Monkey Bars

Found these in an old Parenting magazine I had and its so hard for me to get Asen to eat vegetables so I thought I'd give these a try!!

Monkey Bars
Cooking Spray
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup carrot baby food (stages 1 or 2)
1/4 cup sweet potato baby food (stages 1 or 2)
2 large bananas mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Note: you can use only carrot or only sweet potatoes if that's all you have just make sure it equals 1/2 cup

preheat oven to 325

spray 11 by 7 inch or 9 inch square pan

In sauce pan melt butter, sugar, and salt allow mixture to cool for 5 minutes

Whisk in baby food, bananas, vanilla, and egg yolks
Add oats and flour until combined

pour into pan and back 40-43 minutes until tooth pick comes out clean

(optional) melt white chocolate chips and drizzle over top

I used a 11 by 8 inch glass pan and cooked them for 35 minutes and they came out perfect but I think my oven cooks a little fast too! So make sure you check yours!

Plush Beauty Bar for Moms

OK so this place is AWESOME!! I wish it would of been open when Asen was tiny because I would of went every week! Its a nail salon/spa for moms they have a play area for kids including a swing for babies and its super clean! They use Zoya nail polish that doesn't have harsh chemicals so its not bad for the kids to breathe they have really pretty colors too(i am normally an opi fan)! The decor is adorable and the man and lady that did my nails were super nice. They do waxing all kinds its 39$ for a bazillion which is super cheap and 45$ for a mani/pedi which is cheap especially in LA. They also offer you tea or water which was nice! The only down fall is they don't have spa chairs and they just use a foot bath but that's OK because the spa chairs breed germs eek! I think it would be a great place to go with a girl friend that also had a baby since they could play together. If you want you can make an apt. online their website it www.plushbeautybar.com

I took a few photos of the inside and you can see the play area from where you sit which is what I was worried about !

So I can't really think of anything fun to post about today! I have a million things coming up this month though and I can't wait to post about them! I have my son's birthday he will be turning ONE! We are having two parties for him and I think those parties are going to turn out awesome especially the one I'm having here in LA on my rooftop. I also have my cousins wedding my son is in. Then I am hosting a baby shower for 3 of my friends who are all pregnant! I can't wait to post pictures and update about all of those things! I like having pictures to put up with my entry's I feel it makes them more fun to look at!

My famous oatmeal cookies

Well my grandpa thinks these should be famous. They are pretty much the recipe that's on the Quaker oats lid but I changed it to be even better!


2 sticks of butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tea vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tea baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups of oats

Heat oven to 350
Beat together butter and sugars
add eggs and vanilla
add flour, baking soda, and salt
stir in oats mix well
can makes about 4 dozen depending on the size you make your cookie

bake 10 minutes

Also Jeff ( my man) and Pat my friend love when i make them crispy I only use 1 cup of flour and I bake them 10-12 minutes but make sure to to make them huge because they spread like crazy but the crispy edges are so good.

Spicy meatloaf burgers

So Last night I made this meatloaf and it was amazing and I'm not much of a meatloaf fan but I was thinking they would of tasted even better as hamburgers so I haven't tested this out yet but I will but I figured I'd post how I made it anyways except turn it into a burger!

2 lbs beef (I always use grass fed beef)
1 egg
Bread crumbs
Half red bell pepper
half yellow bell pepper
a hand full of finely chopped carrots
half an onion
Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Sauce
Ketchup
Brown Sugar
Shiracha

Saute the peppers onion and carrots I use coconut oil but olive oil would work then throw those in with the beef, egg, bread crumbs, and Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. Hand mix and make into patties cook on the grill or in a pan and top with mozzarella cheese and the ketchup sauce and put on a burger bun with whatever you like to put on your burger!...yum yum or you could make into meatloaf put in a meatloaf pan and top with sauce and I baked it at 375 for 1hour and 15 min I made mashed potatoes and salad as a side dish.

My Mashed potatoes

* 1 box Chicken Broth I use organic
* 5 large potatoes, peeled cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1/2 cup light cream
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (reserve some for garnish)
* Generous dash ground black pepper
salt to taste

Heat the broth and potatoes in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain, reserving the broth.
Mash the potatoes with 1/4 cup broth, light cream, sour cream, chives, butter, bacon and black pepper. Add the additional broth, if needed, until desired consistency. Garnish with the remaining bacon.


you can also leave out the bacon and chives and the potatoes are awesome alone!

The Sandwich Bag

So tonight my friend was on face book and she told me she was trying to make basketball cup cakes but her son ran off with the attachments to the frosting bag so she couldn't get the stripes right. Well I wish I would of known a little sooner because I could of told her just to put the black frosting into a little sandwich baggie and seal it up and cut a tiny part of the corner off and use for frosting and that got me thinking about all the random uses besides putting a sandwich in the bag here are a few ideas!

1. My favorite trick which my Nana's house keeper who is an amazing cook taught me when making rice krispie treats to put a sandwich bag on my hand with a little butter on the outside of the bag so I can flatten the top of my rice krispie treats in the pan it works like a charm and you get perfect rice krispie treats with out getting it on your fingers

2. The frosting trick put your frosting in the bag and cut the very tip off the corner of the bottom of the bag to decorate.

3.Turn the bag into a funnel for anything fill the bags with salt and pepper before you fill your shakers. Cut a small corner and pour them into your shakers for a clean, neat way to fill them. This way, it will go where its supposed to and not onto your clean counters.

4. When traveling, I always have one bag handy to put over my camera in case of rain. With the open side facing down, you can just lift one side to capture your memory without fear of your camera getting wet.

Monster Soup

So today I was asking a friend of mine what she feeds her son everyday because I feel like some days I'm just not sure what to feed my son. Also while we were at the doctors yesterday his iron test came back really low so he needs to eat things like red meat, Kale, seaweed, rice cereal etc. So my friend told me she makes her son some sort of soup everyday and I took her idea and changed it a little for my son. This is what i did...

I used one box low sodium organic chicken broth
Half a sweet potato chopped
A hand full of baby carrot
1/3 cup of rice
Some cauliflower
Some grass fed beef
Chopped kale
Mineral Salt

(other things you could use is spinach, broccoli, regular potatoes, any veggie you can think of or chicken instead of beef but since my son needs iron i used beef

I brought it all up to a boil and simmered it for 15 minutes or until everything seemed pretty soft and put some in a bowl and added frozen peas and corn to cool it down and add some extra veggies.

I made up a name Monster Soup since I call my son Monster. Also here are a few pictures of how it turned out!