POPSICLE O'the Week #3

Watermelon........ Yum. Nothing says SUMMER like watermelon.
Left over watermelon from the 4th, plus the abundance
of my mint inspired this recipe. When I say my mint I mean
my friends...... mine is completely infested with caterpillars. sucks..

Recipe made 10 pops, filling a six inch cup about 2/3 full.

10 cups of watermelon processed in the food processor.
then pushed threw a fine metal strainer with a spatula.

The watermelon was so sweet I didn't want to add a lot of sugar.
Needing something to help extract all that flavorful mint oil I made
a "lite" simple syrup.

1/4 cup of sugar
2 cups of water
1 cup of mint leaves
Bring to boil. As the mint boils bruise and crush the mint leaves with
a wooden spoon.

Look at that color and the smell....... amazing, if you like mint.
The bonus of making these pops was my house smelled
like mint all day.

Once the mint extract cooled I pureed the extract and about
five of the mint leaves together. Then mixed that with the watermelon.

I could have drank this.............
All in all I think this has been my fav out of the three
popsicle recipes, so far........ next up is chocolate..... ;)

Summer, watermelon, popsicles life is good.........

Kerstie

July 4th Goodness

Our Fourth was nice but, a little sad.
My husband and other gents from the neighborhood
usually participate in our city parade.This year they
passed....... so sad........ I loved the fact that
these usually serious guys, guys would dress up and
act deranged for the amusement of strangers.
Hum...... maybe they'll be back next year.
So, instead of waking early to do this.........

(last years parade.... pirates......)

I woke early to surprise my guys with these..... patriotic pancakes.

They loved them... super simple and easy.
Trader Joe's mix with a little food coloring and vanilla.
I always manage to sneak in a little ground flax seed
caus I'm sneaky like that!! ;) Don't tell..... please....
AND... the flax seed sort of counter acts the syrup and
whipped cream, right......RIGHT!!
Any way.......


We headed over to a neighbors for a bbq and
chit-chat with friends. All in all a really nice and relaxing day.
Some of my friends have been asking for recipes of the dishes I made.
Sooo, here goes.......

Israeli couscous with sauteed veggies.
I cook the couscous according to the package directions.
Sauteing the couscous in olive oil and adding chicken stalk
instead of water. Much better flavor......
While the couscous is cooking about 12 minutes
I saute the veggies. Half a red bell pepper, half a yellow
bell pepper, and a half a red onion. Once those are translucent
I add a whole zucchini and yellow squash.
To finish it off I add about a cup of crushed olives and
continue cooking until the veggies are starting to caramelize.

Now for the deliciously bad stuff.

S'mores cookies......... yum, yum, YUM.......
Got the recipe here. When it's time to add the piece of chocolate
I added a star marshmallow. Other than that I stayed true to to recipe.
Yum, YUM, yum......

Next up was a popcorn mix.
Had to have something to snack on for the big show.

Not those but, these............

2 bags of microwave popcorn
3 cups of red, white and blue M&M's
3 cups mini star marshmallow
1 bag of melted white candy melts
some sprinkles, mix let cool and enjoy

My friend referred to this little popcorn mix as crack.......
It's not illegal but, it is addicting.

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th..........

Kerstie

Popsicle O'the Week #2

This weeks popsicle was perfect for hot weather consumption.
A cooling blend of lime, cucumber, and ginger.

Recipe...........

1  12 oz can of lime aid
1  Medium cucumber peeled and pureed
1 Tablespoon of grated fresh ginger

Prepare lime aid according to directions on can. Add the
cucumber and ginger, stir and pour into 6 oz cups filling about 3/4 of the way.
This recipe made 16 popsicles.

I loved how the ingredients slightly separated when these froze
giving them a layered effect. Yummy and pretty.

Kerstie

Busy Bees

Speaking of bees my oldest son was stung four times by wasps the other day.
They made a nest in the lawn at the edge of our walkway. SUCKS........

BUT, that isn't what this post is about. We have a new project keeping us buzzing.
You know one of those "weekend" ones that it going to take a lot longer because of 100 degree heat, that you can't paint in. Not to mention a three year old that has had a fever followed by a three day tantrum.
SUCKS again!!!!! ;)

Can you guess what our little project is?
Can't wait.............. before and after photos coming soon.

I mentioned posting that totally fab cake recipe that I used for my little guy's first b-day cake.
I found both the frosting and cake recipe at allrecipes.com
Love, love, love, that site.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.......... we are starting to.
Tantrum stopped at 1:30 a.m.
Thank goodness because we only have so many forks........

I wonder if it was the patriotic sprinkles that ticked him off. ;)

Kerstie

Popsicle O'the week

Home grown strawberries. Yum! They never make it into the house.
You see I have a little thief.......... my oldest! All I find are their green top scattered all over the garden.
This time I beat him to it. (insert evil laugh hear)

Every day my son eats this many...............
What to do now that some have made it into the house?

No baking in this hot weather.......... popsicles.

Vanilla meet strawberry..........
One box instant vanilla pudding and about a cup and a half of pureed strawberry goodness.
I ended up with 4 good size pops. I used 6" paper cups as molds.

These were good........ they disappeared before I could snap a photo of the messy faces eating them.

This little spur of the moment popsicle making reminded me of how easy and how much fun this is.
That's the great thing about having kids to do these thing for. It helps chip away all the"adultieness."
So, I think this summer we are doing a popsicle of the week. Just as a reminder of how sweet it is.

Kerstie

Kite Flying, Cuties, and Cookies

Father's Day found us celebrating with a picnic and some kite flying at Hidden lakes Park.
One of the best places (with in 5min. of our house) for kite flying. The kite took off by it's self right out of the package.

Our $3.00 Lightning McQueen kite took off so effortlessly. I couldn't believe it.
Lets just say I didn't have faith in a $3.00 kite.  ;)

That sums up the kite flying... now for the cuties.

And now the cookies.......

Love, love, love these. My hubby has a weakness for cookies.
So, I find my self in need of a few recipes to play around with.
The Best, Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from allrecipes is the BEST.
I substitute the white flour for whole wheat flour and use 1 cup semi-sweet chips and 1 cup peanut butter chips.  OHhhhhhh these are good.

They make for a really good Father's Day or any day for that matter.

Kerstie

Spiky Hair Is Potty Trained

After a tub he always asks for spiky hair.
I have a feeling at some point this is how he will  ware his hair.
Sooo, cute.... love it.

He is officially potty trained.
Two weeks with no accidents..... (I'm sure I just jinxed myself)

He is such a ham... so funny and such a teas.

Sampling some of brothies b-day cake.

Getting in on the mess making.

AND....... sharing of course....... he really does well sharing with his little brother. Wheeew
So happy with these two, even if one still pees in the yard and the other just learned how to pick his nose.

;)  Kerstie