Restful Kitchen

Recently we've been enjoying fresh vegetable and fruit juices and smoothies for breakfast every morning. It's been an easy and delicious way to get our fruits and vegetables in first thing every day, and my energy levels have never been better. This smoothie doesn't have vegetables in it (though you can feel free to throw in a handful or two of spinach if you like), but it's a tropical and vitamin-packed ice-cream-type treat.

Today's recipe yields a healthy, hot breakfast just five minutes, whether your food journey is paleo, dairy-free, gluten-free, or vegan. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. I've been pondering Proverbs 31:15 recently. In the life within us of Jesus Christ, who rose before day and prepared spiritual food both for Himself and for all those around Him, we too can bear His image in this world by rising early and feeding our families.

Which sounds like a more appealing breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal with bananas and coconut on top, or cookies? If you said oatmeal, your recipe isn't here today, but if you, like me, would rather eat cookies for breakfast, this is what you're looking for. It's healthy, it's simple, it's quick, it's a delicious cookie - and the ingredients are basically the same as a fancy bowl of oatmeal!

Easy and delicious, these gluten-free, low carb muffins are a staple in our kitchen. While they're a great choice in the fall with freshly-grown, cooked, and mashed pumpkin, they're also the perfect choice in the winter when I'm staring at my freezer wondering what to cook with all my frozen mashed pumpkin. I especially love this recipe because the surprise filling provides flavor and texture variety more than ordinary muffins, but these are still quick to stir together.

A restful kitchen is an organized kitchen. For me, what could be more relaxing than all the food items beautifully arranged in matching containers that perfectly fit together in the available space, easy to access, easy to use, and easy to maintain?  It seems attainable. After all, the internet is full of organized pantries that spark immediate aspirations to #kitchengoals: Image from How to Create the Perfectly Organized Pantry  I love this pantry from She Gave It a Go. Baskets, clear square containers, uniformity, just the right amount of space between items - both in how it looks and in ease of finding everything, it's a definite success.  Yet if I attempted to model my own pantry after this one, I'd give it a go and give up. For one, I don't have enough paper towels to fill three baskets, and if I did, I'd have to throw out my recycle bin and my oat bucket.  The point is, organization doesn’t have to and shouldn’t involve stress. It’s a...

Dirt Dessert was a favorite childhood treat of mine, usually only served once every few years. Creating a healthy version was definitely on my dessert wish list, and the first step was finding a way to make homemade chocolate sandwich cookies. This recipe proved even better than I expected!