A Must for Ice Cream Lovers!

It's been well documented that I love ice cream (and so do so many people!)  Ice cream does not love me however...boo!!  But I do much better with frozen yogurt (and a lactaid...sad, but true.)  Anyway, if I'm going to have one treat on this planet it's gonna be ice cream or some form of it.  I'm a big fan of Edy's Slow Churned...both the Light Ice Cream and the Frozen Yogurt Blends.  Well, we had 2 flavors this weekend that should NOT be missed!  They were both creamy and beyond delicious, seriously!!!

 Do NOT miss the Black Raspberry (it acually comes in regular and slow churned with very little difference in nutrition content, just preference of style of ice cream I guess)  Anyway, it's a May-August flavor only so hurry to your nearest grocery store!

I've tried Key Lime Pie flavors before but this was knockout above the rest, that's all I have to say!

Just needed to share.  Ice Cream is meant to be shared!!  and don't forget...July 18 is National Ice Cream Day!!!!!

My yummy summer supper

Came from this inspiration...

Avocado lime fruit salad from the amazing Jessica at How Sweet it Is!

Been eyeing this baby up for lots of days now but I needed avocados.  and peaches.  oh wait, strawberries and blueberries too.  darn it!  Well, went for my Trader Joe's run yesterday so I stocked up on all things delicious and organic.  I did not end up getting blueberries so I made a few substitutions there and I wanted to make this into a meal somehow so here's what I came up with!

First of all, I got some Mango Chicken Sausages from TJ's yesterday and remembered how much my boy LOVES them, so I asked him if he wanted them for supper and he screamed with joy....YES!!  I love those!  Ok, those would be good with this salad but I wasn't so much wanting sausage...I was wanting fish with this salad more salsa like (maybe?) on top.  No fish...but we have shrimp.  Ok, so I defrosted the shrimp.  and then somewhere it came to me this amazing concoction...

Avocado Lime Shrimp and Spinach Fruit Salad

-8 or 10 strawberries, quartered

-handful of raspberries

-2 nectarines, diced

-2 avocados, diced

-juice of 2 limes

-1 T honey

-mint (from my garden...yippee!!)  my first garden experience!

-Several cups of fresh spinach

-1/2 lb. small (or if you prefer larger) shrimp

-1 tsp garlic

-Chipotle chili pepper

-Whisk juice from 1-2 limes, honey and a few springs of chopped mint in a bowl.  Combine all diced fruit (very forgiving if you want to use other things) and stir to combine.  If not serving immediately, wait to dice and add avocado so it doesn't get too mushy!

-Saute garlic shrimp in skillet (with about 1 T olive oil) over med heat until warmed (if pre-cooked) or couple min. each side until pink and opaque.  While cooking, sprinkle with chipotle chili pepper.  When finished, set aside and squeeze about a 1/2 lime juice over. 

-For a single serving...place spinach on plate, top with a scoop of the fruit salad and a handful or so of shrimp.  There is enough "dressing" or sauce from the salad to coat the spinach and you can always whisk up more if you need to.  I then served them with the mango chicken sausages on the side (some had on whole wheat buns, some did not.)  I had just a half of sausage and a huge salad while the kiddos has a smaller salad and a whole (or then some) sausage!  Soccer dad...well, he had lots of both :)  Everyone seemed to really enjoy this meal.  Even my picky girlie ate the salad.  It was quite delish and extremely healthy, I must say!

I then looked outside as I was eating this and thought huh, not really a day I would normally eat such a summery meal but maybe that's exactly why I ate it and really enjoyed it...because I needed a pick me up from all the dreary days we've had!  Pretty sure this would taste awesome on a warm summer day with a mojito (to compliment all the mint of course :)  I'll let you know.  Definitely trying again.  Thanks for the inspiration from your beautiful pictures Jessica!

The Kissing Hand

Has anyone heard of this book?

A random mom at tumbling class was trying to think of the name of this book (I think...) to help my little girlie overcome her separation anxiety fear.  Until she gets REALLY used to a situation, she screams, holds onto me for dear life and just plain out refuses to go to her activities (that she is always super excited about at home!)  I'm not sure it's the separation anxiety as much now as she did point out to me that she didn't know anyone in her tumbling class and didn't like that, so it may be more of that but nonetheless, we still have some issues.  She is going to Safety Town right now too and went crying 5 days in a row and then this week, not one tear.  The head teacher literally had to peel her off of me one day...ugh!  It's frustrating and heart braking all at the same time. 

Anyway, I looked up this book and it seems like it might be a perfect book for separation anxiety.  I was just wondering if anyone had seen, read or used it before to get a more personal review.  I am fearful that for 4K preview (Jumpstart to JK) that we may have these same crying issues and then heaven forbid on the first day of school...that will kill me as she is my baby going off to the big school.  So, I need to nip this in the bud soon!!

New Members of our Family

We have a ginormous fish tank (30 gallons I guess...) in our basement nice and pretty and recently cleaned with no fish!  Ok, we have 2 catfish things that are more or less bottom feeders.  Anyway, huge tank...no fish.  You see the problem?  So we took a family outing and our family grew..by 2 schools!!!  In this case, it was 2 schools of 3 fish each.  Girlie picked out one school (striped), boy picked out the other (black).

And without further adeiu...our new fish!!

Welcome to our family fishies...hope you like it here!

and side note...we started naming them and it just got silly, so we stopped and they are just fish!

You should make these!

If you are craving something sweet and DELISH, you should make these... S'more Brownies! and BELIEVE ME...you will want s'more!   Super duper easy and you will get lots of compliments :)  I had no idea, I just happened to have the ingredients and needed something easy and fun for some of my favorite dads (and other favorite friends) for Father's Day!

photo courtesy of http://www.verybestbaking.com/

They are absolutely not healthy in any sort of way but they are super yummy.  You can get the recipe here.

Not that I really changed anything, but I did use Betty Crocker's Low Fat Brownie mix (because it's my fave by far) and Nabisco's Low Fat Honey Grahams...just because that's what we had.  Oh and I need to make another pan of them tomorrow to send home to the newest member of our family... he is my biggest treat fan and I wouldn't want him to miss out on these!  So I may have a few extra and if you leave me a really nice fun comment I might deliver some to your door :)  (local deliveries only!)



Pizza Dogs

Sound good or completely disgusting?  Well, I am here to assure you these were a family hit and believe it or not, healthy too as there is nothing that is actual "dog" about them except the bun.  I will have to give you estimates on my measurements as I literally created this recipe with leftovers in my fridge for a busy baseball night on the go!  But it was one of my best. meals. ever.!!! (at least according to the boys)

I made about 3-4 "dogs" out of this:
-whole wheat hot dog buns
-2-3 chicken italian sausages (removed from casing and browned)
-handful of turkey pepperoni, diced
-pizza or marinara sauce (about 1/2 cup) or to desired "sauciness"  (new word!!)
- 1 tsp. oregano or italian seasoning would probably work well too...my sausages were super duper tasty so I opted for less seasoning.
-shredded mozzarella cheese

-In a skillet...saute chicken sausages (or in my case throw in the leftover sausage that I had in the fridge and start warming) over med-med high heat.  When cooked through, add pepperoni and stir together.  Add marinara or pizza sauce and oregano.  Stir to combine and allow to all heat through.  Place desired amount into a hot dog bun and top with mozzarella cheese.  EAT UP!!

This recipe was obviously so stinkin' easy and a kid pleaser.  Totally adaptable to other ingredients too.  My kids (and by kids I am including soccer dad here) are big sausage/pepperoni pizza kids so I made it with what I had on hand and what they like on their pizza.  Could also add any veggies in there as the meat is browning.  I think I might sneak some sweet potatoes and extra tomatoes in the sauce next time I make it..those are the easiest to hide in marinara sauce :)  Could serve these on any buns as well.  I actually put one of them in a pita (as girlie asked for it and then didn't eat it like that of course..but I did and it was just as tasty!)  Serve a nice salad or cut up veggies along side and you've got yourself an easy peasy kid friendly supper!

Issues...

So I have a bunch of posts ready to go and can NOT download the pictures.  "server rejected"  each and every time...like for weeks now.  Not sure what to do?  Anyone...Bueller?  So, either I start posting without pics (not fun) or have to resolve my issue...  so that's what's been the problemo over here!

In hindsight, I'd like to share a pie crust recipe with you.  I have no pics of this crust anyway...it was made quickly and devoured quicker, and the camera wasn't quick enough to take the pics apparently.

I adapted this recipe from one that my sister gave me for "Raw Strawberry Pie."  but, I needed a little more dense crust for my Raspberry Frozen Yogurt Pie.

"Pie" Crust:
-1 cup almonds
-1 1/2 cup dates (I used half pitted and half Medjool...yummy!!)
-1/2 cup toasted oatmeal (used quick oats and toasted them on med. heat in a dry skillet)

Place almonds and dates in a food processor and grind up until they form a paste (similar to homeade larabars)  Put in a bowl and then add the toasted oatmeal.  I stirred with a spoon and then just got in there with my hands to really get it all combined.  Spread in a 11x7 pan.

Now..for the "pie"
-1 carton raspberry (or your fave) frozen yogurt. (the almost 1/2 gallon size)
-1/3 cup raspberry simply fruit spread
-handful fresh raspberries
-the ever so healthy cool whip!!  (which I do plan to experiment with one day and replace but, like soccer dad told me..it's a dessert honey, it better not be all healthy!...true 'dat)

-Place about 1 container (give or take a bit) of frozen yogurt (softened) on top of your crust (no need to bake) and spread evenly into pan.
-Whisk raspberry preserves with about 1 T water.  Pulse in food processor or whisk fresh raspberries separately and then combine together and whisk.  Will form a nice sauce.  Spread on top of yogurt.
-Top with about 1/2 container (give or take) cool whip or favorite whipped topping. 
-Grab a chunk of your healthiest dark chocolate and shave right on top of the cool whip for a pretty presentation and just that little extra kick of antioxidants, I mean flavor :)
-Place back in freezer for a few hours and get ready to have happy guests! 

I really liked how this turned out. I brought it to a cookout and everyone liked it a lot (at least they said they did) and I was really happy with my experiment.  I felt much better eating this crust rather than a graham cracker or cookie/butter crust.  and bonus...it was also a little more filling :)