what we're eating - fast {real} food

It seems like everyone loved the fruit leather from last week! Did you make it?

My kids only let me have one piece, but it was delicious! Corbin said to me yesterday, "you make the best fruit roll-ups, mom!" When my kids say stuff like that to me, it really makes it all worth it. You know?

I have another great recipe for you today! Wednesday's are typically soccer practice nights at our house, so dinner needs to be very quick and easy. When you make meals from scratch with real food, you know that "quick and easy" doesn't happen very often. I don't know about you, but I can get burned out in the kitchen pretty quickly. That's where this meal comes in! It's all real food, and it's real fast!

Fast {Real} Food

Gather up all your ingredients. You can get creative with this! Grab any quick-cooking meat you have (ground beef, chicken sausages with the casings removed, ground turkey, etc.), a couple sweet potatoes or yams, and a veggie! I went with sweet potatoes, chicken breakfast sausages, onion, and zucchini.

Tip: Finding acceptable sausages in the grocery store can be tricky. I shop at Publix and don't have time to travel to a specialty store like Whole Foods to find the perfect meat. Make do with what you can! When I choose a sausage, I look for one that has 5 or less ingredients and preferably no nitrates or nitrites. The brand I use here, Al Fresco, works for my family and I am ok with the ingredients. I also like to remove the casings.

Peel your potatoes and choose a fat. Once again, you can get creative! We like to use grass-fed butter, ghee, or coconut oil. This time, I chose the butter!

Put a skillet over medium-high heat and melt your fat of choice. Chop up your onions and add them to the skillet until they are translucent. While they are cooking, chop up your potatoes into bite-sized pieces.

Add potatoes to the onions and cover for 3-5 minutes, or until the potatoes begin to soften.

While this is cooking, chop up your sausages and zucchini. I like to peel my zucchini first, but that is entirely up to you! 

Remove the cover and add the sausage and zucchini to the potatoes and onions.

At this point, I like to turn the heat up a little and get everything nice and browned. I also fry up a couple eggs in another small pan.

Once the mixture is cooked to your liking, top with an egg and serve immediately!

Pretty sure it doesn't get easier than that. Enjoy!

weekend round-up

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend! The weekend always seems to fly by for me. Maybe because I work outside the home? I remember when I was a "stay at home mom" with Corbin and the weekends were just like any other day, except Daddy was home. Now? Not so much! Since my husband and I both work, we have to cram everything into the weekend. It's lots of fun, but it can get crazy.

Saturday morning was Corbin's last soccer game of the fall season. His team was phenomenal and his coach was even better. Have you ever watched 6 & 7 year-old kids play soccer? They are seriously into it. After the game, every player got a medal and an ice cream treat! Coach even gave Dash a medal since he was there for every practice and game. It was very sweet and meant a lot to Dash.

After the game we went home to eat lunch and get Dash down for his nap. I had scheduled a mini-shoot with our favorite photographer later that afternoon so I neeeeeeded Dash to nap.

Do I even need to tell you that he ended up not napping? Of course not.

After getting everyone bathed, fed, and dressed, we headed down to Sarasota for the photos. The boys did some Christmas shots together and separately, and they both did a great job! I was so relieved. We did a quick outfit change for the boys and then attempted some family shots. This did not go so well. We have never had family photos taken, so this was kind of a big deal for me. Corbin kept trying to get into the bushes and Dash only wanted to stand sideways. We tried some natural poses that involved tickling, so I have my fingers crossed that we come away with ONE decent family photo.

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day. I took the boys over to my mom's house and spent some time with my darling little niece. Afterwards, Brian and I took them to the craft store to get Corbin a Rainbow Loom. Are your kids into these things? Corbin is obsessed.

That evening we grilled steaks outside and kicked the soccer ball with the boys. Dash was tired and wanted to be worn, so I played soccer with a 35lb pre-schooler on my back! I really need to upgrade baby carriers. I am in love with the toddler size Tula carriers. So gorgeous!

What did you do this weekend?


*If you purchase anything through my Amazon.com links, I will receive a small portion of the proceeds.*

what we're eating - fruit leather

Every Wednesday I am going to do a "What We're Eating" post. This will include recipes of all kinds! My family eats real, whole foods - but we do have an occasional treat! I hope you can find some good ideas for feeding your family.

My kids have been begging me to make this fruit leather since they saw it in a cookbook I have! They do not get foods like the traditional "Fruit Roll-Up" you see in stores, so I thought it would be fun to make this as a special treat for them.

Homemade Fruit Leather
(recipe adapted from Against All Grain's Fruit by the Foot)

Start with 4 cups of frozen fruit.
You can go with mixed berries, a tropical mix, strawberries, basically anything you want! We went with organic mixed berries.

Put your fruit in a saucepan and add a teaspoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of raw honey (you can add more to taste), and 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce.

TIP: I never keep a jar of applesauce on hand, so I use a pouch of GoGo Squeez, which is a one ingredient applesauce that my kids love!

Mix everything together and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Or you can forget about it like I did and let it simmer for 45 minutes. It won't hurt it!

Once the mixture has cooled just a bit, pour it into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

If you have a dehydrator, you can use the plastic tray made specifically for fruit leather or you can line the regular trays with parchment. Divide the fruit mixture onto two trays and put into the dehydrator at 150* for 3.5 - 4 hours. You know it's done when it's not sticky to touch and peels up easily from the tray.

After 1.5 hours

If you don't have a dehydrator, buy one! I got mine from a local swap shop on Facebook for $5! We love it!

Seriously though, if you don't have a dehydrator, you can make this in the oven. Line a rimmed baking sheet or two with parchment and pour the fruit mixture into it. Spread it out evenly with a spoon or spatula. Set your oven as low as it goes and cook for 4.5 - 5 hours. You want the leather to be firm and not sticky when it's done!

If you used parchment, you can use kitchen shears and cut it into strips and roll it up like a "Fruit Roll-Up". If you used the dehydrator trays, peel the fruit leather off and lay it on parchment. Cut into strips and roll it up. Store in an airtight container.

Or eat it all in one day.

If you don't have the new cookbook from Against All Grain, you are missing out! It's filled with wonderful recipes for the whole family!


*If you purchase anything through my Amazon.com links, I will receive a small portion of the proceeds.*

dash

I found out I was pregnant with my second child right before Christmas. I called up the same OB who helped me with my miscarriage a few months earlier, and I stayed with that OB until I was almost 32 weeks pregnant. When the “midwife” on staff didn't want to discuss natural hospital birth, I fired them. The next day I called a local birthing center and made an appointment. The rest is history…

August 30^th, 2010

40 weeks 5 days pregnant

3:30am

I was awakened from a deep sleep by a popping sensation. My eyes opened the second I felt it, and at that very moment I felt a gush of water between my legs. I did an awkward roll out of bed and made my way quickly onto the tile floor. I sat down on the toilet and waited for the amniotic fluid to stop leaking. Every time I leaned forward to get some toilet paper, more water would leak. It felt like an eternity before I was able to make my way over to the cabinet to get a pad. This is not my first pregnancy, but it was the first time my water broke on its own. My husband had jokingly prepared some puppy training pads on the passenger seat of our car, and now I was secretly glad he did. Once I was cleaned up, I crawled back into bed to try and rest.

4:45am

I was too excited and anxious to rest, and I could feel contractions coming regularly. The hour drive to the birthing center was looming in the back of my mind. I decide to wake up my husband Brian and call my midwife to let her know my water has broken and that I was having regular contractions. She asks me to come to the birthing center and labor there, rather than have to make the drive later on in my labor. I feel relieved. I call my dad to come over and care for our older son Corbin, and pack some things to bring to the birthing center.

5:15am

My dad arrives and is very excited that things are happening! He lives out of state, but has been very involved in the birth of my children. He was there for Corbin’s birth and has been staying at my brother’s house in preparation for this birth. After my dad gets settled, Brian and I load up the car and head to Breath of Life Birthing Center.

6:10am

We arrive at the birthing center where we are greeted by the midwife and her assistant. They bring us back to our birthing suite so we can get settled. The tub is filled with warm water and the lights are dimmed low. It looks exactly how I envisioned my birthing time; peaceful, calming, comforting.

6:30am

I call my mom and sister and they get ready to come to the center to be with us during the birth. I sit on a large exercise ball and listen to my Hypnobabies affirmations.

7:30am

My mom and sister arrive. We walk around the outdoor gardens, and through the halls of the birthing center. My contractions are frequent, but not as strong and I had hoped they would be by now. We keep walking.

10am

We are still walking. Things are going very slow and I begin to worry about hitting that 24 hour mark from the time my water broke. I get anxious and worried that things are not happening like they should be. I try and remember that Corbin’s birth was also slow, and that things ARE happening, just not quickly. I haven’t had a vaginal exam, and I’m thankful for that. If I had only been 3 or 4cm dilated, it might have pushed my confidence even lower.

12:15pm

I take a shower and stimulate my nipples in hopes of speeding up labor. I sit on the toilet for a while and labor there. While walking through the halls, I have to hold onto Brian for support during my contractions.

1pm

My mom and sister decide to go get something to eat and do a little shopping for soon-to-be big brother Corbin. Brian and I lie in bed and listen to Hypnobabies. He dozes off a little and I move to the exercise ball. Time is starting to get fuzzy…

2pm

My contractions are strong now and I am having a hard time finding a comfortable spot. I go from toilet to bed to birthing ball and don’t find much relief. We decide to do a cervical check and I am at 6cm.

At some point, my mom and sister came back from their outing, but stayed out in the “Family Room” so I could have some private time.

3pm

I become very emotional. My midwife lovingly asks me why I’m crying and I said, “I feel bad that my mom and sister are out there!” Honestly, I don’t know why I was crying. I just felt overwhelmed with many emotions. I decide to get into the tub and within minutes have to vocalize through my contractions.

  

3:15pm

My mom and sister come back to be with Brian and I. My sister is my savior! She covers my back and neck with ice cold washcloths. I have never felt anything better. I am vocalizing with every contraction and resting between them. My position in the tub is on my knees, with my upper body resting on the edge of the tub. I feel paralyzed and refuse to change positions. I can feel the baby coming down with each pressure wave, and my body begins to gently push uncontrollably.

4pm

My midwife talks me into changing positions, to see if I can push the baby out. I flip over and relax in the warm water. My huge belly floats in front of me and my bottom is lifted by the water in the tub. I find it hard to bear down since I am floating. The midwife begins to drain some water from the tub.

4:10pm

With a few pushes, the baby’s head is born. My husband reaches into the water and feels his son’s head emerging from my body. I reach down and do the same. Our baby is almost here! The birthing assistant cannot get a good read with the heart rate monitor and the midwife once again has me get back on my knees with my upper body resting on the tub. How I managed to change positions with his head already born is unknown to me, but I did it!

4:12pm

The midwife had to help maneuver my baby the rest of the way out of the birth canal. His shoulder was slightly turned and stuck behind my pelvis. As soon as she freed him, he came flying out! She caught him and wrapped him in a blanket. They had the oxygen on standby, but did not need it. He did need a little suctioning, and immediately started crying. By this time the tub was completely drained, so I stood up and turned around so I could meet my baby.

Afterwards

We sat in the tub for quite some time waiting on the placenta, but it was not ready to be born yet. We decided to have Brian cut the cord. My sister held baby Dash, and Brian and my mom helped me to the bed. Once in bed, Dash immediately latched on and the placenta was born shortly after. I did have some tearing due to his positioning, but the midwife quickly stitched it up.

We all sat and talked and ate dinner until around 6pm, when it was time for the midwife to give Dash a checkup. He weighed in at 9lbs 8oz and was 21 inches long! Over a pound bigger than his brother!

By 9pm, we are ready to head home. We squeeze Dash into a newborn sized diaper and outfit, and strap him into his car seat. We are home by 10pm and tucked into bed, a new family of 4.