Monday Motivation (all about food)

  I like to cook.  I like to bake. I am not a professional but, since we have to eat and sometimes it's an enjoyable experience we do it.

  Today I was super motivated and made 3 things! Now as I stated I'm not a professional so I will also share the recipes of the items!

  I think the one thing I have on my side at least is that 2 of the 3 are healthy.  The bonus is that everything is kid approved.  As a mom of picky eaters that just makes me so happy!

I started my morning with a cup of hot mint chocolate.  This was a fun recipe with its green color and I even choose to make one red in honor of the upcoming Valentines Day! Easy recipe with minimal ingredients and tasty!

Find the cocoa recipe here.

Next up was a healthy spin on cookie dough bites.  I would never try to make cookie dough healthy but, I would try to make my kids eat healthier.  Guess what 1 out of 2 kids fell for it. That's OK thats a start!  This cookie dough balls although made with chickpeas are actually quite good.  I guess there's enough sweet stuff in them to kind of coat the taste.  I thought they were a little dry but, that just means we need a class of milk with our cookies!

Find the cookie dough recipe here.

Lastly we not only needed some chocolate but we needed a dessert.  Enter the chocolate brownies!  Since I was on a healthy role I decided to stick with it.  This recipe makes a nice moist cake like chocolate brownie.  2 kid approved on this one!

Find the brownie recipe here.

  Now I'm not saying get our of hand and make everything on Monday but, I am saying if your going to make something, make it a little healthy and a lot of good!

Winter Wednesday

  Last week the weatherman warned a Nor Easter was coming.  It later would be called a blizzard but being from NY I'm going to refrain from calling it that.  We got some snow.  Inches and inches of it.  It covered the grass, the trees and cars.  It shut down roads, businesses and schools.

  Here's the pros and cons of the storm!

Pros:
Everything stops and shuts down.
Your kids are home from school for daysssss.

Cons:
Everything stops and shuts down.
Your kids are home from school for daysssss.

  It's funny because I came from snow and we kept pushing forward but NY is experienced.  More equipped.  Fully prepared with sand and plows!  I get that.  VA is doing the best that they can wit what they have when it snows.

We bundled up as best we could because it was cold!!!

Outside play is the quickest in 20°! 

Snowballs were assembled and battles were had.

Snow angels check!

Even walks around the block for some fresh air.

Snow play is complete when you can make a snowman!

Our winter is complete!  The thing left that we would love to do is ski, sled, and tube.  All that requires a hill which are very limited in my area.  I hope a road trip is in our future before winter is over.  Oh and ice skating to round it all out!

We have done a lot in the house to make up for those bored blues!  Games, crafts and cocoa makes the world a happier place! 

How are you in enjoying your winter or whatever season your in?  It's all about making the most of what you have.

It's Ok

  Linking up again with airingmylaundry to share what's been ok lately.  This is where we can share with each other what others may not necessarily agree with.  Or where your opinion is opposite the majority.

It's ok......

  That I'm not horrible excited about the new Fifty Shades Darker.  I saw the first one after it finally made it to television.

It's ok......

  That I don't have any plans for dinner the rest of the week but, I have the grocery list planned so maybe after that trip that will help.

It's ok.....

  That I'm not super excited about the Super Bowl.  Even if they took out the game and gave me the commercials cutting the time down drastically, even if it was different teams I just never get super excited.

It's ok.....

  That I took 3 cups of cocoa from the gym today as a treat for my two kids and myself! There's days when I don't take any at all so why not once and a while I snag a cup for 1 person not visibly there.

  Ok I will stop there.  What's ok lately with you?