Thoughts on Being a Vegetarian~

It seems to me that a lot of people think being a vegetarian leaves you lacking in protein...not true at all. Protein is one of the easiest things to get in a vegetarian diet. (mind you, I am not a vegan, that may be a bit more of a challenge.)
This afternoon for lunch I had a sandwich on whole grain bread, with a slice of cheddar cheese, a tomato & pickles with mayo and mustard, this contained 11 grams of protein. (6 came from the whole grain bread)

You can also complete protein, by using, say pinto beans and a flour tortilla. There are soy products out there and veggie burgers that are quite good also. Eggs and dairy are another no brainer way to get your protein. It is important when being a vegetarian that you get your iron and eat a balanced diet, by making sure you have plenty of dark green veggies and such in you weekly meals. Organic is important to me, and I use organic as much as I can. It is worth the extra cost, I think anyways. You can use black beans in your pasta dishes to replace the meat and it is truly yummy!

I am not a vegetarian to remain trim, but it does seem to be one of the side effects (for me anyways) of a meatless diet.

I just thought I would do a little post on the subject considering that I and all four of my children have chosen to go this route!

Dinner Menu for this upcomming week~

Sunday: Spaghetti with homemade bread

Monday: Eggs and Home-made hash browns with mini blueberry muffins

Tuesday: Subs (with home-made buns), fruit and salad

Wednesday: Baked Potato, green beans and veggie corn dogs

Thursday: Baked Mac & Cheese, baby peas, home-made bread and salads

Friday: Buttermilk pancakes and OJ

Saturday: Papa Johns Pizza and cream soda

Justin got a new hair cut Friday afternoon. The barber put gel in it and gave it a spiked look, before trimming it the rest of the way on the top, and this is how he looked. :) He did not really like the gel, so as soon as we got home, we had to wash it out. Our weekend seems to have gone by so fast, not sure where the time went. We did a bit of running around yesterday. After church this morning, I was able to get some much needed de-cluttering done. I plan to work on this all week long. A project I do about three times a year. It's the only way I know of to keep things neat and clean, the way I like them to be in our home. So many people say that children will not remember a neat house, just the hugs and kisses and time spent together. This may be true to some extent, but I think if a home is messy and cluttered that it is not a very happy place to grow up. I for one,think keeping a house both clean and clutter free is important, as well as spending family time with the children. :)

Cinnamon Crisp Recipe-Makes 24

I found this on one of my favorite blogs and thought I'd give these a try to go with our Sunday brunch last week...they were so delicious, I am glad I did.

Here is the recipe, if you would like to try them.

Dough recipe

3.5 cups flour
1 pkg of yeast (I used 3 tsp of yeast)
1 1/4 cups of milk
1/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup of butter
1 tsp salt
1 egg

In Kitchen aid bowl (or mixing bowl) Combine 2 cups of flour and yeast. Heat milk, sugar, butter and salt, and then cool to Luke warm. Add to flour mixture and add your egg. Beat with electric mixer, or the silver Kitchen aid mixer attachment on low for 30 seconds and then on high speed for 3 minutes. Switch to dough hook for the Kitchen aid, or wooden spoon for the large bowl and add the rest of the flour.

Knead 3-5 min. (I let my Kitchen aid do this for me with the dough hook, on a low speed.)

Oil the ball of dough, cover and let rise 1 hour.

Punch it down and divide into two parts, cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Then roll both parts into 12 by 12 inch squares and spread on the filling, then roll them into logs (like for cinnamon rolls) and cut each log into 12 parts. (24 total)

Then cover and let rise 30 min.

Smash them with your clean hand to flatten and add topping

Topping
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (if you like.)
(I did half with pecans and half without)

Bake on 400 degrees for 10-12 min. And make sure they are a little ways apart, and nice and flat.

They should look like this, before baking them.


If you like pecan sticky rolls, or honey buns, give these a try!

The children's first day of school this year~

Here is a photo of The children right before leaving for day one of school this morning.

Busy day

Here is a photo of the loaves of bread I gave to my parents and my sister Trish yesterday.




Here is the plane Tristyn came in on.



Here I am saying hello to Tristyn after he arrived.



Here Trisyn letting his Dad know he made it safe and sound, and Justin steeling a little hug hello.

Home-made Bread Recipe

This morning I made a loaf of home-made bread to gift to my parents, as well as a loaf to go with pasta for tomorrow nights dinner. Tristyn is coming home tomorrow, we will need to eat dinner when we get home, so I thought pasta and home-made bread with dinner salads, could be pretty fast, when most of it is made in advance! Later this afternoon, we are going to the little Amish town near our home to get some home-made jam to give to my parents as well. My parents just celebrated their anniversary and my mother's birthday, so we wanted to give them a little something. They don't like us to spend money, so we go the home-made route. Lauren even made them a card this morning, with a little help from my hot glue gun.

Here is a photo of the card.



Home-made Bread Recipe~

1 and a 1/4 cups of warm water
3 tsp of yeast (or one pkg will work too.)
1.5 Tbsp of sugar
1/2 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp canola oil
3.5 cups of flour (I use 1 cup of whole wheat white, and 2.5 cups of unbleached organic flour.)

Use your dough hook to knead in the kitchen aid, or do it by hand. You will need to add a few extra drops of warm water to make your dough a soft ball. (just a little at a time though, because you don't want it too wet.)

Let it knead for 3-5 min.
Put in a greased glass bread pan and cover with a thick towel, let rise. (I like to spray the top with a little oil while it is rising.) Then bake on 425 for 25 min. Brush top with butter, cool and slice.

Water Park Friday~

Here are some photos of the children at our local water park today. They love this place!



This is a photo of Justin playing with the water guns.






Here are Lauren and Megan having fun in the water!





Before heading home for a quick bath and lunch, of course they had to play at the near by park area. :) Happy Friday.

The girls finished the summer reading program~Megan's hair cut

Last week the girls completed their reading for the summer reading program, and were awarded their new water bottles!!! We have been dealing with a bit of sickness, so we have skipped story time last week, and most likely this week. (Justin is dealing with stuffy nose, and cough now.) Here are the photos of the girls turing in their reading lists.







Today, I cut Megan's hair into a bob. I just love her in a bob hair style. She has baby fine hair, and the bob cut just makes it look a lot fuller. Here she is showing off her new hairstyle. (Lauren and Justin had to have their photos taken as well.) :)