Adventures in Juicing!!

Due to some recent health issues of mine we've revisited the topic of juicing. It'll be good for weightloss, but also just an easy way to incorporate more fresh fruits & veggies. And avoiding added sugars and carbs. It's not going to be easy, since I love food...and junk food. But I'm really committed to getting better things in my system!

Yesterday we went to Bed Bath & Beyond, and using one of their awesome 20% off coupons we purchased a Breville juicer! We used it for the first time tonight... ah-maz-ing! First, that thing has power! Second, we have NEVER juiced before so we weren't really sure on fruit/veggie combos to make a yummy juice. It was SO simple!

Here's our first step into juicing:

CarAppEar Juice

• 4 carrots
• 1 large apple
• 1 pear

yield: 15oz of juice

It turned out so fantastic, my husband chugged most of it and I whipped up another batch right away! Our Pumpkin & Junebug even enjoyed a few sips =)

p52 | Week 4

For week 4, my Junebug's pre-K class (and whole school) is collecting donations and taking a field trip to the food pantry. We donated a few items we had lying around as extras: paper towels, tooth paste, canned foods.

Sorry it's blurry, she was CLEARLY excited to drop off our items, haha!

p52 | Week 3

I don't know if I should count this, because it's technically not so 'random' but I made dinner for a co-worker's family. He's been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia and pleurisy and it's been a rough few weeks for his family, especially since they have little ones. A few co-workers signed up for days to make meals for the family, so I jumped on the opportunity.

I made what has become my go-to make ahead meal for other families. (I've also given it to families with new babies.) I made cheesy chicken enchiladas, a recipe I found on Pinterest over a year ago. It's pretty easy and SUPER yummy. In fact, I made a double batch, so that my own family could have it for dinner the next night, too!

It's super easy to give as a meal paired with chips & salsa. I also threw in a cake for this family that I had picked up in the bakery when grocery shopping. =)

So, that's all. Nothing major but I think it's great to help out whenever you can!

p52 | Week 2

So for Week 2 we went a little more simple. I left a Baggie with change for a drink taped to the pop machine in the lounge at my work. I also put one of our RAK cards and a post-it that said "thirsty?"

This was kind of a funny one to explain to Junebug. When I said I was going to leave money for someone to get a drink if they didn't have their own money, she responded with "like the people with no houses?" (We just moved to a big city and have recently had to cover the topic of homeless people) So I explained some more and showed her the pictures I took. Still not sure if she 'gets it'... but I do! ;)

p52 | Week 1

Project 52: Week 1

As I posted previously, I was really excited to start this Project 52: 52 Random Acts of Kindness. I've been talking it up a lot with my Pumpkin (Junebug just stares at me and laughs...) and trying to explain to her why were doing this. At first she was confused,  thinking we were giving Christmas presents, but now she's starting to understand more and getting excited, too! She's even come up with a few ideas of her own for the Random Acts, which I think is just awesome.

For Week 1, it was a little last minute, but I'd planned it that way. I wanted the first one to be for the kids' teachers at their school/daycare. We didn't go back from break until the 7th so that's why it was the tail end of week 1.

I created this printable of cards. There are lots of free printables out there already, if you just do a search for 'project 52' or 'random acts of kindness', but I wanted to create an original =) and it's available for you to download, as well.

So, I cut up the cards and mixed up some goodies (Tastefully Simple's Blue Ribbon Blueberry Bars, yum!) and in the morning we delivered them to the kids' teachers. Pumpkin was so excited and spent the whole day asking each teacher she saw if they'd had a special snack from us! Week 1: success!