Blackberry frozen yogurt

The kids and I really enjoyed this frozen yogurt snack. It is healthy, natural and very easy to whip up! I hope you find the time to give it a try.

 

  You will need a freezer, blender, bowl, 2 cups of frozen banana slices, 2 cups of frozen blackberries (or fruit of choice) and 1 cup of plain greek yogurt.

Pour all three ingredients into the blender.

Have a helper help you turn on the blender. Obviously this could be dangerous if a parent wasn't helping. It took about 8 minutes to blend it all down to a nice smooth consistency. I had to open the lid a few times and push it down with a spoon.

 Even though we used frozen fruit it turned into a very thick smoothie and not frozen yogurt.

So into the freezer it went. I let it sit in there about 3 hours.

The kids couldn't wait a whole three hours so I let them dig in with a spoon!

While it's turning from thick smoothie to frozen yogurt start cleaning up the small mess it made.

It isn't fun to clean it when it's been sitting around all day.

Yum Yum Yum.

This part is self explanatory.

You just sit back and enjoy your healthy treat!

This made enough for me and three kids to each have a bowl about this size.

 

Deep clean your oven door inside and out!

Do you like to check in on your food without opening the oven door? My little girl does!

Here is a basic picture tutorial on how to deep clean your oven door. Just remember all oven doors are different. Ours had three different panes of glass. I had no idea! There were also different kinds of screws and screw drivers involved. My husband had to help me with this. Not only would I not have known which screw driver to use but I would have forgotten what goes where!


Here are the cleaners I used. Mean green to cut the grease, bar keepers best friend for the inside glass, Windex to give it a streak free look, a scrubby pad, napkins and Mrs. Meyers to finish the outside, mm mm mm I just love the smell of Mrs. Meyers lavender cleaner. I had thought about using natural cleaners like baking soda and apple cider vinegar but look at that oven door!

Does your oven look like this? Mine does and it's embarrassing. We have a hard time seeing through and you can see why.

  First I sprayed the inside down with Mean Green, and I got to work scrubbing with the scrubby pad.                    

Lucky for me my husband pulled out a razor and started to scrape it away. I'm glad he did, between the two of us we finished the inside in about 15 minutes.

Then we, I mean he had to unscrew the oven door to separate it and pull out the middle pane of glass.

   

I have no idea how all that nasty stuff got into the middle of the oven door, but it did! This was one of the two removable panes of glass.

I'm guessing we've only had this oven about 5 years. It looks like we've had it 15!

Look how nice the inside looks now. That's with all three panes of glass cleaned. Can you believe this is the same oven door from the first picture?

              The next time my kiddos want to watch the cookies bake they can see exactly whats going on in there.   I almost feel like I have a brand new oven!


                 
Ahhhhhh! I'm so happy we did this. We had no idea this could be done. I got my inspiration from Pinterest. Of course my oven was nothing like hers and we had to remove a lot more screws. But hey, it's done and I'm happy!






Your turn!

Blessed Valentines

I had such a blessed Valentines Day. This morning I made the girls heart eggs for breakfast. I have to admit they didn't look too yummy but my kids didn't care and that's all that matters.
I sprayed the pan and the metal cookie cutters with olive oil, held them down and poured the egg mixture in. I only had to hold it down until the bottom cooked.


After most of the egg was cooked through I removed the cookie cutter and flipped it. It only had to cook on the other side for around 20 seconds or so.


To keep them warm while I cooked the others I put them in the oven on the very lowest setting.



 
Ta Da! Valentines breakfast is served! I was trying to make a healthier breakfast knowing sugar was coming our way. (There was a picture here that I deleted and can't get it back :( but you get the idea. ) We had grits, eggs and orange slices for breakfast.

 

I figured while I had the heart cookie cutters out I mine as well use them again. So the Pb&j and the apples were also cut into hearts. I threw in a side of dried cranberries too.

 

 

Here is my youngest Valentine! Isn't she sweet?

My sweet husband knows me well enough to know that I hate to see flowers die. So he never buys me cut flowers unless they come from the side of the road. So he brought home this beautiful potted plant.

My mom knows I'm trying to cut down on candy around here so instead she brought us brownie mix. Still lots of sugar but it's Valentines Day! Plus it's more fun pouring, mixing and watching it bake. The process of making the brownies and then having to wait on them is always fun with kids around.

They were called Billion Dollar Chocolate Brownies. Now I know why. They were super rich!

My sweet mother in law brought my husband and I yummy, melt in your mouth Lindor chocolates. She was also thoughtful enough to bring the kids small boxes of chocolates instead of tons of it! I truly appreciate it.

  I'm so grateful God put all these wonder people in my life!



Lunch with the Queen.

The girls decided to make lunch for us all but it had to be a secret. I'm always a little secretly worried when they do things like this. I never know the outcome. But I decided to play along.
They wouldn't let me peak in the kitchen until they were done making lunch and setting the table.




We had peanut butter toast, jelly toast, salad, strawberries and sweet tea! Gotta love salad with your PB&J!




It was sweet the way they rushed around putting things on the table. I was starting to wonder just how much stuff we needed to eat a simple lunch.
As we ate they let me know all the rules of a tea party. No gobbling, no burping, drink with your pinky out, no yelling, no pooting, no fighting and the list went on and on. I was the queen and they were the princess's. It was certainly a royal moment.




I remember doing this for my parents when my sisters and I were young. We made a plate with honey combs, heated vienna sausages, chocolate moose and non alcoholic beer with a straw in it! Not to mention it sat out awhile before they came in. Ewwww I was so proud and my parents were so nice about it. I'm glad I was able to learn from that and enjoy the meal my girls made for me. I have to admit though that my girls made a tastier meal than I had made my own parents.

Dehydrated oranges

I have a box of 64 oranges and I need to get through them before they rot. We are eating lots of oranges everyday, I dehydrated some and I have plans to make orange marmalade. I think that dried oranges are beautiful in winter decorations but since spring is on it's way I'm hoping to find something pretty to do with them soon. My kids are actually eating them (ewwww) I do not think they are tasty at all! I do plan on crushing some to powder for recipes.

 

Here are the basic instructions. Once again I found most of this information online and in the pamphlet that came with my dehydrator.

Cut your oranges into circles and remove the seeds.

Lay them on your dehydrator tray making sure they aren't touching. Set it at 135 degrees Fahrenheit.

It took my oranges about 13 hours to fully dry. When they were finished I places them in an air tight jar for storage.

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Michelangelo

The girls are studying Michelangelo this week for art. This is so much fun! Michael was an architect, sculptor, painter and poet. Here is a bunch of cool information on him. He is fun to read about and it's neat to view some of his work but whats cooler and neater than pretending to be Michelangelo?

Here is one of the master pieces of my little Michelangelo's. Isn't it wonderful? I was told that's a lady dancing on the rainbow.

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Dehydrating banana chips

I love banana chips. But I heard the ones you buy in the store are deep fried. Come to find out it's true. Here is what I found on wikepedia.

 Banana chips are deep-fried and/or dried slices of bananas (fruits of herbaceous plants of the genus Musa of the soft, sweet "dessert banana" variety). They can be covered with sugar or honey and have a sweet taste, or they can be fried in oil and spices and have a salty and/or spicy taste. YIKES!!!

 

So I decided to make my own. I have to admit they aren't exactly the same. I think they taste better when deep fried and bought from the store, but what isn't better deep fried? They aren't good for you at all if you eat them that way. I'm trying to eat healthier so I'll stick to these!

 

So here are my basic directions. I gathered the directions from different sources online and from the booklet that came with my dehydrator.

 

 

You will need ripe but not overly ripe bananas.

Peel all the bananas.

Slice the bananas about the width of two quarters.

 

 

Lay your bananas on the dehydrator making sure they do not touch.

    

Set your dehydrator to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

It will take a different time for everyone depending on your local temps but it took my bananas 15 hours to completely turn to banana chips.

 

 

Once all the moisture has been removed put them in an air tight bag or jar.

My kids and I love these and I hope you enjoy yours.
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