Chocolate Surprise Easter Eggs

I'm really proud of myself right now because I actually got something done early.  My kids' Easter baskets are ready for next Sunday, and are currently hiding in a storage bin in the garage.  (All except the chocolate eggs I just made which are hiding in the fridge.)

My kids recently discovered a video on youtube of a person opening chocolate eggs to reveal a surprise toy inside.   My littlest one watches it and says "chocolate egg, chocolate egg!"  Funny how such an odd video is entertaining to them.  But when I saw how much she liked it I was determined to get her a chocolate surprise egg of her own to open for Easter.  They were quite expensive to buy online so I decided it would be fun to try making them myself!

I ordered this egg mold on amazon.  It's much bigger than the little egg in the video but I wanted to be sure I'd find a toy to fit inside.   All you need is an egg shaped mold, chocolate, and a toy small enough to fit inside your egg.

Simply melt your chocolate and spread it around inside the egg mold.  I think this would have been easier if I had a single egg mold.  It was actually quite tricky to get them all filled evenly.  I ended up putting it in the fridge to harden and then doing another layer since the first was quite thin.

Once the chocolate is hardened pop them out of the mold.
Place your toy inside and glue it back together with more chocolate around the edges.  Mine were a little messy but I'm sure the kids won't mind!

I chose to wrap the eggs in foil since I wanted them to be able to unwrap them like the eggs they saw in the video.  I decorated the foil and tied it in string.  I can't wait to see them open these next weekend!


If you need another Easter idea check out this older post for resurrection buns!

Baby Turban Headband

I have been searching for a tutorial on making some cute trendy turban headbands for my baby girl, but I have yet to find one that's simple enough for someone as lazy as I am.  So I finally decided to figure it out myself.  My older daughter had a cute printed H&M dress that had a hole in it so I decided I'd use that for the headband.

I cut a wide strip of fabric from the dress.

Fold it in half to cover up most of the under side of the fabric.

Twist it in a figure-8.

And fold it over.

Then put on cute baby's head.  :)

Vegan Noodle Soup & Cinnamon Rolls!

I haven't been posting my recipes lately but we've had a few good ones.

I made a stir fry using tofu cubes, veggies, edamame, and soyaki sauce.  I made some brown Jasmin rice and topped it with the stir fry.  Very delicious!

My daughter had her 2 front teeth pulled and was on a soft food diet so I decided to make soup.  Instead of chicken noodle soup I used cubes of baked tofu.  I just have to say don't knock tofu until you've had baked tofu!  I marinated it in the teriyaki sauce before baking, and it was so delicious we couldn't stop eating it! I used this recipe for the baked tofu and the soup.  Except I don't like celery so I left it out and added in green beans.

I can't believe in all my years of baking and my love for cinnamon rolls I have never made them from scratch.  Until I found this super simple recipe... and it just happens to be vegan!  It's from my favorite blog, the minimalist baker, of course.  I will definitely make these again, even when I'm not eating strictly vegan.

Creamy (vegan) Pasta - Day 6 - (plus breakfast ideas)

During the week we basically have oatmeal, cereal, or toast with fruit for breakfast, but on weekends I always try to make a nice hot breakfast.
Saturday morning I made this vegan french toast.  Top it with a little vegan butter and maple syrup and yum... just yum.
Sunday I mashed up some tofu and made scrambled "eggs." I cooked some papas (fried diced potatoes) and soyrizo. Soyrizo is the soy version of chorizo. Most of my carnivorous family uses it in place of chorizo regularly because it's delicious!  We made breakfast burritos using the tofu, soyrizo, and potatoes.

Tonight I made this easy and amazingly delicious pasta and roasted veggies. I used butternut squash, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts... I love me some roasted veggies!  I just loved this pasta recipe because it's so much lighter and healthier than making creamy pasta with actual cream and butter.  Also minimalist baker is pretty much my favorite site for vegan recipes.

Topped it with capers and paired it with my favorite Chard... This dinner is a winner.

Painted Pumpkins - Easy Alternative to Carving

Pretty much the entire month of October has been sweltering hot here.  And I've had no time or energy to carve pumpkins or do any fall activities.

I kept promising to take my kids to the pumpkin patch so today I finally came through on my promise.  We first drove to the grocery store to get pumpkins at a fraction of the cost of the ones at the patch. (Sorry I'm too cheap to spend $10/ pumpkin). Then we went and played at the pumpkin patch by our house.  They have a little petting area for bunnies and goats at Giordano Farms.

The past few years I have carved the pumpkins.  But it's honestly just so much work for me, and I don't think any of us enjoy it.  So today I decided to have the kids paint their pumpkins.  There are so many cute ideas online!  I was lazy so we just used what we had on hand.  I put the blue painter's tape on their pumpkins to form the first letter of their names.  Then they just painted all over however they wanted. 

Peel the painter's tape off and you're done!

I wanted to do something cute on Jael's pumpkin so I decided to paint it Minnie Mouse theme to match her costume.  

I first spray-painted the whole thing red. Then I used black paint on the stem.  And I made spots on it using white acrylic paint.

I painted a "J" for her name with black paint.  Then tied a ribbon around the stem.  It turned out cute!

This is such a fun alternative to carving pumpkins... Next year I want to try the glow-in-the-dark paint!

My Book Addiction/ Reading Challenge

I have an addiction... to buying books.  Not necessarily to reading them.  But when I find a book at a great price that I may at some point in my life want to read well of course I have to buy it... right?  Right.  Well when they're $.50 at the library how can I pass that up?  Don't get me wrong, I love to actually read books too.  The problem is I'm much more inclined to read an ebook these days because it's convenient most of the time: in the dark, at night, while nursing, on my phone, and on my new iPad mini (thanks, Honey).  

Side note: You can download free ebooks from the library on the Overdrive app.

Anyway I have about 1 million physical books I need to read, and I'm finally making a point to start reading them.  Now, I will probably still be reading ebooks at times when it's inconvenient to read a book, like at 2 AM when I'm nursing and trying not to wake my husband.  But my goal is to read one physical book per month that I ALREADY own.

For October I've already begun reading The Red Tent so I will finish that.

I will take this challenge one month at a time in deciding which to read next. But trust me, I have plenty to chose from.

Just a few books from my collection

Vegan Baked Potatoes & Salad (Day 2)

This may sound boring and bland, but I can guarantee my tastebuds were not bored tonight at dinner.

A few weeks ago I learned a new method of baking potatoes from one of my favorite shows, America's Test Kitchen.  I've been wanting to try it, and I thought tonight would be a great opportunity.  But when I think of baked potatoes I think butter, cheese, sour cream, and bacon... None of which are vegan. :(

Luckily the baked potato recipe came with a rosemary, garlic butter recipe as well.  I figured I could sub in vegan butter for real butter.  But instead of heading to the store for vegan butter after school pick-up like I should have I went home to take a nap with baby.  Because I was tired... Oh so tired.

After my refreshing nap with Baby J we got our vegan butter, but the potatoes didn't get into the oven until 6 PM.  And we were all starving at that point.  So I improvised and whipped up some bruschetta on toast as an appetizer.

I was in a hurry so I put the garlic in totally raw, but you can sauté it in olive oil first.  Sorry this is not a real recipe since I didn't measure a thing.
I just chopped some Romas
Added some minced garlic
Added some thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
Splashed in a some olive oil and balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
Toast some sourdough with olive oil and spoon the bruschetta on top

One of the first things in my fridge I checked for non-vegan ingredients was my Girard's Light Champagne salad dressing.  Thankfully it passed the test, and it was great on our salad tonight.
Salad ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce
Cucumbers
Avocado
Shredded Carrot
Black Olives
Raw Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds

The Baked Potato method and butter recipe did not disappoint.  Seriously the fluffiest baked potato I've ever made and probably the most delicious with the butter.

Ingredients:
4 - 6 Russet Potatoes - washed and patted dry - depending on size (I made 6 small)
2 1/2 cups kosher salt
1 head garlic, top sliced off
2 - 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 teaspoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter (or Earth Balance Vegan butter)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450. Put salt in a 9x13 pan.  Press the potatoes into the salt, making sure they're not touching.  Place the 2 sprigs of rosemary and garlic (cut side up) into the pan
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hr.

Remove the pan and take out garlic head.  Brush the potatoes with the olive oil and place back in the oven for 15 min on 500.

Squeeze the garlic head into the butter.  Chop up about half of that additional rosemary sprig and combine it with the butter and garlic.

Serve the baked potatoes with the garlic butter mixture.

A seriously amazing dinner I would make again (vegan or not)!