Quote Friday!

Happy Friday! Here are few quotes:

Hope you have a wonderful day and a great weekend!

1st Green Tip Tuesday!

Hello and happy Tuesday!  I have been home from college the past few weeks for my winter break, and have spent some time brainstorming about what I want to do with this blog in the upcoming months.  I definitely want to increase my posting that relate to some of my other passions besides food.  Therefore, I thought it would be perfect to have "Green Tip Tuesdays", in which I address different aspects of being green and increasing sustainability in how we live our daily lives!

So, for our very first Green Tip Tuesday, we will be talking about going shampoo free!

I had been doing some online research and came across this post from Simple Mom.  She described how she went shampoo free and offers great tips!

Right now you are probably thinking that I am a bit crazy, which is definitely true.  My family was a bit horrified when I told them I was going to give it a try.

What does the method entail exactly?

Delicious Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (and nearly fat free!)

Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite foods, especially during the winter!  The past few days my family and I enjoyed these amazing cinnamon rolls as part of our movie nights and they went over very well!  Also, it works great to double the dough recipe and put it in the fridge for another day!  While traditional cinnamon rolls are very high in fat and low in nutrients, a few tweaks in the recipe omitted nearly all of the fat, and almost all of the ingredients have nutritional value of some sort!  The all-star ingredients in the recipe are pumpkin puree and applesauce, which replace butter or oil completely and leave the cinnamon rolls super moist!  Also, the rolls are made with whole wheat flour for added fiber.

Name Change and Happy New Year!

Hello!  I hope you are all enjoying the last few days of 2011!  It is always crazy to me how quickly the days pass.  I can clearly recall specific moments from the very beginning of the year, and here we are, just a few days away from 2012.

For me, the transition from one year to the next offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on triumphs and struggles, and to create new goals and reevaluate old ones.  One goal I had this past year was to start a food blog, and I achieved that when I started A Big Bite of Happy at the end of July.  However, as much as I loved it, I was not able to post recipes as often as would like, and have realized that I have many other passions that pull me in many different directions and also have the desire to share.

Therefore, I have renamed my blog Long Live Passions to accommodate some of my other interests besides food, recipes, and health.  However, I will still post new recipes and will create a page with all of my recipes listed for easy access if you are not interested in the other things I will be posting.  I am changing the nature of the blog to incorporate other "passions" and feel hopeful that this will increase the amount of posts I am able to create!

Thank you for reading my blog so far! Wishing you the best in the days and new year ahead!

Pumpkin, Flax, and Walnut Granola

Granola is a perfect snack that goes well with so many foods, and is even wonderful by itself!  While store bought granola can be very delicious, sometimes it is overly processed and packed with fat and sugar.  Making homemade granola is very easy, and you can control exactly what you put into it!  This recipe is very healthy since nearly every ingredient has a health benefit of some sort!  And it is so YUMMY!!!

Hakuna Frittatas!

These mini frittatas are one of the easiest and most delicious recipes!  They are definitely real crowd pleasers, and upon having them, some of my friends changed the words of the song "Hakuna Matata" to Hakuna Frittata!

What exactly is a frittata?  I suppose if you are the type of person who reads food blogs, then you would know, but I have been surprised by the number of people I know who have no idea as to what a frittata is.  Well, a frittata is essentially a baked omelette.  The preparation is very similar, but instead of cooking it on the stove, you bake it in the oven.  This recipe is baked in a muffin pan and is a wonderful way to use up eggs.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is definitely one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving, and this recipe is so delicious I sometimes eat it by itself!  It is super easy to make too!

The "before"

And "after"- such a beautiful color!