Flourless Cranberry Scones

The week of Thanksgiving is here, which really is my favorite time of the year.  I will be somewhat unplugging from the blog until next week so I can really soak up this time with my family but in the meantime I wanted to share an easy, delicious and festive breakfast idea that we have all been loving around here.  And if you are thinking that these scones are lookin pretty ugly, I would have to agree haha.  BUT they are delicious and that's really what matters most :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What you will need:

• 2 cups of almond meal 
• 1/3 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 cup of fresh cranberries 
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• a few dashes of sea salt
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs of honey 
• 1 tbs of melted ghee 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix together the almond meal, sea salt, baking soda, cranberries and coconut. 
3. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, honey and melted ghee together.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Mix well.
4. Use your hands to knead together the dough.  It will be somewhat dry and sticky and that is normal.
5. Form dough into two large circles about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Cut each circle like a pizza. You can determine how large or small you would like to make your scones.
7. Place scones on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until tops have a hint of golden brown. 

Enjoy!

The Benefits of Essential Oils + doTERRA Essential Oil Giveaway (CLOSED)

I have always been interested in the amazing benefits of essential oils, but to be honest essential oils is not something that I am super familiar with. Amy, who is a sweet blog reader recently contacted me and offered to send me a few of the doTerra essential oils she swears by to see what I thought.  She also sent me all the information that I could ever need as to how exactly you can use them.

I have now been using the oils for two weeks and I LOVE them.  I especially love the lemon, which has given me a natural boost of energy in the am when added to my water.  
 
So today I am going to share my top 3 favorite oils that I have tried, along with the benefits and how you can use them.

Lavender:

• Use to calm reaction to bee sting or bug bite.
• Add a few drops to a spray bottle for a natural cleaning agent. Lavender’s antibacterial, antibiotic, antiviral, antiseptic properties are great for spraying around your house. 
• Apply to wrists or inhale when traveling to ease motion upset. 
• Apply to back, hands or feet to help calm a restless or agitated child (need to try this on Ronin haha)
• You can warm lavender (don’t scald it), mix with olive oil and gently massage around the ears (not in the ears) and near glands in the throat to help relive earaches. 
•  Use to calm or sooth diaper rash 
• Add a few drops to lotion for stress relieving effects. 
•  Apply to dry chapped lips before applying lip balm.

Lemon:

• Add a drop to your water in the am for cleansing effects.  I have been doing this daily now  love the way it makes my water tastes and the natural burst of energy it gives me. 
• Apply topically for mood elevation.
• Add a couple drops to warm water & honey, which can help combat a sore throat, slow a nasty cough, and douse a fever. Lemon oil fights bacteria, as well as viruses.
• Apply directly to cold sores for soothing relief. 
• Remove gum, label adhesives and greasy substances from fabric.  Okay people this is magic how well this works! 
• Use to clean kitchen counters and stainless steel appliances. 
• Use it in baking.  Amy said she makes delicious lemon cookies with it and I can not wait to try that! 

Peppermint:

• Rub on stomach or feet, or take internally to calm indigestion or upset stomach.
• Mix with the lemon essential oil for a refreshing mouth rinse. 
• Add a drop to your tea to relieve heartburn. 
• Diffuse or apply topically to open sinuses and airways. 
• Mix with lavender to sore muscles or joints. 
• Breath during a meal to help you feel full.  I like this one ;)
• Apply topically for fevers and headaches.
• Inhale as a non-stimulant pick-me-up on long drives. 
• Add a few drops to shampoo and conditioner for a refreshing hair and scalp treatment.
• Use with lavender and lemon during allergy season.
• Use in baking.  I'm thinking I need to make some peppermint fudge with it asap.  

Even though it may seem like I just listed a million benefits there are literally hundreds more.  

And now for the giveaway! Today one lucky reader has the chance to win all 3 oils mentioned above.

Here's how to enter:

•  Leave a comment below saying which oil you are most excited to try. 

For Extra Entries: (please leave separate comments for each additional entry):

• Tweet about the giveaway. Please tag with @delightedmomma
• Pin this post
• Share on Facebook

The winner will be selected at random and notified by e-mail this Friday. 

* If you do not want to wait to see if you won, you can purchase all the doTerra oils here. 

A Trip to the Zoo + A Little Mom Fear Conquered

Yesterday I decided to be brave (or maybe more normal) and bring the boys to the San Diego Zoo by myself.  And by myself I mean without another friend, my mom, my sister or my husband to help out if the craziness gets out of control.  Because lets be honest Ronin's temper tantrums can be quite terrifying if you are by yourself, out in public with no where to go and everyone is staring at you like you are secretly pulling out your son's eyelashes (I promise I'm not). But sometimes you just gotta do things by yourself to realize you can, you know?

The three of us had a blast!  It was a chilly day, which I think makes for the perfect zoo walking around weather.  The last time I went to the zoo was when Max was around Ronin's age and I have finally decided that yes, the zoo might be a little "sad" for all those wild animals but I truly believe it is such a wonderful educational place for kids.  Without the zoo my boys might never get to see all the animals that we talk about almost daily.

I think the boys favorite animals were the elephants and the lions.  There was quite a bit of noise making coming out of them as we passed those ones :)

And on a side note, I posted a picture of us all at the zoo yesterday on my Instagram and um yikes.  I am pretty sure I was was losing followers by the second  (I noticed after a while).  Maybe zoo pictures are just not that cool, which makes me want to post even more now ;) I love the zoo!

So here are a few pictures from our day...

 

At this very moment Max said, heyyy girafffffe!" And the giraffe turned his head and looked at him.  Maybe a coincidence but it made his day! 

DIY Ikea Tarva Dresser Hack

So let me just go ahead and be real...my track record for furniture upcycles/hacks/makeovers or whatever you want to call them has not been good.  Basically everything that I have painted, or tried to give a "makeover" almost always ends up in the dusty dark garage where they will never be seen again until a nice lady on Craigslist wants to buy them.

I recently heard about the Tarva Ikea dresser and I thought well mayyyyyyybe I could give this furniture thing one more shot.

Here is why the Ikea Tarva dresser is awesome:

• It's REAL solid, untreated wood.  That is impressive considering it's coming from Ikea
• It comes pre-sanded, which makes it the perfect ready to go blank canvas!
• It's the perfect height for a child's room.  It's not too tall, it's not too short, it's just right. 
• It's only $80.  

So I made a trip to Ikea, picked up the dresser and was hoping I would do something with it that I actually liked and wanted to keep in the house.  Over the weekend I headed to Lowe's where I picked up all the painting supplies.

What I used:

• Rustoleum Weathered Gray wood stain
• Pantone String paint 
• Drawer pulls are from Lowe's 
• Paint rolls for paint 
• Clean rag for stain 

Here is how you can do it:

1. Put the dresser together, remove the old knobs and take out the drawers and set aside.  This makes it easier to figure out what you are painting.
2. Stir up the can of wood stain before using.  Apply the wood stain everywhere but the drawers.  When applying the stain make sure you apply evenly and go WITH the grain of the wood.  I learned this lesson by previously screwing up other projects.  
3. Once everything but the drawers have been stained, paint your drawers using a small paint roller.  I did two coats. 
4. For the drawer pulls, I used the existing hole from the old knob and then drilled (okay my husband drilled) a new hole next to it so the new hardware could attach properly.  
5. Use a level to make sure your drawer pulls are even.  
6. Let everything dry for about 2 hours.  Put the drawers back in and you are done! 

This was beyond easy and I could not be more excited with how it turned out.  PLUS it only took me an hour to complete since there was no sanding or priming involved.  The design possibilities for this dresser are endless!

Things That Make Me Say Yeay

I am a little late on the chalkboard paint cool train but I finally got around to painting a wall in the garage ( I am not brave enough to put it inside) and they love it!  

Our couches finally arrived!  Floor pillows were fun while they lasted but there is nothing more exciting (well maybe a few things) than sitting on these comfy babies while watching our latest obsession, Orange is the New Black.  Have you seen it?  It's definitely a show to watch after the kids are asleep but it is so good!  A little raunchy...but good.

Recent fun goodies and letters for the boys from Aunt Nat in Germany.  We all had fun trying to sound out the color names which were all in German. 

A little late night drink with non melt-able, reusable ice cubes.  Genius right?!  I got them at World Market for Ian's stocking last year and they are pretty awesome.

One of the fun parts about being a blogger is I get do things like make chili look pretty for pictures.  This chili is not only good looking but it is easy to make and tastes delicious.  I shared the full recipe on The Every Girl this week if you want to check it out.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sweetened Baked Acorn Squash

Maybe it's just me but sometimes I feel like simple recipes are the ones that I worry about screwing up the most.  I mean... there is literally one thousand and one ways to make cauliflower mash, but if you add a little too much of this or not enough of that it could end up sucking and no one will want you to make them ever again. 

Acorn squash is one of those vegetables that if cooked just right with all the perfect flavors you will have yourself a beyond delicious treat that everyone will love again and again! I sound like a TV ad but just go with it.  This is so so yummy. 

What you will need:

• 1 golden acorn squash
• 2 tbs of melted ghee or butter
• 2 tbs of coconut sugar 
• cinnamon ( I use about 7-8 dashes for each half)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut your squash in half and remove all the seeds. 
3. Evenly spread one tbs of ghee onto each half.  
4. Add one tbs of coconut sugar to each half and sprinkle on the cinnamon. 
5. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.  Your squash should be nice and soft once cooked.
6. Enjoy!

 

This is the most delicious treat! You can eat it as is (if you don't feel like sharing) or scoop it out and put it in a bowl.  Make sure you drizzle all the yummy flavors left in the half on top!

A Recent Life Lesson Learned + FUO is Now a Thing of The Past

 source

Life is always full of surprises and I feel like if you don't pay attention close enough you can easily miss little messages that can make a big impact on how you live.

When you are just going along living your life you most likely don't stop to really think about what might happen if you were to get life pausing sick.  You probably don't think about how it might make you feel emotionally and psychologically either.  At least I didn't until last month.  Most of the time I think about stupid shit (yes I said shit on a mom blog) that does not even matter in the grand scheme of things.

I would say that I am a generally healthy person.  I do have type 1 diabetes but I don't ever let that hold me back health wise.  In fact before a month ago I hadn't been to a regular family doctor in about 10 years. 

So here is the recent story...

On a random day about 7 weeks ago today I woke up feeling pretty horrible.  Aw wahh poor me, but this was different.  It felt like the flu...kind of. I took my temperature and it was 103.  This was very bad sick timing since I had to pack our house and get ready to move.  I brushed it off the best I could and just hoped it was one of those 24 or 48 hour things.  Two weeks later my fever was still persistent and never went below 101.  Now if you have had a fever before as an adult let me just say it sucks all the life out of you and you basically feel like you want to sleep all day.  I decided it was time to end my hiatus of not seeing a doctor and made an appointment.

The doctor I saw was wonderful.  He asked a million questions and checked me out completely.  No sore throat, no ear infection no problems with my thyroid nothin....except a weird high fever and a constant crappy feeling. He told me to come back in a week if it was still there.  Week four I went back.  I started feeling worse and my fever was still high and persistent.  At this point he really did not like this.  He ordered dozens of blood tests, a pregnancy test (not pregnant woohoo) and just about everything else you can imagine.

A few days later my results came back.  He called me personally.  He said that everything came back completely normal.  White blood cell count was great and I looked healthy as a horse according to my blood work.  He said a fever that high and that persistent in an adult is not normal though and we would get to the bottom of this but as of right now he was diagnosing me with FUO (fever of unknown origin).  I started googling and read that some people have FUO for years and they just had to live with it.   Greaaattt.

I started to forget what it felt like to feel normal and healthy.  So I just started doing everything I do anyways but with a fever and a constant crappy sick feeling.  I realized how much I took advantage of the most important thing you have, your health.  I missed running, really working out and just enjoying moments with my family where I didn't feel flu-y or fever-ish.  I did some serious praying and asked God to please let me feel like my old self again.

About a week and a half ago I woke up and before getting out of bed realized I didn't have that weird fever feeling.  It had been 6 weeks with a fever at this point.  I got up and checked my temp.  It was 98.7.  The even better part was I felt normal, like get up and have a cup of coffee and maybe even go to the gym normal.  I said a long thank you prayer and started my day with a little more enthusiasm than I ever have before.

This whole weird unexplained sickness and then super fast healing taught me a few life lessons that I never want to forget...

1)  Your health is the most priceless thing you could possibly ever have.  If you have your health you  have everything.  Things and material objects are nice but nothing compares to feeling and being healthy. 

2) Do more of the things you love to do.  Life is just too short to waste your time doing things you do not love to do.  Same goes for people.  Spend time with people who lift you up and you truly enjoy being around.  

3) Do not complain about stupid stuff.  There are bigger things in life to worry and complain about.

4) Be thankful for each day and enjoy the little moments with your family.  At the end of the day the people in your house are the ones that are the most important and they will always love you, even at your worst. 

I was unsure if I wanted to share this slightly personal experience on my blog but I feel like in the end it has changed me for the better.  For that reason I found it important enough to share how this blur of a month impacted my life and made me realize things I might have taken for granted before.

10 Drugstore Beauty Must-Haves Part 1

With so much to choose from at a drug store, picking out beauty and skin care products can be a tad bit overwhelming.  Many of you have asked me what my favorite go-to drugstore brands and products are so I decided to make this a two part post.  I am breaking it down to beauty products this week and affordable drug store skin care next week.

You do not have to spend hundreds of dollars to achieve great beauty results.  The following products are affordable, reliable and little gems that I love and recommend.

1. Aquaphor Healing Ointment- This is my secret weapon for cracked heels and dry hands.  It is a must have in the fall and winter when dry chapped skin is more likely to occur.

2. Unscented Witch Hazel With Aloe Vera- The benefits of witch hazel are endless and this is one of those products that every woman should have on hand.  Use it as a toner, treat razor burn with it and more. 

3. Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Shampoo- A restoring shampoo that makes your hair smell fresh and incredibly soft.  I also love that this product is formulated without parabens, synthetic fragrance, synthetic color or sulfates.  

4. Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara- BEST drugstore mascara ever.  Makes your lashes long, thick and clump free.  I even like this better than some of the higher ends ones that I have purchased from Sephora.  

5. Palmer's Dark Chocolate and Peppermint Lip Butter- You need this.  Your lips, boyfriend or husband (hopefully not both) will thank you.  It is beyond moisturizing, tastes amazing and you may be tempted to eat it, but obviously don't :) 

6. Tweezerman Tweezers- these are high quality and they will last you forever.  They are a little bit more pricey than other brands but they are totally worth it. 

7. Neutrogena Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover- I love this because it gets the job done, does not irritate your eyes and does not leave an oily residue.

8. Neutrogena Skin Clearning Oil Free Makeup- This foundation not only offers excellent coverage but it also helps heal existing acne with the blemish fighting ingredient salicylic acid.

9. Neutrogena Shine Control Blotting Sheets- These are perfect to throw in your purse and use whenever you feel like your shine factor may be getting a little out of control.  They won't remove your makeup and will not irritate your skin.

10. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain- For the perfect punch of color and moisture all in one this is the product.  My favorite shade is Honey.

Do you have any beauty drug store must- haves? I would love to hear!