Pinterest Eats: Fruit bars & CCC cake

Lately I've been thinking about ways to "eat cleaner."  I am not crazy about the idea of pumping a ton of processed foods into the girls, so I have been looking for fairly reasonable homemade options of things we regularly enjoy.
One easy snack I have found that the girls love is Nutri-Grain bars.  I won't lie; I'm a fan too.  But after reading a blog post about all of the unable to name ingredients, I jumped on the author's bandwagon and decided there were too many things in the little bars that I had NO CLUE what were.  Since I was eliminating one of the main fruit and grain vehicles in the girls' diets, I had to find something to replace it.

That's when I came across this recipe from Peas and Thank You. (I just love that blog name!)

Better Berry Nutrigrain Bars

Makes 12-16 bars

• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 1/2 c. oats
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 c. organic sugar
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 c. vegan margarine (i.e. Earth Balance), melted
• One 10 0z. jar 100% fruit blueberry preserves, or your choice of flavor

 I used regular whole wheat flour, regular sugar (with a pinch of brown sugar), and Country Crock margarine.  For the preserves, I chose Polaner All-Fruit Raspberry. 

I think it was really good.  I might have baked it a little too long making it a little crunch on top for the girls, but I just pinched that part off.


I'm not sure how to store these properly, but I will keep working on that.  I've stashed some Polaner All-Fruit blueberry and strawberry in the pantry for next time.


And on a completely opposite end of the spectrum...

(Clean eating only applies in some areas, folks, let's be honest.)

My Pinterest board "Eats."  has the most pins of all my boards, and most of these are something sweet.  I have tried several of the recipes and have been pleased with them.  It's hard for me to dislike any recipe filled with butter, brown sugar, and some sort of chocolate or sprinkle.



This recipe I put in to action when I needed a sweet snack for our college game night and didn't have enough time to make two dozen cookies.
It is seriously SO. EASY.  (and SO delicious!)

It's called Lazy Cake Cookies, but I'd call it Easy Cookie Bars if I were the author--that sounds so much nicer.

• 1 box yellow or white cake mix
• 2 eggs beaten
• 5 T melted butter
• 2 C M&M's or mini chocolate chips

Mix together, put in a greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 20 min

Source: imalazymom.com via Erin on Pinterest

I used regular chocolate chips and a golden butter (or something like that) cake mix.  It's seriously delicious.  I'd make it right now if I had a bag of chocolate chips.

And don't think that I did not enjoy one er, or some of these for breakfast.  Yumm....coffee and cookie bar.  

So this post is a complete contradiction regarding clean eating.  I feel like the clean eating is important, so I will definitely need to take a look into how I can clean up the things I love to eat.  

Which, now that I think about it, all of those things are relatively unhealthy...oh, no.  

I can't think about it anymore.

I'm never giving up chocolate chip cookies.  Never.

Embrace the Camera 10.18.12

 

This weekend we spent some time on Granny and Dude's swing.  I attempted to take a group shot of the girls and me.....failure.  I like how Holland is peeking over the edge though.

 

How cute is that face?  She was giggling like crazy.  I love it when June is happy!

 

 Holland was not feeling very photogenic.  Her mother was, obviously.

Fish Tacos

This summer on the Taylor family vacation, Steve and I snuck away for a lunch date to a fabulous Mexican restaurant.
We had the best experience. Seriously, it might be one of the best restaurant meals I've ever eaten. Ever.

At Hector's recommendation I ordered the fish tacos. Oh. My. Goodness.
I wanted to lick my plate. So good.

So a few weeks ago I put fish tacos on the menu. We rarely eat fish, but we do Mexican Mondays and regular tacos were starting to bore me.
I searched the Interwebs and beloved Pinterest and found a recipe that seemed fairly easy and equally delicious.

After dusting the fish in a cornmeal, flour, spice concoction, I cooked the fish in the skillet. I also threw together a jalapeño tarter sauce.

It was pretty good! Didn't hold a candle to the fish tacos from La Cocina, but a 6 hour drive for dinner wasn't in the plan.

Ten on Ten: October 2012

 

6-EARLY start

7-favorite scarf

 

8-Let's go get some breakfast!

 

9-Bible study welcome

 

10-studying Philemon; blessed to sit at the table today with some awesome, Godly women!

11-blurry, but they were SO excited to see me :) 

 12-beautiful day

1-ham & cheese and Parenthood and tissues

2-making a dress

3-laundry, unfolded

Happy Ten on Ten!

Crafts Lately.

Monster Bib for Henry Q.'s birthday party!

My cousins Davis and Ashley have a little boy named Henry who was born one week before the girls.  His birthday party was monster themed.  I had seen this bib and thought it would be perfect for HQ to wear at the party! 
The party was SO much fun.  Ashley (and Davis) had everything looking super cute and monstery!
 

Monster Bib Tutorial

Fringe Scarf from a t-shirt

I think this turned out ok.  I used a t-shirt that I had worn when I was pregna-saurus with the girls, so it was pretty stretched out.  Also it had a design on it that can kinda be seen which I equally like and dislike. 

Fringe Scarf Tutorial

"O Come Let Us Adore Him"

This was a fun afternoon craft Noele and I did.  It was pretty easy. 
1. Glue torn magazine pages onto a canvas in colors of your liking.
2. Use vinyl letters (from hardware store) to spell out what you want to say.
3. Paint over the entire canvas.  (I wish I had not done my paint as thick so that some of the colors on the paper under it would show through.)
4. WHEN IT DRIES gently peel off the vinyl letters.

Noele and I chose to spray ours with a glittery topcoat.  Because who doesn't love glitter?

Vinyl Letter Sign Tutorial

Love sign

I saw this and immediately loved it!  Steve built this shelf for me a few weeks ago, so I needed something to put on it.  I love mustard yellow and have recently painted my end tables in the den that color.  I used a piece of scrap wood from my father-in-law and two colors of stain for board.  I then free-handed the heart and "love" with a small paintbrush.

I think it looks great up there with the pictures of those precious babies. :)

Love Wooden Sign

Ten on Ten: August 2012

7 - Genesis, Nutella toast, coffee, Chirp.

 

8 -  new survival trick

 9 - hair. cut.

 

10 - school supplies (for my man)

 

11 - at the P.O.

 

12 - my new friend, Frank

 

1 - {nap}

...please excuse 2:00 and 3:00...they were involved in the previously mentioned nap...

  

 4 - exciting mail

  

5 - sunshine and downpour at a red light

 

6 - Meet the Mavericks

Join the fun:

Conviction.

Stuff.  I love stuff. 


The problem is, it's everywhere.  Closets, shelves, under beds (ugh), desk-tops, the floor...everywhere.  I constantly feel that I need to clean out a closet.  Or the laundry room/storage room/dungeon.  I feel guilty.  And sad.  So much of the stuff we have is unnecessary. 

But, as I said, I LOVE stuff.  I attach sentimentality to stuff: a scarf from my grandmother's house (even though I can't remember her ever wearing it), the earrings I was wearing when Steve proposed (that's ridiculous, I know), books that I read and loved as a child/teen/single lady.  T-shirts from this and that and that and that.

And now the girls' stuff.  Geezy Petes...I need a whole "nother" room just to hold the stuff that I am already attached to.

So, I'm convicted.  Completely, utterly undone over this heaping pile of stuff in my life.  Stuff that I spend my time on; stuff that piles up and collects dust on our bookshelves; stuff that hides in the dark corners of the closets. 

I came across a blog today through a friend of a friend, and there was this post:

Jamie Sets Me Right.

Hmmm....I told Steve just last week that I realized I had a Mary/Martha complex.  I want to spend time reading and studying my Bible, but I cannot stop with the chores--the cleaning, organizing, putting away of the stuff, if you will.  I won't allow myself to sit down and work on my Precepts study if there are dirty dishes in the sink.  I feel like I need the dishes to be done. I need to sweep.  I need to mop up the smashed pieces of sweet potato.  (Though not so much on the laundry...)  {I fully acknowledge that the aforementioned chores are 100% necessary in keeping a house that is hygienically appropriate for living.}

I need to check Facebook.  I need to read Twitter.  I need to look at Instagram. 

Hmmm...now, let me be clear.  I can lose my iPhone for several hours at a time and not even notice.  The level of need is most definitely different regarding chores and techie toys, for me.  BUT when I sit down to eat lunch or have a few minutes to myself while the girls are napping, I find myself swiping that screen and getting lost in Pinterest-land. 

So, many of those needs are wants.  I want beautiful pictures of my girls.  I want to DIY my entire house/wardrobe/life.  I want Christmas decorations in July.  I want to sew sew sew.  But really, what matters?  That my girls look back and their lives and say, "Wow, Mom, super job on taking that lovely picture of us when we were 10 months and 3 days old.  Glad you didn't miss documenting that!" Or, that my girls are clothed with the Spirit because their mother taught them Scriptures and lived a life of a godly wife and mother...

So, I'm thinking about reading this book and semi-taking the challenge.  I'm not good at finishing projects that I start.  I'm not good at "extreme" living.  I think some things that people are extreme about are kind of ridiculous.  I think some of the things listed in this book are extreme and ridiculous.  But maybe that's the point.  Maybe the stuff in my life that I allow to take my time away from getting to know my Creator is ridiculous.   I read one of those super cheesy quote pages not too long ago that said, "If you don't have time to pray and read scriptures, you are way busier that God ever intended you to be."  Cheesy? Maybe.  True?  Yep.

I'm just being real.  I am sure this all sounds ridiculous to some people.  It seems kind of ridiculous to me.  But, I'm going to be ridiculous.  Maybe it will be a life-changing event for me.