Toms + Zulily

Remember that website I shared a while back, Zulily?

Well they're having a sale on Tom's today and I know people go bananas over those things. For good reason, I just have boat feet so I don't dabble.

Anywho, I'm guessing they'll be sold out soon so hurry on over!

Bacteria and Meat. Awesome.

Yep. Just another reason to stop eating grocery store meat.

A recent study found that bacteria in the noses of livestock that are routinely fed antibiotics, you know, the livestock in your local grocery store chain, can be passed on to humans causing Staph and MRSA.

Read that last bit one more time.

MRSA currently kills more people in the US than HIV/AIDs.

Umm. For real?

That same bacteria was not found in the noses of animals raised without antibiotics. Meaning organic.

What does that tell you?

Read the full article here

Nasty.

Now listening: Kacey Musgraves

She's growing on me.

One Kings Lane

Super cute "country" sale going on over on One Kings Lane people.

And Gap has lots of cute new arrivals if your in the market for some summah clothes.

I might be dabbling in some online shopping this afternoon.

I should unsubscribe to these emails.

Zucchini

I bought too much zucchini at the farmers market this weekend. It was only $.75. How could I not buy three?

So before they all went bad I got creative.

First, muffins. They are really good but a tad dry. I cut five minutes off the baking time and it just wasn't enough. Maybe try baking them for 17 minutes? Don't tell Papa Bear they sucked. He still hasn't tried one.

Zucchini Muffins Recipe

For those of you who prefer to use oil over butter, be my guest (use 1 cup vegetable oil instead of the butter) but I have to tell you, I've made these both ways, and the butter version just tastes better.

Add to shopping list

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

METHOD

You don't need a mixer for this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, raisins or cranberries if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.

Note, if you are including walnuts and dried fruit, you will likely have more batter than is needed for 12 muffins. I got about 14 muffins from this batch, and that included filling the muffin cups up as far as they could possibly go (above the surface of the muffin tin).

Yield: Makes 12-14 muffins

I also made some roasted veggies on the grill. I used whole carrots (cut down the tops) and quartered squash and zucchini. Toss them in some olive oil, pepper and salt. Throw them on the grill until they're at the texture you prefer. When they're done, toss them again in a lemon/garlic vinaigrette. I used two cloves of minced garlic and probably three or so tablespoons of lemon. The King and I loved them.

Summer. Yum.

Redneckonize

The title of this post has nothing to do with anything. I just thought you should all be aware that it exists.

In other news, our bunnies were doing it like they do on the discovery channel this morning. Which means one of two things...they're gay or we're going to have BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping it's bunnies.

I'd totally be ok if they were gay too, it's just that bunnies would be preferred for obvious reasons.

Case of the Mondays

Anyone else feel like they need a vacation from vacation?

I might also need a serious detox. Whoa.

Hope everyone had a blast celebrating 'Merica. It's safe to say I'm going to be taking today nice and easy. 

Here's our crazy long weekend

We skipped out of work/daycare early on Wednesday. Best decision ever. See below.

Refreshing?

"Show me your teeth" face

I died.

We did a lot of coffee drinking on the front porch. Perfect.

First boat ride! (Yes, those were all buckled before we got going.)

Chillen.

This is what Papa Bear looks like in every picture because he doesn't like "selfies"...?

We went to the fair. The King ran around like a maniac.

Oh yeah, we got our hair cut.

We went to the farmers market. He eats all of the cream cheese and then the bagel.

We wanted salad for dinner so I went outside and cut lettuce from the garden. Wicked awesome.

Sleeping: Nanny, Grandpa, Papa Bear, The King and The Devil Dog (not pictured). I should have joined them.

Big boy is officially over the high chair. Boo.