Ordinary Life

Some days we go on an adventure for lunch...  St. Mary Alligator Bench~ our oft visited friend:  Menus? No, we're only here for the sugar packets :o/  (An end was put to this as soon as all necessary photos had been obtained ;) 

Some days we walk across the street for lunch... Blue Sky Day:  ...still wearing our tutu:  "SMPHELLING" flowers (scrunch your nose when you read that)  Finally convinced the tutu can skip lunch:  Lunch in the sand (and maybe a little sand in the lunch, if you get the seat next to PrincessTot) Happy campers headed home.

Sometimes, we pit pat clatter across the street to eat:  Riley passes the time as we wait on the french fries, that she probably won't eat, to arrive: Princesses on "magic carpets" (by RYE)

The recipe seemed easy enough:  Mix a can of corn and a can of creamed corn Scoop into rounds and freeze Dip frozen rounds in batter Fry Enjoy corn nuggets at home instead of in our default restaurant. I thought it was SO simple, I could imporvise a little. I tossed in some red pepper flakes and shredded cheddar. I think the cheddar would be my recipe's undoing in the end.  Dipping nuggets in batter. A thicker batter may have made a difference:  Things started out well:  Promising looking nuggets:  A combination of thawing and cheese strands extending past the "batter barrier" led many nuggets to spread... our overall result was something like Scrambled Corn Nugget Fritters...  *BOUNUS* Let's talk about deep fried foods and your arteries... 

A few evenings back, we took our dinner by the pool :  Riley models dollar store couture... bathing suit, goggles, & water toys- all a buck each.    To see her all decked out, you may never guess she prefers sitting on the steps or clinging to my suit straps... 

We've made hummus several times before. It was only recently that I learned to peel the garbanzos first. A bit time consuming, but worth a smoother finished product.  From two cans of chick peas, the hulls filled up almost one entire can. 

In my attempt to bring this little family blog up to speed, we are nearing the Fourth of July  (and it's only August!)  When we were preparing to celebrate America's Independence from the Queen Mother, we asked ourselves "What is American?"  And though we came up with some pretty humorous answers, one that we all agreed on was fried foods. So, a box of puff pastry was purchased, the fry pot filled with oil, and we began to look for creative things to wrap- though we also planned on some hand pies; Cherry & Apple.   Gotta let it thaw Some of those nuggets are filled with Dark Chocolate JIF- better than a Reece Cup (we tried that too)  Clay's favorite was the ham & cheddar- next time I will try a portion with ham & cream cheese too.  That's it... no real rhyme or reason for this post... just working through a photo archive and thought to share out healthy American eats. 

The Pioneer Woman recently talked about using what she has on hand. I don't really make a habit of watching her show, it just happened to be on in the background. This is what that tactic looked like for us the other day...I used everything on hand to make dinner, right down to the half dozen abandoned baby carrots in the veggie drawer...  Chicken & Yellow Rice (w/ Sweet Potato Bread ) No pictures of the chicken cooking- but it's in there.  Trust me.