I am so thankful for a helpful husband.  I was feeling a little under the weather this weekend, so he was kind enough to try out some of the recipes from the site.  He made the wheat thins, granola bars, maple corn muffins and yogurt.

So, we are set for snacks for the week in the house and it also was a good test of how easy my recipes are to follow.  All of his baking turned out great.  :)  We even had a happy discovery with the yogurt making.  I accidentally left the crock pot turned on for an hour rather than the ten minutes I usually do and we ended up with really thick, creamy yogurt.  I think we’ll be making that “mistake” every time.

If you have a minute, please check out the new recipes tab.  Let me know what you think!  I hope it’s a lot more user friendly this way.  Almost all of the recipes are linked up this way now, so I hope you find what you are looking for!

As you might have noticed, the blog is experiencing a bit of technical difficulty.  I’m in the process of updating my recipes page so that it’s more user friendly.  I apologize for the way it looks right now, but hopefully it will make it a lot easier to find and/or print a recipe.  I’m not very technologically savvy so things like this take a while for me.  :)  I will try to have things cleared up this weekend, so bear with me.

For today, here’s a quick and easy craft project if you’re looking to use up some fabric scraps – make lunchbox napkins!  These take about 5 minutes to make and the kids were so excited to have their own fun napkins.  This is also a great project if you are trying to make the switch to cloth napkins and don’t want to spend a lot of money.  I got 4 napkins out of each 1/4 yd and I paid less than a dollar for the fabric, so less than 25 cents each!  I used these cute kid fabrics I found (don’t you love the Mr Men and Little Miss characters!), but use whatever fabric you have.  If you pack your own lunch, buy a piece of pretty fabric for yourself!

Cloth Lunchbox Napkins

Skill Level: Super Easy

1/4 yd fabric

Fold your fabric in half the long way.

Cut into four equal pieces.

Fold each piece with right sides together.  Sew a seam around the open edges, leaving a small opening at the end.

Turn your fabric right side out through your opening.  Fold in the edges of your opening.

Sew a seam around the perimeter of the napkin.

Repeat with remaining 3 pieces.

Done!

Sometimes you just don’t feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  Some days you are in a rush and just don’t have the time and some days you just don’t feel like cooking.  I’ve had quite a few of the latter lately.  :)  So tonight’s dinner was a quick 30 minute meal which proves that you can feed your family well even if you are short on time.

Spinach Cheese Pasta

16 oz pasta (I used Racconto 100% whole wheat shells)

1 bunch spinach (rinsed, dried and stems removed)

2-3 cloves garlic

12 oz cottage cheese

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

salt, pepper

Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the garlic and saute for a minute.  Add the spinach and cook until wilted.  Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese until it starts to melt.

This recipe gets the seal of approval from the whole family.  Even the twins ate it up, although Ellie fished out all the spinach to eat first and Will picked out all the spinach and threw it on the floor.  Oh well, between the two of them they ate everything.  :)

I have been thinking about those pretzel buns I bought for a week now.  I had to try making some myself.  I found a recipe for them here.  The recipe called for all white flour, so I decided to replace only 1/2 of the flour with wheat for my first try making them.  They taste great and I think they will work well with 100% whole wheat next time.  It makes a large batch (12), so there are enough to freeze half for another meal.

We had ours filled with vegetarian lentil sloppy joes and some broccoli slaw.  A 100% from scratch, un-processed meal!  And it was very tasty!

Pretzel Rolls

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tbsp milk (recipe originally calls for warmed milk, but I think you can skip that step)

1 pkg yeast (I use Hodgson Mills wheat flour yeast)

1/3 cup evaporated cane juice

2 tbsp butter, melted

2 cups bread flour

2 cups white whole wheat flour

sea salt or pretzel salt

2 quarts water

1/2 cup baking soda

In a warmed mixing bowl with a dough hook, combine 1/3 cup water and yeast.  Stir to combine.  Add in remaining water, milk, sugar and butter and mix so that the sugar dissolves.

Add the flours and mix on a low speed (I use speed 2 on my KitchenAid) until combined.  Let the mixer continue to knead the dough for about 4 more minutes.  It should be an elastic ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Remove from bowl and roll into a log about 2 ft long.  Cut into 12 sections.  Cover and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Shape into rolls and cover with oiled plastic wrap.  (I also covered with a towel.)  Let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 and prepare your parboiling pot.  Boil 2 quarts water in a large pot.  Add the baking soda.  (It will foam up when you do this, so turn down the heat a little if needed.)  Drop rolls into water (one or two at a time), turning them over and only leaving them in their for 30 seconds at most.  Remove and place on an oiled baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden.

These are best warm from the oven, but also good at room temperature.

I decided to make the kids my son’s favorite food for snack today: TOFU.  He must be one of the few nine-year-old boys who would say that tofu is his favorite food.

All four kids love tofu, so I made a quick tofu snack for them.  They take a while to bake, but they are super easy to make.

Crispy Parmesan Tofu Sticks

16 oz extra firm tofu

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 and oil a baking sheet.  Drain tofu and cut into sticks.  Beat egg in a shallow bowl.  Combine bread crumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper in another bowl.  Dip sticks in egg wash and then bread crumb mixture, coating well.  Place on baking sheet and bake until brown on each side.  (About 20 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your sticks.)

The kids loved these dipped in some homemade ketchup!

Any day is a good day for a donut.  :)  I LOVE apple cider donuts in the fall.  After we take the kids out to pick out pumpkins, we always enjoy a couple of apple cider donuts.

I realize that it’s not fall now, but really these donuts should be enjoyed year round.  So, I made a batch this morning.  Yum!  They were so soft and crumbly warm from the oven.  You wouldn’t believe they were made with wheat flour!  

Year-round Apple Cider Donuts

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice (or regular sugar)

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup apple juice (or apple cider)

1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a standard donut pan.  Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix in the butter, eggs, juice and maple syrup, stirring until blended.  Pour into donut pan and bake 15-18 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

Toss in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Enjoy any time of the year!  :)

Step away from the blue box.  I don’t care if it says “it’s the cheesiest.”  You can do better.

It takes a little extra time to make mac and cheese from scratch, but it is so worth it.  My kids would eat mac and cheese every day if I let them (my husband probably would, too ).  At least when I make my own, I know exactly what they’re eating and I don’t have to wonder how on earth they get that powdered cheese so shockingly orange.

(I realize I don’t have the best pictures out there, but trust me, this stuff is really good! )

Macaroni and Cheese

16 oz pasta*

3 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour (I used white whole wheat)

2 cups milk

8 oz cheddar, grated

Cook the pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Once melted, stir in the flour to form a paste.  Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.  Then, slowly add your milk, whisking as you go.  It is easier to incorporate the milk gradually.  If you add it all at once, you can end up with a lumpy sauce.  Cook over medium-low heat whisking occasionally until thickened.  (about 10-12 minutes)  Remove from the heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted.  Combine the sauce with the pasta and enjoy!

* I used whole wheat pasta.  I have found one brand of pasta (Racconto) with only one ingredient listed – whole wheat flour.  If you can find that, it’s the next best thing to making your own pasta.

The other day I made brownies.  I found a recipe that got rave reviews on AllRecipes, so I decided to try it.  It resulted in a good brownie but not an awesome brownie.  I’m looking for an awesome brownie.  My family has said that they have no problem with my experimenting with brownie recipes.  :)  Here’s what I think might have gone wrong with my recipe:

I replaced the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour.  (Maybe this is what made them sort of dense and not chewy.)

It called for 2 CUPS of sugar.  I cut that down by 1/2 cup and I really think it could be cut down further.  I think in most recipes, you can cut down on the sugar called for and still have a sweet treat.

My brilliant 9-year-old suggested I add black beans to the recipe to make them chewier.  He made me so proud when he said that.  I will be experimenting with that this weekend and hopefully I’ll have an awesome brownie recipe for you by Monday.  :)

For now, these are still tasty brownies and I just added a little peanut butter frosting to the top.  Makes them taste a little like a reese’s peanut butter cup.  Yum!  Just imagine: an awesome brownie WITH this frosting.  It’s going to be amazing.

Here’s the frosting recipe, if you ever find yourself with a brownie in need of a little help:

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp milk

Beat in a mixer with a wire whisk attachment until creamy.

Spread over your mediocre brownies and enjoy!

Tonight as I was making dinner, I realized that, although we have 8 1/2 more months in our progress towards completely unprocessed eating, there aren’t many processed things left to remove from our diets.  I’ve read before that you should try to stick to the perimeter of the grocery store if you want unprocessed foods and it’s true!  There are only a handful of aisles I go down now.  And the processed foods we do eat are relatively innocuous: breads and rolls; pasta… I think that might be it!

So, while I start to worry that I’ll never make it through this year and the amount of food prep involved, at least I know that I’m almost there.  And that it IS possible to do this.  If you are committed to feeding your family well, you can do it!

I am a little concerned about the breads, though.  I am greatly in need of a good sandwich bread recipe.  Suggestions are welcome!!  And if anyone has a recipe for pretzel rolls, that would be amazing!  We had lentil burgers for dinner on these and they were so good!  We also had one of my favorite side dishes:

Mashed Sweet Potatoes (makes enough for 6 large servings)

This is hardly a recipe, but if your family love mashed potatoes, consider switching to sweet potatoes.  They are so much healthier.  And they have a great sweet taste that kids love.

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

milk and butter for mashing

salt and pepper to taste

parmesan (optional)

Put the sweet potatoes in a large pot and add enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil and simmer until tender.  The time will vary depending on how big your pieces are.  Just keep a fork nearby and check them every so often.  When you can easily pierce one with a fork, they’re ready.

Drain and mash with a tablespoon or two of butter and add milk until desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  If you like cheesy sweet potatoes, add some freshly grated parmesan.

Variation: add a little maple syrup and cinnamon.  I don’t think any kid could resist sweet potatoes made this way.  :)

This month’s focus has been on de-cluttering and natural cleaning.  The de-cluttering has been going very well.  We had a family meeting so that the kids would feel like they had a say in our plan.  I think everyone in the family has more things than he/she needs, so we can all stand to lighten up a bit.  We decided it would be fair if everyone got rid of at least 3 bags of stuff for donation.  Talking about it really made the kids excited about the plan – especially when you point out that less stuff equals less stuff to clean up which equals less nagging from mom.  :)

The natural cleaning plan is off to a rocky start.  We have had successes and failures in the formulas we’ve tried.  The good news is that these have all gone into the trash:

And they’ve been replaced by these:

I am still working on an “All-purpose Cleaner” that works well.  I’ve tried a mix of vinegar and baking soda, but it leaves a film on most things.  The two cleaning recipes that have worked well for me are:

Carpet Cleaner – Make a paste of equal parts salt, borax and vinegar.  Scrub into the stain with a brush.  Let sit.  And then vacuum up.  This actually worked great on a stain we had in our family room.   (I would recommend testing this in an inconspicuous place in your carpet to be sure it doesn’t “bleach” your carpet.  It worked well on our light carpet, but I would test it before using on a darker carpet or rug.)

Furniture Polish – I used a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil which worked well on most of my wood furniture.  Be sure to buff the surface well after applying the mixture.  I used one cloth to apply the polish and another dry one to buff.

Toilet Cleaning – Sprinkle 20 mule team borax into the bowl.  Let sit.  Then scrub with a toilet brush.

General cleaning (bathrooms, mirrors, etc.) – Diluted white vinegar works pretty well for these.  I am still trying to create a cleaner that has a little more power but doesn’t harm surfaces.

I would love to hear any of your ideas for green cleaning!