2012: Top ten most viewed posts!

I'm happy to announce this list of the top ten most viewed posts from 2012! Happy New Year!

Kimchi 
This will make my hubby happy =)

Homemade carpet cleaner


Natural Odor Eliminator
Along with my compost cracker fail, haha.

Raw Date Balls
About to make these right now!

Reusing your green onion ends
Still love this idea. Tried it in dirt too, worked for a few times and then just stopped growing.

Ricotta Stuffed Hot Peppers
Made these last night! Ate the rest for lunch today =)

Baked Chicken Parm Casserole


Queso Dip


Mom Rules
One of my fav's too =) If you haven't read this it's a must read!


Non GMO awareness month 2012

Onion cutting at its best!

We eat a ton of onions around here. That means a lot of onion cutting, and crying, and fear of cutting my fingers off because my eyes were tearing so much I couldn't see. I've tried the freezer method. I've tried the spoon in mouth (which works sometimes but when it doesn't its miserable). I've tried cutting them as fast as I can like Rachel Ray suggests. Still a miserable experience. Suddenly I got this great idea! I dug through our box of summer stuff and snagged a pair of my kids goggles! It worked perfectly!!! I later was informed that"onion goggles" is a real thing that already existed, go figure. But hey, if you have swim goggles laying around, don't spend the money on fancy smancy onion goggles :)

Cranberry Carrot Juice

I love this vibrant refreshing juice! My kids? Not so much! In the juices defense, I think it was the ginger they couldn't handle. My three year old took one sip and coughed like crazy...so I drank the rest of hers. The boys liked it but couldn't handle too much of it. Which is actually pretty strange because they love ginger. I guess when it's juiced it burns more. The funny thing is, I added half the amount of ginger, tasted it, and then added the rest, seemed fine to me. Oh well, oops. So my suggestion, if you are serving this to kids, only put about half the ginger in.

Cranberry Carrot Juice
by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle
Inspired by VegVivaciously

Makes about 48 ounces

5 lbs organic carrots
8 oz organic cranberries (mine were frozen and still juiced well)
3 large organic apples
1 inch piece of ginger (or to taste)

Process through your juicer and stir. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone is looking forward to a healthy and happy 2013. I'm not one to make new years resolutions because I'm more of a "I want to do it NOW" kind of person. So if I'm feeling like I need a change regarding diet and exercise, I generally get started right away. But I do happen to have some current changes I would like to make, and it just happens to be the new year! I'll share those with you in a minute.

It's been a busy month and I feel we've gotten off track on a lot of things. We've been buried in snow, the picture above was after our first snow, our snow people family =)
This picture is after a foot of snow the following week...

As a friend said "Now they're wearing blankets." =)

I do feel like in the last month diet and exercise has definitely gotten off track for our whole family. Checking my log, I haven't ran in 3 weeks. It's so darn cold out there, and the ice and snow scare me a bit. I'm not a huge fan of running on the treadmill, it used to be the opposite. So I am resolving in the next couple weeks to explore some new (to me) indoor exercises. I will add some treadmill time in there so I don't totally loose the running bug, but mostly some fun indoor stuff. I have a stationary recumbent bike I use sometimes, but it's not all that exiting. I often do JM's 30 day shred dvd, and some random yoga ones, but it's been awhile. It'll be fun to try some new routines. If it ever thaws, I'll get out there and do some running, but until then I'll be in my warm cozy house burning some calories.

Food. There aren't a terrible amount of things I want to change but there are old habits I would like to bring back and some other minor changes. Every morning we used to have smoothies and freshly juiced juice. Now it seems it's one or the other. I've played with the idea of doing one at breakfast and one at lunch but then that means hubby loses out. Though, we do have a Green Star juicer and it has the longest "shelf life" for retaining vitamins and minerals in the fresh juice. So I could do it at lunch and save it for him when he gets home. That's an option. But I also know with homeschooling, lunch often needs to be quick and easy, like I'm talking minutes to prepare, haha. So I'm thinking back to how I used to do it. I would throw all the ingredients for the smoothies into the blender the night before and throw it in the fridge until morning. Generally the frozen fruit doesn't thaw completely, so it will still be smoothie consistency, if not, add a little ice. Then all I have to do in the morning is pull it out of the fridge and blend. This saves me about ten minutes in the morning, give or take. I also used to prepare the veggies for the juice the night before. Generally it was just carrot juice, so I would wash and cut the ends off the carrots. Then I would place them in a baking dish covered in water, cover the dish, and place in the fridge the night before. This also would save me about ten minutes, not to mention I could usually recruit a kid to juice it for me in the morning. So there's another ten minutes saved. I love starting the day with smoothies and juice because it makes me feel we've given ourselves a great start to the day. No matter what we eat the rest of the day, I know we've already started with some good nutrition. So if all I give my kids for lunch is pasta, I don't feel so bad =)

So there's the other thing. I'm really thinking, at least for myself, but I think two of my kids would also benefit greatly, to eliminate wheat and all gluten. I went a couple months with no grains at all and felt really good. Now, when I do eat a wheat product, I feel bloated and can feel it sitting in my belly. I really feel that if a food doesn't make you feel good, then you shouldn't eat it. By far this is much harder for me than eliminating meat ever was. I used to be vegan and vegetarian, but added raw organic dairy and organic pasture raised meat/poultry into our diets about seven years ago. Granted, we do eat a good amount of non-raw cheese, but that's more of a cost issue. It's hard to eat perfectly on a budget. I just try to do the best we can. I feel if that's the worst thing we eat, then we are doing okay. I have greatly decreased the amount of packaged food I buy. Though, we weren't buying/eating as much as the average American on the standard American diet, I did feel like we had too much. I now bake my own bread, granola bars, cookies, crackers, muffins, tortilla chips (flavored and not), nut clusters, dried fruits (my kids can plow through some dried apples),and many other snacks. If I have these snacks on hand it generally stops my kids from going and grabbing a packaged granola bar. I do hope to add more to this list and eventually not buy anything in a box.

I also have some new fun ideas for this blog for the future. I'm really excited about it! So stay tuned.
Please feel free to share your ideas for a healthy new year in the comments. I feel it's very helpful to put it out there so you are more accountable. Let's do this together!

Happy Hanukkah!

For those that celebrate Hanukkah, I found this great link with 25 crafts to do with your kids during Hanukkah. Just thought I'd share =)

 http://blogs.babble.com/family-style/2011/12/05/handmade-hanukkah-25-hanukkah-crafts-to-make-with-kids/

If you're looking for me I'll be the one scarfing down matzoh ball soup all week =)

Non GMO candy options

Most if not all commercial candies are filled with non-organic and GMO ingredients. So what is a person to do for Halloween candy? Or just a stash of candy for snacking? Or pinatas? Or rewarding for potty training (haha, that's me this week)? Aside from making your own, which I've actually been working on (!!!) I have compiled a list of great options for non-gmo candy. Here I will post a list with links and a fun graphic! Read, share, tweet, and pin! Enjoy!

 Surf Sweets Jelly Beans
Buy here

They also make gummy worms, bears, etc.

 Envirokidz Chocolate Crispy Rice Bars
My grocery store sells mini versions of the full size bars in a big bag.

 Organic fruit wraps (These are from Trader Joes).
Don't have a TJ's, there are many other brands.
Check your grocery store, bet they have them!

YummyEarth Organic Lollipops
Buy here

Or try their gummy bears here

 Annie's organic bunny fruit snacks
Buy here

Or try the cracker bunny packs here

 Endangered Species Chocolate Bug Bites
Buy mint here
Dark Chocolate here
Milk Chocolate here

 Righteuosly Raw mini chocolate bars.
Check out their website here






Mmm, now I want chocolate....

And check out these organic non-gmo candy canes here










If anyone else has some options to share please help out us candy lovers and post it in the comments!

French Toast with Strawberry Butter

Here is another yummy recipe from the kids cook book that my kids have been enjoying. It may not look super great in the picture but boy is it tasty! My kids made this entirely by themselves, with me standing by twiddling my thumbs. So, kids, roll up your sleeves and wash your hands, lets get cooking! Moms-you want to stand by to supervise the stove. My older kids (8 and 6) can cook on the stove pretty safely, but I still like to be standing by.

French Toast with Strawberry Butter
Adapted from KidsCooking - A very Slightly Messy Manual
Brought to you by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

Serves 6

6 organic eggs
6 slices of bread
1/4 cup organic milk
1/2 vanilla extract

3/4 stick organic butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan.
1 cup organic strawberries (stems removed)
1/4 cup organic sugar

For butter: In a blender, mix together butter, strawberries, and sugar. Set aside.

Heat your pan to medium heat. In a wide bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Melt some butter in your pan. Place one slice of bread at at time in your egg mixture and let them get good and wet, don't need to soak them. Add to pan and cook on each side until just brown. Repeat with all the bread.

Top each slice of french toast with a dollop of strawberry butter. Dig in!

Roasting pumpkins and making pumpkin puree

It's fall...and that means pumpkins! We don't carve them but we sure do eat them! I've been playing around with a lot of pumpkin recipes this fall and loving it. I have to say my all time fav is still the seeds though =)
The pumpkin in the picture above is not a small pie pumpkin. It's a large pumpkin, I'm talking like 10 lbs. My friend who owns a local farm stand store gave me a run down of their pumpkins. This particular one is large, but still very sweet. I felt it was the best for my money considering the size of our family. Small pie pumpkins don't need to roast as long. You could do a couple of them at a time. My large one was all I could fit on a baking sheet. Here's what I do:

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~Cut off the stem. Slice your pumpkin in half. Scoop out guts and seeds and set aside to make yummy pumpkin seeds later.
~Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your pumpkins face down.
~Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 45-90 minutes (depending on the size of your pumpkins)
You should be able to easily poke a fork through the skin.
~Remove from oven and let cool.
~Scoop flesh out of the skin.

You can use the pumpkin at this point for recipes, or sprinkle with seasoning salt and dig in. Or you can continue on to make pumpkin puree and never buy canned pumpkin again!

~Place flesh in a blender and blend away. You want it super smooth so let it go for a minute or so. If you aren't using it in a recipe you can strain in a cheesecloth to remove excess water. My 10 lb pumpkin made about 10 cups of pumpkin puree.

And there you have it! Roasted pumpkin and pumpkin puree!

Just another way to enjoy fall even more!

Fall and Perfectly Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Fall is here in all it's glory! Beautifully colored leaves are everywhere.
Scroll down for some pictures of fall and a recipe for perfectly roasted pumpkin seeds.

 This was from a recent trip to a pumpkin farm on our third boys 5th birthday! A wonderful group of our homeschooling friends joined us for all the fun. There was tons to do, a corn maze, giant slide...

And of course, PUMPKINS!!!
Here's Jake, our newly 5 year old =)














Perfectly roasted pumpkin seeds, YUM!

These are actually squash seeds, but they work too!

Perfectly Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
by Amanda @ Natural Organic Lifestyle

Scoop out your pumpkin and separate the guts from the seeds.
Proceed to have a pumpkin gut fight.
Clean up said fight.
Back to the seeds.
Rinse seeds very well in a strainer.
Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Add about a ts of salt.
When boiling, dump in your seeds.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Strain seeds and lightly pat dry. (They don't have to be super dry, just not dripping)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread seeds out on it.
Toss seeds with a little olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and seasonings of choice.
My favorite combo is onion salt and garlic powder, YUM! But cayenne and salt is good too. There are so many choices! Or you can just do salt.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Stir.
Bake another 10 minutes.
Stir and check for doneness. Make sure the seeds inside aren't burning. You want the outside just browned.
If needed, bake longer but check every 5 minutes or so.
Baking time can vary depending on your oven.

Enjoy fall in all it's beauty and yumminess!

What are your favorite fall activities and recipes?

Carrot Raisin Salad

My kids got a kids recipe book from the library not that long ago and have been cooking up a storm ever since. I thought it would be fun to have a "Kids in the Kitchen" section on the blog. My kids love helping in the kitchen so of course they were delighted to have a book full of recipes that mostly didn't need my help. This is one of those recipes. They totally loved this and everyone had seconds, some had thirds. Maybe it's because they made it, or maybe it's just that good ;) So, kids, wash your hands and lets get to work!

Carrot Raisin Salad
Adapted from KidsCooking - A very Slightly Messy Manual
 Brought to you by Amanda @ Natural and Organic Lifestyle

5 organic carrots
3/4 cup organic raisins
1/2 cup(or to taste) Mayonnaise 

Shred carrots. I had my kids use the grating disk on my food processor for the sake of saving their knuckles. But you can use a box grater too. Toss together shredded carrots, raisins, and mayonnaise. Enjoy!