No-Bake Granola Bars!

Here they are!! Just in time for summer! I am not a fan of turning on my oven during summer so these were a major hit! Perfect lunch when in company with a green smoothie!


No-Bake Granola Bars

3/4c raw honey
1/3c sucanat/brown sugar
2/3c sunflower seed butter or any nut butter of your choice
6T melted coconut oil
1-2T blackstrap molasses
4c oats or granola
1 1/2c organic crispy rice cereal
5T flaxseed meal
2T chia seeds
1c total of any or all the following: craisins, nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. (we used craisins, sunflower seeds and coconut) Whatever your fancy!

Heavily grease (or line with parchment paper) 2 cookies sheets. I did 2 9X13" pans but the second pan was only 3/4 full.... which was fine, I just had to shape them a little. :) Mix honey, sugar, coconut oil, sunflower seed butter and molasses in a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Combine the rest of the ingredients with the honey mixture and mix well. Pour the oat mixture into 2 pans and press down firmly all the way to the corners! Then refrigerate 30mins - 1 hr. When cool cut into bars...... its so simple and they are yummy! Enjoy!

SunButter Cookies!

SunButter Cookies!
adapted from the Clean Food cookbook

These cookies are a fav in our home!

1c sunflower butter
3/4c sucanat
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. Redmond's real salt
1/2c organic dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the sunflower butter and sucanat together. Add the egg, salt and baking soda, mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Drop by the spoonful onto parchment paper and bake for approx. 11-13 mins. We like ours a little gooey and soft so we get them out at 11 mins. :) These go fantastic with a tall glass of iced coconut milk or better yet an iced coffee!! :)

Entertaining my busy, sweet, stubborn, loving baby boy.

     You would think how hard could it be to entertain a baby? I have said it for the previous 4 children.... but let me tell you about number 5. From the beginning this sweet baby has been difficult he cried the 1st 6 weeks of life, screamed anytime we were in the car, the entire time, nursed every 2 hours for the first 6 months, was horribly crabby while teething (I mean really bad), I could go on. This sweet little boy doesn't want anything to do with "baby" things. Or "big boy" toys for that matter! He wants to play with the things you told him he couldn't touch. All day everyday. I will tell you the few things he enjoys... he LOVES going for walks, he LOVES to eat (not that you could tell by the size of him), he LOVES water and he LOVES his Mama to hold him. So as you can see my days have been spent feeding and holding my quite large 10 month old, going on many walks and baths every night. I would like to take a moment from my grumbling and just recognize my older 3 girls, they are the best help the Lord could have blessed me with. I wouldn't make it through the day without their cheery, helpful attitudes and beautiful faces. Back to the grumbling..... so as you can see it was pretty hard to unpack a house, cook for 7, keep things clean, remember to bathe the other children (they may or may not have gone 3 days without a shower...eeek!) and just deal with life. Enter the solution to entertaining such babies....Jaxon's own cupboard in the kitchen. I cleared out a cupboard in the kitchen in attempt to keep him entertained for 20 mins so I could make potato salad, salsa, shred potatoes, make brownies and iced tea. All in 20 mins. Ha! I just decided I would see how far I could get. To my surprise he played there for an hour! I couldn't believe it! It has now been 3 days and this boy LOVES his cupboard! He puts toys and tupperware in there, then takes it out. He puts himself in there, shuts the doors, then comes out. He had his snack in there yesterday with his older sister and was on top of the world! So for those of you that have a VERY busy baby... please give him/her a cupboard. He/she will love it. I promise. If they don't I will send one of my sweet older girls over to help you. Not really. I am quite partial to them. In a very big way. Now that my grumbling is over and my baby is happy enough playing in his cupboard I would like to take a moment to share that I am quite certain the Lord has given me this sweet, cuddly, smile as large as life baby boy to show me there are more things in this life than a clean house, always well-groomed children, spotless floor and never dishes in the sink. There are sweet children to love, cuddle, listen to and watch bloom. I want to put my heart into what lasts.... FOREVER. That being my family. Being a living example of what Jesus' love is, what He has done for us and whatever is good, true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. In the beginning it was so hard to focus on these things, but now after having to sit (with baby in hand) it has been such a joy to have this time to just BE with my kids and husband. To just enjoy each other's company, what a blessing family is! I thank God for this energetic, curious, adorable and quite fast little boy.  He has the best laugh, biggest smile and he is such a blessing to our family and once again God has seen me through the hard times, holding my hand all along the way. Teaching me as we walked together. Just remember God doesn't use the weak.. he uses the passionate, the busy, the stubborn and curious people.... like Jaxon Courage. :)

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins.

I know these muffins are considered "fallish" but I just can't resist the pumpkin flavor. You really can't get enough of the pumpkin in just a few short months. So.... I have decided to "undeclare" pumpkin as being "fallish." Phew!! I feel much better now. Ok on to the recipe.....

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

2c wheat flour (or 1c sorghum flour, 1/2c brown rice flour, 1/2c oat flour)
3/4c organic cane sugar or raw honey
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Redmonds Real salt
1c canned organic pumpkin
1/2c melted coconut oil
2 free range eggs
1c dried organic cranberries
1/2c chopped pecans (for those with nut allergies we do 1/2c sunflower seeds)
raw sugar for sprinkling on top, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the melted coconut oil, sugar/honey, pumpkin, eggs and mix well. Add all of the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in dried cranberries and pecans/sunflower seeds by hand. Sprinkle raw sugar on top. Pour into greased muffin tins and bake 22-25 mins. *WARNING*   Does NOT have to only be baked in the fall. Enjoy.

Fajita Lettuce Wraps.

In this house we LOVE Mexican food. I mean really LOVE. It is the only thing every one of us could eat everyday, for every meal.  It's a deep love. One of our favorite things to eat are fajitas. Ands beans. And tacos. And burritos. You get the point.

 Fajita Lettuce Wraps

Marinade
1 lb. Chicken or beef
juice of 1 lime
1T olive oil
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1 clove garlic, mined
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (if you like spice)
salt & pepper

Marinate all of the above  ^ for at least 2 hrs.

Vinaigrette

juice of 1 lime
enough red wine vinegar to make lime juice reach 1/4c
1 garlic clove, minced
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
3T homemade mayo
2 tsp. cilantro, chopped
enough olive oil to make dressing come to 3/4c

Add all of the dressing ingredients above ^ and whisk until well mixed.

1-2 lg. onions, sliced (we like 2)
2 lg. different colored bell peppers, sliced
3-4T olive or coconut oil
1 pkg. sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 jalapeno, diced (optional- we like spice!)
1 zucchini, sliced (optional)
i head iceberg lettuce or Boston lettuce leaves
2 avocados, sliced
cilantro leaves, for topping

Cook your meat first and then set aside. Sautee' all of the veggies adding the zucchini and mushrooms last. Make sure they don't get mushy (yuck). Fill your lettuce leave with meat, veggies and top with avocado, cilantro and vinaigrette. Serve with a crock pot of spicy black beans...... THAT recipe is to follow. :) Enjoy!

Homemade Caramel Corn!

I am back! It has been a very long busy month but we are here in our new home, remodeling and enjoying the trees and fresh air! We miss our fantastic friends we made in Canada but are so happy to be here with our  Arizona family and friends! I will be doing a post on the remodeling we have done since we have been here (with pics!) and of the hard work my amazing brother did on our home before we got here..... but that is for another day. Today I chose the easy way out.... caramel corn! I adapted this recipe from the Passionate Homemaking website (which I love). My sweet Liberty turned 6 this last week and we celebrated by having a tea party with her very precious friends AND with caramel corn! It turned out great, all of the kids dug it.


Homemade Caramel Corn

10-11c popped organic popcorn
1/4c sucanat or brown sugar
1/4c raw honey
1/3c coconut oil
1/2 tsp. Redmond's real salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda

First you must pop your popcorn, I just use a little grapeseed oil and pop it on the stove top. Then you will want to heat the sugar, honey, coconut oil and salt in a pan, stirring occasionally until bubbly around the edges which should take approx. 2 mins.  Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda , this is my favorite part it fizzes and caramelizes- its way cool. Continue to stir as you pour over your popcorn until well coated. It's scrumptious. Do this at your next family movie night! Enjoy!

Moving!!!!

So as many of you know we are moving back to the U.S...... we are really excited!!! We head out tomorrow Thursday the 28th and are hoping to arrive in Colorado by Sunday. We are planning to spend a few days with the in-laws and then we will make the last stretch of our journey home to Arizona! I am going to try and post something at least once during our stay in Colorado, but I am not promising..... ;) As soon as we are settled I will start my regular posting back up! Please feel free to leave comments on what you would love to see more of on All About Home or request certain recipes! In the meantime check out some of the previous recipes I have!! See ya soon!