My Fairy Tale Weekend

Spent the afternoon at the stables.

Little Bit making through her usual nap time.

Avery's first time jumping

Waterpark

Face off with Daddy

An evening with friends and cousins

A fun chilly evening as a storm creeps near.

Love Your Greens Challenge

So I decided to take on a challenge, to push my healthy boundaries to a new unknown level. I stumbled upon this challenge while on FaceBook, The unconventional kitchen, Love your greens challenge. For the entire month of May, a new green smoothie to blend and drink. (www.unconventionalkitchen.com)

Now I started making smoothies in the mornings, but I used milk and yogurt along with my fruit, some oatmeal and usually a little green. So this seemed to be perfect for me, plus the benefits of weight loss, more energy, clear skin, etc. All of that sound perfect, just what I need. But why do this alone??? I recruited a friend at work to do the challenge with me. She is on her only get healthy journey and this was something we could do together.

 

So a week before the challenge started I got my ingredient list, everything I would need for each week. The recipe made two serving sizes, which was great for me and my friend. Now it was left open on how you would use your smoothie, meal replacement, snack, after workout meal, etc. I used mine as my breakfast; my friend used it as a mid day or late afternoon snack at work. Now I wanted to eat better and get more greens, but I also really wanted the energy. I’m a coffee drinker, love, love, love my coffee. But I think that I drink too much because it is so good and because I put cream and sugar in it. So to cut down on my coffee and sugar intake, I decided to cut my coffee intake in half. I fill up my to go cup, add a little less sugar then normal and that was my coffee for the entire day. Trust me, some days it was a challenge.

So the day before May 1^st, I received my first recipe “ Basic Green Smoothie“. The next morning it was on, my ninja and ingredients were ready and there was not going back. So I documented the ingredients every morning on the blog Facebook page. Then popped everything into the blender and hoped for the best. Here is a list of all the recipes for each day and my like or dislike, below are just my personal opinions.

Day 1: Basic Green Smoothie  - good and sweet

Day 2: Sweet Kale Smoothie  - texture was off for me

Day 3: Strawberry Orange Green Smoothie  - tasted ok

Day 4: Delicious Detox Smoothie  - didn't care for, only drunk half my serving

Day 5: Lime Sublime Green Smoothie  - surprisingly good

Day 6: Berrylicious Smoothie  - Good

Day 7: Zippy Lime Smoothie  - Good and limey

Day 8: Pineapple Bliss Smoothie  - Good

Day 9: Tropical Orange Heaven  - Good and orangey

Day 10: Blueberry Chia Powder Smoothie  - Good, did not have chia seeds, added banana instead

Day 11: Apple Cinnamon Smoothie  - very think, like oatmeal

Day 12: Tropical Getaway Smoothie  - Ok

Day 13: Strawberry Bliss   - Good

Day 14: Apple and Banana Smoothie  - Bland

Day 15: Pina Colada Smoothie - Yummy, bought the song

Day 16: PB & Chia Smoothie  - didn't care for it

Day 17: Green Orange Julius  - ok

Day 18: Protein Boost Smoothie  - pretty good

Day 19: Creamy Berry Smoothie  - Good

Day 20: Mango Lassi  - ok

Day 21: Cinnamon Pear Smoothie  - ok

Day 22: Green Citrus Smoothie  - Too pulpy

Day 23: Orange Surprise Smoothie  - Surprisingly good

Day 24: Sweet Chocolate Smoothie  - Chocolate Good

Day 25: Life is Peachy Smoothie  - good

Day 26: Cool to be Green Smoothie  - ok

Day 27: Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake Smoothie  - ok

Day 28: Island Ginger Smoothie  - good

Day 29: Sunny Citrus Smoothie  - not bad a little pulpy

Day 30: Peachy Pear Smoothie  - ok

Day 31: Great Glory Smoothie  - good, I didn't have grapes so I winged it.

It was great to have the FB page, where we could share and see other post of people doing the same challenge. I mainly just looked and gave support when a follow challenger needed it. At the end of the challenge, I face has cleared up a lot, I lost my two stubborn pounds and I have the same if not more energy with the smoothies and half my coffee intake. So all in all it was a fun challenge to do. If nothing else and all in all, you can never go wrong with getting a cup of greens first thing in the morning.

So I will continue drinking smoothies most mornings, I like my cereal every now and then. I will also continue using non dairy alternatives aka almond milk and coconut milk.

 

So I must share, on the pina colada smoothie day, I of course like everyone else got “the pina colada” song stunk in my head. But unlike most people I went on I-Tunes and bought the song and continued to listen to it repeatedly on the way to daycare and then to work. I was singing it in my head all day and it made me happy until about 2:00 and the pina colada song could not carry me those last three hours, but what a morning. Dorky, I know.

Everyone can preserve food.....Berries!!

So as summer creeps into the back yard with warm weather, bright evenings and quick summer storms, I can think of only one thing.....strawberries. It is the season because it leads to a stream of fantastic fruits after fruits after fruits.

Since we only eat strawberries when they are in season locally, its a big deal when the season comes along. So to help this season last into the winter months, I freeze summer berries. Summer berries for my family include blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. So here is how you do it....

Get your berries, preferably local, and wash the berries.

Then if you have strawberries, cut off the tops. The tops get saved at our house because they are a tasty treat for the ladies out back. If you have blueberries, remove any stems.

Placed all the berries on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You place them on the cookie sheet so the fruit freezes before putting them in the bag to reduce squashing. 

Then place the tray in the freezer over night. The following day, remove the tray and place the berries into a freezer zip plastic bag. 

Try to remove as much air as possible, label and place back into the freezer. Easy right, if you followed the above steps, congrats on preserving the first of many batches of berries this summer.

A planting I shall go...

Back in early April, I started my garden by planting seeds. Since it's cool outside with warm weather soon to be on its way, I planted the following seeds: spinach, lettuce, carrot, squash, cucumbers and onions.

Here is the garden growing as of Mother's Day.....

Carrot Forest

Cucumbers, pickles will be in our future. 

spinach

onions with a few left over carrots growing.

So the first weekend after Derby, which is a standard event that marks planting your garden in Louisville. Because everyone knows up until then it could be sunny, rainy or even snowy. With that date in mind, I took a vacation day the Monday after Mother's day just to plant my garden.

The day before JP helped me take the compost out of our two bins. It was nice to see that rich black soil that we made from our food scrapes, leaves, grass and chicken coop straw. There was enough to fill the potato bed high and add some to each of the other raised beds to be worked into the soil. With joint effort we got this done rather quickly.

I woke up just as if it was another work day, went through my routine. Dropped little bit off at day care and stopped on the way home for a jog. By 9 a.m. I was dressed in a tank top, overalls and boots. Wheel barrel, shovels and garden plan out and ready to go. It took several trips to get all the plants down to the garden.

Reviewing the garden layout, I got all the plants next to their raised bed. I made sure to rotate plants into different beds. Here are the beds after hours of work, joyful work.

Pepper plants I purchase from the farmers market, half of mine seeds did not sprout.

Here are some of my pepper plants, small compared to the others I purchased. 

Tomatoes

More tomato plants!!

So after all was said and done, I planted 50+ tomato plants including cherry, yellow pear, roma, early girl, beefy and heirloom, 30+ pepper plants including bell pepper and banana, 9 squash/zucchini. It was  a wonderfully cool slightly breezy day, with the sunny popping in and out. I also planted a bed of potatoes.

Now I just need to keep it de-weeded, watered and growing. This is going to be our best garden yet, can't wait to see all that it produces.

Here's whats growing in my herb garden...

Basil

Oregano

First Strawberry

Thyme

Less then an week later.... this is what I saw, my greenbeans sprouted

My Fairy Tale Weekend

Farmers Market Fresh

The Ultimate Hop Scotch by Avery

Sunday Evening Dessert capturing the taste of summer a.k.a Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

My Fairy Tale Mother's Day Weekend

Sonya made me a magnetic at school

Mother's Day Breakfast (I'm in the middle of a 30 day Green Smoothie Challenge)

A Trip to the Zoo for Mother's Day

My Fairy Tale Weekend