Hoping our Garden Grows

In Kansas, we had our first backyard garden and it was AMAZING. We were shocked since we really didn't know what we were doing, but it thrived and each week we were giving or throwing away the veggies because we couldn't even eat it all. I was making loaf after loaf of zucchini bread and batch after batch of fresh salsa. So, of course we thought our Austin garden would thrive even more with the Texas soil and warm temps. We were wrong. Our garden last year was total crap. We reaped nothing, but grub worms for fishing. But, we are not giving up. We've already planted ours this year and after 2 weeks, it's still hanging on. We still need to add spinach and cucumbers to the back, but it was too early for them when we planted, so we need to go back and get some now. We have basil, cilantro, jalapenos, tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini so far. Here's hoping!

"Pop Tarts"

We are part of a community supported agricultural program called Farmhouse Delivery where we get organic, local produce and other random products bi-monthly. Last week we had a local bakery send home-made pop tarts. They were good, but Piper especially loved them. Yesterday, she asked if I could make some more. I reminded her I didn't make the first ones, so she asked if I could find out how and do it. Of course! With google and food blogs at my fingertips, surely I could find something. And I hit the jack pot! With a little tweaking, we made them and they were SO good! I'm for sure adding this recipe to my very small baking repertoire.

Dough:

1 1/4 cup AP organic flour

1 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour

2 sticks softened organic butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon unrefined sugar

1 beaten egg with 2 tablespoons milk

1 extra beaten egg to brush tops of the pastry

unrefined sugar to sprinkle on top

Fillings are up to you, but we used:

Apricot Preserves

Strawberry Preserves

Cinnamon Sugar + butter

Nutella (these were my FAVORITE)

*Mix all the dry ingredients together and add the butter. I just mixed the butter in with my hands (and Piper's hands), but you can use a food processor (I'm too lazy - and messy per the picture above!). Then, add in the egg/milk and mix. Roll out the dough on a floured board with a floured rolling pin. You may need to add more flour if the dough is too wet or sticky. You can refrigerate the dough, but we just made them right away. Roll the dough out fairly thin and use whatever you want to cut out even pieces. We used a glass turned upside down so we had medium sized circle pop tarts. Lay the filling of your choice in the middle and cover with a top dough. We crimped the edges with a fork, poked a few holes in the top, brushed with egg, and sprinkled with sugar. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes exactly. YUM!

Spring Break

My 3 Little Leprechauns

Spring Break has a whole new meaning when your kids actually are in school! We had a good one that flew by and I'm sad to see them go back to school tomorrow (and I'm sad that I have to get up early!).

While here in town, we went to the Austin zoo one day with my "Little Sister". It's always a fun place and Payson liked looking out in the Snuggli at all the animals. We took a picnic and topped it off with sno cones.

Wednesday afternoon we left for Dallas - Payson's first big road trip (3.5 months old). He did great until about Waco and then he was not happy until Dallas. But, for his first time sleeping in a pack n play and being out of his element and off his so-called schedule, he did awesome! We got to see and laugh with all our best friends and their kids, visit with Tyler's family (and ride go-carts borrowed from the neighbors!), eat good food (got my Braum's ice cream fix!) and I even squeezed in a little shopping! On our way home Saturday, we detoured through Mexia for my Aunt's 50th "surprise" birthday party. None of my family there had seen Payson, so it was extra special.

No, Kip did not actually feed him ice cream:)

Laney is about to be TWO and Payson is almost her size - yikes!

But, it's always good to be home. And we still had a little fun left today after church and lunch... Our friends from Katy came through to visit for a while and then Tyler's best man came through after them!

We've got some amazing friends and family. I love them all and are blessed by them in huge amounts. God's grace is great.

Side note - I'm off Facebook until Easter. So far, I'm barely missing it and it feels very freeing, actually! We'll see how long that lasts until I start feeling left out and like I don't know what's going on with everybody:)

Uno Mas

So, I did go ahead and make a clean dinner last night and I have to admit, we went out with a bang. It was one of the best. Who knew you could make a yummy cream sauce from cashews?! My favorite vegetarian restaurant in Austin, Mother's, uses a chipotle cashew cream sauce on their enchiladas that is SO good, but I thought it would be super difficult to make. It's not (although theirs is better than mine!). I put mine on chicken and spinach and baked it in the oven and served it all on top of brown rice. Yum! Next time I think I will add chipotle to it, but it may be too spicy for the kids that way? Porter ate a ton of it last night!

Cashew Cream Sauce:

1 cup raw cashews

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp onion powder

2 Tbls corn starch

1 Tbls nutritional yeast flakes

1 1/2 cups broth of your choice

mix everything but the broth in a food processor or blender until it is all finely blended with no big chunks. add it together with the broth in a saucepan and stir constantly over heat until thick. add water if you want to thin it.

Ready to Eat Dirty

Day 10 and I'm done. Tyler wants to continue till Sunday, but I'm thinking I'm only going to make it to Friday. I'm not very motivated this time and I'm being pretty lazy - eating this way takes lots of effort! I like discovering new foods and recipes, but with 3 kids and a life, I feel like I don't always have time. Sometimes running thru Chick fil a's drive thru just makes more sense to me. So, these two weeks have been a good discipline and a good rest for my gut, but I think in moving forward, a nice balance is best...quinoa, smoothies, kale on some days and sandwiches and pizza on others. Regardless, I've been very proud of the kids thru all of this. They've eaten so well and never complained. Today I made kale chips and they loved them! It's really easy to make and they really did turn out better than I thought they would. If you're up for it...

1 bunch kale

olive oil (a tablespoon or 2?)

nutritional yeast (2 tablespoons)

sea salt (sprinkle to taste)

seasoning (I used chili powder - a sprinkle)

cut stems off kale and chop into smaller pieces, wash and dry

toss everything together in a bowl with your hands getting all kale covered

lay in one layer on baking sheet(s)

bake at 300 for 20 minutes

Clean Living Day 5

Well, it hasn't been as bad of a start as the first time when we ate Clean. We knew what to do, what we liked/didn't like, etc. One change I've made is for dinner, our kids eat whatever we eat (last time, I'm pretty sure I made them different things). Shockingly, they've yet to complain and have cleaned their plates all week! On the menu has been...kale, quinoa, salmon, chicken, beans and brown rice, and herb stuffed mushrooms (Piper wasn't too fond of that one, but Porter asked for more!). My mom came over for dinner one night and wouldn't eat the kale - said she felt like a rabbit. They said on a tv show we watch that "kale is the new spinach" - I agree:) I'm still perfecting the cooking of it, but it's definitely edible and knowing it's really good for you helps get it down. I'm a little concerned about the weekend because we have some company coming in and are also meeting Tyler's parents for dinner Saturday night. Admittedly, it's hard to stay clean eating out. We'll do our best. I found some great recipes to try here...in case you are up for the challenge:)!

In other news, can I brag on my angel baby a little more? He gave us his first belly laugh a few nights ago - the cutest thing! And this morning when on his changing table (his favorite place to be - no lie), he copied me when I "razzed" (you know...when you blow air thru your lips?). Anyway, I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to understand how to do that for a while, but then again - he's always been ahead of the game. Still waiting on him to roll over, though. Maybe his heaviness is preventing that:)

Just living the Clean, Man...Living the Clean.

Tyler and I decided we hate this new slogan people say when you ask them how they are..."Just livin' the dream, Man, livin' the dream". Sorry if you say this or if you ever have, but seriously...what is this ONE dream - THE dream you are ALL livin'? Maybe if I know, I'll be less critical of the phrase being used. Maybe I'm just jealous that I'm not in on that "dream". Either way, recently, we've started livin' the clean - again.

Same time last year, we did a detox/clean diet, so we thought it would be good to do again this year. Two reasons: to give our bodies a sort of Spring cleaning, and as a discipline practice (I don't want to have food comforting me when the Lord is enough!). I swear to you, it's not about weight and/or losing any. I'm perfectly happy holding on to my last 10 pounds of baby weight and have little motivation to get rid of it. I'm really just enjoying snuggling this cute baby all the time and taking it easy and falling asleep on the couch at 8:30pm. However, this time last year is the time I found out I was mysteriously pregnant, so I kind of associate this clean diet with being dizzy, sick, and shockingly pg! Let's hope that won't happen again. It would TRULY be a miracle this time! Anywho...

So, again, we are cutting out processed foods, soy, gluten, dairy, peanuts, eggs, beef, pork, and sugar. Day 1 - not so bad. I still make my yummy oatmeal for breakfast (1 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup oats, scoop of ground flax, drizzle of agave); lunch was a salad with chicken, almonds, veggies, and oil, vinegar and lemon juice (this meal kind of made me gaggy for some reason - maybe I was having sandwich withdrawal); snacks were fruit and nuts and whole juices; dinner was a yummy soup I made with black beans, chicken, fresh veggies, tomatoes, avocados, etc. (kind of like tortilla soup with no tortillas or cheese and with spinach instead) - the kids even liked it! As last time, I'm mainly missing a sugary snack at night when I watch The Bachelor and a mid day latte:) I am, however keeping my morning coffee this time around - out of necessity since I'm up at least twice a night to feed a sweet baby. But, I'm using coconut milk creamer - not too shabby.

We are hoping we can keep it going until we go to Dallas on Spring Break. We shall see...