Keepin' Cool

For a refreshing breakfast or snack on a hot day(and there are plenty of those kind to choose from around here!), you just can't beat smoothies.  Here's a purple pretty I whipped up a couple of weeks back--no true recipe, but roughly a half cup orange juice, half cup yogurt, cup of frozen fruit(this one was a combo of blueberries, grapes and strawberries, I think). Maybe more fruit if you like it thicker. I also added a scoop of protein powder and a vitamin supplement. Hubby didn't know he was drinking his vitamins(but his glass didn't have flowers on it, either!). It didn't have any added sugars, either. The frozen grapes REALLY make it sweet.

What's YOUR favorite healthy hot day refreshment?

Thursday Night Supper

It was rainy today. We had the kids in to see the dentist, and by the time I had driven home in the rain, I was spent. Comfort food, here we come!
The winner tonight: gumbo--with okra, chicken, sausage, and shrimp.

I had to learn to make this myself when we went box-free a few years ago, and it was trial and error for quite awhile, but it has turned into an easy option. I make a dry roux which really cuts back the amount of fat and transforms the gumbo to something you WANT to eat, and so then the significant veggie content actually makes it fairly healthy!

Here in Louisiana sometimes we NEED a piece of fried catfish with our gumbo, health-conscious or no.

We washed it down with start-the-weekend-early celebratory Coke floats, made with caffeine-free Coca-Cola and Bluebell Homemade Vanilla. Yummmmmmmmmmy.(They disappeared before I could think of taking a picture!)

What did YOU have for supper tonight?

I Love Olives!

I opened the fridge in the early hours the day after the all-day, eight-kid playdate, and there they were.
Neatly dispensed and resting in their small square container. . . my best friend's olives.  She had forgotten to take most of her "cold" items with her when she left with her brood the day before, and so I was faced with the difficult decision: do I eat them myself, straight from the box,  do I save them to make something special in hopes my kids don't get to them first, or do I go right ahead and turn them over to the kids for a snack and stop trying to avoid the inevitable?

Then it occurred to me.  I could write a blog. Based on these olives. . . the best of all possible outcomes!

The last three. . . munched while thinking of the possibilities. . .

She also left organic spinach.

:)

I did NOT decide to call this blog "My Best Friend's Spinach". . . (not sure WHY!)

So this will be something of a "food" blog--not meaning each post will have a recipe, as I don't often FOLLOW them. I actually have a love-hate relationship with them. . .though I find them inspiring, they never make it from page to plate unaltered, unpersonalized. Cooking is a VERY personal thing.

So I thought I'd share mine with the world.

Welcome to my odd little corner of the world--my kitchen being the very heart of it.  I hope you don't mind flour on your apron and sugar on the floor--there are children who live and cook and EAT here too...
For goodness' sake! Wipe that sticky spot off the counter before you rest your elbow there!(Trust me on this one!)

 I hope you like to experiment, UNscientifically, because it is impossible to do ANYTHING the same way twice!

I hope you like to have FUN. Because cooking is about more than just filling tummies. . .it's about feeding souls. The first one being YOURS, the cook's. If your soul finds joy in the process, the privilege, and even the perpetuity of meal preparation(the ongoing necessity of it can be daunting, so a girl may as well make it as great as possible, right?) those around your table likely will enjoy it as well--

 They will know that they are LOVED.

And that is the very most important thing.

We'll see how this pans out! Thank you for joining me here!