Turd Balls

*I have no idea what to call these things, but they look like turds, and they help produce turds, so "turd balls" seemed appropriate.* 

 Joel has had some pooping issues since he was in the NICU.  Even after he came home, he was that breastfed baby that only pooped once a week.  Since I introduced solids a few weeks ago things got backed up!  (The fact that he LOVES meat and eggs probably didn't help either!)  I was giving him a suppository once a week to get him going.  Since we are doing Baby Led Weaning (NO purees!) and he self feeds everything, I wanted to come up with something he could feed himself that would help with the constipation.  It worked!!  2 days after giving him these (2/day) he pooped on his own-just 3 days after his last poop!  I'm so excited.  So.... if you have a constipated little one (or yourself I guess) try this recipe.  They really are tasty.  (I love prunes-but since I don't need them, they don't love me back!)

INGREDIENTS:
1 C dried prunes
1 apple
1/2 C flax seed meal

Finely chop the apple.  Sautee until tender (maybe a little coconut oil).  Finely chop the prunes.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.  Form into little balls (or logs :-)  about the size of a large marble.  Place on parchment paper and store in refrigerator.

*I'm thinking pears might work even better in place of the apples.  All the "P's" are supposed to be good for "P"ooping!  I just didn't have any pears on hand so I went with apples.

Happy Pooping!!

Joel is ONE!

One year ago, we were able to meet our sweet miracle baby!  All 3 lbs 13 oz of him!  It is so exciting to see how he has grown over this past year, and how God has grown me!  When I went into labor 10 weeks early, I never thought I'd think that was a perfect situation-but I DO NOW!

Because I'm me, and this is what I do, I have to reflect a little :

I spent lots of time sitting on the couch when I was pregnant with Joel.  It wasn't as terrible as one would think.  It was actually really humbling.  I learned to accept the help of others (thanks mom and dad) and everyone else who came to babysit and bring meals!  Not to mention ALL of the people that were praying for us!  It's kind of nice to just get over yourself and know that you can't do it all on your own!  We were meant to be a community and help each other.

I knew I had issues during the pregnancy, how can you ignore hemorrhaging multiple times when your pregnant? ;-)  I was VERY convinced that it would all go away, that I would have a full-term (at least 9 lb baby), and that everything would be a "MIRACLE!"  Seriously!  When I went into labor I really thought "Great, now I'm not going to be part of a real miracle!" It's fun to look back and laugh at my ideas!

When we first moved up here to Virginia I got involved in a Beth Moore Bible study of Daniel and it really helped clarify so much for me.  See, we can be delivered FROM the fire, but that isn't always what God chooses to do when we are in the midst of a trial.  There are also two other scenarios: We are delivered THROUGH the fire or we are delivered BY the fire into His arms.  Although I thought I was going to be delivered FROM a trial (bed rest, preemie baby, c-section, etc) God decided to deliver me THROUGH all of that and help refine my faith.  I am SO THANKFUL that I was not kept from going through this experience.  I've met amazing people, I've loved a baby more than words, I've learned to empathize with others on so many levels.  You really have no idea what it's like to leave your child at the hospital for weeks on end until you have done it.

I am so thankful that my water broke-that God sent us that sign that it was time for Joel to be born!  Do you remember, I was cleared off of bed rest about 14 hours before my water broke?!  Once again, man may have ideas about what is good, but God is in CONTROL!  I am thankful for technology and ultrasounds that alerted the doc to the fact that Joel was not doing well.  I'm thankful for c-sections that got our baby out quickly and healthy (Yes, me- Ms. NATURAL BIRTH herself is thankful for c-sections!)  I'm thankful for nurses and doctors that love and know how to care for babies.  I'm even thankful for the tubes that helped feed him and monitor him.  I'm thankful for medications to help get rid of whatever infection I had.  (I still don't fully understand what was wrong with me, but I'm glad it went away.)  I'm thankful for all those hours up in the NICU holding my little miracle baby.  I'm thankful for how well he learned to nurse and that he continues to do so (no birthday cake eating pic's here-the kid really just loves his Mama!)  I'm thankful that there are heroes out there that donate blood.  The day Joel received his transfusion, he was a totally different baby!  He got better so quick and never had another "issue" after receiving blood.  I'm thankful that God chose not to deliver me BY this "fire" and gave me more time here to raise these precious little one's and love my man.  It's important work-HIS work-and I don't take the responsibility He has given to me lightly.

I'm thankful for so many things, the above is just a start.  I'm very convinced that Joel is thankful to be alive too!  He really is the sweetest baby you have ever seen.  He is always happy and content.  He very rarely cries and the boy loves to giggle at and watch his brothers and sister.  He's crawling all over and loves to explore by putting things in his mouth!  He has 6 chompers and is 17+ lbs.  (Okay, I'll admit it, it will be nice when he sleeps more than a 3 hour stretch!...but I suppose that is my fault for not doing anything about it.)  He just started eating food this past week.  We are doing Baby Led Weaning (BLW) so he self feeds all his food.  No purees! :-)  It's fantastic.  He also had his first turd (suppository-induced). So sad to see formed up poo.  (Aren't you glad you're reading this?)

He is incredible and we all love him so much.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL!!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and to have the opportunity to love you and watch you grow up!  What a way to celebrate our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY-by having your 1st BIRTHDAY!  What a special day!

*We aren't having an actual birthday party for Joel, but you just became part of his virtual party!   (WOOT!)  We would LOVE it if you would go donate blood in honor of him!  YOU could save a life!  What better birthday present could you give someone?!

If you are new to this blog: feel free to check out THIS post about when he was born (although when I reread it I'm pretty sure I misspelled a bunch of things and probably got some details wrong-but it was the best account I had at the time :-)  Also, THIS post about him being home from the hospital.  Since November, I've been side-tracked with blogging about FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!  We have switched to a Paleo diet, and I have been blogging lots of the recipes we use.  If you like good, healthy food, read away!

Date/Walnut bars

I've had this recipe for a while, but never got around to making it.  Now, I can't figure out what was stopping me!  It was amazing!  (Okay, maybe it's the lack of chocolate that kept me away-but I clearly took care of that!)

Gluten Free Date Walnut Barsprinter friendly
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
¼ cup grape seed oil (I used coconut oil)
¼ cup agave nectar (honey is better for you-I'm guessing you could replace this sweetener with a banana too!)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts, chopped (I used this and got them very fine)
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped (also, made very fine)
1 square 100% chocolate, melted
1 square 72% chocolate, melted

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour salt and baking soda
2. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, oil, agave and vanilla extract
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry
4. Fold walnuts and dates into batter
5. Scoop batter into a greased 8x8 inch baking dish
6. Bake at 350° for 22-30 minutes
7. Cool 
8. Melt the squares of chocolate and mix together.  Drizzle over the top.  YES, this recipe would be just fine without the addition of the chocolate, but it was oh-so-delicious with it!!

I should also add, I did steps 1-4 in my NEW KITCHENAID STAND MIXER!   It was fantastic.  As Elliot says "we have an extra set of hands in the kitchen now!"  I put the 1st 3 ingredients in and turned it on "stir."  I just kept adding all the other ingredients while it stirred them up for me.  Even added the dates and walnuts!  Came out perfectly!

Ninja-product review

My handy little chopper recently broke.  I think I've had it since we got married (almost 10 years) so I was okay with it's death.  I tried to replace it with a Magic Bullet.  Quite frankly, that thing was a piece of crap!  I couldn't even get it to chop an onion and it took about 10 minutes to make a smoothie.  It went right back to Costco.

I was at Walmart and ran across this handy little Ninja Express Chop.  I thought it looked perfect!  It just so happened they were out of them, go figure.  I ventured to Target and found one there!  Woo hoo.  Walmart carries them in red, and Target has grey, purple, and green.  For some reason I got green.

This little machine is AMAZING (and LESS than $20!)  I have chopped nuts, onions, etc and it is perfect.  I've also made smoothies and it chops the ice up so quickly and blends it all perfectly!  I've got to say, I am super duper impressed!!  The double layer of blades makes a huge difference!  It's also very easy to clean!

I think it's funny how we say not to get mom's appliances for Mother's Day when that's pretty much ALL I could think of that I would want.  Initially, my request for these absolutely amazingly cute measuring cups (As seen at my awesome friends house!-I seriously have measuring cup envy!)  Aren't they gorgeous!?  Okay, I still am in love with them.  There's a matching spoon rest that is also needed.

Then, I suddenly realized I NEED a KitchenAid stand mixer.  Yes, need! Found an awesome deal on craigslist, so hopefully it goes through and I can write a review on how much this mixer has improved my life in the kitchen soon.  I can't wait to put all of my perfectly chopped food into a big mixing bowl to get blended!  Oh, the things that excite me these days.  Maybe I'll eventually have these measuring cups so that my ingredients can be perfectly (and cutely) measured, chopped, then mixed!

*You can click the images for product pages*

Almond Flour Waffles

 A friend passed along a wonderful recipe from www.allrecipes.com  It's so simple and good.  By far, the best waffles I've had.

Ingredients:
1 C almond flour
4 eggs
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 C honey (I used less!)
1 tsp vanilla

Cook according to your waffle maker instructions.  Of course, I doubled this for our family and served with fruit and bacon.

It also made a great dessert.  I used the waffles in place of a short cake.  Topped with pureed strawberries and unsweetened coconut flakes.

  

Cereal....what?!

Today my kids had cereal for the first time in 5 months!  It was AMAZING!  Yesterday I made up a mix of a few recipes for grain-free granola and it turned out GREAT!  We loved it!   The majority of the recipe is from the Eat Like A Dinosaur cookbook.  This will actually be enough for at least 2 mornings worth of cereal for us, that means it's a lot! :-)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C sliced almonds
• 1 1/2 C unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 C walnuts, finely chopped or pureed
• 1 C hazelnuts, finely chopped or pureed
• 1/4 C raw sunflower seeds
• 1 C raisins
• 1/2 C dates, diced
• 1/2 C coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 C honey
• 1.5 TBSP cinnamon
• 1 TBSP vanilla
• 1 tsp sea salt

Instructions & How Kids Can Help

1. ♥ Combine almonds, coconut flakes, nuts and fruit in a bowl
2. ♥ Whisk together oil, honey and cinnamon
3. ♥ Pour oil-honey mixture over nuts and fruit and mix, let little hands mix well
4. ♥ Spread onto a single layer on lightly oiled baking sheet
5. Bake for one hour at 275 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent burning

*Feel free to substitute nuts, just keep the 1st 2 ingredients the same.  I used hazelnuts where the original recipe called for macadamia nuts (it's what I had in the cabinet!)  


We ate our granola topped with unsweetened almond milk and a side of fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, and avocado!)

Dinner FAIL

Just to keep it real here, our dinner tonight was an absolute failure.  I was pretty excited about it too.  It was going to be fish tacos with Coconut Flour Tortillas.  I started with the tortillas.  Some mix of egg whites, coconut flour, baking soda.  Did as instructed and the things would not flip! Tried multiple pans with no luck.  I set the bowl full or egg/coconut flour aside to just scramble.  Weird-but figured it was worth a shot.

I cooked up a bunch of fish, seasoned like tacos, and mixed in some onion and peppers that I cooked.  It looked nice.

I think the terribleness happened when I layered the egg, fish, lettuce, tomato, and grass fed cheese.  There was not much good to be said about this combo!  I pulled out a bag of plantain chips to help entice the kids (their idea).  They finished everything on their plates!  Then they all had clementines.

We were all still hungry...... so we decided to splurge and go to Target and get Popcorn.  It was nice strolling around with the kiddo's.  I guess :-)  I got an instant headache from the popcorn (same thing happened with pizza) and was having some hot flashes on the way home.  I think the stuff was so salty I might have a hole in my tongue. HAHA.  Should have just gone ahead and gotten a slurpee while we were getting all crazy!

"You Are What You Eat"

All over my Facebook newsfeed is people on a mission: Lose Weight!  Then, once they lose this weight, they sell weight-loss products.  I really don't exactly get it.  Yes, this is coming from a skinny girl that can't gain a stink' pound if I try-but just hear me out.....

I have been learning about food lately.  Not just research, but watching people.  If you eat processed, toxic, man-made, modified, sugar-overloaded, chemically inlaid, addictive foods (because our government mistakenly tells you it's good for you)-you are going to be that!  You are going to feel like crap, stay or get fat, and wonder what's wrong.  Then, you are going to think you need to make a shake or take a pill to lose the weight and feel better.

On another note: if you just EAT RIGHT and EXERCISE you will lose the weight, have an incredible amount of energy, see health problems disappear, and BE HEALTHY from the inside out!  You won't be on any sort of diet that ends at some point.  You won't be spending extra money on things you don't need.  You are eating the way you should, and will continue to do it for the rest of your life.  You do not need to take supplements to make you your ideal weight!!!  My hubby is in AMAZING shape and has lost 26 lbs by doing the above 2 things.

Wes' Crossfit gym has a little saying that "Strong is the New Skinny!"  I think that's awesome.  You do NOT have to be skinny to be healthy.  Society has gone terribly wrong in making you believe this.  You can be strong, big boned, eat well, and in awesome shape!  Don't let this picture of the ideal woman/person affect your self esteem!

So... I'm not going to sell you any products, but I hope I can sell you on an idea: Eat well and Exercise.  What a concept!



*P.S.  I still love all of my friends that sell these things... just don't agree :-)    AND, if this posts get you a little upset, make the recipe below and you will be on top of the world!!!!!!

Chocolate Nut Clusters

My sweet friend (found HERE!) created this absolutely amazing recipe.  Seriously, I've never tasted anything so delicious!  I was thinking the process got a little tedious while I was making them, but after that first bite, it was worth EVERY SINGLE MINUTE!

Ingredients: 

• Shredded Coconut
• Chopped Walnuts
• Chopped Hazelnuts
• Raisins
• 2-3 TBS Honey
• 1/2 bag Dark Chocolate Chips (I used a few blocks of 100% chocolate and a few of 72%)
• *You could use anything so get creative*

1.) Mix 1/4 cup of each dry ingredient in a bowl.

2.) Add 2-3 Tablespoons of Honey. You want the mixture to stick together enough to put it into a cluster. 

3.) Place spoonfuls of mixture on a parchment paper lined cookie tray. Place in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes. 

4.)Melt half a bag of Dark Chocolate in a saucepan on low heat. Mix often so it doesn't burn. 

5.) Pull clusters out of the fridge and cover with dark chocolate. 

6.) Place them in the fridge again to harden for 20 min. . 

7.) Pull them out, flip them over and coat the bottom with dark chocolate. Place in the fridge again for 20 min or longer to get a cold hard shell

BBQ Chicken and Roasted Mixed Squash

My plan was to grill yesterday.  However, "the coldest day in April in years" was upon us and I didn't want to go outside and freeze.  I improvised with the oven and a skillet and it turned out great.

SQUASH:
Chop 1 onion
1 zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 butternut squash (Peel, deseed, the chop)

Toss in Olive Oil, Salt/Pepper, some Italian Seasoning and roast at 450 for 20-30 minutes.  Flip 1/2 way through.

CHICKEN:
Toss in Olive Oil and some Pork Barrel BBQ Dry Rub (From Costco & As Seen on: Shark Tank).  Put in a skillet over med/high heat until cooked.