Reduced Ebook pricing!

Now that we are well into the new year, I wanted to re-post OUR EBOOK at an even lower price to help you keep going in your resolutions. By the end of January is when I'd rather let go of some of the 'uncomfortable' changes I've tried to make for myself. I hope that our book can give you some motivation to keep going, eat clean, add more fruits and veggies. You are worth it and I know you can do it, because you can do hard things.

Baby steps remember. Maybe add a few more vegetarian meals, a few more salads and work up from there. It doesn't have to be cold turkey on every guilty pleasure all at once!

Keep going, and hopefully this $0.99 book can help you along your way!

Ham Fried Quinoa

I don't know about all of you, but I am all about fast meals that area good for you. Since our little babe joined our family I'm finding less and less free time to really sit and prepare this wonderful masterpiece that includes all the food groups in perfect quantities and delicious flavors...that is not reality.

So quick weeknight meals that have a lot of nutrition are what I'm about at this point in my life. Maybe I'll be able to do that well thought out process again in a few years, but as of right now a full of energy four year old, a mischevious two year old, and a needy newborn claim my time and hands.

I saw a recipe for chicken fried quinoa here and I decided to make my own spin on things to fit my tastes and what my family likes.

I love broccoli. I usually like to use the peas also in asian style meals, however I made this for my mom also who is deathly allergic to peas... random I know...anyways I loved how the use of broccoli as the main veggie turned out. I also used the cubed ham for speed and ease at this point, you can use any meat really or go totally meatless it's really what you like. I am obsessed with quinoa and it's many uses and nutrition that it brings. I'd take this ham fried quinoa over ham fried rice any day!!! Enjoy

P.S. I fed the baby while the rest of the family ate this, it was totally gone before I could get a picture of the final result....what does that tell you :)

Ham Fried Quinoa

1 cup uncooked Quinoa

1 cup broccoli slaw

1 bunch chopped broccoli

1/2 bag cubed ham

3 T low sodium soy sauce- divided

1 cup water

Add quinoa to pot with two cups of water. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes until most liquid is gone and quinoa is tender. Meanwhile, add water, broccoli and broccoli slaw to large skillet. Cover and let simmer and steam over med-low heat for 5-7 minutes. Add cubed ham and 1 1/2 T soy sauce. Cover and continue to simmer and steam. When quinoa is done add quinoa to the skillet with remaining soy sauce. Uncover and heat together in the skillet for another 5 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed and vegetables are tender. Serve hot! Enjoy

Other add ins

an egg scrambled

chicken

peas

carrots

onion

green onion

peppers

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Crisp, chilled lettuce. You complete me! Summer is a beautiful time to take advantage of green salads and all the wonderful nutrients they give our bodies~

I also love lettuce wraps. I love having everything I would put on a sandwich without the bread and it really gives people with a gluten free need a list of tasty options.

These passed few days I've felt myself stretched thin and I am feeling it in my muscles today. I probably know I haven't been drinking as much water as I should be and I might have been eating too much of my mint carob fudge! When I make these silly decisions I feel it in my back. The only way to describe it is it feels almost like a charlie horse right in the center. Luckily I work in an environment where I'm surrounded by occupational therapists and physical therapists. However, I still came home really sore, but at least I've been guzzling my water like a maniac today :)

When the soreness sets in I bring out the Crock Pot! Simple, no brainer, dinners! This was totally simple and totally tasty! I savored each bite and loved the lettuce wrap addition! We used quinoa as our grain filling and it was perfect! I love flavor without a lot of ingredients that I had to think about and throw in. This meal contained basically my two favorite things, lettuce and quinoa. ~bliss! Play around with this, it's the slow cooker, you can do almost anything you want :) Enjoy

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

1 lb organic boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 C water

1/2 C low sodium teriyaki sauce

2 garlic cloves minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 C cashews (optional)

1 head bibb or romaine lettuce

Combine all ingredients to Crock pot except the lettuce. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. Serve with quinoa or brown rice. Wrap chicken and grain in lettuce leaves. Use remaining juice from Crock pot as a dipping sauce! Enjoy

 

Stuffed Shells

Sunshine, Sweet tooth, Smile, Smooch, Stuffed Shells? Today is "S" day! And it's a double whammy with stuffed shells! These were wonderful, amazing, tasty, and gone in hours. I loved every bite!

Typically I've found that most stuffed shells are a mixture of cheeses, well not these babies, they have very little dairy in them and it is easily removed. We used lean ground turkey and vegetables for the filling! I enjoyed these shells so much more than typical cheese filled shells.

Even before I limited my dairy intake I thought cheese ravioli and cheese stuffed pastas were too much, I didn't really enjoy them. So needless to say that may be one of the many reasons why I enjoyed these shells so much.

I love it when I do a post for a meal that hit the spot so much, they are much more expressive :) it makes me want to sit here and wait for everyone to post a comment and tell me how deliciously sinful they found them as well! I won't, I do have things to do believe it or not. That doesn't mean I don't know that you'll love them as much as I did though!

The only downside is, I was never able to find whole grain shells, I found some garden shells that had crushed vegetables in them, but I still cringed at the ingredient list that said enriched flour! Yuck, that was the only rain cloud that lingered...for just a second. This is a beautiful meal, so I suggest use it when you want to strut your stuff and show off your skills to people :)

Stuffed Shells

 1 lb lean ground turkey

1 small onion

1/2 green pepper

1/2 red pepper

3 mushrooms (optional)

1/3 C feta cheese crumbles

Sauce

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C water

1 T basil

1 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 bay leaf

1 package of jumbo shell pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook shell pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside. Add turkey and onion to skillet. Brown turkey for about 7 minutes then add remaining vegetables to saute together. Cook until turkey is completely browned. Remove turkey mixture from skillet and place in a large bowl.

Add feta cheese to turkey. Set aside. In turkey skillet add all sauce ingredients. Simmer covered for 10 minutes then remove from heat. Add 1/3 C of sauce to the meat mixture. Spoon small amounts of meat mixture into cooked shells. Place shells into deep baking dish. When all the shells are filled

 top them with the remaining sauce. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minuted until the sauce is bubbly. 

Enjoy

Butternut Squash Lasagna- GF

One thing I have missed from time to time is my cheesy, enormous, best tasting lasagna! It probably had a days worth of calories in one serving, but I always got so many compliments on the taste!

Where I am right now with my food choices and how I eat, I honestly don't crave cheese any more and red meat. I do love pasta, but it's always good to balance your carbohydrate intake, for me especially....Pasta is my love!

Sundays are usually when I'll prepare a meal that uses meat. I don't know why, that's just how it's been working out, I stick to lean poultry and always have it balanced well with vegetables and fruits. This meal made it onto the weekly meal list. When I found it here, it sounded great, it was healthy, it used poultry, and I hoped beyond hope that it would stop me missing my old lasagna recipe at some point! I did make a few tweaks to fit our tastes.

I can tell you I thought it was wonderful! It didn't have the cheesy taste, but that was okay with me. It still tasted like an awesome Italian dish, but no pasta. I don't know why I didn't think of something like this before. I've used zucchini squash before to replace pasta with my zucchini noodles. I really enjoyed the texture of the squash and mixed with the turkey sausage I put in it was awesome! I do think if your looking for vegan this would taste just find with some more vegetables thrown in there to give more variety and just X out the meat.

My daughter is having a battle day. She tried it once and said she didn't like it. She saw me squirt some lemon juice on my broccoli so she asked for some. Apparently she doesn't like that taste either. So I said, you eat either all your broccoli or all of your squash. Well she just left the table with all of her lasagna finished. I asked her if she liked it and she just said, "I do like it!" It just takes kids getting over new tastes I think before they realize...hey wait a second this is kinda good!!! At least that's the way it goes in our house. I've stopped listening to the protests and just keep saying okay well you need to try everything! Keep introducing those foods, remember it can take 8-10 times before a kid likes something! Luckily it just took a few more bites for my daughter to like this one! My son is napping, so I don't have a report from him :)

Butternut Squash lasagna

1 Butternut Squash

1 package of Italian Turkey Sausage or chicken

1 recipe of easy marinara sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 T parsley to sprinkle on top

Easy Marinara Sauce

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 can tomato paste

1/2 28 oz crushed tomatoes

4 garlic cloves

1/2 onion

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 T Italian Seasoning

1 T parsley

2 T Italian dressing

1/2 T basil

Peel squash. I've found if you poke holes in the squash before then throw it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds it is soooooo much easier to peel and cut! Cut lengthwise in half and remove the seeds. Slice into thin slices

and place into a deep baking dish. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook sausage in skillet over med-high heat until completely cooked through. Leave sausage in skillet and add your ingredients for the marinara sauce. Simmer for 10-12 minutes then add sauce to the butternut squash, stir in the extra bay leaf, cover and bake for about 45 minutes or until the squash is very tender. Top with parsley. We enjoyed this with steamed broccoli, but you can go all out with garlic bread, salad the real deal if you want a real Italian meal!!!

Crock-Pot Orange Chicken

Alrighty, so right after the post about me possibly following a Vegan diet, here was dinner tonight...Orange Chicken :)! Well it's a work in progress.
This actually was very, very tasty. We used this for our "O" day for Alphabet Days. I loved the orange flavor so much I didn't want to share! It's a very simple recipe too which makes it all the better! Throw it in the crock-pot for a few hours with everything and there you go. I served ours with quinoa and green beans. It actually tasted like orange chicken, I don't know about you but whenever we would go out and get Chinese and we would order orange chicken, it never tasted like orange, it tasted just like a saucy chicken. I don't know it's been awhile since I've gone out for Chinese, maybe things have changed!

My kids were being funny tonight, I don't think it was the flavor, but they wouldn't eat. My daughter kept telling me she wasn't hungry and just didn't want to eat, I don't know they've had about 500 bananas and strawberries today maybe that's why. Here's a picture for a budget post. I ran to the store after work since we were a little low on fruits and I walked out with a stock pile! When things are on sale stock up, freeze, bake whatever! I got all this for under $15, the strawberries were $1 each at Smith's and the raspberries were $1.50, raspberry soft serve tonight, probably!!!! Sorry, for people all over the country and world, I don't know about your prices or if they would be similar at other Kroger stores. To save some money though take advantage of sales on produce and store it accordingly when you get home! I bought this many bananas because my kids are monkeys, seriously these might last us 4 days at most!

 Anyways  I enjoyed this recipe a lot. Perfect freezer meal and perfect for those busy days! It also makes your kitchen smell amaaaazing! I hope you enjoy it!

Crock Pot Orange Chicken

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 navel orange with skin

1/4 C raw honey

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 C low sodium Teriyaki sauce (optional)

2 T cornstarch

Add chicken to crock pot. Peel orange and add peels, squeeze as much juice as possible from the orange as possible. Add cumin, honey and teryiaki sauce if your are using it. Cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot when it is finished add cornstarch to the sauce to thicken it up. Serve with brown rice or Quinoa! Enjoy

Garden Turkey Burgers

It is a fast food genertaion now a days isn't it! Hamburgers and Fries have become a staple for our American cuisine! I have tried to provide my family with healthier alternatives for a good burger, sometimes I haven't had much success. I've tried some bean burger, but honestly most have not turned out so wonderful, I've made turkey burgers which have been good, but still borderline not as healthy as I would like, then I've tried straight out veggie burgers which have been pretty good.

As I have said before this has been a family journey, the other day my husband came up to me and said he wanted to try something out with some ground turkey we had. So of course he takes his time and he looked for some ideas on line for a few days, finally I asked him what he was going to make and he announced he wanted to make a Garden "Hybrid" burger! Uh...okay. I told him well it's worth a try! I am here to say that I'm glad he made them, I loved them, honestly though we both said after we ate them that they would have been great without the turkey! He was entirely in charge of this meal, I think if we do plain veggie burgers next time we'll add some more vegetables, I'll add some suggestions at the bottom! What a great guy....so here is a "G" day recipe, enjoy these Garden Burgers, they are very flavorful!

Garden Turkey Burgers

1/2 pound lean ground turkey

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 small yellow onion

1 green bell pepper

3 garlic cloves

3 medium potatoes, shredded

3 T dijon mustard

1 T red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Add 3 tsp olive oil to skillet, add onions and cook until almost completely translucent, add peppers and garlic and sautee until vegetables are tender. Set aside. Shred potatoes, skin included and combine with sauteed vegetables. Combine ground turkey with vegetables, add mustard, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Form into patties, don't make them too thick! Grease cookie sheet and place patties on cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then flip each patty over, bake another 20 minutes until turkey is completely cooked! Serve with homemade steak fries and your favorit burger fixins!!!!

*For vegan option, take out turkey, here are some suggested veggies

shredded carrots

shredded zucchini

mushrooms

rice (I know it's not a veggie)

spinach

yellow squash

butternut squash

sweet potatoes

celery

etc...



Hawaiian Chicken!

You know, I stick to a pretty filling plant diet, but I'll admit sometime a nice tangy, sweet chicken is wonderful! There are some meats I have chosen to not eat any more, pork of any kind and red meat! I'm still working on the poultry! I do think it's okay to eat meat health wise maybe a couple days a week, it's just the animal part...I know that's why a lot of people don't eat meat is for animal rights, which is great! But if you do have chicken every once in awhile or however you eat it, I really liked this recipe, we served it on a bed of wild rice and it was great! It also is really easy to make. I baked my chicken, but I'm sure this could be done in the crock pot as well! You can use canned pineapple, but it will have more sugars in it, so fresh pineapple would be best! This is a great summer dinner!!!

Hawaiian Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 fresh pineapple, chopped (or canned tidbits)

1/2 C honey

1/3 C water

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 T cornstarch

1/4 tsp cumin

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp Mrs. Dash seasoning (by the way if you don't know this is a salt replacement, it's made from veggies, use it, love it!)

Oven Baking method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken breasts in baking dish, sprinkle with cumin, onion powder and Mrs. Dash. Add pineapple, honey, water, nutmeg, and cornstarch to blender. Blend until a chunky puree or desired thickness has occurred. Pour 1/3 amount of pineapple sauce onto chicken. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove and turn chicken over, add another 1/3 of pineapple sauce to chicken, return to the oven uncovered and bake another 20 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through! Serve with rice and top with remaining pineapple sauce!

Crock Pot version: Add chicken and chicken seasonings to the crock pot with small amount of water. Cook on low for about 4 hours, add remaining ingredients. You can puree the sauce or just add the ingredients whole, whatever texture you'd like, cook for another 2-3 hours, stir up the sauce every once in a while if you chose not to puree it! 

Enjoy

Creamy Chicken & Wild rice Soup

Well the kids are sick! Blah....but out pops mom who has a need to nurture! What's the classic I'm sick soup...chicken noodle right! Well we're on a pasta overload I feel like lately in this house so I decided to use rice in this comforting soup, it turned out really great, a perfect sick soup in my opinion, full of veggies and nutrients and low fat! Most creamy rice soups that I've made in the past are full of canned soup, or cream cheese, well that would kind of defeat my purpose here, so I used a cashew sauce to thicken it up and make it creamy and it worked like a dream! If you love broccoli flavor like I do then I would for sure leave the broccoli in, but if you don't you might want to omit that veggie, it did give off it's flavor pretty strong. This has a vegetarian/vegan option by just taking out the chicken, and it is gluten free as long as you use cornstarch in the cashew sauce...so this is one for everyone!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

2 c cooked diced chicken-seasoned to taste

2 c wild rice cooked

2 celery stalks chopped

1 c chopped carrots

1 c frozen corn

2 c broccoli (optional, I think mushrooms might fit in nice in it's place)

1 can vegetable broth

Cream Sauce

2 cloves garlic

3/4 c raw cashews

1 tsp onion powder

2 T nutritional yeast (optional)

1 T cornstarch/flour

3/4 c non-dairy milk

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

1 c extra water (put this in after blending)

Cook rice until tender. Cook and season chicken until cooked through. Add all soup ingredients into pot cover and simmer on med heat. Meanwhile, add all cream sauce ingredients except extra cup of water to blender and blend on high for 1-2 minutes until mixed and smooth. Add cream sauce to pot and extra cup of water. Cook over medium for 10- 15 minutes. Enjoy

Tasty Turkey Meatballs

I've always really enjoyed meatballs....who doesn't like a big round tasty meatball! However, I don't enjoy the grease and in particular I really have lost my taste for red meat. So since my family and I typically stick to lean poultry when we eat meat I decided to try a turkey meatball! They turned out great! They are much leaner than ground beef, and I really enjoyed the flavor much more. They are very simple to make I had them popped in the oven in about 5 minutes. Easy easy!

Tasty Turkey Meatballs

1 lb lean ground turkey

1/2 T  onion powder

1 T nutritional yeast (optional)

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 T Italian Seasoning

1 egg

 Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine ground turkey and all ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix well making sure the egg is beaten in well.  Form meat into balls and place on cookie sheet. Place sheet in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through. Makes about 12 medium meatballs! Serve with your favorite pasta and sauce! Enjoy

Crock pot Mango Chicken

Summer screams fruit to me. I love all the different things you can do with fruit, in salads, treats, breads even with meat. I thought to put the mango salsa recipe to good use with this recipe. It turned out really nice, it had a lot of flavor and gives you some good servings of fruit and vegetables! I also love the crock-pot, worry free dinner! This makes a great freezer meal for future planning! I served this with brown rice. I think next time I'm going to go for more of an island taste so I'm going to add some teriyaki sauce! I am not the biggest fan of cilantro, so I also might leave that out next time also, but cilantro fans knock yourselves out you can add as much as you want! The sky is the limit on this... take things out, put things in make it taste perfect for you!

Crock pot Mango Chicken

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken

1 c vegetable broth 

1 green bell pepper 

1/2 onion

1/8 c salsa

1/4 c mango salsa

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/2 can black beans

1/8 c Italian dressing

1/4-1/2 c low sodium teriyaki sauce (optional)

Put chicken in crock-pot with 1 cup vegetable broth. Cook on high for two hours. Add onion, green

pepper, salsa (not mango salsa), beans, dressing and spices and teriyaki sauce if your adding it. Cook another two-three hours. Add mango salsa and cook one more hour. Serve over brown rice or quinoa! Happy summer!

"Cheezy" Chicken Enchiladas

I'm not a huge Mexican Food fan, but sometimes I just get that craving for some spiced up comfort food! I've always loved enchiladas, sometimes they can just be dripping in cheese so I don't always feel so hot after I've eaten them...so I thought up a tasty enchilada full of veggies and my cheesy sauce! I loved the result...so did the fam! My husband loves Mexican food so he's always happy when I get  my little cravings, he is my cheese man also and he really enjoyed these enchiladas. I had originally meant for them to be vegetarian, but I had some chicken in my fridge that I really needed to use so if your aiming for a vegetarian meal just take that chicken right out :)

"Cheezy" Chicken Enchiladas

2 c cooked cubed chicken

1/2 T coconut oil

1 can beans (I used kidney)

1 yellow bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 cup shredded carrots

1/2 onion

1 1/2 c cooked brown rice

1 can enchilada sauce, divided

Emily's Cheeze Sauce (recipe link here)

Whole grain Tortillas (I had some yummy blue corn and flax tortillas)

Heat coconut oil in skillet add chicken, brown on both sides, cut up into cubes and cook until cooked through. Add vegetables, beans, rice and 1/4 can enchilada sauce. Simmer mixture on low in skillet. Meanwhile make cheeze sauce in the blender, add 1/3 cheeze sauce to skillet mixture. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place tortillas in baking dish. Fill each tortilla with desired amount and roll closed. Top all tortillas with remaining enchilada sauce and cheeze sauce. Cover and bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with salad and corn! Enjoy

Easy Turkey Taco Soup

Taco soup is a yummy comfort food. This version is super easy and a little bit cleaner than typical taco soup. You can leave the refried beans out of this recipe if you'd like they just make it a thicker soup and also keep out the turkey if your going for vegetarian.

Easy Turkey Taco Soup

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can red beans/or pinto

1 can fat free refried beans (optional)

1 can low sodium vegetable broth

1/2 packet taco seasoning (or the whole packet if you like more taco taste)

1 1/2 c frozen corn

1/2 T cumin

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Heat pan and add ground turkey and cumin. Heat until browned. Drain any grease from turkey. Combine all other ingredients into crock pot or soup pot be sure to drain and rinse beans before adding. Add seasoned ground turkey to soup. If in the crockpot cook on high for about 4 hours, if on the stove top let simmer for 30 min. Serve with tortilla chips, optional toppings, avacado and diced tomatoes. 

Cheezy Fiesta Taco Pie

This was delicious. I don't have any pictures since when I made it, well lets just say it was one of those nights that you just get dinner on the table, get the kids fed, get them to bed, and curl up with a good chick flick on the couch! However, my kids both loved it, my son did enjoy throwing it, but he still loved it and My hubs and I both loved it I don't think it lasted 24 hours in the fridge :)

I saw a recipe that used lentils in a burrito and just kind of adapted this with a sauce with things I had.

Cheezy Fiesta Taco Pie

1 1/2 C uncooked lentils, soaked and rinsed

1-2 C salsa (jar or homemade)

1 C frozen corn

1 green bell pepper

1/2 packet taco seasoning

1 cup grilled chicken *

4 whole grain tortillas

Cheeze sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook lentils until tender (about 30 min.) Heat skillet over medium heat. Add cooked lentils, corn, salsa, pepper, taco seasoning, and chicken. Cover and let simmer and tenderize, if using homemade salsa if it doesn't have a lot of juice you may want to add some water. Meanwhile make cheeze sauce. Pour 1/4 sauce into skillet. Place two tortillas on the bottom of deep baking or casserole dish, top with half lentil mixture and pour a layer of cheeze sauce, top with other two tortillas and finish layer with remaining lentil mixture and cheeze sauce. Put in oven and bake for 20-25 min, until its brown or bubbling. 

If you don't want the baked pie, these would be good as burritos or enchiladas. 

* You can leave chicken out if you want a vegan or vegetarian recipe

Cheeze Sauce

2/3 C Nutritional Yeast

1 C cashews

1 1/4 C water

1/4 C non-dairy milk

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth about 90 seconds. 

A little about our way of eating

I call my family's diet, "nutritious, natural, healthy eating." I use a ton of vegan recipes, however I won't say I'm 100% vegan, or vegetarian, or a total meat eater, I'd say I'm just a "True Health Eater"  I do have meat and other animal products from time to time. We typically eat 4-5 vegan/vegetarian meals a week, and the other few days I'll probably add some white meat chicken or turkey. Our diet is rich in nuts, seeds, TONS of fruits and veggies, whole grains and beans. And I love it!

When I first decided to eat this way and make it a whole family lifestyle change I was nervous. My husband was a meat and potatoes kinda guy, I had a barely three year old and a 6 month old...hmmm our society told me that I should just accept the fact that my kids will need to eat "kid food" aka chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and pizza, with a side of veggies or fruit, because what kid would eat quinoa with green veggies, or ask for a salad instead of pizza? Well despite all this we dove right into it, my husband went along with my diet shake up to "help me" meet my goals. My daughter turned up her nose at most of the leafy greans, my son, well he was barely eating solids so he was on a veggie diet anyway.

I didn't quit that is what is most important in feeding young kids. Studies say it takes 5-8 times of trying a new food to actually get a kid to like it. Well nearly a year later my daughter now asks for salad, broccoli, carrots, apples, whole grains etc. (The other day she turned down cotton candy and asked for cashews! BEAMING WITH JOY)  My son, still eats  good, avacodos, bananas, strawberries, and almond butter are his favorite things to eat, although he is kind of in the throw my food stage, and my husband now eats this way voluntarally since he "can always feel the difference of eating right vs. not eating right." And as for me, I've lost nearly 20 lbs and feel so passionate about this that it has turned into my delight to create something with no "bad" ingredients and watch my family gobble it up! I still get my loves, aka pasta, and creamy sauces, and I don't feel bad getting seconds.

It is very possible to feed families great tasting, healthy balanced meals. There is no rule saying we can't have HUGE portions of veggies, fruit, and grains and smaller portions of cheese and meat. Every recipe that I post has been tested on an almost four year old and 1 1/2 year old, and a husband!
I hope this blog can bring as much health and happiness into your life as it has brought into ours!