Veggies are so in for 2012!

Happy almost new year! It's hard to believe that we will be ringing in 2012 in less than 48 hours. Where has the time gone? The Christmas season was a joyful one around here. We were able to visit with family, relish in the magic of Christmas, and even pick up a double ear infection and soaring high fevers for the little one. So needless to say, we are praying for good health and happiness in the new year.

Back to purpose of this post...veggies. We're pretty good eaters around here. Large appetites, eclectic pallets, and easy to please. As you can tell by the looks of Mack, he is too. However recently he has begun to turn his nose up at vegetables. I swore I would never have a picky eater as a child. Picky eaters top my pet peeve list. My students can tell you that they must try everything that I serve them in our classroom. So it came as a shock to me that my own little farmer, would not LOVE every veggie I put in front of him (wink,wink).



Thankfully Santa brought this mama a copy of Deceitfully Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. It has been out for several years, so you might already be familiar with her ingenious way of sneaking veggies into your child's diet.

I started with Blueberry Oatmeal Bars (I changed that to blackberry). After sauteing some spinach, pureeing it, mixing up the oatmeal crust and topping, we had a sneakily scrumptious snack!







I know, I know...blackberry preserves and spinach don't look great together at first, but just trust me. The glob of low fat butter spread, doesn't help either.

Waiting anxiously for a taste








Tada...spinach served! Mack has eaten for snack the last couple of days as I sit back and giggle in delight!


Here is the recipe:
nonstick cooking spray
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup balance trans-fat free margarine , chilled
1 cup no-sugar-added blueberry spread
1/2 cup spinach , puree

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 375.
2 Coat an 8"X 8" baking pan with cooking spray.
3 In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and vanilla and stir to mix well.
4 Add the margarine and cut it quickly into dry ingredients with two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal and is no longer powdery. Do no overmix--bits of margarine will still be visible.
5 Set aside about half the oat mixture; press the rest firmly into the pan. Bake until lightly browned at the edges (but not fully baked), 13 to 15 minutes.
6 Meanwhile, mix the preserves with the spinach puree in a small bowl.
7 Spread blueberry mixture over the partially baked oat layer, then sprinkle with reserved oat mixture. Bake until topping is slightly browned, 20-25 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool completely before cutting into 12 bars.
8 Spinach Puree:.
9 Steam baby spinach(for mature spinach-remove stems) for about 30-40 seconds or cook in skillet with 1 tablespoons water for about 90 seconds or just until wilted. Puree in food processor or blender for about 2 min until smooth and creamy.

Today I attempted her mozzarella sticks with cauliflower puree. I formed them into balls instead, and they didn't turn out pretty. However, they're good!



I would pick up a copy of the cookbook (it's under $15) so that you can achieve ultimate deception!

Christmas Card Wreath

Every year it's a treat to open up Christmas cards from friends near and far. It would be even more of a treat to get to share the holidays with all of those that we see coming through our mailbox! Since these sweet friends and family can't always visit, it is nice to display their warm wishes around the house.

As night time was approaching the other day, and our first cards were arriving, I took what I had around the house and made a quick and easy wreath for the porch door. The scraps are from the Advent Calendar (seen below) and the wooden W was in my craft closet. In the past couple of days the wreath has gotten quite full, and serves as a great reminder of all those we are blessed to have in our life!

No Talent Needed - Advent Calendar

With little to no talent, and a busy Christmas season, you too can make this easy Advent Calendar.








I hope that easy and fun crafts like this allow you to slow down and enjoy the most wonderful season of all!

Where the Wild Things Are

Looking for a Christmas mantle theme? Our house headed to the wild side and created a woodlands themed Christmas. As you can see the burlap was reused from the fall mantle decorations. I changed out the fabric ties, added some Black Friday finds (note: I've never shopped on Black Friday and especially not on the night of Thanksgiving, but sister in-law and me ventured out. It was intense!). We hope you and the wild ones at your house are into the Christmas spirit!

Camp Will

I along with the other guests not only survived our camping experience last night, we relished in it! Jen and Jason out did themselves yet again. Their backyard was transformed into a kid friendly campsite full of tents, hot dogs, and of course s'mores! Thanks for a delightful evening and that precious baby boy of yours. So can I cross camping off of my bucket list?

A Camping We Will Go

We're going camping this evening. To a camping theme birthday party that is! Did you think I meant real camping? Yeah right! I've never been. I like the idea of it, and that Jarrod has such fond memories of camping, but I just can't visual it. Me that is, camping. One day I'm going to muster up the courage, but until then I will go to camping inspired one year old birthday parties!

All out of gift ideas? Look around the house and see what is your favorite or your child's favorite things. That means someone else probably likes them too! Oh and I hate buying $4 ugly birthday cards. Easy way to personalize your gift, make your own tags!

Candy canes...not yet!

Here's a sneak peek into what Betsy and I've been up to. We made some burlap candy canes to hang on our front doors once the happy, happiest time of year rolls around. The go getter spirit that my dear friend Betsy embodies, lead her to go home and make seven of them! That's right, SEVEN. I think she's drinking the egg nog before Thanksgiving! I'll make sure to take a picture of the cute cane hanging on the front door.

In other news, Godzilla (doesn't he just look like a cute little/big monster there?) has started walking in the last few weeks. My back and knees thank the 30 pounder!


His daddy also insisted on trimming back his Miccosukee Land Co-op shag hair. Now he is just a neater version of his messy self!

Give Thanks Banner

A simple way to show your gratitude.

Start with a roll of packing paper or a brown paper grocery bag.



Cut rectangles, squares, triangles...really any shape you would like. I crumbled my rectangles to add a little texture to the banner. I also didn't cut out identical rectangles, but if you are a closet perfectionist, go right ahead!



Now start gluing on your letters. You could cut your letters out of fall inspired scrapbook paper, or use pre-cut letters. I happened to have multiple alphabets of letters due to a scrapbook store going out of business sale years ago. They have been collecting dust in a closet, and they were the inspiration for making a banner.



If you crumble your brown paper, you will find that the letters don't want to be glued down. So use a weight on each rectangle for a couple of minutes.





I've learned that it is virtually impossible to take nice pictures in our dining room, but here is the idea. The banner is MUCH cuter in person (if I do say so myself). Oh and those curtains were less than $14 a panel at Wal-mart. Yes, I have been to Wal-mart for all you naysayers!

P is for Pumpkin

The Bible says that, "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

The activity around here lately is pumpkins! Fall is definitely in the air, and I think everyone loves this time of year. We're tired of sweating, ready for warm hearty soups, the smell of cinnamon, and of course pumpkins!




Pumpkin muffins for friends at church and for Mack to give to his friend's at Miss Anna's.


There's nothing better than the smell of fall. However, if you are too busy to be baking something yummy, look at this wonderfully delightful contraption. It is a Scentsy burner. Maybe they've been out for a while, I don't know. I just got one, and it makes our whole home smell like a warm and cozy cinnamon roll!