Strawberry + Mint Sorbet

I don't know about you all, but my lil ol' container garden is doing quite well. So well, in fact, that i have mint for days. Seriously. This is why you keep mint contained. It's taking off in this summer heat. I'm completely fine with this; however, I need to use it up!

I recently bought the book "The Ice Creamery Cookbook" by Shelly Kaldunski. You guys! It's amazing! I cannot say enough about this book. If you love making ice cream- go get it. Now.

This is not a sponsored post, by the way. Shelly, amazon, none of them know me. All this is just me telling you about a book I like.

Shelly was kind enough to write in a recipe that would use up a lot of my mint. Thanks, Shelly!

I altered the recipe slightly based on the ingredients I had available... but this turned out delicious. Here's how I made the sorbet, based on the recipe in the book linked above:

Hull and half or quarter 3 cups of strawberries. In a large bowl, combine the strawberries with 2/3 cup of sugar and 2 Tbs chopped, fresh mint. Stir and let this mixture sit for 30 minutes.

Once the strawberries have released their juices and all of the sugar is dissolved, use a blender or food processor to puree the mixture until smooth. I still had flecks of mint leaves in mine. But I think it looks pretty so...

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and mix according to the manufacturers directions. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours.

Use some mint leaves for a garnish (because surely you've got a few sprigs to spare) and enjoy!

Friday Favorite: Fizzy Refresher

Summer is coming to an end. My oldest goes back to school next week. Next. Week. Whaaaa?

That means that it's time to get back into our school routine (read: wake up early, go to bed at a decent hour, etc). It's also time to cram everything we haven't gotten around to doing this summer into the next 7 days.

With all the schedule changes and running around added to our normal activities, I need a pick me up in the afternoon. I confess I have reached for a Pepsi once or twice... buuuut I've also discovered this little treat I'm going to share with you today.

This post is not sponsored in any way. All opinions are my own. Starbucks and Soda Stream have no idea who I am.

You all know I'm all about the Soda Stream now, well I've also mentioned that I love Starbucks Refreshers. Now I'm combining my two obsessions! A fizzy refresher hits the spot and gives me a subtle caffeine boost in the afternoon. It's very satisfying.

All you do is make a liter of soda water in the Soda Stream. Then add in one packet of your favorite refresher flavor. I only do one packet even though the mixing instructions call for 2 packets per liter. It's less sugar my way and I like the flavor.

This isn't a super sweet drink, but it really hits the spot! I highly recommend giving it a try.

Friday Favorite: Fruit Infuser Water Bottle

Woo! Happy August everyone!

We are back on the blog and ready to share some fun stuff with you all!

Since today's Friday, I have a "favorite" to share with you. I discovered this wonderful infuser water bottle last month!

I posted back in June that I was trying to drink more water. I have also been experimenting with soda water + fruit. This handy water bottle is great for this purpose! There are a lot of infuser water bottles but I picked this one because I liked the straw and I could pick my fav color- orange!

Btw, this post isn't sponsored by anyone- just my humble opinion.

So I've been trying all sorts of fruit combos. When I was taking these pics I was using peaches + blueberries + mint leaves. It was delish.

I love the infuser. It keeps all the fruit together so the straw doesn't mush it around. I can use the same fruit for 2 days (I keep it refrigerated or on ice at all times) and there's no pulp or gross stringy stuff at the bottom of the bottle.

So far, my fav combo is strawberry + raspberry + mint. It is soooo good.

 It's so refreshing to have fruity water on hand. And it makes using soda water for a different flavor easy peasy too!

Let me know if you have a fav fruit + water combo- I'd love to try it!!

Summer Vacay

Happy July friends!

We hope you're having a fantastic summer. We have gotten a little busy with life lately so rather than posting randomly, we are just taking a blog vacay for the month of July.

We will be back and refreshed in August! Be sure to follow us on Facebook {click that fancy button to your right} so you'll know when we've got new stuff to share.

Enjoy your summer!

Homemade Lemonade Spritzer

I've been trying all kinds of fun things with my Soda Stream. One of my favorite drinks so far is this Lemonade Spritzer!

By far, my favorite recipe for homemade lemonade is from Pioneer Woman. It takes a little time but it is so worth it. It works well for this drink because you can use some of the concentrate with regular water and reserve some of the lemonade concentrate (the lemon juice + sugar water mixture) to mix with soda water, or you can just make a bunch of soda water- totally up to you.

I reserved 1.5 cups of the lemonade concentrate in a mason jar and kept it in the fridge. When I was ready for a refreshing drink, I just mixed the concentrate with soda water straight out of the soda stream to my taste (I like mine with more concentrate, less soda).

Add ice and a mint sprig for garnish and you've got yourself a spritzer!

If you're so inclined, adding a little vodka makes this a delicious adult beverage. Trust me.

Happy Summer, friends!

Sweet Snack: Fruity Grahams

Summer vacation is in full-swing here at my house. My kids don't seem to be too bored, but, we're only in week 2 of vacation. Actually, this is their first full week off, so I'm guessing by Friday afternoon I'll be hearing "I'm bored! There's nothing to do! Moooooom, lets do something!". It's inevitable.

When summer rolls around, I like to have lots of healthy and fun snacks on hand. I prep snacks on the weekend, which helps a ton during the week. All of the fruits and veggies are ready to eat and easily accessible, so, the kids can grab what they want without having to ask!

I have a few fun snacks that are my "go to" snacks during the summer- frozen grapes, frozen yogurt dots, and frozen peanut butter banana sammies. I may need to break for a snack now...

Earlier this week I was thinking really hard about a fun new snack I could make for the kids and these fruity grahams were the result. It's like a mini fruit pizza, but healthified. I swear it's a word. Well, it is now. I think I've used it enough times throughout my posts on the blog that it's justified as a word.

What I love about this snack is that it's simple. Graham crackers, fruit, plain greek yogurt, and a little pure maple syrup. That's it! It's also a fun way to get kids involved in the kitchen. Plus, it saves them from their boredom. ;)

Fruity Grahams

makes 12 

6 sheets of organic graham crackers, halved (just break in the middle)

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

assorted sliced fruits

In a small bowl, mix  yogurt and maple syrup until well combined. 

Spread a spoonful of yogurt on to each graham half. 

Top with your favorite fruits and enjoy! 

Tip for making for a crowd: Place graham cracker sheets on bottom of a cake pan, spread the yogurt on top, then top with fruits. The graham becomes soft if it isn't eaten right away, which would make for a yummy dessert to take on 4th of July or to your summer BBQ! 

Miss KK approves these, and she happily obliged to eat about 3 of them while I took pictures of her.

What is your favorite summer snack? 

Healthier Soda

Recently, I have made the decision to stop drinking pop (soda, coke, whatever you call it in your neck of the woods :-)).

I was able to completely cut out soda and I talked about that here. Now that I'm not craving pop anymore, I want to be able to enjoy a little fizz every now and then. Especially now that we have entered into the hot and humid Oklahoma summer days. There is something super refreshing about a fizzy, ice cold drink on a hot day. I didn't want to be tempted to fall back into my pop drinking ways, so, I've done some research and decided to purchase a SodaStream.

This post isn't sponsored, I have no affiliation with SodaStream what so ever. 

You can see here that SodaStream is a healthier alternative to many sodas you can buy at the store. But what I really loved was the opportunity to make my own syrups and even add fruit to the carbonated water so that I can enjoy a variety of healthy beverages this summer. Not to mention, it's a much greener alternative to buying all those bottles and cans!

I've already consulted Pinterest and found a few recipes I will be trying for homemade syrup. I have a few ideas of my own to test as well.  I will keep you updated on my favorites!

In case you're also considering purchasing a SodaStream- there's a $20 mail in rebate available now on all models over $65. This was what convinced me to go ahead and purchase ;-)

Do you have a favorite SodaStream flavor or recipe? I'd love to try it! Leave it in the comments, please and thank you!