Drink Your Fruit! Best Smoothie Recipe

10:51 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post
I hate to admit it, but I really am not a fruit of veggie eater. I've always been a picky eater and just have not found one fruit or veggie that I really like (except corn.) As I'm getting older, I'm realizing that I need fruits and veggies in my diet in order to stay healthy and help keep my body going.

Here's my smoothie recipe that I have everyday - I love it! Even though both of my kids love fruits - they don't eat near enough of the green stuff, so this smoothie has some good stuff in there for them too.

Smoothies are also a great way to help weight loss. We all know that in order to lose weight, we need to eat better. Most of us don't eat enough fruits and veggies and smoothies are a perfect way to get what your body needs and help fill you up too!


Here's what you'll need: 
(Makes 2 Smoothies)

Spinach
Vanilla Yogurt
Some type of low-sugar juice. We love this carrot juice from Trader Joe's
1 banana
1 apple
4-5 Strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1/3 cup frozen berry medley (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries)

Now to assemble your smoothie...


Core and peel your apple. I normally only put in half the apple and feed the other half to the kids for lunch.


Add your banana.


Add two heaping tablespoons of yogurt.


Strawberries!


Add your berries. You can use whatever type of berries you have on hand, or happen to be on sale. I like this mixture for all the antioxidants these berries have!


Throw in a handful of spinach.


Pour in about a cup and a half of your juice. If you like a thicker smoothie, add only a cup. If you like yours a bit thinner go for about a cup and 3/4. 


Blend away! If you have kind of a crappy blender like I do, you might have to stop it several times and take a spoon and jam all the frozen stuff down to the bottom. That way everything gets blended! 
(I really need to get myself one of those Ninja's!!!)

Pour and serve with a straw! These smoothies don't have the most appealing color (spinach) but they are so, so good. Like I said before - my whole family of meat-eaters love this one!

Here are some great add-ins you can toss in:

Flax seed
Chia Seeds
Protein Powder
Any and all green veggies that you wouldn't normally eat - you won't even taste them with all the great fruit in this smoothie!


There you have it - a great smoothie the whole family will love! I drink these every morning for breakfast and occasionally as a later afternoon snack if I'm in the mood for something sweet! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a Happy New Years!

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Grandma Ruby's Old Fashion Peanut Butter Balls

7:51 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post


My hubby loves to make his grandmothers peanut butter balls every Christmas. He remembers her always making up a huge batch during the holidays and would give them out as gifts to friends and neighbors. He was also always excited as a kid to get a big batch of them all for himself under the tree each year.

Chris's mom - Linda, Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Clyde (1953)
I love this recipe not only for the family story behind it, but because we also have Grandma Ruby's hand-written recipe!



It makes me laugh to remember after we first got this recipe that we had to call Chris' mom to find out what exactly oleo was! Neither of us had ever heard that before! (It's an older term for butter.)

Out of all the Christmas baking that we do, the peanut butter balls are the only thing that Chris does 100% on his own. He always makes a double batch, so he we have plenty to eat and plenty to pass out to our friends and neighbors. Now that our boys are getting older and like helping out in the kitchen, Chris has a few helpers to roll out all of the peanut butter balls - and it was a lot!

Grandma Ruby's Old Fashion Peanut Butter Balls

1 stick of butter
18oz (2 cups) Smooth Peanut Butter
3 cups Rice Krispies
1 lbs Powered Sugar
12oz Milk Chocolate Chips
3/8 of a bar of Cake Wax (or use 1/8 cup of coconut oil)

Start by melting the butter.


If you were a woman, you would add the powered sugar, then mix well. Then you'd add the peanut butter a little at a time and mix as you go. 



However, if you were a man, then you just throw it all in there at once. Paying no mind to your wife reminding you of last year and how hard it will be to stir. 



Either which way, this takes some time to stir all together. Make sure you use the largest bowl that you have!
Once the butter, powered sugar and peanut butter is mixed - add the Rice Krispies.

Again - if you were a woman, you would add maybe a cup at a time and stir as you go. 

If you were a man - you'd fill the whole bowl up at once....



Then you would ask your (beautiful) wife to get you a second bowl, because the first one is over-flowing with peanut butter ball goodness. 

Once the Rice Krispies are mixed in, grab a cookie sheet and line it with wax paper...and get to rollin'! 
Grab some helpers to make this job move along faster...



You'll probably need as least two cookie trays for one batch of PB balls. As you fill each try up - put them in the refridgerator to harden. (About 30-45 minutes)

When your PB balls are about ready to come out, start making your chocolate sauce. 

While I don't think that we should be adding wax to our food, this is the way Chris' grandma made these peanut butter balls for years - so Chris does not want to change it. But, in place of the cake wax, you could use coconut oil. Here's what Grandma Ruby's recipe calls for. 


At this point, you could use a double boiler, a bowl in the microwave or do it like me a grab a huge pot and put it on the stove at low. Add 3/8 of a stick of cake wax or 1/8 cup coconut oil and your chocolate chips. 


Make sure your stove it on low and just keep stirring. If in the microwave - I'd say microwave your bowl for 15-20 seconds at a time, stir and return to microwave until smooth. On the stove, it took me about 15 minutes to get the chocolate just right. 


If the chocolate isn't smooth enough, just add more cake wax or coconut oil. As you drip the chocolate back into the pan, it should smooth out quickly. Keep the pan on low on your stove the whole time your dipping - chocolate, when it cools, is horrible to work with and it difficult to re-melt sometimes. 



Chris likes to throw a few of the PB balls into the pan, stir them around and fish them out with a slotted spoon. Tap the side of the pan to get rid of the excess chocolate. Return the balls to a wax lined pan. 


Once you've finished dipping all the PB balls, return them to the fridge for about another half hour until completely hardened. They store best in an air tight container in the fridge. 
Your friends, neighbors and even your family will love you for making these! They are beyond yummy! 
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Menu Planning

1:00 AM | Posted by | | Edit Post
I wrote last week about how to save $20 a week off your grocery bill. One of the tips was to make a menu plan, so I wanted to share this week some tips of making a menu plan that you'll be able to stick to.

1. Keep it simple. 

To cook does not mean gourmet meals. You need to plan a menu based on your cooking skills. Pour over cookbooks and find things that interest you. If you're a beginner cook, try one meal this week that's out of your comfort zone.

Here are a couple of easy dinners from Moms Who Think. I also love AllRecipes.com and Taste of Home for easy meals. If you're wanting to step out of your zone, try Food Network for some great ideas.

2. Work around your schedule.

For us, we have football practice on Tuesday nights, and Chris has school on Monday and Wednesday. So, on those days - supper is easy. Usually something that can be thrown in the crockpot or a great freezer meal.  Don't expect yourself to make homemade fried chicken on a night that you only have 20 minutes for dinner!

3. Work within your budget.

Want to eat filet mignon...but only have a cube steak budget? Then eat cube steak!!! I know it's fun to eat fancy every once in awhile - but if you're trying to save money, stick within the budget....for now. Or, instead of treating yourself every week - how about just once a month?

4. Keep in mind what you already have and what's on sale.

Like I said in my last post, write down what's in your pantry. For example, right now I have the following items in my pantry:

Spaghetti sauce
Canned black beans
Hashbrowns
Canned Soup
Canned Kidney Beans
A couple bags of frozen veggies
Taco Shells
Canned Tomatoes
Pasta

On sale this week:
Hamburger
Chicken
 Rice
Potatoes

Here's what my menu plan would look like:

Spaghetti with Sauce w. Hamburger / Garlic Bread / Veggie
Chili (Canned Beans, Hamburger and Canned Tomatoes) / Cornbread
Soup / Grilled Cheese
Hamburgers / French Fries (made from potatoes)
Chicken Taco's / Rice / Veggie
Grilled Chicken / Baked Potatoes / Veggie
Leftover Chili mixed with leftover Rice / Veggie

Using what I already had, I was able to put together a weeks worth of meals! And, really I didn't cook at all!


5. Ask your family for ideas. 

If you want your kids and your hubby to eat what you're serving...ask them what they want. Kids (and husbands) and much more likely to eat whats on the table if they feel like they helped get it there. Of course, for my kids - they would want mac and cheese every night of the week. But I do try to let them have the "fun food" a few times a month.


Next week, I'm going to talk about how to get the most of out what you already have! 

Please share your tips and thoughts on Menu Planning! Thanks so much for stopping by! 
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Kitchen Ideas - Pottery Barn Style

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I have a series coming up with my kitchen make-over. But, until I'm ready to show it off completely, I was spending time today looking at one my favorite websites - Pottery Barn - and trying to see if I can find a style that I like for my kitchen accessories. 

Here's what I found, it's call the Cucina Collection!


Soap and Lotion Caddy



Spice Jars



Hanging Baskets



Rustic Crocks


What I like about each of this, is it's something I think I could easily reproduce! I can already see each of these items in my kitchen! I also like the simplicity of each of these items...my kitchen is not very big, so I'm really wanting to become a minimalist with this makeover. 

I'll be posting pictures of my kitchen next week, so come back to check it out!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!


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What I'm Reading

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After I started thinking about writing this post, I pulled out all of the books I'm reading in actual print, looked at what I was reading on my Kindle and through Audible.com and could not believe that I can even keep this many books straight with my mom brain! There are some books in this list that I have to be in a certain mood in order to read them, others I read at scheduled times throughout the day. You'll see that I'm not much into fiction, I mostly enjoy books that I feel like I'm learning something. Here's my list - please leave comments letting me know what you're reading!




 At the beginning of the summer, I finally caved and started reading Fifty Shades of Grey. I've only gotten through about a third of it. I didn't find it all that interesting to be honest and couldn't relate to Ana much at all. I only tend to pick this book up when nothing else interests me. I'm not even sure that I'll be able to finish it!



My husband and I like to have "radio dates" a few times a week. While he's a work and I'm at home, we'll both listen to Family Life Today and will talk about it in the evenings. The author of this book, Julie Ann Barnhill, was on a few days there and I thought this book sounded interesting. After I started reading it, I was a little shocked at what the author shared about how she use to treat her kids. But, all moms are different. I would recommend this book if you tend to explode sometimes towards your kids when you're feeling frustrated. It's got some good tips in there on how to calm down, take a breath and see your kids in a new light. 



Boys Should Be Boys is a great book that a friend of mine, Bri, recommended to me. It's a great practical advice book about allowing boys to be all that they really should be. I am in love with this book right now. If you're a parent of boys, I would recommend that you read it too! This book has also made my look at my boys in a new light and allowing them to act like boys should - and not try to shape them into how I (as a mom) think little boys should act. I always read this book while I'm waiting to pick up my oldest from school.  It's a great bit of quiet time for me as the youngest is usually snoozing in the back seat!



In addition to reading several books, I also love listening to audio books while I'm doing chores around the house. It helps relax me and tends to make my work go much faster. I love all books by Joel Osteen  and I'm a big fan of I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak Over Your Life - for the audio book version it's about 15-20 minutes to listen to each day. Just enough time for me to get the kitchen cleaned up.



Dale Carnegie's bookHow To Win Friends and Influence People has been around forever, hasn't it? I'm only into the second chapter on this audio book but am already starting to see how what he's saying could really impact my life! I use to think this was mostly a book geared towards people in business but it can really be applied to all aspects of your life. 


 

The newest addition to my collection is the new e-book from Crystal Paine (Money Saving Mom). I'm blogging each day for the next 21 days about my experiences with this book, you can check out my posts here. If you also need some focus in your life, 21 Days To A More Disciplined Life is a great read. I've been a fan of Crystal's for years now, so I was very excited to be able to read her new book. 

Alright, that's my list! Let me know.....
what are you reading now?
Got any books you'd recommend? 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!



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