Social Media & Salsa

Technology - shmecknology.  I'm over it.  Well, as far as my kids are concerned at least.  It's all just too much, too soon, if you ask me.  (My) Kids aren't mature enough to have methods of communication at their fingertips that could have life long effects.  As much as we preach to them that everything they write down or video or share, etc. is there FOREVER, their developing minds are not capable of comprehending the impact - but what kid is at 12? I wish I could rise up and start a movement - that in order to text, have a Facebook or Instagram account, etc., one must be 18 years old.  Kind of like voting - you don't vote until you're 18 years old. 

I don't know about you but when I was a kid, the world was all about me.  My parents' priority with me - just as is our priority with our children today - was nurturing my gifts and giving me every opportunity to explore my interests.  If I wasn't studying for MY tests, I was practicing for MY sports.  If I wasn't practicing for MY sports, I was visiting with MY friends.  If I wasn't with MY friends, I think I moped around wishing I was with my friends - and so on... Who can blame kids? Life was all about us at one time - and when life is all about you, your "vision" is impaired a bit and you don't have the foresight and maturity to see beyond the here and now. 

Anyway... I'm just finding that sometimes I am a little overwhelmed by it all.  All of us parents need to be checking our kids' emails and texts regularly.  And you know those classes that many of our schools offer for the parents on technology?  Take them!  Did you know that one can text someone's phone number from an email?  Crazy this stuff...I am trying to give them a little and coach them through it - but you know the old saying - when you give an inch, they take a mile... they ask, ask, beg, ask some more... and all the while, it's me saying NO NO NO!  Wouldn't it be easier if all this stuff could be regulated?  I'm not a fan of big government, so this doesn't necessarily have to be a government mandated rule - just an unspoken rule - no social media until you're 18.  Ha!

Off my soap box I step... back to reality.  For now, I have cut my kids off and they're pretty okay with it.  Right now, they are out throwing the baseball...in the rain.  I love that! 

I've been gone a while - from this blog at least.  And I'll tell you why.  I always like to leave a little take-away for you, my readers, in the way of a recipe.  We have been so busy lately - from a trip to the beach for our second Spring Break to baseball for 2 boys and a basketball team for one - that I have had little to no time to cook, to blog, to do anything but what needed to absolutely positively be done.  And when I do have time (time meaning it's quiet and the kids are occupied), I'm pooped!  We as moms serve as the kitchen staff (prep, cooking, serving, and clean-up), laundry-mat, social media - checker, cleaning crew, resident psychologist (sometimes I find myself counting to Champ and Matthew like I count to Brooke - "I'll give you three seconds to give that toy back to Sally... 1...2....3" - then I realize that they're not 2 years old so I have to switch my frame of mind - though I will tell you that in many cases, parenting my boys is not that different from parenting Brooke), and on and on the list goes.  We moms do it all!  So, yesterday I had 30 minutes to myself (boys were at baseball and Brooke was napping) and I plopped myself down on the sofa with a La Croix and watched a little bit of The Notebook... heaven! 

Over the past few weeks, I have been in a "cleaning out the freezer" phase.  I have pulled bags of unidentified meat out of the freezer, thawed it in a pot on the stove and been pleasantly surprised by things like lettuce wraps, meat pies, spaghetti sauce, chili... I can finally move stuff around in the freezer whereas before, everything was so jam packed I didn't know what I had in there!

All that is to say, I do hope that I'll make time to share more recipes with you.  One of our nutritionists at work, Mindy, shared a delicious and super easy recipe for salsa.  WARNING:  it is very addictive.  After the first batch I made, Matthew and I sat at the kitchen table one afternoon and shared a bag of chips as we used them to scoop up BIG amounts of this salsa - it's nearly drinkable. 

Just a few ingredients, a blender or food processor and a container for storing is all you need! 

First, I used my food processor to chop a little bit of onion and pickled jalapeno. 

 

Then I added a can of whole peeled tomatoes and some spices. 

 

 I pulsed it a few times (so that the salsa maintained some texture).  And boom - there it is!

 

You may be thinking - salsa is salsa... but this is incredibly tasty.  Enjoy!  Click here for the recipe link.

As I have been cleaning out my freezer, I have been reevaluating my pantry and getting rid of granola bars and a lot of the unhealthier go-to snacks.  My plan is to make some granola bars this week - some healthy peanut butter balls (great little pops of protein), and stock my fridge and fruit bowl full of healthy produce.

Thing is... I've only got today to prepare much of this.  I'm working Tuesday-Thursday and even though I'm home by 3:30/4:00 on those days, you know how it is with a tired toddler near the end of the day - (a tired toddler who is giving up her nap, that is...)... Wish me luck!  I'll be back (and soon I promise!) with some delicious recipes.