Just Discovered: New Favorite Craft Blog

Sometimes people ask me where I get all my creative ideas. I kind of feel like the more creative ideas you surround yourself with, the more creative you become. It's seeing something and saying, "Hey, I can tweak this and make it better/prettier/easier."

Since I am very much a proponent for re-purposing, I was really excited to find this blog. Although I can't use all of her ideas (for example, I don't use dryer sheets since I mostly air-dry my clothes), most of them are cool, and many can be used for kids crafts too.

Also, in the spirit of a more eco-concious Christmas, I LOVED her packaging ideas for this year and last year. Check out Claire at blah to TADA! I hope you enjoy!

Baking Back to Back: Almost Vegan Banana Bread

I made some yummy banana bread yesterday, and the only animal product was eggs... ok, so that's not that hard. I pretty much just substituted the butter for a combo of almond butter and applesauce, soy milk for cow milk, then added some baking powder. But, still! It came out super good, and I figure it's that much healthier. Considering I'm not the best at baking (I can count on one hand the number of things I can actually bake), this was huge.

Here's what I did:

3/4 C sugar (I like brown)
3 med bananas*
1/2 C almond butter
1/4 C applesauce
5-7 drops liquid stevia
2 large eggs
1/2 C soy milk (or regular milk, almond milk... whatever!)
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 C wheat pastry flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
optional: chopped nuts, abt. 1 C

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mash bananas and sugar really well. Add almond butter and mix well. Add up to & incl. the vanilla; mix. Add dry ingredients and mix until all is just wet. Spray or lightly oil 2 8 or 9 in. loaf pans. Pour in 1/2 of batter into each pan. Bake approx. 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

*I freeze bananas if they get brown spots and I won't be able to use them in time. Just keep the skins on and throw them in the freezer. Then, take them out about an hour or more before you start baking. Because they've been frozen, they actually mash up really easy and smooth.

Baking Back to Back: Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

While perusing a kids cookbook in Michael's one day, I saw a rawther interesting breakfast item: cookies. I thought: "Holy cow! I could give my kids cookies for breakfast!" It was an amazing revelation.

So, being a good little researcher (we all have to learn something in college, right?), I searched on the internet. I came up with two HEALTHY cookie recipes. The first one was peanut butter and banana (I substitute the dried fruit with chocolate chips). The second I will put below with my variations, but here is the original link.


Chocolate PB Craisin Cookies - for Breakfast!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa (such as Hershey's Extra Dark Cocoa)
1-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (I use wheat pastry flour)
1-1/4 cups precooked steel-cut oatmeal
1/2 cup granulated white sugar or brown sugar, plus 4-5 drops liquid stevia
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 - 3/4 cup craisins, chopped nuts, or other dried fruit in small pieces
2 large eggs (I like mine cakey)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or almond butter)

(Please note: my cookies look worse than they taste; they're almost the consistency of brownie)

Instructions: Preheat oven 350 degrees. Mix sugar and peanut butter. Add applesauce, vanilla, stevia, oatmeal and eggs. Mix well. Add the rest of ingredients and mix. You may or may not need to add a few Tablespoons of liquid (milk, water, soy milk). If you want to shape the dough, refrigerate it 1/2 hour, then roll into small balls with lightly oiled hands, pressing the ball down with your thumb. Otherwise, drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 min, or until slightly firm to the touch. Keep what you don't eat in the fridge. I warm mine in the toaster on cool mornings. Great for a morning on the run.