How to say goodbye to toys that take space?

Nicolette is going through a growth spurt, and running out of space with her belongings. During her six years we have accumulated a lot. I meant to say with toys.Some are impulse buys. I know part of it is my fault. Usually I try to have a control over this but not so much after scanning her room. 

She needs space to create
a place to play
a place to hang out with her friends
a place to write
a place to read
and finally a place to unwind
That is a quite a list. Her room can use a fresh coat of paint this spring. We are going to stick to the same color white but introduce few pieces with a punch of color! 
I am thinking of a table and a chair, a rug, lamp shade, and new curtains!

Now that sounds a lot. We need to start the overhaul by clearing her space with donating some of her favorite toys. It was not easy because simply there is so much memories we can just get part with. I decide to handle this by posing a picture with your toys for donating! I know this sounds very tacky but I had to be creative in order to make space. She was in for the idea of donating after reading few about children who could not have toys! 

We had our first load drop off this weekend feels a bit lighter. More to come on how to organize? To be functional!

Forcing bulbs with children

This is one of many fun activities you can plan with your child to do on any fall day, but it is best to plan this ahead so can have paper whites blooms for holidays. I have had success with this project and love it!

What you need 
A clear vase
Pebbles/rocks
Water
Bulbs

Arrange the rocks in side the vase, place the bulbs and add water, and watch them grow. This is an ideal activity to keep track of how fast the bulbs grow, note any changers in bulbs, watch the outer skin, and many more.
This year we are simply observing, we might consider taking notes after few weeks.

Warm Salad for Cold Days

Kale, Quinoa, Blackbeans, and fried Tofu

I am updating my personal blog with an awsome creator!

Dinner in a hurry

Last night I was exhausted running around and getting errands done and It was a lot to get done. I did not feel like making anything for dinner and luckily I bought chicken thighs from Costco. 

So it was chicken, potatoes and kale for dinner!

Redskin potatoes, with garlic spring onions, and parsley. To make it bit creamy I add a bit of half and half, butter, and cheese. Added salt and pepper to taste.

Kale was sautéd with garlic, onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili oil to give a tiny bit of heat. 

Served the baked chicken on a bed of mash potatoes and kale! Glad we decided to eat at home! I still have some left over baked chicken to make a salad to in the lunch boxes! 

Citrus tea with honey

New England weather makes me to make tea out of anything in order to fight cold days. Citrus is always flooding markets during this time and you can’t get enough of it. Grape fruit seems to fit into this lovely slot of tea making. 

I use one whole grapefruit twice to make this warm sweet tea. Squeeze out one half of grapefruit into a glass add few spoons of honey according to your taste and top it off with warm water. This is such a sweet tea which will keep you go back to your glass until you finish it off!

Getting more greens in

Getting into the habit of eating more greens is always challenging for starch eating fanatics like us. That being said we are more conscious about eating all our greens before offering it to chickens. Salads take the back burner in our menu mainly I was the only one who was consuming it. However that has changed two kids have joined the wagon and I am thrilled to see every one at least eating a little bit of green before their real meal. 

This green salad is my own spin to store brought mixed greens. I buy them in bulk and it stays in the refrigerator for couple of days. In order for us to have salad every single day it need a bit of prep time. I like to do this late in the night or first thing in the morning so it is always ready before meals. 

My grocery list includes

1 box of arugula
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 English cucumber
1 bag of carrots 
1 bag of turnips
1 heart of celery 
1 bunch of kale
1 bunch parsley/ cilantro 
1 bunch spring onions
1-2 cans beans of your taste chickpeas / black beans

I use a handful of each green including the cucumber can be stretched for couple of days. This is a great way to add salad before a meal. Finally a little bit of beans add that extra protein. 

This works for us right now than the store kind. 

jamberry vs nail polish

I read a post about the jamberry nails while ago and wanted to give it a go but was busy. When one of my friends became a host and posted on Facebook I thought, wow, this is getting around. I am not a manicure girl occasionally I would enjoy this but certainly a pedicure girl. amount of work I do it is practically a joke to get a manicure done. I do enjoy getting a pedicure once in a while.One reason is that I don’t get to do much work and catch up all what’s happening in Hollywood at the nail salon.

Second, I have to admit I enjoy some me time. Not working on anything just sometime for myself. aI have come to love a place which was closer to a place where I use to work. It was a hike to get there and I kept making excuses to go there so I can run to apple store, health store, grocery, and shopping. This is somewhat taxing on my schedule and my budget. 

However, during winter I don't get to have many pedicures mainly because of gym and swimming. When I get one I really enjoy it! Another reason I don't like to get a manicure is I work a lot in my art studio at school. Working with clay makes my hands pretty disgusting at the end of the day. 

My friend was very convincing that jamberry is the only solution for busy mom’s pedicures. I told her I will take the challenge. After two attempts I finally got the goodies. I loved it because it was less time consuming comparing to getting nails painted. No time in drying process which is a pain. The price tag is very friendly. I can practically get two manicures for $15.00! No chemicals! I am loving this already!

Monday Night Dessert

Our Monday nights have change a bit from the normal, mainly we have afternoon activities. Nicolette’s Karate has being taking most of the free time we had. That being said not sure about my monday coffee run I decided to bake. This is a very easy recipe to follow and a breeze to whip it up. Luckly I had some frozen raspberries to do the job. I did had to go to the store to get ricotta but it was worth it I had few other items that I need to get anyways. 

I don’t know about the dinner plans for sure I know I have a big salad, few hard boil eggs, and salmon patties. We also have some bread that will be our dinner. We are planning to splurge the dessert and more room for dessert would make every one happy.

I know I promised that I will be posting more healthier options but after eating salads and fiber for a long time it was time to enjoy some sweets but not overly sweet desserts. I am planning to serve this with a dollop of whip cream I love the lite whip cream very much.  

I hope you will make this wonderful recipe as well, becase I loved making it. 

Ingredients 

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

3 large eggs

1½ cups ricotta

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup frozen raspberries or blackberries, divided 

Do Ahead:

         Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9”-diameter cake pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

         Whisk eggs, ricotta, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth; fold into dry ingredients just until blended. Then fold in butter, followed by ¾ cup raspberries, taking care not to crush berries. Scrape batter into prepared pan and scatter remaining ¼ cup raspberries over top.

         Bake cake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before un-molding.

Recipe by Alison Roman

Silence

The long silence have been for few reasons, I am busy studying for exams, and running around with my children. Nicolette moved up in her swimming a bit and decide to put a confidence into new use by taking Karate. I thought about this out loud and decided to go with her decision. She is more of a  ballet girl, but having to learn self defense I though should be priority number one. Se we are in Karate on Monday nights. Dropping the oldest with math support and driving the youngest to Karate has been my new Monday schedule. 

I have been a bit busy trying to have my little nook in stock. It has been a nightmare, but I am getting there. I might take few summer courses and I have to take a closer look at the course catalog. 

Additionally I have been taking care of myself by scheduling myself for surgery. Yes, it  was not fun but needed to address it. I feel much better but the recovery is very slow and I don't like being sick.  Few things that I am going to improve with my diet is to increase more fiber. Perhaps I might post more healthier recipes. 

I feel like I am tired most of the time and drained. Which is not like me at all. Perhaps loosing an hour of sleep is catching up to me. I usually don't go for coffee but I can use a cup of joe today!

Hopefully, I might be able to blog more in this space as I am getting better!