dress code alternatives.

When we moved to the South, the girls were less than thrilled to find out their new elementary school wore "dress code".  Luckily dress code isn't as strict as full blown uniform, but they still feel like it is cramping their creative style. I promised them I would search high and low for things that felt a little more them and a little less dress code. They have been quite pleased with the result. If you're in a similar situation here are some items my girls are loving this school year.

best friends collar tee from Matilda Jane

Peter Pan Collar Zipper Dress from JCrew Factory

Tabitha Top from Mini Boden

cord  skirt from JCrew Factory

bow skirt from JCrew Factory

The white converse have been one of my favorite additions this fall. The girls wear them with skirts and shorts and they look cute with everything.

converse chuck taylor

The girls don't know these are coming (I'm saving them for Christmas), but I think they will love this fun and bright addition to their rainy season line-up... and they are a great price!

hunter boots

With Finn starting kindergarten, I was very nervous about the dress code. He is a boy through and through and does not like wearing "church clothes" as he has dubbed the dress code. I found him some things that have worked and we've had very little complaining.

The Volcom shorts are my very favorite. I love the way they fit, he had gray ones from long before dress code was on our radar so he feels like they are just "normal" shorts. These look a little more skater than your typical Old Navy/Gap chino short.

Volcom 'Modern' Chino Shorts from Nordstrom

With Finn being a t-shirt kind of kid, I knew the standard polo was going to be a struggle. At the anniversary sale I found this one quicksilver polo. Luckily it feels just like a t-shirt. Upon a little research I was able to find three more colors that work for our school on quicksilver.com and amazon. He wears them with no complaint (and they look good!). Success.

Quicksilver 'Core" Polo from Nordstrom

These Volcom polos also have a similar t-shirt type feel.

Volcom 'Wowzer' short sleeve polo from Nordstrom

We added these two shoes to Finn's collection this fall.

Vans Checkerboard Slip-on

Onitsuka Tiger Ultimate 81 PS

He looks pretty sharp every day as he heads out the door and I can't help but feel like we are making progress towards happy kids in dress code.

4th of July Round-up

With Memorial Day just around the corner, I've started my patriotic round-up (from around the web) in anticipation of the 4th of July. It's one of my very favorite holidays. Here's what I'm loving so far.

Decor for the bike parade. 

seen: A Little Sussy

DIY Mantel Decor

seen: eighteen25

For the potluck

seen: Two Peas and Their Pod

The Drinks (but really this whole party is pretty darn patriotic)

seen: HWTM blog

Firecracker Sugar Cookies, your kids will love the surprise POP!

seen: momdot

Take home favor, or a fun way to end your party

seen: Just Destiny

And because I like my kiddos to coordinate, here's what I have my eye on for now...

For the Tween

Tucker + Tate tank from Nordstrom

For the girl

American Graphic Tees from Old Navy

For the Boy

Tea Collection Hammerhead Tee, Garden Plaid Canvas Shorts and Sanuk Baseline

For the Toddler

Peek Kids Be Brave Tank and Baby Festival Skirt

Of course, we'll need cardigans, red Capris or shorts, accessories, hair ribbons and more to compete the final look, but I think this is a pretty fantastic start.

monster cookies.

I remember loving coming home to fresh baked monster cookies when I was a little girl, as we got older and my mom became increasingly busier she stopped making these little gems, and it was sort of an out of site out of mind type thing, until recently. Right before we left Denver, one of my friends started making these monster cookies. They have quickly become our all time favorite cookie. Not only are they soft, chewy and delicious, the dough freezes amazingly well. So well that we have to foodsaver package them to keep from eating the dough balls straight out of the freezer. They are THAT good.

Try cooking up a batch of your own, I promise you won't be disappointed...

Monster Cookies
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (blended into flour)
2 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups plain M&M's (or chocolate chips)

Cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, peanut butter and vanilla. Add oat flour, and oats. Once combined add in M&M's. Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

*These can be "gluten free" if you buy your oats from a specialty store that doesn't process the oats in a facility with other gluten products.

strawberry shortcake.

In my opinion, Strawberry Shortcake sometimes misses the mark. You either have overly sweet pound cake that competes with the berries, or you have dry and somewhat bland biscuits, that do little to compliment your strawberries. Some time ago I lived near a friend who was from Ireland. One night she had some ladies over to teach us a thing or two about Irish cooking. That night she made us Irish Scones with jam and clotted cream. They were Amazing. 

My daughters favorite dessert is Strawberry Shortcake. She does not like chocolate (crazy, right?) So each year for her birthday I try a new form of pound cake or biscuit. This year for some reason, the light when on and I remembered Shelagh's Irish Scones and an idea was born.

I would make the delicate, slightly sweet, melt in your mouth Irish Scones for the base of the Strawberry Shortcake. This my friends, was a WINNER! You should really head out, right now, for some Irish Butter and get to whipping up these bad boys, you won't be sorry.

Before giving you the scone recipe, my favorite way to prepare the berries is to crush some of them with a potato masher, to break them down, but still leave them chunky, the other half I blend with sugar to make a liquid. Combine the two and allow to sit for some time. I always use real whip cream with a little powdered sugar and vanilla to top the shortcakes.

Shelagh's Irish Scones

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 pinch of salt

1/4 cup Kerry Gold Irish Butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 - 3/4 cup milk (just enough to bind)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter (cold not soft) until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and enough milk to mix to a soft dough.

Turn onto floured surface, knead lightly and roll out to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut into 2 inch rounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with milk to glaze. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes until lightly golden (be careful not to over cook, but sides of scone should be firm) then cool on wire wrack.

chickpea chocolate chip cookies.

I recently started following Lauren Brimley on instagram (Eating_Whole). I'd definitely recommend following her. She's a young mom with one baby who has committed to feeding herself healthy and clean foods. Her pictures are incredible and make healthy eating look delicious (not the easiest, in my opinion). 

With four kids and a husband, I don't think we will be eating 100% clean and/or whole any time soon, but I have started trying to include more of this type of eating into our meal plan. Baby steps :) I'm shooting for an 80/20 ratio in the long run, with the 80 being clean/healthy.

I've seen a few versions of these cookies floating around the internet and pinterest. I have alway been intrigued and wondered if the people making them were just so far into eating clean that their palate had changed enough to "think" these tasted like a real cookie. 

Today I realized I had all the ingredients on hand and we decided to try them out as an "experiment".  If I'm being honest, as I dumped all the ingredients into the food processor I couldn't help laughing. There's not a snowballs chance these are going to be good. And then I tasted the dough, under my breath I may have mentioned there were not enough chocolate chips in all the world to save these bad boys, and then I turned to my two sweet helpers and said... "Let's hope the oven makes some magic" and that's really what I thought. 

The oven did in fact make some magic.. I'm not really sure how, but out of my oven came a dense, chewy and soft chocolate chip cookie. Not overly sweet but also not bean-y or cardboard-ish. My four kids ranging from 10 to 2, ate them and asked for seconds, and I won't mention how many I have put down.. they are healthy.. right? 

The moral of this story, while not your typical chocolate chip cookies, these are a pretty incredible substitute. We will definitely be making these again and again. Our experiment was deemed a success.

Without further ado, I give you Lauren's version of the 

Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie...

1 1/4 cup rinsed chickpeas

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 cup unsweeted coconut

1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup pure maple syrup OR honey (I did half and half)

1 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor until creamy like a cookie dough. Add 1/2 - 3/4 cup chocolate chips depending on how chocolatey you like your cookies. With damp hands form into cookie balls and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

Makes 12-15 cookies 

Let me know if you try them out and what you think. Also note, that I enjoyed these even while eating plenty of refined sugar on a nearly daily basis.. baby steps, remember :)