Last week we talked about Party Menus, Chips and Dip, Pizza on the Grill, Quick & Easy Recipes, and No-Bake Desserts. Lots of talk about lots of food! We were definitely in ‘party-mode' in preparing for the holiday. And, unfortunately, I also consumed a lot of party food last weekend and while on our ten-day vacation in Chicago.

Monday morning, I decided that the vacation was over and that it was time to get back on track!  No party food for me for a while.  🙁

I could actually be satisfied with a salad for dinner, but the guys aren't too thrilled with the idea of just a bunch of green stuff for dinner.  And, to be honest, I'm a little bored with my same old salad recipes so I'm on the lookout for some new ones.

I've been so busy since returning home from vacation that I haven't had time to flip through any cookbooks or browse the internet for fresh salad ideas. A few days ago, I received my new August/September issue of Food Network Magazine. When I found the article on “50 Simple Salads”, I was glad that I had taken a few minutes to look through the magazine.

If you don't subscribe to the magazine, you can find the  “50 Simple Salads” recipes here. There are a lot of simple dressing ideas and some interesting combinations in some of these salads, but I did say that I was bored, right?

I wonder if my family would try a Watermelon-Feta Salad?

Watermelon-Feta Salad

Or a Squash and Orzo Salad?

Squash and Orzo Salad

This Bacon Bistro Salad looks really good to me. But, of course it does, it's got fried bacon in it!

Bistro Bacon Salad

It may be an experiment to see if I can get my guys to eat a salad other than a Caesar Salad or an Iceberg with cucumbers, but I'm going to give it a try. Wish me luck!

~LilSis

Posted under Food

This time of year is really hectic for most of us moms; on top of normal chores, we're clearing our kids' closets and drawers of clothes that no longer fit, shopping for new clothes, school supplies, backpacks, and trying to stock the pantry with all the goodies needed for breakfasts, school lunches and/or after school snacks.

I do LOVE shopping for school supplies; the whole excitement of it brings back fond memories for me and I sometimes wish that I was still buying pencil boxes and crayons, but I won't delve into my obsession with school supplies today. Instead, let's talk about making sure we have what to need to assure that our kids start out each morning with a healthy breakfast.

I don't have little ones in elementary school or middle school any more and I really miss those mornings when I used to pack the kids' lunches and put little surprises or notes in their lunch sacks. Since those days are long gone for me and my high-schooler won't take a sack lunch anymore, it's more important than ever for me to make sure he has a good breakfast before he leaves every morning.

I've always tried to make sure that my kids don't start the day on an empty stomach or with something sugary. Both can lead to problems with blood sugar levels and make it hard for the child to concentrate during school.

For adults, eating a healthy breakfast also has tremendous health benefits, but specifically here's what Mayo Clinic says about the benefits for children.

Benefits for children

Breakfast is especially important for children and adolescents. According to the American Dietetic Association, children who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to:

• Concentrate better
• Have better problem-solving skills
• Have better hand-eye coordination
• Be more alert
• Be more creative
• Miss fewer days of school
• Be more physically active

My family would probably tell you that I sound like a broken record when I say “You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said that. 🙂

Obviously on those early morning school days, breakfast needs to be quick, and most importantly, a healthy combination of whole grains, low fat protein, low fat dairy, and fruits and/or veggies.

Here are a few of my favorites.

• Oatmeal with fruit and almonds. (To me, this is a perfect breakfast.) I like the McCann's Quick Cooking Irish Oatmeal but Quaker Oats Quick One Minute Oats is also a great choice. The Quaker brand actually has one more gram of fiber and protein than McCann's. After cooking the oatmeal, I add some cinnamon and top with blueberries or sliced banana and sliced almonds.

• Scrambled eggs or egg beaters with 2% cheese in a whole wheat tortilla. It's so quick and easy to make a great breakfast burrito. If your child is open to it, add just a little fresh chopped spinach when you scramble the eggs. (This can even be done in the microwave.)  Then put a little grated cheese on top, scoop into a tortilla and roll it up. I buy a low sodium ham from Trader Joe's that I sometimes add to this.

• Fresh fruit salad. I make fruit salads all the time and both my guys love it for breakfast. Have your berries and grapes washed ahead and if adding pineapple, it's quicker if that's cut up the night before. We like blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, grapes, mandarin oranges, and pears, but you could use any of your child's favorite fruits.

• Whole wheat or multi-grain bagel. We are really liking the new Thomas' Bagel Thins. The Whole Wheat ones are great but the Everything Bagel Thins are our favorite. These toast great and aren't as heavy as a regular bagel. They're perfect with just cream cheese or even better as a breakfast sandwich with an egg and a piece of healthy ham and low fat cheese.
  

• Yogurt with berries and granola. We also love yogurt at my house for breakfast. I mostly buy the Trader Joe's brand and instead of granola, I sometimes toss in some Kashi Heart to Heart cereal.

• Eggo Nutri-Grain low fat waffles. It doesn't get much easier than this.  These frozen waffles are quite good; I have one most mornings after my yogurt and fruit.  I try to find something other than syrup to offer with a waffle and I've found that these are great with a little almond butter spread on top.

• Banana and granola bar. If your child is running late and insists that he/she doesn't have time to sit down for breakfast, then stick a banana and a granola bar in their hand on the way out the door. It's definitely better than a Pop Tart. There are many nutritious choices for granola bars these days. My favorites are the Peanut Butter Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars.
  

All of these choices take five minutes or less to prepare and when served with a small glass of low fat milk and/or orange juice, it'll jump start your child's day and allow them to get through the morning with enough energy to last them until lunchtime. 🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Food

Why have I been doing things the hard way?  You know how you get used to doing some things the same old way, and don't even think about whether there might be a better or easier way?

I'm not a big fan of kitchen gadgets that have limited uses, with few exceptions like my garlic press.  I've seen these food choppers on TV, and thought they were unnecessary and would just take up my limited kitchen storage space.  But let me tell you, I found out that they're spectacular!  I impulsively bought this Martha Stewart Chopper for $14.99 on Black Friday, and can't believe it took me so long to get one!

I've tried my new chopper on one thing so far, and if that's all I ever use it for, it's money well-spent.  I can't stand how nuts bounce and fly all over the kitchen when you chop them with a knife.  They end up all over the floor and the cats bat them around like little hockey pucks, and then I step on them in my sock feet and say colorful words I shouldn't say.

I don't like to chop nuts in a food processor because they get too fine too fast, even if I pulse.  Now I have the solution: this chopper was made for nuts!  I spread a layer on a paper plate, center the chopper on a pile of them, press down on the plunger 2 or 3 times, then move to a new spot on the plate; repeating til all the nuts are as fine as I want them to be.  You can also use the base of the chopper as a little cutting board for small quantities.

The chopper comes apart for easy cleaning, and doesn't hog too much cupboard real estate.  I'm loving it, and can't wait to try it on onions, herbs, and olives (also bouncy little buggers).

I love Pampered Chef, and they make their own version of the chopper, but it's double the price at $29.50, and I don't see how you need to spend that much for this gadget.

If you're out Christmas shopping and see this chopper at Macy's, get yourself a gift and buy one!  It'll make your holiday baking easier, and who knows what other uses you'll find for it!

~BigSis

Posted under Food

After yesterday's post by BigSis, today I'm finding it hard to talk about eyeshadow, a new skin care product, a new recipe, or even a funny ‘kitty' photo. And, I'm certainly not going to complain about gaining five (or so) pounds from not being able to exercise. In the big scheme of things, none of that really matters.

The most important thing to me is spending as much time as possible with family and close friends. Isn't that really what it's all about? I'm on vacation in Chicago right now visiting the kids, grandkids, and all of SirHoney's family.

We've already had so much fun since we've been here. We had the entire extended family together for Father's Day, spent a great day at the lake on Monday, and then a full day at the pool with Meem and all three little guys yesterday. We are going to take as many pictures as possible to remember this vacation, I wish we have bought a drone to take some sky-high photos of the landscape, it would make our photo albums look amazing! I'll have to Learn More about what is out there for our next trip.

I don't think we've had a vacation this successful since we went to Lake Travis a few years ago! That was a fantastic holiday with a long list of things to do in Lake Travis such as going out on the boat, ziplining, and many other things the fun never seemed to stop.

Therefore, on this vacation we still have lots of fun stuff planned for the next several days. We're going to head downtown on Thursday, we have a big family reunion and Bo's and BigGuy's birthdays to celebrate on Saturday, a cookout on Sunday, and will head back to California on Monday.

I hope every one's Summer is off to a great start and that you're able to spend some time with family over your Summer vacation!

~LilSis

Posted under Family

This past Saturday we had SirHoney's cousin and her husband over for dinner before they had to return home to Chicago on Sunday. I was totally exhausted after coming home from our Christmas trip with a cold and from overindulging in food and beverages for two days while celebrating New Years. (I probably overdid it since I knew it would be my last splurge for a while.)

Saturday was January 2nd, which was the official day for me to start the Ten in 10 challenge, but I decided to go ahead and let SirHoney make hamburgers since I wasn't really up to hosting a big dinner party. We always buy lean ground beef so I figured that I would just have a burger with lettuce and tomato without the bun, and stay away from the chips and dip.

We had a nice visit and as we were all finishing up our burgers, SirHoney asks if the burgers were okay. We all told him that they were great! They were a little large and we realized that they were 1/2 pound burgers once we noticed that he only made eight patties out of four pounds of beef.

So, he asks again if we hadn't noticed anything different and we all said no and asked why. I thought maybe he used some new seasoning or something, then he finally admitted that he put a dollop of butter inside each hamburger patty as he was making them.

Are you kidding me?

A half pound hamburger patty filled with butter!

And I ate it on my first day of my challenge to lose ten pounds?

Really?

(I don't know if he's secretly been watching Paula Deen, or what, but I do know that he won't be making me dinner again any time soon.)

~LilSis

Posted under Food

Easter sure snuck up on us this year, didn't it? Are you ready? Need a few ideas for some Easter goodies?

Both of us have had a lot going on this past month so we haven't been able to get any new Easter treats posted.

But, the good news is that we have fun recipes for cupcakes, candies, cookies, and decorated eggs that we've shared in the past that we're going to round up for you here today.

First, let's start with these adorable Homemade Easter Chocolate Candies from BigSis.

Here's a photo of the little duckies, bunnies, sheep and eggs before they were wrapped in the foil.

The Easter Bird's Nest Candy is an easy recipe that you can change up a bit depending on your preference. These nests were made with butterscotch chips.

Here are a few made with white chocolate instead of butterscotch.

If you're looking for a different way to dye your eggs, try these Natural Dye Colored Easter Eggs that I made last year.

Here are some of the eggs before going into the dye.

It would be fun to get the kids in the kitchen to help with these Swirled Cookie Suckers.

These are great for wrapping in little treat bags for gifts or to add to your Easter baskets!

These Chocolate Snickerdoodles are perfect for making Decorated Easter Cookies.

Super cute and super easy with these stencils!

And even though my Easter Bunny Cake didn't turn out too cute, I've got step by step instructions on how to Make an Easter Bunny Cake.

Here's Floppy with a different face and ears.

If you were looking for some new ideas, I hope we've helped you find something that you want to try for Easter this year.

If all goes well, I'll be back in a few days to share my latest Easter Egg decorating project. (Fingers crossed.) 🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Have you been seeing all the ads and hearing all the buzz about L'Oreal's Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara?  I have, including a pretty glowing positive recommendation from More Magazine, which I really like.  I'm always on the lookout for a new great mascara, just as I am for miraculous new eye creams and anti-aging skin cream.

This mascara claims that their “instant-impact brush builds breathtaking volume fast.” I was intrigued and picked up a tube recently.  This shot of Eva Longoria-Parker's lashes from L'Oreal's ad sets a pretty high expectation for the Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara, don't you think?

We usually don't do reviews unless we have something good to say, so let me think.  This mascara is a nice black color, it comes off easily at the end of the day with Lancome BiFacil, it doesn't smudge at all, and it doesn't flake much; no more than the L'Oreal mascaras I like.

Did it give me breathtaking volume like Eva?  No.  I had a really hard time maneuvering the ginormous brush without getting it all over my eyelid, and what I ended up with is stubby lashes.  No volume, no length, no curl.  Just stubs.  And “stubs” is not what I'm aiming for when I apply mascara!  I also got some spiky clumps, again not what I was going for.

So it's back to my usual cocktail of L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara followed by a dash of L'Oreal Lash Out Mascara.  I should have kept my sales receipt and returned L'Oreal's Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara, but I didn't so I guess I'll try to use it up on the weekends.  If you run into me at SuperTarget on a Saturday afternoon, please don't stare at my clumpy, spiky stubs!  😀

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

There's so much going on in TV-land this week!  American Idol is down to the top two finalists now (sorry, Danny, I didn't vote), Dancing with the Stars is down to the top three couples, Gray's Anatomy had their season finale episode last night, and The Biggest Loser wrapped up this week. Those are the big ones I know about and I'm sure there are lots of others.  But do I care about any of these shows?  Nope.  All I care about is one thing…Lost!  Wednesday night's episode is the last one that I'll see before the final season starts.  I think I'm mourning it already.  Lost is the one show I faithfully watch without fail.  I'll watch Idol and enjoy it, but it's no biggie if I miss it.  Do I miss a minute of Lost?  Oh, hell, no!

So what happened Wednesday night?  What didn't happen!  These are the notes I scribbled down to talk about with my fellow “Losties”:

• So Jacob met young Kate stealing?  And young Sawyer at his parents' funeral?  And Sayid when Nadia died?  And Alanna in bandages? And John Locke after he flew out the window?  And Sun and Jin at their wedding?  And Jack at the hospital?  And Hurley outside the prison?   And he was speaking all those languages?  And flying around in time?  What the heck does it MEAN??

• What's in the guitar case Jacob left in the cab with Hurley?

• How long had Jacob been living at the giant statue?  Why is there only an ankle and a foot left?  How did Jacob get there?  Who was the other guy who wanted to kill him?

• Is Jacob really dead?  How could he let Ben kill him?  Surely he knew it was coming!

• What's the deal with Jacob being so kind and caring?  Didn't we think he'd be monster-ish?  He was downright nice!

• Why did the other plane survivors, led by Alanna, turn weird?  Or maybe they were always weird and we're just now seeing it.  What does it mean that they think Lapidus is a candidate?

• We were all digging the new confident John Locke, right?  But now we have a question.  WHO IS THE NEW LOCKE??  Did the dude looking for a loophole just assume John's identity?  What??

• Hasn't Jack changed a TON since getting back to the island?  First, he's Mr. Philosophical Man…it's our destiny, the island wants this or that, blabbedy blah.  Second, he's Mr. Gun-Toting Man.  Have we ever seen him shoot anyone?  I can't recall it if we have, but he was shooting anything that moved this week, like he'd just channeled Dirty Harry.  And, thirdly, now he's Mr. Fight Club?  He and Sawyer have definitely been building up to the Mother of All Fights for years, but this was a bloody doozie!  What would have happened if they'd been allowed to fight to the death?

• On a lighter note, what was the point of finding Bernard and Rose playing house in the jungle?  I was kind of hoping we'd seen the last of wimpy Bernard.  But it was nice to see that dear old Vincent was still a survivor.

• Once the nuke had been tossed into the hole, why were these people all standing around the drill site pickin' their dirty noses??  Wouldn't you run like heck?  I would.  But that's just me.

• Ok, as much as I loved this last episode, there's one thing I'm just not buying, and that's the whole mind-changing thing going on with the girls.  Juliet is so convinced – by her nemesis Kate, no less – of the wrongness of Jack's bomb plan that she gives up her last chance to get off the island, while she's in the ding dang sub, for cryin' out loud?  But 5 minutes later, she's changed her mind?  Huh?  And increasingly-annoying Kate is on her self-righteous white horse to stop Jack from making this mortal error, but five minutes later, she's changed her mind too??  What?  I get it…a woman's prerogative is to change her mind, but I didn't buy it this time.  Sorry, it seemed contrived to me.

• So we think we've seen the last of Juliet.  Finally!  Whew!  Isn't it ironic that she's been so periodically untrustworthy and generally irritating, and now she may actually turn out to be a martyr and secret hero for cussing out the bomb and bashing it with a rock?  That is, if the bomb plan worked…once it blew, did it work?

Those are my thoughts, although I should say those are my questions.  Isn't that what we love about Lost though?  That as much as we learn, we always have more questions and we can never predict what will happen?  Oh, and there's one more thing that I love about Lost.

Did you think I could leave Lost til next season without a little more deliciosity to get us through these long, cold, lonely months?  Oh, hell, no!

~BigSis

Posted under This & That

Seven days into the new year and all is good! I've been able to stay focused this week, have been getting almost 7 hours sleep each night, and have been writing down all my workouts and everything that goes into my mouth. I'm pretty happy because I've already obtained my weight loss goal for the week.

Am I still talking about the Ten in 10 Challenge? Yes.  Am I going to talk about it every day? Probably.

Just kidding. Once I get through this initial week of organizing my schedule and getting myself on track in all aspects of this challenge, I'll get back to talking about other jibber jabber. I'll try to post at least one healthy recipe a week and I'll also post about my progress once a week. I'll probably do that on Saturdays since my official weigh in day is going to be on Fridays and a lot of the other participants have mentioned posting their progress on Saturdays.

I think that to get past a plateau, which is what I'm trying to do, you've got to change things up a bit. I've found a great new bike at the Y that really kicks my fanny, but I don't want to be in the gym every day. I want to be outside on cardio days when I don't also have weight training scheduled.

Since I was in the gym Monday and Tuesday mornings and since yesterday was so gorgeous, I decided to do my walk from the Harbor down to the beach to walk the pier and do some stair climbing. This is one of my favorite routes.  I do this particular walk when I can manage to squeeze in an extra half hour that day.

I don't normally take my camera with me, but I thought it might be fun to snap some shots along the way. Let's go for a walk.

This is where I start. This is also where we spend most of our spare time when not working or doing chores at home.

When the water is not quite so cold, this is where I like to kayak.

I know it's hard to make out what this is in the water, but they're seals sun bathing. These are just their fins sticking up out of the water while they're floating on their backs.

This is HayHay's favorite spot to surf. On any given day at 6:30 in the morning, this spot is full of local surfers.

When we first moved here, this is where I always dropped the kids off with their boogie boards. I still love the view from this spot.

Now, on my way to the Historic Oceanside Pier.

Next, I do a couple of jaunts up and down the ramp to the Pier. A lot of local firemen are normally here doing their workouts. Bummer, no eye candy today!

This big guy is rumored to be the infamous “Charlie the Pelican”. Charlie just made our local news a few days ago because he apparently just returned to Oceanside Pier after being missing since February.

It doesn't look like Charlie is real crazy about having his picture taken. The bait shop owner on the Pier put up the old sign next to Charlie that says “We bite stupid people”! I'll think I'll take a step back now!

A view of the shore from the end of the Pier. Oceanside Pier is one of the longest wooden piers on the entire West Coast. It's over 1950 feet long.

After coming down the ramp from the Pier, this is the first set of stairs that I attack.

And then, I go up and down these a few times.

But, these wooden stairs are my favorite. Once at the top of these, I'm done with stairs for the day.

Now that I'm over 3 miles away from where I started, I normally turn around here and head back towards the Harbor. This is the “Top Gun” house. Don't you just love the old VW Van on the side of the road? Classic!

Last year there was talk that Tom Cruise was buying this house and moving it somewhere else. I don't know what ever happened to that or what's planned for the house but they've cleared this entire lot and left the house standing.

Almost back to the Harbor, this Pink Hibiscus caught my eye as I walked past it so I turned back around to snap a quick shot of it.

After over seven miles round trip, I'm back to the Harbor. I always feel so good when I finish this walk. I don't have the opportunity to do this that often, but when I need to clear my head, this is where I go.  I hope your 2010 is off to a great start!

~LilSis

Posted under Health

Meow!  Did you get this adorable MAC Hello Kitty purse mirror before it vanished before our very eyes?

Hello Kitty Purse Mirror

No?  Too bad, it has sold on ebay for as much as $71 as of today!

What could be better than this cute mirror and the rest of the new MAC Hello Kitty collection?  If you missed out on some of these impossible-to-find items, how about a contest to win them?  You got it!  I got an email about this new Hello Kitty contest, and I entered it immediately.  You can enter once per day, up until March 31, 2009.

There are 120 instant win prizes, including brush sets, tote bags, t-shirts, bracelets, lipsticks, eyeshadows, makeup bags, plush dolls, purse mirrors (schwing!) and lipglass.  There are 8 Grand Prizes featuring all kinds of goodies, with the winners selected by March 25, 2009.  The complete MAC Hello Kitty contest rules are online.  If you missed out on the Hello Kitty items you wanted, don't snooze annd miss your chance to win them!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care