Blueberry Pickin'

We had the best time picking these blueberries. Believe it or not we were in the rain while we picked them. Thank goodness the rain did not last very long but Sebastian was soaked. It was so cute because I was in charge of holding the umbrella over my two princesses while they picked the berries so they would stay dry. But of course my son, the boy that he is, did not want a silly umbrella so off he went to adventure out and pick the very best berries. It was so much fun! I have never been fresh picking of any sort of fruit and so many people can not believe this. I guess I have been missing this from my life! ha ha. Well it was so refreshing to be picking fresh berries that were just right off the bush. I was so happy when the kids were so excited too. I have always said I am a country girl stuck in the city and this just proves it. I need a farm with lots of acres. Maybe a girl can dream right!

Look at all of these blueberries! There are 6lbs in this bucket. We have so many recipes to start looking up so we can use up all these blueberries. The first one on the list is a smoothie. Here is the recipe. 

Blueberry Smoothie:

1 C fresh blueberries

1 whole banana

1 cup Vanilla Almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

4 ice cubes

Then just blend it all together in a blender and it will make about 3 smoothies. Enjoy! 

Slow Cooker Meal- Spicy Pork

I am always trying to be a better planner with kids activities, homework, housework, and most importantly meal time. We try and sit down as a family most nights and enjoy this time together so I want everyone to enjoy it. The kids love to help in the kitchen and I try to get them involved as I can and as time will allow. So I made this Spicy pork and we had a Chiptole like dinner. My oldest, the teenager, is in love with this place! Almost every day she asks to go to Chiptole and of course I tell her no. But on this night I thought it would be fun to make our burrito bowls at home. We served the spicy pork, white rice, lettuce, corn and shredded cheese. I really wish I had sour cream on hand because that would have taken the bite out of the spicy. But for the most part this was so much fun and the kids love to assemble their own meal too.

Here is the recipe:
1- 2-3 lb pork shoulder or butt
1- 15 oz can of Chiptole peppers
2- large onions cut in large slices
2- Tb of brown sugar
2- Cans of dark soda on hand (I've used Dr. Pepper or Coke)

Put it all in the slow cooker for about 6 hours and turn the pork about every 2 hrs to make sure all the meat is covered. That is it and enjoy!

Cookies

I'm trying this new twist on the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe because I don't  have any chocolate chips but I do have peppermint bark chips. I just LOVE cookie dough so I wanted to make them with the girls for our Santa cookies but dilemma no chocolate! I picked up a bunch of baking stuff around Thanksgiving time because I knew when I wanted to bake something I wouldn't remember until 6 at night and there is no way I was going out then so stocking up on baking supplies while I saw them really was a time saver for me this year. So back to the cookie making we made the traditional with a holiday twist. They do look really pretty for the season with the little specks of red in them. And the best test of all is when my 3 year old ran off with a cool one and said, " Mama they are so good". Now that's a winning cookie. You can find the recipe here Nestlé and the other one we made for Santa and family coming over this week is from the Pioneer women Christmas cherry cookies.

They are both kid approved and ready for Santa tomorrow. Merry Christmas everyone!