Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

These muffins are a staple in my house.  They taste like heaven and we all love them.

This is one of those very rare recipes where I didn't change a thing from the original.  So.....all I'm going to do here is provide a link to the wonderful website where these muffins originated.  Take some time to browse the site as you won't believe the wonderful articles and clean recipes you'll find!!
http://detoxinista.com/2012/10/pumpkin-spice-muffins-grain-free/

Homemade Granola Bars

 This is a fabulous recipe that my kids ask me to make every week, if not more!  It's awesome because you can make them chewy or crunchy based on your preference and how long you cook them.  I love them chewy but my gals prefer crunchy because they resemble a more store bought taste.

Recipe adapted from Superhealthykids.com

Ingredients:

2 cups oats (not quick oats.....the real kind!)
1 tsp raw stevia powder (not really necessary.  I don't always add this)
1 cup sprouted whole wheat flour (sprouted grains are much easier to digest)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raw organic honey or maple syrup
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup raw coconut flakes
Optional 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together.  Stir well.  The mix will be very crumbly.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and press the mix into the pan.  This will take a little doing.  I use a small cut of parchment paper to help me push the mixture down without sticking to my hands.  Press until the crumbly dough has formed with the pan.

Bake at 325 for 20 minutes (or until edges are brown) for a crisp granola bar or 12 - 14  minutes for a softer bar.  Remove from oven and let cool about 10 minutes.  Remove from the pan by lifting by the parchment paper and cut into squares with a pizza cutter or just a big, sharp knife.  

Store in a closed container in your pantry for up to 2 weeks or in your fridge for several weeks.  

**Sometimes I remove the bars from the oven, cut a few and take them out (because I like them soft!) and then cook the remainder a little longer for my crispy bar lovin' kids.

Cashew Milk

This milk is light and delicious.  It's perfect for my homemade granola or just a quick snack all on it's own.

1 cup cashews
4 cups filtered water
2 tbps maple syrup or honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Soak cashews for at least 2 - 3 hours to soften up.  Drain the soaked water then add the cashews and all other ingredients to your high powered blender.  Blend until smooth, about 2 - 3 minutes.  Pour into a lovely, handmade pottery pitcher (I know a great place to get one!!) and refrigerate until cool.

All done!

Clean Eating.

I love good food.  I think food is medicine and God gave us all we need to cure our illnesses in terms of food, herbs, plants, etc.  We've just gotten so far away from them that we have forgotten what helps what.  I certainly don't know but I wish I did.  

Unfortunately, food is different these day.  There's lots of chemicals, genetically modified veggies and grains (gmo's) and all kinds of crap shot into our meat to make it plumpy.  It's sooooo yuk.  It's ruining all our glorious food that I love so very much.  And a lot of this stuff is addictive so you end up eating more than you really want and then craving it later.  It's giving us all sorts of diseases and just flat out makes us feel bad.  It makes me angry every day!!!

After we realized that gmo's and food additives were making my youngest daughter super sick (read all about that here)  I decided something had to give.   I refused to believe that this is just how things were and there was nothing I could do about it.  I started reading food labels and researching what all those words were that I couldn't pronounce.  I started researching how to make all the store bought things that my kids loved so I could make them from scratch and know exactly what was going into them.    I HAD to know what was going into our food.  I HAD to know where my ingredients were being sourced from and I HAD to know it was clean or it just wasn't coming into my home.  I refuse to get  sick or allow my family to get sick.....even if they didn't feel sick yet.  Something would be coming down the pike eventually if I didn't prevent it now.

I read and learned and kept searching for answers.......and although there is much, much, MUCH more to learn.....I found some alternatives.  I used to make bread with nut flours and rice flour, etc.  But, nuts tend to be too hard on my delicate little tummy and all the other gluten free flours tasted icky to me or they contained xanthum gum, another chemical, to replace the gluten.

So......I started hunting down what kinds of flour was used before all this gmo madness.  And I found that sprouted, whole grain flours sourced from non-gmo farmers did just fine with our tummies because apparently sprouted grains have half the gluten content.  We switched to goat milk because it is easier to digest.  Unfortunately, if you look at the ingredients in all the rice, almond, hemp, etc. milks....they contain stuff you don't want in your body (unless you make it yourself).  

I won't go down the whole list of what I found but I can say that, seriously folks.....if it's worth eating.....there's not much you can't make from scratch.  We've made our own granola bars (recipe coming soon), cereal, protein balls, hot chocolate (with goat milk and dark chocolate), our own chocolate bars, graham crackers, marshmallows (yes, marshallows!!!)......and the list goes on.  I try to add all the recipes to this blog but I forget....and you know....life gets in the way but I add things as my girls call them successes!  

So, my point in this whole crazy post is that it can be done.  We are not slaves to the food industry.  Alternatives can be found so we can eat what we love without all the crap that our bodies don't love.  It's possible.  And your body will eventually thank you for it.

Let me also say this.....we snack on a lot more raw fruits and veggies, now, too.....which is a heck of a lot more important than anything I bake.  But, the point is....we have a nice, plethora of options for both, now.  I always prefer my kids eat a fruit snack but I can rest easy knowing the granola bar they are noshing on is clean, too.  

Now......if there's anything you or your kiddos love to eat but the ingredients are so, freaking bad in the store bought version......shoot me an email and let's see if we can get back to basics and make a 'scratch' version that's still super fun to eat and easy on the tummy.  I'll take that challenge!

Bring it on.

A Daring Adventure.....

'Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.'       Helen Keller

9 years ago, I spawned a fearless kid.  A wild little thing that would jump down a flight of stairs......run to you at full speed to give hugs and knock you over (when she was 2!).......jump off 20 foot rocks into a lake and pose for a photo as she was falling (when she was 4).    Fearless.

She's also a bull in a china shop.  And she bores easily.  So if you take her shopping, you'd better have snacks and electronics.  If she sees a ball, you better believe there will be no 'what happens if I do this' thinking.  Something in her just instinctively goes and kicks it......as hard as she can........no matter how closed in the space might be.  


I also have never met a person, old or young, with the tolerance for pain that this kid has.  She was never without a bruise, a cut, a black eye, a bloody lip.  The big joke in our house is that she could cut off her leg accidentally (bull in a china shop....remember?) and then drag herself and her bloody stump outside saying, 'It's meerly a flesh would.....I'm off to go swimming!'

Physically....this kid scared me to death.  Always into something.

Sigh.

Until........

Molly got sick, as many of you know, and no doctor could help us figure things out.  She had severe tummy aches every day.  She threw up without warning.  She missed school or I would have to pick her up mid-day.  She laid in bed......and cried......a lot.   


We took her off gluten and dairy to no avail.  Had allergy tests galore and was finally told she needed to be put under for a scope......which scared me ever more.  We were all scared.  Really, really scared.

But then.....we figured it out.  GMO corn products were making my sweet little gal seriously ill.  We took them out of her diet......she got better.  Yes!!  End of problem, right?

Nope.

This kiddo can handle ANYTHING......except being sick.  All of a sudden, even though she was now better, being sick for nearly a year made her afraid of absolutely everything.  She developed fears of fire, water, germs, viruses, bad dreams......you name it. Everything was an enemy to her and something detrimental was always lurking right around the corner.   She scrutinized every piece of food that when into her mouth for fear she would get sick again.  She begged not to play sports because she was afraid she'd get hurt......because any form of hurt, she assumed, would make her physically sick again.

Who was this fear-filled kid?? She was not the do-or- die kid I spawned.  Her new fears made me angry.....not at her......at what it was that had changed her.  Grrrrrr.......


As much as this 'bull in a china shop' kid used to drive me nuts with her fearlessness and reckless behavior.......this child that Molly had become was not the person she truly was.  It was not who she was going to be able to stay and still be happy in life.  It simply was not my child.

So......we stepped in.  I taught her to read food labels so she wouldn't be in the dark about what to eat and what not to eat.   And, I watched as she took charge of her food issue.  And then I watched as she experimented with foods to see how her body reacted and how, when she decided she's had too much 'junk food',  she'd refuse anything else that might be bad for her tummy.   She was in no way going to let herself get sick again.

Kevin signed her up for soccer and made her do it.  And, we watched as she ran slowly, slowly, slowly for the ball......constantly asked the coach to pull her out or let her play goalie.......and then become the kid who ran over other kids to get to the ball (although she always stopped to help them up)  and even scored in most games she played in.  I heard a  man behind me once comment to his wife, 'I love to watch that kid when she gets the ball'.  Me too!!!!

Slowly, slowly, slowly......she got closer to the fearless little bull in a china shop we all know and love.  She started taking risks again. She started running as fast as she could without being afraid she would fall.  She would even try bites of food that perhaps she shouldn't indulge in......but knew one little taste wouldn't hurt.

Ah.......serious progress.

I'm so proud of that little rat.  My spunky, happy, crazy, fearless, do-or-die kid.  Who just happened to break her arm during soccer camp.......and insisted on finishing out the camp!  

Got my girl back.

"Daring Adventure" print available by clicking here.

Life from Death.

There was a time I was the most negative person you would ever meet.  You say the glass is half full?  I would say the water had floaters in it.  You say ‘what a beautiful world’?  I would say the world is going to hell in a hand basket.  You say every cloud has a silver lining?  I would say clouds suck.  They just suck.

But, I’ve grown up a lot in the past few years.  Being a mom and a wife has matured me.  Learning how to be a good friend and having awesome ladies want to be friends with me has humbled me a bit.  Watching myself age has helped me prize more solid, lasting things in life.   I notice beauty where I would have overlooked it before.  I see the silver lining.  I see the beautiful world.  I see the glass as half full (even when there are floaters)! 

But, there are days……..

I’m not sure people completely change.  Even though I’ve gotten better about many things, the old way of thinking is still there, egging me on…..waiting how I will respond……wondering if I will cave or fight.

Most of the time, I choose to cowboy up and fight.  What?  The kids won’t eat the organic, super healthy muffins I baked that are totally allergen free??  No worries.  The dog thinks they’re stellar.  What??  I gained a few pounds even though I’m busting my arse doing Crossfit 4 times a week?  No worries.  It just makes me look curvy.  What??  The Athleta shirt I paid a million bucks for just got a hole in it after 2 wears?  No worries.  Molly was asking for material to practice sewing with.    What??  The fig trees I’ve been trying to grow for 9 years still are only a foot high and have never given a solitary, single, teeny, tiny, fig?  Um……

This is a sore spot for me.  Apparently, you can’t kill a fig tree…..or so says a ton of people I’ve talked to.  ‘They can grow anywhere in any soil”!  Well.  Maybe.  But not Feighery soil. 

I know it sounds sooooooo stupid…….but I hate those effing fig trees. With a passion.  With every fiber of my being.  Those fig trees  threaten every bit of positive progress I’ve made as an adult.  Every step forward I make into the world of maturity, those stinkin’ trees mock and poopoo on.   I hate them.  I want to kill them!!  But…….I want figs more.  So……I suffer.  I compost.  I even put stinking poop on them because someone said it would work.  So far…..it just makes the trees (and I use the word ‘tree’ loosely.  More like ‘half-dead shrubbery’) smell like poo.  That’s it.

In my utter and desperate frustration, about 2 months ago, I prayed over my dying, ugly, sad little trees.  ‘God……PLEASE LET ME SEE LIFE COME FROM THIS DEATH!!!!’

Okay……dramatic…..I know.  But, you don’t understand how these trees mock me.  MOCK me.

And I waited.  And I watched.  And I waited.  And I watched.  And I waited.  And I……well, you get the point. 

Not a darn thing has happened yet.  Nada.  Nothing.

But…….

One day I was out pulling weeds when I noticed a new little growth next to the steps just outside our screened in porch.  I bent down to commence violently ripping this new life sucking weed out of my lovely mulch when……I stopped.  It was so cute.  I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t destroy this sweet little ‘weed’.  It was tiny and helpless and……cute!  Something told me to let it live.  So……I did. 

It started to grow.  And grow.  And grow.  And……you get the point.  Soon it became clear that this not-so-little-anymore ‘weed’ was a vine.  And, even though I still didn’t know what it could be……I continued to let it grow.  I even gave it a trellis to climb.  I figured….hell…..can’t grow figs.  But I sure can grow an accidental climbing weed!

Then, I noticed another growing on the other side of the steps.  Strange, I thought.  2 bizarre but pretty climbing vines growing on either side of my steps…..perfectly symmetrical.  So…..again….I let it grow.

But, then……one morning…….wondering what the heck this totally thriving vine could possibly be……. Oh, horror!!  Was this thing…..KUDZU???  No!!!  Not kudzu!!!  Kudzu takes over everything!!  It kills!  It never goes away!!  Must…..kill…..it!!! 

So, I high tail it outside to grab that death weed out of the ground, burn it and bury the ashes when…………I saw something.  Purple.  I saw purple.  A lovely shade of purple.  A sweet, lovely, simple little…..flower. 

My ‘kudzu’ turned out to be morning glory.  A lovely, flowering vine that grows like wildfire and is absolutely gorgeous.  And…..the coolest thing about it is…..the flowers only open in the morning.  By mid-morning, they close back up again until the next day. 

Every morning I come out on the porch about 6:00 a.m. to have my coffee.  And everyday, there are more and more purple flowers slowly opening to welcome the sunshine.  And every morning, without fail, I sit and watch a single honey bee flit from flower to flower, shaking the flower and emerging completely covered in pollen.  I love it.  It makes my morning.  And even though the plant on the other side of the porch has no flowers yet, it grows at least 2-3 inches a day.  It’s coming.  Those flowers are coming.

And guess what has happened with my fig trees during the  time I’ve been distracted by the morning glory on either side of my porch?  Guess!! You’ll never guess!!  Okay, okay…..I’ll tell you.

Nothing.  Not a freaking thing.  Nada.  They are still lifeless, little mocking green bushes.  They hate me.  I hate them.

But…….those morning glories.  In their place there used to be 2 little swirly pine tress that died and we cut them down.  So…….life from death?   Oh, yes.  I think so.

The most amazing thing I love about God is……He gives us just what we need, just when we need it.  He is amazing.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  And in the bible when it talks about how we don’t get what we ask for because we ask with the wrong motives……that we don’t even know what we really want because we don’t know our own hearts…….and when we do ask for the desire of our hearts….truly and sincerely ask……He honors that.  Even if it takes us a while to see the beautiful answer to that prayer.

Now…..did I want morning glory flowers on either side of my steps and not figs?  I’m not sure.  But what I do know is that I asked for ‘life from death’…….and those morning glories are just that.  They aren’t figs.  But I get sooooo much enjoyment from them.  So much more than eating a fig!!  I love them.  I can’t wait to watch them open every morning.  I love seeing that little bee flit from flower to flower covered in flower pollen.  I love seeing a new flower bud that’s 2 days away from emerging…….It’s  a reminder that God’s mercie, grace is and love are new every morning.

Life from death.  And that’s good enough for me.

'Unicorns Last Dance' is available for purchase at Sanctuary of Davidson for $650.00.

And if you are curious as to what a morning glory looks like........

God is good.  All the time.

The Measure of a Man.

How does one measure the worth of a man?  Is it assigned?  Gifted?  Earned? Is it based upon my own perception of myself?  Other’s perceptions?   And am I still worthy and valuable even when I don’t feel it?  

I’ve fell into that terrible trap of deciding my own value based on the world around me.  I deem myself worthy or valuable based upon how much of my art sells.  How many compliments I get on it.  How much my husband likes it.  Or I base it on how much better I become on the banjo or how often I get asked to play (yes….I play the banjo.  NOT well!)   I sponsor, coordinate and host art crawls on the sidewalks of the Historic, lovely, Downtown Davidson sidewalks and I build my confidence on how many people turn out.  How many artists show. How the artists/customers rate the show.  How much press we receive.

And on and on and on.

I build my value on such things.  I base my worth.  It decides my likability. my necessity, my very essence as a human being on this earth.

Sound dramatic?   Maybe.  But such is life.  ‘Do they like what I do?  If so….that means they like ME!  I have value!!’

Oh, dear.

I can’t remember ever being any different.  But, that doesn’t mean I believe all this crap is true.  I know it’s all a lie I tell myself.  I let it get into my head, I entertain it and at some point, as always……I crash and burn from it.  Whether letting myself believe my success induced high translate into an ego trip or whether my crash and burn event puts me in a fetal position pity party, nursing my broken arrogance. 

I don’t think it’s okay that I base my worth on a single event or even a series of events.  But, it happens.  I get serious high or low based on such things and then at some point I have to force myself to take a good hard look in the mirror and say, ‘What the heck??  Get a grip, Keene!   (that’s my maiden name and what my brain still calls me).  Move it or lose it!  Stop being an arrogant ass and get living!'

So…I get a grip and I get living.  I remind myself for the millionth time that my worth is based on much, much more than my accomplishments or lack thereof.  My worth is determined by what’s inside me.  How I was created and who I was created by.  By how much I love and how much of myself I give.  How I use the talents God has given me to better the world around me, whether it’s saving a planet or loving 2 silly, little girls who make my life worth living. Because truth be told, my worth was given to me before I was born.  Before I did a single thing with my life.  And yes, I’ll have to remind myself of that a million more times.  But so long as I keep reminding…..I’m getting somewhere.

Life is good.  I am worth more than a bushel and a peck (if you are from Kentucky, you know that’s a crazy amount of awesomeness).  And so are you.   Even when we crash and burn.  Even when things are dreary.  Even when things are lovely.  Worth does not go up and down.  It stays consistent, even when we don’t.  

And that’s a fact.