Pineapple Fried Rice

I used to be in love with this one baking blog.  Her treats were amazing!  Plus, they were all really do-able.  You know what I mean?  Nothing too weird or too complicated.  Simple and delicious.

Then my favorite baking blog decided to go Vegan, change the blog name, and make food instead of just treats.  I was a little bummed, but I tried one of her new recipes and I LOVED it!

Vegan Pineapple Fried Rice

Via Cheeky Kitchen 

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
3 cups sweet brown rice, cooked
3 tablespoons vegetable broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 cup peas, frozen
1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into chunks
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1 cup roasted & salted cashews
1/2 cup scallions
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

First, heat up the oil in a wok.  Then add the garlic and red pepper and cook for a few minutes until softened.  Then add the rice, vegetable broth, soy sauce and curry powder and stir it until all combined.  It should start to sizzle and pop and smell delicious!  Then turn off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients and stir until heated throughout. 

*I actually left out the coconut because I thought it had enough going on without it, but that's up to you.
*I also used a little less cilantro and a little more vegetable broth too.
*Check out Cheeky Kitchen Blog for more details and pictures.

I have always steered clear of fried rice because of the "fried" in the title.  I decided to try it after reading the recipe because there really isn't that much oil.  I loved it, my husband loved it, and my kids loved it.  I can't wait to make it for my sometimes-vegan-mom and my all-the-time-vegetarian-sometimes-vegan-little-sister.

Don't let the "vegan" scare you off though.  This recipe is delicious and super-easy.  One hint that she gives on her blog is to have rice pre-made so that you can toss together easy dinners like this.  I made the rice in morning and then put it in the fridge.  At dinner time, I just tossed everything together and it was ready to go.

Try it out.  You'll love it!

Balance

 (Me and Baby Dalton and our green nails)

How do you ever figure out how to balance everything in life?

As soon as I think I'm getting the hang of it, something else comes at me.

My favorite way to keep balance, is to get things done.

If I do it, and cross it off of my forever long "to-do" list, then I feel like I'm a little bit more balanced.

Lately I've been feeling out of balance.

My "to-do list" is HUGE and full of big projects that will weigh on my mind until they are done.

We need to finish the TV cabinet that Nate started in January.

We need to re-paint.

I need to plant my garden.

I always need to clean...

the list could go on and on.

A few years ago, I had a job.

I worked at a treatment center for teenage girls and I loved it.

I worked there until Bridger was born.

But I was feeling totally out of balance.

It was the kind of job that required you to devote your life to it.

I enjoyed devoting my life to it until Saxon was born.

Suddenly, I had something much for important than my job.

I had a child.

When Saxon was born, my heart felt like it was being pulled in so many different directions.  I wanted to work, but I wanted to do it well.  But how could I do it well if I cried for my baby the whole time I was gone?

By the time I was pregnant with Bridger, I knew the time had come.

I quit one week before Bridger was born, and I knew right away that it was the right decision.  We would have to figure out how to survive on one income because I needed to be home to raise my babies.

When I quit my job, I felt my balance return.

Now that I have 3 kids, the balance is a little harder to achieve.  We have school, and sports, and church.  This summer we have soccer camp, t-ball, swimming, summer reading at the library, and a trip to California.

I also have an etsy shop, a blog, and a facebook page (that I can't figure out quite what to do with).  My etsy shop eats up a TON of my time, but it also helped me save up for my van.  When I get a lot of orders I get stressed about getting them done right away and off of my to-do list.  When I don't get a lot of orders I get stressed (what if my shop is slowing down?)  A few days ago, I sat down to paint and turned on a movie for my kids.  When the movie ended, I let them turn on another because I wasn't done.  When Dalton woke up from his nap, I realized that I had been working for hours while my kids watched TV.

That doesn't feel balanced to me.

I think I need to either let some things go, or get a little more organized with my life.

Both maybe.

Especially because there are always things waiting in the wings to join my list.

(working out...a family history project that I want to start...a new book I want to read...an old favorite that I want to re-read...and how can I ever stay on top of DWTS?)

I even bought an essential oil called "Balance" to try out :)  I'll let you know how it works...  

I have a friend who says "I chose not to stress about that."

That's how she stays balanced.

And, I'll be honest, sometimes I get a little baby-hungry.

What would that do to my already precarious balance? LOL

Maybe I'll have to give up cleaning.

Ok not really...I couldn't handle it.

Do you have any secrets to keeping balanced?

Hush Little Baby...

 (cait. create. etsy listing)

"Hush little baby..." has always been one of my favorite lullabies.

My mom taught it to me, and now I sing it to my kids.

We sing a lot of lullabies at my house trying to get my kids in bed.

Last night, I put all of my kids to bed and told them not to come out for anything less than the room burning down.

Saxon asked "So, if we think the house is burning down we can come out?"

"No, you have to actually see flames.  Good-night".  And I shut the door.

Five minutes later..."MOM!"

I peek in there "Bridger is pretty sure he saw flames..." 

Later, once Saxon and Dalton had been snuggled to sleep, I sat on my bed snuggling Bridger and singing "Hush little baby..."  They call it the "Knockingbird song" LOL.

After I sang every verse, and got to the end, Bridger said, "Thanks mom.  Now can you sing the Avengers Theme Song.  That's my favorite."

"Umm...I don't think I know the Avengers song?"

"Everyone knows it...Saxon knows it...Dad knows it...you don't even know it?"

"We could go watch it on TV so you can know it." 

Apparently I have some things to learn.

In the mean time, I sang "Hush little baby..." about a dozen more times.

What I Wore - to the Queen Bee

I had such a hard time trying to decide what to wear to the Queen Bee.

On Friday, I had to wear something practical because I was going to be loading up furniture and setting it up.  But it was also the blogging conference dinner and I knew everyone would look really cute, so I didn't want to look like I had been lugging furniture around all day.  I wore skinny jeans and a really fun gray top that I got from Nordstrom with my coral flats (of course I didn't get a picture...)

On Saturday, I was going to be there all day so I wanted to look nice, but I was going to be on my feet all day so I definitely didn't want to wear heels.  Plus, I was going to have to take down my booth that afternoon.

This is what I decided on:

Dress - Downeast $30

(It's a little pioneer-looking, but I liked it because it has sleeves and is long enough so I don't have to layer it.  It works all by itself so I couldn't resist!)

White belt - vintage

Shoes - fake Toms $15 Tilly's

Flower Clip - Love Stitched

However, Brittany's cute striped skirt is on my wish-list.

I loved it! 

(linking up to the Pleated Poppy)

Mango Chicken Tacos

This is one of my favorite go-to recipes when I know I'm not going to have a lot of time.

Crockpot Mango Chicken Tacos

Just put chicken breast in the crockpot in the morning and cover in mango salsa.

Let cook on low for 4 hours.

I use frozen chicken because it's faster, and then usually just leave it in the crockpot all day.  Fresh chicken cooks in about 3-4 hours on low.

After about 4 hours, take off the lid and shred the chicken.  I should just fall apart with a fork.  At this point I usually add more mango salsa because the slow-cooker can mute the flavors.

Then, add a scoop of sour cream 30 mintues before you are ready to serve.

I first tried this recipe at a friend's house and she used regular salsa.

It turned out amazing, I just love the mango salsa so that's what I use :)

I serve it with lettuce and olives and cheese and fresh cooked tortillas.

My kids love it because they get to build their own tacos.

This recipe is easy to change around to make it exactly how you want it.

For example, my grandma is allergic to wheat and dairy, so we don't add the sour cream or cheese, and we use corn tortillas instead.

When we make it for my brother and my sister-in-law, we use their homemade salsa from the garden.

I use this recipe so often that my kids don't even know what ground-beef tacos are :)

Queen Bee Weekend

I spent the weekend at the Queen Bee Market and loved every minute of it.

I was so nervous.

First, that I wouldn't sell anything.

And...that I would sell too much and run out.

Or that I would have wished that I had made more of a certain sign.

It's so hard to guess how these things are going to go...

However, it was a HUGE success.

I'm actually not sure how much I sold because it was central checkout.

And, every time it started looking empty, I would rearrange and then it would look full again.  So I'm not sure if I sold a lot or if it all just kept getting rearranged.

Either way, it was a BLAST.  It was together with SNAP the conference and I got to meet all of my favorite bloggers!  Luckily I had Brittany (Love Stitched) as my tour guide because she knows everyone.

I was really nervous about the set-up too.  I didn't really have anything that I could bring that would look cute, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money buying a display.  Luckily, my friend Andi (Handi Andi's Apron Shop) has everything and let me borrow her furniture!

Here's what I did:

I got some of those big construction spools (free) and painted them on the top and bottom.  Then I covered the middle section with a yard of fabric.  They looked like giant spools of ribbon.

Then I bought some of the $8 "grower's bunch" flowers at Costco and put them in Mason Jars.

My favorite new sign!  I finished it just in time.  It says"

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."  -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Luckily, Brittany and I had booths right next to each other.  Our decorating was similar so it flowed really well.

I finally got around to painting a shop sign!

What do you think?

The whole thing:

(this was at the end so it was looking a little more scattered than it had been)

The hutch/shelves were borrowed from Andi's kitchen.

The little bookcase was borrowed from Andi's living room.

The locker basket is borrowed from Andi also.

(Thank you Andi!!!)

The table is mine, but the vintage yellow curtains and vintage tablecloth are borrowed from Andi.  The racks on the side were borrowed from my husband's work.  We then covered them in burlap so they looked nicer and then hung the baskets back on them.

I covered the little bookcase in a burlap table runner that I borrowed from Brittany.

I should have taken a picture of every booth!  Everything looked amazing!  I bought an  awesome wall map from Earth Cookie that I can't wait to put on in my boys room :) 

This was really SO MUCH FUN!  I'm already hoping that it will happen again next year ;)

Queen Bee Market

Well, hello.  I almost couldn't publish this post because blogger got a "new look".

It's almost 2 a.m. right now and I'm too tired to figure out.

 

In 12 hours I will be on my way to set up my space at the Queen Bee Market.

So EXCITED.  So tired.  So nervous (all the bloggers from the conference will be there).

 

If you live in Utah, make sure to stop by.  I'll be there the whole time on Friday, and most of the day on Saturday as well.

 

Have a great weekend!

Final Countdown

It's the final countdown to the Queen Bee Market and I am getting sooooo stressed!

I thought I had more than enough signs...

then I saw how much stuff other people are bringing and it makes what I have look like nothing.  

But, if I don't sell many signs, I will have to just re-pack all of this stuff and drag it home.

Is it worse to have a ton of leftovers or to run out?

This is my to-do list still:

And I haven't even begun to think about how I'm going to decorate my space.

Like I said...sooooo stressed!

(But pretty excited too!)

It all starts on Friday night so if you live around here, stop by and say hi :)