A Recipe and a Rant

Have you ever looked at the ingredient list for most packaged tortillas?
If not, stop everything and go open your refrigerator and pull out your tortillas and look.
It is stunning, and shocking.
The list is huge with teeny tiny print.
There must be 25 ingredients (or more), most of which I cannot pronounce, let alone know what they are.
This is for sure, they can not be good for you.
They are chuck full of preservatives.
One of my friends on facebook posted that she pulled a tortilla out of the refrigerator that was over a month past its expiration date and ate it.
She said it tasted fine.
That is not a good thing.
Real food should rot if not eaten within the specified shelf life.
How scary that it can still taste good after so long.
What artificial thing do they have to put in them to make them do that?
What's worse is thinking about what that artificial thing is doing to our insides.
I don't even want to think about it.
Actually, I do think about it, a lot.
Good news!
I've come up with a solution.
Home made tortillas!
They have just 4 simple ingredients.
They are fresh, they are soft, they are warm and chewy.
Try them once and you'll never go back, ever!

Easy Tortillas

Ingredients:
1 C Water
1 t Salt
1/4 C olive oil
3 C whole wheat or whole spelt flour

Directions:
Place all ingredients in mixer and knead on medium for 3-4 minutes or until dough is soft and elastic. Let dough rest for 30-45 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Roll out on floured surface until really thin, rotating often to loosen from work area and to make them round. Preheat skillet to medium high and cook for about 30-45 seconds on each side, or until bubbles form and become browned. Place hot tortillas on a plate and cover with a clean towel to keep soft and warm until ready to serve.

Helpful Hints:

• The dough should be about the consistency of a firm bread dough. If it's sticky, add more flour before the kneading process begins. If it seems too dry, add a bit more water.
  
• If you are using spelt flour you will need to add 1/2-1 cup more flour. Check the dough for stickiness before kneading.
• You will need to find the "sweet spot" on your stove. Mine is 2 notched down from high. If the burner is too hot, they will burn. If it's not hot enough they will take too long and become dry and brittle. We are going for soft and chewy.
• Roll the tortillas as you go. Don't roll them all out at once and then cook them. Ask me how I know. I place one in the pan and roll the next while it's cooking. You have to work fast and ignore the rest of the house during this process. If they children need help, ignore them. Hate to say it, but if you turn for 1 second you'll burn the one in the pan. Then the next one will not be ready to go into the pan in time and the pan will get too hot and it will take 4 more tortillas to get it just right again. Trust me, just ignore the children! They'll be fine for 15 minutes!
• Don't leave out the oil or they make crunchy cracker things, unless you want crunchy cracker things!
• I have not found out how to make mine perfectly round. Some people are perfectionists like that, but I'm not. And you know what? My kids eat them anyway and love them!
  
• Store left overs (if you have any) in a plastic air tight baggie in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. After that point they go bad and mold. They are real food, so eat them quickly! Your body will thank you.
  

This recipe rules! We use them for burritos, soft tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, green chili, veggie wraps, and pretty much anything you can find to stuff in a tortilla.
My kids even devour them plain, they won't do that with packaged tortillas!
As an added bonus, these babies are super cheap to make. We're talking less than 50 cents for the whole batch. Compare that to grocery store prices!
Try them, I promise you'll love them!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Hello Blog, sorry I've neglected you.
To show how sorry I am I thought I'd share one of our family's favorite recipes.
Cinnamon Raisin Bread
I use my basic bread dough recipe for this.
I make 99% of the bread we eat.
Doodle says my bread is better than any other bread, she hates it when she has to eat store bought bread.
I agree. It fills the house with its warm, toasty aroma. There are few things I enjoy more than a fresh loaf of bread with melty butter (and drippy honey if I'm feeling really naughty). My mouth is watering at the thought.
So without further delay, my most used recipe, hands down.
Warning: I don't usually measure all of the ingredients, so these are my best guess. I really hope it's about right.

Honey Whole Grain Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup luke warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey
2 1/2-3 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour ( I use spelt flour for our family because of allergies and I end up using 3-3 1/2 cups of spelt flour)
3/4 Tablespoon yeast
2 Tablespoons olive oil (optional)

Directions:
1. When I make bread I make 5-6 loaves at a time, so I multiply the recipe and throw everything in my Bosch (sweet Bosch of love, how I adore you!). I turn the Bosch on medium speed with the dough hook and let it knead for about 7 minutes, adding more flour as needed to give it the right consistency. If you are making bread by hand I would not do more than 2 loaves at a time, it can get really hard to knead. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir to combine, then knead for about 10-12 minutes or until it has the nice stretchability of bread dough.

2. For regular bread, oil the bread pan , shape the dough into a nice rounded loaf and place dough into pan. Some people let it rise once and then punch it down and then put it in the pans to rise again, I don't do that. I simply let it rise once and bake.
For cinnamon raisin bread roll the dough out on a lightly greased counter top. Sprinkle cinnamon and raisins to your hearts content (the more the better, in my opinion). Roll the loaf like you would for cinnamon rolls. Place the whole roll, seam side down, in the prepared pan. Cover your bread pans with a light, clean cloth and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

3. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes. You'll know your bread is done if you tip the bread out of the pan and the bottom of the loaf is golden as well. If it's not golden yet the middle of you loaf will still be doughy. There's nothing worse than doughy bread, so just pop it back in until the bottom is done.

4. Try not to inhale the entire loaf all by yourself. It's best to have people around to share with as to avoid this unwanted behavior.

Happy eating!

How to Dice a Mango 101

There are not many things in life as nice as a bowl filled with bright orange juicy sweet mangoes.
They are just so pretty.
And tasty.
The problem is, they can be a little challenging to dice with that huge pit in the middle.
Here's a little trick I learned to avoid that problem all together.

First, you want to cut the mango almost in half.
You are going to cut down both sides of the long, flat pit.
Go ahead and off center your knife just a hair.
As you are cutting through the flesh you'll feel the knife braise the pit, just let your knife follow the pit all the way through the fruit.

You can see the ridge where my knife hit the pit so I had to move my knife over.
Next you will take the knife and cut the flesh to the skin (but not through the skin), making a checkerboard pattern.

This is the fun part. Invert the skin of the fruit so all the chunks stand up.
My kids thought that was hilarious.
If you want to eat the whole thing fresh right then and there just go to town biting the pieces from the skin.
I only do that when I'm not sharing.
Unfortunately, with 4 kids I am always sharing.

Next, slide your finger between the fruit and the peel. They just slide right off.
You could use a knife, but who has time for that nonsense?
Repeat with the fruit from the other side of the pit.

Now they are ready to share, or put in a fruit salad, or freeze for smoothies, or for muffins or make this yummy Mango Pineapple cake.

Mango Pineapple Cake

Ingredients:

1 C sugar ( I use 1/2 C brown sugar and 1/2 C honey)
1 t vanilla
2 t baking soda
3 eggs, well beaten
1 t vanilla
1 8 oz can (or fresh) crushed pineapple with juice
1 1/2 C finely chopped mango (can substitute canned or fresh peaches if you don't have mango on hand)
1/2 C nuts (optional)
2 C flour (I use whole grain, freshly ground flour, usually spelt, but whole wheat works, too. My smallest can't eat wheat so I use spelt flour)

Directions:

Mix eggs, vanilla and pineapple. Add mango and nuts. Mix in dry ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into greased 9x11 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Easy Peasy!
And oh, so good.
Even without added fat from oil or butter it's incredibly moist!
Go ahead, buy a mango

Spicy

Have you ever roasted green chilies?
Oh, these little bad boys are down right tasty.
They fill the warm kitchen with a spicy aroma that almost brings tears to your eyes.
They freeze wonderfully, ready for any Mexican recipe at any moment.
Plus, they are one of the easiest things you can think of to make.
Ready for this?
First, move the top rack in the oven as close to the broiler as possible.
Place the chilies on a baking pan, once the broiler is preheated place the pan on the top rack.
Leave them there for just a few minutes, until the skin turns black and starts to blister.
Take them out and turn to blister the other side. Continue until all sides of the pepper are blistered.
Remove from the oven and place directly in a plastic sac and seal it.
This allows the chilies to steam.
The bag will puff up like a hot air balloon in just a few seconds from all that hot air.

Aren't they pretty? I love the deep green goodness!
You only have to leave the chilies in the bag for a minute.
Remove them from the bag and the skins will literally peal right off in your fingers.
It's really quite fun to do.
Next, you can place them right in the freezer in a freezer bag for later use or chop them up for your favorite South Western dish.
What did I do with mine, you ask?
I made a dish Mr Bird's mom used to make for their family called Green Chili.
It's not green, but it calls for green chilies.
The recipe calls for canned, but we found out these fresh little puppies have 500% more flavor.
When I made this I chopped up one green chili and put it in.
It did not look like enough, so I chopped another and threw it in the pot.
Big mistake!
I think we would have been good with half of one, these little guys have kick!
Our mouths were on fire, but it was so good.
I could not stop eating it, tears streaming down my face.
You want the recipe?
OK, since I love you, here you go.

Green Chili

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey or finely chopped chicken breast, browned
1 large potato diced really small
1/2 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1 small can tomato sauce (or 3-4 fresh Roma tomatoes all blended up with the onion/garlic mixture)
1 small can green chilies or 1/2-1 roasted, diced green chili
6 C water
1 1/2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
salt to taste

Directions:
Warning: For those of you who don't know me very well, I have made this recipe my own. I don't do it exactly how my mother-in-law did it, but we still think it's a classic.
1. Place the onion, garlic and 2 cups of water in the blender. Blend until liquefied ( I hate chopping onion and garlic and my kids hate finding onion pieces in their food, this solves both problems. Plus it cuts out sauteing them too).
2. Pour the onion mixture in a pot and the add chopped potatoes. Boil until potatoes are tender.
3. While the potatoes are boiling brown your meat (we've made it without meat and I love it, Mr Bird loves it with meat).
4. When the potatoes are tender add remaining 4 cups of water and all other ingredients. Heat through.
5. Optional: You can thicken it with corn starch and water or cornmeal if it's too thin.
6. Serve over a warm tortilla topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, green onions, olives, etc.

Happy Soup Season!

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Boy have I got a treat for you!

This tasty meal is an all time favorite at our house. I made it last night and all of my kids agreed that I should make this everyday!

Now that it's summer and we can fire up the grill outside I'm all for it!

This is my favorite part of the meal. I love grilling veggies outside.

I ate more veggies than anything else.

First I drizzled them with olive oil and coarse ground sea salt and fresh crushed garlic.

Then I skewered them and placed them on the grill next to the chicken.

Simple, but divine.

I grilled the sliced pineapple last, just long enough to heat it and give it nice looking char lines.

Then I diced the chicken into bite size pieces and put them in our favorite pitas of all times, fresh from the oven, of course. Add some more sauce to the diced chicken and some lettuce and pineapple and you're ready to eat!
I love the sour dough pitas, but I use freshly ground spelt because of wheat allergies at our house. They come out phenomenal!

OK, since I love you all so much I'll share the love. Homemade teriyaki sauce is infinitely more flavorful than the bottled version, and it's super easy to make. Plus you probably have all the ingredients just laying around your pantry just waiting to be used. Try it tonight, you'll be glad you did!

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce and Glaze

Ingredients

1/2 C Soy Sauce

1 C Water

1/2 t Ground ginger (or fresh if you have it)

1-2 Cloves of garlic, minced

2T chopped green onion

5T Brown sugar

2 T Honey

2T Corn starch or tapioca flour

1/4 C Cold water

Directions

Combine first 7 ingredients in a small sauce pan. Heat just until it starts to bubble. In a small bowl combine the corn starch and 1/4 cup of water and stir well. Add the corn starch mixture to the sauce and heat while stirring until sauce thickens, this will be very fast. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Marinate 2 chicken breasts with about half of the sauce for up to 24 hours. Grill chicken, basting with sauce often. When chicken is cooked through remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting. This keeps the chicken unbelievably moist. Brush the chicken once more with the reserved sauce.

Try not to look like a ravenous wolf as you inhale the best chicken you have ever eaten!

Store left over sauce in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

The sauce can also be used for veggies, pork, or beef.

Sour Dough English Muffins

"Hey Mickey, he likes it!"

When ever I make something new I test it out on the baby.

He can be quite finicky sometimes, so if he likes it the rest of the heathens are sure to love it!

I have been on a sour dough kick again.

I go through phases.

Some weeks I put the start in the fridge and don't touch it once.

Then there was the time I forgot about it and left it out on the counter without feeding it for about a week and it rotted and I had to go begging some more off my wonderful sour dough friend.

She said it's gonna cost me next time, so I better get my act together and

stop killing the sour dough!

Other weeks I can't get enough and I use it at least once a day.

This week has been one of those weeks.

I have used it in sour dough pancakes, blueberry muffins, chocolate zucchini bread (with spinach instead of zucchini) ,pitas and these little lovelies.

Home made English muffins are to die for.

They put the ones in the store to shame.

Shame, I tell you, SHAME!

And when you find out how easy they are and how cheap they are to make you just might die.

You'll never buy another English muffin as long as you live!

In fact I made this recipe twice in less than a week and I even doubled the recipe the second time and we have eaten every last one of them.

Oh my, the nooks!

Take a look at the nooks!

How I crave the crannies.

Warm out of the oven or toaster the honey drips into each perfectly formed crevasse and makes the whole thing a gooey, chewy delight.

Have I mentioned that I love sour dough?

Oh good, so glad we're clear on that!

As usual I found a recipe on the Internet and then changed it to my fancy. One of these days I might try a recipe as written...maybe.

I'll share my top secret recipe with you, but only if you promise to come get some of my sour dough and try them for yourself.

Shhh, don't tell my friend, she's charging big bucks for the stuff now. I don't think you could afford it.

Sour Dough English Muffins

Ingredients:

½ cup sourdough starter, fed

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup water

½ tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp honey

cornmeal (optional)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in mixer and mix until well incorporated. Cover and let sit out overnight (about 7-10 hours) I actually mixed the dough in the morning and let it sit all day long and continued from here in the evening, just before dinner. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and shape with fingers to look like a round flat thing resembling a hockey puck (I never said I was a professional recipe writer, I just do what works for me, OK!). Place rounds on an ungreased baking sheet, covered with cornmeal (I don't have any cornmeal so I left it out and placed them on parchment paper so they would not stick). Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cornmeal and leave them to rise, covered with a clean dishtowel, for about 45 minutes. Heat a lightly oiled or nonstick skillet over high heat until very hot (I used the griddle since they don't burn as easily), then reduce the temperature to medium/medium high. Cook the muffins for about 5-8 minutes on each side, turning only once. The muffins will reach a light or medium brown (turn down the temperature slightly if they cook too quickly) on both the top and the bottom when they are cooked through. Before the first flip, the sides of the muffin will start to look dry, like the edges of a pancake, when it is ready to be turned. You can peek at the underside, too. Next bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for an additional 5-8 minutes. Cool completely before storing.

Lemons and Pickles

After I made the chocolate slushie the other day I could not get slushies out of my brain.

Then as I was grocery shopping I spotted this bag of beautiful lemons.

Our eyes met and it was love at first sight.

I just had to bring them home with me.

Their destiny?

Lemon slushie, of course!

I love my blender.

I peeled 3 lemons like an orange and put the whole darn thing in the blender, seeds and all.

Then I added 2 cups water and 1/3 c of honey (hence the dark color).

You could use 1/2 c of sugar instead and the color would be perfectly yellow.

I blended that all up for quite a while, until the whole lemon was totally pulverized. That way if there had been any seeds they were totally undetectable.

Then I turned off the blender and filled it up with ice cubes and blended more until the ice was totally pulverized.

The result?

Perfectly sweet and tangy lemon slushie.

So, so, so refreshing on a hot, hot, hot day!

Why was it such a hot day, you ask?

You see I had been canning these beauties all morning.

Yup, I made homemade pickles.

I googled a recipe for dill pickles and found about 1,000 variations for the same thing.

I took the really simple route and made my pickle brine using 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar and pickling salt. Then I added 1/2 T dill seed to each jar and boiled them in the water bath for 10 minutes. And voila!

Home made pickles.

The only problem is that most of the recipes say to let them sit in the brine for 4-6 weeks (to let them cure) before you eat them.
HA! Like that's gonna happen.


I did have left over cucumbers and brine after I ran out of jars and dill seed so I just put the left over cucumbers in the brine in the fridge with some red onions.

They have been in there for a few days and are perfect. These may hold me over for about a week, unless the kids find them, then they'll be gone in about an hour.

I love summer.

I can't wait until I have my own baby cukes growing in my very own garden!

Not to mention tomatoes and corn and peppers and onions and watermelon and squash and zucchini and green beans and herbs. The possibilities are endless.

Ah, I love summer!

Somewhere, My Love, There Will Be Skies of Blue

We have been having so many great adventures.

We were really tempted to do school work this morning. I had all the kids down stairs with our morning devotional all ready to start, then I noticed a message on my cell phone.

I made the mistake of listening to it before we started school.

It was Lisa and she wanted to go to Snow Basin for a horse ride today.

How could I resist?

If she were going anywhere else I may have been able to say no.

But Snow Basin? How could I?

Just look at those gorgeous leaves. They are so new and bright. They make me so happy just looking at them. The wild flowers are starting to bloom, too. In another couple of weeks that mountain will be covered with the most beautiful blue bells you have ever seen.

It was our first time back to our favorite horse riding spot since last fall.

It has been too long.

Snow Basin is up, up, up in the mountains and it takes longer for the snow to melt up, up, up there than it does down, down, down here.

Oh Snow Basin, how we have missed thee!

We have missed the sweet music of the mountains. The birds chirping above us, the sound of the river rushing at our feet, the sound of the baby oohing at all the majesty, the sound of the horses breath as they trot, the sound of the clip clop of the horses hooves, the sound of all the little bugs buzzing around.

We have missed the scenic vistas and wonderful hiking trails.

We have missed dipping our toes in the crisp water of the river.

We have missed eating our lunch in the shade of the twinkling leaves.

We have missed spending the afternoon with Grandpa and Lisa and Jessica and Jo.

We missed the wriggly fuzzy caterpillars and the purple butterflies.

Being back up in Snow Basin today felt a little like coming home after being gone much, much too long.

When we got home and got the car unloaded we were ready for a nice cool treat. I made the kids a super tasty chocolate slushie.

We drank them in the hideously long grass of our back yard and wished the day would never end. Oh, OK, since you asked so nicely I'll give you the recipe. You'll die when you see how easy it is.

Super Yummy Chocolate Slushie

Ingredients:

2 c milk (I use rice milk since we have dairy allergies, but cow milk works, too)

1/3 c agave nectar or honey (or 1/2 c sugar)

2 T cocoa powder

Ice

Directions:

Put the first 3 ingredients in the blender then put in ice, blend on high until it's nice and slushie. I don't measure the ice, I just keep putting more in if it's not slishie-y enough(let's just pretend for today that slushie-y is a real word, K?) .

See, told ya, it's as easy as it gets. The kids think they're getting some kind of special treat and I get CHOCOLATE!

Does life get any better than this?

Homemade Nutty Bars

Forgive me, I wanted to take pictures of my newest creation, but every time I make them they disappear too fast. Do you like Nutty Bars?

I do.

In fact I'm a little addicted to them.

I stopped buying them because I have no self control.

I'd open the box to eat one bar and wind up eating the entire box in less than 10 minutes.

By myself.

Then I'd be sick to my stomach and grumpy for the rest of the day.

Plus the first two ingredients are dextrose (a form of refined sugar) and shortening.

They have more sugar and shortening than flour or peanut butter.

They also have those nasty artificial flavors in them that keep us addicted and going back for more when we should be satisfied with just one.

So guess what I did? I found a way to make my own healthy-ish homemade version of this classic treat. The simplicity will just kill you. So will the ingredient list.

You take 2 of these crackers.

The ingredients in them are rye flour, water and salt.

That's it, nothing else.

They are really thin and crispy.

You spread both crackers with some of this.

Ingredients: Peanuts.

Then spread some of this on the peanut butter.

Ingredients: Pollen and bee spit
Put the two crackers together like a sandwich with all the gooey peanut butter and honey gushing out of the sides.

This is the naughty part. You melt some of these and cover the top of the sandwich with a layer of melty chocolate. I used semi sweet because I like dark chocolate, but milk would work too.

Be sure you use Ghirardelli brand or another brand that does not list vanillin in the ingredients.

Vanillin is bad.

It's a substitute for vanilla which is natural. Vanillin is artificial and a petroleum by product.

You'd be surprised how much stuff they put vanillin in instead of vanilla.

OK, off my soap box now, back to the cookie!

You can either eat them all melty or you can put them in the fridge until the chocolate hardens, about 5 minutes.

The first time we made these they got put in the fridge, the next time they did not last that long.

The best part about these is after just one I am totally satisfied. They fill me up.

Try them, you'll be glad you did!

Breakfast With a Kick

Do you need the milk in your cereal to turn magical colors?

Try this super tasty meal.

The picture was taken half way through my meal because I could not believe how tasty it was.

I just had to share with my blogging buddies.

This here is all natural, no added colors, flavors or preservatives.

Everything in my bowl is straight from nature.

My taste buds were doing a happy dance this morning.

OK, here it is:

Knock your socks off Oats with blackberries.

Seriously, it tastes like blackberry cobbler.

Ya, it's that good.

1 c steal cut oats

2 c water

Combine these two ingredients in a pot and cover. Leave them to soak overnight. I put them in just after I have finished the dinner dishes to let them soak. Trust me, they cook so much faster in the morning when you soak them first. Plus they are supposed to be better for you if you soak them first.

In the morning, turn the stove on to high and keep the pot covered. Let the liquid reach just a rolling boil then turn the stove off. Leave the pot on the hot, but off burner for 20 minutes. This makes 4 servings. Place about 1/2 cup of oats in each bowl. Add one squirt of honey, a shake of cinnamon, a splash of rice milk and a handful of blackberries. Frozen work fine, but fresh are absolutely killer. And there you have it, the most tasty oats you will ever, ever eat!

Trust me, I know good oats when I taste them.

P.S. I suppose you could do the same thing with just plain old cooked oatmeal, but that stuff is way too slimy for me, but to each his own!

P.S.S. You could also use cow milk instead of rice milk if you really wanted to.

P.S.S.S. Or soy milk, if that's what floats your boat.

P.S.S.S.S. You get the idea right?

Happy Eating!

Eat Your Veggies!

That's every mother's famous last words, right?

"Eat your veggies, dearest."

I have to say, my kids are all so different when it comes to eating their veggies.

Doodle only likes fresh carrots, steamed broccoli and sliced cucumbers, without the skins.

She will eat salad on very rare occasions and only if she's in a good mood.

Beano hates all things veggie.

He eats broccoli when he is forced and he'll eat a carrot, maybe, only if there is absolutely nothing else to eat and he's starving and he has to be in a good mood already. If I offer him one when he's grumpy, heaven help us all.

Dubs will eat any veggie under the sun. He loves fresh bell peppers, onions (weird for a 4 year old, huh), green beans, steamed spinach, cucumbers, salad, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus. Honestly, I have not found a veggie he will not eat.

Baby cakes is becoming more like Dubs every day. He eats fresh bell peppers and his broccoli is the first thing he eats at dinner time. In fact the other day I was eating a salad for lunch and he came over to me begging and I ended up feeding him lots of my salad.

Here are some tips I have found that makes eating veggies a little easier on kids.

* Start them young. Don't wait until they are 4 or 5 until you start feeding them veggies. The younger, the better. This is the mistake I made with Beano and Doodle, I waited too late to start eating lots of veggies.

* You eat them in front of them. Make sounds like they are so good and they are the best thing you've ever eaten. When they ask for some, share. It's the concept of

monkey see, monkey do.

*If your child does not like a certain veggie the first time, don't be daunted. It may take up to 10 tries before he takes a liking to it. It took baby cakes about that long to like bell peppers. Every day he would see Dubs and me eating one, so he would beg. Then he'd take a bite and spit it out and ditch the rest of the pepper. Now he loves them. He ate nearly half a pepper all by himself yesterday.

* Leave a veggie try on the counter for snacking on throughout the day. This is how Doodle found out she loves the middles of cucumbers. Plus this way they see you eating them all day too. This also cuts down on pre-packaged snacks and is heart healthy and full of fiber.

* Serve salad as the first course to dinner. Do your kids ever bombard you while you are cooking dinner? Do they ever stand in the kitchen and whine and complain because they are starved and dinner can't be done soon enough? Oh good, mine either. Who am I kidding? Most days it's all I can do from locking them in their bedrooms until dinner is done. Instead, why not give them a plate of veggies to start the meal. They may be more willing to try them when they are starving. If they reject them the first time, don't worry, just try again the next day, and the next, and the next.

* Try new ways of preparing veggies. Don't just steam them all the time. Try roasting them. My favorite new way of eating veggies is to drizzle them with a little olive oil and sea salt and roast them until they are tender. Recently we have done this with broccoli, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, asparagus and potatoes. It brings out more of the natural flavors. Last night I did this with asparagus and for the first time ever ALL my kids ate them, and liked them! I was used to being one of the only ones that likes asparagus and eating most of it myself. After everyone ate some there was not nearly enough left for me! Next time I'll have to make a bigger batch.

* Make homemade salad dressings for dipping fresh veggies in. If you think you like bottled ranch, think again. There are about a gazillion recipes for homemade salad dressings on the Internet. I have only tried a few, but the ones I have tried put bottled anything to shame. Shame I tell you, shame on you Kraft! The homemade varieties have no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, which most of your bottled varieties are chuck full of, plus the flavors will knock you socks off. My knees went weak when I tried the one I'm about to share, it was so good. The kids even like it!

Creamy Cucumber Salad Dressing with Cucumber Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

3 cucumbers, sliced

3-4 large tomatoes, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1/4 c rice vinegar

3 T Dijon mustard, make sure to real the labels for preservatives

1 t sea salt

1 t dry mustard

1/2 t agave nectar or honey

1/4 t pepper

1/2 c olive oil

Directions:

1. Place cucumber, tomato and red onion slices in a serving dish, reserving 1/3 of one of the cucumbers and 1/4 of the onion for the dressing.

2. Add the remaining ingredients to the blender, including the 1/3 cucumber and the 1/4 of the onion. Blend until smooth.

3. Pour dressing over the veggies. Toss to coat.

4. Chill for several hours.

I like to put this salad on top of a green salad and mix the dressing all up with the lettuce. It is so good. You could just make the dressing and use it for dipping any kid of veggie in. I really can not believe how tasty real food is. I think most Americans are so used to pre-packaged, pre-made, pre-frozen food, that we have forgotten how good the real stuff tastes, and how much better for us it really is. It does not have to be difficult to eat better, it just takes a little effort and changing our habits.

Happy Eating!

What to Feed Baby Cakes

With this whole new diet I've bee experimenting with I think I forgot to mention that we found out that Baby Cakes is allergic to dairy and wheat.

Ya, that makes it even more complicated around here.

At least we may have finally found the reason he has gained less than a pound in the last 7 months.

So what do you feed a baby that is dairy and wheat free with no artificial color or preservatives?

I have the answer and it is so much easier than I ever imagined.

I could go out and buy rice milk, but what is the fun in that?

Actually, Doodle is also allergic to dairy and we do have a case of rice milk we use.

But a few days ago we found something super yummy to use as a dairy replacement.

It is creamier and has more fat and protein, which are huge pluses for a skinny baby.

What is this wonder drink, you ask.

Almond Milk, of course.

And the best part is you can make your own and it's super easy. Here's how.

Almond Milk

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw almonds

3 cups water

1 small handful chopped dates (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak almonds in a shallow dish overnight.

2. Pour off excess water and put in the blender with 3 cups fresh water and the dates.

3. Blend on high about 2 minutes.

4. Strain liquid from almond pulp by pouring through a cheese cloth. Be sure to hold cheese cloth over a large bowl to catch the almond milk. Squeeze cloth to get all the liquid. The pulp will remain in the cheese cloth.

5. Enjoy! Refrigerate leftovers. Use with in a week.

Now, what to do with the left over almond pulp? What ever you do, don't throw it away!

Here is a tasty recipe for Baby's favorite bread as of late.

Almond Rice Bread with Poppy Seeds

INGREDIENTS
1½ cup Brown rice flour
4 teaspoons Baking powder
¼ teaspoon Salt

3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 teaspoons Poppy seeds
½ cup Water
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

Left over almond pulp from almond milk or 1/2 cup whole raw almonds.

DIRECTIONS

1. If you are using whole raw almonds, place almonds and 1/2 cup of the flour in bowl of a food processor and grind until a fine meal is formed, the flour will prevent the nuts from turning oily.

2. Add remaining rice flour, the baking powder, salt, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the poppy seeds; process briefly. Combine water, eggs and oil in a 2-cup measuring cup. Whisk to combine. With processor motor running, pour liquid ingredients through feed tube over flour mixture, processing just long enough to mix.

3. Transfer batter to lightly greased bread pan. Sprinkle with remaining poppy seeds, and bake for at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

1. If using almond pulp combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the water, eggs, vegetable oil and almond pulp. Whisk all ingredients to combine.

3.Transfer batter to lightly greased bread pan. Sprinkle with remaining poppy seeds, and bake for at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

This rice bread is so yummy we can hardly keep our hand off of it. We try really hard to save it for baby so he can eat it for lunch.

More great recipes coming soon. This is so much fun!

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Here it is, the enchilada recipe to beat all other enchilada recipes.

I found this recipe a few weeks ago, before we decided to go cold turkey off artificial stuff in our food.

I was saddened to see that our favorite enchilada sauce is poisonous.

I though, "Oh no, I will never enjoy the best enchiladas on earth ever again."

*sad, cry*

Then I got to thinking, it really can't be that hard to make homemade enchilada sauce, after all people have been making this Mexican classic far longer than Old El Paso has been mass producing their yummy, but deadly sauce. After a few clicks on the ever amazing world wide web I found a recipe to make home made enchilada sauce mix.

You mix several spices in a baggie and there you have it, ready for use whenever you feel the enchilada hankering.

I almost fainted when I found out how easy it was.

So here is to recipe for the sauce mix, no MSG added, I promise!

Enchilada Sauce Mix

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 c. cornstarch

1(6 oz.) pkg. dry chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 tbsp. salt

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tbsp. paprika

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

To make sauce, combine one 8 oz can tomato sauce plus one can of water and 1Tablespoon seasoning mix. Heat in sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer about 5 minutes.

And now for the best part, the tastiest enchiladas you have ever eaten, or your money back!

Honey Lime Enchiladas

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb ground pork
12 corn tortillas
1 cups of Mozzarella cheese , shredded

1 batch of enchilada sauce (see above)
2 Tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro, divided

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

In a sauce pan saute onion until it is soft. Add pork and cook until well browned. Pour off excess fat.

While the pork is cooking combine the honey, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the cilantro in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.

Pour this mixture over the meat and let sit while you warm the tortillas on a griddle.

You must warm the corn tortilla first so they don't crack when you roll them up. When tortillas are warmed fill each with meat mixture and place them seam side down in a baking dish.

Once all tortillas are filled pour enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.

Garnish with remaining 1/2 Tablespoon cilantro.

These are really good served with fresh tomatoes and diced avocado and a fresh salad.

You can make these with chicken instead of pork and they are still fabulous. This time I used 1/2 the pork and I threw in some left over rice and black beans we had in the fridge and they were still so, so good. I imagine you could use only rice and beans for a vegetarian dish, though I've never tired it.

As you can see this was a huge hit at our house, there was barely a crumb left.

If the pan was not so hot they might have licked it clean.

And the best part?

It was not toxic waste!

To see what others are chatting about this fabulous Tuesday, visit The Lazy Organizer!