Veggie Sculpture for Kids

Veggie Sculpture is great fun. I have to give an uncle credit for teaching me the basics when I was a bored little girl. He was my momma's brother. They and their siblings, grew up in the days of make-your-own toys, and boy did they know how to do that! Some of that ingenuity was passed down from Grandfather Vinson who made fences for his children's tiny bottle "animals" with large nails to form the fence posts and wire twisted around the nails to make the fence.

If you have a garden this summer, or produce going too big or dry (not rotten) you already have the makings for cute creativity. Above are my tiny eggplant people. They just started to appear while I was peeling little finger eggplant. Clove and fennel seed features.
 Since my grand kids don't live near I am doing a couple of crafty critters for them and their mommy can help them do their own.

 Gather produce such as: squash (the crooked-neck squashes make great animals), cucumbers, beans, eggplant. Supplies such as: sticks for legs & arms, pine needles, leaves, flowers, toothpicks to hold the vegetable parts together. Pruning shears to cut sticks, seeds like fennel, whole cloves.... you get the idea!

Test out how you want the pieces to go together. 

Little ones will need help with shears and the sharp toothpicks.

Cuke Creatures!

Homemade Electrolyte Drinks

Make Your Own Gatorade Type Drink or Flavored Water

First - What are electrolytes?

Electrolytes are substances that become ions in solution and can conduct electricity. A balance of minerals/electrolytes in our bodies is essential for normal function of our cells and organs.When we are sweating in this hot weather we are losing essential minerals/electrolytes. For our purposes we are mainly concerned with potassium and chloride replacement. 

Potassium is a positive ion found inside our cells and is needed for normal cell function. A couple of important functions are regulation of the heartbeat and muscle function. Orange juice is high in potassium. An 8 oz. glass has 450 mg. That's 10X the potassium that a quart of Gatorade has! 75 mg are in 1/4 c. of lemon juice which is almost twice what Gatorade has.

Chloride is a negatively charged ion found in the fluid outside of cells and in the blood. Chloride plays a role in helping the body maintain a normal balance of fluids. Table salt or sea salt is mainly sodium chloride with other trace minerals.

If you drink water and eat a salty snack and a piece of fruit to replace what you've lost that is great, but don't drink quarts and quarts of water and not snack. You can become the victim of water intoxication. It sounds funny, but trust me, it's not. That puts a whammy on your body's cells because of salt dilution. Theoretically, cells could swell to the point of bursting. Tissue swelling can cause an irregular heartbeat and allow fluid to enter the lungs. Swelling of brain tissues can cause seizures, coma and ultimately death unless water intake is restricted and a hypertonic saline solution is administered. I am pretty sure that's where I was headed one summer. I was drinking lots of water too quickly and not eating.

Good, old-fashioned lemon juice contains high amounts of vitamin C, the B vitamins, A, vitamin E, retinol, folate and folic acid. Minerals that are found in lemon juice include calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium, copper, zinc, manganese and selenium. Most of the essential minerals that are required by the human body are present in lemon juice. Cool! Oranges, limes , pineapples, grapes & coconut water likewise have good stuff we need like the all important potassium.

Now that you've had your health lesson, on to making our drinks! Pick your juice or juice combo. You can make Salty Lemonade, Grape, Orange, Lime, or a combination of these.

You'll need:

• Sea Salt
• Sugar, Honey or Stevia
• Juice or fruit to get the juice- Such as: Lemon, Lime, Orange, Pineapple, Grape...
• Coconut water is another possible ingredient 
• Sports jugs, or quart jars

I think the favorite has become the Salty Lemonade. You can substitute stevia for the honey or sugar, but just remember that cuts down on the carbs also. With a sweeter juice you may or may not want as much sugar or honey.



You may want to warm up your juice to get the sugar & salt dissolved.

Add concentrated orange juice to grape or lime if you want. Taste it after adding the salt. You may decide to add more of something at this point even though it's concentrated. Add water and ice to top off your quart jar or bottle. Taste again, remembering it's supposed to be like a flavored water, not full-strength juice.

Apricot Zucchini Bread & Muffins

Made With Fresh Apricots, Zucchini Squash & Coconut this is going to be my favorite quick bread! 

I adore apricots and coconut. The combination is something wonderful! I had frozen apricots & tons of squash this morning so I experimented with my zucchini quick bread recipe and found something heavenly! Moist, beautiful apricotiness. Shhhh! Don't tell the silly people that it has squash. They will never know as fast as it disappears down the hatch!           

½ cup Coconut oil
1 cup Raw Sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Apricots fresh or frozen, cut up and smashed, (NOT DRIED)
2 cups Zucchini, shredded
1 cup Coconut (moist, Baker's brand)
2 tsp Vanilla
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Baking Powder
1½ tsp Baking Soda
3 cups Flour (can use part whole wheat)
2 tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 325°F. In a mixing bowl stir together oil and sugar. Beat in the eggs, apricots, zucchini, coconut and vanilla, mixing well. 

Fold in dry ingredients just until blended.
Pour into greased loaf pans, or muffin tins. 
Bake for about 30 minutes for the loaves. Don't overcook!
You can toothpick test off center. A toothpick coming out relatively clean is a loaf done enough. Springs back when you gently touch center? That's good also. This is so scrumptious I could make myself sick eating it.

Apricot Zucchini Bread



1 stick butter
1 cup raw honey
2 eggs
¾ cup fresh apricots, cut up and smashed
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 tsp vanilla
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
3 cups fresh-ground sprouted whole wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
A pinch of cardamom


Pre-heat oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl cream the butter and honey until creamy. Beat eggs in one at a time then continue beating for 1 minute. Add the apricots, zucchini and vanilla. Mix well. Fold in dry ingredients just until blended. Do not over mix.
Pour into 2 greased bread pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Dear Sweet Peas: Tinkerbell

I know that you, Little Sweet Pea, are obsessed with all things Tinkerbell & Pan. I only encourage you in that wondrous imagination of yours by sending you fairy wings, and a teeny Tinker in her lantern. You're only little once, and this is a magical time for you. 
SO Tinker is on her way to you.  
She will be flying over in an airplane because her tiny wings would be all worn out from the flight over the ocean. It's such a big, big water to us and even bigger for her! She will be bringing something for Brother Sweet Pea & Daddy to put together, and something for Mommy to read.Tink will tell you how much your Nan & Pappy love you all and our secrets. So listen closely, and she might tell you things like how she saw Nanny & Pappy hugging and watching fireworks from the window, and how she heard the noisy firework LATE last night and told Patty Dog, "Don't be afraid!" She saw Nanny read her bible and talk to God, and heard Pappy & Uncle A fixing the side of the house.Tinker might tell you to remember that little girls can pretend to fly like fairies, but only pretend. No jumping off of tall things. Daddy is great for a "take off!" flight. 

I'm so glad I get to Skype with you and brother. Glad that Tinkerbell wasn't too shy to talk to you. 

Here's a picture of Nanny's shadow that I took at your house one night. I thought of Peter Pan when I saw my shadow. I'm glad my shadow sticks close by me and never runs away.