Summer Is Right Around The Corner, Are You Ready???

Summer Is Right Around The Corner, Are You Ready??? I am not ready for shorts weather and heading off to the beach. I have taken the plunge and joined up with SparkPeople.

Come see what it's all about, I spent about an hour perusing the site and getting to know it. Sort of reminds me of a knock off of Weight Watchers online, but the really cool thing is that it's FREE!!  And ya know, we all like free!  There are mobile apps too that you can use from them.

I really like the way that the nutritional tracker keeps track of your day for you including fiber, vitamins, minerals etc and not just calories, fat, and carbs.

How far can we get between now and summer with our weight loss? Join me for motivation and some menu ideas.

Here is to less of us this summer!

Olive Garden Gluten Free Recipe Hack!

Have you ever found a great recipe and you think "Oh, never mind it's full of gluten." and then move on? Well, it's time for a change, look at recipes and see how you can adapt them. I use a lot of my old recipes and just change them up. Yes, I have had a few flops over the years, but mostly successes. Don't let being gluten free take away the enjoyment of cooking, there are plenty of wonderful tasting recipes out there that you can make gluten free!

Here is an Olive Garden gluten free (and dairy free if you need it that way) recipe hack, you will see in the original recipe in the link and I will share what I did to change it up so I could enjoy it!
Olive Garden-Style Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana

Photo from 12Tomatoes

2 cups kale or Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped (I am not a fan of either of those so I just chopped up some fresh Spinach leaves and use that.)

1 cup heavy cream (I used about 3/4 of a cup of Soy Milk, you could use whatever you want, soy, almond, rice ect but use less than the 1 cup as it won't be as think as the heavy cream. If the soup is not thick enough for your family add a bit of cornstarch or rice flour or BetterBatter flour and stir until thickened to your liking.)

Sprinkle with your favorite dairy free cheese.

I had to leave out the garlic as it tends to give me issues.

I think turkey sausage would also work in this. I also think that a gluten free Kielbasa would be nice too, I think my guys would even like a grilled bratwurst chopped up in it.

Enjoy!!!

FREE Lego Printables

Come check out the free Lego printables over to Tracy's blog Hall of Fame Moms. She has a lot of fun things for Mom's and kids alike!

Take a snow day and drag out those Lego's to get rid of the winter time blah's!!!

What's that smell?

LOL...The Homeschooled Young Man asked me the other day "Mom, you need to help me figure out how much cologne to put on." My husband replies "Son, don't ask things like that of your Mother, you know how she is. She will plan a unit study, you will have to get on a plane and travel to Zimbabwe to study some exotic herb that is harvested to make cologne." LOL...Me? A Homeschool Mom, do that?

YES!!! I would do that! What about you?

My reply to my husband was, "How do you even know what a unit study is?" He says "I just know."  That totally threw me for a loop, I thought my husband's only understanding of homeschooling was the following...

1. The house is always messy with books & papers

2. We are always taking a field trip

3. The child will graduate with a diploma

4. The house is always messy with books and papers (oh, wait, already said that one...lol...but it's a biggy.

I guess we are rubbing off on him, hahaha. Got to love those husbands that are faithful in many things and know what is going on, even when we think they don't.