Growing...or hoping to grow

Today, for our Fantastic Friday, I decided to build and plant a garden with the kids.  I had seen a really great garden box built out of concrete blocks on Pintrest.  So, I decided to give it a try.  The last time I planted a garden, it was in the ground and required tons of weeding.  Hopefully, this above the ground garden will produce as much fruit without the weeding.
We started by drawing our garden and what we wanted to plant.  Then we made a list of the supplies that we would need. 


Sounds simple...yes?  Well, we went to Lowe's and after spending an hour gathering our supplies were told that they couldn't load the promised concrete blocks into my van because they were all out.

...sigh...

We left the supplies and went to Home Depot.  After spending another hour picking out our supplies, and paying (thankfully they had the blocks!), we were ready to roll.

We scoped out the backyard for the best place to plant.  We wanted a place that would get morning sun and afternoon shade as it will begin to get very hot all too soon here in Arizona.  After locating the perfect place, we set to work.

The older boys unloaded the van using a wagon...and Seth took advantage of the empty wagon on the return trips...haha.  Here are a few pictures.

We rolled out the weed paper and placed the concrete blocks around.  Then it was time to fill with soil.

 I think Seth was hoping to grow a Thomas the Train plant...haha.

Finally the garden was filled. We may need to get a little more soil and fill to the top.

The kids were really eager to plant the seeds.  So, while they planted, I filled in our "garden map" so that we will be able to remember what was planted where.  

I really love how the blocks naturally make little planters for herbs and things.

Lastly we added water.

The best thing about this spot for our garden is that it gets morning sun and afternoon shade.

And, as we were planting, I noticed that our grapevine is starting to sprout. Yay!

I wonder what it would take to actually live off of the land? ...more land?  haha.

To go along with our garden, I thought it would be good for the kids to see just how things sprout.  So, we are sprouting a few beans in a ziploc bag to give a visual for what is happening under the soil.

I will update with new pictures as things begin to grow so check back in a few weeks.

From fresh to frozen

Today I picked up tons of fresh veggies from local farmers hoping to make baby food and soups to stash away in the freezer.  I loaded up our little Prius with all the veggies that would fit and brought them home.  Now the work begins.  Here is a picture of just a few of the fresh veggies that we brought home.

I knew that I should act quick to use these veggies before loosing them so I got to work right away.  Being Saturday, Peter was home and it was much easier to take on a project like this.  This wouldn't happen on a school day.

So, I placed the squash in the oven to bake.

While baking, I washed, cut, and steamed some of the green beans.  

I pureed these two veggies into baby food.  Next, I put the purees into containers and in the freezer.  I have about two months of pureed veggies in my freezer right now...huge savings over buying jars of baby food...and I love saving!

Because I make my own baby food, I can also sneak some of the puree into the kid's meals.  This butternut squash is perfect to sneak into mac and cheese!  I have been doing it off and on for four years now and the kids have never caught on...whaahaha:)

Here is a picture of the squash ready for the freezer.

 

I decided to do something with the tomatoes other than baby food.  I usually don't feed my babies tomatoes until after 12 months.  

So, I made a double batch of our favorite tomato soup and froze it.  You can see how we make tomato soup in a previous post here.  Now I have two meals ready to go in the freezer:)

Three of my younger kids kept grabbing tomatoes and eating them whole...just like an apple.  I love that they eat veggies so well...wish the older two would!

Seth's favorite was the grapefruits. So beautiful with the leaves still attached.

I kept slicing them and he kept eating them.  I have no idea how many he ate before I finally cut him off...haha.  It did entertain him well though:)

The eggplant was more difficult for me.  I really had never cooked with it and had no idea what to do with it.  

 

So, I went to my favorite recipe website and looked for recipes.  We ended up making ratatouille...the kids loved the idea of this as they love the movie. Peter and the kids took this project on.  And as always, the kids had a good time helping in the kitchen.  In the end, Peter and I were the ones that really liked it with most of the kids just picking at it.  But, it was fun!  We have also made several recipes of breaded baked eggplant that we dipped in marinara sauce...yum!

All in all, I spent $20 on the produce and have two months (at least) of baby food, two meals of tomato soup, several meals of eggplant, and lots of veggies for salad and sides.  I also shared veggies with several friends and a neighbor too.  Great deal.  I will be frequenting this produce supplier...and learning how to cook with a seasonal harvest:)

Now, to get my kitchen cleaned up and back in shape for the new school week...

Dinner is Served

So, once again, I over estimated how many days that my family would be content to eat Thanksgiving leftovers.  I love eating leftovers because it means less time in the kitchen creating something new.  I don't really love to cook in the everyday while managing the kids.  Holiday cooking is different though...love it...and love to involve the kids in the process.  After Friday, they were ready to move on...but I didn't plan this in my grocery shopping.  I LOVE cornbread dressing, turkey, potatoes, and cranberries and could eat this meal regularly.  But, my family doesn't agree with me.  So, I was looking for a quick and easy change from holiday leftovers and noticed that I had several tomatoes left that I didn't use up along with some broth and heavy whipping creme.  Perfect ingredients for tomato soup!  So, I chopped the tomatoes (normally I would use some onion or leek but didn't have any on hand today) and simmered them in the broth with a little garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano (also didn't have fresh spices so dried would have to do).  I started these ingredients simmering at our lunch break and started up the bread maker as well.

Here are the ingredients simmering.

 Here they are after simmering for a few hours.

About an hour before dinner I used my hand blender to puree the tomato mixture and added a little of the heavy creme that I had left from making whipped cream for pies.  I don't strain out the skins and seeds as I like to eat whole foods as much as possible.  They really puree quite nicely and you don't have the mess of trying to strain them out.
Here is a picture of the soup after being pureed and with the heavy cream added.

Add in the warm whole wheat bread and dinner is served!

Nothing like warm tomato soup and fresh bread on a cool evening:)  Not one kid complained about the soup even though they knew it was tomato...nice.

Ya gotta eat ya spinach...

Thick, green, and straight out of a blender.  What's not to love?  Haha!  I have been on a smoothie journey for many years now and have recently gone green.   Well, green with my smoothies anyway.

Originally, I started out using organic plain yogurt, fruit (both fresh and frozen), and apple or orange juice.  These are fantastic smoothies and my kids all couldn't get enough.  At first I added a bit of honey to even out the bitterness of the plain yogurt but over time dropped that as my kids grew accustom to the taste.

A few years ago, I skimmed through part of Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" and decided to start adding a few deviously deceptive things to these smoothies...and several other dishes as well:) Wahahaha.  I would add a handful of spinach.  At first, it was just a bit and I had to sneak it in when the kids weren't looking.

Over time, I have cut out the yogurt and have a 40% spinach, 50% fruit, 10% juice smoothie...or something close to that anyway.  I also stopped "sneaking" in the greens.  The kids had been drinking them for so long that they didn't seem to mind what was going in them...scary I know.

We like to use apple juice with blueberries or strawberries and orange juice with mango or other citrus smoothies.  I usually put in two or more bananas to help sweeten (the juice helps too) and then at least one other fruit.  I find that I have so much more energy and am more peaceful throughout the day when I start the day off with a green smoothie (and my prenatals and Omega3s too, of course).  It could be all in my head but, hey, it works.

Here are several of our green smoothie recipes.

Blueberry Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen blueberries
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Strawberry Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2-3 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen or fresh strawberries
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Mango Smoothie:
Fill blender 2/3 full with baby spinach (it will be about right after blending)
Add 2 bananas
Add 2+ cups of frozen mango or tropical blend
Add 1-2 cups of apple juice
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

I have tried tons of different things but these are the ones that tend to work best for us.  Sometimes I throw in a little kale or some other greens...just to shake things up a bit:)

Here are a few things that I don't put in.

Grapes:  I tried putting red grapes in a smoothie but my kids were bothered by the skins that didn't blend as well.  I might still put them in if ever I was making a smoothie for just myself as the flavor was really great.

Pears:  When we used pears, it seemed to give the smoothie more of a "gritty" texture that I didn't mind but a few of my kids didn't like.

Since the goal is to get fresh raw spinach down my kids on a daily basis, I stay away from the things to which they have aversions:)


I do also use quite a bit of frozen fruit as I have a hard time keeping fresh fruit around with my little ones.  I mean, really, if each child (5...as the baby is still mostly on veggies) has 2-3 pieces of fruit each day, that is a ton of fruit!  And, it goes fast.

In the end, I am happy to see them all drinking down their dose of fresh, raw greens most mornings.  Makes me feel like they are healthy kids:)  And, I am doing it myself (one of my great joys in life!) instead of buying from one of the popular and expensive smoothie stores. 

How do you get your veggies?

How to get your kids to eat veggies...can you really?

Can you really coerce your kids into eating veggies? Can you force them to eat them? How important is eating veggies vs. having a peaceful meal? These questions are just some of the meal time questions that mothers often ask. While I don't have all of the answers, I want to share a few stories and suggestions that have and haven't worked for me over the years. Hope they help you!

My kids have all eaten veggies really well as babies. It is usually around eighteen months that I begin to see them refuse veggies. My pediatrician said as long as they are eating plenty of fruit and a good variety that it's alright if they don't eat veggies. I wasn't convinced. I decided to create the healthiest meals that I could and then just draw the line and require them to eat it. After all, I am the parent right? Yeah...I did that. I made this great zucchini casserole and put it in front of my kids. The older two wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. I just drew the line, explained that they would obey and amazingly enough they both began to eat the casserole. Feeling pleased at what a great job that I was doing as a parent I began eating my zucchini casserole. I looked up just in time to see one of my boys shiver and then throw up his entire dinner. Yeah...I can make them eat it but evidently I can't make it stay down!

I decided that it must be a texture issue so I began to do the puree thing. I had an infant so I was pureeing veggies anyway. I would look through the freezer and find the frozen veggie puree that was close in color to what we were eating and then mix it in. You know...butternut squash in the mac & cheese, spinach under the cheese on pizza, and flax seed in all baked goods (not a veggie but very nutritious). The result was that the kids, most of the time, ate the veggies without ever knowing. Amazing! It seemed like I had at last found the answer to getting the proper nutrition down the kids. However, after the baby was old enough to not need pureed food, I quit pureeing as it was a time consuming process.

Now I was back to square one.

One evening in an attempt to get the kids out from under foot as I was preparing dinner, I sliced up some veggies and put them on the table with a little dip. The younger two ate it immediately and one of the older ones took a few bites. I began to do this regularly and before long three of my four were gobbling down the veggies. Because the kids are really hungry and that is the only option, they eat it. My oldest didn't join in on the veggie eating right away but eventually, even he came around and now they will devour a plate of veggies as I cook dinner. They are occupied and out from under foot and they are gobbling down veggies. So, in the end, it was as simple as giving the veggies as an only option in a stress free environment when they were really hungry. There was no forcing veggies or veggie casserole coming back up:) If they are hungry they can munch on veggies while I prepare dinner and if not, they can wait for the dinner to be ready.

I don't know if this will work for you but it has been worth it for me:)

Another last suggestion is to start veggies early. With my first two, I was so concerned about them choking, that I didn't give many veggie chunks until they were developmentally at a place where they were turning into picky eaters. With my third, I would chop tomatoes, avocado, black olives, broccoli, carrots etc. on the tray as soon as she could take chunks. To this day, she eats all kinds of veggies very well. I did the same with my fourth baby and he is a veggie lover as well. I even started some crisper veggies like cucumber before they turned one just sliced really thin. My baby prefers cucumber to almost anything else.

If you have picky eaters...give it a try!