Bee Kneads Bread!

Yesterday was a great day to bake!  

 Bee, Bug and I made chocolate chip cookies, and I taught Bee how to knead The Best Bread Ever! 

 Yes, we're still sporting the whiskers from the Hello Kitty party.

Chocolate Strawberry Pancakes

I know I should have posted this MONTHS ago
when strawberries were still in season.

  But I didn't.  

So here you go anyway.  

This is my favorite breakfast at the Pancake House in Puerto Vallarta:  

Chocolate pancakes with strawberries.

 Not the best pictures in the whole world, but you can use your imagination,right?

So, the recipe?  Still perfecting that, but I have found several chocolate pancake recipes online.  

Just add strawberries to the batter, 

top with powdered sugar (or whipped cream--hello!!), 

and more fresh strawberries.  

A true delight!

Here's a pretty darn good recipe to get you started.  

Plus it has pictures for every step.  

Someone has time for such things.  Not I.

{click here for recipe}

Vacation: Part 1

Our summer has been fantastic so far.  Well, one BIG hardship, but the Lord is faithful and we are on the other side.  Anyway, we went to Wenatchee, WA camping in the Columbia River with a lot of mid-and high school students.  Justin led worship at "Drenched" which was a total blast.

Then we went to Seattle.  On the way, we went to Leavenworth, a weird but cute little faux-German town.  We ate Sausages.  Oh yeah! (Can't help but think of Vector on Despicable Me, "Oh Yeah!")

Besides puttsing* around the city, we went to the Mariner's/Braves series--as Braves fans.  Thankfully, they won all 3 games and we had a blast!  Oh, and we might have gone wine tasting.  Mmmm.

*Puttsing:  apparently not a real word, but I like it and am going to use it, which means I can choose my own spelling too.  I love making up words.

Baby Shower . . . and so much more!

A dear friend of mine, Danielle, is 6 weeks out from meeting her 1st little girl (joining 2 brothers!)  We threw her a shower on Sunday.  Not only did she get some great gifts, we had a lot of fun:  from eating to creating to praying, it was a fantastic afternoon.

After looking up a few shower ideas, we decided to for-go games and instead set up some more "crafty" things to do.  The first was simply a memory book.  Using a pre-made scrapbook, guests were invited to write advice, a note, or a Scripture inside.  Blank pages will be filled in the photos from the shower.

 The second activity was a Baby's First Alphabet Book.  I pre-made the pages by gluing the letters to the scrapbook paper.  Then I brought glue, extra scrap booking paper, scissors, and pens for people to decorate the pages.  Although I loved this idea, everyone got a little too busy with the third project to do much with this one!

 Lastly, I brought piles of fabric scraps, some shapes and designs to trace, and a bucket full of onesies.  Guests were invited to design a onesie for Danielle's little girl.  This was a super fun activity!  We had guest choose a design (or make their own), iron heat & bond on the fabric's back, then cut the design.  After the design was complete, we ironed it on the fabric.  Now my job is to stitch around them!  HA!

 

 And what's a party without food?!

 Our friend Brenda hosted the shower and did a beautiful job setting up the goodies! 

 

 My friend Bethany made the salted caramel & chocolate cupcakes.  You can find her blog here.

 And what really makes a shower?  The people!  We had a fabulous time!  Thank you to all who made this such a special day for Danielle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tilapia Review & Menu 2/8-2/13

I didn't get any groceries yesterday, so I dug around to see what we had in the freezer.  Tilapia.  It's been there for a while.  I've been a little nervous to do anything with it because I had never really used it before.  I thawed it in lukewarm water, which only took about 5-10 minutes.  Score!  I was starving!

I used this recipe from Eating Well.  I love their recipes.  You HAVE to check them out.

I had a little salad with dried cranberries and fresh oranges  To add a little starch to my meal, I smashed a baked sweet potato (that I made in the microwave--shhhh, don't tell).  I didn't add any goodies to my potato, but my girls & husband enjoyed it to it's fullest with some butter and brown sugar.  Honestly, mine was seriously delicious with just a pinch of salt.  It was a simple meal that took hardly any time at all. 

Oh, a little note about the actual recipe:  I substituted about 1/2 tsp. ginger for some of the chili powder.  I would actually use a little more next time, but it was good.  Also, the recipe has you use 3 TBSP lemon juice when you cook the asparagus after making the talapia; don't use that much.  Oh, one more thing . . . a little lime (and maybe a Corona light) would have really brought the meal together for me.  I would have used lime on the salad and on the Tilapia. 

What's sitting around that you can make dinner with tonight without having to run to the store?!

Here's my menu this week:
Tuesday:  Justin is grilling (I'll be gone)
Wednesday:  Eggplant Parmesan (Eating Well style)
Thursday:  Out to eat for a friend's birthday--going wild!!!
Friday:  Progressive Dinner (a Snow Betty event)
Saturday:  Trout with grilled zucchini
Sunday:  Tacos

Yeah, I know.  A cheater week!  I hardly have to do anything.  Whooooohoooooooo!

What are you having!?

Not that you care . . .

BUT

In case you do:

I mentioned that I am "Lightening the Load!" through my gym.  I'm day 4 into an 8 week journey of healthy eating and more focused exercising.  Frankly, I already exercise.  I didn't really need a kick in the butt for that; however, I also already eat.  A lot.  I eat a lot of yummy food, generally rich in delicious fat and calories.  Half of my brain thinks, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."  The other half thinks, "I sure wish my belly wouldn't hang over the top of my jeans."  (gross.)  This has led me to the place that I decided I needed a little accountability to lose my nasty rolls and move into a place of moderation.

(Here's an awesome picture of me last month before the Turkey Trot, a 4 mile run,

a good indicator of where I'm starting from.) 

 (And here I am with my running partner & great friend, Danielle)

So, thanks to Oakway Fitness, my picture, along with my weight and fat percentage, is displayed ON THE WALL for all to see.  Lovely.  They did measurements on my thighs, calves, waist, and other places, but I guess they kept them in my file.  I will have to use the skills I've learned watching Psych (and other sneaky shows) to find my file and copy the information.

Here's what I know:  I weighed 138.9 on Sunday.  Granted, on Tuesday, I weighed like 142!  What?!  I'm going with 138.9.

I have been a really good girl, eating very healthily. 

Here are how 2 of my meals this week have turned out:

Here's the Beef & Bean Verde Chili (although I used ground turkey): 

307 calories (plus the RF sour cream) & herb salad w/ orange

 Here's a leftover salmon cake on a lean pita with tomato, lettuce, and a dill sauce:  

275 calories

I have found that I am actually not starving to death.  I can eat less, eat healthier, and be energetic.  I should know that's how it works, but cookies make me so happy that I wasn't sure I could do this.  I won't lie:  I'm looking forward to making cookies again, but I'm taking a little break until I can bring my body back into balance again. That's not to say that I'm depriving myself of all sweets, but rather, I'm enjoying them in very, very low quantities. 

Okay, I'll try to make my next post more exciting.