July 29th

Today, 1 year ago, I was due with our sweet little Sam. Which means that in two weeks he'll be 1!

What a crazy year it has been since that day. Dave had lost his job, we were waiting for this little guy to arrive and it was 106 degrees outside. Life had just been turned on it's side and we were anxiously waiting for life to take another turn with a baby. Now we are settled into a new job, I'm feeding Sam lunch, the girls are outside and it's only 75. I think I prefer this July 29th.

The Lord has taught us many things over this long year of ups and downs. The biggest being TRUST. We trusted and He provided. We trusted and He brought us comfort when it was needed. We wanted for nothing and never went without. He is Good and we are thankful for that provision.

He sure was worth the wait!

turkey burgers

Burgers usually aren't on the top of my list of things to eat. I don't eat, nor do I like, beef. I even checked in my baby book once to see if this was always the case. There it was, "Kate doesn't like to eat meat".

My family thinks I came from a foreign land because they raise their own cows and therefore consume large amount of beef. Coolers full of beef mysteriously show up to shower Dave with some beef love and my grandmother is constantly asking what I could possibly be eating if meat is not my favorite food. "She must be feeding him that Tofu stuff". I have been wanting to whip this up and see how the family takes to it. Good protein, right?

Anyway, since beef isn't an option, turkey is. I love a good turkey burger and tonight I found another good one.


Ranch Turkey Burgers
Adapted from Healthy Cooking

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1 egg
handful shredded Mexican cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/4 tsp ranch dressing mix (the powdered kind)
1/2 tsp of dried minced onion
dash of hot sauce
1 1/4 lb ground turkey (I used the 7% fat)

Mix, form into 6 patties. I cooked mine inside in a non-stick pan. If you grill, turkey sometimes has a hard time staying together so I would suggest making sure your grill is lubed with olive oil or you can put a piece of foil down and cook them on the foil). Serve with all the fixings. We made our own mayonnaise today and it was delicious with these.

hours of fun in a box

I saw this cute idea for a cardboard princess castle over at Frugal Family Fun Blog and thought I might give it a try.

I didn't quite make it to the decorating part. They snatched it up before we could get creative. They don't much care given they've been playing with this for 30 minutes this morning with only one small fight. I think we have a free play toy today.

links

Here's some fun stuff that is occupying the top tabs of my computer and also making me think a little

*I recently read this story of a military mom with husband out on deployment. Hats off to all of those wives!

*Wanting to do yogurt popsicles soon.

*Made English Muffins this week. Very quick, easy and a good fill in for last minute egg sandwiches for dinner.

*These upside down prayers for your children have got me really thinking.

*Parenting books make me want to sprint in the other direction at just the sight of the title, but these reviews on this parenting book has intrigued me. I doubt I'll pick up the book, but I appreciate new perspectives.

*Going to try Mayonnaise. I don't really like it (except in things), but I'm willing to try and make my own. Anybody with me???

*I'll take one of these please! Sewing really would come in handy around here.

vacation as a family

It's been a crazy week around here.

First, a weekend without the girls. I love my girls immensely, but to take a break from discipline, playing, and most of all, talking, was pretty refreshing. We loved having Sam to ourselves and enjoying the peace and quiet.

Then we took a trip to Bellingham as a family of five. Not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous. I just didn't know how everyone would do being off schedule and sleeping in new places. They did great!

We started our trip out with a visit to the Bus. I have no idea what the name of this restaurant is, but it's the place Dave and I had our first date. It's in Fairhaven and has excellent fish and chips. The kids thought it was pretty awesome.


With many many fun outings in between, we ended our trip with a visit to Boulevard park. It's a beautiful park on the water. We walked, threw rocks, and had ice cream. This one of Eloise sums it up for me. It was refreshing, relaxing, and full of never-ending laughter.

cooking with flour

I've jumped into the Good to the Grain cookbook. I had previously tried the Oatmeal Pancakes and I fell in LOVE with them which is what led me to check out the book from the library.

I like this book b/c it breaks down several different types of flours. She explains what each tastes like and what it will bring to the recipes. Some of them are even gluten free.

She writes a chapter using her own multi-grain flour mix. It's a mix of 5 flours, whole wheat, oat, barley, millet and rye. With this mix you can make waffles, pancakes and baguettes. You can even sub out this mix in other recipes. I think waffles and pancakes are the most forgiving.

Fortunately for us, we live near Bob's Red Mill. The kids and I ventured out there yesterday to walk around, have lunch and pick up our special flours. It was a blast. It's painted red (duh!) and has a great little wooded area and water wheel spinning out front. The girls got a huge kick out of it. After our lunch they got tokens for free cookies. I almost forgot to buy our flour we were having so much fun.

Here's her mix:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour*
1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup millet (gluten-free)
1/2 cup rye flour

*You can grind your own in your food processor using whole oats. I got a gigantic bag from Azure (their site is down right now so i can't link) that I've been grinding like crazy. This also goes into the oatmeal pancakes so it's nice to have some already ground.

It's all about having fun with cooking.

smoothies

We've been embracing the smoothies around here. As a person who doesn't love veggies and fruit, this is a good way for me to get some in. I've been praying that I'll like them more (now that's a hilarious prayer!)

Here's our favorite recipe to date:

1 banana
handful frozen strawberries (we picked 34 lbs the other day!)
handful spinach
plain whole milk yogurt(1/2 cup)
1/2 cup milk
2 TBLS honey
2 TBLS ground flax seed

Blend!

Look who is enjoying them the most...in his new straw cup.

a jumpstart to dinner

I'm in the same rotation with dinner meals. I need to break the cycle. Here's our top 5

Taquitos

Asian Turkey Meatballs

Lasagna rolls

Hashbrown quiche

Taco Salad and quesadilla's (no recipe, just ground turkey, chili beans, avocado, sour cream, cheese and salsa, the usual)

Here's the ones I'm going to try

Chicken and White bean Enchilada's

Mozzarella sticks from Pioneer Woman (we can have a sampler plate night. Maybe some homemade pita's with hummus and chicken wings)

Pretzel Dogs - these will be a hit with the kiddos

Spanakopita - I love this dish and have never made it. My friend Willow makes them and they are SO delicious. Spinach is one thing my kids will eat so I'm eager to give this a try.

And just b/c it might be fun to waffle a pretzel. And other things. This site is great!

Let me know the standards in your house. I need some good old standby's.

Happy 4th of July!!! It's great to live in America!