Healthy Butterfinger Smoothie Recipe! and beach!

Carrot juice and Peanut Butter together?

Sounds gross right, but OH MY GOODNESS, this is probably one of my favorite smoothies of all time (except chocolate and peanut butter - can't beat that combo!!) and Mitchell's favorite too and it is so healthy, protein packed and refreshing!

Ingredients (but oops forgot to put the PB in the photo - the 2nd most important ingredient!)

BUTTERFINGER SMOOTHIE

1 Cup Carrot Juice

1 TBsp Peanut Butter

2 TBsp Nonfat Dry Powdered Milk AND/OR 1 TBsp Powdered Fat-Free Creamer (this is what makes it taste like ice cream - I use both!)

1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (your favorite brand)

10-12 ice cubes

Optional: -1 packet Stevia (I use Truvia) or 1 Tablespoon Sugar if you want it a but sweeter (I don't add this)

-1 Tablespoon Wheat Germ (this gives it that crunchy Butterfinger texture - yum!!!)

Blend all ingredients together until smoothie consistency and ENJOY your guilt free Butterfinger! I did the stats on this and here are the basics (varies a bit depending on the protein powder you use). CALORIES = 280 Calories FAT = 6 Grams healthy fat! PROTEIN = 17 Grams - WOW! SUGAR = 18 Grams (most are natural from carrot juice)

And a few bonus shots - it was 80 degrees at the beach in Ventura so we took advantage of it! The kids loved it and the day was perfect! I didn't bring my camera as I am certain we have many fun beach days in the future but stole these from my fiend who took them!

Mitchell with sand drool! Shayla and her buddy Cole

Super Heroes Training!

Our moms group had a fun playdate yesterday - Super Hero Training! The kids all dressed in their capes and masks and ran around doing obstacle courses, looking for bad guys, shooting practice, and more! They had so much fun and it was fun to watch!

Shayla in flight training!

Mitchell wanted to play too!
Target practice

Getting ready to go on their training course!

Mission accomplished! Training Completed! Medals awarded!

Celebrating the Irish in us!

Because we are part Irish, we like to be sure to celebrate St Pattys Day! And we did! Starting the day with green pudding filled pancakes and shamrock shakes to green bubble fun to a gold hunt and more!

We hope the luck of the Irish is with you all year long! Much Love to you and yours!

My two lucky charms!!

Love this little man! Harder to take pics of him now since he scoots away but I still got a few!

We had a fun St Pattys Day at the park where the kids noshed on green foods, made necklaces, and hunted for the gold the leprechauns hid at the park!
The Gold Hunt Begins!

Showing off her stash!

Lad, Lassie and Mommy!

March madness...

Wow I cannot believe this week it will already be the middle of March! This year is flying by! This coming week is our "spring break" - Shayla's preschool break - so hopefully we will find more fun things to do, but we never seem to lack that and this week was another busy, fun week!

We had some friends over for a bug playdate and took a walk down to the river to look for bugs, made some butterfly art with pasta, and ate some bugs and butterfly snacks! Beautiful days here this week in the 80's!

Mitchell and gal pal Noelle

Saturday, I helped host a baby shower for my bestie Heather who is pregnant with her second girl! Fun Times!

Then we helped my Grandma Betty celebrate her 87th birthday! This woman is amazing and always on the go! I always say that she will put live us all and she is on that path! Here she is with Shayla.

Grandma Betty with Mitchell

Video Time!

So I thought I would share some of the more recent videos of my kiddos taken on my Flip! The first is one of Mitchell pushing his Radio Flyer Walker. He is not walking yet but already gets into everything, so no rush (:

The next American Idols?

Love that Laugh!

I love how Shayla can always entertain Mitchell! They are so precious together!

Pancake Day!

Pancake Poem
Shel Silverstein

Who wants a pancake,
Sweet and piping hot?
Good little Grace looks up and says,
"I'll take the one on top."
Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?
Terrible Teresa smiles and says,
"I'll take the one in the middle."

I am not sure why I never knew this but did you know that Mardi Gras, aka Fat Tuesday, aka Shrove Tuesday is also known as PANCAKE DAY!

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Among Anglicans, Lutherans, some other Protestant denominations, including ethnic British communities in Canada, as well as Catholics, this day is also known as Pancake Tuesday, as it is customary to eat pancakes. It falls just before Lent, and was traditionally a day of fun and feasting before fasting for 40 days of Lent.

Pancakes and doughnuts are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs.

Isn't that NEAT? I could not pass up the opportunity to celebrate National Pancake Day since Pancakes are the one thing in our family that everyone eats (yes there are very few things that each one of us will all eat) AND there are so many delicious pancake recipes out there so I thought I would do a little homage to Pancakes!

1. Check out this site for some fun printable on pancakes from coloring pages to mazes to bean bag pancakes and pancake finger puppets! I use this site a lot to get fun themed activities for Shayla and has great quiet time activities for church and road trips, etc. www.activityvillage.co.uk/pancake_day.htm

2. Recipes. Pancakes were also big in my fanily growing up too (also maybe because they were probably the only thing all 7 kids would eat) from big pancake on Sundays to Norwegian Pancakes on Birthdays to my moms famous buttermilk pancakes - everyone loved pancakes! Here are a few of my favorite pancakes to make and eat!

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
(Adapted from Mom's famous buttermilk pancakes, from Amy)
This recipe is just like my mom's famous buttermilk pancakes but with whole wheat flour and one less egg to make it fluffy. We love these pancakes and freeze them in batches to toast for later!

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. sugar (optional--we use 2 Tbsp. brown sugar)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine eggs, buttermilk, and oil in a bowl and whisk until frothy. Put dry ingredients in sifter (or mix with fork) and add to wet ingredients. Combine with a few strokes. Batter will be lumpy. Place batter onto very hot, well-greased griddle. Flip pancakes when bubbles start to appear on the surface.

Chocolate Protein Pancakes
These are so healthy and good and let me get my chocolate fix. You can omit the protein powder if you like and use all whole wheat flour vs half oat bran and add sweetener of your choice to taste. You can even add chocolate chips too if you want them extra chocolatey! And Vegan!

• ½ cup flour (I use whole-wheat or whole wheat pastry)
• ½ cup oat bran (you can sub flour)
• ¼ - ½ cup cocoa powder (depending on how chocolatey you want them – I use ½)
• 2-4 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder (start with 2 and you can add more to batter after you taste it if you want)
• 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cup nondairy milk OR milk (I use almond milk) (add more if needed to make consistency of smooth pancake batter).
• optional: ¼ cup sugar (If using liquid sweetener, decrease milk accordingly)

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet and mix. Then make your pancakes! (Makes 16). These freeze great too! Also make great PB&J pancake sandwiches!


Amazing Apple Pancake

This is the apple version of German Pancake (more quiche like than pancake but OH SO GOOD! It works well when using wheat flour if you whisk the egg and flour together first. Great for company too! From Molly.

2 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 c white and 1/2 cup wheat flour (or all white or all wheat)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3-4 TBsp butter
8 eggs
1 c milk

Lower the rack in your oven so that it is closer to the bottom of the oven than to the top. Preheat the oven to 4250. In a bowl, mix the apple slices with the two sugars and cinnamon; set aside. Chop the butter and scatter it in a 9 X 13” glass baking dish (or two glass pie plates) then place the dish in the oven. Spraying the pan with cooking spray before putting the butter in keeps the pancake from sticking. The butter is necessary though to help the pancake rise like it should. After the butter melts, I put in the apples and sugar and then put the pan back into the oven. I then beat the eggs, then stir in the milk, flour, and salt in the same bowl (less mess) that I used to mix the apples and sugar and when it’s well mixed, I pull the pan back out with the apples already cooking and pour the batter on top. Don’t’ stir. Carefully return the baking dish to the oven and bake for 20 minutes or less. You could serve with powdered sugar.

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY TO YOU ALL!

Party Week!!!

After Mitchell's birthday party last Saturday, the week continued with lots of fun parties, family and friends! Recap time, although they are off in order:

PARTY 3#:

My brother, Tom, turned 30 and we were able to celebrate with him. My uncle Dennis was visiting from Wisconsin too who we rarely get to see so that was a nice bonus!

The Birthday Boy/Man!

I found the girls, Shayla and her cousin, Kalea, in the bathroom and Kalea was brushing Shayla's hair out - so sweet - she's hired!
Dax and Mitchell - always buddies!

Uncle Dennis with Dax and Mitchell

Grandpa with Mitchell

Larissa with Uncle Dennis

Party #2: Mitchell's little gal pal who is a few days younger than him turned 1 this week as well so we helped her celebrate!

Bounce House time!

Erin with Mitchell and Audrinna, the birthday girl!

Audrinna and her rocking cake made by rocking Amy

Shayla and Audrinna

Party #3: Shayla's friend Henry turned 4 at our first Chuck E Cheese birthday party. The kids had a blast of course!

Mitchell and Shayla on a "ride"

Mitchell enjoying the party!

Shayla with Henry the birthday boy!

Mitchell sizing up Chucky! He seemed to like him!

No birthdays next week so we can come down from the sugar/adrenaline high! Too much fun!

Best of both Breakfasts!

My two favorite breakfasts are Hot Chocolate and Oatmeal so I thought - why not combine them! I am sure this is not an original idea but it was SOO tasty - I usually make my own hot chocolate from cocoa and stevia, but you could probably just add a packet of Hot Cocoa mix to your Oatmeal and it would still be good! Here is how I make it:

HOT CHOCOLATE OATMEAL RECIPE

1/2 Cup Oatmeal (I actually use 1/4 cup oatmeal and 1/4 cup oat bran since I love my oat bran!)
1-1/12 cup water or milk (depending on how rich you like it (I use Almond Milk) )
1-2 Tablespoon Cocoa (to taste)
1-2 Tablespoon Sugar or honey (or packet of Stevia)
A dash of Cinnamon
A dash of Salt
A dash of vanilla

Bring to boil on the stove. Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes until desired thickness! For an added touch top with whipping cream, dig in and ENJOY!