A SCOBY Named Petunia

This is our SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). I've decided to name her Petunia. But since it's a colony I guess it's technically Petunias. We've been hovering over her for about 10 days now waiting for her to get big enough to brew into a kombucha (a delicious and healthful fermented tea).
It's so fascinating because she gets a little thicker every day!
She's a little icky looking but I feel like a proud mama!
Grow Petunia, grow!!!

The Freezer From Heaven

See that divine light shining between my organized little containers of scrumptiousness?
That's right. My freezer is FINALLY organized.
Last September, our family started doing once-a-month freezer cooking to prepare for baby Livie who was born in November. Basically, you spend one day of the month shopping for food for the ENTIRE month and the next day cooking all the food for the ENTIRE month.
It's hell.
But at the end, I have pretty much everything I need for the ENTIRE month's meals.
Which leaves more time for scrapbooking, gardening, playing with my kids, cleaning the house, working on home projects, etc. and less time scrambling to make meals.
Not only was yesterday Big Cooking Day but I also finally cleaned and organized both freezers for the first time since Livie was born. Yikes! There was stuff from October lurking at the bottom of the big freezer!
I did want to pull out all my hair at a couple points but now it's all clean, organized and ready for labeling.
Here's what's in the freezer:
Shepherd's Pie
Chili
Mini Meatloaves
Italian Chicken Pasta
Cheeseburger Macaroni
Lasagna
Burritos
Chicken Nuggets
Mexican Quinoa Skillet
Pizza
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
BBQ Chicken Hot Pockets
Chicken Curry

And it's all made from scratch...homemade tortillas, pasta, dough, sauces...yup. Awesome.

Eat your heart out Betty Crocker. :)

Building Bridges

Today we built our first bridge: a beam bridge!
It's been so much fun experimenting with a base, making it crash, re-enacting "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" and listening to the trip-trap sound it makes as toys go across.
Next we will try a suspension bridge with pipe cleaners but we'll probably need some help from daddy!

Here's what we've been learning:

Theme: Bridges: Beam, Arch and Suspension
Number: 15
Letter: P
Color: Green
Shape: Oval
Vocabulary Word: Beam, arch, suspension
Scripture: 1 John 10:11
"I am the good shepherd."

Chrysalis Is A Chrysalis

Our scrubby little caterpillar (Carson named him Chrysalis) actually turned into a chrysalis!
So amazing!
And just in the nick of time.
The night we noticed the change, I had planned on releasing him back into the backyard because I was tired on feeding him!
His chrysalis is really beautiful. It's this rich deep redish color but you can't really tell in the picture.

O Bountiful Harvest

Well...kind of bountiful.
Three beautiful radishes! First picks out of my garden this season!
Kind of spicy. Very crispy. Yum!
Can't wait to put these on a salad!

Real Food Chicken Nuggets

We haven't eaten Mickey D's in FOREVER...
And thank goodness!
But since starting our real food journey, it's been tricky to create a real food version of everything my toddler used to love.
Namely his favorite lunch: chicken nuggets.
But I did it!!!
And these nuggets are soooo good!

Here's the recipe:

You will need:
1 large egg
1 TBSP grapeseed oil vegenaise
2 cups of cooked organic chicken
1/4 cup shredded organic cheese
whole wheat flour for coating
salt and pepper or seasoned salt to taste

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Pulse chicken in a food processor until finely chopped. (But don't over do it!!!)
3. Combine remaining ingredients with chicken in a bowl.
4. Scoop by rounding tablespoonfuls and drop a few at a time into a bowl full of whole wheat flour and coat each nugget.
5. Place nuggets on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I usually take this opportunity to mash them down a bit and shape them into cute nuggety looking nuggets...if that even makes sense...
7. Bake for about 18 minutes turning them over halfway through.

I love to make a double or triple batch and freeze them (flash freeze on a cookie sheet before placing in a freezer bag). Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes from frozen. Way better than Tyson nuggets. Watch "Food Inc." and you'll never want to eat another Tyson product again!

Family Adventures: Touch a Truck

We love to spend time together.
And we spend LOTS of time together. Saturdays are special because my husband generally doesn't have to work so we really try to have some sort of family outing.
Here's what we did yesterday:
Touch-a-Truck
The number of vehicles available was amazing!
Carson LOVED it. Here he is touching an auger truck.