Punk Says

So, the other day Punk was asking to go see his "Nana" (my Grandma Bessie).  I was explaining the next year's moves to him, "We can't go see Nana right now, she lives far away in Phoenix.  Right now we live close to Gramma Di and that is our grandma we see.  In a few months we will move to Nana and Grandma Deb and we will live close to them, but we won't have Daddy, he'll be at "long work".  Then in a few months we will move again and we will be with Daddy but you won't have any Grandmas or Nanas close."  Punk considered this for a few moments and said to me, "No grannas or nanas or patas?" (pata is papa, or grandpa), I said "No, they won't be close by, but they will come visit and you can call them on the phone and they always love you"  Punk thought another couple of seconds and said "AND no Bugs!" (after I stopped laughing) I said, "No, we will be taking Bug with us, we will always take Bug with us".

Fast forward to today...

Bug is napping (has been for about an hour), I am straightening my hair when I see Punk go past me towards his bedroom.
Me: "Punk, come here."
He sulks into the bathroom
Me: "Don't go in your room, Bug is napping in there"
Punk: "I need to wake him up"
Me: "No, DO NOT WAKE YOUR BROTHER"
Punk: "I NEED him"
Me: "I'll get him out when he wakes up"
Punk: "Mom, I need you to get him NOW, I need brother to PLAY!"

Green Smoothies

Spinach in your morning smoothie?  Yuck, right?  I have always thought so.

Since my "after I put the kids to bed congratulatory (everyone lived through the day) snack" has been just about daily since Bobby is gone, I've been on a quest for easy snacks.  Easy I found, this Nutella Mug Cake (that is enough for two-four people and I actually made in a bowl) is SCARY easy and delicious (and I make it with half the sugar it asks for), but seriously, if I eat that cake every night I'm gonna be 400lbs next month and I'm trying to drop a few not pack on a few.

Since I have a new addiction, Pinterest (you should have this addiction too, if you need an invite, let me know), I have seen a lot of pretty (read: gross) green smoothies popping up and today I thought...well, whatever, I'll give it a whirl.  Besides, I own a Blendtec blender, and while it is one of my favorite things in my kitchen, it is woefully under utilized.

So I threw in:

About 3 oz or so frozen spinach (my frozen spinach probably has more nutrients than that bag you've had in your fridge for 3 days)

1 Frozen Banana (my kid only eats half per day, I throw the other half in the freezer, I have two bags full of frozen half bananas)

1/3 cup of Sunday's fruit salad (kiwi, pineapple, plums, nectarines, and cherries-it's gonna go bad like tomorrow if I don't use it)

Water to the 2 cup line on my blender

BLEND away.

It made about 3 cups of smoothie, I was sad I didn't have a straw because I was afraid to touch it with my lips.  It was a PRETTY green, but it was still SPINACH in my drink.  I took a deep breath and a big swig.

Note: Picture used is not my smoothie, just one I found
online that looks very similar to what I ended up with.

DELICIOUS...wait, delicious?  Yep, delicious!

I am still a little bit in shock about it.  The banana did what banana's do and took over a lot of the flavor.  Bananas are also awesomely creamy when blended from frozen so it had an almost milkshake like consistency.  The fruit I used was all just enough to add an awesome sweet/tart to the smoothie. AND, I'm not blowing smoke up your bum, I could not taste the spinach at all.

I will be making more green smoothies (in fact, I'll be using the end of my frozen spinach in the morning and getting more tomorrow).  People brag on how good they can make you look (skin glow) and feel (energy), and there are lots of people who swear by them for weight loss.  I'm not telling you that I believe they are the miracle cure that they are touted as being on some websites, but I am telling you that I'll be making more and I'll let you know if I see any changes (positive or negative) from this new staple in my diet.

Not a Good Blogger

That's me, not a good blogger.  Truth is that my life is pretty uninteresting and I don't really have that much to say, however, I'm working on it.  I think I'm going to start trying to blog more recipes (even if they aren't that interesting or new to me), and I've decided I'm going to start reviewing things I use or try and places we go/things we do or see.  No one cares, probably, but it is, at the very least, a way for me to write more and, even if no one is reading, it is good practice...I feel a little bit like I'm getting older and dumber everyday and I need to practice some skill that doesn't involve cleaning solutions or balancing children (although, I think I'll write more about those things too).  Might take me a few weeks to get into it, but it's a goal, and I'm going to work towards it anyway...it can't hurt.

Party Prep

Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been wicked busy since Bobby left a couple weeks ago, Cori was here to visit (that was awesome) and I've been preparing for Punk's first birthday party (not his first birthday, he'll be three, but his first party none-the-less).  I've got lots of fun things up my sleeve and I'm working like crazy to get it all figured out.  There will be lots of party posts after, but I don't want to give too much away...stay tuned.

No Recipe - Pork Wanton Tostadas

Remember the Root Beer Pulled Pork?  Well, I used the leftovers to make these:

It's a flat take on Applebee's Pork Wanton Tacos (which are our absolute favorite thing on the menu at Applebee's).

I fried up the wanton wrappers flat (because I didn't want to deal with the whole folding them while frying thing) so they are tostadas instead of tacos.

I made the coleslaw using about half a bagged coleslaw mix that I added about 1/2 a chopped red onion to and I made the dressing with mayo, rice wine vinegar, stir fry sauce, an Asian sesame salad dressing/marinade and a little sugar (honey would have been a better choice, but I didn't have any), I just played with the dressing until it tasted good and used it to moisten the slaw/onion mix.

I put a heaping tablespoon of the pulled pork on the fried wanton, added a some slaw on top, garnished the whole thing with cilantro and squeezed some lemon over the top.

They were pretty awesome (if I do say so myself), Bobby liked them so well that he found something else to order when we went to Applebees a few days later because "You can make those at home"...

Next time I make them I'll try to take some measurements and I'll write down the brands of the sauces I used AND I picked up some honey so that the sweetening will be more on.

Day Thirty - Your Favorite Song This Time of Year

This is the birth month of both of my children...it's a song for them:

Day Twenty-Nine - A Song From Your Childhood

From "Back to the Future":