Weekend!

We had an awesome weekend! It started on Friday when we went w the Butler crew to Jones Orchard & picked peaches, plums, blueberries, & blackberries! We saw a rooster & the biggest pigs ever! Seriously. The rest of the weekend was spent just doing weekend stuff...errands, relaxing, church today, & swimming/riding bikes. My favorite kind of weekend is when we don't HAVE to be somewhere. We just go w our own flow. :)

Why?

I really wish I was better at this blogging stuff. I keep up so well & then I'll go months without posting a thing. Unfortunately the reason that got me back on here is the blog of Kate Krull who has been writing about her daughter Lucy for the past 18 months & her battle w cancer. Lucy is losing that battle & it seems there's only a matter of time. It makes me wonder why? How could this possibly be? Why would our loving God take such a sweet, innocent little girl? I guess these are questions that are just left unanswered & your faith has to be what helps see you through things like this. Almost 3 weeks ago my friend Heather's baby boy passed away at only 3 weeks old. He was born with a deflated lung. Pregnancy was great, no signs or symptoms of any complications. Again, more questions of "why?". And through these things it makes me love my God & seek Him more to forever be thankful for my blessings. My beautiful, healthy children whom God has entrusted me with. It makes me want to hold them & never let go. It makes me want to fall on my knees in prayer & never get up. Hopefully I will be better about blogging, hopefully I will never have to blog about such tragedy, hopefully the Krulls, Heather, & other parents who have lost children WAY too soon will find strength to make it one day at a time & never lose their faith.

Christmas oh Christmas

I am so behind this year!! I just started shopping today...that's right today. For all you over achieving moms who are gasping right now I'm sorry!! I don't know what it is but I cannot get with it! Christmas is going to be over & I'm going to be left with that "what the...just happened...it's already over?!" Anyway, with that being said I've fallen behind on my cooking as well. I have also found it very hard to please the hubs w the new special diet so I'm continuously finding ways to tweek it & am finding that I may not be able to go completely non-processes as planned. But for goodness sakes I'm going to try my best & still continue to cook from scratch as much as possible. My most favorite quick meal for the kids (can be dinner or packed in a lunch) is mini whole wheat pizzas. You take whole wheat tortillas & cut little circles out (I use the bottom of a can & twist til a nice little round disk is formed), then I put them in a cupcake tin where the tortilla comes up slightly on the sides. Then I add pizza sauce (tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, & Italian seasoning...all to taste) & mozzy cheese & any other toppings the kids might like or just keep it as cheese pizzas. Pop them in the oven @ 350 for 8-10 mins & watch them get devoured! My kids love them!! And since I'm feeling in the Christmas spirit, I'll generously give another recipe that has been a huge hit. Baked fries. Cut potatoes in wedges or however you like them cut & put them in a ziploc w olive oil until they are all coated. Put them on a baking sheet and put salt & pepper on them. Bake for 15-20 mins (kinda keep watching) @ 425. They are so good!! I could eat a whole batch! Add a hamburger (local beef if possible) & a whole wheat bun & it's a very tasty yet healthy version of burger & fries!!

Snow!

Today was the 2nd time it has snowed this Fall but today was the 1st time it was enough for kids to play in it! They had a blast! Snow angels, mini snowmen, snowballs & hot chocolate:) It's very abnormal for Memphis to have snow in November & really weird to see it twice...makes me wonder what the weather will be like when it's actually winter! Maybe we'll have a white Christmas:)
Hot chocolate recipe:
1 T 100% cocoa
2 T maple syrup (more or less to taste)
Heat w milk on the stove
Enjoy:)

Monday cooking

Today was a perfect day to cook! Who wants to get out in cold, rainy weather?! Not me! So, I made pumpkin muffins, chocolate chip cookies (both w white whole wheat flour) & whole wheat spaghetti for the kids lunch & I will freeze leftover meat sauce for future lunches or dinners. It may come as a shock to some of you but 3 & 5 yr olds can be picky eaters. Crazy, I know! So I try to always have frozen, healthy leftovers just in case. Because long gone are the days of cooking up chicken & French fries on a moments notice. Both the muffin & cookie recipe came from 100daysofrealfood.com. The only change I made was to the cookies: I didn't have brown sugar so I used all real sugar (which is a treat w "real" eating!, I used all whole wheat flour bc I don't even keep white flour on hand anymore, & at the end I added just enough oil to coat the big dough ball to add some moisture. The spaghetti is just by taste. I add parsley, oregano, basil (or just Italian seasoning), garlic & onion powder, & a can of tomatoes(real 100% tomatoes). I love onions in my spaghetti but this debate goes back to Mr & Ms Picky so what can ya do?! Avery is not one of those "hide" things & she won't know kids. She always knows! Anyway, I'll cook some whole wheat pasta & there's lunch! Maybe a side of fruit or something if kids want extra. Later today I will be cooking a clean version of Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica w whole wheat pasta, several cheeses, prosciutto, & shrimp. See I told y'all we still eat very good! It's just not processed!! I will post that recipe later bc I may tweak it or something:)
Here are some pics of my creations: