Veggetti!

This afternoon, I went to my local CVS to find this baby and I was so happy they had it! I posted the picture on my personal facebook page and I couldn't believe how many people knew what this was. Honestly, I hadn't heard of this thing until Sunday. Since there are a few folks who want to see how my meal turned out, I thought I'd tell you how I have come to know, and now love, my Veggetti.

I am a member of this rad yoga studio called Yogabar in Jacksonville. Every so often they have date nights, mommy and me classes, workshops and other events. This past Sunday, I went to a Clean Eating Workshop hosted by blogger Alesha Haley. Alesha is a local graphic designer and mom and her blog is called Made With Love. You can follow her on Facebook here or click this link to subscribe to her blog. Let me tell you, this girl is way cool. I tried clean eating in 2011 after we moved to Saint Augustine, but after 9 months or so, I fell off the wagon. This workshop reminded me what I love about clean eating and inspired me to try again. We heard Alesha's story and her weight loss success from clean eating. We tasted some yummy samples, discussed what it means to eat clean, and at the end, there was a raffle. One of the raffle items was the Veggetti. Never heard of it, and it kinda sounded obscene, but after I saw how it worked, I had to have it in my life.

That brings us to today. Found it, bought it, but didn't have a clear picture on what I was going to make with it. I figured I would start small and only make something for myself as to not gross out the kids. I modified one of Alesha's recipes and was surprised at how much I had on hand. About two handfuls of frozen shrimp (10-15), a can of artichoke hearts, spinach, garlic and my zoodles (zucchini noodles). I sautéed the zoodles with coconut oil and garlic for about 8 minutes. Sauteed the shrimp with a bit of coconut oil and lemon. Sauteed the spinach and artichoke hearts with salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil. When everything was finished, I threw it all in a bowl and said a prayer.

Wow, oh, wow! That junk was amazing!

zoodles with coconut oil

shrimp

my new best friends: garlic press and veggetti

all finished!

so yummy

 My overall thoughts? Love it! Go get one! It's only $15 bucks. It will change your life :)

always,

astreia

New Easter Traditions

At Bible study this week, we all went around the room to talk about what Easter traditions we remember from our childhood and what traditions have started with our little ones. The question made me squirm a bit, because my husband and I haven't really established any. Growing up, my mom didn't take us to church on Easter. We grew up going to church, but not on those two days. She explained it's because too many other people decide to go to church only on those two days of the year (a term I have heard around my community as "Creasters": people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter). My mom didn't like the idea that folks were so much into the materialistic side of it (new Easter dress, Easter shoes, Easter pocketbook) but they weren't as concerned about what it really meant. For most of our holidays, we focused on gathering the family together at my Grandmomma's house and eating. Good food was always the center of our holiday celebrations.

As the question made it's way around the table, I just said what was on my heart. No, I don't remember too many different traditions, but Jesse and I were working on what we wanted to introduce. Over the past couple years, we have had an egg hunt in our community (something super small organized by a few moms) and it was always a week or two before Easter Sunday. Growing up, my family didn't emphasis the Easter bunny or have him bring us Easter baskets, so that's something we haven't introduced to our kids. Call me crazy, but I want my kids to understand the true meaning behind Easter and Christmas, which is about our Lord and Savior. I don't want them to miss out on the fun, however, so we are trying to differentiate between what represents Spring (bunnies, eggs, and new life) and what represents the Resurrection of Christ. It's just the same with Christmas; Santa is a representation of the season, but the reason we celebrate Christmas is the celebrate the birth of Jesus.

On a side note, my kids watched the movie "The Rise of the Guardians" last year, and it may have derailed our teaching a bit. If you haven't seen it, the basic plot is about the "Guardians" of children (the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, the sandman, Santa Claus and Jack Frost) and how their existence is being threatened because kids don't believe in them. It was a cute movie, but totally confused my kids. "Mommy, I thought you said Santa wasn't real." To which I asked him, "Baby, what do you think?" He said, "I think he's real Mommy".

"Let's just go with that, then."

All this to say, we are still a work in progress on establishing traditions and what we and what our children believe.

This morning, we made an Easter treat that some of the ladies from Bible study recommended. Empty Tomb Rolls! They were delicious and super easy. Here is the recipe I used along with some pictures of how we put them together.  The idea is that the marshmallow represents Jesus' body. The oil and cinnamon and sugar represent the spices that were used to prepare his body for burial and the dough represents the tomb. After baking, the marshmallow melts and the roll is empty! Pretty clever and they were a huge success!

***My only warning is to watch your marshmallow. I used the big and fluffy (not jumbo) and in hindsight, I probably should have used smaller ones or used more dough. As they baked, the marshmallow kind of exploded out of it and dripped onto the bottom of the oven. Just a word to the wise to look out for that so there's no mess***

Have a Happy Easter everyone!

always,
astreia