My little lady wants a wonder woman party for
her second birthday, so here we are gearing up for the big day!

Lemonade for ABC2
(Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure)

Do you want to meet the most amazing family ever? Check out this blog: Raina-V.blogspot.com. Thank you to everyone who helped support Raina and ABC2 by purchasing some of our lemonade. WE LOVE YOU, RAINA!

Summer Burger Recipes

Spinach Mozzarella Burger

1. Bake bacon on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 10-15 minutes at 350. The bacon does not have to be all the way done. Chop up and set aside.
2. Boil a pot of water and cook a few handfuls of spinach in boiling water. When spinach is soft, drain into colander. (You could also use the water for a smoothie the next day.)
3. Squeeze moisture out of spinach and chop up.
4. In a bowl, add 1 pound of ground beef, 1/2 pound of bacon, spinach, 1/2 of finely chopped onion, handful of mozzarella cheese, Celtic sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, two eggs and chopped garlic clove. You could top with more cheese if you'd like. Mix well.
5. Shape into hamburger patties or into cup cake liners in a cup cake pan. These are nice to throw in a glass container for the week and munch on for snacks. Plus the kids think they are fun.
6. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

With another pound of ground beef, the other 1/2 of the onion and 1/2 pound of bacon I made the same recipe with cheddar cheese, taco seasoning, salt, pepper, a garlic clove and chili pepper.

I apologize for not having the exact measurements. :)

First Family Trip!

We decided to take our first family trip...all six of us + two very helpful grandparents. Mom & Dad, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!! We couldn't have done it without you. As so many of you know, these trip are NOT relaxing for the parents. It was hard work but the kids really enjoyed it. The last picture was of Jake making a summer fun dessert. He was breaking up graham crackers so it would look like sand. Here is the recipe:

1. Purchase small sand buckets from the dollar store.
2. In the sand bucket, layer the following:
white or yellow cake
crushed toffee/chocolate mixture
vanilla pudding
white or yellow cake
3. Top with crushed graham cracker to resemble sand.
4. Add a plastic crab for decoration.

A Hot Sweaty Day!

Nothing like playing T-Ball on a 90 degree day! :)

Cook Your Spinach!

Read the article below to find out why it is important to cook your spinach versus eating it raw. Here is my favorite recipe:

1) Saute spinach in either olive oil or butter until soft.
2) Add Celtic Sea Salt, juice from 1/2 of a lemon, and garlic powder.
3) Add pine nuts or sesame seeds. Use as a garnish on your fish or steak. Mix with mashed potatoes, rice, eggs, meatloaf etc.

"Spinach is a nutritious dark green vegetable. It is low in calories and contains high amounts of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants & flavonoids. The various flavonoids in spinach protect us against cancer. The antioxidants protect against free radical damage and help prevent degenerative diseases.

Spinach contains high amounts of vitamin K along with calcium and magnesium. Vitamin K facilitates the absorption of calcium and helps build good bones along with magnesium.

Lutein, a carotenoid found in spinach protects against eye related diseases such as cataract and macular degeneration.

The high amounts of iron in spinach is good for women, especially for menstruating women. The iron in spinach is called non-heme iron. The non-heme iron is considered less bioavailable to the body as compared to the animal source heme iron.

Spinach contains oxalic acid, also called oxalates, which combines with the iron and inhibits its absorption. Oxalic acid also binds with calcium, creating calcium oxalate and inhibits the absorption of calcium. If there is not enough calcium in the diet, the oxalic acid will combine with the calcium in the kidneys and form kidney stones. Therefore, eating raw spinach on a regular basis increases the risk of kidney stones.

Cooking spinach breaks down the oxalates and prevents the formation of un-absorbable mineral complexes in the body.

Spinach also contains goitrogens which interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland. Therefore, people with thyroid problems should avoid spinach.

1 cup cooked spinach contains:

- 155 mg Magnesium

- 244 mg Calcium

- 830 mg Potassium

- 6.4 mg Iron

- 17 mg Vitamin C

- 14700 IU Vitamin A

- 4.3 gm fiber

- 5.3 gm protein

It is a good source of fiber and protein. The high fiber, vitamin C and vitamin A content of spinach provides good protection against colon cancer. The high protein and low carbohydrate content makes it a good food for diabetics."

Summer Scholars Week Three: CHORE BUSTERS!

Week three has been my favorite so far. We started an organized chore system and an allowance. The kids do not get money for their daily responsibilities, which consist of making their bed, brushing their teeth, clearing their plate, etc. However, every day we set a timer for fifteen minutes and the kids draw chores from a jar. These chores include vacuuming, organizing the mudroom, cleaning the bathroom, etc. The kids get one coin a day for these chores. The fifteen minutes of chore busters surprisingly is very helpful... The kids still need a ton of guidance but each day seems to get a little better. We did have a broken glass one day and a few socks sucked up in the vacuum, but in the end I think it will prove to be beneficial.

Amy created envelopes for her so Gavin, labeled SPEND, SAVE & SHARE. He is required to put a certain amount of his allowance in each envelope and then he can spend and share how he'd like. I think this sounds like a great system. Thank you to Amy and all of my other mom friends who continue to give me great ideas! :)

Happy Fourth of July!

Summer Scholars Week Two: Magnificent Money

Week two focused on numbers and money. Our activities included counting and practicing writing numbers. I bought some ball jars at Meijer and numbered each jar. Then we used rice, dried beans, nuts and seeds for the counting. They had to fill each jar with the number indicated on the jar. I liked this activity because we got to snack on healthy food along the way.

Our other activity was an in-house grocery store. For a few weeks I collected boxes of of food and labeled them each with a price. Each kid got a certain amount of money to spend in the store and we all took turns being a cashier or a shopper. We already had toy cash register and a shopping cart which complemented our activity well. Other then Lana trying to eat a few coins, the week went pretty smooth. :)

Cashew Pesto Pasta

This is the worlds easiest/healthiest recipe. It comes from Maria. I made some adjustments because that is all I had available at the time. I will add those in because it turned out great. This would be great served warm or cold.

ENJOY!

Ingredients: One 12 oz box of farfalle pasta (bowtie), 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 pint grape toms halved, Salt & Pepper, 2 cups parsley, 1/4 cup cashews, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 garlic clove, juice of 1/2 lemon. I used fresh basil from the garden instead of parsley and chopped up tiny asparagus pieces that I drizzled with olive oil and baked for 10 minutes at 375 instead of the tomatoes.

1. Cook noodles.

2. Preheat oven to 375 and bake toms with 2 TBSP oil S &P on a baking sheet for about 12 mins.

3. Use a food processor to chop the parsley, cashews, parm, garlic, lemon juice, and add the 1/4 cup olive oil at the end.
4. Season with salt & pepper.

5. Mix noodles, pesto, toms and serve with more Parmesan cheese.

Two For One!

My summer mission is too make our pricey organic food go farther.... I am really trying to make one meal into two or three. It makes me feel better about spending money on good quality/organic food. In the past, I have made a whole chicken in my Deep Covered Baker (from Pampered Chef...I love this!) and then use the meat for quesadillas, salads, etc. However, I think it is time to step it up and get more creative.

This week I actually used sauteed onion, finely chopped brussel sprouts, and oven roasted potatoes from the night before and turned them into a breakfast burrito the next day. I just added scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon and wrapped it all in a tortilla. Topped it with cheese and baked it for twenty minutes. I wasn't sure how the brussel sprouts would go over in the burrito but nobody even noticed them. It was a crowd pleaser. My very favorite two for one meal is baked or grilled salmon. Here are the two recipes:

Dinner:
Season fresh wild caught salmon with Celtic sea salt, garlic, and dill. Make a half and half sauce of balsamic vinegar and raw honey. Drizzle fish with olive oil, finely chopped onion, and half of your honey/vinegar mixture. Grill or bake. When fish is almost done, add the rest of the mixture.

Next Day Lunch:
Mash salmon in a bowl. Add mayo, Celtic Sea Salt, garlic and mix. Toast a whole wheat roll from Trader Joes (in the frozen section) and add the salmon salad, lettuce and tomato. The kids also like to use the salmon salad as a dip for crackers.

Please email me or post other two for one ideas.

Banana Snakes

This is our new favorite dessert or after nap snack. This idea came from my super talented cousin Laurie over at SimplyScratch.com. The kids think they look like snakes so that is our name for this tasty treat. Some of our favorite toppings are peanut butter, raisins, sunflower seeds, crushed walnuts, dark chocolate chips and coconut flakes. This is a fun and easy snack for the kids to make themselves. Thank you, Laurie!

Best Tip Ever!

Chef Jackie from Nourish MD told me this wonderful tip about Maple syrup. If you are buying the pricey Michigan Maple Syrup like me and you have very independent kids that want to pour their own syrup...you will appreciate this tip, too! Purchase these squirt bottles from GFS and put your pricey syrup in them. Next time your kids pour syrup on their french toast you won't cringe at how much they wasted and how their healthy meal just turned into a dessert. Thank you, Jackie!

Summer Scholars: Week One/Space Spectacular!

Maybe its the teacher in me...but I am very excited about our summer scholar program! Each week, we will pick a different topic and discuss it every day. We will cap off the week with some sort of project or field trip. This week we did the Solar System. Each kid got assigned two planets and had to paint their planet for our space room and then learn 1-2 facts about that planet. I choose this tiny storage closet to display our project. We also put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. We call it the space room. The kids love to go in their and talk about their planets. I also used this website called thecoloringcastle.com for free printable worksheets to supplement our activity. The boys also enjoyed looking through a telescope at the stars one night. Originally, we planned to go to a star gazer show at the Cranbrook planetarium but it interfered with our first t-ball game. If you have any great ideas for other topics, PLEASE share!

Baby Steps

Angelle from Nourish MD hosted an awesome cooking class last week at her home. She said two simple changes you could make to your diet that would make a significant difference in your health are switching your oils and salt.

1. Switch vegetable oil to the following: coconut oil, grape seed oil or cold pressed organic (in a dark glass container) olive oil.

2. Switch table salt to Celtic Sea Salt.

First Annual Movie Night