Going Green

In an attempt to get healthier I've added green smoothies to my breakfast menu. This morning was the first time I made one and I was surprised at how good it was! When I think of green drinks visions of grossness are seen in my head - not anymore! Believe it or not Justin was loving the green goodness as well. His truck even helped deliver the kale to the blender!

Here's the recipe which is quick and easy (thanks Valerie!):

Basic Green Smoothie

Blend well in order listed

2 cups water or orange juice
2 cups washed, chopped or torn greens (spinach is good to start with due to its mild flavor. If using kale, or collards be sure to remove stems first.)
2 bananas
1 mango, orange, or peach, peeled and chopped


Here are some pics of our green morning:

Yes, cooking green can be fun when you have a toy dump truck helping!
I love the yummy shade of green!

Here's the proof he actually drank it!

Thailand - Part 6 Cuisine

I had heard that Thai food is the best, and I have had my fair share of it here in the states, but nothing could prepare me for how insanely delicious it is!!! Not only is it good, but it is cheap - like $3 a meal cheap!! We ate at the restaurant next to WonGen every day and I got the pad thai almost every day because it's THAT good!! If you go to Thailand for one reason only, the food should be it! Even the food on the Thai airlines was good, seriously.

Eating noodles in the Tai Pei Taiwan airport.

Rowan enjoying some yummy ice cream. Ice cream was great in 100 degree weather!! (I made her skirt by the way :)

Some sort of a chocolate drink

Pad thai baby!

Thai iced tea - yuuuummm!!

Thai Cuisine!

We had the Thailand team over for dinner last week and had such a great time! I decided to go all out and make real Thai food! I got most of the ingredients from a local Asian store. Here are some pics from the night:

Here's the team that will be going to Thailand, minus one three year old

Sarah was very excited about the Pad Thai!


Pad Thai with chicken. It was so good that we made it the next night!

Fresh squeezed lime made the Pad Thai even better!

The ingredients for the Pad Thai. If you want the recipe let me know. Blogger wouldn't let me paste it in for some reason.

I made one of my favorite deserts of all time - Thai sweet rice. This rice is different than Jasmine rice. It's called sweet rice and is imported from Thailand. You soak it for around 6 hrs. Then you put it into this special basket and steam it for about 20 minutes and flip it. This is the hardest part! You roll it into a ball by moving the basket around then flip it over and steam it for another 20 minutes. Then you serve it up with coconut milk and fresh mangos, yuuumy! I didn't get any pics of the final product unfortunately.

Soaking the rice. This rice is SO delicious. It's very sweet and is the best rice I've ever had.

The basket which you can get at any Asian food store. This one cost around 3 dollars.

Tea Drawer

I'm so excited to have a tea drawer! I love tea, and I've never had a place to organize it before. I used to have it heaped into a basket on my counter and I could never find what I needed, ugh. But now, it's all right at my finger tips! It's the little things in life, truly.

Smoothies and Thailand

This is probably the strangest title I've ever come up with so far for a blog! It will make sense, I promise! Last weekend I made the fam my favorite type of smoothie: blackberry, blueberry and banana, (with apple juice.) It was sooo good and I finally felt like all the berry picking from last season paid off! (Including losing my keys at the marsh while picking blackberries, but that's a whole different story.) I've been attempting to eat healthier lately, including eating more veggies and fruit and less sugar and refined carbs. I always feel much better when I eat this way, and it boosts my immune system as well.

With summer approaching I will be drinking many smoothies, enjoying the sunshine, and hopefully traveling to Thailand! My church is taking a team to Chang Mai and Bangkok Thailand this summer, and I'm planning to be part of the team. We'll be there for 2 weeks and will be doing ministry at the Chang Mai University, and may be doing some other work with women, specifically ex-prostitutes. There is a ministry there in Chang Mai that helps give the women skills to make a living, (such as textile skills), since they have a hard time surviving once they leave prostitution. I am so excited about this awesome opportunity to go to another country and help people in such a tangible way. Meanwhile, I'm still taking the Perspectives course and feel like I'm being equipped and prepared to go. More on this topic to come!

Pre-blended yummies. Up above the blender is a little card with a map of Thailand on it, a little prayer reminder I keep in my window.

My lovely family enjoying the smoothie goodness.

Grandma's Blackberry Buckle

When I got married my Grandma gave me her old recipe cards. She moved out of the farm house and into a smaller house some years ago and had a big estate sale. I got her antique lunch box tin she used to store her recipes in. She told me she used to carry this kind of a lunch box to school when she was a girl. It's missing one handle, but I think it adds to its charm.

One of the recipes I've been wanting to try is her Blackberry Buckle. She used to make it for us when we were kids and we loved it. Her farm had loads of blackberries growing on it, and we kids used to go pick bucket fulls so we could have cobbler. I made the recipe the other day and it was delicious and brought back good memories. Here is the recipe:

Blackberry Buckle

Blend and add:

1/4 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder (sifted)

1/4 tsp. salt (sifted)

1/3 c milk

Spread in greased pan and cover with 2 c. berries

Mix 1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cut in: 1/4 c. butter

Sprinkle over the berries

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 min.

(Double recipe for 9X13 pan.)

Home Grown Cherry Tomatoes

After months of anticipation, watering and shelter our cherry tomatoes are ripe and ready for eating! They are delicious...perfect in every way. It is difficult to grow tomatoes here in Humboldt County due to the lack of sun and moisture. But, with lots of care it can be done as you can see! I'm going to toss some of these in my salad today, yum! Thanks Ron for more garden goodness!

Farmer's Market

This morning we headed off to our local farmer's market to buy some local organic veggies and breathe in the culture we know and love. The market is always set up at our town plaza, right smack dab in the middle of town, surrounded by the charming historic buildings and beautiful landscape of our town. The thing I like the most about our market is the amazing sense of community and culture I feel every time I go. I love being able to see friends I haven't seen in a while, friends I see a lot, and even acquaintances. Today we got to hear our area's best blue grass band, Huckleberry Flint, playing. We know most of the band members, so it was fun to get to come out and support them. The kids love farmer's market just as much as we do if not more. They like to run around and feel all the fruit and veggie textures, (much to the owners dislike at times!), watch the juggling acts and eat the home grown goodness. I love being able to just sit back and watch the sights, and for a moment I forget about all of the weekend's to do lists, chores, and mommy duties and get to soak in the flavor of our quaint little town. Today we filled our basket full to the brim with yummy fruits veggies, and even bought a gallon of locally made chai, yummy stuff. I'm glad I dragged myself out of bed and decided to go today, it was well worth it! (Sarah was here today, but she's in the "don't take my picture" mode now, and I wasn't able to steal any shots, which is why you don't see her here, ah well.)

There it is, our farmer's market in all its glory

Ron checking out the tomatoes he planned to use that night in a mozzarella/basil/tomato dish

Justin asked dad for a honey stick, and of course he got one

I love the look on his face here

Congratulations Honey! (This is the big news)

I'm bursting my buttons with pride over Ron's latest achievement at work. After only about three months in his position at the hospital he has been promoted! He is now the Materials Supervisor for Redwood Memorial Hospital. Way to go babe! He has been told by his bosses that his attitude has changed his department substantially for the better.


I am so proud that he has worked incredibly hard and accomplished so much in such a short period of time. It seems that whatever endeavor he undertakes he pours his heart and soul into, and he manages to make the best of any situation no matter how difficult. From graduating in hopes to become a teacher and not being able to find a teaching position locally, then starting a coffee shop from the ground up and managing it well for two years, to working in hospital management - whatever circumstances life throws at him he is determined to make the best of it. He has been told by people that he "encourages them to be a better person." I am so blessed to be married to such a man of integrity and character! Thanks so much for all of your hard work and dedication to our family Ron, we love you!

To celebrate this great occasion I baked Ron a carrot cake (his favorite kind of cake), and decorated it with our garden flowers. Sarah hand made him a cute congratulations card.

A Berry Fun Day

Yesterday the kids and I went black berry picking at the Arcata marsh and had a great time! The black berries are just getting ripe now, so we didn't get a ton, but I got a good 4 cups worth. I made a cobbler with them that afternoon and used pie crust for the "lid." We took the cobbler over to a friend's house for dessert. Here are a few pics of the day:

Justin on the trail having fun

Look at those beauties!

Mmmm, cobbler