Barefoot

Today I was able to sit in my wheel chair on my back porch in a short sleeve shirt and barefoot. Man, the sun felt spectacular. And, the birds are back and chirping away. Strange when you spent the winter with only ravens and a few hearty species.

Stupid question

Since we moved here, I have needed a bike. We have been looking at recumbent bikes for me. I think it would be a lot easier than my wheel chair, and would allow me to go on bike rides with the kids. Do you or anyone you know have one? Since we live in the boonies, I can't try one out before we order it and I want to see if I could handle it.

Outside stuff

Went for a "walk" (or rather roll in my wheelchair) today. My girls helped me down the stairs then took turns pushing my wheelchair down the road. I think/hope spring is finally here to stay. I fell on my bum trying to get down the stairs and outside. Only my pride was hurt, but you should have seen me and the girls try to get me back up. It was comical. However, I'm pretty proud of two of my girls. They were amazing helpers. Felt nice to get outside!

Tonight I was so tired, we threw some hot dogs on the grill, and had a picnic outside. The sun felt so great. A little thing, but after I got home, I had all I could do to sit on a blanket. Today I was able to sit there, eat dinner, and enjoy myself.

I climbed the stairs, with the help of hubby, into my travel trailer today. I haven't been in there since I cleaned after we moved here. Boy, was there a rush of emotions. If we could just figure out a way to make getting in and out easier, we could use it again for something more than a guest house.

Almost sugar free banana bread

We played with an old recipe and it turned out yummy. I used my square pan. It turned out 200 calories per square.

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease pan with spray able coconut oil or Pam if you can't find it.

In a bowl, mix 2.5 cups white wheat flour, 3 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt.

In a blender, blend together 1/3 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup applesauce, 3 small to medium bananas, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 egg whites. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon makes it yummy.

Pour blended mix into dry, and stir.

Portion out in baking dish desired.

Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons sugar on top for crunch.

Bake for about 20 min for cupcakes, 50-60 min for a loaf.

Princess Hope has become quite the baker. She made the recipe. I just came up with it, but she did all the work.

Ugh

The view from my bedroom window:

It is the middle of May people!

One of those days...

The dog ate my lunch.

It snowed today....in the middle of May.

The kids were naughty at nap time.

Hubby is on call.

I'm exausted.

My house is a train wreck.

There is so much laundry that I can't even get into the laundry room with my wheelchair.

I wanna quit school.

I need chocolate but caffeine keeps me awake at night, and I'm on a diet.

My friend is about to pop with her baby. (That is good, but I worry, even long distance).

Hubby is stressed at work and home and I can't do a darn thing about it.

Easy teriyaki orange chicken in the crockpot

I failed once again to remember to take a picture, but I have to write this down or I will forget:
1/2 bottle teriyaki sauce
1 cup orange marmalade
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I was lazy and used frozen)
1 cup chopped onion

Optional ingredients:
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup low sodium no msg chicken broth

Make a "slurry" out of the corn starch and chicken broth. This is just to thicken things and is a texture preference. Toss everything in the crock pot. Cook all day on low. Bust up the chicken in the pot by smashing it with a wooden spoon. Leave in sauce. Serve over rice. Serves 6. Calorie count without the rice is about 190.

It got gobbled and was decided it was worthy to repeat.

Peach dessert

We gobbled this up before I remembered to take a picture. It would taste really yummy with rhubarb.

Preheat oven to 375.

In a blender put two eggs, 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, and 1tablespoon butter. Add a dash of cinnamon and a pinch of salt.

Blend until smooth.

Stir in manually 3 cups chopped peaches.

Pour into greased baking dish. I used a pie shaped Corning ware.

Bake 50 min or until golden brown.

Chill and serve.

Gobble with a scoop of ice cream.

By itself it was 240 calories per serving. Serves 6....but they don't count on Mother's Day right?

Homeschool update

All the kids have finished their books for this year, but being the mean mom that I am, I made them start the books I got for next year.

Prince Charming has started school too. He is a smart little man, and I figured either start school with him or let him keep getting in trouble. I found little handwriting books at the tiny BX of all places. My handwriting is no longer "creepy" but definitely a challenge and still hard to read. These little books help teach how to write each letter properly and I don't have to worry.

Bacon ranch pork.

Oh. My. Goodness. Yum! Happy accident. I was going to make pork with butternut squash and apples, but the butternut squash was bad. I had found a no msg, calorie free ranch at Wal-mart. So, I improvised.

1 pork loin
4 strips bacon cut into little pieces and cooked
1 bottle ranch
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup low sodium, no msg chicken stock

Make a corn starch slurry of the corn starch and 1/4 cup of the stock. Dump it and everything else in the crock and stir well. Cook on low 8 hours. Turn the pork once.  The pork should be fork tender and just fall apart when you mash at it with a wooden spoon. Mash the pork, stir, serve. I've made ranch chicken, but this was even better.