May sure is flying by. All of our activities are ending. Even school will be done in a few weeks!  I am looking forward to spending more time with my oldest…but I will miss my totally quiet afternoons.

Thankfully this week isn’t too busy. My daughter has her last dance class before her recital, and my son has his four year check up.

Last week my little one was sick and majorly teething (tooth #7 is now through…she’s only 8 months old!).  She had a fever for over three days straight and wanted to be held all day long. Needless to say I didn’t get a whole lot done. Hopefully this week will be a better one. But I’m still not planning too much so we can all rest and recover.

I finally got some lard last week. It sure was nice to get fat into my diet again!  This week we pick up our co-op order, so I’ll be getting both lard and tallow to render.

These are my potential kitchen projects this week: granola bars, crackers, scones, gluten free bread, sourdough bread, something with rhubarb, cookies, render tallow and lard.

I would also like to get some work done out of the kitchen. The house could use some serious cleaning and dusting.

As always simple is key when it comes to meals. But this week we don’t need our usual prep ahead Tuesday meal since our Tuesday activity is done! My big girl graduated from Kindermusik last week. In a couple weeks the farmers market will open and I can start incorporating seasonal fresh foods to our menu. Here is what we’re eating. How about you?

Sunday
B – strawberry raspberry rhubarb breakfast cake, yogurt
L – cp meatloaf, baked potatoes, carrots
D – grilled hot dogs, beans, chips, smoothies
*prep yogurt

Monday
B – granola bars, banana
D – cp roast chicken, roasted red potatoes, roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts
*make broth, soak oats, soak quinoa, feed sd

Tuesday
B – cinnamon raisin oatmeal
D – quinoa chicken and broccoli skillet, pear slices
*dry oats, make granola bars, cook oatmeal, bake sd bread, soak flour for scones

Wednesday
B – strawberry yogurt, granola
D (prep ahead) – split pea soup, scones
*boil eggs, bake scones

Thursday
B – hard boiled egg, toast
D – chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, peas
*render tallow, soak flour for cookies

Friday
B – granola bars, fruit
D – sd pancakes, roasted aspragus, bacon, smoothies
*render lard, bake cookies, feed sd

Saturday
B (kids’ choice) – TBD
D – balogna sandwiches, veggies w/ dip, fruit salad
*make balogna, make fruit salad

Happy Mother’s Day! My treat for today – I get to take it easy.  We celebrated my son’s fourth birthday yesterday with some fun cow spotted treats (head over to my facebook page to see more photos!). Now birthday season is over and I can get back to normal cooking/baking.

All of our usual activities are winding down. This is our last week of Kindermusik and my mom’s group. Both are a lot of fun…but we are all ready for a break. It will be a bit bittersweet as my oldest will be done with Kindermusik forever.  She started when she was seventeen months old. Now at the age of seven she is graduating.

We also have an ortho appointment, grocery shopping and dance. I might be bringing a meal to friend as well.

We are starting to get some produce from our garden! So far we’ve been enjoying asparagus. Now we have a bunch of rhubarb.  So that will be on my baking list. I haven’t decided exactly what I’m making. Maybe crisp or pie.

After so much baking last week I’m giving myself the day off today.  The only thing I’m doing in the kitchen is cooking meals. As for the rest of the week, I need to make some chocolates and possibly something else for our last mom’s group meeting. I need to use rhubarb in a dessert. I’m also planning to make noodles, tortillas, strawberry rhubarb muffins and gluten free hamburger buns (experimenting!). I will need to make a batch of sourdough bread as well.

Slowly but surely we are making progress with my little one. Yesterday there were no major nursing issues!  I’m learning how to feed her and what to eat to help the reflux. Hopefully we can keep this up and allow her to heal. She will also be tested for allergies in two weeks. Then we will know for sure what to avoid and if there are some things I can add back in.

Last week was a bit hard on me after cutting out coconut oil. My fat (and calorie!) intake was significantly reduced with that change.  But I have some lard on the way! Hopefully it will be here Monday or Tuesday and I can get back to eating normal amounts and start baking for myself again. I felt like I was hungry all week. I couldn’t make a pie for Mother’s Day since I don’t have any lard or tallow right now. But I’ll make something later this week I can enjoy. At least I got to have the blueberry muffins and pancakes I made for my son’s birthday.

I was also sick Thursday – Saturday. So my energy was very low. Hopefully this week I can get caught up on rest and house work.

Last week I posted a recipe for gluten free noodles. I’ve got a couple new recipes coming this week. Be sure to check back!

Here is what’s on the menu this week. What are you eating?

Sunday
B – sd blueberry pancakes, sausage
L – grilled chicken breasts, beans, chips w/ dip, home canned peaches
D – cp roast beef, roasted potatoes, carrots
*

Monday
B – yogurt, granola
D – spaghetti, peas, garlic toast
*make noodles, boil eggs

Tuesday
B – hard boiled egg, toast
D (prep ahead) – oxtail stew, bread
*prep oat cups

Wednesday
B – oat cups
D (prep ahead) – cp pork chops, seasoned rice, broccoli
*make tortillas

Thursday
B – cereal, fruit
D – tacos, home canned applesauce
*make chocolates, make rhubarb desserts, soak flour for muffins

Friday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – strawberry rhubarb muffins, scrambled eggs, roasted cauliflower
*soak flour for buns

Saturday
B (kids’ choice) – strawberry blueberry parfaits, chocolate milk
D – grilled burgers, grilled asparagus, french fries
*make gf buns

Welcome to May! Are you enjoying beautiful spring weather like we are? Well, it’s actually more like summer weather. My kids wanted to run through the sprinkler yesterday…and it was snowing two weeks ago.

This week is another birthday week!  I can’t believe my son will be four years old. I’ll be working on cake stuff all week. My farmer-in-training wants a cow spotted cake. I’ve already got the decorations done. I also got the flour soaking this morning for the cake. I still have to bake the cake, make powdered sugar, make frosting, frost the cake and decorate it.

I also need to make a batch of ice cream this week. I would love to make cookies and cream, but I don’t think I have time to bake cookies…though my son has been begging for “Oreos.”  I might just have to do vanilla or chocolate chip. He said he wouldn’t mind mint either.

On that topic – my son got to eat dairy ice cream last week!  What excitement. We are still moving along with the raw milk/cream trial. It seems to be going well. I sure am enjoying not having to make him dairy free food! Hopefully it won’t be long before I am the only one that needs separate foods.

And on that topic – my diet/my little one’s diet just got more restricted. We are finally realizing that one of the biggest issues for her is reflux or possibly GERD. And it is caused by all palm products…even coconut oil.  Last week I mistakenly ate dates (I had no idea they grew on palm trees!!) and we had some screaming sessions again. I’m finally taking the last step and eliminating coconut oil to see how it goes. This will not be easy by any means as that was my main source of fat and energy (I typically eat 4-6 Tbsp. of coconut oil a day…that’s about 720 calories and 84g of fat…I have to make up for it now). It is also what I use for all of my cooking and baking.

Now it’s time to restock the house with lard and tallow and get creative again. It will sure make recipe creating/baking challenging if I can’t taste anything I make anymore.

My little one cut THREE teeth last week.  We are all happy about that. Yes, there are still more coming. But hopefully we get a little break from the intense teething.

This will be a week of experimenting with new diet.  Hopefully last night’s ease of nursing is an indication that things are already improving. My poor baby has been in pain for months…and I didn’t even realize it. She is so good natured she hardly ever fusses about anything. Hopefully nursing will really improve with these changes.

We had another incident of red spots all over her cheek yesterday too. So I think it’s time to finally get her tested for allergies so we know if there are any severe ones.

On my kitchen agenda for the week so far: birthday cake, powdered sugar, ice cream, frosting, pizza crackers and sourdough bread. I might make more fruit snacks. If time allows I’ll do some baking for myself so I have something to eat! I’m considering making a pie for Mother’s Day…that I can eat.

Last week I posted some staple recipes for tortillas and bagels.  They are both great things to keep on hand. Check back tomorrow for another great all purpose recipe. Then Tuesday I’ve got a really exciting recipe that will be posted on Super Healthy Kids.

I finally made it the meat market yesterday, so meal planning was much more fun this week. I’m also glad that I can finally make more broth! Our freezer stash is running very low. Here is what’s on the menu. What are you eating this week?

Sunday
B – cereal, banana
L – grilled brats, peas, french fries
D – chicken meatballs, rice, roasted cauliflower
*soak flour for cake, make powdered sugar for frosting, make sd bread

Monday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – cp roast chicken, baked potatoes, carrots
*bake cake, make broth

Tuesday
B – donuts, yogurt
D (prep ahead) – bacon chicken salad sandwiches on sd bread, carrots and cucumbers with dip, fruit salad
*skim cream, strain/freeze broth

Wednesday
B – yogurt, granola with milk
D (prep ahead) – creamy broccoli soup with chicken and bacon, sd garlic toast
*make ice cream, make “Oreos”

Thursday
B – muffins, fruit
D – sloppy joes, chips, beans
*make fruit snacks, make pizza crackers

Friday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – pan seared salmon, seasoned rice, broccoli
*soak flour for muffins, soak flour for pancakes, soak pie crust?

Saturday
B (birthday breakfast) – blueberry muffins, fruit, yogurt
D (birthday dinner) – blueberry pancakes, sausage, asparagus
*make frosting, frost cake, decorate cake

April is coming to a close this week. Hopefully that means May flowers (tulips!) and lots of sun!  I’m ready for ice cream weather…even if I can’t actually eat ice cream right now.

We’re back to our usual busy routine this week, including an orthodontic appointment, grocery shopping and my mom’s group meeting.

Since my son’s birthday is less than two weeks away it’s time to get started planning/preparing cake stuff. I’ll be making cake decorations this week.

Also on the kitchen agenda (so far) – quinoa bars, cereal, sourdough bread, muffins, noodles (recipe coming soon!), pizza dough, fruit snacks and possibly granola bars.

I spent the last week catching up on some of my writing. That means now it’s time to brainstorm new recipes. Hit me with your ideas/requests!!

We let my son try milk last week. It’s still TBD if he’s tolerating it or not. There are no major reactions so far. But we are watching for subtle things too. I really hope he can continue with the raw milk. What a blessing that would be. He is definitely growing and eating more these days, which is wonderful too.

We’ve had another rough week of sleeping and nursing for my little one. This time it’s because of teething.  She is trying to cut about six teeth right now and is in pain. Hopefully they will come through soon. But if she is anything like her big sister we have a long road ahead of us.

Last week I shared a recipe for sourdough bagels with strawberry cream cheese. This week I’ve got some new gluten free recipes for you that you won’t want to miss!

Here is the week’s menu. I’m trying my best to stretch our meat since we go through it so quickly…and it’s so expensive! So I’m only cooking three cuts of meat this week. For the other four dinners I’ll be repurposing leftovers.  What are you eating this week?

Sunday
B – banana bread, yogurt parfaits
L – cp roast beef, roasted potatoes, beans
D – taco dip, refried beans, chips, peaches
*grind flour, soak quinoa for quinoa bars, soak oats

Monday
B – oatmeal
D – beef and vegetable stir fry over rice
*make quinoa bars, boil eggs

Tuesday
B – hard boiled egg, toast
D (prep ahead) – cp roast chicken, cp pork chops, baked potatoes, carrots
*make noodles, soak flour for muffins, feed sd starter

Wednesday
B – quinoa bars, yogurt
D (prep ahead) – chicken noodle soup, meatball soup, muffins
*bake muffins, soak flour for cereal, make sd bread

Thursday
B – cereal, fruit
D – cp ham, baked sweet potatoes, beans
*make cereal, prep oat cups

Friday
B – oat cups
D – ham and cheese omelettes, toast, broccoli
*feed sd starter, make fruit snacks

Saturday
B – kids’ choice
D – sourdough pizza with ham and olives, roasted vegetables
*make pizza dough, make cake decorations

Good morning! We made it through another busy birthday week. We’ve got three weeks until we do it all over again.

This week it’s time to play catch up. We don’t have too much out of the ordinary going on and no major kitchen projects. Maybe we can all get some extra rest.

My baking list includes graham crackers, “wheat thin” crackers, soaked granola, banana bread (I have lots of bananas to use up after my daughter’s birthday treat!) and sourdough bread.

Tomorrow we start OMT (osteopathic manipulation therapy) for my little one to help settle her body from the stress of the tongue/lip/nursing issues. My oldest has her yearly check up this week too.

I keep learning new things daily about our diet. It seems that my little one doesn’t just have issues with coconut…it’s any product of the palm family.  So no more using palm shortening in my baking (for me). And no more birthday cake for me. For now she seems to do well if I avoid any coconut product (besides coconut oil), any palm product, dairy, peanuts and gassy vegetables. I’ve also been avoiding egg whites since I’m not sure how she handles them. All of that keeps the screaming/nursing strikes away.

My son seems to be making good progress lately.  We introduced peanuts into his diet and so far so good. Though to be fair he never did have a peanut allergy. His allergy was to almonds. So we just decided to avoid all nuts just in case. I’m thinking about trying more dairy products (cheese and milk) again soon.

I’m trying to decide if I can continue eating sourdough (gluten) or if I need to take it back out of my diet.  I have a lot of bad symptoms lately that I know are largely due to stress/adrenal issues. But I’m wondering if some of it is also my thyroid…which is impacted by gluten. It is all related, so it’s hard to figure out what is causing what. Maybe next week I’ll experiment with back to strict gluten free.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to enter the Hamilton Beach blender giveaway!

I’m keeping meals simple this week and not overscheduling my kitchen work. Hopefully that means I can squeeze in some good naps.  Do you have a busy week or an easy week? What’s on your menu?

Sunday
B – egg casserole, toast
L – hot dogs, chips and vegetables w/ dip, fresh fruit
D – cp spare ribs, mashed potatoes, beans
*soak flour for graham crackers

Monday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – cp tomato soup, grilled cheese
*make graham crackers, boil eggs

Tuesday
B – hard boiled egg, toast
D (prep ahead) – cp 7 layer dinner
*soak oats, feed sd, make sd bread

Wednesday
B – cereal, fruit
D (prep ahead) – cp split pea soup, sd bread
*dry oats, make granola

Thursday
B – banana bread, fruit
D – pork burgers, sweet potato fries, peas
*make banana bread, soak flour for pancakes

Friday
B – yogurt, granola
D – bacon, pancakes, roasted vegetables
*bake apples, soak flour for crackers

Saturday
B – apple pie parfait
D – sd bacon avocado sandwiches, roasted vegetables, fruit salad
*make crackers

Good morning. Are you ready for the new week? Spring break is over for us, so it’s back to normal routines, orthodontist and mom’s group. Plus I have lots of errands to run.

To top it off this Friday is my daughter’s seventh birthday!  So I’ll be working on birthday treats all week long (two tier cake w/ homemade frosting and decorations, candy bar ice cream and a special school treat too…I can’t wait to share pictures of all of it!). That will keep me busy in the kitchen. Though I’ll still have plenty of other stuff to do just to keep us fed.

I’m trying to keep meals simple this week since we’ll be on the go a lot. We’re low on a lot of cuts of meat (not even one piece of chicken in the house), so it’s getting challenging. At least today I don’t really have to cook. We’ve got lots of leftovers from the weekend since I did a lot of cooking for our guests.

We discovered over the weekend that my little one is extremely sensitive if not allergic to peanuts.  Just a little on her skin caused big red splotches (plus she got hives from me eating a small amount of peanut butter a couple weeks ago). My husband has been getting stomach aches from peanuts lately too. I let my son have peanuts for the first time in a year and a half last week. We’re still watching to see if his body is reacting. So peanuts will be pretty limited around here.

We’re still dealing with tongue issues for my little one. We’ll see how she does with a normal week and not so much extra stimulation from siblings and house guests. We may have to get her re-evaluated or do some other kinds of therapies.

I guess we’re just working on things one day at a time here. Hopefully in the forward/healing direction. Here’s what’s on the menu this week. What are you eating?

Sunday
B – apple dumpling muffins, yogurt, granola, plums
L – leftover sloppy joes, roasted veggies, fresh veggies
D – leftover lasagna, garlic toast, roasted veggies
*bake sd bread, make cake decorations, grind flour, make powdered sugar

Monday
B – muffins, fruit
D – creamy beef and noodles, broccoli
*soak flour for cake, skim cream/make ice cream, boil eggs

Tuesday
B – hard boiled egg, toast
D (prep ahead) – squash and sausage soup, crackers with cheese
*bake cake

Wednesday
B – muffins, yogurt
D (prep ahead) – cp meatloaf, baked potatoes, carrots
*make cake decorations

Thursday
B – cereal, fruit
D – hashbrown, egg and sausage bake, beans, fruit
*make school treats

Friday
B – granola bar, fruit
D – salmon cakes, sweet potato fries, peas
*make frosting/decorate cake, soak flour for pancakes

Saturday
B (birthday breakfast) – pancakes
D (birthday dinner) – grilled steak and asparagus, french fries
*make strawberry frozen yogurt

Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Happy Easter. I can’t think of a better way to start my week than by celebrating Christ’s resurrection. We are also celebrating my husband’s birthday today!

I hardly dare say it, but I think we are almost back to full health here.  Last week was filled with way too much puking, doctor’s visits, crying, restless nights, not eating and laundry for my taste. Hopefully this week will be much better.

My oldest will be home all week for spring break. We’re not going anywhere this year. I’m just going to enjoy having all three kids home and doing some fun projects together. I think I’m going to have the kids help me spring clean and do some baking to stock our empty freezer.

We also have to get the house cleaned up since my in-laws will be visiting this weekend. After sanitizing the house last week and finally getting my kids’ bedroom cleaned it shouldn’t be too hard.

It just so happened that along with our crazy sickness week I had some big writing deadlines. I’m glad I managed to somehow get things done on time. Now it’s back to writing at my own pace. I still have quite a few deadlines in April, but they are doable.

I have a lot of items on my kitchen agenda this week.  Since today is my husband’s birthday I’m making him some special food. He requested lasagna and cheesecake. Plus you have to have fudge sauce to go with the cheesecake. So I’ll make those when my in-laws come. My son has also been begging for cookies (and wants to share them with Grandpa and Grandma). I also need to make graham crackers and muffins. I might make brownies and granola. And I’ll probably be making some sourdough bread to get me through the week. If time allows I’ll make strawberry frozen yogurt.

Last week I posted a few drink recipes – homemade oat milk, homemade quinoa milk and a bedtime beverage (you don’t want to miss that one!). Coming up this week I’ve got some fun ways to use broth.

 Here is our menu for this week. Enjoy your Easter celebration.

Sunday
B – oatmeal, banana
L – with family
D – grilled hot dogs, grilled asparagus, french fries
*make water kefir, feed sd starter soak flour for graham crackers

Monday
B – muffins, fruit granola bar, yogurt
D – sd pizza w/ sausage and olives, carrots cp steak, seasoned rice, sauteed broccoli
*bake muffins?, make sd pizza crust, soak flour for brownies, make graham crackers, sprout beans

Tuesday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – cp ham and bean soup, muffins
*soak flour for cookies, bake brownies, boil eggs

Wednesday
B – hard boiled eggs, toast
D – pork meatballs, mashed potatoes, beans
*make chocolate chip cookies, feed sd starter, make sd bread

Thursday
B – cereal, fruit
D – scrambled eggs, sd toast, peas, pears
*make cream cheese, make fudge sauce, clean

Friday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – cp roast beef, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted cauliflower and brussels sprouts, rolls
*make cheesecake, clean, prep breakfast

Saturday
B – oat cups or yogurt parfaits, fruit, muffins, toast
L – sloppy joes, chips, vegetables with dip and hummus, fruit
D – lasagna, roasted mixed vegetables, garlic bread / cheesecake
*

Welcome to spring! It doesn’t quite feel like it yet with a high in the 30’s today. But we’re getting there. My big kids played outside (with no coats) for about three hours yesterday! I hope we have more days that nice very soon.

I’m hoping life goes back to normal this week. Last week was a challenge to say the least with my little one’s lip and tongue tie release and recovery. But she’s doing a lot better now and is mostly back to normal.  She’s already up (at 5:30 am!) squealing, blowing bubbles and playing. She also just turned seven months old and started eating solids. She is really enjoying feeding herself.

It’s time to get back in the kitchen this week and play catch up.  So far on the agenda I have graham crackers, gluten free bagels, sourdough bread, coconut milk, coconut milk ice cream (I think we’ll do mint since that is my son’s favorite) and donuts. Plus a couple batches of water kefir and whatever my kids pick for Saturday breakfast.

Last week I finally shared my gluten free bread recipe in addition to a “more peas please!” smoothie and my sausage seasoning blend for sensitive palates. I’ve got a couple new recipes coming this week.

Here is our menu for the week. Tonight we’ll be eating at a hockey game (which means packing simple foods for some of us to bring along). We need prep ahead meals a few times this week as usual too. Have a blessed week and enjoy some good, nourishing food!

Sunday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
L – cp pork meatballs over rice, carrots
D – at hockey game
*soak flour for graham crackers, soak flour for bagels

Monday
B – breakfast cookies,  yogurt
D – cp roast chicken, roasted potatoes, beans
*make gf bagels, make graham crackers, make broth

Tuesday
B – gf bagels, fruit
D (prep ahead) – cp tomato soup, grilled cheese
*soak flour for noodles, feed sd

Wednesday
B – english muffin w/ pb, fruit
D (prep ahead) – chicken noodle soup, sd bread
*make coconut milk, make cm ice cream, make sd bread, boil eggs

Thursday
B – hard boiled egg, toast
D – chicken nuggets, french fries, peas
*soak oats, soak flour for donuts

Friday
B – overnight oat cups
D – powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar donuts, sausage, roasted cauliflower, fruit
*make donuts, soak flour for muffins

Saturday
B – kids’ choice or donuts
D – corn dog muffins, broccoli, fruit salad
*make kids’ choice

Good morning! I hope you enjoyed Pi Day yesterday. I certainly did since I spent it celebrating my birthday with my family. My husband and kids spoiled me and even made a delicious dinner.

This week we have plenty that could be happening. But it is all contingent on how my little one is doing.  She has her lip and tongue tie revision on Monday.  We are praying for quick healing and that feeding, etc. go smoothly shortly after. But we may be cancelling some plans if she needs extra time at home. Yesterday was another rough day for her. So we are very anxious to get this taken care of.

I do need to get groceries at some point this week. Our refrigerator is pretty bare. A visit to the chiropractor is a possibility as well.

I also did not plan a lot of kitchen projects this week just in case. If time and little one allow I can add things in.  But for now I’m hoping to make gluten free bread (it’s rising right now!), sourdough bread, water kefir and possibly graham crackers and “Wheat Thin” crackers.

I got a bunch of candy molds, ice pop molds and a second donut pan for my birthday. So I’m anxious to use all of them! Maybe next week. I will for sure be using the candy molds in a few weeks to make cake decorations for my daughter’s birthday.

Last week I posted some really fun and delicious recipes – quinoa bars, crackers and vanilla cake! I’ve got more great recipes coming this week. Depending on how my baking goes today I might have a really special recipe for you tomorrow!

Here is what’s on our menu this week. I planned a lot of easy meals so I can give my little one the attention she needs. What’s on your menu? 

Sunday
B – egg casserole, blueberry buckle
L – hot dogs, chips, beans
D – cp ham, scalloped potatoes, carrots
*make gf bread, soak flour for graham crackers or crackers?, make water kefir

Monday
B – breakfast cookies, yogurt
D (easy/prep ahead) – cp meatballs, roasted potatoes, broccoli
*make graham crackers or crackers?

Tuesday
B – baked oatmeal
D (prep ahead) – cp pork chops, TBD
*feed sd, boil eggs

Wednesday
B – hard boiled eggs, toast
D (prep ahead)  split pea soup w/ ham, sourdough bread w/ cherry jam
*make sd bread

Thursday
B – yogurt, granola, fruit
D – chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, peas
*soak flour for pancakes

Friday
B – english muffin w/ pb and honey, fruit
D – pancakes, bacon, roasted cabbage, fruit salad
*make pancakes (make extra for Saturday’s dinner)

Saturday
B – Kids’ choice
D – sloppy joes on pancake buns, squash, french fries
*make kids’ choice breakfast