Chocolate Pretzels

A very crafty mommy friend of mine always has these addictive pretzel treats out when we come over. She swore they were easy to make and that her little monkey loves to help out making these sweet treats so I thought we would give them a go. She was right, easy, low mess and super fun for the kiddos. Only three ingredients you can't go wrong, we used matchstick pretzels, quick melt chocolate and course sanding sugar. The entire project minus the time spent eating and munching and laughing along the way only took about 10 minutes. First we laid the pretzels out on some wax paper(makes for easy clean up), microwaved the chocolate in a glass bowl for 60 seconds then put the chocolate into a squeezy bottle and drizzled over the pretzels. Finally Tess sprinkled the sugar over the tops and we let harden for about 30 minutes before eating. Tess is so excited to show Daddy that she made "prentzels" for him - what a treat.

Harvest

The first few precious tomatoes of the season are ready for picking. About to undertake a big renovation/addition to our house this summer we planted very little this year. Since our backyard will be one big muddy construction site I debated if I should plant anything at all but decided that I couldn't miss an opportunity to teach T about growing from seed. We started the plantings indoors in February and Tess has patiently watched and watered her plants over the past few months with loving care. Elated at finally getting a chance to harvest some of her crops, she immediately picked the first tomato and went to bite right in and enjoy it straight from the vine. Also ready were sunflowers that had grown a few feet tall, which are now pride of place on our dinning room table. Construction is likely (hopefully, all fingers crossed) to begin next month and we might not get to harvest the rest of our crops but at least we got a few early tomatoes to get us in the summer mood. Fingers crossed the watermelons are ready before all the craziness starts.

Sprouted

Summer is a great time to refocus on fresh produce and clean up our diets. I have been working on trying to rid my cabinets & freezer of all processed foods slowly eating up any boxed pasta and couscous mixes so we could make the transition to a no processed foods house. For the most part we eat pretty good around here, I soak my own beans, grow some of our veg, buy grains in bulk but there are still some processed foods that I am dependent on. Mostly they are "processed lite" from Whole Foods and not so "bad" but still I am always trying to make our meals healthier and more nutritious. Right now reading a few good books on clean eating. Terry Walters Clean Foods is a great resource for stocking a "clean kitchen" and it has some simple great recipes.I am also reading Alicia Silverstones The Kind Diet and was surprised to find that it's pretty good and not at all "clueless". I have started to incorporate raw meals once a week into our diet and my favorite go to books for recipes of the raw kind are Matt Amsden's RAWvolution and Julianos RAW the UNcook book. Here are pics of some of our sprout crops the greens on bottom left are broccoli and on the top a mix of arugula, radish, alfalfa and on the right a yummy assortment of pea spouts.