Oatmeal Goodness

As a working mom finding time to make and eat breakfast is very hard! One thing that I found that I really like is baked oatmeal. I make one batch for the week, cut it into small squares and wrap it in aluminum foil. I keep it in the fridge and grab one on my way to work. I heat it up in the microwave and top it with plain Greek yogurt. It is a great breakfast that keeps me full for several hours. Here is the original recipe and here is my take: 

You can make different flavors depending what ingredients you put in the oatmeal. I have made cinnamon apple by boiling 1 apple on the stove (to soften it) and adding 2-3 tsp. cinnamon. I've also made blueberry vanilla by adding 1-2 pints of washed blueberries and 1-2 tsp vanilla.

Ingredients:
1 c. unsweetened apple sauce
4 eggs
1 tsp. salt
6 cups of quick cooking oats
1/2 c. white sugar
2 cup milk
2 tbl. baking powder

Directions:
1. Beat together applesauce and sugar. Mix in eggs, milk, salt, baking powder, and oatmeal. Mix in flavors you want for oatmeal. Pour into lightly greased pan (I use a 9x12 baking pan). Put it in the fridge and refrigerate overnight.

2. The next day preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

3. Bake in preheated oven until firm, about 35 minutes.


I've also experimented adding different things to the oatmeal like flax seed meal and Chia seeds. It is best to soak the flax seed meal in a little water before adding it to the oatmeal mixture. For nursing mothers- you can also add brewers yeast (1-3 tbl.)This is a great way to have a easy, quick, and filling breakfast ready for the whole week!

Go here to get some oats and flax seed meal for your oatmeal!

Canned Peppers

I got some delicious looking canned bell peppers so I decided to make dinner with them! 

Jeff and I both love pasta and alfredo sauce, so this recipe has some similar qualities! I first cut 2 chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, sprinkled some Cajun seasoning on them, then cooked them in olive oil on the stove. Next I took 4 of the peppers and cut them into bite-sized pieces as well.  

I then added them to the chicken so the flavors could start combining. Along with the peppers I added 2 cloves of minced garlic. I let this cook until the garlic was fragrant. 

Next I added 1 and 1/2 cups of whipping cream with the stove on medium heat. To this I added a dash of basil and lemon pepper. I let this heat up until the cream started to slightly bubble and then I added 4 Tbl. Parmesan cheese. 

Viola! I cooked some pasta and poured the chicken/pepper/Alfredo sauce on top. Yummy! 

Go here to order some peppers to make this delicious dinner for yourself!

July 4th Fish Fry

Happy 4th of July! I am so thankful for all of the men and women out there who protect our freedom that we enjoy in this wonderful nation! For July 4th we had a block party with some fabulous neighbors. Jeff decided to fry fish and his dad came up to help! We had this cornbread mix in our pantry that Jeff and his dad used for the fish breading:

They mixed 1/2 bag of the cornbread mix, 1/2 a small bag of seafood breader, a couple dashes of Old Bay Seasoning, some salt and pepper. Jeff's dad mixed it in a Tupperware container to bring to the cul de sac.

This is what it looked like once it was all mixed:

I enjoyed the party so much I didn't get any pictures of Jeff actually frying the fish! What he did was layer the fish fillets (Pollock) on paper towels and put them in a cooler. Once in the cul de sac he took the fish fillets out of the cooler, dipped it in the breading, and the put it in the fryer. These were quite a hit and all the neighbors loved them! My sisters and Naomi also enjoyed eating the fish Jeff fried!

Happy July 4th! You can get your own cornbread mix here.

Honey Dijon Mustard

My whole life I have chosen mustard over ketchup. I eat mustard with my fries, chicken nuggets, and on sandwiches. I LOVE mustard! I recently got this product: 

It is now one of my new favorite dipping sauces! Naomi even likes it on chicken! This is different than the normal honey mustard I get because it's got a little more zing from the Dijon and isn't AS sweet. 

Jeff and I love to grill out when the weather gets nicer. I've got a great recipe to use this sauce in! This recipe is for Honey Mustard Mozzarella Chicken (adapted from an All Recipes recipe)

Ingredients:

-4 chicken breasts

-1(8.1 oz) bottle of Maille Honey Dijon

-2 tbl. mayonnaise

-1 tsp. steak sauce

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a Ziploc bag. I pour all of it into the bag, zip it closed, and then squish it until it's completely mixed. I then pour a little into a separate Ziploc bag to use as dipping sauce later! Next marinade the chicken for at least 1 day. Once fully marinated grill for about 18-20 minutes turning occasionally. It's a good idea to baste the chicken while you're grilling. While this is grilling slice 4 pieces of mozzarella cheese. Once the chicken is done cooking place the mozzarella slices on the chicken for about 2 minutes until it is bubbly on top. Then enjoy!

Jeff and I really like this meal with grilled squash or grilled corn. Go here to get some of this delicious honey dijon mustard to try this recipe for yourself!

Wasabi Edamame

I’ve got another great afternoon snack for you, especially if you like spicy things! Jeff and I were fortunate enough to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon and a tour guide introduced me to wasabi peas. I absolutely loved them and stopped to get some for the ride home. Since then I’ve gotten them a couple times as a special snack for myself. I found a new treat:

Spicy Wasabi Edamame. It tastes very similar to the wasabi peas, but with some different benefits. The Edamame has 11 grams of protein in just one serving! I like snacks with protein because they help me to feel fuller for longer. The serving size is ½ the package, but that’s about all I can personally eat. These pack a spicy kick and after ½ the package I’ve had my full and ready to down some water. If you’re a person who REALLY likes spicy food you may be able to eat the whole package and could get 22 grams of protein! There’s also iron, fiber, and low sugar (only 1 gram). Another thing I like about this product is it is Non-GMO. The full ingredient list is: soybeans, sea salt, and wasabi powder (wasabi oil, dextrin). That’s it- just 5 ingredients with no harmful chemicals. 

If you'd like to try some click here to order from Amazon. Happy Snacking!

The Complete Cookie

I had the opportunity to try The Complete Cookie. Why is it called the complete cookie?

As you can see it is all natural, vegan, has high protein, no dairy, no eggs, Non-GMO, good amount of fiber, no Cholesterol, no trans fat, no sugar alcohols, no high fructose corn syrup, and it's Kosher! This would be a great choice for those who can't have dairy or eggs.

Be careful though-the serving size is 1/2 a cookie. This makes it a little high in the calorie department for me. But look at all other good things- 8 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.

The cookie is HUGE-almost the size of my head!

So I found a good solution so that I'm not eating to many calories or too much sugar- split the cookie in half. I either share it with someone or put it in a baggie and save it for later. 

The flavor I tried was white chocolate chip and macadamia nut. I really enjoyed these because they were quick (I didn't have to spend any time baking) and pretty yummy for a pre-baked cookie. I also knew there wasn't any bad 'stuff' in the cookie so I shared some with Naomi and she liked it too! Another thing I liked is that you can order these in a huge pack! Jeff actually took some to our neighbors-hope you guys enjoyed them! :)

Go here to order some white chocolate macadamia nut.

There are other flavors too!

Pumpkin Spice- Need I say any more!!!!!!!

Peanut Butter- a classic!

Double Chocolate- sounds delicious!

Lemon Poppy seed- perfect for summer!

Snicker-doodle- another classic!

Oatmeal Raisin- one of my favorite cookie flavors.

As you can see-there are so many flavors to try! Enjoy! 

Toddler cookies...or are they?

So friends...you may know that I try my daughter's food just to see how it tastes. I have found my new favorite indulgence-Happy Tot Toddler cookies!

I know! This sounds crazy! These are chocolate pumpkin cookies-2 of my favorite flavors on this Earth! Some great things about these cookies:

1. They are delicious! I've given some to other people (I won't mention names) and everyone likes them!

2. They are organic.

3. There are only 2 grams of sugar in 3 cookies. That's pretty good cookie wise! 

Here's some other cookies on the market to compare sugar content to:

• Oreos: 2 cookies have about 13 grams
• Chips Ahoy: 1 cookie has about 5 grams

So 2 grams for 3 cookies-not bad at all!

Here's the size of a cookie you'll find in this bag:

4. They are in the shape of cute dogs!

5. They are a good treat for baby and mommy! :)

I don't feel bad giving Naomi a couple of cookies every once in a while because these are a healthier treat that taste yummy!

Mighty 4

I've blogged about Plum Organics before because I absolutely LOVE their products. I know I can trust their food and it's all organic! Today I'm going to tell you about a product called mighty 4.

All the mighty 4 pouches have the same ingredient-Greek yogurt. 

Pouches are my new favorite thing for Naomi. They are convenient, travel well, and easy for Naomi to eat. 

The purple pouch has purple carrot, blackberry, quinoa, and Greek yogurt. I like that it has purple carrots because it's kind of a hidden vegetable in this pouch. The blackberries make it sweet, and the yogurt and quinoa gives it protein. Quinoa is also a super-food! This one in particular is Naomi's favorite flavor.

The red pouch has kale, strawberry, amaranth, and Greek yogurt. Kale is a great dark green vegetable, strawberries are for sweetness, and yogurt again has protein. Amaranth...what is that you ask! Here is a great article about what it is and why it's so good. Basically amaranth is stocked full of protein, has good stuff for your heart, and is gluten free (like quinoa).

There is another flavor which comes in a blue pouch and it has blueberry, Greek yogurt, sweet potato, and millet. Again..what is millet? It is very similar to amaranth and quinoa.

These pouches are stocked full of healthy and delicious items that keep Naomi full longer than other pouches that we've tried. These have become a snack before lunch or dinner whenever Naomi is hungry before meals.

Here are some other reasons I love these pouches in particular:

1. Their twisty top can be put back on. Some of the other pouches we've tried don't do this. So if Naomi doesn't eat the whole pouch it makes it a little more difficult to store in the fridge.

2. There are no genetically modified ingredients in these pouches.

3. They are actually yummy! Even though Jeff makes fun of me I try everything that we feed Naomi just out of curiosity. :)

4. The packages are BPA free.

5. There are 3 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, and omega-3s in each pouch.

Sometimes I wish Plum Organics made stuff like this for adults like me! I would totally be on board with buying all of their food! 

Click here if you'd like to get some for yourself! 

Biokleen

Recently a friend of mine told me about some chemicals in antibacterial soap that can cause skin issues. So I decided to look into our dish soap we have at home. This is the kind we were currently using:

I looked up the ingredients and here's what I found:

Sodium Laureth Sulfate: can cause skin irritation (Livestrong and EWG)

Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate: can irritate skin, eyes, and nasal passage  (NJ Department of Health)

Lactic Acid- Can cause irritation and can be made from animal by-products (EWG)

Dyes- I don't know why you need this

Do you see a pattern though- irritation? 

I found this new soap:

Here are some of the things I like about this soap:

1. It includes all natural ingredients.

2. No dyes are put into this soap.

3. All the fragrances are natural (grapefruit, orange, and aloe).

4. I like the thickness of this soap compared to our other soaps. (see below)

5. I don't have to worry about using this on anything Naomi touches or puts near her mouth.

 Here is a test I did to show you the difference in the viscosity of the two soaps. I put the same amount of each soap on a cookie sheet and laid it vertically in our sink. I then let it sit for a minute and here's what happened:

The Biokleen was much thicker and stayed closer to it's original shape compared to the Palmolive soap. The reason I like this is because it makes cleaning our dishes a little easier because the soap doesn't wash or run right off the dishes. 

Needless to say I'm switching our dish soap in the kitchen and will be looking at the other soap around our house!

If you'd like to try some for yourself go here. 

Pecan Pancakes

Ever since Jeff and I got married we have had a tradition of making a HUGE Saturday breakfast. I mean the whole works: eggs, bacon/sausage, pancakes/waffles, grits/potatoes, and coffee. It has been a fun way to bond as a family-Jeff has his things he makes and I have mine. After a good amount of cooking we sit down and enjoy our Saturday feast! 

The other week we tried a new pancake mix:

This was a little different than our normal pancake mix because it had chunks of pecans in the mix. We decided that we wanted waffles, but I was a little nervous to see how the pecan bits would do in our waffle machine. 

Fortunately it worked great and the waffles turned out fluffy, flavorful, and pecan-y. 

\

We had the waffles with maple syrup and the combination of these two flavors was fantastic! I highly recommend this mix! This company also has blueberry and apple mixes which I'm dying to try after trying the Pecan mix!

Go here to try some for yourself!

Pick-me-up Snack

I have a new favorite pick-me-up snack! I have been looking for healthy, quick, and filling snacks because I always seem to be hungry in the afternoon. I have found a great product- Ryvita Crisbread. This is what the Crispbread looks like:

It is very similar to a cracker, but much thicker and tastier. The kind I have has rye flour, currants, wheat flour, seeds (pumpkin & sunflower), and honey. These have a sweet taste to them. I tried it on its own and it was good, but I  looked around the grocery store for something to put on top of it. I found Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese and thought that sounded good:  

Let me say, "Yum!" I have this as an afternoon snack at work and it definitely fills me up and gives me the energy to get through the rest of the afternoon. 

Ryvita even has a recipe section of their site where they can give suggestions based on what type of product you are looking for. Some of my favorite suggestions for this Crispbread were:

1. Smother the cracker in Nutella and put strawberries ontop

2. Put frozen yogurt in-between two pieces of Crispbread and you have an ice cream sandwich

3. Putting peanut butter on a Crisbpread and then layering banana slices ontop

I'm definitely going to have to try some of these! Here is the website to check out more recipes.

If you'd like to order some Ryvita Crisbread you can click here for Amazon. Happy Snacking!

Baby Snacks

Starting around 6 months I wanted little snacks for Naomi to eat that would encourage her to feed herself. My favorite company so far for baby products is Happy Family:

Here are my main reasons I love this company's products:

-the products are all organic

-there are no added colors, man made flavors, or artificial preservatives

-the food is yummy

So you know-I've tried all of these snacks myself. I know this might sound funny, but I figured in order to accurately tell people about these products I had to try them myself. Surprisingly a lot of the snacks were quite yummy!

I have 3 different types of baby snacks that I've reviewed below. All of these items had the warning that the child needs to be able to craw with their tummy off of the floor before trying these foods. I found one type of puffs that were easier to dissolve in the mouth that Naomi ate before she started crawling:

Happy Puffs:

Pros: -They are easy for Naomi to pick up and eat.

-They are made with real fruit juice.

-They travel really well.

-They are relatively mess free.

-There is no wheat, soy, or corn in most of the flavors.

-These really helped Naomi learn how to pick up and eat small food. It was a struggle at first getting them into her mouth, but she learned quickly!

Cons: -They don't have much flavor. There definitely is a small flavor, but I guess compared to the food I'm used to eating it was kind of bland. Naomi did seem to mind this though!

Naomi's favorite flavor so far has been strawberry or banana. My favorite was strawberry probably because that one had the most flavor so far. These puffs come in strawberry, banana, apple, blueberry and purple carrot, sweet potato, and green puffs (kale, spinach, and other greens). The weirdest sounding flavor to me was the green puffs, but they were surprisingly tasty. They were sweetened with apple juice so they were not bitter like most leafy greens are.

Happy Munchies:

 Pros: -They are bigger than the puffs.
-They have more flavor than the small puffs.
-There are good vegetables (kale and broccoli) hidden in these.
-They're easier to pick up because they are bigger than the puffs.
-They dissolve easier than the puffs, which is good because these are much bigger. 

Cons:-They dissolve really easily. This means that they can make a mess when Naomi is eating them. 
-These big puffs contain milk and corn so if your little one has an allergy these would not be a good pick for you.
-There's less in a package.

-These are Naomi's favorite snack right now! She normally has one in each hand while eating them now:

The flavor we have is broccoli, Kale, and Cheddar. There is also cheddar cheese and carrot. 

Happy Creamies:

I'm going to describe this snack a little before I give you the pros and cons. Before having a child I didn't know there could be so many different types of baby food! These are little discs of coconut milk with other juices/flavors added to them. When I first read 'Creamies' I was thinking that they would be really soft and delicate when I touch them. They are not! They almost feel like a meringue. When you put them in your mouth they start to 'melt' and get creamy.

Pros: -40% of these are vegetables!

-These have a lot of flavor--More than any other baby snack we've tried!

-They contain probiotics which is great for digestive health.

-They have color to them. This may sound like a strange pro, but Naomi likes to eat more when there are different colors on her tray.

Cons-They can be messy. When Naomi first started to eat these she didn't know exactly what to do with them when they started melting in her mouth. So, she spit them out. Because they were mushy after she spit them out, the creamies ended up sticking to the highchair, bib, and her outfits. 

These creamies come in the following flavors:

-carrot, mango, and orange

-apple, spinach, pea, and kiwi

-strawberry, raspberry, and carrot

We've had the carrot, mango, and orange as well as the apple, spinach, pea, and kiwi. My personal favorite was the one with apples. Naomi seems to like both of the flavors equally.

So far I've been very happy with all of the Happy Family products! They have made snacking much easier for our family! I also put some of these items on her tray while I heat up her dinner. This keeps her occupied and happy until her food is ready:

This is much cuter than a screaming baby while I'm running around the kitchen! 

Happy snacking!

Get your yummy baby snacks here.