With summer break starting for the majority of families it will be harder and harder for moms to carve out a little bit of time for themselves. I know I'm going to miss those 2.5 hours of "me time" on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Nutty was at school and Tottie was at preschool! (Please note that the cookies in this photo are the Quaker® Chocolate Almond cookies because my family ate all the plain chocolate chip ones before I could get a photo) Now, this may be TMI (too much information), but I have been guilty of taking an extra long time "going to the bathroom" just to get away from my screaming girls. I've also been guilty of sneaking snacks such as Quaker® Chocolate Chip Cookies into the bathroom with me just to get that 5-10 minute break. With only 170 calories and 10 grams of whole grains per serving, I don't feel guilty about eating something sweet while trying to watch my intake. I know I'm not the only one who uses the bathroom excuse for their "me time"! Come on, … [Read more...]
Almond Ice Cream-Pinned It Did It
Last year for Mother's Day I got the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker machine... I was SO excited...my jeans were not (8 pounds later!!!!). If you have an ice cream maker in your home then you know how amazing home-made ice cream tastes. It is almost worth the calories. OK, I'll be honest, it IS worth the calories! There are tons of recipes out there for ice cream flavors but today I am going to share with you a little family tradition we have in our home. Every year my husbands fathers family gets together to celebrate Christmas and my husbands uncle is always in charge of bringing the ice cream. The man makes GALLONS of it! I couldn't put my finger on it the first year I celebrated with them but something was different about this ice cream. After I was "inducted" into the family by way of marriage I was told that the secret is Almond extract NOT Vanilla. Oh my stars it is heaven in a bowl! So today I'm sharing this recipe with you too! Almond Ice Cream 1-1/2 cups 2% milk 1-1/8 cups … [Read more...]
Memorial Day Popsicles
If you are in the United States you know that Memorial Day is next week and I thought this might be a good time to whip out my favorite Zoku Quick Pop Maker. Now, you don't NEED one, you can make these the old-fashioned way, but I will admit making 6 Popsicles in under 10 minutes TOTAL was a bonus! I used lemonade for all three colors because lemonade Popsicles are a favorite in our house. I just added a drop of red and blue food coloring to the lemonade. I sliced an apple really thin and used the star shaped cutter that came with my Zoku, but you can find these at your local craft supply store. I added the stars to the Quick Pop maker to add a little more of a festive look. I simply added blue to one of the pops and striped the red and plain lemonade to make the stripes. I love how the stars and strips pops turned out, and so did my kids! You can even get a little more creative and add more layers... good ol' Red, White, and Blue! Just remember to have fun and enjoy … [Read more...]
Easy Ladybug Cookies
Last Thursday was "Mommy and Me Day" at Tottie's preschool. For an hour all the moms visited their kids at school, played games, sang songs, made crafts, and ate a snack. The past two "Mommy and Me Days" I attended with Nutty, the snack consisted of a "sundae" made from a graham cracker, frosting, and a maraschino cherry which the kids made for us. This year they did something different...ladybug cookies. They were so cute I just had to share them with you! We made the cookies together this year and it was a ton of fun! (Disclaimer: All the photos except the first one are of Tottie making the cookies at preschool. I forgot to take a photo of the finished cookies, however, so I recreated them slightly differently at home for the "good" photo). To make these cookies yourself, you'll need: Nilla wafer cookies Vanilla frosting Red food coloring (the gel works the best or the frosting may turn out more pink than red) Mini chocolate chips (though the regular size will do … [Read more...]
An epic advenure, thank goodness for Quaker® Perfect Portions #QuakerEpicAdventures
In Minnesota we cherish warm weather, because, to be honest we don't have a ton of it! On days when the weather is perfection we try and be active outside as much as possible. This past week was one of those weeks where we spent the days outside; from sunrise to sunset. It was a good thing we started our day off right....thank goodness for Quaker® Oatmeal Perfect Portions! We each made the perfect amount for breakfast, sweetened to everyone's taste, and headed out on quite the adventure! We are blessed to live on a lake and with that comes fun family adventures for us all! This past weekend we loaded up our four kids on the boat and cruised over to the "Big Island" for a little hike. We beached our boat and headed out for the unknown. Big Island is an island that is fairly small (when you compare it to other islands) but it is filled with tall grass, trees, wild life, and beaches. Normally we spend about an hour on Big Island just walking around but this past weekend we spent … [Read more...]
Chicken Enchiladas
Homemade chicken enchiladas comin' at ya! We love Mexican inspired food in our home and we hope you do too cause today you're getting a fantastic recipe to make your own chicken enchiladas. Here's what you need: cubed chicken (I cheat and buy Oscar Mayer oven roasted chicken, it comes cubed and cooked) 1 can of Rotel 1/2 cup sour cream 8 ounces of pepper jack cheese, shredded 1/2 packet of taco seasoning tortillas Mix your ingredients up really well and scoop enough to fill the tortilla shells. Roll them up and place them in a deep dish pan. I spray a little vegetable oil on the top to keep them from drying out. I bake them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes and then scarf!!! … [Read more...]
