Fun Food Friday *Smoothies*

It's now Saturday evening and I am writing Friday's post. Do you see a pattern here? ...story of my life!

Now that it is already really hot here in Arizona, I have started making one of my family's favorite snacks. Smoothies! This is the time of year when my blender doesn't get put away, it just sits on the counter to make our refreshing (and healthy) goodies.


Fruit Smoothies

• 1 to 2 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
• 2 cups frozen fruit (or fresh, just add some ice to help thicken smoothie)
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbs. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Blend and serve. I usually use any left overs to make popsicles that my kids absolutely love. Play around with the ingredients to fit your tastes. I am trying to think of a good way to add some veggies to these so that they can be even more healthy for us. Of course I sometimes use ice cream instead of the yogurt when I am craving sweets. It's all about balance, right?

Enjoy!

Happy Thought Thursday *Parables & Great People*

I know it's really late on Friday, but I have to share my happy thought from yesterday.

My morning started out not so hot, and honestly I probably wouldn't have gone to Enrichment night if I didn't have a part in the short play that was going to be shown. I'm so glad that I had been asked to take part because there were so many things said that I really needed to hear.

I'm not going to go into detail about the night, but I just want to thank Stacia, Stacy, Sis. Gillespie and everyone else who helped put this night together. I hope you know how much your hard work is appreciated and I truly enjoyed that great experience.

I am also grateful for all of the women in our ward who I have gotten to know over the last two years and the ones I continue to meet. I learn so much from each of you and I love joining you in all of our church/nonchurch adventures!

Oh, and whoever made the strawberry shortcake....YUM! :)

Juicy Tidbit Tuesday *School Lunches*

Ok, it's been a while so I'll share a good one with you all. Mom, you may not appreciate this one, so I apologize in advance...

Throughout my school years, my mom insisted on making 'cold' lunches for us. At one time my older sisters were able to have school (hot) lunch, but that ended after my mom joined my sister at school for lunch one day. Apparently that was the day that the cooks had run out of taco meat for crisp tacos and substituted it with a hot dog. I know, gross. Ever since then my mom made our lunch.

I'm not going to go into detail about the sorts of 'lunches' that my mom made because A) she'll be really mad, and B) I would need about 5 pages to talk about them. However, I will say that it was always a surprise/scare when I would open my lunch bag. (use your imagination)

By jr. high I was pretty savvy with the whole scary lunch thing. My sister and I would salvage the apple that my mom always added, and we would buy a Coke for ourselves with the change that we looted from my dad's underwear drawer. Sometimes we would have enough money for a doughnut as well. We were so healthy weren't we? This was our daily routine during our entire first quarter of school.

When parent-teacher conference time rolled around at the end of that quarter I was feeling pretty good about my performance at school. I wasn't concerned at all about my parents meeting with all of my teachers. What I should have been concerned about was the customary "locker check" that happens at each conference. (little did I know)

Apparently, when my parents opened my lovely locker they found that someone had stuffed an entire quarter's worth of sack lunches inside. I can only imagine how awful that smell was, and I am surprised that it didn't seem to bother me opening that door every single day! I know that I could have thrown the lunches away in the trash, but then I might have been spotted carrying something that didn't quite resemble real food. (oh the vanity!)

My parents were furious and I got quite the talking to. My mom 'punished' me by forcing me to make my own lunch everyday. This was one punishment that I was very happy to receive!

The End.

Juicy Tidbit Tuesday?

I really wanted to do a Tidbit Tuesday, but I'm tired and I don't think my brain is working...

Patrick is doing really great and almost 100% done with the chickenpox, and now I'm just catching up on all of the things that I have let go for the last week. I promise that I'll update soon! I think I'll start adding some pictures to my recipes too!

Stay tuned!

Juicy Tidbit Tuesday *Nasty Boys*

All through elementary I was quite the shy one. I know, hard to believe isn't it. But I didn't like to draw a lot of attention to myself in the classroom. However, when it came to performing or 'showing off'', I was all over it.

As long as I had a legitimate reason to be on a stage, I was there. From 3rd grade until 6th grade the same 4 friends and I would dance in the school talent show. We would choreograph the dance, make our own costumes and everything. Of course we thought we were the coolest group in school too. (we were so lame it isn't even funny)

I believe it was my 4th grade year that the five of us started getting ready for the annual LakeRidge Elementary talent show. We were going to wear black leotards (how 80's), with hot pick belts and hair bows made out of netting. (scratchy!) We had picked our song and took turns practicing at each other's homes.

While we were at my friend Barbara's practicing one night we had her bring her mom and dad in the room so we could get an audience and some feedback. I honestly think that we had a 'single' of our song on a record! How's that for old-school?

Anyway, Barbara's mom and dad were sitting on the couch all smiley until about 30 seconds into the song when the lyrics started. Barbara's mom got this horrified look on her face and pulled the record off the player. We all just stopped dancing and stared at her. We didn't have any idea why she would be so upset. She called my mom as well as everyone else's and drilled them about what we had chosen to dance to.

Of course all of the other moms said they had no idea about our poor judgment and agreed that there was no way that we would be dancing to that song. We had been practicing for weeks and all of us girls were pretty bent out of shape. Poor Barbara had to hear us all complain how it was all her mom's fault for spoiling our dance! That only lasted for a day or two until we decided that Phil Collins' Sussudio would work just fine with our moves.

Honestly, at 10 years old we had no idea that dancing to Nasty Boys would be a big deal. Just goes to show you how clueless kids can be! I remember singing along to lots of songs and then years later singing along and thinking "that is a really disgusting song". Just think back to 80's 'glam metal'....need I say more?

Even though I am glad that our moms stopped us from looking like trailer trash in front of our peers, to this day I still don't like the song Sussudio. Janet Jackson was so much cooler.....

The end.

Fun Food Friday *Japanese Cabbage Salad*

I'm trying to be less of a carb-adict, so we made these yummy salads for dinner last night.

Just fyi, the Crooked Carrot has cabbage right now and it is so good, not bitter at all and the heads are HUGE!

My sister Kris and I used to make this for dinner at least once a week in the summer because it is refreshing, yet filling. That sounded really dumb, but you get the idea. Ok, on with the recipe.

For the salad:

• 1/2 large head of cabbage (chopped)
• 2 green onions (chopped)
• 1-2 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
• 2 pkgs. of Ramen noodles uncooked and broken into bits (or rice noodles)
• 3 Tbs. almond slices (toasted)
• 3 Tbs. sesamie seeds (toasted)

Toss all together then add this dressing:

Dressing

• 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 3 Tbs. sugar
• 2 Tbs. salad oil
• 1 tsp. pepper (the girls wished that I used a little less)
• dash of salt
• dash of sesamie oil (I didn't have this and it was still good)

Toss with dressing and serve.

I had forgotten how good this was until I had it again last night. I think Jake had 3? 4 bowls? It's that yummy! Give it a try!

Happy Thought Thursday *Sisterly Love*

I get so discouraged when I hear my girls argue with each other and I worry that the sibling rivalry is already starting. Usually they get along, but they rarely show real affection to each other...until Tuesday.

While I was upstairs doing laundry, Miranda was playing on the computer and Maddy was having some craft time. After about an hour, Maddy called me down and told me to close my eyes as she led me by the hand into the living room. She did the same thing to Miranda and sat her right by me.

She told us to open our eyes and this is what we found:

Grape juice, tortilla chips, marshmallows and these really cute cards:

Apparently this is hot chocolate, and the top where it says "beep" is someone blowing a noise-maker. So sweet! I read Miranda her card and she sat there just beaming. She gave Maddy a big hug and for once Maddy didn't cringe away like she has been for the last 6 months!

I love the way she hooked the shapes onto my card. Very nice touch. What a creative girl she is becoming!

She also wrote the same message inside all of our cards:

Thanks Maddy. We all think you are the best too!