Category Archives: Recipes

Recipes

Kid-Friendly Chili Recipe

4 Comments

Most Saturday mornings, you can find us at one of the many farmer’s markets around town. Our 2 year old has been going since he was 6 weeks old, and is quite at home there. (In fact, anytime I ask him what he wants to do today, he says, “Go to Farmer’s Market!”)

Lately he has been very involved in the shopping process, as he loves to pick out the veggies, take them to the farmer and then hand over the money. It’s fun to see him so excited about buying fresh vegetables, and it is our hope that this is building a strong, healthy foundation for a lifelong love of nutritious food.

image of organic kid friendly chili

This past week, we bought some delicious sweet potatoes, onions, carrots and kale for use in the soups we love to make in the fall. I find that soup is the best way to get my son to eat lots of veggies.

Since the weather is turning cooler, I was craving chili, but knew I had to make a “non-spicy” (in other words no chili powder) chili. This is what I came up with:

Continue reading Kid-Friendly Chili Recipe →

Recipes

Nothing for Dinner? Try This:

1 Comment

I always find it ironic when I think about posting a recipe, especially in comparison to my past life…I don’t particularly love cooking, in fact, the one luxury I would LOVE to have is a personal chef. Wouldn’t we all? Well not all of us, because there are those for whom cooking is a passion. Not me. It is a labor of love.

Anyway, I bring this up because even though I know there are countless recipe sites and blogs out there, my goal is to exhibit how easy it can be to cook whole, nutritious foods, for yourself and your family when you’re not Martha Stewart.

Tonight our dinner took 12 minutes to make, and both my 2 year old and my husband went back for seconds. AND it contained spinach.

It was another of those  “I don’t know what we’re having for dinner” nights, but I remembered I had about 1/4 lb of grass fed beef in the fridge; the perfect amount for pasta,which I always have on hand.

Holly’s 12 Minute Pasta:
Minute 1: fill pot with water, turn heat to high, put a small amount of coconut oil in frying pan, turn heat to medium
Minute 1.5: take meat, pasta sauce, onion and parmesan out of refrigerator and frozen spinach out of freezer.
Minute 2: cut onion in half, remove skin and perfectly dice it in the Vidalia Chop Wizard*
Minute 2.5: Add pasta to boiling water
Minute 3: put onion in frying pan and saute for 3 minutes
Minute 6-9: put grass-fed ground beef in pan with onion and cook through
Minute 10: add half a bag of frozen chopped spinach to onion/beef and gently push around pan to cook spinach
Minute 11: add pasta sauce to frying pan to warm
Minute 12: Check pasta- if it’s done, drain, return to pot and then add all contents from frying pan- mix thoroughly until pasta is nicely coated with sauce
Put in pasta bowls, add grated parmesan and serve!

Whole family is happy.

*This is one kitchen gadget that’s worth the extra space it will take up in the cabinet: Vidalia Chop Wizard. I had perfectly diced onion in no less than 45 seconds, with no tears, and no smell of onion on my hands.

Recipes

Banana “Ice Cream”

5 Comments

Remember how I told you a few days ago that I have created an Ice Cream Monster? Yes, one trip to the ice cream shop was enough for him to chant “Ice Keem, Ice Keem, Ice Keem,” over and over and over for weeks. In fact, he woke up from his nap yesterday, took one look at me, and said, “ice keem?”

He’d finally eaten the last peach popsicle out of the freezer (they contained peaches, coconut milk, a banana and a little vanilla extract and were SO good! To date, they are the first thing my son has eaten that he wouldn’t share a single bite of. In fact, he cried hysterically when his daddy took a lick-the only time he’s EVER done this!)

So I had to think of something quick…

Here’s what I came up with:

  • 1 frozen banana blended with
  • milk to desired thickness (cow, goat, coconut, almond, or rice milk all work fine)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
  • dash of cinnamon and…

Voila!

Banana Ice Keem!!!

He LOVED it, and I was surprised at how much it really tasted like ice cream. His daddy came home and saw what we were up to- but this time he was smart…he didn’t dare risk taking a bite of the ice cream monster’s. Instead, he added some frozen blueberries to my recipe and enjoyed purple ice keem.

It was a great afternoon for all.

Recipes

Quick, Easy Recipe That Toddlers will Love!

1 Comment

When trying to decide how to use our recent CSA vegetables, I came up with this recipe for Leeks and Summer Squash. It’s super easy, and my toddler loved it.

Sauteed Leeks with Summer Squash

  • 1 tbsp organic butter
  • 1 tbsp organic olive oil
  • 3 small leeks, rinsed and and sliced into half moon shaped pieces
  • 3 small summer squash cut into bite-sized cubes
  • fresh flat leafed parsley, roughly chopped
  • unrefined sea salt salt
  1. Place a large (preferably cast iron) skillet over medium heat, and add the butter and olive oil.
  2. When butter is melted, add the squash, leeks and a bit of salt.
  3. Sauté the vegetables for 15 – 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. When the squash are soft and tinged brown, remove from heat and add the parsley. This can be served as a side to almost any dish.

Voila! Quick, easy, toddler friendly veggies!