Keeping it Green

Going green has been so much fun for me!! I love doing anything I can to try and save the planet we live on! There's nowhere else for us to go. There's so many little things in your life you can do to help out. Whenever I ask people if they recycle I'm shocked to here that they don't or they do sometimes!!!!!! Or the famous one I get " Ya the garbage is right there "! Well I keep a little recycling bin in my kitchen and as a chore my son everyday has to dump it in our big one, which just last year the town has given out recycling bind that our the same size as our garbage!! Can you guess which one is overflowing over here all the time??? Yup! Ours I actually recycle more than I toss! Ok besides recycling here are just a few other ways of going green!

~ Use your own fabric bags instead of the store bags
~ Use filtered tap water instead of bottled water
~ Turn your hot water heater down
~ Eat your leftovers or give them to a neighbor
~ Unplug appliances when not being used
~ Work from home
~ Eat less meat
~ Use your clothes line as often as you can
~ Carpool
~ Use second hand items rather than brand new
~ Use recycled paper
~ start a compost ( we did this for the first time this year & the kids love it )
~ Get solar panels
~ Plant a garden
~ Buy locally grown produce
~ Use recharge batteries
~ Plant a tree
~ REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, & Repurposing!
I guess you get the point! Just take an extra minute and think about stuff around your house you can do!

I wanted to also share with you my favorite organic cleaner! I've been using Mrs. Meyers for years. Before you could only get this online but now I've finding a lot in the stores! Not as much as a selection you'll find online but still it makes me happy I can get it at Target :)My hubbys aunt got me hooked on this stuff! It smells amazing, cleans great, it's healthy for you and your kids to use and breath in!! The one scent I do love but can't find at the stores is the Geranium one. Also they come out with a seasonal scent that just doesn't stay long enough LOL I went nuts over the Honey Suckle back in 2007 and have written the company 3 times to please please please return this scent!! I want to eat it and roll around in it, it's so yummy! LOL THEN............ one day while at Target what do I see!!!!!!?????? A broken lonely bottle of Honey Suckle in hand soap!! I asked them to discount it cause it was broken!! I put it at my kitchen sink and hoarded it all to myself hehe!! Love that scent!

http://www.mrsmeyers.com/
or you can find it on drugstore.com

Friday Pizza Night

For years now just about every single Friday I make pizza for the family. I know it sounds like it can be boring after awhile but trust me I find all kinds of ways to make pizza!!! Most of the time I use what's in the garden or in my fridge! Sometimes I use my leftovers. I love to make Mexican a lot on Thursdays cause then I have some yummy tofu and cooked veggies for me! The boys have to have their meet!!! I don't give it to them all the time cause I'm mean LOL but I did this time cause the past few times I didn't LOL well I did have some fake chicken on it a couple weeks ago and nobody know any different!!! LOL suckers!! Lately the girls want nothing on their pizza and take everything off so I decided to make some of my pizza plain for them. I added flaxseed meal and vegan parm! Gotta try and sneak in a little bit of healthy stuff! So here's the recipe I've been using for a very long time! I just started adding the Agave Nectar to it and love it! Last week I had no Olive Oil and had to use oil and the crust came out amazing!!!

Pizza Dough
3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour ( I've use whole wheat but never had much luck, it comes out too hard!
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 tsp salt
1 Pkg of yeast
1 Cup of Luke Warm Water
1 tsp Agave Nectar or Honey
Mix flour & salt in a mixer , I use my Kitchen Aide cause I can't live without it :) Make a well in the middle and pour your water in and add the yeast. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then ad the Agave Nectar or Honey, use the bread attachment for mixing and mix away! Take out and roll in a ball. Add the oil to the bowl to coat the bowl. Put your ball of dough back in and cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for about 1 hour. Then poke a hole with your finger to deflate the dough. Put some flower on your hands and knead the dough a bit. Make a ball again and put back in bowl. Put towel over it and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. Now you are ready to make pizza. This recipe will make a big thick pizza or 2 kinda thin pizzas. I normally use a big cookie sheet to make one big one. But now that I eat Vegan cheese I make 2 pizzas. I like to use a glass from the cabinet to help me roll it out on my cookie sheet. Then use whatever yummy stuff you wanna top it with and bake at 375F for about 25-30 minutes deepening on how thick it is! Just let it get nice and crispy!

The Boys Pizza
What I used
~ sauce
~ mozz cheese
~ bacon ( pre- cooked )
~ onions
~ green peppers
~ fresh tomatoes
~ mushrooms
~ garlic
~ & a few jalapeños

Before Baking


After Baking!! Sorry everyone dug in so fast I didn't get a pic in time till after dinner!


The Girls Pizza
what I used
~ Vegan Mozz
~ Vegan Parm
~ Yellow Squash ( pre cooked)
~ Green Peppers
~ Onions
~ Garlic
~ Black Olives
~ Fresh Tomatoes
~ Italian Herbs
~ Rosemary
Before Baking


After Baking


So I'm still unsure what I'm putting on the pizza tonight? I wish I had fresh herbs to make some pesto sauce!!! Guess I'll have to go dig around the cabinets and see what I come up with!! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!! ~ Lisa ~

My Fall/Winter Kitchen Curtains

During the warmer months I like white curtains in my kitchen to go with my Country Blue walls! That's really the name of the color LOL :) But I like to warm things up a bit when it gets chilly! For years I did sunflower curtains in my kitchen cause I adore sunflowers! But I saw this material at Wal-mart and had to buy it!!!!!!!!! As I said before I collect heart shelves, cause I LOVE hearts :) I had to do something with this!! So I decided to make curtains for my kitchen!! Here's my side door window! I should have took pix of all the curtains in my kitchen !!!!!! But sometimes when you have 3 kids you can't even remember if you took your vitamins that day!! So anyways I love my curtains and maybe I'll show you the rest of my kitchen!!?? I hope everyones enjoying their weekend!! Grandma took the kids to the Ice Cream Shop so I get some computer time!! Yay!

~ Halloween ~

I already took out one piece of Halloween!!!!!! Honestly I don't even want to put this piece away!LOL It's made by my Lovely Mother!! Who BTW I keep trying to get her to open an online store or at least a blog!!! She makes some amazing crafty stuff!!! She sells her things at local Fairs and just from word of mouth and Church Functions!! I know she's my mom and I should be saying all this nice stuff, but seriously she's very crafty and just a great painter! I'm going to try and get her to start taking pix of her stuff so I can put them on my blog!! Unless I can get her to get her own blog!! But I wanted to share this with you! It's made from a mason jar. Adorable I know :) I want her to make me one with Sunflowers so I can keep in my Kitchen year round!!

Sorry about the flash :(

A good GoodWill deal!!

My Goodwill always has amazing things for dirt cheap! I collect heart shelves and i pretty much find one there every time!!! But not this time. But look what I got for $6.32 yes that's right!! Still thinking about what to do with the basket?? I was gonna give it to the girls for their shoes!! But they have been wrecking stuff in their room lately!!! So IDK we'll see!!! The chair is in my dining room and is for decoration only!!!!!!!!! That's what I tell the 3 little monsters! My mom said she'd make me a slip cover for it if I'd like!!?? What do you think? Leave it alone or get a Shabby Chic slipcover???? Help me decide! An the little knick knack is on my Hutch sitting pretty! I'll post a pix of my Hutch too! I redid it and moved it to a different wall cause it was collecting junk where it was before!!! I must have redecorated it 20 times in one day!! Ya i wasted a lot of time on that thing! LOL but I think I like it this way!! I'm trying to do something in my dining room! It's a space between the Playroom & the Living Room, it's pretty much in the middle of everything and I just don't know what to do in there????? I have to move the table up by the wall all the time so we can walk comfortably! SO anyways I've been working in there! I'll post pix when I'm done! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Sorry Pic came out blurry!

My First Vegan Meatloaf Ever

So here's the thing I've been working on being a Vegan since October 2009 and it's had it's ups & downs!!!! I've had some set backs put was always happy that I didn't give up and I don't plan on giving up!!! Finding new recipes and experimenting with new foods is really fun!! So if you are a Vegan already please bare with me!!! As I am kinda a newbie and learning along the way!!! So I wanna start sharing my recipes with you! So here we go.......... Vegan Meatloaf. I never used TVP before and I never know what the heck it was!!!!!???? But I'm sure glad I found it! There a certain comfort foods that I think just stick with you! Mine include, meatloaf, stuff cabbage, chili, mac & cheese, & something with biscuits and gravy!! So let's talk about my meatloaf!! I did a bit of research online!! Read some recipes tooooo! But....... well if you talk to my Husband he will explain that I don't know how to follow rules, direction and I just don't know how to leave things alone!! LOL I don't care if it came from Paula Dean I'm add my own person touch to a recipe. Well it came out really good but I know I can do better! It was a bit dry and had way too much worcestershire sauce. It did taste better the next day for some odd reason! Now I don't measure very many things :P LOL I guess I should if I'm gonna post up recipes HUH!!! So here's what I did!

1cup TVP ( rehydrated)
Saltine crakers
worcestershire sauce
Liquid Smoke
shredded carrots
tomato
shredded yellow squash
garlic
green pepper
Ketchup
couple drops of hot sauce
seasoned it with Goya Sazon
&& baked it at 350 f about 35 mins

My Kids Like Tofu Scrambies

I love making Tofu Scrambles......... We like to call them Tofu Scrambies!! My 4 year old finally decided to try some! Guess what????? Yup she loved them and tells everyone now!! LOL so the other day I ask my son if he's like some on toast with me & his sister!! He tried and liked!!! Kid tested kid approved :) So I will make them more offend!

When I make mine I just throw what's ever in the fridge or the garden! In these ones I used shredded carrots, onion, garlic, and green peppers. Plus we had vegan sausage too :)
It's good to get your kids to try new things!! They might shock you how they're little taste buds change!! You can see from my daughters pix by the time I took her pic almost all her food was gone!!! Have a wonderful weekend!

OH No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My little one split my beer on my MacBook over the weekend :( Now I have no more laptop!!! It was a totally accident, but a very expensive one! I sure don't have money for a new one! I do have my PC though. I just can't get it much cause it's upstairs in my room! So it's almost impossible to get up here while the kids are around!!! So I'm not too sure how often I can update my blogs :( Hopefully soon though! I've been redecorating the house and I wanna share pictures!! I can't wait to share the $3 chair I got today from goodwill!!! So exciting to find good deals!! Also in the fall I like to change out most of my white summer curtains for a bit darker color!!! I seem to go more Shabby Chic in the Spring & Summer, then in the Fall & Winter I go more Country! So I'm hoping I can share some pix with you by the weekend!! Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day and Enjoys their week!!! Hubby had to work on Labor Day so that kinda stunk!! But we had family over for dinner this weekend!! Please pray for our family as My father-In Laws house just caught fire! It's so sad! You think something like this would never happen to you or your family. Nobody was home and nobody was hurt thank god!! Just major damage but the house will be rebuilt! Also my brother in law & his girlfriend lived on the first floor. So they are all outta home right now. But don't worry everyone has a place to stay. I guess everything happens for a reason! Now they will get a beautiful new home :) On another note the kids are really enjoying school! Oh and today I had my first Pumpkin Spice Coffee from D&D from year. I love fall!! I hate spending the money at D&D but during this time of the year I'll do it!! Ok my girls ran downstairs so I guess I'll be going LOL Hope to talk Soon!!!

P.S. every here the saying A Clean Home Means A Broken Computer!!! LOL well let's see if it's true here :)

Back To School

Well the kids went off for their first day on Tuesday. It went really well! Honestly I thought Kaleigh was gonna have a tough time cause she's been home with me for the past 5 years. She's shy and sensitive and all summer I've been pretty nervous about her starting Kindergarten! She did great though! Daddy took the day off to see the kids off to school too. We walked them to the bus stop then followed them to school!!!!! LOL I know I'm crazy right! Hubby thought I was nuts. But I'm glad I did. I got to walk her to class and chat with her teacher. It was great! She's loving school so much. Devin has some of his friends from last year in school so that's great! Also now that he's a 3rd grader he's excited he gets to play the flute in music class :) Here's some pix I wanted to share!