Eat Clean Pumpkin Cut Out Cookies Recipe

EDIT as of 11/17, I changed the recipe some to add healthy flax seed into the mix! 

One of my most favorites about Fall is pumpkin, specifically pumpkin cookies! My mom has a great recipe that I haven't seen elsewhere (though I haven't looked too hard), it's for roll out pumpkin cookies. I love it because the taste is not too sweet, with a great pumpkin taste. Oh, and if you don't feel like rolling them out, just make little balls :-)

Pumpkin!

Here, I've cleaned it up for you!

Clean Eating Pumpkin Cut Out Cookies

1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup softened butter
1/4 ground flax seeds (use a coffee grinder to freshly grind whole flax)
1 cup agave nectar (or honey)
2 tbsp molasses (not necessary, but gives it a good flavor)
1 egg
4-4.5 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp Pumpkin Spice
extra cinnamon to taste
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Cream the butter, flax, and honey/agave. Add pumpkin, mix well. Add egg. In a separate bowl, combine 4 cups of white whole wheat flour, salt, soda. Gradually mix into the wet ingredients. Add more flour if needed to stiffen the dough (I usually close 4.75 cups). Let it chill in the fridge for about 2-3 hours. Dust counter with flour as needed to roll dough out to 1/3" to 3/8" thickness. Cut out shapes. Bake on ungreased sheets for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

It's Halloween! Why not have pumpkin cookies for breakfast?

Goal achieved!

Today I stepped on the scale to have reached my goal number. No, a number doesn't define us, but let's be real ladies, it sure is nice to see the one we want. I never gave up chocolate and I had dessert a few times a week. I drank wine. I ate all the food groups. I ran, a good amount and I didn't eat many packaged foods and barely used processed items. I had a few days here or there on trips where I didn't even do that though.

I was smart about food choices & didn't let them consume my life. And that was my biggest goal; to feel good about what went into my body so that I could feel good about my body.

I still have tons of stretch marks, I still have a pudgy mommy tummy, I'm still a nursing mom. I am not super small, I am average...and that is perfectly perfect to me. I'm in pants I wore before the kids and I ran a half marathon in 2:07. I could not be more pleased with where I'm at, physically, as a mom (recovering c-section one at that). 

I hope this post motivates someone struggling with body acceptance to do something positive. Make a change for the better & love the skin you're in! I highly recommend starting with eating mostly clean, it'll prove to do wonders for you. :)

As for me, my new goal is  -7 pounds, which was what I typically hovered around before we got married. We are also toying with maybe training for a full marathon?!? If not, another half in the spring. I also really want to tone up my abs better. I will say though, if I maintain this weight thru winter I'll be fine!

Ps. The kids are great! G seems to want to give up her nap, which is not okay. J isn't sleeping well either. But they are both super fun. J is pointing and vocalizing now, also working on shape sorter. G is saying the funniest things and acting like she's 5.

13.1

Today my awesome husband and I ran our first half marathon. We've been training for 5 months & we rocked it today!

It was so perfect & awesome & I was really happy the whole time. I am just a runner. It's my thing.

If you don't love running and you sign up for and do a race.. Maybe you don't fully enjoy it... I did. 

My mom asked how it was & my first response was, "perfect."

I'm excited to do it again :) 

Our training paid off because we weren't dead at the end or walking funny ( well my husband claimed he was about to throw up because I pushed us for a fast last mile ) AND we beat our 2:10 goal! We finished in 2:07:20. That's a 9:44 minute mile pace, for 13.1 miles

I know that's far from "fast," but it was personally fantastic!

The couple that sweat together, stays together...which is what I've been saying since we got married ;)

The mind of my 2.5 year old

So there's countless adorable things G does on a daily basis, in addition to the whining, screaming, crying.

I really wish I did a better job documenting them...so here's one from after lunch today.

We were in the play room & she takes two markers and starts beating on the table in fairly good rhythm.

Then she says, "I'm playing the drums!"..."like at church!" ..."but just pretend, because I don't have drums at home" .... "These markers are my sticks!"

Cracks me up.

And yes our catholic church sometimes utilizes drums... I'm on the fence about it. 

A busy October and a lot of photos

Last October was super busy for us, moving cross country, buying our first house, and everything that goes with that....

I don't know how, but this October is even busier!

First of all, if you didn't know, I have a work from home part-time job with a super awesome organic food company. So that's about 12 hours a week plus events (of which I have two BIG events this month). I do grassroots marketing and it's pretty much the perfect job for me. I get to interact with moms like me, manage myself (yes, I do have a real manager, but day-to-day I'm fairly independent), use social media, find events and groups to have a vendor table at, and best of all...still be a SAHM.

Secondly, our half marathon is FINALLY here. It's next weekend. We've been training for 20 weeks (21 by race day) for this. That's half a pregnancy. A tad shy of half a year....you catch my drift. A long time to train for something. There's only been one injury scare and I'm hoping we both stay healthy through the race. The kids have gone along for many rids in the Chariot, though not longer than 6 miles because they get antsy. Training plus eating (mostly) clean has helped us both lose some weight. I was hoping to be about 5 pounds lighter by the race, but I'm close enough for me to be happy.

Third, family has been visiting us...which is my favorite. I love having them come see us. I love having a home to host in. I love having kids to share.

This season of life is pretty awesome right now....much more than last year at this time when I was stressed out, worried beyond words, and relying heavily on my faith. Currently, I thank God daily for my blessings and don't have too much to ask for....well, nothing really. I feel like I have it all....and that's scary because when will we go speeding down toward another life "valley" if you will... Life is like a roller coaster, I'm sure you're aware.

Randoms-
We are moving toward a substantially less-gluten diet...mostly at my husband's pushing. We'll never be GF though.
I am perfecting my time management skills. I think it's safe to say I am a full fledged momager now that this job is picking up. Cleaning / Cooking / Kid Activities / Mom Activities / Work ..... never ending cycle, and it's a good thing I don't need a lot of sleep (though I'd like it)
We've been to two pumpkin patches. I love fall. I've had 4 Pumpkin Spice Lattes-not clean I know. I've made clean pumpkin scones. Halloween is decorated for, and costumes are arranged (J was easy, since he's going as the same MU Tiger G did at his age).
We are going to a BYOB paint date next month & I'm sooooo looking forward to it.
My sister and I are going to Justin Timberlake's concert next month.... again, stoked.
I'm the co-president of my mom's group next year....love this bunch of ladies!
J and G are just getting along so well...and he's getting so big and she's getting so "old"
-I could write so many blogs about all the funny things that happen around here but there's not enough time in the day and I forget.... just trust me, life is never dull around here.

photo bombs below--

Cloth Bottom Baby Winner & Free Shipping!

Thanks to all 80+ people who entered the giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to Cloth Bottom Baby. There were over 600 entries!

The winner is;

As a thank you to all who entered, as long as you are a cloth bottom baby fan on Facebook, you will get a free shipping code sent to you. The owner will be sending them out!

Send an email with subject code "Free Shipping Code" to customerservice@clothbottombaby.com after you like the page and the code will be emailed to you. For those who have already "liked" the page, you can send an email now!

Quotes of the day

So we tried to go to a local petting farm today but the weather kind of toyed with hour emotions.... Typical. We left 40 minutes in, thinking it was going to storm, but it barely rained at all. Oh well, we'll try again next week.

Today G said the following things that made me crack up inside.

 I did something silly to which she laughed and said, "I'm laughing at you!!"

Grrrreeeeaaaaat, how kind ;)

I was changing J's diaper and she was going to go get something for me & said, "I'll be right back!"

First time she's ever used that expression.

Getting so big!

Wordless Wednesday

 Mischief maker

Clean Eating Progress and recipe links

We've been eating 90%+ clean for around 2 months now. It's going great, and I no longer really equate food with comfort. So that's an awesome feeling. I've lost weight, not where I want to really be in my clothes, yet, but it's a definite start. My husband has lost weight too. Overall, I just feel really proud and happy with what is going into our bodies. Our bodies will find their own happy weight on their own, since we are giving them the right fuel. G has adjusted pretty well, and J eats lots of our table food, since it's all clean anyways! Sometimes when G was his age, I'd make special foods for her because what we were eating wasn't what I'd want to feed her so young...which is saying something. Even though I thought we were eating pretty well.

If it's not something you want to feed your infant, why do you want to feed it to yourself? Baring alcohol and the occasional treats...and honey.... you know what I'm getting at.

Sometimes things I make take up a lot of time, and I hate that, but it certainly makes me appreciate our food a lot more. My husband respects the effort I put into feeding us well. I haven't bought bread products since the end of July. Yah. Mind blown.

It's not any more costly, either. I'm spending right around the same amount as I was before. I was hoping it'd be less, but produce and meat still make up most of our budget. Processed goods just got replaced with baking ingredients or healthier snacks.

I definitely think being a lover of all things kitchen, and a small appliance dork, have helped me succeed so far. If you don't like to bake or cook, your eat clean journey might be a little tougher. Definitely do-able, though, but a love of baking and cooking will certainly increase your chance of survival.

When we do eat junk now, we can tell, and to be honest (never thought I'd type the following)...it's not as good as I thought it was, and I don't crave it like I used to. Sure, there are days when all I want is a little bit of ice cream/custard. Ok, I'm human. And I have it. But a lot of times, I'm like; "Man, it's weird...I want to be craving ice cream, but really, I'm not. So strange." I literally think that to myself. Now, dark chocolate chips and plain Greek yogurt, I could eat that all day. WHO AM I??
We recently went to a picnic at a local cider mill put on my husband's work. We ate the BBQ provided, because, it's free, and good; but definitely not clean. I ate the white bun, but it was seriously hindering the meat's flavor. I almost took the meat off, but the portions were small, and we had just run 6 miles, and I was honestly famished so I kind of needed any calories I could get, sadly. I ate about half a snack-bag size of plain potato chips. Yes, they were pretty good, but old-Kaylene would have eaten the whole thing. I had an apple cider doughnut (ok, 2?) and it was the awesome...overly sugary, but yeah, it was good. These few and far between treats get me through. Oh, and then there's G....  can totally tell when she's hopped up on sugar, since she doesn't really have it often. Half of the doughnut and she was doing circles.

Ok, back to the point. We are doing great with eating clean, but do so within our means and take advantage of little treats now and again.

Here are some of my favorite recipes;

Clean Wheat Tortillas
Clean Pizza Dough
Zucchini Brownies - I combo these two recipes A and B

Honey 100% Wheat Sandwich Bread

Clean Hamburger Buns

100% Whole Wheat Rolls

Clean Crackers. This was a super chore. I've made them once. I'd really just suggest forgoing crackers all together, or stocking up on Annie's Homegrown like me ;-)

Sweet Potato Lentil Stew

Stuffed Red Peppers

Eat Clean Potatoes with Lemon


I stock Daisy Cottage Cheese, Chobani Plain (some flavored cups for easy lunch-packing and G's snacks), deli cheese, low sodium no nitrate lunch meat, clean peanut butter (PS no stir style "natural PB" isn't clean), homemade jam, healthy cereal, eggs, Annie's Homegrown snacks, almonds, and of course fresh fruits and veggies.

We eat a lot of salads, a lot of Mexican style dishes because I bought a 5 lb bag of Masa (to make corn tortillas), meats and veggie meals...I make a lot of veggie muffins and quiche using personal recipes. I also make up a lot of my own meat recipes, including a secret clean chicken and dumpling recipe that I want to enter into a contest ;-)

For anyone out there questioning if they should "go clean" or not...the answer is DUH, Yes!! Just know it takes some planning, some sweat, and some serious motivation. Commit and don't look back, because you already know it's better for you. :-)

Cloth Bottom Baby plus Giveaway

Recently a co-worker from college reached out to me regarding her new cloth diaper clothing line. When our kids were young(er) we messaged specifically about our cloth diapering and other natural-parenting choices we share. I appreciate that she values my opinion :-)

She wanted to send me some of Cloth Bottom Baby's new clothes to try out with baby J. So glad G is potty trained and need not participate in this review.

a happy Cloth Bottom Baby selfie

Cloth Bottom Baby started because famous name brand clothes are no longer made with cloth diapered babies in mind. Sure, many years ago it was the norm for babies to be in cloth diapers, but nowadays it's still pretty rare except with us hipsters, frugalistas, or crunchies. Thus, clothing companies have changed their patterns and styles to fit over thin disposable diapers that are so popular. Which leaves us CD-parents with two options (okay three, if you count using cloth diapers as bottoms themselves, which isn't realistic in Kansas winters).