More Simple Pleasures

Oranges are in season, and we have been picking in our neighbor's grove. The juice is fabulous. B likes to help squeeze the orange juice from the fruit. The boys have always liked to squeeze the juice in years past, but maybe they figure it's time to turn it over to their sister now. I am so glad for fresh juice, vs. frozen that we buy in the grocery store. And with cold and flu season upon us, it's perfect timing!


We have also been enjoying this cute little guy. We picked him up when we were in GA earlier this month. He fits right in among our other moose hanging around the place. We have bags of shelled nuts in the freezer, which we eat from almost daily. But it's more fun for Mom to crack the nuts for the kids! It's even more fun to have to pick up the pieces that go flying around the room as they are cracked (kidding!) It's not so fun to step on a piece of nutshell that got missed on the floor. Picture bare feet since it's hot in FL.

Homemade bread is always a simple pleasure. I have found a pretty tasty gluten-free version that we like. It cooks up nice and tall and is very moist (at least for the first day!) I have made it before, but for some reason I could not get it out of the pan this time! No, I didn't forget to grease the pan. It was well oiled. Lest you think I am a perfect cook and baker, I will share this photo with you. We still ate it right up but our sandwiches were quite misshapen! This photo does NOT very clearly display the gaping hole in it's bottom, but it was huge.

And in our quest to incorporate more fresh produce into our diet, I have been asking the kids what kind of veges they want to see more of on the dinner table. My kids can't be normal! They have to like something expensive like fresh asparagus. I used to buy it so infrequently that I can only think of a couple times it ever graced our table. But now, with trying to enjoy more simple pleasures, it's been on the menu several times in the last month or two. Good thing I like it too! I am also glad to have found a fresh produce store in E which has much better prices than Publix.