Reversing the meaning of Mother's Day

I helped raise a child that was not mine. He was never physically my son, only technically my step-son on paper and sadly, he never will be own son. I will never get the credit, I will never get acknowledgement and I will never feel appreciation from the one person who matters the most. But I suppose that's what being a mother is really all about. Besides, shouldn't we silently celebrate it everyday by living out our lives to the fullest?

So I decided that I am reversing the meaning of Mother's Day by saying... Thank you to my step-son, for giving me the chance to be a motherly figure in my life when I least expected it, to share my impressions, my art, my stories, my thoughts, reminding me of how hard and how easy it was to love a child that was only half of my husband and the other half a complete stranger, and of course, our random dance moves in the kitchen while making sandwiches. Thank you for those times. From the moment I first met you at age 6 to an adult I have been proud of you. I'm sad you have chosen to no longer be in my life but I understand it and it's days like today that I am reminded of what it all meant. I have learned so much from you and I want you to know, I would never take away one moment I had with you from my life.

To all the step-mom's out there, Happy Step-Mom Day, because Smom's sometimes rock out mothering better than the actual mom.

Lastly, to my mom, thank you giving life to me. Happy Mother's Day. You should have the right to  know that I acknowledge, appreciate, love and understand you.... and I do.

JD & I, the day I married his dad.

https://youtu.be/CbXPoBvgCYE

My mom and I, 1987

Organic Raw Cocao Coconut Oil Coconut-filled Bites

The Lazy Crazy Healthy Food Lady is back with a treat...

Organic Raw Cocao Coconut Oil Coconut-filled Bites — a very sweet treat that freezes fast!

Main ingredient is coconut oil because it freezes so well plus it's healthy for you!

Makes 12 mini cups worth. No baking required. All you need is mini cupcake holders, melted coconut oil (easy in this warm weather, already melted!) and the rest of the following organic ingredients:

Chocolate coconut outside (top and bottom):

1 cup raw cocao powder

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1 tbs honey (or to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together in a separate bowl. Stir well. The more coconut oil you decide on the runnier the chocolate is, so you can see what works for your size of cupcake holders. You can always quickly stir up more if needed.

For the filling:

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 tbs honey

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

You can also skip this filling idea and go for creamy cashew butter instead!

Mix together in a separate bowl. Initially (in this photo) I didn't use enough shredded coconut so I just added more. I also made my batch too sweet accidentally! The ingredients listed above are what I'd use now after doing them, less honey, but each person likes different sweetness levels too.

Next, spoon a little of the coconut chocolate mix in each cup.

Then put some shredded coconut filling in each one.

Then spoon the rest of the chocolate mix on top. If you need more to top off just mix more together.

 

Put in freezer! Only takes about 10 minutes to freeze. Ready to eat.

 This is what they look like once frozen. The coconut oil may gather on edges, this is normal.

Store in the fridge.

They are divine...

Enjoy!

Organic Vegan Green Tea Avacado Banana Ice Cream

The lazy crazy healthy food lady had a craving!

Organic Vegan Green Tea Avacado Banana Ice Cream. Now that's a mouth full but so is this ice cream. It is so yummy and it fits exactly what I was craving.

Simple ingredients that are easily accessible and affordable, only needing a blender to make.

We don't eat out anymore. There just isn't any fully organic options nearby and the only one place that is close to an organic menu still doesn't have that damn green tea ice cream. Definitely not like I used to get at the sushi restaurant we went to back in the day after a spicy pineapple chicken dish. Oooh spicy pineapple chicken... OK back on the ice cream. So I'm left with making up my own organic recipes myself, which is not a bad thing, I get more and I know what goes into it. ;)

Ingredients

• 2 avocados, peeled (a trick for this, push halved avocados against a glass top and peel down, so much easier!)
• 2 bananas, peeled
• 1/2 cup cashew butter
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 cup of green tea, steeped (I used decaf)

Instructions

Now I suppose if you wanted to eat it sooner you could freeze the peeled avocados, bananas and iced green tea cubes ahead of time made into a chilled instant smoothy but I didn't do that this time. So today I used all room temp ingredients.

In a blender, add in all ingredients. I like to put in the liquid first so it doesn't stick as much. This photo should be similar to what it looks like out of the blender. 

Find a container to freeze it in with a top. Put in freezer for 6 hours or over night. Another cool trick is to put the container or any ice cream inside a plastic bag and it keeps it from freezing too hard.

Once fully frozen, set out for a few minutes to soften, scoop and enjoy! I also tried to blend it frozen by adding a little more water and it came out cool, smooth and creamy. 

If you are like me, I can never wait the full amount, so of course, I peeked and it was about half frozen after 3 hours. Which looked a lot like this.

Oh man so close. Ha! I guess it's best to wait. The question is, will I have enough for a final photo by the time I'm done, eh em, checking on it? I mean I have to taste-test it, right?

****The next day****

 Here is it is as hard ice cream

 Here it is put back into the blender frozen with a little water for a softer ice cream.

My hubby said I should try adding in chocolate chips or cocao. That would be yummy too. Hmm, even some mint! Let me know what ideas you came up with in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!

Fairytale Session with Suzie McDermott

I had such a wonderful time photographing and creating art with model Suzie McDermott by doing a fairytale fantasy themed session. Here are some previews! Looking to do more sessions like this in the future so keep an eye out for more.