Maple Mocha, The Green Goblin, & School Lunches

Good Morning! 

It's good to be back, but boy am I tired.  Yard sales are too much work, and this one kicked all of our butts!  I was so tired, in fact, that after the sale was over I laid down on the couch to take a nap.  I couldn't rest too long though, because we still had to do our grocery shopping...an hour there, hour back, and it was already evening.  

So, I got up and began making myself a Maple Mocha (recipe to follow). I was going through the motions, and then I heard the Keurig brewing, but something sounded not quite right.  I looked over, and...no cup.   That's right, I was brewing my coffee into nothing!  Awesome, huh?  That's a first for me, and a fine example of how tired I was!  

MAPLE MOCHA

This drink is inspired by Lisa's, over at 100 Days of Real Food. 

A Maple Mocha is coffee, dark chocolate, milk, & maple syrup. To make mine, I brew a strong cup of Newman's Own organic coffee in the Keurig.  I heat about 3/4 cup of Hartzler's whole milk on the stove top, add 1/2 of a dark chocolate baking square (SQUARE, not bar!), a couple TBSP of pure maple syrup, and the organic coffee that I brewed.  I have a small whip that I got from Pampered Chef, and I just love it...so, whip constantly until heated through.  I then pour all of this deliciousness into my Tervis mug, that I also love!  :)  This is a treat for me, and I only have one a week.  Give it try!  

**I tried using the cocoa powder like Lisa does, but it always gave it a powdery taste that I didn't care for.  The baking chocolate is perfect, though.  It comes out nice and smooth every time! 

Lunches...oh, lunches.  I'm so glad that the school year is nearly over!  The kids are slowly destroying their lunch supplies, but I'm not buying more when school is nearly out, so we are dealing with it.  

Now for those lunch pics I promised...

A thermos of Bob's Red Mill 13 Bean Soup, organic Seven Stars Farms Maple yogurt w/ a drizzle of honey & homemade organic granola to mix in, organic tortilla strips, and organic orange slices.  

**All of these baggies don't sit very well with my zero waste efforts, but with the loss of a few lunch containers, it's the best I can do right now.  I do wash these, dry them completely, and reuse them.**

A thermos of organic ziti w/organic sauce, a slice of Great Harvest Cheddar Garlic bread, and an organic apple.  

**It may not look like much, but the thermos holds 15.5 ozs.**

A thermos of 13 bean soup, cheese cubes, a packet of organic carrot sticks & organic peanut butter, & lightly steamed organic broccoli.

We are clearing out everything around here, so we have found a lot of junk.  I have this awful habit of hanging onto things that I would like to use "some day", but then I put them somewhere (never to be thought of again), and don't use them.  Well, last night I found packets of powdered dye from a tie dye kit.  I wasn't the only one that found them, though!

I'm calling him the Green Goblin. :) It's actually much darker than the picture is!  It is all down his chest, and both hands are dyed green.  Thankfully, his teeth are white, again!  Oh, the joys of motherhood...and I really do mean that.  :)  After our initial shock, we all got a good laugh out of this one! 

Have a great day!

:)