Wait, it's not Winter?

I have seen this subtraction poem all over Pinterest and thought it to be such a great reminding tool. So, I recreated for our Prince.



What good is a reminder poem with no reason to use it? So thanks to my favorite blogs and their gracious freebies- Viola! Instant review lessons. Click on the pictures below and go get your own freebies.


Who cares if one of the lessons contains snowmen and it's 90 degrees outside? Cuteness knows no temperature :)!

Remember the continual question regarding my GF/vegetarian diet: "Well, what do you eat then?"

Last Night's Dinner:

Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu

(I add 1/8 of red pepper flakes to the veggies and didn't add carrots)

Steamed Jasmine Rice

***This dish was amazingly good*** Even the meat eating husband thought the veggies were very flavorful and the Prince seriously could not get enough of the tofu.

Happy Thursday to Ya!

I am Truly Thankful.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all those who sacrificed everything, so I can enjoy my everything!

 

Happy Memorial Day!

The husband is not a fan of the jersey the Prince has on :).

The Prince proudly wearing his flag pin today. He told me this morning that he is thankful every day for the military people that die for us. Big Mommy Heart Smile!

A Ladybug and a Continual Question

My girlfriend, Tasha, swears she is not crafty. I always tell her neither am I. As homeschooling mommas we want to be all things, so I pretend to be crafty. I find the cutest things from the cutest blogs and I try my hardest to recreate them. So when I saw a cutie pie ladybug with a splash of math from Step Into Second Grade I knew that this was the perfect crafty lesson to show how easy it is to recreate something. For this one all you need are a few circle and a couple of free hand drawings.

Click HERE to print the very crude drawing of what you need. See the drawings do not need to be anywhere close to perfect. A craft like this can be presented in pre-cut pieces for assembly only or you can provide your little ones with the templates and they can trace and cut them out his/herself.


As with every crafty, I add some sort of lesson. The Prince was gracious enough to complete a couple different types of math equations to show the possibilities are really endless when it comes to what lesson you add to this craft.

Next... The Continual Question. Due to being vegetarian, frequently vegan, and gluten free, people continually ask " Well, what do you eat then?" I sometimes have difficulty with this question as I don't have a fixed menu, you know like when our parents used to cook the same 7 meals over and over and sometimes I feel it would be too much to run down my grocery list. So, my solution... To randomly post our menu. If I have a recipe or a link to that recipe, I'll try to post that as well.


Tonight's Menu


- Vegan Smokey Black Bean Stew
(I didn't have smoked paprika - but you can substitute 2 parts paprika and 1 part cumin to get a great substitute)
- Jasmine Rice
- Spinach Salad
(spinach, boiled egg, feta cheese and faux bacon bits)
- Balsamic Vinaigrette

* I was going to cook a chicken breast for my Carnivore Husband, but he said he didn't need it *




Finally, if you have made it this far in this long post, Wow! Way to hang in there. I wanted to share one last picture. My Prince started his venture toward becoming an official non-training wheel kind-of biker :).

I found an amazing bike riding method online. It really really works. This picture was taken on day 3 (about 30 minutes each day prior) of practice. Click HERE for the tips/strategy. 

**By the way, that's our house in the background. The one with the 4 windows and the tree :)

Addition With Regrouping Review

So on those Oh. So. Busy. days we try not to introduce anything new or work on anything that takes tons of instruction, instead we review! I found some cute review ideas from Step into Second Grade and whipped this review up really fast.

Delicious Black Bean Burger and Yummy Dessert

After a day of slipping-n-sliding, a fun, easy and delicious dinner was in order.

A couple days ago the Prince's Auntie Kyra sent me her dear friend's, Kelly, Black Bean Burger recipe. I knew I had to make it. I have made many veggie burger recipes. Some easy. Some labor intensive. Some super yummy. Some mediocre.

This recipe sounded easy and delicious. It did not disappoint. I did adapt the recipe a bit to fit our likes and GF needs.

Thank You So Much!, Kelly for the recipe and Ky for sending it to me!

Ingredients

• 1 can organic black beans (or two cups), drained and rinsed
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cup gluten free bread crumbs

Directions

• In a mixing bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty. 
• Mix all remaining ingredients, in order, into the mashed black beans. 
• The mixture should appear sticky and hold together.
• Divide mixture into 4 patties.
• Heat approximately 2 tablespoons olive oil in pan. Fry burgers for 2 to 4 minutes on each side.

*If grilling, place patties on foil and grill for about 8 minutes on each side. 
*If baking, place patties on baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes on each side at 375•. 




***If you prefer a spicy black bean burger then add a teaspoon of hot sauce of choice to the mixture.

I added rice cheese to mine and white cheddar to the hubby's. The possibilities are endless.. Blue Cheese Black Bean Burgers (like Chili's), Mushroom and Swiss Burger, the yumminess could go on forever :)

 

And what is a yummy dinner without a yummy dessert? So I quickly whipped up a 1/2 recipe of Skinny Taste's Creamy Grape Dessert!

The only ingredient change was I used a couple of teaspoons of Stevia instead of Agave. OH and I only had purple grapes.

Is it odd that as a family we like to eat out of the bowl with three spoons? YUM!!!!!

Are You A Juicer?

We have become daily juicer and I love it. Sadly, my 10 year (or older) juicer died last week. I was sad. I was heart broken. I missed my daily juice.


A couple of days ago a new juicer arrived at my house! What!? Awww. I love my husband.


If you juice please share your favorite recipe. I have many. I love green juice. I love not green juice. However, I especially love the juice that I make that taste just like a strawberry margarita.


Strawberry Margarita Juice


2 golden delicious apples (any apple would work)
1 lime
3/4 to 1 cup strawberries

The Prince is sharing my carrot orange juice :)!

Happy Mother's Day

I am so lucky to have my Prince. He is kind, smart, loving and all mine. I had no clue how amazing life as a Momma would be. I am so grateful to My Prince for all that he is and all that he does and I will never be able to express that in words.




A HUGE thank you to my Prince, my loving husband and my Mom for making me feel extra special today.


Happy Mother's Day to all of you Momma's out there. You ladies are so very important in the lives of your Princes and Princesses.

Healthy Butterscotch Cookie Deep Dish Pie

Made with garbanzo beans/chick peas. Don't stop reading. I will not guide you wrong! This is Oh. So. Happy. Tummy. Worthy! I promise if you serve this without telling the ingredients, no one will have a clue!


My fellow homeschooling momma, Cindy E., told me about THIS recipe, which is the same but uses chocolate chips. I'm not a fan of chocolate, but I love me some butterscotch... So off to the kitchen I walked walked swiftly RAN!


Husband's verdict...Super Impressed! ( oh! and he is not a fan of garbanzo beans/chick peas).


Now go, cook and enjoy!

Here is the recipe again, Deep Dish Cookie Pie...use chocolate chips if you must, but I tell you my butterscotch version was delicious!

**OH! OH! I had all the ingredients except applesauce, so I just peeled and diced a couple of apples and threw them in a pot with a bit of butter and 1/4 cup of the recipes' brown sugar, cooked them until the were soft (stir frequently) and mashed them up. Viola! Applesauce.

Wooooo..Multiplication, already?!

I can't believe my Prince is growing and learning so quickly. He was academically ready for multiplication a week or so ago, but this momma was taking it slowww. But low and behold the Prince spoke up and said he was ready to move on to multiplication. So a few days back I decided I would introduce 0's table...he wanted more..I introduced the 1's table...he wanted more...I introduced 2's. That appeased him for about 30 minutes, ha! So then we started playing with multiplication on http://www.starfall.com/.


I started looking for some hands on activities and of course the blog goddesses helped me, a lot. Today we went on an I-spy array hunt to practice writing and computing multiplication equations. Head on over and get your free copy from Step Into Second Grade.


Here are a few pictures of our math journey.

Below are pictures from the "I Spy" Array/multiplication lesson from today. I placed multiplication/arrays all around the downstairs of our house and the Prince went on a hunt and completed the related worksheet. He enjoyed it, we will do part 2 tomorrow :)Then we headed off to homeschool park day for some outdoor energy release :)

 

Two fast, easy and delicious breakfast favorites

One favorite from me and one from the Prince Aiden.

1) Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie


Ingredients

1 frozen banana
1 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp Stevia ( or sweetener of choice)
2 TBS peanut butter (we like grinding our own peanut butter at the grocery store)


Directions

Add all ingredients to blender and blend. If you like it thinner, add a bit more milk.
Enjoy the yumminess!




2) Egg and Cheese Quesadilla


Ingredients

1 Brown Rice Tortillas (or tortilla of choice)
1 egg or 1/4 cup egg beaters/whites
1/4 rice cheese (or cheese of choice)
1 to 2 tsp butter or oil
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning


Directions

Place small amount (about 1 tsp) butter or oil in pan and scramble egg. Set aside.
Place 1 tsp butter or oil in large pan, when oil is hot, lay tortilla in pan and move around with your hand until the oil has touched the entire one-side of the tortilla.
Add egg to half of the tortilla.
Add Italian seasoning on top of egg.
Add cheese on top of Italian seasoning.
Fold tortilla in half and cook until brown.
Flip and do the same to the other side.


Enjoy!