Mommy, "I am hungry!" {From My Kitchen}

I have 5 brothers (and 2 sisters), and I honestly think our girls eat more than my brothers ever did!

These girls simply cannot seem to get enough food! I cook a full, hot breakfast, clean up the kitchen and they are right back in there asking for a snack before I am finished!

How many times per day do you hear "I am hungry" or "what can I eat?"

{Even the little one loves to eat, lol}

I figured if I put together a "snack tray" that the girls could easily access, it might save me a few minutes each day, and, for me, being more efficient is a must with homeschooling and caring for 3 small kiddos and 3 dogs, oh, and taking care of my wonderful husband:).

So, here is the first tray I have put together.

On the left, I put sliced fresh garden zucchini. I also put some multigrain crackers, baby carrots, red grapes, sliced yellow peppers, small oranges, string cheese and nitrate-free turkey. I think the girls will LOVE this idea and I will feel less stressed about putting together snacks in the midst of a busy school day. It's all of their favorites, so I am hoping they will not eat the whole tray in one sitting, lol.

I may even try to take this with us on field trip days since I always pack our lunches anyway!

All set to go!

Anyone have any other cool snack ideas? Please feel free to share them!

Blessings,

Aria:)

{From My Kitchen} Mini Lasagna Cups and More!!

I love making new foods and trying new things in the kitchen! I think it keeps things interesting and is a positive thing to challenge ourselves and our children to try new things. 

First up-I made some miniature Lasagna cups! They were really popular here:)

 I used some ricotta, parmesan and shredded mozzarella cheeses, along with an egg and some italian seasoning to make the "filling". I then made some spaghetti sauce with ground turkey, sauteed onions, a touch of sugar and a touch of baking soda (trust me, it makes all the difference:)!

Instead of pasta noodles, I used wonton wrappers.  I used a glass to make them round. You can cut through 3 at a time if you press hard enough:)

 Then, I simply sprayed my mini muffin tin with Canola oil spray and layered the wontons on the bottom, put some of the cheese filling, some of the sauce and continued in this fashion, topping it with some shredded mozzarella cheese at the end.

 Baked them on 350 for 15-20 minutes.....and, VOILA!

 Oh, my----so, so cute and so, so good! They were even better the next day! They were a bit crunchy on the parts that were not covered with sauce on day one, but when reheated, they softened up a bit more and were more of my liking.

 Em just loved having her apple slices with stars in the middle, lol.


One of the other things we love to do is make fresh juice with our electric juicer.

 I cut up all the fruits and veggies and the bigger girls help make the juice.
This time, I used carrots, black grapes and apples.

It is always a snack-fest as well. The girls love to eat the fruit before I can even get it into the juicer! I guess I shouldn't complain, LOL:0

All of the juice was gone in seconds! I dilute it down with water because it is too sweet to us. We don't buy bottled juice, so our taste buds just are used to drinking water or rice milk.

Here's my glass of fresh juice--yummy!

We usually do this in the fall to stave off all of the cold germs, too!

 Even the baby LOVED the watered down juice:)
Gotta teach them young how to enjoy healthy foods!

 Here is a look at some of the produce I bought this week. I love it when summer fruits and veggies are readily available. I am not looking forward to fall/winter when our supply is so limited;(

 The next thing I would like to share is a TREAT, for sure! I made these little ditties as appetizers for our "Taco Tuesday" night. They are considered a treat because I rarely fry anything in this house. So, the girls and my hubby really looked forward to it and enjoyed them.

 I used the wonton wrappers and filled them with lean ground turkey that I seasoned with taco seasoning and some shredded cheese.

 Our little helpers:)

 They always are eager to help and I love teaching them the art of cooking!

 I folded them up and lightly fried them in a little canola oil
They were gone in no time!!!

 They couldn't even wait to sit down for these:)

Now, I would like to share how to make the most delicious roasted chicken.
We usually buy 1 or 2 whole chickens per week. I like to roast them up and use them in a variety of ways. If I am using them in a secondary preparation, I will use less seasoning. In this case, this chicken was going to be eaten for Sunday dinner, so it has all of the bells and whistles.

You can use whatever seasonings you like, but I HIGHLY recommend using a fresh lemon, fresh herbs (I use thyme and rosemary) and a chopped onion!!!!

 Wash and pat dry your bird. Make sure there is nothing in the cavity. Chop up your onion and put it around the pan and inside of the chicken. Also put half of the lemon inside of the chicken along with your fresh herbs. Lightly drizzle some extra virgin olive oil  around the chicken and on the onions. Add a tiny bit of water to the bottom of the pan-maybe 1/2 cup or less. Season the chicken and onions all around. Bake on 325 for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your bird.

*The key to an amazing roasted chicken is to cook it breast-side DOWN! I also do this with my Thanksgiving turkey, and it just is so tender and juicy, it literally falls apart. The 2nd critical piece is to cover the chicken. I use a roasting pan with a lid. The 3rd key is to cook it "slow and low."

 See how the wing is starting to pull away and the onions have caramelized? Oh, yeah----your family will LOVE you for this:)

 Look at the juice on the plate. No dry birds here!

 Serve it up and get ready to serve up seconds and thirds, lol.
Enjoy!
Blessings,
Aria:)

Reading is FUNdamental!

I have always been an avid reader. I would rather read than watch television any day! I remember as a child, I would sneak library books under my bed so my mother wouldn't return them because I loved to read so much! I had so many library fines, I had to volunteer at the library to work them off, LOL.

Well, I still love reading and love the library. And, guess what? I still haven't figured out how to NOT accumulate library late fees, lol!

The good news is, our girls LOVE to read as well. They also love going to the library!
This week's trip to the library was an extra-special one! During story time, one of our Senators came to read the first story. It was really great to see her again-she is such an inspiration!

Elle picked out tons of new books at the library and I captured a video of her reading one of the new books she brought home.

Enjoy our sweet Elle (5 yrs old) reading "I Love to Sing."

Blessings,

Aria:)

Weekend Learning Fun!

How did you all spend your weekend? We had a lot of fun!

We spent a lot of time outside-enjoying the last of our warm weather! We love to go on Family Walks, Listening Walks, and have Family Foot Races.

Once we came back inside, we continued the fun and learning.

First, the girls decided to have a "Family Fashion Show." Even the baby, CeCe (15 months) enjoyed being in it, lol:)

 Em has her own sense of style! Being the animal-lover that she is, she had to model with a toy dog.

Our fashionista, Elle. She loved modeling in the show!

The girls worked on their Phonics lessons by matching the animals to their beginning letter sound. 

They both did an amazing job on this lesson!

To solidify our math lessons, Elle worked on sorting coins.

 I also asked her to come up with different amounts of money using the coins. This was a good lesson and lots of fun!

This week, we also studied patterns in math (ABA, AAB, ABB etc). To bring the lessons to life, we made bead necklaces using different patterns.

Em loves making beaded jewelry!

We also made fruit kabobs using patterns. The girls really enjoyed this math lesson:)

Elle's ABC fruit pattern.

The girls are also learning to use kiddie chopsticks. I found these at a thrift store for just $1.91! They are having a lot of fun using them!

 We had hot air balloons fly over our neighborhood while we were outside---such a treat!!

Our new arts and crafts organizer. I found this little pocket-thingy at the thrift store for $1.51. It has worked out perfectly for our craft items. The girls can see what is in each pocket, easily access it and put it back where it goes. We are LOVING this new storage solution!!!

We keep it hanging on the wall of the classroom when not in use.

Ce Ce LOVES the letter magnets on the fridge:) She is starting to sing her ABC's along to the Leap Frog toy already!

We had a wonderful weekend and hope you did, too!

Blessings,

Aria:)