This is so naughty

I'm going to share something with you that will change your way of thinking about me forever. OK are you ready? This is a recipe for the most dangerously delicious donuts I've ever had. If your name is Fitness2aT turn away now.

Warning: there is nothing healthy or whole in this food!!!


All you need is 1 can of Grands biscuits
about 1/4c melted butter
some cinnamon and sugar
and about 1in of oil in a pan

1. Get your oil nice and hot
2. Take out your biscuits and poke a hole about an inch in diameter in the center of each one with something round.

3. Place the biscuits in the oil and fry till brown on one side then flip it and brown the other side.

then place the crispy dripping with hot grease donut on a plate lined with a paper towel. Then dip each side of the donut in the melted butter and then in your cinnamon and sugar mix.

4. Try not to eat too many.

This is for the birds

So even though I  became a vegetarian, I decided to become the owner of some beautiful Rhode Island Reds. Four of them to be exact. I thought that if my family was still going to consume eggs I could at least find a better source then the ones found at the grocery store. If you have ever seen the condition that these birds are kept in it would make your head spin. It's disgusting and just mean. I'm all about God putting animals on this earth for us to consume but... God never intended them to be genetically altered and be mass produced with help of  machines. I've learned a few things about chickens in last few months.

1. They are not stupid animals. They're pretty smart. Let me share a story with you. My husband just built some nesting boxes for the chickens and he put the boxes into the coop. Well not knowing it at the time, the boxes interfered with the door and at some point two of the chickens got trapped inside coop and the other two couldn't get in. You see chickens flock together where one goes the others will follow. So this situation was not ideal for them. Not to mention the food and water was in the coop. So that afternoon I was leaving the driveway in my van and in my mirror I saw two chickens running up the hill toward me. I remember thinking it was odd that they were chasing after the car and that I only saw two of them. When I returned home later that day I was bringing my groceries inside and the two chickens started walking up my front stairs into the house. So I stopped what I was doing and brought them down to the coop. Oh yah... I forgot to say that they follow me when I call them. It's kinda cute. Well when I got to the coop I realized that they were shut out and other two were trapped inside. So yet again... mommy saves the day.

2. They are messy animals but only where they roost. Which happens to currently be a maple tree out by my deck in the backyard. It's a very strange sight to see chickens in a tree. But things are always strange around my house so I guess they are just going with the flow.

3. They are sweet if they are treated right. My kids love on them just like they do the cat. Oh and speaking of the cat. He doesn't bother them at all. They walk by him and he doesn't even flinch.He probably realizes that they are way out of his league. We all seam to just coexist.

We just got our first egg over the weekend. So we should have a steady flow of eggs coming in soon. They're small now but they are supposed to increase in size as the the chickens mature.


                                                                   The Party Crashers

~This Moment~

-A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment that I want to pause savor and remember.

If your inspired to do the same, leave a link to your "moment" in the comments for all to see. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Hi... it's me

Bad blogger...bad. So I've been absent for a couple months now and I really don't have any excuse other then life happening. I know it's lame.So this post is just a bit of an update on my life. So let's see...where do I start?

  I'm still doing the vegetarian and whole foods thing with a little slacking in some areas. I have purchased a few things that are supposed to be off limits but they totally have made my life easier in a couple situations. Can you say boxed mac and cheese. Yah.... and turns out my husband likes a good hamburger at the family BBQ's. So I've had to waver a little for the sake of my marriage. I myself have remained meat free for seven months now. Yahhh me!!

  We finished up our homeschool year about 3 weeks ago. Or I should say the kids finished. I on the other hand never really stopped because now I'm planning for next year. I do have some fun stuff that I'm working on that I hope to post about soon. Complete with pictures.

 This summer hasn't been all peaches and cream for us. We had one of those life events that you think will never happen to you and then does. While at a homeschool lunch my Princess was attacked by a dog and bite in the face. She required a plastic surgin to stitch her up with many many stitches. But God is good and she is recovering and has remained strong through it all. The hardest part for her was staying off the trampoline and her bike and out of the pool until her stitches healed up. We also have had to keep her completely out of the sun so that her scars don't become worse. So she's been sporting some really cute sun hats.
 
Oh yah and last but not least... I completed my half marathon. I did better then I expected to. I trained to run it at 10:30 RP and I ran it at 10:20. That was even with missing my last 2 weeks of training due to an IT Band injury.

Ok that's all I think of right now. So I hope everyone else is enjoying the summer and I promise I will be better about posting. :) Ta ta for now.

Vegetarian eye candy

My favorite fruit and nut salad

 Kale chips

Quinoa Patties 

Kale chips recipe:

Step 1.Rinse your kale.

Step 2  Cut the leaf part off the spine.

Step 3 Cut it into bite size pieces and place onto a cookie sheet.

Step 4 Spray with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic and salt or whatever spices you like. Be creative.

Step 5  Bake in  the oven at 300 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. You'll feel the edges becoming crispy.you don't want it to brown and burn. Kale cooks best at a low temp for a long time.

Step 6  Eat the whole pan. It's only like 50 calories. The only calories are from the oil. I use my Misto to reduce the amount of oil I use.

Queen of my castle.

So here's the thing. As a wife and mom I'm supposed to be the manager of my home.My idea of a home is a place of relaxation for my husband to come home to. There should be a certain peace about it. A feeling of comfort. A place where we can all feel happy and healthy. You get the picture. But here's the thing. My house has been nothing but that lately. My husband comes home to a messy house, cranky kids and a miserable wife. The man works two jobs and he comes home to me yelling about how I can't do this by my self. I don't like it and I'm sure that he doesn't much enjoy my ranting either. This whole time I've been thinking it's because my kids are all young and we're so busy with school and church stuff. I pretty much was making excuses for myself. I'm missing something. There's something that I was doing wrong. Then a couple weeks ago while I was on a long run, it was clear to me. The title "Manager" was the key. Managers don't do everything all by themselves. They create a way for everyone to take a piece of the job that needs to be done and they all work together till it's done. So when I got home I got to work. I revamped my schedule that I put together way back in September and realized that it was not the schedule that I've been following. You see the thing about a schedule is it's useless if your not following it. So here I've realized my second problem. It's "Consistency". I need to stick to this new schedule. Because let's face it, my life is crazy without it. I also realized that my kids current chore lists were not working either for that same reason. They have also gotten older since I made them and they need to be redone. So I searched around on Pinterest and online for chore chart ideas and nothing was exactly what I was looking for. Only 2 of my 4 children can read so I needed something with pictures for them to follow. I used "chorebusters" for a while before and I really loved the pictures and on the back of the card it had step by step instructions on how to complete the chore. BUT, I didn't like putting the five cards in there individual slots every morning. Which worked out to be 20 cards every morning because I have four kids. So this is what I came up with in the end.

This is my oldest sons chart 

These are the 3 younger kids chores.Try to ignore the typo on this first one.

 They have morning chores to be done before breakfast and evening chores that are done after dinner.

The morning chore list also includes 2 chores to be picked out of the chore can by each child.

 This is my chore can made complete with a "Happy Heart".

So I've done all the leg work and the system is working great so far. Now for the hard part keeping it in place. Any ideas??

3 steps to lose weight before summer

OK ladies it's that dreaded time of year again. Spring!!! The time of year that we're suddenly aware of all those cookies and slices of pie that we ate over the winter. It's time to drop the forks and pull out those bathing suits. Try it on now because you'll be wearing it in a couple months. Does it fit? Is it a little snug? Well then lets fix that.

Step 1
Set a realistic goal that you'll be able to reach. Post it somewhere where you can see it daily. You can set a final goal and some smaller monthly goals to reach to keep yourself motivated. Treat yourself when you reach your goals. Stick a dollar in a jar each time you exercise and when you reach your goal go buy yourself something with the money in the jar.

Step 2 
Start counting those calories. Sign up with My Fitness Pal. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ It's free and you can even get an App for your smartphone. You can log your calories and your exercise wherever you are. It calculates everything for you. They have a huge database full of calorie amounts for the food you eat. They'll even give you a calorie goal when you sign up for your account. You can use the online community for fitness ??? and have friends to keep you accountable. Ever little thing you put into your mouth counts. Even those last few bites of mac and cheese that's left in pot. I know how easy it is to rack up those calories and not even know it. You can basically eat whatever you want as long as you account for the calories. But if you have a piece of cake for dinner, chances are you wont be full and you'll eat something else later and then you'll be over   your calorie goal for the day. My best advise in this area is... if you know that your going to want dessert later with the family hop on the treadmill at some point in the day for 20-30min. It's all about balance. Depriving yourself will only lead to a private party with you and a box of cookies behind the pantry door.

Step 3
Get moving. Find something you like to do.Walking, Running, Spinning, Yoga, or Zumba, anything that gets you up and moving. If you don't enjoy it you probably wont stick with it. So try to find something you like or at least don't mind doing. I like to run. If I don't find time for it I get cranky and if I take too many days off in between runs I pay for it on the next run. That keeps me motivated. I also set goals for myself to keep me moving. I have a half marathon scheduled for this May and a 15k in July. I have to register and pay up front for these and they're not cheap. There is no refund if I slacked off on training and I can't run.

These steps need to become a way of life. There's no going back once you reach your goal or you'll only have to go through it all over again.