Easy Peasy Oversized Pizza Rolls

When I was younger pizza rolls were one of my top 3 favorite foods. I knew it was a good day if my mom made pizza rolls..lol. I was not very good at being patient though, because as soon as they were ready I was trying to pop one of those little goodies into my mouth. They were so hot I had to bite the corner and let some of the hotness out, then I would blow on it for a couple seconds and try to take a bite. After that my tongue would get burned and I'd be trying to cool it down again. Yet I can't tell you how many times I repeated this trauma to my tongue. Finally, when I was older I realized the smart thing to do was put them in the freezer for a few minutes, so I could actually enjoy eating them.

I honestly can't remember the last time I ate a pizza roll. After I started to feel sick from certain foods and taught myself to read food labels by devouring every book in the library, pizza rolls were banned in my house. I couldn't believe the ingredient list, it was horrid!

There are many foods I have given up over the years, but I also have found or created healthier variations for my of my favorite treats. Pinterest is awesome for giving ideas like this and has inspired me to think outside of the frozen freezer section. My kids have never eaten a pizza roll and I'm so happy they can enjoy one of my childhood favorites. Of course it not the exact same thing, BUT once you start making things healthier and eating it more regularly you get used to the change in texture or sauce flavor. This recipe is so quick and easy too. The time it takes to make them may be a little more then freezer section pizza rolls, but I assure you its no wasted time. Your body will thank you down the road!

Happy homemade pizza roll making!

Easy Peasy Oversized Pizza Rolls

• 24 cheese sticks
• 2 packages turkey pepperoni
• Italian Seasoning
• 24 egg roll wrappers
• olive or any cooking oil
• Jar of original spaghetti sauce OR  can of seasoned crushed tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350.

Lay out a egg roll in a diamond shape, Place 6-7 pepperoni in a line towards the corner near you. Place the cheese stick long ways on top of the pepperonis. Then sprinkle some seasoning on top of the pepperonis. Then start rolling from the corner closet to you. After you roll it just a little, take in the sides and roll. Then before you close it up spread some water at the end corner of the egg roll. The water helps it to stick and stay together. Finish rolling it up! 

Pour a bit of oil over each roll and spread it out evenly

Bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes, then flip them all over and bake about 5-7 minutes. 

Pour some pasta sauce in a little dish, and use this to dip your pizza rolls.

Enjoy! From my kitchen to yours :)

Peanut Butter, Banana, Avocado Smoothie

I was already running a few minutes behind and we still hadn't eaten breakfast yet. I knew I didn't have time to make our usual eggs breakfast. Cereal is more like a treat or snack in our house. In fact, its usually eaten after dinner for a "dessert". Well, that's what it should be I think, with all the sugar in it! I looked at my fridge and thought hmmm, peanut butter and banana is good together but I really need to use up these avocados and that's how this post came to be.

I needed enough protein to keep my energy good until my next meal, some good fat to keep my mind focused, and a natural sweetener to make it all the better. That's what you have when you mix peanut butter, banana and avocado together. Since avocado has a fairly neutral favor, it so easily mixes with just about anything.

Peanut Butter, Banana, & Avocado Smoothie (Enough for 1 person, if  you double makes enough for one and three little people)

• 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter
• 1 Banana
• 1/2 Avocado
• 2 Tbsp Yogurt (I used plain)(Optional) -yogurt adds creaminess
• 2 Tbsp flax (Optional) great fiber addition
• 1 Tbsp honey (Optional) it adds just that extra touch of sweetness
• 1 1/2 c Almond Milk or Regular Milk
• 4-5 Ice Cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until all ingredients are mixed. Enjoy!

Share your favorite smoothie recipes, I'd love to try them!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls (Dairy-free options)

**WARNING**-Making cinnamon rolls takes time. Start the dough the night before and refrigerate the finished cut up rolls or  start about 1 1/2 hours before you need or want them done.

We really enjoy a yummy homemade treat like these cinnamon rolls! But we don't have to cheat or get off our diet to have one. Eating REAL food is about balance, and eating REAL food.

When you don't have to starve yourself, and you get to eat foods you enjoy eating it feels less tempting for me to overeat or "cheat". I think the number one benefit I love about feeding my body right, is the way I feel. I feel light, clear-minded, healthy, less gassy, I feel good about myself and I have energy to do what I need to do! Which, clearly I need lots of energy to keep with three very energetic boys, a household of responsibilities, grocery shopping, family chef, etc. You get the picture.

On the contrary, when I give in and eat something I know I wouldn't normally, I just feel yucky. I feel bloated, heavy, and it usually sets me on a lazy path. Thankfully, since I can't stand that feeling I usually push myself to get on the elliptical for at least 30 minutes to burn away some of the guilt or shame from feeling lazy and eating horrible. 

This is the best recipe that I have made for these gluten free cinnamon rolls. I think the key to making these is following the recipe. They are soft and gooey, a perfect gluten free treat. You can make dairy-free along with gluten-free, with the substitutes and options I wrote below. Happy Baking!!

Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls (Dairy free option)
                              Adapted from food-pusher.com

Dough:

• 1 cup milk or unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup butter or (Healthy balance "butter" sticks for dairy-free)
• 1 large egg, room temp
• 2 1/2 cups Namaste Gluten Free Flour Blend
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup non-gmo cane sugar 
• 1 1/4 tsp yeast

Filling:

• 1/2 cup organic coconut sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 1/3 tbsp butter, very soft or(Healthy balance spread for dairy-free)

Topping:

• 1/2 ounces of cream cheese (optional) (Omit for dairy free)
• 2 tbsp butter, softened or (Healthy balance for dairy free)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar or (stevia for sugar free)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 pinch salt

Directions:

In a microwave safe dish pour milk and butter, microwave for 50-60 seconds until butter is softened but not completely melted. If hot allow to cool to warm.

In a medium sized bowl add gf flour, salt, non-gmo sugar, and yeast. In standing mixer or bowl pour the warm milk and butter, add egg and then pour dry ingredient on top. Mix to moisten the dry ingredients scraping the sides. Then mix on high for three minutes using paddle attachment. If mixing by hand I would use your hands and mix for about 3 minutes very well. Cover using a clean dish towel and side aside in a warm place for 35-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the first three filling ingredients together. Set aside. Grease baking dish of 10x7 or 8x8 if only cooking some. Cut a 20 inch piece of plastic wrap and lay it out on the counter, spreading out an even, thin layer of gf flour. Shape dough into a ball and gently press down forming into a square. Use a rolling pin to shape into a 12x18 inch rectangle.

Next, spread the softened butter on the surface of the dough. Spread the filling evenly on top of the butter. Gently roll the dough into a log. You may need to spread some flour as your rolling especially if its sticking to your fingers. 

Cut the dough in about 3 inch sections or however thick you'd like your cinnamon rolls. Gently place rolls into baking dish and cover with a clean kitchen towel until about doubled, which should be about 30 minutes.

Bake the cinnamon rolls at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until turning a golden brown on top. While rolls are baking mix up the topping by adding all ingredients together and whisking in a bowl. When your rolls are all done, let them cool for about 5 minutes and then you can began frosting.

Enjoy!!!

One Year of Blogging~Recap of 2014, Achievements and Goals for 2015!!

I'm so happy to announce that I have been blogging for one whole year! It certainly feels like an accomplishment. When I wrote my first post back in January of 2014, I had set certain goals for the year. I'm happy to say I'm still blogging and I have learned a ton but truly want to learn more. I have also been exercising a lot more then ever before. Summer was defiantly easier for me because I was able to get outside and take a run everyday, and also walks with the kids. Winter is more challenging but I'm thankful for our elliptical machine and free weights. I also have been doing a bit of yoga, which I truly enjoy. I'm happy with my current weight but this next year I want to focus on strengthening my body. I have truly been eating a TON healthier. If you follow me on instagram, I share lots of pictures of my families healthy eating. Healthy eating has become a way of life for us now and not just a goal. I truly enjoy giving my family true nourishment.

 I have done so much research in the past few years on numerous things and I have a library of information in my head that I'm so thankful to God for.

This week a particular scripture that has been such an encouragement to me is James 1:5-6 which says "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of sea driven with the wind and tossed."

I have prayed for wisdom very often in the last 5 years and God has given it. All wisdom comes from him, and I'm thankful to be able to acknowledge that fact.

Lastly, in regards to my first blog post, I also mentioned learning to play the piano. In the beginning of last year I did receive a piano as a gift from my husband and initially I did try to learn from books, YouTube videos and other resources. I was not diligent though and quickly gave it up. I still have a desire and goal to become a proficient with the piano and I know I can do it. I also hope to use the piano to teach my children about music and how to play. I plan on adding it in our current home-school curriculum.

This year of 2015 I would like to set and share my new goals for this year for my blog and for myself:

1. Blog at least weekly (currently this has been challenging), learning more about blogging, and possibly adding an additional column to my blog about Abuse, Healthy Relationships, and Healing. I'm kinda wondering if I will change the name of my blog then, not sure yet.

2. In addition to exercising, practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is learning to be more aware of yourself and your surrounds. For example when eating be completely involved in it, instead of quickly getting it down. (This is hard for me since my kids seem to keep me on the go) Another example is laying down and focusing on your breathing, being quiet and calm, as we are doing in the picture below. It can also be done in prayer while learning to give your complete self to praying. I believe mindfulness is very important in our faced paced world. I also believe mindfulness is important in healing.

3. Learn the piano, maybe I'll get it this year :)

4. Share more about homeschooling in my blog. We have home-schooled this year and its been wonderful. For my 7 year old we choose a curriculum with Timberdoodle which we have really liked  lot!! My 3 year old is practicing numbers, colors, shapes, and the alphabet. And my 1 year old like to makes lots of messes or should  call them investigative projects :)

5. Share doTERRA!! I'm so excited about doTERRA essential oils. I have become a wellness advocate with the company and hope to grow in this new position that allows me the freedom of working from home. They have been am awesome addition to my home. The smells are delicious, therapeutic, and healing. I can't wait to see it grow and hear others share how its positively affecting there life's. I have written a post about essential oils that you can read here. Please don't hesitate to ask questions, doTERRA has a wonderful supportive network that I'm glad to be part of.

Read post HERE

What are your goals for this new year? What things do you want to do differently or better? What are the stresses in your life now, and whats your plan to overcome them? What health concerns do you have and what goals would you like to make with your health?

Beginners Essential Oils!? What!? Who!? Why!?

 Essential oils seem to be the newest thaang going on or maybe its an old fad but new to me. Either way they are worth talking about! I recently purchased the doTERRA family physicians kit and have been using them for a while now. They are a daily in our home now and its so true when people say, "I don't know what I did before oils?" Seriously what did I do? Sometimes I think its all in my mind but other times seriously these oils are amazing. I AWAIT THE DAY I CAN GO TO MY FAMILY DOCTOR AND CAN LEAVE WITH A PRESCRIPTION FOR PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL!!!  Come on so called "modern medicine" lets get with the real program.

I just want to soak in on "modern medicine" for a minute. This term makes me giggle. There is nothing modern about medicine when most of the country with this so called "modern medicine" is sicker then most other developed nations!! Forget this modern stuff, I want that old time medicine, you know that stuff that actually brought healing without all the side effects.

On a side note, the technology today has helped many including myself and I am thankful for it when its used rightly.

What!? So back to essentials oils, what are they? Essential oils are as cited by Google: a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.

Here is a video to further explain from doTERRA.

Plants, herbs, flowers, weeds have been used for who knows how long to heal our body, provide relief from pain, and fight illness. Just by watching nature you can see that animals do this. I was watching a Wild Kratts show with my boys the other day and they were talking about a certain monkey that uses a plant to heal wounds. The animal took the plant, smashed it, ad used it saliva to create a balm of some kind to rub on the wound. It was so cool!

Who!? Personally I have experience with doTERRA essential oils. There are so many companies out that I am learning about. doTERRA is neat because they offer ways to become a wellness advocate and share these oils with others. They also have third party testing to make sure their oils are pure. You don't want to have oils that are diluting or have dangerous chemicals in them, especially if you plan to take them internally. I have heard good and bad about other companies but I will not go into any detail. My experience with doTERRA has been good and I will continue to utilize these oils and share them. I do plan on looking into other companies because any good investigator checks out what else is available and compares.

Why!? Why should I use essential oils? What currently are your biggest health concerns? Weight loss or gain, headaches, back pain, fevers, rashes, etc. I can list almost all problems we face as humans and say there's an oil for that! Personally I get headaches, and i refuse o take Tylenol or any over the counter. I'd rather suffer through it then take something that will mask my symptom and actually make it worse. So when I first used peppermint oil for my headache and within about 5 minutes of putting it on I felt relieve, I knew why I wanted to use essential oils. Some of you might be okay taking over the counter stuff but I would say why use chemical laden cleaning spray when you only needed water to clean it up. More simply don't use what you don't have to when you have a natural method of healing yourself. Less is more, and no side effects.

This is a basic post about essential oils, a beginners read. Remember not all oils are created equal, do your homework, and don't use more then you need to when you spill water :)

If you have questions, concerns, comments please let me know. If you are interested in purchasing oils please contact me so I can tell you about the ways you can save. You can go to this link to check out doTERRA and look at the oils, My doTERRA Store. For specific health concerns let me know so I can give you the information about recommended oils. Check back for future essential oil posts.

Have a wonderful night!

~Honest Motherhood

I am not a physician and am only speaking from personal experience and investigation.

Crock-pot Cranberry Orange Sauce! ~Only 4 Ingredients~

A simple recipe that's a great treat, snack, or tag a long to a meal. I honestly didn't know that this would turn out as amazing as it did. I thought this recipe would be a good substitute to the alternative, which is a can filled with who knows. But it turned out so filled with flavor and zest! I will honestly make this again just for a snack. My kids really enjoyed it as well. I can't wait to learn how to put recipe printouts on my blog. I love that about other blogs.

Crock-pot Cranberry Orange Sauce

2 bags fresh whole cranberries (12 ounce bags)
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sweetener, I used xylitol. ( You can also use honey, coconut sugar or stevia)

1. Place all ingredients in crock-pot, stir to blend together.
2. Cook on whichever setting you choose, I used high for 3 hours
3. Serve warm or chilled


Enjoy!

~Honest Motherhood

Am I Eating GMO's Part 3

Happy Friday! I've had a pretty good week and I'm glad to have some time to write the LAST post. We have talked about what GMO stands for in PART One and as a recap it means Genetically Modified Organism. GM food is food that had been altered in its DNA. For more check outAm I Eating GMO's Part 1 . In PART Two, I talked about some of the dangers of GM foods. You can check that post out here: Am I Eating GMO's Part 2. Like I said earlier this week there is so much information about GM foods coming out its hard to compile it. There are tons of other sites and blogs that do a better job for sure. If my posts can bring awareness and curiosity to further investigate then I'll be a happy camper :) I hope you enjoy this last post!

Have you ever watched FOOD, Inc, or Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead?? I have watched both and I noticed at the beginning of the movie they have these horrific details of the problems we are facing with our food and health. They go into great detail with words and pictures of how gruesome our problem is. By the end of that part it seems like there is no turning back. AND then the last twenty minutes of the two hour documentary has cheery music with tons of hope and solutions. Well, I feel like that's how I want to end these blog posts. I want to give hope, solutions, and real life ways to make a difference. The truth is there are ways at this time that we can make a difference for ourselves and family's and communities. Thankfully we do have options and have the ability to choose.

Currently there is a ongoing battle between the people of this nation and the major food corporations of America. The food companies who produce genetically modified food are refusing and fighting labeling food that has been genetically engineered. Sad thing is, they introduced genetically modified foods into out food supply back in 1996 without ever telling us. Sure, they wrote it in some document that only a few number of agencies saw but the people didn't have a voice in it. That is not democracy at all. Also I would like to add that 26 other countries have already BANNED GMO's, so why hasn't the US. READ MORE HERE: 26 Countries Ban GMO's, Why not US

My first ray of hope against this monster food aka genetically modified foods is signing up to receive emails from Organic Consumers Associations. They provide a weekly email newsletter which provides info for petitions we can sign and also to stay aware of the bills in our own states. I would encourage you to join the mailing list if your interested in helping that way. Our food supply is a big issue, so please don't look at this as just another email sign up from another blog...lol. This is OUR FOOD!!!

Step 1: Go to the link, Here is the link: Organic Consumers Association

Step 2: On the right side of the blog there is a Subscribe tab, write in your email and submit.

I personally have signed up for there emails and enjoy the information this send. I have also signed petitions to fight for labeling of GM foods.

Next, I would like to talk about this AWESOME independent third party company that verifies food and tests it for GMO's. They have a specific logo that is placed on all products they test. Here are some pictures and I circled the logo in black. The website is here: Non GMO Project. I'm so thankful for this company because at least I can find food that have been tested and I do know if it has GMO's in it. This is also awesome since like I said above the food corporations that grow this tainted food is refusing to have it labeled. Check out this website for more food that has the #nongmo logo! 

Since everybody's situation is different I'd also like to recommend farmers markets, and buying from a local farmer. Our farmers work so hard and make so little. Most small farms are the ones producing this nutrient dense, non gmo food. We need to back them up. Here is a website to find a local farmers market: USDA Farmers Market Some farms have CSA's aka community supported agriculture. I am not part of one at the moment but would love to in the future. Its a system where you pay ahead for the season or year and receive a fresh box of produce weekly or biweekly. Check out more and find a farm near you at this site: Local Harvest

I hope I have given you enough information to get you started. This is where I began and I'm still learning so much. Of course we can't believe everything we see or read but there are a lot of people sharing personal experiences which can help us understand how to take control of our health. Eating food is life or death among us, so what we put in our bodies needs to be the right fuel.

Before I go I wanted to post a picture of a product that contains questionably ingredients. While I cannot assume this product has GMO's, since its not labeled I cannot not assume. Also this product contains three major ingredients in which is associated with being genetically modified.  You probably have this in your fridge, so go check your bottle now. If it contains these ingredients, most likely your eating GMO's. And honestly the GMO's is just the beginning. The eggs that are in here are probably from a chicken that ate GM corn feed. I taught myself how to read food labels a few years ago. At the grocery store it takes me forever because I'm always reading labels.

Possible GMO ingredients: Soybean oil, High fructose corn syrup, and cornstarch

I always encourage independent research. Someone can tell you all day long about GMO's, but its doesn't hit home until you check it out for yourself. Many documentaries have been made that you can watch on Netflix or rent. I will list some below. There are also sites that list problems associated with eating GM foods. Have you ever went to the doctor and they said your fine but you don't feel fine?? Your not crazy!

I would love any feedback! I also am excited to say that in January I will have had my blog for 1 year!! I'm so excited! Although life didn't allow me to write for all the months of the year, I have made a FB page and pinterest, and instagram. Have a wonderful GMO-free weekend, I'll try too :)

Here is a movie about GMO's: SEEDS OF DEATH

Here is the EWG's Shopping guide to avoid GM foods: EWG 2014 Shopping Guide to Avoid GM Foods