French Toast

This is a really easy, tasty treat.  Unfortunately, my oldest doesn't care for it, but he tends to eat healthier on his own.  This is probably the only way I get a good-sized serving of eggs into my younger two on occasion.  :)

I don't really measure anything for french toast.  Break some eggs, add some vanilla and cinnamon.  The coffee creamer just makes it a bit sweeter and creamier.  Mix it up, dip both sides of bread into the batter and put it in the frying pan.  I put butter in the pan, but not on the toast after.  Top it with a little dusting of powdered sugar.  Voila.  :)

Now, I'm aware that the bread I use isn't necessarily my best option.  There's an interesting article on bread choices if you'd like to take a look:

healthiest-bread-on-the-market

Unfortunately, there's no way my kiddos would touch the best options for bread.  They take sandwiches for lunch to school every day, and I would maintain that their sandwiches made from home are still a healthier option than what the cafeteria would serve them.

Gooey Butter Cookies

I'm not a "no sugar" mom, but I do prefer to keep their treats as natural as I can.  We have a community candy drawer in the kitchen, where gift/holiday candy is rationed upon request. :)  Other than that, I prefer to keep the "desserts" as unprocessed as possible. Homemade means i know what's going into them....

Usually, when I prepare a dessert from scratch, I like to do it for real. My youngest requested these, though, so "all things in moderation" applies here. :)

Gooey butter cookies.

I used this recipe from Pinterest.

I mixed the butter, cream cheese, egg and vanilla.

Add the box of cake mix (this is the part I don't prefer.... Pre-packaged cake mix means I'm cheating on the "from scratch" part, but whatevs.)

Scoop by tablespoon and bake for 10-12 minutes.

The recipe says to roll the cookies in powdered sugar before baking, but I skipped this step and heard no complaints.

"Ms Heather's" Tacos

This recipe is super easy, and a huge hit in our house.

My second son was at our friends' house one night, and had these for dinner... He scarfed them down, so my buddy passed along her recipe for our family to enjoy.

Sometimes it's the most simple change that can be made to improve something!

I've made several variations of tacos, burritos, enchilladas, etc., but I'd never thought about this: baking the tacos. We always just made our filling, put it in the shells, and ate 'em!

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef

1 can of refried beans

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 box of taco shells

Shredded cheese

Set oven to 350.

Cook the hamburger in a skillet, mix with the beans and seasoning.

Fill shells.

Line up in a baking dish.

Top with cheese.

Bake for ten minutes.

That's it.  My boys aren't fans of extra toppings, but you may add whatever you want from salsa to veggies to sour cream....

Yum!

My grandma :)

Yesterday, on April 1st, we marked 18 years since losing my sweet grandma.  I was 19 when she passed away.  I didn't get nearly enough time with her.

Most of my growing up, I remember her living about two minutes away, in a little apartment where my siblings and I visited often.  She was not a "we'll see her on the holidays" grandma. She was always around. When my sister and I would get angry with our parents, we would pack little bags of clothes and canned goods and plot to run away... which meant running to Grandma's house... explain the whole situation to her, and just KNOW that she would hide us for at least long enough that Mom and Dad would feel badly about us being gone.  We never actually did it.  I think I got as far as crossing our street once, and I got so afraid I'd get caught just crossing the street, that I ran back home and unpacked my bags... frustrated again that I didn't have the guts to go through with it.  Incidentally, Mom always knew about these plans. She let us plot and scheme anyway.

My mom and grandma were so very close.  Mom was the baby of five, and the only one of Grandma's children who didn't move away from the area after growing up and having families of their own.  Grandpa passed away when I wasn't even 3, and that's when Grandma moved so close to us.  If Grandma wasn't at our house, we would usually know she was on the other end of the telephone line, while Mom cooked dinner or did dishes in the kitchen.  She would even let Mom pass the phone to any one of us kids, and we'd chat away.  She would entertain me endlessly with her phone calls.  Mom says she'd let me chatter away about anything, and had no problem with any conversation my little heart desired.  I would even sing songs to her over the phone.  :)

I called her Mom-Mom all the way until I started KG.  My mom tells the story that I came home from school one day, and asked Mom-Mom if I could call her "Grandma."  She said, "Well, why, Laura?  I love being your mom-mom."  I answered, "None of the other kids at school have a mom-mom.  They all have grandmas!"  Probably broke her sweet grandma-heart, but that was the end of "Mom-Mom."  She was "Grandma" from then on.  I even have a locket that my parents gave her with the name "Mom-Mom" engraved on it.  I wish I'd never asked her to let me change it.

Oh, how she brightened a room when she entered it.  She loved colorful clothes and shoes and accessories.  She would let us girls come over and play in all of her jewelry and we just loved that she'd never had her ears pierced, because that meant we could try on all of her clip-on earrings!  She laughed... a lot... and loudly.  :)  She loved to give us hugs and kisses, and to play with our hair.

Dress up at Grandma's house.

She always carried peppermints in her purse.

She was sassy and mouthy and loved to tease my dad.  

She knew how to laugh at herself.  She never embarrassed easily.

She made regular appointments to get her "curly" (a perm) refreshed at the local hair salon.

She never had a driver's license.

She always kept Pepperidge Farms refrigerator cakes in her fridge.

She got married when she was only 17.

She never liked chocolate, because when she was young and worked in a chocolate factory, smelling it so often made her feel sick.  She never had a taste for it afterwards.  We thought that was CRAZY!  :)

She went to the "center" every week, where she hung out with other senior citizens... just to get in her social time.

She went school shopping with us every year.  She and mom would plan a day when we'd all walk to Kmart or Venture during the school sales, and we would get new supplies and clothes.

She loved to take pictures.  She let me borrow her camera.

She was strong.  She loved and cared for her mentally disabled son, when "back in the day," many other parents tried to convince her to put him in "a home."  He passed away at 17 years old, and Grandma always ever spoke of him as having been such a blessing to her.

She ironed EVERYTHING.

She loved red.

She loved trains, because her daddy was an engineer.

She loved Native American decor in her home, because her birth mother was half Cherokee. Her mom passed away when Grandma was very young, and she liked to have things around that made her think of her.

She loved music by Julio Iglesias.

She wore dentures and used to let us take them out.  Hahaa!

She would tell me when she thought a boy on TV was "cute."  :)

She saved paper towels and aluminum foil and rubber bands, because she grew up during The Depression and never wanted anything to go to waste.

She had a million stuffed-toy kitty cats on her bed.  And she made her bed that way every day, without fail and without flaw.... every cat had its place.

Sitting at the snack bar at Grandma's apartment.

She was truly one of the most special people I've ever known.  I'm so thankful for my memories of her.  I feel lucky that many of her personality characteristics were passed down to me.  :) Every time my mom says I remind her of Grandma, it makes me smile.

We always joke that God decided to take her on April Fool's Day.  She would've gotten a kick out of that.  :)  And she would've laughed and laughed as she told the story.

We all adored her... and we miss her.

Going Green

Today, my mother in law texted me and asked me if I'd ever considered blogging about any healthy meal recipes I use to cook for my family.

I giggled upon receiving it.  And promptly texted her back to let her know that I really didn't think anyone would be interested in the boring meals I prepare for my family.  :)  Trust me, there's really NOTHING for you to learn from me when it has to do with the kitchen.

She was referring to a pretty significant lifestyle change that we made a few years ago...  You can read more about it here:

Food Challege

In looking through the ol' archives, I discovered that was four years ago.  I remember it quite clearly... freaking out after watching the documentary, Food, Inc.  I've mentioned that I'm a person of extremes??? I went through my pantry and refrigerator and purged nearly everything.  I researched and studied and shopped.  All organic fruits and veggies.  Some organic meats. Organic milk.  That year, the boys received all organic candies in their Easter baskets.  I looked for more natural hygienic products:  soaps, shampoos, deodorants, toothpastes.  I even threw away all of my perfume.  I started buying toilet paper and paper towels from whole foods stores, because I learned that the standard brands actually used BLEACH to whiten their products.  Ick.  I got rid of any plastic in our cupboards and replaced it with glass... (which my siblings just LOVE, because they're so nervous that their little ones might break something during a meal...)  I started looking into alternative cleaning products, that had naturally based ingredients.  And don't even get me started on sunscreen.

In other words, I drove myself insane.  I felt like I needed to catch up!  What had I been doing all this time, poisoning my family????  How could I not have known????  All of my babies wore disposable diapers, for goodness sake!!!!

Well, as usual, time passed... I chilled.  

I just couldn't keep with it all.  Every article I read, I learned something else I needed to avoid.  Hello, living-in-a-bubble.

So, maybe my next few posts will consist of some of my findings... Anyone who tries to make healthy lifestyle choices for their family has their little tricks of the trade.  :)  Some things may be more important to one person than to another, depending on whatever given variable.

And since I'm bored with my fashion posts, there's no reason not to mix it up.  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"Bet Ya Didn't Know":

History of St. Patrick's Day

Fun with green this weekend.  :)

Blue

Today was a lunch date with my sister-in-law.  We don't get to visit with my husband's brother's family as much as we'd like.  They only live a couple of hours away, but the calendar seems to fill up and days fly by and before we know it, it has been months again since we've seen them.  Today, my SIL had to drive to our area for an appointment, so we were able to fit in a quick lunch before she headed home.  Here we are:

And here's what I wore (I'm actually starting to bore myself with my outfit posts... maybe it's already time to move on????.....)

Tshirt:  Target
Vest:  2nd hand
Boyrfriend jeans:  JCP

 TOMS

 Bracelet:  DIY

 Headband:  Target