Cake LOVE. We all have it.
This PERFECT paleo Chocolate cake is the epitome of DELISH guilt free. I may have even had some for breakfast a time or two. But don’t tell my children.
And if you are wondering what “Paleo” means, it basically underscores that you can polish off this delicious dessert without the bloated guilt associated with too much CAKE.
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Have you ever felt overwhelmed in your home, by the seemingly endless “To-Do’s”? Certainly I have. With sink fulls of dishes, mountains of laundry and toys scattered everywhere, “overwhelm” comes easily. Is it any wonder we are anxious, and stressed out as a society? “De-clutter” was something I would try and seemed to fail at, as our house would end up full too soon afterwards.
In truth, I have never been someone afraid of letting go of ‘things”. But even just a ‘typical” amount of belongings can be a lot to care for. I have tried innumerable organizational methods, but could never find one that “fit” our large family.
Especially as homeschoolers, we are ALWAYS home so things are being used ALL day, EVERY day. No matter what I tried we would slide back to “messy” as we added more to our ‘plate’. There just was not enough time in the day to conquer everything and maintain a ‘mess-free’ home.
But think about it. How much time do you spend as a mom cleaning each day? Maybe you are among the growing numbers that have learned to embrace minimalism, or you just are not a “neat freak”, so not much. But if you are a typical North American, you probably have a few items (or many) that you could live without.
Here are 5 Simple Ways to Declutter by embracing the “Minimalist” method and WHY I believe it is SO vital you do!
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Our beautiful homestead, held together with dreams and hard work. The same things our new up-cycled plank wood floors are made of.
There are so many countless times during this journey the last few years, that I tried to see ourselves through an outsiders’ perspective. I imagine even what I would have thought, had I peered through my own window, as a young girl, from Baltimore. I think these things out of sheer curiosity, and never apprehension. We do not leave a footprint on this earth to satisfy the Pinterest page of our spectators.
But still. I know how unconventional we are. And I love considering how patched together our homestead is, much like a quilt. It actually delights me.
Perhaps I should have called our blog, “The Patched-Together Homestead” instead of Hope Valley. But isn’t that what “Hope” really is after all; tiny glimpses into what we hope for, sewn together with the threads of belief? Welcome to our “belief”, that beauty really is “In the eye of the beholder”.
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For years I have tried to convince my kiddos that oatmeal is AMAZING. Two kids believe me…out of SEVEN. These Healthy DELICIOUS Breakfast Cookies are a smash hit in our house. EVERYONE gives them Five STARS. Even the littlest among us.
I can’t blame them, however. Oatmeal was not my favourite breakfast food as a kid either. To recall, “Slimy” was the only adjective that came to mind. Avocados and ripe bananas fall into that same gooey category for my children, so I decided to flip the switch on them and DISGUISE some healthy ingredients in a “cookie-shaped” breakfast!
I know. I am a 99% “Grain-free Gal” shovelling grains into my kiddos for breakfast. Well…we’re a work in progress.
If you are “Grain Free” here are some flour options you can replace those oats and all-purpose flour with:
This is one of the simplest healthy recipes to throw together, so I will not over-complicate it for you!
These measuring spoons are something that EVERYONE comments on. I found them HERE for less than $10 and had to add them to my kitchen. The wood is so equally durable and charming, and even holds up in the dishwasher.
My bowls were a gift that my husband found me HERE. They are nesting bowls that fit neatly in my cupboard for easy storage. PLUS all four sizes are PERFECT for whipping up any recipe in (or TACO NIGHT when you have lots of toppings on the table!) .
I used all purpose flour for these cookies but remember you can swap out your for your preference of healthy flour or exclude the oats if you are going GRAIN-FREE!
Don’t worry. My kids realize these cookies are made with oatmeal. But they were pleasantly surprised to discover they like oatmeal this way!
Don’t you just love cinnamon? Can a house that does not smell like cinnamon from freshly baked cookies at some point during the week, really be a home? Blend and set aside.
Don’t shy away from avocados that are overly ripe. And DEFINITELY do not throw them out! There are SO many ways to use up ripe avocados! But Cookies are probably my favourite creative venue.
I don’t know about you, but the first thing I think of when an avocado appears is not “cookie”. But the texture is very similar to a mashed ripe banana (another ingredient here), so, WHY NOT?!
Did you know that Avocados are literally BRAIN FOOD for your kids (and YOU for that matter! The healthy fatty complex of avocados helps protect cells that carry messages to our brain. That is something I want my kiddos consuming before we dig into our daily homeschool studies! If you want to learn more about our Homeschool click HERE.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not against eggs inherently. I have some gorgeous ‘cluckers’ in my backyard. But I do find I have a bit of an allergy to store bought, and being as they can be a highly allergenic food I try to include some recipes in our diet that leave them out too.
Add’s a bit of extra healthy fat too!
Did anyone ever tell you that ‘low fat’ was the healthiest method? They lied. Good healthy fats are so rewarding to our body and deeply restore tissues. It isn’t actually healthy FATS that make us gain weight in and of themselves. While that is a book worth of discussion for another day, just hold onto the invaluable tip that GOOD fats are GOOD. You can dig a bit deeper Here.
Melted Coconut oil is an incredible, tasty replacement for butter, if you are avoiding dairy.
This is really up to you. But I personally do not mind a little sweetness for my kiddos, as long as we don’t ‘over-do’ it, it isn’t laden with heavy chemical ingredients and it’s homemade (with the exception of a few store bought treats that are few and far between).
HONEY is SO good. And by “good” I mean yummy. It is straight up sugar though, so don’t expect it to NOT spike blood sugar levels. It isn’t magic. But it IS tasty and an alternative to the “evil” refined sugar.
Maple syrup also give these cookies an incredible texture and aroma. Just be sure to use 100% PURE maple syrup and NOT “golden syrup”. As a Canadian growing up in the thicket of true blood Maple Production territory…anything but real Maple syrup is an insult to good food.
Blend your “Dry” ingredients with the “Wet” ingredients. Don’t forget to add some dried fruit, chocolate chips or unsweetened toasted coconut flakes for extra YUM.
Blend until well combined!
These flavours come together so nicely.
Despite our kids HATING the ingredients, they LOVED every bite and kept coming back for more. These are FIVE STAR certified by my picky kids!
I know what you’re thinking. How can $1500 be only half our monthly food budget?
Well, as a large family living of nine in Quebec where food costs can be daunting, it was no great feat to dump $3,000 a month on food. AND that’s with very very limited processed foods (some dry goods like cereal) and zero packaged snacks, or ‘eating out’.
But, to be sure, we passionately FEAST on our homestead. Gathering around our meal table is one of our greatest joys.
Admittedly, however, at the end of a busy week, I often threw care to the wind and arrived at the grocery store to buy whatever I felt like making that week. I usually donned a list, but the major meal prep sounded so overwhelming that I avoided it like the plague.
During our Debt-Free Journey however, I had this “AHA” moment. I realized I needed to “take control” of our monthly meals that affected so much of our daily life. I knew if I wanted us to save big on expenses and still eat bountifully, I would have to be more intentional about meal preparation.
Someone once said, talking about debt is like showing someone your dirty laundry.
Well, maybe that’s true.
But I have never been someone to shy away from transparency. Because at the end of the day, it is our ‘honesty’ with ourself and others that drives us to our greatest potential. And if someone can learn from my mistakes, the better the world will be for it.
That’s why I want to take a minute and share with you our debt free journey. It directly impacts so much of our daily life that it would be a dis-service not to share. I would be lying if I said this was not an incredibly painful post for me to share, but it is an honest one. And I hope that means it can help someone.
So here’s a small glimpse of our “Dirty Laundry”.
You know life is good when it includes pumpkins. And I LOVE a good pumpkin recipe! I know the saying goes that there are those who hate pumpkin season and those who long for it. But are there really people who loathe pumpkin everything? I am not one of them . In fact, my favourite season includes lots of extra pumpkins! Here are my 3 Easy Healthy Pumpkin recipes I use every Fall!
I will tell you something. I grew up in the bustle of the ‘city married to suburbs’. The idea that someone would give another human a house for free, is something that happened only in extreme circumstances (think Habitat for Humanity).
Here’s the thing. I am the kind of person when seeking to barter at a yard sale, cannot manage to get $0.50 knocked off an item I am interested in. I think I actually get sweaty just thinking about asking someone to lower the price on something. But my Husband? He goes to pick up an antique dresser and is given a house. This happens frequently. He literally ATTRACTS generosity. But then again, he is a very generous human too.
Ah, the projects we have. This Easy DIY Light was another we kept putting off, simply because there was always some other more important task at hand. But today it poured. And though my Yvan does not shy from even the harshest weather conditions (being the woodsman that he is), I was able to convince him today was “the day” we stay in and finish a DIY that was long awaited.
Five or six years ago (I told you we put this one off for awhile), Yvan and I would peruse a Flea Market that was magnanimously overloaded with both junk and hidden treasures.
We both spotted this fabulous “Yoke” riddled with grooves of hand carving. Perhaps you would consider this more in the “junk” category, than “hidden treasure”. But Yvan and I saw “potential”.
Those “rose-coloured-lens” are what have always equally gotten us in trouble AND have been the BEST vision of our life. We both see the “best” in things (or persons), when others might reject them simply based on the ‘hassle’.
This was such a moment. I HAD to have it.
I googled and scouted Pinterest for a DIY lighting fixture made from a yoke and found ….nothing. Still, I was particularly captured by its’ rustic charm and the fact that it offered a nod to that secret place in my heart that longs to live in a repurposed barn.
We paid around $40 for it, and left with smiles. Happily lugging it home, it was carted lovingly to the basement to be dreamed of (albeit procrastinated over) for years to come.
Well, today was THE DAY.
I had a light fixture that I had purchased in my impatience “to have a light fixture”. But I hated it and decided to wait it out. Amazingly, we were able to up-cycle my mistake.
I don’t know about you but I despise unfinished projects. I am very “Type A” when it comes to projects in wanting things done yesterday. My husband has a more ‘balanced approach’ in incredible work ethic (he would raise barn in a day himself by sheer effort) but does not stress about a time frame the way I do.
We both compliment and conflict (healthfully) with each other here.
We conflict by seeing a different time frame for projects, but we compliment in that he greatly assists me in patience, while I encourage in ‘forward focus’.
Today, we ‘forward focused’ to a finished project that took altogether about 30 minutes to create, in what took years in the coming.
Now, obviously I could have figured out some ‘how-to’s ‘ in the last several years for an Easy DIY Light. That DOES happen sometimes, when my Yvan is doggedly working his heart out at other tasks. But this one was something we NEEDED to finish together.
And by “together” I mean I witnessed him re-wire everything and I assisted by holding one side of the yoke.
But still. It was a delicious moment!
This simple DIY project can be re-created even if you cannot find a yoke.
Scour your local Antique dealer. Ask a family member or friend with a barn or shed if they have any old fixings from “farm life” lying around.
This yoke worked perfectly for this EASY DIY Light. It had these perfect little holes bored through the wood, like an invitation for creativity.
Hello Autumn. I feel FALL arrive in every peculiar emotion of my senses. And when those feelings enliven, it is time for SOUP. This BEST EVER sweet potato coconut soup has the perfect blend of creaminess with a punch of fall flavour. Wake up your senses with a steaming hot bowl of Autumn warmth!