You say soda, I say pop

Even though I have lived in the south for 11 years now, I am still a Yankee at heart!  You just can't take the Yankee out of a gal no matter how far removed she is from her roots.  Even after all these years of being teased for saying "pop" instead of soda, I still call it pop!!  Since Ron and I made our healthy lifestyle change nearly 6 years ago, we just don't drink pop anymore.  But when we do want to splurge and have some with our pizza (like we did earlier this week) it is nice to know there are healthier options out there.  And Izze is one of them.  Ron had it before, but I had not.  So we bought a pack to go with our pizza, and it was fabulous!!  It is simply just fruit juice and sparkling water.  That's it!!  No added sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, no preservatives or any other cancer causing agent.  Two thumbs up for Izze, they got it right!  Go check out their website for a coupon!

A bit of vintage

This cute little nursery rhyme plate was mine when I was a little girl.  Since my mom is a pack rat like me, she kept some things from mine and my brother's childhood.  As hard of a struggle as it is to overcome being a pack rat since I grew up with one, I really have appreciated the fact that my mom kept some of my childhood things.  Especially now that I am a mom myself.  I love seeing Ronnie use this plate knowing that 30-some years ago I was using it too!  It is a nice melamine too, better than some of the newer plastic plates today.

And now that we have Elise, I am super excited that she will get to use my old doll cradle and high chair for her dolls when she gets older!  As well as my Cabbage Patch kids and my favorite plastic headed baby doll too.  Do you have any of your childhood items that you have passed down to your kids?

A healthy Valentine's Day treat!

I made some YUMMY healthy chocolate for our Valentine's Day treat!  I bought the heart shaped silicone ice cube trays at Target in the dollar section.  Mixed up the yummy concoction in the Vita Mix and poured it into the tray and let it refrigerate for an hour.

And this is the end result with some strawberry's added!  Mmmmm!  Very tasty!  Here is the recipe:

1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup coconut oil, divided (virgin unrefined coconut oil is recommended for its nutritional value), palm oil or butter
3/4 cup honey (raw honey is recommended again for its nutritional value)

Gently melt half of the coconut oil in a small saucepan. Allow too cool slightly. Place the remaining 1/2 cup solid coconut oil in your blender with the cocoa and honey. Carefully add the melted coconut oil and pulse a few times till smooth. Make sure not to over blend or else it can seperate. Line a bread pan with a layer of parchment paper or saran wrap. Carefully pour the fudge into the pan. Place in your refrigerator until solid, about 1 hour. Gently remove from pan and cut into squares. Makes about 12-15 squares. Store in refrigerator till ready to serve.

Note: I found that if I melted all the coconut oil, the final result was a very stretchy, wet fudge. For the more solid fudge like texture, I melt half of the oil, just enough so that it blends together well, and this seems to work perfectly.

The recipe came from Passionate Homemaking's blog.  I LOVE her blog!  We are kindred spirits, we have a lot in common.  I know that if we lived near each other we would be fast friends!

Granola mom's

Last week I went to my doctor's office for a physical.  As the nurse was getting ready to draw blood (ouch) she said I smelled good and wondered what I was wearing.  I told her I usually wear patchouli or lavender oil, but all I had on that day was Burt's Bee's lotion.  She said "oh, I love granola mom's!"  LOL!  I have to admit that is the first time I have heard a "stranger" refer to me as a granola mom based on what I wear for fragrance and skin care.  It was kind of funny.  And it was a compliment as well!

This morning as I went into the cupboard to find a cup for my tea, I realized that the above mug was back there and I had not used it in a while.  So I pulled it out.  A very dear internet group of granola mom friends of mine got me this mug, along with some other natural baby things, as part of a gift when I was pregnant with Ronnie.  I think of them whenever I use this mug. And although I have never even met most of them in person, they are some of the closest friends I have.  We granola mom's have to unite, no matter how many miles may separate us!  That is what hold us together when the rest of society rolls their eyes at us, or criticizes us for the way we choose to do things since it may be different than the "main stream" way.  I am happy to be considered a granola mom by my doctor's nurse, or anyone else who decides to label me that way. :)