My family loves breakfast. We will eat it not only in the morning, but we eat it for dinner too! Imagine my delight when I figured out this recipe. Makes the perfect afternoon snack for children, so it is not just for breakfast.

Check out my recipe for this breakfast pizza at Living Locurto.

I consider myself The Sandwich Queen. I will make anything into a sandwich. Imagine my delight when watching a cooking channel when I saw this bad boy of a burger made by the Hukilau Cafe. It was patty, it was thinly sliced teriyaki beef, it was onions. I knew as soon as I saw it, I had to make it.

Theirs of course, include a fried egg but my family, while usually very accomodating when it comes to my cooking experiments, said no. So I left that off. I must say this was one amazing burger.




I cooked a regular burger, grilled the buttered bun, added pepperjack cheese, some onions I sauteed in Teriyaki sauce and steak strips I marinated in teriyaki sauce. Man oh, man, so gooooooood.

Add sliced jalapeno for a little kick and how awesome would some sundried tomato be on this!??? I die.

I will be in the Austin, Texas area giving editorial children's photosessions. Check out my photography website for details.

Here in the South, it gets HOT. We love our slushies, our ice cream, and our popsicles. We absolutely love them.

Here are some popsicles I found on pinterest that caught my eye. Oh yes, will make. ASAP.

One summer when I was 14, my parents allowed me, my sisters and one of my best friend to spend a month away from home. We went down to Hattiesburg, Mississippi...my father's hometown and stayed with his cousin, an older woman with a son my age. We had spent each year as a family going there to visit for Spring Break and always had the best of times. When my parents asked if we wanted to spend a month there for summer, that was a sure no brainer. After all, my cousin, Eric, was so cool. He had introduced us to G.L.O.W. (Anyone remember Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling? Hilarious!) and his neighborhood was different from any I had seen. It was the first time I actually saw people living in shotgun houses or in houses that were falling apart. A big contrast from the life I was living at home where my dad made everything comfortable for us being that he was a thriving doctor. Life in Hattiesburg was different. Right smack dab in the middle of this bustling city that was larger than my hometown, houses were crumbling and people lived in them because it was all they had or could afford.

That summer was an eye opener for me, in more ways than one but what really stood out for me and what I remember most was going to the Summer Feeding Program. My cousin did not have a lot of money and even though my parents insisted she take money in order to help her out, she refused, saying she would make sure we were taken care of. That summer, we experienced what my cousin Eric and so many other children living in poverty experienced. Parents sending them to summer feeding programs in order to save what little food they did have and to make sure their children received a healthy hot meal.

So each morning, during the week, my cousin and us would all trek to a small school about a mile away and get breakfast. There were so many kids and teens there. At first I was nervous, scared, embarrassed but then I got to know the workers, the people, the kids and I started looking forward to going. Breakfast and lunch, we made sure we were there, along with a line of other children. I learned that some of these kids only had hotdogs with no bread to eat at home and the feeding program was the only place where they could choose chocolate milk or 'white' milk. This program was the only place where they were given a choice of sides, a fruit cup and juice. At home, they did not have these options. Maybe their parents could not afford it, maybe some of their parents did not care...no matter the circumstances, thanks to this program, these children were receiving a nice and healthy meal instead of going hungry.

Cities throughout the United States have places like this. No child should ever have to be hungry when there are resources that they can take advantage of. So I am making this post. You never know who you could be helping by taking the time to point them in the right direction.

While this may not apply to you, it may apply to someone else, or someone you know. The whyhunger.org website has printable flyers you can download and print to pass out. Pass this information along. Share it on your blogs or websites. Tweet it. Pin it. help spread the word that there are places where children can receive breakfast and lunch during the weekdays.

I am thankful for the experience that I got that summer. I saw first hand just how programs like this can help a community in need. It helped me to be more appreciative of what I do have and as a mother, what I am to give to my children.

Please share information about the summer feeding program. You just never know who you could be helping.

When you think of the South, you might think acres and acres of nothingness. You might think poverty...you might think the place where everyone goes when they want to retire into a an area full of hospitality and....of course great comfort food.

One thing that is synomous with the South, we sum up in two words:  Sweet Tea.  And when we say sweet tea, we don't mean the kind you gently place two sugar cubes in while it sits into a dainty china tea cup...no we mean, iced, sweet and sugary brown. The kind that you sip slow on a lazy afternoon or enjoy at a fancy restaurant.

When it comes to tea in the South, we are picky. Boy are we picky. It has to have the right balance of tea, water and of course sweetness. We like our tea freshly brewed and placed in the fridge until it is the right kind of cold...but guess what, when we don't make it ourselves, there are definite go to grocery stores we find ourselves at with a cart full of gallons of already chilled browned goodness.

Milo's Tea is the closest I have come across that equals the Southern goodness that is my mama's sun tea.



I remember growing up and having to bring in the glass covered jug of  'sun tea' so that my mom could sweeten it and get it chilled for supper. Sun brewed meaning, she did not boil or microwave, she placed the jug full of tea into a sunny spot to brew on it's own. Milo's tea reminds me of my mama. It reminds me of goodness. It reminds me of the South.

I got the awesome priviledge to try out some of Milo's brand spanking new products. Oh lawd, when I tell you heaven is their tea and lemonade blend....I mean it. I bought several of the gallon jugs home and why no...it did not make it to see the light of the next day. Gone. My kids, family and friends gulped it down in  one seemingly  simultaneous guzzle.

The next day, I decided to try something. I got a recipe from Milo's and thought, hey, this is perfect for these hot Mississippi summer days.

Sweet tea and Lemonade granitas.

I mean, who doesn't love a great slushy drink?

With the recipe being soooooooo easy, why not try it!? I made the sweet tea and lemonade blend and the lemonade.

You will need

Milo's Tea, Tea and Lemonade, or Lemonade



Fill a casserole dish with the drink of your choice. To be creative, add a bit of chopped fruit or mint leaves. Fill the dish fingernail deep.  Place into the freezer for 45 minutes or until it begins to freeze. Take a fork or spoon and stir the mixture. Freeze again for 45 minutes and stir again.



This method is helping create the snow cone/slush texture.



Who needs shaved ice? You can do this at home with out a machine!

And then...serve! Seriously, how easy and how deliciously cool and slushy is that?!