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Carrot Ginger Spinach Juice

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOne of my New Year’s Resolutions is to use my juicer more!  I bought an Omega J8003 Juicer a few years ago, but I only use it a few times a month.  So I am trying to use it every 2 or 3 days now.  Juicing is a great way to get more fruits and vegetables into your diet, and goodness knows I don’t eat enough vegetables!  I keep buying kale, meaning to use it in juice and then finding it wilted in the back of the refrigerator a week later.

Today I threw out the kale (again), but I did find some spinach to use in my juice.  I combined 2 apples, 3 carrots, about 2 cups of spinach and a 3/4 inch piece of ginger to make some juice for today.  I don’t usually include ginger, and it added a very strong taste to the juice, that pretty much overwhelmed all the other flavors.

Thai Coconut Salmon with Spinach Recipe

Thai Coconut Salmon with Spinach Recipe

Lent is coming early this year, so it is time to start thinking about fish dishes.  Growing up my mom always served tuna fish sandwiches on Fridays in Lent, which was not a very interesting meal.

We eat try to eat seafood regularly year round, since it is healthy, and salmon is always popular.  This recipe was inspired by a recipe from Cooking Light. It is one of my family’s favorites, and it is quick and easy to make.

I especially like it because it is one of the few recipes with spinach that my kids will eat! It is also a good recipe for using frozen wild salmon fillets, which is a cost effective way to buy wild salmon.

Basement Carpet Woes

Lots of CarpetWe have a huge finished basement in our house.  It is about 1200 square feet, which is great except when it needs work done.  Any job like painting or carpeting is huge, because of the size of the room.

The family we bought the house from installed new carpet in the basement right before we moved in, and I think they installed the cheapest bottom of the line carpet they could find.

My La-Z-Boy Mom Cave Dreams

Having personal space is so important!  we have a big house, but it seems like there is no place that is just mine, somewhere I can retreat to for some calm relaxation, to just read a book.  We recently bought a new mattress and rearranged our bedroom, and it seems like the perfect time to create my own space in it, somewhere that can be my Mom Cave! It is fun to browse and plan a redecoration, just to get ideas and imagine the possibilities.

My bedroom needs a makeover

Healthy Chicken Kebobs with Orange Sauce Recipe

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to eat better. I am sure I am not alone, that is probably one of the most common resolutions around.  One of the biggest challenges for me is to find ways to make healthy meals that my kids will actually eat.  I could make something very healthy like a Quinoa and Chickpea salad with peas, but my kids wouldn’t touch it, and my husband probably wouldn’t either.  So since I don’t want to make two meals, I have to work with my family’s likes and dislikes. Something I know they like is Chicken Kebobs or as we usually call it Chicken-on-a-Stick.  I decided to create a healthy kebob with Tyson Grilled and Ready Chicken Chunks, lots of vegetables, and an orange dipping sauce.

 

Festive Red and Green Popcorn Balls for Christmas

Red and Green Popcorn Balls for Christmas

My family and I had great fun making these cute popcorn balls for Christmas this year.  These are traditional treats, and although the process is a little messy it is worth it.  You can also experiment with different flavor extracts to make each taste a little different. We made the green balls vanilla flavored and red ones peppermint flavored.Green Popcorn for Christmas

Popular Family Holiday Traditions

A few weeks ago I posted about some of my holiday traditions and asked my readers to share their favorite family holiday traditions for a chance to win a Hickory Farms Tools of the Trade Gift Bag. The giveaway has ended and I wanted to share with you some of the holiday traditions that my readers enjoy!

The giveaway winner is Cindi D. and her favorite holiday tradition is a fantastic one, this is what she said,

My granddaughters and I make a gingerbread house.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMaking a gingerbread house is one of my favorite things also, and sharing it with children or grandchildren makes it extra fun.  My family and I are actually planning to start one tomorrow, and we are going to try to make a gingerbread Noah’s Ark this year. I think this has potential to either be a huge mess or a huge success, but either way we should enjoy making it.

XSRE Casting Call Event at Destiny in Syracuse

Last weekend I had the chance to attend the XSRE Casting Call Event at the new store at Destiny in Syracuse.  It was a blast, and it was great to see all the girls and women who showed up to try on some fun accessories and get their picture taken.

If you have never been to an XSRE store it is overwhelming!  The entire store is full of every accessory that you could ever think of.

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Footminders Orthotics Review – Relieve Foot Pain

I have bad feet, and unfortunately I seem to have passed them along to my children. My 16 year old daughter recently started working a fast food job, and she has found that standing on her feet for long and boring 6 hour shifts results in sore feet! So when I had the chance to review some orthotic insoles from Footminders she insisted that I let her have them, so she could get better arch support.

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