What to do with green pumpkins?

We planted our pumpkins a little late, and they never had time to fully turn orange. 

They were also eaten by slugs and turned soft by frost.

After everything we had three good, but very green, pumpkins. 

To make them a little more attractive, we gave them a quick make over:

1. We painted the pumpkins white with some left over paint from an earlier project.
2. We cut out stencils.
3. We used some left over spray paint, and tah-dah!

 

Tim creeping in the window!

Homemade Peanut Butter Yogurt Dog Treats (Humans like them too!)

This is the easiest recipe ever: Peanut Butter, Yogurt Bites.  Boomer loves them... and so do my husband and I!

Recipe:
2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 zip-lock bag

Directions:
Line a cookie sheet or glass pan with parchment paper and set aside.  (Make sure the pan you use will fit in your freezer.)

Mix the yogurt and peanut butter together until smooth.

Scoop the mixture into the zip-lock bag.  Press air out and seal.  Push the mixture toward on of the bottom edges of the bag, then twist to upper portion to make a "frosting bag."  Carefully snip the corner of the bag.

Use your frosting bag to drop nickle to quarter sized dots of the mixture on your parchment lined cookie sheet.  If you used chunky peanut butter your bag will likely get backed-up from the chunks of peanuts.  Finesse and patience works best for unclogging rather than brute force. 

Once the sheet is full, put it in your freezer for at least 30 minutes (or until your bites are hardened).  Transfer your bites to a freezer-safe container, and make sure to keep them frozen.

Enjoy!

Clean Eating: Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Banana, Oatmeal Cookies

Have a few ripe bananas sitting out?  Try this chocolate-peanut butter cookie recipe!

Clean Eating: Chocolate, Peanut-Butter, Banana, Oatmeal Cookies

3 large, very ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
1 tbsp coconut oil, warmed but not melted ( I buy Nutiva Organic EVCO)
3 tbsp agave nectar or honey (I like Madhava's Organic Light Nectar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

2 tbsp ground flax (optional) (I like Bob's Red Mill Organic Flaxseed Meal)

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas, then stir in peanut butter, coconut oil, agave, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

*Note:  If you use frozen bananas, their cold temperature will make the coconut oil congeal.  Make sure your naner-mix is room temp before adding the coconut oil!  (I learned this the hard way.)

In a separate bowl, stir together the oats, flax, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet until they are fully combined.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and spoon out small spoonfuls of dough. 

This mixture made 36 small cookies.  

Bake for 12-13 minutes, and let cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least three minutes before moving to a cooling rack.  

Enjoy!