Smoothie Concentrate

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Smoothies are a great way to get in fruit and veggie servings plus protein. And in the warmer months, this lovely cold thick meal can’t be beat. (I mean, really, it’s like having ice cream for breakfast.)

Now fresh smoothies are easier than ever before, with homemade concentrate.

It’s easier to start with fresh or thawed fruit, since it blends up faster with less wear on the blender.  I used mango chunks from Dollar Tree, ripe bananas, and a can of pineapple in juice.

Blend.

Pour into muffin cups and freeze. (That’s Grants baby finger.  He can’t wait to have some!)

 After a couple of hours, you can unmold them and place in a freezer bag.  To use, mix 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, and 2 smoothie cups (cut into 4ths) in a blender until smooth.  I like to add my frozen bits a little at a time.  I burned up my motor one time throwing in too much frozen at once.

These smoothie cups are also delicious just eaten plain and would make fantastic popsicles too. Think about the possibilites!  If you like green smoothies, this is a great way to use up all your spinach before it goes bad.

Why I Have Poison Ivy…

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Before

After

Our new home has a jungle for a front yard (and back yard.)  So much of it is beautiful flowering plants gone wild.  Most of the front yard is a lovely shade loving ground cover that blooms all over in purple flowers.  The beauty is spoiled by all sorts of volunteer trees etc. popping up through.  So late last week, while Darren was at work, I grabbed my trimmers and went to work.

One of the weeds spoiling the yard was a very long, healthy vine.  I grabbed it and pulled it out, but I’m not positive I got the root.  I was busy congratulating myself when I saw the tell-tale 3 leaf pattern on the vine.  One of the leaves looked suscpiciously like a mitten.  Oh, dear.  “Leaves of 3, leave them be.”  I ran in the house and scrubbed my hands all the way to the elbow.  I thought about washing my face…but here’s the stupid part.  I had just put on a lovely smokey eye with charcoal gray and gold and I wanted DH to see it.  So I didn’t wash my face.  So now, I have poison ivy all over my face and not anywhere else.  Oh vanity!

I have much work left to do in the yard, but it’s fun satisfying work. I’m planning to remove the rest of the feeble evergreen bushes and replace them with shade loving varities.  Then I’d like to paint my shutters and front door dark gray while repainting the trim white to freshen it up.

I have lots of plans for the back too!  Hopefuly within the next 2 weeks that will mean clearing this spot:

For these:

I was so excited when Aldi had them on sale for $30 each!  Since I’m wood challenged, this was a great deal for me :).

P.S.  I’m thinking about taking the fake railing thing down off the top of the front porch.  What do you think?

 

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

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It’s hard to believe Grocery Shrink Plus is already in it’s 5th week!  If you haven’t signed up yet you are missing out.  We’ve been trying all sorts of new recipes and tecniques.  It’s so much fun!  And I’m really loving the facebook group.  It’s so fun to see the photos of everyone’s family and food.  The ladies are so encouraging!  I love to see little notes like this one:

We’re really enjoying these recipes, Angela!  Everything is so easy to make, healthy, and delicious.  I feel so much more organized in the kitchen as well. Thank you so much!–Stephanie

With Grocery Shrink Plus, everything is laid out for you.  I hope this is freeing.  Freeing enough that you can relax and let your kids help you in the kitchen.  The day we made chicken nuggets, little Brandon stopped in to help.  I was surprised how good at it he was! Read more…

Play mat disguised as a toy tote

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I saw this on pinterest:

We had a baby shower last weekend to attend and I stayed up late the night before making a fast version for the new mama.  I didn’t have time to do as much piecing and I rushed too much on the quilting, but with all it’s flaws, it’s still usable.

I love that you can tote all the toys in it, and then just spread it our for a clean place for baby to play.  Well done TickleandHide!  You can se their etsy shop here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/TickleandHide?ref=seller_info

It felt good to be sewing again!  Even if just for a few hours.

Baby steps in the office

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It feels like progress is going so slow everywhere in my life.  For right now, Baby Grant just needs me constantly.  It has been bad for about 9 months this way, but last week he developed a fever and then a rash and has been pretty miserable.  I can hardly get a shower much less keep up with my housework and business chores.  I know many of you mama’s can relate!

But today, DH hung my thread cabinet in my office (after I painted it from brown to turquoise to match my curtains.  It had spilled in the middle of my office floor and stayed there for weeks and weeks until I could find a minute to deal with it.

Isn’t she pretty?

I love how she looks next to the chevron curtains.

 After this picture, I stepped back and thought, “ooh, I think I’d like to sew something…” But then Baby Grant made his presence known.  It’s not my season in life to sew.  So the sisters are wearing mail order Easter dresses on Sunday.  And I’ll wear something old.  It’s okay–we have choir robes :).

Trash to Treasure

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Our new house had a lot of junk in it from the previous owners.  One of those items was this greeting card holder (among other storefront furniture pieces.)

It was covered in 40 year old masking tape and other goo.  So I spent a few hours on Saturday with a razor blade and a can of WD-40.  Then I spray painted it Charcoal.  It now has a new home in the boy’s bedroom.

It doesn’t hold as many books as I’d like, but the boy’s were sure excited to see all the covers!  I figure I can trade all the books out for new ones every few weeks.  Though past experience tells me that trading time comes around faster than I’m ready to deal with it, lol.

 

April Fool’s from Aunt Erica

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I can’t remember how long ago it was, but I had many fewer children–and they were much younger.  My brother’s wife invited us over for a very special dinner–one my children would never forget.  She announced that we would be having a backwards dinner and cake was the main course!  Then she carried in a gorgeous white cake with red and yellow frosting.  And served up thick slices around.  There were yummy red drinks with straws on the table too.  We only ever serve water at home, so when they see colored drinks–that’s super fun.

Oh my kids were sooooo excited!!!!  Until they took the first bite.  All the adults around the table were thinking how creative and clever Aunt Erica was…but the kids were really poised for a sweet yummy piece of cake.  And their mouth reviled at the taste of meatloaf and mashed potatoes with ketchup and mustard.  It was delicious meatloaf, but to a little kid expecting cake, disgusting.

Try your drinks, we encouraged.  Thinking they would get with the spirit of the meal and start to enjoy it.  But, no!  When the drink wouldn’t come up the straw (strawberry jello is like that, you know) we actually saw some tears.  Come on kids–this is fun!

And for dessert Aunt Erica served tiny taco salads that tasted a lot like icecream rolled in chocolate sprinkles in waffle bowls with green and yellow coconut shreds.

For months my kids looked suspiciously at anything Aunt Erica made.  It cracked me up how seriously they took it.  And thankfully it cracked Aunt Erica up too.  So every year she makes something new for April fools day.  This year it was Fish Sticks with Ketchup and peas.  Which tasted a lot like wafer cookies with peanut butter and frosted flakes dipped in strawberry jelly, with a side of sour apple chewy candies.

The Twins

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I’ve been haunting craigslist for a china hutch for the dining room. Nothing seemed quite right until I saw a matching pair. I called immediately and found out that the price I thought was “each” was for “both!” But also that they had sold just a few minutes before. Bummer.

I mentioned the bummer a few times over the next few days and Darren urged me to “get over it.” Not long later, I saw the very same cabinets pop up on craigslist again.  The lady that bought them only needed one and was selling the twin.

I took a risk and called her pleading with her to consider selling both.  As it happened a minor crisis that occurred after she bought the cabinets made her a willing seller. So here they both sit in my dining room

The table is a folding church style banquet table and seats 10. It was hiding in the basement when we bought the house. I cleaned it up and bought a rental style table cloth for it from Amazon. It is perfect for us!

The chairs are another craigslist find. They were salvaged from an old restaurant and are really sturdy, but most impotant to me, they match (each other).  They are mission style and the cabinets are French country, but some darling slips covers will have the styles melding in no time.

I’d like to paint the room pale turquoise above the chair rail and white below. Crown molding and higher base boards would be lovely. I’ve seen those things on Craigslist too.

As a side note the menus are coming along swimmingly. We now have a lively facebook group where we can discuss the recipes and make new friends. It’s not too late to sign up for this week’s menu with the mini lesson of artisan bread in 5 minutes a day. And the next week will focus on making and using homemade mixes.  Here’s a picture of the breakfast bars from this morning’s breakfast.

In the Lunch Box

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I have two kiddoes that go to school every day.  When the school lunch menu comes out each month, I let them write their intials by one meal a week that they will purchase.  That’s a special day for both of us.  It’s a relief not to have to pack a lunch.

I’ve been watching closely what comes back home in the lunch box and my ideas of a good school lunch have changed.  They don’t have time to eat a lot of food and I’ve learned to pack half of what I think.  My rule of thumb is one protein source; one fruit or veggie; and a carb for energy.

We get stuck in the sandwich rut so I was proud of myself the day I made this:

I used little silicone muffin cups to separate the little things.  I was shocked to see the pepperonies come home–I thought I was giving them a treat.  They do the best with a half a sandwhich some grapes or berries and a whole grain cookie.

What typically goes in your child’s lunch box?

More Paint

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I’ve been shopping my house for things to use in the rooms I am remodeling first.  Here’s a $5 garage sale mirror that used to be gold.  I spray painted it dark brown with black flecks for my sewing room in my old house.

The brown doesn’t look good in any room in our new house.  The filagree on the frame coordinates well with Heidi’s new bedspread.  So I painted the mirror silver. (That stuff on the mirror isn’t paint.  It’s leftovers from Grant playing with the “other baby.”  It cleaned off just fine, lol.)

I felt so fickle painting the mirror again.  But I do love it.  It’s hanging up now and we have ideas for more wall art for Heidi’s room.  When we finished the first round of decorating for Heidi, I wouldn’t let her see any of it.  Then we made her cover her eyes and see the room finished all at once.

She had to share her room with her brothers that whole time and it was a big deal to her to get her own space for the first time in her life.  She’s 12! I’ve almost always had my own room–so I can’t imagine!  We filmed her reaction–and it is so precious.  At first it felt too precious to share–but I’m warming up to the idea.

Changing the subject…Tomorrow is my first ever chat with the Grocery Shrink Plus subscribers. I’m nervous and excited at the same time!~We’ll be on the phone together live from 1-2 central time..talking about all things frugal and family.  Only those who subscribed to the meal plan get to be on the call.  I plan to have some sort of bonus every month for those who are subscribed–old and new!  I just wanted you to know that while the meal plan is awesome–subscribers get way more than that.  I wouldn’t be happy unless you are blown away at how much you receive for just $1.25 a week.   I’m cheap….but I’d pay for this :).