Saturday, January 28, 2012

Shindigs: Mountain Brook Mondays

For everyone who lives in my neck of the woods, I wanted to let you know about my brother-in-law's food truck that will be parking in Mountain Brook on Mondays!  Off Heathermoor Road near Mountain Brook Elementary School!



Head on over to Lacey's blog to get some more info.  You can even reach their twitter and facebook pages!


click truck to go to their site


What is so great about this is it makes it easy for busy moms like me to get my Shindigs "fix" when I need it! :)  They typically park downtown (which is going GREAT for them and all the business districts) but it's not easy to pull up with 4 kids, park, get out, eat, etc....while battling downtown traffic.  And one way streets.  Not that I've *ever* driven down one of those the wrong way or anything. ;) 


So go get your taste buds spanked!!

Friday, January 27, 2012

HELLO! A Recipe And an iPhone Dump :)

It's FRIDAY!  And we don't have school!!  YAY!

I recently have had many sweet comments and emails about the blog/a post/photography and I want to say THANK YOU!  And for the new commenters.....HELLO!!  Thanks for stopping by!

I did have someone ask about my butternut squash soup recipe.  Here it is!


click on pic for recipe
It was super easy and I used olive oil instead of butter (because of the fast).  I think I even added a bit of cloves and cinnamon to flavor it up a little.  Next time I make it, I may even add some half&half or milk.  But then that just adds more fat/calories, etc. 

I love butternut squash and eat it all the time.  Another one of my favorite recipes with this squash is a spinach salad.  Peel/dice the squash and roast with Pam olive oil spray, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  To the salad, add walnuts, dried cranberries, grilled chicken, and blue cheese and top with Ken's Light Vidalia Onion dressing!  YUM!!!  You can substitute any nut/cheese/dried fruit/dressing/lettuce to change it up a little.


And a few pics...

Boys being boys with toothpicks...





My little helper...






What my car would look like if I had 5 kids...







I almost burned down the house.  But I needed new spoons anyways.






Someone got a haircut!  2" off!!






Lunch box notes...oh, and mom's smart! ;)





Teaching Ford to coupon!






Cousin loving Cousin






Lil Sis had a BIRTHDAY PARTY!





Ford stays with Aunt Lindsay!





A late night indoor baseball lesson for Rhodes!






HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Ford - 4 months

Ok, so he was technically 4 months yesterday but who's counting. :)

 He's here with me today and we did a mini photo shoot before our afternoon nap.  :)

 Happy 4 months Baby Ford!!!









Tuesday, January 24, 2012

21 Days





Every year our church does a 21 days of prayer and fasting - giving the Lord the first of the year.  Refocusing and getting our priorities in the correct order.  There are many types of fasts: water only, juice fasts, the Daniel Fast, fasting a certain meal or electronics/social media.

Well, in the past I've typically fasted sweets or tv.  But this year, I decided to challenge myself phyically and spiritually by doing the Daniel Fast.  Basically, it's ONLY water, fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans.  Sounds easy right.  Well, try detoxing from refined sugar and white flour.  YIKES!

The first week wasn't hard for me.  I started easing into the fast several days before.  Kinda revving myself up for it.  Then going full force the first week of the fast.  It wasn't so hard.  I had lots of ideas and recipes to try.

Well, fast forward to day 8, 9, 10, and it's HARD.  I'm tired, my head hurts, and all I want is anything I'm not supposed to have.  But I'm denying my flesh and feeding my spirit!

Things I've LIKED (so far) about the fast:

1. Getting up EARLY and participating online with 6:00 am prayer.  For an hour I listen to praise music (ALONE!) and listen to the prayer service, do my online one year bible devotion and pray over my family.

2. Learning new eating habits.  I've caught myself trying to snack while cooking or eating off the kids plates after they're done eating.  Trying new foods and combinations of foods.

3. Having more fresh fruits and veggies readily available.  Since I have so much fresh produce sitting out, it seems the kids grab that before asking for chips or cookies!

4. The not bread thing is kinda nice.  You definitely feel less bloated/puffy feeling.

5. Hopefully retraining my taste buds.  I've gotten kinda hooked on the natural almond/peanut butter that you get a Whole Foods - you know, the kind they grind in front of you!?  Well, after a week, it actually tastes a little sweet to me.  Especially added to fruit.  Well, I smelled yes JUST smelled some regular Skippy peanut butter.  DISGUSTING.  I felt like I could smell all the chemicals!  I can't wait until the fast is over and try the honey roasted peanut butter and chocolate chip peanut butter from Whole Foods!!  I hope this happens with more food.  That I can appreciate the true flavors of food!!


What I Miss - or Don't Like:

1.  The lack of protein.  I miss EGGS!  And lean chicken breast!  I mean, I get protein from millet, or nuts, or soy beans, but I think the first breakfast I will have once this is over is a egg with salsa in a whole grain wrap!  YUM!  I think that will hold me over a lot more in the morning.

2.  I miss coffee creamer.  I'm not totally going off caffeine because I don't plan on quitting it.  :)  I have a small cup of BLACK coffee in the morning to avoid headaches.  And after 11 days, I think it's actually starting to taste GOOD.  weird!  But I can't wait to put my creamer back in.

3.  Sweets.  While I haven't had a hard time not indulging (b/c typically I'll eat a banana with some almond butter and it's practically dessert!) I do miss a piece of chocolate or cookie.  Or ice cream!

4.  Wine/Margarita?  YUP!  While it has been a good thing to say no to a nice glass of wine in the evenings, I look forward to a night out with the hubs and sharing some over a nice meal. 



My favorite meals so far is one off Pinterest.




Click on pic to get recipe.

I used millet and instead of red pepper, I added corn.  This is a wonderful meal to eat - fasting or not!!

Right now I have a pot of veggies (black eyed peas, lima beans, celery, carrots, zuchinni, yellow squash, onion) that I have added a can of tomato paste to.  I may or may not add some millet.  We'll see.

I also made some homemade butternut squash soup!  SOO GOOD!  And so good for you!!


Do you participate in anything like this with your church?