Camping at the lake

 We went camping with friends at the nearby lake..sure is funny camping only 15 minutes from your house. 

Daddy worked quickly at setting the tent up.  There were no more trailer sites so we had no choice but to set up the tent.  The kids are happy either way.

 Unfortunately for us our tent spot was down hill..

 Our friends had quite the elaborate tent.  Pretty cool!

 Ed helping to hang a clothes line.

 All the kids hanging out together!

 Summer happy to make S'Mores.

 Very tired girls who fell quickly asleep despite all of the load late arrival campers who kept Mommy up past 11.

Cinnamon roll waffles

 It was a snow day and no school.  The perfect breakfast treat for this weather was cinnamon roll waffles.  They were super easy too.  All I had to do was buy some Pillsbury dough cinnamon rolls and put three in the waffle maker and cook it until the blue light went off.  They were very good!!!

Mickey Mouse pancakes

Aly has really been into having pancakes for breakfast lately. So today I decided to make Mickey Mouse pancakes. When I was a little girl my Aunt Karen would always make them for us when we stayed with her. I loved it and thought they were the best pancakes ever. So now I have decided to try and make them for my daughters. Especially since we love Mickey Mouse so much!

Freeze your sweats!

I love baking, it is probably one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately as you get older, your bodies metabolism can't handle it much anymore. So I have learned whenever I make a batch of cookies or brownies I let them cool, eat a couple, and then freeze them.



I usually either forget they are in the freezer or don't want to take the time to take one out and defrost it. So the best part is I am not eating them on a daily basis. You know what is even better? Whenever I have company over I can take a few out for us. Also, when I go to bunco I am usually in charge of bringing a dessert. Many times I can just go to my freezer and pick out an assortment. Here is what I brought to my last bunco game from the freezer:



Brownies and peanut butter cookies with milk chocolate chips!

Round Table Pizzas Big Vinnie Pizza...not so good

Tonight hubby and I were supposed to go out to dinner and leave the girls with a babysitter. However, hubby was sick. This dissapointed Aly so I told her I would take her out for pizza instead. All day little KK kept asking to go bye, bye so I asked Aly if she wouldn't mind if KK came too. She said, "Oh mommy, that would be a great idea. I would just love my sister to come."

I decided to call ahead to have the pizza ready for when we arrived. Much better than sitting around trying to entertain a 2 and 4 year old for a half hour while we wait. Apon our arrival the pizza was ready. I ordered the Big Vinnie as it was on sale for $12.99. An extra large peperoni for that price sounded good to me.

When we ate our pizza I was in shock. Either they made a mistake or I don't like New York style pizza. I ordered it with half garlic sauce and half red sauce. There was no sauce on the whole pizza, or at least I couldn't taste any. So I asked the lady if they made a mistake and didn't put sauce on it. She looked at it and said they must have made a mistake and she would make me a new one. I few minutes later another worker came out to tell me that a New York style pizza has lite sauce and that is the way it was made. She said she would go ahead and make me another one since the coupon doesn't state that it is lite on the sauce. This time they were supposed to add extra sauce.

I brought the pizza home to hubby and to my dissapointment it still didn't have any sauce or at least we couldn't find any. So I ask you, is that really how they make New York Style pizza's? Or are they just trying to cut back on their products to yield a higher profit margin? If you are familiar with New York pizza please comment and let me know!

Organic food, Why should we care?

I recently took KK to the doctors office for an ear infection. While I was there I saw a startling article on pestisides and residue. Up until this point I had bought some of our food organic, milk, bananas, raisins, and some snack foods. I was surprised to find out that washing the fruit didn't take the pestiside away. After reading this article it made me completely change my mind on what foods are important to buy organic:

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?
Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

How This Guide Was Developed
The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. A detailed description of the criteria used in developing the rankings is available as well as a full list of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been tested (see below).
EWG is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food. For more information please visit http://www.ewg.org/.

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies
RANK
FRUIT OR VEGGIE
SCORE
1. (worst) Peaches 100 (highest pesticide load)
2. Apples 96%
3. Sweet Bell Peppers 86%
4. Celery 85%
5. Nectarines 84%
6. Strawberries 83%
7. Cherries 75%
8. Lettuce 69%
9. Grapes - Imported 68%
10. Pears 65%
11. Spinach 60%
12. Potatoes 58%
13. Carrots 57%
14. Green Beans 55%
15. Hot Peppers 53%
16. Cucumbers 52%
17. Raspberries 47%
18. Plums 46%
19. Oranges 46%
20. Grapes-Domestic 46%
21. Cauliflower 39%
22. Tangerine 38%
23. Mushrooms 37%
24. Cantaloupe 34%
25. Lemon 31%
26. Honeydew Melon 31%
27. Grapefruit 31%
28. Winter Squash 31%
29. Tomatoes 30%
30. Sweet Potatoes 30%
31. Watermelon 25%
32. Blueberries 24%
33. Papaya 21%
34. Eggplant 19%
35. Broccoli 18%
36. Cabbage 17%
37. Bananas 16%
38. Kiwi 14%
39. Asparagus 11%
40. Sweet Peas-Frozen 11%
41. Mango 9%
42. Pineapples 7%
43. Sweet Corn-Frozen 2%
44. Avocado 1%
45. (best) Onions 1 (lowest pesticide load)

Note: We ranked a total of 44 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.
View Full Data Set Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce by Environmental Working Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.