Snacks...

I made a whole bunch of fun snack food yesterday.  I'm not going to post them all today, some are so simple it's silly but I will post them anyway because we love them. So let's start with a few today and I will hopefully get some more on here tomorrow.

First up:
Frozen Grapes!
Yep it's that simple.  Just stick a bunch of grapes, still on the stems(they are pulled off easier when frozen) into a freezer bag! It makes such an amazing snack and Elijah loves to eat them and take them off the stem it makes him feel like big stuff!
On a side note: he is getting his molars in and I think it feels really good on his teeth so that's like a special bonus.


Yogurt Bites:
I started making these a little while ago.  Elijah used to eat something similar made by a couple companies but they are dried yogurt(and in my opinion don't taste very good).  So I set out to make our own.

1 container of yogurt
1 piping bag(for decorating cakes)
wax paper
cookie sheet
freezer bag

Take the container of yogurt of your choice.  I used a cup of light strawberry yogurt and blueberry.  Cut the tip off the piping bag and pour your yogurt in the bag.  Just drop onto dots on a wax covered cookie sheet. (I ran out of wax paper so I used foil and they still turned out) Place in the freezer for about 1 hour until they are set, then you can transfer into a freezer bag, so they stay nice.  The only down side to these is that they can melt quickly so I only give Elijah about a handful at a time so he doesn't turn into a yogurty mess! But he loves them and asks for them and with all the days over 100 they are a great snack for mommy too.

Chicken Casserole

2 chicken breast, cooked and cubed
1 c veggies(if you want)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c sour cream
4 oz cream cheese
1 c bread crumbs
2 TBSP melted butter

Cook and Cube the chicken.  When I cook my chicken I usually use some olive oil in the bottom of the pan and then I add some garlic and onion powder to give it a bit of seasoning but not much.(I just use these 3 basics because I usually cook all my chicken at once for all my freezer recipes) Next mix the cream cheese, cream of mushroom soup, and the sour cream together.  Add the chicken and veggies(if you choose) to the mix.  Place in an 8" x 8" pan.  Mix the butter and bread crumbs together.  Put cheese on top of the mix, then sprinkle the bread crumbs on top.  If you are going to freeze, now would be the time.  Otherwise Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

I didn't put the bread crumbs on yet!

*I promise I do make recipes without sour cream and cream cheese.  I realized I posted a hole bunch that are similar this month.  Sorry about that.  These are just some of my stand by freezer meals, so they often take the same ingredients so I can just mix a big batch of everything together and then divide up amongst the recipes as I go.  Makes it go a lot faster that way.

Exercise

Well I finally decided to really use the body I was given.  I have never been too keen on exercise, although I did Zumba for about a year and went all the time and I loved it.  I was zumbaing(is that a word?) until I was 8.5 months pregnant with my son.  I started making the teacher nervous so I stopped going!  Needless to say since then I have done nothing. UGGH.  So I finally decided to get back into something.  I have a list of excuses a mile long as to why I can't or shouldn't exercise and that I don't have the time or the money. But I decided to put on my big girl panties and get to work.  My lazy body was just not nearly as happy without the exercise.  It really helps boost my overall mood, and it also helps tremendously with my energy level-and when you have two small children, are up all night, and work late you need all the extra energy you can get your hands on.

We decided to start going for daily walks, and they are absolutely amazing.  Well they are nothing spectacular as far as distance or anything like that.  I have been walking anywhere from 1-2 miles a morning.  We usually try to get out before 9am because it is like 90 then and it only gets hotter.  Athaiah sleeps the whole time, and Elijah loves to look and point at everything.  It has been a good bonding time to spend with him, walking with him through nature and pointing out all of God's creation and seeing the wonder on his face.  Now that we have started this, I am loving our new morning routine.

I have decided I am going to maybe invest in a better pair of running shoes, but until then the ones I own are decent.  I currently walk about 2/3 of the time and jog 1/3 of the time.  I am working on building up my endurance and am hoping this fall to maybe run a 5 or 10K as I think that will be a neat challenge.  Now for those of you that know me, this is totally no me, but I have a strong body and am finally deciding to use it! Yeah.  It makes me so happy just to be trying.  I will keep you posted, hopefully soon I will be jogging 2/3 and walking 1/3 wouldn't that just be wonderful? I can't wait until I can run the whole thing(mind you this is while pushing a double jogging stroller, so it is a good workout). If I really wanted a challenge I could try and take the dog as well, but not sure I'm quite up for that yet.

OH I must add I was drinking about 3-4 cups of coffee a day to try and keep up with the busy schedule, but since I started going for our walk I'm lucky to finish 1 cup a day.  I like it just out of habit, but I don't NEED it any more and that is a wonderful feeling!  I have also lost 4lbs in the past week, talk about a good ego boost and motivation to keep it moving.  I still have a lot of baby weight to lose as it isn't falling off like it did the first time, we shall see how long it takes this time.

Fresh Garden Salsa

5 Early Girl Tomatoes
2 Roma Tomatoes
1/2 red onion
3 garlic cloves
4 cilantro springs
1 green bell pepper
1 red frying pepper
2 orangefrying peppers
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 lime

First cut up your tomatoes, peppers, and onion.  Place in blender with cilantro and garlic cloves.  Blend well.  Pour into a bowl. Stir in salt, pepper, and cumin. Squeeze half a lime over bowl and stir in.  Enjoy!

*Note: you can use whatever peppers and tomatoes you want this is just what came from my garden so I put the types here so I would remember which ones I used in my recipe.  For the next round of harvest I may try roasting the veggies to see what type of flavor that give it. Keep an eye out for that recipe, but it will probably not be for a few weeks, since I am waiting on my garden!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 cans Tuna
1/2 package 16 oz noodles
1 c sour cream
6 oz cream cheese
1/2 c 5 Italian cheese mix
1 c Mozerella Cheese

Ok this one is super easy.  Drain the water from the cans of tuna.  Cook the noodes according to package directions.  Mix the Italian cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream togther until well blended.  Add all to a big bowl and mix together.  Place in an 8"x 8" baking dish.  Layer with Mozerella cheese.  If you are going to freeze for later.  Now would be the time to do that.  Cover, label, date, and enjoy later.  If you are going to cook it now Bake at 350 for 40 min or until all cheese is melted.  You can add some veggies to the mix if you want to sneak some in.  On occassion I will add some spinach to it, just for fun!

Our Saturday!

It has been a couple of Saturdays since we have been able to share it together as I have worked the past couple.  We were so excited to spend some family time together this morning. 
We all woke up around 8am!
Daddy and Mommy had some coffee and Elijah had some milk. 
Athaiah talked to us all.
We read our Bible story.
Elijah got a hair trimmin from mommy

 

I trimmed all my tomato plants because half of all of them were dying because of how bad the heat is.  I just can't seem to water them enough.  I also pruned all the other plants and pulled up my pea plants(as they have died), and some of my green bean plants(they died too).

My garden looks a bit healthier now.  I then put some Epsom salt and some tomato food on my plants to hopefully save what is remaining and gave them all a good watering!

Picked tomatoes, man do I have a lot-this picture isn't even all of them.

Elijah drove around in his cozy coupe, while daddy was cleaning out the car, YEAH for a clean car!

Now it is nap time for the kiddos, so daddy is looking for stuff to sell, and mommy is looking at coupons for grocery shopping.  That about sums it up for our day so far, and it's not even half over yet!

Counting my blessings...

1. Both of my children slept until 9:30 today! (that has never happened)

2. I am capable to exercise

3. I was able to take advantage of my capability to exercise!

4. I have a wonderful happy baby girl who's smiles light up my world.



5. I have a wonderful boy who is growing into a little man who makes me smile and laugh and keeps me on my toes all day!

6. I have a wonderful husband who takes care of us all whom I love dearly!

7.  Probably the most important blessing-I have a Lord and Savior who died for me and saved me by grace because there is nothing I could ever do to deserve something so beautiful and sweet!

8. I have a job!

9. God enabled me to be a mother-something I always dreamed about

10. God has blessed us with a good church home and great friends

11. I have a garden that is giving me a bountiful harvest

12. I have a great family support system that I can always count on

13. I am able to prepare healthy and yummy good for my family (alright it isn't always healthy, but it is always yummy!)

14. I have the weekend off so we can spend some good quality time as a family

15. Because of our work schedules one of us is always home with the children so we don't have to pay a sitter or have someone else raising our children

16. Because one of us is always home we have been blessed to be a part of all the firsts for both children!

17. It's the little things in life that make me happy

18. Elijah makes me stop and smell the roses as he reminds me daily how fast time goes by.

19.  We get to explore new things every day through the eyes of children

20. It is so hot that we get to sit in the kiddie pool with the sprinkler on to keep us cool!

21. My children are both happy, good children-I'm one blessed momma!

22. My son still takes 2 2hr naps a day(at least) and loves to snuggle!

23.  We get to see family again in a little over a month!

24. I am blessed to have love marks-proof that I have children and I wouldn't trade them for the world

25. We are able to pay our bills every month!

I know there are countless others, these are just barely scratching the surface.  I was just feeling so blessed and thankful for the life I have been give today, so I thought I would share.  I really could go on forever, as in my life it is all the little things that matter to me, but I won't bore you with a list a thousand pages long!  I hope you all stop and count the blessings in your life.

Cloud dough

While researching activities to do with young children I found this recipe:

4 cups flour
1/2 cup baby oil

Mix together with your fingers until it to look almost like bread crumbs. I just mixed it up in a big bowl and then gave him measuring utensils to play with and he loved it.  I also buried some stuff in it and the thought it was fun to dig them up!


This stuff is the most amazing stuff ever.  It smells fantastic because of the baby oil in it.  It is soft as can be, I loved just running my fingers through it.  It will hold a shape for a little while and you can squeeze it into balls. Warning- It is messy, we put Elijah on a table cloth so we could contain the mess better, or you could always play with it outside.  I made this 3 weeks ago and stuck it in a Ziploc bag when we were done and it is still the same today as it as then, so it doesn't really go bad.  At least it hasn't yet.

Cucumber, onion, tomato salad

1 Cucumber, peeled and sliced
2 pearl onions(red) chopped fine
1 tomato sliced into wedges
8 yellow pear tomatoes sliced in half
3 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
Pinch of salt

Mix all these together in a bowl and add a pinch of salt.  It was a very nice refreshing way to eat some veggies.  The onion really helps give it some good flavor.

My most diverse harvest!

So I have not had too many things the past week come from my garden.  My green beans and peas appear to be about done for the season(I think the heat is getting to them).  My carrots are still growing, but appear to be getting close. My garlic are still growing as are my onions, although I have picked some onions on occasion and I use them for pearl onions and cut up the tops for green onions. 

But the other day I was able to pick the most variety of veggies so far. I picked 3 different kinds of tomatoes: yellow pear, cherry, and early girl.  I picked 1 cucumber, some pearl red onions, 2 orange peppers, and one of my broccoli stalks.

Eli loves to help mommy pick the veggies, he gets so excited to go outside and see what has popped up over night! He knows the tomatoes go in the window sill and everything else goes in the fridge and he tries to help me put them all where they belong, it is the sweetest thing to watch him get so excited about it.

I was so excited to have such a variety of vegetables, that I decided to use most of them for lunch that day.  So we had an onion, tomato, cucumber salad and then we had chicken fajitas that I used the peppers and some more of the onions for.  I saved the broccoli for yesterdays lunch and it was so good, I can't wait to harvest some more broccoli that is for sure.

6 Layer Casserole

1 lb ground beef, browned
1/2 package 16 oz noodles(your pick I used rotini)
1 jar pizza sauce
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c sour cream
1 c spinach
1 1/2 c 5 Italian mix cheese

Brown the ground beef in a skillet or however you prefer.  Cook the noodles according to the package directions.  Mix with a mixer(easier that way) the cream cheese and the sour cream together until well blended.  In the bottom of an 8"x 8" pan put the noodles in first, then add ground beef, next layer in the pizza sauce, now the spinach, then the cream mixture, and finally the cheese.  If you are going to freeze this for later, now would be the time to wrap it up and label it and place in freezer to use at a later date!  If you are going to bake it.  Bake at 350 for 35minutes or until all cheese is melted.  Enjoy!

Lysol/Clorox Wipes-homemade

The lysol or clorox wipes can get a bit expensive and can easily be made at home, with just a couple of things.

1 roll paper towel (a thick one like brawny or bounty works best)
Old container (baby wipe, or lysol wipes container work excellent)
2 cap fulls lysol
2 cups water

First you cut the top 1/3 off the paper towel roll (if you are usin an old clorox/lysol wipes container).  Take the cardboard roll out of the inside. Place in the old container,mix the lysol and water together.  Pour over the paper towel, make sure to cover all the paper towel. Pull the middle towel up through the top.  Use as needed.  I made these 2 weeks ago and they are still going strong.  It was nice for them to not be so expensive since I had everything on hand.

Cucumber Sandwich!

Since I have so many cucumbers in the garden we decided to make a sandwich out of them!
They turned out really good and were quite refreshing on a hot summer day.  Another bonus-they were really easy to make.

Slice the cucumber
1 can tuna
1 TBSP mayo
1 clove garlic
green onion chopped
10 Grapes quartered
Tomato (if you wish)

 Slice the cucumber I did mine about 1/4" thick.  This will act as your bread!  Next mix the tuna with the mayo, onion, grapes and garlic.  Layer the tuna and tomato on top of one cucumber slice and add another slice to the top!  Enjoy.  A nice fresh, not too fattening lunch, that is quick and easy!

We all really enjoyed eating this.  For a side we have a bowl of fresh strawberries-perfect lunch on a day when it is 100 degrees!