Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Recipe: Pita pocket salad!


8/30/11

So I have a new obsession...whole wheat pita pocket bread. YUM. No enriched flour. No crap. That's what I like. It tastes good too and is fun! So the other night I made a new thing that turned out fantastic...you have to try this. I got the pita bread from Walmart.

Um, yeah, Abigail loves this stuff with bbq chicken!

Pita Pocket Salad

1 Pita Pocket
lettuce
grilled chicken
bbq sauce
fresh cut cucumber, onion, green pepper
little bit of mozzarella cheese
dried cranberries or cherries
italian dressing (packet you can make yourself)

Directions:
1. Put Pita in oven on rack on 350 degrees 3-5 minutes.
2. Cut grilled chicken in small pieces and put bbq sauce with it. Simmer a few minutes in pan.
2. Make salad with the rest of the ingredients and toss in a bowl.
3. Put chicken with salad and mix more.
4. Remove pita from oven and Stuff with salad.
5. Enjoy with watermelon like I did or another kind of fruit!

Makes me want it again looking at this picture!!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Food Find...local garden

8/29/11

Last night I rode my bike to youth group and passed this little garden stand selling vegetables at a lady's house. I didn't have time to stop so this morning I ventured out again with Abigail to go get good deals....without spending gas (yes!). It was cute and only took me maybe 10 minutes to get there. I love this area because it's close to lots of stores and the mall but you have to go by a bunch of farms to get there...perfect for paying less on fruits and vegetables.


Here's the cute stand. Good variety of food.

Abigail in the trail behind. What century do I live in again? Riding to a farm to buy food? ha.

She was selling bundles of flowers for a dollar also. Very pretty ones!

Abigail was tired from our ventures.

Spent $3.00 on all this. Mostly everything was 25 and 50 cents that she was selling. What a great morning!!


My girl...not so little anymore?

8/29/11
This last week has been huge for Abigail. I feel like she changed SO much! Where to begin? Well, let's start with mobility. She is not walking...yet. She walks while holding onto everything and started running while holding onto my hands. She surprised me and I could barely keep up!! She is waving "hi" and "bye" all the time now. Dancing happens a lot! She just starts bopping when she hears a phone go off. hehe. And she is just able to express what she knows more. Now to food. This is day number FOUR with no baby food! I have been really forcing it for a while now. I would sing "the wheels on the bus" to get her to eat the baby food. So why not just let her go without it now? She's almost 11 months. It's been great!!! She has also weaned herself from breastfeeding. I still try to feed her once or twice a day from me but she has no interest so why push it at this age? She has exclusively breastfed from me for almost a year..that's pretty good. I don't want to hold her back if she's ready. I love her...my baby is growing up...take a look at pics :)

She picked up her mini cup and just started drinking out of it all by herself, without guidance or telling her to do it!

Trying to get her to just drink out of a cup and this cup with a straw.

Here she is eating her strawberries earlier today :)

Here are my finds for her! Sorry it's side ways. Too much work to change it right now (too lazy). But there are freeze dried packets of fruit called Air Crisps, honey grahams, fruit granola bars, oatmeal, and GoGo Squeeze of no sugar added, natural fruit. So this is my world...more to come!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

New Food Find and Meals with No Money!


8/23/11

So in one of my previous posts, I talk about how amazing Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market is. Trader Joe's has this awesome peanut butter with 3 ingredients. Well, today I was getting a couple items at Target and saw that Archer Farms has the same one!!!! Amazingness. It was with flax seed and only 3 ingredients as well. Oh how I love Target....anyways, we were almost out of the PB from TJ so I picked it up. I have not tasted it yet so hopefully it scores well and I can buy that from now on.

On to more food....well, lack thereof. I have like no money for groceries left so I am going to have to do some improvising. How do you make meals with little food and a tight budget?! Well, worry no more. I have/had some ideas and it's going to be all good :)

So here's the situation. I have a big bag of chicken I cooked already and froze. I have a good amount of sliced ham too from Rise 'n Roll Bakery (only $1 a pound!). Then Kyle's mom left us with a ton, a ton of sloppy joe Elk meat from the weekend (garage sale). Do I really want sloppy joe's every day for the next week? Nope, I sure don't. So I decided to make empanadas with sloppy joe and ham. Yes I did. I just made the dough then put some cheese with choice of meat on the inside and folded it up. Fantastic! Then I froze the rest of the meat to use later (I love the freezer).
I plan to make homemade pizza, my own flatbread (sandwiches/wraps), and I have a new bag of organic potatoes I can use as starches for the week. I do have some lettuce, bananas, peppers, frozen veggies, and carrots. Fruit is not so much right now :(

Here's the empanadas I made...

Even though I don't really have any room to buy groceries, it's amazing what you can find in your cupboards to make that you normally buy!! I still buy no processed food but it's easier not to make my own flatbread and such...so saving money here I am!

I have things to say about my girl but don't have time...so till the next post, see ya!

Monday, August 15, 2011

10 Months


Someone lit up when I started snapping shots.
10 months today!

8/15/11

Here are adorable pictures of my 10 month girl! Really? Is this happening?? 10 months?! Craziness. But what a ride it's been. Each day I play with her and can't believe how blessed I am and how much I love this child. It's still only the beginning. She's fantastic :)

So here are things she's doing...
-Talking...a lot. Mostly jibber jabber but says "momma, dad, daddy, kitty, ducky, me," The ever favorites are also, "nah nah (no), bwe, and boogied"

-Walking and running along furniture

-Standing for several seconds at a time without holding onto anything (has stood and sat down without holding anything)

-Chases the cat a lot

-Bops to music...she bopped to Mumford and Sons tonight and was with the beat!

-Loves reading books! She can't get enough of books

- Is eating granola bars now

-Understands what I say...crawling to the bathroom when I asked if she wanted to bathe

....those are just a few things that she's doing. Can you tell I love her a lot? :) Just wait till her birthday party!




Thursday, August 11, 2011

Crisp Air and My Life Lessons


8/11/11

I have to start off with how beautiful it is outside. I am loving this cool, crisp air. I love summer but it's been too hot to be outside with my girl a lot. This cool air makes me happy to wear sweatpants and cuddle up with a little blanket and good book....or laptop for blog surfing. Oh geesh.

So this summer has been busy. The past 2 weeks have been ridiculously busy. I have been so tired the last few days but have just kept going. It is good though.

Today is a great day to just stay home and relax. So that's what I'm doing...playing with my girl and relaxing when she takes a nap :)

Part of my exhaustion is due to emotions. There are several people in my life (to whom I'm close with..is it "who" or "whom"?) who are going through big trials. But guess what?? It's wearing me out too! ha. Seriously though, the other day I was exhausted from emotional burdens for other people. I have this growing passion to seek the Lord more and more, to do His work. I feel that part of my work is to bless others and help them during times of need. Someday I think the Lord is going to position Kyle and I to be able to help others with a place to stay and help others financially (Lord willing). This is one of the biggest reasons we want to be out of debt, so we can bless others. Even though we aren't out of debt now, don't have a large house, and don't make a bunch of money, it doesn't mean I can't bless others with what we have. So I've been asking God to for opportunities to share with others, and give like I would if I had a lot of money to spare. Guess what? He is answering that! And guess what? It can be hard at the same time.

It can be difficult to completely trust when you're spending extra money to help. But do I really need that extra bag of pretzels sitting in my pantry when I have 2 more in the cupboard? Do I really need to sit at home to relax when I can be helping someone else in need? Should I be watching TV instead of on my knees praying for a troubled situation, family, person in need? Is it wise to use extra money we get for our personal pleasure when others around me are in need of food, clothing, etc? (not saying you can't ever splurge on yourself but when it's every single time) Nope. I am called to do God's work and He is my Provider, He's my manager of time, He's my Sustainer, He's my Counselor. I could give everything away and He could bless me ten fold, or I could give nothing away and He could take everything away in an hour. I am called to a life of leaning and trusting in my Lord and Savior. I am called to be Christ's hands and feet.

That's my life and my story right now. I hope God is working on you and growing you right now. Here's a fun look at the pictures we got taken a couple weeks ago...love :)

I really like this one.

My cutie pie :)

Our family.