Revolution of Love

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 9) (vol 89): A Day on the Farm

The 31 Day of Writing Challenge continues. It’s Day 9 of my 31 Days of Gratitude.

AND

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for {p, h, f, r}

 

Yesterday, John-Paul’s class went on a field trip to a local organic farm/ pumpkin patch. We had so much fun! Here are a few photos of the festivities.

{pretty}

The Farm is located in Salinas, CA.

They have great fresh, organic produce.

There were little nooks of loveliness tucked away everywhere.

We passed these fields of wildflowers while on the hay ride.

{happy}

John-Paul was happy to…

Walk through the fields and pick vegetables…

Pet chickens…

Go on a hay ride…

And pose for mama. Okay, maybe not that one so much. 😉

{funny}

The kids were cracking up that the goat was kicking it on the roof. They thought it was even funnier when he came down to see them.

{real}

Okay, do you want me to be real? I had so much fun with JP but I was not made for country life.

I hate livestock.

I hate animal smells.(Yet I had no problem with the kids’ potent diapers. Weird.)

I hate the flies that are buzzing around everywhere.

I love that there are people made for this kind of life and I will do my best to support them…

Including buying their amazingly fresh and delicious produce…

And spending money in their cute stores.

So I’m a city girl who like a touch of country life. So be it.

I do however, have an appreciation of all those who labor in love on their farms and for

the migrant workers that toil in the fields so I can put fresh produce on my family’s dinner table.

For all the hard workers of the harvest, I am most grateful.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.


Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 31) and 31 Days of Gratitude: Love of Fall and Pumpkin Donuts

AND

I love Fall and today was the first day that it felt like it. The fog cleared and the sun came out, yet there was still a little chill in the air. There are pumpkins everywhere and changing leaves and it makes me want to bake something that will make the house smell like cinnamon and nutmeg. So today is a mashup post! For my 31 Days of Gratitude Challenge I’m grateful for the season of Fall and for the RoL Pinterest Party I’m trying a new pumpkin recipe. 🙂

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For the Pinterest Party, join me as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

PLEASE NOTE: Because we are entering the busy season of Autumn and the holidays that follow, starting now, I will be doing the Pinterest Party only once a month. It will be every first Tuesday of the month and the link up will be open for 30 days, so there is plenty of time to join the fun! 🙂

* * * * *

You can find me on Pinterest here.

I saw this recipe for Chocolate Covered Pumpkin Donuts from My Whole Food Life.com and I knew I had to try them. I especially liked that these donuts are baked, made with whole wheat and have no processed sugar.

Normally, I change a recipe to my liking but for the donuts, I followed Melissa’s ingredients exactly. I think the next time I may use a touch less ginger and cloves.

Ingredients

For the donut:
1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (To make them gluten free, just sub GF all purpose flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg (I used a flax egg replacer)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

For the chocolate coating:
2 cups chocolate chips
3-4 T milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

Melissa’s Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a mini muffin tray.
In one bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
In another bowl mix pumpkin, maple syrup, applesauce, egg, milk and vanilla until smooth.
Add dry to wet and mix just until combined.
Spoon mixture into the mini muffin tins and bake for about 11 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
After the mini muffins have cooled start the chocolate coating.

Chocolate Coating
Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and the milk until you get a smooth chocolate sauce.
Roll the donuts into the chocolate sauce until it is covered.
Then place each covered donut onto a baking sheet or plate and put in the freezer for at least 10-15 min.
Store them in the fridge on a plate or baking sheet.

(Melissa has a lot of other delicious looking recipes that I want to try. Check out her blog at – http://mywholefoodlife.com/.

Now, when I made Melissa’s recipe, I didn’t have mini muffin tins. Instead I made one batch in my mini-donut pan and one batch in my regular donut pan. I also didn’t have a double boiler so instead I stuck a handful of chocolate chips in a bowl with a dash of milk and microwaved it for 30 seconds. I stirred it and added milk to make it the right consistency. It worked great.

The final verdict. When I tasted the donut plain, I wasn’t convinced since it seemed like it had too many spices and not enough sugar. However, after topping each with the chocolate, which added plenty of sweetness, I thought they tasted really good. The proof? I can’t show you a photo of the mini-donuts because the kids wiped out the batch. So there you go. 😉

What kind of things have you been creating lately?

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Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active until the end of the month. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram.  😉

PPS – This post contains affiliate links from Amazon.



Online Daybook/ Currently (10/6): 31 Days of Gratitude (Day 6) Edition

 AND

Outside my window…

Summers are grey and foggy but October is our hot month and it has been living up to tradition with 90 degree weather this week. Today it was in the high 70’s and normally that would be considered heat wave, but after the last few days’ heat, it felt heavenly!

 

Moments of gratitude…

This section counts as Day 6 of the series 31 Days of Gratitude. Today I am especially thankful for…

 

I was at the Mission earlier and I snapped this photo with my phone. It brought back memories of nearly 15 years ago when I was standing at that spot in my princess wedding dress waiting for the moment I was to take my dad’s arm and walk down the aisle. I still remember the big smile on Brian’s face as he watched me enter the church. It was like a dream.

Fast forward to the reality of today. Life is often loud and hectic with the kids and this past year has been a trial with the cross of Brian’s cancer.  (For an update on Brian’s health, see the On the Homefront section.) However, this whole situation has brought us closer together and right now things are really in sync between us and in our marriage. I know in some marriages the years draw couples apart but, by the grace of God, instead they have made us stronger and closer. Yesterday Brian came into the kitchen and stole a kiss from me. I couldn’t help but laugh and say, “After 15 years of marriage…” and he finished my sentence, “We’re still going strong, baby.” So yeah, today I am super grateful for one of the biggest blessings in my life – Brian.

 

Praying…

  • For Brian’s continued recovery from the side effects of his chemo.
  • For those fighting cancer or illness.
  • For those in troubled marriages.
  • For our single friends who feel called to the vocation of marriage and are looking for a holy spouse.
  • For those who are suffering physically, mentally and spiritually.
  • For pregnant moms, moms dealing with an unwanted pregnancy and for women trying to have a child.
  • For some special intentions.

 

On the homefront……

A couple of people have been asking how Brian is doing so here’s an update. He is doing well, considering. He finished his chemo in July but he is still dealing with the side effects, namely numbness in his hands and feet. Sometimes it is not too bad but other times he is in pain and he can’t button a shirt or his walk is unsteady. (There is medication he can take but the doctor told him that the side effects are often worse than the ailment.) Time will tell if these symptoms will fade or remain. It is still too early to know yet.

Except for that, he is doing well otherwise. His last scan was a month ago and all his organs and lymph nodes were clean. He has to go for more testing at the end of the month and if he passes that then he passed his 3 month waiting period and he can get the chemo port removed from his chest. We are praying that this cancer chapter is forever closed!

 

Pondering…

I’ve been pondering the how long I will be able to continue with the 31 Days of Gratitude challenge. I love the idea and the concept but I wonder when I will burn out and skip a day. I haven’t so far buuut I am not exactly known for sticking with one thing until it is complete. The only exception is when an idea gets “in my head.” In those cases I will not give up until I make it happen. But normally, I’m more of a jump around from one thing to another type of gal. I can still remember distinctly the conversation my mom had with me before I was married. She basically told me I better be serious about this marriage because I can’t get tired if it and move on to something else. It is for life. Don’t worry Mom, this isn’t in the fickle category. This is the “in my head” category and I’m determined to give it my all. 😉

 

In the kitchen…

Monday: Leftovers from Bella’s birthday party. (Pizza and salad bar)

Tuesday: BBQ chicken and broccoli slaw.

Wednesday: Enchilada casserole & salad.

Thursday: Breakfast dinner – scrambles eggs with leftover enchiladas.

Friday: Grilled Cheese and slow cooker lentil & kale soup

Saturday: Turkey burgers and Southwestern black bean and corn salad

Sunday: Dinner at Oma & Opa’s

 

Around the house…

I’s been so busy I haven’t really had much time to work on any cleaning projects. The good news is that we had five of Bella’s best friends over yesterday for her birthday party so my front room looks awesome. The bad news is that we threw all the junk into my bedroom and closed the door, so that room looks like a tornado hit it. Sigh. Such is my life.

 

Reading…

I haven’t been reading much since I usually read before bed but I am too tired and never get past a page or two. These two books have been sitting on my nightstand for way too long.

Danielle Bean’s book Momnipotent

The Giver by Lois Lowry

 

Listening to…

The soundtrack for the movie Chef. Perfect music while cooking in the kitchen!!

 

Watching…

At the movies – I haven’t been to as many movies this month, although, since I was averaging one movie every two years when the kids were much smaller, I am doing good! I saw Dolphin Tale 2 with Bella and her friends yesterday. It was a sweet, clean family fun movie. I also saw If I Stay, which was bittersweet. It was slow at moments but I still enjoyed it. Lastly, I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy again but took Brian this time for a date night. The movie rocked but being there with my love, priceless.

On TV – All the new shows are starting up! I’ve set the DVR to record many of them, although it takes us nearly the whole year to get to them. So far sitting in the queue are Masterpiece Miss Marple, Masterpiece The Paradise, Sleepy Hollow, Gotham, The Middle, Parenthood, Gracepoint, Cedar Cove and more. Who knows which ones we’ll get to and which ones we’ll just delete. What are your “must watch” shows this fall?

 

On the blog…

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct 7) is our monthly Pinterest Party. I baked pumpkin mini donuts tonight and I’ll share the recipe and results tomorrow. (UPDATE : The recipe is here.) 🙂

 

In the blogosphere…

My Bloglovin feed has over 300 entries so tonight I will be skimming over some and deleting many. I’ll come back and update you with which ones I starred.

 

Pinned…

Photo Credit – sugarbeecrafts.com

I love how Mandy used a backdrop for a close up shot. I’m using that idea! 🙂

 

Linking-Up with…

The new host of Currently – Joyful Life! 🙂

Have a blessed week!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post contains affiliate links.

 

 


Pinterest Party & Link-Up (vol 30): Greek Salad

Sorry for the delay in this post but better late than never! Starting in October, the RoL Pinterest Party will be held once a month on the first Tuesday of the month. Have fun!

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

PLEASE NOTE: Because we are entering the busy season of Autumn and the holidays that follow, starting in October, I will be doing the Pinterest Party only once a month. It will be every first Tuesday of the month and the link up will be open for 30 days, so there is plenty of time to join the fun! 🙂

* * * * *

You can find me on Pinterest here.

The pin for this post is here.

Years ago I found a recipe online for Greek salad. I have adapted the recipe since then and it has become my favorite salad dressing. A friend asked for the recipe so I thought I’d post it here. 🙂

Ingredients

For the dressing:

  • 1/3 cup of olive oil
  • 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

For the salad:

  • spring mix (or lettuce of choice)
  • red bell pepper
  • cucumber
  • red onion (thinly sliced)
  • kalamata olives
  • tomatoes
  • feta cheese

For the salad, quarter the cucumber and slice. Quarter the bell pepper and thinly slice. Take a small section of onion and thinly slice. Place in a large bowl with the lettuce, olives and tomato. Sprinkle with feta. Mix.

For the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, mustard and spices. When mixed, slowly add the red wine vinegar and whisk well. Pour overt the salad and mix well. Enjoy!

Note – A little dressing goes a long way. Better to under dress the salad and need to add more than to over dress and the salad puckers your lips. 😉 This recipe makes roughly 6 oz of dressing. Keep it stored in closed contained at room temperature for a few days. I store mine in a OXO Good Grips Salad Dressing Shaker.

These are great to store home dressings. It comes in the large ( 1.5 cups) or the small (1 cup). I use the small one for this dressing since I like to use it up within the week and make another fresh batch. It’s super easy and tastes great.

Since I am eating many salads these days and staying away from bottled dressing, I am always looking for healthier home versions. If you have a favorite dressing recipe, please share it in the comment box. I’d love to try it out!

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.


Save


Pinterest Party & Link-Up (vol 29): My Powersheets Vision Board

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

* * * * *

The inspiration for this post…

Photo Credit – Lara Casey Shop.com

You can find me on Pinterest here – http://www.pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/.

The pin for this post is here.

If you’ve been reading my last few posts, you know I have been working on Lara Casey’s Powersheets. They are basically a series of worksheets that help you to focus on what is most important to you in life and what you would like to accomplish. They gives you the tools you need to draw up a plan and follow through on making those things happen.There is nothing “magical” about Powersheets; the same way there is nothing “magical” about a StairMaster. Both can sit in the corner and gather dust. However, if you get off your butt and workout on either, transformation is inevitable. 🙂

This kind of set up is perfect for me because I am scattered and unorganized and always doing too many things at once and seemingly never accomplishing anything. The powersheets have helped me to focus on what matters most in my life. It has also motivated me to dig deeper and look into myself. One sheet had me listing my fears and it was a fear in itself to voice those things, let alone document them on paper. But it has been a productive process and I am already feeling at peace. Life is still crazy and hectic but at least I feel like I am making baby steps towards handling it better and bringing some much needed order into my life and our home.

One of my favorite steps in the process was putting together a Vision Board of the things that motivate me and fill me with joy. It was recommended that we make a Pinterest Board to add things that inspire us. I started one this week here. I also wanted to create my own board with photos I’ve taken that I could print off and hang up by my desk or in the kitchen. This is what it looks like.

The photos remind me of the things that inspire me – Faith, Love, Family, Home, Nature, and Creativity.

What kind of things inspire you? Do you have an inspirational board on Pinterest? Leave the link in the comments so I can check it out.  🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.