Christmas oh Christmas

I am so behind this year!! I just started shopping today...that's right today. For all you over achieving moms who are gasping right now I'm sorry!! I don't know what it is but I cannot get with it! Christmas is going to be over & I'm going to be left with that "what the...just happened...it's already over?!" Anyway, with that being said I've fallen behind on my cooking as well. I have also found it very hard to please the hubs w the new special diet so I'm continuously finding ways to tweek it & am finding that I may not be able to go completely non-processes as planned. But for goodness sakes I'm going to try my best & still continue to cook from scratch as much as possible. My most favorite quick meal for the kids (can be dinner or packed in a lunch) is mini whole wheat pizzas. You take whole wheat tortillas & cut little circles out (I use the bottom of a can & twist til a nice little round disk is formed), then I put them in a cupcake tin where the tortilla comes up slightly on the sides. Then I add pizza sauce (tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, & Italian seasoning...all to taste) & mozzy cheese & any other toppings the kids might like or just keep it as cheese pizzas. Pop them in the oven @ 350 for 8-10 mins & watch them get devoured! My kids love them!! And since I'm feeling in the Christmas spirit, I'll generously give another recipe that has been a huge hit. Baked fries. Cut potatoes in wedges or however you like them cut & put them in a ziploc w olive oil until they are all coated. Put them on a baking sheet and put salt & pepper on them. Bake for 15-20 mins (kinda keep watching) @ 425. They are so good!! I could eat a whole batch! Add a hamburger (local beef if possible) & a whole wheat bun & it's a very tasty yet healthy version of burger & fries!!

Snow!

Today was the 2nd time it has snowed this Fall but today was the 1st time it was enough for kids to play in it! They had a blast! Snow angels, mini snowmen, snowballs & hot chocolate:) It's very abnormal for Memphis to have snow in November & really weird to see it twice...makes me wonder what the weather will be like when it's actually winter! Maybe we'll have a white Christmas:)
Hot chocolate recipe:
1 T 100% cocoa
2 T maple syrup (more or less to taste)
Heat w milk on the stove
Enjoy:)

Monday cooking

Today was a perfect day to cook! Who wants to get out in cold, rainy weather?! Not me! So, I made pumpkin muffins, chocolate chip cookies (both w white whole wheat flour) & whole wheat spaghetti for the kids lunch & I will freeze leftover meat sauce for future lunches or dinners. It may come as a shock to some of you but 3 & 5 yr olds can be picky eaters. Crazy, I know! So I try to always have frozen, healthy leftovers just in case. Because long gone are the days of cooking up chicken & French fries on a moments notice. Both the muffin & cookie recipe came from 100daysofrealfood.com. The only change I made was to the cookies: I didn't have brown sugar so I used all real sugar (which is a treat w "real" eating!, I used all whole wheat flour bc I don't even keep white flour on hand anymore, & at the end I added just enough oil to coat the big dough ball to add some moisture. The spaghetti is just by taste. I add parsley, oregano, basil (or just Italian seasoning), garlic & onion powder, & a can of tomatoes(real 100% tomatoes). I love onions in my spaghetti but this debate goes back to Mr & Ms Picky so what can ya do?! Avery is not one of those "hide" things & she won't know kids. She always knows! Anyway, I'll cook some whole wheat pasta & there's lunch! Maybe a side of fruit or something if kids want extra. Later today I will be cooking a clean version of Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica w whole wheat pasta, several cheeses, prosciutto, & shrimp. See I told y'all we still eat very good! It's just not processed!! I will post that recipe later bc I may tweak it or something:)
Here are some pics of my creations:

Lazy, rainy Sunday:)

Today it started raining early this morning on our way to church & hasn't stopped since! Looks like we could get rain for 2-3 days straight so we came home & I made potato soup & "grown-up" grilled cheese. It was the perfect lunch for this kind of day. Below is a pic of the kids I took while sitting on the couch...this has pretty much been my view all day:)

"Real Food" lifestyle

In the past couple months I have really gotten into making everything we eat. And when I say "making" I truly mean most of the food we eat is totally from scratch. I stumbled upon another blog entitled 100 days of real food. It's great!! There are 5 "rules" to follow & it's a lot like reading labels or knowing what you eat as if you were on a diet except a lot easier than counting calories & fat grams. You can't eat fast food, no fried foods, anything pre-packaged must have 5 ingredients or less, only whole wheat or whole grain, & try to avoid refined sugars. It's a whole lot simpler than it sounds. Except you do have to cook most everything you eat so it can be trying at times. I am absolutely loving it! I feel like everything we eat is food that I know exactly what it is. You can also pretty much eat anything you want but you cook it differently or substitute normal ingredients for a new real ingredient. Such as honey or maple syrup for sugar or syrup on your pancakes/waffles. I make a huge batch of banana pancakes on Mondays (my cooking day) & freeze them. I just take a few out, put them in the microwave & voila the kids have a very nutritious breakfast which was quite easy to make & they're getting a serving of fruit:) I will continue to post updates & recipes for our new food lifestyle as well as updates on the kids! This has really become a new passion of mine & I really love cooking good, healthy things for my family but not going overboard as some are doing now a days & cutting out what seems like everything they eat!! We still eat very well & lots of it! :)