Dinner Tonight...

I wanted to share a great dinner idea that we use often. If you are like me I'm always looking for quick easy healthy ideas, especially for Sundays! I love using my crock pot but often those recipes are heavy hearty meals, and not so figure friendly. Also in the summer we use a lot of pasta so I also wanted to share one of my favorite low calorie pasta substitutes.

It's called Tofu Shirataki - angel hair shaped noodle substitute. It's only 20 calories per serving and can be used anyplace you would use regular angel hair pasta. There are 2 servings per a package, so you can have the whole 8oz package for 40 calories!

I have to admit I was a little nervous about trying tofu noodles because I thought they might have a soft, mushy texture. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they are almost identical in taste and texture to real "al dente" angel hair pasta. Give these a try, you'll love them.

Here's the link for product info then you can follow the link for "where to buy." http://www.house-foods.com/Tofu/tofu_shirataki.aspx

So here is a quick recipe we love! Open 2 cans of Progresso White Clam Sauce w/ garlic and herbs and two cans of drained minced clams (you'll find it near the tuna we use Snow's brand), pour into a saucepan and heat. Once heated pour clam sauce over prepared pasta or Tofu noodle substitute in bowl and top with real grated Parmesan cheese (in the deli or cheese isle, not powdered style). Pair with a spinach side salad. We use spinach, fresh blueberries or peaches, chopped apples and a few candied pecans and lightly top with Kens Light Raspberry walnut vinaigrette. yum! (My nine year old son asks for this salad often and my daughter independently makes it herself daily!)

This meal has huge elegant flavors, takes about 10 minutes to make and is loaded with fruits, and antioxidants and low in calories. This meal is a great one to try if you want to surprise your husband with a date night at home. It's quick and easy to throw together after the kids are in bed and elegant enough to eat by candlelight... Enjoy!

I have had a dilemma all summer. I've been trying to find the perfect swim suit for my very less than perfect body. Over the winter I threw away my favorite bikini thinking that I had outgrown my bikini days. As summer approached I went looking for a replacement swim suit, and am still on that search. How I miss my old stand by...

As my daughter has gotten older I've also become more concerned with modesty. It is more important to me now, that I demonstrate modesty to my daughter Jessica as I ask her to be aware of dressing in a way that is stylish, comfortable, and modest. So I wanted to share this cute and modest swimsuit I found at J Crew. This swim suit is strapless (optional strap included) so if you have modesty issues with strapless styles this won't work for you, but my main concern is avoiding deep V necks and cleavage. I also liked that this style is a little looser through the torso and does a good job at blending the bust line into the rest of the suit. The top has enough coverage that it looks great paired with a skirt for walking on the beach or boardwalk. J Crew sells the top and bottoms and separately so you can create a suit custom fit to your body in a wide variety of colors. The matching bottoms come in a variety of styles but I ordered the briefs because of the ample back coverage. If you like this suit and want more info or to order follow the link below:

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/swim/swimcollection/PRDOVR~16458/16458.jsp

Permanent magic markers and white boards!

Today I finally got around to changing our dry erase calendar to August. My brain is still in June and I don't even know where July went. :) So I began erasing July's calendar and realized that my sweet husband had written "I love you" to each of us in a different day early in June. The only problem was that he had mistakenly used permanent marker instead of dry erase. I tried everything I could think of, Windex, dish soap, rubbing really hard with the rough side of a sponge, nothing worked. Finally I decided to try a magic eraser that I had bought on my grocery trip. I sprayed the writing with Windex while I went to get the magic eraser from under the sink then when I came back I gave it a try, and to my surprise it came right off. I couldn't believe it. I sprayed the rest of the writing and it all came clean, although letting the Windex sit on the marker for a few minutes definitely helped it come off more easily. It saved our Pottery Barn dry erase calender Yeah!! I also swiped it across the stove and was amazed how nicely it cleaned streak free without the need for Windex. I wonder if this might be a new way of cleaning our house chemical free.

I bought the Magic Eraser this week for the first time in several years and noticed that Food Lion carries a store brand version. The Mr. Clean brand was $2.97 for 2 heavy duty sponges, and the store brand similar to the heavy duty was only $1.90. I could not tell a difference! Try them, and see if you are convinced.

Stock your pantry....

After being out of town for several days, we returned home to a pretty bare house. The next day my daughter left for church camp and we were again away from home for the day. The next day my husband had a dental appointment 2 hours away, followed by an unexpected oral surgery consult, followed by the next day of oral surgery. Before I knew it I was heading home with a husband under anesthesia and orders that he needed to eat only soft food. hmmmm.... I still hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping and life happened. So... I stopped at Sheetz on the way home to buy as many soft items as I could find... this is what my stash looked like 1 milkshake, 2 honeybuns, a bag of jello cubes, and a cup of donut holes. I can only imagine what the cashier must have been thinking. That initial stash got us through the afternoon, but then what to feed him for dinner? He was asking for mashed potatoes, and everything he'd been through that day I really wanted to be able to give him whatever sounded good. But no potatoes unless and went and dug them out of the garden, in the pouring rain. Believe me I considered it, but then I found some leftover potatoes that I had boiled a few nights ago and we hadn't finished.. I was in luck. I mashed them skins on added some warm milk and butter and heated and we had beautiful tasty mashed potatoes. But then yesterday passed and I still couldn't leave him to go grocery shopping. No milk now for 3 days. We were desperate!

So I finally got to go grocery shopping today and just as I was checking out the power went out in the grocery store, my groceries were loaded in the buggy in my reusable bags I swipe my card to pay and whammo ... powers out. I'm thinking there is no way I can go home without these groceries, I at least need the Advil! The manager was very sweet and let me go home with the groceries and we agreed I stop back by when the power was restored to settle up. Thank goodness!

So this is what I've learned. Why not keep our pantry stocked with at least basic sick day foods. Most of us probably keep Gatorade or something similar for the stomach flu but what about strep throat, or unexpected oral surgery, where eating is difficult? I started thinking about a list... this is what ours might look like:
Applesauce
pudding
Jello
chicken noodle soup
tomato soup
instant mashed potatoes / or mashed potatoes made ahead and frozen
yogurt
makings for milkshakes and smoothies (frozen is easiest)
soft cheeses

I wonder what you might add?

Snow in July!

I figured out a good reason to clean out your freezer .... to make it snow in July! Last night David brought home a new mixer for me and we needed to make room for it. So out went the freezer to the garage. I had spent the day vacuum sealing berries in the freezer, so it was organized and easy to unpack. Once we had it in the garage we decided to scrape the ice that had built up over the last few years, with a small hammer and an ice scrapper. It wasn't a lot or a very tedious job, but we felt like we should scrape what little was there while it was empty. We ended up with a mop bucket half full of "snow"! We had a very funny moment when Jessica came out to the garage and put her hand in the bucket, David said "DON'T EAT IT!!" in a very panicked tone. We both looked at him like he was crazy and laughed and I said "DON'T EAT IT??? what would make you think of eating it?" He said "Well, that's the first thing I would have done when I was little..." I laughed a little and went back to wiping down the freezer. A few minutes later, Ryan bounded out to the garage and saw the "snow" and the next second I turned around he had a huge piece of snow in his mouth! David and I both yelled at the same time "DON'T EAT IT!" David turned to me and said "SEE?!!! I guess it's a boy thing", and we all laughed so hard , I thought I would cry. It was one of my favorite moments of our family. I'll remember that story when I'm 99 and telling our great grand children.

Luckily Ryan didn't get sick and we decided to save the "snow" in the freezer for a really hot summer afternoon to have a snowball fight!

Summer's Bounty

We spent the first part of the day today working out in the garden. We've been having some problems with crows sharing our blueberries, so we put bird netting over our bushes to help discourage them. After finishing up we decided to dig up some of our potatoes to enjoy tonight for dinner. This is our bounty, our beautiful Easter egg colored potatoes and some small onions that we will saute. We also picked some big fluffy leaves of kale to have with our potatoes. A few weeks ago a friend from church gave me a great recipe for salt potatoes ...Put potatoes (any kind or color, I like a variety!) in a pot and cover with water. Add 1 cup of salt and boil until fork tender, then drain. Place on a plate and slice. Dip in fresh melted garlic butter and enjoy!!

We love this recipe... give it a try for a fresh way to enjoy those summer potatoes. This is really fun with the tiny new potatoes that you can dip and eat whole!

Searching for Pearls

After a long break from blogging, I decided to start again as summer arrives. Our schedule is slower now with our first homeschool year finished and another year of softball and baseball finished. As all those things were wrapping up we headed off for the beach for a week to unwind have fun in the sun sand and surf. This morning Jessica and I went "looking for pearls"... or seashells, but because we are girls we think it's more fun to look for pearls. As we were walking and talking next to the ocean Jessica said "Mommy is that a pearl?!!" Upon closer inspection it wasn't a pearl, but a shell where a pearl had grown and forced an indentation in the shell. As we kept walking I began thinking about our morning together. Walking along exploring, enjoying the ocean, laughing, hugging... and the Lord reminded me that the real gift was the time we had to spend together making memories. So we will keep "searching for pearls" knowing that if we never find a real pearl tossed up on the sea...we have "found" something far more precious.