Classic Collard Greens

You don't have to get too fancy with fresh ingredients to make them taste amazing. I love this recipe for greens because it is so simple. 

You can substitute any greens that you have and it will taste amazing.  I like that they stay nice and bright green and don't remind me of the scary spinach on tv and cartoons that I saw as a kid. 

After you have made them a few times, feel free to start experimenting with red pepper flakes, vinegar, and lots of yummy spices like cumin or paprika.  

You'll be eating and cooking greens like a truth southerner in no time at all. 

Red Monster Smoothie

I just love this Red Monster Smoothie - I am still trying to love the green ones as much as the rest of the whole world does. 

 

 I really like to buy lots of berries when they are in season and freeze them for making smoothies and nice cream. Berries never seem to last as long as I would like them to in my fridge. 

If you are using frozen fruit, go ahead and leave out the ice - you'll have a plenty frozen smoothie. And I really do like to use water in mine, anything else just adds sugar and calories that you won't miss. And adding more water, which your body will thank you for! 

 

Roasted Tomato and Lentil Salad

I may have to change the name of this blog soon to The Girl Who Always Ate Lentils. I think it would get a lot of traffic. At least from me.  (oh wait... ) 

They are just so delicious, and so easy to prepare and so cheap and so darn good for you. That's it! They are Everything!!

Just because it is summer doesn't mean that I have stopped roasting all kinds of delicious veggies. These are some roasted tomatoes, which don't take long to roast at all - and they are so yummy. 

You can eat this, hot, cold or room temp.  I make it on the weekends and then eat it all week for lunch because you guys... I need adult food in the summer time. It is what keeps me mostly sane. 

Watermelon Raspberry and Lime Pops

You know those times when you buy a watermelon and it just isn't as good as you want it to be.  You don't want to waste it, but it isn't going to be delicious to just eat.  I have a solution for you - add some raspberries and lime and make popsicles!

It's a genius idea, refreshing and cold it is everything a summer treat could need to be!

The perfect way to enjoy that watermelon that you swore was going to be perfect and then turned out to be a little bit less than. 

Summer Fun Ideas

We are almost a full month into summer here are our house. How is your summer going, have you heard the dreaded words, "MOM!, I am so boooored!"?  I thought today I would share some ideas that I have collected and some that we do here at our house to burn off that summer energy and to keep from hearing the most annoying kid complaint of the summer.

* I make my kids read everyday. We do it right after lunch during the heat of the day (and before we head out to classes / errands or to the pool).  Take advantage of your local library and any summer reading programs they might have.  If you think you don't have a reader, you just haven't found what they might be interested in yet. I had a son who hated to read and we explored some different types of books until we found something he really likes. Now that he is getting better at it, he really enjoys it.  If you have an e-reader (like a kindle or a nook or a tablet / ipad) let your kids use those to read a book, or better yet, find an audible program that would read a classic to them. Do you remember having those read-along books when we were kids? You can still get those from the library if you have the equipment to use them.

* We wouldn't survive a day in the summer without water. Water always equals fun! If you have to water your lawn and run the sprinkler, let the kids run through it. Let them play with the hose and stay in the area of the grass that needs to be watered.  We go to the pool a lot, if you are able to buy a punch pass it is usually cheaper and here where we live there is an awesome outdoor community pool, and that makes the indoor pool much much cheaper. (and I don't have to worry about sunburn).  And nothing burns off energy like kids swimming. We picked up some super cheap water toys like pool noodles and dive toys at our local dollar store, as well as a pair of goggles and flip flops for everybody.  We keep it all in a giant mesh bag and we are always ready to grab and go. It is a special treat after working hard in the yard or when they are especially energetic and need to burn off their wildness. Look for specials with groups that you are a member of, - bank customer appreciation night, school sponsored nights, or coupons in the local paper.

* Do some crafts if you need quiet time and engaging activities. The internet is chock full of ideas for free, fun frugal crafts for kids of all levels. We don't have too many crafters here at our house. It usually ends up just being a big mess that I get to clean up after it has dissolved into a fight. But if you have crafters, I suggest you spend some time on the internet because there are a bazillion ideas out there.

* Check out local free events in your area! The big home improvement stores have free workshops for kids.
One  of the major craft stores has free kids classes, and another has them for half price with the coupon available on their website. I mentioned the library reading program but there are other reading programs like This one from Barnes and Noble, This one from Think Stretch, and This one from Scholastic where kids can read for the world record! Visit your city's official website and see what they have planned for local parks, zoos, museums and other local attractions.

* If you are looking for some things at home to just burn off bursts of energy, I recommend a mini trampoline. We couldn't live without ours. We bought it locally off a classified site for 15$ and there isn't a day that goes by that my kids don't use it.  I have the little ones jump on it while they try and count to 100, I have the big ones jump on it and listen to their ipods. It gets used in all the obstacle courses that they make. I think we need another one. :)

* Lastly, put your kids to work in the kitchen, I mean.... Let your kids help in the kitchen. Teach them how to make macaroni and cheese or pancakes. Let them experiment with recipes that they think they might want to try. This will end up being one of the greatest things you ever teach your kids. It will help you both out.

Miso Peanut Pasta Salad

Aah Pasta Salad - the official food of summer and my favorite way to pack a huge amount of veggies into a meal.  I have made this a few times and my favorite way to eat it is cold, but Joseph preferred it warm (right after I am done making it), but it delicious at room temperature as well. 

That makes it perfect to take to any summer gathering. 

With all the yummy goodness of my favorite peanut noodles, the addition of the Miso makes it extra special. If you aren't familiar with Miso, I suggest you try it immediately. I can find it at my local grocery store in the Asian section. It comes in a paste. The white is much milder than the red. It is a fermented soybean paste and is most often used in cooking to add that sweet / salty / spicy Umami goodness. (it is the salty)

You could pack this pasta salad with even more veggies as it would be delicious with bell peppers, snow peas or green peas, bean sprouts, broccoli florets, cabbage or spinach. Add whatever veggies you have on hand. 

Creamy Avocado Cucumber Salad

Crunchy, creamy, tart with the juice of lime and crisp with cucumbers this salad has me loving summer. 

It marries perfectly with the feta cheese and the cilantro. 

Although there is quite a bit of lime juice in this recipe, Your avocados won't stay green forever, so it isn't really something that you can make ahead of time to enjoy later. 

But it would make an AMAZING topping for some spicy tacos or on top of a rice bowl.

I'm just eating it by the fork-full and living my dream to just eat guacamole plain. 

Caprese Pasta Salad

I remember the first time I discovered Caprese Salad. I felt so sophisticated and glamorous. It seemed like a fancy thing to be eating, glorious in its simplicity. I still can't get enough of the stuff, I just love it. 

And so when it gets to be tomato season and the fresh basil is plentiful, I could eat it everyday. 

But eating it everyday, means that I'm still hungry. Let's be honest, when I make it, I use a pretty heavy hand with the tomatoes and skimp on the cheese. That means, I'm just mostly eating tomatoes. And after an hour or two... I'm hungry again. 

This summer, I am solving that problem with pasta and making my beloved Caprese Salad a meal. 

It's genius! The balsamic vinegar and olive oil are the perfect simple dressing for a pasta salad. And the flavors of the fresh tomatoes along with pungent basil make the perfect compliment to plain old pasta. 

This keeps amazing in the fridge. I have been eating it all week at lunch and for snacks. (Yes! I really do eat that much of it!) The last day, I added a bit more balsamic and oil because the pasta had absorbed so much, but it was still just as tasty. 

Roasted Sweet Potato and Lentil Salad

I am going to be eating this salad all summer long. Although the recipe doesn't explain this very well. I used the Food Sense, cook once, eat twice mode of thinking.  

I had the lentils in the freezer in small bags from when I had cooked a large batch a few weeks ago, and I roasted veggies for dinner and threw the sweet potatoes in on another baking sheet in the oven. 

So when I decided to make this salad, I only has to assemble the ingredients for the dressing and chop the celery and red pepper. It made it come together so fast and I didn't feel like I had done a lot of extra prep work before. 

While salads like this might not be what you imagine when you say the word Salad, they are a great way to get lots of servings of veggies and vary your protein with plant sources. 

Another thing that I just love about this salad is that it is very best at room temperature. That means that I can take it with me for a lunch on the go or a snack while I am out and about. 

I made this on a Thursday and I ate it that day, Friday and Saturday.  By Saturday the spinach had wilted a bit in the dressing but with the celery and the pepper it still had plenty of crunch to it. 

I highly recommend you try this salad, if you do, invite me over, and I'll come enjoy it with you.