Friday Favorites 4/26/2013

Beer Growler

After a race I did a couple of weeks ago (see below), we sat down for lunch and one of our teammates pulled out a Beer Growler.  I found it to be so cool! I am a lover of good beer.  Well, a few days after the race, I found a store in Sandy Springs called the Beer Growler.  Ohhh what fun this place is for a beer drinker (aka, my husband)!  They have a bunch of craft brews on tap - you are welcome to taste as many as you like to find the one you like best.  Then you purchase a bottle - small, medium, large - or was it just small and large?  Can't remember.  Anyway, they fill it up for you, seal it and off you go.  The beer stays fresh for up to 4 weeks - or 2-3 days after you open it.  Matt loves beer and I thought this would be a fun thing for him to give him.  He enjoyed his beer over the course of a few days and we will head over to the store together tonight (date night!) to turn in our bottle and have another one filled up!  The first time you go in, you have to pay for the bottle (around $5) and the beer (price varies based on the beer you choose) and the bottle is yours... so each time you go in, you bring your bottle and they give you a fresh clean one.  Pretty cool concept!  This would be a fun birthday present, host gift, Father's Day gift... stop by!  I believe there are several locations - Midtown, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody....

Baking Soda

In my house, I use baking soda in two ways - as an odor neutralizer in my fridge and freezer also in recipes when it's called for.. I have memories of watching my mom wash glasses with baking soda.  She'd wash them with regular soap and then wash them a second time with baking soda and it was like they were brand new - no residue, no foggy glasses - sparking clean!  Well, I've recently added a third use for baking soda - on my face!  My friend, Emily, told me that she started using it to wash her face and loves it.  Now I'm hooked! I tried it by itself the first time.  I just put a little in my palm and added a few drops of water.  It's a cleanser and exfoliator all in one.  My face felt incredibly clean and as smooth as a baby's bottom.  The next night I mixed a little in with my face soap, Johnson's Baby Wash.  It was equally as refreshing.  This washing routine coupled with my Coconut Oil moisturizer is really working well!  And an added bonus is that I'm spending close to nothing on these products!  Why spend a bunch of money on products that have a ton of ingredients when you can use natural items that make your skin look even better?!!  Try washing with baking soda tonight - you're gonna love it!

Baseball games

As you know, my boys love baseball.  And this mama here loves it, too.  We spend a crazy amount of time at the baseball field.  I've been blessed for the second season in a row that Matthew is on the same team as Edward, who is the son of my dear friend, Debbie.  We have a great time at these games - Debbie and I watch the games, and we talk - about life.  She always has an entourage of family members and often times my dad and/or father-in-law are there.  Side note - how blessed are our kids to have active grandparents with whom they can share these experiences?  Makes my heart go pitter patter... A couple weeks ago, it was the Spring Break and Matthew's team was one player short of being able to field a team.  His coach called and asked me what Champ was doing that day - to which I replied, "Champ is only 9 - are you sure?  Stick him in right field and bat him 9th."  (Right field just happens to be the spot where the fewest balls are hit, statistically - and being that he is 9 and the other players are 12.. well, you get it).  Champ was soo nervous but excited at the same time.  Matthew had an extra jersey from the year before so they were both DAVIS #2. 

Champ had nothing to lose - he was merely filling a spot - but when it was his turn to bat, by golly my heart was racing!  I so badly wanted him to get a good hit because I knew that alone would fill him with confidence and just make his season.  He got up there and both sides of the stands - our team and the opposing team - were rooting him on.  "Let's go, Champ!!  Rip it!"  Check out this picture of Champ at the plate and Matthew in the box...

Pitcher throws the ball and I can't remember where in the count Champ hit - but when he made contact, it sailed into the outfield for a single.  Woo hoo!!  We shouted from the rooftops.  Nothing in the game mattered after that.  It was pretty cool. 

And then there's Brooke - the sideline entertainment at the games.  I try to switch out the toys I bring for her to play with before each game - and she munches on popcorn, peanuts, and most recently, a ring "paci" (ring pop that she named a ring "paci") - so fun!

 

And here she is holding court with the players. I'd say she has them wrapped around her finger!

 Tough Mudder

A few weeks ago I had one of the most fun athletic experiences I've ever had!  I did a race with five others called the Tough Mudder.  In Washington, GA, this was a 10+ mile trail run filled with 20+ obstacles which ranged from swimming through a dumpster with dense ice water (painful!) to army crawling under live wire (had a tough time with that one) to climbing up and over walls and crawling through underground tunnels filled with mud.  Shall I keep going?  Oh yes, there was the climbing a big wall only to get to the top to then jump 20 feet into water (scary!), monkey bars, jumping over fire... I absolutely loved it and can't wait to do it again next year!  I loved the team camaraderie of it - we had to help each other (it was more like the men helping us women) with each obstacle.  We were a group doing this tough, messy, exhausting challenge together.  It was so fun!!  Here is a picture post race:

As you can imagine, it took days to get all the dirt off... Thing is.. it was much easier for me than running 10 straight miles - the obstacles, even though some of them were tough, were a break from running.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to complete and I loved every second.  Let me know if you want to join us next year!

I've got a fabulous granola bar recipe to share and will do my best to get that out over the weekend.  Until then, make it a super weekend.  Smile - and show your teeth when you smile!  You'll be amazed at the smiles you get back when you yourself smile big.  :) 

Squash Casserole - the MOST Delicious You've Ever Tasted!

I love casseroles - I'll admit that.  Especially good creamy, full of fat ones.  But I don't let myself eat them a lot and I don't make them often - for two reasons:  they can be pretty unhealthy and I have a VERY picky eater who likes to have the each item on his plate be a separate entity.  If I put a serving of casserole on his plate, he immediately begins to move his fork around as if he's dissecting a frog... well, that doesn't make a chef feel good, so I pretty much avoid them all together at my house. 

Take me out of my house and put me with a new crowd, and I have no fear.  This squash casserole is a side dish.  I got this recipe years ago from my (dear) friend, Kerri.  It's so delicious that I can't help but eat multiple servings in one sitting.  While my crew wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot fork, my sweet nieces and nephews lapped it up on Saturday night.  And they repeatedly said, "Aunt Christa, your squash is sooo good!"  Warms my heart and I may have even puffed up my chest a little bit as a result of all the complimenting :). 

Super easy - very quick to throw together - perfect as a side to chicken, burgers, pork, etc.  And just delightful served in a bowl by itself with a little hot sauce the next day.

First cut up your squash and onion.  I sliced the squash and chopped it roughly - no need to peel as the skin gives it nice texture.  I chopped the onions finely (is that a word?).  Throw the squash and onion in a little bit of chicken broth and bring to a boil - then simmer for about 10-15 minutes. 

While that is cooking, make one cup of brown rice.  (I cook mine in low sodium chicken broth for added flavor - and I use the Minute Rice brown rice version because it cooks so quickly). 

Strain out the broth and put the squash and onion into a bowl - mash it a bit with a fork.  Then add your rice, sour cream, sharp shredded cheddar cheese and a little parmesan cheese.  Mmmm... the picture below makes my mouth water.

 

Add one egg and give it one last stir.  

 

 

 Sprinkle a few bread crumbs on top and pop it into a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. 

Oh, it's heavenly!  It's got perfect texture and it's deliciously creamy.  Here it is on my plate. 

If you have a family of big eaters, you will want to double the recipe.  Click here for the recipe. 

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. 

Friday Favorites 3/15/2013

This is what I'm digging lately...

I tried a Chai tea latte recently at Starbucks and I'm hooked!  The Chai tea has an earthy and deep flavor to it - sort of spicy without being hot spicy if that makes sense.  I've been ordering a Venti non-fat Chai tea latte and boy do I savor every hot sip - sometimes one isn't enough and I order myself another.  It's delicious.  In fact, I bought some Tazo Chai tea and enjoy that at home on some mornings - though the latte is much more of a treat. 

  

Recently, I picked up something new from Trader Joe's - curry chicken tenders.  Ohhhh.. if you are a fan of curry, you will think you've died and gone to heaven...for two reasons:  the taste and how quickly you were able to take them from the package to the table.  I cooked them in a skillet and served them with broccoli and my homemade honey mustard sauce.  The kids loved them.  Trader Joe's.  Inexpensive.  Good.  Try it.

Surprise, surprise - I've never been a big spender on hair products.  I have always bought my shampoo and conditioner at the ol' drugstore or grocery store.  The only items that I have bought at a salon are surf spray (which I love - gives your hair that, I've just walked off the beach look) and a product that adds shine to my hair after I blow dry it.  What I want to share with you today is Herbal Essence's Honey I'm Strong shampoo & conditioner.  My hair LOVES this stuff.  It moisturizes my hair and smells great.  If you're not into super expensive shampoos, pick this up.  I hope your hair loves it as much as mine does!

And my final favorite for now is a video that makes me laugh so hard every single time I watch it - and to date, I've watched it about a dozen times (in the span of 4 hours - I can't get enough). 

Click here.

 

 

Happy Friday!  Enjoy your weekend! 

The Greenbrier and Honey Mustard Sauce

Almost three weeks since my last post.... just when you think life can't possibly get any busier - it does!  We've just returned (and I have laundry to prove it!) from a wonderful vacation.  We spent three days at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.  We wanted to venture out to a new place and explore something other than the beach (that's not to say we don't LOVE the beach - we do, more than anything, but we feel like we've neglected some other really great parts of the country!).  We had a wonderful time. 

Never heard of the Greenbrier?  Click here.

Thanks to my great friend, Jessica (she suggested this place), we enjoyed a vacation full of activities, fun, relaxation, beauty and all things fancy.  I feel like all 5 of our senses were tickled.  The drive up, once we crossed over into Virginia, was full of magnificent landscape. 

We haven't taken the kids out west yet, so the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia were the biggest my boys have seen.  Once we hit Virginia, this is what our mountainous drive looked like (please note that many of the pictures in this post were taken with my iPhone and some may be a bit fuzzy)...

  

 

 It felt like we were in a fairy tale... We went in and around farm country and it was all snow covered - just enough to make it look pure and beautiful and clean... I think I told Matt after driving for a few minutes in the snow covered country that I'd be fine if we turned around and drove home because my senses were fulfilled by the beauty of it all...

We arrived at the Greenbrier and were just amazed by the vastness and grandeur of the hotel....

Isn't it grand?  We stayed in a little cottage about a minute's walk from the side entrance to the hotel.  This was the view from our front porch...

If you look closely, you can see a horse and carriage down the road a bit. 

Our little cottage room was so cute - it had a sitting room with a real wood burning fireplace, a nice big bathroom and changing area, and then a bedroom.  It fit us all really comfortably.  If that wasn't enough, we had room attendants who would get the fire all ready for us each day to burn - turn down our beds and leave chocolates on the pillows, bring ice every afternoon... it was just wonderful from top to bottom and inside out...

What did we do there, you ask?  It'd probably be easier to say what we didn't do - we didn't sit around, we never wanted for anything as our every need was met before we could even need it, we didn't go hungry...

We snapped this shot upon arrival...

Oh, we ice skated...

 

 

 

We bowled!

 

 

We swam in the beautiful tiled indoor pool which was built in - get this - 1913!!!

 

The boys went on an off road driving excursion with a guide in the mountains.  The boys played paintball.  They fished...

 

And our meals were impressive and delicious.  Check out my breakfast one morning...

And let me just tell you just what's on that plate.   It's a piece of smoked trout (YUM) with a scrambled egg and the most delicious sweet/savory bacon you've ever tasted - then some sauteed arugula and roasted potatoes.  That and my cup of coffee made me one happy lady.

Brooke and I got dressed up and went to afternoon tea each day at 4:00 p.m.  We loved getting dressed up!  And let me just say that I LOVE the idea of afternoon tea!  Brooke loved the cookies - she learned that we don't take one off the pretty table, bite it, decide we don't like it and put it back :) - she learned how to carry a small plate with two hands... So fun!  Something about everyone coming in after a full day, getting cleaned up and meeting in one location all dressed up for a cup of tea, a few cookies and conversation... for being an informal gal, I really enjoyed the structure and fancy-ness of it.

And check out Brooke's new "satellite dish" headband/bow.  It's big, it's pink and we LOVE it!

Those of you who follow my Instagram have seen most of these photos.  :)

It was a wonderful trip.  There was even a casino!  We left Matthew in charge one evening after we put Brooke to sleep and we went over to check out the casino for about half an hour.  We made $2.75 and came home.  Yep - what big high rollers we are!  Ha!

And out of all the activities and the fun we had, I think I most loved the fact that we were all together - around different people in a different land doing things TOGETHER.  We played games with each other - we laughed - we joked around - we had none of the typical pressures of school and work - it was several days of love and fun and enjoyment.  I'm so thankful for my family and for this trip.  I think when kids look back on their childhoods - at least this rings true for me - they'll remember the trips - the holidays - the bigger "events", if you will.  I certainly have memories of the day to day - mostly just the feeling of being a kid growing up in my house - but it's the trips to Europe, California, Florida, Wyoming, Canada, Mexico, etc. that I remember.  (Thanks, Mom and Dad for such an incredible upbringing!).  And that was the 80's right?  Times were good - money was being made exponentially - the economy was booming... things are a little different now for many - BUT there are so many places to which you can take your family - within driving distance - and enjoy.  It's not so much the place as it is just the getting away from the everyday to enjoy being with your family. 

After three days of feeling fancy, we got through our 8+ hour drive home and here I sit - running to fold laundry between each paragraph of this post.  How is it that the more laundry I do, the bigger the pile gets?  Makes no sense but I promise that's what happening!  I've written before about my want/need for a wife - I could really use someone to help me fold laundry, iron, shuffle kids, cook....

The night before I left, I was low on groceries (didn't want to buy anything that would just sit in the fridge for 5 days), so I was grasping for straws for a dinner option for the kids.  I unwrapped a package of marinated curry chicken from Trader Joe's (I'll be mentioning this in Friday Favorites this week) - cooked it for all of 10 minutes and then made my own honey mustard and was so pleased with how it came out!  I have always tried making honey mustard with honey and mustard and it has never really tasted right.  I learned the secret ingredient!  Mayonnaise!  Who'd of thunk it?

I used a half cup of mayonnaise (I use full fat regular ol' mayo), 2 TBS honey and almost 2 TBS stone ground mustard (or whatever you have on hand). 

Mix it up, add more of whatever you think it needs and whalaaa... you have yourself some tasty "homemade" honey mustard sauce.  My kids devoured it! 

 You could make this to accompany roasted potatoes, chicken, pork...

Here's the recipe:

1 cup mayonnaise
3 TBS honey
2 TBS mustard

So, what's on the menu this week as far as the MAIN DISH goes (I'm including this because if you're looking for something to make for your family, sometimes a mere idea can spins something into fruition)... 

Meatloaf
Chicken Pot Pie
BLT's
Taco Salad

Hope those of you who had Spring Break last week enjoyed it.  And for those of you who are looking forward to your break in early April - well, I'll be right there with you as Champ's is the first week of April.  To the beach we go...