Juicy roasted turkey is delicious.  But you would never think to cook up a turkey when it is 80 degrees outside right?  Wrong.  For Mother’s Day last weekend, I wanted to make something a little nicer that wasn’t beef.  We decided to make turkey – not just any turkey mind you.  Shelton’s free-range, no anti-biotic, certified organic turkey.  Only the best for my mama (actually my mother-in-law)

Since it was 80 degrees at our house, we decided instead of heating up the house by roasting a turkey in the oven, we would try grilling one.  I have to admit that I was intimidated at first.   But don’t fear – it was probably the easiest meat I have ever cooked.  No kidding.

The first thing we had to decide was how to season the turkey.   We decided to make an herb rub.  This is the recipe we used.

• Rosemary Herb Turkey Rub
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (we didn’t have fresh basil, so we used Pesto – yummy!)
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey

Fresh Rosemary from my garden!

The rub.  Green. Herby. Delicious.

Next we spread a generous amount of the rosemary mixture under the breast skin and all over the top.  Then we secured the rub o’goodness in with toothpicks.

When you grill a turkey, you don’t want it to be directly touching the grill or the pan you put it in.  We used a roasting pan and it was about 1-2 inches off the bottom of the pan.  These are the steps we took to grill our turkey:

1) Preheat Grill to 500 degrees with all of the burners on high.

2) Place the turkey in the grill.

3) Turn off the middle burners and lower the heat on the other burners to medium.  (grill thermometer at 300 degrees)

4) Cook 11-13 minutes per pound.  We found that our turkey needed a little less time than that so just check it with a meat thermometer.  You want the thickest part of the turkey to reach 165 degrees F.

We were out working in the garden while it was cooking and it smelled like heaven!  We could hear it sizzling inside the grill, locking all that herb flavor in.  It turned out perfecto!  Perfectly brown and crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside.

I loved how this turkey (breast only) looked like a heart.  Turkey is actually heart healthy!

• Less than 12% saturated fat
• Good source of B vitamins
• Contains selenium which is an antioxidant
• Low in calories, high in protein

Verdict on grilled turkey:  We want to do it for Thanksgiving!  Not only was it moist and delicious, but it will free up your oven so that you can cook other things.

Turkey is a great meat for kids because it is so tender it is easy to chew.  My girls loved eating it for dinner, and also on turkey sandwiches the next day!

Thank you to Shelton’s, and Kid Kritics  for making our grilling dreams come true.  The source, home, and food of your turkey is really important and so you need trust where you buy from.  Check out Shelton’s for a great turkey experience, and Kid Kritics to find more foods, recipes, and brands that have received the kids seal of approval.

We have a crop of chives that literally won’t go away.  We love that it comes back every year, but it is not by any effort on our part. In fact, we don’t water it, we don’t feed it, we step on it, we have placed a toy box right on top of it, yet every year it comes back! It’s un-killable.  But, every spring we enjoy the spicy taste of chives in a variety of foods.  Recently, we started adding chives to our lunch wraps, and it tastes amazing!   1 TBL of chives have:

• 9 mg of potassium,
• 3 mg of calcium,
• 78 mcg of beta-carotene,
• 3 mcg of folic acid and
• 6 mcg of vitamin K.
  (source)

Our Rainbow Wrap Recipe includes:

• 1 teaspoon of chopped chives
• 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese.

Combine chives and cheese and spread this over a whole wheat tortilla.

Filling the tortilla with crunch and colorful veggies:

• Red tomatoes and red bell peppers, sliced thinly.
• Orange Carrots and orange bell peppers, sliced thinly
• Green avocados and green lettuce, sliced thinly.
• Purple cabbage, sliced thinly.

Mmmmmm. Your kids will love it!

I love these laptop lunch boxes! Each section has a lid (including the tiny section I used for my veggie dip, which was none other than, more laughing cow cheese and chives. ha ha.  The best part: The lid to the big sections have pictures of fruits and veggies! This goes right along with our theory that fruits and veggies should comprise half your meal!  Love the laptop lunch for this reason!

*I did receive the laptop lunch box for free, and Erica has used it no less than 5 times in five days.

Many active kids need a bedtime snack to hold them through the night, especially during growth spurts.  When the weather is warm and the sun stays up later, I know my kids want to spend every waking second outside playing.  Often when they come in, they will ask for a snack before going to bed.  This is our top 10 healthy bedtime snacks as well as a few guidelines.

1) Plan a bedtime snack 45 minutes – 1 hour before bedtime.  This way you will make sure the food has time to settle, and there is ample time to brush their teeth!

2) A good bedtime snack should have a carbohydrate and a protein.  The carbohydrate will help boost serotonin production, and the protein will help keep them full.

3) You should keep the snack small.  This isn’t another meal, just a snack to tide them over and help get them to sleep.

4) Only give them a snack if they are hungry, not out of habit.

Top 10 Bedtime Snacks:

Whole Grain Crackers and Cheese

Peanut Butter and Fruit Sandwich

Oatmeal with Nuts and Dried Fruit

Boiled Egg, Cheese Quarter and 1/2 Slice of Toast

Apple or Banana Slices dipped in Peanut Butter

Cottage Cheese and Fruit

Yogurt Cheese Spread on an English Muffin

Homemade Granola Bar

Cucumber Rounds with Greek Yogurt and Rice Crackers

Whole Grain Cereal and Milk

Ever have a quiet minute in the day, so you pick up a book, only to fall asleep? Or you try to watch your favorite TV show and then fall asleep on the couch, missing the whole thing?  There is a way to get your groove back, and I promise it doesn’t include Diet Coke.

Complex carbohydrates, like whole-grain bread, whole grain cereal,  brown rice, and whole wheat pasta  is our bodies preferred source of energy.  However, for maximum efficiency, we also need protein. It helps to control the release of that energy (including beans, eggs, nuts, and lean meats)  The nutrients involved in this process are:

• Vitamin B        you need 6 micrograms per day
• Iron                 need 18mg
• magnesium     need 400 mg
• zinc                 need 15 mg

Eating the wrong foods will have an opposite effect.  These are energy drainers!

• skipping breakfast
• eating foods high in saturated fat.  (especially fast food)
• eating high sugar junk food!

So here is my fabulous, energy producing, non-draining, fast, easy, quick dinner!  Anyone who tells me they don’t have time to make dinner and that it’s faster to do the drive thru, I tell them about this meal:

• Whole Wheat Capanelli (much like angel hair in thickness, so it only takes 4 minutes to cook.. Got it on sale for $0.89/ lb
• One bag of frozen veggies like broccoli
• Chicken (I make chicken ahead of time and portion it out for the week, or use a rotisserie chicken)

I boil the frozen vegetables and whole wheat pasta together in the same pot.  Then when the pasta and the vegetables are both cooked, I drain it.  Put in about 1 TBLS of butter (you may want more according to taste, or none at all). Then I sprinkle it with parmesan cheese.

This dinner is literally on the table in 5 minutes!!!

For more dinner ideas, check out our MyPlate Meal Ideas

The racing season has begun.  While I love to run a few races each summer, we always at least sign  the kids up for one of them.  This race was sponsored by Nate’s middle school as a fundraiser.  Have I mentioned how I love fundraisers that encourage activity!  I’m pretty tired of buying cookie dough and would much rather support a 5K! 

The kids all started out pretty strong.  TJ carried his own water in his hydration pack and took off ahead of me.  Nate was in the lead (amongst the three of us) with his friends.   Nate finished in 28 minutes, TJ 40 minutes, and me and Erica about 49.  She ran the first mile pretty well, but wore me out with her sprint-walk thing she was doing.  I tried to teach her about pacing herself, but she claimed she wasn’t sprinting, and that it was a normal jog.  Then she hit mile two and suddenly, “she was injured”.  Yes, those quotes were on purpose.  She complained of “ripping her ankle muscle”, and there was no talking her out of it.  When I suggested that injury meant skipping her soccer game at noon, she actually said, “It will probably be better by noon.” So, we walked the last two miles….v e r y s l o w l y.

TJ (the 9 year old) had a blast. However, he had been begging me to sign him  up for a half marathon.  ha ha .. After the race he asked if I ever followed through and signed him up for the half.  I told him I hadn’t and he said, “GOOD!”  The child was relieved!

Here is our meal plan for the week! We hope yours is successful in feeding your kids well.

Go to the archives for printable healthy meal plans like this one.

Today is Mother’s Day!  I just woke up to this breakfast: Sunshine Eggs (see the sun in the eggs and toast?)

Best Mother’s Day Quote:

“The most important thing a father can do for his daughter is to love her mother. By the way you love her mother, you will teach your daughter about tenderness, loyalty, respect, compassion, and devotion.” Elaine Dalton

Well, our microgreens have grown, and they are ready to harvest.  I have to admit, I took awhile to figure out what to do with them, but now that we have a few ideas, we’re excited to plant a new crop.

Microgreens are the new sprouting method to the world of sprouts. They are the perfect learning tool for kids just learning to garden because they grow so quickly and they are harvested young.  Wednesday, I had Glenda from Sprout Shop, explain how to grow microgreens.  Today, I’m going to talk about what to do with them, once they’ve grown.

Once you have some you can:

• Use them on salads
• Use them for fancy garnishing (Kids like fancy!!)
• Top tomato soup
• Add to sandwiches (like you would alfalfa sprouts)
• Add to pizza! Like today!

So, first we harvested.   I had TJ use scissors to cut the greens at the base.  He cut out our peas and basil.

Then, still using the scissors, he snipped up the greens into a bowl. 

Then, taking some leftover Artisan bread from dinner last night, we sliced it up, and topped it with marinara sauce, mozzarella and our pea-basil blend.

Then we baked it on Hi Broil until the cheese melted.

Then, Nate, was literally waiting at the stove for them to come out!

OK-So, here is where we need your input! What else could you do with these baby greens – Micro Greens?

There aren’t many things that I love more than gardening.  When February comes I start getting all excited making big plans for my garden.  This year we decided to do garden boxes for the first time.  These are the advantages that swayed me over to the garden box world.

• Helps with weed control
• Aesthetically pleasing
• Better soil drainage
• Better soil composition

We put together a complete how-to guide for building your own garden boxes from buying the wood to filling them with soil.  (*Warning – it is lengthy!)

The first step in building anything is to draw up thorough plans.  For our garden space we drew up our plans in Excel, so we could easily take measurements and calculate the amount of materials we would need to purchase.  Our garden plan calls for eight ten foot by six foot garden boxes, some of which have angles to accommodate a circular herb garden in the middle of our garden plot.  Here’s an example of our garden plan.

We decided to use two 2” by 8” redwood planks for each side of the garden box with a 2” by 6” plank on top of each side wall to make the boxes look better, and make also serve as a bench. The 2′” by 8” planks are actually 1.5” by about 7” resulting in a height of the garden box of about 14”.  This is just deep enough to provide plenty of space to fill with dirt, and is a good height to reduce the amount of bending over you have to do while gardening.

Most garden boxes are made out of redwood or cedar.  We chose to make our boxes out of redwood, mostly because we could purchase thicker, more durable boards for less money.  The 1.5” thick redwood planks were almost the same price as the .75” thick cedar planks, so hopefully this helps the boxes last much longer.  Here are all of the boards purchased and ready to go.

Step one is to cut the support boards.  These boards will be used as the frame of the garden box.  I cut each support board 18′” so it would be longer than the box is tall.  This allows 4 or 5 inches of the board to extend below the garden box to help hold it in place, and to keep the box from bowing due to the weight of the dirt in it.  I used a 4” x 4” post for each corner of the box, and a 2” x 8” board for extra support for each long (10 foot) side of the box.

Next I gathered the materials for the sidewalls of the box.

I cut four pieces of 2” x 8” redwood to 10 foot lengths, and four pieces of 2” x 8” redwood to 6 foot lengths.

Sophie thought the project was a ton of fun! (or maybe just riding her bike, and not the project so much)

I cut all of the ends of the sidewalls at 45 degree angles using the miter saw so they would fit together nicely at the corners.

I began assembly by standing up one of the corner posts and attaching one of the 6 foot lengths of redwood and one of the 10 foot lengths of redwood to the post with a brad nailer.  The nailer was just used to hold the boards in place while I put the screws in.  I attached each board to each post with two 2.5” galvanized screws.

Next attach the second layer of boards using the same process described above.

View from inside the box.  Notice that the box is being built upside down, so if your box is not a square or a rectangle (some of ours weren’t) make sure you put the angles on the opposite side you want them on so when you flip it over they will be on the correct side.

Continue the same process with the second, third, and fourth corner posts.

Last, I screwed in the side supports for the long side of the box.

Side view of the box before it’s flipped over.

Next flip the box over to put the top piece of trim on.

I wanted the trim to overhang the box by about 1.5”, so each piece of 2” by 6” trim board has to be cut 3” longer than the side it’s covering.  So the trim for the 6 foot side is cut to a length of 6’3”, and the ten foot side is cut to a length of 10’3”.  I cut each trim piece to a 45 degree angle using a miter saw.

Next, using the same 2.5” galvanized screws, attach the trim pieces to the box.

Repeat this process for each of the four trim pieces on top of the box.  Each of these boxes took me about 2.5 hours to build counting the time I spent showing Amelia and Sophie what their jobs were….

Next we laid out the boxes in the garden.  Then we dug holes underneath each of the support boards until they were leveled in the garden.

Once they were all leveled, we filled the boxes about 3/4 of the way full of soil.  We used a garden soil composed of 1/3 screened top soil, 1/3 mushroom compost, and 1/3 nutrimulch (basically turkey manure).

This is how the angled boxes turned out.  These are a little more complicated to build than the rectangles, but not too bad once you get the hang of it.

Now time for planting!

My girls loved helping plant even more than they liked ‘helping’ build the boxes. It was a big project, but so worth it!  Eventually we will lay stone paths around the boxes and so we will have virtually no weed issues! The herb garden will be made out of stone as well and built up (next on the project list…..)

Happy Gardening!

As you may recall, I met Glenda a few weeks ago on vacation while visiting a Farmer’s Market. She was selling sprout supplies and I was particularly interested in her Micro-Greens, because I had never heard of them.  I bought a starter kit from her, but still was unsure as to what to do with them, so I emailed Glenda and asked her to write a post for me and you about microgreens, so we could all learn about these new sprouts, and how to grow them!

This is Erica with Glenda at the rainy day farmers market:

Here is Glenda’s valuable information: (by www.sproutshop.net )

Microgreens are a relatively recent addition to the produce aisle. These tiny seedlings are harvested when the first true leaves appear (after the cotyledon or seed leaf stage). They are a specialty crop which many chefs like to use to garnish their dishes or add to salads. Microgreens add color, flavor and texture to any dish. In addition, they are a nutrient dense food, meaning that they provide a significant amount of nutrients compared to the calories in the food. According to the University of Florida IFAS Extension, Sprouts, microgreens and baby greens are simply greens harvested and consumed in an immature state.

• Sprouts the youngest/smallest, are germinated seed which is sprouted, and are consumed whole. Are ready to eat in 2-6 days after soaking.
• Microgreens slightly older/larger (about 2-3” tall). Are ready to eat within a week of planting. Some varieties take longer. They are cut at the soil level at harvest.
• Baby Greens or Petite Greens the oldest/largest (3-4” tall). Are usually ready to eat in 1-2 weeks. They are cut at the soil level at harvest.

Baby lettuce greens grown by www.sproutshop.net

Growing microgreens or baby greens can be grown in a garden, or on a kitchen counter or covered patio table (weather permitting). This is a great way to have a year round garden!

Here’s what you’ll need to grow microgreens:

• Seedling Trays, recycled plastic trays or short pots.   Seedling trays are best, but there is nothing wrong with using plastic trays that used to contain some sort of produce you bought. These don’t need to have holes in the bottom, as long as you don’t overwater.
• Organic potting mix, vermiculite and worm castings.   Using organic potting mix is best. It doesn’t hurt to add some vermiculite to the mix, as it makes for better soil drainage. Some growers swear by adding worm castings to the mix. You can purchase these from garden centers.
• Spray Water Bottle or water bottle with small pull up spout.  Spray your seeds to keep moist until they sprout, and keep emerging plants from drying out while growing.

How to start your microgreens:

1.  Fill seed tray with good quality, nutrient rich potting soil. Lightly compact soil (using a tamping device or the back of a spoon) to create an even surface. Do not compact the soil or you will not get good growing results

2.  TIP: Be sure not to overfill the soil or you will have a mess on your hands when you water. Leave ½” space from the soil line to the top of your container.

Microgreens kit with radish seed – www.sproutshop.net

 3. Add seeds. Sprinkle high quality seeds over your soil, evenly. You can plant densely, or sparsely, depending on your preference.

4. Press the seeds lightly into the soil without pressing them under the soil. Use a tamping tool or the back of a spoon. This will help the seeds to set roots.

5. Cover the seeds with soil or paper towel. Soil is best for large seeds. Sprinkle soil over the seeds to keep them covered and moist after watering. For small seeds, use the paper towel by gently placing towel over the entire surface.

6. Water. Use plenty of water but apply it in a gentle way to not disrupt the seeds. The seeds should not be in standing water, but should be moist.

7. Cover Tray using the clear plastic dome that comes with your tray. It will keep your seeds warm and moist; kind of like a mini greenhouse!

8. Germinate seeds by keeping soil/paper towel covering seeds moist. Seeds will push up the towel or soil. You can remove the paper towel once the seeds begin to push up the towel. Consider using a spray bottle to mist the seeds/soil at this point, or a water bottle with a pop-up drinking cap to gently squeeze water onto germinated seeds. TIP: small seeds may have fuzz, which can look like mold, but is normal for many seed varieties.

Sunflower seeds beginning to grow in seedling tray

9. Put in a location with indirect sunlight or under a grow light once growth is established. You can remove the cover at this point as well. Do not put your microgreens in the sun with the cover on or they will overheat die.

10. Harvest and Eat!

You can decide at what point you want to cut your microgreens and eat them. Cut a few once they are a couple of inches high and see how you like the taste. Sunflower greens should be cut before they reach the true leaf stage (before another set of leaves appears in the center of the first leaves) or they might taste bitter. Use clean, sharp kitchen scissors to harvest your microgreens. After harvesting, your greens will keep for 7-10 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Pea shoots ready for harvest

Check out how we are using our microgreens!

I love eating salads.  I would probably eat a salad every day, but sometimes it seems like such a hassle to get everything out and prepped for just one salad.  I decided I am going to try a new method.  Get everything out once, prep for multiple salads and then store things so they are easy to access for a salad anytime.

With all this salad on my brain, I started thinking about how I can get my kids to eat salad.  They love vegetables, but don’t really love salad.  These are the barriers I came up with:

• Not easy to eat.  If the lettuce pieces are too big, or carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc are in too big of pieces they are less likely to want to eat it.
• Unfamiliar items on the salad.  If they don’t really know what something is or haven’t had a lot of experience eating that particular food, then the salad goes untouched.
• Sometimes kids don’t like their food mixed.  A salad is the epitome of mixed foods.

Here are my solutions and tips for getting your kids to not only eat salad, but love it!

Step #1: First thing is making it easy for yourself.  Get out everything you love on a salad all at once and prep each item for easy access the next time you want to make one.

Step #2: Cut things into very small pieces so that they are easy for your kids to get in their mouths and chew.  This picture would be ‘adult-size’ lettuce.

Take it 1 step further and chop it up into ‘child’-size’ lettuce.

Raw carrots can be hard for little kids to chew, and also can be a choking hazard.  Try shredding carrots for a softer texture and a much easier to chew carrot!  I used the fine-grate on my grater, but I have also used my food processor for a little bit bigger shred.

Peel and dice cucumbers into tiny pieces.  By removing the skin, you decrease any bitter flavor and also make it easier to bite into and chew for little mouths.

Step #3: Provide them with options they are familiar with and enjoy.  You can also have a few options that they aren’t familiar with as long as there are some available that they know and like.

Step #4: Let them choose and build their own salad.  Maybe they won’t choose every topping that you hope they would, but you have to start somewhere!  If you provide enough healthy options, they will choose the things they like and eventually will branch out to trying new things. Maybe they won’t pile all of the toppings on, but will eat them separate.  That is totally ok in my book because the point is that they are eating a variety of fruits and vegetables!

Step #4:  Have a few yummy dressings for them to try.  Instead of pouring them on top of the salad, let them dip their salad into the dressing.  Kids love to dip things and if it tastes good they will eat it.  If they love ranch, let them have ranch!

What are some of your favorite salad toppings?

One of our readers Kelly, emailed this salad recipe to me this morning!  Literally this morning, and within an hour I was at the store buying cabbage and oranges. I knew my kids would love it and figured it would be perfect for dinner tonight.  This simple salad only has 4 ingredients: Cabbage, carrots, cranberries, and oranges.   Here is what Kelly said about her kids eating it:

Hi Ladies, Meal plans have been going well, I told you that I now had time to clean my kitchen, instead of wonder what was for dinner, so I cleaned out my pantry and fridge – and ended up having to take a break and use up the stuff that was due to expire. I also had a shipment of produce containing some wonderful navels and a napa cabbage, and it transported me back to my time in Germany when this salad was a staple during spring. I thus on a whim served it to my family and my three year old (after initial protest) literally gobbled it down! So I have to share. Enjoy.

I love this salad because it is so refreshing, so simple, there is no heavy oils for dressings, and generally, we have all the ingredients for it!

Who’s making this?