WATERMELON AGUAS FRESCAS

I have no idea what these words mean - except watermelon.  I got this recipe from Tasty Kitchen.  It looked like one of those drinks you get on a tropical island or a Caribbean cruise, so I had to try it. 
It was fantastic!
It was so simple!
It made me happy!

Blend/pulse 2 cups watermelon
Add in 1/4 cups lime juice
10 drops Stevia ( I used 2 packets of Sun Crystals, which is a stevia product)
Glass filled with ice

It makes about 2 glasses full.  Now I just need one of those little umbrellas to put in the glass, oh and a tropical island. . .

Enjoy! 

I figure this is 1 WW point and a serving of fruit!

Sooooo Smooth

I love smoothies!  Fruity, creamy, slushy, low-cal, and not so low-cal - they are all good.  Here is my latest concoction.  A blueberry/Greek yogurt smoothie.  For those of you who have not tried Greek yogurt - it is awesome.  At least 16 grams of protein per 6 ounces.  I lack protein in my diet, so this is great for me!  It is a bit pricey in comparison to other brands, but Yoplait makes one that sells at my grocery store and I found a coupon on Coupon Mom for it.  Plus, no one else really eats yogurt in my home (although Noah does like to share this smoothie with me), so I can justify the cost a bit more.  Also, one of these drinks is very filling, and I usually drink it in place of a lunch.

I use a 6 oz. container of the fat free plain Greek Yogurt, about a cup of frozen blueberries (Aldi's has them at a great price), and about 1/2 cup of low fat milk.  Mix it in a blender with some sweetener (or a bit of sugar if your children are going to drink it), and there you have a 4 point drink that is very satisfying, filling and healthy!  You have a serving of fruit, milk, and lean protein!  Now go and mix it up!

Christmas Eve Menu

I have to say how much I miss not having to cook anything for the holidays!  I guess I'm lazy :-).  When I lived in Pennsylvania, we were invited so many places for the holidays, that I usually ended up only making an appetizer or dessert - sometimes just some cookies!   I figured when my kids grew up and left home, that would be my time to do all the cooking and invite everyone to my home.  My how times have changed!  I now do A LOT of cooking - sometimes most of it!  I guess that's okay - just different from what I was used to.

We invited Dan's parents over for Christmas Eve again this year.  I am making lasagna.  Does that sound dull and boring?  I figure we had turkey for Thanksgiving, and my sister in law is making a ham for Christmas (yeah I don't have to cook on Christmas).  Dull or not, lasagna it is!  I will make some homemade bread, green beans with bacon and onion, and a peanut butter cup pie for dessert.  I am making some appetizers as well - Tanner requested a shrimp cocktail ring, and I think I'll wrap some water chestnuts with bacon.  Oh, and I made slush to drink.

I'll share my slush recipe with you if you share your holiday menus with me!  I need inspiration!  

SLUSH:
1 thawed can orange juice concentrate

1 thawed can lemonade concentrate (tried limeade this year)

1 cup strong tea
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
mix it all together.  Put it in a large bowl with a lid.
Place in freezer.   Several times in the first 12 hours,
stir and scrap sides.  It looks like "slush".
After it has frozen, it is ready to serve.
Take 1-2 ice cream scoops of slush and place in a glass.
Pour 7 up, Sprite, Ginger Ale, etc., over the top of it.
It is quite tasty and won't get you arrested if you need to drive
home after your party!

I put a sign on my microwave to remind myself I need to stir my slush!



Please share those menus!

For Christmas day, my sister in law invited us down.  She is having ham and asked me to make Snickers Salad.  How deceiving is that - anything with salad in the title should be low cal and WW friendly, right?  Well, not with this one!  But it is seriously worth the extra calories - yum!


I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year's.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll get to see some of you soon - if the weather cooperates.

A CAFFEINE KICK AND GREAT GIFT IDEAS

Today's ramblings will be two-fold.  First, I want to share a wonderful drink recipe with you.  Now, for those of you who regularly read Holly's blog (http://hotteaandmilkchocolate.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-01-19T07%3A54%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7), you know this is one her recipes, and in fact the other part of this post is also one of Holly's ideas.  Thanks Holly for all your wonderful ideas!  (Also, enjoy being 41 for a few more weeks- you, Dawnie and I are closing in on 42).  But I think I have a few followers who do not know Holly, so I'm posting this to benefit them! :-)


This wonderful concoction is so simple.  It is a can of Mt. Dew (I used diet), and some frozen strawberries.  Mix in a blender and enjoy!

I make this somedays when the boys are napping and I need a "kick" to get me through the afternoon.  Plus, it has fruit in it and I feel like I am somewhat doing something healthy.


The other great idea from Holly is that she put together a photobook of her "simple" recipes.  She mailed several out to her friends and family (I was fortunate to get one!).  There are about 12 recipes in here each with a picture of the finished product and Holly's "easy" recipe.   I love this book- this is just one of those photo books you can make through Walmart, Snapfish, Shutterfly, wherever, but Holly introduced me to ArtsCow - http://www.artscow.com/ 

ArtsCow is a photo website based in Hong Kong.  They make the same stuff that Walmart and these other places offer, only cheaper.  Sign up - you'll be glad you did.  It is free to register and they send you emails a couple times a week offering sales on items and many times free shipping.  When you sign up, you get something like 1200 prints free (you pay shipping)!  I've been getting my scrapbooking prints from them for about a year now and the quality is as good as Walmart.  The only drawback is that it does take a week or more to get it delivered from Hong Kong, and that the shipping charges can be high.  Yet, I always get the item on sale and it is usually ends up being cheaper than if I ordered it locally.  I've purchased personalized coasters, mouse pads, calendars, pillow cases, and many photo books from them.

Today I ordered a Grandparent photo book I made up with photos of my boys.  They were offering one at $5.99 with free shipping, and additional books at $8.99 with the free shipping.  I got 2 books for $14.98!  I also made up a book for Noah for his birthday.  The book will be all about his family.  I have made a couple of these books up for the little guys and added a story to go along with my photos.  They love it when I read these to them.   I love giving and receiving personalized gifts.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:   The more we share, the more we have.

HEAVEN IN A CUP

I've not been blogging lately because things have been stressing me out.  They are just stupid things.  Things that I should not let get me down.   Yet, sometimes it just happens.  Stress is weird - it can actually cause you to feel physical pain - like you're really getting the swine flu, when in fact, you are just over-thinking a problem that God will take care of for you anyway.  I try very hard to put things in God's hands, but sometimes, I keep some of the problem for myself and then regret it later.  Such has been this week.  Well, enough of the depressing stuff.   The stress of today (which I'll briefly tell you about), led me to find this heavenly drink. 

I am a Sheetz-cappuccino-kind-of-girl (why do I always have to use spell check to spell cappuccino???).  Not the hard core/real coffee tasting ones.  No, I like the sweet, instant, oh-so-delicious ones.  Well, there are no Sheetz in Wisconsin.  That took me all of 4.5 years to accept and get over!  However, we do have a Quik Trip, which also sells the cappers (what I like to call cappuccinos).  Thru Dec. 4, they are on sale for .99 cents any size!!!  My favorite flavor is tiramasu, but when they don't have that one, I like cookies and cream or English toffee.  Anything sweet! 

Today I was stressed, so I made this at home:  I used about 1/4 cup of coffee and dissolved a packet of Swiss Miss 25 calorie hot cocoa mix in it.  Then I filled my mug with milk and added 1 Tablespoon (maybe more) of the tirasau creamer flavoring that I found at Walmart this week.

Oh my it was delicious!  It was so good in fact that I think I'll take a nap and then get up and have another one!

As for my stress today.  Well, my firstborn, vivacious, charming, witty son is driving 12 hours to visit his girlfriend in Kentucky.  He's meeting her family for the first time.  He left at 5 a.m. this morning.  Now, I know he's 18 and all, but I swear, when I look at him, I still see the little 8 year old boy who carried around a stuffed grizzly bear and watched Barney until I thought I'd go crazy singing those songs in my head!!!!  It's just not possible he's got a girlfriend and he's visiting her in KY and is probably going to kiss her . . . . ugh, I can hardly take it.   Well, about 5 hours into his trip, he calls and tells me his transmission broke down.  He was in IL on the side of a road. . ........ yada yada yada.  To make a very long story short, he got a rental car, found a nice mechanic to fix his truck by Monday so he can pick it up on his way home.  The only problem is that instead of being able to come home on Sunday, it will now be Monday.  I should not say that is the only problem - there is the cost of the transmission, the rental car and the fact that he is missing another day of classes.  My head is about to explode.   I thought potty training was a challenge!  Oh he is so much like his father!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  The Lord only gives us one day at a time for a reason!