The Easy Way & A New Shake

I've been back on my shake routine for a little over a week now, and I've been looking for more convenience. My spinach doesn't really hold up for very long, and I'm not a fan of going to the grocery store more than once a week. So, I decided to make spinach cubes & keep them in the freezer.

Not only does this keep the spinach from going bad before I'm able to use it all up, but it also saves a lot of time in the morning.

If you have a full size blender, I would definitely suggest using that when making the cubes.

All you need is

1/2 cup 2% milk

1 bag of spinach

Ice cube trays or a mini cupcake tin

 Pour all of the milk in the blender & fill the rest with spinach. If you're using a full size blender, I would suggest still adding just a handful of spinach at a time so you don't over work the blades. It's basically going to look like spinach milk. There is no thickness to this whatsoever.

Once it has blended down, add more spinach & blend again.

 Disclaimer: This process may not work as well if you don't have a super cute helper. ;)

 If you're using a mini blender, you will have to dump some of the liquid before you can continue with the rest of the bag. I had to do this twice. But the steps are pretty simple. Just keep about half full of liquid, half full of  spinach until you're done with the entire bag.

 Then pour it neatly into ice trays or a mini cupcake tin. If you don't use ice trays, you need to lightly spray the surface of the cupcake tin with nonstick spray.

 Pop them in the freezer over night & they will be ready to go in the morning!

I use 3 cubes in each shake. This process, for me, made 8 days worth of cubes.

When you pop these out of the molds, store them in a freezer bag to take up less room.

And as promised, a new shake recipe.

Here's the old one, in case you missed it.

I got tired of bananas.

I tried a few other fruits, but none that were blog worthy.

This, though. This is heavenly.

I can see myself drinking this for a very long time.

1/4 cup Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt
[use vanilla greek yogurt for a creamier shake]
1 tbsp peanut butter
8 oz 2% milk
1 tsp honey
dash of cinnamon
3-4 spinach cubes
4-6 ice cubes

Put all ingredients into blender & blend until frothy.
Milk & honey? I told you it was heavenly. Just try it. Don't be scared of the spinach.
If you're worried that this won't hold you over until lunch, don't be.
It will, unless you're doing a lot of activity.

What is your go to shake recipe? Even though I love, love, love this one, I'm constantly looking for new ideas!

Alphabet Board

I have always been a very hands on learner.

I can't just hear something and remember it.

I have to hear it, see it, write it down, read it over & over.

I'm only guessing that Adelei may be the same way.

Regardless, I decided that, to aid in her learning, I wanted to make her an Alphabet Board.

Start out with a piece of 20x30 foam core. You can use poster board if you prefer, I just wanted something that was a little more sturdy & would stand up against my rambunctious toddler.

I bought these die cut letters from the dollar tree, but they also sell them at Walmart.

All you have to do is line up your letters, add a little glue, & ta da! 

Note: I used yellow & blue instead of black & white so this can also be used when I'm teaching her colors!

If you're worried about the letters coming off, you can put a coating of Mod Podge over the top. I skipped that step, though.

This is a very simple project that will act as a visual reference and help enhance the learning process.  The whole project cost about $3 & took less than an hour. I know that we are going to get a lot of use out of it over the coming weeks!

With an alphabet board, you can:

Sing the alphabet while pointing to the letters

Have your little one trace the letters with their finger

Get your little one to point to the letters as you call them out

What kind of learning aids have you created for your little learner?