Camping Trip

This weekend, Ryan and I took my family to the lake for a long weekend. Kyle was very excited about going camping in the new camper. He didn't remember our lake trip last year, nor the year before, but he was stoked about this year! All week he talked about camping. He came over a few days before the trip and "drove" the boat in the garage while he helped Uncle Ry-Ry get things packed up.

When we finally got to the lake, he had such a great time. Many things were new and unfamiliar to him, but he adapted very well. The first day, we put the boat in and he got to drive it in the water. He hated the life jacket of, course - "It's too tight" - but liked riding slow in the boat. Once we got going a little faster across the choppy water, he said, "I want to go camping!" We said, "You are camping." He thought going camping meant sitting at the campsite... and he wanted to go back! He said the same thing when we first went swimming in the lake, "No. I want to go camping!" But as soon as we got to playing (and he forgot about the life jacket) he had a ball. I think the highlight of his trip was that he didn't have to sit in his carseat when we drove half a block up to the restroom a few times. "I sit in the big seat in your car, Aunt Nerned!" That's all he cared about. Multiple times he told me, "I don't like my carseat."

We all had a nice, relaxing weekend. Lots of rest and Mexican Train Dominoes. Good food and s'mores. Hanging out with the family... good times!

We took a couple of videos while we were camping. The first is too cute not to share - Kyle singing Happy Birthday to himself. He sings pretty well!

The second video is Kyle and I dancing in the camper. He likes to play Freeze Dance and spin in circles. Then his new word for the weekend was shimmy, so we tried to shimmy in our dance, too.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I've been having a few health issues lately and as a result, I've been trying to eat healthier. Key word, trying. On Monday's Oprah, Dr. Oz was talking about diabetes becoming an epidemic in America and offering advice to prevent and even cure the disease. His biggest tip is "avoid the white stuff"... white rice, white flour, white bread, etc. So that got me to thinking, I wonder if I could bake my sweet tooth cravings with whole wheat flour, instead of white. I wonder if it tastes any good?

Because I always end up have a few bananas that get over-ripened before I can eat them, I just throw them in the freezer to use in banana bread later. When I cleaned out my freezer this week, I realized I had 11 frozen bananas. Time to bake some bread! After searching the internet for just a minute, I ran across this Breadtopia website with a whole wheat banana bread recipe. I decided to adapt it just a bit to reduce the fat content and here's the recipe I came up with.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
(makes 12 muffins or 1 loaf)

1/2 stick of butter (softened)
1/4 c. applesauce (I used homemade cinnamon cause it's all I had)
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
4 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/4 c. honey
2 eggs (I used 1 egg plus 3 Tbsp egg whites)
2 c. whole wheat flour

1. Using a hand mixer beat butter, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.
2. Add bananas, honey, and eggs. Beat with hand mixer.
3. Add flour and stir until moist.
4. Rest 10 minutes before pouring into greased pan.
5. Bake on 350.
6. For muffins, bake for 20 minutes. Cover with foil and bake for 6 more minutes.
   For bread, bake for 50 minutes. Cover with foil and bake for 10 more minutes.

The muffins turned out awesome! They were thick, yet light and moist. The color is a bit darker than white flour banana muffins, but they taste just as delish! I might even like them a little bit more because they're hearty and filling, too! I made enough to share with my family, so I'll have to get their opinions as well. I'm thinking this'll be my new Banana Bread recipe!

"It's like a tree house!"

Yesterday, my friend Sarah and I tackled a fun project for her daughter's bedroom. It all started when we were at the City Market in one of the boutique-ey shops and saw this super-cute faux tree decorated with butterflies, white lights, flowers, etc. Sarah and I both marveled at the whimsical look and thought it would really be cool to recreate in Avery's bedroom.

So there we sat, a couple of months later, with a roll of brown paper, some straight pins, yellow ticky-tack, fishing line, six strings of greenery, a few glittery flowers, and 4 homemade butterflies. Although we didn't have a clue how we were going to pull this off, we knew that between Sarah's decorative eye and my strategic problem-solving, we'd be able to figure it out.

And we were right... 7 hours later and a quick trip to Michaels and JoAnns, the project was complete... well, phase one of the project, anyway. It was really a very simple task... scrunching paper and cutting it to size for the trunk. The branches were just scrunching and rolling to make a long tubular shape. We pinned things to the walls and ceiling using straight pins and attached greenery using fishing line.

Sarah has more creative ideas to add to the tree. Avery has already chosen a birdhouse to paint and hang. There's plans to add other pieces to make it feel even more enchanting! When we had finished, I asked Avery to lay in her bed (which is right below the tree) and look up. She said, "It's like a tree house, it's like a tree house!" I was pleased with her excited response... I'll admit that I worried she would look up there and see a scary, dark tree, hovering over her and we'd have to think of a new plan (or move her bed!)

Here's Avery pretending to catch the butterflies in the tree!

It was a fun a project for two creative gals who never get to spend enough time together! I just hope that Avery didn't wake up this morning with green leaves and brown packing paper all over her bed!

One of the best things about summer...

Yummy Chicken Salad!

I love to cook and one of my favorite things about cooking is trying to recreate the recipe for my favorite foods. Panera Bread's Chicken Salad recipe, for example, was always my favorite! Ever since the first time I ate at St. Louis Bread in Springfield, I have been in love with their Chicken Salad. It was the perfect Chicken Salad... chunks of chicken breast, creamy, yet seasoned perfectly. I've never been a huge fan of fruit and nut chicken salads. They're okay, but I don't really like apples, raisins, walnuts, or pecans in with my mayo-ey mixture. It was like 8 years ago when I first found Panera's greatest recipe and I have tried everything I can think of to recreate it at home. Sour cream, yogurt, mayo, cream cheese, onion, parsley, ranch dressing.... but I could never seem to get the recipe right.

That was until about 4 years ago... I came up with a perfect concoction that was just as good as Panera's (in my opinion). I also happened to join Weight Watcher's shortly after that, so now I've created a slightly lighter version that is still as delish as the full-fat version. I wouldn't say it's healthy or light by any means, but compared to the original, it's a step in the right direction.

Before I share my recipe, I'd like to say that I must be alone in this world when it comes to my love of Panera's Chicken Salad because about a year ago, Panera changed their Chicken Salad. It's now of the fruit and nut variety. I haven't had the heart to try it because I'm still mourning the loss of what was once the best Chicken Salad on the planet!

If you'd like to try my recipe, here you go! It's a perfect summer treat. We've eaten it multiple ways... on crackers with cheese, stuffed in vine-ripened tomatoes (yum!), and just as a plain sandwich. In fact, sometimes I go buy Panera's french bread slices and make myself a classic Panera Chicken Salad sandwich, just to remember the good ol' days!

There are 4 or 5 ingredients
chicken breast, light sour cream, olive oil mayo, ranch powder,
and Tastefully Simple's Spinach and Herb add an extra layer of flavor (if you have it)

I made it without the Spinach and Herb for years and it was still great!

You boil the chicken breast (chicken in water, then bring to boil for 20 minutes-ish)
Then cut it into small pieces. I use kitchen shears for this - one of my favorite inventions!

Here's Tysie during the chicken-cutting part.

She's always waiting for me to throw her a bite or two... or three... or four...

Tysie licking her chops!

"Yummy chicken, Mama"

Then you add equal parts of mayo and sour cream.
How much really depends on how creamy you like it.
Start with 2 "big spoons" full of each... that's what I call the big spoons that come in my silverware set because they're bigger than tablespoons.

Then you also add the ranch powder and spinach and herb seasoning.
1-2 Tbsp of each

Stir!
Chill in the fridge for a few hours to give time for the sour cream and mayo to blend well.


Lately I've been cutting up peppers to eat it on... I like the crunch!

Now we're ready for a picnic or a day at the lake!

Homemade Pizza

Kyle came over today while his mommy worked on things for VBS. After a quick trip to the library, we decided to make some lunch. Kyle loves to cook and so do I, so we're a pretty good team!

Here's my little sous-chef!

The ingredients for our homemade pizza were pretty basic.

"Cheese pizza, please" doesn't call for much else!

To make the pizzas, you first have to split apart the sandwich-thins.

Then you spread the sauce! Kyle caught on after only 1 lesson!

After that you add cheese. We added cheddar and mozzarella...
I say "we" but I mean "he"
Kyle really did all the work on this one!

See...

Then you bake at 425 till golden and bubbly.
While they bake, you kick back and enjoy some Wonder Pets (compliments of the library).

Here's the finished product!

Just waiting for them to cool a bit...

We sat down to enjoy our creation.

Kyle had his cut into quarters, but he also wanted mine.

He said, "No, I eat your pizza. You eat salad."

He ended up eating 2 full pizzas and half of a third!

Hungry Boy!

We finished it off with some juicy watermelon!

Talking in my sleep

Because I love to giggle and laugh, I've decided to start writing down the things in life that have made me laugh really hard. So here goes...

One night last week, while Ryan and I were asleep, a funny thing happened. I should preface this by saying that crazy/funny things seem to happen a lot while Ryan and I sleep. I tend to be a heavy sleeper, while Ryan is the opposite.

So... as usual, I'm sleeping heavily and having a somewhat reoccuring dream that I'm being attacked or abducted (I know... I have issues). In this dream, I am always paralyzed with fear to the point that my body feels numb and I can't even scream. Well, on this particular night in this particular dream, I decided that I wasn't going to be paralyzed with fear. Instead, I started screaming as loud as I could (in the dream, of course). But I guess my dream-screaming sounded like a "wounded cow" to Ryan in the middle of the night. He lightly shook me with a frantic voice saying, "Kristy, Kristy, are you okay?" By this point, I was awake and mostly aware that my dream-screaming wasn't just in my dream. In my tiredness, I tried to explain everything, but Ryan just thought I was nuts.

I found the whole episode quite hilarious! I spent the next 20 minutes giggling uncontrollably, while Ryan tried to go back to sleep. That's always the worst because when I giggle, the entire bed shakes and I feel like he can't get back to sleep. But it's just one of those things you can't control.