Mother's Day Watermelon Sangria

Enjoy a special Treat Just for Mom this Sunday on Mom's special Day, Mother's Day ! 

"Fresh watermelon sangria is like summertime in a glass. Just blend watermelon into a juice, and pour over fresh fruit along with white wine, vodka, and orange liquor."

INGREDIENTS:

12 cups cubed watermelon, divided 1 (750 milliliter) bottle dry white wine 1 cup vodka 1/2 cup triple sec

1/2 cup simple syrup 1 medium lime, quartered 1 orange, cut into wedges 1 cup fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Place 9 cups of watermelon cubes in a blender; blend on high until very smooth. Strain juice through a mesh strainer into a large pitcher. Pour the wine, vodka, triple sec, and simple syrup into the pitcher. Stir to combine. Mix the remaining 3 cups of watermelon cubes, the lime quarters, orange sections, and blueberries into the sangria. Chill for 4 hours before serving. Source: Allrecipes.com

All Natural Haroset

My husband may this recipe a few years ago as his version on Haroset and I love it.  It is so delicious I could eat it all year round, but he only makes it for me during passover.  So I learned the recipe and now I can make it myself.  Just like everything else I cook, it is super easy. 

Start with your ingredients. Apples, dates and figs are the staple, then I added raisins, walnuts, almond slivers, and sunflower seeds.  Really any nuts/seeds combo works. 

Step 1: 

Dice up all your ingredients and throw them in a bowl or container 

Step 2: 

Add Spices: 

2 small dashes of cayenne pepper

Cover ingredients with cinnamon 

a few dashes of Ginger Powder

a few dashes of salt

Step 3: 

Coat with honey and put in about a 1/4 cup of red wine, any open bottle will do :) 

Step 4: 

Place lid on container and shake it up 

Let the Haroset sit over night and it is ready to eat. 

ENJOY!! 

Got an easy recipe that you love and want to share, 

please email them to abbie@strollersessions.com.

If you make what we post, tell us about it!  

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~Abbie

Creamy Avocado, Artichoke & Kale Dip

CREAMY AVOCADO, ARTICHOKE & KALE DIP

 

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

Recipe type: Appetizer, Dip

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped curly kale
• ½ tablespoon olive oil
• 1 14-ounce can whole artichoke hearts, drained
• 2 small avocados
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 16 oz of sour cream 
• 1 pack of Vegetable Soup Mix
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• black pepper, to taste

Serving Ideas

• tortilla chips
• pita chips
• rice crackers
• sliced vegetables

Instructions

1. Add the kale and olive oil to a skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the kale until it wilts and becomes tender, stirring occasionally (5-6 minutes). Transfer the kale to a cutting board and chop into small pieces. Let cool.
2. While the kale is cooking, quarter the artichoke hearts.
3. Transfer the avocado, kale, and artichoke hearts to a bowl and gently mix together with a spoon while adding sour cream and dry vegetable soup mix.
4. Transfer the dip to a serving dish. Serve alongside tortilla chips, pita chips, rice crackers, or sliced vegetables.
5. This dip is best enjoyed fresh, but will keep for 1-2 days in the refrigerator. Store leftovers in an airtight container with a layer of plastic wrap pressed up against the dip to prevent browning.

Source:  Blissful Basil

#MMHM How to Start a Vegetable Garden!

This weeks #MMHM comes from Real Estate by Katie Kincade! With the weather starting to warm up and the kids wanting to play outside, what better way to keep them busy is with a project, a healthy one at that! A vegetable garden is a lot fun to grow and you get to grow your own vegetables! Check out the link below to learn how to get started! 

Starting a vegetable garden can be both exciting and intimidating, particularly if you’ve never attempted to grow your own food before. Anyone can grow vegetables, however, even if they have just a small amount of yard or balcony space. Getting started is quite simple.

How to Start a Vegetable Garden (Santy Gibson/Demand Media)

Choose a Sunny Location

The most important aspect of starting a vegetable garden is selecting the best possible location for it. The general rule of thumb is that a vegetable garden must be in a location that receives a minimum of six full hours of direct sunlight each day. In reality, that rule is adjustable based on your growing geography and the types of vegetables you plan to have in your garden. Leafy greens, for instance, can grow in filtered sunlight or light shade. Plants that produce actual fruit, however, require bright light. Full sunlight is recommended, but bright reflected light works as well.

Geography is important because sunlight is stronger in some locations of the country than in others. Six full hours of sunlight in Arizona in July can kill many vegetable plants yet be barely strong enough for plants to produce fruit in an area where the sunlight is weaker, such as Michigan.

(Santy Gibson/Demand Media)

Purchase Supplies

The basic supplies needed to start your vegetable garden include seeds and/or starter plants. Compost is recommended because it helps a garden get the best start possible, and it may negate the need for plant food, or fertilizer, during the growing season.

Purchasing vegetable seeds is the most economical way to begin, but some vegetables take a very long time to produce when grown from seeds. Many varieties of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum ), for instance, need five months of growth before their fruit can be harvested. If your location's growing season does not last very long, then purchase starter seedlings instead of seeds.

(Santy Gibson/Demand Media)

Prepare the Area

In the United States, most vegetables are grown during the warm summer months. That means you do not need to prepare your planting area until all danger of frost has passed and the ground is not too frozen or wet to be worked.

A vegetable garden site can be prepared in one of several ways, and opinions vary about which way is the best. Two popular methods are double digging and creating a raised bed. Double digging a garden area involves a lot of upfront, physical labor while creating a raised bed can be as simple as laying several inches of compost. Both methods have the same goal, however: Create a garden bed that has loose, fertile soil that is free of weeds, rock and other debris.

In order to accomplish that with the double-digging method, dig at least two shovelfuls deep into the ground, and mix fertilizer and compost with the soil as you proceed. If you want to use the raised-bed method instead, then spread at least a 6-inch-deep layer of a soil and compost mixture on top of the ground where you want the vegetable garden to grow. Creating border walls around the garden bed by using rocks, logs or boards keeps the site neat and contained.

(Santy Gibson/Demand Media)

Plant Seeds and Starters

Small vegetable gardens are often planted in squares so that everything in them is easily accessible from around the squares' edges. Large gardens are planted in rows to make their planting and ongoing maintenance efficient. Choose your layout method, and mark the squares or rows with string and stakes.

For row planting, put your seeds or starter seedlings into the soil at the recommended spacing distance noted on the seed packets or plant care tags. If you’d like to plant in squares, add the plant spacing and row spacing amounts, and then divide the result by two. For example, leaf lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa) are planted 6 inches apart in rows that are 18 inches apart, and so they can be planted 12 inches from each other in a square layout.

Gently water the newly planted soil to ensure it packs firmly around the seeds or starter seedlings.

(Santy Gibson/Demand Media)

Provide Ongoing Care

A vegetable garden thrives with ongoing care, which usually consists of adding water and removing weeds.

Water your garden once each week if it has not received any rain. Press your finger 1 inch into the soil to determine whether or not it needs water. When the top 1 inch of soil is dry, that is an indicator that it needs water. Add enough water to moisten the soil to at least a 6-inch depth.. By ensuring that the moisture goes 6 inches deep or farther, you’ll encourage stronger root growth from your plants.

Remove weeds from your vegetable garden so that they do not take water and nutrients from the soil that your vegetables need.

Some kinds of vegetables may need additional fertilizer part way through the growing period. Because these needs vary greatly, refer to specific instructions for your plants.

(Santy Gibson/Demand Media)

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_110539_start-vegetable-garden.html

Eggs in Purgatory

Another Snow Day? Looks like that may be our fate tomorrow...again. Here is a super easy, yummy, and healthy recipe that will feed the whole family. This is a go to recipe for me, especially when I want something quick. Chances are, you already have everything you need on hand.

This recipe is easily adaptable for any size family. I go with 2 eggs per person for adults and one per child and just adjust the size of the skillet I use accordingly. I have adapted this recipe throughout the years to our liking, but get creative, you can add almost anything to this!

Serve with some great quality crusty bread and enjoy!

Eggs in Purgatory

This recipe will serve 1

      1 tablespoon olive oil

      1/4 of an onion, chopped

      1 clove garlic chopped

      1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

      1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

      1 x 14 oz can crushed tomatoes

      1 tablespoon tomato paste

      1/8 cup red wine

      ½ teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)

     1-2 large egg

     1 tablespoon chopped basil

     2 teaspoons grated Parmesan (or more as needed)

     1 splash of chili oil or hot sauce  (optional to serve)

    2 slices white bread (or other bread of your choice to serve

1. Pour the olive oil into a frying pan or cast iron skillet, then grate in (or mince and add) the garlic and the chopped onion, scatter in the chili flakes and Italian seasoning and put the pan over a medium heat, stirring, for 2 minutes.
2. Once the onions and garlic are fragrant add in the tomato paste and stir for 1 minute, then deglaze with red wine. If you don't want to use red wine you can skip all together.
3. Add in tomatoes, basil, salt, and let it come to a bubble. It’s got to be hot enough to poach an egg in.
4. Crack in the egg (or eggs) leaving them sitting right on top, cover with foil leaving one area open so everything doesn't steam. Let it bubble for 5 minutes, by which time the white should be set and the yolk still runny, let cook longer if you like a hard yolk.
5. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, fresh basil or parsley, chili oil or a dash of hot sauce, and serve

Apple Pie Energy Bites

Whether you need a quick breakfast, a pre-workout meal, or an easy snack, sometimes you just need something that’s sweet, healthy, and satisfying, all in one.

That’s where these apple pie energy bites come in. The oats, apple, and honey will give you energy, and the almond butter and protein powder will help you stay full for more than two minutes.

Plus, they’re easy to make and since you can store them in a freezer, are ready to go whenever you need a quick bite!

Here’s your Apple Pie Energy Bite recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal
1 scoop cinnamon or vanilla protein powder
1 small apple, diced really small
1/4 cup unsweetened almond butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Total prep time: 20 minutes

Directions:

Dice your apple up really small (just pretend you’re chopping an onion), then mix the apple along with the other ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

Make sure to stir everything together really well—the last thing you want is to take a bite of dry oatmeal (or worse, a giant clump of cinnamon or nutmeg) when you’re eating one of these.

If the mixture isn’t sticking together quite right, just add a little more almond butter or honey until it’s sticky enough you can mold it into small 1-2″ balls.

Place the energy bites on parchment paper and stick them in the freezer, wait 30-60 minutes, and eat! You can also put them in the fridge instead and eat them fresh after chilling them for an hour or so, but I like them best frozen.

Macros (per 1/9 recipe):

Calories: 107
Protein: 5.3g
Carbohydrates: 13g
Fat: 4.2g
Fiber: 2g

Source: 12MinuteAthlete

Get Fit For Spring: 30 days for $47

 It is not too late to Get Fit for Spring!  Get back on track with unlimited Stroller Sessions and Tribe Flow Yoga in March for ONLY $47.  Space is limited so ACT NOW to Get Started.  Either email abbie@strollersessions.com to reserve your space or Click Here to sign up online. The $47 is good for 30 days when you sign up during the month of March.

Stroller Sessions is the Premier Moms Fitness Group that meets every Tuesday and Friday starting at 9:30am inside the Kaiserman JCC  located at 45 Haverford Ave, Wynnewood. During our sessions we offer a 45 minute kick butt interval workout.  Kids of all ages welcomed; Strollers are optional.

With your monthly unlimited you receive the following:

• 8 Strollers Sessions (two days a week)
• 4 Tribe Flow Yoga sessions on Sundays @ 9:00am at Fit Tribe in Havertown (no kids) ( 4 – 60 minute Sessions a month)

Sign me up!  I am ready to get started.