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RECIPES

Brunch/ RECIPES

Easy Yogurt Fruit Salad

I’ve made this many times, with all types of different fruit.  Usually, I’m cooking dinner and decide we need a colorful, healthy side (we even call this dessert at our house, see this post).  I gather whatever fruit we have in the house (fresh or frozen), chop it up, and add whatever yogurt we have in the house.  If we only have plain yogurt, I will add honey and sometimes cinnamon, depending on the type of fruit we have.

It’s a no recipe, recipe.  Fruit. Yogurt. Toss. Done!
*I just made granola for the first time.  Watch for the recipe…it would be great sprinkled on top of this!

Meals/ RECIPES

Easy Baked Meatballs

I just recently made this recipe and really liked it.  It is basic and simple.  I had no idea what to make one night for dinner.  Sat down to check my emails and found this recipe in my inbox from my sister.  45 minutes later, we were eating them for dinner.
These were a snap to throw together and can be used in a few different ways.  We used them in Meatball Sandwiches (toss them in this sauce and put ’em on a bun).  You could make Spaghetti and Meatballs.  You could make a Meatball Appetizer, either BBQ Sauce or a Sweet Chili Type Sauce.  The next time I make them I plan on doubling the recipe and freezing half.

Easy Baked Meatballs
Yield: Makes 4 dozen

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2  pounds  ground beef
  • 1  large egg, lightly beaten
  • 3/4  cup  quick-cooking oats, uncooked
  • 3/4  cup  milk
  • 1  teaspoon  salt
  • 1  teaspoon  Italian seasoning
  • 1/4  teaspoon  pepper
  • 3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons  paprika
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt

Preparation

Combine first 7 ingredients; shape into 1-inch balls.
Combine all-purpose flour, paprika, and salt. Gently roll meatballs in flour mixture, and place on a lightly greased rack in a foil-lined 13- x 9-inch pan.
Bake at 400° for 25 to 30 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Serve with your favorite sauce.
NOTE: To freeze, cool completely, and seal in an airtight container. To serve, place in a single layer on a baking sheet; bake at 400° for 10 to 15 minutes.
recipe via Southern Living, JANUARY 2002
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RECIPES/ Sweets

Whole Wheat Brownies

Boy, oh boy I’m excited about this recipe. I found it at Heavenly Homemakers. I have made it 3 times in that last 3 weeks:). It truly is just as easy for me to make as a boxed brownie mix, and tastes very good! I love that it is made with just a few ingredients that I feel good about feeding my family.
Why do I consider these healthy? They are made with whole foods- there is nothing artificial in them. They should still be eaten in moderation (don’t consume the whole pan in one sitting:)), because they are not low calorie, but DO feel good about feeding them to your family because the ingredients in them provide nutrients that benefit the body, instead of harming it.
I am a firm believer that even treats can be beneficial. When it comes to foods in my home, I do not want my family consuming EMPTY calories. I want to be purposeful in making foods that will do the body some “good.” These brownies are an example of that.
Here are a few of the good things that are in this recipe:


  • Whole wheat flour- provides maganese, dietary fiber, tryptophan, magnesium, vitamins B1, B2, B3, E, folic acid, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, and iron.
  • Eggs- source of protein
  • Butter-vitamins A, E, K and D, anti-oxidants, and selenium.(post coming soon on why I am at peace about eating butter, despite the saturated fat)
  • Cocoa-antioxidants (flavanols)
  • Rapadura-used in place of white processed sugar. Rapadura is the pure juice extracted from the sugar cane and evaporated to dry it into granules. Low heat is used so vitamins and minerals are retained. It has a natural balance of sucrose, glucose and fructose. Your body metabolizes it more slowly than white sugar, so it will not affect your blood sugar levels as much as refined sugars, so no crazy sugar rush! Remember, the more refined the sugar, the more it raises your blood sugar. Rapadura can be found at your local health food store. I use it in many baked goods in place of white sugar. If you want to read more about the different types of natural sugars, click here.
If I were to buy boxed brownies from the store, they would be made with white refined flour (the processing removes nutrients, vitamins and fiber), white processed sugar (empty calories, makes blood sugar spike), and oils. Not to mention anti-caking ingredients and preservatives. I think making them homemade takes little extra time with a whole lot of benefit!
If you still are set on buying boxed, Hodgson Mill Brownie Mix is a brand I highly recommend and have used. They are yummy! The ingredient list is: Turbinado sugar, whole wheat pastry flour, cocoa, milled flax seed, salt. Now that is what I’m talking about!!
If you go to Heavenly Homemakers website, she shows you how to make homemade chocolate chips to put into these brownies. I am so not there when it comes to being motivated to do that, maybe someday. I use some AMAZING milk chocolate chips from my local health food market. I like the ingredients they choose to use in them, ones I know and trust. They are on the pricey side, so that may get me motivated to make my own!

Whole Wheat Brownies
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup rapadura
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Stir together butter, rapadura and cocoa. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour into 8×8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

I recently tried these out on some extended family members that were a bit apprehensive about the word healthy and brownie in the same sentence. I am pleased to announce they liked them! Pleased, but not surprised..

giveaways

Foodie Friday @ Designs By Gallum
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Challenge @ The Grocery Cart Challenge
Made It Mondays @ The Persimmon Perch


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Brunch/ RECIPES

Beautiful Bowl Of Blueberries

At least a couple times a week my family eat blueberries for dessert.

I am usually too cheap to buy the fresh ones, plus they seem to get soft and moldy on me so quickly, so we buy them frozen.

While I am cooking dinner, I will fill a bowl with frozen blueberries and let it sit. By the time we are finished eating, they are half thawed and perfect for munching on. I bring them to the table with the rest of our meal. The first few times I did it, I made a big deal about it… like “look everyone, blueberries for dessert tonight! or “make sure you eat your food so you can have blueberries (or clementines, or frozen grapes) when you are done.” I have tried to make fruit a special thing around here by talking about it in very positive (sometimes over the top:)) ways. It works for my girls. They see fruit as a treat and a sweet ending to many of our meals. I keep frozen blueberries, strawberries and a mixed fruit bag in my freezer most of the time. When my girls ask for a snack, many times they choose to get a bowl of frozen fruit to munch on. Gotta love it! The key for us was to get all the “Little Debbie Snacks” and “Fruit Snacks and “Oreas” completely OUT of the house. When the kids see that fruit is one of the sweetest things in the house, they choose it.

Back to blueberries–
Blueberries are literally bursting with nutrients and flavor, yet very low in calories. Recently, researchers at Tufts University analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capability. Blueberries came out on top, rating highest in their capacity to destroy free radicals. (Antioxidants and Free Radical post coming up) Click here for additional information on the health benefits of blueberries.
Here are some ways we eat blueberries:
  • Sprinkle some on top of yogurt.
  • Make homemade blueberry syrup for pancakes or ice cream. Heat them up with a bit of sugar (or rapudura or honey or maple syrup) in a pan on low-med heat. As they turn liquid-y smush them with a potato masher to break them up. Some people strain this, we don’t.
  • Add them to pancake batter for blueberry pancakes
  • Throw them in smoothies.
  • Make muffins/breads/coffecake
  • Toss them in oatmeal.
  • Use fresh blueberries on cereal.
  • Bake ’em in a pie.
  • Dip in chocolate and refrigerate until hardened. (have not tried this one but I want to-yum!
**This post is linked to Moms’ 30-Minute Blog Challenge
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HEALTH/ Healthy Eating/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

Healthy Eating -White To Brown: Make your grains count

I have been asked by readers to post some easy, practical baby-steps for them to take on their road to healthy eating. Here are some we started with…
Get Rid Of White and Embrace Brown!
  • Brown rice instead of white rice
  • 100% Whole wheat pasta instead of plain
  • 100% Whole wheat bread instead of white
  • Whole grain, fiber- rich cereals instead of sugar cereals
  • Whole wheat flour instead of white flour
If that is too overwhelming, just start with one. Give your family a chance to get used to it.
Whole Wheat Pasta
When I switched from white pasta to brown, the first few times I mixed the two together to introduce it to the family. I also let them get heavy handed with the parmesan cheese.:) They did complain that it tasted different the first couple times, but got used to it. Now, they don’t even remember complaining about it!
100% Whole Wheat Bread
This one is so important if you are a family that eats a lot of toast and sandwiches. White bread is just a bunch of empty calories, very little fiber, and does not keep you full.

Read Labels!! (while you are checking out fiber content ..aim for 3 grams/serving-also look for high fructose corn syrup, which you want to avoid!)

In comparing bread ingredient labels, use the same judgment tip we mentioned in comparing yogurt labels: the shorter the ingredient list, the better the bread. The most nutritious bread may be made from only whole wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt, with possibly a touch of molasses and honey, or the addition of other “whole” grains. The key-word on the bread label is “whole.” Be particularly careful of the most recent little white label lie called “wheat flour,” which does not mean the same as whole wheat. Wheat flour, which gives bread a light brown color and therefore more health appeal, is 75 percent white flour and only 25 percent whole wheat. So it’s only 25 percent healthy bread instead of 100 percent. By looking at labels, you can group breads into three categories:

  • Best breads are 100 percent whole wheat. Whole wheat flour is the first ingredient on the label. Enriched flour does not appear in the ingredient list. If it doesn’t say “whole wheat,” it’s not. Wheat flour, as listed on labels, officially should mean 75 percent white and 25 percent whole wheat, but it may not. All white bread is “wheat flour,” so this term is misleading, at best. A truthful label would state what percentage is whole wheat. If a label says “wheat flour,” assume it’s not whole wheat.
  • Better breads list “whole wheat flour” as the main ingredient, but may include white flour, too.
  • Downright junk breads list “bleached, enriched flour” first in the ingredient list. Leave these on the shelf where they belong. If it doesn’t say “whole” on the label, it’s wrong for your body.
Brown Rice
This one is a big one. There is just so much benefit from eating brown rice! I have a rice cooker that is so easy to use. I love using homemade chicken stock instead of water, or adding a can of rotel tomatoes w/green chilies with the water.

(from whfoods)

The process that produces brown rice removes only the outermost layer, the hull, of the rice kernel and is the least damaging to its nutritional value. The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of the vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all of the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids. Fully milled and polished white rice is required to be “enriched” with vitamins B1, B3 and iron.

Healthy, Whole Grain Cereals
Get rid of sugar cereals! I personally can’t stand the idea of my girls eating these for breakfast b/c I know the sugar rush I get when I eat them, and I also know the let down shortly after. I picture them sitting at school, tummy’s growling by 10:00 a.m. distracting their little brains, just because of a choice I made when adding groceries to my cart. When you are eating these type of cereals every day, then switch to a fiber rich, whole grain, low- sugar cereal, you will notice a difference when you try to go back to the sugar cereal. It will taste good (maybe), but won’t be satisfying and won’t make you feel good or full.
My girls get tired of the same type every week, so I try to mix it up. Right now they are on a Raisin Bran kick. Cereal was another food that took some time for them to adjust to. Now they “get it”. My oldest daughter was at a sleepover this past summer and ate a donut and a bowl of fruit loops or lucky charms or one of those yummy fun cereals. I had to pick her up mid-morning for a swim lesson (she is in level 4 which is pretty intense laps most of the 45 minutes). The first thing she said to me when she got in the car was, “mom, I need some good food or I will not have the energy to swim” She loved the donut and fun cereal, but also knew it just wouldn’t do the trick for swimming stamina.
Whole Wheat Flour
This one has been the hardest for me. I am finally figuring out brands I like, and how the different types of whole wheat flour work in different recipes. I am a big fan of Bob Mill’s Flours. I have yet to find a whole wheat pizza dough recipe I love, I’ve found a few likes, but no love’s.:(
It does make the world of difference when it comes to homemade pancakes, waffles, breads and muffins. These are foods that would be very empty nutritionally if not for a good, whole wheat flour. I still keep white flour on hand, but I make sure it is unbleached.

As I reflect back on when we started changing how we ate, there was a big shift in my thinking when it came to being purposeful in choosing foods and recipes that would nourish, not just fill. You can fill a car up with gas, but the quality of the gas makes all the difference in how that car runs. Same with our bodies. I have used that analogy with my girls one too many times, because now they say roll their eyes when they hear me say it.:) We talked about how a car would crawl and sputter if filled with gas that had a bunch of sand in it, same with our bodies when it comes too much sugar and not enough vegetables, fruits and healthy, pure foods. They get it. Makes a momma proud!
I hope this post helps and is not too overwhelming. Again, if it is, just pick one and go from there.


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Homemaking/ Meals/ RECIPES

60 Nourishing Crockpot Recipes!

I’ve been surprised at how much fun I am having with the blogging community.  It is so fun learning and sharing with other mom’s/women!  My favorite fun is when one decides to have a “link up” party.

A “Link-Up” or “Linky” party is when one blogger allows other bloggers to come to her site, and leave a link to one of their own posts.  Different link parties have different themes.  I was very excited about a “Nourishing Crockpot Recipe” theme.
I think the beginning of the New Year is the perfect time to simplify, so I plan on using my crock-pot more often, especially when I have 60 healthful recipes to choose from!  Thank you, Lindsey @ Passionate Homemaking for hosting.
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How-Tos/ RECIPES

Eat From Your Pantry-Update

I am taking part in the Eat From Your Pantry Challenge (click here if you don’t know what that is)
I took inventory of my freezer, refrigerator, and my newly organized pantry. I quickly wrote down dinner ideas inspired by what I had. Then I wrote a grocery list to buy any filler ingredients that I would need.

I didn’t get so specific that I made a plan for each day of the week, but I made sure I had a list of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack ideas.
And, off to the store I went with my list.

Here is what I came home with. I spent $80.00 for the week. It was a little shocking for me, I have not been shopping at our health market for a few months now, so the prices of organic food threw me a bit. (can you believe the picture above was $80.00!!  There is one bag of flour missing) I still stayed well under the $130-$140 I usually spend.

Free range chicken kills our budget-this one cost $13.00. WOW! Good thing I know how to stretch it. We will be alternating with Smart Chicken in the future.  For sure.
The flour was on sale so I had to stock up. I know this might go against the eat from your pantry challenge, but when the bag goes from $5.00 down to $2.00, and the sale is ending in 2 days, I must buy! I will be doing lots of baking during this challenge, so I think it was a wise decision.
Here is what we have eaten so far.

I shopped Thursday the 31st-New Year’s Eve, afternoon (make sense?)

Thurs
We make clock shaped pizza.(used leftover sauce from freezer and shredded cheese from freezer.) Yummy, yummy.
My sister left cookie dough here at Christmas, which I froze. I thawed, sliced, baked and ATE!
Brownies- homemade from ingredients on hand. Yum. (I’ll post recipe soon)

Fri
Cereal for breakfast (toast, fruit)
Sloppy Joes at my sisters house to celebrate New Years Day
Arby’s 5 for $5.95 roast beef sandwich special for Family Movie Night (we split a large curly fry between 5 people…cracks me up. Its like 4 fries each. I’m not complaining, those things are so nasty for you, but taste so gooood!)
Popcorn
Sat
Toast and fruit
Whole wheat pasta tossed with butter and sprinkled with parm cheese, carrots, apples
Beef kabobs (beef has been in freezer for a month), potato casserole (used up leftover sour cream), salad

Sun
Cereal and clementines
Pizza at G’pa and G’ma’s house for lunch. Love it.
Dinner: Girls- leftover pizza from G’ma’s house; Me-White Chicken Chili from freezer; Todd-oatmeal (He eats a lot of oatmeal. He likes it. Strange.)
Mon
Bagels and cream cheese given to us from gma. My girls were in heaven.
Lunch: Girls packed lunch (pb sandwich, Kashi crackers/cheese, apple slices); Me-White Chicken Chili from freezer (I froze in very small single serving mason jars, so handy); Todd-homemade soup from freezer.
Dinner: Whole wheat noodles, leftover spaghetti sauce with beef from freezer, salad, and homemade Swope Bread (I’ll post recipe soon)
Tues-here are the plans
Oatmeal for breakfast
Lunch: Girls-Leftover noodles in thermos, fruit, mix of pretzels, dried cranberries and chocolate chips
Dinner:Me-Indian food with my sisters YIPPEE! Todd-nachos at the Nebraska Basketball game, Girls-dinner out with gma
Wed-
Dinner plan:my super expensive bird cooked rotisserie style in the crockpot, salad, frozen veggie mix, Swope bread from freezer (recipe made 2)
Thurs-
Dinner plan: Chicken Pot Pie-got a piecrust leftover from Christmas.
Make bone broth with chicken bones to make soup for Todd’s lunches.
Fri-Pancakes (leftover homemade dry mix in pantry)
Family Movie Night-Arbys! Roast beef sandwiches. Split large fry.
Popcorn
Fruit and Yogurt Smoothies

Sat-Time to grocery shop again!!!!
Whew. That took awhile to type. Maybe next time I will just tell you dinners and snacks??

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