Pinterest inspired fun...

Summer has been a great time to finally start doing some of the things that I've wanted to try from my Pinterest boards. So up today from our summer list was a day of Splashing and Spray art. 

Inspired by a pin from an art teachers blog I made colored bubbles that we blew on to paper that made pretty colors and rings as the bubbles popped for an abstract art piece:

Then we stripped down for some water play.  

Decided we needed a good game watching dinner for the first NBA final game (Side note: We have never watched NBA finals before in this house but now that our hometown team is in them we feel we better show some support, Thunder fever has swept the city and really the entire state, To be a good Oklahoman we couldn't not watch our team in the finals). So I made Pizza Balls from a recipe I had pinned. It went great along with an Italian Salad. We had Marinara or Ranch for dipping. We all loved them! 

They involve buttermilk biscuits that you flatten out then wrap two pepperonis and a Colby cheese slice up inside to form a ball. You place in a glass dish, coat the tops with a beaten egg, sprinkle Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning mix, garlic powder and then pop them in the oven and cook for about 18 minutes at 425. I did three cans worth and we ate them for lunch the next day too. They are awesome just out the oven but not too bad heated up either. 

A favorite summer meal

I haven't posted a recipe in a while. So thought I would share one of our summer favorites this year: Honey Mustard Pork Chops and Fixins'

 First off I recommend buying the giant pack of bone in pork chops. (A friend told me bone-in chops are juicier then those without and I would have to agree, they are usually thicker too!). I buy the bigger pack so I can mix it all up at once and then you can throw some on the grill and throw the rest in a freezer bag, that way during the week you have and easy thaw and grill meal. We also always cook some extra for Ryan to take in his lunch the next day.

So honestly I've never made the same honey-mustard sauce the same way. I usually google honey-mustard pork cops and then come up with a some version based on what I have on hand and we've always loved it. It has usually involved these ingredients: honey, mustard (a lot of recipes call for Dijon mustard but I've always used regular mustard) Worcestershire, onion powder, white cooking wine and a small bit of pepper. Usually the ratios are around 1/4 cup honey to two Tablespoons mustard, the rest about a teaspoon or less sprinkled in there. Cover chops in the sauce and then grill. 

Ava loves grilled sweet potatoes, so that's the usual side that goes along with them. We slice em' thin, coat in olive oil and sprinkle with paprika, cinnamon and kosher salt. Put down sheet of foil on the grill and spread them out.  

I've been trying to plan more whole food meals into our regular meal rotation so these are some great options to help with that effort.

Sugar Sugar

I enjoyed a day off with Ava last week and we made some from scratch Sugar Cookies with icing for a baby shower we were having at work the next pay. These turned out great! Ava calls them "cake" and requests them frequently this week as I kept some aside for her and Ryan. We found the recipes online and they did not disappoint! I like the all recipes site because you can change the quantity of cookies you want to make and it will adjust the ingredient amounts for you! The cookies turned out thick and soft and the icing dried to a wonderful sweet, shiny hard topping. Printed out both of these for my cooking binder. 

cookie link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/detail.aspx

icing link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/sugar-cookie-icing/detail.aspx

Our labor day!

We celebrated Sunday night with a cookout with friends! Ava loves sweet potatoe fries and we've found a great recipe for making these at home. It involves olive oil, paprika, cinnamon, and salt, coated by shaking them up in a baggie then bake in the oven...

Ava had her very first Oreo of the mint Oreo variety! She loved them:

The morning of labor day we went to play and jog at the lake, it was a gorgeous day perfect for some down time outside with the family, I am running again, on week 5 of couch to 5-k and enjoying the cooler weather: 

In the evening we meet up with Chloe and Allie and family to celebrate Chloe's 12th birthday! She choose Buffalo Wild Wings and then we went next door to marble slab for dessert.

This pic wasn't on Labor Day but it was too sweet to not post, I just can't get enough of watching her love on her babies. 

Super easy pasta...

I love when others share meal ideas so I decided to highlight one of our favorite meals at our house that's super easy and  yummy. We have this at least once most weeks in the summer time...

Ingredients: Bell Peppers, ravioli, olive oil, spinach, minced garlic, Italian seasoning

Start by sauteing your peppers in a bit of olive oil and minced garlic. (I keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge, its easy to just get a spoonful out when you need it.) Then boil your pasta to al dente instructions on the package, Then add your drained pasta into the pan you sauteed your peppers in add spinach if you like & some Italian seasoning, mix all together on pretty low heat for another few minutes. Then its ready to go! We usually eat this on Wednesdays because its easy and fast to cook up before evening church.