Potluck Pleasers, Episode 2, The Best Garlic Green Salad

Hi friends! It's getting hot outside and we are just a short time away (where I live) from home grown tomatoes!! This is one of my favorite things about summer...fresh tomatoes. I'm sorry, but tomatoes in the store just aren't the same. And to celebrate the thought of fresh tomatoes....I am sharing another one of my favorite potluck salads today! I love this salad in the summer...and so does everyone else!! I grow lettuce and sweet Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes in my garden and they are perfect for this green salad. I have taken this to many potluck gatherings over the years and it's always a favorite. I did not create it, I got it from my sister in-law and I don't know where it originated, but it's the best! And too good not to share!


My favorite part (besides homegrown tomatoes) is the dressing. It's simple, fresh, and delicious!
There are a few "rules" if you are going to try this recipe....Promise me that you won't use "fake" lemon juice (from a bottle), imitation bacon bits, or the kind of Parmesan cheese that comes in a can! Okay, glad I got that off my chest! This salad will NOT be the same if you use any of the above items. You may substitute your favorite oil if you prefer, just realize it will change the flavor too.

Here we go!

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce, 2 heads, chopped
Bacon Strips, 8-10 cooked and crumbled
Parmesan Cheese, 1 Cup, grated
Cherry Tomatoes, 2 Cups, I like to cut them in half, you can leave whole if you prefer, I like a smaller bite.
Slivered Almonds, toasted (I put mine on a cookie sheet and use my toast function on my oven) you just want a nice light browning here, don't burn them!

Dressing:
Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice, 1/4 Cup
Vegetable Oil, 3/4 Cup
Garlic Cloves, 4-5 minced fine (you can adjust the "garlicyness" on this if you want, I like 5)
Salt, 1/2 teaspoon`
Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon

Directions:
I mix the dressing ingredients in a pint mason jar with a lid and ring and shake until incorporated. Then set aside until ready to serve. Cook bacon, let cool, then cut or crumble into about 1/2" pieces. Toast your almonds in the oven, on a cookie sheet, 400 degrees or so, for about 5 min. (this may vary so watch them!) you just want a light brown color. Wash and cut cherry tomatoes in halves. Cut lettuce into bite size pieces. All ingredients (except dressing) can be stored in same bowl, covered in refrigerator and when you get ready to eat, shake dressing, pour over and stir until salad is coated and well mixed, then serve. This salad does not keep well over night, (gets soggy) however you will rarely have leftovers!

Hope you all have a wonderful Summer and get out there and share some Potluck Love!!

Adventures of a Stay at Home Mom, Growing a Garden and Some Kids Too!

Here is the boy and his trusty Aussie, sitting atop the hill we found.

Are you a gardener? It really is one of my most favorite things in the whole, wide world!! And for many reasons, such as; connecting with my creator through nature, even though I have been gardening on my own for going on 14 years now, it never ceases to amaze me that when hard, dry seeds are planted, that new life arises! It's one of the most satisfying things for the soul. It allows you to put effort, work, time, and energy in and then receive a gift of the harvest. It allows me special time with my children. Children, even when very small love to garden! If sprinkling seeds isn't enough, there's their curiosity of waiting to see if a plant will grow from that sprinkled seed. They just love to "help!" It's very bonding for a family to work and play together in a garden. It also gives children a great sense of responsibility and delayed gratification as they get older.

The planting time for an "early" garden (veggies that can handle a little frost and cooler weather) here in our area is Mar. 15. So we have been preparing for this by cleaning up any garbage that may have blown into our garden. Adding fertilizer and compost. Tilling the ground. And this year I am making some changes to my garden. I am adding some grow boxes. (I will do another specific post on how I made these, it's pretty rad and eco friendly!)

I only have one little one home with me during the day, while the other 2 are in school. He and I have such fun together! Today we had an especially fun day prepping and planting the garden. I have a super, duper neighbor who also likes to garden. Her name is Mary. She is an amazing gardener. We love to discuss our gardening "problems" (of course there are some "bad" things that come along with gardening such as pests, rodents, WEEDS)  or things that are working with each other. (It's very handy to have a friend or mentor who loves to garden to bounce ideas off of and learn from.) Besides my own Mother, Mary is the best gardener I know. I will introduce you to her more formally in the next, making grow boxes post. So Mary has this amazing store of worm compost. Basically she started it from a small bin and it has grown to about 25 feet long and 1-2 feet high of this beautiful black, worm created compost. She puts her table scraps (not meat or citrus) on the pile and the worms make it into compost.

The boy and I travelled next door to collect some of this wonderful garden gold! We rode on our trusty chariot (otherwise known as our Honda 4 Wheeler) pulling a little trailer. The boy loves to go on 4 wheeler adventures. Once we got there and were waiting for Mary, we spied a large muddy puddle (good thing Mom was thinking and had boy wear his waterproof Muck Boots!) and a big dirt pile. While waiting we made good use of our time splashing in the puddle, throwing gravel into the puddle, running through the puddle, running up and down the hill and observing our friends the bees who had come out of their hives to enjoy the nice day!

We loaded the compost up in our trailer. (Which means lots of shoveling and that's good for the winter flabs!) And headed back to our place with our "treasure." (The boy loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates so we role play and pretend a lot!)





Here's the one of the puddles he just couldn't resist! (I don't really blame him!!)

Here is my friend's gorgeous worm dirt!!

And these are the little guys I want to take home.

And this is called work cut out for me!! Lots of good shoveling!!



And my first contribution to the new compost bin!!

Then we headed over to our local Hardware Store for some red paint. I wanted the boxes to match our chicken coop that's just behind the garden and it's red. We painted our boxes and man was that fun! The boy and I started, and then his sisters joined in as soon as they got home. (yes...allowing children to paint is messy! But outside in the dirt in clothes you don't care if they get ruined...the many wonderful things that can happen! My middle daughter said to me "Mom, you are the best mom ever!" (I don't think this is true, but she says it every time we do something she really likes. And then she told me thanks for letting her paint because it was so much fun! They did a surprisingly good job and I love that they have fun helping me in the garden. (And I think it bonds us when I allow them to do "adult" things because they feel I trust them to do so.) I unloaded our treasure into our boxes (more shoveling, and yes, I will feel it tomorrow! It seems I have a case of the winter "flabby arms" going on!) And then we planted some seeds. This is probably my kids favorite part. And they like to sprinkle water over the seeds with small watering cans too!

Here is the little guy doing a smashing job on the paint detail! Only 3 yet he can do a lot to help in a garden.

I am working now to work less later. I am trying to get rid of some of my "trouble" weed spots and am putting down black landscape fabric and will cover with gravel in areas I'm not growing things (such as the perimeter and in between boxes) I do really well at keeping my garden weed free in the Spring and early Summer when all there is to do there is water and weed, but as soon as you add harvesting and preserving those veggies I run out of hours in the day and weeding is the first thing to go! So this year I'm making some improvements. I'll keep you updated in my changes. I'm excited!!

So until next time from my little "Patch-A-Heaven" I bid you farewell and hope I've convinced you to start a garden (if you don't do it already!) It really is a wonderful thing to do and so rewarding in so many ways!

While we were at it, we thought the old chicken coop that is behind the garden could use a new coat of paint, so we did that too.

I brought in a load of Dairy compost also to mix into the boxes and into the garden soil that won't be in boxes.

I love a man that can appreciate good quality, tilled up soil! Just look at him running his hands through it!!(I love to do that too!!)

We got our soil prepped, our boxes in and painted, then we planted them. They are now growing wonderfully! (I'll take some current pics and do an updated post soon!)

If you haven't tried a garden....I challenge you to start a small one, you will love it!!

Happy Planting!!
Kacey

Pot Luck Pleasers, The Best Fruit Salad, Trifle Style!

I love me a good potluck! Heck...I'm a Mormon for goodness sake...we potluck after everything!
Whether it's a baby blessing, baptism, funeral, missionary farewell or homecoming... It's just what we do. We get together with our friends and family. Whoever is hosting usually takes care of the meat and then the rest of us bring salads and sides. It's great! And summer is upon us so it's the perfect time to get together for a BBQ or backyard potluck party with family or friends. But, then the always nagging question..."What should I make?" takes over!  So, today I am going to start a new mini series of Potluck Pleasers, meaning a series of blog posts where I will be sharing my favorite, tried and true recipes. These are the dishes that I have taken to many a potluck and they never fail to invoke "I need that recipe" and "who made that..." So maybe you need some new recipes to take to that get together. Well these will be the ones that are my best! I sometimes make up my own recipes, sometimes I just share ones that someone else came up with, sometimes I don't even know where a recipe came from, but I think good things should be shared!!

Here is the salad, trifle style.

The first recipe I am sharing is a fruit salad recipe that my mother has been making for years. I have no idea where her original version came from. The original recipe contained Maraschino Cherries. I like them, but I think it's better with Bananas instead so I tweaked it a bit. Here is my version. I also like to serve it "Trifle Style" just because I think it's prettier. It does not contain cake. (I know, bummer right?!)

Fruit Salad Recipe:
Ingredients you will need:
Cream cheese, softened 8 oz
White Sugar, 1 Cup for pretzel mix,  and another 1/2 Cup for cream layer/mixture and 1/2 Cup if you use real whipping cream for the top to sweeten the cream.
Cool Whip, the medium size, 16 oz or if you prefer the real thing, go ahead and use real whip cream it's good too
Whipping cream, 1 pint
Pretzels,1 Cup smashed
Butter, 1 cube
2 Bananas,sliced
Mandarin Oranges, two small cans, drained
Pineapple Chunks or Tidbits if you prefer them smaller, one large can, drained

First, Preheat Oven to 400 degrees, then, Crush, smash, roll over your pretzels with a heavy rolling pin on a cookie sheet until you have small pieces, set aside, melt one cube butter in sauce pan, add 1 cup white sugar when butter is fully melted, then add the pretzel pieces and stir until pretzels are coated, then spread the pretzel mixture out onto the cookie sheet as thinly as possible and put in 400 degree oven for about 7 min. This time may vary depending on your oven, you just want the sugar/butter to caramelize, but not burn. When caramelization has occurred, then stir the pretzels until they cool and stick together in little "nuggets". (You don't want to let them cool in a big sheet, they get really hard. So stir until the are in small pieces)

Now drain all the fruit really well. Allow to sit draining while you make the cream part. I like to mix the creamy part in my Kitchen Aid Mixer. I use the wire whisk attachment. Put the softened cream cheese in first and beat until smooth, then add a 1/2 cup white sugar and mix until smooth, then add the Cool Whip and whip until smooth.

If you want to serve Trifle Style, put about a 1/2 -1" of the cream filling on bottom of trifle bowl, then add sliced bananas, then another cream layer, then a mandarin orange and pineapple layer, then a pretzel layer, then another cream layer and then for the very top I used real Whipping Cream that I whipped added 1/2 cup white sugar and used it to put on top, I also reserved some of the pretzels for the very top.

If you want to serve this as a regular fruit salad it works well that way too. I would however suggest that you mix the cream, fruit and the pretzels in all at once, because of the delicate nature of the oranges they will not be recognizable if you mix the fruit in with the cream and then mix more as you add the pretzels. So just keep them separate (even in the same bowl) until you arrive at the party then mix gently. The pretzels are very hard when caramelized, but they soften in the salad the more they sit and will become soggy over long periods of time. They still taste good, just not crunchy.

This recipe has been my go to for fruit salad for years. And it's one of those that you will just have to get used to giving out the recipe!! Hope you enjoy and get out there and share some of that good potluck love!!

Animal Jam and Animal Jam Academy Review, Keep the Kids Engaged and Learning This Summer!

Hi friends! Memorial Day has passed (hope you had a great one, we sure did!) and there are only 2 days left of school....ahhh....so that means Summer is here baby!! We are so excited for riding horses, going to the
pool, camping, and fun times outside, but what do we do when it's so hot outside and we just want to chill out in the house for a bit?! I have a few ideas to share with you. Yesterday I told you I would be sharing a mini series of things we will be doing this summer for fun and learning. Today, I'm excited to introduce you to
Animal Jam! It's a fun new computer game for kids, created and brought to you by our friends at National Geographic, and they are sponsoring today's blog post. The opinions and review are my kids and my own. 

Check out the "Mad Scientist" he's got some crazy hair! Can you guess which one is mine? (This is one of the projects on the Animal Jam Academy website.)

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the awesome Animal Jam Team at a recent blog conference. They introduced me to the idea and gave me a trial of the game for my kids. They have been playing the game since January of this year. My kids are not big "gamers." They don't own a Nintendo DS (is that still a thing?)  Or any other gaming equipment. They don't play video games, but we do a few computer games, mostly educational, but fun stuff. So I love that fact that this Animal Jam game is fun, but the kids can also learn things about the environment and animals. I am not a big fan of my kids spending a lot of time online, but also know it's the way of the future. A kid these days needs to know how to safely navigate the Internet and use a computer! ( Is anyone else freaking out that their 3rd grader is a fluent typist?! I didn't type until Jr. High!)

Starting her Marshmallow Tower. (Another activity from their website.)

Safety is a big concern for me when on the Internet in general, so to say I feel confident in this game is a big deal! When my kids logged on for the first time, I received an Animal Jam email letting me know my child had logged in and created an Animal Jam account (which, obviously I already knew because I helped create it) but it's nice because it gives you control (in the parent dashboard) of what your child can access and do. I am also always in the room while my children are online, no matter the website they are using, just because I want them to be safe. (And "they" claim your child is only 3 clicks from Dora to something "inappropriate") So feeling that my kids are on a site that cares about my kids safety and protection matters to me. But, I still always monitor play by being there. My kids are still young and the computer/Internet are new to them. I feel that these Animal Jam/Animal Jam Academy sites/game are safe places for my kids to play and learn.

What it looks like inside the game!

She had so much fun doing all the Animal Jam Academy activities!

I am not a gamer. I don't find enjoyment from video/computer games so I have never played this game. However, my kids (ages 8 and 6) have played it a lot and love it. I have watched them play the game. The game is played on the computer. It is basically an online playground for kids who like animals and exploring the outdoors. They get to create and customize their own animal character, play with friends, go on adventures, and the part I like the best is that because it was created in partnership with National Geographic, the kids learn while they play and are exposed to real scientists. My kids favorite person to listen to and learn from on the site is the Marine Biologist, Tierney Thys.

The making of a "Mad Scientist!"

The things I like most about this game and site is that I feel they (the creators of the game) are committed to keeping kids safe online. (Safety for me when my kids are online is the most important!) And it encouraging them to explore and protect the world and animals around them. Sometimes we think that because it's a computer game that it must be "bad." I agree that too much time in front of the computer is not good, however I have had a really great experience over the past few months allowing my kids playing time on Animal Jam (the game) and then doing the activities on Animal Jam Academy, which is a great resource for learning and ideas for activities to keep the kids engaged, learning and having fun!
The only down side to the game as far as I can see is that it costs money. But what doesn't?! People pay a lot of money for video games and equipment that are for pure entertainment value alone. This is entertaining, yet educational and encourages further activity and exploration of the world outside.

And they did it!

Here are my kids favorite things about the Animal Jam game:
8 year old:
"It's fun!"
"I like to create and change my wolf (her character)"
"I like to explore the different habitats" yes, she said habitats!
"I like to buy stuff for my wolf" (by playing the game they earn and can "buy" things, we are not talking real money here.)

Map of the game and different places to explore and learn about.

6 year old:
"I like to dress up my animal."
"I like to go see all the places."
"I like to listen to the lady." (Tierney)
"It's fun!"

My 6 year old loves this journey book. She loves to play in the aquarium and learn about the different animals.

I will be going to the Animal Jam Academy website a lot this summer for fun, easy activities to do with my kids! You can go to Animal Jam Academy Link by clicking on this link. They have fun and educational activities about science, technology, engineering and art, to do with your kids and it's free!! You can decide which projects you want to do, click on it, print out a sheet with the instructions and go to town!  Here are my kids and I doing some of their fun ideas:

Even the little guy loves crafts!

And just in case you were wondering if computer games create children without imagination or desire to play outside, let me assure you that in my experience with this game and sites (with proper boundaries and supervision) that my kids are thriving, abounding in imaginative play and are learning much!

Just the other day I was working in the garden. The kids were outside playing. My friend came over and heard the kids playing. She said "What are they doing?" They were all walking around holding up old VHS tapes on their shoulders and following our chickens around. Then the kids said "And next, on National Geographic...we found a new species...it's called a chicken!!" (They were pretending to be a National Geographic Video Crew.) It was entertaining and proof to me that they are learning and that our experiences with Animal Jam and Animal Jam Academy are encouraging our imagination and desire to explore the outdoors and have lots of fun!!

And next, on National Geographic.....

Love how you can print out the instructions to follow as you craft!

So I feel that this is a company, game, site that I can recommend to friends. I have had nothing but good experiences with Animal Jam (the game) and Animal Jam Academy (the free educational and activities website). I don't like things that cost a lot of money to use or be members of, for all the benefits, but I feel that $5.95/month, $29.95/6 month, or $57.95/12 month for a full access membership to the game is reasonable. I have paid more per year for other educational sites.  For more information on how to obtain full membership benefits you can click here:Animal Jam Membership Info

The coloring pages are great and have interesting facts about the animals for the kids to learn while coloring.

So hop on over and check out what Animal Jam has to offer your family! They have graciously offered to sponsor a free trial of the game and some other fun Animal Jam gear to one of you!! To enter to win, just leave a comment here on this blog post about what you are looking forward to doing with your kids this summer! Winner will be chosen at random from the comments section of this blog post on  June first. When the winner is chosen, Animal Jam Headquarters will mail out your awesome prize!!

Our crazy haired Cheetah!

Here's wishing you a super fun summer with your kids! Watch for more fun ideas of how to keep the kids busy and other exciting partnerships and giveaways!!

And my all time favorite thing about Animal Jam is taking what we learned outside to the real world! We made lady bugs and then "released" them into our garden. We talked about how Lady Bugs are so good for our garden and that we should do what we can to save the Lady Bugs! The kids thought our big bugs would definitely scare away any "bad" bugs!!

Here are some links to Animal Jam:

The Animal Jam game: Animal Jam Game

The Animal Jam Academy Website: http://academy.animaljam.com/

Thanks friends for tuning in and thanks Animal Jam for sponsoring today's post!
Kacey

How To Keep The Kids Busy This Summer! Mini Series Coming!!

"Ain't no cure for the summer time blues!" Do you know the song?! (Alan Jackson!) I am so ready for summer, I just can't stand it!! The kids last day of school is this week and they are counting down the days, hours minutes! They have field trips, class parties and all kinds of crazy going on...But then what?! What are you going to do to keep your kids busy, engaged and learning this summer? I decided I would do a mini series of blog posts about what we will be doing this summer to stay engaged and learning. I'm really excited to partner with some really great companies and people to bring you this series, so keep an eye out...it's going to be fun!!

Happy Memorial Day from Patch a Heaven!

Hi my friends! It's Memorial Day and that means we should be giving thanks to our Service Men and Women who have and continue to serve and protect our country. We salute you!!


This picture was taken last year while we stood on the side of Main Street to watch as they escorted the body of a fallen soldier from our community back home. I thought it was fitting for today. All gave some...some gave all!

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day!!
Kacey

Still Having A Ball At 90! Birthday Party Decor

This is my sweet Granny, isn't she beautiful?! I hope I'm as pretty as she is when I'm 90!!

Maybe some of you have been wondering where I have been recently. I've been around! I've just been super busy with lots of important (to me) projects! One of the most important projects I had been working on was decorations for my sweet Granny's 90th Birthday party! She is such an amazing woman and I wanted to honor her with some super duper decorations for her party. My Aunts delegated us all jobs, I got the job of table centerpieces. My Aunt had seen a theme that she liked (maybe on Pinterest?) that was "Still Having a "Ball" at 90!" And that's the theme they wanted to roll with. My Granny's era was made up of hard working, penny pinching, use it til it can't be used no more...then fix it, and canning/bottling was a big part of that. So I thought it was very fitting. I didn't check Pinterest or any other sites when making my décor. I just went with her theme and did my own thing. I have a new Cricut Explore Machine that I was super excited about using for this project...And man, did I use it!!

Here is what I did:

Here are 3 of the 9 Centerpieces. I used Ball Wide Mouth Vintage Mason Jars, I spray painted them and then antiqued them in the lettering areas with a piece of sand paper. I wrapped a bow around the top of the jar and my amazing floral shop owner friend filled them with gorgeous flowers. I wanted a vintage/rustic feel.

I liked the lace doily look of this table cloth and on the tables we had paper doily's that I had spray painted cream colored.

I bought this Burlap Plate at Hobby Lobby, it was plain when I started. I used my Cricut Explore to cut out the flowers and the letters. Then I used Mod Podge to make them stick. The Jar hanging down was also made with the Cricut Explore. I dabbed blue and cream colored paint around the sides/bottom of the plate to look like flowers and add the colors. Just a little FYI the Cricut didn't handle cutting burlap well, so the burlap flowers were hand cut or purchased at Hobby Lobby also.

I then wanted to continue the theme, colors and décor into other areas of the room, not just the tables. So I made this ribbon garland. I used satin ribbon, burlap ribbon, lace ribbon and fabric and cut outs from my Cricut machine. There are flowers, apples and 90's cut out of paper using the Cricut Explore and then sewn with the sewing machine onto some of the ribbons.

Here is a little closer view of the garland. My favorite cut out is the apple, the intracut cuts you can make on this machine are amazing!

As the centerpieces on the tables I used the quart jar with the flowers and then to compliment the canning theme I used a pint of pear jam that was a golden yellow color, accented with ruffled burlap ribbon, satin ribbon wrapped around and tied in a bow and I also spray painted the jar rings. The small 1/2 pint jar is a cute shaped, vintage inspired Ball jar filled with Strawberry Jam, I spray painted the jar ring cream colored and used a piece of cream lace fabric to trap between the lid and ring of the jar. I placed all 3 of these in the center of the tables at the party.

Then I made another banner with the theme "Still Having a Ball at 90!" I used Burlap ribbon as the base, then made lots of banner cut outs using my Cricut Explore and lots of Jar cut outs that I embellished with lettering, flowers, the apple and the 90. I hot glued all the lettering to the Burlap ribbons, using a ruler to make them exactly 3" apart. (lay everything out where you want it before you start to glue to make sure you have enough room)

Then using one of my old canning racks (that goes inside the pot, that holds the bottles) I made this ribbon hanging. I spray painted the rack (it was old and rusty) then I tied pieces of ribbon onto it. And tied the theme in with the "Still Having a Ball at 90!" banner hanging a bit lower.

I worked on these decorations for 2 weeks (in between feeding lambs and my normal routine) and I could have worked on it forever! It was so much fun to create something for someone who means so much to me! You may look and go...all that work, money, time and you could have just bought some cheaper party store decorations, and I could have. But I have decided that one way that I show people that I love them, is I make stuff. That's just me, my way. So if you have ever received something from me that I made, please feel very loved. If I make something for you...I love you!!

I had so much fun making this and her party was so nice! I'm so glad I got to help make it a special day for her. Granny if you read this, know that you have always been an amazing example in my life and I'm so glad to have had you as my Grandma!