Homemade Potpourri - EASY!

I'm not the first to come up with this idea, but my house smells so yummy, so I just had to share!  I had peeled some oranges for lunch and was about to throw away the peels, but then I thought, "I don't want to waste them!"  So, I grabbed half, threw them in my small saucepan and added the following:

About 1 cup water
2 Cinnamon sticks
several allspice balls

And bodda-bing, bodda boom!  I have my very own potpourri made from things I had on hand already.  I set it on the stove top and kept the heat low.  It only took a few moments for it to smell wonderful! The only problem is that it smells like something yummy is baking.  lol  Later on I will be baking Greg's birthday cake, so it will smell yummy again!  (A side note: you may need to add more water, depending on how long you want to heat your potpourri.)

Have you ever made your own potpourri and what did you use?

The Whole Treat

Hi friend, how are you doing today?  I have a wonderful treat to share with you, but this one does not require a recipe. It does however require a good knife and a bit of extra chopping time.  Wanna know what it is?

This!

My dinner tonight.

A few years ago, a friend of mine challenged me to eat whole.  No, I don't mean to eat the whole pizza.  (Although accepting that challenge would be fun and exciting.) Eating whole means eating our food as unprocessed as possible.  Basically eating what God has made.  I remember how hard it was that first month, but after some real dedication, I actually started to crave spinach salad.  I would drool with anticipation as I was chopping up my dinners.  I felt healthy and energetic!  But, I became pregnant and when the cravings came, the eating whole left.

If you have been following me on my other blog, cheriwilliamson.blogspot.com, you know that I have been trying to lose my pregnancy weight. Well, I have become frustrated with trying to eat the right amount of calories, the right amount of carbs and so on.  So, I have decided to go back to what God has created. Fruits, veggies, seeds, grains, and yes, fish and meats.  (God made meat too!)  It's going to be HARD, but worth it. 

So, here's my treat for tonight.  I'm excited about all the good foods I will be enjoying now that I have decided to eat whole. I will be posting recipes here too using whole foods.  Have you ever tried eating whole before?  What are your thoughts about it?

PS.  I am planning on adding a protein snack later.  :)  Can't forget the protein!!

Trading vegetable oil for applesauce?

Have you ever tried substituting applesauce for oil?  I have never even heard of it before the other day.  I decided to try it in some muffins to see if it really works, and I was delighted to find that it does!

Here's the recipe for basic muffins. I added chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients to make chocolate chip muffins,  (Much to Chloe's delight) and of course swapped the oil out for 1/3 cup applesauce.

You'll mix all the dry ingredients first, plus the chocolate chips if you're adding those.  Then you will mix the wet ingredients and add it to the dry.  Mix only until moistened, don't over mix!  Fill your muffin tins about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way full and bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  If you want to make them super yummy, sprinkle some of this mixture over the top BEFORE baking.

3 T. sugar
2 T. brown sugar

                                                            
                                                              And here is the result:

I had a little trouble getting them out of my muffin tins, but that's not the receipes' fault.  I have one of those silicone muffin 'tins' and it doesn't work quite like it should.  Oh well.  They are super yummy anyway!  Now, what other recipes can I swap out the oil for?!