Want to cook healthy, real meals for your family but need a little direction and inspiration to help you get those meals on the table? Help is on the way! This week's Bundle of the Week is all about Easy Meals with titles like Feast in 15 by Tiffany King and Crock On! by Stacy Myers. Each Bundle of the Week includes 5 eBooks all on a related topic for only $7.40. An incredible deal and a little extra help in the kitchen can go a long way!
Are you pregnant or know someone who is? I've got some tips for putting together an eco friendly baby nursery over at Zenoobi. I'll be writing a monthly blog post for them so check it out if you have a chance! And while you're there, check out their web store too. Zenoobi is a great resource for eco friendly baby furniture, gear and clothing!
Continue reading "Eco Friendly Nursery, Detox Diet and Eco Craft of the Week" »
You know all those craft and food ideas you pin on Pinterest? How often do you get around to actually making them? This past weekend I attempted to make some Halloween party food for my son's 8th birthday party and discovered that things don't necessarily end up looking as good as they do on Pinterest.
It didn't help that I was short on time. First, I tried to make the monster jaws using peanut butter and almonds for teeth. Epic fail! So I ditched that project and then scrambled to get the breadstick bones and mummy dogs in the oven and then madly peeled clementines for the pumpkins. I was also planning to make carrot fingers with dip but that never happened.
The results were OK but certainly weren't in league with the photos you see on Pinterest. But in the end it hardly mattered. The kids thought the food was great!
Continue reading "Halloween Party Food and the Truth about Pinterest" »
I've been a fan of Robin Asbell's recipes for many years. Her Whole Grains Cookbook is filled with unique and delicious recipes using all sorts of healthy grains. She is probably best known for her vegan and vegetarian cookbooks Big Vegan and New Vegetarian.
So when Robin approached me about participating in her virtual potluck to promote latest cookbook Sweet & Easy Vegan, I happily agreed! Sweet & Easy Vegan is all about decadent dairy free desserts made with whole grains and natural sweeteners. I do not follow a vegan diet but show me a healthy dessert and I'm all over it! As I paged through the book I found so many recipes I want to make. Like the Pumpkin Date Bread Pudding. Or the Pear and Maple Upside Down Cake. Not to mention all the gooey cupcakes and mouthwatering pies and tarts! Bring it on!!
Continue reading "Cookbook Review & Giveaway: Sweet & Easy Vegan" »
If you have kids you know how frustrating it can be when you make healthy food and the kids won't eat it. As hard as you try, you can't always get those picky taste buds to cooperate.
Last week I had one of those moments after I cooked up a bunch of acorn squash from our CSA vegetable box. The squash was naturally sweet and I thought it tasted fantastic but both my boys turned up their noses at it when it was served as a side dish to our meal. There was a bunch left over so I decided to use it in a batch of muffins. Did I tell the boys that the muffins were made with the dreaded squash? Of course not!
These "pumpkin" muffins can be made with any type of winter squash - acorn, hubbard, butternut - whatever you have on hand. I'm guessing that mashed sweet potatoes would work as well. And of course if you don't have squash you can substitute pumpkin - I doubt the kiddos will know the difference!
(adapted from a pumpkin muffin recipe on Epicurious.com)
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (use part whole wheat or white whole wheat if you would like)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and nutmeg)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup cooked winter squash (acorn, butternut or others)
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Optional: 1/2 cup raisins, chopped nuts or chocolate chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare muffin pan with butter, cooking spray or unbleached paper baking cups.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, squash, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients in 2 parts, until just combined. Stir in raisins, nuts or chocolate ships if using.
Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.
What's your favorite way to sneak healthy ingredients into your kids diet?
This is the time of year when eating is like an orgy every day. The number of fresh, fabulous tasting fruits and vegetables is at its peak. Our CSA box is brimming with locally grown organic veggies each week. The farmer's markets are a treasure trove of home-grown goodies like heirloom tomatoes, multi-colored carrots and of course sweet corn!
The minute I started reading Jenny Rosenstrach's new cookbook Dinner: A Love Story, I was hooked. Not that this was surprising as I was already a devoted fan of her blog of the same name. But the book ties her story together in a way that the blog can't quite pull off. You get the whole family dinner perspective - from upbringing to early marriage to having babies (and dinner is never the same after that as we all know!) and learning to accept that customizing dinner for picky kids doesn't mean giving in.
Jenny's humorous and endearing commentary about the joys and pains of feeding the family makes me feel like I'm not so crazy after all for wanting to serve a sit-down family dinner every night. She's a busy mom just like the rest of us and she helps us see that it is possible to make good, real food work for the whole family. Just watch this video and you'll know what I mean:
What's the best way to get kids to eat their veggies and try new foods? We have found that playing with our food is a recipe for success! If you sat at our dinner table you might find us using carrot sticks as swords or waving around our asparagus (they are spears after all!) We even allow green beans to be eaten without a fork occasionally (just not in from of Grandma).
Bottom line is our kids gobble up a lot of healthy food and that makes us feel good. Here are a few more ways to make eating food a fun time for the family:
Personalize It
My husband has a knack for forming food into amusing shapes. Who wouldn't eat carrots and cucumbers carved as their name?
Liam was thrilled when his dad baked his name in crackers!
The kids helped make these special Mother's Day rolls:
Make It Goofy
Face shapes are always fun!
We made this dragonfly from the Bean Appetit cookbook:
Here's a little snack that Liam made for me the other day. Proof that he loves to play with his food too!
Shape it like a Heart
We seem to be especially fond of making heart shaped food around here. This past Valentine's Day my husband turned beets into this beautiful heart salad:
Last year he and the boys made a soup with homemade heart shaped noodles for Valentine's Day:
And I couldn't resist this silly little experiment to turn eggs into hearts:
What do you do to make food fun for your family?
Looking for ideas for an inspired healthy dinner tonight? Here's one that's in frequent rotation at our house. Pizza Puffys are a cross between a German pancake, an omelet and a pizza. They are simple to make, very filling and best of all, customizable!
Start with a simple batter made with flour, egg and milk. Put it in the oven and watch it puff up dramatically. Then, top it with whatever ingredients you have on hand. We love the Mexican version (beans, corn, salsa, avocado), which is perfect for a meatless meal. Just add a green salad and you're good to go! I wish I had a better photo to share, but you'll have to trust me, Pizza Puffys are fun to make and even better to eat!
Here's the recipe, straight from my book, Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision Making. Use organic and sustainably produced ingredients whenever possible.
What's your favorite healthy, inspired dinner?
This might seem like a no-brainer, but with the plethora of individually packaged food products out there, it might not. Instead of buying individual servings of applesauce in throw away containers, get yourself a tight sealing, reusable container and package it yourself. You'll be well on your way to a waste-free lunch!
Even better - make your own homemade applesauce out of organic apples!
Do you have an Easy Eco-Tip idea? Email me and I just might publish it!
