Easy Birthday Get Together

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Today we gathered to celebrate the fall birthdays in our family. With a little planning, we were able to go to church and get back in time for everyone to have chili and of course, cake and ice cream for dessert.  It was our first family celebration together in our new house.  We all headed out to the backyard to eat.  I had saved a rug so we could lay it down for the children (and grandma).  The weather was beautiful and Maisie explored geckos and flowers with Aunt Rhiannon, Uncle Evan taught Caden how to use the bubble gun, and laughter and gentle conversation were lovely background noise – all moments I cherish.  Let me talk about the fun an inexpensive bubble gun can create with small children and keep the adults hands bubble liquid free.  Here is one similar to what we have.   The food was simple – the people were precious and the time together was priceless.

Here is how it all came about.  The weekend before I combined the the ingredients for Pumpkin Turkey Chili.  I made 2 batches and froze each batch in a ziplock bag which was placed in a bowl and frozen.  I did this so it can be placed in my Instant Pot.  However, it could be cooked on top of the stove after it was thawed.  This saved me a lot of time.  On Saturday, I set out on the counter for a few hours to thaw and then placed in refrigerator.  In the morning I placed both ziplock bags in the Instant Pot and placed on Saute for 5 minutes.  This will heat up any of the contents that may be still be frozen.  I then locked the lid down and placed on Manual for 11 minutes.  Then I headed off to church.  When I got home I opened the lid and it was perfect.  I put the lid back on and kept on warm until we were ready to eat at 11:30 a.m.  On our kitchen island were all kind of toppings:  cheddar cheese, diced green onions, diced cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, salsa and chips.

While I was putting the chili together for the freezer the week before, I also made up a Banana Cake.  It was cooled on the counter, covered with foil and placed in the freezer.  Last night I took it out and placed on the counter to thaw.  This morning before church I made up the vanilla buttercream frosting, made up the birthday banner from Lemonade Moments 

By the time I got home from church, I diced the onions and cilantro and got all the fixings ready to go.  The plastic bowls and spoons were put out and we were ready to enjoy each other’s company rather than being in the kitchen.

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Pinwheel Bouquet

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As a program coordinator at Arizona State University, I often have fun creating an event for the College of Nursing & Health Innovation.  This month we will be participating in Sparky’s Carnival on the downtown campus, an event geared for new students.  I am taking the carnival theme and working it with my trusty sidekick, Jasmine, our amazing student worker and we are having fun as we work.  It’s amazing what can be created with basic supplies when we have the right tools.  I am often asked for more specific information on the products I use to get results in my blog posts.  I will, going forward, be including links to what I use and hope it will be helpful.

I wanted to share this pinwheel bouquet we will be using as a centerpiece at the event because it works for any type of celebration, depending on the type of paper used, and helps create a fun atmosphere. I cut assorted scrapbook paper using my portable paper cutter  in 6″ and 4″ squares so I would have two different sizes of pinwheels.  Then 2 pieces of the same size paper (not same color or print) were attached back-to-back using square adhesive tabs to create a pinwheel (I have included directions to making pinwheels below).  Drinking straws were used for the handles – (wooden skewers can also be used).  I found a black vase at a thrift store for $3.00 and stuffed floral foam into the opening, which I cut to fit for the straws to stick into.  Then I used glass pieces to cover the foam.  These glass pieces can often be found in thrift stores on the back wall of items that are bagged up.  They come in an assortment of colors or clear.

I also found that a miniature glue gun worked well with this project.

Here is the link I used on how to make pinwheels.

If you give this project a try, please let me know – I’d love to see your creation.

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A Mom Shout Out

Last week I got to do something very special, something I know a lot of you would love to be able to do.  Believe me –  I don’t take this for granted because each year it becomes more and more precious. You see I spent several hours with my mom celebrating her birthday.  Isn’t she beautiful? 

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Let me tell you a little about my mom – She is a woman who cares deeply for others and that inner beauty radiates.  This year she decided to make some big changes to her nutrition and which increased her energy and memory.   She is an amazing example of how important sound nutrition is to our health and she will tell you it’s never too late to make changes.  In June, she and my dad began to follow the 21-Day-Fix Nutrition Program as well as a daily dose of nutrient-dense Shakeology.  That increased energy allowed her to go for walks and exercise in her pool this summer.  These  changes helped her drop some weight, lose some inches and build muscle. Within weeks we began to notice a positive change.  I get a bit choked up because this was an area that I worried about – my mom has struggled with her health and there have been times when she has been unwell and been unable for us to have a day like we did today.  But this year, we had a blast.

I decided to document our special day together and hopefully let my mom know how much I love and appreciate her.  When I was a child, she lovingly sewed clothes for me, refinished furniture for a bedroom makeover, dried my tears, stroked my forehead when I was feverish, and laughed with me.  As a teenager she bought me my first Seventeen Magazine and told me about Bonnie Bell, took me for my first appointment with a hair stylist and told me I was pretty when everything in the mirror told me I was awkward.  She encouraged me by buying me two high-end dresses when I was hired for my first big-time job, took care of me when I brought my babies home (always magically refilling my glass with Cran-Raspberry juice), and consistently used her talent to create one-of-a kind Halloween costumes for my children each year) and oh so much more.

So back to our day – First we made cookies – not any ordinary cookie but one that has been in our family for generations – a persimmon spice cookie.  Now you need to understand that my mom has embraced eating healthier (except for today at lunch because we believe in celebrating) and knew that several ingredients in the cookie recipe could be improved on so my work began to give my mom a new cookie recipe for her birthday. Persimmons are only available for a short range of time in the fall – ask my mom and dad and they can tell you where and who has the best price.  The cookies can also be made with canned pumpkin.  Learn  more about persimmons – HERE

My mom arrived at 10:00 a.m. with her defrosted prepped persimmons and we were ready to get started.  Now I had tried the recipe with pumpkin as my dry run but now was the true test – would it work with the persimmons?  We got our  ingredients out and started measuring…

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Then there was a knock on the door with a special delivery for Nana.

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 After hugs and kisses we got back to the recipe at hand.  I learned from my mom about what the consistency of the dough should look like.  Mom learned about precut parchment paper and a cookie scooper.

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Then we took a break to capture a birthday photo with 3 of her favorite people.  My grandson was trying to hold the mirror so I could be in the picture also.

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We were pretty happy being in the kitchen together baking those cookies.

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Then it was off to lunch for some crepes.

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Oh and the cookies – here is the recipe in case you want to give them a go using pumpkin or persimmons.  They turned out great.  We added chopped hazelnuts in this batch.  Click HERE

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It is a gift to share our love for candy and instead turn to recreating the recipes of the past making them healthier for the generations to come.  PS – Now my mom enjoys organic fruit-sweetened lollipops.

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I’m not telling my mom’s age but I’m 57 and I hope I have this joy for life when I’m her age, don’t you?

When I asked my mom what was one of the sweetest changes from applying a healthy lifestyle, she said she had thought that she was too old to make changes and now knew that wasn’t true and also that my dad called her cute.  Can you blame him?

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