Popcorn is a big snack in our family. It could be because it is cheap and easy, but to me its easy to manipulate. While Geek Adonis loves his naked, the rest of us guys like to dress ours up a bit. What is your favorite popcorn recipe? Here are two of our favorites…

Salty Sweet

1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 stick of butter
2 tablespoons honey
sprinkling of sea salt

We use and air popper, but this could also be made on the stove. The main thing is to have your popcorn kernels popped into popcorn. Then mix butter and honey together and melt. Drizzle half of the honey butter mixture over popcorn and then shake popcorn to evenly cover popcorn. Sprinkle some salt onto popcorn and shake again. Taste! If it needs more honey butter mixture add more. I end up using the whole mixture, but some people like it lighter. (if you do not use all of your honey butter mixture it will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge for the next time)

Cacao Almond Butter Bliss

2 Tablespoons Cacao powder
2 tablespoons Almond Butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
Sea salt
1/2 cup popcorn kernels

Pop your corn. Mix together the cacao, almond butter, coconut oil, and honey, then melt it. Drizzle on popcorn, shake, add salt, shake. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I have been making my own homemade pesto (oh my goodness yum!) and wouldn’t mind trying next some pesto popcorn. I’ll try and remember to let you know how that turns out.

I have loved hummus for a really long time and have just recently tried making it at home. It is easy to make and it is so simple to jazz it up a bit.

So, the first step is to remember to not try and make this the same night that you want to eat it. You have to soak those chickpeas overnight.

Make sure to cook your chickpeas according to the recipe on bag.

Have the tiny hands that want to help peel the garlic.

Now, you have three beautiful and yummy cloves of garlic. Add, these with…

one cup of chickpeas to the blender, with a …

half of a lemon (well the juice from half of a lemon, not the whole lemon)

And, if your children are like mine they will take care of the other half of that lemon for you.

Put a tablespoon of vinegar in your blender, plus…

1/2 of a tablespoon of cumin, with…

a 1/2 of a tablespoon of paprika, and…

a 1/2 of a tablespoon of salt, and finally drizzle some…

olive oil in the mix as you blend. I do not measure my olive oil out because it is different every time. Plus, it depends on how creamy you want your hummus to be.

I sadly do not have a picture of the finished product because I got so excited that I immediately scooped it out of the blender and started to chow down.

Yet, if you want to spice it up a bit, like I did for the second batch (after we ate the first one), then add what ingredients you like or would taste good to you. We added organic sun-dried tomatoes…

I dice them up pretty small and blend a few in with the rest of the ingredients and then leave a few to fold in as well. This is the finished product…

~Oh, and technically, you could make it the same night, you just have to buy the canned chickpeas instead of the dry ones.

Ingredients

-1 bag of chickpeas (cook them) – you will use 1 cup of cooked chickpeas at a time in a blender or food processor.
-3 cloves of garlic – (I love this much garlic in mine, but my kids did not, so if you are not a huge garlic fan then you may want to dial it down a bit.)
-Juice from 1/2 of a lemon.
-1 tablespoon of vinegar
-1/2 tablespoon of cumin
-1/2 tablespoon of paprika
-1/2 tablespoon of salt
-1 tablespoon to 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions

Add all ingredients to blender or food processor. Slowly blend to desired creaminess. May need to add more olive oil as you blend.

Enjoy. Experiment. Enjoy again.

I had two pounds of ground turkey meat in my fridge and I was craving meatballs. Well I didn’t have a recipe and decided to Google some meatball recipes. There was not one that I could find that was gluten free or had turkey in them. So, time to improvise I said. I found a meatball recipe that was supposedly old world Italian and changed it up a bit.

Ingredients

2 lbs ground organic turkey
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat leaf parsley (yay, for my herb garden)
sea salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 cups fine ground raw pecans
1/4 cup raw oats
1 cup lukewarm water
1 cup organic coconut oil

Directions

Mix turkey, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.

Blend pecans and oats into meat mixture. Slowly add the water a 1/4 cup at a time. The mixture should be moist but still hold its shape if rolled into meatballs. (you may not need the entire cup of water)

Heat coconut oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs in batches. When the meatball is very brown and slightly crisp remove from the heat and drain on a paper towel. (if your mixture is too wet, cover the meatballs while they are cooking so that they hold their shape)

*I know putting water in a meatball sounds weird, but it makes them crispy on the outside and nice and moist on the inside. If you do not have crushed pecans and you do have kids then put them to the task of crushing them. Mine love using the mortar & pestle.

~And, if for one minute you think, oh; these can’t be good, because they are so off base from the original. They were delicious and had so much flavor and the pecans gave them a little bit of nutty crunch which for me was an added bonus. Well and my two year old daughter ate four of them! (that should say it all right?)

Is everyone watching the last NASA launch? I so wish I was there. I have friends and family there and many other fellow bloggers. I like many of you will be watching vicariously through others.

My Dad is one of the very lucky few that will be up close and personal. He got the opportunity of going in with a TV crew to watch and document the launch.

Isn’t he just the dashing giant? (Like my Genius brother pointed out, he is and will always be a giant to me.)

Speaking of Mr. Genius, he led me to a website that you might want to check out quickly, today is the last day – you can have your picture possibly sent up with others on today’s launch. The site is through NASA and its the Face in Space Program.

Jenn over at Daze of Adventure, just posted a quick video of her at the NASA tweetup site. She shows some background pictures of the area where she is.

I will hopefully be posting some more pictures soon (through my Dad) of the launch.

Happy Watching! Launch time is 11:26 am EDT – eastern standard time.

~If you want to watch the launch, NASA casts it live at NASA.gov

These gorgeous fellas were in our backyard this last weekend. Is was quite a treat to have three bucks, we normally only have doe’s.

Ready to Link up your Super Juice Recipe for this week?

The Vampire Fighter

Well, you would definitely not have to worry about any vampire biting you after drinking this super juice. Seriously though, this juice/smoothie is a powerful antiseptic (wards off bugs) from the garlic, has heart protective tomatoes and immune boosting carrots.

Ingredients

Tomatoes – 6 medium
Carrots – 2 unpeeled organic (peel if they are not organic)
Celery – 2 sticks
Garlic – 2 cloves peeled
Ice – crushed
Lemon – 1 with peel, cut in small chunks

Directions

Juice the vegetables, then blend with crushed ice and lemon chunks.

This juice/smoothie is rich in vitamin a, c, and folic acid, plus potassium.

In my life this week…

It has been a rather relaxing week. We have stayed home mostly all week. We recently had to have our roof re-done and since then we have been trying hard for a no spending stretch for a few months, so we can get the roof paid off.

People we are seeing

On Wednesday we had to go run a few errands in town and ran by the local mall and had a small play date with friends…

Then, on Thursday we had a few vikings visit… (it was hard to get a good picture of him because he stayed in fight mode)

but, his sidekick was most accommodating…

Later that very day, we had a few speak no evil pilgrims…

Things, I am working on…

I finally got some slats put up for my grapes to climb on. The poor grapes have been trailing all over the ground. Have I actually tied or set the grapes on the slat yet you say?

Man, you ask a lot of questions.

I’m reading…

The same thing – Book Four, of “The Wheel of Time”. When it used to take me at longest 4 days to read a book, now it is closer to 4 weeks, sometimes more.

A photo to share

Don’t do it Smiley, We love you! (It is a toy gun)

~Thank you to the The Homeschool Chick for starting a Mother’s Journal. Check out her out and link up your journal or read others mom’s.

Forthwith – to do immediately; right away.
Friday – a day of the week; the day after Thursday; the day before Saturday.

Take five minutes (30 seconds on each ) to answer the following questions…

And, if you have time click a quick pic… Like this!

currently…

listening – to Toy Story 2 playing in the background.

eating – raw organic cashews and raisins.

drinking – H.2.O

wearing – Old beaten up pants that I have had since college, but they are extremely comfortable. And, a tank top.

feeling – jolly. I am fixing to go on a small jaunt to where my mom is camping and making cob.

weather – 90 degrees with a possibility of thunderstorms.

wanting – pizza, but that is my favorite food.

needing – to do the dishes.

thinking – about the new schedule and homeschool ideas for the kids.

enjoying – a leisurely day with my kiddos.

Link up and tell us what you have been doing this Friday!