Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This is a easy, healthy treat that blends up really fast.

Homemade Strawberry Banana Smoothie

• 1 cup strawberries
• 3 peeled bananas
• 2 cups milk or yogurt
• 2 Tbsp sugar or honey (more or less to taste)

Put all ingredients in the blender, put the lid on of course, and blend until smooth.

DIY Fresh Lemonade an Easier Way

I came across this method for making fresh lemonade a little while ago and could wait to try it out. Thanks to my sweet honey, we now have a new blender. This method is simple and fast, and you can actually use less lemons than if you squeeze them by hand. Here is how I use this method.

Easy Blender Fresh Lemonade or Concentrate Recipe

(makes 2 quarts)
2 lemons
½ to 1 cup sugar
water

First wash the outside of the lemons thoroughly. Then lemons cut into fourths or eighths. Place lemons in the blender and cover lemons with water. Blend for a few seconds. There should still be chunks of lemon. Strain this mixture over a pitcher. I usually have about 2 cups of lemon liquid at the point. Now you can either add sugar and water to equal two quarts, or freeze as concentrate for later use.

DIY Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

Lemons are quite cheap around here, and lemonade is becoming one of our favorite summer treats.

Lemonade

(makes one quart)
4 lemons
¼ to ½ cup of sugar
Enough water to equal 1 quart of prepared lemonade

Roll lemons on the cutting board to loosen the juice and then cut them in half. Squeeze juice into pitcher, add sugar, and then add water. Stir and and serve.

DIY Berry Smoothie

This is a refreshing and light smoothie recipe. Other berries can be substituted for mulberries.

Mulberry Smothie

2 cups ice
2 bananas
1 cup yogurt
1 cup juice or lemonade
½ cup mulberries

Layer ingredients in your trusty blender, starting with the ice, and blend until smooth.

Happy Birthday Nate!

Yesterday, we got to spend a fun-filled day together enjoying and celebrating Nate. Daddy stayed home from school, and for the third day in a row, we all got to eat breakfast together, delicious mulberry smoothies. Aaron and Andrew had colored some Thomas pictures for him, and I gave him some birthday cake truffles.

Later that day, we had a simple brownie cake (I even used icing from a can), but I also made three kinds of homemade ice cream. The mango frozen yogurt was very refreshing. All of the boys' favorite was the moose tracks, and my favorite was definitely the caramel (it was amazing).

We went out in the late afternoon, to play at the park in our apartment complex. The boys also had fun "rock climbing." Then we cam back home for homemade manicotti and more dessert. It was such a nice relaxing day of family time. We are so blessed to have Nate in our lives and look forward to another new year of adventures together.