Mango Madness!

I was recently given some mangos and couldn't decide what to do with them all, so after googling a few recipes I decided to make Mango Freezer Jam (per my son's request), Mango Smoothies, and Mango Popsicles.
I must say everything was delish and now I need to get some more mangos because the kids are begging for more mango Popsicles.
For the my smoothie and for the Popsicles I used a recipe for Mango Lassi that I found on Allrecipes.com

Mango Lassi
2 mangos - peeled, seeded and diced
2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup ice
Directions
1.In a blender, combine mangos, yogurt, sugar and ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

If you have any great Mnago recipes, please share them with me. I am always looking for new things to try.

Ybor Farmers Market

Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the Ybor Farmers Market. My oldest son came with me, no one else wanted to go. That was probably for the best because I am sure I would have spent alot more money if the whole family was with me.


Robbie and I had a great time. We sampled tons off different foods; breads, cookies, cakes, jams, cupcakes and more. We ended up buying a DELICIOUS vanilla cupcake with a cookie dough filling, topped with a hazelnut frosting...YUM! I can't wait to try more of her cupcakes. forheavenscakedesign.com


We also purchased a couple of mini loaves of bread from "The happy baker'. Her specialty is banana bread, but I promise you can't go wrong with any of her bread! We brought her classic coconut bread and a lemon pound cake. And if you have a few extra minutes to chat, ask her how she became "the happy baker" it is a great story and I must say she was an absolute delight to talk with not to mention she has one of the pretty smiles around!! happybakernation.com


I wish I had taken pictures of all my goodies, but i didn't think of it until after we had devoured them!


The market had lots of different crafts and goodies for sale; jewelry, photography, scentsy, soaps lotions and more.


They even had Animal Services there with some of the most adorable dogs available for adoption. I came very close to adopting one of them. I actually went back to the farmers market with my hubby to get the dog but she was gone..I guess it was not meant to be.


http://www.ybormarket.com/

21st Annual Caladium Festival

For all you plant nerds out there,
this weekend August 26 & 27, 2011 is the Caladium Festival in Lake Placid.
http://www.lpfla.com/caladium.htm

Some of the things offered are
Bulbs & Plants For Sale
Arts & Crafts Booths
Food & Refreshments
Events & Entertainment
Area's Growing Grape Industry
Wine Display
Florida Friendly Landscape &
Ornamental Plants
Antique & Classic Car Show
Caladium Festival Art Competition
Caladium History
& Much More!

I am not able to make it so if any of you attend please let me know how it was and share some pictures!

Wonton Tacos (low fat)

I was recently looking for a low fat recipe for my hubby and I when I came across Wonton Tacos. I had never heard of it before but I figured we would give it a try. I must say they were fantastic and in my hubby's words, "these are freakin delicious"! The amazing thing is, not only are these yummy, they are low fat. So needless to say I will definitely be making these again.
FYI, I probably at least tripled the recipe to feed my family.

Ingredients:
8 small square wonton wrappers
4 oz. cooked skinless lean chicken breast, shredded
2 tbsp. BBQ sauce
3/4 cup dry coleslaw mix
2 tbsp. Low Fat Sesame Ginger dressing 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

To make the wonton shells, I Draped the wonton wrappers over some rolled tinfoil to make my shells. Bake for 3 - 4 minutes, until just crispy enough to hold their shape. Remove pan from the oven and set aside to cool.

Combine chicken with BBQ sauce in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Combine coleslaw mix, dressing, and cilantro. Mix well.Set aside.

Now you can make your taco. Get a wonton shell add a spoonful of your chicken and a spoonful of your coleslaw mixture and enjoy!


MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 4 wonton tacos
Calories: 191
Fat: 2g
Sodium: 605mg
Carbs: 25g
Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 7.5g
Protein: 17g

Sorry I forgot to take pictures.

Chicken Souvlaki

Many years ago I worked at a Greek restaurant, and everything was love at first bite! My love for Greek food started. One of my favorites is Chicken Souvlaki. I like to serve my Souvlaki with homemade Tzatziki sauce and pita bread. I don't remember the recipe from the restaurant, but I promise my recipe is just as yummy!

Souvlaki
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic-chopped
3 chicken breasts cut into chunks

Pour all ingredients into Ziploc back and marinate for at least a few hours. After chicken has marinated, put chicken on a skewer and grill until done.

Tzatziki Sauce
8oz plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp dill
3 clove chopped garlic
1 cucumber shredded and moisture squeezed out. If you don't squeeze the water out of the shredded cucumber the sauce will be runny.

Combine all the ingredients, mix and serve.

Homemade Slushie Magic

My kids have been begging me to buy Slushie Magic. Every time they see the commercial they go crazy and so do I (for a different reason, of course). I have no desire to spend $20 plus $10 s&h on a cup and some "magic" ice cubes. So I went on the Internet and googled homemade slushies. Most of the websites suggested the use of a blender, but i knew there had to be another way. I finally found a site that suggested to make it like you would homemade ice cream with ice and rock salt (I forgot to bookmark the site to give it credit, sorry).

Here is what you will need-

Juice, soda, or whatever you want to make into a slushie

ice

rock salt

gallon Ziploc baggies

sandwich Ziploc baggies

Take your juice and pour some into a sandwich baggie. ( I double bagged mine)

Now take a gallon size Ziploc baggie and pour ice cubes about 1/4 way. Pour in 1/3 cup of rock salt on top of the ice cubes. Next, place you fruit bag into the ice bag, seal shut and roll bag around for about 5 minutes or until your juice is a slushie.

That's it,super easy! My kids had a blast making these and instead of me being the cheap, mean mom that won't buy the magic slushie cup, I am the cool mom that comes up with fun things to do!!

Hillsborough River State Park

My Hubby and I had the pleasure of just the two of us going to Hillsborough State Park. I have to admit there was some guilt for not bringing the kids with us....but it was really nice aka quiet.
We bought our lunch with us so after a little hiking we sat down at one of the many picnic areas and ate our lunch. We then decided to go down to the out post and rent a canoe. . The canoe ride was beautiful! Even though we had the scorching sun beating down on us, we had the occasional gentle breeze that would help cool us off and make the outdoors more bearable.
During our 1 hour trip on the river we saw lots of turtles, a few birds and a few gators ranging in sizes of 6-10 feet. I have to tell you that I am terrified of alligators, so when we came across the first gator i was reluctant to try and get closer so that I could get a better picture of it; but I did. We quickly learned that this gator was camera shy. The closer we tried to get to it, the further it would swim away.
Overall we had a great time. If you love the outdoors I definitely think you would love this park. This park offers many hiking, and biking trails, swimming camping, fishing, canoe rental, kayak rental, and bike rentals. On the weekends they offer tours of Fort Foster. Please check their website for prices.
Don't forget your sunblock....I did....ouch!

Go here for more information http://www.floridastateparks.org/hillsboroughriver/

Farmageddon Movie

There is a movie called Farmageddon that is showing this Thursday in Tampa.


Watch the clip and let me know what you think. I know it is not for everyone, but I would like to go with an open mind and watch it. If anyone else wants to go, let me know. I would love to meet up with you all. Ticket are $10. The 7:30 show is sold out, but there is still some seats left at the 4:00 show.

Ringling Museum of Art

The Dwarf Garden

Walkway out side of the Museum of Art

Art

more Art

The mansion "Ca`d`Zan
you must see it in person, the architecture is fantastic

The Secret Garden
(not very secret, it's on the map)

one of the many very cool Banyan trees

Mable's Rose Garden

Mondays are free at the Ringling Museum of Art. They also have tours for the mansion- Ca`d`Zan and a Circus Museum but those are not free. One day I would love to take a tour of everything on the property but for now free is good for me! The kids and I were able to tour Mable’s Rose Garden, The Secret Garden, The Dwarf Garden, the huge Banyan trees and pretty much anything else outdoors. By the time we were nice and hot we decided to tour the Museum of Art. Besides the wonderful air conditioning, it really was amazing to see all the fantastic pieces of art the Ringling family had collected. They offer a free guided tour of the museum and I highly recommend it. The wealth of information they share with you about the Ringling family, their home, and the art; is fantastic. Did you know Mr. Ringling was making over a million dollars a month (tax free)??? That is equivalent to over 20 million today. He was one of the top 10 richest people in the world.
I won’t bore you with all the details of our little excursion, but I definitely recommend a trip there. You won’t be disappointed. Bring your camera, you’re going to want to take lots of pictures. I brought my camera but, my 14 yr old son used it the entire time. He is quite the shutter bug!

Oh, I have to share with you a few "feelings" that were expressed to me by my kids.

My 7 year old thought the paintings were creepy because the eyes follow you. My 12 and 14 yr old thought that was cool.

My 12yr old didn't like all the nudity, he thought is was gross. And my 14 yr old took great pleasure pointing it all out to him.... brotherly love.

For more information about the Ringling Mueseum go to http://www.ringling.org/