Stay-At-Home-Mothering and Lunches

Been a while since my last post. I'm now an official stay-at-home mom (although I do some freelancing on the side and am an Independent Distributor for Moxxor, which is a VERY potent omega-3 and antioxidant supplement - check out www.mymoxxor.com/julieh).

I love that I can control what my kids are eating during the day. While they were at daycare, I know that they were given snacks that wouldn't make my 'approval' list at all.

However, I'm not as creative as I'd like to be and am constantly trying to figure out what I want to feed my kids. Personally, I would love to become a vegetarian, so I've been avoiding chicken (already don't eat red meat, pork) somewhat. However, chicken is such a staple and a meal-rounder that it's hard to avoid.

Kids had grilled cheese with raisins today. I've been reading about the many wonderful healing properties of coconut oil, so I'm replacing butter and other oils with coconut oil. It's really good on a grilled cheese. Bodin likes to open up his sandwich and

stick the raisins inside, which makes it taste sort of like cinnamon bread. Reese did the same, but only because she likes to copy her brother.

Snow and winter are miserable; I can't wait for next summer. The kids will be a little older and easier to get out and about with. I want to visit farmer's markets to get them to try new fruits and veggies often. I'm always open to kid-friendly veggie/healthy recipes. My awesome aunt got me a subscription to Vegetarian Times last year and I'm going to sit down with all of my back issues and go through the recipes that I think they would like. Tough sell is going to be Justin. :)

Mad dashes and coconuts

This mothering gig is HARD! This past week (and upcoming week also) was a difficult one, work-wise. Lots of travel. Next week, I'm on the road every day, traveling at least an hour one way. Makes for long days. Last night, after making dinner for the kids (reheated homemade pizza), I completely forgot about making their lunches and it was a mad scramble in the morning to pull something together. Betcha can't guess what they got for lunch today! Yep, PIZZA!

Along with that, they each got a baggie of black, seedless grapes and a banana.

Prior to dinner last night, I decided to introduce the kids to an actual coconut. I got out a Phillip's head screwdriver and the hammer and took the kids outside in the grass. Bodin helped me pound three holes into the top of it, and I poured the milk into two cups. Bodin tried it and didn't like it. Reese tried hers and liked it. I gave her a refill and she dumped it all over my lap. Coconut milk is sticky!!

Here's a picture of our coconut.

The First Tomato

Finally! My evergreen tomatos are finally starting to come over to the "red" side. My first red tomato has finally ripened on the vine. I was starting to get worried that I would have to scour the Internet for "Fried Green Tomato" recipes.

I was so excited that I had to take a picture of it

Mini Taco Bowls

This is a dinner that I threw together when I couldn't come up with anything interesting for the kids.

I cooked up 1lb of ground turkey meat with a taco seasoning packet.

Then, I filled up about a dozen Baked Tostitos chips with the taco meat, cheese, little bit of romaine lettuce and a touch of salsa.

Big hit, simple meal!

The 'Whatever' Smoothie

Bodin now requests smoothies, which makes me SO happy. Here's one that I've made him and Reese in the past.

1c water
1/2c red grapes
1 scoop rice powder
1c fruit, regular or frozen (strawberries, bananas are our faves)
1c fresh spinach
1 scoop of 'greens' (health food store)
1T agave nectar (health food store, and (surprisingly) Meijer, in the spice aisle)
1-2T coconut oil (health food store). Add this after everything else is blended, and then pulse for 10 seconds or so. It hardens under a certain temp (in the 70s), which makes it hard to blend.
2T cacao nibs (health food store). Add these after the coconut oil, and pulse *maybe* one or two times. Chunks are good.

Blend!

I have a BlendTec blender, with a 2hp motor, so my blender can "juice" this entire blend with no problem. You may need to blend at earlier parts in the recipe to get everything mixed together.

Also, these amounts are my best estimate. Add more or less depending on taste. Rice milk can be subbed for the water...obviously you can use whatever fruits you prefer. Kale can be subbed for spinach. This is truly a Whatever Smoothie, and you can make it what you want. The more you make them, the more you learn what works and what doesn't. Just remember to drink your mistakes, there's still a LOT of nutrition in them.

Combo post

Justin and I are going to the Neil Diamond concert tonight at Van Andel. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that this will be my SECOND time seeing Neil in concert. First time I won tickets off the radio, this time we're forking over our own money to watch him. Either way, it'll be a good time. Kids are doing a double overnight with the grandparents. I think they're pretty excited (both the kids AND the grandparents).

So, since I've missed I-don't-know-how-many days, I'll post items from their last two lunches:

*Ricotta and sun dried tomato stuffed chicken breast.

This was from Fresh Market and it was really good. They had it for dinner last night and it went into their lunches today.

*Fruit salad: apples, grapes, blueberries

I strongly recommend getting Rubbermaid's produce saver; the green-topped ones. It works amazingly well.

*YoKids yogurt "tubes"

*Cashew butter and strawberry preserves sandwich on whole grain bread

*HonestKids juice pouch

The Meal That Keeps On Giving

I went to a neat little store yesterday called Making Thyme Kitchen. It's located on Cherry Street in Grand Rapids. It a little store that prepares ready-to-cook meals that are available to pick up, take home and pop into the oven (or microwave, or stovetop). Last night I picked up Mexican lasagna, quinoa fruit salad and mashed sweet potatos for the kids' dinner. Quite an ecclectic mix, I know.

The Mexican lasagna and sweet potatos didn't go over well with either kid, but I think that's because Bodin knew he was going to get to drive his new car after dinner and just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with. They both ate the quinoa fruit salad and really loved it. It contained quinoa, pecans, dried cherries/apricots, orange juice, and other stuff that I can't remember.

So, because I've read that you need to present a food 10 times to a child to get them to like it, they got that meal in their lunches for Friday, along with a baggie of red grapes.

Pizza, pizza!

My husband came home last night from a two-night work trip and the kids were really excited to see him. Bodin wanted to play with his new sprinkler and then wanted to play with his Spiderman slip 'n slide. As they played, I made dinner and lunch for the kids.

Here's what they had in Thursday's lunch:

*Pizza wrap: Sun-dried tomato wrap (from Sister's Natural Foods in Byron Center), mozzarealla, organic tomato sauce and turkey pepperoni (Hormel. Yes, it has sodium nitrate). I heated the wrap in a saute pan with a little bit of coconut oil. Then I added the rest of the ingredients, let the cheese melt and then wrapped it up and slice it in half.

*Broccoli (again, from Sister's Natural Foods in Byron Center) satueed in coconut oil and celtic sea salt.

*YoKids yogurt tube, strawberry

*Cashew rice treat for Bodin and an organic breakfast bar for Reese.

*HonestKids juice box for Bodin. Reese gets organic milk (Stoneyfarm) at school.

Mmmm, now I'm hungry!

Day late, but worth the wait ...

This past weekend was a busy one!! On Thursday, our neighborhood association put on some decent fireworks, so we kept the kids up straight through their bedtimes to watch the fireworks. Bodin ended up being a wiggly worm throughout the whole show and Reese turned into a zombie. It was still fun, though, sitting out on our deck watching the fireworks. Holidays are so much more fun with kids.

On Friday, we took Bodin to see his first movie, Wall-E. He did really good, didn't talk out loud a whole lot. But he also asked if we could go home near the movie's end. I think it was just a tad too long for him.

Sunday was Bodin's birthday; my baby boy turned three! Can't believe it. Justin and I got him a power wheels car that ended up not working the morning we gave it to him. It's currently in the shop (i.e., at Toys R Us) for repairs. I'm sure there's a life lesson in there about owning your own vehicle, but I'm just ticked that he couldn't drive it on his birthday morning. We'll get it tomorrow.

So, thanks to my mom and the birthday party she had for Bodin at her house, we scored some leftovers. Here's what was in their lunches for Monday:

*Turkey hot dog

*Mandarin oranges

*RiceWorks chips

These are from Costco and are SO good, especially with hummus

*Bag of carrots

It's almost the weekend!

We bought Bodin and Reese a sandbox/picnic table combo the other weekend. It was one purchase I didn't think all the way through; along with their mac 'n cheese (organic), they also consumed sand and grit. Didn't seem to bother them, though.

For today's lunch:

*Brown basmati rice, chicken, pine nuts, pesto and parmesan

This is way easier to make than you think. I bought a rice cooker from Meijer that cooks rice/pasta in the microwave. I make a large batch and it lasts for a few days in the fridge. Chicken is from a rotisserie chicken from Costco, along with pre-made Pesto (Kirkland, from Costco), pine nuts and parmesan.

*YoKids yogurt

From Stonyfield, organic

*Baggie of grapes

*HonestKids juice

Thanks again Aunt Ellen!