the chocolate chips. I use only 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips… You want just enough in each cookie, but don’t want to overwhelm it with too much chocolate. The cookie is as much of the star as the chocolate.  See how may cookie sheet is nice and silver and clean? For a long time I used a very dirty and dark baking sheet. I would make cookies and they always seem to come out slightly burnt. Got myself a new baking sheet and……perfect cookies. If your baking sheet is dark, I would recommend using parchment paper.

Your ready to scoop and bake….my suggestion. Make 2-4 cookies for your first batch, or what I call the tester batch. I swear, there is some law of the universe that says the first batch always is overcooked. I have excepted that and  learned to only make a couple for the first batch Scoop mounds of your preferable size(I do a spoonful) and place on sheet with each mound having good amount of spreading space. Place in preheated oven..

Now here is the really important part!!!!Baking time is essential to how your cookie turns out.  If you want a more soft and chewy cookie, bake for about 7-9 minutes or until the cookies are just barely turning  brown…just barely. They might seem a little undercooked, but the cookies will cook a bit more once pulled from the oven  Trust…I know what I am talking about. .Let them cool for about a minute on sheet  before transferring them to rack. If you like more crunchy milk dipping cookie..bake for 9-11 minutes or until they are golden brown.

 Lovely right…

Now you have gone and done it…Made fantastic cookies!!! Maybe you are going to share? No pressure, but it is the holiday season. For real, you can’t go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie, every loves it. and then will in turn love you too.

Get people to like you with Cookies!!!! hahahaha… but you know its true!

 Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 white sugar
• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda

In a large bowl with a wooden spoon, cream together the brown and white sugar with the  room temperature butter. Add eggs and vanilla and stir. Now add the dry ingredients and….. then the chocolate chips.

On a light-colored baking sheet to a parchment line sheet, use a spoon and drop a constant size mound of dough, leaving room for expansion. Place in oven for 7-9 minus until cookie is barely turning brown. Remove and let sit on sheet for another minute before transferring to cooling rack. Keep doing this until all of you dough is gone…

COOKIES!!!!

What we got here is an easy one pan meal for the beginning of a hectic(but fun) holiday week . But I am sure that you  have your wits about you, that you are not feeling like a stretch Armstrong doll. No, you are all calm and collected… Well that’s nice because I feel like my head going to explode. So what I need this week is easy,  fast food  with lots of healthy good stuff and maybe to get rid of the meatballs that are in the freezer….. Mission accomplished with this dish. It’s basically a hug pan of veggies with a few left over meatballs from Nicks bday dinner and a little cottage cheese.  Nothing fancy… hearty and warm..Nick likes it so it’s a winner. 

The spaghetti squash is the main component in this dish so if you want to use other veggies, go for it. You can make this vegan and leave out the cheese and use fake balls or no balls at all (hehe)  You can even toss in some beans, lentils, or tofu. I make variations of this dish often… and lentils are a really good addition..

Besides the squash and the meatballs, I used mushroom, onion, kale, tomato and garlic  plus about a half cup of cottage cheese, cause that was what I had in the fridge. 

First thing first, cook the squash.  Just stick it in the oven for half hour at 425.. Once you can stick a fork into it, pull it out and let it cool enough to handle.. While thats cooling off, cook down the veggies. Started with a little oil in a cast iron skillet on medium heat, toss the onion and mushrooms ands frozen meatballs*(or whatever you want to use) and heat  until meatballs are cook through and the onion and mushroom are browned. Now add the garlic, kale and tomato, Turn heat off.  When the squash is cooled enough to handle,. slice open, scoop out the seeds and scoop the flash out. Spaghetti squash and cottage cheese into the skillet and toss.. Sprinkled a bit of mozzarella or parmesan cheese on top.  Lots of crushed black pepper and into the oven for about 15 minutes. or until the cheese is nice and melty and you are hungry and want to eat. 

*Note. If you want to make meatballs fresh, my recommendation would be to make them in the skillet first and then just toss all the veggies into that pan to cook down… No need to make more dishes. 

Pulled straight from the oven….Served nice and hot, placed right onto my wooded counter. I need to stop placing hot pans on the wood, I am leaving burn marks. There is actually a lot of thing that I need to stop doing in the kitchen, like setting towels on fire, burning myself at least once a day, slicing my fingers,.breaking dishes…….So maybe place skillet on a trivet of  some kind and serve it up!

So easy and fast.. Served with a piece of crusty bread… Man, I wish everything this week could be this fast sans easy….. but I am not complaining. 

Have a good Monday!

Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs

• 1 small Spaghetti Squash
• 5-7 pre cooked meatballs
• Small red onion
• 2 -3 big mushrooms
• 1 small tomato
• a few kale leaves
• 3-5 cloves garlic(or as many as you like)
• half a cup of cottage cheese
• a handful of shredded parmesan or mozzarella
• salt and pepper
• oil (for pan)

Preheat oven to 425

Place spaghetti squash in oven. Let bake for about a half hour or until fork tender. Remove and let cool enough to handle.

While that’s happening, chop the veggies into any size you want.. Drizzle olive oil in medium skillet and place diced sliced mushrooms, onion, and pre made meatball to brown. Once meatballs are warmed through, add the kale, garlic, tomato, and cottage cheese. Take the cooked spaghetti squash and remove seeds and scoop flesh into the skillet. Toss everything together, sprinkle with salt pepper, top with shredded cheese and place in oven for 15 minutes

Take it out of the oven and let cool. for a minutes and……

EAT!

This year for Christmas my family decided to do a mid day brunch lunch thing. Everyone has their own little families that they do the morning with and then everyone goes their own ways that nigh(Nick and I do our own Christmas celebrating at night)…That leaves a chunk of mid day to hang, talk, play, exchange stockings and then usually someone gets a little pissed and yup, time to go. Its totally cool, we see each other too much anyway. So food wise, it was pretty basic. Eggs, hash browns, a ham, fruit and bagels… The hash browns were store bought, Me and nick did the eggs frittata style and the ham was just stuck in the oven….Not much to do. But then one of my lovely sisters requested gravy…..and so it was made. And a basic brunch was turned into a gravy laden food feast. And so you know, I am not a huge gravy fan, or I never really have the opportunity to eat gravy, its just not in my food rotation..until now. I was really impressed with myself on this one.

We have white mushrooms, kale, red onion, garlic, soy, nutritional yeast(if you don’t have, no worries, you can get away with not using it), sage and thyme and corn starch…

Dice up onion, mushroom and garlic… Into a pan on medium heat with a bit of olive oil…just to soften up

Toss in the spices, nutritional yeast and the soy sauce and let meld together for a minute or 3

Add 2 1/4  water and whisk in a tablespoon of  corn starch….and let it simmer

 Once the gravy gets to that super nice consistency…add in finely chopped kale and let gravy simmer for another 5 minutes or so

Transfer to a nice bowl or gravy boat, stick a ladle or big spoon and get to graying up all your food!!!!!

Everyone was to busy eating for me to get a good picture of the gravy on food, but trust….it was all over everything!

-C

Makes about 2 1/2 cups 

• 7-8 white or cremini  mushrooms
• 1/2 small red onion
• 2 kale leaves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy or tamari
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon nurtitional yeast
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2 1/4 cups water
• tablespoon corn starch

Dice onion into small bits, slice mushrooms nice and thin and dice garlic into wee little pieces.. Toss into a skillet with a bit of olive oil on medium heat and let mixture soften and smell nice and fragrant. Toss in the dried herbs, nutritional yeast and soy sauce and let cook for another few minutes until the mixture sucks up all the soy sauce and the veggies start to brown.

Add in the water and whisk in the corn starch. Turn heat to low and let simmer until gravy starts to thicken. Finely chop the kale and toss into gravy when its about done.. Simmer for another 5 or so minutes or until you can’t wait any longer….Serve straight from the pan or transfer to a gravy holding device,. Pour gravy on everything!

YUM YUM YUM ENJOY!!!!

FA LA LA LA LA….. LA LA LA LA….Happy eve of Christmas! What better way to celebrate the holidays than with the sweet and spicy flavor of ginger…in donut form! There is nothing better.

This donut is ideal for Christmas morning(or any other morning)..Warm and sweet, bright and tangy….The perfect balance to make everyone happy! It’s really fast and easy, so you can make a batch while the coffee is brewing, or you can even make them tonight and maybe leave a donut out for santa. Have guests over for the holidays…Dazzle them with a homemade donut. Hanging out at home by yourself…make some donuts…..traveling….well you are kind of screwed at the moment… but think about making donuts when you get where  your going. 

It all started a few Christmases back when the mister gifted me with a wonderful addition to my kitchen bakeware….a donut pan…. and it was a game changer. If you do not have a donut pan I suggest that you immediately go buy one.. No joke, it’s so worth it. The pan elevates a simple cake recipe to something more… A round of frosted soft cakeness. Circles with holes…..happiness. Hopefully you already have a donut pan, but if not, I trust you will soon.(you can still make this recipe without the pan, just bake it in a 9×9 pan. Yes, it will still taste amazing, but it’s that much better as a donut!)

 I am really excited to finally share a donut recipe with you all. I haven’t made a batch yet that hasn’t won a round of applause or at least a super double thumbs up. If you haven’t made donuts yet, bookmark this recipe and make it  priority for your next baking adventure

.What I started with….flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt whisked together. A little bowl of fresh ginger, powdered ginger and cinnamon.  Molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg, melted butter and milk. Not a bad line up

The spiced mixed in to the dry….I used fresh and powered ginger but if you don’t have any fresh.. just add more powdered…but fresh adds that extra bit of gingery spiciness.

                                                   The wet ingredients all mix together. Molasses first, then the butter, vanilla, and the brown sugar, mix that then add the egg and the milk last.(avoid adding egg and melted butter together so it doesnt scramble)  Mix wet mixture with the dry until fully incorporated and smooth. 

A beautiful donut batter….Scoop small spoonfuls of batter into very well greased donut pan …smooth tops with a spoon or spatial….I may have added just a little too much batter the first round, , which is totally cool, it’s just the donuts came our with a bit of a spare tire around the bottom…a little more to eat I say.Out of the oven and turned onto a cooling rack…This beauties smell so very nice.

      While the donuts are cooling, prepare the icing. Mix  1/4 cup of cream cheese with 1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar. Half of a lemons worth of juice with a teaspoon of lemon zest and mix…  add a splash or two of milk to get the desired consistency(this is a cream cheese glaze, it won’t harden like a sugar glaze)When the donuts are full cooled, dip into glaze….

Flip and let drip……and admire. I had to beat a few hands away while taking these pictures..I am telling you, people will do crazy things for a donut…..CRAZY THINGS…Just look at these. And for real, they really don’t take much time. You could totally whip these up in less than 30 minutes.. just make sure to have someone else do all the dishes!!!

Ingredients……Makes about 8

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon  powdered ginger
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoon melted butter

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• half a lemon worth of lemon juice
• a splash or two of milk

Instructions Preheat oven 350

Grease  donut pan In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, powdered and fresh ginger. In a small bow mix molasses, vanilla, brown sugar and melted butter. Stir and add milk and egg last.

Mix the wet with dry ingredients and until just combined. Scoop small amounts of batter to each donut mold… fill to about 2/3 full. and level out with a spoon if spatula. Stick in oven and bake for  10 minutes or until edges just start to turn golden brown and a cake test comes out clean.

While donuts are cooling, stir together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Add small splashes of milk until you reach the desired consistency(not to runny, think dish soap) Dip baked side of donuts into glaze, flip and return to wire rack.

And then you open your mouth…..EAT DONUT……..EAT!!!

The past week has been pack full of everything.. Birthdays (3 nephews within the week), Christmas, family family family…..Its a lot, but its been great. Not going to lie, I am ready for a little quite time, maybe a nice long day of locked doors and dead phones….we will see. But anyway, here are a few little bits of happy that I managed to snap photos of(I have been slack on picture taking this week)This is an amazing book, full of pictures and information about 123 different varieties of apples….I am so excited to read it! My love got it for me for Christmas….So nice, so sweet. Its been a weird weather week..warm and gray.. This touch of blue really stood out.I found my favorite rag wool socks (Hooray!!!!).. and wore them all week.(don’t judge)

Ice Skating!!! One of my nephews was born on Christmas so we always do a skating  party at the ice rink on Christmas eve……….another of  my favorite family traditions…Always a super blast. Here my sister and nick were giving this little her first ever skating lessons. All I can say is good thing she was wearing a helmet.

 Another gift from the mister…a weck juice jar……If you know me or are getting to know me, you will know that I am jar obsessed and weck jars are some of my favorite. I eat, drink, store everything in jars. This beauty is destined for tea and or coffee.

I am not saying this because he is my lover, but Nick is an amazing artist. He has really gotten into using spray paint and has been doing some really awesome large scale images(nothing illegal…….yet!!) He did this whale a few days ago.. I am always blown away at he talent.

Popcorn drizzled in melted peanut butter….. WHOA!!!!! I also like to add garlic salt and chunks of fresh apple. It is the best most fantastic movie snack ever………Maybe I’ll share with you sometime.An early morning walk with the pup to the waterfront…We watched the sun come up…I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday.. eating some good food, relaxing, spending time with loved ones. So soon it will be 2015(Holly f***!!) Lets get ready!!!!!

Have a Happy Week!!!!

I needed something quick, something everyone would like and I needed it to come from food I had in the house……Pretzels, peanut butter and chocolate chips turned into little nutty nuggets. A last minute christmas treat.  I have stumbled apron something that I am sure to make many more times to come. People were really into them and for real, so easy and  took so little time to make.. Fast, happy, peanut butter and pretzels dipped in chocolate, I mean, do you know anyone that would say no to that? And just because I made them for Christmas does not mean that we cannot make these for any occasion, like New Years,  maybe a birthday party or even laundry day. You can even make these as a fun afternoon activity with the kiddos.…Make them whenever you need a fun little treat!  Note….This is one of those treats that is vegan, gluten-free (just get gluten-free pretzels) and doesn’t have a ton of sugar..Eveyone can eat them! Hooray!!!!!! (Maybe don’t feed them to a child with a peanut allergy)

Simple as this….Half a bag of pretzel rods(any shape would work)… A big scoop of peanut butter and some chocolate chips…

.                                       Pretzels go into the food processor and pulsed until a mostly fine crumbly crumble. Now in goes the big ol scoop of peanut butter. Pulse until mixture comes togetherGo ahead and take a bite……so good right?..Start turning the mixtures into small balls..think grape sized.

Once the mixture is all rolled out, stick into the fridge or freezer for a little about a 1/2 hour to set up.

Right before you take the balls out of the fridge…melt down the chocolate.  Like my make shift double boiler? I know….jealous. If you have one, use it, but if not, a big pot with water and a smaller thin metal or a glass bowl works.. The pot or bowl should fit onto the big pot, but I was having a hard time and couldn’t find any of my bowls…..so i did what I could. Bring water to a boil then turn to simmer. Place chocolate in small bowl on big pot and stir until chocolate is melted, silky and smooth. Remove bowl from boiler and start to dip those balls! Reheat chocolate if needed but be careful to not get any water into chocolate or else it will seize up and you won’t be able to melt it anymore.

Drop a few balls into the melted chocolate. I was doing 2-3 at a time. Take a spoon or spatula and gently roll  or coat entire nugget. Remove and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

That’s it…Imperfect little perfect candy nugget truffle thingys….I sprinkled the tops with colored sugar.. you know, for a little holiday fun.. 3 simple ingredients( oil doesn’t count).. and 10 minutes of hands on time…can’t get much better then that. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Peanut Butter
• 10-12 Pretzel rods
• 1 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• tablespoon coconut oil

Pretzels go  into food processor and pulse until a fine mealy constancy.. Add peanut butter and pulse until combined and is easily handled. Add a bit more peanut butter if the mixture seems to dry or another pretzel if mixture is too loose.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Roll mixture into small grape sized balls. Pace in the fridge or freezer for 1/2 hour.

After the balls have chilled, place chocolate chips and coconut oil into  a double boiler and heat until chocolate is fully melted. Place balls 2-3 at a time into melted chocolate, roll around to completely coat, then transfer back  onto wax paper. Once all balls are chocolate coated, sprinkle with something( if you want) and place back in fridge to set up.

Share(if you feel like it) and Enjoy!!!

Look at that old man face…. how can anyone stay mad at him? (there was a recent incident involving bananas, you can read about it in the last post.)

Before we get started on the leash, I’ll give you a little background about Washer the trash dog. A little over 9 years ago,  Nick brought home this 8 week old little ball of fur for us as a Christmas present. Oh man, he was so so so freaking cute, but that didn’t stop me from crying… Why you ask? Because I didn’t want a golden retriever, we never talked about getting a golden, we talked about getting a husky or a german shepherd. And so I cried.(I was so pissed) But it didn’t last long. A few hours after he was home, I fell in love and we have been a little family ever since. Mind you that the first two years of his life, he was a terrible beast of a dog. Nick and I were really young and neither of us had ever had a puppy before so we kind of let him do whatever he wanted…..not a great idea. He was a shit.  He would eat everything  and anything. Seriously anything; book shelves, linoleum floors, windowsills.. You name it, he ate it. He also started to act a little jerky, growling at little people and getting aggressive around food which ended with us having to hand feed him for about 8 months. But eventually he grew out of his eating parts of the house, now he just eats anything food or trash .He doesn’t mind little people so much anymore just as long as they don’t try to play with him, and he now sits in front of his food bowl leaving great big puddles of drool until he is told he is allowed to eat. Oh how he has grown

One question that people always ask us is,”Where did that name Washer come from?” Truth is, it was kind of joke. We had had him for a few days and  hadn’t named him by the time we went to my Dads house on Christmas. Sitting around with my family, we came up with all sorts of stupid and inappropriate names. At one point appliances were named off and I guess the name Washer just kind of stuck out. We had planned on changing it right away, but as you can see, we still haven’t gotten around to that.

Anyway,  Washer has had the same leash for about 7 years. (His first 2 years he ate a few) That’s   a long time for a leash, especially if you think of all the times that it has been dragged through the mud, pulled into the lake, or my favorite, peed on. Yup, his current  leash is ripe and it’s about time we  made the old man a new one.(Ok, its more for us, but he seriously has been peeing on it a lot lately and I am not a fan of handling a pee soaked leash)

1 custom sized leash. Super simple and cheapy cheap.

What you will need is….

• 6-7 feet of 3/8 rope(or however long you want it)
• two 3/8 inch rope clamps(1 package comes with 2)
• carabiner
• scissors
• hammer
• lighter
• measuring tape if you want exact measurements(it’s not necessary)

Note: You can get the rope, clamps and the carabiner at any hardware store, but I think the big ones like Home Depot or Lowes sell rope by the foot so you don’t have to buy a 50 ft piece…unless you want it. 

First thing.Trim the ends of the rope nice and clean. Take the lighter and melt the nylon around the end of the rope so it will stop it from fraying…BE CAREFUL….And do it over the sink or somewhere with water…It’s not hard to do, I just don’t want anyone to burn themselves or the burn their house down.(not that I think you are going to)

Once the nylon is melted and no longer hot…Make a small loop and place rope into rope clamp. Make sure to leave the loop big enough for the carabiner to fit. Now hammer the clamp around the rope, I mean, really smack that thing  We used a scrap piece of wood to hammer on… and I suggest you do the same.

For the handle, make a large loop, whatever size that works for you, and do the same hammer clamp situation on the ends here.

Pretty freaking simple….Thats it, you are done and now you have an awesome customized and pee free leash.

New and old. Hopefully he won’t pee on this one for a while.

Have a great weekend and l would love to hear from anyone that makes themselves a sweet ass new leash!

Have a great weekend!

-C