Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 102
July 18, 2013
Italian Roasted Potatoes {Must-Try Side Dishes}
source: Mandi Ehman
The inspiration for this recipe came from a Pinterest find, these Parmesan Roasted Potatoes. Those were yummy (and would make awesome breakfast hashbrowns), but our kids didn’t love the flavor. However, we love italian seasoning on potatoes (okay…on pretty much anything!), so I decided to switch out the paprika for those familiar flavors. The resulting side dish was one that the whole family loved — always an accomplishment in this house!
source: Mandi Ehman
Italian Roasted Potatoes {Must-Try Side Dishes}
Recipe type: Side Dish
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
4 cups potatoes, cubed*
3 tablespoon olive oil + extra for preparing the pan
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoon parmesan cheese
Instructions
*I used a mixture of yukon gold and red gold potatoes because that’s what I had in my produce drawer!
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Scrub and cube the potatoes, about ¾” on all sides. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss to coat.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to a baking dish and use a paper towel to coat the bottom and sides.
NOTE:
I use stoneware baking dishes and don’t often have to oil them since they’ve developed a nonstick coating of their own, but these definitely need the extra prep!
In a small bowl, combine the spices and cheese. Add spice mixture to the potatoes and toss until all of the potatoes are evenly coated.
Spread potatoes in the baking dish in a single layer.
Bake for 30 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the potatoes and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm! (But the leftovers are yummy reheated in the oven as well.)
#version#
Click here to add this recipe to your Plan to Eat account.
What is your favorite way to prepare potatoes? What is your favorite spice blend?
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
Italian Roasted Potatoes {Must-Try Side Dishes}
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
DIY Summer Memory Wall for Kids
The following post is from Kristina of Toddler Approved:
source: Kristina Buskirk
Summer seems to be flying by and it is hard to keep track of all of the adventures that we are having. Kids seem to quickly forget all of the exciting things they’ve done (and so do adults), so we decided to create a memory wall.
Our summer memory wall is a kid-made creation that we are filling with photos, hand-drawn pictures, and word strips to help us remember some of the highlights of our summer… as it is happening.
You can make a memory wall with a variety of materials. We chose to use contact paper as the base of our memory wall so that it was easy for younger kids to manipulate.
Supplies:
contact paper
scissors
colored cardstock
photos
memorabilia (ticket stubs, brochures, tiny trinkets, etc.)
stickers
painters tape
crayons/markers
source: Kristina Buskirk
Directions:
First, I attached a large piece of contact paper (sticky side up) to a blank wall using painters tape.
Then, we printed out a variety of photos from our summer adventures and my kids stuck them onto the sticky wall.
After that, we create a border and title for our memory wall using strips of cardstock and then we decorated it with stickers.
source: Kristina Buskirk
Lastly, we wrote and drew a few pictures of some of our favorite summer events. We plan to continue adding more and more photos, word strips, and drawings until all the space on the sticky wall is filled!
source: Kristina Buskirk
After we added a few things to our sticky memory wall, we sat nearby and talked about some of our favorite memories. The memory wall provides a great visual to help kids remember the events that have happened in the past. It also helps foster detailed conversations and allows for sequencing practice as kids try and explain the order that events happened.
source: Kristina Buskirk
Here are a few other ideas for collecting memories…
Make Stick Journals for Summer Fun
9 Binder Benders for Kids
How does your family collect and display your memories?
Kristina is a mom of 3 and a former Special Ed teacher for children with communication disabilities. She blogs at Toddler Approved as she looks for ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.
DIY Summer Memory Wall for Kids
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
July 17, 2013
6 Lessons I’ve Learned About Kids in the Kitchen
source: Mandi Ehman
Our girls are constantly asking to help in the kitchen, and — if I’m honest — I still cringe a little bit every time they do, even though I’m making it a priority to include them.
For me, cooking can be stressful because it doesn’t come naturally or easily to me, and as an introvert, I tend to use my time in the kitchen to think…something that’s just not possible with little ones underfoot.
But I’ve been on a quest for the past year to include them more often, and the one-at-a-time rule has made a huge difference; I no longer feel pressured to include everybody (which quickly results in me feeling overwhelmed and — ahem — snappy), and instead use that as special one-on-one time with whoever happens to be my helper at the moment.
This summer we’ve been especially focused on kitchen skills as we work on Easy Homemade {For Kids} together, and I have a feeling we’ll always look back at it as a milestone year as they begin preparing more and more meals with little to no assistance. In fact, our oldest daughters (at 7-and-a-half and almost-9) are actually a huge help to me in the kitchen now, whether it’s making a simple meal, chopping veggies or simply helping me serve. While it takes an investment of time in the beginning, the benefits have far outweighed the work with these two. That inspires me to keep teaching them because — let’s face it — we could all use a sous chef!
Here are 6 lessons I’ve learned so far about making our time in the kitchen peaceful and effective for everybody:
Know Their Personalities
My two oldest girls have wildly different personalities, and while some of the differences in the kitchen can be attributed to their age difference (which is about 17 months), a lot of it has to do with their personalities.
Our oldest will take any recipe she’s given and tackle it with confidence, sure that she can do it without any help. That means I have to make sure she actually does know what she’s doing before we get too far into the recipe. On the other hand, it also means she can be turned loose in the kitchen more often and she’s really the more independent of the two of them.
The 7-year-old, on the other hand, prefers detailed directions as she’s learning, and she needs someone in the kitchen with her just for moral support. However, she is much more focused in the kitchen, and I find it easier to have her help me with dinner prep, even when I’m frazzled, because she focuses on the job at hand without bouncing all over the kitchen or talking about a million different things at once.
Knowing this about each of them helps me plan our kitchen time together so that it’s peaceful and effective for all of us!
source: Mandi Ehman
Mistakes Happen
Kitchen mistakes are messy and often costly, but that makes it even more important to expect mistakes when you invite your kids into the kitchen. You’ll be less frustrated if you expect the mistakes and messes and pleasantly surprised when they don’t happen!
While some mistakes result from carelessness — dropping eggs on the floor, spilling a liquid measuring cup, etc. — many of them are just part of the learning curve.
For example, while making pancakes for the first time, our 7-year-old accidentally doubled the amount of milk in the recipe, resulting in very runny batter. The “2 cup” measurement confused her, and even though we were using a liquid measuring cup that held 2 cups of milk, she thought she needed to do it twice. An understandable mistake, and — luckily — one that I was able to easily fix by quickly doubling the rest of the recipe as well.
Not Everything Is As Obvious As It Seems
While our girls are increasingly capable in the kitchen, there are many cooking nuances that they just don’t have the life or kitchen experience to recognize yet. Like the measuring issue above, I’m realizing that not everything is as obvious to them as it seems to me, and I try to anticipate the questions or misunderstandings that might crop up before they actually do.
But the other part of that is being patient with them as they figure out when to flip pancakes, the best way to slice an apple and why we do things in the order we do them!
source: Mandi Ehman
Cook Every Recipe Together the First Time
For that reason, and knowing that even recipes intended for kids can trip them up when they include a new ingredient or skill, we always cook recipes together the first time through. Sometimes that just means I cook something else or wash dishes while they work on their recipe, but the key is being readily available to oversee what they’re doing and answer questions so that they’re not left to try to figure it out by themselves!
We Can All Use a Little Encouragement
The other day our oldest daughter made eggs in a nest for everybody for the first time. Our home was a chaotic mess at the time, as my husband tried to get out the door for an appointment and the dog successfully stole one of the finished eggs off a plate, and everybody was running around a bit frazzled. In the midst of all of that, she was able to keep her focus on what she was cooking and serve a delicious, healthy breakfast. Afterward, I took her aside and told her how delicious the eggs were and how proud I was of her focus while things were going crazy, and her whole face lit up. I think it’s safe to say that that encouragement is something she’ll carry with her for a long time.
Similarly, the girls have developed a fun tradition where they say “thank you” all at once to whomever prepared each meal, and it’s as fun to hear them call out, “Thank you, Peyton!” or “Thank you, Dylan!” as it is when they direct their thanks to me!
It’s Still Okay to Say No
Finally, there are still times when I need the kitchen to myself — for speed or sanity or so I can get creative or think while I cook — and I really do think it’s okay to say no sometimes when they ask to help. That’s a lot easier when I’ve said yes recently, but life is full of seasons, and there will be weeks when they can cook many things and weeks where they only get to help once or twice, and that’s okay!
Involving them in the kitchen has also taught me a lot about myself as a parent, and it’s been good for our individual relationships with the girls as well. And I’ll admit I’m looking forward to the day when they can cook — and clean up the kitchen afterward — without any help from me. What a treat that will be!
Sign up to be notified when Easy Homemade {For Kids} launches and get a special coupon code off your purchase.
What’s the hardest part about having kids in the kitchen for you? Have any of your kids graduated to sous-chef status?
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
6 Lessons I’ve Learned About Kids in the Kitchen
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
Last Child on the Prairie {On Playing Outside, Part 1}
source: Mandi Ehman
As I mentioned in this week’s Weekly Reads post, I’m in the middle of re-reading one of my all-time favorite books, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.
I was fortunate enough to attend an authentic Montessori school for 13 years (from the time I was two-and-a-half until I graduated 8th grade), and that school was located on 26-acres of paradise. With thick woods and open fields, trails and blacktops, there was plenty of space for us to roam, explore and play, and I really wouldn’t trade those years for anything — even the year where we spent hours and hours scraping gypsy moths off the trees to keep them from completely destroying our woods (gag!).
In the early elementary years, we explored the property, cared for the rabbits and spent hours and hours simply playing. As we got older, our responsibilities increased, and we built lunch shelters in the woods, dug out ditches to prevent erosion, cared for the horses and camped in the fields.
It sounds idyllic, I know, and it really was all of that and more.
Those experiences shaped me — and my educational and parenting philosophies — more than I could have ever guessed at the time, but it wasn’t until I read Last Child in the Woods for the first time that I really understood why and how.
source: Mandi Ehman
The truth is that I was the kind of kid who would happily curl up with a book…inside. I hated bugs. I’m not particularly fond of being hot or dirty. And I’m about as physically awkward as they come.
But I know that being “forced” into those experiences and the time we spent face-to-face with nature made me the person I am today. Building — and rebuilding — forts taught me the importance of thinking outside of the box, the value of trial and error and that failure isn’t permanent. Observing animals and insects gave me an appreciation for the tiniest creatures on our planet…even when I’m shuddering inside as I point them out to my girls. And being responsible for the care of those horses (something I’m sure would never happen in today’s litigious society!) instilled more self-confidence in me than probably any other experience in my life.
I want those same experiences for my kids!
I wanted them enough that we moved to our own little slice of heaven — which is often compared to scenes from Little House on the Prairie — despite the 30-45 minutes we have to drive through the mountains to get “to town”. It’s inconvenient, yes, and sometimes I think my kids are missing out by living out here in the boonies. Then I watch them run around outside for hours and hours without any direction from me — building their own version of a pioneer stove, foraging for dewberries and wild garlic, discovering just hatched baby praying mantises — and I know we’re where we’re supposed to be.
source: Mandi Ehman
In the opening chapters of this book, Louv describes the importance of nature in a million different ways, and I collected many of the “nature is…” statements I came across. He says:
“Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it…
Inexplicable nature provokes humility…
Most of all, nature is reflected in our capacity for wonder…
Nature [is] about doing something, about direct experience -
and about not being a spectator…
Nature is beautiful, but not always pretty…
Nature is about smelling, hearing, tasting, seeing…
Nature is imperfectly perfect, filled with loose parts and possibilities…
Nature presents the young with something so much greater than they are;
it offers an environment where they can contemplate infinity and eternity.”
Nature inspires awe and wonder. It makes us slow down and pay attention to the smallest details. And it gives kids space to truly use their imaginations.
While our kids are currently confined to the 2.25 acres that is actually on our deed, I foresee years of exploring the fields, river and woods in their future. I’ve tweaked our homeschool curriculum for the upcoming year just to protect that time to play, and rereading Last Child in the Woods has reinforced the importance of that time spent outside — for creativity and focus and living a simple life.
That said, playing outside is not always as easy and idyllic as it sounds on the pages of a book, so next week, I’ll share some practical tips for making outside play time a priority without losing your sanity!
Today I want to hear from you, though. Is interacting with nature an important part of your personal or parenting philosophy? What are the biggest challenges to actually getting outside every day?
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
Last Child on the Prairie {On Playing Outside, Part 1}
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
July 16, 2013
Social Media Should Feed Your Soul
source: amysphere
Editor’s note: There are a lot of great posts in the archives here at Life Your Way that don’t get much attention anymore, so I’m sharing a couple of my favorites each week. As I continue to read more and more about Pinterest breeding discontent, I can’t help but think this is still a timely topic!
All kinds of things can be said about social media — good, bad and in-between.
It’s true that social media has enabled affairs that might not have otherwise happened, has made cyber bullying a very real concern for children in the new millennium and causes people to compare their lives to others and embrace discontent, not to mention that it can easily cross the line from useful to time waster and from healthy to addictive.
But let’s face it — the fault still lies with the people who do those things (myself included for the latter two!), not the social media platform itself.
On the other hand, it’s helped find missing children, reconnected long-lost friends, been used for much good, made the spread of news easier than ever and given people everywhere a platform and creative outlet when they might not have had one otherwise.
And again, it’s the people who use it for good — not the platforms themselves — who are responsible for that good.
So how do we find a healthy balance for social media in our lives?
I’d wager that it all comes down to one simple rule. Ready?
Use social media authentically and in a way that lifts you and others up, not in the way that other people expect, and that balance will come much more easily.
Now, to be clear, the time waster aspect is still a tough one, and I find myself “zoning” in front of various social media networks when I’m feeling uninspired, tired or bored, which still isn’t healthy! But I have found a way to use social media in a way that benefits my life, rather than detracts from it, most of the time.
Let’s look at a few examples before I share more about my personal approach:
Using Social Media Authentically
Sharing & Inspiring Others
I have a friend who shares dozens of links on her personal Facebook profile. She’s not building a business, marketing herself or anything else — she just loves to read and learn and challenge, and she shares those things with those of us who are lucky enough to be her friends. I have found so many great things through her links, and when she takes a break to focus on her family or house projects, I miss her posts immensely!
Knowing When to Say No
A group of us recently tried to convince a friend to join Instagram (which really may be the “funnest” social media platform out there, in my opinion), and she felt very strongly that it was not the platform for her. She doesn’t want to focus on taking pictures to share as she goes about her daily life, or have everybody know where she is and what she’s doing, and she’s looking for more privacy than it affords.
Resisting Peer Pressure
A well-known blogger uses Facebook exclusively for her blog page, where she posts regularly and interacts with her fans, but doesn’t have a personal profile at all.
The key in each of these stories is that these women are using social media exactly the way they want to, sometimes in spite of pressures to do it differently.
Personally, I have two Facebook accounts — one “public” account where I accept most friend requests and one I share with my husband where we connect with family, old friends and people I’ve built strong relationships with, even if they’re “imaginary friends” as we like to call online friends.
I use the personal account most of the time, rarely logging into the other one, to stay connected to friends and family, share what’s going on in our lives — the good, the funny/cute and the ugly — and to hear what’s going on in theirs.
A year or so ago, I actually unfriended more than 100 people and went through and unliked dozens of pages because my News Feed was becoming so crowded that I was missing the things that mattered most to me. Facebook has made great strides since then in making the important stuff accessible, but I discovered a couple things:
1. I interact more with the people/pages that I didn’t unfriend/unlike now that I’m not overwhelmed by it all.
2. I am not as worried about the things I post since the people I’m still friends with are people I truly value and (I hope) value me.
I do accept new friend requests from old friends even if we haven’t talked in a long time, because I’ve reconnected with some great people through Facebook, but I’m not afraid to unfriend them (such a harsh term, really) if that connection just isn’t there after a while
I also have a Facebook page for each of my blogs, and I love connecting with readers in that informal, conversational environment.
Here’s the thing, though — I really am not a fan of Twitter. I’ve tried, and I know other people love it. But it’s just not for me.
I still use Twitter, mostly to share new Life Your Way posts and other posts I’m reading through my Tumblr, but that’s about it. I’ve read all the posts about not using Twitter just to share links and how important interaction is and blah, blah, blah, but that just doesn’t work for me, and I refuse to knuckle my way through and be inauthentic just because it’s “supposed” to be done a certain way.
Pinterest, on the other hand, is another one of my favorites. I love discovering new things through other people’s pins (if Pinterest made following users back easier, I’d follow everybody back who follows me, but it’s not quite that simple when you have lots of followers, unfortunately, so I know I’m missing out on some of your great pins!), sharing cool things through my own pins, and seeing what things from Life Your Way resonate with pinners.
But, even though it’s one of my favorites, there are times when I get pinned-out. Although it’s one of my “daily tasks” (I love when I can list a fun thing as a business task!), if I find myself kind of dreading my time on Pinterest, I simply take a few days off. That’s probably another no-no as far as growing a platform, but I use Pinterest for me, and to inspire my followers, so pinning when my hearts not in it just becomes another drain, and that doesn’t benefit anybody.
Tumblr
Similarly, I use Tumblr as a way to save and share all of the great posts and articles I come across, and there are times I add 10-15 new posts a day. But there are also times when nothing really grabs me, or life gets so busy that I don’t have time to go through my Google Reader, and during those times, I simply take a break.
My newest social media addiction is Instagram. Although it’s fun to share a behind-the-scenes look at our life with my followers, I also use it to capture cute moments and fun memories of my kids.
I don’t have a strategy for using Instagram, and I’m not sure I want it to become a business tool instead of a personal one! In fact, I’ve tried to participate in #photoaday challenges many times — just to connect with more people — but I usually only get a day or two into the month before I give up. For me, it’s a fun tool, but not one that I want to control my life, and I have to be careful to pull out my DSLR for higher quality pictures as well.
Do you sense a theme here?
Social media should feed your soul.
It should lift you up, encourage you, help you feel connected, etc. If it’s dragging you down, making you doubt yourself or becoming a dreaded task, step away! It will still be there when you’re ready to try again, and you’ll be much happier if you use it in a way that enriches rather than detracts from your life.
How do you use social media? Does it feed your soul?
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
Social Media Should Feed Your Soul
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
July 15, 2013
Weekly Reads {7/15/13}
I started both Lost Child in the Woods and Mansfield Park last week, and I’m really enjoying both of them, although I didn’t make as much progress as I would have liked, so I hope to get through those this week.
It’s been fun to read Jane Austen’s books in the order they were published and to compare and contrast them as I go, and so far I’m really enjoying Mansfield Park even though no one listed that as among their favorites in our earlier conversations.
I have a feeling my reading is about to slow down for the rest of summer, with VBS next week, another trip to Florida and so many projects on my to-do list, but I’m hoping that having a ready-made list of books to get through (I really would like to finish all of Austen’s completed novels) will keep me motivated!
With the Girls
I never get tired of the poems in The Llama Who Had No Pajama, and the girls and I have been enjoying reading some of those at bedtime, and our three-year-old and I have been enjoying Dr. Seuss this week as well. (What can I say? I like rhyming!)
For our big girls, this has definitely been the summer of reading, and I had to laugh when I heard Sean scold them for reading at the lunch table to the other day. There are worse vices, no?
Dylan (7) has started and set aside several books because she wasn’t making enough progress, including The School Story and Encyclopedia Brown, but she did make it through The Soccer Shoe Clue (Nancy Drew Notebooks), finishing just a few minutes ago, and I’m on the lookout for more of the books from that fun series for her!
Peyton (almost-9) read The Case of the Missing Hamster (Jigsaw Jones Mystery) and is currently working her way through both Misty of Chincoteague and Owls in the Family.
Share Your Reading List
A Baggie Here, a Baggie There (& How to Store Toys that Drive You Nuts!)
The following post is from Katie of Kitchen Stewardship:
source: Kitchen Stewardship
Sometimes the easiest things are still worth mentioning.
I was watching my husband peel the biggest plastic bag you ever did see off a new mattress today and thinking about my modest little pile of “plastic bags to reuse so I don’t have to throw them away.”
Even though my contribution to keeping trash out of the landfill is but a drop in the ocean, it still makes me feel good about doing what I can.
What is my bag collection all about?
Do you use plastic bags?
I don’t know about you, but I do reuse plastic zippered bags. I don’t use them often at all, but in my packed fridge and freezer, I often need something collapsible that takes up as little space as possible. So I do use plastic, and I do wash and reuse them (but sometimes I skip a step).
When I get liquid products that I order via Amazon or Vitacost, they always come shipped in plastic zippered bags. I’m pretty sure the post office must mandate that in case of leaks. Why Shutterfly also puts our yearly Christmas gift calendars for all the grandparents in individual plastic bags, I cannot understand.
I also cannot bring myself to lather up those dry, sort of clean plastic bags so I can use them for cut lettuce or frozen strawberries.
I hate the feeling of throwing them away, and I know that recycling really is only a drop in the drop in the ocean, since quite a bit of the plastic still ends up as a waste product.
So, I keep them.
And they keep me organized.
Here’s what I do with my stash.
Once I had bags on hand, I began finding all sorts of little non-food items that needed to be contained:
source: Kitchen Stewardship
clothespins
little hairties
Nerf gun darts
source: Kitchen Stewardship
sunscreens
birthday candles once the package is opened
rubber bands
my own liquids for traveling, whether by plane or vehicle
source: Green Your Way
beans for a preschool work and cards for a lacing work (more free preschool activities to create)
Q-tips and other bathroom cabinet dealies
sending coins to school (try to default to an envelope, reclaimed from the junk mail if possible, for papers and regular communication – many schools will at least recycle paper)
And Toys…Oh, the Toys!
Just about every time we open up a toy, especially the inexpensive dollar store variety, we discover a multitude of pieces with no way to contain them. Keeping plastic bags of all sizes on hand that need to be given new life takes the guesswork out of “What do we do with this?”
I have half a dozen different zippered bags keeping things organized in our “church bag,” the one that is always packed with quiet, fun activities for church, and it stays in the van so we’re never unprepared:
crayons
wipe-off markers and cloths to erase
munchies
books
felt finger puppets
holy cards
Sesame Street flat magnets and board
homemade lacing works
source: Kitchen Stewardship
I can’t help it if other people choose to put 10 quarters to give to my children in a baggie instead of an envelope, but I can reuse that baggie for something else once it’s in my possession.
It’s a little drop, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Will you join me?
The challenge for you is just to set up the system in your home – decide on a location for the bags and remember that they’re there. If you don’t get plastic bags in the mail, this applies to zippered bag that get holes in them and can’t be used for food anymore, too. (If you don’t use plastic at all – good for you! Watch for fabric baggies if you buy homemade jewelry or other small items.)
That part is easy.
The harder “green” question is, of course, whether I should be shopping online in the first place. I love that it’s so much easier to click around a bit than drag three kiddos from store to store, but when my backup canned beans that I use when I haven’t soaked dry beans come rolled in two feet of bubble wrap…let’s just say I have to question my choices.
Do you order food and basic supplies online? How do you deal with the packaging?
Katie Kimball is a mom of three who spends a ton of time in the kitchen making real food with whole ingredients and then blogs about her successes and failures at Kitchen Stewardship. She believes everything in life is a gift from God and should be taken care of wisely.
A Baggie Here, a Baggie There (& How to Store Toys that Drive You Nuts!)
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
Improve Your Cooking with This Week’s Cooking Basics Bundle! {BundleoftheWeek.com}
This week’s bundle takes you back to the basics with 5 cooking resources to help you meal plan, create your own recipes, make homemade condiments and reduce waste. With a little planning, you can save time and money in your kitchen, and this week only get all 5 ebooks for just $7.40, or 85% off their list price!
With your purchase, you’ll get all five of these ebooks:
How To Cook For Yourself by Rachael Roehmholdt
Cooking Techniques with Olive Oil by Mary Platis and Laura Bashar
Restocking the Pantry by Kresha Faber
Design a Dish by Millie Copper
From Garbage to Gourmet by Carrie Isaac
Even if you’re not interested in this week’s bundle, be sure to sign up for the BundleoftheWeek.com weekly newsletter so you can be the first to know about the latest bundle:
Improve Your Cooking with This Week’s Cooking Basics Bundle! {BundleoftheWeek.com}
© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved
July 13, 2013
Weekend Reading: July 13, 2013
source: Mandi Ehman
Last weekend we loaded the girls and the puppy up and headed out to the C&O Canal for a little hike and a visit to one of our favorite West Virginia destinations — the Paw Paw Tunnel. This 3,100-foot man made tunnel goes right through the mountain, and while it’s very dark in the middle and wet and muddy at times, it’s a pretty fun adventure! On the other side of the tunnel, we spent some time watching the minnows, dragonflies and other creatures in the canal before turning around to do it over again.
Overall, everybody did really great, although my hips weren’t too happy about the 3+ miles we walked, and I’ve been paying for it ever since. Oops!
Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading to see the other posts that make me stop and think. You’ll find new posts all week long!
Life {It’s All About Intentionality}
You Get What You Measure | Modern Mrs. Darcy
Have You Missed Your Life’s Calling? Probably Not. | Simple Mom
The 7 Biggest Reasons You Aren’t Productive | Get Organized Wizard
Family {Mommy Genius}
How We Resolve Arguments in Our Home | Inspired to Action
Simple Ways to Connect with Your Kids When You’re Already Tired | Keeper of the Home
Food {Desserts I Need in My Life}
Healthy Cookies & Cream Milkshake | Chocolate-Covered Katie
Classic Lemon Bars | Unsophisticook
Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake | My Blessed Life
Have a great weekend!
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
Weekend Reading: July 13, 2013
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CommentsWe are planning a trip to Virginia in the fall, I will have to ... by Victoria Huizinga
July 12, 2013
Simple Chocolate Fruit Pizza
The following post is from Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free:
source: Amy
Summer is in it’s prime and the markets brimming with fresh produce, it’s the perfect time to make a fruit-filled dessert. While I love a good French Apple Tart, Orange Cake, or a Red Grape Olive Oil Cake, when produce is at it’s peak I love taking fresh fruit and making it the star of the dish.
I know you’ve heard that we eat with our eyes first. Anyone who loves to eat (like I do!) knows it’s true. This simple gluten-free chocolate fruit pizza is too beautiful to resist.
Too often, I hear people apologize for serving gluten-free food to people who don’t need to eat a specific diet. Or, people who aren’t gluten-free don’t want to eat food that doesn’t contain gluten as if there’s something wrong with it. My philosophy is that good food is good food, regardless of what’s not in it. You can serve this dessert with no need to apologize or explain. It’s just good food.
Because the fruit and the sweet cream cheese layer are naturally gluten-free, the brownie ‘crust’ is the only part that of this dessert that requires gluten-free ingredients. For those of you who aren’t gluten-free, use any brownie recipe you’d like.
When it comes to choosing organic fruit, I always consult the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen, which tells you what produce has the highest levels of pesticides. Download this free printable to take with you on your next shopping trip.
Simple Chocolate Fruit Pizza
Author: Amy
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 6-10
Ingredients
For the brownies:
¼ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup grapeseed oil
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
¾ cup coconut palm sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon instant decaf coffee
⅔ cup Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix
For the topping and fruit layer:
8 ounces low-fat (neufchatel) cream cheese
1 – 2 tablespoons honey or to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt
fruit of choice – I used bananas, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
Instructions
Make the brownies:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a 9-inch tart pan with oil.
Put the butter, oil, and chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and stir. Heat for another 30 seconds and stir until chocolate is melted.
Mix together coconut palm sugar, eggs, vanilla, and instant decaf. Once chocolate has cooled slightly, stir egg mix into chocolate. Sift Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix on top of chocolate mix. Dump any of the flour mix left in the sifter into the bowl. Fold into chocolate mix. Turn into the prepared pan, spread evenly, and tap a few times on the counter.
Bake for 20 – 23 minutes or until brownies are set in the middle. Brownies are fudgier when slightly underbaked. Let cool completely before proceeding.
Make the topping and assemble the dessert:
Beat the cream cheese until light. Add the honey to taste, vanilla extract, and salt and beat until combined. Spread on top of the brownies.
Cover the cream cheese completely with your fruit of choice. If you use bananas, dip them in fresh-squeezed lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. Lay any juicy, cut fruit such as pitted cherry halves on paper towels to drain. This keeps the juice from running all over your cream cheese.
Cover and chill until ready to serve.
#version#
What’s your favorite way to use fruit in dessert?
A stay-at-home mom, wife, and passionate cook, Amy strives to make each meal healthy and delicious. When she’s not doing laundry, dishes, or caring for her son, she plays around with food in the kitchen developing new recipes, which she shares at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free. Amy also publishes The Balanced Platter and authored the book Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free: 180 Easy & Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less.
Simple Chocolate Fruit Pizza
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