Savory Summertime Snacks

In my continuing attempt to "be a better mom this summer," here's a list of some yummy snacks that I thought I'd share. I found them at SparkPeople, and I'm really hoping to be more consistent this summer in serving snack-time treats to my fam....in hopes that my new 'habits' will contiunue into the new school year...and beyond!

On a side note: these 10 savory snacks are all under 250 calories (not that we all need it! I do!)

Mini Chicken Fiesta
Fill 1 small corn tortilla with 3 oz chicken. Sprinkle on 2 Tbsp cheddar cheese and top with 2 Tbsp salsa. Warm in microwave if desired.

Better than Wings
Dunk 2 celery stalks in 2 Tbsp light bleu cheese dressing. Drizzle with hot sauce to taste.

Creamy, Crunchy, and TangyToast
1 slice multigrain bread. Spread with 1 Tbsp goat cheese then cover with 1 sliced tomato. Add plenty of black pepper and a pinch of dried thyme.

What a Pita!
Fill a 6-inch whole wheat pita with 2 Tbsp hummus. Squeeze with lemon juice and sprinkle with paprika.

Cheesy Dunker
Dunk 1 piece of mozzarella string cheese into 1/4 cup warm marinara sauce.

No-Cheat Chips and Salsa
Drag 15 baked tortilla chips through 1/2 cup salsa. Try raspberry-chipotle, tomatillo, or spicy mango varieties.

Punched-Up Popcorn
Pop 1 bag of 100-calorie popcorn. Season with 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp chili powder.

Filling Carbs-n-Protein
Eat 1 hardboiled egg with 3 pretzel rods.

Bean-n-Guac Rollup
Fill one small corn tortilla with 1/4 cup mashed black beans. Top with 1/4 avocado (diced) and add 2 Tbsp salsa.

Lett-uce Eat Tuna
Mix 3 oz tuna with 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 Tbsp light mayo. Season with black pepper to taste. Place mixture in 1 cup of lettuce leaves.

Oh! To be a better mom this summer was just recently finalized and posted.

A Memorable May!

Whew...is it already the end of May?!? It's really hard for me to believe that May is almost over...which has had a lot goin' on!

We "wrapped up" our school year this past week; so we are thoroughly enjoying this week without having many commitments. {Hence...time to catch up on my blog...woohoo!}

Of course, this past weekend was a holiday weekend, and we successfully squeezed out every memorable inch out of it! And now it's Wednesday, and we're already closing in on next weekend when Daddy doesn't have to go to work every day! So now I look back and wonder where the heck May went! I still can't account for every day, but there were some pretty memorable days in it!

At the beginning of this month, I began (once again) Weight Watchers, and I'm so thankful for the great group of gals that are in it with me...it does make it more enjoyable! I think it's what works the best for me...I enjoy the monotony of writing things down (give me a checklist, and I'm all over it!), and the girls enjoy helping me track the calories, fiber and fat grams. I did really well on it after I had Cricket, so we'll see how I do on it this go-round! So after I attended my first WW meeting and took Cricket to soccer, we ran out to get last minute things for our cinco de mayo party...and stayed out way too late, for the next morning was the Belk Sale benefiting Bethany! And of course I didn't have time to sell as many tickets as I had planned on selling, sooo...I guess that meant I had to spend them, oh well...shopping for charity!

For those that know me, they know that I am NOT a morning person...but tell me that there's a sale that will end at 10 AM, and somehow I can muster up the strength to become a morning person! Oh my word...next year, I'm going to really push this sale! It's a great fundraiser! Bethany was able to sell tickets to Belk for $5, and Bethany was able to keep the profits! The tickets got one in the doors early at Belk and I'm telling you....everything was marked down drastically! It was like I was living a dream! You know...the dream where everything is marked down and you can grab what you can before the time runs out! The stores were so quiet (with the exception of cash registers' ringing and people hollering over sales!), and there were coffee stations with Krispy Kreme donuts (I did well, WW friends!) I'm telling you it was a dream! We bought a couple of little Ralph Lauren dresses for Cricket and Lovey (they're Lovey's favorite, and I'm pretty sure that they were only $10!), a RL shirt for AngelWings ($10), an MP4 player for $17, Ricci bought me some more Estee Lauder pleasures for Mother's Day (thank you, Ricci!), and I can't remember what other things we bought...I'm telling you...great sales all throughout the store; then they started to take the magic signs down when they opened up the doors to the public!

One thing that I've learned...being on the board of directors for Bethany means...fundraising! Previously, I didn't really know that 1/2 of Bethany's funds come from donations, and the other 1/2 comes from adoptions. There is no charge to the moms that come through and receive counseling and then choose to use another means of adoption. So this next year's sale, I'm going to come and get you gals to purchase these tickets and put on your shopping shoes...cause we're hitting the Belk stores early! In the name of charity!!!

Yes, I began WW just in time for our 4th annual cinco de mayo party...oh well! And for some reason, I didn't seem to get the camera out as often as I usually do, but here are a few pics of some of our closest loved ones that celebrated the special day with us.

As our tradition, I served the usual: Alals' chicken-spinach enchiladas, black beans with lime, Spanish rice (I ran out of time and fudged on this one with a semi-homemade version...if anyone has a good recipe for Spanish rice, I'd love it if you share it with me!), and for the first time I served a new appetizer, Black Bean Tartlets, that I thought was really yummy. Try it...I'm sure you'll love it too!

Black Bean Tartlets
Yields: 32 appetizers

Garnishes: sour cream, fresh cilantro

Ingredients for the tartlets:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons ice water

Combine first 8 ingredients in a food processor; pulse until blended. Add butter; pulse until mixture is crumbly. Add egg and ice water; process just until the mixture forms a ball.
Divide dough in half; shape each half of dough into 16 (1") balls. Press balls into lightly greased miniature (1 3/4") muffin pans, pressing evenly into bottom and up sides.
Bake tartlet shells at 450° for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove shells to wire racks, and cool completely.

Ingredients for the Black Bean Salsa:

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet yellow pepper
1 plum tomato, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, tossing well. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

Spoon 1 tablespoon Black Bean Salsa into each tartlet shell; garnish, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

I found this recipe in the Christmas with Southern Living 2000

We served mango tea with fruit for the kids, sangria and a selection of Mexican beer for the mamas and the papas, and for dessert we once again served vanilla ice cream with your choice of toppings (toasted coconut, chocolate sauce, and Uncle Charles' roasted Spanish peanuts...thanks, Uncle Charles!) Of course, we were having such a great time that I didn't even start the waiting coffee...we were with such close friends and family that it was a very relaxed evening; it was wonderful!

Thankfully, God doesn't give us more than we can handle; the rest of that week I spent recovering from a ruptured ovarian cyst; Ricci took a day off of work to allow me to rest (there's not much more one can do but keep still and just rest...ahhh...that part's nice!), and he helped the girls with some of their schoolwork. There's nothing like knowing that you're in the home stretch...summer's awaiting around the corner!

Later that week, we celebrated 58th National Day of Prayer with our community. I have to say that I really appreciate this national holiday, and I also have to say that I struggle with knowing that others don't hold the same value of it as I do...why is it not more widely attended?

On the first Thursday in May, every community across the US is encouraged to hold an event at noon, and the theme for this year was “Prayer…America’s Hope” based on the verse from Psalm 33:22 which states, “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” Oh! How we need His unfailing love to rest upon us, and oh...we need to be faithfully putting our hope in Him!

This is the second year that I've helped facilitate our location's event, and I love seeing who participates in it! It's such a sweet time of coming together (denominations set aside) as a body of believers that desire our God to hear us as one church. Our pastor Jeremy led us this year, and he did a fabulous job; he opened up the time with a reading of Psalm 33, and then we spent time in prayer for our government, our military, our media, our businesses, our churches, and our families! What a sweet time it is! I'm thankful that my girls have the opportunity to hopefully grow up remembering this experience as a special one in our community.

That afternoon, we spent some time playing outside with Savannah, Ben, Emmaline and Jonathan (the creek is so full from all of the rain, and it's just irresistible to children!), then we had a memorable late lunch at Piccadilly (I'll spare you the details!) with friends before a play date at our new favorite park...welp...almost our favorite...I had to call the girls back to get back in the car...we'd have to come back to the playground, but not today...the battery was flirting with death! So after "I" took care of the car (at the fixit shop, of course! "I" meaning...I ordered a new battery, watched it being installed and paid for it! Yes, Daddy'd be proud!), we were on the road again!!

That next Saturday Jenna graduated from UT-Martin! Woohoo! We're all sooo very proud of you, Jenna! We were supposed to go to her graduation, but after the car was acting up and we were all so exhausted from busi-ness, we decided to play hookie and stay at home...I hear they call that a "staycation"! LOVED~IT! (Sorry, Jenna!) Others thought we were out of town, and it felt sooo good to just stay at home....the girls played while Ricci and I spent the day binge-watching this season of LOST. Wow~it's really picking up the pace....but now we have to wait until 2010?!? What's up with that?!?

Mother's Day couldn't have been sweeter...every year is sweet, but this one tops them all! The girls took the opportunity to call it a Mother's day weekend...who am I to argue with them?!? They started giving me gifts on Friday and Saturday....they're like their mamma, who just can't keep a gift a secret! Ricci bought me two new Adirondack chairs....I love'em! Come over and sit a spell in 'em with me! And they all made me breakfast in bed while the girls made me special cards and gifts.

AngelWings made me these gorgeous earrings...including the beautifully, wrapped box! Thank you, MaeMae! And thank you, girls and Ricci, for loving me and thinking that I'm the mom you say I am! I love you all...to the moon and back...and around and around....!

Speaking of Mother's Day, the end of this month has been a little discomforting (is that a word?) because our family will be getting together to 'lay to rest' our dear Alal, who has been so incredibly important in all of our lives. The flip side...we get an extra trip to see the rest of our family in Louisiana! That's good!

This past week, we've thoroughly enjoyed participating in some of the gardening lectures and workshops with Rock City's 1st annual Southern Blooms Festival! We've learned a lot and incorporated several of the lessons into the end-of-the-year schoolweek!

This past weekend, we did our usual Friday craziness and then had some friends over for an early Memorial day cookout. After we ate some yummy BBQ, we headed over to the Wilderness Theatre to see the movie, Night at the Museum 2, which was really good! There's nothing like sitting out under the stars with friends and watching a movie on the "world's largest movie screen"!

Here's a couple of pics...taken in the pitch-black; sorry for the blindness y'all experienced afterwards! You know...it's important to make memories!

The three amigos! Marion & Indiana Jones!
Two peas in a pod!

George & Wendy and Co. (couldn't find the rest of them in the dark!)

Saturday morning, we all awoke a little later than we had planned...we had to get over to RC to make our hypertufas! (Don't worry...I had to look up the word as well!) "Hypertufa is a man made substitute for Tufa rock. Tufa is a spongy cellular rock found in limestone country and especially where water has been involved in the wearing and leaching out of the original materials to effect a porous spongy consistency. In many countries throughout the world this natural stone has for centuries been hollowed out and carved for tubs and planters." (quote taken from here)

We each made a garden container out of a mixture of Portland cement, sand, peat moss and perlite. Camera? Didn't even think of it as we ran out of the house! oops!

That evening, we ran up to Sewanee for dinner with Aunt Jan, Uncle Eddie & Erich. We made our traditional pizzas and ice-cream, and let the pups have a good time...mental note...next time remember to bring an extra tennis ball!And the girls gave cousin Erich quite the workout! They had him running them all over the house..Macy was riding on his back for at least 30 minutes straight until we told her to get off...then he just took the fun outside on a wild chase all over the property with flashlights....what more fun could a girl have?!? Thanks, Erich, for all of the fun!It's so relaxing being up there...well, I'm not sure it is for Erich! The waterfall was huge after all of the rain that we've had this month; it was difficult to hear one another when on their deck overlooking the falls. Before we left, I had to snap these photos...I know it's poor lighting...I just had to get this photo before they all moved!

Unknowingly, Erich's moving in for the "my favorite cousin" title! Sorry, Will!

I just couldn't resist this photo! I could make a collage of all of the different pictures of the girls and Uncle Eddie still looking for Waldo! This is my Uncle Eddie that partook of teaparty after teaparty with me as a little girl! We love you, Uncle Eddie!

Ooh...it is exciting that we've wrapped up our school year! Now, of course, I had planned way more than was reasonable, so we'll still be doing some readings together over the summer, but I find that enjoyable and not feeling like I'm behind the 8-ball! And the girls are participating in some summer-reading-programs, so they'll get to count their free-reading assignments as books that count toward these extra rewarding programs...woohoo! We're also enjoying soccer practice, swimming and will be enjoying tennis and music camps! Woohoo, Summer, bring on the F-U-N!

"When it rains, it pours!"

Well...remember my wonderful posting (back in August) when I announced the Farmer's Almanac's forecast for our area?!? Welp, they were right! A "brisk and wet winter" we have had!

Overall, it has been chilly, and it has rained and rained and rained! (I was expecting more snow, but the winter's not over just yet!) And just when you think it's rained all that it can rain, here rolls in the fog! Although I'm not really complaining, for I do have to say that the weather does make for a cozier home, and we have enjoyed snuggling, getting back into reality with school and house work! And I have loved every minute of it...up until yesterday afternoon!

Thinking about preparing supper, I walked into the kitchen and heard water moving...other than the rain falling outside! Yes I could hear water moving....it was in the basement!! So we called Daddy at work (isn't it nice being the weaker vessel/damsel in distress?), and he came on home to find that the basement was flooded and was filling up faster than the sub-pump could rid us of the water! [My husband informs me that it's actually called a "sump-pump." Oops...Did any of you gals notice?] Thankfully, I have most of our items in Rubbermaid boxes....Go, Rubbermaid and Sterlite! And Ricci's tools are up on shelving! But our sweet hubby/daddy got to work with his shop-vac (Dad, that Christmas gift you gave him ten years ago sure has been helpful over the years, but this beats all! Thanks again!), and Ricci worked most of the night from the moment he walked in the door. Knowing that he was wet and cold, I made a copycat recipe of Panera's Broccoli Soup, and I convinced the poor guy to come inside to have some soup...hmmm! It was so good! (Recipe at the bottom!) He sat down for about ten minutes to eat and pray with the girls before they went to bed. Then he immediately got back to work, but it only went from bad to worse!
Lovey, one of our two little night-owls, had rejoined me back downstairs (she "can't sleep with all of the quiet!"), so after hanging out with me for a while, I was about to take her back upstairs when we heard a terrible, terrible sound. It was a sound that you know something big is wrong....Eric came running up to ask me and Lovey if we were alright, so between the three of us we located where the sound happened. It was actually a heavy, thick drain that had ripped off the side of the house, taken some tree limbs and was resting on the telephone, cable lines above Eric's car. We moved his car, and I forbid him to touch any of it....remember, it's still pouring down rain while we're standing out there in the dark watching one thing after another happen! It really was so bad that all we could do was stand there in awe and laugh to keep from crying!

Ughhh...of course, Ricci can't go to work today (Yeah!) until we get something settled (no pun intended)! I'm sure that others at his office are in the same boat (again, no pun intended!), for the rain and flooding is all that's on the local news. Many of the schools are even closed! (Usually, that's to my girls' advantage, but today that's not going to benefit them...sorry, girls!)

And thankfully, today it has quit raining, and the temps are just dropping (brr!) while it's very windy....supposed to be helpful in drying us out! And the creek running beside our house (with its waterfalls) are just amazingly beautiful to hear and see!

If you're chilly too...and don't feel like running out to Panera, here's you a good copycat recipe! We all loved it! I was hoping that there would be leftovers; however, there weren't! So this recipe is so good that you might consider doubling this!

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

Very good soup...serve with crusty bread.

1 tablespoon melted butter (I used extra-virgin olive oil)
1/2 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter (I used extra-virgin olive oil)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 lb fresh broccoli
1 cup carrot, julienned
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I chose not to use this)
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Sauté onion in butter. Set aside.
2. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.
3. Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper and nutmeg.

Mental soup, anyone?!?

Tonight I served lentil soup with smoked sausage, cornbread and sweet tea. And while the girls were setting the table, Lovey hollered, "I love mental soup!"

This colder weather (I'm freezing!) has me in the mood for yummy soups and chilis! Hmmm! I need some new soup recipes...got any?!?

Preserving our blessings one by one!

Whew, it's nice to be out of the kitchen! After our two families collected and sorted our yummy apples and pears (please note: I've decided to just call these apple-pears "asian pears"), Labronda and I got together for a day or so of canning/preserving!

(Two of our little helpers!)

It is always so much more fun when you do something as tedious as that with a friend! And we had a blast...but whew were we tired after having been on our feet for so long! And we still didn't get to do all that we wanted to do, so we split up the fruit once more!

So after a few days of looking at all of that fruit, I decided we just had to finish up what we had started (come this winter, we'll be thankful to be tasting yummy fruits!), so when Ricci called to say he was on his way home from work, he asked if there was anything that he could bring...I did put in a request for some 4-oz. jars...knowing that I couldn't find them anywhere! After about 30 minutes, here he came...with some 4-oz. jars! That guy's amazing....he got them at Ace Hardware! I would have never thought to check there! Well, now I know! It was funny to hear him tell of the jars' sealing themselves as he drove up to our house! Thanks, Ricci!

And there's still more to do!

Pear Honey

"This tastes so much like honey, your friends will never believe that the bees did not make it."

Ingredients:
8 cups peeled, cored and chopped pears
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
8 cups white sugar

Directions:
Place chopped pears into a large pot, and pour pineapple juice over them to prevent them from browning. Stir in sugar, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. When the pears are at a full boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is the color and texture of honey. The longer you cook it, the thicker it gets. Ladle into hot sterile jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the top. Wipe rims with a clean damp cloth and seal jars with lids and rings. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Pear Preserves

Ingredients:

3 quarts pears, sliced or chopped
3 cups water
4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 slices lemon

Directions:

Wash and pare fruit. Cook until tender in water. Remove fruit and make a syrup of the liquid and sugar. Add fruit to partially cooled syrup and bring gently to a boil. Add lemon slices. Boil rapidly until fruit is clear and tender. Let stand in syrup to cool. Remove lemon. Pour fruit into sterilized jars. Reheat syrup to boiling and pour over fruit. Seal each jar as filled.

Pear Apple Jam Recipe

Ingredients:

4 C. diced pears
4 C. diced tart apples 5 T. lemon juice
5 C. sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Directions:

Peel and dice fruit. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Boil about 20 minutes. Take from heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes to plump. Bring back to boil stirring frequently until mixture is thick and clear (about 10 minutes). Pour into sterilized Kerr jars to within 1/4 inch of top. Put on cap, screw band firmly tight. Process in Boiling Water Bath 10 minutes.