posts in category real food
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
our wheat free journey and stuffed acorn squash recipe
It started when she was two.
Random early mornings of getting sick were just that random, at first. But then they seemed to have a pattern. Every other morning. Very early in the morning. For a month or two. Then the sickness stopped. Then it would start again. No rhyme or reason.
We went to a GI doctor and he seemed to think she just had reflux. We didn't want to get her scoped because it seemed to stop by the time we were able to get into see the doctor. Time passed and her random sick moments became fewer and further between. But I did some reading. Lots of reading. Lots of research. Trying to figure out what could be causing these random moments of getting sick.
We started to try to heal and make the random moments not happen by cutting out Red 40. Then we tried to cut out all artificial dyes. It helped. For a bit.
Then we noticed she was getting headaches (which is something her dad and I both suffer with). We didn't see a real trend. So we weren't exactly sure what to do. We cut out sugar and stopped eating things with high fructose corn syrup. I no longer bought meats that contained nitrates. We were trying to eat "real" and "clean" food. Then I read more and more about the affects of wheat and heard about the Wheat Belly book and thought it would be a great place to continue our journey. My husband was not thrilled by the idea but once he got on board we went full steam ahead.
We started our wheat free journey in January of 2014. We are not purists. Since no one in our family suffers from Celiac Disease we didn't take it 100% seriously. We continue to go without wheat for a few months out of the year. But then life gets busy and we take a few short cuts and eat wheat. I will tell you that I feel SO much better when I am not eating wheat. I am not going to get into the science behind it all just check out the Wheat Belly Cookbook by William Davis if you want the science and great testimonials.
Monday, October 28, 2013
octoberfest
A couple of weeks ago our friends came over to celebrate our own take on Octoberfest. We decided on a menu and had hopes of making some fall crafts with the kids...well, that didn't happen but we ate well! We'll have to do the crafts another time...October isn't over...yet!! So we had some homemade whole wheat pretzels and beer cheese dip, reuben sandwiches and perogi soup. We also had some donut acorns and apple cider. It was a great gathering of friends around food. We love having these theme dinners with our friends. Last month we had a homemade chinese take-out date night and this month Octoberfest. Do you celebrate October with any special meals?
Saturday, August 17, 2013
back to school (and work) meal planning with the slow cooker
If your family is anything like mine...they like to eat. And well, it's good to eat. We need energy in the form of food in order to function properly. When we eat the right food we function even better! So, it's important with me working now that I find a way for my family to eat well while being easy and simple to prepare. Enter the slow cooker!! We use the slow cooker a LOT around here and I'm so grateful for the many recipes floating around in the web-o-sphere. I'm also grateful for the Fix-It and Forget-It 5 ingredient favorites: Comforting slow cooker recipes book that a lady from church gave me. This book has been used many many times and I plan to keep using it until we decide to stop using the slow cooker to make dinner (and with me working that won't be anytime soon). To only need 5 ingredients saves me a ton of time and money. These recipes are easy to throw together in the morning when I'm hanging out with my little ladies before I head to work. Then when we get home all we have to do is fix a simple side, of which I plan to stock the fridge with on the weekends...like rice and noodles or whatever. If you haven't started using your crock-pot as a way to save you time and money (you won't have to eat out as much) then let me encourage you to do so. It's really rather simple and doesn't take too much prep work.
Case in point, I was able to prepare 8 freezer slow cooker recipes this week in the mornings while I was home with my little girls. Granted I did have the help of grandma to watch the girls but still these meals are easy to put together and could be done on a Saturday or Sunday while someone is able to watch the kids, or get them involved with the chopping and throwing things into the bags if they're old enough. I love this freezer slow cooker cook book from Stephanie Cornais. The recipes that we've already tried were delicious and had lots of flavor. They are easy to prepare and it's SO nice to know that my freezer is stocked in case I forget to get things for one of my other slow cooker meals. It's also great to have on hand in case someone has a baby or if a family member is in the hospital, these would be easy to take for them as well. The other great thing is the Stephanie only uses whole REAL foods. No cans of cream of whatever in these recipes. I've even branched out and tried some new things because of this cookbook. I'm really excited to try to the Peanut Stew that I prepared last week!! Check out Stephanie's blog and she has a new mini eCookbook called Back to school slow cooker freezer recipes. She also has a gluten-free, grain-free dessert cookbook!!
We have three freezers...a little excessive, yeah maybe. But one is a chest freezer because we get a whole hog worth of meat each year. The other came with the house and we have ours that we purchased when we bought our first house. So now my hubby has his "beer" fridge in the garage which has lots of space for me to store my slow cooker freezer meals!!!
One little trick that I like to do (and feel I can do since this is just in the garage) is write what freezer meals are in the freezer with a white board erasable marker on the outside of the freezer. Then it's super easy to see what I have to put in my rotation when meal planning!!
Do you have a favorite slow cooker meal? I'd love to try it. You can also see more meals that I've found and pinned here. Enjoy your back to school time and prep some slow cooker meals so you don't have to worry about dinner!!
Saturday, July 13, 2013
zucchini chips
Did you plant a garden this year? I didn't exactly plant a garden but I've got a few plants in some big buckets in my backyard. I've got three tomato plants, a cucumber, a yellow long neck squash and a green pepper plant. So far we've not been able to eat anything from my plants and that's okay because I can see they're coming and I planted them pretty late. However, we are eating veggies straight from the garden...the garden of my friend! So blessed my friend Barb thought of us to bring her extra veggies too. Thanks Barb!! We have enjoyed a cucumber and some cherry tomatoes in pasta salad. We've used some tomatoes in homemade salsa to go along with homemade tortillas, re-fried beans and some cucumbers in the cucumber sour cream.
She also brought me three pretty big zucchini. The people in my house do not care for zucchini...well, they didn't care for zucchini until I made it like this!! As I was cutting the zucchini into 1/4 inch "chips" the kids were like "what is that?", "I don't like that" etc. I told them they had to give it a chance and taste at least one piece once it was cooked. And they ate more than one piece!! We gave them each three pieces to start with and they know they need to clean their plate before they get anything else so Naomi did eat hers but told me later that she didn't really care for them. She said they were okay but not her favorite. However, Micah had a different story. He LOVED the zucchini and ate his three pieces and at least three more. We did serve it with ranch dressing so that may have helped a little ;) but he honestly liked the zucchini! Hannah didn't eat much that night so I'm not sure how much she liked them. Greg liked it too and he is one who normally would not eat zucchini...he does because he knows he should set a good example for the kids and for that I am grateful! He did tell me I could make it again so that's a good sign! I LOVED the zucchini this way but I don't mind zucchini at all.
So here's how I made the zucchini chips.
Ingredients:
1 large zucchini cut into 1/4 inch circles
2 egg whites
bread crumbs
parmesean cheese
garlic
oregano
(other herbs or spices that you like)
Here's the lowdown and then I'll give you a few more details.
Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch circles. Dip them in the egg whites, cover with the bread crumb mixture and then bake in a preheated 475 degree oven.
I did not measure my breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic or oregano. For the breadcrumbs I just used three pieces of bread and put them in my food processor to make crumbs! yay! Then I added the crumbs to a bowl added a good amount of cheese (probably 1/3 of the amount of bread crumbs) then I cracked some garlic on top of that and added some oregano. Feel free to use whatever spices and herbs your family likes. I was experimenting here and it turned out pretty good. If you like a little heat add some red pepper flakes (I think that'd be good but if I did that I'd probably have to eat the zucchini chips alone!)
So dip the zucchini slice in the egg whites and flip so both sides get coated.
Then do the same thing with the bread crumbs.
Then line the pieces on a sprayed baking sheet. And put in a preheated oven (475)
Then set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip the pieces over. Then start the timer again. After another 10 minutes flip them over again and set the timer for another 10 minutes and do this until you get the desired "doneness" that you are looking for. I think (if I remember correctly) that I flipped my pieces 4 times for a total of 40 minutes. They were brown but not crispy. They were a little bit chewy and not crunchy but we didn't mind that texture. I think you'd have to leave them in there for at least 50-60 minutes to get them crispy like chips because they have such a high water content...then I'd be worried about the breading getting burned. But just keep checking them every 10 minutes until they look good.
This is our finished product!! YUM!!
I hope that you will give this a try it's just another way to use all that great produce. There are a few other zucchini recipes that our family likes to eat (cheeseburger zucchini casserole and chocolate zucchini bread) because the zucchini is pretty good at hiding in them! Even though the zucchini is hiding it's a good way to get some more greens!
She also brought me three pretty big zucchini. The people in my house do not care for zucchini...well, they didn't care for zucchini until I made it like this!! As I was cutting the zucchini into 1/4 inch "chips" the kids were like "what is that?", "I don't like that" etc. I told them they had to give it a chance and taste at least one piece once it was cooked. And they ate more than one piece!! We gave them each three pieces to start with and they know they need to clean their plate before they get anything else so Naomi did eat hers but told me later that she didn't really care for them. She said they were okay but not her favorite. However, Micah had a different story. He LOVED the zucchini and ate his three pieces and at least three more. We did serve it with ranch dressing so that may have helped a little ;) but he honestly liked the zucchini! Hannah didn't eat much that night so I'm not sure how much she liked them. Greg liked it too and he is one who normally would not eat zucchini...he does because he knows he should set a good example for the kids and for that I am grateful! He did tell me I could make it again so that's a good sign! I LOVED the zucchini this way but I don't mind zucchini at all.
So here's how I made the zucchini chips.
Ingredients:
1 large zucchini cut into 1/4 inch circles
2 egg whites
bread crumbs
parmesean cheese
garlic
oregano
(other herbs or spices that you like)
Here's the lowdown and then I'll give you a few more details.
Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch circles. Dip them in the egg whites, cover with the bread crumb mixture and then bake in a preheated 475 degree oven.
So dip the zucchini slice in the egg whites and flip so both sides get coated.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
the real food journey
There seems to be a movement. A movement that I am a little late in joining but joining none-the-less. This movement is to eat "real" food, "clean" food. And it's awesome. I used to be the one who poked fun at the "crunchy granola" moms and now I want to be one. Well, okay, I probably won't make it to "crunchy granola" status anytime soon but I'm taking it one step at a time. There are so many great resources out there if you are wanting to "jump on the bandwagon" and might I encourage jumping because it's GOOD for you. This is a bandwagon that you want to be on. This isn't the "healthy eating" bandwagon that the food industry wants you to jump on. This is the "real" food bandwagon that you should jump on. This bandwagon is about the health of you and your family. This bandwagon is full of support and encouragement but it's not easy. It takes some planning and preparation but is SO worth it.
I've pretty much been in the middle of the whole clean/real eating vs processed foods. Dinners usually consist of a meat, a starch and a veggie. Sometimes we throw in a fruit and/or some bread and call it good. It's been a long time since I've made dinner out of a box but I have done it. My kids have eaten those frozen entree dinners and we probably will still get a Stouffers lasagna from time to time. I've still never made my own lasagna...my hubby has, but not me...not sure why it intimidates me so much but it does. Maybe that'll be my goal for the year! We've always been a family that uses real butter and notplastic margarine. I used to buy american cheese slices but not any more. We don't drink soda. We've got a good start but a long way to go.
It started with some friends who were eating real food, then I started reading some blogs and articles about real food. I read articles about sugars and oils and how bad they are. I read articles about microwave popcorn and flouride. I don't understand why things that are outlawed in other countries are okay for us in America. Why don't we open our eyes and see the junk that is before us.
So, eating real food and clean food is not always easy but it is beneficial. There are a few rules that I try to follow now when making my meal plan and doing my grocery shopping. 1) Shop the perimeter of the store. That's where all the produce, meats, and dairy items are...where the REAL food lives! 2) If it's in a box it should have 5 or less ingredients and I should be able to read them all easily. 3) If people didn't eat it 100 years ago don't eat it now. 4) Eat only baked goods that I make from scratch. 5)Stay as far away from white flour and sugar as possible. These are not LAWS just really good suggestions. Yes, I know that I will not always be able to eat totally "real" and "clean" food, especially if someone is preparing dinner for me but I will do my best to cook this way for my family. I use my crock-pot a LOT for our dinners. I have a great 5 ingredient crock-pot cookbook and I love it!! It helps the budget and the recipes are delicious. But I only use the recipes that are made with real food. No "cream of whatever" soups, no boxed items, etc. Having a meal plan REALLY helps us to eat real healthy food.
Like I said earlier, there are so many good resources out there for eating real/clean food. I will list my favorites at the end please take time to do some reading and research of your own. The information is incredible and beneficial but also OVERWHELMING! But my suggestions are to start small. Baby steps people. After reading all the articles that I've read I just want to crawl in a hole and never eat anything that doesn't grow in my own garden but I know that's not totally possible (yet ;)) so I start small. There are lots of good "real" food options out there, even at your normal run-of-the-mill grocery store. Start by choosing whole wheat pasta over the regular spaghetti. Choose brown rice instead of white rice. Buy more fruits and veggies. Here's a great list of 20 easy real food substitutions. Baby steps. Read the labels. You're not looking at the carbs, fats, calories...look at the ingredients. Are the things you are buying made with REAL food or processed junk?
We stopped eating breakfast bars (and trust me the kids ate one every day for breakfast most of their lives) when I finally got smart and read the label...go read it. Horrifying. Three of the first four ingredients are SUGAR! And I was giving that to my kids first thing in the morning! Well, no more. We still have a ways to go. I still buy cereal (but I'm getting very choosy). I need to start making more homemade breakfasts (and not just my go-to crock-pot oatmeal) but I'm not a morning person so we're still eating cereal for the convenience of it all. But again, baby steps!
I am FAR from having a 100% real/clean food diet but we're doing MUCH better than we were two months ago. I am making much more from scratch...even snacks, which is really where most of our processed foods came in. So today, I want to share with you three things that I do/bake on a regular basis to help with the real food snacking!
The first thing that I make a lot and freeze are these Toddler Muffins. They taste like banana bread but are made with whole wheat flour (the only thing I changed from the posted recipe), oat bran, bananas, carrots, and squash!! My kids LOVE them and I love making them and feel good about letting them have two or more (they are small after all)!
Like I said it's a learning experience and I'm far from done learning but it's good to start somewhere and I feel better knowing that my family and I are eating a healthier diet with REAL food!!
Here are some of my favorite REAL food resources!
100 days of real food - take your time with this site, there is A LOT of information and it's all REALLY good. This is probably my first resource for anything food related.
Keeper of the Home - My second most used and probably tied with 100days for the best information...presented in a little bit of a different way but SOOO helpful in the journey of clean eating. This site has a LOT of good information for those of you who are just starting out with getting rid of processed foods.
Eat at Home - great website for meal planning, good healthy food with crock-pot menus! The menus include a printable shopping list and everything I've made from this site has been delicious.
Food Babe - just learned about this one but cannot wait to investigate it some more..."I am most knowledgeable about harmful ingredients in processed foods and how to avoid them. For this reason, I have made it my mission to spread as much information as I can about what is in food, how to make the right purchasing decisions at the grocery store and how to live an organic lifestyle in this over-processed world."
The Blog of Bruce Bradley - Bruce is a former processed food exec turned food advocate, blogger, and author. Before his food advocacy work, Bruce worked for over fifteen years as a marketer at companies like General Mills, Pillsbury, and Nabisco. As one of the only former processed food marketers actively speaking out about concerns over the food we eat, the media often seeks Bruce out for his honest perspective. "
Again, there is a LOT of information out there. There are some great resources. But here's my advice one more time. Start small. Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes or for eating processed junk. Just start to make changes. Chances are it will become such a good habit that your body will not crave the junk, the sugar, the processed junk anymore. And I'm sure you'll have more energy, maybe lose some weight, etc. Give it a shot!! This is a learning experience for me and I don't plan on being content with my limited knowledge as it is now, I will keep reading, learning and getting rid of the things that aren't good for my health and the health of my family. The next thing I'd like to tackle and learn more about...essential oils!
Please feel free to share comments on your real food adventures or your favorite websites about real food. Please keep your comments nice and let's build each other up!! We're all in this together!
I was not compensated by any of these websites to share their information...it's just great information and I wanted you to know about these great websites!
I've pretty much been in the middle of the whole clean/real eating vs processed foods. Dinners usually consist of a meat, a starch and a veggie. Sometimes we throw in a fruit and/or some bread and call it good. It's been a long time since I've made dinner out of a box but I have done it. My kids have eaten those frozen entree dinners and we probably will still get a Stouffers lasagna from time to time. I've still never made my own lasagna...my hubby has, but not me...not sure why it intimidates me so much but it does. Maybe that'll be my goal for the year! We've always been a family that uses real butter and not
It started with some friends who were eating real food, then I started reading some blogs and articles about real food. I read articles about sugars and oils and how bad they are. I read articles about microwave popcorn and flouride. I don't understand why things that are outlawed in other countries are okay for us in America. Why don't we open our eyes and see the junk that is before us.
So, eating real food and clean food is not always easy but it is beneficial. There are a few rules that I try to follow now when making my meal plan and doing my grocery shopping. 1) Shop the perimeter of the store. That's where all the produce, meats, and dairy items are...where the REAL food lives! 2) If it's in a box it should have 5 or less ingredients and I should be able to read them all easily. 3) If people didn't eat it 100 years ago don't eat it now. 4) Eat only baked goods that I make from scratch. 5)Stay as far away from white flour and sugar as possible. These are not LAWS just really good suggestions. Yes, I know that I will not always be able to eat totally "real" and "clean" food, especially if someone is preparing dinner for me but I will do my best to cook this way for my family. I use my crock-pot a LOT for our dinners. I have a great 5 ingredient crock-pot cookbook and I love it!! It helps the budget and the recipes are delicious. But I only use the recipes that are made with real food. No "cream of whatever" soups, no boxed items, etc. Having a meal plan REALLY helps us to eat real healthy food.
Like I said earlier, there are so many good resources out there for eating real/clean food. I will list my favorites at the end please take time to do some reading and research of your own. The information is incredible and beneficial but also OVERWHELMING! But my suggestions are to start small. Baby steps people. After reading all the articles that I've read I just want to crawl in a hole and never eat anything that doesn't grow in my own garden but I know that's not totally possible (yet ;)) so I start small. There are lots of good "real" food options out there, even at your normal run-of-the-mill grocery store. Start by choosing whole wheat pasta over the regular spaghetti. Choose brown rice instead of white rice. Buy more fruits and veggies. Here's a great list of 20 easy real food substitutions. Baby steps. Read the labels. You're not looking at the carbs, fats, calories...look at the ingredients. Are the things you are buying made with REAL food or processed junk?
We stopped eating breakfast bars (and trust me the kids ate one every day for breakfast most of their lives) when I finally got smart and read the label...go read it. Horrifying. Three of the first four ingredients are SUGAR! And I was giving that to my kids first thing in the morning! Well, no more. We still have a ways to go. I still buy cereal (but I'm getting very choosy). I need to start making more homemade breakfasts (and not just my go-to crock-pot oatmeal) but I'm not a morning person so we're still eating cereal for the convenience of it all. But again, baby steps!
I am FAR from having a 100% real/clean food diet but we're doing MUCH better than we were two months ago. I am making much more from scratch...even snacks, which is really where most of our processed foods came in. So today, I want to share with you three things that I do/bake on a regular basis to help with the real food snacking!
The first thing that I make a lot and freeze are these Toddler Muffins. They taste like banana bread but are made with whole wheat flour (the only thing I changed from the posted recipe), oat bran, bananas, carrots, and squash!! My kids LOVE them and I love making them and feel good about letting them have two or more (they are small after all)!
The next thing I do is I buy fresh fruit, clean it, cut it up and put it in little containers and then put the containers in the freezer. Then on the days my kids stay for lunch at school I put the container in their lunch boxes...by the time they eat lunch the fruit it thawed enough for them to eat. I vary the fruit based on what's on sale and the kids love having fresh fruit in their lunch. And because it was frozen and I want it to thaw I don't worry about adding an ice pack to their lunch boxes.
I've also started making my own granola bars. I used to eat granola bars all the time and then I realized what all was in them so I decided to make them myself. The first recipe I tried failed miserably and was barely edible but the recipe I'm going to share with you now (that came from my friend Marcia) is awesome and we all love them. I just need to find a way to substitute the canola oil for something else. I think I need to try it with coconut oil. Any other suggestions?
Granola Bars
2 cups rolled oats
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup wheat germ
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup mini choc chips
1 tsp salt
½ cup honey
1 egg, beaten
½ cup canola oil
2 tsps vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13. Combine dry ingredients. Make well in center and stir in wet ingredients with wooden spoon. Pat mixture evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 30 in preheated oven or until brown around edges. Cool for 5, then cut while still warm. Plastic knives work well to minimize crumbs. Enjoy!
Here are some of my favorite REAL food resources!
100 days of real food - take your time with this site, there is A LOT of information and it's all REALLY good. This is probably my first resource for anything food related.
Keeper of the Home - My second most used and probably tied with 100days for the best information...presented in a little bit of a different way but SOOO helpful in the journey of clean eating. This site has a LOT of good information for those of you who are just starting out with getting rid of processed foods.
Eat at Home - great website for meal planning, good healthy food with crock-pot menus! The menus include a printable shopping list and everything I've made from this site has been delicious.
Food Babe - just learned about this one but cannot wait to investigate it some more..."I am most knowledgeable about harmful ingredients in processed foods and how to avoid them. For this reason, I have made it my mission to spread as much information as I can about what is in food, how to make the right purchasing decisions at the grocery store and how to live an organic lifestyle in this over-processed world."
The Blog of Bruce Bradley - Bruce is a former processed food exec turned food advocate, blogger, and author. Before his food advocacy work, Bruce worked for over fifteen years as a marketer at companies like General Mills, Pillsbury, and Nabisco. As one of the only former processed food marketers actively speaking out about concerns over the food we eat, the media often seeks Bruce out for his honest perspective. "
Again, there is a LOT of information out there. There are some great resources. But here's my advice one more time. Start small. Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes or for eating processed junk. Just start to make changes. Chances are it will become such a good habit that your body will not crave the junk, the sugar, the processed junk anymore. And I'm sure you'll have more energy, maybe lose some weight, etc. Give it a shot!! This is a learning experience for me and I don't plan on being content with my limited knowledge as it is now, I will keep reading, learning and getting rid of the things that aren't good for my health and the health of my family. The next thing I'd like to tackle and learn more about...essential oils!
Please feel free to share comments on your real food adventures or your favorite websites about real food. Please keep your comments nice and let's build each other up!! We're all in this together!
I was not compensated by any of these websites to share their information...it's just great information and I wanted you to know about these great websites!
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