#iPPP a la Girl Scouts

Back for #iPPP and it hasn't even been a whole year since my last visit!  Say what?  Only two weeks?  Call Guinness!

Life's been busy, busy, but last weekend, busy also meant tasty.  My sweet girl was working on her Snacks badge for Brownies (Girl Scouts) and got crackin' in the kitchen, creating a sweet treat and a smoothie.

Saturday night, for dessert, she made yogurt strawberry parfaits, layering greek yogurt mixed with a li'l honey, sliced strawberries, and granola.

And while the first set of parfaits were made gluten free, using Udi's vanilla granola, she needed to go one step further for her brother, who can't have dairy,  to join in the sweet treat fun and swapped out the greek yogurt for almond yogurt creating a GFCF parfait delight.  Looks nearly the same, eh?

Can I share the most random and yet helpful thing I learned over the weekend?  Thanks to friend Jenn visiting, I finally learned how to spell dessert and not get it mixed up with desert!  Dessert is spelled with two 's's because you want more and desert with only one 's' because you supposedly want less (since I'm not a fan of the heat, this totally works for me).  Told ya it was random...but, it will save me when spell check isn't nearby!

On Sunday, she blended up a smoothie, using frozen organic blueberries, frozen strawberries, frozen mangoes, fresh ripe banana, fresh baby spinach leaves, and coconut water.  We slurped up smoothie and then poured the left over mix into popsicle molds for desert this week.  Delish.

Coming back for an #iPPP visit with

G*Funk*ified & Jumping With My Fingers Crossed & Angela Amman

Summer Smashed

Hey Peeps!  Guess who's sending summer out with bang?!  Carri from Mommy's Little Monster Blake and Jessica from My Time As Mom are hosting the first ever Summer Smash"ED" ~ share a cocktail and where you go for a night out in your neck of the woods.


Let's start with the cocktail.  I have no alcohol in my house right now.  Zero.  Zip.  Nada.  But, before Carri hops in her car & speeds up this state to give me a piece of her Stoli mind, I won't bother sharing my innocent ice water beverage that I'm sippin' on.

Now, I do love a post with a picture.  But, without supplies, I was up a creek.  I could have gone the route Sarah did and simply share what sounds like an uber fab ice cold summer cocktail from her Grammy without the picture ('cause she surely painted one in my head while reading her post) or I could have gone the route my old Girl Scout friend Lizz did and magically turn her kidlet's matchbox cars into strawberries, but I grabbed my Sharpies instead.

I first tasted a Golden Delicious while dining at Silver's at the Wharf in Fort Bragg with the husband for an anniversary a couple years ago.  And I loved it.  So, when I actually have the ingredients, I enjoy this pretty cinnamony apple concoction at home now too! (You can enlarge pic by clicking on it & no amounts because it entirely depends on how strong you like it! :>)

If you all were up here, quite frankly, a night out in my nearby neck of the woods would be a new experience to share with you as on the occasion I am without kidlets at that hour, I'm probably a couple hours south, hanging out with one or more of my Four Musketeers.

But, there is a ton to do up here!  I'm in wine country, surrounded by vineyards, San Francisco is a fantastic playground for 'grownups', the beach is a short drive away, and we could even head up to the Sierras, which are gorgeous any time of year!

I've been having fun getting #SummerSmashed with some other great peeps.  I'm off to visit some more, won't you come join us?

The Java Affair

I'm playing writing along with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop today & since I took a bit of an unintentional blogging break, I thought the prompt:  A list of 10 reasons you do or do not drink coffee, was pretty perfect to jumpstart a post!

As a teen, when friends were first finding their java love (or working on their Joe Cool factor) and I wanted nothing to do with it (I thought coffee tasted like battery acid), they told me, "You'll get into it in college." 

In college, working full time and carrying a full load of classes, I was asked, "Why don't you like coffee?" and "You don't like coffee?!?!" that included a 'you're crazy' look burned in my direction.  Eventually, calm would return & they would shrug and say, "I'm sure you'll grow to like it."

After college, more people told me with all knowing glances, "You'll appreciate java after you have kids."

I had a kidlet.  Still thought coffee tasted like battery acid.  I was sticking to my Diet Dr.Peppers.

A few years later, I had another kidlet.

And after my second kidlet was a year old and some friends were making a Starbucks run, I finally asked how I could have some java and actually like it (without it being like dessert!....you know those coffee drinks, right?! or tasting like said battery acid).

She recommended a nonfat, sugar free vanilla latte.

And a new affair with java began.

And to keep in line with the actual writing prompt, "A list of 10 reasons you do or do not drink coffee.", here we go:

1)  I have not successfully found a way to transfer kidlets excess of energy to myself.

2)  I have two energetic kidlets and....see #1.

3)  Liquid Stevia, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and unsweetened coconut milk have become my friends.

4)  Husband's uber strong black Folger's coffee (which he makes a full pot of in the morning before I'm up & I drink the leftovers...but, not usually until about noon, ice water rocks my boat before that.  I know, I'm weird like that.) has made exceptionally good friends with my new friends.  See #3.

5)  On cold days, a hot cuppa java warms the icicle appendages extending from my hands.

6)  I no longer feel socially inept when the java lingo starts buzzing around me (though I still have no idea what some of those java requests are once they get more than ten names to a drink).

7)  Iced coffee made at home with a little nonfat milk & Splenda can make me mighty happy on a hot afternoon.

8)  Coffee is more readily available than a preferred carbonated beverage as we do not wake sleeping husband without the promise of morning coffee.

9)  Did I mention the super energetic kidlets?

10)  Might I remind you again, of Reason #1.  But, if you have figured out how to do that, please do share!

I still can't drink black coffee (due to that battery acid taste and all), but ever so thankful for ingredients that like to go for a swim in there.  Oh yea, and Dana, thank you for helping me meet Java halfway across that tasty hot cuppa bridge!

So, are you a java drinker?  Or is tea, chai, soda, or water more your style?

GF/CF/SF Strawberry-Banana Smoothie......Delish!

Last year, my sweet boy brought home a small strawberry plant that he planted, watered, and nurtured its way to producing a few strawberries. This year, that plant is looking mighty happy with many blossoms and it even divided itself at some point over the winter and so now there are two strawberry plants in the pot. We are very much anticipating more ripe red strawberries to eat and light up our sweet boy's proud smile!

In the meantime, we are a strawberry lovin' family and just cannot wait for the ones in our garden. So, that means many containers of organic strawberries come home with us!

One container of those organic strawberries made its way into the blender for this gluten, casein (the protein in dairy), soy free Strawberry-Banana Smoothie and it was absolutely deliscious!!! So delish that the kidlets had three glasses each! It was definitely a meal in a glass that day. :> (Our son cannot eat gluten or casein and soy is extremely limited in his diet. He just loves it when he can eat something that looks and tastes like what everyone else can eat and won't make him sick & miserable!!)

Gluten/Casein/Soy Free Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

One container of GF/CF/SF Coconut Yogurt

(we used strawberry-banana here, but plain or vanilla would work too)

One ripe banana

One 16 oz. container of organic strawberries

(halving or quartering first, depending on size, helps in the blending)

Half a scoop of Pea Protein

Ten drops of liquid Stevia

Crushed Ice

Add all ingredients to the blender and blend!

Did you know that you can add some spinach or kale to a sweet fruit smoothie and not effect its taste? You can! How much you add depends on how big your blender is and how much fruit you have in it. It will change its color, but its a great way to add some extra nutrients & dark leafy green veggies to you or your kidlets diet. Everybody's tastes are different, but personally, I've never seen anyone turn down a smoothie! :>

What's your favorite smoothie? My kidlets want to try a mango smoothie next!