Iron Man Popsicles

In my town, people bring over food all the time. When I first moved here, they did it because I was pregnant with my 7th child. They kept doing it after he was born, because they figured I was overwhelmed (and for the most part were right), then continued to do it when I became pregnant with the twins, then really stepped it up after I delivered the twins, then kept it up when I got pregnant with number ten, and are still continuing it because I now have a newborn.

It's awesome!

So a couple of days ago, one of these wonderful souls brought over a huge bowl of cut-up mixed fruit. We ate a lot of it for dinner, then some for lunch the next day, and then, because I didn't want it to go bad, I decided to dump the remainder into the Vita-Mix, watermelon seeds and all, and make Popsicles out of it. And because I wanted to add even more nutrients to the mixed fruit, I added flax seeds and sesame seeds. I love sesame seeds because they have tons of iron, which is so important for me, a breastfeeding mom.

When the kids came home that day and asked what kind of Popsicles I had made, I declared that I had made "Iron Man Popsicles". The 10-year-old boy replied...

"So you mean if I eat these, I'm going to become Iron Man?"

"Yes, 10-year-old boy", I answered. "You are."

"Good, because I've been drawing up some plans for an Iron Man suit that I'm going to make when I get old enough for welding class," he said, and proceeded to unfold a worn piece of paper detailing his drafts, both front and back...

Hopefully eating lots of Iron Man Popsicles will help him accomplish his dream of actually becoming Iron Man. Enjoy...

Ingredients

* 4 tablespoons flax seeds
* 1 cup water
* 5 cups mixed fruit
* ½ cup honey or agave nectar
* 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions

1. In a blender, mix flax seeds and water until smooth.

2. Add fruit and blend until smooth.

3. Add sesame seeds and blend until just mixed in, but seeds are still whole.

4. Pour into molds and freeze for at least six hours. To remove pops, leave them out at room temperature for a few minutes or run the molds under cool water for a few seconds.

Direct recipe link: http://keyingredient.com/recipes/327942/

Black Bean and Green Chili Salad

I didn't feel like going to the store for groceries today, so the 15-year-old girl and I scrounged through my mother's kitchen cabinets and came up with this dinner...

The strawberry preparation is simple. Just wash well, and remove the greens...

The asparagus preparation is simple as well. Just wash asparagus and saute in butter, then add salt...

Just make sure your brother doesn't eat half of them before they are served...

To make the salad, round up the following ingredients...

6 cups of spring greens
15 oz can of black beans (about 2 cups)
1 small can of chopped green chili (about 1/2 cups)
1 cup of cubed gouda cheese
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Ranch dressing (for an awesome homemade recipe from an amazing lady, go HERE)
Flax seeds

Toss first five ingredients...

...then serve with dressing and sprinkle on flax seeds...

...and if you're really lucky, you'll be having a good hair day when you serve this. This is a rare occurrence, so I am sharing, and this is the best shot I could get...

Thanks for listening.