I found the coolest thing!!!

First off, I am sorry I have not blogged in a while. These last few weeks have been crazy busy with birthdays, parties and trying to get as much family time in as possible. Hubby is getting ready to go play soldier for a few weeks, so I should have more time to focus on the things that make me super happy :) Like blogging, crocheting and crafting! YAY! I sure will miss him when he's gone, but it's nice to have some down time sometimes.

So every Friday I watch my friend's little boy while she puts in her hours for her externship. Friday's are fun. 2 boys, recently both under the age of 3. We've had our good, our bad and our plain "is it time to drink yet?!" :) I love this little boy like he's my own though. I love his brother too. His brother is 9. He's an amazing kid. When he's around, he helps take care of the other kids. Today, is one of those days! The older kids have off school, so both boys are here, as well as my kids. Z thinks this is so cool since it's her birthday. She's in heaven.

This morning I decided since all 4 kids were going to be home, we would make a big breakfast with our new pancake creator I bought at Wal-Mart. I am usually not one to give into buying just anything, but after passing this little guy so many times, I just had to try it.

Click on picture to go to website :)

The kids were more than excited to see what I could come up with. I have made Mikey Mouse pancakes before, and I figured this would at least make it 10x easier. I was right. Mickey came out great!

G's Mickey Mouse with H's well... H :)

Not too shabby. And much easier than scooping it out with a measuring cup. Z wanted her name:

name masterpiece :)

But of course, with the good comes the ugly. H then wanted me to try to make the dead guy pancake from Despicable Me....yeah....not so much....lol



And then Z wanted Hello Kitty....FAIL!

But it was a fun morning. I went through two batches of pancake batter, and could have sat there all day perfecting my pancake making craft!! :)

The cool thing about this little gadget is that you can put it in the fridge and store any leftover batter you have. Which for us, is good because when it's just myself and the kids here, we usually have a single batch that ends up with leftovers!

So...in the end, I would say this thing is worth the $6 you'll spend on it. The kids love it most of all, and that, to me, is what is important :)

Who wants recipes?? :)

So...waaay back during my days in Germany, I was introduced to a lovely lady by the name of Stephanie. She was good friends with one of my good friends, and through gym time and Pampered Chef products, we became good friends. I am happy to say we have kept in touch since the 2 years we both left Germany and she is an inspiration to me when it comes to cooking and weight loss! She started posting some of her recipes that she has created and come across. *love*

This girl CAN cook! So I thought I would share her website with ya'll :)

Hirsch Household 6- Recipes

I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, but I love her :) hehe

On a side note, tonight we are having Paleo meatloaf with mashed garlic cauliflower. Can we say YUM?!?!?! :) What's on  your dinner plate?

Who doesn't love pretzels??

OMGosh. I miss Germany. This blog here is from a friend of a friend who is still stationed in Baumholder {jealous}! She has a recipe for these:

Don't those look UH-MAZING??!! She cut one in half and made a pretzel sandwhich out of it! O-EM-GEEEE!!! It look so super yummy! You can check our her recipe here.

Also take a minute to check out the rest of her blog. She talks about everything from deployment, to overseas living, to personal adventures and adventures in crafting. She is one of those "How DOES she do it?" kind of people! I just love her blog! :) 

Not your Mom's spaghetti :)

Ok, so my blog has been very personal lately. Which is not what I intended. So forgive me. It's been a rough few weeks. But now that things are starting to straighten out, let me share something with you straight from the Heavens......



Meet Spaghetti squash! This amazing vegetable is so versitile. It's pretty flavorless, but adding it to a meal adds a nice texture to your dish. We mainly have used it in Paleo Spaghetti. One of our FAVORITE dishes!

We eat Paleo spaghetti at least once a paycheck. My daughter even tried it last night and said it wasn't that bad. Which for her, is amazing! She is so picky! Hopefully next time I can convince her to eat some instead of regular noodles.

My favorite thing about Paleo spaghetti is all the fresh ingredients I can use it in. Tomatoes, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. All from my garden or local Farmer's Market.



Isn't it beautiful?? :) Alright, alright. I know you're drooling, so here is MY version of Paleo Spaghetti. Don't hate, don't judge. Just enjoy !

Ingredients

• 1 Lb ground grass-fed beef
• 1/4 cup chopped bacon
• 1 large onion, chopped and diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 2 tbsp organic tomato paste
• 3 large tomatoes, or 5-7 roma tomatoes
• Optional ¼ cup heavy cream
• Optional salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat a large pot. Add beef and bacon and cook for 5 minutes. Remove meat with spoon and leave the grease in the pot. Then add carrots, celery, onion, garlic and oregano. Cook until soft. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and meats back to the pot. Season to preference with salt and pepper. You can also throw in some Italian seasoning, oregano or hot pepper flakes at this time. Cover sauce and simmer about 45 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, you can add the optional cream if you are using milk fat in your Paleo diet.

Spaghetti Squash: Heat oven to 350 F. Cut squash in half length-wise. Remove seeds (you can save these and roast for a yummy snack). Place squash cut sides down and roast for about 30 minutes.

When the squash is done roasting, take a fork and break apart the ‘spaghetti’ with a fork. Plate with sauce and Voila!