Milk Hypocrite

I'm a hypocrite. I did a whole post on milk and later found a fabulous product that I AM IN LOVE WITH...
ALMOND MILK
What's the big deal... Well it is DELICIOUS and more importantly it has more nutrients then the other milk alternatives and even matched nutrients in dairy products. Don't stop there the list continues so let me go on... It has less calories then any of the other options 60 calories in each 8 oz serving to be exact. Also, it is very heart healthy. It has NO cholesterol and is super low in sodium (5 mg). It is blood sugar friendly and has only 8 grams of carbohydrates per serving. It contains 30$% of our recommended daily value of calcium and 25% of Vitamin D, keeping out bones nice and strong. It also helps our skin with 50% vitamin D of our recommended daily value. It also contains Vitamin A which gives our eyes a little TLC. Lastly it give us more muscle power. The best part... Green Smoothie Girl (look at the link in the post below) teaches you how to make your own. Did I mention it has a super long shelf life. Gotta love my ALMOND MILK!

GREEN SMOOTHIE MY FAVORITE

My new PASSION. Everyone who has had one, really had one is in LOVE!



I promise you will LOVE GREEN SMOOTHIES. My kids drink them up and it is just veggies and fruit (almost). They are very filling and I don't feel guilty having seconds. It takes at most 5 minutes. Here is one of my favorite recipes, it is great for your first green smoothie because it isn't really green:
The first half of the blender I fill with spinach and a little water. I pretty much blend that until it is almost half way pureed spinach. If you watch the video I attached it will show you how. She has a super fancy blender in the video, I don't and it works fine. It will use a lot of spinach but I promise you wont taste it. Spinach is one of the best veggies out there. I sometimes throw in kale, sprouts, or broccoli but you can at times taste it a little more. So wait until you are use to your green smoothie to add the other's. I then put in one very ripe banana, one orange, 4 oz of vanilla or blueberry yogurt, 1/3 of a frozen 100% grape juice concentrate (save the other 2/3's you can use them on other day's for other smoothies), I then fill the rest with frozen blueberries. Once it is all in there add water to fill in the gaps. Blend. It is DELICIOUS!!! Here is a youtube video of Green Smoothie Girl making her drink I am in love with her website http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/ everything she says is true. You will never have so much and energy and your digestive tract will have never been better, your skin will be clear, etc. It is real. I just do one smoothie a day and have seen a huge difference in my kids and my digestive, energy, health and it just makes me crave better foods. Tara has her recipe book and has some really good recipes. I know it sounds hard but now that I am use to making them it really takes under 3 minutes. You can freeze the banana's and spinach. People add extras flax seed oil etc. I haven't really done that much. Greensmoothiegirl.com has some interesting facts for you. It will keep you full all morning. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!

Why Mom's Need to SLEEP

Yes, all you Mom's can relate.

My ever so talented, award winning sister-in-law started a new blog focused on interior design take a look. It is FABULOUS! You can visit her blog at www.thewrittenroom.com enjoy!

Load Up on Your Veggies

As most of you know there is starting to be and going to be a veggie shortage due to cold temperatures in Mexico (scary).
I thought now would be the perfect time to post my FAVORITE soup recipe. It is ohhh so good and it freezes super well so we can have veggies on hand before everything is gone or close to gone. It is VEGETABLE SOUP at it's best:



2 Stalk Celery
1 Onion
3 TBS Olive Oil
6 cups chicken broth
1 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
1 can mixed veggies (you can do a cup of frozen)
1/3 cup noodles
1/3 cup barley (I tripled this)
1 can corn (you do one cup frozen)
2 cans of V-8 juice

Saute the celery and onion. Cook the barley. Add everything together and warm up. You are done! I like to add Lima beans. I usually do less chicken broth and more V-8 juice. If I plan on freezing it I do more barley and no noodles. You can toy around with the recipe. I usually do every time. Get a move on it not much time before everything is gone or is super pricey :(

Almond Crunch Granola Cereal

This is a great way to start your day and it is ohhhh so good! It will keep your feeling full for a very long time. Have this with some ALMOND MILK (my new favorite) and you have a new fabulous meal. LOVE IT!
10 Cups regular rolled Oates, or 10 cups 6-way rolled grains
2 cups sliced raw almonds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup unhulled sesame seeds
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp cinnamon or more to taste
5 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients together. Spread thinly on 2 large cookie sheets, which have been sprayed lightly with non-stick spray. Bake 35 minutes at 325 degrees or until lightly browned. Stir one time when first out of the oven. Cool. Put in air tight container (I keep it in the freezer, but you don't have to).

ABOUT TARA'S POST (BELOW) WITH THE PONY CAKE, SHE THOUGHT OF THAT ALL ON HER OWN. NOT FROM A BLOG ETC. CREATIVITY AT ITS BEST :)

Creative Birthday Cakes

This year I decided to make Taryns birthday cake. Well if I am being completely honest It was the night before Taryns birthday and there was no cake. I normally would have just gotten one from the store but this year Taryn had a special request. She wanted a cake that had a castle with princesses riding horses and mermaids in the water. At first I was going to give up on the whole idea of a fancy cake how could I fill that request but I wanted to give her a special cake for her birthday. So I used what I had in my kitchen and house it seemed to have worked out pretty well even though it wasn't everything that she wanted.
Here's what I had
1.)Strawberry flavored cake mix
2.)Chocolate frosting recipe
3.)Coconut/green dye
4.)Blue frosting
5.)Marshmallows ( like the kind that are in hot chocolate packets)
6.)my little pony figurine
I fallowed the cake recipe and once it cooled I cut it and layered it on to my cake. Then I frosted it with chocolate frosting that I made. After that I put my coconut into a bowl (about to hand fulls) with about 3 drops of green colored food dye. I mixed it around with a spoon until all the coconut was green then I put it on my cake for the grass. After that was done I took the blue frosting and made my river. The frosting that I had was in a can and had tips that I could squirt it out with. It worked great. Way better then in a bag. I had found this in the baking isle of my grocery store. Once that was done I then added the marshmallows and the pony figurines. What is great about this cake is that one, it really is easy and two, the possibilities are endless. Just change up the figurines or the color you dye the coconut. For example if you wanted a jungle theme you could put animal figurines on. Or if you wanted to do an ocean theme you could just dye the coconut blue and put your ocean figurines.
I hope this helps anyone who is trying to come up with a last minute birthday cake.

Don't Worry BE Happy

I have realized recently how difficult it can be to just relax and count your many blessings. EVERYONE is facing different trials. Perhaps it's illness, the economy, your marriage, parenting, loss of a love one etc. Everyone has a story to tell. Do you let yours have a happy ending? Sometimes I do, other times I have a hard time focusing on anything but me, me, me... It can be a hard habit to break. Here is one of my favorite quotes:
"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
"Life is to be enjoyed, not endured"
-Gordon B. Hinckley
My moments of bliss:
-sun in my window
-a happy husband
-hearing my children laugh together
-watching them sleep
-walking into a warm home
-delicious food
-seeing Gods hand in my life
-an uplifting conversation with a dear friend
-sisters
My ride is a lot more thrilling then I realized :)
I was inspired to write this post after reading my friends blog who had this quote:
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
-Charles R. Swindoll
We all can think of someone who seems to see the good in everything. I hope to be more like them :)

What are some of your moments of bliss? Please share!!!

Test Your Brain

I got this as a forward. I had fun, thought you might enjoy.

How alert is your Brain? ... Read The Problem Carefully

Test Your Brain

1. Why are 2010 dollar bills worth more than 2009 dollar bills?

2. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April.
The second child was named May. What was the third child's name?

3. There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is five feet ten inches tall and
he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?

4. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest
mountain in the world?

5. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet
by three feet by four feet?

6. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?

7. Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the
summer.
How is this possible?

8. In California, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg.
Why not?

9. What was the President's Name in 1975?

10. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place,
what place would you be in now?

11. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or
"The yolk of the egg is white"?

12. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4
haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would
he have if he combined them all in another field?




Here are the Answers…

1. It's one dollar more.

2. Johnny of course.

3. Meat.

4. Mt. Everest ; it just wasn't discovered yet.

5. There is no dirt in a hole.

6. The word is Incorrectly.

7. Bill y lives in the Southern Hemisphere.

8. You can't take pictures with a wooden leg.
You need a camera to take pictures.

9. Same as is it now - Barack Obama.

10. You would be in 2nd. Well, you passed the person in second place,
not first.

11. Neither, the yolk of the egg is yellow.

12. One. If he combines all of his haystacks, they all become one big
stack.

Just a fun brain exercise. I love Sudoko as well. Do you have any brain games you like to play?

Moooooo

Warning: this first part my cause unnecessary stress but I have a solution to the problem so keep reading. Here is the scenario, you are out of milk, hubby is gone, not worth getting a sitter and you have a few darling little tag alongs. A trip to the store isn't just a quick errand when you have your children come along. I would consider this normal, you go leave which means the kids are screaming because they want the milk, shoes to find, shoes to put on, buggers to wipe, shoes to put back on, you go to buckle them in but the strap is twisted, untwist, catch the other, and so the story goes, we haven't gotten to the store yet. Now breath.
Any how back to the milk, here is a way to lessen those trips to the store, save money and a more healthy solution, use instant dry milk when you are COOKING. I wouldn't suggest having a big glass of instant milk with a cookie, yuck but do subsitute it for the real deal when making something that calls for milk. You wont notice I promise. Your "real" milk will last longer and you always have instant milke on hand, it last at least a year. Another idea but a bit more expensive is to buy vanilla soy milk. You keep it in your fridge and it last several months. I use Vanilla Soy Milk when I cook sweet things that require milk. For instance french toast, pancakes etc. It gives it a nice flavor. Here is a favorite recipe I use to cook pancakes, it works with regular milk, dry milk, and soy:



Blueberry Pancakes:
1 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup of Vanilla Soy milk (I add in a Tablespoon of lemon juice and let it sit to make butter milk)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 egg
2 Tablespoons cooking oil
I drop some frozen blueberries while they are on the griddle. It is so yummy and healthy.
I guess I have learned there is no reason for pancake mix. It is way to easy, cheap, and healthy to make your own. Hope you enjoy!