Walnuts!

A neighbor gave us some walnuts. We had an interesting experience with walnuts last year. You can read about it here and here. Anyway, we've learned our lesson and they are sitting down in our basement unhusked, where we will wait till they dry out to unhusk them (with gloves on of course). The other mistake we made last year was leaving them in boxes instead of spreading them flat. Several of them were moldy after being left in the boxes and unedible. So here's where they are now:And we still have lots of tomatoes - we've been eating lots of fresh tomato sauces lately. Here's a picture of them (sorry it's blurry):
Getting the walnuts reminded us that we want to plant an edible nut tree of some kind (any ideas?) and a few more fruit trees as well - probably a golden delicious apple, another pear (of some sort) and a peach or two. We have a deer problem where we live so we're thinking it will be better to plant them next spring - if we plant now the deer will probably eat them all winter, like they did the ones we planted 2 years ago. They are still alive - but 2 are in pretty bad shape (the peach and pear). The other peach was tall enough that the dear couldn't reach the upper branches - we've just kept it nice and tall (and we'll probably regret it!) but at least it keeps the dear from chomping it.

It's getting colder, winter's coming- - - I'm not much of a winter gal. I think the thing I love most about winter is that you get to dream of spring... :)

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Gourmet Chicken Noodle Soup

I've been fighting a cold the last few days - it wants to be there, but I'm not letting it. Brandon has been taking good care of me. He made me drink a red raspberry tea yesterday - it was disgusting - I really don't like the stuff, but it really helped. He had me take some vitamin C and garlic capsules yesterday - the garlic is good for killing infection. And today I woke up and he had put the ingredients for chicken noodle soup in the crock pot. We had it for dinner and oh my - it was delicious! I have to share with you this recipe because I don't think there is anything more delicious in the whole world (okay perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but this is really really good!). Here's the story of the recipe:

Right after I had J.B several ladies in our neighborhood brought us dinner. One lady brought us turkey soup and another one brought chicken noodle. They were both delicious and I asked both of them for their recipes. Well we combined the two recipes and modified them a bit (most of the new ingredients were discovered by Brandon of course) and came up with our current recipe. And not to brag or anything, but this really is gourmet! The pumpkin puree is a secret ingredient that makes this soup a heart-warming comfort food. As I was eating it tonight I wondered if I had step into heaven for a few minutes. :) And I don't have any evidence or anything but it really does help to eat chicken soup when you're sick! Enjoy!

Gourmet Chicken Soup
Printable Recipe

*Note: The secret ingredient in this recipe is the pureed squash. You can cook and puree any winter squash the same way I've demonstrated here with pumpkin or you can use canned pumpkin.

*Serves 6-8

6 Cups water

3 tsp. instant chicken bouillon

1 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp. onion salt

Parsley (as much as desired)

1 tsp. pepper

2-3 chicken breasts (boneless or not), leg quarters or leftover turkey meat

1-2 Cups chopped onions

2 Cups diced carrots

2 Cups diced celery

2 Cups cooked, pureed Hubbard Squash (or other winter squash - pumpkin, butternut, banana, etc) 

Egg Noodles or cooked rice (we like the wide or narrow egg noodles of the Country Pasta brand or you can make your own)

2 Cans Cream of Chicken or Mushroom Soup (or thicken it with ultra jel)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients except the egg noodles and cream soups in a crock pot and cook for 5-6 hours or until chicken is soft. Then remove chicken carefully, discard bones, and chop meat. Return chopped chicken to pot and add 2 cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup (or one of each) or alternately thicken with ultra gel. Cook egg noodles (we like the wide egg noodles of the Country Pasta brand or you can make your own). You can add rice instead of the egg noodles or eat it without. Add noodles to the soup and season with salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: This recipe is delicious served with fresh, homemade bread!

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

Update: You can also try this recipe in the pressure cooker!

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Homemade Microwave Popcorn

I found this cool way of making microwave popcorn. Here's the instructions and it really works!

Put 1/4 C. popcorn kernels in a small paper lunch bag, add butter or oil and salt if desired (or you can just do this after). Roll the top once and staple in the middle - and no the staple doesn't spark! Microwave for 2-3 minutes or until popping slows down. Open bag carefully! Enjoy!!

This is a lot cheaper than store microwave popcorn and the taste is wonderful! Plus you can just add as much or as little butter and salt as you wish! Cool, huh?!?!

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Squash Pie

We opened up our first hubbard squash - it was kind of soft and squishy on the outside so we knew it wouldn't last very long in the basement. I cooked up a couple of squash pies with it today. Mmmmh. I wish there were some way to capture the smell of hubbard squash pie to share with you on this blog. There is nothing quite like it. To me it smells like the Fall harvest - the warm cozy smell of home in the fall. I hope to cook up several more this fall just for the smell. I'm sure that once I taste them that I'll want to cook up several more for the taste as well! YUM!! My recipe comes from a wonderful neighbor friend who taught me to make pie crust. And I am forever indebted to her. I still haven't mastered it like she has, but I'm a lot better than I used to be. I've tried to change the recipe to put whole grains in and make it healthier, but still haven't come up with a recipe that can compare to this one. So indulge yourselves and celebrate the harvest with a little white flour! :)

Pie Crust
Ingredients:
1 C. all-purpose white flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 C. ice water
1/2 C. shortening

Mix together flour and salt and place 1/4 cup of this mix in a cup and set aside.

Add 1/2 C. shortening (or butter-flavored shortening) to the remaining flour and cut into small balls with 2 knives or a pastry cutter. Do not handle this with your hands until the very last because the heat from your hands will make the dough tough.

Add the ice water to the mix you set aside and mix it to make a paste. Add this past to the flour and crisco and cut in well.

Flour your breadboard or counter and rolling pin. Form dough into a ball and place on floured cutting board or counter. Tuck the ends under to make a smooth ball. Roll out into a circle. Fold in half and place into your pie pan. Let edges hang over about 1". Cut off the excess dough. Tuck half of the edges under to make neat edges. Pinch to make the edges stand up. Makes 1 pie crust.

Squash Pie Filling

2 C. Squash or Pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 12-oz. can milk (or 1-1/2 cups)
1 9-inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Mix all ingredients well. Pour into a 9" uncooked pie shell. Bake 425 F for 15 mins, then 350 F for 45 mins. Insert knife between center and side. If it comes out clean it is done. Serve cold garnished with whipped cream if desired.

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Whole-Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These smell and taste like fall! I got the basic recipe here, but adapted it to be whole-grain. They are actually pretty healthy! And very soft. When they are warm, they melt in your mouth.

Whole-Grain Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2-1/2 cups whole-grain wonder flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips, or any chip you like

Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper (or omit parchment).

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart. You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a scoop. Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes. Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar. The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

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The Harvest is in!

Well, the frost came. We all knew it inevitably would, but I think I still wasn't completely prepared for it. I still had hopes that the summer would last a little longer... We spent Wednesday night gathering in the harvest and it was wonderful. Here's our final harvest pictures of the year. Don't you just love the colors? Winter squash are so beautiful.The green tomatoes are down in our basement waiting for ripening. The squash are still on our counters - I read that you are supposed to leave them at room temperature for a few weeks to "cure" before you put them in the basement for the winter. We store them in cardboard boxes and will eat them all winter long. Last year we ate our last squash in May! :) I'm looking for some good recipes for green tomatoes (the smaller ones never ripen very nicely) so if you know of any, let me know!

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Catch up time

It's kind of funny that during the busy harvest season - when I have so many wonderful things to post about on this blog, I have the least amount of time! I can't believe it's been a whole month!

Here's the latest harvest picture (taken a few days ago):


I got my cuisinart electric pressure cooker and last week I made this wonderful dish from Chef Brad. We made the Chicken version and we loved it! It was so good! I highly recommend it!

You can buy the cuisnart on sale now until the end of the year at Chef Brad's website for $109 (regularly $149)! And you will get his pressure cooker cookbook for free! This would be a great Christmas present!!

I canned pears for the first time this year - 42 quarts of them. I love to eat pears, but I decided I really don't like to can them. Oh well. Hopefully it'll be worth it this winter when we eat delicious bottles of canned pears! I have some pictures of those, but I can't find them so I'll have to add them here later.

We're waiting for the frost to come - it could any time now. We'll check the weather every day and the day before we'll scurry out to the garden and pick most everything in sight before the plants freeze (we'll leave the cold-friendly stuff). Then we'll do a large harvest picture that I'll post on here. We usually let the green tomatoes ripen indoors and then use them for the next few months. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Happy Harvest to you all! :)

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Dinner Cooked By Chef Brad

A few weeks ago my uncle, Chef Brad was in town and cooked us dinner. You haven't lived until you've had dinner cooked by Chef Brad! He is amazing. Anyway, here's the recipe he cooked. You can find it and lots more on his website (he's just updated and improved it and it's wonderful). One of the greatest things about this recipe is how fast and simple it is to make. We watched him make it and it was amazing how fast he made it in the Cuisinart Pressure Cooker. That performance was all it took to convince Brandon and guess what he is giving me for our eighth-year wedding anniversary present? That's right! A Cuisinart! It should arrive tomorrow or Monday. I'm excited. If you plan on buying one, buy it Here and Chef Brad will include his pressure cooker cookbook! By the way, you can make this recipe without the pressure cooker, but in the pressure cooker it's faster, better flavor and better for you! Enjoy!

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Foraging for Fruit

We don't have any mature fruit trees right now - we planted two peaches and a pear a few years ago, but they are not ready to bear fruit yet. We did leave one peach on one of the trees and we picked it a few weeks ago - it was really good. We are excited for a few more years when we'll get more off of it.

We love fruit and our kids love fruit so this time of year we try to forage for fruit that we can pick that people in our neighborhood aren't using. You'd be amazed at how much fruit goes to waste this time of year and most people are more than willing to let you take it off their hands if you just ask!

We've been busy canning applesauce this week and last. Some neighbors have an apple tree that is just spilling apples all over the side walk. C was walking by and wanted to pick one so we had him knock on the door and ask if he could. The lady said we could pick as many as we wanted - she doesn't use them very much. So we took her up on the idea and have been picking bags and bags of them to make into applesauce. It has been fun - the kids love to go pick the apples - we bring a bucket for C to stand on and J usually just picks them off the ground - lol. It makes me want my own apple tree too - so maybe this fall we'll plant one! :)

This is the busiest time of year for me with all of the canning! Still to come this week and next will be peaches (we usually buy them), pears (provided by another kind neighbor), salsa and tomatoes (that's right -they are finally coming on strong!). I may dry some of the apples as well - we love dried apples! Anyway, happy harvest to you all.

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Too good to be true!

Doesn't this picture just make your mouth water? This is a crenshaw melon that we picked from our garden on Saturday. It was delicious - mouthwatering delicious. I'm hoping there's another one out there right now. :) This thing was huge! The biggest one that we've grown yet.

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Black Bean Corn Salsa

This is such a great recipe, it is so fresh and yummy. We've tried it with banana peppers (and more of them) instead of the jalepeno. This is really good with freshly picked corn (just cut it off the cob) - yum!. Enjoy.

Black Bean Corn Salsa

Printable Recipe

*Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Black beans, drained (1 14.5-oz. can)
½ Cup sliced green onions
1 Cup chopped fresh tomatoes (*see Note)
2 Cups whole kernel corn, drained
½-1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. chopped jalapeno peppers
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with corn chips.

*Note: Fresh tomatoes are best but if you don't have them, you can use 1 cup diced tomatoes (canned)

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Latest Garden Update

Here's the latest pictures from our garden (taken a few days ago):

Here's the corn patch:
And here's a picture of the other side - you can see the squash peeking through the vines:And here's some of the squash & melons that we are really looking forward to:

Hubbard
Sunshine
Butternut (I'm not sure why this one split open like it did)
Pumpkin -disappointingly small :(Crenshaw Melon

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One Day's Harvest

Here's a picture that represents one day of picking from our garden (what made it inside the house anyway - some get eaten right after it's picked :).


As you can see, our tomatoes haven't come on in full abundance yet, but we've been getting lots of yummy corn. I picked the last of our first planting today. Our second planting will be ready in a week or two. I could have picked four times this much chard - we have it coming out our ears right now! As you can see, no zucchini today or yellow squash. They've been a huge disappointment. We've got tons more carrots ready to pick too, we just picked enough for a couple of days. Anyway, pretty good for one day huh? We pick about every other day and we usually fill up a large bowl full of vegetables each time. Mmmmh! I love this time of year! I can't wait for the cantaloupe and crenshaw!!

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Delicious Tilapia Scampi

We picked our first garden fresh tomato today! It was beautiful. With great self-control and sacrifice I let my four-year-old have it. :) He loved it. The corn is "as high as an elephant's eye." Well maybe not quite, but it's taller than me! It will be ripe in a few days here I hope! We are looking forward to it with great anticipation. We planted our second crop of peas a few weeks ago and the plants are just starting to pop up. We are getting cucumbers, a few peppers, beans, a few summer squash, carrots and plenty of chard. Too much actually. We can't keep on top of it. I froze a bunch of it today just so it wouldn't get too big. I'll blend it up and put it in sauces or other dishes. Speaking of dishes, here's another wonderful summer dish for you. Fish is great for summer because it's light and tasty! Enjoy.

Baked Tilapia (or Shrimp) Scampi

Printable Recipe

*Serves 3-4

*One of our favorite ways to eat  veggies!

INGREDIENTS:

5 tilapia filets (or 1 lb. small cooked shrimp)

1-2 Cups chopped up fresh vegetables (bell pepper, banana peppers, yellow summer squash, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, or your choice!)

1/2 Cup butter, melted (or olive oil)

Garlic salt

Lemon Pepper seasoning

Parsley (fresh, chopped or dried)

DIRECTIONS:

Place Tilapia and vegetables in 9x13 baking dish. Pour melted butter on top. Sprinkle with seasonings as desired. Bake 375 F for 30-45 mins or until fish and vegetables are tender. Serve over rice with a side of fruit salad. Mmm....delicious!

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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The Taste of Summer

I don't know about you, but I love to eat light foods in the summer. We love to grow a garden and eat the vegetables from it all summer long. Our garden is just starting to produce the summer vegetables. We've had a few summer squash and zucchini, a couple of cucumbers, some beans and plenty of fresh chard. Usually the chard is the hardest to stay on top of in the summer. When it's not regularly picked, it grows large and tastes rather bitter. I know a lot of people love fresh chard cooked with butter and salt on it. We actually prefer it raw and we use it exclusively in our salads in the summer (when the spinach and leaf lettuce has gone to seed). The nice thing about swiss chard is that it will produce even in the heat of summer. It's a great vegetable to grow and very healthy! As long as it's kept young and tender chard is a great substitute for spinach in salad recipes. Here's a delicious recipe with chard that I adapted from this recipe I found.

Spinach or Chard Rice Salad

1/2 cup Italian salad dressing (I used half of a package of dry Italian dressing and the ingredients to make it)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 large green bell pepper*

4 green onions, thinly sliced

2 cups thinly sliced fresh spinach

5 bacon strips, cooked crisp and crumbled (optional - I didn't use)

*This recipe would also be very good with other vegetables. A few ideas are: sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, celery or olives.

We had this for dinner tonight with crescent rolls and fruit salad. Yum! The taste of summer really doesn't get much better than that! Here's the crescent roll recipe I adapted it from this blog recipe - these were AMAZING! Mine didn't poof up as much as hers probably because I got impatient and didn't let them rise quite as long, but they were still really really good.

Crescent Rolls
(makes 2 cookie sheets, 48 rolls, 24 on each pan)

4 T. yeast
½ c. + 2 T. warm Water
6 eggs
1 c. oil
1 c. sugar
2 c. warm milk (not scalding)
2 T. salt
4 C. of wonder flour
4 Tbsp. of Gluten flour

Mix together in large bosch mixer (I halved this recipe for my compact Bosch) and add:

6-7 c. white flour a cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl

Continue to mix/knead for 5 minutes on med-high speed. Allow to raise 2-3 hours.

Separate dough into 6 even balls. Roll out each ball until the size of a dinner plate on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 8 pizza wedge slices. With each wedge, roll down ward wrapping bottom skinny bottom piece down and around to make pretty crescent shape. Place 3 rolls across and 8 down, 24 on each cookie sheet.

Allow to double in size while covered with clean dish towel (about 15 minutes). While raising on top of oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake one sheet at a time. Bake 6 minutes on bottom rack and then 5 minutes on middle shelf until light golden brown. (Before you take them out, double check the bottom to make sure they are golden brown, not too light they could be doughy). Once they are perfectly golden brown, brush tops with melted butter once removed.

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Baked Ziti (Out of this World!!)

This recipe is definitely going on our family's list of favorites. I adapted it from a recipe on the back of a hunt's spaghetti sauce can. It is so delicious. To use a phrase from Mary Poppins, "Practically perfect in every way!" I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours did!

Baked Ziti

1/2 lb. Italian Sausage (it has to be Italian flavored - it makes a HUGE difference)
1/4 C. TVP (textured vegetable protein) soaked in water for 10 min and drained*
1/2 -1 C. Chopped vegetables of your choice (yellow squash, zucchini, etc.), optional
3 C. Spaghetti Sauce (I used a 26 oz. can of Hunts chunky vegetable sauce since I was in too big of a hurry to make my own)
1 Alfredo Sauce Seasoning package and ingredients for the sauce (or use 1 C. prepared Alfredo sauce)
1 C. Pureed Hubbard or Pumpkin Squash
16 oz. Pkg. Ziti or Penne
3 C. Mozzarella Cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 425 F. Brown Sausage. Meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions (until just barely done) and drain. Add TVP to sausage. Then add chopped vegetables and cook until tender. Turn off heat and add spaghetti sauce, alfredo sauce, pureed squash and 1/2 the mozzarella cheese. Dump noodles into 9x13" dish and pour sauce mixture over and mix together. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake 10 min.

*As a variation, you can use a cup or two of your favorite cooked grain (brown rice, quinoa, etc.)

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Awesome Yellow Squash Muffins

We made these wonderful squash muffins with some squash that our neighbors gave us. I LOVE THIS RECIPE!! They are sooo good. And they are whole-grain! I like them even better when they've cooled down, but Brandon prefers them hot out of the oven. The only problem with this recipe is that you have to heat up the oven in the middle of the summer, but believe me, it's worth it! We doubled this recipe for the muffins we made today.

Yellow Squash Muffins

Printable Recipe

*Makes 1 dozen muffins

*Note: You can use ¼ Cup applesauce in place of half of the butter in this recipe if you want to cut the fat. They are still good, but you will notice a difference.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound yellow summer squash, cut up
½ Cup butter, melted
1 egg
1-½ Cup wonder flour
½ Cup sugar or honey
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium saucepan, bring the cut up yellow squash to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the squash and puree in blender. Add the butter, honey (if using) and egg to blender and mix for a few seconds.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, sugar (if using), baking powder, and salt. Stir in the squash mixture. Fill greased muffin cups ¾ full and bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

*These muffins can be frozen and reheated.

Recipe Source: adapted from Friend Magazine

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Freezer Bag Meals

Hurray! It's camping and hiking season! I found a great site last summer for some freezer bag recipes that you can make before at home that are quick and tasty while you're backpacking or camping. This site is really informative and has lots of recipes that are pretty tasty! Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!!

http://www.trailcooking.com/

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Cottage-Fried Potatoes

We had breakfast for dinner last night and yum - it was good! A friend of mine shared this recipe with me so I'm going to pass it on. It's not really breakfast, but it went really good with pancakes since I didn't have hash browns. It's not the healthiest of recipes, but it's a lot better than french fries and it satisfies that french fry craving. 

Cottage-Fried Potatoes

Printable Recipe

*Note: For this recipe we usually leave the peels on the potatoes, but you can peel them if you’d like!

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium sized potatoes, chopped in small pieces (about 2 cups)

3 medium sized onions, chopped in small pieces (about 2 cups)

1 large turnip, chopped in small pieces (optional)

2-3 Tbsp. canola or olive oil

Salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium high heat. Add potatoes, onions, and turnips to the pan and cook. With a spatula, turn potato/turnip/onion mixture every few minutes to ensure that they don’t burn to the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking until potatoes are soft and slightly crispy and onions are caramelized. It usually takes about 30-40 minutes, depending on how done you like it. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately or reheat later.

*We like to eat this dish for dinner as part of “Breakfast for dinner night” or as a side to hamburgers or sliders.

Recipe Source: adapted from nosurf.blogspot.com

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Changing Tastes

I've learned that are bodies are amazing in so many ways. One of those amazing things about our bodies is our taste buds. Our tastes naturally adapt to the foods we are used to eating. When we change our diet to try to eat healthier, it can be really hard at first. Sometimes healthy food might actually taste "healthy" for a while. But it's amazing how quickly our bodies can adapt. Our tastes can change and before too long healthy food tastes delicious and we lose some of that desire for unhealthy food. Our body starts to crave food that is good for it instead of the alternative.

In the last 18 months or so our family has really been trying to eat healthy food. We haven't cut out all of the unhealthy, but we have cooked more meals from scratch using whole, unprocessed foods. We used to crave "junk" food a lot more often than we do now. And as a results, we used to eat out a lot more than we do now. Here's a previous post where I gave some tips for eating out less. It's wonderful to see our family's tastes changing. We've noticed that when we start to slip back into unhealthy habits (like during busy times or on vacation), our bodies crave our natural healthier diet.

I've really noticed some big changes in our four-year-old son lately relating to his diet. He's been a picky eater, like a lot of children his age. He's pretty good with most vegetables, but he's always had trouble enjoying lettuce or spinach or other greens. Just in the last few weeks since our garden has been producing spinach, he's been eating a big plate full of salad (including spinach). He eats it just plain (he doesn't like dressing) and he loves it. We've been working with him to get him to try all of the food at our meals and it's really helped develop his taste buds to like different kinds of food.

Another point I want to make is that you can make healthy food taste good. And it's better to spend the time to make it taste good than to not eat it. A few spices, a little sweetener, some dressing or an interesting topping can go a long way to make healthy food more enjoyable. It's good for food to be enjoyable. Most of the recipes I've tried to include on this blog are healthy and enjoyable at the same time. It's okay to eat some uninteresting food once in a while if it's healthy, but it's sure a lot easier if it's healthy and tastes good too!

Here are a few tips if you're trying to help your family develop healthier eating habits:

• Try variety of different recipes! Your family will tell you which are their favorites. Make their favorites again, but always include new ones so that they will get used to trying new things.
• Sneak nutrition - this concept works well for children and adults alike. Add nutritious food to recipes that your family already likes. For instance, add some pureed vegetables to spaghetti sauce, substitute whole grain flour for white flour, or for more ideas see this previous post and this one.
• Encourage your family to try everything during the meal. This can be hard I know, but it will really help their taste buds to try a variety of different foods.
• Sit your family down together at the dinner table for meals, turn off distractions (like TVs, etc.) and encourage pleasant conversation. I've read about a lot of studies done that show this is important and really it's just common sense!

Do you have any more? I'm interested in your comments!

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Giant Bubbles - Homemade Summer Fun!

We made some giant bubbles the other day with the kids and it was a lot of fun. I have to admit that I had more fun than even the kids. I love bubbles! Here's the bubble recipe we used:

1/2 C. Dawn dish detergent
1/2 C. corn syrup
1 gallon water.

Mix them in a large flat container (we used a big plastic bin). We remodeled coat hangers to use for the bubble blowers. It worked great. I've also seen this done with a huge batch (several gallons). You put them in a mini pool and the kids stand in the middle. You use a hoola hoop to make the giant bubbles over the children! What fun!

Here's another recipe that uses Glycerin if you happen to have it on hand:

1 cup dishwashing Joy or Dawn detergent
1 gallon water
1 Tbsp. glycerin

Happy Summer!

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Parsley Pesto

So we have a lot of parsley growing in our yard. Maybe you noticed from the strawberry cage picture below. It's a perennial and very easy to grow - in fact in our yard it's taking over and we kind of think it's pretty so we let it. Anyway, we haven't been so good at using it because we just kind of forget it's out there and use it as a decoration instead of an edible. Well, the other day the kids were playing in it and my husband suggested we pick some to eat. My first thought was - what do you do with parsley? Then I remembered a recipe I had seen once upon a time for parsley pesto. I decided to give it a try the other night and it turned out pretty good. Parsley has kind of a parsley-flavor that's pretty strong so you have to get used to it. But this is a good recipe, especially with the parmesan cheese. Add a little grilled chicken breast and it's a wonderful meal!

Parsley Pesto
2 c. fresh parsley
1/3 c. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. each basil & oregano
1/2 c. walnuts
1/2 c. water
1/8 C. powdered milk

Mix together in blender & heat, if desired. Toss 1 pound cooked spaghetti-type noodles with 2 tablespoons butter, add pesto and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

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A Taste of Spring

I've been talking a lot about gardens lately. I guess because that's what's on my mind lately. I love gardening and I love this time of year. We had our first taste of spring the other day. We made a delicious spinach salad with our fresh baby spinach growing outside in the garden (we planted the seeds in March). Yum! Spinach doesn't get much better than this!

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Other Projects...

Here's some more projects I've been working on the last few weeks.

As I mentioned last post, we've had some trouble with deer eating our garden since we moved in. Our yard is not fenced so they are free to come and go as they please. Well, last week I planted a bunch of strawberries next to our patio. We didn't get time to cover them that night so I put around some irish spring soap (which I've heard is a good deer deterrent). Not so for us I guess because the next day some of my plants were uprooted and most were chomped down to the dirt. I was pretty mad at the deer that day. Here's our new strawberry cages we created:


I've also been working on planting flowers. To me, flowers spell happiness. I've been working on creating a perenial bed in the front of our house so that I don't have to replant every year. Here's how it's looking right now.
As you can see, I still have more work to do. I want to get it so that it's beautiful at all different times of the spring and summer.

Here's a few more shot of beautiful flowers that are growing around our house right now. Don't you just love spring?

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Our Garden

Oh wow, I'm back. Finally. Still not 100% put together, but getting there. Here's our garden pics that I wanted to share.

SPRING GARDEN (planted in March)

PEAS

(Notice the deer that live behind our house have been chomping on them)

CARROTSSPINACH
THE REST OF THE GARDEN (Planted in May)

I included this last picture here so you could see the progress of our summer garden for the next few months. I'll post more as our garden grows! For now, happy growing to you all!

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Planting Time

Hurray! Spring is here. And with that comes busy garden planting time. I've been planting like crazy this past week and have had no time for much else. I'm excited to post some pictures as soon as I can get myself together enough to take some...Happy Spring to you all! Remember, the more veggies you plant, the more you get to eat!! So let's get those plants in the ground so we can encourage ourselves to eat healthy!

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Play Dough

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there!

I think part of having a healthy family is enjoying fun things together. I have fond memories growing up of playing with play dough. We hardly ever had the store-bought kind. My Mom would make this recipe and it was great - kept us entertained for hours. I made some the other day and my kids and I had a blast playing with it. The possibilities are limitless with play dough. It's non-toxic so that's good too. This is a fun recipe to make when you need something a little different to do with the kids.

Play Dough

1 C. Flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 C. salt
1 C. water (with coloring added)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Cook over medium heat until pulls away from sides of pan, stirring constantly. Cool. Store in air-tight container in refrigerator.

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It's been too Long...

Wow! I've really neglected my readers lately....if I even have any anymore. :/ I apologize - life has been crazy for me the last few weeks. I was on vacation and then my grandma died a few days ago -for more info about that see my other blog. We had her funeral yesterday and I'm still trying to play catch-up on laundry and housework and everything else. At times like these, healthy eating kind of slips off the page and I need to get it back. During times like these, I'm really grateful for fast and easy healthy meals that I don't have to think twice about making. I'm also grateful for store-ready food that is healthy that I can just buy.

I hope you are all doing well and I'll try to write again as soon as I can recapture some sanity.

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Learning, Learning, Learning...

We had a brunch party last week and I made whole-grain waffles. A friend brought their belgium flip waffle maker and WOW! I realized that I had no clue what a good waffle was before. Those were absolutely amazing! They were so light and fluffy - about twice the fluffiness of my waffle maker. The difference between my cheap waffle maker and the flip one were like night and day. So I guess you know what I want for Mother's Day! (j/k)


The other thing I've learned this last week is that I'm happy that I have the compact bosch mixer. I tried to use the large bosch mixer at my parents house to make this recipe and it just didn't work. It's just too small of a recipe - the dough just kind of stuck in the middle and didn't get mixed. So, for a small family the compact bosch is just perfect!

The nice thing about cooking is that you just keep on learning more things every time you try something new! Have a great day!

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Canning Dry Beans - Pinto, Kidney, etc.

Last week was a busy week, but I decided to add to my busyness by canning a batch of pinto beans. :) I ran out of canned beans and I love having them on hand. I've posted about pressure cookers - I cook a lot of beans in my pressure cooker and it is really nice to be able to cook them from start to finish in about an hour for most beans (including soaking). Some days, however, the pressure cooker is still not fast enough for me. I love having some jars of canned beans on hand that I can just open and pop in a recipe. I could buy the canned beans, but I've decided to can my own, mainly for the experience but also because I store dry beans that I like to rotate.

Ask your local extension service how to can dry beans for your altitude. I pre-soak them for 12-18 hours and then cook them for 30 min. I then hot-pack them into hot quart jars leaving 1 inch headspace and pressure can them for 1 hour 30 min at 15 lbs. pressure. They turn out wonderful - very tender. Remember to make sure you follow canning recipes that are tested for your altitude exactly. To ensure safety, only use recipes that are verified by your state extension service.

Just FYI, two #10 cans of pinto beans (about 10 lbs.) made 19 qts. of canned beans. It took me the good part of a day, so plan on doing it when you have a lot of time! Here's some pictures:

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Whole-Wheat Navajo Tacos

I love navajo tacos. This recipe is great, but not super healthy. I modified it a little to make it whole-grain and I liked it even better! Enjoy!

NAVAJO TACOS
Makes 6 tacos.

1 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. nonfat dry milk
3 Tbsp. Gluten flour
1-1/4+ C. white-wheat flour
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
6 c. beef or vegetarian chili*
3 c. shredded lettuce
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. sour cream (or ranch dressing)
3 tomatoes, diced
salsa

1. Prepare the fry bread: In a bosch mixer combine first six ingredients in order with yeast on top of flour. Mix and add more whole-wheat flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Mix for 6 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface; punch it down and let it relax about five minutes. Roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch and cut it into six circles with a diameter of six inches each. Allow circles to rise another 15 to 20 minutes. Fry dough circles in hot oil until golden brown.

2. Serve fry bread warm, topped with generous amounts of chili, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, and salsa.

*I made a quick chili with 1 can of Regular Nalley Chili, 1 C. pinto beans 1 C. crushed tomatoes and taco seasoning to taste. It was delicious!

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Seedling Update

Here's our seedlings that we planted a while ago. They are doing very well in our south-facing bay window! I'll probably start putting them outdoors for a few hours in a couple of weeks. It's still a little cold.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Semi-Healthy)

My friend Amy shared this recipe with me and I made them the other day. They were delicious! I brought them to a family party and they got gobbled up within just a few minutes. I didn't have any pecans or walnuts so I used cashews and they worked too. Enjoy! I'm also including a variation that I made that is a little bit healthier (not as much butter), but still delicious. Either of these would probably work great gluten free if you substitute GF flour.

Cookie Bars Divine
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 Tablespoons butter melted
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans or walnuts

Mix the top three ingredients separately then combine with others and don't over stir. Add nuts and chips, and still don't over stir. Put in greased 9x13 at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The center should be slightly firm to touch and a glossy top.

Cookie Bars #2
1 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup oats (I added these for more texture)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons butter melted
3/8 C. pureed pumpkin or other winter squash (I accidentally put in 3/4 C. and it worked, but they were a bit cakier than they were supposed to be and took longer to cook)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (or 2 Tbsp. flax seed and 4 Tbsp. water)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans or walnuts

Mix the top four ingredients separately then combine with others and don't over stir. Add nuts and chips, and still don't over stir. Put in greased 9x13 at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The center should be slightly firm to touch and a glossy top.

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Tips for Grinding Grains

I had a friend ask me today how I do my ground grains - do I grind them right before I make a recipe or store the ground flour? I decided to share this with all of you because I thought it might be helpful for anyone who is trying to cook with more whole grains.

As you probably already know, the more freshly ground the whole-grain flour is, the better it is for you. The ideal would be to grind all your whole-grain flour right before you put it in any recipe so you get the maximum amount of nutrients found in the grains. But I've found that for me that's just not practical. With our small family, most of the recipes I use every day require just a small amount of flour. If the whole-grain flour is not readily available, I'd just put in white flour because it is so much more convenient.

So when I realized this and decided that I'd really like to make the switch to including more whole-grain flour into our diet, I decided instead to keep a small amount of whole-grain flour on hand at all times. Nutrients found in whole-grain flours last longer if they are kept refrigerated or frozen. So in my refrigerator I keep two canisters. One is a three quart canister where I put whole-wheat flour. The other is a used #10 can where I keep wonder flour. I use the flour in my refrigerator for all my baking and cooking with one exception. Whenever I bake bread (which is usually about 3 times in a two week period), I grind all the wheat fresh. I do this because I always need a lot of flour for my bread so I like to fill up the hopper with wheat and then use whatever flour I have left over to fill up my canister in the refrigerator. This has worked really well for us.

Does anyone have any other helpful tips they've found about grinding grains?

Here's the grinder that I use to grind my wheat (The Wonder Mill - it used to be called Whisper Mill). We've had it for 6 years and it is wonderful. I highly recommend it. An electric grinder is a well-worth it investment if you are going to start trying to include more whole-grain flour into your diet. A hand grinder is great for emergencies, but just not practical for everyday use.

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Healthy No-Sugar Breakfast Oatmeal

Brandon discovered an amazing secret for delicious oatmeal. And now we make it all the time. It is wonderful and there is no sugar needed!

Put about 1/3 to 1/2 cup quick oats in a microwave safe bowl and cover them with milk. Microwave on high for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until just barely cooked. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with cut up peaches (we like fresh or home canned). Serve immediately and enjoy.

Variations: Instead of peaches try walnuts, coconut, dried cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or any combination of the above that suits your fancy. Instead of cinnamon, you can also use vanilla powder, pumpkin pie spice or another flavoring of your choice.

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