The other day I got the craving for eggnog. I know, eggnog is typically considered a holiday treat, and right now in the heat of August, we’re a long time away from the winter holidays. That said, the characters in a book we read were drinking eggnog, and suddenly I couldn’t get the desire out of my head. There’s no way I am going to find commercially available eggnog at this time of year, and even if I could the stuff they sell in the market is typically extremely high in sugar.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Cleaning out the Toy Box
As I watched my 2-year-old dig through the small basket of toys we keep in our living room, I realized that he had outgrown a number of them. No longer a baby, his motor skills have developed enough that toys that he used to find interesting no longer capture his attention. In addition, there were some items that he simply never played with.… Continue reading
Guacamole Mushroom Burgers
We love to grill year round, but especially in the summertime when it keeps some of the heat of cooking out of our house. Hamburgers are an American summer grilling staple. Since we eat our hamburgers bun free (I haven’t yet experimented with grain-free hamburger buns), I often make great toppings to go on top of them.
One of our favorite ways to eat burgers is to top them with homemade guacamole and sautéed mushrooms.… Continue reading
The Only 5 Things a Baby Needs
This is the second post in a series on what a baby needs. You can find the first HERE, and I will post the third part on this site some time next week (UPDATE: It’s now HERE).
I want to start by reiterating what I said in my first post. This list is meant to be a reflection on the bare-bones things that a baby needs.… Continue reading
Healthy Snack: Fresh Peaches
“Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it.” ― Alice Walker
In my title, I called Fresh Peaches a Healthy Snack, but perhaps I should call them a Healthy Treat, which is how we often eat fruit in our house. Local peaches are now in season here in the Rockies, and they are delicious.… Continue reading
Thought for the Day: Ross
Let us travel lightly, consciously, and kindly, celebrating the everyday journey with great joy.
“It’s good to have an end in mind but in the end what counts is how you travel.”
― Orna Ross… Continue reading
Citizen Science: Keeping a Bee Box
For the second year in a row, we’ve decided to participate in a local Citizen Science project. Scientists at our local university are running a project called The Bees Needs. In this study, they’re examining the native bees and wasps in the greater Boulder, Colorado area.
Participating has been a fun way for us to learn more our local pollinators, as well as to teach my boys some of the basic principles of conducting a scientific experiment.… Continue reading
Fruit-Sweetened Chocolate Milkshake
The other day, a friend sent me a picture of a milkshake, reminiscing about all of the milkshakes we drank in college (yeah, they were pretty much a food group in our apartment). So when my boys were looking for a treat on a hot summer afternoon, I decided to make us some milkshakes of our own.
I wanted to make something healthier than the sugar-filled milkshakes that powered me through late nights of studying during my undergrad years, so instead of using ice cream as the cold part of this recipe, I used frozen bananas.… Continue reading
Simplify Saturday: Shop with a Grocery Shopping List
Do you wander aimlessly through the grocery store? Do you try to figure out what you’re going to make for meals as you walk the aisles? Do you get home and realize that you bought a lot of food but not the items you need for the meals you were going to make? These things used to happen to me, more frequently than I really care to remember.… Continue reading
Fruit-Sweetened Tropical Temptation Ice Cream
Another hot summer afternoon led us to again pull out our ice cream maker. This time, I wanted something fruity and tropical. So we pulled out a bunch of tropical, as well as some not-so-tropical, ingredients and whipped up this batch of cold, fruit-sweetened deliciousness. My 2-year-old asked for “More Yummy” when his ice cream was gone. That pretty much sums it up.… Continue reading