Crab Pickin'

We bought a bunch of crabs to eat for the last night of the family reunion…. tradition.  Abric decided to try them for the first time.  He didn't like eating them, but he sure loved banging the crap out of their legs with the tiny wooden mallet.

Mmmmmmm…. Pie

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"Couldn't wait for the boys to get home. Strawberry-Rhubarb. #springambrosia"

Blueberries!

We picked 11.5 pounds of blueberries today.  Not too shabby since my two older helpers, Harrison and Zane, were at Cub Scout camp.  I froze about two-thirds of them and the rest we ATE!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a family get-together at our house today.  It was so much fun!  RB and Amy were up from North Carolina.  After dinner, we ate some yummy flag cake. Then we drove over to the Galleria Mall parking lot to watch a fireworks show.  We were having so much fun, I didn't get any pictures.

Growing. . .

An entire loaf of bread at breakfast. One meal, folks. And Daddy only got one slice of it. I guess that is what he gets for sleeping in. In his defense, the kids were up at 6:15AM, so sleeping in past then is still getting up at a regular time.

With 4 growing boys in this house, I think we need to plant a bigger garden.

Fresh Fruit Frosties

Ewan and Abric helped me make these snacks for when the the boys came home from school. They are always hungry as soon as they walk in the door. This recipe was fast, easy, and a winner!

I found this recipe in the BJ's magazine.

Fresh Fruit Frosties

2 cups chopped fresh fruit

1 T sugar

1 t lemon juice

1. Place 1 1/2 cups of fruit in blender with sugar and lemon juice. Cover and pulse until smooth.

2. Add remaining fruit and pulse; then switch setting to chop and pule twice. Mixture will be mostly smooth with small lumps of fruit.

3. pour into 4-oz paper cups or molds and insert sticks.

4. Freeze until solid, at least 1 hour.

Other fruit combinations to try:

• Blueberries & Watermelon
• Strawberries & Kiwi
• Cantaloupe & Honeydew
• Blackberry & Papaya
• Raspberries (substitute 2 T lime for lemon), adjust sweetness to taste.

Ready for the freezer.

~1 hour later. YUM!

The Food Nanny

Has anyone watched the new show on BYU-TV called The Food Nanny? I am completely addicted to it! Maybe because I am looking for an organized way to simplify dinnertime right now. Life never slows down, and we all know that as the kids get older it will just get busier. I love her ideas! She may be a little bit hyper, but her energy is contagious. Look at me, I'm blogging about it right now!
I downloaded the menu planner from her website and decided to try it for 2 weeks. (For a blank planner, click 'HERE'.) I'm curious to see how the dinner theme nights will work. I think I'm also going to swap one of the nights for Thai/Asian food or Stir-Fry night. She claims the family will start to look forward to knowing that a certain kind of food will be prepared on a certain day of the week.

Some of her points

• 4 or 5 o'clock is too late to start thinking about dinner.
• You need to make family dinnertime a priority.
• You need to have a plan
• Choose a theme for each night
• While you choose recipes, you create your shopping list

Sunday Dinner

After church on Sunday we had our family over for dinner. The kids decorated Scooby-Doo sugar cookies.
I found the kit at Michael's on clearance for $1. Can it get better than that? I just had to make the cookies and the frosting. It came with the cookie cutter and the sugary fixins'.
While the kids decorated their cookies, we adults lounged around, visited together, and ate. . .

. . . this.

It is from Paula Deen, so I guess I would categorize this in my low-fat recipe folder..... not!

For the recipe, click HERE!

Healthy Snack

I'm always looking for healthy snacks for my kids to eat when they come home from school, or anytime their (or my) blood sugar needs a boost. I found these at Recipezaar and they are amazing! Just had to share. I would compare these to mini granola bars.

No-Bake Almond Oat Energy Bites

* 2 1/2 cups rolled oats (regular or quick cooking)
* 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, raw (pepitas)
* 1/2 cup raisins
* 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, raw
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 cup almond butter
* 1/3 cup honey, plus
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup (I didn't have this, so I used Brown Rice Syrup)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Grind 1/2 cup oats and 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds in a blender/food processor until powdery. Transfer to a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Combine remaining 2 cups oats, remaining 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, raisins, sunflower seeds, and cinnamon in large bowl. Stir in almond butter, honey, barley malt syrup and vanilla until soft dough forms.
3. Moisten hands, and roll dough into 1 inch balls. Coat balls in oat-pumpkin seed powder. Place in freezer for 20 minutes to set, then serve or store in the fridge.

Edamame!

For dinner, I thought I would try edamame in the pod as our side-dish. I tried to make it an adventure, showing the boys how to POP them out of the pod. Amazingly, it was a success! They loved it!

Zane's quote of the day:

"Man, I can't get enough of these beans!"

To make:

Boil 6 cups of water to a rolling boil. Salt water, optional. (I salted my water.) Add edamame. Boil for 6 minutes. Drain water. Run cold water over the top to cool. Eat and enjoy!

Today....

Things have been a little hectic, but isn't it always hectic around here with four boys? I should reiterate that things have been especially hectic lately with getting ready to move. We listed our house for rent on craigslist and let's just say that has been very effective. We have had showing after showing. A large reason for our huge success is because we listed our house for a lot lower than we should have for a 4-bedroom house. Oh well. Lesson learned. At least we have a plethora of prospects to choose from. (Yes, Guapo, you have a plethora).

In my efforts to truly make my house spotless, Abric has begun to entertain himself by looking out the window. This is his favorite little niche. He pushes the stool up to the corner and climbs right on up.
I think he is dreaming of the freedom outside, since he has rarely been allowed out for the past couple weeks. It has been cold out there, at least below freezing. He was very excited to see the snow out there this morning.
After our showing this morning, I did some organizing and some recipe hunting. I found this recipe for Broccoli Calzones on the Everyday Food website. They were so yummy, that I just had to post about it. Plus, I added a secret ingredient that the boys didn't even notice and all four of them snarfed their calzones. Mission accomplished!
Abric saw me taking a picture of the food and he wanted in on the action with his chants of, "Eeeeeeez!"
Harrison and Zane would rather go for a comedic photo shot, but they have been especially hyper tonight.

And little Ewan enjoyed a late afternoon nap on the couch.

It is almost 7 and Andy isn't home yet, but he should be soon. He's a very hard-working kind of guy. Plus, there isn't much he can do when people need to make an appointment after they are off work. I'm grateful for Andy and for how hard he works for us.

Cookie Monster

Abric has been introduced to the wonderful world of chocolate chip cookies.

I think he approves.

Chocolate, chickpeas, and all!

Corn!

We were all up to our elbows in corn. My friend, Ruth S., bought 30 dozen ears of corn. She let me buy 4 dozen ears from her, then she invited our family to her house to husk and blanch it in order to freeze it. It was so much fun! The boys were able to run in the yard, play on the tree swing, help feed the chickens, and gather the eggs. Ewan worked so hard he had to take his shirt off. (Is he trying to impress the ladies?)
I don't know how many ears we husked. We husked our 52 ears (that's a baker's dozen times 4, just in case your were counting). Then we helped with Ruth's.
After my corn had cooled in the cold water, I brought it home and put it them in the food saver in packets of 6. My freezer is full of corn. . . YUM!

Something's Sprouting

I bought some seeds to sprout. The directions were as follows:

Soak 12 hours.

Remove hard seeds.

Place in sproutmaster.

Rinse twice daily.

Sprout for 1 1/2 to 2 days.

It sounded easy, almost too easy. I didn't have a sproutmaster, so I just used two Ball jars with cheese cloth over the top (my friend, Sheree's idea)

And it was that easy. I had yummy salad sprouts in just 3 days. YUM! Even the boys liked them.

So Happy Together

There are some things in life that nature just intended to go well together:  peanut butter & chocolate, salt & pepper, bread & butter, Jamie & Andy (had to slide that one in there), cookies & milk, and toast & jam.  There is one pairing that just may surpass them all:  strawberry & rhubarb.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways. . .

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

3 cups rhubarb, cut in 1/2 inch chunks

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 t salt

3 T Minute Tapioca

1/4 t nutmeg

1 c strawberries

Mix together sugar, salt, tapioca, and nutmeg.  Add rhubarb and strawberries.  Mix together.  Let it sit while you prepare the pie crust for a 9" pie.  If you prepare for a double-crusted pie, place a couple dabs of butter on top of the mixture before you add the top crust.  Otherwise, you can add this crumb topping:

2/3 c flour

1/2 c brown sugar

4 T butter

Cut together with pastry blender and sprinkle on top of pie topping.

Bake at 400 F for 35-40 minutes.  Don't forget to cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil for the first 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Book club

We read The City of Joy by Dominique LaPierre this month. What a depressing, yet inspiring novel!!

Here is a literary review from Barnes and Noble:

What irony that one of Calcutta's most devastating slums should be known as Anand Nagar, ``the City of Joy.'' By interweaving impressionistic glimpses from the lives of a French priest, a rickshaw driver, and an American doctor, Lapierre creates a searing vision of the struggle for survival, the flashing violence, and the social and cultural practices of the slum. His theme that from human misery can emerge joy might seem to some readers as a bogus acceptance of a terrible evil. Yet Lapierre's narrative slides skillfully in and out of both history and fiction to create an effective but horrible montage of disease, death, and destruction amid elements of charity, hope, and love. The City of Joy should elicit strong reactions from readers.

This book made me so grateful for the simple yet essential things in my life: my family, my health, a roof over my head, and food in my stomach. This is one of those books that are hard to read, yet hard to put down at the same time.

By the way, the book is nothing like the movie. Patrick Swayze does a great job, but the storyline is completely different. Go for the book!

For my treat, I made naan- a super delicious Indian flatbread. I got the recipe from youtube from this cute little Indian lady named Manjula. Here is a link to her recipe website. She has videos to go along with her recipes, which really helped me out!




This bread was so delicious and easy. I served it with dal.

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, I got up early to make my boys a special breakfast. (And to prove to Andy that V-day is not just for the women.) I found this pancake recipe in Runner's World a while ago and have been wanting to try it. The issue was printed in Oct 2007, so that just shows how long this has been sitting in my cupboard.
I topped them with sprinkles, strawberries, and whipped cream for the Valentine's occasion.

Walnut and Blueberry Bran Pancakes

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup instant oats
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup oat flour or oat bran
1 T baking powder
1 t. salt
2 T honey
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pour milk over oats and sift together flours, baking powder, and salt. Lightly stir eggs into oats mixture. Add dry ingredients and honey, stirring until combined. When batter is thoroughly mixed, stir in the blueberries and walnuts. Ladle batches of the batter ont a preheated greased or nonsitck griddle or frying pan and cook until tops are bubbly and edges look cooked. Turn over and finish cooking the other side. Makes about 10 pancakes.
Serves 4.
Calories:400 Fat:16g Carbs:52g Protein:15g
(from Runners World)

I didn't add the blueberries to the first batch, because Andy doesn't like his pancakes to have extra flair. I also didn't have walnuts, so I added almonds. I used white winter wheat flour, instead of all purpose mixed with oat flour. They were delicious and the oatmeal made them very hearty. I had a six-mile run and they gave me just the energy I needed.

Taking Charge

With Harrison being the oldest, he definitely has that "take charge" kind of personality. Since I have been taking care of a sick little baby (poor Abric), I have been slacking on my motherly duties, like making food and cleaning the house. At 5 o'clock Harrison decided that he would make something for his brothers to eat. Normally I would have protested, but at the rate I was going, dinner was going to be a couple hours away, so I let him cook away.
He made a lovely snack of cinnamon sugar toast, crackers, crackers, and more crackers.

Would you like some bread with your butter?

Life

Abric is 4 weeks old. How did that happen? It seems like he is changing every day.

We went raspberry picking on Monday with my friends Ang, Josi, and our posse. Drew is the little papoose on Josi's back.
Here is the rest of the crew admiring the goats and the donkey.
I made my first ever batch of raspberry freezer jam, but forgot to take a pic of the finished product.
Zane had a soccer game on Wednesday to make up for when Hanna came through. He actually was able to kick the ball a couple times.
He is so small compared to the rest of his team. I asked him if he had fun and he said, "Yes", so I hope he is. It isn't easy when you have such a dominating big brother, but I'm sure Zane will find his niche in life.

Millions of Peaches...

The boys and I went peach picking today with a group of moms from church. The weather was a little too humid for my liking, but the peaches were big, beautiful, juicy, and ripe! Last year I only picked one basket, but I couldn't resist picking two this year. (Plus, I am trying to stay busy to (A) forget that I am just waiting for this baby to come and (B) if I stay really active, maybe it will move things along.)
I had great success freezing the peaches last year, so planned on doing it again. (I need your help to can, Mom!) I got the info from a GREAT website called Pick Your Own. It has so much info on picking, freezing, or canning your own fruits and vegetables. It even has recipes. Check it out! It gives detailed directions with photos. To freeze these peaches, I slipped the skins and pitted them, then chopped them up. Added 1/4 cup lemon juice. Put them in a freezer bag, then added 1 cup of white grape juice to cover them so they wouldn't get freezer burn. I love how there is no added sugar and to thaw them I just put them in the fridge the day before, drain the juice and use just like fresh peaches. (They also taste like fresh peaches. So yummy!)
I was only able to get through one basket this afternoon because Zane had soccer practice at 5:30. Andy helped me get Zane and Ewan ready to go, then he had to get ready for Harrison's practice at 6:00.
This is Zane's first year playing soccer. He looks so tiny out there compared to the other kids! He barely reaches their shoulders. I found out that most of them are already 6 years old. (I think, if they are 6, then they should be on a U-8 team!) Zane is only 4 and won't be 5 until the end of October. I'm so worried he won't have a good experience. We don't expect all of our kids to play soccer, but this is Zane's first time doing any kind of team sport. The other kids are so much bigger. They played the "magic box" game where you try to kick your teammates ball out of the box while still keeping control of yours. His was kicked out first every time. He ran over to me crying. It broke my heart! (Insert Vent: I think that exercise is too advanced for U-6 age group. They just need to be working on the most basic skills. These kids still aren't even sure which goal to score at!) I had to walk out on the field to help him finish practice. He refused to go out there. I came home, as a frustrated mother, and vented to Andy about it.
After the end of practices, we bathed the kids, gave them a snack, then put them in bed. Since the Olympics are over, Andy and I had a free evening. He read while I scrapped a page in honor of my sweet little soccer-playing, ball-dribbling Zane. I love you, Zaner-Baner!