pintrified cookies

remember how i said to stay tuned for some posts based on pinterest findings?  well, here's one.  there's not even much to say about these cookies except that you must try them.  for real.  i feel like they're a balanced meal.

yummmmm

i feel like i've lived up to the term "balabusta" today--let's take a look:

first, i made a few of these smoothies.  i made strawberry banana, and mixed berry (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry).  they're "interesting", as my husband declared after trying the first strawberry banana one i made.  but then this morning he asked for more so i guess "interesting" is good.  i found these on pinterest, along with many other fun things, so stay tuned for some "pinterfied" posts in the future ;)

then i made egg salad for B for lunch.  this was the first time i've ever made egg salad.  is that weird?  i think it's weird.  probably not as weird as the fact that i've never eaten it, but i digress.  and yay for a kid who's willing to eat more than just pb&j!!  she gobbled it up--and all i did was use a hard boiled egg, a droplet (seriously--maybe 1/8 tsp??) of mayo, and some garlic salt.  soooo easy!

now on to doughs!  first i made this pizza dough.  i use garlic flavored oil and i bake at 450 degrees, not 500.  i double it and with one half i make a few crusts that i bake and then freeze--it's like having my own boboli, only totally homemade and unprocessed!  then with the other half i break it into individual dough balls and freeze those, for days when i have a little more time (and i mean a little--it takes a surprisingly little amount of time to roll out a pizza crust!).  i even made a little pizza for the girls so they could take it in their lunches tomorrow.

and i also made this rye bread because despite her pickiness, M actually likes rye bread!  and so do i :)  now, i should say that the flavor of this is delicious--but i would definitely never be able to sell this bread (not that i'm planning on it!) unless the buyer likes to make three-inch-wide sandwiches, because no matter how many different ways i've tried, the whole loaf only rises to about that high.  it's super delish, though, and no one here seems to mind (esp because we usually just use it as toast).  i only like seedless rye, so i use a spice grinder to grind the caraway seeds.

B and i had to stay home for the plumber today, but it reminded me that before i know it it will be time to stay indoors!  looks like i'll have to up my number of workout days if being home means i'll be in the kitchen more often...

lowes v. law degree

ok--i'm the first to admit that becoming a lawyer is NOT that difficult--so don't be thinking that i feel holier than thou because i did just that.  i do not.

i do, however, feel a hell of a lot holier than the lowes guy who told me my garden wouldn't grow--because guess what.  i recently made zucchini muffins with these babies:

and whenever i figure out when i'm supposed to pick this, i'll make something with this, too:

(that's a butternut squash, in case you're wondering)
and then i'll be making a salad with this beauty:

granted, it will be a salad for one person, but that's not the point!  the point is, never again will i allow myself to be discouraged by a mean guy at lowes!!

so that's what's been going on around here--i know i've disappointed my legions of fans by not keeping up with the blog, but i've been enjoying the summer and all it's bounty!!

take that, guy from lowes!! (aka a veggie update)

i recently went to lowes to see if someone could help me with the planting of my "babies".  i met a man who basically told me i started too soon with all my plants, and that nothing i planted would grow.

so then i went crying to one of my plant-growing friends, who told me to just go for it--so i did :)  after a fabulous weekend enjoying my nephew's bar mitzvah, i spent a bit of mother's day "just going for it"--and planted my "babies" in our city-dweller raised beds.  because they were either going to die inside, or outside--or they would flourish, despite the mean guy at lowes.

and guess what i found the very next day:

yep--a beautiful flower on my zucchini plant!!

and even better, guess what i found today:

yep--that's right!!  a green bean!!!!  an ACTUAL green bean!!  and what's more, there are TWO of them!!

so take that, guy from lowes!  my black thumb and i have beaten the system!!!

"z" is for zigzag

sadly, "Z" week doesn't get much better than "Y" week...;) 

sure, i could have done a zebra, or zipper--but i went with zigzag.  what can i say--i had an episode of the big bang theory to get to so i needed lunch to be packed and out of the way!

not much of a (big) bang to end the alphabet, but i'm sure M will be ok with it--especially b/c they worked on cutting out zigzags this week :)

thankfully, even though we're at the end of the alphabet, we're not at the end of the school year--i still have a whole month left of lunches to make!  hopefully my creative mojo will return soon ;)  in fact, if anyone wants to make a request, i'd be happy to try and oblige!  so feel free to make them :)

"y" is for yawn-y face

i've been dragging my feet posting this one b/c i'm just plain embarrassed--this is bad folks!  so i'll just post the pic and get it over with, ok?!

i didn't know what else to do for "Y" week!!

at least "X" week was a respectable effort--remember this??

"w" is for whale

poor M was sick AGAIN last friday!  but she wasn't when she went to bed on thursday, so i made her a lunch--and she requested a whale for "W" week

when the girls had a "picnic" (indoors, as it was pretty cold out!) with their packed lunches, the first thing M said was "why didn't you do a blow hole??"  i told her it was because i thought she was going to school and hadn't figured out a way to pack it--she was very understanding :)