Long post: Starting school, weekly menu, and green smothie recipe!

     Hey all!
     Once again, I've been neglecting this blog! So sorry.

     So, my daughter, who is 4, started PreK last week! She loves going but I think she is a little bored. When I ask her what she did in school she'll reply, "We ate, we played, we read, we watched a movie (?), we read again, we used the computer." All in monotone. Or, she'll sigh and say, "We JUST read." She loves reading, though! I don't know. I'm sure they haven't done much because they JUST (lol) started school and I'm sure they'll end up doing more later in the year. I don't know what she is expecting, though. I know she is disappointed because they haven't gone to the playground. I don't even know if they will at all. She only goes half day from 7:30am to 11:30am. She's making friends! Which is always good. Today she said, "My friends had lunchboxes today!" She said that because she wants to take her lunch box even though she doesn't eat lunch at school.


     Switching subjects here. :-)

   I've been wanting to try juicing. Mostly, because I'm curious. But, also because I think it would be a great way for me to incorporate enough fruits and vegetables in my diet. While googling juicing recipes I came across this blog post:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/06/20/why-i-dont-juice/

   I thought it totally made sense!
  
   Juice is not whole food: "Did you know that when you drink juiced vegetables and fruits you are not eating the whole food? The first time I saw a juicer in action I was actually a little surprised when I saw all this stuff being spit out the side. It turns out that stuff is the pulp (basically the fiber) and not included in the juice you are about to drink!"
  *Our family does not eat perfectly at all. But, I try my hardest to eat as close to "real food" as I can. I really like the 100 Days Of Real Food blog.

   Juice is expensive:  "If you aren’t careful, juicing could seriously blow the roof off your budget. The first day I shopped for juicing ingredients I spent $13 – on just 2 servings of organic juice!"
  *I try to save as much money as I can when I'm buying groceries so this was a big deal breaker to me.

   It takes time: "When you drink a daily green juice in addition to eating your regular meals it ends up taking extra time out of your day."
  *Apparently, a juicer has a lot of parts. So, this was also a deal breaker for me. I don't want to have extra dishes to wash.

   Then, the blogger writes why she likes smoothies instead and I totally agree!

  "

1. No special expensive equipment needed – any old blender will do!
2. When you blend fruits and vegetables together to make a smoothie you are consuming the whole food.
3. As a result, I find smoothies to be much more filling than juice.
4. My kids like smoothies (they gave the green juice a fair chance, but were not fans).
5. A little bit of veggies can go a long way in a smoothie – when I juiced a bunch of kale it seemed that only a couple tablespoons of juice came out."

   With that, I googled some green smoothie recipes. I found some I might like but not ones I knew I would like so I decided to put together my own recipe.
   In case you are interested here it is:

- 2cups kale greens
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 banana
- about 5 (small/medium) strawberries
-- Blend everything together and enjoy!
*If you want your smoothie cold, make sure to freeze the fruit beforehand.
     Best part is that the kids all liked the green smoothie as well!
  


     And before I forget. Here is this weeks menu:

Sunday (last night): Breakfast for dinner. Eggs and pancakes.
Monday: Pigs in a blanket, sweet potato fries
Tuesday: Chicken alfredo pasta, texas toast
Wednesday: Sandwiches, because we have church.
Thursday:  Pesto chicken (again, because we loved it), mashed potatoes, green beans

     I went grocery shopping yesterday and only spent $61.53! That is including snacks my daughter is taking for church and household items! I didn't need to get too much because we already had a lot of ingredients at home. :-)