Best Breakfast Ever

Fruit & Nut Yogurt Parfait

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup cut strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 oz pecans, chopped
Stevia, to taste

Mix strawberries and blueberries, add stevia to taste.  Measure yogurt into bowl, top with fruit and nuts.  Enjoy!

Patio Garden

I thought it would be fun to try a few container plants this year.

I've wanted a lavender plant for a few years now, so I could dry the lavender and make little sachets.  So I got this lavender plant.  I really need to read up on them, I'm not sure if it's doing very well or not.

The lavender plant led to the tomato plant and other herbs.  Oregano, basil, cilantro, and Rosemary.  I'm willing to bet they need to be replanted in their own containers.  Again, I need to read.

We enjoyed our first tomato with dinner Friday night.  There is just nothing like homegrown tomatoes!  Yum

Nut Butter

I LOVE these little jars!

Cashew Walnut Butter

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup raw walnuts
3 tbs coconut oil*
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

Place nuts in food processor and begin to process.  Once the nuts are pretty fine, add the salt and oil, continue to process.  I started with just 2 tbs oil, but wanted it a little creamier, so added one more.  Adjust oil and salt to your taste.  I stopped and scraped the sides several times to make sure it all got good and mixed together.

I'm not really sure how to store it so I will probably keep it in the frig.  I know the coconut oil will solidify making it hard to spread, but I've also heard the raw cashews can turn rancid pretty quickly.  I'd rather have it and hard spread than not have it at all.  I will probably heat it a little if I really want to spread it.  "Where there's a will there a way," huh?!

*next time I will try a little less oil and process more.  I think it might get creamier without so much oil if I process it a little longer.

Peppermint Sugar Scrub

Aren't those little half pint jars too cute?!

2/3 cup sugar
6 tbs coconut oil
4-10 drops essential oil

I measured out (regular) sugar in a small bowl and added the coconut oil.  Mixed a little bit.  I put about 5 drops of peppermint oil in and mixed it up really well.  Peppermint oil, if used in excess, can be a skin irritant, so I only added enough to give it a little bit of fragrance.  I probably would have chosen a different essential oil, but peppermint is all I had a the time.


Seriously, it only took me about 5 minutes to get everything out, take it to my shower where it is waiting for me, and come back and clean up.      


I was inspired by this blog post here; I originally saw it on Pinterest.  See Pinterest is good for something!  I just saved myself a little money by whipping up my own body scrub.  

Wildflowers

Brown-eyed Susans

My favorite things to look for while camping are wildflowers.  I knew the Brown-eyed Susan, and Queen Anne's Lace, but I'd never seen the Meadow Pink or Prairie Spiderwort before.

Queen Anne's Lace

Meadow Pink

Prairie Spiderwort

Spring Camping

Lots of nature lovin' going on this past weekend.   We stayed two nights at Cooper Lake State Park - South Sulphur Unit.  We stayed in campsite 85 in the Deer Haven area; and you guessed it, we actually saw a couple of deer our last morning at camp.  

We chose campsite 85, because of this big beautiful oak tree.  Rick actually had the stuff to hang a swing in it.

I enjoyed lots of butterflies and watching the many, many moths fluttering around that big tree.  Of course they don't cooperate that well for my camera.

We also enjoyed cardinals and blue jays, two of my favorites.  Not a fave, but ran over a rat snake on the park road.  We've never seen a spider like this one.  It had a fake look to it, except that is was moving, very black and shiny, and it had pincers that were just about as long as it's legs.







It was hot and muggy most of the time, which of course we expected, so the a/c on the new trailer got used a lot.  And with the new trailer came some extra amenities, which of course comes with extra responsibilities.......