mid-week meal share: creamy broccoli salad

It's been a three month hiatus for recipes so there really was no rush for me to get this posted on Wednesday, the official mid-week day. 

It's Summer and it's time for barbeques and backyard get-together's! Who really likes to come empty handed to those things? Sure we all ACTUALLY want to come empty handed but then there's the guilt of enjoying everyone else's food when you didn't contribute. I mean just feel the room guys. But to be honest, this is such a great recipe for the occasion. There aren't too many ingredients to gather and the preparation is super simple.

Easy to concoct: 👍
Cost effective: 👍

What you need:

medium head of broccoli
medium head of cauliflower
½ cup toasted, sliced almonds
¾ cup craisins
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
½ cup mayonnaise

I used a recipe from Natasha's Kitchen and she gets a little fancy with her almonds.

1. Cut off stem of broccoli and cut into small florets. Raise your hand if this was your first time making broccoli "from scratch"! I sort of didn't have a clue if I was doing it the right way but hey, we got there even if it made a huge mess along the way.

2. Cut out core of cauliflower and cut into small florets (is it still a floret if it's not broccoli?).

3. If you're like me you took the easy way out and bought sliced and pre-toasted almonds. If you follow the original recipe this is the part where you're going to toast the ovens on the stove until they are golden.

4. Force your daughter to juice the lemon.

5. Mix together mayo, lemon, and honey. And I could not find honey ANYWHERE at the store so I just added a stitch of sugar and found I still had enough dressing.

6. Add broccoli, cauliflower, cranberries and almonds to a bowl.

7. Pour on dressing and mix.

8. Enjoy!

The perfect crisp and light salad to bring along or prepare at home as a light dinner side dish.



Next time I'm adding bacon.
Leia

kindergarten completion

We have officially finished our first weekend of summer and I already know how fast it's going to go by.

Putting Kennedy in Kindergarten 'early' was one of the best things we've done. Thanks to her preschool teachers recommendation we registered her even though her birthday was five weeks past the cutoff date. I already told myself that if she had difficulties we would pull her out and wait a year but this chick took right off! Her writing improved rapidly and she was learning how to read literally overnight.

When I ask what are some of her favorite things she learned over the past school year this is what I get:

• how to put spaces in between my words

Reading and writing were two of her favorite things. They had workshops for both which I always found slightly comical but I'm happy that our school district is able to offer these sections to the students. In addition her classroom offered 'centers' once a week. Each table in her classroom would be setup with a different activity for them to choose from.

It's hard to believe that at the end of this year she'll be turning six and starting first grade. Cliche always wins when it comes to the time passing; it really happens in the blink of an eye.

Now for twelve more years of grade school.

Leia

real life day camp

Hooray! I was finally able to go on a field trip with Kennedy! I'm not sure if it's just our district but each field trip only allotted for a specific amount of chaperones. Growing up I always thought it was if your parents wanted to come so I kind of thought their rules were bullshit 😜. Either way, my name was never drawn or I flat out wasn't available to attend.

On the day of the field trip Kennedy was dressed and ready to go asking if she could get a head start and pack her own lunch before our alarms even went off. 

PURE NOSTALGIA. Well, sort of. When my sister and I were younger we spent a few summers here for day camp but little did I know the barn and the grounds had been completely renovated! All around the camp you could see new neighborhoods that weren't there before and instead of the death trap of a rocky hill leading to the barn we were met with a beautiful brick-pavered getup. 

Every day leading up to the field trip I was bombarded with notes sent up explaining how important and matter-of-fact the departure times were. The parents were scheduled to leave ahead of the buses to be there when the kids arrived. First, the amount of chaperones was staggering. I was only responsible for Kennedy and one of her classmates. Second, the buses didn't arrive for almost an hour after we did? I know they have to drive slower and with more caution, but shit!

Finally, the kids arrive and we are off! The first thing we got to do was head over to ride horses and play on the playground. 

^^ in-between the two orange cones a bird decided to make it's nest and lay eggs. Each time anyone got remotely close it started squawking bloody murder (which as you can see is constantly since it's right on the main path). I'm not sure why it made that life decision.

 ^^ go best friend, that's her best friend!

Next on the list were farm duties. The kids all got to take turns feeding and holding the baby animals and were also able to take a turn milking the cow if they so desired. 

  

^^ why are it's eyes so large and alieny?

 ^^ I have never seen someone enjoy their job so much. 

  

^^ "Mom, what the fuck is in my hand right now."

And have you ever seen a cuter goat? This little guy was about the size of a green bean and absolutely adorable.

 Lastly it was our turn to take a hayride. This was probably Kennedy's least favorite part. 

She couldn't jump and run around, there were no animals, and the trail was through the woods with no entertaining sights to see. While we were on the hayride Kennedy's teacher got a text from one of the groups that was taking care of the baby animals saying that one of the goats gave birth to twins! Admittedly, I am not upset about missing the actual birth, but we weren't allowed to go back in to see the wee babes.

While we were waiting for all the groups to finish they got to play at the park for awhile longer and check out the animals in the fields. Ken even got to help walk a donkey back to the pasture. And then things took a turn for the worse. While she was running around she slipped and fell into a mud puddle. I am SO HAPPY that it happened within our last fifteen minutes because she was noticebly upset. But was that going to stop me from documenting it? Nope. Sorry, kid. I promise, I do love you!

She was cleaned up within a matter of moments and then it was time to head back to school. Even though I was a chaperone they wouldn't let me take Kennedy with me so I felt horrible that she had to ride back on the bus in soggy clothes. She's a trooper though.

 At least we got to ditch the three sizes too big fluorescent orange t-shift, right?

Leia

kindergarten fun facts: weeks 26-38

Holy shit!  Three months or twelve weeks weeks without updating.

In this time frame Kennedy has done a lot. She took the second portion of a computerized reading test where she tells me she scored 187, I was finally able to chaperone one of her field trips, she tells me she hates going to her technology and writer's workshop (and has even faked being sick on multiple occasions trying to get out of either), and we had Spring Break. School is only in session for two more more days! I'm hoping to have a better update as a whole on her kindergarten experience 😆

Until then a snap of Kennedy and her latest obsession. Headphones.

And there isn't even a kindergarten graduation.

Leia

rainbow quilt

You know when you have an idea and you are fully confident in your skills to bring that idea to life but then almost instantly regret the decision to make your idea a reality? Yeah, that was me when I decided to make my friend a rainbow quilt for her baby shower.

During Christmastime I made myself and my two sisters blankets; albeit, they were kind of ugly. The 'quilting' portion I was proud of, but the binding.. yuck. Overall they looked decent but a pro probably would have scoffed at me.

Well it all started with me picking out all the fabric which I had so much fun doing. Twenty-one colors in total for the quilt top. I got it home, washed it all and then began ironing in preparation of all the cutting that was in my future.

Why.

For my birthday my mom got me new sewing scissors and a cutting wheel and I finally got to use them to the fullest. The colors were all so gorgeous but I definitely felt over my head at this point. The amount of cutting was going to be the same regardless of how many colors I picked so this point is moot. But this is the point where I changed my mind from attempting a triangle quilt, to sticking with squares and I think it was a smart choice. I didn't want to risk trying something for the first time on a a gift that I wanted to be (hopefully) a lifelong keepsake.

Laying out the pattern was a little stressful. I wanted it to be random enough without looking wacky. I think I did a decent job aside from one spot which I'm not going to point out because maybe I'm the only one that notices it. Then came down to sewing all the rows, and then subsequently sewing all the rows together. I ironed out each row trying to be extremely precise and do things by the book.

Regardless of pinning and spray adhesive (which I am really excited to try out during Halloween costume time) some of the corners did not match up perfect and the chenille backing got a little stretched in some places. Ultimately I feel that these flaws add to heartfelt quality of a handmade item.

Also, I thought I would take my extra to the next level and do rainbow thread on the backing. It didn't come to fruition as I had imagined. The chenille was just plush enough that it obscured about 50% of the stitches on the back.

^^ Maybe one day I will have all my corners line up this perfectly.

 Loading the thread and switching out those bobbins was pretty tedious. As per usual, the project took me up until the last minute. So far I've put a black and white binding on all the blankets I've made and I ran out before I could finish. Luckily my mom pulled through in the end by finding it at the Joann's near her house. I was frantic and thought I wasn't going to be able to pull it off and have to leave a cheesy note in my gift back.

After scouring YouTube I finally found the best technique for a double sided binding and I only had to back up (majorly) one time and for that I was proud. I have enough fabric to make another one which I have debated about doing and potentially trying to sell that sucker.. that is if one of the kids doesn't call dibs. Kennedy kept saying to me, "I really just wish we could keep it."

And how fun to end a rainbow post on a black and white pic? Now just to wait until I get a picture of ze baby wrapped in ze baby blanket!

He'll be here in July!

Leia