These Oatmeal Circles go fast in our house! Not only are they a great, healthy snack...but they also make a great breakfast for those days we have to leave the house early.
These circles are:
Vegan
White Refined Sugar free
Soy Free
These are good enough for you that i can't even call them cookies! It’s so fun learning about all of the ways to make things healthier without sacrificing taste or texture.
These cookies are a fabulous example of how you can make some simple changes to a recipe, making it much healthier, while keeping the effort and number of ingredients similar to the original.
In this case it’s mainly a matter of simple substitutions – oil instead of butter, a bit of flax instead of an egg, maple syrup instead of sugar, and the secret ingredient for keeping it moist yet cookie-like: a banana! (Don’t worry if you don’t like bananas, you don’t really taste it.)
Little Brother loved it straight from the bowl, and so did i-don't judge! I finally got the batter away from him and was able to portion them out.
I don't own a cookie sheet, however, the back of my cupcake pan worked great!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cups uncooked rolled oats
- 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
- About 3/4 of a medium banana
- 1/2 cup raisins (you could also add nuts or chocolate chips)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl – make sure to blend it well enough that there’s no chunks of banana.
Place rounded spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 7-10 minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from oven and let the cookies finish baking on the cookie sheet for about 5 more minutes.
Enjoy!
After drinking all the coconut water, we enjoyed the coconut meat!
If you're using or thinking of using cloth diapers, then you may also be using or planning to also use cloth wipes.There are so many benefits of cloth diapers, and you will see that many of the same benefits apply to cloth wipes:
Saving money
No harsh chemicals on your baby's skin
Cloth is nice and soft
They produce less waste, and that makes them better for the environment.
In the beginning i never intended to use cloth wipes. After a diaper rash on little brothers bottom that would not go away changed my mind. My first encounter with cloth wipes were in the form of a baby washcloth and soapy water.
Simple and Effective.
Not only was it really easy to just go to the sink and wet a washcloth, but little brother's bottom did a 360 in a matter of days. I was hooked.
They even cleaned better than commercial wipes. Best of all, i knew what was going on my baby's skin.
Things were going well, and eventually i moved away from the soapy solution in favor of just plain, pure H2O. There was one little problem though. Trips away from the house. Not wanting to venture too far away from a bathroom just in case i had to change a diaper, i had to think of something quick.
A spray bottle.
I filled a 4oz spray bottle with water and i was good to go! I've gotten more adventurous with the solutions, and the one in my bottle now is a blend of:
bottled water
witch hazel
lavender essential oil
peppermint essential oil
It smells so good, and i even use it as a body spray sometimes!
I've also upgraded from baby washcloths! I've used everything from:
old baby blankets, to those 1ply baby diapers.
I am now addicted, and will most likely stick with:
flannel and fleece!
They are so soft and absorbent and i wish i had tried them sooner!
I have not used store bought baby wipes in over a year. Not only did we save a ton of $$, but cloth wipes and wipe solutions are so much more fun!
So many colors and recipes you can play around with!
Also, if you are using cloth diapers, you will probably find that cloth wipes are easier to use than disposable wipes, just a quick rinse after an easy cleanup or just pop the used wipes into your diaper bucket and wash with the diapers. You are washing anyway, so what is a couple of extra items to hang out?
After our rainmaker project we had so much glitter all over! We got as much as possible back into the jar, but there was still quite a bit that just would not lift up! Sure, a vacuum would pick it up...but where's the fun in that!?
So, using some play-dough we had around, we used the extra glitter to make glitter play-dough! Just roll the play-dough over the glitter, and that's it! Pretty play-dough, and cleanup all in one!
I still needed to use my vacuum though :)
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Materials needed:
Tube container (i used a small Pringles can)
Nails
Rice and/or beans
Construction paper
Decorations
Glue
Stapler
Putting together your rainmaker:
Measure out a piece of construction paper to wrap around your tube, and decorate! We used some feathers, glitter and shape cut outs.
(This part is all Lei! I try to stay out of it as much as possible, and just sit on the side saying "oh, how pretty" and "Wow, that is so cool!" However when it comes to the stapling, i handle that part.)
Carefully hammer nails into the side of your tube...or do like Lei, and use a wooden puzzle peice as your hammer :)
We just put the randomly.
Then add your rice or beans...we added both! I didn't get a picture of this part, but we filled our can a little less than half, and i think that it was too much. You will probably get better results with less!
Wrap your decorated paper around your tube and staple to keep it in place. I found that stapling worked better than gluing since the head of the nails didn't allow the paper to stay flat enough to glue, and stay flat..
Glue or staple on lid, and your rainmaker is complete! Time to have fun, and enjoy!
Does anyone have any idea what type of flower (weed?) this is?
We have been seeing these a lot on our nature walks, and in yards. I've done a few searches, but i can't find anything!
Update:
Thanks to my dear friend Niki, Lei and i now know that this is a Shepard's Needle Flower. Definitely an addition to our nature journal.
Update:
Thanks to my dear friend Niki, Lei and i now know that this is a Shepard's Needle Flower. Definitely an addition to our nature journal.
