Wordless Wednesday

Green Smoothie for the Day

Today's smoothie is comprised of spinach, romaine, pear, avocado, banana, chia seeds, frozen pineapple, carrot juice, plain yogurt, and a scoop of vanilla protein powder.  I don't typically put lettuce in my smoothies, but our CSA gave us a ton and I'm trying to finish it.  I personally hate lettuce.  I realize that is a strong statement, but I really don't like it.  Don't get me wrong, I love every other type of greens, just not lettuce.  Anyone else out there have an abhorrence for lettuce?  

I got the recipe for this smoothie from Mind, Body, Green.  I added a couple extra things to it to make it taste better.  Because, to be perfectly honest,  it was like drinking liquid lettuce....gag!  

What kind of smoothie/juice did you make today?

Minecraft Birthday Party

WARNING:  Picture heavy!

This past Saturday was Angel's 8th birthday!  Where has the time gone???  I remember when I went into labor with him and...yada yada yada...I'm sure you don't care.  So, I'll just get to the party :)  His birthday theme this year was MINECRAFT!  Apparently, it's all the rage.  We had a sleepover with 3 other boys from his school.  He was so excited to have them over.  I'm so happy that they all decided to stay the night.  I don't think many of them had been to a sleepover before.  It was a big deal for all of us!  I made some Minecraft themed party favors, food and we played some Minute to Win It type games.  Fun was had by all!

 This is what I brought to Angel's class on Friday....Zombie Boogers (grapes).  The kids loved them, surprisingly.  As soon as I said that they were Zombie Boogers, they went crazy.  I had about 5 extra and the kids were asking for them for their mom, brother, or themselves.  I was worried they wouldn't like it because it wasn't a cupcake...I was wrong!

 I also brought bottled water with a label I made that said, "Creeper Juice".

Sprinkle Pancakes for breakfast the day of his birthday

 The birthday boy!

 Creeper cakes...NAILED IT!  (not!)

 the spread

 The empty plate that says "STEAK" had turkey sliders on it

 The party favors:  Creeper t-shirt, Creeper water bottle, Steve head.  All made by me and the hubs.  I'll post the links to the printables soon.

 Our first 'Minute to Win It' game.  Defying Gravity:  keep 2 balloons off the ground for one minute.  It's a lot harder than it looks.  The best score was 8 seconds.

 The WINNER!

 The next game was to balance a raw egg on a football for 10 seconds.  This one was a lot easier....probably because they were holding the football.

 They were concentrating really hard...

 I called this one 'Jumping Bunnies'.  They had to suck the bunny onto the end of the straw and then transfer it to the cup.

 Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

 This game was too funny!  I smeared Vaseline on their noses and they had to "pick up" as many cotton balls as possible without using their hands.  

 As you can see, it was really frustrating!

This game had a tie!  3 cotton balls was the most anyone could pick up.  

The boys played games outside, played Minecraft inside, watched a couple of movies then went to bed...at MIDNIGHT!!!  Then, they were up at 6:15...HOLY MOLY!  I was SO TIRED!   Why do kids do that?  Anyways, it was great!  

Ridin' like a BOSS!

Graze Review

I've gotten my second box from Graze.  Sorry, I haven't had a chance to review the first shipment.  Anywho, I received my snack box and was pleasantly surprised by the creative snack options.  In your box, you'll get four personal sized snack packs.  Each one different than the last.  Today I received, Bounty Hunter - a mix of belgian milk chocolate chips, coconut flakes and dried cranberries, Lightly Toasted Pistachios - whole pistachios with salt, Jaffa Cake - belgian dark chocolate discs, orange raisins & roasted hazelnuts, and Bonnie Wee Oatbakes - whole grain oatbakes (thick crackers) with a carmelized  onion marmalade for dipping.  Sounds awesome, right?  These personal sized snacks are perfect for the boys lunches or a snack for me on the go.  Everything so far has been really tasty.  The snacks come in a box that has your snacks and a napkin...I thought that was a nice touch :)

Overall, I think this is a great idea.  It's $5 a box and you can opt out at any time.  It's about the price of buying a protein bar or bag of chips (per snack pack) from somewhere but a lot tastier.

Quinoa and Kale Crustless Quiche

This evening's dinner was somewhat of a throw together.  We have a ton of veggies from the CSA and I have to eat them soon because we get another box tomorrow.  The boys are sick (bleh) so I wanted a quick and easy meal.  What is quick and easy...hmmmmm????  QUICHE!  But I don't have a pie shell and I'm not making one (snicker).  Wait, I know!  CRUST-LESS QUICHE!  So I decided we were going to have a crust-less quinoa and kale quiche with butternut squash on the side. 

First I cooked the quinoa per package instructions

 While the quinoa was cooking, I sauteed shallots and garlic in olive oil

Next was wilting the kale and chard 

 Then mixing everything together

Adding in some eggs and half & half

 Combining egg mixture with quinoa mixture

Ready for the oven

 Ta-Da!

This quiche was a super hearty meal.  I was full on one slice.  And you know that never happens with regular quiche!  Here's a loose recipe if you'd like to try it too.  BTW, this meal is vegetarian.  I was really pleased with that.  Especially since it was super filling.

Recipe:

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

olive oil (I eyeball the amt I use to saute things)

couple of garlic cloves minced

1 elephant shallot minced

1 bunch of kale (stems pulled and leaves cut into tiny pieces) I used kale and chard

1/2 to 3/4 of a bar of cream cheese cut up into cubes (make them tiny)

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 - 1/2 cup half & half

salt & pepper to taste

Bring water to boil, add quinoa and let simmer. 

While that is cooking, saute the shallots and garlic in olive oil till the shallots are carmelized.  Once this is done, remove the shallots and garlic from pan into a mixing bowl to cool.  

Place chopped kale into same pan and wilt down.  It should only be in there a few minutes.  It will be a nice bright green.  Once these are wilted, put them into the mixing bowl with the shallot/garlic to cool as well.

Now add the cooked quinoa, cream cheese, cheddar cheese and salt and pepper.  Mix well.

In another bowl, add eggs and half & half.  Beat well, then add to quinoa mixture.  Fold ingredients well.

Place in a greased baking dish (I used olive oil spray).  I used a 8 inch round corning ware dish, but use whatever you have on hand.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  

I didn't end up eating mine right out of the oven.  I let it sit and get to a nice warm temperature...not quite room temp, but close.  It was great.  The butternut squash was mashed and had a little butter and brown sugar in it.  If you make this and swap anything out, let me know how it tastes!  

Quiet Book

Have you guys heard of Quiet Books?  They are books made from felt and fabric that are filled with manipulative play for babies and toddlers.  They are meant to be done quietly, hence the name. Anyways, I decided to have a playdate with my Mom's group where everyone makes a page that we would then exchange with others to make an entire book.  Eight people signed up to do this, so I made eight of the same page for the books.  I decided to make a robot.  He has one body, 2 interchangeable heads, 2 sets of arms, and 2 sets of legs.  It turned out kinda cute.  My sewing machine was on the fritz, so I had to use felt glue for the project.  Hopefully nothing comes off too easily.

I started with an 8.5x11 (approx) piece of stiff felt as my base.  

 Then I cut out my robot pieces from softer felt.  I glued certain things together so that there weren't a ton of tiny pieces everywhere.  Then put a pocket at the bottom to hold the robot parts.

I finished it off with some eyelets.  This will make it easier to put onto some rings for easy flipping by Bean.