Blueberry Shamrock Muffins

I love baking! Unfortunately, I also love to EAT what I bake, so I try to limit my baking to weekends and special occasions. Dilemma: Mark and I got a hankering for some muffins this morning. Hmm...what's the closest "special occasion" that could justify baking on a random Wednesday in late-February? Well, St. Patty's day is only 3 weeks away, so how about some semi-healthy green muffins? 

Please pardon the very non-food blog worth iPhone pics. I really had no intention of blogging about this...

I'm not usually very intuitive when it comes to modifying recipes, but I was really happy with how these turned out! They were super-moist, and just sweet enough.

Speaking of sweet... I'd be nowhere without my super-sweet kitchen helper!

My secret ingredients! Powdered Spirulina (found at Costco) - so many health benefits and bonus -  it turns everything it touches bright green! I love coming up with ways to color foods with real foods instead of yucky food coloring. My other secret ingredient is Arbonne Daily Fiber Boost. If you've never tried this stuff, it's awesome! It's tasteless, texture-less, and it adds 12 grams of fiber per scoop. It doesn't change consistency of anything you mix it in, so you can stir it in baked goods, pasta sauce, smoothies - I love it! And of course, it's Arbonne, so the fiber comes from all natural sources, and is super-easy to digest. If you are interested, I actually know a consultant :-) The good news is that if you don't have these secret ingredients, the muffins will still be yummy. Just not as green. Or healthy.

The muffins weren't quite as green after they were baked. I might try adding some spinach next time? Hmmmm....

 

Blueberry Shamrock Muffins 

Ingredients:

3 large ripe bananas
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp spirulina powder

2 scoops Arbonne Daily Fiber Boost

Directions:
1. Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add agave and egg.
3. Add coconut oil and blueberries.
4. Combine dry ingredients and gently stir into banana mixture.
5. Pour into 12 well-greased muffin cups (or  I always do 24 mini muffin cups)

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

 And they're really not that bad for you either...

Per Mini-Muffin

Cal: 94

Carbs: 14g

Fat: 3g

Protein:1g

Fiber: 2g

Sugar: 6g

Winter Waves

While my mom was visiting, Oahu happened to have some of the biggest swells of the whole season. One evening when Scott got home from work, we made a little road trip up to the North Shore to catch a peek!

It was cloudy and the sun was beginning to set, so everything was bathed in such beautiful golden light.

None of these pictures really do any justice to the magnitude of the waves.

We kept getting chased back by lifeguards on 4wheelers and told to get away from the water. Every once in awhile, a big wave would come up very suddenly and sweep up the whole beach. Kinda scary!

Such a display of God's glory! Again and again, I'm amazed and so thankful that God has allowed us to live in such an beautiful place!

Aulani

Time to catch up on some fun January memories! 

My parents escaped the frigid Oklahoma winter and came to visit in early January. Partly to celebrate my Dad's and Scott's birthdays, we decided to stay a couple of nights at Aulani. We had walked around many times, but never actually stayed at the resort. "Wow" is all I have to say. Of course, as is everything Disney, every inch of the resort was first class fun. We had such a blast!

checking in - let the fun begin!

Our room was amazing - I seriously wanted to move in. The view wasn't bad either!

Our first morning, we made reservations for the Character Breakfast. The boys were so excited to meet Mickey and his gang!

The boys barely ate a bite because they were so distracted with all the fun activities during breakfast. I think we did manage to get at least one Mickey waffle in each of them.

The boys were always the first to jump up and join in all the dances and games.

The resort has acres of pools, lazy rivers, waterslides, and other activities, but this is where we parked our stuff every morning - Menehune Bridge!

The boys ran and jumped and splashed and slid all day long.

They only stopped playing for snacks!

Scott decided to try out the "Rainbow Reef," a man-made reef in the middle of the resort for a completely controlled snorkeling environment. The boys got a kick out of seeing Daddy swimming with the fish on the other side of the glass!

The resort itself is not overwhelmingly "Mickey Mouse," but I was surprised how much the boys loved trying to find all of Disney characters who would appear here and there throughout the day.

They even waited in some long lines to get their picture taken with different friends.

We celebrated Daddy and Papa's birthday on the last evening with a fun dinner at the Monkeypod and then a special bottle of wine! Thanks to the Lieblers for introducing us to "The Prisoner!"

Aulani was such a treat - thanks Brumbra and Papa for a weekend we will never forget!

Rainy Day Fun

Yesterday was perfect. Keaton had a day off from school, and it rained ALL DAY LONG. We had nowhere to be, and no reason to leave the house. I know that some moms dread being cooped up in the house with kids, but in this land of eternal sunshine, a good old fashioned  rainy day is like chicken soup for my homebody heart.

My boys are into "moussing" their hair these days... thanks, Brumbra.

What a dude!

Seriously, could he be any more handsome? I know, kinda biased...

Shirt pockets are so handy! Anyone know where I can find a size 3T pocket protector?

We decided to do a little Valentines decorating. I got the idea to turn all our beautiful Christmas cards into a Valentines garland of all the people we love!

I loved how it turned out!

Next up - some fun Valentines sun catchers, because the sun is bound to come back out eventually! It is Hawaii.

Mark was so excited to get to cut.

The final product...

Such a fun day!