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Cupcake ATM Open For Business

Okay, so there's not a literal cupcake ATM here at my house! But there is somewhere in the world and that makes me really happy. There is an assembly line of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes going in and out of the oven today. I'm baking them for the people at my husbands work to thank them for all of the food and well wishes. Also for the surgical team that took my lap band out of me last wednesday! Partially because I am a show off and partially because I just freakin love baking. The house is a huge mess. I can't find anything but there will be cupcakes and sweetness anyways. I seriously have my work cut out for me (plus a baby) but whatevs. Life will come together as it always does!

I make the cupcake batter and add pudding mix to keep em soft and mushy. I didn't have a pastry bag and tip because I kinda lost them in the move so I put all of the frosting in a freezer bag and cut a small hole in the corner. It worked and make them pretty, pretty! Gotta build up my 

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Why Glass Instead of Plastic

By TatteredTiques

What is it about glass? Plastic manufacturers have gone out of their way to make plastic safe. We now have the BPA-free tags popping up everywhere. This is all good stuff. When I was young, my Dad would take us to Pizza Hut on some friday nights and they would give us our soft drinks in these plastic cups with monsters on them (dracula, wolfman etc.) and he would keep them, take them home and wash them 1,000,000 times. We re-used those filthy cups until I was well into my teen years. I didn't realize his mistake until I had a conversation with one of my friends who does body piercings and he explained to me why the "gun" they use at the mall to pierce ears is atrocious and unsanitary. Legally, this "gun" has only been approved to tag animal ears and that's only because they were going to die soon anyways. These devices are plastic and plastic is porous! Thats right, like a sponge. So BPA-free or not, plastic absorbs. It absorbs food and bacteria and the dishwasher only gets rid of so much- ever noticed how your plastic gets discolored over time? Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like- gross!

Glass is 100% non-porous! It also cleans much easier and is super easy to recycle into something else. Recycling doesn’t compromise glass’ quality or structure and no toxins are produced in the process. Glass’ safe, glossy surface repels food odors and residual flavors. And food reheated in glass—whether in a conventional oven or microwave—tastes superior to victuals nuked in plastic. Also, glass is much prettier. I would take a pantry and fridge full of sparkling clear any day! The glass containers are super versatile- I use the same kind of glass jar to hold preserves, cuddle my toothbrush & put beautiful wild flowers in.

Okay, so since we're rational people trying to make better choices obviously we dont want to throw out all of our tupperware and rubbermaid containers. Unless of course you look at how discolored they are and cant bring yourself to use them again. Bring in the glass storage at your own pace. If you're still shopping at Walmart or Target check in the food storage section and you should find a box of 12 Ball Jars for somewhere between $7 and $10 dollars! That's 12 containers for less than $1 per jar. Also, because of its non-absorbency powers, you can safely buy them from thrift stores- but make sure you're getting them for well under a buck. You can always order them on Amazon and they even have the Classic Blue Ball Jars for sale right now!

Caprock Vintage for Pyrex

Have you ever heard of Pyrex? It's heaven-sent. If you're into vintage cookware these are an absolute staple in your kitchen. Pyrex is super high-quality storage and cookware and its getting harder and harder to find for cheap. Whenever I'm scouring thrift stores the first thing I look for is 100% authentic Pyrex. When I find it, I do a little gleeful dance- kind of a like a jig in the aisle with lots of people glaring at me. But I don't care, it's Pyrex!

I personally don't do my own preserves (yet). But obviously a good collection of glass storage and tight lids is going to be beneficial in that process as well. You'd be amazed how quickly your collection grows if you kinda just pick some up while you're there. I've got a whole shelf in my pantry of various, clean, glass storage.

X O X O    M

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Craving Summer Popsicles

By Beeper Bebe

I paid $3 for a popsicle today. In my defense, it was hot and they were gourmet and I wanted to! I got a delicious and highly acidic flavor, pineapple mint. It was amazing and I let my 5 month old baby have a lick. This place seriously had me craving some frozen healthy treat recipes. So I went on a little hunt and compiled a list of must-try recipes. The popsicles usually sold in the frozen aisle are full of corn syrup and fake dyes- these ones are made of pure ingredients and a little bit of sweetener (coconut sugar, agave etc).

First off, you probably want to get yourself a popsicle mold. This will make life much easier and make the perfect size frozen treats. I personally really like the results of the Norpro Ice Pop Maker. The mold is 100% BPA free and for some reason the pops slide out nice and smooth. Perfect style.

There are lots of great recipes online for these natural, frozen treats but if you get really into it, you can always buy/download some pretty/colorful recipe books. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I buy these to use them (of course), but also to look at the pictures and show it off in my recipe book library in the kitchen!

People's Pops

Paletas

Growing up in Southern California, paletas sabor increíble! I want authentic without all of the crap. Enjoy!

Coconut Fruit Juice Popsicles (paleo style)

Ingredients
2 cans  Coconut Juice with Pulp 

1 cup blueberries 

1 cup diced pineapple 

1 cup sliced strawberries 

Popsicle mold

Place pineapple, then blueberries, then strawberries in all the mold containers, evenly distributed throughout. Pour Coconut Juice into the separate sections until the fruit is covered with juice. Put on cover with handles according to your pop mold container. Put in freezer for a couple hours of until completely frozen. 

Monkey Popsicle

Ingredients 

16 0z of unsweetened coconut/or almond milk 

4 TB Almond/or some other nut butter 

2 teaspoons of raw honey 

3 TB of cocoa powder 

2 (frozen) bananas 

2 teaspoons of vanilla 

Optional add ins: ice, carob nibs, avocado, coconut butter, pastured egg yolk, coconut oil 

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend. If using frozen bananas then you may not need any ice cubes. If you are using unfrozen bananas, then throw in 5-8 ice cubes. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze! Makes 7 popsicles!

Mojito Lime, Orange & Mint Pops

Ingredients

2 oranges, peeled and quartered 

1 cup lime juice (from approximately 6 limes) 

1/2 cup water 

6 teaspoons liquid stevia or agave 

4 sprigs mint 

Combine ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze overnight.

X O X O   M

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