Zucchini Taco Pizza {GF & DF, of course!}

This "pizza" was so awesome!

Got it from the book: Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism  by Maria Emmerich

Tweaked the recipe from the book because I used dairy free rice cheese in place of cheddar, but it still turned out amazing!  So great for all the crazy amounts of zucchini's we get in our garden, and just overall delicious (and healthy!)

Crust:

1.5 cups zucchini or chayote (what the heck is chayote?) peeled and shredded

2 eggs

2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese (I used rice cheese)

1 tsp Mexican spices (optional) (I used cumin, coriander, onion salt, & chili)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Grease cookie sheat. Peel & shred large zucchini (I left the peel on. Isn't that where all the good stuff is?)Add egg, spices, and cheese, and mix well.  Spread the dough onto the pan evenly (watch the middle of the crust- it can be too think) and bake for 12 -15 minutes, or until the crust is cooked.  Let cool.  Makes a large crust (14"). Nutritonal Info: Cals: 785, Carbohydrates: 9 Fiber: 0 Fat: 49 g Protein: 75 g

For the Taco Pizza

Layer:

Pizza sauce mixed with salsa

Ground grass fed beef, cooked (I cooked up ground chicken with more taco seasonings instead)

Shredded lettuce

Shredded cheese

Chopped tomatoes

Red Onion

Sliced Black Olives (I swear you used to be able to find cans of sliced olives, but I can't find them anywhere now!)

Guacamole (optional) (but not really, its the best part!)

Sour cream (optional) (we skipped this)

Super duper messy, but so fun to make.  The girls helped me layer the pizza, and everyone ate it.  So good!

Pink Cupcake

Jessica earned a special treat with mommy for staying dry all night for more than a week strait (finally! we're done with potty training! well, at least with her.....).  She hasn't been sleeping with a pull up at night since she turned 4, but she recently began to wet the bed at night a lot more.  I don't know why it went backwards, but bribery ended up working :)

I took her to CB cupcakes, which just opened up down the street.

One little cupcake, she got to pick the flavor and the frosting and the topping.  Just a $1.50.  Not bad!

Of course, she chose all pink ;)

Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Vegan zucchini bread

{Confession- this is not the gluten free zucchini bread. This is the regular zucchini bread I made my preschoolers.  *but I did use whole wheat flour* 

Just forgot to take a picture of my bread before I devoured it.....}

1 1/2 c. all purpose gluten free flour
1 c. zucchinni

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 c honey

1/4 c applesause

1 banana, mashed

1/2 c carob chips

1/2 c dried cranberries

1/2 c smashed walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients

In a second bowl mix together the honey, applesauce, mashed banana & zuchinni.

Mix the two bowls together, then add the carob chips, cranberries, and walnuts.

Put in the bread pan and bake for about 55 minutes.  Delicious!

{Adapted from Better Homes & Garden "New Cook Book"}

Best Daddy Ever!

Sorry this is so late- craziest week ever! Getting ready for graduation at my preschool :)

Father's day was fun- we made a fancy breakfast for Daddy of gluten free french toast (because yes, majority of the time, my family eats like me with my crazy diet), turkey bacon, and yummy fruit

 Jessica & Izzy picked flowers for daddy- I love that Jessica found the biggest flower in the yard:

 Then we went to the WAP as is now our Father's Day tradition (we started last year)

Here are a few picture of Daddy & his girls:

Feeding the animals in the petting zoo.  Both girls were terrified and would just drop the food 2 feet ahead of the animals

 Watching the elephant show

 Finally trying to pose them, but I should have done it earlier in the day. They were distracted and tired and would not hold still!

 This obviously isn't the girls with their daddy, but kind of fun- the gorilla mama is holding her 2 day old baby!!!!  So sweet!

 Walking on the bridge, that Jessica had wanted to do forever, but we usually go under since we have strollers. So cute

After the WAP we came home and made fish tacos with fish that daddy caught, AND we made the tortillas from scratch! (I will post those pics later)

We have the best daddy and husband around!!!  

A

Camping Trip Highlights

So many fun memories from our camping trip. Want to be sure to preserve them, hope to one day get them in a scrapbook!

The highlights:

Car Ride:

-2 pee stops for an hour and 20 minutes of driving.  AND we still had a pee pee accident

-"Big Mountains" everywhere. Izzy & Jessica both kept pointing them out. It reminded me of my youngest brother, Greg, pointing out every water tower he'd see when driving through Iowa

- We put on Jessica's Jams. A cd that we've had for Jessica for a few years.  Izzy started getting really upset in the back seat, and it literally took us 5 minutes to figure out she was saying: "Isabella's Songs"  So sweet! Made me realize we can't leave her out, got to treat the two girls equal. She's not a baby anymore!

-During the pit stops, daddy had to go, too (we pulled over on the highway, and used the portable potty for the girls).  The girls could not get over that Daddy pees in bushes!

Izzy was so excited to finally set up camp!

 The First Night

-Roasting hot dogs & marshmellows. They weren't a fan of the smoke (who can blame them?) and only lasted a few minutes before Daddy had to take over. Loved the messy faces after s'mores!

-Bedtime was much easier than we thought it would be! Both girls woke up in the middle of the night cold. So did mommy. We were better prepared for the next night

Jessica, Izzy, & Daddy roasted hot dogs!

 Jessica & Izzy doing dishes.  So cute!

 So excited to be making s'mores!

Mommy s'more ingredients

 Friday

-Izzy proved that is pretty much 95% potty trained.  We set up her little potty in a corner and she would go over there every time she had to pee.  Proving she is just a stinker and doesn't like to take herself to the potty at home.... 

-Taking the girls on a Nature hike! They learned about Mother Nature and had fun exploring

-Izzy requested blue chicken nuggets for dinner. Don't know where the "blue" came from, but it was pretty funny.  And we kept having to explain to the girls the only food we had was what we brought.

-Down time- Izzy took a long nap, Daddy & Jessica took a walk to the pond, mommy layed out in the sun! Then mommy showed Jessica how to make "fairy houses" that she loved making as a little girl.

-We brought the girls bikes, and learned that bike riding with the girls is a 2 parent job! But oh so fun :)

Daddy & his fancy french press coffee maker

 On our Nature Hike

 Love love love this candid moment I was able to capture. So precious

 Jessica's fairy house!

 Bike riding

 Friday Night
-Spagitti for dinner!

-We took an evening walk after dinner to see if we could find deer.  It turned into a photoshoot when Mommy realized how great the lighting was!

-Bedtime was even easier BUT when Izzy started whimpering at 2am we made it worse by talking to her too much, then she started screaming and the neighbors got annoyed so she ended up in the sleeping bag with daddy.... at least Jessica slept through the whole night!

Mmmmm psgetti!

 Evening walk- where Izzy had her first pee accident of the trip

 This was her "no I didn't" face when we called her out....

 Getting arsty with my s'more shot

 Messy, messy faces!

 All bundled up and ready for the cold/bed! 

 Saturday

- We packed up and said good bye to our super fun first family only vacation and camping trip.  Can't wait to camp at the beach in August!

After a night of sharing his sleeping bag with Izzy, he didn't get much space from her. 

Those girls love their Daddy!

 The view of San Diego county on our way back home

June KRAP wine!

Finally posting about my monthly KRAP wine in the correct month!

Steve and I enjoyed this vino on our camping trip :)

This was a Syrah from Paula (I just realized that the 4 months each girl got were right next to each other. Not that it makes a difference. Just an observation. I'm a nerd) As she says on the bottle "Start summer off with a SYRAH!" ;)
Awesome wine, super simple and not overly complex. I think it would be good to pair with anything, but I enjoyed it with some s'mores ;)
I give it an A!

A few more wedding pics....

So we had to get a family picture after Miss Angie's wedding- we were all dressed to the nines!

Here are a few of my favs (and please excuse the blue tint- my WB was off and I haven't had time to play around with it in photoshop yet)

Of course, Miss Jessica is pouting

 Got one where everyone is smiling! (But I look like I am about to fall onto Steve...)

 A few of just us- love this one, it reminds me of prom 

 You can see that Jessica & Izzy were running wild while we tried to snap a few of just us....

GF/SF Applesauce-Oatmeal Cookies

I attempted to make some gluten free oatmeal cookies by just replacing the flour in the recipe with my gluten free flour baking mix.  As yummy as they tasted, they did not come out so well- too thin and breakable (and Izzy would freak if her cookie broke).  A friend had given me an excerpt from "Bake Deliciously!" Gluten and Dairy Free Cookbook by Jean Duane, Alternative Cook (I need to look into this book!) and it has tips on how to convert a traditional recipe to gluten free.  So I sat down and convereted my oatmeal cookie recipe and got this- and they turned out delicious!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup honey (or brown sugar, but I had to keep it sugar free as well!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda + 1/8 tsp baking soda (I'm not good at math.  So there you go)
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal (threw that in for good measure!)
1/2 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/4 cup of Gluten Free Oats
1 egg
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
3/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. cornstartch
1/4 c. quinoa flour
optional: 1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips.

1. Preheat oven to 375 (unless you have a ghetto oven like me, I had to put it on 400)
2. Mix butter with an electric mixer
3. Add the honey, cinnamon and baking soda.  Mix till combined
4. Beat in the egg & applesauce.  Mix till combined
5. Beat as much flour as you can (this was not a problem at all for me, I think because we had honey instead of sugar)
6. Stir in any remaining flour and the oats
7. Stir in cranberries and chocolate chips if you so desire (dont' know why you wouldnt' desire it though, its delicious!)
8. Drop dough on un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 - 10 minutes (again, unless you have a ghetto oven.  Then it takes about 12 - 14)

Makes about 24 cookies.  Eat & Enjoy!

I even have the nutrion facts for ya (if you don't add the chocolate chips and dried cranberries, it takes the calories down to 99.  But i LOOOOVE chocolate, so thats not going to be an issue for me):

{Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens}

Nutrition Facts homeade oatmeal applesauce gf choc. cookies
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	139
Total Fat	4.8g
Saturated Fat	2.3g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	16mg
Sodium	29mg
Carbohydrate	23.9g
Dietary Fiber	1.6g
Sugars	13.9g
Protein	1.6g
Vitamin A 2% Vitamin C 1% Calcium    0% Iron 2%

Iron 2%

Family Camping Trip

We went on our first family vacation with just the four of us.

Did not even realize that until we were there

But all other vacations and trips have been to visit people or with people.

We went camping for 2 nights and 2 days at Palomar Mountain

About an hour and a half drive from our house.

We had so so much fun

We are going to make it a yearly tradition- camping, just the family (who knows if it will always be "just the four us"- hoping to add to the family one day!) every summer after school gets out

I will post the highlights soon, but here are a few family pics!

The first night, making s'mores. (My favorite part of camping. No joke)

 Goofing around

We went for an evening walk to look for deer, but I was so excited about this field and the perfect lighting, I instead grabbed my tri-pod and set up the self timer for some family pics!

 s'mores the second night. i TOLD you it was my favorite part!

It was hard getting pictures of just the four of us. But we had a blast! I love my family :)

Flower girls!

Jessica and Izzy were flower girls in Miss Angie's wedding in early June

The wedding was at the Wild Animal Park- it was such a fun and unique location!

Jessica has been a flower girl before (which I apparently never blogged about.  THAT was  a story.  Bascially Steve ended up being the flower girl while he carried a crying Jessica down the aisle.  He tossed the flowers and everything!) but this was Izzy's first time.

Jessica got to get all fanci-fied at the salon with the big girls!

 She even got her nails done!

 I tried to get a shot of her and me before we left, but she didn't like that idea...

 When we got to the WAP she was ready with the map! (and Izzy with her shades ;) )

 We had to glam Izzy up a bit, too.  Yipstick that she immediately licked off

 One perk, lots of cool things to look at while waiting for the wedding to start!

 And thank goodness we had Miss Justine with us! She was our nanny for the day.  She was also basically another flower, since she had to carry BOTH girls down the aisle and hand them off to Steve.

Who then threw the flowers on the aisle.

It was actually quite entertaining :)

 Even though they didn't actually do their duties as they were supposed to, they were still the cutest flower girls ever!