Friday, April 30, 2010

Omega-3 Chocolate Ice Cream

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Have you ever heard of avocado ice cream? I know of one family who mixes avocados and milk in a blender, pops the mixture in an ice cream machine and serves it to their kids like that. I have to say that they must have taught their children at a very young age to like really gross things, because I know my kids would never eat such a thing.

So the avocado ice cream recipes I have seen in my searches at least call for sugar and spice and everything nice, but it still sounds really gross, and I've never gotten up the courage to try it. Until....

Remember that avocado/orange/chocolate pudding I made a few days ago? It really was delicious, even though my friends in the next town over had a hard time believing me. So, I got to thinking, if avocado chocolate pudding is good, I'll bet avocados would be awesome in ice cream, because of their luscious creaminess and their healthy fat content. I was right. Look at this chocolate-y goodness...

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You can be satisfied to look at all the pretty pictures, but if you'd like the recipe, come on over to my Whole Food Kids blog. Plus, I give a tip there for another use for chocolate avocado ice cream which involves cute pictures of the twins. Yes, I'm trying to tempt you. Thanks for listening.

Oh, and the following photo has nothing to do with Omega-3 Chocolate Ice Cream. I just wanted to show you how cute the 13-year-old boy looks in his father's army fatigues. He dressed up this way to participate in a school museum display....

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Some adults visiting the school actually thought he was a real soldier and respectfully shook his hand. He loved that!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Senor R.

Meet Senor R....

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Senor R. is a colorful character in our town. He's a special needs adult whose favorite thing is yellow trucks...

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Somehow he has acquired at least eight of them, has tied them together, and hauls them around town wherever he goes...

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I met up with him outside my house yesterday morning and thought it would be fun to do a photo shoot with him. I wasn't sure how he would feel about it, but obviously he loved it. He kept laughing loudly, pointing, and saying camera and photo in Spanish, which are spelled camera and foto...

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I had never really gotten close to his truck collection, so it was interesting to see the detail with which he had arranged things. I never noticed this, but he has littler yellow trucks stacked in his big yellow trucks. Here we can see that he has hung a metal ring over part of his truck stacked in another truck. I'm not sure what he does with it...

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I also noticed a lovely white plastic rose tied to a metal part of one of his trucks. He seems to be somewhat of a sentimental man...

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He had a great interest showing me how he carries his water bottle around...

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During the photo shoot, I noticed he had something in his hands...

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I asked him to show me what it was, and he did...

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Radishes from our garden. Glad we could help!

Thanks for listening.



Today on 365 Days of TV-Free Toddler Time: It's Dog Bathing Time!

Today on life in mexico {and other places} a picture a day: {a rustic lantern}

Today on Whole Food Kids: Strawberry ice cream with a surprise ingredient. Take a look...

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Vegetarian Bar-B-Que...

...for me and the 15-year-old girl, anyway.

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And can I tell you how great it is to have another family member on the vegetarian band-wagon?

Because it was John's sister's birthday, he planned and organized a bar-b-que in her honor at our uncle/bishop's house. But because the 15-year-old girl didn't want to be stuck eating just Doritos, potato salad, and marshmallow/whip cream/fruit salad, she googled and made a veggie burger recipe...,

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I whipped up some fresh-ground whole wheat sesame seed buns...

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...and we were set.

Amazingly, my uncle/bishop and a large bearded man named Terry tried them, too, with mixed results. But we were grateful that they could think out of the box for a time.

For the veggie burgers and 100% whole wheat sesame seed bun recipes, go HERE.

Now, I would love to share with you some people and moments at our vegetarian bar-b-que...

The bar-b-quER...

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The bar-b-quEES...

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(Yes, these are real veggie burgers.)

The father of the bar-b-quer, and pretty much the best man I know...

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The 18-year-old boy, talking about how he would like to long board down the new very long and windy Mexican mountain road near our town. I can see why he's smiling...

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The baby-holder, I mean, my uncle/bishop's wife...

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Another baby-holder/niece...

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Teenage angst, I mean the 15-year-old girl...

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Mud...

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More mud...

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(For even more mud, go HERE.)

Pinata time...

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(I have highlighted the stick in the 18-year-old's hand and the football in the nephew's hand to show that things were not going as they should have. Normally, one would strike the pinata with the stick, not go after one's little brother, and usually, a football is not in any way involved as a tool with which to strike the pinata.)

The spoils...
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My brother-in-law, husband of the birthday girl. He's from Washington, but thinks he's a cowboy now...

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I'm not so sure. Aren't cowboys supposed to chew on stalks of grass, not lollipops? You tell me...

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Thanks for listening!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Zucchini Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

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Just posted this on my new Whole Food Kids blog. If you'd like more photos, more details, and the recipe, come see!

Oh, I also wanted your opinion on the new electronic recipe cards I used on that post. If you'd like to share how you feel about them, just leave a comment here or there.

Thanks for listening!



On 365 Days of TV-Free Toddler Time today: It's Flower Gardening Time!

On life in mexico {and other places} a picture a day today: {a rustic lantern}

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Homemaker Monday: A 63-Year-Old Blessing Gown

Welcome to the 88th weekly edition of...


Thank you for joining us! If you're new to this carnival and would like to enter your post, please check HERE for the rules and regs.

YOURS: This week's "YOURS" goes to Megan over at Brassy Apple!. The moment I clicked on on her blog and saw the first photo, I knew that I had to feature her. THIS is what I saw...

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Is not this the most adorable shirt you've ever seen in your life? And the best part? This was made from a regular square, plain ole t-shirt. You are not going to believe how easy this is to make. For the instructions, click HERE. Now, if only I had her figure, then my life would be perfect. Anyway, thank you, Megan, for this great link, and feel free to grab the "I Was Featured" button from my left side bar!

MINE: This week I'm going to do a little show and tell. At church this past Sunday, we had the newborn blessed. A newborn blessing, in the Mormon religion, is something a new baby is given, usually by his (or her) father, soon after he is born. The father and other important men in the baby's life stand in a circle around him at the pulpit, where each of them place one hand under the baby, which hands usually end up lightly bouncing together as a way of soothing him, and the other hand on the shoulder of the man next to him. The father then gives the blessing. This blessing usually consists of blessings of health, knowledge, having the guidance of The Holy Spirit throughout their lives, finding a suitable wife, etc.

For our newborn's blessing we had the privilege of having his father, the 18-year-old boy, his grandfather, two uncles, and our home teacher in the circle. John was given a microphone which was attached to his lapel, the baby was placed on the hands of the six men, John began to speak, and the newborn began to cry.

As his mother, I could feel my pulse quicken as I listened to his cries, but most everyone who talked to me afterward said how cute it was that he was manifesting his little voice. Okay, if they say so.

That being said, it was a lovely experience, but the best part was dressing him.

We have a tradition in our family where each of us, from the time my mother was blessed, wears a blessing gown made by my mother's paternal grandmother....hand made. Not a stitch on this dress was sewn on a machine, which may be as incomprehensible to you and it was to me when I first saw it. Just look...

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It is the following details that I imagine my great-grandmother stitching with love and patience as she sat by her fireplace, thinking of her first grand-daughter laying in the hands of the men in her life during her blessing, wearing this gown...

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And as if the gown wasn't impressive enough, my great-grandmother also thought to hand-sew a slip to go under it...

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This gown and slip have been worn by my mother, her brother and sister, all of their children, and now all of mine and my sister's children. Yes, the neck-line is starting to show signs of wear, and one of the delicate and tiny button holes in the back is ripped through, but I can't imagine blessing our babies in anything else... oh, expect for the twins, because we couldn't decide one would wear it, so we simply wrapped them in crocheted white blankets their paternal grandmother had made for them. Anyway, it's such a special material possession in my life and I'm grateful to have had another opportunity to utilize it.

Here's more...

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(My kids lectured me for having taken the above photo without having first wiped off the spit-up from his chin. They have a point, but honestly, I really didn't notice it as I was frantically trying to get nine kids ready for church and get us there in time for me to start the prelude organ music while, at the same time, trying to blog. Not the best combination. I'll do better next time.)

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Thanks for listening. :)

OURS:
I'm so loving reading all of your awesome homemaking tips and thank you very much!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

More Fun With Celery

As if yesterday's fun with celery wasn't enough...


...today, because I had to use up our surplus of celery, I got out my Vita-Mix cookbook and came across a delicious, mostly raw version of cream of celery soup. Incidentally, this recipe also used up our leftover baked potatoes.

Now, to be honest, only myself, Twin A, and the 15-year-old girl liked it, but I'm posting the link anyway, just in case any of you ever have surplus celery...

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For the recipe, click on over to my new blog, Whole Food Kids. a foodie blog dedicated to nutritious recipes for kids that do not contain refined sugar, white flour or artificial anything. Thanks for listening.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Fun With Celery

How can celery be fun, you ask? The answer is if the 15-year-old girl sees art in a stalk like this...


Just thought I'd share.