Pick Your Own at Linvilla Farms

Yesterday I took the kids to Linvilla Orchards
to pick peaches and apricots.  We had a great time. 

We took a tractor ride out to the peach and apricot orchard.

Picking the best.

A hayride took us back.

So silly.

All worn out!


*photo credit*

But not too worn out to make this!
We used Tina's (Mommy's Kitchen) recipe. 
Super Yummy!

Single Mom Tackles Grilling...And Wins!

 Throughout our marriage, John and I divided the chores like many couples.  I took care of most of the household cleaning and child-related stuff, and he did the lawn work, repair work (house and cars), and grilling. Now that we are separated, I have been determined to teach myself to do these things.  Ok, so maybe not car repair, but definitely lawn work and grilling. 

 Photo credit:  Pioneer Woman

I figured Memorial Day weekend was a great time to begin the grilling challenge, so this weekend I purchased a couple of beautiful steaks from the neighborhood butcher.  Then I found this delicious steak salad recipe.  I knew it would be wonderful because it is the Pioneer Woman's recipe, and all of her recipes are scrumptious.  I Googled "How to Grill the Perfect Steak" and read a couple of different suggestions, and then set to work.

To my surprise grilling was actually easy.  I seared both sides of the steaks to get the grill marks, and then just let them cook for a while, flipping them half way through.  I wasn't sure exactly how long I should cook them, so I watched them closely.  They turned out perfectly.  Juicy and just a tad pink in the middle.  Exactly how I like my steak. 

When I took them off of the grill I let them rest for a few minutes.  Then I sliced them into thin pieces and put them atop mixed greens.  As I expected, Pioneer Woman's  marinade and dressing were delish.  I will definitely be making this again!

My first grilling experience was such a success that I tried it again on Memorial Day.  I grilled hotdogs for the kids.  They must have been good because they gobbled them up, and Sam and Gracen ate two.  Score one for, Mom!

The best part of grilling...I can cook while my kids are having fun doing this:

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Healthified

 photo credit

My children love this Zucchini Chocolate Chip cookie recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. In an effort to make the recipe a bit healthier (and use up some of my plethora of zucchini), I experimented with it this weekend.

Finish Reading

Yummy Green Smoothies and Tweet, Eat, Post

Green Smoothies

We have been making a LOT of smoothies.  They are so simple to make.  We just dump everything into our Blendtec, push the "Smoothie" button, and in less than 30 seconds our nutritious breakfast is prepared.  My kids are still loving this strawberry banana smoothie.  However, I have been experimenting with some green smoothie recipes, as well.  Here is one of my favorites:

 photo credit

Spinach - Mango Smoothie

1 big handful of Spinach
1/2-1 cup of Trader Joe's Frozen Mango
*1 cup of Water, Milk, or Unsweetened Almond Milk
**Ice - Enough to get the consistency you like 

*I do 1/2cup water and 1/2 cup whole milk.
**I do about a cup of ice.

I have also discovered Vega's Whole Food Health Optimizer, which I am loving.  I started putting it in my smoothies because I have trouble with anemia and it has lots of iron.   Within just a couple of days, I am feeling like a new woman.  Seriously, this stuff is wonderful.  Here is how I have been using it:

My Vega Smoothie
1 scoop Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer
(I have the Vanilla Chai.)
1/2 banana
1 cup of water
1 cup of ice

Tweet, Eat, Post

In an effort to lose some weight, eat healthy, and be accountable, a friend and I have started food journaling through the use of Twitter.  It is so easy and convenient.  You just tweet each time you eat.  Then, you can generate a food table of your daily intake.  You can read all about how it works on Roni's Weigh.  If you are interested in following my food journal, here is the link.  If you decide to start using this, let em know and I will follow you, as well.  It could be a great way to get some new healthy meal planning and snack ideas.

This post is part of the Mouthwatering Monday Blog Carnival over at A Southern Fairytale, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdsays at  Blessed with Grace, Tasty Tuesdays at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and  Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff.  Stop by for more yumminess.

Little Cooks with Books: Peanut Butterflies

Gracen is so excited that after Spring Break her class will be observing as butterflies prepare to hatch.  I thought it would be fun to read a few butterfly-themed books over the break.  Here are our two favorites.

 Where Butterflies Grow (Picture Puffins)

Where Butterflies Grow describes the complete life cycle of a butterfly.  The author brings the process to life through her use of sensory imagery.  My girls especially loved the pictures in this book.  They are realistic illustrations that actually look like photographs.  A fun special feature of this book is the small creatures which are hidden among the plants.  This encourages readers to use their observation skills to locate as many of the creatures as they can.  My kids challenged each other to see who could find the most.

 Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

The girls and I love this book.  It is about a first grade girl who feels like she will never compare to her older sisters. She feels like they were the most perfect first graders ever.  However, while on a school field trip to a butterfly conservatory, a butterfly lands and roosts on Velma's finger.  This experience gives Velma some extra special attention.  I appreciate how the author uses the beautiful colorful pictures and a story with which children with siblings can relate to help teach facts about butterflies.  Everyone will love Velma!

Peanut Butterflies

 To go along with our butterfly books, we decided to make Peanut Butterflies. They were fun to make and Wes and Sam thought they were yummy.  Gracen did not care for them.  I think they were to peanutty for her.  John loved them.

Here is how we made the butterflies:

1. Make the peanut butter dough.
2. Roll two large balls of dough, place them side by side on a baking sheet, and gently flatten them.
3. Roll two smaller balls of dough, place them underneath the flattened balls on the baking sheet, and gently flatten.
4. Gently press all of the balls together so they are forming a butterfly shape.
5. Roll a small cylinder shape to create the body of the butterfly.  Place it in the middle of the butterfly wings.
6. Decorate with mini chocolate chips.
   

Printable Recipe with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Recipe

 This recipe and idea came from The Kids-Did-It!  Cookie Bookie  This deliciously cute cookbook is an introduction to baking for kids ages 3 to 12.  It includes 14 tasty, easy-to-follow and fun-to-look-at cookie recipes, each illustrated with colorful animal paintings and other watercolors created by kids.

This post is part of the Mouthwatering Monday Blog Carnival over at A Southern Fairytale, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdsays at  Blessed with Grace, Tasty Tuesdays at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and  Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff.  Stop by for more yumminess.

Artichoke Spinach Dip Quesadillas

We are a dip family.  Queso, salsa, onion, bean, we love them all.  One of our very favorites is artichoke and spinach.  I made some over the weekend and had leftovers, so I decided to make quesadillas out of it.  They turned out super yummy! 

Ingredients

1 can of Artichoke Hearts (drained and chopped)

1 box of Frozen Spinach (thawed and drained)

1/2 cup Hellmann's Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Sour Cream

1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/2 Cup Mozzarella

1 tbs Lowry's Garlic Salt (adjust to your taste)

Burrito-size Tortillas

Combine all of the ingredients (except tortills - of course). 
Scoop the mixture onto one half of of a tortilla. 
Fold the tortilla over. 
Cook in a buttered skillet or on a griddle until the bottom is nicely browned. 
Flip and cook until the other side is browned and the filling is all melty and gooey.

Printable Recipe

For more recipes using Hellmann's mayonnaise, visit www.Hellmanns.com.  While there, check out their Real Food Project, which features how-to tutorials (hosted by Bobby Flay) offering tools and techniques for great tasting, at-home meals.

*Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a Hellmann's® prize package in exchange for this post.  No monetary exchange took place.

** This post is linked to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum, Colleen's Kitchen Recipe Swap at And Baby Makes Five, and Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen.

Smoothies in Our New Blendtec (and a picture recipe for preschoolers)

I have been wanting to experiment with some different smoothie recipes, but my blender was the absolute pits. It was a cheapo that we got when we were first married and always left chunks of ice in our smoothies.  Therefore, I was so excited when I received a Blendtec  to try and review.  I had read so many glowing reviews of the Blendtec and could not wait to give it a whirl. 

For our first experience we made Strawberry Banana Smoothies.  They were ridiculously simple to make because the Blendtec has a specific digital touchpad setting for smoothies.  We just loaded up our ingredients and pushed the "Smoothie" button.  We didn't have to hold the lid down or even stand and wait near the blender because this magical machine automatically turns off when the cycle is complete.

Making our smoothies was truly so easy that I knew my girls could make them by themselves, so I made this picture recipe to make it easy for Gracen to read and follow.  The next morning the girls made their breakfast smoothies all by themselves. Lovely!

Printable Recipe

 The smoothies went over well, so next week I am going to experiment with some green smoothie recipes.   Anyone have a good recipe?

This post is part of the Mouthwatering Monday Blog Carnival over at A Southern Fairytale, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdsays at  Blessed with Grace, Tasty Tuesdays at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and  Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff.  Stop by for more yumminess.

Little Cooks with Books: An Easy Easter Treat

These Little Bird Nests are the perfect Easter treat. 
They are cute, easy, and yummy.

Ingredients
Bag of chocolate chips
1 C. Peanut Butter
Box of Mini Frosted Shredded Wheat
Cadbury Mini Eggs (my favorite Easter candy)

Directions
Crush the shredded wheat (about half a box).
Melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips in a large bowl.
Add shredded wheat until you get get a nice consistency.
Lightly grease a muffin tin.
Add some of the nest mixture to each muffin cup.
Mold the mixture in each cup into a nest shape.
Put the muffin tin into the refrigerator. 
Once the nests are completely hard, remove them from the tin.
Add a few Cadbury Mini Eggs to each nest.

Printable RecipeChocolate Bird Nests

To accompany this cooking project we read Whose Nest is This?.  It is a rhyming picture book that describes the many types of nests animals make. "There are mammals and reptiles and insects who nest. Birds, too, build unique nests that suit them the best. Some nests provide shelter, and some are for show, but the best nests are those in which young babies grow!"  Gracen and Wes enjoyed this book.  They especially liked it's riddle format.

For older children, I recommend Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest: Where Birds Begin.  This book describes how birds make their nests.  "Many birds build intricate nests out of twigs, leaves, feathers, mud--even dollar bills and clothespins. Some nests are gigantic, housing hundreds of birds or weighing as much as a car, while others are just large enough to keep one egg safe and warm. Whether simple or fancy, every species finds a unique way and clever place to raise its young."

What are your favorite Easter treats to make?

This post is linked to Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori, We Made It! Friday Showcase at   Ramblings of a Crazy Woman , stArt at A Mommy's Adventures, and Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

My Favorite Easter Tradition

Easter morning is a busy, but fun time at my house.  We always begin by waking up early to see what the Easter Bunny has left.  After the children have eaten half of their chocolate bunnies, several Peeps, a handful of bubble gum eggs, and a hundred jelly beans, we have breakfast.  Needless to say, they don't ever eat much but they have to have something to chase down all of that sugar.  I usually prepare a breakfast casserole the night before, so that all I have to do is pop it in the oven.  In the past few years, I have made this and this.  This year I am going to try this breakfast casserole from Mommy's Kitchen.

After breakfast, we all go outside to see if anything grew in our jellybean garden. Each and every year, the children are amazed that where they planted jelly beans (the night before) loads of lollipops have sprouted up.  This is my very favorite tradition.

After we pick lollipops, we go inside and get dressed for church.  In the past, after church, we have always gotten together with family for a big Easter dinner.  However, since we have moved, my in-laws will be coming to visit us.  This will be the first year that we have hosted Easter dinner, so I am excited to plan and cook.  It is my family's tradition to serve ham, macaroni and cheese, collards, and biscuits, so I will be making these and some new recipes, as well. 

This Year's Easter Dinner Menu:

Ham with Pinapple-Orange Dijon Glaze
Corn Spoon Bread
Collard Greens
Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
Potato Casserole with Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Cream Cheese
Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
Coconut Cream Cake

What are your Easter traditions?  What is on your Easter dinner menu?

This post is linked to Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs.
photo credit:  Easter dinner

Healthier Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

My children love chocolate chip muffins.  However, my old recipe was not very healthy.  Besides the chocolate chips, it contained white sugar, white flour, and vegetable oil.  Since I have been trying to cut out white sugar and processed foods, I decided to come up with a recipe to make them a bit healthier.  It turned out great.  These muffins are super moist, chocolatey, and have the perfect amount of banana flavor.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup sucanat

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 overripe banana

1/2-3/4 cup chocolate chips

Combine first five ingredients.
In another bowl, combine the vanilla, egg,
sour cream, and coconut oil.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Add the mashed banana and chocolate chips.
Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. 
Bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes.

Printable Recipe

Do you have a healthy muffin recipe that your family enjoys?  I would love to try it out.

This recipe is part of the Mouthwatering Monday Blog Carnival over at A Southern Fairytale, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdsays at  Blessed with Grace, and Tasty Tuesdays at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.  Stop by for more yumminess.

Hamburger Stroganoff

I used to make a hamburger stroganoff that used canned cream of mushroom soup.  My whole family loved it.  It was one of those "no leftovers" recipes.  However, I know that the canned cream of... soups are not all that healthy, so I decided to try and create my own recipe.  The result was perfect.  Maybe even better than the original.  Proof...no leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Hamburger Meat

1 packet Simply Organic Brown Gravy Mix

1 c. Water

Mushrooms

1/2 Block of Cream Cheese

Splash of Milk

1/2 c. Sour Cream

Worcestershire Sauce

Salt

Egg Noodles

Brown the hamburger meat and drain the fat. 
Add a packet of Simply Organic Brown Gravy Mix
and 1 cup of water. 
Simmer for a few minutes.
Add cream cheese, a splash of milk, sour cream,
and salt, pepper, and Worcestershire to taste. 
Stir and simmer for 10 minute or so. 
Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Hamburger Stroganoff

For more yummy recipes, visit Tasty Tuesday over at Beauty and Bedlam and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace.

Some "Wee" Fun on the Weekend

We had a Wee Bit O' Irish fun this weekend.

Gracen and John built a leprechaun trap.  There are pennies (spray painted gold) on the inside of the box.  Gracen said these were the "lure".  There is also a little note written on the inside of the box.  It says, "Pull the bar for more gold!".  The idea is that when the greedy little leprechaun pulls the bar, the door will slide shut and trap him.  I can't wait to see if she catches one!  Neither can she!

We baked The Barefoot Contessa's Irish Soda Bread .
It was so good!  In fact, it was so yummy that it was devoured
before I could get one good picture. 
Thanks, Flickr for this one.

What are you doing to celebrate?

Pinkalicious Pasta Primavera

The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday.   The sun was shining, it was warm, and birds were chirping right outside of my window.   Needless to say, the kids and I were dying to get outside.  Therefore, after school we all played in the backyard for a loooong time.  It was great! However, when we finally came inside, I realized that it was later than I thought and I had not thawed out the hamburger meat for dinner. Necessity being the mother of invention, I looked around at the ingredients I had on hand and came up with the following recipe.  Funny thing is...it turned out really good!  We all enjoyed it.  Of course, Gracen and Wes picked out most of the veggies, but they ate the pasta and sauce.  What can I say ~ I gotta keep trying! 

Pinkalicious Pasta Primavera

(because the sauce looked kind of pink,
we named the recipe after Gracen's favorite book)

 

2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic (chopped)
Your favorite Veggies ~ I used Zuchinni, Mushrooms, and Yellow Peppers. 
1/2 Block of Cream Cheese
1 Jar of Your Favorite Ragu Sauce
1/4 c. Heavy Cream
5 Slices of Bacon (cooked and crumbled)
Your Favorite Type of Pasta

Saute garlic in olive oil.  Add veggies and sautee until tender (but not soggy).  Cut the 1/2 block of cream cheese into smaller pieces and add to the veggies.  When cream cheese is melted add the jar of Ragu and heavy cream. Salt to taste.  Allow to simmer on low for 10 minutes.  Serve over your favorite pasta and top with crumbled bacon.

I have entered this recipe in the Recipe for a Good Start Contest. 

 

Ragú® is asking moms to share their recipes for a good start for a chance to win a $5000 scholarship.  Visit

Recipe for a Good Start Contest and submit your recipe for a good start in life and your original Ragú® recipe that has the family running to the dinner table! Ragu will choose three first prize winners,who will be awarded a family trip to New York City where they will compete in a nationally televised Ragú® Recipe Challenge for the chance to win the ultimate prize of a $5,000 college scholarship.

I was entered for a chance to win a Ragú® family package in exchange for this post.  No monetary exchange took place.

Bucks County Crumb Cake

A few weeks ago we went to a used book sale at my children's school.  I was so excited to find a couple of vintage cookbooks there.   One of them is "Bucks, the Artist's County, Cooks".  It is a compilation of  recipes from The Woman's Auxiliary Trinity Chapel of Solebury, PA.  It was created in an effort to raise funds for the enlargement of their chapel.  The first printing was in 1950.

I love the variety of recipes in this book.  Some are Pennsylvania Dutch, some are regional, a few are Southern-influenced, and all most all use traditional ingredients.  A little bit of everything!

There is even a chapter on pickles and preserves.  I can't wait until this summer.  I am going to try and make some bread and butter pickles and peach preserves.  Yum!  The following poem is in this section.  I thought it was cute.

Preserving Children

Take one large grassy field,
1/2 dozen children, 3 small dogs,
and walk along a narrow strip of brook, pebbly if possible. 
Mix the children with dogs and empty them into field,
stirring constantly. 
Sprinkle the entire with daisies and buttercups,
pour brook gently over pebbles,
cover all with a deep blue sky
and bake in hot sun for several hours. 
When the children are thoroughly browned,
they may be removed. 
They will be found right and ready
for setting away to cool in the bathtub.

The first recipe we made from this cookbook was a crumb cake.  It turned out perfectly!  It was literally devoured in 2 days.

The Best Crumb Cake Ever

Little Cooks with Books: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

My children love the book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  They think it is hilarious and like to discuss what they wish would fall from the sky.  The girls heard from their friends at school that they movie was great, so we bought it this weekend.  It was really cute, and  all three children enjoyed it (which is a miracle).

After spending a weekend in Chewandswallow, it only made since to make meatballs for our Little Cooks with Books cooking lesson, so that is exactly what we did.  This cooking lesson went much better than our lesson last weekend.  The girls took turns and cooperated nicely.  Best of all the meatballs turned out perfectly!  Sam and Gracen were so proud to serve them at dinner (with spaghetti marinara).

My Goals for This Lesson ~

• Practice reading a recipe.
• Discuss abbreviations commonly used in recipes (For example:  T for tablespoon and tsp for teaspoon).
• Measuring dry ingredients.
• Cracking eggs.
• Roll the meat into balls.  

The Recipe ~  This recipe came from Mommy's Kitchen.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85% lean)
2 - eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T. dried minced onion (We used fresh onion.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper

 

 Cutting an onion with our Curious Chef Large Nylon Knife and Green Pepper Cutting Board.

  

 Gracen sautes some onion.

 

Squishing all of the ingredients together.

  

Scooping meatballs with our Curious Chef Ice Cream Scoop.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

 

The finished product.

The Results ~  The girls did very well with all of the goals.  The only part with which they needed assistance was making the meatballs a consistent size.  I gave them a scoop to use and that helped.  I also used the opportunity to explain that when they make meatballs or cookies they all have to be the same size so that they will cook evenly and at the same rate.  I told them that if they had some big meatballs and some little ones then the little ones would be done way before the big ones.  This made sense to them.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Activities and Printables

• Printables for Grades 2-4 
• Discussion Questions Grades 1-3
• Weather Activities Pre-K and Kindergarten 
• Pre-K Weather Printables
• On-line Game
• Coloring Pages 
• Spaghetti and Meatball Hat Craft
• We Can All Be Meteorologists Craft
  
  

Curious Chef offers real kitchen utensils for small hands.  Their products are available as individual pieces, Gift Sets, and Build-A-Kitchen Sets.  Curious Chef generously sent my children and I the following products to review:  Ice Cream Scoop, Non-Stick Rolling Pin, 3 Piece Nylon Knife Set, and the Green Pepper Cutting Board.  My children are truly enjoying these utensils.  They like being able to safely cut, chop, and roll with easy-to-use products.  We will be using these products in many of our Little Cooks with Books lessons.

Check out our other Little Cooks with Books lessons!

The Snow Made Me Do It...Candy Bar Brownies!

Yes, it's true!  It is snowing again and the kids are off from school.  We are all a little tired of the snow (to say the least), so (thankfully) the kids really haven't felt like going out in it.  Instead, we are watching movies, drawing/coloring, playing with play dough, building with blocks, and

 

  

  

baking this yumminess which I call Candy Bar Brownies.

Make your kids happy ~ go make these brownies!

Candy Bar Brownies