Cake Pops for Dummies

Everyone loves cake pops!  They recently made their debut last year and now they are popping up in Starbucks, birthday parties, baby showers....basically everywhere.  But honestly, who has the time to bake a cake just to make cake pops? I don't.  Well I could probably squeeze it in, but there are a million other things I'd rather do than clean up a kitchen after baking a cake.  So here is a Cake Pops for Dummies tutorial. Super easy, super affordable and SUPER DELICIOUS!!

What you need:

*cookie sticks

*donut holes

*mini baking cups

*sprinkles

*chocolate or candy melts

*a teaspoon of Crisco

 Melt the chocolate/candy melts {30 seconds at a time in the microwave}.  Add a teaspoon of Crisco when it's melted and stir well.  Take a cookie stick and poke a hole in the donut.  Dip the stick in the chocolate then put it in the donut.  Put the donuts in the fridge for 5-10 minutes so that the chocolate can harden, this will ensure that the stick will stay in the donut.

 Reheat the chocolate.  Dip each donut in the chocolate, shake the stick a little so the excess chocolate drips off the donut.

 Sprinkle the sprinkles on the donuts!

 Place in a baking cup.

All done!  Don't put these in the fridge, I've heard it will cause the chocolate and sprinkles to bleed into each other. 

EAT UP!!!

Kale Chips

My cousin recently gave me a super-easy-affordable-HEALTHY recipe for kale chips. I just had to share it with all of you!

- preheat oven to 350

- rinse 1 bunch kale - pat and/or shake dry

- tear kale into 2 inch pieces, place in a big bowl

- drizzle Olive Oil (1-2 tbls) over kale and toss, enough to coat but not enough to soak it

- spread on a baking pan

- sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder over the kale

- bake for about 15-25 minutes. You want the edges of the kale to be brown but not burnt.

ENJOY!!

Kale is chock-ful of Vitamins A, C and Calcium!

Lactation Cookies

I had a chance to go to bed early today but then I decided it would be the perfect time to try to make Lactation Cookies! I was even able to make them sugar free! Well, almost. I was naughty and replaced the raisins with chocolate chips, but next time I will make them the healthier way. The oats, flaxseed, almonds and yeast are supposed help increase milk supply. I literally just made these 30 minutes ago, so I will update this post in a few days to let you know if they helped increase my supply or not.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp flaxseed meal

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp stevia extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups oats

1 cup raisins (or chocolate chips!)

1/2 cup slivered almonds

2 tbsp brewer's yeast

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water together, let sit for 5 minutes

3. Cream butter and applesauce together, then add the eggs

4. Stir in flaxseed mix into the butter mix. Add vanilla

5. Beat until well blended

6. In separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients (except oats, raisins and almonds)

7. Add butter mixture into the flour mixture

8. Stir in the oats, raisins and almonds

9. Scoop onto cookie sheet (i placed parchment paper on them), bake for 11-12 minutes

These cookies are delicious! They have a fluffy texture, probably from the applesauce. Stay tuned for the update!

Dairy & Sugar Free Ice Cream ... and YES it's good!

I love LOVE love ice cream. And since being on the Candida Diet I obviously haven't been able to eat any. Well I've finally gotten creative!


INGREDIENTS:

~1 quart Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (chilled)

~1 pint Non-Dairy Creamer (chilled)

~1 dropper full of English Toffee Stevia

~1 dropper full of Vanilla Creme Stevia

Follow the freezing time and bowl preparation instructions for your ice cream maker. I used a Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream Maker.

Turn your ice cream maker on. Pour in the chilled Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, chilled Non-Dairy Creamer and both Stevia flavors. Allow 25-30 minutes for the mixture to thicken. Serve immediately!

It helps to CHILL the Almond Milk and the Non-Dairy Creamer in the freezer for about 45 minutes before you begin. The consistency of this 'ice cream' will not be as thick as regular ice cream, so if you would like it to be thicker you can use heavy cream instead of the non-dairy creamer.

Other flavor options that can be added : diced strawberries, blueberries, ground instant coffee, sliced almonds, chocolate stevia, lemon stevia ... etc.

If you're looking for the liquid Stevia flavors try going to VitaCost.com, Whole Foods or Sprouts.

Candidas

I recently had to go on the Candidas Diet. We had taken little M to a holistic doctor in Santa Monica to see if we could remedy his spitting up and his low (but steady) weight gain. During Dr. Karlin's testing we came to find out that little M has Candidas. I was on so many antibiotics because of the C-section that they had killed off any and all of the good bacteria in his digestive track. The solution? I had to go on the Candidas Diet and we both had to start taking probiotics. If you've never heard of the Canididas Diet, take a second and look at it here : The Candida Diet. It's tough. The first few days are the hardest, especially if you are like me and have a sweet tooth. My next few posts will be a few recipes that are sugar-gluten-dairy-yeast-free!

Though it's been a challenging 3 weeks, the benefits make it worth it. I lost 12lbs of baby weight!! Only 8 more to go and I'll be at my goal!