Okey dokey. Like I said on Friday’s post, I have a lot to share in the upcoming weeks, so let’s just jump right in and get started. Up first are some recent, random pictures from the end of my summer and the beginning of school.

My mom, being a middle school teacher, started class a few days before me, so I helped her with some back-to-school crafts! (Both Pinterest-inspired of course).

The first one was for her open house. We made all of her students these cute pencils… out of Rolos!! My mom did most of this craft in wrapping the candy rolls in the pink/yellow paper and aluminum foil. I went out and picked up some sticky dots at the dollar store to attach the Hershey kisses. I think the turned out adorable and provided that extra boost of excitement to the beginning of the year.

The next craft we did was for my mom’s fellow teachers. This one was much simpler but extremely useful. Basically she just typed up all of the teacher’s names on her computer in a nice font, printed them out, cut them out, and then I modge-podged the names onto one side of a binder clip. At only $1.00 for a pack, this craft literally cost pennies apiece. As a final precaution I also modge-podged over top of the names to make sure that they didn’t peel off. Within a few hours they were completely dry and ready to go.

There were a few leftover binder clips so I got to keep them. Instead of putting my name on the clips I just took a black permanent marker and decorated them in cool designs. I didn’t think I’d really use them but I’ve already employed one for holding all of my Astronomy homework assignments together.

You can also throw in some school and clothes shopping in there as well, but sadly I don’t have many pictures of that. I can say however that I got some excellent deals. For clothes my mom and I went to our favorite thrift store and each walked out with two huge bags full of name brand clothing in great condition. I think I paid around $65 for about 20 or so things (pants, capris, long sleeve shirts, sweaters, skirts…) and my mom paid a little less (she got a boatload of capris- 10 maybe? All Eddie Bauer, Loft, etc.). For shoes we went to the closest outlet mall about 45 minutes away and I found two pairs of shoes. One pair of new tennis shoes for $35 and another pair of slip-ons for around $!5 when it was all said and done (50% second pair!).

Now let’s move on to the bulk of today’s pictures. No recipes today (sorry!) because as soon as I’m done here I’ve got some Accounting and Statistics homework to work on.

Let’s leave homework out of our minds for just a few more minutes though, okay? I’ve great a great collection here of four things that I’ve made recently and I hope that you all enjoy them!

In order of creation:

Chocolate Pancakes

Or carob pancakes. Whichever you prefer. I just made these based off of my Unbelievably Grain-Free Berry Pancakes (minus the berries), substituting 1/4 cup of carob powder for the almond flour. They turned out well; however next time I will try adding an additional source of moisture like maybe an avocado or an extra banana (we were out of both when I made these for my parents so I couldn’t experiment).

Grain-Free and Vegan Biscuits

Along with these biscuits I also made up some great sandwiches so I’ll be sure to post about those soon too.

Strawberry and Carob Chip Pancakes

I made these pancakes as part of Sarah Pie’s Chopped Kitchen Challenge. I’m linking up today sans recipe but will be sharing it soon and add in the link here for future reference later.

Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

That’s right! Grain/Gluten-Free Pancakes that are also Vegan.

Alrighty. I know that’s kind of cruel to leave you hanging, but I’ve really got to get a move-on! Pages to read and financial statements to analyze… You know how it is 😉

After you leave a comment here, don’t forget to check out the hundreds of other bloggers who posted their delicious eats today. Thanks Jenn 😀

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Questions for you:

What has been your most successful Pinterest creation thus far? (If you have never made anything off Pinterest, what are you planning to make in the future?)

How has the weather been in your area recently? Last week it was positively steaming over here, but thankfully things have cooled down a bit to the mid 70s. It’s also not rained much yet while I’ve been at school, but it was wet at home over the weekend.

Happy Wednesday everybody!

“I don’t want to run anymore. I’ll tell you everything.”

“I wish you would.”

Great lines. Great Movie. Any idea what they’re from?

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So… I procrastinated, and now I have an excel Personal Budget due in my MIS class tomorrow. It’s mostly done except for some reorganization and minor recalculations. However, this results in me probably being even more scattered (and possibly more chatty?) than usual. I’m especially frustrated because my teacher didn’t really give us a desired format, just shouted out some important parts and told us to “create it from scratch.” Crueler words were never spoken.

But alas, at least I have something to smile about. Actually, this is probably my favorite day to post every single week. Does anyone else feel that way about What I Ate Wednesday? No matter what else is going on, I love reading all of the WIAWs and getting to chat with some awesome ladies! Plus, the foodie goodness doesn’t hurt either 😉

I didn’t post any special recipes for last week in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day (I know it’s the cool girl thing to say “St. Patty’s Day” but I’ve never heard it called that before this year, so call me old-fashioned!). There were many great green recipes floating around WIAW world, but since it is still March, I’m not late yet.

I also figured what with Winter being over tomorrow (or today depending on when you read this), what better a time to finally post a recipe for soup? It’s “souper” simple. Baha. And is really rather plain Jane, but I just love the combination of vegetables. It’s probably one of my favorites, second only to a combination with kabocha.

Green, Mean, Fighting Soup Machine

High protein, Allergen-Free, Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Nut/Coconut-Free, Egg-Free, GAPS/Paleo Friendly

1 generous serving

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken (or beef), cooked
1 zucchini
1/2 cup sweet peas, frozen or fresh
2 cups homemade chicken (or beef) stock (storebought would work too)
Seasonings: sea salt, fresh rosemary

Directions:

Peel and slice the zucchini. Add all of the ingredients to a small pot and heat on high until boiling.
Once the soup is boiling, cover and reduce to low to simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Pour into bowl and serve with sea salt and fresh rosemary sprinkled on top.

Note: This recipe has a good combination of fat from the broth, carbohydrates from the vegetables, and protein from the meat. If you use store bought broth, consider drizzling olive oil or coconut oil onto your soup after it is cooked so that you don’t lose out on all of those nutritious fatty acids! Also, I peel my zucchini because the skin is hard for me to digest. If you don’t have digestive issues, keep the skin on and wish it before slicing.

Shared on: Whole Foods Wednesday, Allergy-Free Wednesday, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Real Food Wednesdays, Wheat-Free Wednesday

Also, in the spirit of everything green, I want to share a few of the cool “green,” eco-friendly diy projects that I’ve spotted on various websites in the past few weeks:

Ombre-Painted Mason Jars for Storing Things: