Yum, right?

I found this over at Iowa Girl Eats this morning.  I had everything I needed at home, except the kale. But since we were heading to Target to have Maria’s puffy goopy eye checked, I was able to get kale, while we waited for her prescription for pink eye.

So yeah, detox salad.  A great way to reset after you go off course with your eating. Nothing wrong with that. But I know for myself, it can be hard to redirect back on course, so something yummy like this is perfect!  I did make a few alterations based on the fact that I’ve never had much kale, so I eased in with just one large leaf. And oh, yeah, no almonds, since I’m allergic… And I made it from memory and I forgot carrots (I will add these next time)

I highly recommend you read the original recipe though, because she does a GREAT job of detailing out the health benefits of all the food in this salad.

Yummy Detox Salad

Kale
Baby Spinach
Shredded Cabbage (I used a handful from a bag of cole slaw mix)
Olive Oil
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Blueberries
Sliced Cucumbers
Raspberries
Sliced Strawberries

First start with cleaning the kale and baby spinach.  For the kale, I took one large leaf, washed it, rolled it up in a paper towel, and then just rolled it back and forth in my hands to tenderize it. and then tore it into bite size pieces.

I then tossed the kale, spinach and cabbage with a drizzle of olive oil and fat-free Raspberry Vinaigrette.

I then transferred it to a large plate and covered with the remaining ingredients.  Then I devoured.  YUM!!

Grilled Cheeseburger Wrap

1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoon mustard
1 tablespoon grated parmesan
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 sandwich wraps (I use Flatout Wraps)
sliced or shredded cheese (I used cheddar and dairy-free cheddar)
2 roma tomatoes, sliced (or diced for fussy eaters)
1 cup of romaine lettuce
Additional ketchup (optional)
Additional Mustard (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium to large skillet coated with cooking spray cook the beef on medium till almost cooked through but still a little pink (about 7-10 minutes). Break beef up as it cooks. (I prepared the hamburger in the Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker, 4 minutes on high, break up, then an additional 2 min on high)
2. Add worcestershire, ketchup, grated parmesan, dried onion flakes, salt, and pepper to the beef. Mix together until thoroughly combined.
3. Continue cooking until beef is cooked all the way through and is no longer pink.
4. Preheat grill plan or indoor grill.
5. In the center of  the wrap place cheese and 1/2 cup of the beef mixture. Add tomato and lettuce. Then if you are using, add some more ketchup and mustard.
6. Roll the wrap and place seam side down on grill. Once there are nice grill marks turn over. Grill for another 2-3 minutes then remove.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the rest of the wraps.

Saturday was rainy, but Maria had a friend coming over for a playdate.  Unfortunately Maria wasn’t feeling well and I found her lying on her bed while Abby was playing with her toys at lunch time.  She spiked a fever after a nap, so Chad and I cancelled the babysitter we had lined up and stayed home.  After a 2nd nap, Maria’s temperature was back to normal and even ate a little before bedtime.

Sunday,  Maria was feeling much better so we didn’t have to cancel our plans to have brunch with Chad’s parents and brother’s family and then to Teddy Bear Park.  We had a great time, even though Maria and Charlie were probably the sweatiest kids there!  After the park, while Charlie napped, I snuck out for a pedicure.

Today, we took the kids to a park, ate a picnic lunch there and then stopped for frozen yogurt.  Yummm.. The afternoon we were starting to experience a crabby 5 year old and things were a little rough for a while.  But after Charlie’s bath and Maria’s shower, we were calmed down enough, that I gave Maria a new piano book for her toy keyboard. She was so excited and I got a big hug! And she settled in to practice her piano with only a few interruptions from Charlie.

Charlie sat in this “boat” and said “HO-p Me. Mama, HO-p me!” He wanted me to help him move it.

Maria is also quite the talker. In fact, if she isn’t around, we’re always surprised how much Charlie talks!  She has questions about everything.  Well that isn’t completely true, she has answers for a lot of things too.  Her own made up answers.  She asks a question and then responds with the “answer”.  Sometimes it drives my crazy, but other times it’s cute and other times her answers are down-right funny.

We started the birthday celebration at school on the 17th.  The next day, we all stayed home from work/daycare. I took the kids to the zoo. It was a warm day, so we took swimsuits to play in the sprinklers. We saw a lot of the animals up pretty close. One of the best days I have been there.  After the zoo, we came home so Charlie could nap.  Maria played on her new LeapPad.  Late afternoon, we headed to her friend party at a nearby Community Center.  I think all the kids had a great time!

Saturday morning, both kids were up early, but luckily both went down for naps before the party with the families.  We had an Olivia themed party.  Maria wore a red dress (Olivia’s favorite color) and I ordered a cake from Target that we put some Olivia characters on.  We had a pinata and the weather was beautiful so all the kids got to play outside.

It was a great weekend and we had so much fun celebrating!

with her friends

with her cousins

pulling the pinata strings (with her “Rapunzel” hair)

It may have been coincidence, since he can’t even count to 10 consistently.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was interesting. It was a bit slow for me. A bit hard to follow. It all came together in the end (as much as it could). The story is of a boy who’s father dies in the 9/11. And his father’s parents both survived WWII bombings in Germany.

And it seemed weird, but then again, I’ve never lost anyone close in a war, let alone as an innocent casualty, and I can’t even imagine what that would be like or how I would have reacted, especially if I had been 9.

I’m not sure if I recommend this… that would probably be a sign to not read it. I am fairly certain I won’t see the movie.

View all my reviews

Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 5
Salt and pepper
1 cup of honey
1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Cornstarch
Sesame seeds

1. Place the chicken thighs in the crockpot insert and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, oil, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine well. Pour over the chicken in the crockpot.
3. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or high for 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours.
4. When done, remove chicken from stock pot and cut into chunks. Prior to putting the chicken back in the stockpot, combine some cornstarch in water and whisk it into the crockpot to thicken up the sauce a bit. Throw the chicken back in and stir around to recoat the chicken in the sauce.
5. Serve hot over a bed of white rice (optional) and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Sorry besides books and recipes I haven’t been much of a blogger.  Apparently we’ve had lots going on.  But nothing that really requires a lot of “reporting”

Shortly into April, we decided to take dairy out of Maria’s diet, because of her tummy aches that were less and less random.  We also started her on a probiotic regularly to see if that was the problem.  So far it’s going well. She has been a champ on missing out on some of the foods she loves the most…  ice cream, anything with cheese, yogurt…  And her tummy issues seem better.  We’ll probably start to reintroduce some things in again this month.  It sure has opened my eyes to how much we all eat dairy.  And also the challenges to making this work, which includes extra grocery trips to the local food co-op for the non-dairy versions of a lot of things (cream cheese, sour cream, cheese, yogurt…)

Maria has had 2 overnights in the last few weeks.  And what we’ve learned from that is that Charlie is a talker!  But only if there isn’t someone (Maria) here to dominate the conversation.  It’s pretty cute and definitely makes me worry less about his speech.  Although I wish I could figure out how to give him more opportunities to dominate the conversation.

I’ve definitely been doing a lot of cooking lately too. Trying new things (without dairy) and just trying to be more holistic with eating as well which means I’m trying to understand what the ingredients are in my food.

So good stuff going on, we’re enjoying the warmer weather and looking forward to Maria’s birthday in a few weeks followed by preschool graduation and the start of summer!