How About Amazingly Healthy (Not to Mention Delicious) Cupcakes?

Simple Goodness....

Okay, so here's where the dilemma starts: today is GraciAnn's, (my oldest daughter's) 5th birthday. Now, if I think about this long, I get very emotional.  It's so hard to believe that the blue-eyed beauty entered our lives five years ago.  I never knew I could love someone so much.  She is amazing.

My Birthday Girl!

So, here's where the problem comes in.  GraciAnn goes to a Montessori school that strongly focuses on healthy eating; therefore, a birthday treat means something extremely healthy.  So, I searched for a healthy recipe and found these Pineapple-Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Because I always want things to be a little healthier I changed them up a bit more.  They turned out DELICIOUS!  I'm pretty sure the kids will love them and even more sure the teachers will.

Here are the changes I made to the original cupcake recipe:
I omitted the white flour and used 1 1/2 cups of  organic whole wheat flour
I substituted the 1 cup of white sugar with 2/3 cup of agave nectar
Instead of using oil, I used 2 tablespoons applesauce
*I used organic zucchini
*I used cage free eggs

As far as the icing goes, I used fat free cream cheese but couldn't figure out how to get the right consistency, for the icing, without the powdered sugar.  I thought about agave nectar or honey, as a sweetener but thought the icing would be a little runny.  Next time, I think I'll try honey. I can't imagine how powdered sugar could be healthy.  The good news is there's only 1 cup of sugar for the entire icing recipe so it's not too terrible.  The icing isn't very sweet. It's just right!

I promise that these are scrumptious!

Shell Baby Blanket, Cloche & Flower Hair Clips

Back in July, my brother and his family came to visit.  It is so nice to get to see them and their kids.  I love my two nephews and niece.  My kids had so much fun playing at the pool with them and having fun at a state park.  We usually only see each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas so it is very nice to get to spend time with them.

My sister-in-law was telling me how much my nephews like the crochet blanket I made for them.  She likes to make their birthday special by having them wake up to their birthday blanket.  While having this conversation, I realized I never made my niece Claire a baby blanket!

I am such a BAD Aunt!

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Making a Bulletin Board that Blends with your Decor is EASY!

My new craft room needed a place for me to post ideas, for projects, I plan to create.  Of course, since it's in a craft room, the board needs to be somewhat crafty, right?

Here's my final project.  It took less than 10 minutes to create this one. Here's how...

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All about Pinterest & Mini-tutorial

I am completely addicted to Pinterest.  I know that some of you might not know much about Pinterest, so let me share some details with you.

Pinterest is a pictorial bookmarking system.  Instead of having many bookmarks on your web browser, you can "pin" (or bookmark) pictures onto your pinterest board.  You can have limitless boards, which allow you to organize all your pins in a place that is easy to find.

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Grape Salad

Have you ever had one of those side dishes that was so good you thought it could easily be dessert? Our friend, Melissa brings grape salad to get togethers. It is so good.  I made it tonight for a party and wanted to share this VERY easy recipe with you.

This dish is so good you'll need to have copies of the recipe on hand, to share.

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Chocolate Chip Banana Mini Muffins

I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes.  I have made these for years, but the recipe was passed down to me by a great cook and friend Beth Wright.  She always has the best recipes and this one  is a fantastic one!

My husband and kids eat these like they are candy.  This is a recipe that is good for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert.  You can put these in a container and wrap them with a ribbon as a teacher, neighbor or housewarming gift.

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And the winner of the Jewel Kade Giveaway is......

We'd like to thank Karen, for offering Our Seven Dwarfs' followers the opportunity to win beautiful jewelry pieces.

If you fell in love with a piece, check out her online catalog.

If you are the winner, you have 48 hours to email us oursevendwarfs@gmail.com and give us your contact information.  We'll pass the info. on to Karen. 

And here's what you've been waiting for...
The winner is.....

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A Simply Delicious, Chocolate Cake

My husband's favorite is chocolate cake, with chocolate icing.  For his birthday, I went on a search for a new chocolate cake recipe.  I found a great one that I adjusted slightly to make it as healthy as possible, for chocolate cake!

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