Happy Monday

Weekends always seem to go by so fast!

I love our time together as a family. Whether we're busy doing activities or spending time at home, these times are so precious to me. 

Then Monday comes and the pace speeds up. Between school, work and after school activities, sometimes it's hard to catch your breath! 

No matter what the day is, we must cherish each and every one. Embrace them no matter how hectic or laid back they may be. Everyday is special!

Wishing you all a great week!

Game Day Eats!

While I'm not of fan of either team (sorry to those who are) in the Super Bowl,  I still like to make something good to eat!  And watch the commercials of course.  Those are the best part, I think.

Foods that you can eat with your hands are always fun.  Pizza is always a kid favorite.  So I've come up with a Gluten Free Pizza Pocket.  I made a batch with a regular cheese blend as well as a dairy free batch.  Both came out delicious!

There are several Gluten Free all purpose flours on the market, like Bob's Red Mill.  You can also make your own.  I've been using this recipe in cupcakes, cookies and in this recipe all with great success.

Gluten Free Pizza Pockets
makes 24 pockets

1 cup of water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter ( I used Earth's Balance Vegan butter)
2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening
2 cups Gluten Free all purpose flour
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum (omit if your flour already contains this)
3 to 4 tablespoons milk or cream (I used Rice Milk)

Pizza Sauce

Cheese of your choice.  I used both a pizza blend as well as a vegan cheese.  I just eye balled the amount.

1. In a medium saucepan, place the water, butter and shortening and stir to combine. Heat over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is simmering (about 3 to 4 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and add in the flour and xanthan gum (if using). Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together. Add the milk/cream by the tablespoonful, and knead into the dough until it is smooth.
2. Turn the dough out onto a smooth surface and knead until fairly smooth. Do NOT flour the kneading surface.
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
4. After the dough has rest, roll it out into a large rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. You may find that it useful to roll out the dough between two sheets of unbleached parchment paper, or you may find that the parchment paper simply gets in the way.  I didn't use any parchment. With a pizza cutter, cut the rolled-out dough into 24 rectangles about 3-inches long x 1 1/2-inches wide. On a clean surface, roll each rectangle out again along its length until it is the size of a standard 3-inch x 5-inch index card. This helps you get a smooth and pliable dough.
5. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside..
6.  Place about 1 teaspoon of tomato sauce on one half of each rectangle, leaving at least a 3 cm of the edge of the dough bare. Place 3 to 4 pieces of chopped cheese (less if the cheese is cut into a larger dice) on top of the sauce. Do not overfill. Fold the clean half of the rectangle over the sauce and cheese, and press the edges together firmly to seal. Transfer to baking sheet.
7. Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, then quickly and carefully turn over each of the pizza bites. Return the baking sheet to the oven, and bake for another 7 minutes, or until  the cheese is bubbling and the pizza bites are uniformly golden brown all over.
8. Enjoy!

 

Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year friends.  Much of the Northeast is shoveling out this morning.  I have no idea exactly how much snow we have here in NH, but it looks like a lot!  The wind is whipping the white stuff around and new snow continues to fall.  This sounds heavenly to me.  My children and I got an extended Holiday from school...a full 2 weeks!  Come Monday it will be hard to face the music, but for now we will enjoy these days.

The start of the new year always brings promise doesn't it.  The feeling and wanting to start anew.  Outlooks are brighter, smiles are wider, a warmth in the heart.....ahhhh.  Let it last all year.
With this start of the new year, I can't stop thinking about smoothies!  Of all things.  Maybe it's because of the eating, drinking, and being merry for over the past few weeks.  Yes, most liking this is the reason.  Ahem.... 

I've decided to make a Green Monster Smoothie.  Packed with spinach, bananas and chia seeds it's incredibly healthy for you.  A great way to counter the effects of figgy pudding and holiday punch!
Not to mention how delicious it is and the kids love it!

Green Monster Smoothie
makes 4 servings

2 cups vanilla soy milk
4 cups of packed baby spinach
2 ripe bananas
2 tbsp. chia seeds

Blend all ingredients.
Enjoy!

How easy it that?!

                                                                Now that's a picture!

Weelicious Lunches Review- Recipe #1

You may remember this summer I announced that I was honored to be given the opportunity to write a review for Weelicious Lunches by Catherine McCord.  I have been slowly....ever so slowly.....but heartfelt and surely (if that makes sense) getting this done.  It has not been for a lack in the cookbook whatsoever; definitely not.  It's more for my time management handicap and the simply delicious fact that I can't put the cookbook down long enough to get out of the kitchen and put finger to keys and write the darn thing!

My family and I have been fans of Weelicious since the debut of the first cookbook:  Weelicious One Family. One Meal.  So I was over the moon excited when the announcement of  Weelicious Lunches was made.  As a mom who wants to feed her children healthy all day, not just when they are home, this was exciting.  But c'mon moms, lets admit, the idea of packing a school lunch every blessed day is taunting.  It's exhausting!  I'm not going to lie....I'm tired of packing lunches.  But the cookbook has made it easier.  With out of the sandwich bento box recipes, there are many options to choose from.

I don't feel that writing one blog entry about this fantastic cookbook will do it justice. As well as finding ways to make my life a bit easier (I'm all about staying sane lately....) I will write the review in installments.  Letting you sink your teeth into 1 or 2 recipes at a time and savoring the deliciousness that is Weelicious!

I was so excited to find that the cookbook wasn't filled with run of the mill sandwiches (not that I really thought it would be).  My kids love salads, dips, chicken and the like for lunch more so than an sandwich.  However there are some in here that they absolutely loved!

One salad that is a new favorite of ours is Greek Israeli Couscous Salad.  Couscous is actually a pearl-like pasta rather than a grain.  If your kids are like mine, they love pasta.  With feta, cucumbers, tomatoes this is a complete meal itself.  Feel free to add diced ham, chicken or tuna along with it if you feel so inclined.

Makes 4 servings
1 1/2 cup Israeli couscous
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 Persian cucumbers or 1 English cucumber, seeded and diced
1 tbsp chopped parsley

1.Place the couscous and 1 tbsp. of the olive oil in a pot and toast for 5 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 12 minutes.
3.Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and set aside to cool.
4.Add the lemon juice, salt, feta, cucumbers, tomato, parsley, and the 2 remaining tbsp. of olive oil and stir to combine.

I hope you enjoy cooking through this cookbook as much as I have.  Next installment......Apple Cinnamon Muffins.

Trick or Treat

Halloween is not always a fun and exciting time for all.  For some, it's a stressful time filled with scary happenings (costumes, ringing doorbells) and loads of sugar that tiny bodies aren't use to.
Add into the mix of a child feeling under the weather and a parent could only hope to scare Trick or Treat away!  Or hope for the Switch Witch quick visit! ;)

However, for some Halloween is a fun time filled with dress up, pretend and adventure.  All feelings are valid and should be respected.

One tradition of Trick or Treat that both of my kids look forward to are Mummy Pizzas!  It's my one guarantee that they will have a healthy base in their bellies before the on slot of sugar!




This year I'm excited to make Weelicious Lunches Veggie-Heavy pizza sauce.  Loaded with veggies and absolutely delicious, I only use this pizza sauce for all our pizza making.  The recipe makes 4 cups and freezes great; just defrost when you need it.

Veggie Heavy pizza sauce by Weelicious Lunches
Makes 4 cups
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, diced
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. tomato paste
Two 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained.

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the pepper, carrot, celery, onion and garlic and sauté until the veggies are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
2. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and puree the mixture with an immersion hand blender (or in a regular blender) until almost smooth.
4. Return the sauce to the heat and simmer 10 to 20 minutes until thick.  The longer you simmer this sauce, the thicker and more flavorful it will become.  You can simmer it up to 2 hours - just be careful to stir it often to make sure it doesn't scorch.
5. Serve

Whatever your family may be doing on this Halloween may you be safe!

One hive

Dan went out to check the bee hives.  Upon opening the newest hive, he found it empty!  Yes, empty!  Beside a few bees flying about there was nothing but an empty hive and empty frames.  No wax or honey on the frames at all.  "What do you mean it's empty?!" I said.

 

 

Empty!

 

 

 

"Ok...so let's not panic!" I say.

 

Searching the original hive, Dan found the second box (which name I can't figure out...honey? brood? It's really quite confusing.  As long as he's got it figured out....) to be very heavy!  Full of honey!  Between both hives, they had been eating about 20 pounds of sugar water every couple of days!

 

 

 

 

 

Dan decided that, due to the weight of the second box, it would be best to add a third and hopefully the bees will draw out more wax and honey up to that one.  With this decision, he thought it best to shut down the other empty hive.  Keeping it open and feeding it would only attract wasps, yellow jackets and other insects that are not welcome. 

 

The bees had decided to leave the newest hive, only using it for the food source, and blend themselves with the second hive on their own.  Originally, the plan would have us blending them gradually between newspaper within the hive.  For whatever reason, they did this on their own. 

 

This entire process has left us scratching our heads.  Did the bees know something about the original queen?  Was she sick?  Is this why they made a new queen?

 

"These darn (not the exact word used, ahem) bees have got me so totally confused!" says Dan.

 

 

 

I find myself, every so often, checking the blueberry bushes for another swarm.

 

They definitely keep us guess!

Change is in the air

I remember the feeling of 'nesting' when I was pregnant.  It amazes me that this feeling happens again during other life events.  For me, it happens with the change of seasons. 

The ending of summer vacation and beginning of school, the coolness of the mornings.  All these evoke a nesting feeling within me.  Baking new things.   Pots of soup.  Knitting.  Organizing the home.  Rearranging of furniture.  Amazing how change pulls your body into different directions. 

Don't get me wrong.  I do not want to see summer end.  Our long, lazy days.  Sun dresses, bare feet, sun kissed skin.  Dinner outside.  Lakes, oceans, sand, friends.....All into the late hours of the day.

With the end of one there is a beginning of another.

All we can do is roll with it.  Surrender to it and enjoy....