Monkey Biscuits

Daily creation: monkey biscuits. That's what you get when you try to make chocolate chip cookies and substitute cream cheese for half the butter because someone said it was good. Then you substitute  banana for eggs. I think these would make a great kids breakfast. When I took them out of the oven my friend said, should we flip it? They look like pancakes. Not pancakes, not cookies, but delicious. 

Monkey Biscuits

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
2tbsp milk
1cup sugar
2 bananas
1tsp baking soda
1tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
2 giant Hershey bars, chopped

Mix together everything except the flour and chocolate
Add flour. Then add chocolate.
With an ice cream scoop place even scoops of mixture on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or golden brown on the edges and bottom.

Keivan Needs A Dog

Hey Friends! Thanks for all your feedback on the No Poo Problem. I will be testing out some of the options mentioned and be posting in the next couple weeks.

In the mean time, I wanted to clue you into the next big thing happening in the Twin Cities. Remember when I did the Muscle Walk earlier this month. This is the follow-up event I promised was coming.

If you like Mexican Food, Have a few extra dollars lying around, and want to make the difference in the world, well let's hang out!

What: Fundraiser to Get Keivan a Service Dog
When: May 27th from 5pm-8pm
Where: Fiesta Cancun in Eagan, Minnesota.
Why: Because every boy needs a dog, especially Keivan

So come meet my friend Keivan, enjoy so tacos and guacamole at (I kid you not) the best Mexican Restaurant in town, and join in on making a difference. 

Invite your friends, invite your mom, invite your mom's friends. This is a great opportunity and I wouldn't want you to miss it.
See you there!

No-Poo Problems

I have been working on a no-poo solution for my hair for the past couple of weeks. Warning: none of these methods have worked. However, I thought I'd share my journey so far and ask for any suggestions.

I have so far tried out a couple methods. My problem is, since I switched to using coconut oil as a conditioner, I can't seem to find a recipe that will get the oil out of my hair. I'll scrub in the solution, let it sit 20-30 minutes, rinse out, blow-dry my hair, and what do you know? Still greasy, so I'm left to rinse it out with REAL shampoo.

Here's recipe #1:
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup aloe vera gel.

Recipe #2:
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup aloe vera gel
1 egg yolk

The benefits:

Honey: Antioxidants and nutrients
Aloe Vera: Moisture and nutrients
Egg: Vitamin E and A and Grease cutting

Results for both, again, greasy hair. I'm looking forward to trying the aloe vera honey without the coconut oil. Maybe I will try doing this in the next week or so. However, with the coconut oil I'm struggling to find a solution. Many Pinterest girls said the egg yolk got the oil out of their hair just fine, because egg yolk breaks down grease. That's not what I found. My hair was a crunchy, greasy mess. When you blow dry your hair for 10 minutes and it still looks as wet as when you stepped out of the shower and you can get enough oil to use as lotion from it, that's a problem.

So I'm opening it up to my readers. What are your suggestions? Does anyone know of a no-poo solution to get coconut oil out of hair?
 

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The Heart of Creativity

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I've been doing these Adventures in Green Living for about a month now and as I have been my creativity has been booming. That's why I started it.

Confession Time: Before I began writing these, I was feeling burnt out. My loyal friends and some followers could probably notice by some of the things I'd shared.

Life is draining. Life in winter can be even more so, but isn't that how the seasons work. We have times of drought where inspiration and spiritual wellness is sparse. Then here comes the spring. Like the first bout of lightening striking the Earth to fill it with  nitrogen to spark the birth of new seedlings. So a burst of inspiration must be set forth in the human mind and body to produce the life of new creativity. Hence has been my Adventures in Green Living.

Each project produces a realm of more ideas. More thoughts about what can I make with this? Or how can I make that?

I am a believer in creation. Maybe it's because I'm a creative type, but I believe that creativity is one of God's doorways of expressing himself through human beings. Creativity is the meeting of humanity and divinity. Creativity is prayer.

This may be the noticing of creation. Ann Voskamp in her book One Thousand Gifts declares this as Eucharist Deo, or the giving of thanks. It is seeing the hand of God and giving thanks.

It may be in creation itself, when we empty our minds to hear God's voice and declare its truth. This in Meditation and Prayer, aligning our hearts with his.

Creativity is the work of Prayer. Creative living is a prayerful life, where we take the time to notice and interact with God.

I've started meeting with some friends for a creativity group and last night we watched a Ted Talk with Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love. And she talked about how in this century, with the evolution of post-modern thought, we have neglected the concept that creativity is outside of us. The ancients believed that all expressions of creativity were the expressions of a higher power being made manifest through human encounter. She continued to talk about how upon the viewing of a play or performance, when struck with the awe of creativity, the ancients would yell "Alla!Alla!" Meaning God. This later, through immigration and cross culture in Spain became "Ole!" which we hear declared in all sorts of cheers.

With post modern thought we have forgotten God, which has lead all the pressure for creativity to be upon the artist. He is responsible to produce out of his own mind. Not merely be an observer and tool of divinity.

As I continue to explore creative living and making it a part of my prayer life, this is my goal: that I may experience God more fully. You'll be occasionally seeing me post more about this as I continue exploring with my creative friends. However, my challenge is to see God. To seek to be in his presence. As David, maybe the greatest Biblical artists "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever, to gaze upon his beauty" Psalm 27:4.
I want to be like David. I want to dwell in the presence. I want to live in creativity. I want to experience God in my all day everyday.

So here's to a new adventure, or maybe not new, but continually growing and evolving, to understand what it means to walk with Jesus.

DIY Eyeliner and mascara

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So I have some good news and some bad news. 

Good news first: 

DIY eyeliner is the best thing I have ever done. It's so easy and left some serious definition to my eyes. 

Bad news: DIY Mascara is probably the worst idea I've ever had. 

So first I'm going to tell you all about the eyeliner and then going to talk about my mascara mishap and why I'll never try to DIY this product again. 

Eyeliner

Ingredients: 

-activated charcoal capsules

-water

Break 4-6 activated charcoal capsules into a small container (this is super makeshift, but I put the empty metal cup from an old tea light into an old altoids tin and used this as my container. We'll call it recycling). Then add drops of water and stir with toothpick until desired texture. 

Result: 

I used an eyeliner brush to apply

Mascara

Now off to the disaster. Sorry there aren't any pictures for this part, but this was seriously the messy thing I had ever done. The recipes I found said: 

1tsp coconut oil

1tsp Shea butter

11/2 tsp bees wax

4 tsp aloe Vera gel

1-2 capsules activated charcoal. 

Melt the first 4 ingredients either on the stove or in a microwave safe bowl for 1-2 minutes in the microwave. Stir in the activated charcoal. Transfer to a cleaned and sterilized mascara container. (May put into a plastic bag and squeeze into container). 

First thing that made this a struggle: have you ever tried to clean out a mascara container? This seriously took an hour. I moved all the dishes out of the sink and then spent an hour trying to scrub out the mascara residue from my old container. Note my previous mascar was done for. I could 't get a drop out of it. But it still had dried out or mascara stuck to the sides that was impossible to get. So after and hour of scrubbing, soaping, slushing, it came clean and I sterilized it in my dishwasher. 

Then I used the microwave version, because remember, a part of this is the recipe needs to be quick and simple. I'm a busy girl and I don't have eight hours a week to make a tube of mascara. So I melted the first 4 ingredients together and the stir in the charcoal with a toothpick. Then I poured it into the mascara container. But guess what! As soon as I put it into the container, it turned solid again. Then it clumped around the brush! I thought it just must have been a fluke. It would probably work. So I finished cleaning up, which was all sort of another adventure. Because the main ingredients were wax and oil, it stuck to my dish and because it was black with charcoal it was stuck and black. This took another hour. I had to use vinegar, baking soda, coffee grounds, my Norwex spiri sponge ( which is now ruined). Then I put it in the dishwasher. So now between all those things it is mostly clean. So then I had to wash my hands. I looked and felt like a grease monkey and it took forever to get the stuff out of my fingernails. I had to shower to get clean again. 

Finally I was able to apply it and it was so chinky it wouldn't even go on my eye. I even tried adding some saline solution to break it up. Nope! Worst adventure ever. 

I know when I'm defeated, so I ran to The Wedge and bought a tube of 

Zulu Mascara. It's mineral based, natural, organic, and not tested on animals. It was recommended by the staff over other brands. And it was only $14. So far I love it! i will need go back and will definitely not try makin mascara again. Even if I found another recipe, the clean up was too messy to make it worth it. Guess I'll be leaving this one to the professionals. 

May Day Challenge Winner!

The winner of the May Day Challenge is my beautiful friend Emily Pooler. She's a new mom and I can't think of anyone more deserving of free Norwex Product. Her submission can be seen above. She has been reusing the cardboard that her family uses as canvas for art project. She is one of the most artistic and creative people I have met. Thanks for reading and participating Emily! You're fantastic!

Springtime and Planting

 

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. It's when winter melts away and growth takes place (both in the physical earth realm and the spiritual). All the harshness of the snow and cold is replaced by the green ness and life that has been in hibernation for a season.

 During this past season of winter, all of my plants got ruined. Through cats and icy windows, all of them died. I was left a little bitter. However, now I'm starting new, with a fresh batch of plants. I have tomatos, basil, and cilantro. So basically, I can make pizza sauce and salsa.

Because I live in a basement, it has been quite the feat to get them enough sunlight. However, so far, I have taken them to work, for a drive, and to the lake in an effort to get them enough sun. Here's their progress and soon I'll be looking for a fun way to repot them (any suggestions or recommendations for repotting plants would be highly desired).

Coconutty Muffins (Gluten Free)

 

 

 

 
 
It's time for another recipe. I have a wonderful friend (actually several wonderful friends) with a gluten recipe, and as I have posted my Super Simple Banana Bread, which is one of my favorite recipes I have created, I decided why not attempt a gluten free Banana Bread. I used the  Gutsy Coconut Flour Banana Bread recipe that I had pinned on Pinterest as a reference. Coconut flour sucks up moisture, so I needed to use a special recipe. The banana bread was a little dry, and was so coconutty that I couldn't rationalize calling it Banana Bread, so I tweaked it and made them into muffins. Hope you enjoy them as much as my friends.

Coconutty Muffins

1 cup coconut flour

3-4 Large bananas (very ripe and smashed)

4 Large pasture-raised eggs

1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon raw, local honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put cupcake liners in muffin tin, or grease muffin tin.

2. Mix bananas, eggs, oil, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla

3.  Add Baking Soda

4.  Add Coconut flour. Mix until all is moist.

5. Spoon into 8-10 muffin cups.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

7. When done, take out and immediately place in plastic ziplock bag (allowing them to cool in the ziplock bag helped absorb all the moisture and make them moist, not dry.

8. Enjoy with a latte.

Minnesota Muscle Walk

Taking a little break from the Living Green Challenge, I wanted to highlight why I didn't post yesterday.

 

This is Keivan (The little boy, not the handsome guy next too him):

 Keivan has a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Charot-Marie-tooth (Shark-o-marie-tooth).

As the condition progresses, Keivan is going to need extra assistance, and therefore is going to need a service dog.

 

Every boy needs a dog, some just REALLY need a dog.

 

In short, yesterday was the Muscular Dystrophy Associations Walk. So yesterday, we walked to get Keivan a service dog. 

I'll be posting more on this in the weeks to come. There's still more that needs to be done and there will be a fund raiser at Fiesta Cancun this month. So come help support. All you have to do is eat great Mexican Food and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Keivan. Plus, there will be a silent auction.

Norwex Basic Package

As I've blogged before, I've started selling Norwex (and if you participate in the May Day Challenge you will be entered to win $15 in Norwex Product to keep you growing green). I had to do my house chores today, so I figured what an awesome opportunity to try out some Norwex. One of my jobs was to clean the mirror. So since I didn't feel the mirror was dirty enough for this demonstration I did a good job of smearing it up. I rubbed toothpaste on the mirror (something you would find on a bathroom mirror) and wrote Norwex in it. Here is a picture of the before: 

Then I got to work. I used the basic package for this job.

First I wiped down the mirror with the enviro cloth (the blue one) and water. The. I used the window cloth (the purple cloth)  to dry and shine.

Results? 

Crystal clear! And I even used the two rags to clean my bathtub, sinks, shower, and 2 more mirrors afterwards. Simply use, rinse, and dry. Then I put it in the wash to use next week! Remember, you can win this. Or it is free when you sign up to become a Norwex Consultant :)