Grasshopper Cookie Straw

Some of you may already know this but I learned too late in life to fully enjoy its goodness so I am sharing with you the joys of the GRASSHOPPER COOKIE STRAW with you now:

1. Get a box of Kebler Grasshopper Cookies & a BIG glass of milk

2. Bite a little end off the top & a little end off the bottom

3. Put one end in the milk & one end up to your mouth. Suck the milk up through the cookie (like a straw). Then pop the cookie in your mouth.

Seriously, when you bite it the cookie will be all soggy in the middle and YUMMY YUMMY GOODNESS!

Try it & let me know what you think. For anyone who had tried the marvelous Grasshopper Cookie Straw leave your testimony as to it's life changing (& hip growing) goodness.

RECIPE: Raw Almond Joy Cookie Balls

So, I've switched my diet around & have given up a lot of foods (I'll have to do a longer post on the "why" of it some other day) which includes all sorts of stuff like refined sugars, preservatives, etc, etc, etc. It's a long list.

Anyway, I still have those sweet cravings. Oh mama, do I have sweet cravings! But I've opted for some "raw foods" treats to indulge in every once in a while to help curb my sugar appetite so I don't down a whole box of Drumsticks Ice Cream (...not that I've ever done that before).

One of my favorites comes from my lovely friend, talented writer, & resident health food genius Rachel.

And here we go... "Raw Almond Joy Cookie Balls"

Start with ingredients:

Almond Cookie Balls
3 cups unsweetened coconut (buy this in the bulk section of WinCo or GoodEarth)
1 1/2 cup almond meal (I used almond meal but you can make it yourself with almonds)
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 TB vanilla
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

Mix it all together & scoop or form them into balls on wax paper.

Chocolate Sauce (to top the cookies)
1/2 cup coco powder (I used raw cacao- it's one of those fancy superfoods & I got mine at GoodEarth)
1/2 cup agave
2 TB vanilla
1 TB coconut oil
pinch of salt

Just wisk it all together, top the balls, & enjoy!

Try them out & let me know what you think!

Does anyone else have a good raw food/"better-for-you" treat recipe to share?

REVIEW: Cookie Cutters

As evidence from Syd's last home haircut she HATES it! I decided this time we'd take her to a really kid friendly place. After searching I thought I'd try out Cookie Cutters (in Draper).
Syd got to pick out any movie she wanted & there was a TV to watch it right by her chair (which was an airplane). The haircut lady was so careful with her & patient. And they did a lil' hairstyle on her & everything. Even the spray at the end smelled like chocolate! For any kid that hate's haircuts I recommend it!

HOW TO: Easy Pretty Cupcakes

How to make cupcakes look really cute without doing much:

1. Buy a jar of frosting. Buy & make a box cake and box brownies (if I were to do this again I would make the brownies thinner- so a bigger pan or less brownie mix in the pan).

2. Buy small cookie cutters- this was harder. I finally found this one. Spray the cookie cutter with cooking spray (you'll have to do this a couple times between cutting out the brownies).

3. Cut out the brownies. There is a learning curve- you'll have to shake them around & pull them out semi-carefully.

4. Frost. I got a tub of frosting from the grocery store. I know cooler people than me always make their own frosting, but I am not that cool. Nor could commit the time (also make sure you have a frosting test taster).

5. Put the brownie hearts on the top.

6. Present them! (they got quite a reception because A: cupcakes are always cute B: brownies are always tasty 3: it looks like you worked SUPER hard on them)

Monster Cookies Recipe

I saw this recipe on someone's blog (forgive me I can't remember who- I just saved it into a word doc) so I decided to try it last night. I don't think my mind wrapped around how many cookies it makes. I even did 1/2 plus a little of what the recipe called for & I'm telling you... you need a bucket sized bowl to mix it all up. I recommend cutting it down even more. But they turned out yummy, yummy! This is the 1/2 recipe just so you know.

6 eggs beaten
2 cups sugar
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 TB vanilla
1/2 TBS light corn syrup
3 1/4 cup peanut butter
4 tsp baking soda
7 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips (I wish they have just lil' more- maybe 1 1/2 cups)
1 lb M&M's
(Since we're in Utah I added 1 cup of flour to make them a bit more think)

Just mix the dry ingredients & the wet ingredients together- adding chocolate chips last. I used an ice cream scoop to put them on the cookie sheet (6 per sheet- they spread out like crazy) & smoosh them down just a bit to put the M&M's really close together on top (when the cookie spreads out so will the M&M's. 350 degrees for 12 min. They can get hard if left out so I wrapped mine up immediately.

"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie": The Play

Today Esther & I took the kids to see a play based on the book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" at the Scera in Orem.

It was quiet cute & if you have little ones I definitely recommend checking it out. It got lots of giggles out of the kids & there was a great Q&A with the actors afterward.

P.S. We went to see the play version of Frog & Toad last year. Also SO CUTE!
P.S.S Syd & Berto look like siblings in that top pic, eh?

Recipe: No-Bake Cookies

I made a batch of No-Bake Cookies with the kids today &, goodness gracious, I gotta give these suckers away so I don't eat them all & get even bigger apple bottom cheeks. YUM YUM!

NO-BAKE COOKIES
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup Hershey's Coco
2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix Sugar, butter, milk, & coco in medium saucepan. Cook until rolling boil
Remove from heat & add oats, peanut butter, & vanilla. Stir & mix well.
Drop mix by heaping spoonfuls onto wax paper & cool.

Any No-Bake Cookie fans out there?

Roasted Fennel

In my quest to eat healthy & explore the plethora of veggies available to me, I decided to try my hand at fennel.

Fennel is a weird looking veggie (like an onion but also with stalks kind of like celery & tiny leaves that look more like an herb). When I took it to the check out the guy said in his 2 1/2 years working there NO ONE had ever bought fennel.

Well, how-do-you-do I'm a fennel eater.

As per vague internet instructions I chopped off the top & the nubby bottom. Then I cut it in half, then in fourths.

I stuck in on a foil lined cookie sheet, covered them in salt, pepper, & garlic powder (olive oil & Parmesan was recommended too) & roasted them for 400 degrees for 40 min.

Out they came pretty crispy & tasty (with just a hint of liquorish flavor)

Any other fennel-ists out there? Recipes, please!

REVIEW: Johnny's Barber Shop

Rob isn't a fan of getting his hair cut. Like his dad, he dislikes small talk with the "hair girls" & like me, he can't sit still for long. We've cut his hair at home & I've taken him to the fancy "Cookie Cutters" but we haven't yet found a great place for him to get his hair done.

The other day I passed by this little barber shop in our "old downtown" area of our city. I thought why not check it out. Just look at how charming the outside is:

Let me just say Johnny is a delightful gentlemen. He's full of "there's no way you've had 3 babies" & "these are the smartest looking kids I've ever seen". He charmed us all right away.

Rob who is shy of everyone (just ask poor Ms. Rebecca who has been his preschool teacher for a year & he can still barely look her in the eye), but wasn't with Johnny. He hopped right up into the old fashioned barber chair & smiled.

His favorite part was probably getting brushed off, then vacuumed down. And the quarter Johnny gave Rob & Syd to get candy out of the machine.

Syd said she wants Johnny to cut her hair too- I'm not sure he's quite ready for the "force that is Sydney Marie", plus he doesn't seem like a "style little girls hair" kind of barber. But we'll definitely be coming back in the next 4-6 weeks to get Rob another trim.

P.S. Check out this article about our barber-friend Johnny.

Cookie Cutters....

... the only way I'd ever get my babies to get their hair cut- worth every penny!

Totally Random Treat

At our church's Christmas dinner someone brought these cookie things. I tried them & thought... "Gosh, these taste yummy & familiar" so I asked the woman what they were. "Just Ritz crackers dipped in dark chocolate with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top". What?!? Oh, golly, those suckers are good! So, I made some of my own.RECIPE: Ritz crackers, package of dark chocolate chips melted over the stove with a lil' bit of veggie oil, dip then sprinkle the powdered candy cane. Try it out!

Custom Dessert: Olivia's Delightfully Decandant Chocolatey Dessert Surprise!

Sometimes at parties people make a custom cocktail for the occasion. I decided to make a custom dessert for my birthday dinner- something that looks & feels like "Olivia".

Behold the process by which the custom dessert of Olivia was born!

1) Make ghetto generic brand dark chocolate brownie mix & cut up and add Andes chocolate mints (must be Andes).

2) Put a large cut of brownie at the bottom of the bowl, then add chocolate ice cream- Two big ol' scoops! Then top multi-colored sprinkles because sprinkles make everything in life better.

3) Then I added an extra Andes mint and a faux Samoa cookie (made by Kebbler).

4) Then, of course, a gold flag & a pretty pink umbrella.

5) And TA-DA!

Also in Portland I found these OLIVIA candles & couldn't pass them up.