One Organic Matcha Review

I was so excited when the great folks at One Organic contacted me about trying some of their Superfood products for free. All I had to do is give my honest review in exchange for free products...um that's a no brainier. 

They sent me a package containing a full size bag of their Organic Matcha powder and a full size pack of their Organic Seaweed Premium Sushi Nori (which I plan to review very soon also). Having recently became a daily green tea drinker, I was super excited about trying the matcha first!!

First, for those of you who don't know what Matcha is, let me give you a little course in matcha-ness (yes I just coined that word).

Matcha is is finely milled green tea. It gained its origins in Japanese tea ceremonies. The Japanese tea ceremony focuses on the preparation, serving, and drinking of matcha. Nowdays, matcha has come to be used to flavorand dye foods such as mochi, noodles, ice creams, and confections. Matcha became popular stateside when cafes like Starbucks started introducing drinks like iced green tea and green tea lattes. 

And now that you know everything I know about matcha...

I decided to try this first as just a warm cup of matcha. I started by adding 1/2 tsp of matcha powder to 4 oz of hot (but not quite boiling) water.  

Matcha doesn't completely dissolve in water but it does suspend itself so I stirred it really well.  I knew that I had stirred it enough when it looked like something that the Hulk wouldn't mind drinking. 

I added 4 more in of hot water to it to make a delicious warm cup of matcha. 

Then the thought hit me...I could make a glass of cold matcha since I like cold green tea so much. So I dumped my freshly made warm matcha in my favorite reusable mug. 

Then I filled the cup up the rest of the way with cold water. This is definitely my preferred way of drinking matcha!  I am looking forward to trying some of the culinary applications of this match since it's so yummy to drink...I may even make some matcha ice cream this summer.  Yum!  You can get some for yourself to try here.

Starting the blog thing....again...

So here I sit, as I did many months ago.  Finally having decided to blog again.  To give others a little glimpse into our world.  I can't promise it will be excessively often.  I can't promise that I'll always be talking about something you want to hear.  But I can promise to be genuine in everything I post.  I look forward to the time we'll be sharing together in the coming weeks, months, and hopefully years.  Bon aventure!!

My kids went to school today...but not like you think.

Today began a long coming journey for our household.  Due to a variety of reasons (probably its own blog post coming soon), my children have left public school.  Adam and I made the decision several months ago that after the Christmas break, the kids would begin homeschooling.  I had been wondering for so long why, after getting let go from Neal at the end of last school year, I just couldn't find a job.  It wasn't for lack of trying.  I literally applied for HUNDREDS of jobs...to no avail.  I was pretty down and prayed desperately for God to show me if I was even supposed to have a job.  He answered.....in a way that none of us were expecting.  As the school year began, it became clearer and clearer what God's direction would lead to for "my" spare time.  In actuality, He wanted to redeem that time for my children's education and my family's growth.  I had been so involved in what I wanted during my summer job search, that I was blindsided by what He wanted for us.  Blindsided in a good way though.  The decision to homeschool was a God-led family decision that we look forward to.  We look forward to having our little ones with us every day.  We look forward to being able to teach them the Bible unashamedly and how it applies to our lives in EVERY way.  We look forward to raising Godly little people who learn to look at the world with His eyes...instead of cookie cutter "tolerant" eyes.

2nd Grade Christmas Play

Last night was the 2nd Grade Christmas Play at W.S. Neal Elementary.  Here's our copy of the video.  It may or may not be a little biased to our little boy and a sweet little girl from church :)
Enjoy!!

Finding Deals

It's been a while since I've posted, but this morning I came across a deal too good to pass up :)
Right now, Living Social has a deal for $12 for an Enjoy the City coupon book.  In their local areas, they have one for Pensacola (the closest to me) plus lots of other areas across the country.  This coupon book has lots of GREAT coupons for the area including 4 $5 off of $30 Winn Dixie coupons that can be used at Publix!!  Amazing!!  This book pays for itself with the Winn Dixie coupons itself!  Check it out here.

Here's a sample of the sample coupon book :)

And don't forget to go through Ebates through this link to get 4% Cash Back!!

If you're not already an Ebates member, sign up here :)