Do your kids ever say: “Mom, I’m booooreeddd!”? Well, mine do (much to my dismay!) Here are a few crafts you can do with your children that are very easy and with materials most of you will already have on hand:
Source for Patchwork Acorn: Kaboose
Most of our kids crave our undivided attention and spending time with them creating something that they can brag about later is just a bonus! Happy crafting!
Cheers!
Good morning!
I will be having a few of my girlsfriends, my mom and Tiza over for breakfast in a couple of weeks so I decided to do a bit of research on breakfast dishes that are easy to make in larger quantities. Here are my top picks:
I hope these ideas spark some creativity for your own breakfasts! Make sure to visit our Breakfast Pinterest Board for more ideas.
Cheers!
Hello everyone! What a beautiful day wandering the Pinecrest Gardens Green Market. It made me feel good all over to see how so much beautiful and healthy produce was right at our door step. Both Tiza and I had to control ourselves because it was all so tempting. I bought loads of veggies which I cooked as soon as I got home. I would like to share how I cooked them so that those of you who have little time to spend in the kitchen will also be able to enjoy these delights not only fresh on the day you buy them, but also on other days, just by storing them in a tight containers in the refrigerator. They keep perfectly for an entire week! You will find these good to accompany any meat or on their own as a healthy snack with crackers or bread.
Ingredients
On a large sheet pan spread out like veggies. Salt all vegetables liberally then add a light shake of pepper. Lastly pour a very light stream of olive oil over all little by little making certain that all the veggies have their due amount.
Put in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. They will brown bringing out their natural, wonderful sweetness. Take out and put in containers to store in the refrigerator. These are delicious to eat at room temperature but if you prefer, heat them very little, using the re-heat option on your microwave oven.
My hopes are that my easy and quick recipe will help those with limited time to eat healthy and take advantage of the fresh selections at their local markets.
Enjoy, eat, and relax!
I thought it would be nice to create a treat for the boy’s classrooms to celebrate the start of the fall season. I bought a couple of foam pumpkins at Walmart and made a couple of easy peasy class treats! Alex and Dani loved them and thought it was great that they could take treats for their classmates.
Supplies:
For the last couple of years I’ve gotten my veggies and fruits from a great organic co-op. For reasons too complicated to explain in this post, I opted out in June and have been very messy when it comes to our family’s fruit and veggie grocery store purchasing and home consumption. So, I decided to start a local Farmer’s Market adventure. I want to see what I can find, how much it’ll cost me, how much organic variety is offered, and how much is local.
My mom and I ventured out bright and early on Sunday and here is some of what we found:
Tons of vegetables, herbs, fruits, some meats, eggs and a few prepared foods.
The people from Coconut Grove Farms had an amazing variety and they were all very knowledgeable. About half there produce was organic but not all local.
We bought stuffed vegetarian grape leaves and baklava. I would go back for more of the grape leaves any day.
From central Florida: grass fed, sustainable beef. 
She was the sweetest girl and let us sample her dried fruits and leather (like store bought fruit roll-ups except no sugar or preservatives).
The Healthy Break people were sooooo nice and offered these great spreads. The cool thing is that everything is olive oil based with no mayo added. Serious homemade flavor, perfect for a lunch, snack, appetizer or for a cocktail party. Want to order some for yourself? {healthybreakinfo at gmail dot com}
These nuts were DELICIOUS! She had fantastic suggestions for serving: with salads, with fruit and cheese platters and as a healthy snack. Can’t resist temptation? {thespicednutfactory at gmail dot com}
No. I had better things to do… taste test all free samples offered, talk to everyone, eat more, have smoothie, etc. I was very busy. However, I’ll mention a couple other vendors that caught my eye:Copperpot Jams & Jellies (loved the sweeet jalapeño flavor), Proper Sausages (we actually bought some for lunch and had an overcooking until way-too-charred incident. even then, delicious),and Kreative Gardenswith their spectacular succulents, money trees, and other exotic plants.
All in all…SUCCESS! I scored a good variety of fruits for snacks and lunchboxes, plenty of veggies for everyday meals, and even a money tree for my house! So, check your local markets and make time to visit one, ask questions, buy and cook something new for your family, and enjoy!
Pinecrest Gardens Green Market – Sundays 9am-2pm – Red Rd & 112th st.
Happy shopping and cooking,
Have I told you that my dad is Colombian? Well, he is. Thanks to him and my grandma (his mom) I love Colombian food. It is the epitome of home cooked comfort food to me. Assorted meats, a variety of root vegetables, hundreds of soups, and TONS of cilantro. Yum.
I am a foodie at heart (and soul) and constantly read recipe books, food magazines, talk to fellow foodies, and well, try to keep up to date and well informed. I am moderately familiar with Colombian cuisine yet was not aware of this life changing dish. Why? How? After I tried it for the first time I mentioned it to anyone who cared to listen and apparently I was among the few how did not know of it! Here is my story:
This summer good friends of ours invited us over for a pool day and a “Lomo al Trapo”. Literally translated: “Loin in rag”. Not so appetizing? Well, I beg you to reconsider… think beautiful lean beef loin, coarse sea salt, red wine, wrapped tightly in cheesecloth and tied with twine, charred directly on a blazing wood fire, cooked to tender perfection. Sound better? Just take a look:
It was beautiful to watch and amazing to eat and enjoy with special friends.
Want more detailed instructions? Visit this site of a Colombian food blog or if you prefer a video, visit Mango and lime blog .
After that memorable meal, we capped it off with delicious snow cones with our traditional topper: sweetened condensed milk!
I hope you try this recipe soon. It is easy, fun, and YUMMY.
Enjoy,
There are so many ideas out there that are big, small, easy, difficult, realistic and not possible within my lifetime! I come across many ideas that I would love to take on. Today I will be concentrating on ideas for school treats, decor, organization, etc.
Printable: Favorites Survey
Cheers!
One of my 2012 New Year’s resolutions was to keep up on my photo organization and not let it accumulate to the point where it’s so overwhelming that it is almost an impossibe task. So, here is what I am doing in order to keep my photo memories alive for many years to come.
If you keep this up you will have a beautiful photo book (you can even make copies for grandparents!) at the end of the year and you will be able to look back on it for many years to come!
Happy organizing!
Can you believe it’s only 100 days ’till Christmas? Wow. Any day now and I’ll need to have my shopping done, the class treats planned and made, decorations pulled from storage and set out, Christmas tree up….Yikes!
Well, I guess in the mean time I’ll just waste a bit of my time and checkout what other, more organized and planned people have already done for the holidays! Here are my faves…
OK, enough dreaming and hoping that I’ll be able to do all these great ideas (or will I?) What are your goals for the holiday season? Have you created your own “to do”list?
Cheers!