3 weeks of meals

Awhile back I mentioned that I came up with a 3-week meal rotation since menu planning has gotten more complicated around here.

Tim's trying to eat (modified) Paleo.

Norah is gluten-intolerant.

Justus is milk-soy-protein intolerant.

I am Justus' only source of nourishment, therefore I am avoiding milk and soy protein.

Audrey can pretty much eat anything she wants  I let her eat. ;)  Let's not get too carried away.

Anyway, I've had quite a few requests for recipes, so I'll try to throw as many in this post as I can.  We'll see how far I get; it's "nap" time right now which means Audrey is in bed trying as hard as she can to stay awake, Norah is in her bed rolling around singing songs, and Justus has been sleeping in the pack and play for 45 minutes, so he's bound to wake up any second.  And that's how we roll.

Without further ado, here are some things you can eat that don't contain wheat, milk products, soy, and minimal grains:

Week 1:

• Bacon Round One Skillet Meal
• African Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup or Potato-Leek Soup
• Crispy Baked Chicken (or Orange Chicken, or Sesame Chicken) 
• Alaskan Salmon Bake (minus the bread crumbs, substituting dairy-free butter)
• Beef Tacos (We use hard shells since they are made of corn, rather than wheat.  I serve all the toppings on the side and the girls love filling their own tacos.  Instead of lettuce I chop up some spinach to up the veggie content.  Also...chopped tomatos, cheese, avocados, and salsa.)
• Ham Steak

Week 2:

• Sloppy Joes  (we usually serve these bun-less, just eat the toppings with a spoon, served alongside a steamed veggie.)
• Split Pea Soup  (this is best with bacon and cheese!)
• Chicken Stir-fry or BBQ chicken in the crock pot (this is my FAVORITE stir-fry recipe, but we haven't made it lately since I can eat soy sauce right now.  I did find a recipe for soy-less homemade soy sauce recently, just haven't take the time to put it all together yet.)
• Tilapia (season with lemon-pepper or seasoned salt, bake.  Serve with steamed veggie.)
• Carnitas Pork Tacos (Fareway sells a crock pot seasoning packet called Carnitas.  Mix it with water, a little salt, and pour over a pork roast.  In just a few hours you will have the most delicious taco filling, EVER.  Seriously...you must try this, it is so good!  Reminds me of Chipotle.)
• Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash (using gluten-free Bisquick and non-dairy butter, or simply making it without the crumb topping.  Original recipe found here.)

Week 3:

• Taco Salad
• Chili or White Bean Chicken Chili
• Zucchini and Black Bean Skillet with Crock Pot Salsa Chicken  (I make regular medium grain rice and then just add it to the dish at the end.  And you have to try my friend Nealy's salsa chicken...seriously SO simple, SO easy, and SO good.  Sometimes I make it for lunch and just serve it in corn taco shells!)
• Meatloaf
• Tacos (Beef, or Pork, or Salsa Chicken if we have some leftover and we're not too tired of it!)
• Pork Chops

So you'll notice I only have 6 meals "planned" each week.  I don't assign them days, because I don't like to be locked into something, and I change my mind depending on what I'm in the mood for, and what I have time to cook that day.  The 7th day of the week we either eat leftovers, breakfast-for-dinner, spaghetti with quinoa pasta, or go out to eat.  (That spaghetti sauce recipe is AMAZING, however I must confess I haven't made it from scratch since Justus was born.  We've been thoroughly enjoying Emeril's Marinara, with some added browned hamburger, and it is gluten and dairy free.) : )

I find that if I plan 7 full meals, something always seems to come up and we don't get to them all.  A 3-week rotation has been pretty good as far as not repeating things too often, but after a few months of it I can definitely tell there are some things we're getting tired of, so I'm on a quest to fill up a week 4.  This week I'm trying out Paleo Enchiladas and Family-Style Frittatas.

So there you have it, in a nutshell.  Over the next few weeks months I'll try to post some of my other recipes on here that don't have online links.  If there are any specific ones you want me to for sure share, please leave a comment and let me know.  And if you have any good, simple, gluten and dairy-free recipes to share, by all means, please pass them along!

Friday 5

1.  Isn't it funny how God immediately gives us opportunities to put lessons that we learn into practice?  Approximately 3 hours after my post on Perspective, we got a call asking if we would take a foster placement.  We had no good reasons to say no.  So we are currently adapting to life with a teenager again.  Hormones, anyone? :)

2.  Since I posted something about my 3-week meal plan, I've had quite a few requests for recipes.  One thing I've been making a LOT this fall is Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash.  I pulled it off the blog of a friend last year.  Here is the unedited, original recipe:

Sausage & Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

This recipe serves 4.

2 large acorn squash (about 1 1/2 lbs. each)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb. ground turkey sausage

1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/2 C. Bisquick

1/4 C. packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut squash into halves, remove seeds and fibers (a grapefruit spoon works great for this). Place cut sides down on jelly roll pan or cookie sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

Cook sausage in a skillet until brown. Drain. Stir in chopped apple.

After squash has baked for 40 minutes, remove from oven and turn squash cut side up on the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fill with sausage/apple mixture.

Mix Bisquick, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over apples and sausage. Bake uncovered until squash is tender and topping is brown, about 30 minutes.

Super simple, easy and quick to make!  I have adapted it to suit our gluten and dairy free needs by simply sprinkling brown sugar in the squash before I add the sausage and apples, and then skipping the crumb topping.  Sometimes I mix up one for Norah with gluten-free Bisquick.  And I recently learned about a non-dairy butter substitute that I might just have to find at the store...then I could enjoy it too!  I've found that it cooks best with smaller squash, and then they make the perfect personal serving size.

3.  Justus still sleeps in the swing.  Only in the swing.  As in, every nap and all night long in the swing.  Someday (soon?) we're going to try and transition to the crib.  I do not anticipate it going well.  Did I mention he's the reigning king of 45 minute naps?  The. King.  Even in the swing.  *sigh*  Living by the motto "do whatever it takes" right now.

4.  Norah potty trained like a champ.  She was totally ready.  And is having a blast picking out undies every morning.

5.  It's late and I need to feed the babe one last time before I hit the hay myself.  Feeling rather uninspired and slightly brain-fried right now.  I guess that's where life with toddlers and teenagers leaves me!  Here's to spanning a wide wide gap in parenting years.  Only by the grace of God...

Good night!

Friday Quick 5

1.  While driving to the park this week, Audrey and I had the following conversation.
A:  "Mommy, are we going to the park by Daddy's office?"
Me:  "Yes, we are."
A:  "Um...these houses look different.  Mommy?  I believe we're lost."
Me:  (Laughing at her choice of the word believe.)  "No we're not, this is the way to Daddy's office.  Do you trust me?"
A:  "Well...kind of not."

At least she's honest.

2.  I tried out my friend Katie's recommendation for Homemade Artisan Bread in 5 minutes or less.  I thought, surely I can come up with 5 minutes a day to bake bread.  And true to their recipe, it really did take me just about 5 minutes a day.  Maybe 10 with kid interruptions.  ;)  And it is delicious!  I highly recommend it.  So much so, that I might even put their cookbook on my birthday list.

3.  One of Norah's latest obsessions is sitting on the counter, in the kitchen while I'm cooking, in the bathroom when I'm getting ready in the morning.  Not a habit I'm too excited about, but Daddy introduced her to it one weekend when I was out of town, and what can I say, she's hooked!  She almost always throws a fit when it's time to get down.  One day she was so upset with me when I finished cooking and picked her up off the counter, that she grabbed me by both ears and started shaking my head.  Through tears I heard her saying "head fall off, Mommy, head fall off!!"  Praying this child doesn't turn out with violent tendencies...I have NO IDEA where she heard/came up with that phrase.

4.  Speaking of funny conversations, about a month ago I put Norah in her room for 'crib time,' (sidenote:  I'm pretty sure she's an introvert, because every morning around 8 or 9 she starts crying and whining and finally asks to go to her room to be by herself for 30 minutes to an hour.  Afterwards, she's happy as a clam again.)  Anyway, with Norah safely confined, I told Audrey I was going to go jump in the shower.  She looked at me, very concerned, and said "Mommy, you shouldn't do that!  You might hurt yourself!"

5.  I came to the realization this morning that there really is no easy way to whip a 5 months pregnant body into shape.  I seem to be gaining as much weight on my backside as my frontside, and if this continues at an equally proportional rate...well...let's just say that 4 months from now it's likely that even my maternity clothes won't fit.  So I've been slowly, inconsistently trying to start exercising and eating better.  But trust me, I use the word "exercise" quite loosely.  I've done a little elliptical, some Wii Fit workouts (super hula hoop, step aerobics, and whatever the punching bag game is called,) and today the girls and I went on a 2 mile power walk.  They were content in the Burley with the promise of a cookie once we made it to Fareway.  I must admit...that motivated me a bit too.  : )

Have a great weekend!  It's Friday!!

Green Smoothie Recipes

So apparently a lot of you are excited to try out some green smoothies.  Per all the requests for a recipe, I tried to throw one together.  See, the problem is, I don't really follow a recipe.  I just see what I have on hand and dump it all in the blender, crossing my fingers that it turns out okay.  We made smoothies for lunch this afternoon, and Tim assured me that this one was "great."  And thus blog-worthy.  Here are my  ingredients, (minus the milk.)

About 20 baby carrots, 2 leaves of kale, 2 clementines (peeled and broken into slices), 1 can pineapple chunks (drained and rinsed 3 or 4 times to remove all the heavy syrup), 1 can sliced peaches (drained and rinsed like pineapple,) 1/2 C coconut milk, (save the rest in an airtight container in your fridge, and use some more in your smoothie tomorrow!) and 1 C milk (we use whole, but you could use Skim or 2%, or rice milk or soy milk if you can't do dairy.)

In the summer I try to use all fresh ingredients and nothing from cans, but in the winter it's just cheaper and easier this way!

Combine all ingredients into your blender and go to town:

Keep in mind that I use a Blendtec, which handles the raw veggies amazingly.  (I use the Whole Foods, Whole Juice cycle.)  I'm not sure how a standard blender will do with the raw carrots.  Make sure you put them in first, so they are closest to the blade.  (FYI, I have tried using a combination of raw veggies with frozen fruits, and it's just too much hard work even for this blender.  That's one of the reasons I stick to canned or fresh fruits when combining with raw vegetables.)

Some of my secrets to making great tasting smoothies:

Add Avocado to make it super creamy and rich.
Add coconut milk to give it a tropical flavor and yummy flair!
Add Kefir yogurt drink to add creaminess, flavor, and healthy probiotics.
Add tofu for some tasteless protein.
Add a few tablespoons of frozen orange juice concentrate to boost the sweetness.  (I keep a can of this in my freezer specifically for this purpose.  If I accidentally add too many veggies and the smoothie doesn't taste that great, I pull out some of this, add it and re-blend.  Amazing fix-all.)
Shoot for a 3:1 fruit to veggie ratio and your kids will never notice that vegetables are in it.  I promise.
Kale is a great vegetable for adding a lot of leafy greens without a lot of taste.
Spinach is also an easy green to keep on hand, but keep in mind it's taste is quite a bit stronger.
Throw in a few frozen peas to make it greener and colder!
Also consider adding flax seeds or chia seeds for added health benefits.
I have friends who use Almond milk in smoothies, too, which I'm sure gives it fantastic flavor!  (We haven't tried this simply because I don't give Norah nuts yet.)
Google 'green smoothies' and you'll be amazed what helpful tips and tricks you can pick up.

Over the years we've collected a handful of plastic kids' cups with lids at various restaurants like Applebees and Red Lobster.  These work great for serving up smoothies with very little mess at home.  And for some reason drinking anything out of a straw is just way more fun!

Told ya, this one is even husband approved. ;)

Another of our favorite recipes is Blendtec's Green Giant Vegetable Juice.  Click on that link to a previous post which includes the recipe.  Though chock-full of green veggies, it's one of my girls' favorites!  (We add milk to the original recipe, too.)  Our blender came with an amazing recipe book that is full of wonderful ideas!  My other base recipe that I adapt frequently is Blendtec's Carrot Peach Juice.  Here is the original recipe, with some of my adaptations:

2 oranges, peeled and halved  (we often use clementines)

1 medium carrot, cut into 3 inch pieces (I use baby carrots)

1 peach, pitted and peeled (substitute canned when not readily available in the winter)

1 Tbsp of sugar (I never need to add this!)

Optional, 1/2 Cup ice (I usually substitute milk)

(we also often add green veggies to this one, sometimes a broccoli floret, or a few leaves of kale, or a handful of spinach, or just an avocado!)

So there you go.  Have fun, be creative.  Blend, drink, and be merry.  :)

An unlikely recipe

So I have an amazing soup recipe.  And when I type the name of it, some of you might gag.  I have to be honest, I wouldn't ever choose to order it in a restaurant or anything, because it doesn't exactly sound all that appetizing.  But here's the kicker...it IS!  My family loves it!  And it's very frugal.  And healthy!  Delicious AND frugal AND healthy.  Hard to beat, right?  Are you dying to know what it is yet?  

Split Pea Soup.

I know, I know.  It doesn't look all that appetizing either.  But trust me, it is!  

Just look at these faces!

 This girl ate two bowls.  No joke!  "Moh, peeze!"

Rhoad's rolls anyone?  I love these things.  (These are the multigrain, they also make white and wheat.)

Find them in your frozen foods section.  They take a little planning ahead, because you have to set them out ahead of time to rise, but then you just bake them for 15 minutes and poof!  You have tastes-like-homemade-bread with very little effort.  Someday I have dreams of grinding my own grain and baking my own bread, but who am I kidding?  With 2 toddlers underfoot, this is the kind of stuff that dreams are made of.

So without further ado, here is the recipe that I hope you are now dying to get your hands on.  ;)

Split Pea Soup

2 cups dried green split peas
1/2 cup Barley (can use brown rice)
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
7 1/2 cups water
3 chopped carrots
3 stalks chopped celery
3 diced potatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon coconut or olive oil
1 bay leaf
3 cloves minced Garlic

Put everything into the crock pot and let cook for 6-8 hours.

Christy's tips for successful soup:

1.  Don't skimp on the salt in this one, it does need it.  

2.  Many times when I make soup, right before I serve it I take about 2 or 3 cups of it out and puree it in my blender, (saving a bowl or two of the pure puree for my littlest munchkin, because it's thick enough for her to spoon out herself!) then stir the rest back into the soup mixture.  This is the key to creamy soups.  

3.  Serve it with cheese and bacon.  Yum.  But seriously, what isn't good with cheese and bacon?

Enjoy!  Please let me know if you make this, and what kind of reviews you get from the fam! 

Yum-O

I forgot to mention one thing in my 4th of July post:  another thing I did that weekend, due to the abundance of built-in kid-watchers available, was to turn some of these: 

into 15 8-oz containers of raw freezer jam.  Fareway was having a major blueberry sale right before we left, so I bought 12 pints of them...for under $12!  Click here for the recipe.  I used honey as a sweetener, so it is refined-sugar free, and still delicious!!

And one more recipe that is too good not-to-share:  homemade hummus.  I got this recipe from my friend Amy 3 years ago at my baby shower, and (shame on me!) didn't try it until yesterday.  It got rave reviews from both my husband and my brother.  The recipe made about 5 cups of hummus, and today it is gone.  Kyle said "next time make 10 cups."  It is seriously so good, and so easy!

Hummus

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained (keep liquid)
4 cloves garlic, peeled (I only used 3, becuase they were pretty big)
1/3 cup roasted tahini (I found this at Wheatsfield)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
juice from 1 lemon (3 T)
1 tsp salt
paprika

Pulse beans and garlic in food processor or blender a few seconds to break down the beans a bit.  Add 1/2 C bean liquid (or more, if needed), tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.  Process until smooth.  Chill for 1 day (we skipped this step because I was making it for lunch and hadn't read the recipe that far!  It was still good.)  Sprinkle with paprika before serving.  Serve with pita chips, crackers, celery, and carrots.  Will keep in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.  (Ha!  Mine didn't even last 2 full days!) 

Next time I think I might add a little roasted red pepper, too.  The possibilities are endless!

Why I Chose the Blendtec

Since I posted about my new blender, I've had a lot of questions about it.  And I've hosted a few demos. :)  You know you have a good blender when friends start asking if they can come over and see it in action.  You also know you have a good blender when the instruction manual has instructions that state, "if you don't use your blender every day..."  Seriously, who uses a blender every day?  Well, that's what I thought before I got this baby: 

I'm not exaggerating when I say that there have been days it has been used up to 4 times.  It's that good. 

I started researching blenders when my cheap-o one started smelling like the motor was burning out, about 6 months to a year ago.  I only really used it to puree soups.  It survived making baby food for Audrey, but I only made about 50% of her baby food.  Anything that didn't puree easily I just bought in the jars.  But when Norah was born, and I wanted to make 100% of her food.  And I knew my blender wouldn't be up to the task.

I first heard about the Blendtec here.  But I'll admit, I had major sticker shock.  I got some money for Christmas, and started saving up my monthly spending cash.  But I still hesitated, because I didn't know if I wanted to spend my fun money on a blender.  I mean, come on.  I know I'm a mom...but that's a little over-the-top, don't you think?  But I kept thinking about it.  And reading about it.  And talking to Tim about it.  And then I watched this demo video, and I was convinced.  Plus, they flashed a 10% off code about half-way through the clip, which was a significant chunk of cash to save!

I ended up ordering mine from http://www.therawfoodworld.com/.  I got the 3-quart jar with the 4-inch blade.  And it's amazing.  I made applesauce for Norah last week, and this blender saved me 2 steps out of the process...no peeling or cooking of the apples required.  I just cored them and threw them in the blender, peels and all (yay for more fiber!), used the whole-juice setting and wah-la, raw applesauce in under 60 seconds. 

We weren't a smoothie family before we got this blender, but we are now!  At least 2 or 3 mornings a week, we make smoothies for breakfast, and have significantly increased our vegetable intake in the process.  One of our favorites is Green Giant Vegetable Juice:

1/4 C water

3 C green grapes - with or without seeds

1/2 C fresh cucumber - peeled

1/2 cup frozen or fresh sweet peas

1 stalk celery - cut into approximately 3-inch pieces

1/2 C broccoli

Blend.

Just beware of the Giant Green Mustache that sometimes follows.  ;)

One morning I didn't have any juice in the fridge for breakfast.  So while Audrey started in on her oatmeal, I threw together some Strawberry Grape Juice.  Just add 2 C grapes,

1 C strawberries

and (optional) 1/2 C ice. Blend. Enjoy!

If you're in the market for a blender, or a food processor, or a grain mill...look no farther.  I'd highly recommend the Blendtec to you!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm trying to get by on the following meals for the next week & a half to two weeks, depending on how far we can stretch the leftovers. Some are tried & true, others I'm trying for the first time, so try them at your own risk!

• Sloppy Lentils. (Needs a new name, no? Sloppy Joes sounds so masculine. And these are, well, lentils. Perhaps we should call them Sloppy Janes? Anyone else have a better idea? Tim is voting for Sloppy Kyles, after my brother-who's-almost-a-vegetarian-these-days.) Served with zucchini.
• Roast Sticky Chicken-Rotisserie Style with basmati rice & steamed carrots
• Quinoa Primavera with Chicken-the reviews on this one were mixed, so I'll be making it with vegetable broth instead of water, and adding red peppers for a little extra flavor. I'll use leftover Roast Chicken, and I'm trying out red quinoa, just for fun.
• Sausage & Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash-(without the Bisquick...I just make it with Sausage & Apples, and it's still delish!)
• Homemade Sausage Pizza
• (Tinkyada rice) Fettucini with Summer Vegetable Marinara (I made this sauce up out of our tomatos from our garden, so all I have to do is take it out of the freezer and thaw! So easy.)
• Pot Roast
• Breakfast for dinner (French toast or scrambled eggs & bacon)
• Potato leek soup with Rhoads rolls (I might post this recipe later. I think I'm going to make it a weekly staple this winter, b/c it is SO cheap and easy and good. Post a comment if you're interested in it.)

And for snacks this week I'm making up batches of:

Crustless Spinach Pie (mostly for Audrey. I love this recipe to up her veggie intake.)
And Granola. Mostly for Tim & I. We're addicted to this stuff. And I've gotten so many requests for the recipe, I'm going to quit linking to it and just post it here, with the adaptations we've made. Without further ado...


Coconut-Pecan Olive Oil Granola adapted from The New York Times.
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1-2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped (the amount depends on who's making it at our house, and is inversely proportional to who purchased the groceries and knows how much pecans cost.) :)
1 cup raw sunflower seeds, hulled
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup chopped dried fruit (we've been getting the variety pack from Sam's Club.)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, maple syrup, honey, olive oil, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and cardamom. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet in an even layer and bake for 75-90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden brown and well toasted. Transfer granola to a large bowl and add dried fruit, tossing to combine. This amount lasts our family for a week. (For breakfast and/or midmorning snacks, nearly every day.) Serve on top of yogurt...or ice cream. :) It's good. My favorite way to eat it is mixed with a small handful of chocolate chips when it's fresh out of the oven and still warm, so the chocolate chips get all melty. Mmmmmm.
What are you cooking these days?

Going a little nuts...

I'm doing a trial of tree nuts in my diet this week. So far Norah has shown only mild signs of intolerance, which is GREAT! It gives me hope that these food reactions truly are just "sensitivities" vs. allergies, and that she will hopefully outgrow them. She actually slept from 8 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. in her crib last night, waking up for one feeding at 10. HUGE progress for her.

So I've been thoroughly enjoying pecans in my granola, peanut butter on my apple slices, and last night I made African Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup for dinner. (Click on the link for the recipe.) Yum. It tasted like Fall in a bowl. Tonight I'm making a family favorite, Alaska Salmon Bake with Pecan Crunch Coating. This recipe has been on my regular menu rotation for years, but lately I've had to leave out the pecans, though it was still good with just the honey-mustard glaze!

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And speaking of going a little nuts, this girl has been testing every boundary and limit of my patience today. Like her new shirt? I found it at a local consignment shop this week, and it couldn't be more appropriate for her. :)

All of a sudden, she woke up this morning and our current method of discipline didn't even phase her. So we had to ramp it up a bit today. I think it's working. We'll see if she's a little more compliant after naptime. :)

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Potty training continues to go well, I think. We're averaging about one accident a day. Is that normal? For awhile she was waking up in the middle of the night, screaming "My need to go potty!" and we would take her, and she would go. She'd also wake up super early in the morning to go, and sometimes it would be hard to get her to go back to bed. I was having a really hard time being patient with daytime accidents when she could keep her diaper dry during naptime and all night long! But thankfully the last few nights she's slept through "the urge" and used the nighttime diaper that we've had her in all along. Some might not think this is progress, but for me it is a relief. I'd rather have her sleeping 13 hours straight right now than waking me up once or twice a night, especially when I'm getting up that often (or more) with Norah!

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The low-light of my day so far was when I was just starting to get Norah ready for her nap when I heard Audrey screaming "go stinky in the undies!" (This was wierd, because she had just gone #2 on the potty a few minutes earlier!) I quickly deposited Norah in her crib and ran to check out the damages...she had gone, and it had rolled out her undies, down her leg, and onto the floor (linoleum, thank goodness). We ran to the bathroom and another nugget rolled onto the floor. Meanwhile, Norah commenced screaming. I never imagined I could clean up so much poop so fast...off Audrey's buns, thighs, calves, and feet, off the toilet seat, off the floor in the entryway, the floor in the bathroom...you should have seen me running around the house with diaper wipes and Chlorox! All while poor Norah kept screaming. When the house was finally safe for Audrey to roam about in, I rewarded Norah for her sisterly-self-sacrifice by rocking her to sleep and letting her sleep in her carseat.

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On a more positive note, the high-light of my day today was hearing Audrey say "nuzzle noses wif Norah," and seeing this:

She loves to give her sister love, and Norah loves to receive it! Audrey likes to "do tummy time wif Norah," and lately has been lying down next to her on the floor, waiting for Norah to "roll on Audrey." Which she usually does. She is really so sweet with her.

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And speaking of sweet, Norah Lou is 4 months old today. When Audrey turned 4 months old I was hit with major post-partum depression/anxiety, and was plagued with insomnia for months. Thankfully this time around I don't seem to be going completely nuts. It helps knowing that the baby-stage and sleepless nights are all temporary!

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Norah is now:

wearing 9 month clothes, size Medium Fuzzi Bunz (size 3 Huggies), eating every 2.5 to 3.5 hours during the day, usually giving me one 5-6 hour stretch at night, sleeping half in her carseat/half in her crib, rolling all over the room, sucking on her toes, spitting up less!, smiling all the time, laughing a little, blowing raspberries with her tongue, and sporting red hair.

That's all for now. Over and out.

Menu Plan Monday

Awhile ago I heard about a blog carnival hosted by Organizing Junkie, and though I've been menu planning for years, I haven't participated until now. Meal planning has become one of my most dreaded tasks of the week since altering my diet for my babe, but I'm finally getting into a groove and finding some recipes that work both for me and for my family. Just for kicks I decided to share them with you all this week.



The following meals are all dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, egg-free, and corn-free:

Monday: Bacon round one skillet meal

Tuesday: Roast sticky chicken-rotisserie style with a steamed vegetable and rice

Wednesday: Zucchini & carrot soup with Country bread

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Quinoa Tabbouleh with chicken

Saturday: Spaghetti sauce over Tinkyada spiral rice noodles with Country or Artisan bread

Sunday: Basic beef and vegetable casserole

Monday: Fresh tomato basil pizza with provolone (for the fam) Skillet bread pizza without cheese (for me)

While meal-planning has been a challenge lately, to say the least, I have to keep reminding myself that it's worth it if my baby feels better. When I stick to the diet, (and keep her on her acid-reflux meds,) she's a much happier and well-rested baby. There are still some things she's reacting to that I haven't figured out yet, but hopefully with a little more time, and trial and error, we can get those out too. A few people have asked me if I've been tempted to quit breastfeeding and try formula, and the answer is YES!!!, but so far I've resisted, for a few reasons:

#1) I'm stubborn. I set my mind on breastfeeding my babies for at least a year, so if there's anything I can do to keep it up, I'm willing to at least give it a try.

#2) If Norah ends up having food allergies (which we are praying against, big-time!!), it is so important for her health for me to breastfeed her as long as possible. She needs the antibodies, and the longer we can wait to expose her to potential allergens, the better.

#3) I priced soy-free/dairy-free formula today, and it's EXPENSIVE!!! I've been feeling guilty about how much our grocery bill has gone up since I've had to buy so much more fresh produce and organic foods, but I feel guilt no more. It would cost us $10 a day to buy the formula she would need, so by altering my diet I am saving us around $300 a month! Call me selfish, but I had a rough day today, and after I crunched those numbers I got online and ordered myself a new shirt I've been wanting. I figured I deserve it, right!?! :) Okay, maybe deserve is too strong a word...but I thought maybe a little perk was in order. And it's a really cute shirt!!

#4) It's better for our family. One thing I've realized as I've started reading labels on absolutely everything is how much JUNK is in processed food. It's unbelievable the stuff that gets added to what we eat! And the best foods for me to eat right now are in their purest form...fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and plain meat that I choose to season with what I want (and can) season it with. Period. We're eating a lot more healthy these days, and we have Norah and her digestive issues to thank for it! :)

So there you have it. A little peek into my kitchen this week. I'm also going to make up another batch of yummy granola this week, minus the pistachios. Mmmmm....I can taste it now.

Olive Oil Granola with Pistachios and Dried Cherries

YUM.

I tried out this recipe last night, with a few modifications. DE.LI.CIOUS. I made 2 batches, one with everything in it for Tim, one without nuts for me. I didn't have dried cherries, so I substituted a mixture of Craisins and raisins. We will definitely be making this regularly in our home!



I'm going out on a limb this week and attempting a modified version of Dr. Sear's elimination diet. Basically I'm avoiding dairy, soy, and gluten. For 2 weeks. Hopefully Norah's digestive system will thank me. The good news is, all this crazy food-eliminating business has me down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Yeah!

Crustless Spinach Pie

I've been telling friends lately about this great recipe so much that I decided to just post it here. My sister-in-law gave me this recipe a few years ago, and it is SO good! It serves multiple purposes: can be eaten for a snack, or for breakfast, or to substitute a meal for a little one. It's a great way to get kids to eat spinach, and I for one have a hard time ever eating vegetables for breakfast. This is a great way to get in some veggies AND some protein in the morning. I've also thought about making it as an appetizer sometime. It seems like it's about the right consistency to cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, which I thought would be a creative (healthy) alternative to some other appetizers I've made before. Without further ado:

¼ C butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 C flour
1 C milk
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 oz shredded cheese (mozz or cheddar)
4 C fresh chopped spinach

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in 9x13 pan. Beat eggs. Add flour, milk, garlic powder & baking powder. Stir in cheese and spinach. Pour into pan. Bake 35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Isn't it beautiful?

On a side note, while I was making this I heard Audrey around the corner saying "wah wah wah wah" over and over again. When I checked to see what she was up to, I found her reading the Little Piggy book, wiggling her toes and mimicking her version of "wee wee wee wee...all the way home." So cute! She's a smart one, I tell ya. :)