Wednesday Sweet Tooth Killers

Today? Well it was just another Wednesday I guess. This week has been a little interesting. Full of thoughts and emotions. Oh the joys of going through life. :)  Well today, when I walked through the door from shoveling my driveway of the snow I was hit with a severe case of the sweet tooth. So, playing around, like I do, I discovered deliciousness. You take Greek yogurt, add a little bit of chopped pecans, and sprinkle some dark chocolate chips (or milk chocolate if you like that). Its really good and it suffices your sweet tooth! Its also full of some really good things for your body. Win win, right? I would surely say so!




Ingredients

• Small dish of Greek yogurt (I like to get plain and then add agave to make it sweet)
• handful of chopped pecans or other sweet nuts
• handful of dark chocolate chips (or other type of chocolate, I just LOVE dark chocolate!)

Mix them all together and enjoy your snack!

Nap-Time Applers

 

Its nap time. That's really all I have to say after eating these delectable applers that I made. I kind of ate a lot. A lot more than I was planning on. But what is this? I am still alive after eating a lot of applers. Oh ok good. Well, I am gonna nap and you are gonna try these, k? Good deal. Nighty Night

















Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour (plus more for rolling out the dough)
• 3/4 cups natural cane sugar
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• dash of sea salt

• 2 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white

• 2 apples chopped
• 2 tablespoons agave/honey
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then whisk together the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Combine the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Stir until you get a well combined cookie-dough like mixture. In another medium bowl combine the apples, agave/honey, and cinnamon. Let it sit while you roll out the dough to fit a cookie sheet. Place the dough on the cookie sheet and top with cinnamon apples. Place in the oven in the middle rack and cook for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Take out and let cool. Use oven pads please. That's all I have to say.

Big City Pancakes

There is this thing called smog. Its gross. It fills the air with nasty guckiness. For whatever reason my city is filled with it. Apparently during the winter, because I'm in a big valley, the guck settles right above our heads. The air quality is gross. It looks like a big city. But here is the problem. I live in a small city. A very small city that is not industrial whatsoever. I wouldn't care that much except for the fact the I have been informed that I shouldn't run because not only is it ten degrees out, but the air quality is really bad and your not supposed to breath it into your lungs? Ya I don't know if that's true or not but I figure better safe than sorry, right. I can start running outside in a week or more. For now, I guess I just have to settle with the rec. Anyways, aside for the pollution, life is great. Especially because I perfected  a pancake recipe. Something I have been attempting for months. Vwal-ah! It is done. Step aside. Here comes some Big City Pancakes!



Ingredients

• 3/4 cup oat flour (ground oats)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 egg whites
• 4 tablespoons applesauce

1. Mix the dry ingredients
2. Mix in the egg whites and applesauce
3. Heat up a small frying pan over high heat
4. Turn the heat to the lowest setting
5. Pour pancake batter into a pan and cook like normal pancakes. (Cook till both sides or fluffy and golden brown)
6. Top with fruit, agave, honey, natural maple syrup, peanut butter, etc.

Happy Apple-Pecan Granola

So today I don't have much to say other than I had a really nice surprise when I went to the rec today. I was running around the track and up runs my best friend Shelby. She is a cutie patutie. You can learn a lot from her. She is happy. And bottom-line is she makes me happy. Which brings me to the next subject of the day. Allowing yourself to be happy. Lately I feel like I see a lot of sad people who are just down in the dumps. They are so weighed down by grief or some sort of sadness. It is truly heartbreaking. But when the day ends, I feel like a majority of them aren't allowing themselves to be happy. Now I totally know how it feels to be depressed and feel down in the dumps. I truly do. I think at sometime in everyone's life, we will all be compelled to feel that way. And I totally understand that sometimes, you try to be happy and you try to force a smile but at the end of the day, you feel exhausted and confused. My heart goes out to anyone feeling that way. But sometimes, I will say. There also comes a time where its time to free yourself and just be happy. I have watched a few people recently just hold themselves back from being happy. They are frustrated with their situations and they are confused, which is so hard, I get that, but they just tell themselves that they aren't meant to be happy and they allow themselves to be harsh and bitter to themselves and sometimes those around them. Something that I have learned about happiness is that you have to fight for it sometimes. Some days, you will have to fake it, but if you are truly trying to better yourself and look beyond yourself by helping others, you will start learning and growing and evolving into a better happier person. If you are sad, and feel depressed, if you just focus your time and energy everyday thinking about how sad you are and all the negative things that happened to you that day or that week or that year, then of course you are going to be sad! But if you are looking beyond yourself and your state of sadness and help others, try to better your own self and morals, and try to learn everyday, then true happiness with come. And when in doubt, no matter what your beliefs, I ask you to pray. Pray to God. I know He is there, and if prayed to in faith, He WILL help you. I have learned all these principles about happiness from personal experience so don't think, "Talking about how to be happy is easy for you because you don't know pain or sadness." Just trust that these things are true, and if sought diligently will make you a better person. So, on a little less serious note, I will give you a little something that makes me happy. Food!! A recipe!! Say What?! Yay!!! And today it is specially yummy... Happy Apple-Pecan Granola  :)




Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons natural sugar cane
• 1/4 cup grapeseed, safflower, or sunflower oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 handfuls of pecans, slightly chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped apple

1. Heat up the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add pecans and honey
3. Stir and let cook for one minute
4. Stir in cinnamon and vanilla
5. In a small bowl, mix the oats and the coconut
6. Once the honey/oil mixture has been cooking for about two minutes, pour it over the oats.
7. Stir it all together until the oats are completely coated in the mixture.
8. Spread the oats thinly over a baking sheet
9. Sprinkle the sugar over the oats
10. Place the pan on the middle shelf of the oven.
11. After five minutes of baking, sprinkle the apples over the mixture and stir
12. Let bake for another five minutes, then stir
13. Let bake for another five minutes, then take out of the oven.
14. Enjoy with yogurt, fruit, in handfuls, or by the bucket load if your like me. :)

Thefty Lentil Wrap

Today was great! My mom, my amazing cousin (who just moved in with us), and I had a girls day out on the town. We started off the day painting pottery at a ceramics place. It was really fun and creative. Then we went to Jason's deli to eat. Delicious salad bar and soup may I say! Mmm Mmm good. After lunch, we went to see Les Miserables in theatre. It was very moving and I seriously wish I was Cosette right about now because Marius is so handsome, charming, good-looking, and his voice is like liquid gold floating in the air. Ahhh!!! I am in love. At least for the night. Maybe when I wake up I will be over him. But probably not, because the truth is: that face is un-get-over-able. Oh but I missed writing about the best part of the whole day! That beautiful moment when I locked the keys in my car. It's gotta happen to everyone right? Well folks, today was my day. I was stressed out and I'm sure I was quite the little irritable cup of bitterness for a little while (which I now feel bad about), but then this little voice popped into my head and just said, "It will all be okay soon, but for now, just laugh about it." So I tried listening. I just laughed about it and told the girls that breaking into my car was the last adventure of the day. We just had to mark it off the list. So we went home, grabbed the necessary supplies for breaking into a car (I am not going to tell you what those necessities are because I am in no wise promoting auto-theft), and headed back to my car. For a good thirty minutes we tried everything. Nothing worked. We laughed, but seriously, I was getting impatient. Till finally, in the snap of a finger, we got in. Just like that. Today I have learned so many lessons, truly. A very wise man once told me, "Sometimes God doesn't answer your prayer right away. He lets you struggle for as long as possible and necessary. But He never waits longer than He needs to. He is NEVER a moment too late." And that's really what popped into my mind as I grew impatient after many prayers were offered to get us out of the situation. As silly as the situation, it is a valuable lesson for when you really are waiting a long time on a prayer. I am now home, with good ole Davey back in the garage and I couldn't feel more at peace. So, after this long little entry, I give to you a recipe that I really like, named after our adventure today, (where I felt like a gran auto-theft criminal) Thefty Lentil Wrap.


Ingredients

• whole wheat tortilla (warmed)
• 1 cup of sprouted lentils (for sprouting instructions, scroll to the bottom of the entry)
• 1/4 cup of orange, red, or yellow bell peppers, finely chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons of onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of cilantro chopped
• 1 tablespoon of lime juice
• a couple slice of avocado
• 1-2 tablespoons of hummus
• 2-3 teaspoons of chopped jalapeno (optional. in other words, if you're bold)
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large zip-lock baggy, combine sprouted lentils, bell peppers, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and optional jalapeno. Shake the bag. Taste and add lime juice as preferred. Same with sea salt and pepper
2. Warm the tortilla on a skillet or using the microwave.
3. Spread the hummus onto the middle of the tortilla. Spread it pretty thin because it layers up when you fold the tortilla.
4. On top of the hummus, spread desired amount of lentil mixture.
5. Top with avocado
6. Fold the wrap
7. If you have left over lentil mixture, throw it in a freezer baggy and toss it in the freezer for later.
8. Note to self: Make sure your car keys are in your hand before you shut your door. :D

How to Sprout Lentils

• Place desired amount of dry lentils in a large bowl of water.
• Let soak overnight
• Drain the lentils in a strainer and rinse the lentils thoroughly.
• Place a towel under the strainer and shake the strainer to get rid of excess water.
• Keep the towel under the strainer, and keep the lentils in room temperature for 24-36 hours.
• Shake the lentils in the strainer whenever you can as you help them dry quicker.
• You should see a pretty good little tail sprouting out of the lentil beans after 36 hours.
• You can always freeze whatever you don't use. They become great as salad toppers, side veggies, or a base grain for a dish.

2 Below Salad

So I am going to write about the day I made this salad because I am a little behind and didn't write about it. The day before, I had planned to go "hard core hiking" with Taryn, my crazy varsity cross country friend. I was totally down for it because I didn't really feel like running that day and the weather was beautiful. When I woke up in the morning, I decided to look at the weather on my phone to see how much I should bundle up. To my pure amusement, it read -2 degrees (Fahrenheit). Not 2 degrees I beg you, -2 degrees. Gah! And the funny thing is, you would think that seeing that would make me want to call off the hike but it didn't. I still wanted to go. So I just bundled up and headed to the canyon. When we started hiking, I was warm, all but my nose. We made it a half mile up the canyon, which was actually a pretty steep incline ( or at least I felt like) and then we rested in a large, beautiful, snow covered meadow that overlooked the mouth of the canyon. We were really excited thinking we had gone at least two and half miles, but when we read the sign that we were only half a mile from the trail head, we kind of felt defeated. We were going to continue until we came to a mutual agreement that it was the last day of break, and we could work hard the following week. So we sat in the snow and talked for at least a good thirty minutes. Then that night, I made a salad because I was craving those little green things. Yup. You can say it, that word is allowed on my blog. VEGETABLES! Here is my "2 Below" salad appropriately named for the frigid cold. Just for your info, I could NOT feel my fingers after the hike. Note to self: gloves were invented for the use of smart people. Ok, here we go folks:



Ingredients

• 2 cups of spinach, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of corn kernels
• 1/2 cup of black beans
• 1/2 small zucchini, chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped

For dressing:

• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• salt & pepper to taste

In a large freezer bag combine chopped vegetables. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small dish. Pour the dressing into the large freezer bag. Shake it like a wild woman (or man)! Either serve right away or refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. Bon Appetite! Or since this is more of a Mexican flavored dish,

¡Salud!

Kyndal's Peanut Butter

So the cat is out of the bag! Yes I do make my own peanut butter. My friends find this wildly amusing for some reason and I just laugh at them while I enjoy a delicious peanut butter sandwich with creamy, homemade, fresh ground peanut butter. Ever since I was little and was a curious little fella, I took a look at the ingredients of peanut butter and it disturbed me. Don't do it! I promise you will be scarred for life. Or maybe not because you aren't crazy and you love Jiffy. Thats always cool too. Anyways, bottom line is I have always just wanted peanuts in my peanut butter. I always thought peanut butter was just in fact that, peanuts, all of course until that dreadful day! So somewhere along the way I discovered the beauty of fresh ground peanut butter. Try it if you are a PB fan and you don't like numerous scary, unpronounceable ingredients in your body....or try it just because you trust me and my deliciousness expertise. Or don't try it at all if you want to kill the peanut butter party dream I have going on here. Ya know. Whatever I guess.  If that's your kind of thing to do than go ahead. But for the rest of you! Here it is:


So for those of you who do not have some type of a low blade blender or a food processor (I have even found that coffee bean grinders work!), I am terribly sorry for getting you excited about this peanut butter because I don't know of any other way for you to make it without. Props to you if you figure out a way.


So this is my nifty little grinder. Its kind of like a knock-off Bullet. It works great for this. Like I said, I'm sure a food processer would work or even a low blade blender.

Ingredients:

• unsalted, roasted peanuts
• honey/agave
• dash of sea salt

For a mini blender (like mine)
1. I usually only grind about 1/2 cup of peanuts at a time. So place 1/2 cups of peanuts in your blender

2. Blend and let the peanuts grind.

3. Once it become finely ground and starts sticking together, stop blending, and shake around the container until a peanut ball forms. (If it doesn't form yet, it hasn't been grinding long enough)

4. Blend again and let it grind until you can see the creamy part "whipping" around.

5. Let it continue to blend into a creamy mixture for another thirty seconds, just to be sure to that it is nice and creamy.

6. Once it is done, scoop out the peanut butter into a dish orTupper-ware and stir in 1 tablespoon of honey or agave.

7. Continue this process until you have the desired amount of peanut butter that you need.

For a Food Processer:

I don't actually have one but I am sure that this will work if you do it this way.

1. Place 2 cups of peanuts in the bowl of the food processor
2. Turn it on high speed
3. Let the peanuts grind and process together until you have a smooth consistency
4. Stir in 1/4 cups of honey or agave

(if someone tries the food process method, please comment and let me know how it turns out. I imagine that it would work just as great if not better)

Note to everyone!
**Store the peanut butter in the fridge!!!**

 

Route 66 Cupcakes ( Lemon with Blueberry topping )

As we speak, or more like as you read, I am coming back from Christmas vacation. Woo! Road trip! Wanna play a game? Its called guess what Kyndal sees. Ok go!....c’mon. You can do it. I will give you a hint. I am currently in Wyoming. Yes! You got it! I see sagebrush, dirt, hills, sagebrush, tumbleweeds, snow, and sagebrush. Ya okay so there is not a lot out here but it really is kinda pretty in its own unique little way. The break was really nice but like always, its gone before you can even remember what you did, or rather if you did anything at all. So in two days, its back to school. Sounds enticing huh? Well I plan on making cupcakes when I get home because my close friend, Jade, had her birthday on Christmas Eve and we (her friends and I) are celebrating when I get home! So what more justifiable thing to do than to make cupcakes. So when I get home and come up with this recipe, I will take a picture and post the recipe along with this post. I already have a name so that’s one less thing I have to worry about. After I am done with my road trip, I will make Route 66 cupcakes. (Even though I am not really on Route 66, but hey! It’s a cute name right?) Oh, and Happy New Year! I hope your year is filled with improvement and joy.

Ok so here is the deal. The cake batter I made was super super good. But the icing, or more like stuff on top, wasn't AS good. Together they tasted amazing so I will give you the "blueberry topping" recipe anyways, but don't judge if you personally don't like it. And it takes a long time to make, so I won't be offended if you decided to just make the cake. But PLEASE! Try the lemon cake.

*makes 12 cupcakes or 1 cake in a 8" round pan*
(I got the cake recipe idea from graciouspantry.com)
Lemon Cake Ingredients:

• 1 Cup whole wheat pastry flour + 2 tablespoons
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon grape seed oil or safflower oil
• 3/4 Cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 Cup agave
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• zest of two lemons
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

Blueberry Topping Ingredients:

• 1 small(about 5 oz.) package of blueberries
• 1/4 Cup sugar choice (natural sugar cane, palm coconut sugar, turbinado sugar, etc.)
• 1/2 Cup cold water + 1 tablespoon corn starch (divided)
• 8 ounces of plain Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoons agave
• 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Lemon Cake instructions
Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients. If it seems super runny, stir in an additional 1-2 tablespoons of flour. Spoon in the batter into cupcake cups, filling it 3/4 the way full. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes.


Blueberry Topping Instructions
Okay here we go. Place the blueberries in a blender and pulse until the blueberries are slightly liquefied (don't let it get to a soupy consistency. Make sure there are still blueberry chunks). Mix together the blueberries and the sugar in a small bowl. Transfer the blueberries and sugar into a small saucepan, heated on medium-high. Once the blueberries start to bubble, reduce the heat to low-medium. Let it simmer for twenty minutes, stirring frequently. In the last five minutes of the simmering, stir 1/2 tablespoon of corn starch into 1/4 cups of cold water. Once it is dissolved, stir the corn starch mixture into the simmering blueberry mixture. Stir frequently until the mixture has thickened. While the sauce is thickening, stir together the yogurt, agave, and vanilla. After the blueberries have thickened, stir in the yogurt mixture into the saucepan with the blueberries. Let this mixture simmer for another fifteen minutes. In the last five minutes, repeat the corn starch steps with another 1/4 cup water and 1/2 tablespoon corn starch. Stir into the blueberry mixture and let thicken once again. Once it has thickened, transfer the mixture into a bowl and chill in the fridge for thirty minutes or more. Then, once you cupcakes are done baking, top with desired amount of blueberry topping.

I hope hope hope that all made sense. I promise I will be better about preparing recipes and only posting ones that I know for sure you may like. But I will say that the blueberry taste and lemon taste compliment each other pretty well. Enjoy your New Years and enjoy your cupcakes.