Girls Afternoon Out

Since the our husbands went golfing one afternoon together, Ashley and I decided we needed to have a sister outing too. We decided on Gloria's Little Italy.

I've always really liked it in the past. Our waitress was really nice, but completely spacey. I'm pretty sure she forgot we were there for a while. Steph and I ordered a sandwich to split that had pancetta on it. To our surprise instead of biting into a sandwich with a crunch, we encountered uncooked pancetta. I guess it is cured, but it's basically bacon. Imagine for a moment, thick, fatty slices of bacon ruining an otherwise scrumptious sandwich. Yeah, gross. When we asked the waitress about it she didn't know if that was typically and had to ask. When she returned she said that was how it was normally served, and left it at that. Later she came back and offered to replace the sandwich, we gladly accepted.

You can't go to Gloria's and skip on dessert. And if you are a Provo resident you should check it out Saturday nights after 7pm all their desserts are half price!

Chrissy and Steph. My dad used to call these two Vanilla and Chocolate when they were younger.

Ash. One of the cutest pregnant ladies ever (betcha couldn't even tell she's expecting).

After lunch we visited this cute boutique across from the Provo Library. It had some really cute stuff, and a bunch of darling purses. We picked out a hat for my Gram for a Mothers Day/60th wedding anniversary gift.

I had so much fun hanging out with my mom and sisters. They are the best! I am so blessed to have them in my life.

Five a Day is the Healthy Way

Am I the only one who remembers that little song from Elementary School? I generally have no problem getting Joe to eat a variety of fruit, but Joe is a terrible vegetable eater. He will eat raw carrots dipped in ranch. That's it. No other vegetables. I always put some of whatever we are having on his plate, but he won't touch it. I finally decided I need to do something about it.

First, I tried making brownies with spinach in them. While they weren't gross, they weren't good enough to share the recipe. They tasted like bittersweet chocolate, and had a funky aftertaste. Joe did eat one though, so they weren't a complete failure.

Tonight, we had Sweet Potato Pancakes. Recipe found HERE.

sweet-potato pancakes

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup store-bought pancake mix (I just used 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp baking powder and 1 Tbsp sugar)
• 1 small pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 small sweet potato, boiled, peeled, and mashed (about 1 1/2 cups, I had to use three small potatoes to get this much)

They were a total winner. They turn out very moist (moist, I don't like that word - just say it out loud and tell me you don't agree). Joe ate three pancakes. The recipe makes about twelve. That means he ate 6 Tablespoons of sweet potatoes. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's .37 c. I call that success.

One other way I've successfully persuaded Joe to consume veggies:

These are great. There is one combined serving of fruits and veggies in each box. They also have 1/3 less sugar than regular fruit juice. Which I think is the fancy way of saying they've watered it down for you a little bit. I don't buy these often, but when I do, Joe loves it.

"Fruits and vegetables, they're okay! Five a day is the healthy way."

Delish!

So my birthday was last week and I discovered a new recipe that I love. These lemon cakes were light and delicious. I am definitely going to make them again. I don't think Zach really wanted to let me make my own birthday treat, but I convinced him that that's what I wanted, so he caved. Oh, and I just used strawberries, because that's what we had, and they are in season right now so they are cheaper.