backyard garden

what a fun family project!!!! my family started a garden several years ago, even before we started "real foods".  every year we have a blast. i am pretty fortunate that my kids are not picky eaters, and often have friends ask, "how do you get your kids to eat that?"  i contribute it to the family garden!  we all load up in the car and head to the store. we let your 5 year old pick what she wants to grow, my husband and i pick what we want to grow, then off back to home we go.  . .

we have done both, from seeds and plants already started.  i have to say that this year we opted out of starting from seeds...after watching the weather extremely carefully we decided to plant our veggies yesterday!!! myself and both children
"cleaned" out the garden and layed it out how i wanted it. then my husband came in and planted them.

the best part is having the kids take part from start to finish!!! they love to go out back, see what is growing, and pick the veggies when they are ready! 

do you garden?  what do you grow?  what has not worked for you? do you have any garden pointer's?  this year we are growing, tomato's, sweet peas,green beans, white eggplant, cucumbers, red and green peppers, and for the first time ever we are trying our hand at corn the cob!  i will keep you posted on the corn...

in the past i have always want to grow watermelon and NEVER had success with it. so this year i decided not to try it again. we are also do 7 herbs!!! i am really excited and can NOT wait to start to cook with them!!  stay tuned to see how the garden does this year!

Lisa

grilled shrimp with mango salsa

i found this recipe for grilled shrimp on a coupon for reynolds wrap a few years ago. now it's a family favorite. hope you all enjoy it as much as we do. it is not 100% real food. anyone have a healthier alternative for worcestershire sauce?

spicy grilled shrimp

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce (need to find an alternative)
• 4 teaspoons seafood seasoning
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled & cleaned

whisk all the ingredients (except shrimp) together, until thickened. throw in the shrimp and marinate for 30 mins or up to a few hours in the fridge. when you are ready to grill, skewer the shrimp and get your grill hot. throw the shrimp skewers on the grill, they only take a few minutes on each side. or broil them in your oven, on a foiled lined cookie sheet with cooking spray. few minutes on each side.

mango salsa

• mangoes
• onion
• red pepper
• cucumbers
• jalapenos
• fresh lime juice
• cilantro
• sea salt & pepper

chop it all up and throw it in a bowl. then keep tasting & adding until you get it right :)

we also had yummy blue tortilla chips. we found some with only 4 ingredients in the 'healthy' aisle at the super market. oh and a pasta salad with whole wheat macaroni, oil, vinegar and a whole bunch of different spices. i was grabbing whatever caught my eye from the pantry. i wish i had added veggies, but sadly i ran out of time.

if there are leftovers, the shrimp are yummy cold. you can have them as a late night snack while doing the cabinet shuffle.

thanks for reading.
amy~

label obsession

i was just tryin' to make some dinner. and then it happened. it never used to matter. i never cared to look. but now, every thing i touch, when i take it out of the cupboard or before it goes in my shopping cart, i have to read the label. what's in it? how many ingredients? can i pronounce the words? a meal i've made before, lots of times actually, turned into an eye opening experience. chicken nuggets, garlic smashed potatoes and tossed salad. seems easy enough, pretty straight forward. let's start with the chicken. i used a recipe for homemade chicken nuggets from lisa over at 100 days of real food. i was out of homemade whole wheat bread crumbs so i grabbed some packaged stuff i had in the fridge. big difference in ingredients in plain breadcrumbs vs. panko. check it out. i really need to re-up my supply of the homemade stuff.

next up was grated cheese. my dad is pretty awesome and surprised me with a big bag of freshly grated parmesan cheese he picked up at the italian market.

i'd much rather have that than this!

yikes!

next is the garlic smashed potatoes. my husbands favorite. i use parmesan cheese, butter, half & half and a boatload of garlic. check out the ingredients in the half & half. the container on the left is a major grocery store brand. on the right is stuff from a local farm. it's called half & half cause its half milk and half cream. what the heck is disodium phosphate?

(it's a anti-caking additive, um, no thanks!)

  

moving on to the salad...we love love love good seasons dressing. but now we like to make our own with oil, vinegar, herbs from my spice cabinet and we leave out the xanthan gum, maltodextrin, guar gum and citric acid.

so there ya have it folks, check your labels. why eat all this nonsense when it's just as easy to eat real foods! thanks for reading.

amy~

an apple a day . . .

do you do organic? if so what? everything? somethings? nothing? according to an article  click here for article they say if you only buy and eat one thing organic it should be APPLES! hmm who would of thought? not me. i would of said milk or meat? i have to make a confession. . . we don't buy organic apples.
a couple of years ago my husband and i bought an apple tree, yes you read that right, an apple tree!  every year the tree has produced little apples and before they had a chance to grow the deer came into our back yard and ate them. so last year i had my husband fence the back of the yard since that was the only part the the yard that was not fenced in.  so i hope this year the apples make it for us to enjoy them!!!

 the reasons they list to buy organic apples are interesting;
 however, if i were to only buy one thing organic i still don't think it would be apples. having said that, i am  just an ordinary mom, not a doctor...not a scientist...just a mom...an ordinary mom!!!  it took me a long
loooooong time to "believe" in organic, and we still still don't buy all organic. that is just my belief's. my thought is how can something be grown organic on the west side of the us and then shipped across country and still be "clean and free of yuck"  i would rather support my local farmers.

there is a chemical linked to adhd that is used on 59% of apple orchards in the u.s. and it is also linked to lowering iq's according to the usda. with that being said, i will start to find a local organic farm to get our apples.

check out the article and make up your own mind!

check out the article 5 reason to eat organic apples:pesticides-healthy-communities-and-you

i guess an apple a day does keep the doctor away

lisa

food for thought

do it anyway

people are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

if you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

if you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.

if you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.

what you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.

if you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.

the good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.

give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.

give the world the best you've got anyway.

you see, in the final analysis it is between you and god;

it was never between you and them anyway.

mother teresa

i know this is different from my"normal" post. i wanted to share!

lisa

can i have a snack?

if your a parent, chance's are you hear this question EVERY day... "can i have a snack?" or "i want a snack!" i hear this in my house all the time. we have a rule, the kids can have one "junkie" snack during the day and one "healthy" snack. if they want something else they can fruit or nuts.  i ALWAYS keep fruit on the table for them to grab if they want. no eating after 4:00 pm, because i want the kids to eat dinner. 

well to was like a dream!!! my 5 year old did NOT ask for her "junkie" snack!!!!! she came into the kitchen and started to eat the grapes that i had on the table!!! OMG is she getting it?!?! i started to jump up and down and said to her "do you know what you are doing?" she looked at me like i had ten heads. i said to her " you made a great choice eating the grapes! mommy is proud of you!"

when my family started out healthy lifestyle, it was like pulling teeth, the tears, the fight, the whining. . . all over snacks...junk...junk that my husband and i bought into the house.  now if it is not in the house they don't ask for it.  you ask, but she just said her kids get one junkie snack a day. well they do! a junkie snack would be... frito's(they only have 3 ingredients), chocolate cover raisins, chocolate cover blueberries, homemade whole wheat chocolate chip bran cookie, or cheese crackers and peanut butter.

lisa

fiesty fajitas

made flank steak fajitas in the crock pot yesterday for dinner. you all know how much i love some crock potin' on a sunday. just had the leftovers for dinner tonight. what i love more than a crock pot meal on a sunday is not having to cook on a monday. my husband and i love these, our 4yo, not so much. she had leftover chicken nuggets from saturday. click here for the slow cooker flank steak fajitas recipe from lisa over at 100 days of real food.

thanks for reading.
amy~

taco taco

amy's taco seasoning recipe. i make up a couple batches in a glass jar and keep it in the pantry.

• 6 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 4 tablespoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how hot you like it)

for about 1.5 pounds of meat i add 4 tablespoons taco seasoning with 1 cup water

it's like the energizer bunny

i love to take a hunk of meat, rub it down with some tasty spices and throw it in a crock it. especially on a sunday. you can do all your dirty work in the morning and then go about your day. the best is coming home from running errands with the family and the delicious aroma slaps ya in the face before you can even get through the door. this past weekend i did a whole chicken and let me tell you, it's like a gift that keeps on giving. that night we had chicken, brown rice and tossed salads for dinner. the chicken was super moist and we couldn't stop nibbling at it. i kept the juices and carcass in the crock pot and after dinner i added water, threw in a few spices, a couple carrots and let it simmer, all night. i woke up the next morning to homemade chicken stock. i jarred some up for the fridge and also froze some in an ice cube tray. why get it from a can or carton when it's that easy to make? monday night we had pulled chicken tacos. i'm not brave enough to attempt the homemade tortillas that my cousin lisa tried but i do make a mean taco seasoning, no packets for us. tuesday night, more shredded chicken. this time i threw it in a vodka cream sauce i whipped up and served it with whole wheat penne. this meal made enough for wednesday night too. one chicken = 4 nights of dinners & a boatload of chicken stock. it just kept going and going and going.

thanks for reading.
amy~

click here for the 'best whole chicken in a crock pot' recipe. there's a link for the chicken stock as well. this is from my bff lisa over at 100 days of real food.

click here for the vodka cream sauce recipe from allrecipes. i used 1/2 & 1/2 in place of the heavy cream and used less than half a pint.

how much is too much?

i am going to start a jar to put a dollar in every time i hear "how much do you eat?"  the truth is i don't keep track my food! i don't count calories! i don't weigh my food! i don't measure my food! i eat when i am hungry and i stop when i am satisfied.  this was something new to me that i had to get use to. for anyone who ever has been on any kind of diet or weight loss program you had to count, track, tally, weigh, measure of some sort.  AND chances are cut out your favorite dessert or food.  i eat my 3 meals a day and if i want a snack in between i have one! stay tune and i will be posting "my story".

lisa

trail mix, hiking not required

seeds are good. but eating them on their own? eh. trail mix is the answer. throw some seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate together and ya got some healthy snack action going on. oh yeah.

here is a picture of my favorite ingredients; lightly salted sunflower seeds, unsalted pumpkin seeds, roasted unsalted almonds, milk chocolate chips, dried cranberries & unsalted peanuts. this is a staple for us. there's always a canister of trail mix in our cupboard. it covers salty, sweet & crunchy. all my snacking needs. my husband grabs handfuls of it when he does his nightly 'cabinet shuffle' and our 4yo goes straight for the cranberries and chocolate chips. go whip up a batch of your own trail mix and let us know what you like in yours. thanks for reading.

amy~

beaver butt what?!?!?!

yeah you read that right! BEAVER BUTT!!! amy was telling me about this blog her and husband found and it put how bad some processed foods are in terms "everyday"people can understand.  i read it last night and i have to share some of it with you.  first off do you remember the tv show that was on friday night's with jaime oliver? i loved that show! that is were the post from this blog all started from.  jamie oliver!!

http://www.restlesschipotle.com/2011/04/all-the-stuff-you-dont-want-to-eat-but-you-do-anyway/

ok, you might want to sit sit down for this....

i never heard of this...there is a gland in the tush of a beaver that enhances the sweetness of vanilla ice cream!  who wants to go out for ice cream? NOT me.

how many of us have had dinner in the car?  chances are if you have kids the meal of choice was chicken (if we can call it that) nuggets and french fries. well guess what else is in the chicken (and no not pink slim that was the hamburgers) dimethyloplysiloxane.... what is that you ask???  it is an anti cracking agent used in chalk , shampoo, lubricant, heat resistant tiles...oh yeah it is in powdered diet drinks.

do you want to throw up?  there is more!!!

my son drinks whole milk and i recently found out it is  processed less then skim milk, so i switch myself and daughter from skim to whole...and after reading this next one i think my husband will be switching too!

titanium dioxide..ever heard of it?? i did not.  well it is in paint. that is right! like the paint you paint your walls!  this is why...to make skim milk WHITE AGAIN becuase it turns blue!!!!

there is more. . .and more . . check out the blog for yourself!

oh, i know you are saying how can the fda "approve" this well they do.  if there is under a certain amount companies are NOT required to list it on the product. barf!

lisa

what i'm spending money on.

"isn't eating healthy expensive?" i get this question a lot when i tell friends that i'm choosing to serve healthier options to my family. yeah, our produce total is high. but my 'crap' total is low. i'm not buying all those snacks we used to eat. like granola bars, fruit snacks, little paks of cookies and even worse, those paks of crackers with the weird orange cheese that you spread on with a little red spreader thing-y. yes, my daughter was eating those. but only because i was buying them. so i stopped buying them and guess what? she survived. she's snacking on fruits, yogurt, cheese, more fruit, dried fruit, freeze dried fruit, peanuts, chocolate chips if she needs a little chocolate, cause who doesn't? we have not kicked the goldfish habit though. those are like crack for kids. for real. the other day new friends came over for a play date and i offered berries and bananas for a snack and the 2yo looks at me and says "goldfish please" in the cutest darn voice. i have a recipe for cheese crackers that we need to try. it uses three ingredients compared to like 18 on this bag of goldfish i'm holding. and some of those ingredients, eeeek, i don't even want to tell you what they are. (i'll post about all that craziness later) other items i'm spending money on are spices. instead of buying bottles of marinades and sauces i'm making them. we were die-hard good seasons salad dressing fans. we make dressing now using oil, vinegar and spices. same with ranch dressing, you can easily make it at home. so yeah eating real food, healthy food, good, tasty food is expensive BUT we're saving tons by not buying all that crappy stuff. it's working for us. i'm going to keep it up. i see that scale going down. that's the type of motivation i like! thanks for reading.
amy~

beans, beans, beans . . .

well, i did it! i made the re-fried beans! they were yummy and soooo easy!!!  after the beans had been cooking for about 3 hours i called amy in a panic and said, "now what?  what do i do with the re-fried beans?" 

let's just say my easy one recipe turned into all day cooking...however dinner was  AMAZING!!!! and i found yet another great recipe for a processed food that i couldn't find with less then 5 ingredient's, tortilla shells!  we had taco's with homemade taco seasoning, homemade re-fried beans, and homemade whole wheat tortilla shells. all 3 recipes are from http://www.100daysofralfood.com/ .  My mouth is water just thinking about how yummy dinner was!! the re-fried beans made a ton and the best part is it was cheap to make. it only cost $1.63.

I can not wait to make ALL of it again!!!

lisa

ugh...my belly

easter dinner has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday dinner!! ham, stuff artichokes, pineapple stuffing, ambrosia, kielbasi, homemade mac and cheese are just a few of my old favorites...whats not to love..(my belly is turning just writing this)  i host easter and everyone brings something. what a big help and time saver! ( i think)

the few day's leading up to easter are always busy.  especially this year, my sister had emergency surgery, we had an easter party, my daughter had a birthday party on saturday and we did egg dyeing with my parents and ordered pizza for dinner. oh yeah lets not forget i had to get ready for 24 friends and family coming over for dinner!  somewhere in there our eating went down the drain along with our bellies... not just mine, the whole families!!! it took several day's for our belly's to get regular again. i knew what we were doing by giving up processed foods was the right thing, however this past week-end validated how it effect our bodies. well, i have one year to re-vamp and play with the easter menu and recipes.  real food is the way to go for my family and  belly!!! 

lisa

i love you like a fat kid loves cake.

everyone loves cake. cake is so good. my favorite is white cake with white frosting. my husbands favorite is white cake, white frosting. my daughter's favorite (gasp) chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. you rarely find someone who will pass up a piece of the stuff at a birthday party. even when you are on a 'diet' (insert eye roll) you always have the cake, just a small piece. only a bite. mmmmcake. when i was pregnant with my second child i became obsessed with red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. obsessed. thank goodness i didn't give in every time i thought about it. but my mom made me cupcakes at a summer bbq and one of my bestest girlfriends made me an awesome double layer cake for a little 'baby' party my friends threw me. i'm so thankful to both of them for taking the time and making them from scratch. knowing where your cake comes from. knowing the ingredients. that's kinda important. i admit it, i never really thought about it. i mean, it's cake. what could be in it, right? ever check out the ingredient lists on the cakes at the grocery store bakery? you will never go near one after reading this article about super market cakes. thanks to food babe for her post on our most favorite blog, 100 days of real food. it's pretty crazy. ever heard of propylene glycol ? me either. click the link, do it. cause it's the main ingredient in anti-freeze and you are probably feeding it to your family. it's in cake and a whole bunch of other stuff like candy, biscuits, salad dressings, soft drinks. we need to be more conscious of what we are buying, eating, giving our children. our bodies cannot break down the chemicals, preservatives, poisons that are in processed foods. 'man up' and start paying attention. and most important, stop buying the crap. if it's not in your house you can't eat it. i've noticed changes in my own family over this past month. every little positive change, every extra veggie or fruit we eat, sip of water we take is improving our bodies. wake up and smell the real food! make a change today and start looking at those food labels. just do it.

so yeah, i do love you like a fat kid loves cake. but a real cake, none of this fake crap. and definitely not the antifreeze cake. thanks for reading.
amy~

like we needed another reason to love target

i needed snacks. i was getting close to reverting to not so healthy options merely because i lacked the healthy stuff. i needed help. i needed help fast. enter target. me and the girls headed over after pre-school today. i opted to bring the double stoller instead of pushing a cart and boy did i regret that. it was a balancing act on the way to the check-outs. laundry baskets were on clearance, so i had to get two, and proceed to fill them. i had them on top of the stroller, i couldn't even see over the top. and the stoller itself is a freakin' tractor trailer. anyways, back to healthy. they have a fantastic selection of healthy snack options. their archer farms line is pretty awesome. the freeze dried strawberries are tart, yummy and a little addicting. i also got the freeze dried apples which are super delicious. sadly though, the apples have preservatives added. but still under five ingredients. i've been looking for chocolate covered almonds since lisa mentioned them in an earlier post. and guess what, target has dark chocolate covered almonds in this cute little round canister. y.u.m. thank you target for saving me. i plan to go back and check out the other freeze dried fruit. mango was calling me but i wanted to play it safe today. next time you're in target check it out. there was an aisle with nuts, trail mix, the fruit. archer farms. good stuff.

thanks for reading.
amy~

breaking out of your comfort zone

over this past week-end we celebrated my dads birthday. happy birthday dad!! the food was so yummy...we had a mexican theme! i love mexian all food.  my mom had made a seven layer dip and it was amazing!! i never really tried her seven layer dip, until this past week-end.  well after eating it i thought, how can i make it healthier without effecting the taste, well the answer is simple...i am going to try my hand at homemade re-fried beans.

stay tuned and i will keep you up-dated for i will be cooking them over night in the crock pot...

lisa