Chocolate Chip Cookie Reciepe

I love chocolate chip cookies, and we I found this recipe on the side of my 5lbs bag of  Bob's Rd Mill organic whole wheat pastry flour. I decided to try because it seemed so much healthier than regular cookie recipes.

1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter
1/3 cup olive oil
1-1/2 cups sugar (I only used 1/3 cup)
2/3 cup milk (I've made it with both almond and cows milk)
2 teasp vanilla
2-1/2 cups whole what pastry flour
1-1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teasp baking powder
1 teasp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used 1 cup)
1/2 chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F
Cream together butter, oil and sugar
Add milk and vanilla (This is delicious)
In a separate bowl mix th flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda
Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients
Add chocolate chips and walnuts
Mix everything
Refrigerate for 20 minutes (I always forget to do this part)
Place on greased cookie sheet
Bake for about 20 minutes

These cookies don't really spread out much at all but they are delicious.
Pictures coming soon of my little chef making these :)

There's no eggs so you don't have to worry about letting your kids eat the dough!

Organic Wool Pillows

I just ordered some organic wool pillows from White Lotus Home. I bought a toddler/travel size organic wool pillow from them before for Liam when we were still trying to get Liam to sleep in his own bed (we gave up on that). They have the best price $22 + $8 for a zipper on the case, now it's $29.

Anyway I ordered 2 standard pillows it's normally $115, pretty expensive but I had a 40 hour 40% off coupon. So I got it for only $69 only $35.50 a pillow you can't beat that. Plus shipping and handling was free. I really recommend you sign up for their e-mails they fairly often mail out great coupons for 20, 30, or 40% off.

They also sell organic mattresses, mattress protectors, duvets, pillows stuffed with organic cotton, kapok or buckwheat and fibers to make it yourself. I would really like to get an organic mattress for Liam (whenever he decides he wants his own bed) and duvets for us all.

As a warning, I love Liam's pillow but Bill has one complaint. He thinks they smell like sheep butt. But luckily for him, after having Liam's pillow for almost a year it doesn't smell anymore.

MY Favorite TV Shows

I would like to say that I am a super mom that everyday Liam does workbooks, learns math, science, literature, music, art, yoga, and every other subject, that I find the time everyday to cook healthy, nutritious, delicious meals for every meal, that you can eat off my floors and everything is always in it's proper place, all of the laundry is aways done and folded, and that my kids have no screen time, but that just isn't true. Sometimes the laundry is so over flowing and Liam has no desire to sit down and do worksheets or "homework" of any kind an so I put on netflix or a movie. If you happen to be a super mom and manage to get everything done without TV or computer then I take my hat off to you, but right now I have a TV babysitter. Still I don't let Liam watch all of the junk that is advertised as "kids" shows. Here are our favorites:

The Magic School Bus

I grew up with this show it teaches all sorts of great science: outer space, dinosaurs, the digestive system, water cycle, insects, food chains, volcanoes, chemistry, and more. I love it. If it's an option it's what I pick first. There is also a book series so if your not fond of TV you can read about Ms. Frizzle and her amazing science adventures.We have the movies.


Sid the Science Kid
This is another great science show. It's on netflix and there are a lot of clips online. "Investigate, Explore, Discover" The main character Sid asks science questions and does experiments at school to learn the answers. I like Magic School Bus better but this is geared toward a younger audience pre-school, kindergarten, Liam's age. Still it recently lost a few points in my favor when it did a show on immunizations where everyone got a flu shot.


Team Umizoomi
A great math show, it teaches patterns, shapes, counting, addition, subtraction, units of measurement, and comparison. I really like this show Liam is just starting to get a little old for the show, but the math concepts are just right. The main characters Geo, Millie and Bot are pint sized and go around saving the day using math.

Cyber Chase
It's another math show. I's really for older kids but it has a lot of really great math concepts and Liam watches it. He usually has to watch the same episode 2 or 3 times in a row before he really gets it. A lot of episodes are on netflix. I like that after each episode they use the concept taught in the episode in real life.

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
Most language learning shows are, I hate to say is but boring. Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is a real TV show with all the fun Kindergarten adventure and teaches Chinese and Chinese culture. We have the DVD's and books. Bill and I watch it and we learned how to count to 10, say hello, goodbye, thank you, and several other useful phrases. The main character Kai-Lan and her grandpa YeYe are joined by a rambunctious tiger named Rintoo, a shy Koala named Tolee, a tiny monkey named Hoho, and a helpful rino named Lulu. They celebrate Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival, they race in the Dragon Boat Races, and go on a trip to China, as well as have trouble rhyming, sharing and being brave. It's a great show.

Dino Dan
Liam's newest favorite show is Dino Dan. When I heard Liam say, "Shh mom I'm looking for a compsognathus, it's a really tiny carnivore dinosaur." I knew we had a winner. Liam is learning the names and cool facts about a lot of interesting dinosaurs. He knows if a dinosaur is a carnivore or herbivore, if it's nocturnal or diurnal, and how big it is (taller than our house, as long as two school buses). Plus it's pretty cool when he tells people "there's no such thing as a pterodactyl it's called a pterodactylus"

Little Einsteins

This is probably my favorite show because like Ni Hao, Kai-Lan and Chinese it teaches Liam something that would be really hard for me to teach: music and art. Each episode features a famous work of art and artist and a famous piece of music and composer. We downloaded tons of these episodes onto 3 DVD's. It teaches music notation (crescendo, pianissimo, alegro, moderato, etc. if you don't know what these are watch this show!) ballet moves and positions as well as geography. I love it and so does Liam. Today while I was cooking dinner he watched it and he came into the kitchen on his tiptoes with his hands in the air when I asked what he was doing he said a bouree.

Liberty Kids
One of my new favorite shows for Liam although he doesn't like it as much (because it's too old for him) is Liberty Kids. The entire series is on netflix. It's all about the American Revolution. I like that it doesn't glamorize it like most children's stories about the revolution. It talks about slavery, Native Americans, and some of the wrong things colonists did (tar and feathering the British). The main focus is liberty (freedom for all) and standing up for what you believe in. The main characters are reporters for "Liberty News" Moses a freed slave who bought his own freedom, Sarah a loyalist girl from England who is a guest of Benjamin Franklin, James a writer who strongly believes i the American cause and Henri a french boy who came to America as an indentured servant. The show also "guests stars" any famous names from the Revolutionary War: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benedict Arnold, John Hancock, King George III, Elizabeth Freeman, Abigail Adams, etc.

There are a couple others I like but these are my favorite. Let me know what shows you like your kids to like.

Great Price on Organic Sheets

I wanted organic cotton sheets for a while but they were always around $100 or more. I couldn't validate spending that much on sheets. Then I found overstock.com they have tons of great stuff including great prices on organic cotton sheets.

First I bought Liam (not that he sleeps in his bed) a set of ice blue twin sheets (1 pillow case, fitted sheet & flat sheet) for $32. They don't sell that brand anymore, but... Then I bought a set of shittake (brown) queen sheets (2 pillow cases, fittest sheet & flat sheet) for Bill and I for $37 and an extra set of 2 pillow cases for $14. Since I bought them last August the price of the organic cotton pillow cases has gone up to $16.49 for the set. The sheets are soft and comfy. We love them they match the new paint in our room very well, they're comfy and the color has lasted even after washing baby poop out of them. and I'm very happy for the price.

Receipes on a snowday

I know the last snow day was 5 days ago already but I just uploaded the pictures today. I thought you would want to see pictures of Liam making these awesome delicious recipes.


Berry Smoothies

Here's Liam my little smoothie chef

First have your mommy peel a banana then break it in half

Measure 1/2 cup frozen organic raspberries

Pour them in

1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries (we usually add strawberries too but we ran out)

Next add the organic peanut butter, it's tough to get it out!

1 giant heaping tablespoon of peanut butter (or 3 regular tablespoons)(I prefer to use almond butter)

 Plain organic yogurt

Add 1 cup

Time to mix it! What happens when you mix red raspberries and blue blueberries?

You get purple smoothie!

It's ready!

Taste Test What does the little chef think of his creation?

Delicious!

Apple Crisp

We stared making this while we drank our smoothies

Using the apple peeler/ corer. I left the skin on but you can peel them if you don't like it.

Liam said, "It looks like a flower!"

Liam can do it all by himself! Just a little crooked.

5 apples cored and sliced

Coat with 2/3 cup of organic sugar

The ingredients for the topping all organic: 1 cup oats, 1/2cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup walnuts, cinnamon, and cloves (you can add nutmeg too)

Liam decided to go out and play in the snow with Daddy so I finished the crisp. I just mixed it all together and put it on top (you're supposed to mix it with 1 stick of butter but I forgot so I just melted the butter and drizzled it on top it worked the same Cook at 350*F for 1 hour  :)

Pumpkin Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

Liam really wanted to use the hand blender so I decided to make pumpkin muffins I used to make these every week. They're from this awesome recipe book I have called Vegan Lunch Box a mom wrote it. She has a new book called Vegan Lunch Box Around the World but I haven't gotten it yet. I have tried a bunch of recipes and they've all been good but so far this is my favorite. I have changed it a bit from the original recipe reducing the sugar adding more pumpkin and walnuts, and using almond milk or cows milk (I know it's not vegan) instead of water.

1 can organic plain pumpkin

1/3 cup water, milk, soymilk or almond milk
1/3 cup olive oil (or canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed

Blend together

1-2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 sugar (the recipe calls for 1-1/3 cups I thought that was excessive)

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup vegan carob chips (or just regular chocolate chips)
1 cup chopped walnuts (the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of pecans, but I like walnuts way better than pecans)

Bake at 350*F for 30-35 minutes then let cool for 5 minutes
Delicious!