Goodbye sweet summer days!

It still feels like summer here. The days are not as long but they are still very warm! I am enjoying it of course, but a part of me in longing for the coolness of fall. The briskness of the morning air and the joys of wearing jeans and a sweater and a nice hot drink.

I should be taking advantage and washing the huge pile of wool that has been sitting ALL summer (I havent washed a single lock! GASP!) but all I want to do is cuddle my boy and finish reading pride and prejudice! Can you blame me?

Here are a few things I am looking forward to this season:

Become a reality.

I have this vision or idea in my head of the life that I want to live, the food I want to eat and the impact I want to leave. I want to get back to the basics really.

With so many helpful sites and blogs I really have no excuse other than laziness! SO I am going to try to make some changes.. a little bit at a time.

When I look at our eating habits now and what I wish we were eating – I am so far off base! I want to get to a healthy, natural diet. No more packaged foods, no more preservatives and additives, no more carcinogens! It is amazing how many terrible things are in the foods we eat everyday. Even the foods that are “good” for us! I have briefly checked out this site http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ and a few others and am going to spend some time reading over them. There is a change-a-coming!

 I want to become more self sufficient in many ways, one being with our garden, My mom is an amazing gardener and we have a constant supply of garden fresh veg during the summer. But that can only take us so far. We still have to buy the seeds from the store! I did some searching and found lots of instructions on harvesting our own seeds! BUT most seed (and produce) from the stores are hybrids and cannot be harvested! CRAZY! SO We have ALMOST finished our greenhouse construction (So exciting) and I have already started some seeds in peat pots (Heirloom Seeds)!

Anyways.. I will post about these things as they some – Wish me luck!

Pinterest Challenge – Day 1!

I am a pinterest junkie!!(Check out my boards HERE) I could look and re-pin all the day long! But honestly – how many of us actually DO the ideas we pin? Well I am challenging myself and YOU other pinners to do one of your pins everyday for the next week!

Here is what I did last night from my “Yummy…” board!

Cheesy Quinoa Bites – And they were REALLY GOOD! Even cold the next day, they were a great snack!

Cheesy Quinoa Bites
Makes ~28 bites

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 2 stalks green onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 
• 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Mix together quinoa, carrot, egg, green onion, garlic, cilantro, cheese, flour, salt and pepper.
3.  Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top (1 heaping Tbs each). 
4.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I got the recipe from

http://www.soveryblessed.com/2012/01/cheesy-quinoa-bites.html

I changed a few things – I think it is pretty flexible to whatever you have in the cupboard or fridge!

I think that most of my pins for the challenge will be food – BUT WHO CARES! We gotta eat right?

Now all I have to do is wait for little Miss Beans to get home and we are going to do some pinterest recipe BAKING! YUM! I will share (the recipe – not the treat) with you all tomorrow!