Ingredients:

3 tablespoons cocoa powder or 3 oz bittersweet chocolate  + 1-2 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
           - OR- 3 tablespoons instant hot chocolate mix
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch chili powder
1/4 cup soy milk or milk
3/4 boiling water or hot milk

How to:

Put cocoa, syrup, cinnamon, chili, and 1/4 cup milk into large mug. Add boiling water or hot milk. Stir.

*Instead of the 1/4 cup milk or water add coffee.

“That’s all,”
  Lisa

Crafting- this marsupial monster mama had a baby! The baby loves to be carried in her mama’s pocket and go everywhere with her.
* Marsupial monster was made for Araina and will be put into her Spring basket this weekend.

Now for the cooking- I love cooking for my friends when they visit, here’s what I made to share today-

HUMMUS (recipe from here)
-Sooooo tasty and simple to make!

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup chopped parsley
pinch or two of salt
2-4 tbs. good quality extra virgin olive oil

Put all of the ingredients, except the olive oil,  in a food processor. Pulse and slowly add olive oil until you get the consistency you prefer. I only used about 2 tbs. olive oil, I like it a little on the dryer side.

CHEESE CRACKERS (adapted from here)
If you are a fan of baked cheese……RUN to your kitchen right now and bake these! They are so delicious and I can’t stop making them! These are the reason I could never be vegan!

1 1/2c. sharp cheddar cheese- the sharper the better
4 tbs unsalted butter
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1 tbs half and half
2-4 pinches of cayenne powder, depending on how spicy you want them

In a food processor, add the cheese, flour, and salt. Cut the butter into 4 pieces and add to ingredients. Pulse ingredients until you get coarse crumbs. Add the half and half and process until the dough forms into a ball. This takes about 10 seconds. I didn’t think a ball was even possible with such a little amount of liquid, but trust me it is. Form the dough into a log, wrap in parchment, and chill in the refrigerator for an hour up to a day (or freezer for 20 minutes).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough into desired thickness. Cut into squares or use small cutters to form fun shapes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.   Bake for 10-14 minutes until golden.

And of course you get 4 little girls together (and a cutie patootie 2yo brother) and there’s lots of playing going on! Playing in the ditch water was a highlight of the day; don’t let the short sleeves fool you, the water was COLD and the high today was in the upper 50′s! Maili and Fauna didn’t seem to notice though, they were splashing around and loved getting soaked. See the cute hair clips in Fauna’s hair? The  owl was made by Fauna and Veda (Maili’s sister) and a little purple monster was made by Veda. Fauna wears them proudly!

HA! Araina refused to go into that cold water,  she preferred to teeter on the edge!

Another great day planned for tomorrow…..a St. Patrick’s Day party! Toodles!

you need:
1/4 cup shelled, raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil

to do:
1. Grind the seeds and the oats in a food processor or coffee grinder. Grind until you have a consistency of whole-wheat flour.
2. Add the spices and vitamin E; mix well.
3. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. This makes about 4 ounces, which is enough for one bath. Pour the mixture into a warm bath. If you don’t want particles to clean up following the bath, you can place this in a muslin/cotton sachet to float in the water.
4. I like to use this as a scrub too when taking showers. Scrub this onto your skin like you would a salt or sugar scrub; then rinse with warm water.

Take time for yourselves mamas and remember to breath.

Recipe altered a bit from Janice Cox’s Natural Beauty from the Garden.

What you need:
1/3 c confectioner’s sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c white sugar
1/4 c flour
1 c peanut butter
1 egg
18-20 chocolate kisses

How too:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine sugars, flour and peanut butter.
3. Whisk egg in separate bowl, then add to peanut butter and sugar mixture. Stir until everything is wet.
4. Shape into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, take out of oven and push a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie.

* I like them best when they are just cooled down and the chocolate kiss is still soft from the heat of the cookie. WARNING- you can’t eat just one and you will want to bake another batch!

Another little note- I won the Best Uschooling Award and I am so honored because I was up against some great blogger friends with great sites- Stephanie at Ordinary Life Magic  and Sherry at Living and Learning (check out their great sites, if you haven’t already). Thank you all who voted for me and helped me win this honor! Woo hoo, and great blogger friend Jessica at Foursquare Schoolhouse also won an award!

 You need:
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper (diced or sliced)
1green pepper (diced or sliced)
1 yellow pepper (diced or sliced)
3 garlic cloves
1 medium onion diced
1 1/2 cup corn kernels
2 carrots (sliced in thin coins)
1 can black beans
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
2 or 3 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies, drained (since I make this for 2 youngins’ I  only use 1 can)
32 oz vegetable broth
3 tablespoons ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
tortilla chips
1 avocado- peeled and diced
large soup pot

Directions:
-Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Sweat the garlic, onions and peppers. Add the carrots and cumin; cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Mix in the tomatoes, corn, chili peppers, and vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
-Serve with tortilla chips. Top with avocado. 

*Even with only 1 can hot chilies it warms up the insides! Perfect for a cold Autumn or Winter day!