Chia Seeds!

I recently learned about Chia Seeds. There are many different benefits of eating Chia Seeds.

Top 5 Reason Why I Tried Them Today:
1. Chia seeds contain more antioxidants than blueberries.
2. They add healthy omega-3 oil into your diet.
3. Feel more energized all day long.
4. Chia seeds reduce food cravings.

5. By just asking 2 tables spooks of Chia Seeds to your daily diet you will get 7 grams of fiber, 4 grams of fiber, 205 milligrams of calcium, and 5 grams of omega-3!

My new favorite blog today had a post about Chia Seed Pudding. I decided to try it. So easy, very tasty, and good for you!

3/4 Chia Seeds

2 Cups Vanilla Almond Milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup finly chopped coconut

Mix all together, let sit for 5 minutes. The Chia Seeds will thicken up/gel into a pudding consistency. It had a similar consistency of tapioca pudding.
It was actually very good! Casey was not a fan. He said he liked the flavor, however could not get past the texture. Lets hope Colton likes them. However I'm not sure he needs any extra energy throughout the day.

DIY- Painting with Colton

C3 can not wait till the weather cools down. We have had over 36 days in a row over 100 degrees. During the heat of the weekend we had a paint project inside to keep cool. Colton was very happy to paint Dinosaur Dan!
The finished product!

Colton is very proud of his dinosaur!

Gilcrease Museum- Tulsa, OK

C3 went to the Gilcrease Museum today. OK we didn't actually go into the museum, we just explored the grounds outside. When Colton is a bit older we will have to visit the inside of the museum. Today we had a picnic, walked the gardens, and walked the nature trails.

We used the self timer to take our family picture. I figured it was time to update my blog picture with a current picture with all 3 of us.
Entrance to the museum and grounds.

Colton throwing rocks into the pond.

Colton and Daddy posing for a picture.

Colton picked me a flower, so i put it in my hair. He then asked me to put his flower in his hair!

Exploring the grounds was a lot of fun. It was nice to be in the shade and the temp was only in the high 90's. We have had so many days over 100 degrees, so anything under 100 degrees feels like a cool front.

Tahini Honey Oatmeal Cookies

With the left over Tahini (ground up sesame seeds) I decided to make Tahini Cookies. I looked on allrecipes.com and could not find one that I liked. I looked in my pantry and came up with my own recipe. They passed the husband test. So I decided to share with all! Enjoy! Preheat Oven to 375 Degrees

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C Flour

1 t Baking Soda

1 t Salt

1 C (2 sticks) softened Butter

3/4 C Granulated Sugar

3/4 C Brown Sugar

2 Large Eggs

1/2 C Tahini

1/4 C Honey

1 C Coconut

3/4 C Sliced Almonds

1 T Cinnamon

Makes 30 cookies.

1. Mix together Flour, Baking Soda, & Salt.

2. In a separate bowl mix together softened butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, tahini, honey, & cinnamon.
3. Once creamy add the eggs and mix well.
4. Now add the dry mixture a bit at a time to the dry mixture and mix well.

5. Add oatmeal, coconut & almonds. Mix well.

6. Spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (don't mind my beat up cookie sheet)

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.

8. Enjoy!

I actually submitted my recipe to Allrecipie.com. My first time submitting a recipe! Very exciting. You can check it out here. I hope you like them!

Tahini is not a spice!

We have become a Hummus family. We like it for a snack with carrots, pita chips, or celery. We even use as a spread on deli sandwiches, instead of Mayo and Mustard.

Hummus can be expensive so I decided I was going to make it. I picked this recipe for my first try. One of the ingredients is Tahini. I could not find this any were. I went to store after store looking in the spice row. A few weeks went by and I revisited the grocery stores in case they were just out before. No luck.

Well today I finally asked. Tahini is not a spice! Its ground sesame seeds in a paste/liquid form.

So I was finally able to make Hummus!

This was a good recipe, however next time I will use less salt, drain all of the liquid from the garbanzo beans and use 1/2 of the olive oil. Or I may try a different recipe all together.
Either way Hummus is super easy to make, as long as you can find the correct ingredients.

Even Colton loves it !

Tahini!

DIY Clay Bracelets

I found a new blog that I am in love with! Check out Delighted Momma! She has some of the coolest DIY projects. My favorite was her polymer clay braided bracelets! You can check out her post here. I have never used polymer clay before, but it was so easy! Don't be surprised if everyone gets one of these for Christmas! I'm taking orders now. What colors does everyone want? I have included directions on how to make these bad boys. Roll three pieces of polymer clay. Mash one of the ends together. Braid them together.
Once you have braided it, cut the ends off.

Using your own wrist as a guide, or a bracelet that fits you. Mash the two cut ends together at a length that works for you.

Bake in the oven according to your polymer's clay directions. They are all times a bit differently depending on what brand you buy.

The finished product!
I made a few for the girls at work. I had to represent the yellow and brown!

Aren't they cool?

Delighted Momma is also giving away Jamberry Nail Shields. They look very cool. I'm mentioning it on my blog to try and win a set!

Check those out too!

Colton's Kodak Moments!

Every chance Colton gets he uses our camera! He loves taking pictures! I think for his 4th birthday we will need to get him his own "fisher price" camera. He has actually taken some pretty good pictures. Please see below. I don't think Casey actually reads my blog, so he will not know i posted the picture above ;)

He has taken hundreds of pictures of Thomas, good think for digital cameras!

He asked for the camera specifically to take a picture of the cookies that he "helped" me make.

So artistic!

Jenks, OK

This weekend C3 took a drive to Jenks, OK (Just south of Tulsa). We were there a few months ago to see a movie and saw this great fountain. We had our fingers crossed that the water was running. Not only was the water running, we had the place to our self! Colton had a blast playing in the water.

View of the Arkansas River!

Colton had the camera for a bit. He is quite the photographer!

After playing in the fountain and singing and dancing on the stage we had to check out the waterfall and tunnel.

We had a nice time at Jenks Riverwalk Crossing!

10 minutes into the car ride home and he was out! So sweet!