Who doesn’t love a protein bar that can be delicious and no need to bake! Chocolate and peanut butter for long lasting energy, yet another recipe from World Market:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup finely shredded coconut flakes
1 scoop protein powder (vanilla or chocolate)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup powdered peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup honey, heated slightly
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Directions
1. Line a 9″x 9″ pan with wax or parchment paper, set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix together the oats, chia seeds, coconut flakes, protein powder, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. In another bowl, mix together the powdered peanut butter, water, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla extract and mix well. It will be like a thinned out peanut butter consistency; add this mixture to the oat mixture along with the chocolate chips and mix well to combine.
4. Press into the prepared pan, place another piece of wax paper over the top and freeze at least 30 minutes to set.
5. Remove from pan and cut into 14 bars. Wrap each one individually in wax paper or plastic wrap and keep chilled.
Another great recipe from the World market can’t wait to be able to shop there again I can spend hours! Farro salad and roasted veggies just perfect for dinner any night:
Ingredients
2 cups Bartolini Italian farro, cooked
10 Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced into strips
4 green onions, sliced thin, whites and light green parts
3 bell peppers, any colors cut into thin strips
3 to 4 summer squash such as zucchini, pattypan or Romanesco zucchini cut into 2-3 in. chunks
15 to 20 cipollini onions or 2 yellow onions cut into bite-size chunks
extra virgin olive oil to coat
salt & pepper
For the Dressing:
1 garlic clove, minced
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
Directions
1. Cook farro according to package directions.
2. While farro is cooking make the dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients except parsley and set aside.
3. When the farro is tender—about 12-14 minutes, drain and let cool a bit. Toss farro and dressing together, set aside and let the flavors meld.
4. Put all the vegetables on rimmed roasting pans so they fit in a single layer, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper.
5. Roast at 375 degrees F until tender and beginning to brown, about 25 min.
6. Toss the vegetables with the dressed farro, add parsley and serve.
For https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/170446/avocado-egg-salad/from All Recipes, you want to let the avocado go an extra day or two past peak ripeness anyway (because it will be softer and creamier), so it’s perfect for those of us who aren’t able to time an avocado intentionally.
Smoothies might just be the easiest way to disguise the texture of a mushy brown avocado. And while there’s no wrong way to make a smoothie, https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spinach-smoothie-recipe from Real Simple has the added bonus of using up your not-so-perfect apples, too. But really, avocados go well with just about any smoothie ingredients given their buttery, almost nutty flavor.
Bonus Round: Avocado Face Mask
If you still can’t handle the thought of eating an avocado that’s past its prime, you could try a do-it-yourself avocado face mask. Over at Natural Beauty Tips, you’ll find a few different versions that all call for basic pantry ingredients, so you won’t have to make an extra trip to the store. https://naturalbeautytips.co/homemade-avocado-face-mask-recipe/
Avocado Face Mask Skin Benefits
1. Avocado face masks are free from chemicals and synthetic ingredients that make them less allergic and skin irritating than the many store-bought beauty products;
2. Face masks using avocado as an ingredient are good for those who are having acne prone as well dry or sensitive skin.
3. The avocado face mask can reach the inner layers of the skin to impart elasticity to even the extremely dry skin.
4. They work wonders to slow down the aging process.
5. They are inexpensive and can be easily made at home using the natural ingredients easily available in your kitchen cabinet.
Read on here for some incredible homemade avocado face mask recipes to clean skin pores and soothe your dry skin.
DIY Avocado Face Mask For Dry Skin
Avocado is not only good for your health, but it also soothes dry skin. Honey contained in the masks is good for your dry skin, as is the yogurt or milk. Try your own homemade avocado facial masks to nourish, soften, cleanse and moisturize your dry skin
1. Avocado Honey Face Mask: This easy to make face mask for dry skin uses only 2 natural ingredients, namely, avocado and honey, both of which act as natural moisturizers. This mask works wonders for mature, wrinkled and dry skin. Take 1 fully ripe fresh avocado, remove the skin as well as the seed, and mash it up into creamy pulp in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of honey and stir the mixture until it turns into a uniform paste. Apply to skin and leave it on for 10-15 minutes. Rinse off the mixture with lukewarm water and pat dry your face with a soft towel.
This avocado mask recipe works to impart a beautiful glow to your face. This face mask is not too sticky, but it is delicious!
2. Oatmeal Avocado Face Mask: This acts as a great moisturizing mask and helps in restoring damaged skin. Take 1/2 ripe avocado and 1/2 cup of oatmeal. Cook the oatmeal as per instructions in the label on the oatmeal packet and mixed it well with the mashed avocado (without its skin and seed) until it turns into a pulp-free paste of uniform consistency. Apply it on your skin and leave it on for 10-15 minutes or until it dries up. Once it’s done, rinse it off with lukewarm water and pat dry your skin with a soft towel.
3. Avocado Yogurt Face Mask: If you want to pump in moisture into your skin then this mask will do the trick. Yogurt also works well for acne prone skin because it has lactic acid that kills bacteria. As the plain yogurt is a little acidic, it works to restore your skin’s pH balance as well.
This work great in winter months. Take 1/4 ripe avocado and mash it up in a bowl until it turns lump free. Mix into the pulp 1 teaspoon of plain organic yogurt and 1/2 teaspoon of honey. Stir them well until you get a paste of uniform consistency. Apply the mask onto your skin for 10-15 minutes or until it dries out. Rinse it off with lukewarm water and pat your skin dry with a soft towel.
Natural Beauty Tip – In case your skin is oily, go for a lower fat content.
4. Avocado, Banana and Egg Face Mask: Take 1/2 ripe / soft avocado, 1/2 ripe banana and 1 egg yolk. Mash and mix all the ingredients together to form a paste of uniform consistency. Apply on your skin and leave it on for 10-15 minutes. Once done, wash it off with lukewarm water and then pat dry your skin with a soft towel.
Now you must have observed how easy it is to make and use these DIY Avocado Face Masks. They are inexpensive and chemicals free. You can apply any one of them once a week and watch your skin getting young and beautiful.
Natural Beauty Tips
(i) The above additional ingredients are optional. The avocado face masks are effective even when they are made with avocado alone. The optional ingredients you may add for their specific additional properties that may promote skin health.
(ii) Use a soft and ripe avocado for the purpose of making face masks.
(iii) To make the avocado mask cool and refreshing, keep it in your fridge for a couple of minutes before applying it.
(iv) If you add an egg to a face mask, the mask will work to tighten your skin.
(v) To make the mask ingredients penetrate deep into your skin pores, wash your face with warm water before applying the mask.
(vi) A tip for the people who have extremely dry skin. Add a couple of drops of olive oil to make the avocado face mask even more moisturizing.
(vii) Wash your face with warm water to remove make up and dirt before applying any mask, so that the face mask provides the best results to you.
(viii) Do not use any ingredient, if your skin is allergic to it.
(ix) Avocado can stain your clothes, so wear an old T-shirt while making or applying an avocado face mask.
Here you go another recipe from Disneyland, going to make some of these desserts and watch the Disney fireworks show online:
INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup water
• 8 tablespoons butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups vegetable or canola oil
• ½ cup sugar
DIRECTIONS
Combine water, butter, salt, and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon in 1 ½-quart saucepan over medium heat. Bring pot to rolling boil.
Reduce heat to low.
Add flour and stir vigorously until mix forms a ball. Remove from heat and let rest for 5-7 min.
Add eggs, one at a time, and stir until combined. Set aside.
Using caution, heat oil in medium skillet or 1-quart saucepan over medium-high heat or until temperature reaches 350˚.
Spoon dough into piping bag fitted with large star tip. Pipe 1-inch strip of dough over saucepan, cut with knife, and drop into hot oil. Repeat until churro bites fill saucepan with room to fry.
Fry churro bites until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon or mesh spider strainer.
Drain churro bites on paper towel.
Mix sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in medium bowl. Toss in churro bites until coated. Place on serving plate and serve with favorite dipping sauce.
Wow waking up to this recipe on my feed was awesome!!!! Disneyland shared some of its most prized recipes and this one I had to share so no one misses out:
INGREDIENTS
• 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105º)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 egg
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Combine sugar, shortening, salt, heavy cream, egg, flour and boiling water in a large bowl; stir in yeast mixture. With the dough hook attachment of an electric mixer on medium speed, mix the dough just until combined and smooth. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
Roll to 1/4-inch thickness and cut individual beignets with a Mickey Mouse-shaped cutter or cut into 2 1/2 to 3-inch squares. Cover with a towel and let dough rise until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free area, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Using caution, heat 3 inches of vegetable oil to 350°F in a deep, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Fry beignets until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes, turning as soon as they brown on one side. Remove with tongs and place on paper towels to drain. Dust warm beignets with powdered sugar and serve immediately.
Makes 10 Large Mickey Mouse-shaped Beignets or 2-Dozen Small Beignets
Dig out your work gloves, change into old clothes, and take on the following seven outdoor tasks because the benefits are manifold. You’ll not only get away from your home office for a few hours, but you can wave to a neighbor (from across the street) and add some pretty curb appeal, too.
1. Pull weeds
The yoga studio is closed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t squat down in the dirt and clean up your flower beds. Lay out an old yoga mat or towel to kneel on, and get low to pull some weeds. You could also lay some stones around your flower beds or along walkways in the garden to delineate and highlight your work.
2. Sow seedlings and forced bulbs
Now’s the time to get those bulbs and seedlings in the ground. Plant any water-forced bulbs you’ve been caring for during the colder months, transfer seedlings to outdoor pots, and start the seeds for annuals.
If you’ve got nada to plant, head outside and see what’s blooming, and then bring it back into the house to propagate indoors. Gray-Plaisted recently clipped some forsythia branches to force in some water inside, and she plans to cut apple blossoms next.
3. Pick up sticks
You need to do a spring cleanup anyway, so why not get the whole family to pitch in?
“Clean out your garden beds with a rake, and trim bushes that didn’t get pruned last fall,” says Gray-Plaisted.
Also, do a clean sweep of your lawn. Picking up the sticks that dropped during the winter will make it safer for the lawn mower to pass when it’s time to cut the grass.
4. Organize and clean tools
If the weather’s still not great where you live, head into the garage and assess your gardening gear.
“Go through your toolshed or workbench, and see what you can purge or donate to a community garden group,” suggests Julie Coraccio, an organizing professional and author of “Got Clutter? 365 Journal Prompts.”
Once you’ve determined which shovels and trowels have made the cut, give them a good scrubbing to remove dirt and rust. Dry them carefully, and then store on a peg board.
5. Refresh your mailbox
Let’s face it: Your mailbox could probably use some attention. Whether it’s leaning to one side or nicked all over thanks to repeated dings by the snowplow or your newbie teen driver, it’s time to tackle this eyesore pronto.
Fix any blemishes, and apply a fresh coat of paint or even a new set of house numbers. And for extra curb appeal, plant some brightly colored annuals around the base of the post.
6. Create a gardening tote
Have you ever tried to balance a big bag of potting soil, fertilizer, weed killer, and five other gardening tools? It’s not a pretty sight. The fix: Create a personal gardening bag, either by repurposing an old canvas tote you have or ordering a new one. Get your initials stitched on the outer pocket, or add your own design or iron-on decals.
7. Rehab garden pots
Brown terra cotta is the default at most gardening centers, but this drab look isn’t so exciting once you bring your plants home. To make your pots really stand out, consider giving them a pop of color with either acrylic or spray paint.
To start, wash pots well and let them dry thoroughly in the sun or inside overnight, keeping in mind that it might take more than a day to air out the water. Next, use a clay pot sealer or paint primer as both will help the paint you apply last longer. Dab each one with paint using a foam sponge brush. You’ll probably need a couple of coats for the best color coverage.
Earth Day 2020: Every year, Earth Day is observed on April 22. This year’s celebration will mark 50 years of Earth Day. Earth Day is recognized as the world ’s largest secular commemorative event, with more than one billion people attending this event every year to change people ’s behavior and trigger policy changes.
Now, with the destruction of climate change becoming more and more obvious every day, the fight for a clean environment is becoming more and more urgent.
Theme for Earth Day 2020:
This year’s theme of Earth Day 2020 is climate action. Coping with the great challenges of climate change, but also huge opportunities has made this issue the most urgent topic for the 50th anniversary.
History of Earth Day:
Earth Day is a unified response to crisis environment-oil spills, smog, and rivers are so heavily polluted that they catch fire.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans (at that time, 10% of the US population) took to the streets, university campuses, and hundreds of cities to protest ignorance of the environment and demand new development paths for the planet.
The first Earth Day was praised for launching the modern environmental movement and is now recognized as the largest civic activity on the planet.
Celebration during lockdown:
Earth Day is April 22 every year. No specific time can be observed during the day. It is often mistaken for “Earth Hour” at the end of March. In “Earth Hour”, as a commitment to the earth, people turned off unnecessary lighting from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.
At the same time, NASA encourages people to use #EarthDayAtHome tags to share photos and images of how you observe Earth Day at home. Because the coronavirus lockdown, people around the world are at home, let us make this Earth Day worthwhile, and contribute to building a better planet.
How did you celebrate Earth Day during lockdown recycling, planting a tree, or maybe grow a small garden. Whatever you did I hope you woke up to feel the sun on your face and the super clean air we have been breathing these past few weeks!
Who is not guilty of letting bananas go bad every now and than, well not anymore! Not only are they the quickest breakfast idea, they are also egg substitutes for many recipes. And bananas aren’t for just people either Fido loves them in their goodies too. Here are 15 recipes to use overripe bananas in:
1. Banana Bread
Everyone should have a tried-and-true banana bread recipe. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/ from Simply Recipes is mine. It’s been the most popular recipe on the entire site for 10 years, and with good reason: It’s foolproof and delicious.
Who doesn’t love carrot cake and now as a donut, it’s the best of both worlds! Another recipe I found at World Market and who could not go for a sweet donut at home right now:
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup grated carrot
Icing
2 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp maple syrup
1-2 tbsp coconut milk
orange and green sprinkles
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350° F. Prep two donut pans by lightly oiling the wells. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, baking powder, spices and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until no more flour streaks remain. Fold in the shredded carrots.
3. Divide the batter between the prepped donut pans. Bake for 10–12 minutes or until the donuts spring back when pressed lightly. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then carefully remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
4. Once the donuts are completely cool, make the icing.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the icing ingredients starting with one tablespoon of maple syrup and coconut milk. If a thinner icing is desired, add more milk and syrup. If a thicker icing is desired, add more powdered sugar.
6. Dip the donuts in the icing one at a time, then decorate with sprinkles. Serve immediately.
7. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or two if not serving immediately. The icing doesn’t firm up so you can always keep the donuts unfrosted if not eating immediately, and frost and decorate before serving.
Who knew that World Market now has recipes aside from great décor for your home. And more and more recipes are calling for avocados to replace oil in desserts!
Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 medium-large avocado (1 cup)
1 1/2 cup 2 tbsp coconut milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp mini chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin liners.
2. Cut avocado in half, remove pit, scoop out and mash in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs, coconut milk and vanilla, and mix well. Add in the chocolate chip muffin ingredients and mix until no more dry mix is seen, being careful not to over mix.
3. Divide mixture into the 12 cups of the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the top of the muffin batter.
4. Bake 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the muffins bounce back when pressed lightly. Remove from oven.
5. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove muffins to cool completely.
6. Serve or keep in an airtight bag or container for a few days. Can also be frozen up to a month.
The Project For The Day 