Cowgirl

It was cowboy day once again this year at pre-school! I sure think Grace makes a pretty darn cute cowgirl, don't you?! I love her boots, sure wish I had a pair! Cute little brother Kohen wanted to be in the picture too, with his camo slippers on :) Love these two!

MANGOS

Ever tried to cut up a mango? Not the easiest thing I've ever done, that's for sure! And yes, I had to google how!

Zucchini Cakes!

So I had a few zucchini's that we needed to eat. Since we grow zucchini in our garden in the summer, we've cooked it up several different ways. Well I googled about it, because I wanted to try something new. This recipe is what I stumbled upon when looking, zucchini cakes! They turned out pretty darn tasty if you ask me, although the kids would say otherwise, lol! The recipe was something like this: grated zucchini, bread crumbs, flour, salt, onion, egg, cheese. The recipe suggested that you dip them in sour cream or marinara when eating. We used chalula. I am thinking there are several things I could have added to this recipe, I will for sure be trying them again some time when we have oodles in the summer! Our side dish consisted of brown rice, black beans, onion, garlic, cumin and mexican stewed tomatoes. Yumm!

Things We Did This Weekend ......

Made Pickled Eggs! Kinda nasty looking though right?! I am not a pickle fan, so I thought there was no way that I would like them. Kyle made his Grandmas' recipe about a year ago, and I've been hooked since! We don't make them all the time, but they are fun to have for a snack once in awhile!


Went grocery shopping! This picture is a great example of why I coupon, FREE noodles!! For whatever reason, noodles always seem to be free with a coupon. Guess its a way for the store to lure you in, but I'm down with that! Makes for a nice food storage item! And noodles aren't the only thing you always get for free with coupons. If you have ever wondered if clipping coupons is worth it, I say yes!


Got our 2nd Bountiful Basket, and loving it! Cantelope, bananas, mangos, tomatos, apples, clementines, broccoli, cauliflower, chard, celery, asparagus, cilantro.


Made salsa!! I normally do not make fresh salsa during the winter, because I make it all summer long with stuff from our garden. But, since I got cilantro and tomatos (above) I decided to bust out the chopper! Mmm mmm, love me some chips and salsa! Makes me excited for our garden that Kyle has actally already been working hard at this year! He has planted whatever can go in the ground outside, and the rest are growing in pots inside the house! Can't wait for some sunshine and fresh garden veggies!


Made huts! OK so I bought this pop-up tent on clearence at Target awhile back. I tucked it away thinking I would give it to Kohen on his next birthday. I went downstairs the other day where it was tucked away (going for something else) and noticed it. I had completely forgot about it! I knew there was no way I was going to remember that I had it tucked away in a few months, sooooo what better to do over the weekend than make the kids a fun hut in Kohen's room!?! They had a blast :)

The rest of our weekend consisted of a little cleaning, laundry, making green smoothies:), going for walks, pre-school and church for Grace, reading books, watching movies, and running errands. I also went to lunch with my Mama while Kyle and the kids went to Grandma 'Nae's. I love the weekends because its all about family time, and my family I love!

March

My friend Wendy borrowed me a book called The Green Smoothies Diet, by Robyn Openshaw. Wendy went to a seminar by Robyn, and bought the book. I read through it in less than a week! It was a really easy book to read, and I totally love the green smoothie idea! Great way to sneak veggies into my kids diet, as well as Kyle and I. We seem to be really good at eating our fruit, and always have a veggie with dinner, but it doesn't seem like we get enough. We actually do pretty good in the summer when our garden is producing, but I think we suffer in the winter! This was the perfect way to do it! There are tons of recipes in the book, but the basic green smoothie ingredients are: water/ice, spinach, frozen mixed berries and a banana! We have thrown some pineapple in as well which was great! Really, you can throw whatever fruit or greens you want into your smoothie. Spinach is a great place to start for greens. Eventually I will try throwing in some kale, chard, beet greens, broccoli, etc. Plus there are lots of other things you can throw in that are super healthy. I have been throwing in lemon peel which is supposed to help prevent skin cancer, and I have been using flax oil too. So anyway, these are a really fun and easy way to get some good fruits and veggies into your day! I love it, and my family does too!


Feathered!!! Isn't it cute? Thanks Aunt Valerie :)


So I keep hearing things and seeing pictures of food co-op's lately, I just had to try it! This was my very first order, and I was so impressed! I went through Bountiful Baskets, and got everything you see below for $16.50! Asparagus, green leaf lettuce, green beans, green califlower, bananas, cantelope, pineapple, apples, roma tomatos, strawberries and blackberries! I am also going to try another co-op called The Community Food Co-op. It is only $10, but my guess is you don't get as much, and they only do an order once a month. Bountiful Baskets lets you order weekly! Until our garden is in full swing, I am thinking I will be participating weekly! Some don't like that you don't know what you will get in your basket (cuz you have no idea until you get there), but I think its fun. It will get me to possibly try new things or get something I might not normally pick up at the store! Plus, I am sure I will get plenty of good produce for my smoothies!


Little V turned 3!!! Birthday fun at Jungle Jims :)

So these March pictures are from my cell phone, I turned off our Comcast cable/phone/internet a few weeks ago so its harder to get photos from my camera on my blog! We have pinched pennies in our budget every way we could think of, and this was our next step! Honestly, spring is just around the corner and we do not spend time watching TV in the warm months. We are outside playing! I don't watch much TV anyway, so it didn't hurt my feelings! And I'm sure we'll get one of those converter boxes eventually. As for our home phone, we never used it, ever! It was just cheaper to bundle in a package with Comcast. And I will miss the internet at home, but our cell phones have internet, so I think we'll live! And its not a pemanent thing, or maybe it will be? But I'm happy as a clam to place the money we spent paying Comcast every month to something better in our budget. We are still working on our Dave Ramsey baby steps and it has been a life changing experience! Can't wait until we reach the goal line, cuz so far we are kickin @ss!