stuffed zucchini and riced cauliflower.

I don't usually blog when I cook. I cook something new 4-5 times a week. Blogging all of that would be way too time consuming! But this got a lot of attention, comments, and questions.

Riced cauliflower:

A head of cauliflower processed in a food processor, about the size of rice.

Cook the cauliflower. I put it in a pan and sautéed it in coconut oil and then put it in the oven with the zucchini for five minutes.

You can steam it, sauté it, microwave it.. Whatever.

It's a really great alternative to rice. A much better texture and flavor in my opinion.

Stuffed Zucchini:

3 medium zucchini
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
Small onion, chopped
Thyme
1/2 teaspoon Curry powder
Salt
Pepper
2 Tablespoons sour cream
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown the onion in a pan. Add curry powder and leave on heat for 30 more seconds.
Meanwhile cut the zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the pulp.
Chop the pulp and put it in a bowl.
Add the chopped red pepper, thyme, salt, pepper, sour cream, and the onions when they are done.
Put the prepared zucchini boats into a oiled/buttered baking dish.
Fill the zucchini with the mixture and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Yum!

freaster 2012.

This year marked our second Freaster holiday. In case you're not familiar Freaster stands for Friend Easter - much like Friendsgiving standing for Friend Thanksgiving. Clever, eh? Yep.

Last year Tyler and I took Olive to church with Brooke and Scott for her first Easter. We then headed to IKEA for a wonderful meal and made sushi back at Brooke and Scott's house.


Photo by Scott


Photo by Scott

My hopes were high that we would eat at IKEA again this year. The food really was quite yummy and it seems like a neat tradition to start. But unfortunately IKEA did not offer an Easter meal ON Easter this year. Though the store was open on Easter. So I'm not sure what the reasoning was. I was bummed.

Tyler went out of town on Saturday morning and didn't return until Sunday afternoon. This left Olive and I to work on Easter meal preparations together on Saturday and we went to church together on Sunday. Brooke and Scott wanted to go to church also but the timing of the service they wanted to attended didn't seem like it would work with Olive's "schedule". So Olive and I went to Bethlehem for the 9:45 service. Olive didn't sit still.













And then we went out for lunch together.



After Tyler arrived home I finished up a few meal related tasks, Olive used my old Easter basket to find some eggs and sticks in our backyard, and then Brooke and Scott came over.































I made a giant egg shaped raw carrot cake. ha.

We enjoyed a yummy meal together and now our second anual Freaster is behind us.

scotts snap spreader system.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Is your lawn beautiful?  Ours sure isn't.  We haven't patches of nice lush green grass.  But we also have patches of dirt. And patches of weeds. And some dead grass thrown in.  Basically, our yard is a mess.  It honestly doesn't bother me too terribly (okay, the bare dirt does bother me) but our overall motivation with our home is to prepare it to be sold.. whenever that might be.  I'm almost certain that a beautiful green lawn will bring more viewers to our home than a spotty half dead lawn.  Unless, of course, it's winter.  

Since we've lived in our house we haven't done too many things to better the lawn.  We've used fertilizer a time or two.  And used some weed spray once.  But with a dog and a toddler I don't really want to use those things anymore.  We haven't yet used new seed in our yard.  

Scotts® Snap® Spreader System seems like a useful tool for people like us.  Whether or not you have experience caring for your lawn or have spread new seed before this system takes all of the guess work out of the process.  It doesn't make a mess, there is no measuring or pouring, you just snap, lock, and go - perfect!  :) 

Take a peek at the Scotts® Snap® Spreader System and check out Snap perks on Facebook as well.  Perks?  Yep!  "like" Scotts Facebook page and you can enter to win prizes and become a part of their community.  Find ideas and inspiration to get your yard looking beautiful this year.  

See that icky grass?  I'd love to tackle that project this year and get it looking more uniform and pretty.  :)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-CArPub9j8&w=420&h=315]

does that make me crunchy?

I just took a shower. I should probably reserve a bit of dignity for myself and not tell you how often I shower. I'll pretend its because I have a busy toddler. But it's not.

Though I now feel the need to share... it isn't good for you to shower every day. Probably not even every other day. Your body has quite a few wonderful self cleaning processes and cleaning too often can really interfere with them. It may lead to acne, dry skin, etc. And then you most likely shower more and put more unhelpful things on your skin in attempt to alleviate the problem. It's a vicious cycle. And any television station you watch or magazine you flip through will be certain to encourage this process.

By "you" I don't mean all of you. Maybe some of you? One of you? Regardless.. just some food for thought. :)

Anywho - I took a shower.

I feel the need to share this information because I feel quite refreshed and pleased with myself after this particular shower.

I used a simple bar of soap with three ingredients.
I did not use shampoo - I recently jumped on the "no 'poo" bandwagon.
I scrubbed with sugar scrub that I made.
Afterwards I brushed my teeth with http://anowlsnest.com/2012/03/31/homemade-toothpaste/.
I might even slap on some homemade deodorant.

That was an incredibly inexpensive, non-toxic, refreshing, healthy shower. :)

How do you feel about each of those things? I'm assuming if you haven't yet heard of it you may be stuck on the "no 'poo" part. No shampoo. That's right. We've given it up. Even if you use natural shampoos.. take a peek at the label. There are a heck of a lot of things in there you probably don't want on your head. What we're doing is pretty simple. I put two cups of water and two tablespoons of baking soda in a spray bottle. There you go. "shampoo"

Tonight was my first try - I've heard your hair can get pretty oily and weird for a little bit after just starting it so I'll post an update later and let you know how it's going.

Why no shampoo, you ask? Shampoo hasn't been around forever. Hair worked out just fine and dandy before it came along. Shampoo actually strips your hair of useful things. It can become oily because its trying to overcompensate. Or dry and frizzy because it isn't trying to compensate. Complicated. Messes with the natural eb and flow of oils. So I'll give my head a chance to get back its equilibrium and see what happens. I'd love to only use baking soda and water on my hair when I shower.. I really would! No dyes, no fragrances, no chemicals, no weird processes to make it, no worry about what happens when it goes down the drain..

Fingers crossed. :)

a wedding at the conservatory.

On April fools day I had the pleasure of photographing a small wedding in the Sunken Garden of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota. Here are a few of my favorites:



























Congratulations to Sam & Ray! :)

gluten & sugar free cake.

I'm not sure how I did it, but without any trial or error, I invented a cake. It's a beet cake. I suppose it's a healthy version of a red velvet cake. Ideally red velvet cakes should be colored red with the use of beets rather than red food coloring. (Dye is terrible, please don't eat it).

I'm going to try this cake again soon with some frozen over ripe bananas we've been keeping. You can probably use any pureed fruit or vegetable but make sure to account for how much liquid a change in produce either adds or takes away.

spring fever!

This post brought to you by iBulb. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you know me you know that I love practical things, especially gifts. I hate the idea of scrounging something up simply to fill the obligation of giving a gift. I've received too many of those types of gifts in my life and I'm determined to not give them.  It's a waste of the gift giver's money and the recipient is left trying to figure out a use for the gift or if it would be right to pass it on to someone else.  The situation has led to many internal struggles on my part.. 

I thought I would share with you this neat idea for a very practical gift!  Flowers are a lovely thing to give but I'm really not very interested in buying something that is so temporary.  They'll last a couple of days.. if you're lucky maybe a week.. and then poof - they're long gone and forgotten.  But what about a living flower?  Have you ever given or received a potted bulb?  It's such a great idea!  Especially with Easter and Mother's Day right around the corner.

The recipient can enjoy the flower when it blooms in their home and keep it growing all year long!  It can even be planted outdoors!  I really love that idea!

 

It can also be a great family project or a science lesson. A potted bulb inside your home can be tended to by the kids and checked for progress daily!

For example, during the Easter season you can plant bulbs in your home in colorful Easter baskets, in festive egg shaped planters, or in any planter you may have that matches your home with plastic Easter eggs as accents!  And after the holiday is over you can transplant the bulb outdoors.

If you're interested potted bulbs are available everywhere - I'm sure you've seen them at your local grocery store in the floral section.  Of course you can also find them at garden centers and flower shops.. and even online!