Thanksgiving break is almost over!!! Sad. But back from the holiday food and back to our normal healthy lifestyle. Sam did pretty good at the Thanksgiving meal except for when the family gave him 1/2 of a fried apple pie!!!!! (it was made with the new "simple" canned biscuit dough and mom's cooked apples...so I guess it could have been worse!). Sam loves green beans and he is also Mr. Independent so green beans are a great food for him to feed himself. However, lately in his diapers I am seeing whole pieces of green beans which leads me to believe he isn't chewing his food adequaetely. And we all know (hopefully) that if we aren't chewing our food which is an important part of digestion then we aren't reaping the benefits of the foods to their fullest extent. Back to the drawing board for me to try and provide some handheld foods that he chews up well enough. I have decided to do ground veggies and feed with a spoon until some of those back teeth come in. Tonight his veg/starch combo was very tasty, I would have eaten it myself! Actually, Austin and I are eating it almost the same combination, just not ground up obviously because we do have back teeth, lol.

2-3 organic broccoli florets
1/2 baked potato
7-8 organic baby spinach leaves (or Kale, or greens-whatever you have handy)
1/2 garlic clove
2 t chopped onion
pinch (or less) unrefined sea salt
1 t smart balance light butter (or organic olive oil)

1. combine the broccoli, spinach, onion, garlic and steam for about 10 minutes in the baby food cooker (or whatever method you choose). Also, remember when chopping up your onion and garlic to let it sit for about 10 minutes before cooking so that it can fully develop those anticancer properties.

2. Add in potato to steamed veggies and roughly chop/puree with about 1 t butter and just a shake of the sea salt.

I added back a little of the cooking water to the mixture to get the right texture. This should make more than enough for one meal. I had enough leftover to provide a small side for lunch tomorrow. Sam ate these vegetables with steamed salmon and a few bites of the homemade whole wheat bread. He seemed to really enjoy all of it!

Another food tried over break was turnip greens, Sam seemed to enjoy these as well. Due to the fact that he only has 4 teeth it will need to be well cooked. Sometimes Austin and I eat our greens not well done like you are used to eating, I like a little bite to mine. But for Sam's sake, it needs to be WELL done. If you are accustomed to southern style greens you may not like my recipe but it is healthier.

Turnip Greens

Chopped greens
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
red pepper flakes
salt/pepper
brown rice syrup
white vinegar
organic olive oil


1. combine all ingredients. I know the amounts are not specific but it really depends on how many greens you are cooking. Usually I do a decent sized pot full. As far as the vinegar goes I probably use around 1/4 cup (depends on your taste), brown rice syrup 1 tablespoon (estimate?), red pepper to taste, salt pepper to taste, olive oil probably about 1 tablespoon. It really just depends how you like your greens. We always put hot pepper sauce on it just before serving (leave this off for the little ones).

2. Cook at a simmer until the greens are cooked down until very soft, like cooked spinach.

Hope this isn't too different from the regular that has smoked meat, or fat back, or turkey necks, bacon, etc. I just can't stand all of the greasiness in my greens. Maybe it is because I didn't grow up eating greens, but learned to eat them once I moved to the deep south. But they are GREAT! You should really give them a try. If you like spinach it isn't much different. Actually, I think spinach has a stronger flavor than greens.

Hope you and your little ones enjoy!

Well the first birthday party was a success and is over. Ended up doing 2 different cakes, not that there were that many people that I needed 2 cakes, I guess I just wanted to overdo it and try two different decoration styles. I am by no means a cake decorator as I have said in the past but would love to be able to decorate a little, so it was fun to practice with sam's first cake. The monkey cake was SO easy! Anybody could definitely create this cake without problems. The hardest part was decorating the face, which mine didn't look that great but I was happy to say I made sam's cake!

Also I attempted a cupcake pull apart cake. Wanted to do a football shape and use Auburn colors in honor of the Auburn/Georgia game yesterday. A football shape seems relatively easy but actually it is a little bit hard to ensure that you have a nice rounded edge. But anyways, I was happy with the outcome and the cake tasted great!

Used the leftover cupcakes and just decorated them with the same icing.

I hope when it comes times for your kid's birthday and you want to make a cake you aren't intimidated by the decorating. I have zero experience, and it went pretty well for the first time I thought.

Are you tired of my pumpkin recipes yet? Well I have another, but this one is savory, not a dessert. This is a good way to get the veggies into your little ones (and maybe your husband) without them knowing. It also cuts down on the calories and fat. Turns a pretty unhealthy recipe into one that you don't feel bad about giving your kids or eating yourself.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

2 cups dried whole wheat macaroni
2 T butter (I use the smart balance sticks)
3 T whole wheat flour (can use white)
2 cups organic skim milk
1 t dry mustard
2 t (sugar, agave nectar, raw sugar-whatever you prefer or have on hand)
1 dash grated nutmeg
2 cups cheddar shredded
1 cup pumpkin
kosher salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil your macaroni as usual, drain and set aside
2. Melt your butter in the pan, add in flour and stir until all of the flour is mixed in with the butter
3. Pour in milk and whisk until all lumps are gone. This will need to heat until almost boiling for the mixture to thicken
4. Once thick, turn down heat and continue to stir as you add in the dry mustard, nutmeg, cheese, salt/pepper, and sweetener
5. Now add in your pureed pumpkin and the macaroni
6. Heat until warm and serve.

This recipe is pretty good. It does have a slight pumpkin flavor to it. I served it to Sam for supper last night and he ate it up, just like that is how he had always had it. This is important to remember when you taste it because it is not exactly like the fattening regular mac and cheese we are all used to. If you are not a fan of pumpkin a slightly milder flavor to use could be butternut squash or maybe even carrot puree (I haven't tried to carrot). This makes a lot of mac & cheese so there will be enough for the whole fam as well as some to freeze for baby. I don't think freezing a large portion for the whole family would turn out very good....macaroni tends to get pretty mushy after it is thawed. Should be fine for your little ones though because they need it a little mushy anyways.

I am in the middle of baking cupcakes and a cake. Little Sam turns 1 tomorrow, but the party isn't until Saturday. I am going to freeze the cakes and cupcakes until Friday, then do the icing etc. I really deliberated over what kind of cake to make. Should it be a healthy cake with no sugar and using pureed fruits and no icing......or should I just get one from the store and go all out with the icing piled high? If no one was coming over for the party, more than likely I would have made a healthy version without icing, and maybe just some powdered sugar on top. BUT family is coming over and would probably pitch a fit if I didn't have a "regular" cake so that we could see Sam smush icing all over his hair and up his nose. So, I decided on a homemade "regular" cake rather than a storebought/bakery cake. First of all, if I am making it at home I know all of the ingredients involved and secondly, I really wanted to be the one to make his first cake.

I like to make all of my desserts from scratch, but the recipe I am using for the cake(s) is one that I got from a friend (thanks Jane Doe) who made these cupcakes for a baby shower. It involves buying cake mix from the store and then adding other ingredients. Plus it makes a ton which is better for me since essentially I am preparing 2 cakes and needed a ton of batter. The recipe is here-----> http://www.food.com/recipe/white-almond-sour-cream-wedding-cake-69630. It also says you can half this recipe if needed.

With the batter I made 24 cupcakes....I am attempting to make a pull apart cake, where you put all the cupcakes together and ice it like a cake, but instead of having to cut slices you just pull apart your "piece". With the other half of the batter I am going to attempt the martha stewart monkey cake......I am by no means a cake decorator but this one looked somewhat achievable so I am going to try. But this half of the batter I added 1/2 cup cocoa powder to make it chocolate. The recipe that goes with the martha stewart version is a banana cake which sounds great, but after reading the reviews everyone stated that the cake was like a banana bread.....that just sounded so dense and not appropriate for a birthday cake. I will post some pics if things are successful!

Hope you enjoy the healthy mac & cheese!