Saturday, July 18, 2009

More garden goodness

Our garden is growing like crazy all of a sudden! We have been able to pick organic baby lettuce (spring mix type), green beans, cucumbers, and yellow squash. Here is Madi with what we picked this morning.

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The kids already devoured 3 of the cukes and we will have the squash tonight with steaks on the grill. YUM!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Swagbucks can be redeemed for PayPal cash!!!

You all know how much I love Swagbucks!! I was scrolling through the prizes and discovered that Swagbucks can be redeemed for PayPal cash!! In fact, for every 70 Swagbucks, you can get $5 in PayPal. Sweet deal!!! Click HERE to sign up for Swagbucks and see how easy it is to earn prizes. I was planning on getting a few Wii games for the kids for Christmas with my Swagbucks, but I may have to cash in some for some PayPal LOL.

Chick Fil A Cow Appreciation Day!

Today is COW APPRECIATION DAY at Chick Fil A restaurants. If you dress head to toe as a cow, you get a free combo meal of your choice! So some friends and I dressed everyone up and off we went! As you can see, it was tons of fun!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summertime Smoothies!

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My kids are on a smoothie kick lately, we make them pretty much every day for breakfast or a snack. In fact, Evan had one with breakfast today AND with his dinner LOL. I can't say no when they are so healthy! To make them, I use:

1) Some kind of frozen fruit, either store bought (I love the mixed tropical fruit from ALDI) or frozen yourself. ~ To freeze fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, peaches or bananas, I slice them up if necessary, layer them on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once they are solid, I seal them in Ziploc bags. This allows each piece to freeze individually instead of in one big clump. You can add fresh fruit as well, but having some frozen gives the smoothie the correct consistency. If you use all fresh fruit instead of frozen, no worries! Just add some crushed ice from the fridge dispenser.

2) Yogurt ~ I buy the big cartons of vanilla or in a pinch will grab a single serve flavor from the fridge such as strawberry or peach.

3) Milk or Orange Juice, or both, depending on the flavor I want.

First I add the yogurt to the blender, followed by the fruit and lastly the milk or OJ. Once I start blending I can see how much more liquid I need to add to achieve the right consistency. We like our smoothies pretty thick, barely thin enough to use a straw.

Here are a few favorite combos:

Peaches, strawberries, Vanilla Yogurt and OJ
Blueberries, Bananas, Vanilla Yogurt, and Milk
Tropical Mixed Fruit, Vanilla Yogurt, and OJ
And for a special treat:
Bananas, Vanilla Yogurt or ice cream :), Chocolate Syrup, and Peanut Butter