Chocolate Banana Smoothie with peanutbutter

  I am a breakfast person.  I wake up and I'm ready to eat.  Unlike my kids whom wake up ready to eat but sometimes it's because they skipped dinner based on personal preferences.

  I cook/prepare a variety of items for breakfast.  Sometimes the meal is cereal or oatmeal but I'm ok whipping up pancakes, waffles or muffins too.  I also like to make smoothies.

  Smoothies are hit or miss with the kids.  Sometimes I actually win getting fruits and vegetables in them this way sometimes the taste gets them straight out the gate.  I remember making a spinach one but my daughter had seen me put strawberries in prior to the spinach. She asked why is it was green?  I lied and said because strawberries turn green when blended sometimes. Hmmm. She has this hate with green things: broccoli specifically.  I will tell you what. She drank that green drink and it was good. Bye, bye spinach do your nutritional magic!

  Today was a banana smoothie with peanut butter.  This recipe was dairyfree but you could easily change milk in place of my substitute. Skipping the peanutbutter is not a big deal either.

1 frozen banana
1 cup of chocolate almond milk
1 T peanut butter

Blend it all together.   Depending on how many mouths are tempted to drink or try it, I may think it out with more milk.  I like thicker smoothies.

  I find it to be sweet enough based on the almond milk so I don't add any extra sweeter but you could add a tablespoon of syrup or honey.

 
Bottoms up! Try a glass of this to accompany your next breakfast or in place of eating if your in a rush!  Do you drink smoothies what's your favorite blend?
 

Wordless Wednesday from Williamsburg

  Last week I popped over to Williamsburg, VA and walked the streets of Colonial Williamsburg.  A trip to Colonial Williamsburg is never boring no matter the time of day or the season.

Ice skating rink open daily for a fee.

 Some building are illuminated with candles or spot lights.


My favorite thing to look at during the winter months are the wreaths.  The adorn most doors and no one is alike.

 Some have swag in addition to the wreaths and others are strictly just wreaths.

Two doors why not two wreaths?

All of the wreaths in keeping with the traditions and customs of the time frame are natural, easily accessible items. So definitely  evergreens, fruit and even feathers.

To see the doors does not cost an admission fee but, you may just want to pay to see how the inside is decorated too.  

For more about Colonial Williamsburg check it out here.

Mini Wreaths (DIY)

  I have spent a lot of time on Pinterest.   Certain times of the year I spend more time on there then others.  In the spring I start looking at garden ideas and bright and festive fun, summer I am looking for kids activities and maybe some snacks but winter has me looking for gifts.

  Not everything I make is gift worthy (in my opinion) or turned out so neat I want to keep myself.  So stay tuned for the rest of the month to catch glimpse of what I'm making.  Most of it will be cheap (think dollar store purchases, recycle or items from home) and easy to make.

  Today its about the mini wreaths.  These can be made in a flash and decorated in a variety of ways to personalize them.  You need a ring from the top of a canning jar.

  I now have a couple jars without the lids but I heard you can buy just lids so I will hold on to that.  My jars have been sitting under the sink so it's about time something got done with at least a part of them.

  I choose twine for my first one but you can choose anything. Ribbon, garland, tape or anything you can wrap.

  After you have your wrap of choice start on one end and tightly wrap it around the lid.  You don't want to see the lid or any gaps.

  Continue around till you meet the place where you started.  I added a dab of glue to secure the end.

  You are finished with your wreath and ready to embellish it anyway you want.  I choose to make a simple bow for the top.  Grab some mini letters and make one for each of your kids, add some red puff paint and leaves for holly or wrap a ribbon around it.  The bare wreath is your canvas to personalize!

Do you have any plans to make ornaments or gifts this year?

Indoor Pumpkin Craft

(When you apply a face on an upside down jar think it through first)

  This is an easy way to bring that glow into your house!  My disclaimer: I may or may not be a hoarder.  My littlest one hasn't eaten baby food in years.

For this project I pulled out old glass baby food jars and plastic ones as well.  I didn't know which one would work better so I used one of each.  The plastic leftover cups from fruit may work to depending on the height.

  I  addition to the jars you need:

                            tissue paper (and glue)

                                   paint

  The glass jar was painted.

The plastic jar was glued and scraps of torn tissue paper was applied to it.

Orange was the name of the game since these were supposed to be pumpkins.  Red and yellow paint on the glass jar to give me orange and I layered yellow tissue paper first then red on the plastic jar for an orange glow.

Cutout your faces.

Add your light device under the jar.

You now have indoor pumpkins less the mess, and clean up.

Mummy (craft)

  When it comes down to it decorating is fun.  Arts and crafts are fun; so why not combine the two when you can.  What makes your decorations good are making them yourself.  This cuts down the cost and opens up the door to so many possibilities.  What's even better is its free if you can manipulate what you already own to create crafts or decorate.

  We worked on a couple mummies.  The kids were able to make them by alone with little help from me.

  For both of these crafts you will need toliet paper.  Everyone should have this supply on hand and you can still use some of it off one project if need be.  (Just in case it's an issue that your using it.)

We decorated our door first.  I started this last year with a snowman and it just kind of makes you smile when  you see a decorated door.  It is an inside door so it lasts for as long as you want since it's avoiding the outside elements (that's something to think about in your future door decorating)

  Just randomly criss cross your toliet paper across the door.  I used tape to secure it every once and awhile.  Of course add some eyes to it peeking out for more personality.

  The next mummy we made we all had our own empty toliet paper roll and toliet tissue.  Take shreds of the paper and glue them to the tube.  Shreds make it more realistic and don't worry about covering the whole area.

  Add some eyes and lips if your my kids.  Each mummy should represent itself don't you think?  I guess mine is a boy as it doesn't have eyelashes like my daughters.

  They make cute little easy to make projects and as cheap as they are you can make a dozen to decrate your house.  These would make a great Halloween project for kids.

Stop and Smell the Flowers (Pinterest Challenge Day 10)

  Another craft project but one you or kids can make! Afterall aren't we always looking for something for the kids to do?  This project can even be given away which is a bonus.

  I picked up some tissue paper the other day for another craft that I probably will never do but hey; I am doing one now so it all worked out.

  Grab some tissue paper, a circle shape to trace, scissors and a pipecleaner.

  I actually picked up my tissue paper variety pack at the dollar store so I'm not breaking the bank.

 I used the lid of a container to make a circle shape and cut it out.  I folded the paper a few times so by the time I cut the circles it was about 10 circles or so.

  After that you make a hole to punch in your stem and pull some of it up.  I twisted the tip a bit to get to stay in place.

   Next you start to crinkle/roll your flower.  Take each circle and bunch it up to make your flower full.

That's it.  By the time you are done with each circle to your flower you should have a very close paper resembling a flower.

  Think of the endless possibilities now.  I used yellow and only made one but, different colors and even a bouquet of flowers in a vase.  I'm just saying bridal shower, baby shower, birthday or Mother’s Day these flowers can help decorate any area.

  I declare this a #pinterestwin!  Super easy craft. A cute flower at the end of an easy process.  Endless possibilities with colors, cuts and could even spray some scent on there.

Red, white and blue (pinterest challenge day 4)

  Today's challenge was fun and I can't wait to show it off in the future at a party or get together.  This challenge already had me reflecting on my future and how I can take a dish to another level.  I used to think (well still do) that it was hard to bring a dish to pass that was sophisticated and fancy but, now I know it may take a little practice and some time but it's absolutely possible!

  All you need are three items to pull this Pinterest idea off.

 Strawberries.

Blue sprinkles and white chocolate that didn't quite make the photo opportunity.

  Melt the chocolate dip your strawberries in the chocolate and then roll them into the sprinkles. Bam, that's it!

  I present to you red, white and blue.  My daughter wolfed them down as soon as they were done.  She does like strawberries and sugar so go figure.

  Well if this doesn't motivate you on how easy some neat food art can be I don't know what could.  This one was even easier than that hotdogopus (lol).  Making him was easy standing him up on the seaweed was the hard part.

Uno Pizzeria (review)

  We do eat out not as often as we used to and that's good!  However if your going to eat out you might as well have fun with it.  We walked around the mall tonight and decided to eat at Uno's Pizzeria.  I hadn't been here in awhile and only remember I liked the pizza.

  Well they are more than just a pizzeria.  I started my meal out with a delicious goat cheese and walnut side salad.  The menu had a variety of salads, appetizers and sandwiches.  The kids menus have some creativity and variety as well.

  They have safari nuggets; which means they have exotic shaped nuggets.  I am almost sure even though I didn't taste them that these nuggets have got to taste better than plain old round nuggets.  The kids menu also has a build your own pizza! Ahh, hello I would like to make my own pizza!

The waitress brings out an apron and a pizza that you cover with sauce, cheese and pepperonis.

She had a lot of fun assembling her own pizza.  I must admit we didn't have as much patience as she did in this process but oh well on us.

I swear 15 minutes later if not longer we were finally able to help her top it off and get it sent out to cook.

Your name is written on a popsicle stick in order to keep the personally made pizzas together.  She was happy to see her masterpiece pizza returned to her.

  This table side entertainment by our very own family member made this meal one of my favorites.  She had fun and we had fun.  Dinner doesn't have to be a boring sit down and talk amongst yourselves.  It's nice to have a little entertainment while you dine.

  The overall restaurant was a comfortable environment for families.  There was a variety of tables and boothes.  Enough wait staff was hustling the floor.  Our drinks were topped off regularly and our waitress answered all our inquiries about the menu.  We will visit again soon.  They even have a make your own pizza birthday party!  What a nice treat that would be for a child and the friends!

  With such a broad menu in addition to the pizza selection this is a good place to visit.  They offer daily lunch specials as well as a pick a 2 item for $12 per person option.  Check them out and witness that they are more than just a pizzeria!

http://www.unos.com/

The Day Before Holidays

  Do you ever find yourself resting up for the big day?  Are you that organized?  You prepared your list the beginning of the month all the way down to what meal you were making and who was sitting by whom.

  Maybe you even figured out a schedule of what houses you were going to at what time and for exactly how long.  Not me, not this house.

  Today we have been making crafts. Well I have been assisting and making with my youngest daughter.  We visited several stores and brainstormed some ideas yesterday as to what she could give to her family.  She desperately wanted to give her family members something.  She was aware of the gifts they had for her and she wanted to give them something too.

  She did buy 2 items for her sisters and then made and I assisted in her creating ornaments for her family.

A melted snowman being created by little hands.

 Laying the glue down for a stand up snowman.

Supplies for a ninja turtle for a certain little fan.

Last one was a going to a fan of yellow creatures.  I loved this one because she decided it needed to be two sided. So we made the otherside into something else.  Hop over to my instagram to see the final ornaments.

I even got into the crafty mood.

Happy Holidays everyone! I wish for everyone to have a happy, safe and festive day!

Day 22 Pumpkin Crepes

  Bonjour everyone!  I have told you before I have no problem waking up and making breakfast.  I kinda of like to cook and bake.  Breakfast and dessert are my favorite meals!  Can dessert be a meal?  If its fruit based and healthy; can it be a meal?  I did mention last night how the pumpkin challenge was ending and we were running out of breakfast ideas.  We have done oatmeal, pancakes, waffles and doughnuts.  Then that light bulb said what about crepes?

  Crepes it is!  So today we have pumpkins + crepes!  I had a lot of apprehension about this as I thought crepes were hard to make.  I had never made them before.  Never even thought about making them because I didn't have a fancy Crepe pan, didn't know there was an easy enough recipe, and wasn't sure I would like them.

  This recipe was straight forward and easy to interpret! I was swirling my batter in the frying pan and it was obviously working. The original creator of the recipe even let you know the mix would be runny.

  

I am so in love with this recipe as I was able to step out of my comfort zone and successfully make something I have never done before.  This doesn't compare to changing the flavor of an item.  This is a major event.  This is up there with amazing accomplishments like when I made butter and mayonnaise.  

This is a keeper!  I cant wait to use this in our breakfast line up.  With this as my base I will change the filling now.  Stay tune for those meals!

  It was amazing to see this perfect little she'll form.  Follow the directions (and I usually do but I still thought crepes were hard, were above me to make) 30 seconds to a minute then flip.  

  The cream inside I did change a little.  Of course since I didn't plan too far ahead I got to work with cream cheese that was not pliable from room temperature but we made do.  I didn't use as much as the filling recipe requested and I didn't have any whopping cream but I did add some powder sugar, 3 tablespoons of pumpkin a small chunk of cream cheese and pumpkin spice.  I didn't have enough filling for all the crepes I made.  But that is fine we will fill them with goodness tomorrow.  We were all able to have one as a sample and at this point that was nice enough.  The filling was delicious! Cream cheese added to anything (even without the whip cream) is a great ingredient.

This fabulous Crepe recipe came from simplisticallyliving.

Meals 10/5-10/9

  These are our planned dinners for the week.  Again I don't have the capabilities or the talent to create my own recipes so I will just be sharing recipes I use.  Of course the benefit to this is you may use one of my meals to fill in hole in your week or try something new.

I will put what we had on Monday night too even though it has passed! Thursday may actually be different than what I post because my youngest daughter will be celebrating her birthday.  I am only posting dinners.  They will range from meatless, chicken, salmon, ground turkey, and pork.  We do have the occasional burgers or hotdogs but I don't even have those in the freezer at the moment.

Monday: 10/5 Pasta with white beans and kale
http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/pasta-with-white-beans-kale-0

Tuesday: 10/6 (crockpot!!!) Bajio Chicken

http://mm.sixsistersstuff.com/4ugpf37/articles/71296/Slow-Cooker-Bajio-Chicken. (Salsa)http://lemonpeony.com/easy-salsa-recipe-great-for-tailgating/

Wednesday: 10/7 (crockpot!!) Tatertot cassrole with chicken

http://www.food.com/recipe/cheesy-chicken-bacon-tater-tot-crock-pot-bake-403520?photo=316762

Thursday: 10/8
Probably pizza she does like salads but she is a city girl and likes Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Outback!

Friday: 10/9 Eggplant strip with salmon

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/121225/eggplant-snack-sticks/ and
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/164467/simple-sassy-salmon/