Almond Peanut butter bites

Well, this recipe is a variation of the recipe I have linked to my meal planning post this week. I really love these little snacks, they are super tasty and healthy!! Right now, almond butter is out of our price range but all natural peanut butter is not, and thank you Trader Joes for making it affordable!

Almond Peanut Butter Bites

I use the same quantity of ingredients as the almond butter bites in the other recipe, I just sub the almond butter for peanut butter. I realize that peanut butter isn't paleo, but hey, we all can't be perfect.

1 cup almond meal or flour (i used almond meal)
1/2 cup peanut butter, warmed
1/3 cup honey
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, cranberries, or raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

In a saucepan, or microwave, combine all of the coconut oil, honey and peanut butter. Warm those ingredients until melted and smooth. Add in vanilla. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the almond meal, coconut flakes, flax, and chocolate chips, and mix. Add in wet ingredients into dry and mix until all incorporated.
Refrigerate for 1 hour or until well chilled. Roll into balls and serve. I put mine in wax paper and into a container and put back into the fridge for the night and we had them the next afternoon for a snack. This recipe made about 20 balls and all were gone in a few hours. Enjoy!

Orange and vinegar all purpose cleaner

I love my all purpose cleaner.....BUT, sometimes the smell of tea tree gets a but redundant and I just need something new and fresh! I have done some research and found a new recipe for an all purpose cleaner! Well we all know just how great vinegar is for cleaning, but yuck.. I hate the smell of vinegar!!! So, to get the same cleaning effect without the smell of vinegar, add orange peels! In a large mason jar, add your orange peels, I usually use the peels from between 5-8 oranges. Depends on the size of the oranges, just use what you think works for you. Completely cover the orange peels with good ol' white vinegar and close the jar. Every couple days, you should shake the jar just to make sure that you incorporate all the oils that come out of the peels. In about two weeks time you will have a very citrusy-yummy-sweet all purpose cleaner! Just strain the peels out of the jar and the vinegar into a spray bottle, then enjoy!

Meal Planning

    Hey everyone! It has been a few weeks since I have posted anything, and if I have any followers at all, sorry about that! It has been a very hectic house lately! And on top of double duty of chores and potty training x2, one of our chickens isnt doing so well the last few days and I have been closely monitoring her condition and trying to figure out what is going on. Today she was doing much better but still not 100%.
    Well, with all that said, last week was my first week of meal planning and meal budgeting. So far it has gone really well. We are day 5 into week 1 and only have gotten off track one day. I just finished working on week two and I thought I should share with you what our meal plan was. Now, we have been on the Paleo diet, the first two months was pretty strict, then we slowly started to introduce some carbs back in due to finances. I hate saying that we had to because of money, but seriously coconut flour , coconut flakes, and almond meal adds up!! You can tell that most of our meals are Paleo and we only are diverting from the diet only a few meals in the week. I will attach the recipes I have found from other blogs to my post so that you can get some of the awesome healthy goodness as well! 

Sunday

Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal with raisins Baked Oatmeal (but replace sugar with honey or maple syrup)
Snack: Hard Boiled eggs and carrot sticks
Lunch: Garden salad with avocado and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Snack: Almond Snack Bites  Almond Snack Bites
Dinner: Grilled chicken with sautéed peppers, mushrooms and onions

Monday

Breakfast: Fried eggs with a fruit salad
Snack: almond snack bites
Lunch: Sliced apple and cheddar cheese with a hard boiled egg
Snack: greek yogurt with maple syrup and paleo granola Paleo Granola
Dinner: Paleo Orange Chicken over quinoa Paleo Orange Chicken

Tuesday


Breakfast: overnight oatmeal in a jar with fruit and chia seeds Overnight Oats Mason Jars
Lunch: Quiche and fresh fruit Paleo Quiche
Snack: hummus and veggies
Dinner: Omelette burger with homemade fries Omelette Burger

Wednesday

Breakfast: Quiche (again I will post the link) Paleo Quiche
Snack: dried fruit (apples, bananas, and pineapple) and almonds
Lunch: Quinoa mac and cheese’ Quinoa Mac and Cheese
Snack: avocado with almonds and goat cheese
Dinner: Chicken Kabobs with garden salad

Thursday 

Breakfast: greek yogurt with granola
Snack: fruit smoothie
Lunch: Spicy buffalo meatballs made with ground chicken and celery Buffalo Meatballs
snack: left over kabobs
Dinner: Pulled pork bbq on sourdough rolls with baked beans Overnight Crockpot Pulled Pork

Friday


Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal
Snack: Peanut butter and Chocolate smoothie (1 avocado, 1 banana, 1/2 cup PB, 2 cups chocolate      almond milk, 1 cup ice cubes, 2 tbls honey, 1 handful of fresh kale or spinach)
Lunch: Apple with cheddar cheese slices and hard boiled eggs
Snack: almond bites
Dinner: Meatloaf and veggies

Saturday

Breakfast: Fresh fruit salad and hard boiled eggs
Snack: Carrot, celery and pepper sticks with hummus
Lunch: Left over meatloaf
Snack: Apple and cheese
Dinner: Chicken and quinoa soup Chicken Soup