Summer is Here!!

OK Summer was supposed to start in June...I know.

But, really in San Diego it just started this week!

Yeah!

So we have been enjoying the pool!

"E" is getting braver!

And, "M" got her braces off!!

Look at those pearly whites!

Have a good weekend!

First Day of School Traditions....

Do you have a first day of school tradition?

I think many people take a first day of school picture!

Our tradition is to take it in front of the door.

(This was started by my mom.)

Why you may ask? It gives a gage of how much they have grown.

We have been doing this every year.

These pictures were taken in 2004...then 5th and 2nd graders! There is always the group shot!

The individual shots!

I really like it if you can see the doorknob because that is a good marker, but sometimes I forget about this in our rush to get out the door. (Madeline really wanted a jumper for the first day of school that year...we looked high and low!...memories)

Now look what happened to them 6 years later.....

11th grade, 8th grade and preschool!!

The kids are big now!

But, they appease me!

They know the drill!

Stand in front of the door, smile and they can be on their way!

This was "E's" official first day of school!

She was eager to carry on the tradition!!

Homemade Popsicles!!!

Remember when I showed you this book?

Well I finally made my first batch of popsicles using one of their recipes.

Meyer Lemon Creme! "E" and I put them together in the morning.

And the girls enjoyed them when "big sister" came

home from school!

I finally bought these 3oz. plastic cups at Target.

80 for either $2 or $3.

The beauty is they can be washed and reused.

(I am not reusing popsicle sticks for some reason

that seems yucky!)

This recipe was super easy.....

"M" thought they tasted like a lemon cheesecake!

Lemon Myer Cream
(William Sonoma Cookbook)

1TBSP Meyer Lemon Zest
3/4 c Meyer Lemon Juice
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

Now let me stop here and say I did improvise.
I did not have Meyer Lemons!
So I cheated I used Minute Maid Lemon Juice straight from the bottle!
No Zest!
Still Delicious!

Mix above ingredients in a bowl until well blended.
Pour into ice pop molds and freeze until solid.

(Note: insert popsicle sticks about an hour in
if you are using poor man's method that way
they will stand up.)

Enjoy!

Overripe Fruit Tip!

Overripe Fruit!

In my house once the bananas look like this nobody will eat them.

So what do we do with them?

Smoothies.

Banana Bread!

But, sometimes or often times when you realize the bananas are past their prime

you don't have time to make the banana bread.

My tip?....Peel 'em, Bag'em, Freeze'em! I also freeze strawberries.

Sometimes when they begin to have some brown spots,

nobody wants to eat them fresh anymore...

into a smoothie

or

wash, cut the tops off and freeze individually on a cookie sheet.

Once frozen they pop off easily and I put them in a ziploc.

This way you can use what you want, and not have one frozen blob.)

One more idea for the bananas!

I defrost the bananas on the counter.....

they turn brown, and juicy and are quite unsightly at this point

(not pictured)

pop them right into your banana bread mixture

nobody will know the difference and the bread/muffins will taste great.

The same can be done for any berry.

Blueberries, boysenberries buy them when their cheap.

Eat what you can.

Freeze the rest!

Remember the most expensive food is the food that goes into the trash!!

Have a great weekend!

Honey Sesame Grilled Chicken Wings--A Keeper!

First let me start by saying I love magazines!! I subscribe to many, and tend to keep them for quite sometime. One of my favorite things about many of the magazines I subscribe to is finding new recipes, I am always looking for dinner ideas.

Last night I made these Honey Sesame Grilled Chicken Wings from the July 2010 issue of Sunset. Interestingly enough as I pulled up the recipe on the internet for this post the same recipe was posted in their June 2008 issue, can you say recycling? Nevertheless it is a great recipe you can find it here.

Picture from Sunset Website

Everyone in the family, from the 16 year old to the nearly 3 year old LOVED it!! It is not always easy to please everyone's palate but this did just that. I doubled the recipe, and served it with steamed rice, and steamed broccoli and carrots. Lots of compliments from the kids on this dinner....when the kids like one of the new recipes I try we call it A Keeper. And this is A Keeper.

As a side note I skipped a step and did not cut the wings apart at the joint, let's just say cutting apart 4 lbs of wings was too time consuming...call me lazy, or maybe efficient, I like the sound of that better!

Enjoy!

Have you seen this?

One of my favorite things to do is cook, bake ...eat!! One of my favorite stores is Williams Sonoma. This is not to say I buy much there because I do find it a bit expensive but I do like to pop in and browse around. On Monday I saw this new "machine" it makes Popsicles in 7-9 minutes!!! Can you imagine? Talk about instant gratification for the kids..(and me). You freeze this apparatus, poor your liquid mixture in and in 7-9 minutes a Popsicle!

The ladies at the store suggested you get make adult versions too....can you say margarita or sangria Popsicles that would be good on a hot evening!!

They also had this great recipe book! With many interesting flavor ideas....

Blackberry-Orange Sangria

Raspberry-Chocolate

Cookies and Cream

Meyer Lemon Cream (sampled this in the store delicious)

Mimosa

Strawberry-Vanilla Swirl

Watermelon-LimeSo this is what I settled on the recipe book!

Heading to Target for low budget Popsicle molds, perhaps

something as simple as dixie cups and sticks.

We will just have to have patience.

Have a great day!

Before and After....The House Has Been Painted!

We got our house painted....it looks so much better!!! We have been in our house nearly 11 years. We bought the house new. People on the street started having their houses re-painted which made us realize how badly ours was in need of painting as well.

The colors in these pictures is not great, but those shutters flanking the window above the messy garage used to be a hunter green...

The back of the house had a bunch of cracks that were made worse when they installed the support beam for the covered patio. (I should have got close ups...it was pretty bad.)

AFTER: The new color scheme is a khaki called Stay Awhile (made by Frazee), the white trim is called white shadow also by Frazee.