Raw Apple Pie Energy Bites {Gluten Free, Vegan, Paleo}

So… here it is. Monday. We meet again

The weekend was fantastic. There was LOTS of sunshine. There was grill use. There were pricey organic hot dogs. There was a pricey organic hot dog combined with raw sauerkraut situation (so good). There were white wine spritzers out on the deck while we played a riveting game of Yahtzee.  There was a farmer’s market meet-up with awesome friends and their awesome kiddos. There was a beach. There was a very enthusiastic Emma at the beach who got to swim in the ocean for the first time. She was the happiest. There were long walks in the warm afternoon to go get gelato.  It felt like summer vacation. Why do we not get summer vacation as grown ups? Injustice!

As unjust as it may be, weekends end.  It’s totally Monday, and it’s totally back to real life. At least until Friday, at which point I reserve the right for it to be less like real life and more like summer camp with booze.

I’ve made you something to kick start your week. It’s an energy bite you can whip up in your food processor in a matter of minutes. You know those pricey energy bars you can buy at your health food store? You can make those. It’s simple. Plus, THESE TASTE LIKE PIE!!! Who doesn’t love pie?! Furthermore, who doesn’t like pie for breakfast? In my humble opinion, pie might be one of the best parts about the day after Thanksgiving. There’s obviously no need to make breakfast when you can cut yourself an embarrassingly large slice of pumpkin pie and eat it with your hands, like you are picking up a sandwich. I wouldn’t even be mad if there was some whipped cream on top. Whoa, this has taken a turn into my own personal pie fantasy. […]

Lemon & Chamomile Paleo Muffins {Gluten Free}

Important things I did yesterday instead of writing:

I Google image searched “Dogs wearing overalls” which then lead me to image search “Dogs in business suits” which then lead me to search “Where can I buy my dog a business suit?” and “Business suit for dogs distributor.” There is more. Let’s just say I went down the rabbit hole.

After this, I did a fair amount of internet research on tater tots. Sunday afternoon was spent brunching with friends. Tater tots happened in a big way. I want to make them. I can’t stop thinking about them. My brain and my heart are filled with images of these crunchy, school-time favorites. You want some now, don’t you? I am going to do my best to make this happen. I asked Siri earnestly “Why are tater-tots so delicious?” to which she replied “Calling Jim.”  Siri fail. The most concerning part being, I don’t know a Jim. […]

Banana Nut Granola With Quinoa

I am in the weeds, Friends. I will admit this to you wholeheartedly. I am truly behind. My kitchen has taken a backseat to life lately. Surely you understand this. I can’t be the only one who gets overwhelmed by life and ends up drinking one kind of smoothie, slapping ham on toast and eating handfuls of spinach straight out of the bag. This is a thing right? Besides baking different variations of this bread to cart off to my family, I have not exactly flexed the muscles in my food brain. It’s losing muscle mass. It’s sitting there in a smoothie rut. Flabby. We can’t have this, right? Let’s tell my food brain to wake up and go for a walk.
On Tuesday morning this is exactly what I did. I sprung out of bed and decided it was time to create something that was not toast. Also, my husband had been not so subtly hinting  for a couple of weeks that he would be utterly thrilled if I would replenish the granola stash. While we were grocery shopping he decided he might get some sort of sugary cereal, I told him I didn’t like his moves, he told me that if I made granola he wouldn’t even be considering it. Touche. Point taken. There was also a week where the empty granola canister kept appearing on the counter magically as if to say “GRANOLA! NOW!” I am not sure how it got there. I did not put it there. I don’t think the cat or the dog have the dexterity to grab the canister from out of the pantry and place it on the counter. This only leaves one human. I am not going to point fingers, but I will give you a hint…I am married to him. […]

Baking As Therapy | Cinnamon Raisin Pumpkin Bread {Gluten Free}

On Friday night the phone rang.
The voice on the other end of the line was shaky. My heart sank somewhere deep into my gut. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Grammie had a stroke.”
My brain stopped. My heart froze. My body went numb and I found my formerly-upright self, sitting on the floor, clutching the phone so hard my hand started to lose all feeling.
“Is she okay?” I managed to get out in a slightly tortured, high pitch squeak.
“She’s in the ICU. They are watching her very closely.” I could hear the heartbreak in my mother’s voice as she told me she had to get off the phone.  As broken as I was feeling after receiving this news, I reminded myself that this was her Mama. This was the woman who raised her and rocked her to sleep and put band-aids on her boo-boos and reminded her to be kind and taught her how to love everyone. All of the things that my Mama has done for me. […]