Happy Birthday to my daughter

It was my daughter birthday and we had a pool party for her. I decided that I did not want to fill the kids up with sugar for this party. So, I introduced to them to my reduced sugar world. I made reduced sugar cupcakes with reduced sugar icing. They are both made by Philisbury. I decorated them with colorful frosting colors ( thanks to my friend Kara who let me borrow her dyes). And... they were a hit. I had a few kids want seconds. They were a big hit with the adults too. I swear you can not tell the differnece.

Fun Night with My Family

It was so nice out yesterday the kids wanted to swim . So we took the long stroll into our backyard so they could do just that . Later that night after dinner, our nephews and my sister in law came over. It was very nice visiting and catching up with her. I think all the kids had a great time in the pool too. After our extended family left, my husband and I went on 1.5 mile jog. It was awesome. I felt so good afterwards, but did realize how out of shape I really am. Then I received an amazing call saying I did not have to go into work last night- yeah for me. I was really hoping I didn't have to go in because I started summer quarter today at school. Since I didn't have to go into work Justin and I watched a very good movie- Crazy Hearts with Jeff Bridges. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it. I even cried at the end, but I am a big baby at movies too. I decided to make a nice snack while watching the movie. It was cook and serve Jello sugar free chocolate pudding. Instead of using 2% milk I use half and half and water( not as many carbs). It is so yummy and warm. Plus I put Reddi whip on it to. I had such a great night with my family. cant wait until tomorrow- my daughter is turning 7!

Another Easy Dinner

worked my third night in a row last night. With working nights, I try to get in as much sleep the next day as I can. My kids were nice enough to let me sleep until 2:30 pm today. We were suppose to be having a nice going away cookout/pool party for my brother in law who leaves for the army tomorrow(that is him with me this past weekend in picture), but the weather did not want to cooperate with us. So, the pool party got cancelled. At the last minute I needed to come up with an easy dinner. Justin was working til 9pm - just me and the kids eating. Kids were wanting pizza rolls, and since I don't eat those(okay so I snuck 2 of them), I had to make my own dinner. I made 2 soy cutlets - which taste a lot like chicken. They are only 3 carbs per cutlet! I also topped them with a slice of cheese. I also roasted a bell pepper with evoo and seasoned salt. It was very yummy. I had a little sweet tooth after dinner so i enjoyed a spoonful of Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter. Perfect ending for my meal.

Pesto and Peanut Butter Cookies

Since I worked last night , tonight was an easy dinner. Two of my kids went to their grandmas so I made my two youngest some organic mac and cheese that I bought at whole foods. For Justin and I , I made whole grain pasta with organic pesto sauce. It was so yummy. Pesto does not have many carbs in either. For dessert, I made Flourless Peanut Butter cookies which I got from two blogs I read, Carrotncake and PeanutButterFingers. It is a very easy recipe ( which I altered just a little)

1 cup of peanut butter( I uses 1/2 cup cinnamon raisin pb and 1/2 regular pb)

1 cup splenda ( the original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but I don't eat sugar)

1 egg

mix and drop on ungreased cookie sheet

bake 350 for 10 mins.

makes about 10 or 12 cookies depending on how big you make them

If you try the cookie recipe out leave a comment and let me know what you think

I am back!!!

Okay I have been gone way to long. I have been so very busy with nursing school, work, and life in general that I have put blogging on the (way back) back burner. With nursing school out for the summer, I hope to blog at least three times a week. I have made that my summer goal. I have become even more passionate about healthy eating and living since my last post. I feel very inspired now more than ever to blog( thanks to some of my daily blogs that I myself read). Do you have any goals for the summer?