Screaming for smoothies

The past couple days,
my body has been screaming for ice cream smoothies!

It's a great way for me to get fruit and veggie nutrients.
{not to be redundant...}


This smoothie has baby romaine in it.
I don't like this type of green in a salad, the flavor isn't my fave.
However, it's nutritional value is phenomenal (duh!-it's a leafy green...)
so since we had it, I shall use it.

Smoothie #1
Baby blue-romaine 

Ingredients to be blended: 

(note: if you have extra large hands your smoothie may be extra large)

handful baby romaine

2 handfuls blueberries

1/2 frozen banana

4 mint leaves

splash OJ

splash water

The other smoothie was just as good as the first!

I love how the fruit masks the taste of any leafy green.

Not that I don't like spinach, I LOVE it!

But you know what I mean...

Smoothie #2

Mint Berry

Ingredients to be blended: 

handful spinach

handful frozen berry blend

half frozen banana

4 mint leaves

approx. 1/4 cup OJ

The final result of this smoothie looks identical to the above smoothie.

Enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!!

(Nugget reunited with her Baby Einstein jumper)

It will...

Just 2 weeks until my half marathon training will start!
I'm excited to start the training! <---- Is that weird?

When I saw this poster, I knew it had to be my

Monday Motivator:

(source)

Saturday Tidbits

Some random Saturday tidbits...

We found a new park to visit that is really close to home.
It's small, but perfect.
It's in an artsy, older part of town.
A new fave in our swing books!

She just loves crawling up playground stairs!

sand box!

We went back the very next day so we could show the hubs our "neighborhood" park.

^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^

Afternoon play-dates are a thing of the past.

We now have breakfast play-dates!

7:30 am is the best time to play!

despite the serious faces, the babes had FUN!

^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^

The nugget and I ventured to the lake for a run Friday morning.

One word: HUMID!

Sweaty runs, gotta love 'em.

Doesn't it just look humid in this picture?

We played for a bit at the lake, but there was an abundance of flies, so 

{no surprise here...}

we found a nearby park!

^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^-----^^^^^

If you are still wondering who is faster, 

the tortoise or the hare?

Look no further.

(source)

According to the NY Post,

Some turtles in Georgia showed that its better to think fast than to move fast.

The plucky reptiles managed to make a low-speed dash to freedom from a turtle farm after vandals ripped a hole in a fence that was penning them in.

The 1,600 turtles made it hundreds of feet to the safety of nearby lakes before anyone noticed they had gotten away.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/weird_but_true/weird_but_true_UoUeen1FyVQy2xAH4kKfeJ#ixzz21HnKuDiV

Rock on turtles!!

Happy Saturday!

Sweaty Run

Welcome to summer running,
when you run early,
and are still sweating like c r a z y
because it just doesn't cool off at night.

Cheers to bathing in our own sweat!

cream cheese pancakes and JUST RUN!

The nugget and I have already had a busy morning playing,

{blurry, but this is her first pair of jeans!!}

we took a 2 mile walk before it got too hot,
and we made some cream cheese pancakes.

I found the recipe for them on pinterest.
I suddenly remembered it when I was looking for a cheese to use with our scrambled eggs.
I decided to give em a whirl,
[carpe diem!!],
try something new!

They were really good,
but took longer to make then scrambled {duh!}
All you need is
2 eggs,
2 oz cream cheese,
dash sugar [I used turbinado]
dash cinnamon


Throw it all in a blender, pour in a pan like
you would pancakes, and
wa-la!
Cream Cheese Pancakes!!
{crazy too, their carb free... }
{if you care about that...}

These were the nuggets
{pre chopped up}

delish with some PB!

The recipe made what you see above, so if the hubs were to join in, we would double the batch.

(source)

Monday Motivator:

(source)

I have done all these... 

and no matter how I feel when I start, 

or

during a 1 mile run,

or

a 6 mile run, 

I always feel AMAZING after the run!

Simply Healthy Veggie Soup

Since our weekend consisted of our usual play,

and a few errands to Target, Trader Joe's and Windmill Farms,
I decided to share an amazing {and SO simple!} soup recipe with you.
{I know what you're thinking, "soup! In the middle of SUMMER!?!...
but that's how I roll...}

I received this recipe from my manager at work.
She wanted to incorporate healthier soup options on the menu,
and I just happened to be around to try all the samples!

I've made two different versions so far.
Just follow the main steps, and substitute different veggies.

carrot soup topped with cholula

Recipe for Simple {and Healthy} Veggie Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 [brown or yellow] onion
1 baking potato [peeled and diced]
2 lbs broccoli [cut into small chunks]
1 can [14.5oz] chicken broth ( I used my home made chicken stock for this)

Steps:
Saute onion in olive oil, salt and pepper.
Cook about 5-7 minutes until soft.

Just 3 ingredients!

Add potato and broccoli.
Add 4-5 cups water.
Add chicken broth.

Bring all this to a boil then simmer until the veggies are fork tender. [approx 30 mins]

If you have an immersion blender I'm jealous, use this to puree until smooth.
But, if your like me and need to use a blender that's no problem
{I managed with my magic bullet}
Add soup in batches to blend, then transfer to a separate pot or bowl until complete.

simmer away

Add more S&P, or any seasoning that suits you.  {Paprika is delish!}
I also {no surprise here} enjoy it topped with cholula.

Enjoy!!

{This recipe lists broccoli, but carrot and cauliflower are good substitutes}

Can you think of any other good substitutes for broccoli? 

sprinkling of paprika

the next day I added cholula and tomato sauce, even better!

Those two picture above really are the same soup, I think the black bowl made the soup look lighter.
Also, If I had to guess..
this recipe yields nearly 6 bowls of soup. {remember that's a guess.. I didn't measure it out}

The nugget helped with cleanup:

picture walk

A picture walk through our week...

The nugget cooled off in her pool on Tuesday..

This bee chased us away several times... boo you bee!

Lunch was Annie s Organic Shells and White Cheddar with broccoli and cauliflower..

and of course... ketchup!

Some hide-n-seek...

On Wednesday, 

we had an early morning play-date with Odin and Katie,

with naps all over the place, the timing was perfect!

we both have fingers!

toys!

so, nobody gonna let us outside?

One of my favorite parts of the day... 

a post nap snuggle with my girl!

I can't kick this cookie dough craving, 

so the nugget and I got busy...

best lil' helper 

discovering the joys of cookie dough

she actually said "num-num!"

The recipe I used was from here, 

egg free so perfect for snacking, not baking!

Dinner was oatmeal, since I really wanted a pb, banana and j sandwich, this had to do...

{currently breadless...}

and yes it is sideways and drowning in milk

What's you favorite oatmeal topping?

Breakfast today was egg nachos...

refried beans topped with cheddar,
chips topped with cholula and egg , topped with salsa and sour cream

It was amaze.