Weekend Goodness- Easter Edition

You how I like to try new fruits I find at the grocery store?

Well, I found this delicious thing! Its called a Cherimoya and it is so tasty! 

Its very sweet and soft. 

Dan and I slept in until 9:00 on Saturday- it was great! I haven't slept past 7:30ish in a long time. (Ok, so I did wake up at about 6:45 and then fell back to sleep around 7:30). Once we started our day, I did some laundry, worked on some art for the nursery, and Dan worked on a table he's building for our dining room. We ate lunch and then used our new zoo pass (that my parents got us as a gift for us and the baby) to go to the zoo for a couple hours.

I felt like one of these little guys, waddling slowly around the zoo :) 

 Dan went over to his mom's house to take care of her dog while she's visiting our new niece and nephew :) I had a typical "If you give a mouse a cookie" moment. I borrowed this little spot cleaner thing from my parents to clean the cushions on a glider we got from craigslist for the baby's room. I cleaned the cushions and it worked so well, I figured I would spot clean the couch while I was at it. Spot cleaning turned into cleaning the entire thing. And then I decided to spot clean the rug in the living room. . . which also turned into cleaning the entire thing. Its so nice and clean now! :)

Dan and I went over to my parents for Easter lunch. We had ham, cheesey potatos, and asparagus- it was delicious.
The Easter bunny dropped off bags of treats for all of there too :) 

I'm so excited to have this week off to clean, organize, and relax! Spring break came at the perfect time in my pregnancy!

Fruit Finds

I found some prickly pear cactus fruit at the grocery store. They haven't had any new or interesting fruits (at least to me) lately, so I was excited when I saw these!

I've never tasted one before and wasn't really sure what to expect. My prediction was that it would be slightly sweet, pale, and watery- kind of like the white part of watermelon but sweeter.

I was surprised when I cut it open and it was deep red! The texture was similar to my prediction expect that it was filled with hard seeds.  The flavor was close to what I expected.  It was a tasty little snack. 

I also found some currants. I've had these before (someone near my parents' house grows them) and I love them. Another good fruit find:)

Rainbow Smoothies for Summer

I love fruit- it's probably my favorite food group. And one of the reasons I like summer is because so many different fruits are in season. I've recently started making 'smoothie packs' in order to try to hold onto these delish summer flavors a little longer. I have to admit that all of the smoothie packs I've made so far have been blended into a tasty pulp already- but my plan is to make some and then save them so I can enjoy my favorite seasonal fruits well into their off season :) 

I prep all my smooth ingredients first. So for this particular batch of smoothies I used:

Cherries (cut in half and pitted)

Sweet potato (cubed and boiled until they are soft)

Mango (cubed)

Spinach 

Avocado (cubed)

Blueberry yogurt (thats the only flavor I had)

Banana (sliced)

I put some of each of the ingredients into sandwich bags. This time, I cut up enough stuff to fill three bags about 3/4 of the way full. After everything is in a bag, I put them in the freezer until just before I want to make a smoothie.

When I'm in the mood for a smoothie, I take a bag out of the freezer and let it thaw out just enough so I can break the ingredients apart from each other into big chunks. I put them in the food processor and let it do its thing. 

The smoothies are cold, delicious, and taste like summer :) 

Things Kids Said on a Wednesday

"Ms. McElwee!!! Someone pooped on the floooooor!!!"   - From a distance, it definitely looked like someone pooped on the floor. Up close, we realized it was a couple of squished raisins.


I taught my classes how to play rock, paper, scissors. We started off playing with partners but then they all wanted to play with me. So, the entire class played together in a big circle. We couldn't tell who was winning or losing, but it was fun :)



A girl from the morning class: "Did you hear about the bad guy that escaped? The big kids had to have a lockdown!" I told them that the afternoon class was part of the lockdown too. "I'm so glad he didn't stab anyone" Me too.



"Ms. McElwee, you have buns." I asked, "I have buns?" The girl pointed to my chest and said, "Yeah, buns. My sister just turned 10 and she's gonna get buns like you in a couple of years."



I was working at a table with a couple of kids when one of my girls came up and said, "Miss Minster, I have a secret to tell you." She put her hands by my ears and whispered "pss pssspss pssspss" I said I couldn't here what she said and she whispered again, "pss pssspss psss pss" and walked away smiling.



I was chatting with one little guy who just moved to a new house and asked him if he was going to get any pets. He said, "Nah. My momma don't like pets. She like fish. With rice."  Hahaha! I died!!

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from school and picked up some Rambutans. They taste like grapes and are delish.

The Ultimate Smoothie

I finally blended together all of the weird and interesting fruits I've been trying. It was the ultimate rainbow smoothie and it was so good! 

In rainbow order: strawberries, papaya, mango, horned melon, spinach, blackberries, passion fruit, feijoa

Cheers! 

Weekend Goodness

Brunch at Cafe Perrin
Mmmmm

 Dan and I got rollerblades this weekend! I felt kind of goofy rollerblading around, but it was really fun! As you can see, I tried doing some fancy tricks :) 

This weekend was gorgeous! 

 My brother-in-law's friend took us sailing on Lake Michigan. It was so fun! 

A view of the Milwaukee skyline from out on the lake. 

Sunlight on fruit at the grocery store. 

Another interesting fruit find.
It's a feijoa! 

I'm obsessed. They are SO good. They have a sweet taste with a slightly bitter undertone. I can't really describe the flavor in any other way. They are delicious and I had to go back to the grocery to stock up. Mmmmm!

 Wee Seamus, sitting on a chair at my parents'. Nella, enjoying the ride to my parents'. Maggie, taking a nice, long walk with me :) 

A Mother's Day rainbow! 

Papaya.
I need to make a passion fruit, papaya, feijoa, mango smoothie- how good would that be?!

We are taking my mom to see Whad'ya Know (the NPR show that Michael Feldman does)- it's her Mother's Day gift from us. 

Happy Mother's Day!