What's for dinner?

One of my favorite summer foods is shrimp & pasta salad. It's light, cool, and all you need to add is a couple of veggies on the side to have a complete meal!

I alter the ingredients almost every time I make it. This time I used chopped onion, julienned carrots and diced tomatoes. For pasta, I used plain old elbow macaroni, mainly because it's the easiest for Buttercup to pick up and eat.














While the pasta was cooking, I cleaned off the shrimp and added it to the veggies.














I didn't want to use pre-made salad dressing, so I tried to make my own balsamic vinaigrette. But, it turns out that 6 year old balsamic vinegar is more like wine than vinegar, so instead I tossed everything with olive oil, s&p, dried Italian seasoning, and minced garlic.














Mmmm!














And the most fun part of cooking this afternoon? Playing peek-a-boo with this cutie! (Big brother Oliver was still napping.)














There she is!

Taking a hike

Oliver loves going to the trail to hike, explore, ride his bike, look for wildlife, and "fish" and throw rocks in the creek, so we've been spending a lot of time out on the trail so far this summer. Here are some pictures from this morning!

Mud, mud, and more mud

Things to do outside on a rainy, June afternoon:
- make mud pies
- dig in the mud
- roll cars through the mud and make muddy tire tracks on the driveway
- spray each other with the hose
- look for worms and roly polys
- bury your legs in mud
- pick flowers
- make muddy hand prints
- haul mud to different areas of the yard
- draw/write on your mama with muddy fingers
- jump in mud puddles
- chase bubbles
- do an obstacle course on the driveway

A snacktastic apple butterfly

I've seen lots of different versions of this out there in Internet Land, and today Oliver and I tried it for ourselves. It's a really cute idea for a fun, nutritious snack!

Take 1 apple and cut it into eighths. This will be the butterfly's wings.

You'll also need something almost rectangular-shaped for the butterfly's body. You could use pretzel rods, celery stalks, dates, baby carrots, pieces of toast . . . anything, really!

Then you'll need something sticky to use as the "glue" to hold the pieces together. I used Oliver's favorite -- peanut butter -- although cream cheese would probably work well, too.

And last, you'll need some kind of decoration for the butterfly's wings. Simple, and so fun to eat!

You Capture: the week's best

This week's You Capture assignment was to take a lot of pictures over the course of the week, and choose the best. I always have trouble choosing just one favorite, so this was a tough one for me. But . . . I think this one is it!














I love all of the green. :-)

I wish I had this outfit

Welcome to Polyvore! by pinkieflamingo featuring Nike shoes

Peanut-Butter Balls

Yesterday afternoon I was reading while the kids were napping, and I found this recipe for Peanut-Butter Balls in the June 2010 issue of Parents magazine. It is super easy, and SO yummy!

Mix 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/3 cup honey, and 1 cup powdered milk in a bowl. Roll into 20 1" balls. Melt 6 oz chocolate and dip balls into chocolate. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.













You can also enlist a willing helper to assist you in cleaning the leftover chocolate off of a spoon. :-)


















Our verdict? Tastes like Reese's peanut butter cups, but not as chocolate-y! I'll definitely make these again!