Reindeer Poop: vegan and GF cookie dough bites

This has been my super quick go to recipe for the holiday season since I came up with it; the great thing about this is it's something you can do all year round, vegan and gluten free friends can enjoy them, and they're so good no one can resist them. They're kinda like reese's peanut butter cups in cookie dough form. I found this lovely recipe over on momables but ended up tweaking it so much I think it qualifies as a different recipe. Here's the lowdown of what I did, but if you're feeling creative let me know what changes you made in the comments! I couldn't think of a better name for it but I think it's cute, no?

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup crushed almonds
• 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup to bind

Directions

1. Mix ingredients in a in a bowl with a fork until it resembles cookie dough. if it doesn't stick together, add more syrup. If it's too sticky, add a bit more flour.
2. roll into one inch balls (about a teaspoon of dough)
3. chill in the fridge for about an hour
4. enjoy!

this recipe makes about a dozen balls. I've made this recipe once with regular flour and once with coconut. Both times it came out great! If you would like it to look marbled like the photo, add the cocoa powder after everything else has been mixed. 

Other substitute ideas: almond butter, whole wheat flour, nutella, agave nectar, walnuts, peanuts, gosh the possibilites are endless...

Reuse Those Glass bottles for Your Tea! - Quick DIY

'Tis the season for cool refreshing drinks! My personal favorite is Iced Tea. It can get expensive really quick buying cans or even gallons of Arizona or Honest Tea, but tea bags? Not so much. When I do buy bottled tea, I try to stick with glass bottles so I can reuse them with my own tea!

You will need....

• Glass bottles (Honest, Tazo, and Snapple use glass instead of plastic in most cases)
• Your favorite tea
• Your favorite tea fixins

1. Drink the tea you bought at your leisure. sip, ahhhhhh. Remove label from the bottle and wash it out. I find a paste made from baking soda helps remove the sticky goo left behind by the label. 
2. Use the bottle to measure out how much water you want to boil for your tea. In this case I had two bottles to fill, so I used the bottle to transfer water from sink to pot (twice). Then add about half a bottle more since some water will evaporate.
3. Use twice as many tea bags as you would for hot tea. I decided to go for pomegranate green tea today.
4. When your tea has steeped for the appropriate amount of time, stir in your fixins while it's still hot  so things like sugar have a chance to melt into the drink rather than sink to the bottom. I used three teaspoons for this batch.
5. You can wait for the tea to cool down if you'd like, but I usually just pour it right in at this point.
6. Chill in the fridge for a few hours, and enjoy whenever you like!

I find this particularly great for getting ready for school. I make a batch of 5 or 6 bottles sunday night and it's ready to grab and go throughout the week since I'm always on the move. Let me know if you try this out! And what are some of your favorite teas?

TTFN!

-Avé Renée