Dinner for Picky Eaters

Hey guys! I apologize for it taking me so long to post this recipe (I shared it on my IG account last week), but I will try and keep some recipes coming for you! I wanted to share a simple, delicious recipe that our family has been using on repeat lately. This is great for families with picky little ones especially when it comes to eating vegetables. Both of our kiddos love these so much and I hope yours do as well!

Sous smiley chef

Ingredients:
2 lb extra lean ground turkey
1 head of organic broccoli
Lots of Flavor God lemon garlic seasoning
Dash of Himalayan sea salt
1 tbsp of organic olive oil
*optional: splash of Bragg's Liquid Aminos

(If you don't have a lemon garlic seasoning, you can use spicy seasonings or even just salt and pepper. I prefer my food spicy, but often leave the spice out so the kids can enjoy as well. This makes a lot of turkey meatballs, so you can reduce with 1 lb turkey and 1/2 head of broccoli)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break the broccoli into small florets and place in food processor.

Process the broccoli until it is in a finer (rice-like) consistency and dump into mixing bowl.

Add ground turkey, seasonings, salt and olive oil. Mix all ingredients.

Scoop out into balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for about 15-20 min (less or more..cook until turkey is cooked through when cutting a meatball in half)

These aren't much to look at. I know I've said this before, but when it comes to getting picky kids to eat healthy options...presentation is everything. So I urge you to take the time and ball these better than I did. Mine resemble more of a plop of meat ice cream ;) These taste awesome as leftovers cold or reheated. I like to make these on a Monday, and then I consider them our emergency dinner for the moments when we are too exhausted to cook or unprepared. Which is basically every night. These really are a meal all wrapped in a tiny ball. Add some carbs to it if you wish, maybe some sweet potatoes, roasted cauliflower, or carrots, and you have a meal! Have a great weekend guys!

Backstory

Most of you who know me personally, know that I am a pretty "crunchy" person. Crunchy...aka hippie. (I draw the line at dreads...but I have seriously contemplated it with the amount of postpartum hair loss I've suffered) With this one, unfortunate word that I just used to describe myself, let me tell a little of my back story before you judge me. I know the stigma that comes with "crunchy moms". I am ok with it. I landed myself in this category for a darn good reason and am not ashamed to share it. Many of the major choices I make for myself and my family are based on this story right here. I get a lot of judgement and flak for the way I choose to raise my kids, but this story is what a lot of people don't realize before they judge me. I never want my kids to find themselves in the position that I found myself in at such a young age.

It goes back as far as my high school years (it actually goes back way further than this, but this was the age that I started to feel the effects of the way I had lived my life-think a giant cinnabon. because that's pretty much the main food group of my entire childhood. Bread, sugar, more bread with some sugar sprinkled on top of that ;). I would wake up with very sore wrists that never seemed to get any better, but I just assumed that it was the way that I had been sleeping with my wrists tucked under my chin. My parents never thought anything of it, and honestly...I didn't either! I was seventeen. Seventeen year olds don't get disease. Fast forward a couple years, I was only a freshman in college and my joints would hurt so bad that I was taking naproxen every day just to function. I took this medicine every day for over a year. Fast forward a little bit more, and I began to feel the effects of taking too much NSAID. I won't go into detail (as to spare people who grow faint like my husband), but it was obvious that my body couldn't handle all of the pain meds that I was taking. So I backed off from taking it daily and saved it for the days when I knew I'd have to be on my A-game like school and work. This method managed to get me by for a few years, but it grew increasingly worrisome to me as I wasn't finding any improvement. Deep down, I knew that this wasn't normal. I couldn't even dress myself! I would wake from the pain in the night. Something had to be wrong with me. I made an appointment with a rheumatologist and waited for the diagnosis.

I received the diagnosis around my 23rd birthday. Me and some of my closest friends and family were headed out to Las Vegas to celebrate when I got the phone call.

My beautiful mother and myself on the day I received the call from the rheumatologist

I had prayed for a long time that no matter what the diagnosis was, that God would give me the strength, faith and attitude to overcome whatever it was. The doctor told me over the phone that it was rheumatoid arthritis. It stung to hear. I was 23 and felt like I was 93. When I should have felt like I was in my prime, I only saw a future full of pain and fear. I didn't want to accept this. The doctor recommended a medication that I would need to take for the remainder of my life and the thought of that just straight up scared the crap out of me. I expressed my fears with her and she understood, especially because I was hoping to get married and have babies in the near future. My doctor and I agreed to continue on the path I had been on (aka-tough it out) and just keep checking in for evaluation.

I have a super high tolerance for pain, and managing the pain of the RA was doable for me. Unfortunately though, this wasn't my only issue. In 2011, I graduated from dental hygiene school and landed my first job. I was thrilled, but I was literally disabled. The pain from my RA and the irritable bowel symptoms I had been having for over 5 years progressed every single day. (again, sparing you the details. You're welcome). It was to the point that I literally could not continue to live a normal life anymore.

Wanted to share a picture from my graduation from dental hygiene school, but couldn't resist sharing this one instead. Again, you're welcome ;)

I was desperate to find relief so I made an appointment with my physician who literally didn't care about anything other than concealing  my symptoms. He gave me a medication to conceal the IBS and help me get through my days. I left that appointment feeling immensely frustrated and confused. He didn't consider investigating why I was going to the bathroom 10+ times a day or that my hands hurt so bad I would rather just chop them off. Didn't he care WHY my young body was suffering like this?? I knew there had to be someone out there that could help me. I sought out a specialist. 

Next appointment I made was with a gastroenterologist. He suggested Chron's or Celiac disease and followed that up with a colonoscopy. The joy. The procedure revealed nothing other than massive amounts of inflammation (shocker) and a blue color seen throughout. He was surprised in seeing blue and asked if I had anything blue to eat prior to the procedure....UM YEAH. The gallon of blue gatorade you suggested I mix with the gallon of Miralax, are. you. kidding. me. I had never felt like I wasted more time and energy in my entire life. I left that appointment relieved only for the fact that I could eat food again and never have the procedure done again until I'm much older. He summed up his findings with this, and I'm literally quoting him on this one..."Well, you're clear from any major bowel disease, but you have a significant amount of inflammation. I will admit, there are many unknown/undiscovered diseases that start in the gut, and we categorize these mysterious cases like yours as irritable bowel disorder simply because we haven't been able to figure out the cause yet. I am sorry, but there are medications that we can offer you to help you with this." I just had to laugh because of all that I endured, all the doctors I had seen and tests that I went through; this was the final diagnosis. I believe this is where most people give up. They take the medicine, without question and suffer the rest of their lives. Maybe it was because I thought I was too young for this sickness, or because I am very strong-willed and stubborn, but I was on a mission to figure this out. I refused to stop here.

So I continued to suffer for years until God guided me towards a more natural path. He placed people in my life, and moments in my life that led me to this state of healing. I can't explain it any other way, other than I just knew there was a way out of this. I wasn't going to accept living the rest of my life in this decaying state. 

I chose to see a chiropractor who practiced nutritional wellness. The first appointment was comparable to voodoo in my mind. I wanted to laugh, actually, I did laugh to most of what he was doing to test my body. (but kept my words to myself) Honestly, I had nothing...absolutely nothing to lose at this point. Modern medicine had truly failed me. 

I was a newlywed who wanted so badly to become a mother. To be a mother that could live a long, healthy, strong life with her amazing husband and future kids. I expressed this deepest desire of mine to the chiropractor and he just looked at me and flat out said, "This will be no problem. It will take time, but we will heal your body." I was ecstatic inside to hear this news. I wanted to hear this so badly and to believe it even more. For the first time in years, I had hope.

My husband and I (before we discovered a life of health)

He started with adjustments and eliminating major food groups (key=GRAINS, GRAINS, GRAINS). It wasn't even a couple of weeks and I started to feel dramatically more energetic. I could make it through my day at work without hogging up the one bathroom we had. I could get myself dressed in the morning without crying. I could walk in the mornings without limping like a hobbit. 

Without going into great detail of the exact regimen he put me on (because it was anything but simple...but SO worth it), I can say that we healed my body naturally. With real food. Real herbal supplements. No expensive medicines with side effects that had the potential to produce an alien-baby. No more NSAIDs. No more physicians looking at me like I was crazy and writing scripts for bulls!t medications. 

I went on to have a very healthy pregnancy and natural delivery. I went on to become a strong mother and wife. I went on to have another baby. I am nearly a decade older from when I first started this entire journey and can say that I feel 100x better today than I did in my late teens/early twenties. If I had to sum up what I learned from all of this, it would have to be that I never gave up. I'll never give up. I will always fight and keep my faith no matter what life throws at me. If I put my mind to something, I am going to seek to finish it. I will do this for myself, for my wonderful husband, my precious kids, and my amazing God. I will do this to set the example for my kids and pray that my story will shed light for someone else who may unfortunately find themselves in similar shoes. If you are there, I encourage and pray that you keep pressing on and never give up! There is hope and there is a way to find a more healthy life. It's going to take time, and work, but it is possible!

Thieves Energy Bites

Thieves is by far my favorite essential oil of all that I use. A lot of people were surprised to know you can even make some goodies with this one. Anytime I make these, they are gone within minutes and we are wishing I had made more. It uses just five ingredients including the essential oil, so this would be a very easy recipe to allow your kids to help conquer. 

Paul was SO cute and proud sitting at his table eating like a big boy! 

Ingredients:

1-2 drops Thieves essential oil

~1-1.5 cups  of organic quick oats

Dash of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of organic nut butter (we usually use peanut butter, but you could substitute with any butter)

1/3 cup of raw honey

Place honey and peanut butter in stove pot and warm over low heat just until the two melt and mix evenly. Remove from heat and splash in some vanilla extract and add the Thieves essential oil. Slowly add in the oats until it is no longer runny, and a cookie-dough consistency. (This is where Hayden likes to add in the sixth ingredient..."chocolate chips") Grab your scooper (or if you're hungry and making these alone...just get a spoon, grab the bowl and take a seat) and spoon onto parchment paper or cookie sheet. We usually pop them in the fridge and keep them there for storage (if they make it that long).

You're going to LOVE these!! 

Happy Spring!

Happy first day of spring ya'll!!! Even though it's ugly grey outside and still wet from last night's rain, I know that today is going to be an awesome day and it'll be an even better weekend! Hayden had a urinary tract infection a couple weeks ago that led us into a high fever and a pretty miserable couple of weeks. Today she has her ultrasound to confirm that her kidneys and bladder all look healthy despite her episode. As a first time parent, it's hard not to totally panic at the slightest boo-boo. (guilty, like super guilty. I've come to the conclusion that the only way to not be a total basket case of panic is to have more children. Problem solved. You're welcome hunny!) But I just have to reel my "momcrazy" back in and place my faith is in our amazing Savior and I know that no matter what the outcome is...we are in his great care. There is truly no better place to be. Thank you to everyone who had her in your prayers!

My sick sweetheart slept in my arms a lot that week!

On to food. I'm sorry for my lack of posts (again) as we have honestly been in a recipe slump lately. This seems to happen in the last couple cold months every year. We lose creativity...hope...warmth...all things awesome basically. It's as if the cold temps freeze our minds, the short days make us lazy-and then what we know is unhealthy junk food, makes its way into our kitchen. Are we the only ones that fall into this sickness? Oh well. Things have already started to perk up a little bit around here with the warmer temps. Dustin even said, "This warmer weather has me motivated for life!" (as we are driving to get fro-yo. I told you we are in a slump, okay?) I like where his heads at. This hopefully will result in delicious meals for us in the near future! I have some seriously delicious, not-so-paleo recipes I could share in the meantime if you'd be interested? ;)

My awesome Mother in Law let me use her what looks like 1980's waffle maker...
it was so fun we ate waffles for breakfast three days in a row! 

Easter is coming up soon and people ask me what I give Hayden for holidays if we don't "do" candy. It makes me laugh! As if candy is the only thing that kids get excited over. GUYS...non-candy Easter baskets are the bomb. I fill it with sidewalk chalk (which she just promptly takes to the infamous hole on our back deck that was placed there when our grill fell over in a storm..and shoves every piece down the hole. We don't color with chalk around here! We just shove it into holes where it will never be retrieved again. Super fun.) I also fill it with stickers (doughnut stickers this year), glitter tape, play dough, & bubbles. I also got her an awesome doughnut pillow, which I already gave to her. As a family, I think we have yet to actually do the gift giving on the actual holiday itself. Some may call it impatient, I consider it excitement!

Flashback to her first Easter. Someone needs to keep me from looking at old baby pics.
Tears, baby fever, more tears...

Cheers to the weekend guys!

Getting your kids to eat healthy

  So many parents struggle getting their kids to eat healthier foods. We are very blessed that we have a good little eater, but I (better than anyone else on this planet) know how difficult picky eaters can be. I was one. I was so malnourished as a kid for not eating and not eating the appropriate foods that I was always sick. My parents lived a nightmare trying to force feed me foods. I am forever sorry Mom and Dad for the torture I put us all through! I was such a weird kid. I still don't understand why I battled with food for so long, but I know better than anyone what goes through kids' minds when they refuse to eat certain things. Let me save you energy, if they're strong-willed, you're wasting your time.

 Thankfully when I met my husband, he encouraged me to try new things. It's funny what you'll do to impress someone you love ;) Until I graduated from Purdue, I had never tried steak, soup, tacos, (still haven't ever tried a good ol' Jimmy John's or Subway type sandwich), fish, zero condiments, cauliflower, mexican food, etc. The list goes on and on. It was sad. I thought a hamburger was made out of ham. My husband couldn't believe how I ate. I lived on pb&j, bread, more bread, cereal, more bread, and sugar. He would make me try new stuff, and (in hopes that he would continue taking me on dates), I would try whatever he told me to. So basically, I tried enough "normal" food that he finally decided I was pretty cool and married me ;)

  Now that I've proven my credibility in the picky-eater's world, let me share some personal (not-medically approved) tips! I am by no means an expert, but I feel for those of you who are in this boat & want to help.

1. Don't force foods on your kids. They certainly won't starve themselves. (Although I did as a child, but I was beyond stubborn) They will let you know when they're finally hungry. Kids don't live to eat, they eat to live! How often have your kids swam, played or ran around all day that you have to stop them from what they're doing to eat or make a bowel movement? Ha, they're really into having fun and living life! Kids develop unhealthy habits from watching us.

2. If you have an infant trying foods for the first time, try the foods with them! You can't expect kids to eat something that you won't eat either. I once made broccoli sound so tasty and delicious as I ate it, that I actually believed it was as good as chocolate cake or something. I am a pretty solid actress. You're at an advantage here because you're starting from a clean slate. They don't have any formed opinions on foods, yet.

3. Stop feeding them sugar (juices, cookies, candy, etc) and processed carbs (chips, crackers, fruit snacks, etc). Who would want to eat fruits and vegetables when you know how addicting junk food is? Use this junk very sparingly. After the holidays, it was very difficult to get my family back on track. And all of the sugar made us grumpy. My husband and I felt bloated and tired, and my daughter was hyper and acting-up more often. In my eyes, it wasn't worth eating 500+ cookies and buckeyes.

4. For parents with toddlers who already don't eat well, are picky, anti-vegetables, or sport the I'd-rather-die-than-eat-healthy-food attitude...don't give up. Keep offering healthy options everyday. Toss the junk. Out of sight, out of mind. Fill your tables, cabinets and fridge up with healthy choices. Eventually they'll get hungry and may try something they see you eating! Even if I'm not hungry, if I see someone eating, I instantly want to eat too. Please tell me I'm not the only one with this problem?!

5. Try making fruit and vegetable smoothies and let the kids help you. If they don't like vegetables, cover their eyes when you toss them in! ;) If they won't drink it, try freezing them into popsicles. Make it fun! Here is a great popsicle recipe book to try. If they are picky about specks, chunks, texture, the appearance, etc then try purchasing a high-quality blender that will puree the crap out of it as to eliminate these issues. As a kid, I wouldn't try anything that had spots or flecks of anything because I thought they were "bugs". Start out making these with more fruit vs. veggies as to make it sweet and more appetizing. Once they're used to eating these healthy treats, slowly incorporate more veggies!

6. When your child eats something healthy, make a GIGANTIC deal about it. Act like a total fool. I am so ridiculous, I actually make my daughter blush. Doing anything in life is a lot more enjoyable when you're being recognized and praised for doing so.

7. Eat as a family for as many meals as possible throughout the week! Because my husband works nights, we don't always get to have dinner together. We will turn our breakfast into family time instead! Eating together is healthy for everyone and encourages good eating habits, too.

8. Try a sticker-reward board. Create a board that is fun for your child. For every time they try a new healthy food, they get to put a sticker on the board and brag all about it! It would help if you could find food-related stickers, like these. For example: Eat a cucumber, pick out the cucumber sticker & stick it on the board; show mom & dad & grandma, grandpa, friends, dogs...whoever they want to brag to, and be sure to go crazy happy for them! ;) (we do this for potty-training and good behavior, too).

9. Don't give up trying. You'll likely waste food attempting this, which is frustrating, but eventually you'll figure out what they like. It'll be so worth all of the work!

10. Have them help you cook. There's been so many times that I've worked hard in the kitchen and made (more often than not) really disgusting meals...but I'll be damned if I am not going to eat it and make it sound like it was the best thing ever.

11. Educate them. Kids are so smart. They want to learn. Teach them what certain foods are, and learn what kinds of vitamins and minerals are in each food and how those things make us healthy & strong. If you don't know for yourself, then google it with them.

12. Pray for them. I pray daily for Hayden! I thank God for her health and pray for continued blessings.

I really hope this helps ya'll! I wish it were easier, but kids are tough. They're our greatest challenge and joys!

And remember...ya still gotta live the good life! To those who think all we eat are organic twigs and berries...

Dinners!

   Many have been asking recipes for the dinners we've been eating lately so I'll just share the latest we've tried with some other combo ideas for y'all! First off, I'm always asked where we grocery shop. Thanks to Fresh Thyme's grand opening, that is primarily where I shop now. However there are some things that we just consume so much of that I'll still occasionally go to Sams Club/Costco or Payless depending on what it is. Lately, we've been getting our grass fed beef from Fresh Thyme. But if you can't stand the crowds, you can get it from Payless or buy local from places like Sheepdog Farms in West Lafayette.

   We typically will have grass-fed beef or poultry throughout the week, occasionally adding in fish for variety. Funny story: last week we had salmon with cauliflower rice. I told my daughter to try the fish because it was really yummy. She was brave and tried it, but wasn't a fan. Calling it "fish", really threw her off. After all, I don't tell her to eat "cow", yet she loves beef. Now all she wants to do is try and swallow her toy "Flounder & Ariel." Kid's are so concrete and sensitive to what we tell them. I've been finding that it is all about presentation and careful wording when introducing toddlers to new healthy stuff!

  As most of you know, my husband does 99% of the cooking (when he's not working 7 days a week). Based off of his delicious meals, I would have to say that beef is the most versatile! There's so many different meals you can make with this one and have a totally different flavor every time. My daughter and I looove beef!

We love, love mexican food and miss the awesome fajitas he used to make. So he did this dinner for me a couple weeks ago.

It was one of those meals that was so good, I wished the plate would magically keep refilling itself. He just used some chia seed salsa he found at the grocery, grass fed beef and seasonings to create the meat portion. As for the veggies and sweet potatoes, we keep it plain and simple. 

Meat:

-1 lb grass-fed ground beef

-spicy salsa 

-seasonings (we use these, they make every dish perfect)

   Put beef on a skillet on medium heat, sprinkle in the seasonings of your choice. Once the meat begins to brown, add in about 1/2 cup of the salsa and continue to cook (at low to med heat, as a higher heat may burn the salsa) until all the meat is browned evenly. 

Sweet Potatoes:

-4-5 sweet potatoes diced

-coconut oil

-sea salt

   Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel (optional-I'll usually peel the skin off for my daughter) and dice sweet potatoes into small cubes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle sea salt onto the paper. Toss potatoes onto cookie sheet. Put into oven and set timer for 15 min. After 15 min, take a spatula or spoon with a chunk (1 tbsp or 2) of coconut oil on it, and stir up the potatoes until the coconut oil melts off of the spoon. Put back into oven and let it cook for another 15-20 min, stirring in 15 min intervals until all of the potatoes look golden and crispy. (Sometimes we will take them out early because our daughter prefers them soft vs. crispy. Easier for her to chew up!) 

Veggies:

-bag of vegetable medley

-seasonings

   In a large stove pot with fitted lid, fill the pot with water until the bottom is covered in a puddle of water. Add vegetables and seasonings, or just chop some fresh garlic into the pot. Cover with lid and cook on low heat until the vegetables turn bright and vibrant. 

The vegetables are a staple to almost every dinner of ours, we just change the meat up as variety! This also makes food prepping for the week easier. 

Hope you enjoy this post! This is a pretty generalized idea of what we eat on a day-to-day basis. It's a lot of cleanup cooking for every meal, but once you get into the habit of doing so...it's worth it! Eat good, feel good!

Happy 2015!

Happy 2015 everyone! I hope everyone had a blessed holiday season. We have had a wonderful time spending it together as a family. The last week has felt like a dream! Hopefully this new year may hold a day-shift position for my hubby! We spent our NYE out at a Japanese Steakhouse where they cook at your table. It was a lot of fun with great family and friends!

Girls' outfits from Naartjie

This morning I made my annual batch of laundry detergent and thought it would be a great recipe to share with you! I found a recipe online years ago and have been making it on my own ever since. It's seriously so easy and cheap. You have to try it!

Here's all that you'll need:
-1 box of Super Washing Soda (3 lb box)
-1 box of Borax (4 lb box)
-1 box of Baking Soda (4 lb box)
-1 box of Oxy Clean (or 3 lbs, & save the scoop & coupon that comes inside the container)
-2 bars of soap of your choice (I used this)

-a heavy duty spoon and large bucket for mixing ingredients
-glass canister for storage

Grate the bars of soap (I used a cheese grater or you could use a food processor) into small slivers. Dump all of the ingredients into a bucket (I like to add a little of each at a time-layering it-as to make the mixing easier). Mix it all together and scoop it into your glass canister. Use 1-2 tbsp per laundry load. That's it! You can of course add scented crystals to the laundry if you want an extra fresh scent! However, the bars of soap add a decent amount of fragrance. If you have particularly sensitive skin, then I'd recommend using a milder soap. We have really sensitive skin so I've used anything from Dove, Olay to this.

Because this detergent is low-suds, it is safe to use in high-efficiency washers and top loaders! It really is pretty much perfect. I love this stuff! It's saved us so much money. Here's to cleaner clothes and heavier wallets for 2015 ;)

Cheers!