dinner was a hit tonight!

 
finished off with a couple of Little Angel's infamous choco chip cookies

YUM!

The 100 Days of Real Food Pledge

We've had a lot going on with us over the last few years; coupled with moving from one state to another, into a rented home and finally recently into our new home!!  But, all of that meant that we let go of some really good and healthy practices...regular exercise and healthy organic vegetarian (ok we're still vegetarians) real food eating habits.  Little by little I've been rebuilding a sense of normalcy back into our lives...better than ever for us though!  And little by little I'm building back in the once-very-healthy holistic living practices we've had.  And, little by little, we're going to get back to very healthy eating (as a vegetarian family, this often involves a lot of time on my end, to plan, shop and prepare...somehow on top of also being their full-time teacher, etc).  But, we are going to get there slowly but surely.  And, as always, when I'm thinking about something, the Divine always knows to send me help or a message in support of healthy changes. A few days ago an article popped up for a blog called "The 100 Days of Real Food Pledge."  This family, like us, family of four with two girls, our girls' ages!  And, as if that weren't enough, I've also (for the first time ever) decided to incorporate some fianancial discipline and budgeting into our lives....especially in light of all the costs associated with a major move and paying our mortage along with a high rental payment for several months.   So, for the first time ever, we want to budget, including groceries (The Duggars kind of influenced me too, I admit it, I kind of like them:)  So, I thought it would be interesting to see if we could try to have a grocery budget of $120 a week ....  well, surprise surprise, http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/category/100-days-of-real-food-on-a-budget/ (as it turns out, after te 100 days, she was relieved, as that was a pretty darned tight budget for heating that healthy--but she stuck with the $120/wk grocery budget).  So, we shall see....(but, I'm quite certain it's "cheaper" to be a vegetarian than a carnivoire:).

p.s. my pledge has not officially begun yet:)

Snack Pack Lunches----SUCCESS!!!

Either I recently experienced a stroke of pure genius, or I'm finally starting to get the Mom thing!  EVERY mom has been through this!  The meal struggle; and of course it's exaggerated when you have growing kids who go through varying stages of pickiness.  And that struggle is even more intesified when you have a very slim little girl who pretty much refuses to eat anything mom makes, with the exception of dessert (ok, she will eat broccoli and she'll drink chocolate milk, but this vegetarian kid needs more protein!)  I've tried everything!  The biggest problem, she likes something one day and looks at it like it's Satan's spawn the next!  The next struggle is one that only the stay-at-home mom gets---you do need to provide all the meals for your children.   I have a previous neighbor from up-north who intentionally left her children in daycare longer so that she didn't have to provide breakfast or lunch!  And the beauty of it is, she had at least 3 hours to herself each day.  Of course I'd LOVE that, but I still wouldn't trade what I have for anything.  I know how lucky I am.  Then the next challenge is, we are homeschooling, it's real now!  I know I know, make meal preparation part of the homeschooling experience--great learning opportunities.  Well, the reality of it is, when you have two children close in age, it's not that easy--but once n awhile, we'll bake together or do simple things.  We are vegetarians afterall; which means I'm often using butcher knives for chopping and dicing-- I'm not interested in any unintended slicing (and I mean me--I need to concentrate:)  And they are still a bit young for stove top work--but we're working towards that.  In fact Daddy's taken this on with Saturday morning cakes and eggs (or is that eggs and cakes:).  Also, once school's done, these girls are hungry!  Anyway, more later on Kids in the Kitchen--we shall revisit this, as we found a really neat Goose Berry Patch cookbook for kids when we were in the Smokies.

So, what is this blog posting about?  Where was my sheer genious?  Snack Pack Lunches!  I saw these lock n lock plastic containers which have optional dividers (as seen in the photos above), so that you can change the size of the inside as needed.  What I started doing was during the week, preparing some healthy appetizer type items, that I pack up each night into these containers.  So that when school's done--lunch is ready!  Also, I've been spending WAY too much money (and calories) on eating out, when the girls and I go out on our little excursions and field trips.  Voila, these lunches were packed the night before, I can just throw them in a cooler for our trips!

Do you know what else is working!!  Fairy Girl LOVES this--I don't pack the same items everyday--so it's a fun mystery--and she actually eats--they are both very excited for lunch time!  I could put all the same stuff on a plate, and I believe she would snub the same meal!  I've carefully researched and prepared a list of ideas for my lunch (and yes, I actually put my list onto an excel spreadsheet, along with a general grocery list--it's a big time-saver, which we need.  You'd think that as a mom who doesn't work outside of the home, it would be easy--but I am their full-time teacher--so it takes organization.  Below you will find a list of some of my ideas: 

Main	Side	dessert	other
roasted red pepper hummus and pita chips	celery sticks filled with cream cheese	fig bars	smoothies w/whey
veggies and dill dip	celery sticks filled with peanutbutter/raisins	cookies
Nacho Bites	apples and peanutbutter	granola bars
egg salad with crackers	bananas	pudding
hard boiled egg	dried fruit
deviled eggs	candied nuts
cottage cheese with chives or garlic seasong	mini muffins
bagel bite crisps with cream cheese	string cheese
cold ranch veggie pizza	cheese slices and whole grain crackers
mexican snack squares	trail mix
fruit burriotos	parmesan popovers
taco rollups	taffy apple salad
mexi dip and chips	party snack mix
savory cucumber sandwiches	nutty carmel apple dip w/ apples
Italian-style pasta salad	marinated mozzarella bites
crostini w/ hummus	roasted pumpkin seeds
white bean dip w/pita chips	mini frittatas
	walnuts, grapes, cheese cubed

Butterflies and Pizza Cones

We took a little field trip today, to the Coastal Discovery Museum in Hilton Head.  I saw they had a Butterfly Garden-House, and thought the girls would enjoy that.  The museum is in the site of an old plantation house, and is very beautiful.  In addition to the butterflies, we heard our first alligators--a baby, and a male making a mating call--how many of you have ever heard an alligator before?  (ok they were recorded, but, still, how many of you have heard one:)  We also saw a very large skeleton of a loggerhead sea turtle, and a skull of an alligator.  There was also a hands-on learning room; the girls were also able to dress in traditional Guhlla girls' outfits (if you aren't familar with the term Guhlla girl, as I wasn't before we moved to the Low Country Sea Islands--here you go--  Gullah 

Shortly before we moved, I happened to catch a segment on The Food Network, showcasing a little place in Hilton Head that makes Pizza Cones!  We HAD to try a pizza cone.  Well, today was finally the day, and they were quite fun and delish.  It was interesting, we talked quite a bit to the owner and her business manager (the two who were also on the food network segment).  I congratulated them on getting the gig.  They said one week, on a Wednesday, they were approached by Food Network, and one week later they were filming!  The filming crew showed up before 7 am, and stayed for 12 HOURS!  Oh, and it was for a 2.5 minute segment!!!  They said it really gave them a huge boost in their business!

BTW, their gelato was quite good too.  I had tiramisu.  Here's the restaurant:

Pino Gelato

And, in case the butterflies and pizza cones wasn't enough fun for one day, the girls and I did some shopping in Hilton Head---I got three more sundresses:D (shhh, hope J doesn't read this blog entry:D)  Then the girls hit the spray zone and the beach, where they met a new friend, Alexa.  A good time was had by all!

More Fun with the New "Little" Camera

Super Yum!

Fairy Girl took this one

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I just wanted to see how it does indoors and in very low lighting---pretty well!!!

Fun Fun Fun

Fun in the sun!!!! Life is very very good!
Lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe'.

Fun at Downtown Disney Marketplace!

Today's funnies:

1. saw a short man driving a dumpy old truck with a big sign on the back that read: "Wanted, fat chick with house! call (insert phone #)"

2. saw a younger guy driving a car with a Domino's pizza sign on top---it looked like he was making a delivery. Why is this funny? His license plate was from Illinois---we were driving just north or Orlando--is there a chance the pizza will be delivered cold?

Da Domestic Diva

Guess What? Monday's dinner and dessert---DONE---ON SUNDAY!!