Cucumber & Mint Cooler

It was nearly 100 degrees here today!!  Ugghh, where is winter??

This Cucumber & Mint Cooler is a great way to cool off after being outside.  I know it sounds a little strange.  But actually,  during the summer time, mint should be one of your best friends in beating the heat.

The mint is a natural cooling agent for the body.   The mint tricks your brain into thinking that you feel cooler.

The other great thing about this drink is the Cucumbers.  They have a high water content.  This will help you increase your water intact.









Cucumber & Mint Coolers:

 Combine 8 ounces of filtered water with 4 thin slices of cucumber and 2 fresh mint leaves (roll leaves between thumb and forefinger to gently “bruise” them and release oils). Pour over ice.

I like to make this in advance and get it super cold.   It is really refreshing!

Menu Plan Monday

I have tried to do menu planning before.  For the most part, things go well until  we hit mid week.  That is when everything always seems to go haywire.    But, I am staying on the wagon this time.   I am vowing to stick to it and make all of our summer meals easy!

I will share some of the recipes later this week.  


Monday:  Greek grilled chicken and pitas, homemade tazaki sauce, lettuce and tomato for pitas, and sweet potato fries.  

Tuesday:  Salad Bar Night!  Organic mixed salad greens and toppings.  Everyone can make their own. 

Wednesday: Veggie Burgers and Mexican Bean Salad, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate


Thursday:  Grilled Kabobs and Wild Rice

Friday:   BLTs, Chips, and Fruit Salad


Saturday:  Pizza Night!  Homemade Pizza and hot fudge sundaes. 


Sunday:  YOYO




This post is linked up to I'm an Organizing Junkie's Monday Menu Plan. 

POM Wonderful $1 off coupon

Get a printable $1 off coupon, scroll down to Sip, Save, Smile http://www.pomwonderful.com/

 

Perfect Marinade for Grilled Veggies

Our goal for a long time has been to cut down our meat consumption and move toward more fruits and vegetables.   Well, lets face it!  This has been a long road because A.) my husband is a picky eater and B.) sometimes vegetables are just a hard sell when it comes to kids.

But I have found a wonderful marinade that goes great with grilled vegetables.  This recipe comes from Fresh Market Inspirations.   You can check out www.freshmarket.com for other recipe ideas. 

2/3 c olive oil
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
1/4 onion, minced
2 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
2 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp.  freshly ground pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, or a food processor for a finer mince.  Place vegetable skewers in a glass baking dish and pour marinade over the top.  allow to rest for at least 20 minutes or overnight, turning occasionally so that all sides are coated.   Place skewers on grill, reserve marinade and brush onto vegetables while grilling.

This recipe was a big hit with my husband and my kids.  So hopefully this is something your family will enjoy for this grilling season as well.

This post is linked to Linda's Lunacy: Making a Home. 

Awesome coupon for fresh pineapple!!

There is a great coupon for whole pineapples. Save a $1.25/2 . If you live near a Kroger, you are in luck this week!!  They are having a great sale on pineapples.   http://www.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=15493&zid=yn07&nid=10&bid=0605080657ab5aea8e9175

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

These are my pictures for the Sunday Scavenger Hunt.   If you want to join in on the fun, visit Ramblings and Photos: Sunday Scavenger Hunt.

hot, hot, hot-  This picture and the next one are from a hot air balloon festival we went to on Memorial Day.  In the South this year we have totally skipped Spring and just went straight into Summer.   It was miserably warm watching the balloons. 

finding form-  I am not sure that this really fits this prompt, but I just love the look of all the balloons inflating. 




front page news  - I rarely buy a newspapers anymore, so this is an older photo and not really even front page news. 

chores-   This one might stretch it a little.  But, grocery shopping can be a chore.  Although it is hard to beat going to a great farmer's market on a Saturdays. 

beads- beads of water on an ice cold soda.   The perfect thing for a hot day.

Freedom Weekend Aloft (picture post)

On Memorial Day, the family and I headed out to Freedom Weekend Aloft.   Freedom Weekend is a local hot air balloon festival that is held every Memorial Day weekend.  I had hoped to do a live blog post from there, but well, let's face it.   Seeing a bunch of hot, sweaty people sitting in the grass watching balloons doesn't really make for great entertainment.   So I will spare you the sight of hot, sweaty people and just dazzle you with beautiful hot air balloons, a giant cake, and people hoarding said giant cake.   So with out further adieu, Freedom Weekend in pictures.

BI-LO Grocery Store is one of the major sponsors for Freedom Weekend.  They also sponsored this massive cake. The cake was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the supermarket chain.

  Believe me, when I say that this picture doesn't even begin to capture the full scale of this cake.  There were parts of it that were designed to represent different aspects of the store.  You can see the basket of apples, there is also a box of fried chicken depicted in cake in the back corner. 


You could visit the tent and leave with massive hunks of cake that would feed small villages for days.  We even saw people taking away large tin foil pans of cake.  

My family of 4 shared one bowl!!!  And, we still ended up tossing over half of what we were served.  

After sampling the cake, we waddled our way over to the balloon launch site.   Thankfully the skies were clear and the balloons were able to launch on time.

 I would say that there were about 15-20 different balloon teams taking part in the festival.   In years past, they have had a hot air balloon shaped like the Energizer Bunny and a dog.   I keep hoping that one year, the Darth Vader balloon will make an appearance.   Although the Purple People Eater balloon was fun.