Healthy Monday...Paleo Butternut Squash Soup & Quinoa Sweet Potato Cakes

It's healthy Monday, so start your week out right. For all you Paleo eaters or helathy eaters here are two delicious recipes you need to try. They are so yummy! The quinoa cakes are delicious to cook with eggs the next morning. I have made them several times and recommend both recipes.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
2 stalk celery
2-3 tsp curry powder
4 cups diced butternut squash
4-6 cups vegetable broth (I used water)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp pure maple syrup (this was my first time buying pure maple syrup and you can definitely taste the difference. It doesn't have all the extra junk ingredients)
1 cup coconut milk

Saute the onions, celery and curry powder in olive oil until soft. Add the squash and broth. Cover the pot and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes. Next you'll puree the soup in a blender. Place it back in the pot and add the coconut milk and syrup. Season with salt and pepper.
The following day we had it for lunch and added cooked quinoa and it was really good!

Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes

2 medium baked sweet potatoes - skins discarded
2 cups cooked quinoa
1/3 cup onion
5 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 350
Cook your sweet potatoes until soft. Mash the potatoes in a bowl. Add all ingredients with the potatoes. Next you'll make your cakes and I just used my hands. Place on sprayed baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Next is the Avocado Lime Dressing that is amazing. You serve this on top of the cakes.

1 avocado
1 tbsp tahini, I used almond milk
1 tbsp olive oil
5-10 cilantro sprigs
juice of 1/2 lime

I blended this all together and refrigerated until ready to serve.

If this sounded tasty to you it's now time to make your grocery list, go to the grocery store and make it. You'll enjoy it!

I had pictures of both these recipes on my phone, but every single photo got deleted this past week. :-( I almost cried because there were 1700 photos and the majority were of Tru. So I'm sorry there's no pictures of the food. You'll have to try them out!

Crafty Thursday...Chaulk Painting

Em came to visit Tru and I and we had a weekend of crafting, making healthy recipes and refinishing our dining table and coffee table with chaulk paint. It was a great weekend. And of course we had tons of Tru time (our boy is named Tru).

Em brought her special brushes and soap and I ordered the chaulk paint and wax. No sanding was involved. All we did was paint the black table with the chaulk paint, let it dry and then sanded the corners and edges to make it look distressed and then we applied the dark wax. After that dried we buffed the entire table and then the distressed parts to show more. It takes about to weeks to cure and I buffed the top of the table a couple more times.
We did the same thing to a coffee table I bought on craigslist and it looks so much better!
The paint we used was called annie sloan. You can google annie sloan and find the nearest store that sells chaulk paint. I'm so pleased with the outcome and will do it again at some point. If I ever have time. :-) Having a baby takes up most my time, but it's so worth it.
It always feels good when you buy something used that's just okay, but you refinish it and love it. If you have any questions leave a comment!

Spring is here!

By the time spring finally rolls around I am so ready for the warm weather and to spend more time outdoors. We have been busy getting our garden ready and will be planting the rest of the vegetables later this week (after this last freeze, well hopefully last). It has been a lot of work, but we hope to have most of the vegetables we need for the summer coming right from our yard.

Here is the garden~

But there are two things that I am not very fond of in the springtime, including stormy weather (i.e. tornados) and spring cleaning.

We had the first taste of storms roll through today and we got some hail and crazy winds, but nothing terrible. Here is a picture of what it looked like when the storm was heading our way.

So now...about spring cleaning. I have a hard enough time keeping my house barely clean and making time to finish the laundry! Spring cleaning is always at the end of the to-do list. BUT I did purchase some new cleaning products that make me not hate cleaning as much. My good friend Alyce turned me on to Mrs. Meyers cleaning products several years ago and I have always loved to purchase them when they are on sale. The thing about these products is that they smell absolutely amazing! Plus the products are all earth-friendly, cruelty-free and not tested on animals.

Now this is where it gets good! Alyce over at Little Mama's Pretties posted about this website where you can purchase Mrs. Meyers at a discounted price, with free shipping and a discount on your first purchase. Heck yea! I decided I needed to invest in my Mrs. Meyers cleaning supplies, so my first order just arrived and here it is--

I use the lavender scent in my bathrooms and the basil in the kitchen. epantry also threw in a free gift, the cute dish rags!

I will definitely be purchasing again!

You can also get a discount on your first purchase by using this referral link and I will get a discount on my next purchase too-- www.epantry.com/referrer/6363/ 
Its a win-win situation!
If you want to save an extra $2 tell them a joke in the little conversation box.

My favorite products are the hand soap, dish soap, countertop spray and room spray.

You should try it out and let me know what you think!

Now I must start my spring cleaning!
~Court

Homemade Fabric Softener

I make my own laundry detergent and it's been working out great on Tru's skin. He has sensitive skin like his parents. :-) I had to stop using store bought fabric softener because it made him breakout. A friend of mine made her fabric softener and I decided to try it out and I'm so glad I did. It was so easy and took only a couple minutes! Chet's noticed a difference and we really like it.
You mix one quart of white vinegar, 25 drops of lavender essential oil and 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol for emulsion. Shake it up and you have great homemade fabric softener! I put about a 1/4 a cup per load.