Monday, November 26, 2012

Broken Silence and Thanksgiving Photo's

Sorry for the silence around here the past few days (or has it been weeks?). We have had quite the busy days lately!

We hosted our first Thanksgiving as "Real Foodies" this year and I think it was a great hit! My mom fell in love with some recipe's in the Williams and Sonoma Thanksgiving menu this year and so we tweaked and nudged their recipe's Real Food style.

We had the Turkey, which my husband didn't do "out of the book" he makes the best apple baked turkey ever so we stuck with that and although I can't tell you what's in it (because I never cook Turkey) I can say it was awesome!

Creamed mashed potatoes are another great traditional dish, which we did, but we used 1/2 red and 1/2 russett instead of the traditional all russett potatoes and heavy cream instead of milk which was an idea inspired by Williams and Sonoma, which was great! Plus whipping them with my hand blender made them extra creamy, which is a good plus!

We made cranberry compote out of their recipe book too. That. Stuff. Rocked! Of course as I'm not big on wine I substituted for the wine, but it was awesome all the same! (Oh and just and FYI type of deal, I have NO problem with occasional drinks, it's just not a flavor I like)

And there were a few other dishes, but if you ask me the show stopper was the amazing Maple Pumpkin Pecan Pie from Kelly at Imperfect Homemaking. That thing took the cake and is now my favorite pumpkin pie ever! Thank you Kelly for that recipe!

And so now you know what took up some of my absence time on to the rest.
I worked on Christmas presents and my advent list, which I'll get to more posting here soon (Kid's toy Fishing Sets, Handmade Dolls, Cloth Napkins, Vanilla etc.) But what really took me away . .

Potty Training!

My kiddo has been potty aware for quite some time now, we have been changing her exclusively in the bathroom since we moved here at the beginning of the year and have been sitting her on the potty (with this amazingly cool kid potty seat) since she was about 6 months old. Well in the past week something clicked. I made a couple new pairs of underwear for Miss Noodle and she decided she wanted underwear every morning. Although she isn't doing quite as well today as she was this weekend, she only had 5 total accidents in 3 days! One of those days she wore one pair of underwear the entire day! She has been doing better and better over the past month and I think, she may be ready for underwear during the day all the time! But of course, it's time consuming for the mommy and daddy, hence silence. . .

And now . . The awaited . . Pictures! Our table this year was simple, but I think pretty. I used a sheet for the tablecloth and made some cloth napkins out of some linen I found in my spare fabrics pile. You can tell me what you think. . .



and there you have it. Our Thanksgiving and last couple weeks!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Banana Ice Cream

Pictures to come next time I make this stuff . . .  :o)

Ok, to be fair calling this stuff ice cream isn't exactly right, cause it's not. But it's good and cold and healthy and my kiddo eats this as her ice cream . . It has no added sugars, fats, or preservatives and is loaded with nutrients so it fits into my standards for her health diet.

You ready? Ok those bananas on your counter, peel them and throw them in the freezer. The more ripe the banana the more banana flavor to have less bananayness freeze them a little on the green side.

Once they are frozen chunk them into your blender.
Sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder or vanilla if desired (I use about 1/2 tsp per 3 bananas)
Splash with milk and blend to desired consistency adding milk as necessary.

That's it! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! Enjoy with the kiddo's or pop in the freezer and store for later like you would traditional ice cream.

What kind of natural and healthy desserts do you feed your kids? Do they enjoy them as much as traditional dessert?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Felt Magnet ABC’s


Somewhere on Pinterest (I can’t remember where or I’d point you there) I found a post for these adorable felt letters to help kids learn their letters. When I saw these I instantly thought how awesome would it be to have fridge letter magnets that wouldn’t leave dents in foreheads when kids got mad and threw them at each other? So I decided to take it one step farther and make felt stuffed fridge magnet letters! 

I started with different colored pieces of felt and cut fat letter shapes (two of each letter) out of the felt. I then hand sewed the edges using a blanket stitch. I made sure that as I was sewing them together I stuffed them with polyfil and a magnet.
 





I know I know sounds so simple and easy. It’s not. It’s painstaking and tedious but . . . 

They turned out so adorable! Don’t you just love them?

Monday, November 5, 2012

Our Favorite Oatmeal

This oatmeal is warm and tasty and it's a fall favorite of ours. It seems like there are so many oatmeal recipes, but this one is by far our favorite.

1 cup boiling water
1 cup Milk
1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats (or Quick Oats)
1/3 cup cranberries
1/3 cup chopped nuts (we usually do almonds)
1/3 cup or less brown sugar (sweetened to taste kinda)
A tiny bit of maple syrup

It's an easy peasy recipe this recipe I make. Boiling water in pot, add milk. stir till combined and warm. Add oats. Combine Well. I usually let the oats simmer while I prep the nuts
I then add the nuts berries and sugar. . .

Mix it all together well . . Split between our bowls. . .
Pour on some syrup and enjoy! Simple right?

What are your family's favorite oatmeal recipe's?