Banana Berry Smoothie

I was completely prepared to tell you all about my rockin' morning today.  We started off great - I woke up early, showered before the kids got up, put the crockpot going with some red beans for dinner, made smoothies for breakfast, woke up the kids and had Bug going on her new morning routine, everyone was up and happy.  We were laughing and playing and getting things done with no stress, no fighting, no whining.  I was writing this awesome "we've got mornings conquered" post in my head through the whole thing.  Then...

Yep, there's a 'then'.

THEN the kids followed me into my room.  THEN I left my room to grab a shirt out of the laundry room.  THEN Bug and Tank found a pair of scissors and cut some pretty ribbons to play with...from a brand new shirt I just bought (way on sale!) and haven't even worn yet.  I must confess that momentarily de-railed our no stress, on time, "we've got morrnings conquered" morning.  The new lessons I have learned?  No one in my closet unless they have a job. . . and I probably shouldn't leave sharp objects in the reaches of my 2 and 4 year olds.  Lucky for me - the part they cut was the tie.  I can likely sew it back together or replace it with a belt.  And the kids did not cut themselves/one another --- no children were harmed in the making of this blog post.

But let's get back to happier times, shall we?

The smoothie.  Bug is just like me in that she doesn't like to eat in the morning.  However, since she's started school, I try to cram something in find creative ways to feed her.  I took her to the store with me yesterday (you know, that whole, 'if they participate they are more likely to try' idea) to pick out some fruit for a smoothie.  We got some frozen mixed berries and tart cherries, some fresh bananas and orange juice.  We talked about smoothies (yummy, good, you will like these) all through the store.

This morning I grabbed all of this

2 cups frozen berries
1 cup frozen tart cherries
3/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp wheat germ*
2 bananas
*Totally optional, but no one will notice, it's packed with vitamins (!) and I happened to have it in the pantry

Throw everything in the blender

and give it a whirl.

MMMmmmm... pretty and fruity!

So what did Bug think??? It was a no-go. She gave it to the boys and opted to eat a grand total of 6 grapes for breakfast.

The boys (and myself) loved it.

Until it was out... that caused much distress.

Happy again with a quick refill.

Try this for your little ones (and/or yourself) in the morning.  It's a great way to start the day.  And don't forget to hide the scissors!
Get the printable recipe here.

Linking up at Works for Me Wednesday, The Wiegands, Fingerprints on the Fridge and Imprintalish

Blueberry Syrup

I hope you had a fantastic weekend celebrating Independence Day!  It was a very productive weekend at our house.  We painted the boys' room and built their big boy beds.  I'll show you all the details of that when we finish ~ projects tend to take longer than we expect, usually thanks to our little "helpers". (yes, she dressed herself!)

On Sunday, in the middle of trying to paint the new beds, we were thwarted by a heavy thunderstorm.  So the construction got closed in the garage, and we moved our productivity to the kitchen.  We bought 8 pints of blueberries at the farmer's market, so I knew they would have to be turned into something yummy.  We debated on jellies, jams and spreads but ultimately decided to make syrup.  The process was kind of long (as canning projects tend to be), but very easy. 

Don't forget to sterilize your jars.  I put mine in the diswasher.  Which I have to think about at the beginning of the process, because it's usually full of dirty dishes.  So I have to run those, unload and then do the jars.  But enough about my messes....on to the syrup!

Start with blueberries, water and lemon zest.

8 cups blueberries, cleaned of stems and whatnot
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon lemon zest

You'll also want to go ahead and set yourself up a collander or sieve lined with cheesecloth over a large bowl.

Place blueberries, zest and water in a saucepan over Medium heat.  Bring to a gentle boil (it took about 12 minutes for mine to get to a 'gentle boil').  Let it boil for about 5 min, stiring occassionally.
 
Remove from heat and pour into prepared collander.
 
Now...the recipe said, "allow to sit, undisturbed for at least 2 hours".  Uhm...I'm not really that patient, I was over at the bowl messing with it ever 10 minutes.  Finally I decided it was not dripping enough blueberry goodness, so I put a bowl on top with a can in the bowl to weigh it down.  I don't know if it really helped the process, but I quit messing with it after that.
 
After your two hours is up, you make the actual syrup.  In a large pot or saucepan fitted with a thermometer, put 4 cups water and 3 cups sugar over Medium High heat.

Boil until the mixture is 230 degrees.  This takes a while!  Remember how I said I'm not patient?  Well it was taking so long I decided that surely I had done something wrong.  I almost threw it out and started over, but instead I googled "how long does it take to boil sugar water to 230 degrees".  What I found out is that the boiling point of syrup is 230 degrees and what takes so long is that the water has to evaporate until the ratio of sugar to water is such that a syrup can be made.  You can read more about it here, here or here.  Or you can just wait it out patiently . . . . whatever works for you.  You'll notice somewhere right beyond 200 degree that your bubbles change from regular-looking boil bubbles to a shiny, glassy look.  That means you're getting close to syrup.

Once you reach 230 degrees, pour in all that yummy blueberry juice that's been draining and crank the heat up to High.  Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes.  Then ladle it into your prepared jars.  You want 1/4" headspace.  Seal the jars and process for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave them in for 5 more minutes, then remove the jars, cool and store.  

*For more information on canning, take a look around here.  There are a lot of specifics that go into canning, but it's not hard at all. 


Monday morning we had lemon pancakes with blueberry syrup!  YUMMY!

Have a great day...see you tomorrow!

Lemon Blueberry Goodness - Works For Me Wednesday

Gooooooooooood morning!

Or at least it is when you've got these guys around to feed your crew.

Breakfast time is a struggle at our house.  Really, almost everything about the morning can cause a struggle at our house.  There's a reason for that; I'll admit it - I'm not a morning person - neither is Bug.  Must be a girl thing, the guys are always ready to face the day...and they want breakfast shortly after (or directly as) their feet hit the floor.  For us, the best thing is to plan and prepare ahead of time.

In my constant search for prepare-ahead breakfast foods - I found these at Smitten Kitchen.  They are SUPER. YUM.  The lemon flavor is so fun and bright.  It really shines through.  And the blueberries - well - WOW!  They're way easy to make, and they come out looking really fancy.Throw them together at night (like TOnight)...have a few after the kids are in bed...AND go to sleep knowing breakfast is already taken care of. Total. Win. (!)

Grab all of this

Lemon Bar & Crumb Top

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 large lemon

1 Tbsp lemon juice (FRESH!)

Blueberry Layer

3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

1 Tbsp lemon juice (FRESH!)

Oven = 375 degrees

Go ahead and butter a 9x13 pan so it's ready when you need it.

Put the dough blade in your food processor and mix all the Lemon Bar & Crumb Top ingredients.  I like to layer the butter in there.  (You can do this by hand, in a bowl, with a fork if you don't have a food processor).

Pulse it until it's nice and crumbly.  You'll probably have to stop a couple of times and run a rubber spatula around the edges of the bowl.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of this mixture for the top.  Gently press the rest into the bottom of your buttered pan.

Check blueberries for stems.  Rinse them and pat dry.  In medium bowl mix blueberries, white sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice.  Stir.

Spread evenly over lemon bar mixture in pan.

Sprinkle the 1 1/2 cups reserved lemon bar mixture over the blueberries.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the crumbly top starts to get all browned and irresistible looking.

Let them cool.  If you can restrain yourself, that is.  They'll be smelling pretty good by now.

Once they're cooled they can be cut into squares and served, or refrigerated until morning (they'll be okay for a few days...if you don't eat them all first).

Here's the printable!

Making breakfast ahead of time Works For Me!

See what's working for everyone else...

Also linking up at Mingle Monday