Bunch of Looney Tunes

The kids love to entertain Maddox. They are such good helpers. Their new favorite thing is shown on this video, they love to act out shows they've seen and their new one is Looney Tunes. They say Bugs Bunny and Daffy Ducks famous lines as they circle him humming. He loves the attention. My kids are just a bunch of "loons". #

Carrot Apple Shortbread Cookies

In case your wondering, yes this is a vegetarian recipe.
Ingredients:

1/4 c semolina flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t sea salt
5 oz unsalted butter, room temp
2/3 c light muscavado sugar or brwn sugar
2 oz carrot, grated
1 oz apple, grated
zest of one lemon
soymilk

Preheat oven to 350,sift the semolina, flour, baking pwdr, and salt into a med bowl set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir the carrot, apple, and lemon zest into the flour mixture, and mix until well coated. Stir the flour mix into the butter mix until a dough forms, then knead a couple times. Split the dough in two and flatten each piece into a thick patty, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 30 mins.

When you're rdy to bake the shortbread, roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Use metal cutters to stamp out the cookies, then place them on a parchemtn lined baking sheet. Brush lightly w/ a bit of the milk and bake for about ten mins, or until the edges start to brown.

*These are REALLY good. I love a light flavored cookie. You get your sweet kick w/o sacrificing a ton of calories.*

Fun & Fit

The kids take gymnastics at the Fun & Fit gym here in Santa Clarita, it's been so fun to watch them and see their progress. They used to have a class together but they moved Emmitt into an older class a couple weeks ago. Alainas class was too little for him and he was progressing quickly so they bumped him up. They both show alot of skill, I've always thought Alaina would be great at it because she has such a little athletic body. They absolutely love gymnastics, and so do I.

Maddox stays entertained with the many toys they have for the kids.

Vegan Recipe 7

Of all the recipes I have tried so far this one and the Japanese pizza are my faves! This one tastes like you went to a fancy chinese restaurant and ordered this yummy concoction!! mmm.

Pineapple Rice

Ingredients:
1/3 c olive oil
2t toasted sesame oil
1/4 c (fresh or canned) pineapple juice
1 garlic clove
1/4 t red pepper flakes
2 Tb soy sauce
1 c pineapple, cut into chunks (I had canned already so I used that)
2t fresh grated ginger
1/4t fine grain sea salt

4 handfuls lettuce (your choice)

2 1/2 c cooked brwn rice
4 grn onions, thinly sliced
3 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 c cashews, toasted (again I didn't) and chopped
1/2 small serrano chile, seeded deveined and minced (optional but i ^ the spice)
4 oz seitan*
*Footnote:(seitan is a hard to find item, I only found it at Whole Foods. I did not use it because I had some defrosted ground turkey that was needing to be cooked, plus men like my hubby would much rather have meat than tofu or seitan so I sacrificed and used the ground turkey. It worked great and is still a healthy choice. I just cooked it through in a seperate pan and seasoned with pepper.)

Start by making the dressing. Combine the oil, sesame oil, pineapple juic, garlic, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, pineapple, ginger, and salt in a blender. Puree till smooth. Transfer to a small saucepan, and gently warm.

In a lg bowl toss the lettuce with a generous splash of the dressing and arrange it on the plate as a bed for the rice.

Now you can serve the rice portion either room temp or hot- I choice the hot version and it was delicious! For hot combine the rice, most of the onions, shallots, cashews, and serrano chile, and seitan (or whatever your protein choice may be). Add about 1/2 the dressing and toss well, saute in the pan until heated through. Tatse and add more dressing if desired. Spoon rice over the greens and finish with any remaining onions or cashews. For the room temp version you would simply combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss rather than heating it in the pan.

*A few things I would personally do differently add less onion, I can only take so much the combo of the grn and shallots was pretty powerful. Plus I think it would also help to brwn the shallots before hand, NOT a raw onion fan at all!*
Other than that I LOVED this recipe the dressing is so yummy and I cut up my lettuce to mix in and eat with the rice, it was like a hot salad mmmmmm.

Let me know if youve tried any of these vegan recipes and what you thought?
What was your favorite? Do you have a tried and true yummy vegan recipe, I would love to hear it! comment me ^

9 month stud

Maddox had his first official haircut by a professional, he looks so much older! He did really well except that he is a very active little guy and was jumping up and down in the little jeep seat. Then he got very tired so Kurt held him for the rest of his haircut. He is growing so fast we get comments all the time on what a happy baby he is. He'll pretty much let anyone hold him, and he's always smiling. He reminds me so much of how Emmitt was. Such an easy baby. He says da da, uh-oh, whoa, all gone, and lots of baby jabber. He can balance on his own standing up and has started walking while we hold his hands. I've seen him throw a fit or 2 by throwing his head backwards usually when he's in desperate need of a nap. He has two bottom teeth and is getting all 4 top teeth. He does a high pitched girly scream when he wants something you have. He currently wears 24 month clothes, he's a big boy. To sum it up- I ^ this guy.

Busy Summer Days

Seems like there's been an awful lot of running around lately, doctors appointments, gymnastic and dance classes, bootcamp, etc. We got seriously behind on the kids immunizations and we've been playing catch up. I took Alaina in for her checkup and she got 5 shots and a blood test! Poor baby she was so not happy. Before she got them she kept asking me is it going to hurt?? I didn't have the heart to say yes so I said no it's just a little pinch. Afterwards she said, "Mommy those shots really did hurt! I don't like that." Ohhhh what a mean mom. What made me so angry was the lady who came in to give her the blood test chose her right arm and put the needle in only to find no vein, whatever she thought she felt was wrong and instead of taking the needle out and fixing her mistake she dug it around in her arm!!! All the while Alaina is screaming bloody murder (she had already had her 5 shots so the girl did not want anymore needles), I have never in my life wanted to deck someone sooooo much! Instead I just clenched my fists and gave her a look like "hey moron get it together!" Finally she pulled the needle out and attempted the other arm, talk about torture. After Alainas appointment I took her to Walmart to get her a toy because I felt so bad for her, and for telling her it wouldn't hurt....guilty conscience. She picked out some cute Barbie learning rollerskates.

After our millions of other errands, we went home and then back outside to try out her skates. Of course I had to get pictures of all the kids since my photos have been lacking. Even with all the crazy activity I am loving the summer and spending more time with my kids.

On another note, I started the Insanity program over again since my accident happened so I will start keeping you up to speed on that. I am so grateful to have recovered so quickly, although I do still have issues with my body from time to time I can workout again and that's a big deal for me! # I have almost completed my first week of Insanity so once that's complete I'll let you all know the status. I am also starting dance again....YAY!!! So darn excited for that! Tonight is my first class, I am doing ballet again and hopefully can add some lyrical in there as well. As far as beauty school goes it's something I will be picking back up once my kids are all in school. My car accident gave me a bit of a scare and made me realize just how quickly things can change. What if something would have happened to them? Thank heaven nothing did but it made me have a different perspective. My kids will only be this little for so long and I'd like to spend as much time as possible with them. Pretty soon they'll be independent and won't want Mom anymore, so I'm going to enjoy them while I can. Trust me though, beauty school is definitely something that is on my will do list!

My hairs back to a dark dark brown, the red was a ton of maintenance work, and Kurt wasn't really diggin it. It was fun while it lasted though!

Happy Summer!

Vegan Recipe 6

Orzo Super Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup dried (whole wheat) orzo pasta (I couldn't find it so I used regular)
8-10 med asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 in segments
1/2 medium head of broccoli or broccolini, cut into small trees (I used baby broccoli)
small handful of cilantro, chopped

1 small clove of garlic, minced
2 Tb fresh lemon juice
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

a small handful of sprouts
1/3 c of almonds, taosted (I don't toast them it's faster #)
1/2 small cucumber, cut into 1/4 in pieces
1 medium avocado, sliced
1/4 c feta, crumbled (not a fan so I left it out)

Bring a lg pot of water to a boil, Salt and boil the orzo according to package instructions. Avoid over boiling. About 30 secs before the orzo is finished stir the asparagus and broccoli into the orzo pot. Cook for final 30 secs, drain and run under a bit of cold water.

In the meantime, whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and more salt (if needed, I always omit the salt) into the dressing. Set aside.

When you are ready to serve the salad toss the orzo, asparagus, broccoli, and cilantro with about 1/2 the dressing. Add more dressing if needed, and toss well. Now add the sprouts, almonds, cucmber, avocado, and feta. Very gently toss a couple times to distribute the ingredients throughout the salad and serve.

Serves 4
recipe courtesy of 101cookbooks.com

I love this one, I am a huge fan of asparagus and broccoli. Very green and yummy!

Mommys mini me

The older Alaina gets the more I see myself in her. She LOVES to color, she will sit there all day coloring if you let her. She also loves books, even though she can't read quite yet, I have the feeling once she does learn to read it will be her favorite thing to do. Both of these things were my favorite when I was her age. I can remember coloring for hours at a time and having my own personal library of books Unfortunately for me she is also a drama queen. The girl loves to whine and will continue to cry forever, doesn't matter how many times you tell her to be quiet. Thankfully she is finally beginning to understand the more she whines the more trouble she gets in. While explaining this to my Mom she informed me that I did the uncontrollable crying as well until I was about 5 or 6 then I was an angel...lol. So maybe in a year or two she'll get it too. Looks like I have a mini me on my hands. Which is fine by me because I was a goodie two shoes throughout my school years! #
Love for dance.....check!
Love for coloring....check!
Love for books....check!
Sweetie pie with a large side of drama queen....check!^

Fourth of July weekend

I really need to work on posting these things sooner. Our fourth of July weekend was really nice. We spent Saturday together and went to the Aquatics Center. The kids had a blast as always. Sunday the 4th we had a nice morning at church and then went over to the mall for fireworks. We camped out on the grass in front of the Target parking lot. We bought the kids these fun light up swords that make noise. I of course forgot my camera! The only actual 4th of July picture I have is of Alaina before we went to church, I thought she looked so cute! I loved her little side ponytail, she looks so much older with her hair this way.

Alaina and Emmitt battled with their swords before the fireworks started, Alaina kept turning around and then spinning to face Emmitt in her special fighter stance, it was hilarious. I really wish I had my camera so I could film it. The fireworks were pretty cool and it was sooooo crowded! After the show we wasted time walking around Target and had a little picnic in the back of our car while we waited out the traffic.

Maddox is doing really well at standing on his own for a long period of time

% At one point Maddox was playing with Kurt and kept loving on him trying to give him hugs and kisses it was so cute.

Maddox does not let me rock him to sleep, he fights it like crazy but when Kurt does it, it works like a charm! Dads got the magic touch.

Natural Talent

My husband is one of those people who just have natural abiity. You know those people who try something once and nail it the first time. The sort of people who those who have to work at it and practice till it hurts are so incredibly jealous of. Ya well.....he's that guy. lol. He never ceases to amaze me. Things just come easy to him. Our first day at the local Aquatics Center we discovered they have an adult dive pool, Kurt of course took some time to try it out. He has never had diving lessons, and has been asked several times when we go how long he's been diving for and where he took lessons. Here are a couple videos of him diving.

Vegan Recipe 5

This is for the sweet tooth, we all have one! I love to bake and I constantly have a supply of some sort of cookies on hand for the kids and Kurt. Problem is, when MY sweet tooth creeps in, so I decided to try a vegan cookie recipe for my sweet tooth that I don't have to feel super guilty about. If you enjoy carrot cake, you'll like these! I thought they turned out yummy for having absolutely no sugar, butter, or eggs! I will definitely make these again!

Carrot Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
scant 1/2 t fine grain sea salt
1 c rolled oats
2/3 c chopped walnuts (I am allergic so I used pecans)
1 c shredded carrots
1/2 c real maple syrup
1/2 c unrefined (fragrant) coconut oil, warmed until just melted
1 t fresh ginger

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheet with parchment paper

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the nuts, and carrots. In a seperate bowl use a whisk to combine the maple syrup, coconut oil, and ginger. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Drop onto prepared baking sheets one level tablespoonful at a time. Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven for 10-12 mins or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.

FYI: In some of these vegan recipes you may be wondering where in the world do you find that?? Like in this instance the unrefined coconut oil. Here in Cali you can find it at whole foods, pretty much any of the "weird" ingredients you can get there. Try health food stores.
Recipe courtesy of 101cookbooks.com

Vegan Recipe 4

I really liked this one alot, really simple and yummy.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza)

Ingredients:
2 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1 cup leeks, well washed and chopped
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
a couple pinches of sea salt
2 egss, beaten
1+ Tb olive oil

Garnish: toasted alomonds and chives

Combine the cabbage, leeks, flour, and salt in a bowl. Toss until everything is coated with a dusting of flour. Stir in the eggs.

Heat a large skillet and a dd a generous splash of olive oil. Scoop the cabbage mixture into the pan, and using your spatula press it into a round pancake shape. Cook for 4-5 minsor until the bottom is golden. To flip the okonomiyaki over slide it out onto a plate and place another plate on top and flip. If you need a bit more oil in your skillet, add some before sliding the okonomiyaki back into the skillet. Again press down a bit with the spatula and cook until golden.
When you are finished cooking, sprinkle with tosated almonds, and chives.

Serves- 1 to 2

3 little fish

We found a fun aquatics center that's only a few mins from our house, so we made a family trip Tuesday. The kids had so much fun!! They have som nay fun little things for the kids to play on and they have a seperate adult pool are with a high dive board and a few lower diving boards. We'll have to go again and get video of Kurt doing dives, I was super impressed! # Maddox had fun just splashing around in the baby friendly area of the concrete where they have small fountains going that make a small little pool. He kept trying to follow this baby girl around and take her little hat off so he could see her face, it was so cute. He's chasing the girls already. lol. I'm sure there will be many more trips before summers over!