Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

I kept seeing this recipe all over Pinterest. That ooey-gooey, melty chocolate photo finally got the best of me and I decided to see if these grain-free little devils tasted as good as they looked. Unfortunately, I noticed that there have been a few other bloggers who have made this recipe, then stolen the original photo, which they posted to Pinterest with a link to their own blog. Dude, that’s not cool. Don’t do that. That’s stealing. Post your own photos. I finally tracked down the original recipe source (or at least it appears to be the original source). In any case, I’m so glad I found the Texanerin Baking blog because the blog author, Erin, has some mad baking skills. There are loads of…

Remember the Get Balanced course I wrote about not too long ago? It’s a 15-day course focused on balancing your cortisol levels (that would be your stress hormone), which is intricately linked to everything from weight to mood to energy. I’m 11 days in and going strong. You would not believe the amount of substance to this course. Nutritionists, Megan and Katie, have done a fabulous job of organizing the course materials and releasing them a bit at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. There is power in knowledge and when we learn the basic science of how things like sugar, gluten and caffeine affect so many aspects of our bodies, we start to see the bigger picture. The course packet contains several great recipes,…

Last weekend we were invited to our friends’ house for a vegan, gluten-free dinner. Vegan because of us, gluten-free because of them. It was an excellent meal! For starters, there were chips & salsa and veggies & hummus. Then we enjoyed a salad with roasted pears and stir-fry with vegetables and tofu. We should have stopped there, but there was vegan, gluten-free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, which needed to be taste-tested for the blog. Tough job, I know. I brought this dessert because I know our friends like carrot cake and so do we. I had never tried this recipe before, though, so it was a risk. Fortunately, it passed the test. I was surprised by how much I liked it. The flavor…

Before going vegan, microwave popcorn (usually the 94% fat-free kind) was pretty much a staple in our kitchen. In fact, I thought of it as a healthy treat. Now that I read the ingredients before the nutritional info, microwave popcorn is out. We can do without the artificial flavoring, the trans-fats and toxic diacetyl. Instead, we do it old-school now – in a big pot on the stovetop. It’s so simple, cheap and fast that I’m not sure why the microwave kind even seemed like a good idea. Making it the traditional way eliminates the junk and allows you to choose your oil (try coconut oil!), your seasonings, flavorings, etc. When I started making popcorn this way, it brought back so many memories. My mom used…

Last week we celebrated Hubs’ birthday. Ever since he was a kid, he’s had this obsession with a tiny little bakery in his hometown called Zeeland Bakery. In his mind, this place is legendary. While he’s nuts about their donuts and cookies, it’s their cake (and by cake I mean frosting) that he absolutely adores. It’s super sweet and sugary. No whipped/light/fluffy stuff here. This stuff is heavy-duty. And those gross frosting flowers? He loves ‘em. He would love it if the whole cake was covered in them. I don’t know anyone with a bigger sweet tooth than Hubs. Except maybe my sister, whose favorite food group is candy. Here is a photo of last year’s cake, along with a card he received from my…