Let's Talk Food

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great Monday and are ready to charge forward this week with renewed energy and strength (mine may come in the form of caffeine, but that's okay too).

We've been keeping busy around here with birthday parties, Gator basketball parties (and tormenting our neighbors who aren't Gator fans), house guests, sleepovers, and lots and lots of cooking.

I dream of the day when I can cook exciting, delicious new recipes that I dog-ear in magazines and bookmark on web sites. I love shopping for fresh, new ingredients, and truly enjoy the process of creating something incredible for my family to eat.

But, organic meats and produce are expensive (hello - I bought 1 container of organic strawberries and 1 container of organic blueberries and it was nearly $10!!! Yikes!) so I only buy a bit at a time. And "spare time" is at a minimum these days, so cooking elaborate meals doesn't happen very often.

But when our neighbors gave us some delicious herbs and peppers from their home-grown garden, it inspired me to make some fresh, wholesome meals for my boys.

We started with the bundle of rosemary they gave us.

Mmmm...rosemary. It smells so amazing, doesn't it? Just a whiff of this herb, and I'm ready to put on my Williams-Sonoma apron and get in the kitchen!

I decided to make a roasted garlic rosemary pork loin along with some steamed green beans, cheddar-garlic mashed potatoes, and crunchy garlic bread. The house smelled so incredible when Brian got home that evening. No need to light a candle baby...the rosemary and garlic provided the perfect aroma for our family gathering.

The next meal inspiration came from the huge bunch of fresh basil our neighbors gave us.

I'm a girl that's all about convenience. But I recently switched from the jarred spaghetti sauce, to making my own, and it is so yummy. I was shocked to see how much sugar is in the jarred sauces (probably why they taste so good). Making my own allows me not only to control what goes in it, but also what doesn't go in it. Ya know what I mean?

I tore up a bunch of the fresh basil and let it cook with the tomato sauce in the Crock Pot all afternoon. The resulting sauce was so heavenly, I ate over whole wheat pasta for leftovers two days in a row!

The last day of my fresh-inspired cooking, came in the form of Poblano peppers.

I had never cooked with Poblano peppers before, so I wasn't sure what the heat level was going to be. I was happily surprised that they tasted like a green pepper with just a slight kick of heat. I diced them up and used them along with avocado (sprinkled with sea salt), salsa, and freshly grated sharp cheddar to top our taco salads. So, so good!

Using these fresh ingredients has inspired me to take a baby step out of my comfort zone and cook with some things that I may not normally buy; to try some new recipes that don't involve 4 chicken breasts and a Crock Pot...and it reminded me that fresh is always better. Always.

What new recipes or ingredients have you tried recently? I'd love to hear about it! Leave me a comment and let me know.

PERFECT Hard Boiled Eggs

Like a lot of us out there, I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon when it first came out.

I created a ton of "boards" and "pinned" things that I thought were pretty, yummy-looking, organized, inspiring, crafty, and pretty much a ton of crap that I'll never actually do.

But it was fun to look.

Well, my days of drooling over pages and pages of Pinterest ideas stopped a while ago. Now I only go on there if I have a very specific idea that I am researching.

For example, I had heard that there was a great recipe for the perfect hard-boiled egg floating around on Pinterest. However, the egg is not boiled at all. It's baked.

Too good to be true, I thought.

So, I had to try it.

Turns out, this Pinterest idea really does work (unlike most of the baking recipes on there). Halleluiah!

Here's a link to the web site where you can find the recipe, courtesy of the Family Fresh Meals blog. Because as much as I'd love to claim this idea as my own, I really do like to credit other bloggers who create and share their wonderful ideas.

So, even though I'm not a huge fan of hard boiled eggs, all my boys love them, and it's one of the few healthy snacks that Payton will eat. I've made two batches of these beauties in the past two weeks. And it's so easy. So healthy. SO much cheaper than buying the pre-made hard boiled eggs at Publix (yes, I've bought them for years... lazy, I know!).

I hope this recipe comes in handy during your upcoming Easter celebrations, Spring brunches, or just for a quick and handy snack to have on hand in the fridge. Enjoy!

Impromtu Update Post

I had planned to post a recap of our weekend today - complete with lots of cute pictures of my family and my friend's cute little 8-month old that we babysat overnight on Saturday.

But...apparently my phone and my computer had a fight.

My pictures won't upload from my phone and my computer photo program is giving me some sort of error message. And after trying to re-start it, fix it and curse at the screen, nothing seems to be working, so instead, I'm going to "walk away" from the photos and post about something else.

Let's see...

Maybe an update post will work instead.

I've been keeping up with the Lenten gratefulness experiment. Remember this post where I talked about how instead of giving something up for Lent, I was going to write down something I'm grateful for each day?

It's been a very enlightening experience. Some days, my thoughts are deep and focus around my children's health and my marriage and the "big" things that mean so much to me in my life.

Other days I write things like, "I'm so grateful for a clean kitchen table with nothing but a beautiful bouquet of flowers on it." Deep, I know.

But reading back through the list makes me very, very happy and grateful.

It makes me realize that life is comprised of some really amazing things - like "Christian girlfriends who support me and love me even when I don't feel like I deserve it" - and awesome, insignificant things like, "this amazing bottle of red wine tonight and how good it tasted with our greasy NY-style pizza."

It doesn't always have to be something monumental to make me smile. But reading through my list of things thus far definitely puts things into perspective when I'm having a rough day.

I'm glad that I have a daily reminder of this precious Lenten season.

And I'm eternally grateful for what Easter is, and how my heart is preparing for the most important Christian holiday of the year.

Okay, that's all I got for today.

Hopefully my computer and my phone will kiss and make up and I can post some pictures later this week. Until then, have a great week everyone!

5 Prayers for Boys

Happy Friday everyone! Who's excited that it's the weekend? Me! Me! (Hand raised high with enthusiasm)

The weekend means a lot of things around here.

Most importantly, it means that Brian (a.k.a. Dadddy) is home a lot more. (Yay!!)

It also means, no rushing around to get out the door for school in the morning.

No strict bedtimes.

And usually lots of time with friends and family, which is always fun.

To welcome in the weekend, I wanted to share one of my favorite online devotional web sites.

I've found that even when I'm not being consistent with my early morning quiet time with God, I can still always manage to read my devotionals when they appear in my inbox.

I've subscribed to many different ones in the past, but Proverbs 31 seems to be just the right fit for me..

It's brief. They vary the authors. It's always timely and focused on women/marriage/motherhood topics. And more times than not, it makes me stop and think, "That's so true. And that's so good."

This week, they posted this devotional titled "5 Scriptural Prayers for Your Son" by Brooke McGlothlin. I thought it was so good, I wanted to share it here too.

But I also created a "chalkboard" looking file with the scriptures mentioned in the devotional. If you'd like to download this .jpg file for your own personal use, please click here. You may have to play around a bit on your own computer to figure out what size you want to print. I printed mine out on a regular 8 1/2 X 11 piece of paper and it worked great.

And if you have little girls in your house, do not despair! The ladies at Proverbs 31 posted 5 Prayers for Girls the following day. You can view that post here.

I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend! I'll be back next week with a great hard-boiled egg recipe and some other fun ideas.

Spring Break Whiplash

Sorry for the silence on the blog.

Last week was Spring Break.

Enough said.

In fact, we went speeding along so fast; had so much fun; did so many things; that when it all came screeching to a halt on Monday morning...I felt like I was suffering from Spring Break Whiplash. I'm sure it's a real medical condition. If not, it should be.

It's like somebody played a cruel joke and combined Day Light Savings time, a week off of school, and two exhausted children and said, "Here ya go...good luck getting them up and ready and off to school on time" (with an evil laugh to follow).

Fortunately, the first day back was a rainy one spent inside, doing very low-key things, which helped me readjust my body to this whole "be-there-on-time" thing.

But looking back, our Spring Break was truly amazing.

Nothing too lavish or crazy. But just the right mix of excitement paired with relaxation.

Here's a recap in pictures...

Monday morning we hit the ground running by meeting my parents at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Notice how it's still dark out? We got to the park at 8 a.m.

I love how the sun is just starting to come up in this picture. Although photos cannot do justice to just how amazing this "Tree of Life" really is. It's one of the most incredible things I've seen at a Disney park. Hundreds and hundreds of animals carved into the tree at every angle.

I had done plenty of research ahead of time and it seemed like everything I read said to get there right when the park opened and head straight to the Safari ride. The earlier you can do that ride, the better your chances are at seeing the animals.

I'm so glad I listened, because even our tour guide was surprised by some of the animal sightings. It was really amazing to be up close in the open air with no glass wall separating us from these majestic creatures.

Here you can see the two types of giraffes on the property: Reticulated (L) & Masai (R)

Again, this picture doesn't do justice to actually seeing these animals in person. But we got to hear this lion roar from far away on the property and then got to see him up close. He was MASSIVE!

 

The boys were very happy with all the rides and play areas available for kids. Parker talked both grandparents into riding this pseudo Dumbo ride.

And Payton talked Brian into riding "Expedition Everest" twice! It was more than this mama could handle so I was glad Brian was so willing to go on it (along with other rollercoasters) alone.

My favorites were the shows. The Nemo show and the "It's Tough To Be a Bug" show were both fantastic!

Payton & me waiting for the Nemo show to start

We also went on the Kali River Rapids ride, but of course I brought my own poncho. And boy am I glad I did! Everyone else was SOAKED by the end of the ride!

I had to include this photo because it makes me laugh every time I see it. I took the boys to the bathroom while the rest of the adults stood in line for ice cream. We finished up several minutes before them so we waited outside the bathrooms. The boys played with this pay phone the entire time. They thought it was so fantastic! (I wonder if you can buy an old pay phone on Ebay?!?)

And of course, no Disney trip would be complete without a one-on-one photo with Mickey & Minnie. Parker was really excited and beamed ear-to-ear. Payton was less impressed but did a great job staying animated for Parker's sake. What a good big brother he is.

By the time the parade rolled around at 3:30, Parker couldn't hang on any longer and he crashed in his stroller. And I mean, crashed! He did not wake up with all the parade commotion, noise and our attempts to shake him awake. He was wiped out!

There were some really neat "floats" in the parade that were controlled by people walking in front of the structures.

And of course Mickey was at the end!

 It was a wonderful way to kick-off the week and I'm so glad we had that time with my parents. It was a memory-making day.

On Tuesday, Brian went back to work, but our fun didn't stop. We headed out to the beach the next morning to join some friends.

We were there so early Payton had the whole place to himself!

We took Wednesday to relax and pack and then on Thursday we headed up to our friend's house in Welaka, FL on the St. John's River. 

It is so peaceful there and so full of wildlife and nature. It's one of my favorite ways to really, truly disconnect. 

This is what my mornings look like up there. Coffee in hand, nothing but water & conservation out front.

We did some boating the first day.

The boys played on the tube.

Payton climbed this tree about 100 times a day.

We were so excited when we spotted some manatees!

The first day we saw a few of them swimming in a cove near a natural spring.

I could not believe how close they came to the boat!

The next day, we took out the little fishing boat which is much smaller and our friend paddled us into the same cove. Everyone got to actually "pet" the manatees! They would swim right up to the boat and let us touch them! It was incredible.

We headed back late Saturday and didn't miss a beat by jumping right back into things on Sunday with another trip to the beach, followed by a community St. Patrick's Day party. The kids had a ball running around with their friends, jumping in bounce houses and getting their face painted. It was a great way to end an incredible week.

Sorry, Parker. It was a bit windy that day.

My Superhero.

Late that evening after the kids were in bed and I had finished what felt like the 39th load of laundry, I whipped up a batch of green pancakes...because I knew I wouldn't feel like getting up early the next morning to make them.

I decorated the breakfast table with gold coins and enough rainbows to make it look like a Leprechaun had thrown up everywhere. But the kids loved it. Nothing like sugar overload on the first day back to school!

And just in case there's any confusion...that's syrup in the bottle, not alcohol. :)

Phew.

Just typing up that post makes me tired.

We sure did fit in a lot of fun in 7 days.

So now, as I sit at my desk and review the week with my virtual whiplash neck brace on, I realize...it was all worth it. Even if it does take me another week (or two) to get back into the groove of things. :)

Lent

Growing up, our family didn't participate in the idea of "giving something up for Lent." I just assumed it was a Catholic thing and never gave it much thought.

But as I've gotten older and have come to gain a better understanding of the season of Lent, I think "giving up something" has a nice ring to it.

Not because I have all of these terrible habits and really need to give something up for 40 days. But rather, I want to prepare my heart for Easter; have a daily reminder of what is coming. So maybe I don't necessarily need to give something up for 40 days, but rather come up with a daily reminder of the importance of the Lenten season.

For me, Easter is the most important "holiday" of the year. It is the celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead.

It is not the celebration of the newest flavor of Peeps, or a party for the Easter bunny, as many people seem to think (don't even get me started about the nationwide confusion over the true meaning of Christmas).

So, this year, instead of giving something up, I have been inspired by a favorite author/blogger of mine, and I will be participating in her "Gratitude Experiment."

Glennon Doyle Melton, author of the blog, "Momastery" is challenging people to grab a journal or notebook and before you lay your head down to rest for the next 40 nights, jot down three things you were grateful for that day.

You can read her entire blog post about it here.

I love this quote from her...

"I  have a relentless and heavy hunch that gratitude is THE KEY to peace. I’m not sure we need to change our circumstances, but I think we might need to change the way we SEE our circumstances." 

Ironically, this challenge ties in perfectly with my 2014 Goals in which I want to be more appreciative. I have a feeling this is really going to help me hone in on that goal.

Want to join me during this season of Lent?

I've got my journal and my pen...and lots of gratitude to share. 
 

I have a relentless and heavy hunch that gratitude is THE KEY to peace. I’m not sure we need to change our circumstances, but I think we might need to change the way we SEE our circumstances. - See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/2014/03/06/gratitude-experiment/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Momastery+%28Momastery%29#sthash.lhRhm4Of.dpuf

I have a relentless and heavy hunch that gratitude is THE KEY to peace. I’m not sure we need to change our circumstances, but I think we might need to change the way we SEE our circumstances. - See more at: http://momastery.com/blog/2014/03/06/gratitude-experiment/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Momastery+%28Momastery%29#sthash.lhRhm4Of.dpuf

That Awkward Stage...It's Coming.

The awkward stage is coming. I can feel it.

I'm not talking about my son's puberty on the horizon...but I'm sure there will be plenty of awkward moments there.

I'm referring to that stage in my life when my roll as "Stay At Home Mom" is redefined.

Redefined into what...I'm not so sure about right now.

You see, for 9 years now I've been the primary caretaker for the boys, while Brian is the primary breadwinner for the household.

We've eased into these roles over the years, and although I desperately miss making my own income, I wouldn't trade these years at home with my boys for any dollar amount.

The thing is... they're getting older.

Payton would be perfectly happy to come home, do his homework (mostly unassisted), grab himself a snack, change into his play clothes, and head out into the neighborhood to play with his friends until dinnertime.

Up until the past month or so, Parker was my 24/7 shadow (unless he was in school for 3 hours, twice a week).

We did everything together, and I did everything for him - including being his primary source of entertainment.

Of course I would take him to the park and he would play with other kids, and we would have play dates, but I would always be with him. Taking him to the park. Walking him to the neighbor's driveway to play. Spending every waking moment with him helping him do something.

But I've noticed over the past couple weeks since he turned 3 that he's gained this new found independence.

He wants to go with Payton to the neighbor's house without me, confidently stating, "I'm going with Payton. You stay here."

He wants to run around the back and front yard playing with all the neighborhood kids who gather in our driveway every afternoon...without me. He'll see me peeking outside at him and say, "What Mom?"

He confidently walked into his preschool class last week and began playing with the dinosaurs that were set out on the miniature tables and said, "Okay, goodbye Mom." As if me standing there talking to his teacher was cramping his style.

Of course he still wants to spend time with me. In fact, I'm fairly sure if I gave him the option he would always choose to come with me rather than go to school.

But I can feel it coming.

This independence.

I can feel my role changing.

Shifting from constant playmate to occasional puzzle-assistant, swing pusher, and bottom wiper.

He will go to school 3 days a week next year.

And then 5 days the following year.

And then he'll start kindergarten.

And then where does that leave me?

A mom who's been out of the workforce for 12 years who excels in holiday decorating, Crock Pot meals, and cleaning house?

I'm glad I have a few years to figure this out.

I'm glad I still have my "babies" who need me to wipe away their tears when they fall off their scooters; And reassure them with a hug when they're having a tough day; And snuggle with them during the last moments they are awake and cover them in prayers.

For today, I'll count my blessings.

Tomorrow has enough worry for itself.

Weekend Warriors: Mini Bathroom Remodel

I've watched a lot of HGTV remodeling shows. A lot.

But never in my wildest dreams did I think I would actually do a mini room remodel on my own.

Well, let me re-phrase that...I never thought I would be involved in doing a mini room remodel because let's be honest... I didn't actually do that much.

Yes, I did a little bit of demo. I did some painting. I did a lot of cleaning. And a lot of assisting. But I left the professional stuff to the professional...my neighbor Kristen.

She's amazing with household projects.

I'm fairly sure that if I had to pick another woman to be stranded on a deserted island with, I'd pick Kristen. Because in no time flat she'd have a two-bedroom hut with a fully functional bathroom constructed out of coconut husks and palm tree branches. She's crafty, I tell ya.

So when I mentioned to her last week that I was finally ready to update the guest bathroom, she jumped on board and said, "Let's do it!"

Oh... did I forget to tell you that I bought all of the stuff and did the entire first day of demo and rebuilding without telling Brian?

Yeah. It's a long story. And I'm glad I kept it a secret, because he probably would have talked me out of it and told me to hire a handyman (who wanted to charge me $2,000 to complete this project by the way). So I needed  - as Nike says - to JUST DO IT - and ask for forgiveness later.

Now that it's completed, he's happy that I made the decision to go forward without involving him, but I don't know that I'd recommend that approach to any other married couples. :)

So, without further adieu, let's get to some fun photos, shall we?

Here's what we started with:

It's not terrible. But it's what the house came with. The only change to the bathroom since it was built was the terracotta floor tiles that the previous owner put in. Other than that, the laminate countertops and builder-grade sink and cabinets had definitely seen better days.

Better view of the outdated fixtures and sink.

 When we started removing the cabinet, countertops and backsplash, we realized what a bad job the builders had done when installing the cabinet in the first place. Hello... don't you think there should be drywall behind the cabinet??? Well, there wasn't!

This photo shows the gaping hole where the backsplash was, but we had to replace the entire wall with a new piece of drywall. That's where my girl really impressed me! Cutting drywall, installing it, taping it, sealing it, even texturizing it. Amazing!

Girl's not afraid of an electric handsaw!

 

You can see better from this picture that all of that purple drywall is new. We also had a hole on the adjacent wall that had to be patched.

I think my most jaw-dropping moments were when Kristen was cutting tile. She controlled that wet saw like nobody's business!

We were able to completely demo and prep the room on day one. Oh, and we also did all of the shopping for the materials on the first day. We were busy women! By 5 p.m. we decided to call it a day.

On Saturday, I got up bright and early and got all of the paint supplies down from the attic. Fortunately, we still had leftover matching paint for the room. So my little "helper" assisted me in painting the exposed walls.

Of course we signed the boys' names to the wall.

We were so fortunate that Kristen's uber-handy husband, Dave, was also willing to help us finish up with the install on day 2. Mixing thin-set and laying tile are not my strong suit. So glad we only had 2 tiles to patch up the floor underneath the vanity.

 We let the tile set while we ate lunch and Dave worked on putting the sink and countertop together. Then we got to install everything and see the beautifully finished bathroom!

DRUMROLL PLEASE.........

Ta Da!!!!

Just for fun, let's look at a before & after like all those HGTV shows:

It looks and feels like an upscale hotel bathroom, which I love. I am so happy with it, I want to just sit in there and look at it. But that would be weird if I hung out in my bathroom, so I just go visit it a lot throughout the day.

And, in case anyone was curious, all the materials were purchased at Lowes, and my grand total for the project was $718.46. A LOT cheaper than the $2,000 my handyman wanted to charge me.

I can't thank my neighbors enough for all of their hard work and know-how. We absolutely could not have done it without them. If you ever read this post Kristen & Dave, thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!!!

And that my friends, is how I spent my weekend

How about you?

P.S. No menu post this week. I'm sure you'll make do somehow (ha, ha).