Sweet Potato Pies

I am making my family's sweet potato pies, growing up my Dad would make them from his Dads recipe and as I got older, he would have me call my Grandfather in Philly and get the recipe, each year. We could have written it down, but that was part of the tradition. I just have to make them each year. Today I made 4! I am including the recipe below:

2 cups mash sweet potatoes
4oz melted butter
5 oz evaporated milk
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 eggs beaten
11/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg

mix in a bowl and transfer to a blender to make smoooth. (Back in the day, they didn't have blenders and when I grew up we used a hand-held mixer, which gives it a more authentic texture)

pour into 2 9 in pie shells

bake at 350 for 1 hour (cover the edges with foil so that they do not become too dark)

I will add a picture tomorrow!! Yum Yum , I will be dreaming about pies!!!

time flys + delicious smoothie

Time flys once you have kids, Chrissy turned 19 on Halloween, (but I am still 26) We took her to the Zoo as she loves the Zoo, We = Andrea, Zachy, Emily, Caitlyn and myself. We all had so much fun, the TIGERS were awake, Chrissy's favorite part. We had a wonderful lunch of Hummus, veggies, crackers, cheese,nuts, dried fruits and fresh fruits. It is so funny Andrea and I think so much alike that we brought the same foods and bought some of the same things for Chrissy for her Bday, Luckily she didn't mind as one of her repeat items was a large Toblerone bar!! score!!  Andrea even painted her car. You can see the pics on  face book. If I ever find the cord to my camera, I will upload lots of pics!!!

Caitlyn is doing great in school, she got her 1st report card and she did very well I am sure this is the 1st of many.

I cant remember what else I have been doing except looking for a job/career. Which ever comes 1st. In the meantime I been doing some of the SAHM things Like cooking from scratch and crafting, we had a all day craft day at church and I was lucky enough to be on the committee and teach a simple class. 

ok now for what you have been waiting for the smoothie...

1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup greek yougurt
1 bannana
1 cup milk
1 cup rice milk
4 splendas
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup ice or less

blend and drink talk about yummy and healthy!!!!!

Taco Night Wins, Just Because!

We have not had taco night in forever, it was worth the wait!!! I used ground turkey, fat free sour cream and FF cheese, no one could tell the diff. We also had FF re-fried beans and brown rice. The brown rice was taking 4ever so we did not eat it , we will have to have it tomorrow.

I found this internet station where you can choose your genre, so I picked 80's Urban, It brings back memories, then we listened to 90's urban, and Chrissy remembers the songs from back then I use to let Chrissy listen to whatever I listened to (Hmmm, Mother of the year award)

Time out : Caitlyn is break-dancing to GrandMasterFlash .. LOL. See picture above.

Anyway this is the link to the site.

On sweet note: Yesterday, my girls played "go fish" in the car. It was nice to see them playing together.

Another reason I love Costco: We went to Smart and Final, Petco and WalMart, to buy cat food but no one could come close to their price. So you know where I need to go!

BTW, We have a cat in heat and she is getting on my last nerve!!!

Cheers!

As requested ...

Here is the recipe for Overnight Oats, I did not invent this, I saw on blog Called Kath Eats Real Food.

If you click on her blog it will take you right to the recipe.

It is equal parts oats (not quick oats) yogurt and milk. You can add any thing you like, Today I had mine with diced dried apricots, Yummy! I heated mine for a min and they where perfect.

Here you go!

Long Monday...

Caitlyn had to go tot the dentist yesterday, she is so afraid of the dds and the Dr., that I did not tell her until we where on the freeway. (we go to the dentist at Children's Hospital) it took us an hour to get there. She got one filing and they did some sealants.

Afterwords we went to Grocery Outlet in Oakland, the one out there is waaay better than the one in Fremont. I got some Brie and some bear naked granola, some hummus, nuts, dried fruit and a ton of other groceries. All healthy. I have to say their fruit and veggie selection is awesome!

While I was putting all the food in the car, a window washer guy came and asked me if he could do my windows, so I said Yes. He then told me all about his daughters one who is premed and his little one who gets straight A's. That was interesting.

We went and picked up Caitlyns homework up and then picked Chrissy up from school. We stopped at Trader Joes for a Special few things, like fresh meat, Parmesan cheese, and No pudge fudge, definitely try this! Chrissys Bday is Friday and we love to get our cakes there, she picked out a New York Cheesecake only 6.99. I love TJs, they have the best stuff and I don't care what anyone says they are not expensive!

When we finally got home, we had dinner, Creamy corn and roasted bell pepper soup from TJs, I added about 1/2 a cup of diced chicken and a cup of frozen corn. Yum!

Caitlyn played Barbies and dolls , Chrissy played on the internet did homework, I was sad because Big Bang Theory was a rerun.

We went to bed too late,  we have to do better.


Sorry, I don't have any recent pictures, I can't find the wire for my camera.  (That's why I inserted the bonus cute kitty picture)
Tonight is Biggest Loser!
CHEERS

It's been along time... (borrowed from Eric B. and Rakim)

I have not posted in so long that I to reset everything! Today I taught at church, so I have another month before I have to teach again, I spent like all day messing around and not really getting anything done. I did make a delish dinner.I will post the recipe below, if you are interested. Speaking of recipes there is this site call $5 Dinners, she shows a different $5 dinner each Day and they are not all crap like a lot cheap eats tend to be, at our house we are eating whole foods so it is very important to use fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains and little or no meat.

Ragu

• 1 stalk of celery diced
• 1/2 a head of califlower
• 1 cup of mushrooms halved

saute veggies

•   1/3 of a pound of ground turkey (add into veggies after a couple of mins.)
  

• dried basil, red pepper flakes, garlic (all to taste)
  
• 2 cups red sauce (any kind)
• 1 sm can tomato paste + 1/2 cup pasta water + 1/2 cup chicken broth (this is all optional, we just like ours with extra sauce )
  
• 1/3 a bag of Trader Joes whole wheat pasta (make this separately, add in at the end)
•  top with grated parmasen

Hope you enjoy!

Cheers