we have chicks!

Pretty sure John thinks I'm crazy, but I've convinced him to build me a chicken coop. I mean, I think I'm crazy. I'm a little terrified of birds so wanting chickens is an interesting thing for me. Backyard chickens are everywhere in Atlanta, I'm not sure I'd ever heard of it until moving here. People make it seem so easy and fun AND you get beautiful fresh eggs without worrying about what all the labels in the grocery store mean, "organic", "free-range", "cage free", etc and they all really have no meaning or regulation. So. back to the chicks.

We went to pick out our little chicks yesterday. I had no idea what I was doing or even what to ask - thankfully our friend and fellow chicken lover came with to help us navigate the different chicks. We finally settled on 5 to start:

2 Americana: Twinkle and not yet named

1 Partridge Rock: Cow

1 Golden Sex Link: Hulky

1 Production Blue: Also To Be Named

And so begins our journey to chickens and tasty backyard eggs. Hoping we can get the coop done in time. Should have a post about that soon :)

strawberry season is here

Strawberry season is here and I can't be more excited. I've been craving strawberry shortcake with all this beautiful weather. I finally dragged all my kids out to the strawberry patch to pick some beautiful berries. We had blast and picked nearly 12lbs worth @ Whitley Farms.

As soon as we got home we rinsed off a bunch of berries and went right to work making our strawberry shortcake from Smitten kitchen. As usually Smitten Kitchen didn't disappoint. The biscuits were on point, I could've eaten them all without the topping. Although the strawberries and cream did make it a million times tastier.

blueberry breakfast bars

Third time is a charm with these bad boys. First batch was too dry, second batch too bland. Even with the first two batches not being perfect they were still gobbled up in 2 days. I might have to go on a breakfast bar baking bender and make a stockpile for my freezer the way these kids eat.

For this round I made blueberry - you can of course substitute any kind of filling/fruit. Might have to try some PB or Nutella at some point, YUM.

Blueberry Jam Filling:

• 3 cups fresh or frozen organic blueberries (or any berries)
•  Juice 1/2 lemon
• 1/3c honey

Dough:

•  1 1/4c wheat flour
•  3/4c oats
• 1/2 teas cinnamon
• 1/4 teas salt
•  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  
•  6 tablespoon melted coconut oil or butter
•  2 heaping tablespoons honey
  
•  2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 2T yogurt
•  1 egg

Mix flour, oats cinnamon, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl. Melt/soften coconut oil and add to flour mixture. Adding in honey, vanilla, yogurt and the egg. Mix until forms a ball. Dough should be a bit tacky.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/4" thick. Cut into roughly 4/4.5" squares. Once the jam has cooled, spoon out about a tablespoon of jam into the center of each square. Fold over the and pinch the ends to keep jam from escaping. Carefully place each bar seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 min @350.
Let cool and enjoy!

"snow" day snickerdoodles

The city of Atlanta deemed today a snow day and cancelled all the schools. Now, my kids aren't in school so this doesn't change our day one bit. Aside from watching the hilarity of the city preparing for snow that never comes. Current temp is 42, with rain ending in an hour. This isn't happening folks. The bigger problem will likely be tomorrow when this rain has frozen to the streets - but who's asking me?

In the meantime we'll hangout inside playing with playdough, singing/dancing to 80s music and baking our hearts out. With a few screaming tantrums thrown in, just a normal rainy Tuesday around here!

Snow day snickerdoodles

2 3/4c flour
1/2 teas salt
1 1/2c sugar
2 teas baking powder
1teas cream of tartar
1c softened butter
2 eggs
---------------------------------
4T sugar
2 teas cinnamon

mix dry ingredients in mixer. Add in butter and eggs. Mix until forms stiff ball. Make into balls and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place evenly on baking sheets and bake @375 for 10 min.

holy granola

Granola is one of those things we buy every week at the store that looks so easy to make. In fact I knew it was easy as my mom makes her own and always brings me some when she visits. And yet.....I still didn't want to mess with it. Now my kids eat a TON of granola - I'm ready to start making my own so they don't have to eat all the other stuff that's in the store brands (at least the store brands we can afford on a weekly basis).

I started with my mom's base recipe and have tweeked a bit to my kiddos preferences. Now I said this was easy - but I have to admit, I burned my first batch....none of the kids would eat it. Happy to announce round two was a success and oh so delicious.

Yummy, simple, granola

6c Old Fashioned Oats
1c Coconut Oil
3/4 c maple syrup (I also tried this with half maple half honey)
1/4 flax meal
1c nuts (pecan, almonds, walnuts, etc)
1 teas sea salt
1/2c sunflower seeds
2 egg whites (beaten)

My kids won't eat raisins/cranberries but if yours will:
1c dried cranberries/raisins (added at the end)

Combine all ingredients (except cran/raisins) in a big bowl and mix thoroughly. Spread out on 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Bake at 325 for 45 min. Check on it around the 35/40min mark, you don't want it to burn! Add dried fruit last 15 min so it isn't too hard to eat.

Let cool. Store in jars or containers with tight fitting lids. This makes a ton and can last for weeks. Unless you're feeding my hungry hippos - then it will last 1-2...

Enjoy!

This has been a year.

It's probably been about a year since I last wrote on here. And what a year it's been. A year of love and laughter, food and fun, tears and loss. 2018 started off with 2 great unexpected losses with a 3rd hitting us this summer. Life will never be the same now that these 3 amazing people are no longer here. I think about them daily.

Bring it on 2019 -

Here's to getting more organized and purposeful with what I do everyday. I want to cook more with these kiddos that are getting too big too fast and enjoy our last 6 months of no schedules dictating when we leave the house. I think i'm more nervous about D starting kindergarten this fall than she is.

So let's start the year off with 2 recipes from 2 amazing people.

Suzy Carter's Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1c Milk
1/2c Sugar
1/4c butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Salt
5 1/2c flour
1c raisins
1/2c pecans
1pkg. yeast, 1/2c warm water and 1T sugar

Scald milk, add sugar, butter and salt. Remove from heat. Pour over nuts and raisins. Let cool to luke warm. Add 2c flour and eggs. Stir in yeast, dissolve in warm water. Beat well. Cover and let standin warm place about 1/2 hour. Add rest of flour or enough to make the dough not sticky to touch. Knead until satiny. Put in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubles. Punch down, divide into 3 parts, let rest 15 minutes. Roll out each portion onto floured surface, spread with melted butter and sprinkle generously with sugar and cinnamon. Roll up, seal ends, form into loaf. Place into greased loaf plan. Let rise until double again.

Bake for 30 min @ 350

Patty Carter's Cranberry Bread

1 beaten egg
2T shortening
1/2c orange juice
2T hot water
2c flour
1/2 teas. salt
1 1/2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. baking soda
1c sugar

1/2c chopped nuts
1c cranberries (cut in half)
grated orange peel

Combine wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients, then stir in nuts and cranberries. Pour into loaf pan (greased and floured). Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

better PB bars

Better Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup peanut butter or your favorite nut butter

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup shredded coconut

Melt together nut butter, honey, and coconut oil, stirring until smooth. Remove from stove and stir in oats and coconut. Line baking dish with parchment paper and pour mixture into a 9- by 13-inch baking dish. Spread into an even layer and firmly press down using more parchment paper to press down and make flat. Refrigerate until firm and slice.Store bars in the refrigerator.

veggie muffins

I am always looking for ways to sneak extra veggies into my kids day and these muffins do so quite nicely. they gobble them up so fast I don't even need to freeze any. I have to admit - I also sneak a bite or a whole muffin if I can - they are delicious.

VEGGIE MUFFINS(adapted from no excuse detox cookbook - thanks for sharing @abbybethcarter!)

2 large ripe bananas1 cup flour4 eggs1/3c sugar1/4c coconut oil1 teas vanilla1 teas cinnamon1 teas baking sodasprinkle salt1 1/2c shredded carrots1/2 c raisins1/2c shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Put all ingredients into large mixing bowl and stir until mixed.Divide batter among prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes

peanut butter granola bars

These are delicious and a daily snack for my kiddos. They freaking LOVE them and it helps keep the grocery bills down to not have to buy granola bars all the time. It makes a good amount so I tend to cut them and put them in the freezer.

PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA BARS

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats1 cup pitted dates1 cup peanut butter1/4 cup coconut oil, melted1/4c chia seeds*1/4c coconut shredded*

Toss all the ingredients into food processor and mix until clumpy. Put parchment paper on your cookie sheet and spread mixture evenly. Pop into freezer to harden. Once hardened pull out and cut into desired sizes. Let little goobers have a taste and toss the extras into a ziplock and toss back into freezer until next snacktime :)*optional

pan fried fish sticks

Finding new food that everyone will eat is tough, combined with feeding and cooking for everyone, EVERY day 3x a day + snacks.....exhausting. I also really try to introduce them to new foods so they don't get caught in a rut and only like 3 things - although I've been told that can happen anyway. Dots definitely has her favorites and has gotten pickier - I like to get her to at least try a bite of the new food.

Anyway - had some frozen tilapia I thought i'd try out on them - turns out they all LOVE fish. I mean who doesn't like anything fried. HA!

PAN FRIED TILAPIA

3 pieces of tilapia or fish of choice - cut into strips

1 egg

3/4c flour

3/4c bread crumbs

pepper/salt to taste

teas. dill

Cut fish into strips. Combine flour, salt, pepper, dill in bowl. Egg in its own bowl as well as the bread crumbs. Put fish in flour then egg, then bread crumbs and put into frying pan with a little olive oil. Continue with all strips and fry until cooked through. Cool and serve.

we served with cheesy steamed broc/cauliflower and apple sauce.

peanut butter cookies

These cookies are great, easy and oh so tasty.

All the kiddos love them and I keep them in the freezer mostly so we don't eat them all in one day :)

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

throw everything into your food processor and blend until you get a good mealy texture. grab a small spoonful and squeeze into a ball. place on cookie sheet with some parchment paper. continue with rest of mixture. once all the mixture has been formed into balls take a for and smoosh gently. then toss in the freezer or eat at will.

holy shit they're ONE

in true form i am a good month behind in posting this, but, they're ONE, we made it!!!

these two, oh what a year. They are finally sleeping and went from walking to running in a blink of an eye. both boys are climbers and are "practicing" their dismounts......

They have 10 teeth apiece and continue to eat every morsel of food that comes in their line of sight. They are very happy boys who love their sister and will sit in any available lap on the playground. Can't wait to start the fun of summer...too bad they go to bed well before the lightning bugs come out ;)

Hooper

Jules

trader joe's raviolis to the rescue

when dot's was little I discovered these awesome (and cheap) little raviolis and tortellinis at trader joes. dot's of course loved them, as they were "noo-noo's", but I had forgotten about them until just the other day. So today I packed everyone up into the car and headed to trader joes. They didn't have the blueberries I was looking for, but they did have these:

Which I promptly cooked for dinner along with a sweet potato/spinach sauce. Every plate was clean and jules even had seconds!

I wasn't measuring with the sauce - but the kids loved it - so if you'd like to try it here's my rough guess:

SWEET POTATO/KALE PASTA SAUCE

1 large sweet potato (cooked)

1 handful of frozen kale/spinach

1-2 teas cinnamon

1/2-1c milk (use your judgement, i left it a bit thicker so they could pick it up easier)

mix everything together and blend with submersion blender. serve over noodles and top with parmesan cheese.

skillet "baked" apples

who doesn't like a bit of "dessert". these are a great way to get the kiddos to eat healthy apples without worrying about them choking on them.

skillet "baked" apples

1 apple - chopped to bite sized pieces1 teas. buttercouple shakes of cinnamon1/4 cup water

chop up your apple into bite sized chunks. warm up your skillet and toss in your butter and apples. shake on your cinnamon. let them cook for a bit 5-10 min then add the water. helps them caramelize and soften a bit more.

cool and serve ;)

chicken nuggets for the lil' nuggets

hmmm...something quick and easy to pull out of the freezer that all 3 of the kiddos will eat.

CHICKEN NUGGETS2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cut into chunks1 cup frozen broccoli (or your veggie of choice)1 tsp garlic salt (or ½ tsp garlic powder + ½ tsp salt)pinch of black pepper¾ cup panko crumbs or crushed corn flakes¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375˚Fcombine chicken pieces,  broccoli,  1 tsp garlic salt, and ⅛ tsp black pepper in a food processor and pulse until combined. Put bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in a dish. take about 1 tbsp of chicken mixture and roll in crumbs. Flatten and place on cookie sheet.Bake at 375 for about 15 min until browning.

Serve hot and place leftovers in freezer for a quick lunch :)

we served ours with some brown rice/sweet potatoes with cinnamon/smashed peas

chicken and waffles

who says babies can't eat good food too.we were running low on our frozen waffle stash so while the boys were napping dots and i decided to whip up some more to get ready for lunch. found some leftover chicken in the fridge and whalla, lunch is served - chicken and waffles - YUM!

SWEET POTATO WAFFLES

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour1 cup oatmeal3 tsp baking powder1 tsp cinnamon1/2 tsp nutmeg1/4 tsp salt2 eggs1 sweet potato2-3 shredded carrots1 - 2 cup milk(depending on how big your sweet potato is - add more milk until creamy consistency)

In a large bowl mix all your dry ingredients until combined.Add eggs, milk, cooked sweet potato, and shredded carrots.

Mix until all ingredients are combined. Spray waffle maker with PAM and cook.Once waffles have cooled cut into waffle fingers, eat and freeze the rest.

quick and easy noodles

this was a quick lunch i threw together for everyone.

 

QUICK N' EASY NOODLES

cooked pastacubed butternut squash (we buy giant frozen bags at BJs and it's awesome)frozen peasall beef hot dog - diced for the littles

i added a pinch of paprika and garlic powder to add some flavor

quinoa zucchini cookies

so we had some left over zucchini (middles) from an adult dinner the other night,i thought i could make something good for the kiddos to munch on.

i think they turned out pretty well, they ate 2 apiece

QUINOA ZUCCHINI COOKIES

½ cup creamy peanut butter (or nut butter of choice)¼ cup maple syrup1 ripe banana, mashed2-3 shredded zucchini1 teaspoon vanilla1 cup oats½ cup quinoa1 teaspoon baking powderdash of salt1 teaspoon cinnamon/nutmeg2 tablespoons chia seeds

Preheat oven to 350.Cook quinoa. while quinoa is cooking add pb, maple syrup, banana, and vanilla in a bowl.Mix well. Add oats, chia seeds, quinoa, baking powder and salt to the bowl and stir together. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes until edges brown.

white beans, kale and ground turkey

well this was a happy accident. this is what john and i had had for dinner the night before. we had a little left over so we thought we'd see if the boys would go for it. pleasantly surprised - they gobbled it up as fast as everything else within reach.

 

WHITE BEAN, KALE, GROUND TURKEY

1 bunch (or bag) of kale - finely chopped2 cans, rinsed cannelli beans1lb ground turkey or chicken

brown the ground turkey. while browning - rinse and chop the kale into small pieces and toss into the skillet with the cooked turkey. add a bit of olive oil and sautee. once kale has wilted and made room, add the cannelli beans. cook until warmed and serve.

snowpocalypse 2017 meets leftover ricotta

so maybe the snowpocalypse didn't live up to expectations. that doesn't mean that the entire city of atlanta didn't freak out and buy all the eggs, milk and bread yesterday. and certainly doesn't mean that it's not cold outside. my phone says it's currently 21 out there so i'm not about to bundle everyone to go out in that on my own. instead dots and i will use up some ingredients in the fridge while the boys nap :)

i had some leftover ricotta that needed using and came across this ricotta dessert and modified it a tad to make muffins instead.

RICOTTA BLUEBERRY 'cheesecake' MUFFINS

2 cups ricotta1 egg1/2 flour1/2 bananasplash of maple syrup1 cup blueberries

preheat oven to 400.mix everything together in a bowl and spoon into greased muffin tin.bake for 25-30 min until browned on top.