Celebrate Coffee Day with Delicious Recipes!

Powdered creamers really gross me out.  What are they made out of if they are not even dairy!  I found this really cool creamer that not only flavors your coffee, it also keeps you on your health and fitness goals.  They use all natural ingredients like coconut.  Make a cup of coffee for national coffee day and bake some cookies to go with!

Leaner Creamer Coffee Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
One cup of softened room temperature butter
One and one fourth cups of granulated sugar
Two organic eggs
One third of a cup of Coffee
Three teaspoons of Leaner Creamer
One teaspoon of organic vanilla
One teaspoon of salt
Two cups of organic flour (gluten free flour may be substituted)
Half of a teaspoon of baking powder
Half of a teaspoon of cinnamon


Instructions:

In the stand/handheld mixing bowl, mix together butter and sugar. Wait till it gets to a fluffy texture, then stop mixing.
Mix Leaner Creamer mixture into room temperature coffee.

In another smaller bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, coffee, and Leaner Creamer until evenly incorporated.

In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Slowly add egg mixture to butter mixture until it is evenly combined, be careful not to over beat this mixture.

Chill dough for at least one hour, you may save this dough for later usage. For best results, chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees when ready to bake.

Roll out dough on floured counter to about a half inch thick. Then, using a circular cookie cutter, cut out circles, line on baking sheet.
Bake for nine minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!



September 29, enjoy a $5.00 discount off any purchase on LeanerCreamer.com using promo code CoffeeDay

Selfie Queen

Found some funny things on my phone from Mini and wanted to share

5 Easy Prep Healthy Snacks

Healthy snacking is always a concern with picky eaters. Guiding Stars has given me 5 Healthy Snacks that are easy prep for busy families!

Fruit Leather Rolls

Number of Servings: 20 (46 G)

Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cook Time: 3 Hours

Ingredients

• Clean and sliced fruit of your choice to make 2 c. puree (for example: 2 apples, 2 pears, and 1 c. raspberries will mash down to about 2 c.)
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/4 t. cinnamon

Directions

1. Puree sliced fruit. Add cinnamon and lemon juice to blender. Blend again.

2. Spread mixture evenly in a 10x15 pan. Place in a 175-degree oven (leave door ajar) for 3 hours. If bottom is still wet, turn the fruit over and dry longer.

3. Cut into 20 strips and cover each with plastic wrap. Roll up (with plastic layers). Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Date Snack Bars

Number of Servings: 20 (33 G)

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups dates, pureed
• 2 cups whole almonds
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons flax seeds
• Pinch salt

Directions

1. Line a 9″ square baking pan with wax paper.

2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor.

3. Blend thoroughly, stopping occasionally to scraped down the sides.

4. When the mix comes together to form a dough, use wet fingers to press it into your pan.

5. Refrigerate until firm enough to cut.

Fruit Kebabs with Lemon Lime Dip

Number of Servings: 2 (239 G)

Prep: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients

• 4 oz. sugar-free, low-fat lemon yogurt
• 1 t. lime juice
• 1 t. lime zest
• 6 pineapple chunks
• 6 strawberries
• 1 kiwi, peeled and diced
• 1/2 banana, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 6 grapes
• wooden skewers

Directions

1. In wooden small bowl, whisk together yogurt, lime juice, and zest. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

2. Thread 1 of each fruit onto the skewer. Repeat with other skewers until fruit is gone. Serve with lemon lime dip.

Quinoa Granola

Number of Servings: 4 (36 G)
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 tablespoons whole flaxseed
• 1 tablespoon chia seed
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• dash cardamom

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine all the ingredients and mix well.

2. Spread on a non-stick baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes.

Kids Crunch Trail Mix

Number of Servings: 8 (109 G) Servings (109 G)

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients

• 4 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch
• 1/2 c. roasted, salted soy nuts
• 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
• 1 c. raisins
• 1 c. dried cranberries
• 1/2 c. dry roasted pumpkin seeds

Directions

Combine ingredients and store in air-tight container.

Thanks to Guiding Stars... An organization that helps people make healthy choices! Find out more here

Healthy Snacks for School

Moms are always looking for great snack options.  Zing sent me some samples to try.  Baby Bear is REALLY picky.  She also gets hangry (hungry + angry) if she doesn't eat.  I try and try, but she just wants the basics.  This kid used to eat fish, seaweed, and was a fruit monster.  Now...nada. 

She is BEGGING me for Zing bars in her lunch for dessert.  I didn't tell her what they were, she just loves them.  There are a few favorite flavors: Chocolate Mint and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.  The Chocolate Mint taste like thin mints.  Seriously people, they are amaZing! 

Can't find a shop to buy them in?  Go to Amazon here

"The Zing Bar was founded by a group of Seattle dietitians and is deeply rooted in ‘nutrition science’ around blood sugar--- by turning the calories we eat into useable energy to support metabolism and sustenance throughout the day without the spikes and crashes, the low energy, the cravings, and the buildup of body fat.  Each bar contains a ‘smart’ balance of high quality proteins, slow burning carbs, and good fats to support metabolism and brain function, and dietary fiber for digestive system health and long-lasting hunger satisfaction.  

Zing Bars have a creamy nut or seed butter base; pea, rice or whey protein and wholesome ingredients like quinoa, gluten-free oats and nuts. The chocolate flavors contain real dark chocolate from Peru, as opposed to the more commonly used waxy and tasteless compound chocolates.  There is no dairy or soy in the chocolate, making Zing the only soy and dairy-free dark chocolate in the country. The peanuts (and peanut butter) are sourced from Argentina.  They’re also non-GMO, free of soy, additives, artificial colors and flavors.  Zing offers gluten-free and vegan varieties."

Baby Bear is in 1st Grade

Can you believe how big she has gotten?!!

First Day of 1st grade 2016

Impromtu Games

I am trying my best to not play with my phone around my kids.  I see that they develop the habit that they want to play with the phone now when they are idle for a few minutes and I don't like that.  I want them to be able to entertain themselves and find things to do.  In the summer they don't have any devices because we are away at camp and I want those habits of mind to stay. 

Mini and I waited for Baby Bear at the bus stop and created our own tic tac toe game out of rocks and sticks. Mini learns that games have rules and she also practices taking turns in this game. She know how to play, but I am not sure she understands how to win, so I let her win a few times so we could talk about how a 'win' looks. 

You can also see our dog's shadow as we sit and play. Tried something similar? Let us hear in the comments!

Setting Up My Art Room

I have an amazing classroom to set up! 

It needs a little bit of TLC to whip it into shape. This room was the art room, then used as a classroom, and now needs to be made into an art room. 

Before

Before 

  I had to organize a lot of supplies that were left. I had amazing help from a friend to do this as well as Mr. BBH, Mini and Baby. 

I wanted to share some of the secrets that I learned from other teachers to help you set up your own room.  The teacher that I taught for during a guest teaching position had a great organization to help reuse paper.  I have so many carts because unfortunately this school was an "art on a cart" school in years before.  I used the cart as my sorting station, and it can be moved around the classroom for students to use or put large scraps in.  

If you want to use this idea, here are the simple labels that I made an laminated.  What are your art room secrets?!

Click HERE for printable Labels