Peanut Butter Pumpkin Chia Seed Pudding

Okay....I'll be the first to admit. It doesn't :look: very pretty, but it tastes pretty amazing.

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to putting together a new recipe. I wanted to get the amount of ingredients just right, so this is actually my third batch. My other two batches didn't included peanut butter, it was actually a last minute idea. Glad I included it though!

This pudding includes Chia Seed (as you noticed in the title ;) ). Did you know that to the ancient Aztecs, chia seed was not only a food staple but was also regarded a valuable commodity or currency in the trade or exchange of other goods. Although they couldn’t have known the full nutritional and antioxidant value of the tiny seed, they did observe its effects and gave named the plant chia, which means “strength.”
 
Chia seed is equally valued today as a superfood because it is abundant in protein, essential vitamins and minerals, amino acids and antioxidants, including quercetin and kaempferol. In terms of fiber, a mere one-ounce serving (about 2 tablespoons) provides more than 40% of the recommended daily intake of dietary fiber.

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 cup of Organic Pumpkin
1/2 cup of Honey Roasted Peanut Butter (I get mine freshly made from Whole Foods)
2/3 cup Almond Milk (I use Vanilla)
1 teaspoon Organic Vanilla Extract
1 tablespoon Honey
1/4 cup Chia Seed
1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon (add more if you like a stronger cinnamon flavor)
1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Let's Get Started:
Mix your pumpkin, peanut butter and milk together first! Then, I add one spice at a time, mix well! Add vanilla extract and honey, mix! Add in your chia seeds and mix!

Pour into whatever bowl/dish you are using to store your pudding in (I use a glass casserole dish that has a lid) and let set in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

And enjoy....

Sun-Catcher Fun

So I was browsing through Pinterest like I so often do and came across this Bead-dazzle me a Sun-Catcher at Clever Catastrophe. What a fun project to do with the kiddo.

So given it's the month of October, we made a Pumpkin themed sun-catcher and then the kiddo chose all the different beads for our second one.

Materials Needed:

Cake Pan - As noted in the tutorial I came across and I highly agree with this, any scratches in your pan will show up on your sun-catcher, the hubs said it adds character!
Metal Washers - I used these to leave a hole in my sun-catcher to make hanging easier.
Plastic Beads - Any color you want!

Let's Craft:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange beads however you would like, if using pony beads like these, I placed flat with hole side up. I'm sure it would be okay if the beads were on their sides too....but I tend to be a perfectionist so this is how I did it!
*Please note, the melting plastic will produce an odor.

Like I said, arrange beads however you would like.

I used two metal washers per sun-catcher, double stacked them. Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven. So I would just check after 20 mins and go from there. After it's done baking allow beads to cool and then just pop them out of the pan. Now, on our second sun-catcher I think I left it in the pan to cool for longer than I should have....it was difficult to get out of the pan. Popped a few beads out while trying to remove it, but like the hubs says, it adds character! I used grosgrain ribbon to hang them.

And done! How cute are those? And what I love about this craft...the possibilities are endless. I do believe we will make more for each holiday! Hope you enjoy this craft as much as the kiddo and I did! :)

Outdoor Halloween Decor

It's October and it's time to put out our Halloween Decor. This is something really fun and easy to make and inexpensive. My husband, son and I made this last year and it's one of my favorite decorations we have!

We went to Lowe's and got a 2x4. These are the measurements we had them cut.
Base (bottom) board: 29 1/2"
Pumpkin: 8"
Mummy: 10"
Frankenstein: 18"
Black Cat: 9"
Ghost: 8"

We already had craft paint on hand, but you can pick some up from Walmart or Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby will have a bigger selection. We used orange, green, black, lime green, gold and white. For our base board we picked up a can of webbing spray from Hobby Lobby, it only cost $4.99. It was a last minute idea that I thought would look cute. :)

You can obviously put them in any order you would like, this is just the order we chose. We did nail them to the board and did leave one nail sticking out further from the rest to help is stay on the ground. For the Mummy, we picked up a ACE Brand Self-Adhering Elastic Bandage. Once everything is painted, dried and put together we sprayed with clear sealer to help keep the paint safe!

This was such a fun family project and is such a cute decoration. We really really enjoyed making these, I hope your family does too! :)

If you are looking for another fun Halloween craft idea, check out  the Outdoor Halloween Ghost Decoration blog entry.