artichoke....

We love artichokes so much at our house and were in major need of a new recipe. I normally just boil my artichokes and make a lemon butter dipping sauce which is simple... So I wanted to find another simple recipe to replace it with and here is what I found,  We had it for dinner and it was DELISH!!

1 artichoke
olive oil
balsamic vinegar (or other flavor)
sea salt (or kosher)

Directions:
1.Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spread the Artichoke petals open to season. (I cut the top off each artichoke which made this step way easier)  Between the petals, drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with sea salt. Stuff minced fresh garlic between the petals of each Artichoke.
3.Wrap each Artichoke in heavy-duty foil, sealing well on top by twisting and pinching foil packets.
4.Place foil-wrapped Artichokes directly onto a pre-heated oven rack and bake.
5.The baking time can vary depending on the size of the Artichokes. Bake Artichoke for approximately one hour for a Medium-sized Artichoke or one hour and 15 minutes for a Jumbo-sized Artichoke.
6.Remove from the oven and let cool before unwrapping.
7.You will know the Artichokes are cooked when a sharp knife goes through the Artichoke base with ease like a baked potato.
8.They will store for several days in the fridge!

ENJOY

BARREffect....

I have recently joined the studio57fitness team!! I am going to be teaching a BARRE class which is completely new to Lubbock and I pumped to be bringing it to town.  In honor of all the BARRE exercises I have been doing lately, I thought I would post one of my favorite YouTube videos.  Its only 20 min and I promise it will fatigue your muscles. 

Hopefully soon, I can share one of my own videos! 

This is the perfect way to start your Friday and all you need is 20 MINUTES!!!!

eco-friendly cleaner.....

How to Make Eco-Friendly House Cleaner

The average home contains up to 25 gallons of toxic chemicals, many of which are in store-bought cleaners. If you have kids, pets or an eco-friendly attitude, this might make you nervous. Good news: by making your own household cleaning products, you can break free from those chemical bonds, save money, and keep your house squeaky clean.

Check out the recipes in the infographic below to get started on your homemade cleaning arsenal.

With a few simple ingredients that you probably already own—such as baking soda, white vinegar and lemon juice—it’s easy to substitute many store-bought cleaners with safe, eco-friendly options.

Laundry Detergent

Ingredients: 1 bar of laundry soap (available at your local hardware store), 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda

Nice and simple. Use a cheese grater to grate the bar of laundry soap into a bowl. Add the borax and baking soda and mix together. Use one tablespoon of the mixture for each load of laundry, and keep the rest in an easy-to-access jar.

Dish Soap

Ingredients: 5 cups of grated castile soap (this is any soap made entirely from vegetable oil), ½ cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon of borax, 6 cups of hot peppermint tea, 1 teaspoon eucalyptus oil

Add the castile soap and hot mint tea to a three-quart saucepan. Simmer for about 15 minutes and then add the rest of your ingredients to the pan. Remove the mixture from heat, let it cool, then add it to a squirt bottle or other plastic container. Note: This is a particularly useful DIY cleaner if you have kids because the leading cause of poisonings in the home for children under the age of six is liquid dish soap containing chemicals like formaldehyde and ammonia.

Oven Cleaner

Ingredients: ¾ cup baking soda, ¼ cup salt, ¼ cup water

Wet all surfaces of your oven with a sponge or cloth. Mix all ingredients together so they form a paste and then spread throughout the interior while avoiding metal and vent openings. Let the paste site overnight, scrape off in the morning and remove all remnants with a wet sponge or cloth.

Wood Polish

Ingredients: vegetable oil, vinegar

Mix a solution of equal parts vegetable oil and vinegar.  Apply a thin coat to any wood that needs a buff.

More secret cleaning powers of common household items:

• Lemon: A food-acid superhero, lemon can be used to destroy most types of bacteria found around the house.
• Baking Soda: The jack of all trades. Use baking soda to clean, soften, scour and freshen things around the house.
• Cornstarch: Can be used as a window cleaner, furniture polish or carpet shampoo

*from wholelivingdaily.com

chocolate "chickpea" cookies........

 On Sunday I was having one of the jonesing for sugar Sunday's and knew I needed to find a new recipe to try before I gave into the bag of powder sugar donuts in my pantry ;) So that is when I came across this awesome recipe. Chocolate Chip cookies made out of Chickpeas (garbanzo beans).

I was a bit skeptical but they did not let me down in any way.  I will say for some reason I liked them more the day after then the day of. Not sure why??  Let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

1 can of drained chickpeas

1/4 a cup of stevia baking sugar

1/3 cup of almond butter

(peanut butter works but it will make it SUPER nutty) to nutty for my liking

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

SPLASH of milk (almond, soy, cow, whatever)

1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips

(next time I would smash mine a bit so the spread better through the mixture)

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine all ingredients ----- EXCEPT FOR CHOCOLATE CHIPS---- and mix in bowl. I used my hand blender to blend it all together and it worked great. I thought if I used my big blender it would be to hard to get the dough out.

3. Once no whole chickpeas remain, add chocolate chips

4. Spoon balls of cookie dough on a greased baking sheet.  Use the back of your spoon to flatten cookie because they do not flatten on their own

5. Bake for 20-25 min or until chocolate chips are melting

6. Remove and let cool

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM