Accessories and blueberries

So recently Eleanor just LOVES to dress up. She'll put on anything that she finds, or rather she brings to me anything that she finds to put on her, like hair clips, princess slippers, hats, glasses, whatever. She especially loves it if it belongs to Mia, or is something that Mia wears around playing beautiful princess. Eleanor will get it put on her, then smile soooooo big, and do her little swing her arms back and forth dance and clap and clap her hands. I can't believe that at 14 months old she gets the whole dress up beautiful thing... amazing! This is one outfit that she picked out the other night...


Here is some naptime baking that I did today... the chocolate cupcakes are gluten free and dairy free!!!! yippee! They were better with butter and tasted like fudge, but this time I used apple sauce to cut some fat and make them edible for yours truly. Yum! They are from a mix by Bob's Red Mill. I won't tell you what happened to the other half of that one cupcake, but it was delicious, and disappeared pretty quickly after this picture was taken.
I haven't been making my kombucha recently, I ran out of black tea and just got out of the habit, but I got a batch made this week, and I added some blueberry juice to it. It is great! The blueberry juice came from some organic frozen berries we had that got just thawed enough to all stick together into one big frozen mess when our fridge went out, so I just boiled them and mashed the juice out. It is super stainy, but worth it.

The granola bars are also my new thing... I realized that we were spending like $20-$25 a month or more on granola bars, since Rex grabs one on his way to work for breakfast and I sometimes eat them after the gym in the morning, so I started making our own and they taste great and are so much cheaper! Here are the three varieties I made this time: 'Coconut Craisin Pecan,' 'Cinnamon Peanut Butter, Pear, Almond' and 'Blueberry Honey Pecan.' (I used the mashed up bodies of the juiced blueberries). I would highly recommend this recipe to everyone, as it can be made with any combination of nuts and fruit and flavors.

Here is the recipe, but feel free to get creative!

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 cup bran cereal (optional)

1/4 cup whole wheat flour (I left this out to make them gluten free)

1 cup walnut pieces (or whatever nuts you have)

1 1/2 cups chopped dried fruit

1/2 cup dry milk (I left this out to make it dairy free)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

Put everything except honey and eggs in food processor, pulse until well combined. Add honey and eggs and pulse until well combined. Transfer to pan and mash flat and even with a spatula, bake until light brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Cut into squares and wrap individually and keep in the fridge for a grab and go snack.