Why Avocado?
The Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (adjust to taste)
- 1 cup greek yogurt (or yogurt of choice) -- learn how to make yogurt!
- 2 tsp vanilla extract -- learn how to make vanilla extract!
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Optional: 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips for extra indulgence
Instructions:
- Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, and scoop the flesh into a blender.
- Add the cocoa powder, honey or maple syrup, almond milk, vanilla extract, and salt to the blender.
- Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed. The mixture should be completely free of avocado chunks.
- Taste the mixture and adjust sweetness if desired. Remember, frozen treats tend to taste less sweet when frozen, so you may want to make it slightly sweeter than you think necessary.
- If using, stir in the dark chocolate chips by hand.
- Pour the mixture into popsicle molds, leaving a little space at the top for expansion.
- Insert popsicle sticks and freeze for at least 4 hours, or until completely solid.
- To remove, run the molds briefly under warm water and gently pull out the pops.
Tips for Success
- Choose ripe avocados for the creamiest texture. They should yield to gentle pressure but not be overly soft.
- If you don't have popsicle molds, you can use small paper cups. Cover the tops with aluminum foil and poke the popsicle sticks through the center.
- For a fun twist, try adding a pinch of cinnamon or a dash of peppermint extract to the mixture before freezing.
- These fudge pops will keep in the freezer for up to two weeks if stored in an airtight container or bag.
Nutritional Benefits
Bonus: Instant Chocolate Pudding
How to Enjoy as Pudding:
- After blending all the ingredients as per the fudge pop recipe, taste the mixture. If you prefer it a bit sweeter for pudding, feel free to add a touch more honey or maple syrup.
- Instead of pouring the mixture into popsicle molds, transfer it to individual serving bowls or a large container.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld and the pudding to chill.
- When ready to serve, give it a quick stir. The pudding should be thick and creamy.
- For an extra special touch, top with a dollop of whipped coconut cream, a sprinkle of cacao nibs, or a few fresh berries.
1. Cleansing and detoxing for the body.
2. Immune system support -- gut health leads to immune system health!
3. Improved digestion -- probiotics. :)
4. Increased energy -- happy gut, more energy!
5. Increased metabolism -- happy gut, better processing of food.
I mean, look at that beauty. Yummmmmmmm...
INGREDIENTS
â…“ cup melted coconut oil
½ cup honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin purée (a small pie pumpkin usually yields around 4 cups -- how to cook a pumpkin)
¼ cup milk of choice or water
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice blend (or ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon allspice or cloves) OR 2drops cinnamon bark, 1 drop nutmeg, 1 drop ginger, and 1 drop clove essential oils (make sure you're using a pure, food-safe one -- ask me about what I use!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour or Einkorn flour
Optional: ½ cup mix-ins like chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips, raisins, chopped dried fruit…
Pinch of ground cinnamon, for sprinkling on top
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius) and grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and honey together together with a whisk. Add the eggs and whisk until blended. (If your coconut oil solidifies on contact with cold ingredients, simply let the bowl rest in a warm place for a few minutes, like on top of your stove or in the preheating oven.)
3. Add the pumpkin purée, milk, pumpkin spice, baking soda, vanilla and salt, and whisk to blend. Lastly, switch to a big spoon and stir in the flour, just until combined. Some lumps are ok! If you’re adding any additional mix-ins, gently fold them in.
4. Pour the batter into your greased loaf pan and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. If you’d like a pretty swirled effect, run the tip of a knife across the batter in a zig-zag pattern.
5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (typically, if I haven’t added any mix-ins, my bread is done at 55 minutes; if I have added mix-ins, it needs closer to 60 minutes). Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the bread to a cooling rack to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.
Organic baby arugula
Organic basil
Pine nuts (you can also use walnuts, but I like being fancy 😉)
Hard-neck Garlic (9ish cloves)
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
2 drops black pepper vitality essential oil
3 drops lime vitality essential oil
It is very important to know that not all essential oils are created equal...
You can’t just go out to a big box store (or anywhere online) and trust that you’re getting the good stuff. Lucky for you, I’ve got a source I trust. Contact me to learn more.
*It is very important to know that not all essential oils are created equal...
You can’t just go out to a big box store (or anywhere online) and trust that you’re getting the good stuff. Lucky for you, I’ve got a source I trust. Contact me for more information.
And learn how to use essential oils safely here!
Here’s something I want you to think about. Everything has DNA. Every substance has a blueprint. The blueprint of einkorn is perhaps the oldest blueprint in our food chain that exists today. When you’re eating einkorn, you’re eating the oldest ingested food, blueprinted for support to the physical body. Therefore it was designed to give you the nutritional support that your body needs in all ways, from protein to vitamins, to fiber, to amino acids, to enzymes. No other grain today has all that nutritional content, just einkorn.
So if you have a compromise to your digestive system with gluten sensitivity or intolerance from the hybridized grains that are grown today, and you start eating einkorn, you might need to go a little slow introducing it, take a little time, because your body has to adapt to the new blueprint. Does that make sense? You have to reprogram your body back to the way that it was created to function and find its homeostasis, and you will find great satisfaction in your nutritional needs once that homeostasis is found.
Gary Young found einkorn the first time in the Karimabad Valley in Hunza Land [in Pakistan] in 1996. It took four years before he was able to get the word translated from their language to discover it was einkorn. He looked all over the world and finally found some seed in Jordan, on the east bank of the Jordan River across from Israel.
They took the seed to France, where Jean-Noël was investigating einkorn. They started planting and it started to grow, and it is flourishing there still today!
Ingredients:
1/2 c. melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 c. honey or maple syrup or agave syrup
2 eggs (preferably local and fresh)
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas) -- I freeze my almost mushy bananas
and just thaw it before throwing it in the recipe. Works great!
1/4 c. milk of choice or water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon himalayan sea salt
1-2 drops cinnamon bark essential oil (only pure ones, especially for cooking!)
1 & 3/4 c. unbleached, unenriched whole wheat flour or Einkorn (an ancient grain I wrote about here)
Optional: 1/2 c. mix-ins like chopped nuts, chocolate chips (my favorites),
chopped dried fruit, fresh banana slices, etc...
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius) and grease 9x5 inch loaf pan
In a large bowl, beat the oil & honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then whisk in the mashed bananas and milk.
Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon, and whisk to blend. Lastly, switch to a big spoon and stir in flour, just until combined. Some lumps are okay! Gently fold in mix-ins as desired now.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan (I grease with this spray cooking coconut oil).
Bake for 55-60 minutes (less without mix-ins, more with mix-ins is my experience). Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.
Then enjoy! Yummm. :)
It is super important to know that not all essential oils are created equal.
You can’t just go out to a big box store (or anywhere online) and trust that you’re getting the good stuff, especially when cooking. Lucky for you, I’ve got a source I trust – want to know more?
I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.
- 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed (even better if you soak your own from dried!)
- 1/3 cup organic stevia
- 1/2 cup natural organic crunchy peanut butter
- 1/4 teaspoon fine pink Himalayan sea salt
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
- 3 tablespoons organic tahini
- 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup Lilly's dark chocolate chips
- Add all ingredients except for chocolate chips to a food processor.
- Process on puree for about 1 minute, stopping halfway to scrape the edges, until hummus is nice and smooth. If you want a thinner hummus, add a splash of milk and process again.
- Transfer hummus to an airtight container, fold in the chocolate chips, and chill in the fridge for at least 8 hours (overnight works best).
- Serve with crackers or as desired, preferably with a spoon! :)
Does your kiddo struggle with math? They (and you!) are not alone. Sometimes addressing non-math issues can really help the issue at hand, speaking from a teacher lens. Here are a few non-math ways to help your child experience success in math. Read on to the end to get a free recipe for my concentration roller blend.
1. Encourage a Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset is not a new concept, but it is especially important when tackling difficult tasks or subjects. Studies show that if people believe they can do something, even if it is difficult and they may not get it right away, they learn it better, retain it longer, and stick with the hard task longer if they have a growth mindset.
Encourage your child to use phrases such as "Mistakes help me grow." or "My intelligence can be developed." or "I keep trying and never give up!" instead of "I'm not good at it." or "I give up easily.'
2. Get Good Sleep
“Daytime thinking is a building process, whereas nighttime thinking is a sorting process.”
― Caroline Leaf, Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health
Did you know that children with sleep issues are often misdiagnosed with attention or learning issues? This is because our brains make sense of and sort our experiences at nighttime from during the daytime. When we don't get enough good sleep at night, our brain isn't able to "download" and synthesize what we took in from the previous day. So maybe your child did a lot of great learning of math and made progress the day before, but if he/she didn't sleep well or long enough, that learning may be lost. There are so many other reasons sleep is vital to health and wellness and learning! Read a scholarly example here.
Set a bedtime routine and stick to it! If you need ideas, I shared 11 tried and true ways to get better sleep here that can be adapted very well for kids.
3. Strengthen Left- and Right-Brain Connections
Does your child enjoy some activities that are completely unrelated to math? Of course they do! There are many studies that show certain activities (like music) strength the pathways in the brain between the two hemispheres. What does this have to do with math? Well, math often requires that these pathways be strong. When practicing using these pathways, it's like exercising a muscle and will get stronger with use. The stronger you build a muscle, the stronger you feel when something heavy comes along that you have to pick up. By building strong pathways with something more "fun" -- like music -- your child can come to math work feeling stronger, like the math work is a bit less heavy than last time.
In the middle of math work (or perhaps even right before it!), have your child do this active listening + movement piece to activate those multiple areas of the brain.
"I Can Do This!" Focus Roller Blend for Kids
5 drops Peppermint essential oil
5 drops Frankincense essential oil
8 drops Lemon essential oil
8 drops Stress Away essential oil
Add these essential oils to a 10 ml roller bottle and fill with carrier oil.
Roll on wrists, collar bone, bottom of feet, or the back of neck before tackling a difficult task.
It is very important to know that not all essential oils are created equal...
You can’t just go out to a big box store (or anywhere online) and trust that you’re getting the good stuff. Lucky for you, I’ve got a source I trust – want to know more? Click the button in the top corner to contact me.
1. Speak Truth To Yourself
The way we talk to ourselves has a HUGE impact on our mindset and mood.
Try starting off with a positive affirmation to set the tone for your day.
Here are a few affirmations I like:
I am grounded, stable, and balanced.
I am full of joy.
I am God's daughter.