Healthy changes........................

I used to stockpile and I still do to some extent, but not like I used to. I used to have 10 boxes of cereal, but now I have 1 half eaten box in the cabinet because we don’t eat cereal much anymore, we eat homemade muffins and pancakes for breakfast. I used to stock up on Lunchables any time they were on sale, but now I prefer to pack my kids lunches of sandwiches with chocolate hazelnut spread, grapes, carrots, and a few chips. I used to stock up on canned pasta and pizza sauce, now I make my own from scratch. I used to have 20 bottles of Bath and Body works hand soap and body wash on my shelves, but now I make my own body wash and hand soap. I used to spend tons of money on laundry detergent, but now I make my own and save money, it’s better than using a coupon. I used to not care what I fed my family, I just wanted it to be easy and quick, but now I am buying more natural and organic products so I know what I am putting in my and my family’s bodies.  I am understanding how important it is to put quality food in our bodies, food that is free from chemicals and other additives. We buy organic when we can, we try to steer clear of high fructose corn syrup or anything with genetically modified corn in it, we drink water (yes, it is bottled water, but we are going to work on changing that too),  I wash my face with baking soda and water (may start washing my hair in it too), I make things from scratch when I can, we are trying to get rid of the plastic cups and containers in our house, we use our microwave less, we aren’t perfect and we don’t have all this figured out yet, but we are making small steps to protect our bodies, so we can be healthy in the future.

Tigger goes to the park

 On Todd's birthday, he wanted to go to the park. So we went and took Tigger,

 He played on the swing and the slide and he did some climbing.

It was lots of fun!

Tigger ran away!!!!!!

Emily and Mahala were super excited to see Tigger sitting on my desk at school. He had his suitcase......

and a note.

 

So, the dolls let him use their bed........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  It sits between Emily and Mahala's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tigger even made it on to the awards stand at the AAU State meet. I think he's having a good summer so far.

Check back to see what Tigger does next...............

Sleepover!!

We had a special guest at our house tonight. Mrs. Stickley let her pal Tigger come home with Mahala for a sleepover. He even brought his stuffed animal with him. Before coming home, we had to go to the allergy doctor for shots and a checkup. Tigger was very helpful and held Mahala's hand as she got her shots. Then we picked up Todd from track practice and came home. Tigger and Mahala played Temple Run on my cellphone and played with Mahala and Emily in their room.

Tigger ate some chocolate and shared some with the rest of us.

Mahala read Tigger a bedtime story.

Tigger had a glass of water before going to sleep. I hope he doesn't wet the bed.

Mahala cuddled Tigger and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.

By 9:00 Tigger was tucked in bed.

Goodnight Tigger, Sleep Tight!

Pizza Sauce

I knew that later in the week we would be having pizza for supper one night, so I decided to go ahead and make the sauce so that it would be ready. I have created this recipe by combining several other recipes together and making a few adjustments. I am not sure if I have posted a pizza sauce recipe before, but if I have I'm sure this is a little different.

I begin with 1 1/2 cups of hot water. To that, I added 2 chicken bouillon cubes. (Anytime a savory recipe calls for water, it adds to the flavor if you use bouillon cubes or replace the water with chicken broth or stock.). From there, I added in my 6oz. can of tomato paste. I normally use Muir Glen organic tomato paste, because the taste of it is so much better, but I didn't have any on hand. At this point I also add 3-4 tbs. of extra virgin olive oil. Once you have all that blended together, you can add your seasonings. You can adjust these amounts based on your taste.
I add:
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. basil
1 1/2 tsp. pizza seasoning
1-2 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Once all of your seasonings are mixed in, cover and let sit for at least an hour, so all the flavors can blend together. You can use now or refrigerate or freeze for future use. We usually have enough sauce for 4 pizzas from this.

A Morning of Baking

I started my morning off with some baking. I made a loaf of wheat bread, 12 honey yeast rolls, and a bunch of chocolate chocolate chip muffins. I am slowly trying to incorporate wheat flour into our recipes instead of white flour. In the bread I used a little bit of white flour but mostly wheat, and in the muffins I used 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat.
(Not sure why some of the above writing is underlined and why some is not. Weird.)

The wheat bread is a new recipe. We will see how it turns out. Go here to check out the recipe that I used.

The honey yeast rolls came out of the oven around lunch time and now we only have 5 left. We will eat them with supper. Go here to check out the recipe.

The chocolatey chocolate chip muffins will go in the freezer and warmed up for breakfast. The mini-muffins can go in the kids lunch boxes frozen and they will be thawed by lunch. It will be a special treat for them. Go here to see the recipe.

Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits

We started off the week trying some new recipes.
My first attempt turned out great and the kids gobbled them up.
I'm not sure that you would consider this a recipe, I just had to put it together.

I began by thawing some frozen strawberries and blueberries. I got out my cute little cups(?) that we have never used and began with a layer of strawberries, then a layer of vanilla yogurt, then a layer of blueberries, and so on. It did not get in the picture,
but I let the kids top them off with some granola.

The kids loved it and it was less than 250 calories.
You could make it healthier by using a different kind of yogurt.

Super easy and better than some of the other junk my kids like to eat for breakfast.