So many blogs, so little time! Have you seen this one?  Although I am the world’s worst crafter, I love to look.   I wish I could make this Christmas Advent calendar, but I know if I tried, my dove would look like a piece of felt with a spec of blue dirt on it.  So, I won’t try. I’ll just enjoy what others can do.

My pumpkin hummus flopped like many of my crafting attempts.  I don’t feel bad.  I liked it of course.  My husband thought it tasted like baby food (but he doesn’t like hummus anyway), and the kids wouldn’t try it at all.

Here is the recipe from allrecipes. (I cut the recipe in half to fit my tiny food processor). If you like hummus, I’m pretty sure you will like this.

Give it a try!  The sourdough bread made it all that much better.

And hurry, before it’s too late. Enter Cathy’s giveaway to try some organic fruit puree!

There are so many different ways to make a smoothie, your kids should never be bored.  While not packed full of fruits and veggies, this smoothie sure made a great treat. We called it the Orange creamsicle smoothie.  I’ve seen different versions on many different websites, but I kept ours simple:

• 1 Cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup Orange juice
• 24 ice cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender.

  And drink

(Those are sunglasses that the lenses broke out of. She loves to wear them and “trick” people into thinking she wears glasses.  She wants braces too. Remember those days?)

On Cathy’s blog I noticed her taking part in Meatless Mondays! What a great idea.  My spouse is not on board with becoming vegetarian, but I want to reduce my family’s consumption of meat.. and save money in the process, Meatless Monday is a perfect compromise.  (or any one night a week)

I guess our garden isn’t a total waste.  My daughter and her friend spent Friday night searching for the ripest tomatoes they could find, and they actually came out with about 45 small Roma tomatoes.  Quite frankly, I was shocked.  I didn’t want them sitting on my counter forever, so I decided to make some tomato soup.

I used to not like tomato soup, until I had some at Paradise Bakery!  It was so delicious!  Tons of flavor, and thick like spaghetti sauce.  My version was not quite as thick, but it was still delicious!  Cereal boy loved it and had two bowl fulls.   Ketchup boy wouldn’t give it a chance, although I told  him, it was pretty much the same thing as ketchup!!  He wasn’t buying it.

Unfortunately, I have to post my recipes in my blog posts for awhile.  When my laptop died, I lost my web design program with it.  I’m so sad!!

WARNING:  From plant to table, this process took me 1 1/2 hours!!  It was Sunday though and we didn’t have church till 1pm, so I had some time.  But I probably wouldn’t try this during the week.

• 30 small roma tomatoes.  I plunged them in boiling water.  Waited for the skins to crack.  Then I took them out and put them in a sink full of cold water.  Then I removed the skins and put the flesh in a big bowl.  I ended up with about 48 oz of tomato flesh.
• In large pot, saute two chopped onions and 2 cloves of garlic.
• Then add about 50 oz tomatoes.
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 6 oz can tomato paste.
• 3 cups water with 3 chicken bouillon cubes (or 3 cups chicken broth).

Bring all ingredients to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes.

Take all ingredients out of pot and puree in blender.  Not too long if you like it a bit chunky. (I did this 2 cups at a time.)

Return to pot and add

• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cups of milk.

Cook for 5 minutes longer.  Serve with Saltine crackers, bread sticks, or we used strips of tortillas grilled slightly on a hot skillet.

Other things to do with all your tomatoes:

Deal of the Day

Have you been with me long enough to remember when I couldn’t STOP posting dessert ideas.  I love dessert.  But one thing I’ve been mulling over lately, is the fact that although you can lower the fat or lessen the sugar of a dessert, generally there is nothing redeeming about the final product. Its still empty calories, void of nutrients.

This is why I’m trying to add fruits, nuts, seeds, etc to desserts, so there is something redeemable about them… and still DELICIOUS!

Therefore, tonights meal included a fancy schmancy specialty drink.   My kids named it PEACH SPLOOSHY! 

I added a jar of peaches that I canned in Sep. 04.  I still had 2 jars for some reason. I’m sure there was sugar in my canning process.  But I included the

• small mason jar of peaches, with the juice
• 5 oz greek yogurt (5 oz has 15 grams of protein!!)
• ice

The verdict! Everyone loved it.

Some of my favorite desserts I’ve posted here:

• Chocolate no-bake cookies remade
• Caramel corn; we make this one a lot!
• Pineapple popscicle; great for summer
• Cinnamon Almonds

WEDNESDAY: Legumes, nuts, seeds

Isn’t protein a funny thing.  I feel like I perpetuate the myth that you need to get your protein from animal sources by labeling this section “protein”, as if its seperate from grains and veggies. There is plenty of protein in your grains and veggies, and we are cutting the animal proteins back in our diet.  So I officially changed this category to legumes, nuts, and seeds, which we are eating much more of.

Although this is fast and easy, plan ahead for this one. Its best when made ahead and chilled for a few hours.

I used

• Frozen corn, thawed
• black beans, canned, but rinsed
• Chopped avocado
• chopped green onions
• balsamic Vinaigrette

This made a delicious main dish, and we had a green salad and small slices of chicken on the side.

TUESDAY: Whole Grains

This is one of those meals you do not need to plan ahead for, as evidenced by my current lazy spring, lack of planning, enjoying life mentality.  At 5pm, when the kids started wandering in asking what was for dinner, I was completely caught off guard. I didn’t realize it was so late.  In my defense however, I was working on getting some extra Vitamin D.   So I needed a fast, easy, yet healthy dinner idea.

We pulled out some:

• Whole wheat tortilla’s
• A can of pinto beans (that I pureed)
• Some finely shredded cheese
• And some random vegetables from my vegetable drawer

Wade called it, Mexican Pizza’s.  First I rinsed the beans and pureed them until smooth and spreadable (by adding a little water). I will never buy refried beans again… with all the lard and salt, its not worth it. Plus doing blending up my own beans I can control the consistency. I love the taste of the spread it makes. I spread it on a bagel once and just ate it. DELICIOUS.

Then we placed a tortilla on a griddle, spread with pinto bean spread, and sprinkled a very tiny bit of cheese! After crispy when the cheese was melted,  I sliced it up in triangles like they were pizza’s.  Not only did the kids love it, so did flip floppers friend, who officially declared me the “best dinner maker ever!”

The photo is of the one I made for myself and Wade. The kids didn’t want veggies on theirs, but they did get some whole grains, and some beans on theirs.  In time though, I’m big on the power of example.

MONDAY: Fruits and Vegetables

I’ve got two kids who will only eat broccoli raw, and one that claims she only likes it cooked.  Usually, I can’t please them all, but with this salad, I did.

What I love about Broccoli Salad is you can be creative and choose different add-ins depending on what you have on hand.  I had very few things on hand, so it was simply broccoli, raisins, and pecans, with this dressing.

You can also include:

• Craisins
• Red onions
• Bacon bits
• slivered almonds
• grapes
• cheddar cheese
• sunflower seeds

Then, inspired by My Year Without (Nicole cut refined sugars out of her diet in favor of natural, unprocessed sweeteners), I decided instead of the traditional white sugar in the dressing, I was replacing it with honey. I also like the tang of mayonnaise, so I replace half of it with plain yogurt, and the other half with some light mayonnaise.  Here was the final recipe.

Why should your kids (and you) eat broccoli?  Its full of good stuff like Vitamin C, A, folic acid, calcium, and chromium.  Plus, it contains both protein and fiber.

 WEDNESDAY: Protein

We have tried hummus before, and neither my kids, nor my husband were fans.  I decided to give it another try. You know, the more times you offer your kids a food the more likely they will be to try it and like it.

I posted my recipe here.  I thought it was delicious!  Hummus is blended up garbanzo beans (chickpeas).  The kids actually wouldn’t try it. But for those families that love hummus, its a great recipe.

Being high in protein and fiber, yet low in fat, it can be used for more than just a carrot dip.  Other things you can do with hummus:

• I’ve been spreading it on whole wheat toast.
• Its delicous in a pita pocket with vegetables.
• Its a great dip for broccoli, cucumbers, celery and carrots.
• Its a great dip for pita chips or whole wheat crackers.
• Spread on pizza! This one is interesting.
• Filled in a hard boiled egg.
• On tortilla chips.

What does your family like hummus with?

With permission, I posted Mary Kathryn’s recipe for Banana Oatmeal Pancakes.  You can see the recipe here.

Get ready for pasta week. I just bought 50 lbs of pasta this week.  A local guy was selling for 0.75 per pound, which is a great price. He even had whole wheat.  If you are in the Lehi area, you don’t want to miss it.

Cleaning out the fridge I found some baby carrots that were turning bad.  They had that white look to them, and some were absolutely shriveled.  I wanted to make some carrot muffins, but I pictured myself shredding baby carrots and shredding my knuckles in the process because they were just too small.

Instead, I placed the carrots in a microwave safe bowl and water. Then I cooked them till they were soft.  This took a good 8 or 9 minutes, with me checking every few minutes.

Then I poured out most of the water, not all, and pureed them in my little mini food processor. You could also use a blender.  I used the carrot puree in my muffins instead of shredded carrots.  Then I was also able to reduce the oil because of the moistness of the puree.  Here is the final recipe.  I even made the muffin picture a link today if you want to try it.

They were so good.  They have everything I like in a muffin (or any food).  Healthy, low fat, full of vitamins and minerals, and delicious! Perfect for a healthy breakfast for kids.  Cereal boy thought they tasted like pumpkin muffins.